Belgium_Bill

My kids got me a nr 58 Milano jersey for Christmas this year. Enough said, I rest my case.

In my timezone I won't watch, cannot bring myself to wasting an entire pre-workday night if it ain't the Bills. I'll just watch the "game in 40 minutes" version on GameDay (or DAZN as it is over here now) tomorrow morning without knowing the score. It wouldn't be the first superbowl that turns out totally different from what all the analysis has been throwing at us for 2 full weeks, so my prediction is that 49rs will win on the back of a great performance by their defence, the unlikely hero of the game will be Jauan Jennings, but since he's not famous enough CMC will get the MVP. See you all in the off-season, Go Bills!

YIHAA

We could do worse

Very mature clean game from Tannehill, playing for a contract

The best plays in this game so far are the punts 😏

I believe it's essential to consider the full body of work, spanning six years. I commend McDermott for his significant contributions in developing both the team and its culture. In that respect I view him as a top-10 coach, also in terms of defensive preparation. Despite the setbacks of losing key defensive players like Tre and Milano this year, McDermott has, for the most part, elevated our defense to an impressive level in recent weeks. However, there is another aspect that needs acknowledgment - the challenges in game management and in-game tactical adjustments. In this regard, McDermott falls squarely in the bottom half of NFL coaches. While I won't revisit the 13 seconds controversy, the overarching issue seems to be an inability to grasp the correct vibe in crucial moments. This often manifests in poorly timed (usually defensive) timeouts. One instance that particularly frustrated me was when he called a timeout just before the 59-yard Eagles field goal. Elliott got the time to have a few nice practice kicks on the sideline for crying out loud... Not feeling the moment IMO. McDermott undeniably excels from Monday to Saturday, showcasing his coaching prowess. However, the challenge lies in translating that success to game days. I can't help but think about the stark contrast in game instincts between McDermott and someone like Dan Campbell. If you want to climb Mount Everest, you assemble a team of sherpas to guide you to near the top, and then there's that one exceptional sherpa who leads you to the very summit. Perhaps McDermott is the top sherpa for getting the team to the last base camp, but the crucial test remains in reaching the summit.

It's a constant balance between being certain of the play-offs and still winning the division... Analysis is correct: the main team to root against is the Steelers, and the likeliest "unsuspected help" in the last two weeks has to come from the totally unpredictable Titans. Here's one for you all: which scenario would you prefer after the week 17 games, assuming we have beaten the Pats: 1/ Bills mathematically certain of play-offs but Phins beat Ravens so the division title is gone. 2/ Phins lose so Bills play in Miami for the division title but a loss could spell no play-offs alltogether. Where would you rather be next week ? Apart from right here right now of course....

Wouldn't it be a fun assignment to ban the word "if" from the board in the upcoming weeks... Leaving aside the resting the starters part from this thread, what I totally agree with is the underlying vibe of this message, that we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves too much and qualifying for the play-offs is by far the most important thing, seen as we were all but dead and burried after the Eagles disaster... The board has been full of pipe dreams of where we could end up by winning out, but frankly, after the many blows this season what I absolutely want to avoid is losing at Miami and be eliminated from the play-offs alltogether. And that scernario is still possible. Last nights win by the Ravens means that they may well have locked up the #1 with a win over Miami next week, leaving the door open for the Steelers who play their final game at Baltimore. It's a sad consequence of our losses this year, but it may come down to that, downward trending poor teams getting crappy easy wins in their last few games: Jaguars (home Carolina, @ Tennessee) is another example. As great as it would be to play for the division title in Miami, knowing that a loss there might be season ending would make it a mega bum squeezer. So my main prayer is to be guaranteed a play-off spot by next week.

Thanks, well, you learn something every day...

Is there an NFL rule I'm not aware off stating that Baltimore linesmen cannot be flagged for holding?

Trust me, I've just about had it after two defeats in recent years agains the Jags over here, they can stay in Buffalo 😉

From thousands of miles away I 100% agree with this.

I think that would be manageable to be honest, at least during the regular season. They could plan it in a way that the European based team plays stints of 3 consecutive away games then 3 at home, so as to limit constant intercontinental travel. As for the visiting teams there wouldn’t be much different from the way things are now, they just have to travel over once per season, preferably not waiting to leave until the Thursday I would suggest…🙄 Once it gets to possible play-off games things become far more complicated of course in terms of Europe based team. Anyway, the current trend of adding international games in different countries - now they are adding Spain it seems - is contradicting the strategy of a fixed home team in Europe, so I have no idea where the NFL is heading with this, apart from the fact that they are heading towards an ever fatter bank account of course. Unless of course the big plan is a European team without fixed home base, playing all over the place... One small remark for those here complaining about 9:30am games on a Sunday, spare us a thought please, every US evening game means a 2 am kick-off for me, often on a (very) early Monday morning at the start of a working week. So no, I don’t feel sorry for you watching NFL games while having your Sunday breakfast 😄

Of course this team is good enough, but it won't happen, not under this head coach anyway.