2003Contenders

Question: did any of the coaches explain why Gabe was a healthy scratch? I think I would have rather had him out there yesterday over Coleman -- and possibly Palmer too.

Funny that I keep hearing Patriots fans complaining about those 2 DPI calls as well as the Shakir catch/interception. Such cry babies, and that clip of Vrabel whining in the interview is not a good look for a coach whom I normally respect. My thoughts: 1. Whether or not the pass to Shakir was a catch or interception (I believe it was a catch because Shakir had clear possession of the ball when they went to the ground; and at worst it was a "tie" which goes to the receiver), the fact that the DPI flag was thrown makes that call irrelevant since the penalty is a spot foul. And the DPI was obvious as the defender was mugging Shakir (with his back to the ball) before the ball arrived. There is really NOTHING that a Pats fan can complain about on this call. 2. Regarding the Coleman DPI call, it is obvious that the defender clutched Coleman's jersey before the ball arrived. Now, that act probably had no baring on the outcome of the play since Coleman once again showed poor hands and dropped a pass that he should have caught whether being "interfered with" or not. That said, the official was right there and saw the handful of jersey being tugged, and that play is called DPI 10 times out of 10. It is not up to the official to decide whether or not the ball should have been caught anyway. 3, It is comical that the Pats and fans are whining about a couple of plays, when their defense allowed the Bills to march down the field on 5 TD drives in a row (coupled with their offense doing nothing, save for a single long TD run, which BTW was set up my an egregious hold against D. Jones) . It's like a parent making excuses for the poor behavior of their child instead of properly correcting them. Hopefully the Pats DON'T correct those errors. LOL 4. Want to talk about bad calls by the officials? I won't even complain about the "eye in the sky" disparity (the NFL needs to make some consistent rules about the use/non-use of this) that everyone mentions regarding the 2 non-catches in the first quarter, as McD screwed up by not challenging that call, whereas Vrabel was prepared to challenge his call prior to the reversal from the booth. There was the other call from the booth that cost Cook a first down, on what appeared to be a bogus reversal indicating he was short of the first down. How about the clock not starting on that penultimate play of the first half? Hard to believe that a running play like that took less than 6 seconds! Speaking of poor clock operation, remember the first game between these 2 teams when the Pats ran a play with just 4 seconds left on the clock -- yet somehow a single second remained after the play that allowed them to kick a field goal -- of course, we all know that those 3 points wound up being the difference in the game.

Gutless

Where are the passes to the TEs?

Exactly. Not only that, but if the Bills do manage to win on Wild Card Weekend and the Division round then they could host the AFCCG if the 6th/7th seed also upset the division winners in the first 2 rounds.

The secondary needs to PUNISH him for every target he receives a la the Giants treatment of Andre Reed in Super Bowl XXV.

In 2025 the strength of the Bills' passing game is with their TEs and RBs, rather than their WRs. That's why 12 (and even 13) personnel fits this team better that trying to force the ball to sub-standard WRs. Maybe that outlook changes in 2026 if the team makes a trade for a genuine WR1 (Justin Jefferson?), but for the remainder of this season and the playoffs, the focus needs to be on the TEs -- with occasional shots to the WRs when coverage dictates it.

The body language is just so bad. He also looked VERY uncomfortable with his footing in the snow on Sunday.

Regarding the OP's initial question, I believe that Josh has absolutely played himself back into the race. And his credentials for this season are remarkable: -- Broke the record for most rushing TDs by a QB -- Became the first QB with 20+ TD passes and 10+ TD runs for multiple seasons -- Is the only QB to have beaten Joe B, Lamar and Mahomes all in the same season -- On pace for career best Completion % -- Multiple signature performances (Baltimore, Tampa Bay and Cinci) Beauty will be in the eye of the beholder. Despite Josh's accolades (and clearly having to do more with less surrounding talent), Maye and Stafford are certainly strong competitors for the MVP too. Maye's meteoric rise and key role in getting the Pats from worst to first in the AFCE certainly makes him worthy; if the Pats beat the Bills this weekend (regardless of how it transpires), it is hard to imagine voters giving the MVP to Josh over Maye who would have gone 2-0 against him this season. Stafford is playing at a ridiculously high level -- and his advanced age certainly could make him a sentimental favorite with voters.

The way I see it, the talent is woefully inadequate -- especially on offense. That falls on Beane IMHO. I would like to see a new GM -- and allow that new GM to make the decision about who the next coach will be, whether that be McD or someone else.

I will say this... both on the Gesicki conversion and the Higgins TD, defenders were right there. Receivers made sensational catches. Sometimes you have to tip your cap.

Who says Beane didn't? Could it possibly be that the design here was to block another team (obviously the Eagles, but perhaps another playoff-bound AFC team) from claiming him (or even signing him as a FA if he cleared waivers)?

While I primarily agree with you, I will say (playing devil's advocate for just a moment), that drive you spoke of: 1. Ate up more than 1/2 of the 2nd quarter. The Steelers' offense sat on the sideline for over 30 minutes (real time) and did not get back on the field until less than a minute to go (with no timeouts) in the first half, effectively denying their ability to score points at the end of the half. Losses against both the Patriots and Texans can be traced back to the defense giving up cheap points at the end of the first half in each of those games. 2. The physical beat-down on that drive played a role in wearing down the Steelers' defense and invigorating the Bills' confidence on offense. While the drive only netted 3 points, it was the start of a 26-0 run. 3. The drive may have ended with a TD, except that on 4th and goal from the 2, there was a false start penalty that led McD to reconsider his decision to go for it and settle for a FG. 4. The Bills were playing without both of their starting OTs (and with interior linemen also banged up) -- so the coaches were mindful of not asking Josh to stand in the pocket and hold the ball for more than a couple of seconds. We saw what happened against Houston when the ball didn't come out of his hand quickly. In fact, the sort of smash-mouth scheme that they ran against Pittsburgh is probably what they should have done against Houston too. That said, I'm not sure that is the best course of action to take a against the Burrow-led Bengals whose offense is superior to that of Houston/Pittsburgh. I think the key (which we probably agree on) is that the Bills need to show that they can be versatile on offense. When the game-flow permits, it is perfectly OK to impose their will against an opposing defense and grind the ball on the ground, while judiciously mixing in passes here and there. However, there will come a time (possibly this week against Cinci), where they will need be able to compete in a shootout. With the lack of viable downfield threats, that is not really the way they are built, but they HAVE shown (this year against the Ravens and Bucs, for example) that with a stud QB like Josh that they CAN do it.

Why Is Gabe just standing around watching? LOL

As we have seen all season -- and it is conventional wisdom that has always made sense -- win the turnover battle, and you usually win the game. Part of why the team won so many games last season is that the offense very rarely turned the ball over. This year it has been a different story. Some of what has happened this year has been "regression to the mean", but there is no denying that the team has been very sloppy this year regarding turnovers. The Bills have turned the ball over multiple times in all of their losses. They also turned it over multiple times against the Bucs and Steelers -- but the defense stepped up in both of those games to limit the damage (and create turnovers of their own). If they can avoid those costly turnovers (and force some of their own), they could absolutely run the table, provided they are reasonably healthy. That is a big caveat, I know.