hondo in seattle

I seriously doubt if McD met with Babich and said, "This week for the Ravens, we're going with bend-don't-break." I'll go out on a limb and guess that McD wanted 3 and outs and even game planned for it. But their offense is better than our defense and we had trouble forcing punts. In any case, this wasn't an example of a bend-not-break defense. We bent and broke on some drives, got turnovers on the others. The thing that impresses me is that we went up against a team with a solid coaching staff and a better roster than we have, and we won. That says something positive about our coaches. What about Harbaugh's coaching in the 2nd Quarter? Two excellent coaching staffs went against in each other in a win-or-go-home game. The Ravens had the better players. The Bills won. Maybe our coaches did just fine.

Our players made fewer game changing mistakes than their players. That's why we won. Their offensive players made more good plays than ours, but they made more bad plays too. And the bad plays were really bad. People said Lamar had a better game than Josh. Lamar did throw for more yards, but he also crucially turned the ball over twice. I'll take Josh's stat line over Lamar's. In every universe, they deserved to lose and we deserved to win.

Harold, I'm not sure why you're sharing your credentials with us. There are a lot of people here who know the Bills. And there are a lot of people here who make pretty good predictions. But the best experts in the world are often wrong about football outcomes. No one - not even you - has perfect predictive power. That's one of the things that makes football so exciting: "On any given Sunday..." A little humility might help you enjoy more positive interactions with the good people on this board.

This is an amazing statistical comparison. Very much seems like the two teams are equally matched. Yet they have trophies and we don't. I really, really, really, really, really, really, really hope we change that this year. (p.s. The number 7 was considered lucky in the Eastern Zhou culture of ancient China).

The media has a short memory. Let's say we beat the Chiefs by 10 and then win the SB by 10. Outside of Baltimore, everyone will be talking about how great the Bills are, and the close Ravens game will mostly be forgotten. Let's say the Chiefs beat us. No one, outside of Baltimore, will care anymore that the Ravens lost a close game to the Bills thanks to mistakes.

I don't think this is the best roster we've had since McD and Beane arrived. But it may be the best team we've actually fielded during the playoffs - given injuries - since the 1990s. And considering our roster weaknesses, I think our best chance of winning it all is staying healthy. Really hoping Benford recovers, and all our starters remain injury-free till the conclusion of the Super Bowl.

Since McD arrived, I thought each season he either overperformed versus the roster strength, or performed about as expected, depending on the season you look at. I think he overperformed in the 2024 regular season. If we hadn't sat our starters against the Pats, we would have finished the season with 14 wins. Along the way, we defeated arguably the best two teams in the league. Even with Josh, this isn't a 14-win roster with an average NFL coach. And yesterday we beat a team with elite coaching that fielded a team loaded with All-Pros and Pro-Bowlers. So already, at this point, he's overperformed in the playoffs this season. I hope he keeps overperforming all the way to the Lombardi. But Lombardi or not, if McDermott resigned after the season, he'd instantly be the hottest commodity in the coaching market.

I don't disagree with anything you say but to see 6 defensive guys recognized in a game where we gave up 400+ yards and only a dropped pass stopped the Ravens from tying the game in the waning minutes seems a little much. Personally, the only defensive game balls I'd give out would be to the guys who created the TOs.

I agree with the notion that Josh is safer with the ball these days. But I don't think he would have made that pitch 4 years ago. Or ever. We were winning. Players were draped on him. There was little if any chance of making a clean pitch.

I was geared up with a Bills jersey (#17), Bills sweats, and Bills socks. But I noticed that one sock had a hole. Rather than blow it off, which would be an offense to the Gridiron Gods who expect devotees to be dressed appropriately, I darned the sock before kickoff.

Condolences for the loss of your wife and best wishes for your Bills aspirations. At this very moment, I'm wearing my "Just One Before I Die" sweatshirt though I've accepted the possibility that, after 50+ years of fandom, I may never see the Bills hoist the Lombardi. So be it. Being a Bills fan has added more joy than pain to my life. I've enjoyed the wins, but I've also relished the camaraderie with my fellow members of the mafia from blood relatives to complete strangers. All fanbases say theirs is the best but there's truly something special about ours. I hope somewhere in the Great Beyond, your wife gets to watch the Bills trounce whoever the NFC trots out against us when we do reach the SB.

How do you prove an opinion? Let's do an experiment. Let's replay the Ravens season 500 times with Lamar at QB and another 500 without Lamar at QB. Run the same experiment with the Bills. Let's see which QB adds the most wins. My guess is that it's Josh. But that's just an unverifiable opinion. And that's me equating "most valuable" with "adds the most wins" which may or may not be the same thing. By accepted definition - even if I don't like it - the MVP is the guy the AP panel decides is the MVP.

I thought about this before the Ravens last drive. For them to win, they would need to: 1. Score a TD, 2. Score a 2-point conversion, 3. Stop us from getting at least a FG. Any one of these seemed likely enough. For them to do all three, however, seemed unlikely. At least that's what I told myself as I paced in front of the tv with blood pressure in the danger range.

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.