TheBrownBear

There's a lot that drives me nuts about the defense, but nothing more than how often they give up a touchdown on the opening possession with little to no resistance. They did it in all three playoff games this year and many of the regular season games as well. I get that those are scripted drives, but it still speaks to having a defensive scheme that is very very predictable, and just frankly a defense that isn't prepared to come out and play from the first snap.

I think this is spot on and why our offense can look so discombobulated and forced sometimes, even as it produces points. This type of tendency seemed to peak during the Dorsey era. The games where he was able to get it out quick over the years tended to be things of beauty (Detroit this season, perfect game against the Pats, etc.).

Less anguished and more exhausted at this point. It's sort of like making it to the South Col (Camp IV) of Everest for 5 straight years and getting turned back by weather or altitude sickness a few hundred meters from the summit.

The players on that side of the ball really choked last night. If was just play disciplined and stick to our assignments we probably win that game. Really disheartening to see Rousseau consistently lose the edge and our generally piss poor tackling at the second level. In many ways, we were very fortunate to be in that game until the end, and I was frankly shocked when I looked at the box to see we had actually outgained the Chiefs.

Isn't a bunch of dead money coming off the books this offseason? We should have a little bit of wiggle room. Also, Chiefs found Worthy at pick 28. We found a stud RB in Cook at pick 60. Nailing a couple of our early round picks will go a long way towards bolstering our weaker areas. We were only 4 points and a couple makeable plays away from the Super Bowl. We are about as close as it gets without touching glory. And there's always hope that Coleman works his azz off and makes a huge leap in year two. He was very raw coming in as a rookie.

It's wild, because from that fan's video, you can clearly see the ball in the air and Kincaid still runs an additional 7-8 yards before attempting to stop and adjust for the ball. The only thing I can think of is that the ball moved quite a ways horizontally while in the air. I think it was more that Kincaid was fooled than anything to do with poor instincts or lack of effort. Like trying to catch a knuckleball.

I was about to post a similar thread, so thanks for this. We all must be hitting the acceptance stage at the same time. 😀 I'm proud of these guys. My expectations were pretty low entering the season. Not the most talented roster, but seemed to have good chemistry, with everyone putting team first and pulling together in the same direction. And from what we know, they are all good people, hard workers and want nothing more than to deliver a championship for each other and for the fans and people of Buffalo. I really hope Sean, Brandon, Josh and the rest of the core crew are the group that finally bring it home for us.

True. Right before their kicker knocks a game winning 64 yard field goal straight through the uprights in a snow and wind storm. 😆

The ball really seemed to be curving in mid-air. It's not an easy catch by any means, but he absolutely must come up with it, especially with his role as a possession WR/"pass-catching" TE. Also, watching it live on TV, I thought it was a blind panicked heave from Josh, but from this angle you can see how he actually finds the open man and generally delivers a miraculous, catchable pass into his hands. Edit: The more I watch the wider screened version of this play from behind, the less and less sympathy I have for Kincaid. It was an incredibly "makeable" play.

Pass catching ligaments? Checks out.

The script on the first drive was terrible. I think they tried to surprise the Chiefs by going against tendencies and throwing the ball and it screwed up the o-line and Josh's rhythm. Also, we just don't have the receiving talent to be a pass first type of team at this point. I mean, Mack freaking Hollins is our best outside WR? How does that happen? Sort of amazing the offense was able to consistently put up 30+ points given the lack of speed/talent on the outside. And yes, Cook should have touched the ball 25 times yesterday. He's our most explosive player, get the ball in his hands. I was screaming at the TV when they trotted out there at 3:33 without him in the huddle. Coaching malpractice on Brady's part in that situation.

Correct. We don't have a single true difference maker on our entire defense. Milano and Bernard are nice players, good complementary pieces in a good defense. Same goes for Taron, Ed and Groot. Nice players that generally do their jobs, but they don't change games. And they were exposed by having poorer pieces around them. Put that defense against the minds of Reid and Mahomes and you're just left praying for unforced turnovers/errors to get you through the game. Beane has done well with finding talent in UDFA and mid/later rounds to build a solid roster, but he's mostly failed (outside of Josh) to bring in top-level, elite talent early in the draft (Cook was a great find at pick 60 - not a high pick). I feel like he should take more heat for our failings against KC.

Mahomes will collect his 4th trophy this year. Getting to Curse of the Bambino levels. Will be hilarious if Worthy somehow turns into Tyreek Hill (on the field, not the rap sheet) and we ended up trading two HOF'ers to the Chiefs.

He doesn't deserve it, since Rivers was a consistent playoff choker, but this is absolutely Allen's legacy as of today.

That was my thought. It wasn't much of a hit that completely knocked him out of the universe. Clearly shouldn't have been on the field. True. Gabe Davis torched the hell out of Spags in 2021 when he was saddled with some bums in the secondary. You do need players.

Good point on Rousseau. He continually gave up the edge. Completely undisciplined in the biggest game of the year. Hugely disappointing.

No way! He started shaky, but he fought back and gave us a chance to win. That's a very good Chiefs defense that he put up 29 (should have been 31) against. He was clutch finding Samuels on 4th down and still managed to make a play on that all out blitz to end the game. He could have played better from start to finish but he was most of the reason we hung in the game until the end.

Nailed it, Virg. Enjoy the off-season

Probably the healthiest approach in all honesty. I thought I was there, but apparently I got sucked in yet again. 😭

Correct. Got to hand it to Spags. Great call there.

I think we have to consider that maybe the Chiefs are just cruising and trying things out during the regular season?

Coleman, Kincaid and Elam are absolute disaster 1st round picks.

He's a good coach, and I don't trust us to find someone better, but I don't ever see him beating Reid and Mahomes when it really matters. So? 🤷

Cook was the best player on the field and needed to be involved there. Absolutely.

It's tough. I like Sean. Good guy. Good coach. But clearly not good enough when it matters most. Not sure we can do better. I think Reid, Spags and Mahomes are just special and better than our guys. Just bad timing more than anything.