hondo in seattle

A lot of commentators are saying the Bills won yesterday even though the Ravens looked like the better team. When we played the Chiefs earlier this season, we looked like the better team. In all our other playoff matchups with KC, I thought it was an uphill battle against a great roster with an elite coaching staff. This year, though, I like our chances.

It thought the coloring exercise was a fail but loved Orlovsky's support for Allen and the Bills.

The very first time I saw Damar on an NFL field, I felt like one of my sandlot buddies (via a time machine from 40 years ago), just got a chance to play for the Bills. In other words, he looked like he didn't belong out there. And when he was listed as a starter this preseason, I didn't believe it. I thought he was just a placeholder until they named Edwards or Bishop as the actual starter. But I give Damar credit. He's done reasonably well. It hasn't been forget-Hyde-and-Poyer greatness, but he's certainly exceeded my expectations.

My starting assumption is that Joe Brady is a smart man. He's been in football a long time and knows the X's and O's of the game far better than I do. But the conservatism, particularly in the 3rd quarter but really all game long, was puzzling. It was a bad weather game, but Josh has excelled in inclement weather before. And he's clearly our best player. Yet he didn't throw a lot and especially didn't throw downfield much. I think Coop and Coleman were targeted only once each. And Josh didn't run a ton either. It was an odd game plan, not what I was expecting at all. My guess is that it was about the weather. Close-ups on the ball showed that it was wet. And guys had cold hands. Brady might have wanted to win the turnover battle more than the yardage battle. He ran safe plays to avoid fumbles and ints - and still put up 27 points and notched a victory. I still love the Clockwork Orange idea though. I think we'll need more Josh going forward.

Do you really believe Dunne painted an accurate picture of McDermott and his relationship with Josh Allen? With his anonymous army of malcontents? Despite well-known published evidence to the contrary, I don't believe in Bigfoot, the Lochness Monster, or that the US was behind the 9/11 attacks. And I don't believe in Tyler Dunne. If you're so minded, you can find support for any wacky theory and construct a hit piece with real quotes on any public figure. I'm told there's a saying in India, "When a pickpocket walks down the street, all he sees is pockets." When Dunne walks down the street, all he finds is crap about McD. Science calls this confirmation bias. While I don't trust Dunne, I do trust Josh when he says he goes to McD's office a couple of times each week just to chat. "Our relationship, honestly, has never been stronger."

I think the Bills should fire McD after we win the Super Bowl. Yeah, that's starting our search a little late. But on the flip side, (A) it sends the right message about our high standards, and (B) it makes the job super attractive as we'd have an established Super Bowl roster with the GM who built it.

What accounts?

We all know that it's not true that the best team always wins the Super Bowl. But if we get through Baltimore, KC (!!!), and perhaps the Lions, the Bills will be widely and wildly praised, and we'll all celebrate like never before.

I don't agree with all the premises (Buffalo has the better roster?), but I love the optimism! Go Bills!!!

Exactly what I was thinking when I watched the 4th quarter.

I don't know if the Bills defense is built right and has the talent to stop a Lamar-Henry duo. But if we can keep Henry in check like we've done in 4 of 6 encounters, we'll win...

Defense: Bernard Offense: Shakir I don't think Cook is going to get a lot of yards on the ground, certainly not as many as Henry. But I do expect Josh to pass for more yards than Lamar.

It's been encouraging to see him regain form. According to SI... "Since Week 13, the two-time Super Bowl champion leads the NFL in quarterback pressure rate (25.5), meaning he's disrupting the passer on more than one-quarter of pass-rush snaps." www.si.com/nfl/bills/news/von-miller-officially-back-leads-nfl-pass-rushers-last-six-weeks

There's a certain flavor of Bills fan (you know who you are!), who give credit to Josh when we win and assign blame to McDermott when we lose. And that's fine. But it's almost as if we don't have 52 other players, and Sean doesn't do anything to contribute to our wins, and Josh never contributes to our losses, and Beane has nothing to do with any of it.

Win: Josh is the best player in the league. Lose: Fire McDermott.

Maybe we're not good at attracting famous fans because I don't know who half these people are. 😕

I have a different take on 13 seconds. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong and who was responsible except that, as head coach, McD is accountable for everything the team does. I give McD credit for getting us into that game. I give him credit for going toe-to-toe with Reid-Spags duo and nearly winning. And I blame him for flubbing at the end. But imagine you're an art expert visiting the Louvre. When you get close to the masterpieces, you see imperfect brush strokes. But when you stand back, you see beautiful works of art. "13 Seconds" was a huge disappointment. But when I stand back, I like McD overall body of work. I think he gives us a better chance of winning it all than most head coaches.

Exactly. McDermott is punished by the fans because he raises expectations by overachieving during the regular season. Then we crash back down to earth in the postseason, people blame McD. Beane has never given McD a SB roster (i.e. the best roster in the league) but folks think McD should be fired for not delivering a SB anyway. Weirdly, McD seems to be well respected by his players (who rated him an "A" in the NFLPA survey and had his back when he was attacked by Dunne), fellow coaches, sportswriters, etc. - but not so much by Bills fans.

I've been looking for raven meat in exotic grocery stores. Buffalo style raven wings would be perfect.

Great history! Let's add some more. In 1920, the first year of the NFL (called the APFA back then), Buffalo had a 9-1-1 record. Akron had an 8-0-3 record. There were no playoffs back then. The team with the best record would be named champions. Both Akron and Buffalo had a .864 record. When they played head-to-head, they tied. There was no clearcut champion. In Buffalo, we felt we were deserving of the title because we pummeled people. The only blemish on our record was a 3-0 loss to the Jim Thorpe led Canton Bulldogs. Otherwise, we outscored our opponents 258-29. When we tied Akron, we had played the Bulldogs in New York City just the day before and took a train to play Akron in the winter of Buffalo. The team was sore and exhausted, and Akron still couldn't beat us. An NFL meeting was held on April 30th of 1921. The President of the NFL (Thorpe) and VP didn't attend. Some teams didn't send reps and it's unclear if Buffalo did. It was a small meeting. The NFL secretary-general, Art Ramney (co-owner of the Akron Pros) ran the affair. He decided to put the championship to a vote among the people who did show up, presumably because he had done some pre-meeting politicking and knew he had the requisite support. We weren't outplayed on the field, we were outmaneuvered politically. The Akron Pros received a trophy Ramney had already commissioned. The NFL has a history of screwing us. ww.footballresearch.com/articles/frpage_topic_1921b.html

I would have been against the "Buffalo Bills" moniker if I had been around back then. Why name a football team after a cowboy showman? Makes no sense.

Sad to say, I believe the Ravens have the better roster. If they play their very best game and we play our very best game, they win. But football doesn't always work that way. If they have a good day and we play poorly, they won't just win, they'll blow us out like they did in Week Four. But I don't think that will happen either. I think the cold will affect Lamar and that a healthy Bills team, on the other hand, will execute well in front of the home crowd. The Ravens won't play poorly - but they will lose... Bills 30 Raven 27

I absolutely believe Josh is a SB level QB and if you surround him with the right talent and give him a superior coaching staff, he wins multiple Lombardis. On the roster side, I don't think Beane has yet surrounded Josh with elite talent. In the playoffs, I worry about the receiving corps, defensive line, defensive secondary, and kicker. I don't think they're good enough. We'll see. On the coaching side, I think McD is one of the better coaches in the league but not the very best. I think one area where he's struggled with is coordinators. On the defensive side, something happened with Frazier - whatever that was - and then McD tried to wear two hats which was probably a mistake. On the offensive side, Rick Dennison wasn't good. Daboll wasn't the best at the run game. Ken Dorsey had issues. It's taken a while for McD to hit gold with Brady. Going forward, the only coaching I somewhat worry about is ST.

Let's agree to disagree. I think the folks who think poorly of McD tend to overrate our roster. I don't think we've ever had the best roster in the league, or even close to it when you considered the actual roster we fielded considering injuries. So I'm convinced we wouldn't have won multiple Lombardis with other coaches. But it's okay that you believe that. I think people underestimate McD's regimen and process in preparing the team, the teamwork, unity, camaraderie he builds, the effort he inspires, and the strength of his defensive schemes. His one glaring weakness has been finding the right OC but he seems to have solved that.

Shoot, you're right. You can. But I don't. I think McD and Josh are the two people most responsible for the recent success of the Bills. Every year they give a chance to win it all. Our lottery numbers haven't come yet but we wouldn't even have tickets if not for these two.