GunnerBill

I have said all along we don't win Sunday without Josh. But we don't win without the other things on your list above either. Ergo - not entirely Josh. Unless you want to redefine "entirely" as meaning "single biggest contributory factor." The single biggest contributory factor to the win was obviously Josh Allen. Are we good enough around Josh to beat the other top teams in the NFL without him pulling his cape on 4 or 5 times a game? No. Is that partly because when you begun having cap charges of over $30m a year on your QB that is just your lot? To an extent, sure. Is it partly the thing we have talked about ad nauseum about having lots and lots of good players but only 1 great player? Yep. Yea the Bills are not a 5 win team with Jared Goff. He is a really good Quarterback. Are they an 11 win team that looks like being a 13 or 14 win team, no. But the Bills are still a playoff team with Jared Goff. If the comparator is Kirk Cousins maybe the Bills win 7 or 8 games. If it's Bryce Young they probably only have a win or two more than Carolina does with him.

The mini movie has an even better view. Not only does Bates get there early he rakes Taron's facemack and tries to pull his head off while he is trying to field the ball. Yea... I'd have been pissed had the Lions recovered. Blatant foul.

No. That isn't the take. The Bills yesterday were not entirely Josh Allen. That's the take. Hasn't changed at all since this started. The Bills had three elite performances yesterday. Josh Allen's was the most important because an elite QB is always the most important piece you can have in the NFL. Buy those other elite performances had big impacts on the game, as did the really good playcalling. Does Josh put the cape on more than other NFL QBs? Yes. Because he can and they can't. That also is not in dispute.

It isn't silly semantics. It is the literal meaning of the words. I mean of you want to pretend words mean things other than what they mean, go ahead. But don't expect everyone else to just fall in line.

PFF

It was mainly Bernard actually. St Brown was 4 for 4 matched against Elam but only for 38 yards. Bernard gave up 158 yards on 9 targets.

Elam, yes. Bishop, not yet sold.

That was a fantastic Josh play. Nobody is questioning that he does that. Or that there are almost no other humans in the world that can do it. He makes 5-10 of those plays every week. And yet that still isn't proof that it is entirely Josh. That, and only that, is the point I have disputed constantly through this thread. There is zero dispute that Josh is the best player in the league.

I hope not, because that's the job I could see Joe Brady taking. I'm pulling for Cincy to finish 9-8 and miss out.

I don't see "send me to Seattle." I see "I'm pissed" and when Taylor responds him saying "eff that". Then I do think there might be a "trade me" in there, but I don't see any mention of Seattle.

Leslie didn't get fired. He walked away. I know people doubt that but I promise you it's true.

Yep, as well as going to it arguably a drive too soon the bolded is also true. The soft zone is to force the underneath stuff, if every throw is a first down and they are still marching downfield in 2 and a half minutes then you are not really getting the job done.

I don't think we did do that though in the 2nd quarter. I think there is a baked in assumption amongst our fanbase that every time a team moves the ball against us we must be in soft zone and everytime we get a stop we are blitzing and playing man and it just isn't true. 4th quarter we did go to a lot of softer zones. That IS true. I think they were burned on the long St Brown TD and decided to go more cautious. It was a bit too early to start counting possessions to my eye but there you go.

He sucks in coverage. He is a special teamer who can play in a pinch if a team wants to run it. If they want to throw it watch out. He is in trouble.

While the fundamentals are similar this is not the exact defense Leslie Frazier was running.

Was a great throw. Lewis is the only player I'd criticise slightly. He gets his closing angle slightly wrong and against a player as good as St Brown that's trouble.

They blitzed less yesterday, good! The blitzes were a big part of the problem last week. They did play some man though yesterday still. They mixed that in through the first 2 and a half quarters. They went to exclusively soft zone later - I think too soon, I agree with that, but I also think they were trying to protect the spots where they were hurting, especially safety.

Leslie is by far the best of the 3 defensive coordinators we have had in the McDermott era. I'm 100% with you there. He got ridiculous unfounded hate from many.

They did that in the 4th quarter yesterday, but they didn't do that first half. They did very little of it last week, the issue vs the Rams was too aggressive not too conservative.

They also lost Milano (with Williams already banged up) and Bishop around that time. I thought Babich did a really good job 1st half. 2nd half was a bit less impressive.

It was the Buccs.

They definitely double covered him some and Terrion Arnold (their #1 corner) travelled some too. But there was definitely a concerted effort for the Bills to get to the backs v the Lions immobile linebackers as a matchup in the pass game.

He was unblockable last night. We need Ed in that kind of form when we hit the post season. It's just consistency. He has had a number of good games this year - Miami (1st game), Tennessee, Seattle, Kansas City, last night.... but he has had too many bad games too, where he has been almost invisible. There has been very little in between. That performance variance is too big and it is what is stopping him from maximising his talent. He still has all the tools to be one of the best two or three 3Ts in football.

the still doesn't show it but I've watched it about a dozen times and the contact definitely comes before Taron touches the ball. I get that it is bang, bang but it is a definite flag.

He hadn't touched the ball either. The Lions player makes contact with Johnson first.