hondo in seattle

I remember it all... - The limited route tree/bad route running - The drops - The times Gabe zigged and Allen threw a zag - The stretches of the season he'd disappear - The KC game - The other big plays - The hard work & team-first attitude - The blocking Maybe I'm wrong but I don't see his mixed skillset making a profound difference in a Brady offense that doesn't seem to know how to use wideouts.

No doubt Gabe Davis had some great plays (e.g. Pittsburgh) and great games (e.g. KC). He also disappeared for chunks of the season. I loved him when he was turned on. P.S. I just rewatched every Davis catch in the KC game... So much fun seeing Josh throwing downfield. Why can't Brady scheme like that?

I don't recall Davis doing anything consistently: separate, catch, run the correct route...

If my kids' lives depended on my getting this pick right, I'd reluctantly have to bet on the Chiefs. But they don't, and I can't stomach the thought of the Chiefs beating us at home, so I don't want to think about it before I have to. I'm going to say our coordinators both scheme and call their best games of the year, and the players step up for the challenge as Highmark goes wild... Bills 31 Chiefs 17

My choice wasn't listed: Must win in our quest to finish atop the AFCE! Beyond that, I'd like to see that our run game and defensive performance were no single-game mirages. I'd also like to see an effective downfield passing attack. If we get all that, I'll be happy Bills mafioso!

I don't think anyone is raging. I think, in a way, we're making fun of ourselves for wanting an elite receiver instead of a PS DT despite knowing the realities of the situation. My own hopeful fantasy runs something like this... Years ago, billionaire Terry Pegula hired a group of world-class scientists who secretly cloned Eric Moulds, Andre Reed, and Elbert "Golden Wheels" Dubenion. The original Moulds, Reed, and Dubenion, with the coordination of cutting-edge strength and conditioning specialists, have been training their clones to play NFL football. And any day now I'm going to see that the Bills have signed them as FAs. That dream was met today with the cold-water-in-my-face reality of Akingbesote.

I shouldn't have said it like that, and I do agree that McD and Brady want a balanced offense. And while Brady is producing less yards/game than his predecessors, he's also putting up more points and fewer TOs. I do give him some credit. Still, I believe Brady has a problem scheming a downfield passing game. Other than the 4th quarter of the Ravens game, Brady can't seem to dial one up when he needs to. I'd really love to see the Bills hire a good passing game coordinator this offseason to help Brady out.

I wonder if anyone else watched the linked vid. Great stuff. I also wonder if Brady would know what to do with Moulds.

Not the signing announcement I was hoping for.

I disagree. I don't think either McD or Brady is purposely bad at throwing downfield. My guess is what they want to do is stretch the field both vertically and horizontally. Balance. Run inside and out, throw short and deep. Force opponents to defend the entire field. But we're not good enough to do that. Our WRs don't get a lot of separation, our OL has been inconsistent at passpro, and our OC isn't adept at scheming a downfield passing game.

Greg Cosell, among others, is putting some of the blame on Brady.

What's wrong with Josh? 1. Subpar receiving corps 2. Subpar downfield passing scheme

I don't disagree with using Gabe instead of, say, Shavers. I simply don't think it's going to make much of a difference if Gabe is on the field or not. Gabe is recovering from a serious injury, runs a limited route tree, doesn't possess blazing speed even when fully healthy, isn't great at separation, and doesn't always seem to be on the same page as Josh. None of our current wideouts are making a difference. Gabe won't change that. Not the way Brady schemes and calls a downfield passing game. These are both good points I hadn't considered. So maybe Gabe, if fully recovered, will make a small difference.

The idea of a mediocre Davis running routes dialed up by a mediocre Brady doesn't excite me. I don't see the big leap forward.

This is probably not a popular opinion, but I think the Bills roster has a lot of JAGs, with one elite player (Josh) and some good players (e.g. Ed, James) elevating our play. It sucks when a JAG gets hurt but it's disastrous when it happens to one of our few good or great players.

He's averaging 2.1 ypc so far this season versus 3.9 last year. He's a complete JAG who doesn't find or hit running lanes as quickly and decisively as Cook. Looks more like a PS player than a second teamer.

I didn't come into the season with high expectations. Looking at the roster, I was unimpressed. In the preseason, I predicted another playoff appearance but not one in Santa Clara. Never once during the Beane era did I believe we had the best roster in the AFC. A SB would require McD and the team to overperform versus roster reality. This season was no different to me. While yesterday's performance was encouraging, it still isn't.

Weirdly, I agree. For some reason, Bills history is blessed with a bunch of really good RBs and a bunch of really bad QBs.

I get our receiving corps isn't the best and that Brady has some good qualities. But I don't think he's adept at scheming a downfield passing game. And I don't see things getting much better the rest of the season. So I'm hoping McD and Brady hire a hotshot passing game coordinator to help him out next year.

I don't feel good about this one. I don't believe our main problem is motivation. I think the major issue is talent. Every level of our defense has struggled this year. Yet every level has also had at least one good game. Can they all play well at the same time against KC? Our running offense has been good but we're probably going to need our passing attack to be productive, too. Mostly, our downfield passing game has sucked, except in the 4th quarter of the Ravens game. Can Brady, once again, figure out how to call an effective downfield pass game? I have big questions and fear for the worst while hoping for the best. I'm just as excited as usual. Though in years past, this was a battle of juggernauts, and it felt like one of them would end up in the SB. This year, I don't think either of these teams are - at present - in the top two of the AFC. Though maybe they just haven't peaked yet.

You gotta understand context to appreciate OJ's accomplishments. First of all, the NFL was different back then. Even though QBs were already producing more yards than RBs, RBs were still considered just as important. In the 1960s when OJ was drafted, more RBs than QBs won Heisman trophies and got picked first overall. OJ's rookie contract was the biggest rookie contract in history, surpassing any QB's. So defenses were built differently back then. Nickel and Dime defenses were called "Pass-Prevent" and mostly used only at the very end of a half. OJ played against heavy 4-3 and 3-4 fronts - no light boxes ever. Coaches thought you had to "establish the run first" to make downfield passing work, so defenses were determined to stop offenses from running. LBers were big, brawny, blood-thirsty thugs who took sadistic joy in punishing RBs, not the small, rangy, coverage LBs of today. DEs were freakishly huge bone-crushing run-stuffers, rather than pirouetting sack-artists with elite "lean" like Von. Finally, OJ was the engine of the Bills offense so opposing defenses had one clear overriding goal: stop OJ - or at least slow him down. In 1973, when OJ rushed for 2,000+, our QB (Joe Ferguson) passed for less than 1,000 yards despite starting every game. The main function of a Bills QB was to hand off to OJ and defenses knew this. As for the Thanksgiving game in Detroit, I remember thinking that the numbers were great but (1) we lost, and (2) it wasn't OJ's best game in the sense that the holes were bigger than in some other games, the yards easier to come by. In terms of athleticism and artistry, OJ had better games. Then again, the Bills QB that day was backup Gary Marangi. He wasn't quite as bad as Nate Peterman, but comes very close. He went 4 of 21 for 29 yards and a pick on that Thanksgiving. In other words, our passing attack was no threat at all, and the Lions' top-ranked defense were entirely focused on stopping OJ yet couldn't.

It worked for the Bills.

Cam seems like a good guy, and he was a talented QB, but his fashion choices are interesting. When I see a person pontificating about the NFL, I'd prefer them to wear normal, mainstream clothes. I find the top hot and other stuff distracting. Similarly, I can live without Pat McAfee's locker room gotcha stuff. Maybe that's just me.

I screwed up during our two-game losing streak. One week I neglected to make wings, breaking a 10-year tradition. The other week, I got confused about the start time and missed the first few minutes of the game - a clear offense against the Gridiron Gods. I didn't do anything special this week but I did do the requisite rituals: made wings, dressed in my Bills gear, and was comfortably seated on my couch in time for kickoff.

We had a bye week to address some execution issues, McD is more involved in play calling, and we had some new faces out there against a team with a backup QB. It's hard to pinpoint what made the difference but it was fun to see. Encouraging, too, though I'm going to reserve judgment until after next week's game.