Utah John

Sorry for my misunderstanding. Yes, I agree about the earlier game.

I agree with everything here except the end. I don't recall thinking Mahomes was off his game in the second half against us. I remember Mahomes and Josh both lighting it up against the other team's defense. If I could bear the pain I'd rewatch the game to check on this, but I haven't worked up the courage to do it yet.

The Bengals won after the Bills lost because Mahomes in the second half played incredibly well against Buffalo and really, really badly against the Bengals. I am not sure what Cincy did differently in the second half, but it couldn't have been THAT different than anything Mahomes had seen before. The difference was that Mahomes started missing easy passes he usually makes without even looking (seriously, he can do that). As a result, KC couldn't sustain drives. The KC defense arguably played better against Cincy than they did against us, either that or Josh played so much better than Burrow did. Either way the loss yesterday is completely on Mahomes. I've never seen a top QB implode like that, certainly not the guy most people think is the best QB in the NFL.

McDermott's part in this would have come much earlier, possibly in training camp when the defensive schemes were installed. He should have made sure Frazier had a scheme all worked out and communicated to the players for a situation like the end of the KC game. And Frazier should have had the scheme worked out whether or not McDermott asked him about it. There was no reason for the Bills to be scratching their heads about what to do.

Does anyone remember why the Bills moved on from Dorenbos? The Bills originally signed him as an UDFA, and he played in Buffalo for two or three years. He had a pretty long, pretty good career so I wonder what the reason was we didn't keep him around.

Part of the explanation is that the teams that made the playoffs are good teams, and during the playoffs they played their best games. Good teams playing well commit fewer penalties. A lot of penalties come about through lack of focus and attention. The number of pre-snap penalties in particular was WAAAY down during the playoffs, and I think that's because everyone was doing their very best. If the officials are just letting the players play, and not calling the minor stuff, teams will get an unfair advantage. The Bengals had one play on offense where they had nine men on the line of scrimmage. That's illegal and it helped the Bengals on that play, but the refs either didn't notice or chose not to flag it. That's just wrong.

It's been a foregone conclusion all year that Daboll would get a HC job somewhere. So are Bills trying to act like they're just getting started now, looking for a new OC? That would be malpractice. They should have been talking to Dorsey to see about his interest in the job, as well as making quiet inquiries around the league or colleges. The Bills should have been in position to pull the chain on a new OC almost immediately after the Giants HC job was announced.

No, if he's offered the Giants OC position it's a promotion, not a lateral move. The Bills would not interfere.

If Dorsey's offered the Bills OC job and takes it, it will be his for as long as he wants it unless it turns out he's a bad play caller. The Bills are built to keep winning, by avoiding salary cap binds and keeping good players on board. Taking a job on the Giants staff would be like Zsa Zsa Gabor having a wash and wear wedding dress. (OK, I'm dating myself.) If the Giants continue to struggle, and there's no reason to think they won't, the OC will be the fall guy, and Dorsey's buddy Daboll and HIS buddy Schoen won't be willing to lose their own jobs to save him. Or Daboll could get canned and Dorsey would lose his job then too. Dorsey might want to leave to avoid the chatter that any success he has will be because of the offense he inherited from Daboll. That's a real possibility.

Moving the team to Southern California. Not worth it.

The first guy on the FA list that SHOULD be signed in Harrison Phillips. He's finally turned into the player that he looked like he was going to be, before his knee injury a couple of years ago. He's a beast and we need him back. Neal is a value performer. He's not going to get many big offers, and he can settle in as a role player with the Bills. But a lot of guys filling role player positions on the Bills think they're good enough to be starters (at starter pay) elsewhere. Neal could be one of those guys who gets an offer the Bills don't want to match.

Frazier's defense won a lot more games for the Bills than it lost for the Bills. It was extremely effective against most teams. That #1 ranking is not the nothing many people are implying. The problem in the second Chiefs game was that Frazier tried to use the same tactics he used in the first Chiefs game. Reid and Mahomes knew what to expect and schemed up route trees that attacked it effectively. THAT was Frazier's mistake, as I see it. He had his system in place and he was going to ride that horse all the way to the end. Reid is too smart and creative for Frazier to get away with that. Considering how lousy the Bills D has been in countless years, I'm not hoping for a big change. If Frazier returns, I think he'll learn a lesson from the loss. Also our JV pass rushers will graduate to the varsity, just like Oliver finally has done, and that's going to make any DC look a lot better.

Yup.

The Colts loss to the Ravens was completely down to injuries to several of the Colts' DBs. The Ravens receivers and Lamar Jackson might as well have been playing against air. That's what allowed the Ravens to be able to come back as they did. No team has enough DBs on their active roster to sustain that many injuries and still be effective against an offense as good as the Ravens is, when everyone on the Ravens is healthy. The Colts loss to the Jags was simply inexcusable. I saw that game and it seemed like the Colts, like the Bills, were in some kind of fog when playing in that stadium. Neither the Colts nor the Bills went with what worked well for them. They both seemed to approach the game like the Jags were pushovers and they could just use it as a warmup for other, tougher games. I think both the Bills and Colts will take a clear lesson from their inexplicable losses, and do a better job of never taking an opponent lightly or playing down to an inferior opponent.

The Onion adds a lot to life.

Objective: Get to and win the Super Bowl. To make that happen: Win AFC playoff games against anyone. To make that happen: Get #1 seed. To make that happen: Win 14 or 15 games out of 17. To make that happen: Actually follow the damn process we've been hearing about for years. Every game is a new challenge against a professional outfit. DON'T PLAY DOWN to inferior opponents. Don't let coaches take a week off against weak teams. Insist on analyzing each team's capabilities for potential problems and potential opportunities. Build effective game plans. Don't let players lose focus. Have tougher practices leading up to games that should be easy wins.

It wouldn't be a lateral move. He's the QB coach now with the Bills and a job elsewhere would be as an OC. If he DOES sign on as the new OC, then it would indeed be a lateral move to another team's OC position, but why would he sign here if he wants to go elsewhere?

It's called the salary cap. And there's less cheating of the salary cap than there was of some nuclear weapons treaties -- but there certainly is widespread ingenuity in how a team complies with the rules. He still looks as good as ever.

Look at it this way: Put Josh on the Chiefs and Mahomes with the Bills. Who wins more? I think the Chiefs would do better and the Bills would slip a bit. Give Josh Hill and Kelce and CEH and Hardman, and that O line, and it's a terribly scary thing to contemplate. OTOH I don't think Mahomes could get as much, let alone more, out of the Bills compared to what Josh does.

A lot depends on what McKenzie does. If Daboll leaves and brings McKenzie with him, keeping Beasley becomes more important. Why would McKenzie leave? He loves Daboll and he'll always be pissed about being benched for a tiny thing like fumbling a kickoff without being touched. Beasley has been our Kelce, the guy the QB goes to to move the chains. He's been very valuable for that and did his job very well. But it could be the Bills are thinking that our Kelce should be a tight end, not a slot receiver. It could be they look at Knox and think he's ready for that role. Of course Knox did drop a short pass early in the Chiefs game...

Of course they should retain Oliver, either by tagging or with a new contract. It's Harrison Phillips I'm worried about. He's an UFA and the rest of the league will have noticed his excellent play over the last half of the season. I think he loves Buffalo but money talks. He could leave. But, if he does leave, that creates a problem/opportunity at DT. Star has lost it and should be gone. If they lose Phillips and cut Star, they have a need and the cash for a monster DT to plug the middle.

Ooooh, good thinking. Yes, the Cowboys would be a very attractive landing, and Payton would look very attractive to Jerry Jones.

Taking personalities out of it, that would be a great move for the Bills, on paper. But if Daboll leaves, and if Ken Dorsey doesn't get the OC job, Dorsey will probably leave too, and suddenly Josh's support system is yanked out. Not that Payton couldn't make Josh and the entire offense even more successful, maybe, but it would be a very risky move. Also who knows whether Payton would take a demotion like that, or if McDermott would be happy about it.

This is pretty logical, but you have to look at the AFCN teams too. I think Pittsburgh will have to make a very bold and expensive move to bring in a QB. and it's not clear the Colts are set with Wentz. The Browns keep adding shiny expensive toys sprinkled around their lineup but the downside is lots of guys not good enough to be competitive -- and Mayfield might be out, and the Browns really miss another top receivers. So the Bengals to me are the AFCN favorites going in, and with their schedule, 13-4 doesn't seem out of reach.

We're probably going to lose Daboll AND Frazier. And I'm worried that Daboll will take some of the Bills offensive players with him.