HappyDays

Bills 24 Chiefs 23 This game will flip the script of our previous playoff matchups and become a defensive struggle. Chiefs kick a FG to get within 1 point and kick off with 5 minutes remaining. We then methodically run out the clock with a few clutch plays from Allen and finally slay the dragon.

Censor? I hardly know her

See I never bought the mismatch thing. Everyone just looked at the stats of their run offense compared to our run defense and surmised there was an insurmountable gap there. Me, I believe run defense is about WILL from the players and INTENT from the coaches. I'm now fully convinced that Oliver and DQ were dogging it a bit early in the season, saving themselves for more important games. Their will showed up in this one. You saw it on tape and Henry's stat line proves it. I'm also convinced the coaching staff had the wrong game plan in week 4 - against Baltimore you have to shut down the run first and live with their production through the air. Otherwise you're on your heels the whole game. In this game the intent of the coaching staff was made clear on the very first play - 4-3 base defense and Henry was stuffed for a 1 yard gain. There was never a mismatch. The players and coaches just didn't have the right formula in week 4. Thankfully they corrected it when it mattered.

This really was the most Chiefs like win of the season for us. The more I think about it, it's uncanny. Chiefs always let their opponent make a game of it. They never put their opponent away early. Their opponent might outplay them but their opponent makes big mistakes and they don't. The end of the game in particular was as Chiefs as it gets. 4th and 2 from the goal line with a chance to go up by 8, the Chiefs would kick that FG every time and put all the pressure on their opponent to execute and go win the game. Because they know their opponent very likely can't hold up under the pressure, and if they can then Mahomes will just drive down for a game winning FG. They leave themselves multiple avenues for victory and trust that one of them will come through. This game was frustrating but also maybe the most impressive win of the McDermott era because it showed a championship ability that I've never seen from this team before. We beat Baltimore exactly like KC did in week 1, except this time the would-be game tying drive was quashed by a finger rather than a toe.

They drafted Hayden Hurst a few picks BEFORE they took Lamar Jackson. Any stories they've told after the fact to indicate that they were all in on him are not true. They decided a TE prospect was worth the risk of losing out on him entirely. The truth is nobody, including Baltimore, properly valued him.

FWIW so is WR production. In 2022 the top 10 WRs averaged 1,422 yards. In 2023 it was 1,451. This year it was 1,296. Passing production in general has gone down, as has scoring. Defenses have caught up to the high flying big play offenses, so offenses have responded by becoming more about ball control which is reducing the overall number of plays run. Keeping this discussion point on topic, a player like Kincaid should theoretically thrive in the new style. He was drafted to be a ball control type of player. Instead he's low efficiency and low production.

Yeah Ryan Van Demark did a steady job in that game but it's no coincidence we had our worst rushing efficiency of the season against KC. We just imposed our will against the two best run defenses in the league. I don't expect us to let up this weekend.

He was our best player against Baltimore IMO. Has been our 2nd best overall player this season. As a non-premium position I needed him to become an elite player to live up to that contract. Well, he got there. In fact he's a legit difference maker. Kromer is a miracle worker.

That's fine but this year he hasn't been that guy, clearly. It isn't just scheme. There have been plays where he's the designed primary read but can't separate - last week against Denver, the broken play that ended with a missed throw to Knox in the endzone was actually schemed up for Kincaid to get open on an angle route but he lost the rep. Him and Allen often are not on the same page. In general he was drafted to be a reliable pass catcher/chain mover and instead he has a 58.7% catch rate and only 6 yards per target. I say all of this as a huge Kincaid fan coming out of Utah. He was my draft crush and I couldn't believe it when he fell to us. But I have to be honest about his performance on the field. The traits that I fell in love with haven't translated to the NFL. At least not yet.

I mean how should we be using him? He doesn't do a particularly good job making himself available to his QB. He's often not where Josh expects him to be. He can't separate downfield consistently. His hands haven't been nearly as good as I thought coming out. There's a reason Knox has been out-snapping him - Kincaid just hasn't been good enough. I'm hoping the light turns on for him next year. He's very talented but the details aren't there.

It seems like he has a lot of trouble reading defensive leverage and making himself available to his QB. That skill is what makes Kelce the GOAT. Here's an example from the Ravens game, first play in this clip: So the debate I've seen on here is it a bad throw or a missed catch? To me it's more about Kincaid's route. I think he needs to flatten his route out and not drift upfield randomly. Allen throws it when he's made his cut and is at the 39, but Kincaid drifts and is at the 41 by the time the ball gets there. If he flattens his route I think the ball is right where it needs to be. This is an issue of understanding leverage IMO.

Hamlin was genuinely quite good in this game, he just had the one really bad play that jumped out. He had several great run stops including that almost home run you mention, and showed excellent technique to bring Lamar down in a disadvantageous 1v1 situation which led to a turnover. He gets all the criticism but he just keeps doing what he's supposed to.

I mean the easy response to this is that the "h8ers" were right when they begged McDermott to do these things and not do the same old crap we get trampled with year after year in the playoffs. Good on McDermott for making those adjustments, seriously. But the adjustments also prove that his defensive coaching in past playoff games has been subpar. Thankfully he recognized this and now we have a real shot at a Super Bowl.

Wrong again. The best player in the game was Spencer Brown.

If the roles were reversed this board would have burned to the ground. I have no clue what you're talking about. You're the only person I've seen anywhere with this take, and I even checked out the Ravens forum last night. There's no luck involved in throwing a horrid INT and inexplicably dropping the ball. The INT was rookie in his first start bad - fail to look off the safety, stare down your target, throw an inaccurate floater. This is who Lamar becomes in the playoffs. This year I honestly thought he would finally shake that stigma because he showed so much improvement in the regular season, but turns out it was the same old story.

History won't look back at this game. We'll either win the Super Bowl or we won't. That's what history will remember.

According to Banged Up Bills on Twitter the median timeframe for a first concussion is 9 days... We just have to hope he clears it faster than the average like Ray Davis did.

The Chiefs win like 75% of their games because their opponent makes a big mistake in a big moment. That's championship football. The media is right about the narrative but they are wrong about the meaning behind it.

Meh those spot challenges have minimal chance of being won and I thought saving the TO for a potential game winning FG drive was a lot more important. Now I have plenty of criticism for Brady in this game, including that 3rd down play call. McDermott ultimately owns his OC's mistakes so I'm not letting him off the hook for that. But as far as the normal head coach game management stuff I thought he was excellent.

Ugh I'm sick of important Bills players getting randomly injured on the final play of the game. Hopefully Benford makes it through protocol.

If you want to say our coaches won the 1st half and theirs won the 2nd half, that's more than fair.

I had exactly zero confidence that FG was taking us to OT. Zero. In my mind that game ended on the Hamlin fake punt and everything that came after was a gag gift. I don't want to re-litigate previous playoff losses thought. For this year I think McDermott has done a great job in the playoffs. No unforced coaching errors like we've seen in the past. The players are as focused and ready as ever. Tell Brady to knock it off with whatever he was doing yesterday and let's go win this thing.

The weird thing is Lamar has played some of the cleanest QB play in the entire league the past two years. But then he gets past the wildcard and makes mistakes. If it was like the Dorsey/Allen days where mistakes were the identity of our offense then I would agree coaching needs an upgrade, but since these issues only pop up for them at a very specific time of year I don't know how you blame coaching. Lamar just has to make it a point to not be the reason they lose in January. It's a stigma that's only going to get worse.

Him and Andrews both. Two of the most important players on the team made multiple backbreaking mistakes that had nothing to do with coaching. Fittingly those two combined to make a game sealing mistake on what was effectively the final play of the game. If people want to compare that to some of the awful playoff losses we've had under McDermott over the years, have at it. I don't need to stretch the truth - McDermott and Harbaugh were both excellent in their roles yesterday. Ultimately one side's players made mistakes and the others didn't, and that decided the result.