ThurmasThoman

Here's how rosters were constructed: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2883401-the-br-goat-sim-ranking-the-top-10-contenders#slide2 If we beat the jets, its going to be Bills v Pats in round 2. Brady v Kelly And here are the rosters and the schedule: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2883549-br-goat-sim-introducing-the-all-time-madden-rosters#slide2 "All of the games games will be simulated on Bleacher Report's Twitch channel over the course of two weeks from March 30-April 13. The Round of 32 will run for four days from March 30-April 2 with four games simulated each night from 7-11 p.m. ET. The Round of 16 will take place from April 3-6, with two games simulated each night from 8-10 p.m. ET. The Round of 8 will run from April 7-8, with two games simulated per night from 8-10 p.m. ET. The Final Four will be a two-day event on April 9-10 featuring one game simulated each night starting at 8 p.m. ET. On April 13, the final two teams will battle for supremacy in the championship game beginning at 8 p.m. ET."

Bleacher Report is doing a madden sim: the teams are made up of each teams best player of all time at every position. All 32 teams in a tournament. Carolina beat Atlanta, and Washington just beat Dallas. Miami vs. New England right now, lol Marino v Brady. Bills v the Jets tomorrow(?) I think I know it sounds stupid but guess what? ITS AWESOME! GO PHINS!!!

To those of you who think this is nothing, I'd urge you to read this article on ESPN: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28927492/saints-sean-payton-says-tested-positive-coronavirus He didn't feel well this past Sunday, according to ESPN. If you think this is any time to be playing sports, or even to be out in public, youre beyond redemption at this point. If what they say is true, and we all could end up with this, there's a very good chance that at some point in the next year, you're going to spend a day not feeling well. Think about that. Really take a few minutes to reflect on that, and ask yourself if it's worth pushing for "life to return to normal" whatever THAT means. Why? So I could risk potentially not feeling well for a day? Are you kidding me? Some things in life are bigger than your entertainment, or your fleeting happiness, and social distancing and flattening the curve so we can all avoid not feeling well is a SMALL SACRIFICE in the grand scheme of things. I know what you skeptics might say: "But he has no fever and no cough." As if that makes this somehow LESS scary. Well, did you consider that he's currently at home RESTING? Is that something you want to go through? Or your loved ones?? Some of you need to heal your souls and learn some sensitivity before you worry about healing your body from this virus.

From a managers perspective, a "culture" doesn't mean you're only looking for one type of individual. Quite the opposite. You WANT individuals who toe the line, and those who are rough around the edges. You want those who are quiet, and those who are outspoken. You want those who see things one way, and those who have a different perspective. Think of all of the players on a team as crayons in that big Crayola box. The culture IS the big Crayola box. It gets everyone together, in their proper place, with their tips up (pause), so they can be used to the best of their ability. Now, some of those crayons are older, worn down, the label is peeling off, and you debate getting a new one and wonder why you have such a worn down crayon at one of your primary colors... like Frank Gore being the red crayon. Some, like white crayons, are very rarely used but people swear they're amazing if you use them in the right situation, like on black paper.... like Duke Williams. Some crayons just pop off the paper, like the gold crayon, but most people don't make drawings with a lot of gold in them, just like they don't lateral the ball to their teammates while being tackled in the fourth quarter of a playoff game at midfield, and some of those drawings with a lot of gold turn out terrible, but you just know if you can make that drawing work one day you're going to be looking at a masterpiece. Some crayons, like the neon ones, look so cool and you're so excited to use them that they snap in half and you need to tape them back together and tread lightly the next time you draw with them and make sure they dont break again, but once you see its fine youre gonna use the ***** out of it because youve been waiting since you bought the box to use it, like Harrison Phillips. Diggs? He's like a special kind of crayon. Maybe the kind you dip in water first. We've heard about the crayon box he came from, but we think we have a use for him here. But he's gotta fit into our box (thats what she said.) If he does, awesome. We're going to be making our gold paper wet in his little corner and adding some faux water color to the gold and neon masterpiece. If he doesn't, we throw it out and get a new crayon to replace him, as we realize it doesn't fit in with our vision. We're drawing a new picture every week baby, and putting them on display. McD? He's the artiste. He's drawing the picture every week, picking what colors to use and when. Before McD? We were the dumpy box of crayons at a poor kids preschool. All jumbled up, some REALLY NICE EXPENSIVE crayons, with a lot of broken, cheap ones that look like Crayola knockoffs but are more wax than color. There was no culture, there was no organization. Remember Mario? That was like getting a massive, comically large crayon that costs more than a box of crayons themselves, and should only be used to sign fake novelty checks for laughs. And trying to jam it in our crayon box. Crayon box bro. Crayon Box Culture.

My family used to go on vacation the last 2 weeks of every summer, to a cabin pretty far removed from radio and tv reception. I would pine for the 1 or 2 days a week my dad would drive into town to restock the groceries (booze, I now realize, lol) so I could ride with him and scan the USA Today on sale to see the results of Buffalo's previous preseason game. Literally waiting for days to get a boxscore of a meaningless exhibition game. But I loved it. The anticipation was divine. That specific feeling will never, ever be recreated--I can watch the game live, from my phone, from pretty much anywhere in the world now. So in short--no, Monday Night Football will never be what it was, to you, in your youth, ever again. The world has moved on, and the accessibility of the sport has grown by leaps and bounds.

The Patriots of the last 20 years are the greatest professional sports team of the salary cap era in any sport, and due to the small size of NFL divisions, as well as the similarity of scheduling between divisional teams which has existed since realignment, the Bills aren't the dumpster fire of an organization that they've been portrayed as for the last 2 decades, but merely have suffered the consequences of conceding 2 games a year before the season starts.

Hate this line of thinking. If that Bengals loss had happened in week 4, instead of week 17, Buf would have clinched with their win alone in week 17. The 6 teams that make the playoffs make it because of the mathematical process used to determine who gets in. Just because that math was decided with a flourish, on the last second, of the last game, of the last week, doesn't make the math any less valid. They were one of the 6 best teams in the AFC that year. Period.

But do we need him more than we need him in New England? I say, yes.

In my opinion, part of establishing "a culture" and trusting "the process" is to be able to bring guys like this into the fold. Unfortunately, the reality of the National Football League is that some of the athletes that play the sport have slightly less than sterling character. The current Super Bowl champions, in fact, employ a few guys that fit this description. (I would argue that everyone walking the face of the Earth has less than sterling character, but the majority of us don't live in the public eye--but that's another conversation..) New England is a great organization, and they take on risks: Moss, Haynesworth, AB, etc. They take on the risks because they have such a solid foundation that they're not worried about those personalities corrupting the organization. Cleveland is a not-so-great organization, and they take on risks: OBJ, Mayfield, Johnny Football, etc. They take on risks because there is no foundation, and they're worried about selling tickets and getting a quick fix turnaround. The difference between where Buffalo was, say, with the TO signing--or even the McCoy trade--and now, is that we have a winning culture that guys are walking in to. So rather than taking a risk on a guy like AB, or Diggs, and hoping that their talent propels us to 12 wins and, in turn, makes us a legitimate organization... we already ARE a legitimate organization, and can cut bait with guys before they have a chance to get the key to the city, so to speak.

This will be interesting to watch it play out. Who's leaking that his value is a second rounder? I would assume Minnesota, which would lead me to make a further assumption: they think they can get more. Who are they looking to dance with here? I would assume more than one party, as they're trying to drive up the price. If they're looking for higher than a second round pick, a low first would get it done. Two teams with a low first = Buf and Ne. Buffalo picks 22, New England 23rd. If Minnesota called Beane and said "New England has offered us the 23rd pick in the draft, do you want him?" does he pull the trigger on that? I would.

This is awesome, and reminds me of a similar story from my past. I was in NYC for 4 or 5 days in 2012(?) and the Knicks were playing the Heat in the playoffs. I believe the Knicks were down 3-0 in the series, I had never been to a game at the Garden before, and I decided to buy tickets figuring they would be cheap. I got a single seat 6 rows from the absolute last row, but after 3 or 4 (50$) beers, I didn't so much care anymore. Anyways, in the rows directly behind me there were about 10 absolutely beautiful latino girls. They were probably 18-24 years old, and dressed like they were going to a very high end night club. This was an afternoon game, 1pm tip off I believe, so I was pretty sure they weren't going out on the town right after the game. These girls were so hot so as to be out of place, you know what I mean? If you saw one, you'd stare. When you see 10... well, I guess you still stare, but you can be more open about it, because they were just so awesome. So the game ends, the Knicks actually won, and people start filing out. I distinctly heard one of them say (and I'm paraphrasing here because it's been a decade) "the hotel we're staying at? or theirs across the street? murmer murmer murmer. will he let you up?" right as some dude who was walking against the flow of traffic descending down the steps comes up and just kinda stopped at the end of their row. Well, instantly I realized, these were the road wives of the heat when they play in NYC, sat at the game but away from the pan of the camera as it broadcasts the game (ie, so the wives watching at home don't see these faces at every game.)

To me, and I can't state enough that this is just my opinion and based on nothing other than some decades of life experience and an exercise in reading between the lines, this means that if (read: when, because it's inevitable for every NFL team that doesn't get caught cheating every 4 years) it starts going south, Beane stays on and gets to pick the next coach.

I like it. This team needs to learn how to win in all types of conditions if they're gonna go on the road and win playoff games, or even better, go on the road and win the Super Bowl! First inkling (and it's VERY early and VERY much a rumor) of a national broadcast next year, and Buffalo gets it. Looks like the league DID take notice of the bump in viewers for each of: Dallas, Pittsburgh, New England, and Houston. For 20 damn years I've been waiting for this team to be relevant again, so when people talk sports, talk football, they can talk Buffalo. For 20 damn years, I've been waiting for that schedule release to scan down the page and see games kicking off on different days and different times than "Sun: 1pm" For 20 damn years, I've been waiting for my friends to say they're excited to watch the prime time game because Bufs wideout, or RB, or even QB is their fantasy stud (pause.) For a fan base that lights tables on fire before they jump through them, you guys sure come across like a buncha pussies some times. "Bu bu bu, it's at 9am! That's when I have my warmed milk with mother. I simply don't have the emotional capacity to deal with the anxiety that comes from me thinking about Buffalo playing that game in another country. ITS. NOT. FAIR!"

To me, the ultimate satisfaction would be Houston winning the Super Bowl, because then the offseason narrative would be that we lost by a field goal, in overtime, in the playoffs, to the best team in the NFL.

I was talking about the schedule being brutal so long ago, I've moved past that and started to warm to the idea that the schedule is going to be easier than we think! Lol! Starting with the division contests: Miami looks to be a tough out next year, and they almost stole one from us this year. A split wouldn't be crazy. That''s 1 win The Jets are a pushover. I would expect a sweep there. Darnold isn't good. We contained him on the road, and our backups handled him at home. Allen wins that game (if it was meaningful) 10/10 times. That's 2 wins. I want to say we'll go 2-0 vs the Pats, but let's be realistic and say a split. If Brady leaves, it's good for us. If he stays, it's good for us. We could have beaten them both games. McDermott has had good efforts against that team. I know "moral" victories are a touchy subject here, but the Bills are absolutely a threat to New England, so let's say a split here. However you choose to parse it out, 4-2 in the division seems well within reason. Now, looking at the AFC West: The Broncos (worse than us) had absolutely no life against us, their QB situation is bad, they (seemingly, apparently) hate playing for their coach, who they're keeping. This seems like a win, although it's in Mile High--not an easy road game. The Raiders were worse than us too, by a few games. Seems like an easy win, and it should be in Buffalo. The Chargers were terrible, they have an old qb, and are regressing. The Chiefs are the Chiefs, they're great. I'd be surprised if we beat them, but the game should be in Buffalo too (I think. So looking at this division, 3 wins seems possible, but maybe 2 is realistic. Intraconference games next: The Titans are great, they look fantastic this year. Hard to see how we stop Henry, and Tanny is balling out. Maybe a loss. But maybe a win. They're not this years ravens, where they're absolutely dominating opponents week in and week out. Should be a 50-50 game. The Steelers are the opposite of that. Their QB play is less than settled. Even if Big Ben comes back, they don't scare me. They're a 50-50 game vs. us. Intraconference wins has us somewhere around 8 to 9 wins, turning to the NFC portion of the schedule. The Rams are a team in decline, too much money tied up in guys that aren't trending in the right direction. Should be a win. The Cardinals were worse than us. If we're just going to assume they get better because their QB improves, I'm going to make the same assumption about us. Should be another win. The Hawks don't scare me. There's nothing they do better than any other team, they're just the NFC version of us, well rounded, well coached, 11 win squad. This is a 50/50 game. 49ers. The hardest game on the schedule. Should be a loss. Hope it's on the east coast. Likely will be in primetime. Gonna be a blast to watch. So NFC looks like anywhere from 2-2 to 3-1. Taking it all into account: If things go as bad as possible, it's a 9 win season. If the bounces go in our favor, it's an 11 win season. I think 11 wins gets the division, I think 9 gets a wild card again. If someone put a gun to my head and made me guess, I would reckon we'll get the 4 seed and host a wild card game. I think Buf, Ten, Bal, KC win divisions, and wild cards are fought for between New England, Houston and Jax. BUT... let's get through free agency and revisit this. Then the draft. Then the schedule release. Then OTAs. Then Training camp. Then the preseason. Then roster cuts. Josh Allen is 15-10 in games he starts and finishes, McD has us in the playoffs 2/3 years here, and we started more rookies than most teams last year--in a winning season! The roster is loaded with young talent, theirs cap space, and very little money tied up in bad contracts. Tons of room to sign impact guys. Would not surprise me in the least if this team went 14-2 next year and won the Super Bowl. I think (finally) it's OK to have modest to high expectations for this team. Very exciting time to be a fan.

There's a lot more that goes into a team's performance in any given football season than their performance the year before. Some teams start almost 0 rookies, have little financial flexibility, and have a lot of money tied up in a small number of players (Los Angeles Rams). While they may not have looked like they were all in to win in 2019, their financial numbers paint them into a corner, and they might be in for more of a rebuild than their fans think. Whereas some teams, like the Dolphins, start a huge number of rookies, clear out maximum cap space, and look to position themselves for an offseason of spending and building. And the Bills--we started a boat load of rookies this year, have a ton of cap space, have very little money tied into our top 3 salaries AND posted a winning season--a rarity for playoff clubs. The Bills are in an incredibly envious position, which is why I think they'll do well next year. Just because a team has a down year, it doesn't mean their situation is improving--the Steelers had a bad year, but they started almost no rookies, have very little cap room, and have over 30% of their cap tied up in 3 players. There is very little room for rebuilding on the fly, and they're counting on Big Ben returning to form to get them to a championship. Knowing it's unlikely to get them over the hump, they might REALLY take their lumps next year, start a boat load of rookies, trade bad deals, and start a true rebuild. Personally, I would have them trending down, down, down. AND we get to play them next year.

Bingo: Top 4 passing teams this year: Tampa, Dallas, Atlanta, LAR. None qualified for the tournament. Top 4 rushing teams this year: Baltimore, San Fran, Tennessee, Seattle. All still in the playoffs. Out of 4 coaches eliminated this past weekend, 3 were Super Bowl champs, beaten by 3 coaches who have never won a Super Bowl. 3 of the 4 road teams won on Wild Card weekend. 4 of the 8 qbs left were acquired, 4 were drafted. Look at the NFC over the last 20 years, where they haven't had a Patriots-level dynasty to skew the parity: Super Bowl trips by each of NYG, Phi, Car, Atl, No, TB, GB, Chi, SF, LAR, Ari, Sea. Only Was, Dal, Det and Min haven't made it, and 2 of those teams won Super Bowls the decade before (as we know.) Fact of the matter is: it's a crap shoot. No analytics can change that. Look at the "experts" on tv every week. All they have to do is predict the sunday night game. They're all like, 6-12 lol. No one has any damn idea whats gonna happen out on that field. So to mitigate that, fans want to just fire and fire and cut and cut until it works and they stumble into the right formula. But look! Even then, even in places like Philly, or LAR, or NEW ENGLAND NOW(!!) losing breeds discontent. The QB that broke Philly's championship drought is in Jacksonville, and they hate him now because some guy named Gardner has a cool mustache. Lol, fans are fukkin idiots, man. The NFL is the best strategy game in the world. It's Starcraft, or Catan, with the added bonus of being a blood sport with tribal allegiances. It's the best hobby in the world. And to make the hobby EVEN BETTER, our overlords have instituted a mandate of parity, meaning good teams are handicapped the next year, while bad teams are given every advantage. If the Pats were replaced with some total deadbeat franchise these past 20 years, let's say they were in the North and we got Cleveland 2x a year instead, we might be sitting here talking about the year Orton took us to the AFC Championship game, or the year Trent won us a Super Bowl. It's crazy talk, sure, but a bounce here, a home playoff game there, and crazier things have happened. For people that HAVE watched the game for a long, long time, the Bills finally pass "the eye test." They're good again. Good enough to win. But not good enough to never lose, because no team in the history of organized sport (aside from the Patriots) have mastered that feat. It's on us as a fanbase to applaud the guys we have in place, and not call for their head with every set back they face. It's tough as fans to not get into that habit, but damn. 8 weeks into the season, did you think Vrabel and the Titans would go into NE and rock the 8-0 Pats in the jaw?

This is a great thread, but I imagine it will get bogged down with "cool" and "ok, thanks" and "we really needed this?" type of responses. But you're bringing up a great point that this generation of Bills fans just seems to miss entirely--and I blame it entirely on the Patriots setting the bar for success impossibly high. Millennial fans seem to think: if a qb has a bad stretch/playoff game/season, whatever, it's over, call for his head, tear it down and rebuild. Look at Tanny in Tenny! Miami cut bait 1 year too soon, right? Jimmy G in San Fran, same story. Brees in NO, same story. Kirk in Minny, possibly the same story. Fact of the matter is, half of the QBs still alive in the playoffs were brought in, the other half were drafted. There's just no way to reliably quantify what a winning team IS, and what it looks like. Folks, we're just simply not going to build a dynasty. If we do, and we happen to hold the next power ball ticket, well hey, good for us. But a far more realistic expectation is exactly what you're painting. I mean, just look at the Saints. 3 GREAT seasons in a row, SB winning QB and head coach, and they got jinxed out of the playoffs each time. Should they tear it down and rebuild? The fact of the matter is, the sport is entirely too random to hold it against teams for "under achieving". Of course, that doesn't stop fans and the media for doing just that. Primarily because the media is a 24/7 machine that needs to justify its existence in ad revenue, so they're intentionally provocative. But I think, the team we have in place, the front office, the coaches, the players--man I love rooting for these guys. I think they have a legitimate chance to be champions next year. I'm gonna watch every second of every game. I'm gonna have friends and family over for each one. Cookouts, cookins, the whole 9. It's gonna be great. And I'm gonna enjoy the hell out of it. Can't wait!

I've heard this a few times over the weekend. All's quiet on the Giant front with their coaching search. It really adds up. What does Jones know? What's he waiting for? It's all so intriguing. I'm fine with an exodus of Patriot talent from the AFC East.

"People tend to be uncomfortable with endings, because every ending is a little death. Whenever an experience comes to an end, you die a little death. A form that appeared in your consciousness as that experience, dissolves. Often this leaves behind a feeling of emptiness that people try hard not to feel--not to face. If you can learn to accept, and even welcome, the endings in your life you may find that the feeling of emptiness that initially felt uncomfortable turns into a sense of inner spaciousness that is deeply peaceful. By learning to die daily in this way, you open yourself to life." -Eckhart Tolle This philosophy is one which I have been giving much thought to lately in general, but I feel it applies here specifically. This loss has me quite blue--I must admit. I am trying to embrace that feeling by reminding myself it feels this way because the Bills were so enjoyable to watch this year. I had great times watching big games with close friends and family--and the Bills won more than they lost. In essence, the Bills are back to being an enjoyable hobby, despite the less-than-enjoyable ending to their season. It feels great to feel great about the Bills again, and it feels bad that that feeling will be missing for many months/seasons now.

Josh Allen responded to coaching and criticism in the summer of 2018, fixed some flaws, and became the starter after week 1. He then responded to coaching and criticism after his injury in Houston, and came back improved and finished out the season a better quarterback. He then responded to coaching and criticism over the offseason, and started this season as a much better quarterback, until his injury against New England. He then responded to coaching and criticism of his "hero ball" style of play, and became a much better player until the playoffs. He then... <-we are here So far, so good.

This is interesting, and I had not considered this angle until this thread. I think a better example of why it's broke and needs fixing: A division winner could be 7-9, and get the 4th seed in the conference--as well as the reward of hosting a playoff game. The 6th seed in the conference could conceivably be 14-2, and play a road game as a wildcard. If both of those teams lost, the 7-9 division winner, playoff game host would get a higher (4 slots, likely) draft pick than the 14-2 wild card team. A simple fix would be, slot the 4 losers from the wild card and divisional round games first by whether or not they won their division, and then by record.

Hey, you know what--maybe you could move this to "off the wall". Maybe it's a thread that would be better served as a comment in another post. We're having friends over, the pregame show has been on all afternoon, there's still about 2 hours til kickoff. The menu is set, the house is clean, the surround sound is warmed up. And I'm... unironically FIRED THE ***** UP for some BILLS playoff football. It's been years since I've felt this way about this hobby. The drought really did some damage to my fandom. I'm remembering now, as I chill the drinks and clean the flatscreen: the season doesn't start til the post season. The wives and girlfriends don't care until it's "so if they lose this weekend the season's over?" There's an energy in the air, everyone wants to see what happens here: is Josh for real, can we advance to Baltimore or KC? Is this the end of Brady? It's so nice to be one of the only story lines in the league. It's a freaking validation of this "hobby." It's why we post here, why we watch the draft, why we argue with each other about free agents, or strength of schedule, or any other dumb thing we get passionate about. Now, for the next few hours, WE ARE the center of American Pop Culture. And you know what, it's pretty damn fun. I know, I know--the drought ended 2 years ago. But that didn't "feel" real. We backed in, sure, but even if we had beat Jax, it didn't feel like that team was built to win it all. But now? This is the 88 squad, the 89 squad. These are guys we'll be watching for the next handful of years. There's so much riding on this. In this day and age, things happen and go by so quickly, it's hard to care about anything. Or at least, it feels like that at times. (Are we at war with Iran yet, or is that over?) But today? It's all Buffalo, for the afternoon. Alright boys, I don't post here during the game, and I like to stay away after. I'll talk to you next week. God bless you all, your families in Buffalo and around the world. I hope you have a lot of fun and make some of the memories that I cherish--some great afternoons with my grand parents who are no longer here, uncles, aunts and cousins that have also passed on. Remembering those Super Bowl years and what it meant to us all--I'd be lying if I said I won't get choked up a few times today just letting it all wash over me today. Today, we're all Bills mafia again. Let's have some fun and start a new era! Oh. One more thing... LET'S GO BUFFALO!

I think Dalton to Boyd on 4th and 12 was the Bills moment of the decade. But it certainly wasn't the Bills play of the decade, because there were no Bills players involved. If we're looking at Bills plays, there are 2 types that stand out: Those that were thrilling at the time, but didn't move the needle much for the franchise in the long run; and those that were maybe less than thrilling in the moment, but represented the changing of the guard. For the former, 3 plays stand out to me: 1. Fred Jackson rumbling to the NE goal line in 2011. 2. EJ Manual's game winner v. Carolina 3. Kyle Orton's game winner v. Minnesota And for the latter, 4 plays stand out to me: 1. Stevie's drop v. Pit 2. Kyle's TD run v. Mia 3. Josh's hurdle v. Min 4. Josh's scramble for first down v. Dal

I remember the 1996 Buffalo Bills hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars wild card weekend. We hadn't lost a playoff game at Rich Stadium. That day ended with Kelly being carted off, concussed, and was the final nail in the coffin for that Super Bowl era team--save the 2 years of Flutie magic, which I don't consider the same run, but let's split hairs another time. I could absolutely see that scenario playing out this weekend, and we may be 3 hours of football away from never seeing number 12 in our division again. But. 9 days ago, I was pretty well certain that Buffalo would go into Foxborough and handle them, too. I thought their run was over, they had nothing left, and we were going to piss on their fire hydrant and emphatically mark the start of our reign, and the conclusion of theirs. They soundly handled us in all three components of the game, and showed that they are still a class above us. What has changed, from that game, to now? They lost in the last minute of the fourth to Miami. For whatever reason, Miami has been their kryptonite for 20 years. If they had stopped Miami from scoring that TD, we'd be talking about the inevitability of New England's Super Bowl appearance. I'm not going to let that drive convince me their reign is over. What is the road map for them playing in the championship, really? Beat Tannehill, in the playoffs, at home? Beat Andy Reid, who has only made it to one Super Bowl and seems to freeze up in the playoffs? And then beat either Lamar Jackson (see last years playoff performance) on the road, or us or Houston at home? Look, don't get me wrong--I don't THINK that they'll do it. But for 20 years I've sat down and watched these guys, with their backs to the wall, come out, eat 7 minutes of clock, go up 7-0 on an opponent, force a 3 and out, and then just eat their soul on live TV. In my mind's eye, I see Tannehil on the sideline, looking at an iPad, confused, down 35-14 in the fourth, while the announcers go on and on about how everyone thought the Patriots were dead, but now it's on to KC.