Utah John

The key to the season going in was the first seven games, six of which are against very strong opponents. The thinking was getting through those games at 4-3 or even 3-4 would be OK since the Bills figure to go 8-2 or better over the final 10. We play the Steelers and Packers at home over the next three weeks. The Steelers don't have a QB and all the Packers have is a QB. Barely beating the Pats at home, against a 3rd string QB? Seriously? Figuring those two as wins, that makes 5-1 with the KC game still up in the air. I'm getting to the point. If White can play effectively against KC and not put his recovery at risk AT ALL, then play him against KC. If not, take the 5-2 record and move on, waiting until it's really safe for White to return. Week 8 doesn't matter nearly as much as Week 18. And in the meantime, it looks like we have three other CBs we can depend on, with two rookies gaining experience. The rich get richer, and for once that's us. As for Oliver, he's just coming into his prime as a player, and he and Jordan Phillips are the best two DTs on the team. Getting them back is going to make an already great defense simply lethal.

I hope you're right that the Bills will bring their A game on Sunday. Not only do they have two not-dominant games to atone for, they have last year's debacle in mind as well. The Bills need to beat the Steelers and the Packers (in Orchard Park) which is very doable, then even if they lose to KC they finish the killer part of their schedule at 5-2, and they're on track to cruise to the AFCE and first or second seed in the playoffs.

They are a decent team with Tua, and it looks like they might be a better team with Bridgewater on one of his good days. Both the Jets and Dolphins got a lot of draft picks from trading away excellent players, and both are trying to figure out how to get things to mesh. Right now the Dolphins are ahead of the Jets but the Jets are improving. This could be a very good game. It helps Miami that they played on Thursday so they have their mini-bye and more time to rest up. Bridgewater is massively inconsistent. On his good days, he's a good QB.

I think this is right. The weather is turning colder in Buffalo, he's making a less-than-great salary but still needs to show up for practice every day, and he just wants to hang out where he's comfortable. But not being on some team's practice squad makes him even less visible than he has been to other teams.

Not so. Early on with the Rams he was pretty productive. Probably not as productive as you'd expect from the first rounder but still a good contributor. After the Rams, he's bounced around a lot. No one seems to have a use for him. Maybe it's just time to hang em up.

How about, OK Jordan, win a Super Bowl and you'll get a really great ring. Everything else is a distraction.

Honestly I have no idea how well Emili played overall. On the pass tip, he was downfield a couple of yards, not getting a push into the backfield. Maybe the coaches just didn't see enough production to keep him on board. Frazier can do no wrong. If he thinks Emili should go, that's it for me.

On SNL, when Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston broke up, they said, if these two are tired of sex with each other, what chance do the rest of us have? That's what this brought to mind.

Bienemy is sort of a jerk. Frazier is a class act all the time. If I were a player I don't think I'd want Bienemy as the HC, but I think Frazier would be a dream come true.

Milano might have been the Bills best player yesterday, considering the entire game's production. Sure Allen did great but he didn't start out playing great. Milano has been showing us all his extension was a great move. The dropped INT against Miami was the really disappointing miss. As for JUGGS, if Milano had great hands he'd be a tight end. As it is he's one more excellent piece of the puzzle for this great defense.

He's had several interviews for a HC job, plus it would be a good thing for the league to see another black HC, and yet he STILL can't get a job. I don't know what the problem is. He seems very quiet on the sidelines so maybe it's just a personality thing, where other teams owners or GMs don't light up after talking to him. Or maybe other teams are focused on hiring the next very young genius type. Who knows. I have to agree he certainly seems to have earned another shot somewhere.

https://theathletic.com/3651247/2022/10/02/wisconsin-coach-paul-chryst-jim-leonhard/ Leonhard walked on at Wisconsin and earned a scholarship, was all-Big 10 twice, was undrafted by signed with the Bills, and had a 10 year career in the NFL, playing for the Bills twice. He was a fairly slow, undersized player who was one of the toughest tacklers I ever saw. Congratulations to a good guy.

I made this post on Friday: The only thing that concerns me is the question of why the Bills don't win close games. Not that they can't win them, but they don't. Allen skips the throw to McKenzie against the Dolphins. Allen slips on the fourth down run last year against the Titans. A blocked punt against the Steelers, and the offense doesn't score enough to overcome that single bad play. A half dozen or more missed opportunities against the Texans in the playoff loss in Allen's second year. Allen underthrows just enough to Clay against Miami, the last time the Dolphins beat the Bills, for him not to score the winning TD. And of course 13 seconds. Is there some crucial guts component to this team, that's missing? I hope not, and I love watching them destroy other teams in a riot of scoring and big defensive plays. But not all the games are blowouts. The Bills have a running streak of all their consecutive wins by double digits. I would dearly love to see that string broken, by the Bills pulling out a tough close game for the win. And so I am so happy not only that they won, but HOW they won. They were clearly in a fog in the first half against the Ravens, maybe still coming out of the fatigue from the Dolphins game. Then they came out from halftime and we got to see the real Bills. If any of the Bills had a little nagging doubt in their mind about close games, that should have gone away with Bass's automatic kick.

There are no moral victories in the NFL, but there should be perspective. Look at all the factors working against the Bills against Miami, and consider they were one pass to McKenzie that Allen normally makes in his sleep, from winning anyway. I think the Bills have figured all that out, and are ready to move on. The only thing that concerns me is the question of why the Bills don't win close games. Not that they can't win them, but they don't. Allen skips the throw to McKenzie against the Dolphins. Allen slips on the fourth down run last year against the Titans. A blocked punt against the Steelers, and the offense doesn't score enough to overcome that single bad play. A half dozen or more missed opportunities against the Texans in the playoff loss in Allen's second year. Allen underthrows just enough to Clay against Miami, the last time the Dolphins beat the Bills, for him not to score the winning TD. And of course 13 seconds. Is there some crucial guts component to this team, that's missing? I hope not, and I love watching them destroy other teams in a riot of scoring and big defensive plays. But not all the games are blowouts. The Bills have a running streak of all their consecutive wins by double digits. I would dearly love to see that string broken, by the Bills pulling out a tough close game for the win.

The inability to evaluate and draft/hire O linemen has been a consistent problem for Beane since he got here. It's weird because he's so good at everything else. Maybe he needs someone on his staff to handle this area. Or maybe he HAS someone on the staff for this area, and that person can't get it right. Brown was AWFUL from the get-go on Sunday. He was exposed over and over, and when Quessenberry replaced him I figured it was for poor play and not heat problems. I think the Bills figure he's immense and so will make a good road-grader for the run game, and maybe that will work out, but what the Bills need is a really good pass-protect O line.

I think it was actually the Bills plan to control the ball with all those short throws, keeping drives going and eating the clock, as complementary football -- to protect the defense which had so many subs playing. This is how the Bills held the explosive Dolphins to so few yards and under 20 minutes TOP. The heat and humidity, plus Kumerow's injury, plus Hart's suspension, wrecked that plan, but I think it was an excellent plan.

That was Wichita, not Erie County. Well that's what I get for not reading all the intervening posts. Sorry.

That was after massive trades to move up, giving up personnel and draft picks, and getting lucky that other teams didn't grab Josh when they could. Beane went all out and deserves praise for cojones, preparedness, and talent evaluation.

I would like to see Jordan Philllips playing fullback, running with the ball on short yardage situations. The Bills on 3rd and 1 can't get any worse.

Well, he was the first overall pick based on the talent he showed in college. He got stuck on an absolute dumpster fire of a team. Finally he's getting a chance to compete. Will he be one of the top QBs? That's largely up to him, to keep improving a la Josh Allen's first two years.

Yeah, that second drive, what was that? Two Moss runs into the line, after Josh had carved up the Dolphins with his passing on the first drive. For the most part, the Bills were obviously trying to keep the ball out of Miami's hands, by carrying out long long long drives. Dorsey had the plays worked out to make that strategy function.

Some questions -- Could the Bills have given EVERY player an IV during halftime? Could McKenzie have intentionally fumbled out of bounds on the last play (or would there have been a 10 second runoff)?

By the end of the game, Josh was not Josh. I don't know if it was the heat, or watching all his teammates struggle with the heat, or his hurt hand. The Josh we know doesn't blow the throw to McKenzie that would have won the game. I am not criticizing him, I'm sort of applauding his courageous attempt to overcome everything, but mostly I'm saying we all need to relax. The conditions of the game, traveling to southern Florida on a short week after all these injuries, in this heat -- and losing by either two seconds of clock time or two points, against a very good opponent -- were the perfect storm, and yet he almost pulled it out. The Josh we know is the Josh we saw at the start of the game, hitting his first 10 or 11 passes, calmly dissecting the defense. That guy will be back on the field next week.

He didn't assume it would protect him, so he made plays any way he could. He always had the heart, but that first year he wasn't a good passer. And that was the last year the Bills didn't make the playoffs, but thankfully Beane got busy and rebuilt the roster.

I agree, I'd like to hear Romo's description of the Bills' offense.