Murdox

The sky is not falling, but the loss is pretty brutal. Home and against a potential playoff team in your conference that you need to beat. Next week will be the main indicator, however, of what direction we are going. If the offense sputters again against the division rival, we are more likely looking at a long season (and not just because it's 17 games).

This is definitely on the offense. They kept the reasonably talented Steelers to 23 points so far with 2 minutes left (and Big Ben is generally stronger earlier in the season). That's solid. Allen has looked very rough, sadly, and that's a concern. He's slower than last year in his decisions.

Unfortunately, Brady told the Sporting News he's considering playing past 45. We have to deal with him for a few more years yet.

Yeah, but when you lose so many offensive starters right before the game, it's difficult. I read that the Browns were actually working on the offense in the parking garage next to their hotel before the game on Sunday. Losing two CBs is rough, but having so many losses on offense I'd argue is much worse. We will see, but the Browns should beat the resting Steelers if they get their starters back. In any case, I was merely addressing their chances of beating the Steelers. I'd much rather play the Browns than the Colts on WC weekend. That said, according to the ESPN Playoff Machine, if the Colts win, Dolphins win, Ravens win, and Titans win, we would play the Ravens on WC weekend if the Steelers win, and the Browns if the Browns win. So I don't think we want the Steelers to win. Go Browns.

Well, you have to remember, the Browns were without their starting receivers and 2 starting offensive linemen last week thanks to COVID. If they get those guys back, they will be a very different team this week.

Looking at the playoff possibilities, the Ravens seem least likely to get the 7 seed versus seed 5 or 6, so it still makes sense to keep the 2 seed. I don't think any team wants to play the Ravens on wildcard weekend.

The fact that the Bills were able to put themselves in a position to beat one of the better teams in the NFC in spite of all the mistakes is a net positive on the day. I understand the frustration, but we should be optimistic. My pessimism is over the fact that the Dolphins have a much softer schedule than us, and they will likely be tied with us when we come off the bye.

The second half we started running fairly well on the few carries we tried. I do agree with you as to the first half.

You are probably correct. The Dolphins play the Broncos, Jets, and Bengals next. Talk about an easy three games.

I do think the Bills need to run more. The run game looked promising against the Cards but we didn't run enough.

Hopkins is arguably the best WR in football. Tough loss, but glad to see the Bills came back. Can't feel too bad when you lose to a lucky play.

I disagree with you to some extent about Marv. The only one of the four Superbowls where I thought the Bills had the more talented team was against the Giants. The Redskins team the following year, and the two Dallas teams were better teams on paper. Most experts have agreed with that over the years. The NFC was just a stronger conference for many years during that time period. I have no problem with Wade Phillips as a DC.

I have to agree. The number of missed throws to open receivers when he is NOT under any direct pressure is troubling. That said, he does have a great arm - not many QBs could fit the ball in he got to Beasley on the 2nd TD drive.

I felt like this game was going to be a challenge when I saw Allen miss a couple of open guys due to sloppy footwork in the opening drive when he had plenty of time. There were certainly other issues to the game (like the offense and clock management at the end of the game - blech), but Allen needs to get some consistency fast if this team is ever going to be something. He just isn't there yet, and there is only so much his legs can do. I'm fearing we whiffed on Lamar.

I have to admit that I am getting tired of reading all of the negative press about the city of Buffalo. Rotoworld went bananas and said Buffalo is the "Siberia" of the NFL and very few players would want to go there. They also stated in a separate post that Brown's quality of life would go down if he were in Buffalo. Very tiresome. If you ask me, Buffalo beats Pittsburgh for a place to live.

I have lived in NYC for most of my life, for better or worse. People in NYC, whether republican or democrat, have known about Trump's business practices for years. It was regularly in the news, and most of us at some point had interacted with someone who had been - shall we say - dealt a bad hand due to Trump. There is a reason why Kasich won the primary in New York County. Whether that should affect your feelings about him as President is up to you. Anyway, that's enough said on the subject for a football board!

I might take Nathan Peterman over Blaine Gabbert. That's all I'll say on the subject.

I like how he explains his previous hits on sliding QBs by saying he was "falling into them" and couldn't stop. If what I saw I saw on the video is him "falling into" Allen, I hate to think what he looks like when he really launches himself at a guy carrying the ball. ? I don't know if he's intentionally doing it or not, but he definitely needs to have a better feel for the game when QBs are carrying the ball.

I have to say that my biggest takeaway from Rosen was surprise over how weak his arm looked. On many of his throws he also lacked an arc to the ball. A lot of balls were getting batted down.

I doubt it is "safe" in the current era of passing and guys entering the draft ever earlier. 4000 yards is the new 3000 yards and likely we will some day soon see a 6000 yard passer (that's still an average of less than 400 yards a game - certainly doable). Also, Brady is only a season behind and has gone on record stating he wants to play until he is 45. If he plays 1-2 more seasons than Brees, he will likely pass him. That said, all this talk on passing yards is a bit meh, in my opinion. In order to put up a lot of passing yards you need to be a team that throws first and has a bad enough defense to give you an opportunity to keep throwing. The cards have to fall right.

I can only assume he's giving TT a little respect. I don't want to shower Mayfield with too much praise yet, but man he fit some tight balls in there. Also, the Favre-like fake pumps showed some real poise in the pocket. If his receivers hadn't have dropped 3 other passes he would have been 20-23 on the night.

O-line is a problem. As for the pick, we had competition to move up to 7 (likely the Cards) and Beane was dead-set on Allen so he didn't want to risk losing him. That's why we paid so much.

Rosen has already suffered 2 concussions. I thought that was more the issue the OP was trying to note.

Dolphins would have likely taken a QB, but we will always wonder....(unless the Dolphins GM discloses it).

Rosen has had 2 concussions already. Definitely an issue in the NFL. Allen has the most upside and Beane is looking to make a dent. He must have confidence here. We are not talking about a guy who was rumored to be falling past anything lower than the middle of the first round, and in those mocks other QBs often feel even further. Let's take a deep breath.