Apocalypse Nuts

Love it! Love it! Love it!

This is why I'm a loyal Bills fan. Back in the Super Bowl heydays, I was attracted to the grit of those players and those teams. But it's the people of Buffalo and Western NY that really got me. I saw the Niagara Square rally where everyone was chanting for Scott Norwood to speak - even though he had missed the game-winning field goal as we all know (I personally don't blame him). He was so moved and so was I. That was just an incredible outpouring of love like I've never seen before. It also showed Buffalo Bills fans had immense class. That much was clear. And I was pretty much hooked after that. Over time, I've come to really understand how special Buffalo Bills fans are. It feels like I'm part of a family - a damn loyal family. It's been a rough couple of decades but I've never wanted to jump ship. There's just no other place like Buffalo and no other fans like Buffalo Bills fans.

He's having a fantastic 3rd year and it's a lot of fun to watch. Even in the Jets and Pats games, though the scoreboard was not exactly on fire, I thought Josh was very accurate and took what the D gave him. He's starting to figure out how to win those games after being surprised by the Titans. IMO his performance vs the Seahawks made it clear as day we finally have the QB we've all been waiting for since JK retired in 1996. I still remember watching that press conference on t.v. and thinking how I couldn't wait for them to plug in the next QB and get to winning games again. Apparently it just ain't that easy. But, finally, that time has arrived.

The 2020 honeymoon is over that’s all. Time for the real grind now. Fortunately we can be confident that the Bills brain trust won’t sit on their hands without at least trying to make some moves to right the ship. So Allen is not ready to take us to the Promised Land quite yet. Same for the defense. They’re going to learn a lot from this incredibly tough schedule and it’s going to make them a lot tougher going forward. Apparently they really need that.

Good points, OP. The Bills were stiff and slow and it was completely obvious. All that time off just primed the Titans for a great game. Not practicing and everything didn't hurt those players nearly as much as everyone was assuming it would. They're pros and they ended up getting a lot of good rest sitting around just itching to get back into things. Steve Tasker called this one correctly last week saying just that. They Titans had something to prove and very fresh legs on which to do it. The Bills were in a terrible position just waiting to see if they were even going to play this game or not. I'm certain that most of them thought they would not and regardless of that, they were just out of their routine and out of rhythm. The Bills do have some real problem areas, sure. That's painfully obvious. But Tuesday night was a perfect storm of bad luck, being short-handed and out of rhythm and going up against a VERY well rested team with a chip on its shoulder that had also figured out how to take all the big plays away from the offense to a degree they hadn't seen yet this season. IMO anyway. Unfortunately, I think the KC game will be another loss unless they can really figure some things out quickly. But they'll get back on track sooner rather than later. At least I'm confident that the offense will. The D is another question entirely. Yuck.

He was too busy throwing picks to fumble the ball so much the first 16 games. In all seriousness though, his rushing TD's are consistent even though he's having a ton more success throwing. Really a huge bonus with the potential he's finally showing now purely passing.

Great post. I look at those numbers a lot myself. He's grown up in a really short time considering all the catching up he had to do anyway, let alone his offense being so terrible the first year. He said his game mindset is "I just want it, more than anything." His dedication to doing all the work it takes for him to get better speaks volumes about how much he really wants it. He really has that fire and it burns HOT! I can't believe I actually preferred Baker over Allen in that draft. I wouldn't trade Josh for anything.

I have to say the people of this area are generally (like 99%) very nice and cordial, especially compared to East Coast people in general. That's another reason I love it here so much. In the category of probably only of interest to me, the municipal tap water is like the best in the world. It tastes as good or better than bottled water. When we lived in NoVA we used a Brita pitcher and went through filters every month. We got here and realized we hadn't changed ours in over 4 months so we just stopped using it. We just got back from Hilton Head Island in SC and the water there is atrocious. If you have crappy tap water where you live you'll probably understand why I'm a little enthusiastic about ours. That may be interesting to someone else so I'm just throwing it out there. Also the "traffic" here is almost non-existent when you're used to the DC area. You couldn't pay me to move back there. BTW the DENSO car parts mega-factory here is hiring like crazy right now and has been for a few years now. They're expanding their existing facilities - which were already incredible - where they make computerized components for several car manufacturers with a nearly billion-dollar new facility. They have lots of entry-level jobs so it's not hard to get your foot in the door and start a really good career. It's caused a major housing boom here for several years now but it's still a relatively affordable place to live. And the Maryville City schools are some of the top in the country which is a major bonus if you have school age kids. Just putting this out there in case anyone is interested.

I'm originally from Northern VA but I've been a Bills fan since the first Super Bowl. I never had a team I followed and I just gravitated to the Bills somehow. After pretty much immediately going through those four SB losses with everyone, I was devastated but I told myself it was only a matter of time before they'd get back to the big game and win it. Of course I had no idea the wait would be this long or this painful but it's starting to all be worth it now.

I feel the same way. Adding a week or more onto the season seems to be an absolutely last resort or we'd be hearing more about that possibility right now.

We have some great views of this side of the Smokies from all parts of town. Been here since 2015 and feel more at home here than I ever did in 30 years in the DC area.

I live about 45 minutes from Gatlinburg in Maryville (pronounced "Mer-vul" and like 20 miles due-south of Knoxville). I've seen one or two of us around town here but don't know any personally. Hopefully other Bills fans in my area have at least noticed my Bills stickers on my cars and my "Bills Mafia" license plate frame which I'm very proud of. It's been nice having the Bills play the Titans so often the last few years. As you can imagine without the Sunday Ticket I don't get to see so many regular season games. Hopefully things will come back around like they were in the early 90's when they'd showed Bills games all the time because they were so good.

I didn't really pay too much attention to #70 yesterday but I did notice him really man-handling some of those big Raiders' guys pretty well a few times. Man, it would be so nice to have Feliciano at RG right now. Those two have that nastiness factor that I love. Just looking at Ford is intimidating to me and I'm not very easily intimidated by anyone.

I talked about that but it was mainly to myself. So that doesn't really count I guess. However, I don't recall seeing too many plays in all my years where a kicker was able to immediately redeem himself, and then some, in that fashion. That's how you get over a mistake. And it was a pretty decent tackle for a kicker, IMO. Others may have indeed talked about this but I'm glad the OP brought it up again.

That might be a bit of an exaggeration.

The football gods must be miffed at me for some reason. When I heard KC/NE was cancelled I thought for sure I'd get to see my first Bills game live this year. But no. Of course not, right? I live just south of Knoxville, TN but I'm actually in Hilton Head, SC this weekend. Looks like the stupid Indy game is on both places!!!!! One word: CRAPOLLA!!!!! From the 506 map there might, just might, be a slight possibility of it being on Spectrum here on the island but I'm not betting on it. But heck, if we go 4-0 and the way JA and the offense is playing this season, if I have don't get to see so many live games so the universe can be in harmony, then so be it. I'll sacrifice for the sake of a successful season. It's still an AMAZING season so far! GO BILLS!!!!

VIVA LOS BILLS!!!!!

I have actually heard of Frostburg State believe it or not. It's near Cumberland, MD. I visited there a handful of times but that was back in the early to mid 90's. I was in an Army reserve unit near there. I can confirm that your alma mater is accurately named having stayed a night there in January, on top of the three or four winters I was up there on drill weekends. I've been to a lot of cold places but the cold wind that comes down those mountains there in the winter is something else.

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned this one but I recall seeing a little contest, many years ago between Drew Bledsoe and Brett Favre (I'm 95% certain it was those two) and maybe another dude before the Pro Bowl game of whatever year that was. This was before Drew landed in B'lo. I think I remember they both threw 75 yards and tied. Vaguely remember someone else might have been there in the mix but didn't beat those two so I guess it wasn't important enough for me to remember who that was (or not remember if I'm incorrect). There may have been more of those but that's the only one I've actually watched myself. I've tuned out for the season by Pro Bowl time so just happening across the one with Bledsoe and Favre was a bit of luck. That was fun to watch. Of course I'd absolutely love to see Mahomes and Allen fire some cannonballs.

This has no place on this thread. Especially on Memorial Day. Not a single person who gave their life for our country did so in vain.

It’s in the game highlights on YouTube. Josh throws a rocket 27 yards with no discernible arc. On the run. Truly other-worldly.

Thank you. I'll check that out. I'm really liking the McD hire these days. I had no idea he would turn out so well. He's very intelligent and he surrounds himself with great coaching minds. He's got this really great football mind but he's also all about building a ream "Team" and doing it the right way so guys are proud to be Bills and fight hard for each other . You can already feel it from guys like Hyde and Beasley, even Jordan Phillips. We've all been super loyal to the Bills when 99% of other teams' fans would have bailed a long time ago. I think our loyalty and patience is about to be rewarded. I mean, it's starting to be cool to be a Bills fan in this modern era. People want to see what this young gritty team and their young, very respectable QB can do.

See you're just keeping it going. Some of us actually see the big picture and we get a little tired of all the whining all the time about this didn't happen. Or the coaches didn't do this. Or why didn't they run this defense? ...etc Some of you just act like you know literally everything and anyone else is just stupid for not seeing the obvious like you do. One of my favs is when someone says "When are they going to let Tre White actually cover the other teams best receiver and stick to him all day long?" They are and he does. If you see something different that's because the coaches had something different in mind they thought was a good idea to run based on their, wait for it, decades of actual football coaching experience. Believe it or not, they actually know a thing or two about the game that you do not. Shocking I know. But I'll be fair. If you're going to whine all the time, and that's your right to do so of course. But then don't get so uptight when we tell you what we think. This response above is a perfect example of how personally you take these losses. You all kind of act like you have been following a team other than the Buffalo Bills the last twenty years you expect such perfection. Let's all step back and take a deep breath now and close our eyes. Open them...what do we see here? Oh my! The Bills have 10 wins (!) already???? They have solidified the 5th seed????? That's pretty impressive when you actually look at the big picture. Speaking for myself, I must be a glutton for punishment coming back here and reading threads I know I won't like from the same members over and over. It's like I'm subconsciously thinking they're going to actually say something different. And I, personally, definitely get confrontational. It's who I am. It's the first reason why I don't go to bars anymore to watch any games. I can't sit there and hold my tongue anymore when someone is spewing total nonsense. (the second reason is I don't drink anymore so bars are kind of awkward places for me now, but I digress). Most days I can just hold my tongue (keyboard fingers?) no matter what nonsense I read but then I get a little mojo going and just gotta say something. I don't know. I'm rambling now. I guess we all can do a better job of saying our pieces without coming across like we're telling anyone else what to think. And vice versa. I'll step down from my soap box now. Thank you for your time. What? I don't know.

Why did it need to be treated like a playoff game? Why did they have to do everything they could to win a game that, realistically, had zero impact on the playoffs for the Bills? Please explain. For some reason, many of you got way over invested emotionally in this one particular game and now your feelings are hurt. So now you're appalled by the lack of effort or creativity or whatever. Our coaches are not dummies. They're very slick. They were absolutely not going to give away anything at all that might give the slightest hint of what they would do to the Pats in a potential playoff game. Playoff games need to be treated like playoff games. Not interesting but pretty much meaningless. except for ego, regular season games. We all saw very vanilla play calling on both sides of the ball, for the most part. I think the offense was playing down intentionally especially in the run game. Look, the Bills damn near pulled off an upset win with exactly this basic and unimaginative game plan anyway. How great is that? It almost feels like, because of the playoff situation and the fact that even a win over the Pats would still need a Pats loss to the friggin' Dolphins to take the division away, the all said "hey let's not give anything away. Let's save it for a very possible playoff game meeting that will actually mean something real. And if we can beat them anyway just on simple play calling but great execution and fundamentals, then even better." Something like that. I mean it's really easy to tell which of you on here were looking at this game and this game only on Saturday without keeping an eye on the big picture. The Bills actually have the problem of being able to do just that, finally, because they are already in the playoff with a few weeks to go. That's a great problem to have. If you've made it now to your 2nd playoff round in 19 years, would you not take it a little more seriously and do some major planning ahead for your potential opponents? With this Bills squad as young as they are, you'd better. And you all are getting way to over invested emotionally in how good this Bills team really is and how far they've come along in their development as this version of the team right now. This is practically year 1 for the offense. The D is different but they're playing like they've been together for a while now. Kudos to them. But the offense is still a work in progress. Some of you all are expecting near perfection each and every game and you go back and second guess and pick apart everything. You're expecting each player and each facet and each play to be absolutely perfect, or darn near and you're expecting them to somehow to be scoring 30+ points each game or be failures. Look at the way some of you all over analyze the crap out of each game with your little rundowns every week. This is not a playoff offense right now by any stretch. Frazier and McD are coaching the hell out of this defense and they're playing in serious playoff level and that's why they made the post season again. As dynamic as Daboll will have this offense going in a year or two, with all the new pieces and very young players right now, that's not going to happen overnight. When it does...watch out. They O is still finding it's identity. They'll get there and in the meantime you just gotta really appreciate the success they've actually had this season in spite of all the challenges. Oh, and they've played some really, really good D's the last few games. Hanging tough with those big dogs says a lot too win or lose. And don't give me any junk about 'moral victories.' That's not what I'm talking about.

Now that is wisdom my friends.