BillsFanSD

I don't see this as a hot take. Allen has very obviously been playing at a HOF level for the past two seasons. Two seasons isn't enough to get you into the HOF, but there's zero reason to think that he's going to suddenly start being average. Barring a severe injury or some freak occurrence, I think there's something like an 85-90% chance that Allen lands in the HOF within 5 years of becoming eligible for enshrinement. This is one of those things where you just have to watch the other games and get a good perspective on what's normal around the league. Allen's level of play is not normal. Kansas City is literally the only team in the league that would not be a better roster if they swapped QBs with us. Cincinnati would be better with Allen. San Diego would be better with Allen. Green Bay would be better with Allen. Tampa would still be playing if they had Allen. It's just KC, and they wouldn't be any worse with Allen. There is literally nobody in the league playing the position any better than him right now. It won't stay that way, but it's where things are at the moment.

I'll take Belichick as our gameday logistical coordinator and strategy consultant i.e. the guy who figures out how to cheat.

Kicking it out of the back of the end zone was fine. All we needed to do was defend two plays -- don't let the go 40+ yards in two plays. That was all. Any NFL defense should be comfortable with that assignment against any NFL offense. I mean, on the last play of the game, we just decided not to cover Travis freaking Kelce. That's a bigger mistake than taking a touchback and not letting them rip off a return.

I like McKenzie and I'd like to have him back. But also he's a gadget player. If we want another guy like that, we can find one. The long-run biggest danger our team faces is getting all sentimental about players and wanting to keep the band together at all costs. You have to be willing to be Belichickian and players walk when their price gets up to the point that they're no longer a bargain. We have a $250 million QB who is going to start to eating up a big part of our cap in another year or two -- we can't make that work without looking for value at other positions.

The same thing I do after every Bills loss -- drown my sorrows in alcohol and THC. Oh, you meant with the Bills roster. Mostly more of the same IMO. We're going to need a WR or two to replace Sanders and probably Beasley. We need a RB to replace Moss and push Singletary -- I'm not sure that he should be our long-run answer at that position. On defense, it's great that we're getting Tre back but I think we still need another CB for depth if nothing else. Otherwise I would just keep putting draft picks into the lines. And a new P.

I would rather have had a touchback than risk a squib kick. With 13 seconds left to go, you have to trust your defense with your opponent at their 25 yard line. No reason to try a squib and potentially hand them the ball at midfield. Obviously a fair catch at the 10 would have been optimal, but a touchback was fine. Just play defense and win the game.

Agreed, but imagine what this offseason would look like if we had just scraped by against NE and then watched Allen put up a stat line like 28/50 for 1 TD and 3 INTs. At least we've established beyond any question that we have an elite franchise QB. This team will be right back in the playoffs next year and probably be just as much of a threat to win the conference. Compare and contrast with the Music City Miracle, where we headed into the offseason with a QB controversy and a broken salary cap situation. This is nowhere near as bleak.

It's a lot more fun rooting for a good team than it was during the drought years. Of course the downside is that you either win the super bowl or watch your team lose a gut-wrenching game on a national stage. No more relaxing week 17s (well, 18 now) where maybe we get to celebrate spoiling some other team's season but have nothing to worry about otherwise.

I guess that means Haack isn't coming back. The end of an era. Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.

Okay, serious answer. After the first "game winning" TD, I wouldn't come down too hard on the defense. It's asking an awful lot to stop Mahomes when he has two minutes, three timeouts, and all four downs to work with. Frankly I expected KC to score in that situation. If the tables were reversed, I would expect Allen to score. And he did of course, when the tables were actually reversed. After the second "game winning" TD, I think everybody should come down extremely hard on the defense. If Jesus Christ Himself were under center you should be able to stop Him from getting into FG range with just 13 seconds left on the clock. No excuses for that one.

Finally somebody noticed that our defense might have played somewhat better toward the end of the game.

A true pro bowler would have known to call heads.

Not really. I mean, by many metrics our defense was "first" in the NFL, but that was obviously an artifact of getting to play the likes of Davis Mills and Trevor Siemian. Seriously, this team played a whole parade of backup QBs and mostly annihilated them. When we played good QBs we got lit up. And we all know how our run defense fared against teams like Indianapolis and Tennessee. I'm not opposed to our defensive philosophy. We have an offense that score in bunches, so a bend-but-don't-break approach out of a base nickel makes a lot of sense -- we figure to be playing with the lead a lot, so it's logical to emphasize stopping the pass and not giving up big plays. But I'm sure guys like Mike Zimmer and Wink Martindale would have done just fine with this unit even if their defense looked a little different.

It's one thing to play "whoever has the ball last" card when you leave two minutes on the clock for the other guys, like we did on our next to last score. You can also play that card when you leave 1:09 on the clock for the other guys, like the Chiefs did on their TD. It doesn't apply when you take the lead with 13 seconds remaining.

We need a punter. Haack probably cost us the PIT game, and he tried his best to lose us the Jets game. Ask the Packers about the importance of not having your punter blow it for you.

I really hope Frazier gets a HC opportunity.

Honestly, this. Everybody is going to focus on the last 13 seconds of regulation, which is fine. The defense and coaching staff absolutely ***** the bed and cost us the game during that period. It's fine and proper to be mad about that. But we also wasted much of the first half by trying to hide our all-world QB like he's Mac Jones or somebody. And we had that awful run-run-run-punt series in the third quarter that felt like a give-up series despite the game being close at the time. I would have been fine if we had put the ball in Allen's hands and lost. Instead, we gave it to him way too late and relied on the defense to be competent. Whoops.

Hail Murray was no big deal. Fluke regular season loss on the way to 13-3. I was over it by the time I went to bed. I don't think I'll ever get over this one. I'm still mad about homerun throwback.

Yes, the future is bright, the gap is closed, our window is wide open, etc. We still absolutely pissed away a golden opportunity to hoist the Lombardi trophy. I am pissed, and I'm going to be pissed for a while.

We have a tier 1 QB and a good team around him. Our super bowl window is open for a while. Tonight featured one team that was willing to put the game in the hands of their QB and one team who wasn't. We were the team that didn't trust its QB, and we lost as a direct result of that. I don't understand why you draft this guy and extend him and then don't let him play for a full half of football. It's mind-boggling.

It's going to take me a while to get over this game. You finally get around to letting your $250 million QB win the game, and he does. Then your defense pisses it away. Nice job, gentlemen.

I didn't realize Belichick was 70 -- he doesn't look a day over 75.

If the Pats had Herbert or somebody like that, sure. They don't have that guy.

I'm glad my career is in a place where I don't need to call attention to myself this way.

Good. I get that the NFL is a fraternity. TBH, I want my coach to be collegial with his counterparts in New Jersey, Miami, Green Bay, Dallas, etc. Obviously I want to win, but I want to do it with class and good sportsmanship. And on a pragmatic level, we need to hire coaches and attract free agents and I think you do that best by building a culture of mutual respect. But when it comes to Belichick, ***** all that. I hope McDermott personally hates him. I hope the entire FO mocks his man-boobs every Monday morning as their weekly ice-breaker. If they spend a few weeks every off-season coming up with creative ways to make his team look bad just out of spite, that would be wonderful. I hope McDermott TPs his house and short-sheets his bed.