BADOLBILZ

Yeah, makable field goals aren't guaranteed either. I'm living and dying with Josh Allen in the redzone playing 4 down football there. And I love those chances. The offense was grinding the Chiefs vulnerable run and short passing defense down. Killing them with short gains. They instead played into the strength of the Chiefs defense.........downfield pass defense.........and as much as people want to claim that was a sure TD pass there isn't nearly enough data this season that suggests that to be the case. Quite the opposite. Impose your will and win or go out with your boots on. I'm not giving the Chiefs the ball back until I make them use those timeouts..........and preferably not until there is well under a minute left to move the ball 75 yards. It's how Parcells and Belichick would have done it.

I clearly explained why the fans "gut feel" that he would complete it was irrelevant. He played out of his head in the Eagles game as well and 2 similar throws end up on the turf. One to Sherfield early and the Gabe one in OT. You can be OK with the result because you wanted the spectacular completion at the risk of 3rd and 9.......but it wasn't the right move. That's BEFORE giving the Chiefs the ball back with that much time and 2 timeouts to play 4 down football for the first time all game. That would have very likely ended just the same as the Eagles game or the 13 seconds game. The defense had forced a punt only 1 time all game. The only other possession the Chiefs didn't score on they fumbled at the 1.

Then you could argue he made the right call on a similar throw in OT to Gabe against the Eagles. Blame whoever you want but that ball also ultimately landed well off the mark. Game lost. If people are OK with Josh deciding games late by choosing to make throws only he and a handful of others would even attempt...........after proving they could just march their way down in small chunks all game............and as opposed to taking what may be more situationally appropriate like most other QB's would have to.........then that's that fans choice. Honestly, I'd rather have a spectacular Josh Allen for 10 years and never win a SB and then have to find another QB.........than instead win one SB with a journeyman starter and have a bunch of other run of the mill QB's that I have to watch. Ideally you get spectacular and SB's........but sometimes superstars and just doing what it takes to win don't align. But I'm not a finish line Bills fan. My NCAAF team and MLB team have combined for 12 titles during my viewing life so it's not a tragedy to me if the Bills never do. Being a Bills fan is a lifestyle for me and winning a SB only changes maybe a couple banners or flags I might fly. That's it. But none of that changes the fact that the decision to hurl that ball 30+ air yards into the end zone on 2nd and 9 just wasn't the right move strategically speaking. It was the wrong decision on multiple levels.

So if Chris Jones wasn't a known great pass rusher.........and if Josh completed a specific throw that he has turfed for various reasons in big situations this season even WITHOUT significant pressure.........and completed a throw for more air yards than any other completion of his in the game and more air yards than any Shakir completion all season..........then it was definitely a TD? If you are going to live in the land of make believe that's your prerogative, but it was a low % completion throw based on all of the most recent Josh/Bills data.

I just don't think they buy into Allen NEEDING more weapons. I think they see that as an "in an ideal situation we'd have more weapons". But they haven't prioritized it since 2020 with the Diggs trade. And with the cap tightening it will get harder to stock that cupboard. Pass rush has been priority #1.

I'm most concerned with the self-fulfilling prophecy aspect. Lesser coaches than McD have won and will win SB's. But when you get a reputation for coming up short in big situations..........in a room of 20 and 30 something dudes who are easily sucked into narratives by nature........well, I think it becomes a task in itself to reverse that notion.

But the draft is a craps shoot!

I've been drawing the parallels to the Marty/Norv Chargers regarding this team for a couple of years now. I don't foresee any significant changes in management and I doubt that they will ever put the weapons around him that he had in 2020 again............so that would portend similar play style and results for a few years........and by then he might not have the ability to bully his way to victory when all else fails. So my guess would be that he ends up like a Philip Rivers. But there is plenty of time to change that narrative. He is obviously a lot more like Elway as a player but he hasn't reached any SB's like Elway did and I don't see him playing as long and at the level of Elway because of all the running he does. Elway rarely ran the ball.

Yeah make no mistake, the Gabe hate is entirely on Brandon Beane. Gabe has two specific skills that he is very good at.......he can make big plays deep and he can block. But in their attempt to allocate as many resources as they could to the defense they allowed their WR corp to become depleted "hoping" that Gabe Davis could be a WR2. That was never going to happen. He just doesn't have a broad enough skill set and that should have been obvious. The NFL is an entertainment business. The saying in show business goes "always leave them wanting to see more of you". Gabe just got overexposed. Ideally he would have stayed in that role he had in his first 2 seasons.

I can confirm this. But that's the norm with Gabe, he is always looking for a reason to fight with fans. He hates the fans. Seriously. Basically nobody else on the team does this. He doesn't get fan/player dynamic or the fact that when you cuss out the 2-3 people out of 1,000 in the vicinity that are going out of their way to heckle you then you are showing yourself to be an unlikable character. He really turned the crowd behind the bench against him the past couple of seasons. As for the "a lot of a-hole Bills fans" crack.......ok........but there are a lotta' 50+ year season ticket accounts in that part of the crowd. And a lot of Bills family members. Not exactly a drunken end zone group or a tough heckling crowd by any means. I'm actually surprised someone finally recorded him telling the crowd to "go ***** yourselves" on video. That's not what people in that area usually do. Not a big social media presence in there.

To clarify........10 years ago Mark Cuban said the NFL would implode in 10 years. He couldn't have been more wrong. Quoting him for truth on that is like quoting some Y2K or 2012 apocalypse prophet. All these current sports will eventually run their course but their business model is FAR better than the NBA, MLB or NHL. And it's not even close. But as for the topic at hand........the current setup is fine. Back when the Bills were getting the #1 seed in the 90's I really didn't like the fact that the #2 seed was also getting a bye. The regular season champ deserves more of an advantage over the #2. Especially if it's accomplished over 17 or 18 games.

It's maybe a curse of beating the Bills. Not anything specific to Josh Allen. I believe the last 18 teams to beat the Bills are 2-16 in the next game. First time I heard this stat was during the Eagles game.......which had been the last loss. The implication is that it takes a lot to beat the Bills. The fact that they almost never lose by more than a single score re-inforces that.

A lotta' teams realized how badly they need playmaking WR's this year. An already high stock only went higher. I expect 6-8 to go in round 1. The Bills need more than 1 from this draft.

Yeah I agree that he has some very Davis-like concerns but he's just a lot more talented/athletic. I also agree that the Bills needs at WR have changed. They need a Stef replacement now, not just a Stef complement. AND they need a complement to THAT guy. They've got TE and slot covered with really talented players in Kincaid and Shakir. Problem is that you aren't likely to be getting a first round talent WR outside of the top 18-20 picks anymore. You are getting guys with potential but with holes in their game. I've never warmed to Franklin as a 1st round pick but it's entirely possible that I am under-rating him. I like Legette more than him. He is a beast but he's pretty raw for a 23 year old one-year-wonder.

Yeah I have zero confidence that the defense would have stopped Mahomes from scoring playing 4 down football for 1 minute plus with 2 timeouts. Conversely, I didn't think the Chiefs would deny Allen with over a minute and a timeout left in the regular season game if Kelce's lateral had counted.

I have loved watching him play at Texas. He is dynamic. Crazy twitched-up and talented. His size and tendency to disappear at times(like that semi-final game) gives him a very high bust rate though, IMO. Not sure he has the dog in him.

You will get no disagreement from me on your second point. I've been lamenting the declining state of the Bills WR corps since 2021 when there was still some debate to be had about it. Back when delusional fans/observers thought they had a stud in Gabe Davis. But Trent Sherfield isn't going to catch those balls. He's a scrub. Diggs drop was bad but Diggs and Allen haven't been connecting on those throws all season. But that drive continued anyway. The Bills offense advanced the ball further than the point where he'd have caught the ball and would have been down. It wasn't a TD pass.

Yeah Norwood was just washed. They needed Pop-goes Daluiso to kickoff for him and still they didn't replace him.

Yeah Daboll probably(rightfully) gets fired after next season so it's not a great gig being his DC.........but he's buried here. It would be different if he were leaving a cradle of coaches as a hot commodity.

Yeah, unfortunately that is probably so. Even the unappealing matchups like NYG and Tampa ended up being good TV for the general public. The Bills propensity to play down to the competition this year took a toll on Bills fans with these home night/evening games. This last one was the icing on the cake with it taking a good 2.5 hours for traffic to entirely clear following the game.

There were mistakes for sure. But deep balls and fake punts on 4th and 5 aren't plays where there is a high probability of success. The Bass kick was a relative chip shot. People comparing it to Norwood's kick miss the point that Norwood hadn't made a kick that far on grass in a very long time. We are accustomed to 50+ yard kicks being fairly routine nowadays. Back then a 47 yarder was a long kick. It was just clearly out of his range so he over kicked it and just missed. Bass just shanked his misses in these playoffs. He has the yips.

Yeah by "almost" I mean it wasn't the greatest divisional game ever to match the highest viewership. 13 seconds is still the best divisional round NFL playoff game ever, IMO. This one will just go down amongst the good ones. As I mentioned in another thread, I hope the Chiefs lose this week because it will add gravity to the toll of this matchup if the Chiefs continue to lose the week after beating the Bills.

It almost lived up to that kind of hype. Bass killed a well executed game by both teams with an amateur hour kick. Allen trying to throw that dagger on 2nd and 9 was almost like an attempt to maximize the drama of the game by giving the Chiefs the ball back to play 4 down football with a minute plus and two timeouts.

I agree that the Chiefs should have won by 2 scores based on their brilliant offensive execution. They played BY FAR their best offensive game of the year. Not sure they could have been any better aside from the Hardman fumble. But the Bills caught a break with that Hardman fumble. And I don't think there was any other way to win offensively than what the Bills did. The Chiefs have a very good pass defense. By taking modest gains the Bills could have scored virtually every time they had the ball. They have the personnel to play this style IF they are willing to use Allen like a battering ram. It will be interesting to see if KC suffers the "Bills hangover" again. I think teams that beat the Bills are 2-16 in recent seasons the following game. Including the Chiefs losing the next game both times they've beaten the Bills in the playoffs. Going forward, the Bills(again) clearly should focus on personnel around Allen to get the offense back to 2020 levels where Allen was brilliant from the pocket and wasn't needed to carry the ball 10 times per game.

Nah. 😂 The story-telling of the media creates the drama and the narrative that something important is going on. That make-believe aspect pays 100% of their salary......otherwise it's just a bunch of dudes running into each other.........a big budget movie with no soundtrack.......which is why so much media access is required. The league knows they are just selling sugar water and calling it life's blood..........hell the teams are even named after the communities but owned privately. It's all just entertainment. Ultimately the important players big-picture responsibility is to keep the golden goose alive.