hondo in seattle

I don't agree with the personal attacks on brethren mafia. But I do agree that Brady hasn't been an obvious improvement as OC. It's been good to see more players involved in the offense. But our overall production remains about the same.

I agree. I sincerely doubt if Sherfield will have a big game like that. But I do believe that Sherfield's typical game as a #2 won't be worse than Gabe's typical game.

For those who say the D won the game, I don't disagree. But, if you're old enough, think back to how the Giants beat us in the Super Bowl. They held our high-flying offense to 19 points mostly by controlling time of possession and not letting us have the ball. We scored a point per minute of possession that game. That's good production. We just didn't possess the ball very much because our defense kept allowing their offense to convert on third down. Yesterday, the Fins only held the ball for 21 minutes. While the turnovers certainly hurt us, our offense gained 26 first downs and 473 yards. Our offense contributed more than the 14 points they scored. Their drives kept Miami's boy-genius-led, high-scoring offense off the field.

After watching the two picks and the missed deep ball to Diggs, I felt like Josh was having a really bad day and never quite shook that feeling till the 4th quarter. But that angry 3rd down run made me reassess his game. Here's his stat line. He completed 79% of his passes for 359 yards. (And the passing stats would look even better if Cook hadn't dropped that TD). He was also our leading rusher (15/67), outgaining Fournette and Cook combined. Both of the backs averaged less than 3 yards a carry. Josh was effectively both our passing attack and our running attack. Most importantly, Allen fought like a warrior. Some of the comments Fin message boards are interesting. One Fins fan called Allen a "lion." Another said he was a "f@cking baller." There were many other remarks along those lines. Yeah, the TOs sucked. But let's appreciate that we have a lion, not a lamb. Agree!

We've got to give both Beane and McD credit for this. Beane doesn't draft and sign prima donnas. He goes after team-first ballers willing to commit to 'the process.' And McD seems to have a talent for creating a culture where guys work well together, communicate, and play hard for each other.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't find Collinsworth unbearable. He's opinionated. Color guys are supposed to have opinions. In any case, I don't care. His opinions on the Bills are sometimes negative and wrong. Again, I don't care. Like all color guys, once in a while he makes an insightful or interesting point. For that, I'm grateful. I tune out the rest. But, yeah, he seemed more positive about the Bills and their fans than usual.

The star player on each level of our defense is hurt: Miller, Milano, and White. They may have more starters injured but we might have more quality lost due to injury.

I'm interested in what other teams think about us. And I think they tell us - in a roundabout way. The expression damn-with-faint-praise comes to mind when I read what they say about our offense. I think opponents truly respect how well coached our defense is and how well they play together and how they don't make many mental errors. Reading what opponents say about our offense, I get a different picture. They respect Allen, of course, and some of our other players. But our scheme doesn't challenge them. I have no idea what my opening post count is, nor could I care less.

I'll angrily swear off football till next season.

I didn't mean it as a criticism. I wasn't expecting a whole lot of Flacco either. A lot of us were wrong.

Interpreting coach-speak and what other teams really think of the Bills... Reporter: So how big a challenge is this Bills offense? McDaniel. It’s a challenge, for sure. Allen, of course, is super talented and has given us a lot of problems in the past. Fortunately for us, he seems a little off his game lately. And we know he takes chances when he feels the game’s on his shoulders so that’s a weakness we want to exploit. Of course, the Bills don’t have any real receiving threats outside of Diggs. And their coordinators this year struggle to scheme guys open. Just look at Trent Sherfield. He did a lot of good things for us last year but hasn’t done squat for the Bills. I think that’s more of a Dorsey-Brady problem than a Sherfield problem. Their offense is talented but it’s also unimaginative and predictable. I trust Vic to outcoach Brady. I don’t think coaches normally lie in pressers. But they don’t tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. They edit their responses and focus on positive responses while keeping critiques to themselves. McDaniel might say and believe the highlighted parts but he’ll never tell the press his full, unedited opinion. Here’s a real quote from DC Vic Fangio: “They’re really talented on offense… Everybody obviously knows about Josh Allen and his ability…” Here’s a real quote from OC Frank Smith: “They play very well together. They’re a very well-connected defense, well-coached…” What Smith doesn’t say, “Though their D would be a lot more formidable if their star players at each level – Miller, Milano, and White – were healthy.” But he’s thinking of it and glad he’s facing a diminished Bills defense. And here’s what Fangio doesn’t say, “They play very well together. They’re a very well-connected offense, well coached…” And that’s been the trend for a couple years now. We keep hearing from opponents how well-coached our defense is and how well they play together. We rarely hear similar comments about our offense. Instead, we hear compliments about Josh and Diggs. Teams playing against the Chiefs will talk about Reid’s schemes. I rarely read compliments of our offensive coaches or scheme. And I think that speaks volumes.

Agree entirely. Bills 27... Fins 20

Bernard and Davis

My first thought is we need to hire someone from the Ravens or Giants because they apparently know to scheme guys open. Then I remembered, we had Daboll. Frustratingly, neither Dorsey nor Brady seemed to learn from him how to design a passing game that creates separation.

There were a lot of bad takes early in this thread.

I don't agree that the team always looks mentally exhausted. But the team does look unexceptional at times. I think that a factor of (1) poor offensive scheming, and (2) an unfair share of injuries to key players.

If the Bills keep playing like they've been playing, our playoff run - if we make the playoffs - won't last long. But we've seen our D play really well at times. We've seen our O play really well at times. Sometimes teams get hot in the playoffs. We have the ability to be that team this year.

As any away game should be.

An interesting list. I know some Raiders fans who would disagree with Stabler’s inclusion. But the Snake was no Joe Montana.

Luck shouldn't be underestimated. Sometimes games are decided by lucky deflections, bad referee calls, etc. And then there are injuries. Sometimes excellent teams enter the playoffs missing multiple key players while other players are playing with bandages and painkillers. And then loses to a lesser team that happens to be comparatively healthy.

We fans believe heart and soul that with Josh Allen we should win at least one Super Bowl. More than one, really. When you have a talent like that, unless your coach is an idiot, you ought to be hoisting multiple Lombardis. Belichick won 6 rings with Brady. Reid has 2 so far with Mahomes. We're still waiting for McD to cash in after winning the QB lottery. The contrarians point out that the QB is just 1 of 22 offensive & defensive starters. The entire roster matters. Let's not make too much out of the QB, they say. After all, the Ravens won a Super Bowl with Trent Dilfer. QBs don't win Super Bowls, teams do. But here's another angle. It's not just that a team with a bad/mediocre QB can win the SB. Teams with good QBs often fail. My fellow Boilermaker, Drew Brees, played 20 years and only won one. He was OPOY twice, led the NFL in yards 7 times, and went to 13 Pro Bowls. If not for Tom Brady and all his rings, Brees would be in the GOAT conversation. And his Head Coach most of his career was Sean Payton, widely regarded as a coaching wunderkind and offensive genius. As great as Brees was, the chances of his team winning it all in any given year was a mere 5%. The average team has a 3% chance (1 in 32) of winning the Super Bowl. Brees only elevated their probability by 2%. And Drew was fortunate just to get that one ring. Dan Marino, one the greatest pure passers I've ever seen, never won a Lombardi despite having Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history, as his HC. This is a dream duo: HOF coach with HOF QB. It should have produced an SB victory. It didn't. Marino isn't the only great QB shut out. That unhappy list also includes Dan Fouts, Warren Moon, Fran Tarkenton, and several others including - sadly - our own Jim Kelly. The message of history is clear. It's hard to win the SB with a mediocre QB but not impossible. It's easier with a great QB but not a guarantee - even with a good coach. I hate to say this but maybe we need to temper our expectations. 32 teams, 1 Lombardi. The odds aren't good. Even with Josh.

You are right of course. But I don't think anyone imagined Peterman being as bad as he was. Yeah, Peterman sucked his rookie year. But he looked okay the following preseason as I recall and some folks said he looked really good in practice. He didn't have the strongest arm, obviously, but reports said he had poise, made good reads, and had command of the playbook. He seemed like a reasonable caretaker until the real QB was ready to take charge. Even now people seem to think Peterman has something to offer. He's still on a roster. I wonder if there was back-and-forth between Daboll and McD (or McD and Beane) on how best to develop Allen. It does seem odd that Peterman only lasted a half-game before being replaced by Allen. Maybe Daboll or Beane convinced McD - against his better judgment - to start Peterman and develop Allen slowly. But watching Peterman's dismal play destroyed McD's patience. It's hard to know.

The Fins are gaining an NFL-best 409.2 yards per game. Why would you eff with that? If you work in the restaurant business and have a smash-hit recipe, you don't suddenly change out one of the key ingredients.

According to the Madden simulation run by ClutchPoints (see below), Allen will pass for 400 yards against the Fins in a victory. It wouldn't be enough. The narrative all year has been that Allen is a turnover machine. One good game won't erase that impression. Madden 24 Simulates – Bills 37 – Dolphins 28 TEAM Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 FINAL Bills 10 17 7 3 37 Dolphins 0 7 7 14 28 Josh Allen exploded with 4 TDs and 400 total yards of offense. Additionally, he turned over the ball zero times to help Buffalo dominate Miami. While the Dolphins outscored Buffalo 21-10 in the second half, their attempts fell flat as Buffalo built too big of a lead early on. Down 34-14 in the fourth, the Dolphins lost their grip on the No. 2 seed. Now, they drop down to the sixth. Buffalo claims the No. 2 seed, hosting Indianapolis in the Wild Card round. www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/madden-24-simulates-nfl-week-18-predictions-bills-win-division/ar-AA1mmxxl

He's been ineffective this season and this game is just too important. I hope he's inactive again.