HappyDays

Yeah that is just crazy. Beane chose to spend $30M on three C+ receivers instead of one A receiver. Obviously that strategy has turned out to be disastrous. Partly because he just refuses to consistently spend draft capital on them. Most teams have their version of Josh Palmer playing on a 3rd-5th round rookie contract. We waste $10M on him then we get lectured by the GM that it's not his fault he can't afford better WR talent.

Allen is literally the most valuable player in the league but that's not what the MVP award is for. Yes as stupid as that sounds. It's more of a season achievement award for the QB of a top seed. I think if New England goes 3-1 to end the season Maye will get it. If they go 2-2 it will go to Stafford. Slight chance of Jordan Love getting it over Stafford if the Packers finish with the #1 seed. Anyone other than those three I'd give 100:1 odds at this point. For Allen to get it we'd have to win out and have everything else happen just right for us to end as the #1 seed.

I'll be honest, the schedule argument really doesn't do it for me. Ripping off 10 wins in a row is incredibly impressive no matter who you play during the run. It's not like the Pats have a ton of talent across their roster either. They are winning these games with elite coaching and fundamentals, and damn good QB play to boot. The Bills have never been the #1 seed because they've failed to ever have a run like that and they find a way to lose to a couple clearly inferior opponents every year. So it's a bit rich to act like it is some hollow feat when we haven't done it once in six seasons with an all-time QB in his prime. By the way I think we are a clearly better team than New England and I expect us to win this week, I just can't bring myself to downplay what Vrabel has them doing this year. It's an amazing stretch of games for a young team, full stop.

Burrow is just injury prone. He takes normal NFL hits and misses half the season. If he was in Allen's place against Houston he would have left the stadium in a body bag. Being able to throw to an elite WR tandem means he can almost always hit the top of his drop and get the ball out immediately which more than cancels out whatever pass protection issues they have. I mean Joe Flacco has the mobility of the Tin Man and had the Bengals averaging 29 PPG in his games so I'm not going to buy that the OL is some fatal flaw for that team.

Mathematically no, practically yes. Really any loss the rest of the year and they are done. I ran a scenario where LA and Indy both lose out but KC loses to Denver, KC misses in that scenario.

Nah. Chargers are not going to win 3 more games after this one. They are toast with the OL injuries and Herbert playing hurt. Luckily we really only need them to win 1 more to keep KC out... Beating KC or Denver (in week 18 when they might be resting starters) will do it.

Haha that's unbelievable. Making a quick pit stop at Chiefs Planet, say a little prayer for me

Chargers are the most hilarious franchise. They just always find a way to lose

I usually have a good feel for 4th down decisions but I have no clue on this one

Yeah it actually depends. If LA loses to Denver as one of their losses then KC gets in over them at 10-7. Couldn't tell you why but that's what the playoff machine says.

I was wrong. A tie is as good as a win for LA. If they tie or win this game they need to win 2 more games and they keep KC out no matter what, even if KC beats them.

A tie kind of helps KC too I think. LA needs to get to 10 wins.

They're not just playing for the FG... are they?

Don't get me wrong McConkey is a good player but your WR room is in really rough shape when a short slot WR is the best you have. Chargers can't block the edges and can't get open outside and as a result their offense looks totally non-functional.

Wow that's two big drops for AJ Brown in this one

They should have let him score a TD. Now they will kick a FG as the clock runs out

Nobody wants to win this game

I can't believe that punt. Netted like 25 yards of field position

Okay maybe KC will make the playoffs after all

I'm only able to follow the game on ESPN gamecast tonight and I cannot begin to imagine what that play actually looked like

That man's family tree already has more branches than the British monarchy

Those two examples you used are ancient history in NFL years. These days there is maybe one defense per year that is able to actually slow down top offenses. This year it's Houston, and they have two top 3 picks that turned into superstars. A team like us picking at the bottom of the rounds, we're never going to have a defense that talented. And just to be clear I'm not saying defense is totally meaningless even with the rules as skewed towards offense as they are today. I'm fine using 1st rounders on DL and CBs and occasionally giving out big FA contracts to legit defensive players. But you can't spend almost your entire set of offseason resources on that side of the ball, and then still get into games like yesterday. We're extremely lucky to have the only QB in the entire NFL that can win yesterday's game for the Bills, but I hate having to rely on that. There have been several games this year where we needed the offense to be the unit that made a play at the end. Same with our last two playoff losses. Sometimes Allen is able to pull it out all on his own but a lot of times he's not. So I'm happy to accept that no defensive coaching could have made any kind of difference in yesterday's game, as long as we're also accepting that no amount of investment could have made a difference either. Whereas a couple legit investments on offense absolutely could have made it easier on us. Allen's ability to have a legendary performance in a shootout should be a bonus, not the only possible win condition.

So I don't necessarily have a problem with a talented offense putting points on the scoreboard. I get it, Cincy when healthy can do that to just about anyone other than maybe Houston. The path to beating them is what we did yesterday, try to put up 40 and create a couple negative plays on defense along the way. My overarching complaint, and this is more about the roster construction than the coaching yesterday, is that we spent all this money and draft picks on the defense only for us to still end up in these shootouts. Like we're acknowledging before the game even starts that Cincy is putting up 30+ no matter what, so why do we not want offensive weapons that can keep pace in a game like that? What is the point of investing in the defense as much as we have at the expense of the offense if we're just going to throw our hands up and say "nothing more we could have done" when another offense has its way with us? Either it's true that we need to keep making big investments in the defense, or it's true that nobody can stop an elite offense when they're clicking. Those statements can't both be true. If the second statement is true (and I acknowledge that it mostly is) then the only viable solution is an offense that can match.

You're right I looked it up, his first grandchild was born in 2010 and that was also the last season he played.