NoSaint

I think the biggest thing is health right now, honestly.

we did put our WR2 back there, which is a risky move but did help.

the one defense there is he isn’t the guy back there regularly. To some degree, especially in this game, you tell him to keep it real simple back there. If the guy playing the position regularly can’t handle it - totally different but with a fill in I’m pretty ok with him being reigned in completely I think our expectations are pretty low. If it’s plus, it’s barely. they gave up a possession. That’s massive in playoff football. Most of the rest was just executing pretty normal expectations.

I’m happy we won im not declaring the turning of a corner. We beat up a team we are considerably better than. I encourage you to get used to the standards of the elite - it’s still a fun place to sit.

we will see. All week I stressed rookie qb in the road with limited weapons against the mvp. if not for KC sitting guys, Denver would’ve been like the 8/9 seed on the strength of their defense. im not all in on the hype of the momentum from beating KC

you have to hype up the matchup. It’s not personal. It’s manufactured drama.

Winning the division is good but it’s kind of expected. Hosting the 7th best AFC team is only so exciting locally the threat of being picked for Monday night makes saying “screw it, I’ll fly in Friday-Monday” not even a safe bet anymore. the other factors include maybe Denver not traveling super well on 7 days notice even in a best case, but the world kind of being on fire since the year kicked off - big storms, snow in the south, the actual fires, NYD stuff… so even some bills fans around the country aren’t as quick to come in. wait, what?!?

he also can’t be in the building with either team during the week and frankly would you want him having private access to Joe Brady today (and each week through the Super Bowl) with the raiders job open? Or bills players with free agency looming?

JA17 is like finding the winning lotto ticket. Amazing but statistically not a great plan for financial success to bank on the small school guy with accuracy issues those that hit though can have a great time! We are quite lucky.

and yet, they got it and rested starters

Yea I’m not sure Brady is eager to go to a 3 year project (2 years of major cap work) today. if it’s his dream job it almost feels like you let someone else unbury the team financially, and follow them in 24 months and I’m one that stretched his resume more than most when bringing him permanently as OC but there’s a reality he’d have a failed OC, failed HC and one year with Josh Allen as his nfl resume and that could be a tougher spot to rebound from - so being selective might be more important

To be honest im not sure why one would look back 30 years for insights on this game

if he refused to go back in the game they might be able to void guarantees I suspect he wasn’t sharp enough during his tantrum to manifest a new injury and probably talked plenty of smack

yup. A basic hiring freeze through the day after the Super Bowl would be noteworthy. both gives successful coaches a better chance to get jobs and avoids distractions

yea- the tua problem is a big one. You can’t have a franchise qb that bakes in 3-4 losses due to injury. The salary cap and bfl parity don’t allow it. Especially when your division has a hall of famer at qb for your rival

as a saints season ticket holder for most of his career- it was something special to watch. before his arm died the last year or two he was just such a good passer.

again, playoff teams tend not to be pushovers with trash at qb and terrible coaching no dominant playmakers on offense a rookie qb Traveling across the country theres not much more you can hope for in January.

you act like a rookie qb, unfamiliar with playoff football, coming off throwing against 3rd stringers won’t potentially throw a few dumb ones that he can’t actually get away with

lets see that confident rookie qb try to keep up with the mvp in his house in the playoffs any playoff team is good and can win any given Sunday but this is about as good a matchup as you get

chiefs make out like bandits with Pittsburgh losing the division. I liked our path so much more with them the 3 seed

two deep threats, and the league leader in sacks was not my preference. I’ll let the rookie qb deal with the stress of going on the road for a shootout against the mvp for his first playoff game

they probably said that about us against the Steelers backups once upon a time

right but perhaps the decision wasn’t just made based on points per game but things like film prep, play design, demeanor, ability to run meetings, relationships with players and coaches, game day communication, play calling etc… if he was firing on all cylinders but they just had no real talent there are still ways to showcase your value adds in your role that isn’t just points per game

also would connect back to reports that Deshaun was unable to keep up

perhaps it wasn’t solely based on output but also his performance in the day to day process