billsfan89

A bad turnover or a broken play or just some bad penalties is all it could take, right now the key is to force Carolina to be down 3 scores so they have to pass and they are a horrendous passing offense.

Bills finally starting to take control of this game. Need to go up at least 2 scores going into the second half but a 7-0 lead is a good start. Keep the pedal down and don’t let up.

Piracy is always an option?

Good that they cut bait early.

The NFL shutting down for a week would be very easy to do. I also think a second bye week would only help the quality of play.

McD has flaws no doubt, but I also think he is a very good coach who has played a major hand in completely turning around the organization. McD has things he needs to work on but he isn’t deserving of talk of being fired. That’s just ridiculous.

Please lock this thread. Anyone calling for McD to be fired is a fool. Is McD perfect? Hell no. He has some more to work on as a head coach but he is one of the top 10 coaches in the league. Have you looked around the NFL lately? There aren't that many good head coaches. McD took over a 7-9 team that had very little young talent, was capped out and hadn't made the playoffs in 17 years. Since 2017 the Bills have made the playoffs three times, won two playoff games and developed a franchise QB. Even this season the team is still in a position for a playoff spot and is talented enough to "get hot" at the right time possibly. Will there possibly be a time when this team has to move on from McD? Yes, if the team continues to fall short in the playoffs and regular season there will come a point where things have to change. That point is not now.

There is also far too much to lose (literally everything) and far too little to gain.

The Bills will have about 10 million in cap space with 39 contracts on the roster which is not a lot to work with. However the Bills have some fat on the roster they can cut or restructure. Releasing Mongo, D.Williams and Ford frees you up about 10.25 million on the cap. Releasing Mitch would also be another 7.5 million in savings. So that would leave you with 27 million in cap space with only 35 players on the roster. Other options are releasing Matakevich and AJ Klein which would save 7.75 million. But the Bills also have the option of restructuring deals. The team can easily redo Star's deal to save 3.35 million, restructuring Diggs and Milano saves 15 million. And there are other restructuring options on the table. Overall the team has a lot of flexibility. I suspect by the time they finish restructuring deals and cuts they will probably have 35ish players on the roster with 40-60 million in space. Enough to bring back a few players like Hughes and enough to make a couple of solid mid-level acquisitions. I agree with this. He won't be a cap causality. On the O-line I see D.Williams being cut or restructured and possibly Mongo and Ford being cuts.

The NFL is not institutionally rigged. By that I mean the league office is not instructing the refs to tilt or rig games for one team over another. The NFL's gain over doing that is so limited compared to losing literally everything if the league's integrity was to come into question (and an even larger set of legal issues esp with legal gambling taking place now). You have clauses in the multi-billion dollar yearly TV deals that allow the networks to cancel contracts if the league is thought to be rigging games. Now is it possible that individual refs have a bias or even a "rogue" ref has an agenda for personal reasons (such as gambling debt or money troubles) yes. We saw that happen with the NBA in the 2000's. But right now that's not the same as the league being rigged from the top down. The Bills have had a lot of bad calls this season and a ton of no-calls. It probably has cost the team a game or two easily. But the league having some sort of agenda to specially get the Bills for some reason? I am not sure I can buy that without more evidence.

Mods please delete this.

The Bills don’t have a ton of cap space so I think their best way to improve the team is going to be via the draft. Easy to see them spending a first round pick along the Oline. I am fine with Mitch at center it’s the guard positions that are hurting.

Given that the biggest issue with this team has been the offensive guard play I think it’s fairly safe to say that the front office is likely going to put resources into that position. If I am looking at this team as a fan I would say that the priority needs are as follows. 1- Guard 2- DT 3- RB 4- CB (depending on if Levi is resigned if they keep Levi scratch this off the list) 5- WR (depending on if they replace Sanders or not) 6- Safety (more so a depth and get younger need here) I would assume that the team is likely to keep Levi and either resign Sanders or find a solid vet at WR. So taking those needs off the list you have 2 out of your top 3 needs on offense. If this organization can’t attempt to fill those needs then they are fumbling a window to win.

If PI wasn’t a spot foul DB’s would just mug WR’s if they get beat down field better to give up 15 than 40. I do think there should be some judgement in PI calls similar to how there used to be 5 and 15 yard face mask penalties. Not all PI penalties are equal and while there should be spot fouls for PI there are should be a 10 or 15 yard version for PI that while still there was less egregious. While I do think there is room to improve NFL officiating there never has been a time where I have heard fans of any sport loving how the game is officiated. People have been complaining about the referees in every sport I have been watching since the 90’s. And my dad has been complaining about the refs since the 60’s. So let’s not pretend there was ever a golden era either.

He definitely didn’t look like a liability against Tampa Bay’s high powered offense. If he continues to look solid that’s a great sign as he is a young player in a secondary that needs younger players. Levi has been underrated for a long time l. I really hope this staff makes it a priority to keep him. I wouldn’t overpay but I definitely would pay retail to try and keep him. Especially since Tre is going to be coming off a serious injury next season you don’t want to let go a quality corner.

No one in the AFC screams unbeatable to me as a fan. Yes likely going on the road the whole way will not be easy but I don’t see a juggernaut out there in the conference. If the Bills can get their lines healthy and right I don’t see why they can’t make noise in the playoffs. But winning 3 road games is a tall task.

I hate when people say "there are no moral victories", yes in the standings there are no moral victories, you lose or win it's all in your record. However teams are comprised of human beings and confidence is a funny thing that can be inspired by a narrow loss. The Giants at the end of the 2007 regular season stood toe to toe with the Pats and lost a nail bitter. That game allowed the Giants to feel as though they could take anyone, they stood right up to Goliath and even though they lost they came away with a feeling that they could contend with them and thus anyone (since the Pats were so far and above any other team that regular season.) Now as good as this Tampa team is, it isn't quite the juggernaut that the 2007 Pats team was. But the Bills composed themselves and forced OT after being down 21 points on the road against one of the best teams in the league with a HOF QB playing at a high level. It didn't end in victory but it could be positive for the team going forward.

This game was a thriller and the Bills ended up on the wrong side. On the road against a monster team this happens. Bills can still make the playoffs and see what happens (although going on the road the whole way is not going to be easy and is the reason why I think Super Bowl aspirations are cooked.) But what really pissed me off is not going for it on 4th down both late in the third around mid field and at the end of regulation. Let Josh Allen decide the game not leave it up to anyone else. There was plenty of time on the clock to spike the ball and still have about 12 to 15 seconds left had they made the line to gain but not the end zone. They would have had two shots at the end zone before a 4th and goal situation where they still could have decided to kick it if they wanted or taken one last shot. Just disappointed overall with this game. I think had they pulled this comeback off it is a completely different outlook for the rest of the season.

This game is going to determine if the Bills are contending for the division and an AFC top seed or are the Bills going to be just hoping to get into the playoffs?

By my amateur eye I wouldn’t rank McD as one of the best coaches in terms of in game decisions but I think he is better than average for sure. From 2017-2019 he made questionable decisions in game with some regularity but he slowly got better and by 2020 he made mostly good decisions in game.

Considering Brown is a favorite of Tom Brady and was killing it before he got hurt I simply don’t think they are going to cut him in the midst of a chance for a Super Bowl.

Not shocking the Bills have won in 7 blowout wins, 2 close losses, 1 loss by two possessions and one blowout loss. 9 of the Bills games have been by two or more possessions most by 3 or more possession margins.

I am not shocked, the Bills offense in the first 11 games of 2020 produced three stinkers (Titans, Chiefs and the second Jets game) the defense bailed out the field goal kicking offense against the Jets but the other two games were losses. In 2021 the Bills offense has had three stinkers the Steelers, Jags and Colts games. The rest of the games in 2021 the Bills have scored 26 or more points with all but one (the second Fins game) being a 30 or more point affair. The Bills in 2020 offensively turned in six good to great performances to end the season they scored 27, 34, 26, 48, 38 and 56 points in the last six games of the season in 2020. Hopefully the Bills in 2021 can find more consistency.

I do wonder how many penalties are on the Bills defense vs. Bills offense. If the penalties are defense heavy it could be a design of the gameplan to be extra physical and live with a few extra calls going against you. But if the penalties are heavy on the offensive side too that's on the coaching staff.

The AFC is a gigantic scrum. Only 3 teams are really out of it (The Texans, Jags, and Jets) even the 4th team with a losing record the Fins are still hanging in there with a 5-7 record. The Bills just really need to win next Monday take care of your games and let the rest shake out.