fergie's ire

The guy who won a national championship for Tennessee after replacing the bum of a quarterback before him? Cool.

I think there might be some bumps and adjustments, but I think that Josh will adjust quickly. One of his best assets is his ability to learn. Young quarterbacks often go through a period of success but then have to adjust. Some do, some don't. Baker was great his rookie year, but he still hasn't been able to change once the defense learns how to play him. On the other hand, do you remember 2 years ago with Josh playing the Patriots? Bellichick went cover zero and Josh couldn't handle it. Now, teams don't dare to go cover zero on Josh, he'll destroy them. (Actually, I seem to remember that some team recently tried cover zero and got torched for a touchdown. Might have been the Patriots.) So then he couldn't play in weather or struggled against cover 2....but he quickly adjusted and then was great at these. So, it is very difficult to take something away from him. He'll quickly learn to make that defense an advantage.

The one thing I am thankful for is that I don't think there is an iconic moment or play (like the Hail Murray). Maybe the Kelce catch to setup or the overtime TD but neither really encapsulates their win. I am also a Kentucky basketball fan and every March I have to see that @#$@ Christian Laetner shot about a million times. And yes, I know Laetner is from Buffalo, and I still hate him.

I like Daboll for the most part. Didn't agree with everything he did but overall I think he did a good job with Josh and the offense. That said, I, too, am excited for a new OC. My reasoning is that one of Josh's greatest talents has been his ability to absorb information and learn. It seems it has gotten to the point where he has really mastered this offense. With many quarterbacks I wouldn't want to mess with success when he knew the offense so well. However, I think that if Josh has someone with a new perspective it will add to his database of knowledge. It won't confuse him, he will just know more...which with his talent could be scary.

I agree, and I think that not only has Allen learned and developed but Daboll has as well. For a while, it seemed like he wanted to be careful with Allen and not run him as much but now he is running him smartly...with purpose. I forgot where I saw it and who was doing the analysis (Chris Simms, maybe) but this week there was an analysis of Allen and what his run game does for him. He said that Allen should run the ball at least once in the first 15 plays because it seems to get him going. In that Patriots games the early runs also got in the Pats defensive players' heads. Then, there were plays that build on that. Singletary or McKenzie would go one way, but Allen would fake going the other way. It would freeze the middle linebackers and even Judon on the edge. That momentary freeze would allow the runner to get around him. Even in the passing game the threat of the Allen run was being used to manipulate defenders, so just a few effective runs by Allen had a huge impact on a lot of what Buffalo did.

Hill, Kelce, and also Andy Reed. I am NOT saying Mahomes is not elite. He is. But there is a certain amount of QB inflation when playing for Reed. Just look at what quarterbacks have done with vs without him (Smith, Kolb, etc.)

I haven't seen the all 22, but there is a wide shot from behind Hyde where you can see how much ground he covers and it is amazing.

Yeah, I'm surprised we are still hearing this. I think the reason for the "Are the national media talking about this historic game" thread is that poster had the feeling that I did. This game was like Don Larson's perfect game in the World Series (or maybe if it was in the NLCS which I know didn't exist at the time). Good Morning Football talked about it as the best playoff QB performance...and maybe simply the best QB performance ever, but most are saying "that was a good game so maybe Buffalo can make the Super Bowl"

Perfect place and perfect trajectory. He floated it. It wasn't like the Dwight Clark through that would have ended up in the 3rd row if he hadn't caught it. (And btw, this week was the anniversary of that catch).

Really?! That is surprising. It does not look like a throw away at all.

Agree with most...but the throw to Knox was not a throw away. I have looked at the replay a lot and Josh floats the ball and it drops to where Knox could grab it. If it's a throwaway, he guns it. Was really an amazing touch pass.

I think the issue is that it has been cold AND windy. I think Josh has been hearing a lot of "He was drafted to play in the bad weather of Buffalo with his strong arm" and has really focused on gunning it to overcome the wind...but the cold hands of receivers then become an issue. He probably overcompensated a bit...and put zero touch to show he could beat the wind (and that kind of overcompensation is typical of Josh) but he also has shown he learns fast and re-adjusts after the overcompensation. I think I heard him saying something about needing to take a little off when the receivers hands are too cold...so he is learning. Also, wind is not supposed to be as much of a factor Saturday, so I expect to see more touch.

Gesundheit.

His body language didn't look great, either...like he wasn't handling the cold very well.

I know there was a dust up with Beasley and McDermott earlier in the season....but don't remember the details. It seems to me that the whole Covid issue is just symptomatic of something else. In Dallas, Beasley became a malcontent as discussed here: https://cowboyszone.com/threads/cole-beasley-wrong-to-let-him-go.472288/page-8 It seems like something happens and is "just done" with a team or coaches and he is unhappy and trying to work his way out of town. This whole year he just has not been the same player and though not much locker room news comes out of the Bills camp, it does seem like he is unhappy with the team and they are not happy about him...for whatever reason.

I watched that game. It was awful.

And, in the late 90s, it allowed them to claim they were moving to Hartford.

I had been thinking the same thing. I am not one of those Edmunds haters and think he does bring something to our pass defense...and those that praise him must see something I don't. But I remember some middle linebacker talking about being like the running back but from the defense...that his job was to find the hole and run to it and meet the running back there. Edmunds seems to run right by the hole into a blockers arms....It's weird.

2nd in the league if you go from the bottom up. Sounds impressive to me.

Yeah...we've talked a lot about how even in the games where the Bills won...and even scored a lot of points....something seemed off with the offense with the exception of a few games (like Chiefs game). I think it was that ability to pick up key 3rd and 4th downs and just put together drive after drive after loooonnnnng drive to beat a team into submission. Today they did that and it was consistently McKenzie that Josh would hit to pick up those 1st downs. Last year, that player was Beasley but, for whatever reason, he hasn't been that consistent go-to guy this year.

That's my standard order as well....but with a Coney on the side.

Born in Iowa but actually went to high school in Athens Ohio...so he knows Cincinnati.

Beans or onions?

Adam who, now?

I think you also have to remember where we were at the time. Beane was trying to put together a competent line in a hurry and had signed a bunch of journeymen or backup linemen (Long, Nsehke, Felliciano, etc.) who were not great...but hoped enough of them were solid and experienced enough to keep their young QB from getting killed. The plan seemed to be to sign like a dozen veteran lineman in the hopes that enough worked out to keep Josh safe. The book on Teller at the time was good in the run game but could get over aggressive and off balance at times. So he was a boom or bust blocker, which did not fit with the strategy. While I think most could see that, like Josh, he had great upside that if he could become consistent he could be great, we could not afford those mistakes and we didn't have room to develop him (with the ton of veterans we had brought in).