HappyDays

It's a matchup league. Our defense versus their offense is a huge mismatch IMO. Maybe we could beat them in a shootout but I want no part of that in the freaking wildcard round, with tougher opponents still to come after. Give me LA or Denver in the wildcard.

We still control our destiny for the 2 seed. Baltimore isn't going to run the table and we already have a 1 game lead on them. My main objective tonight was to avoid seeing Cincy in the wildcard round. That's the nightmare scenario IMO.

Hopefully this knocks Cincy out of the playoffs when all is said and done. I can't believe any Bills fan rooted for them tonight. Imagine a playoff gauntlet of Cincy, Baltimore, KC, Detroit. That is genuinely a possibility if Cincy makes it in as the 7th seed.

Ja'Marr Chase has QB stats tonight. Unbelievable.

Yeah he landed with his full weight after driving him to the ground. Easy call

To me it looks a centimeter short but not enough to overturn

I think Baltimore should go for 2 here. You know if Cincy scores they'll go for 2 to win the game

Bengals should have let him run into the endzone there. This is like the end of our Miami game where I was rooting for them to score as quickly as possible to give our offense a shot.

My fantasy opponent has Chase

4th and short and you throw an inaccurate deep shot to the rookie that skipped practice. Sure.

Shut down the run and you shut down the Ravens. It really is that simple.

Bengals have a poor run defense but they're making a point not to let Henry take over the game.

Specifically against our defensive scheme. That's the matchup that worries me.

Cooper not catching passes is a big concern, obviously... I worry Mack Hollins will be our #1 outside WR against Indy.

Seems to me like he'll definitely be out against Indy since he can't catch, but hopefully back by KC. If not seems like he'll definitely be back after the bye. So it appears we averted a complete disaster.

No we already have enough situational pass rushers.

Ravens for sure. Anybody that's watched Burrow against McDermott's defense should know that we want Cincy out of the playoffs entirely. Burrow is probably the best QB in the league at dissecting zone defense. McDermott has never shown a willingness to adjust his scheme against him, so I want no part of that in the 1st round.

Bills 27 Colts 13 I'm feeling a redux of the Seahawks game but with a bit less scoring because of injuries to Coleman and Cooper. Pittman feels unlikely to play and Flacco is a statue so on defense we can sell out to stop the run like we did against Seattle. Flacco is the worst QB we've faced this year, even worse than Mason Rudolph IMO. He was terrible last week. McDermott doesn't lose to terrible QBs with mediocre coaching staffs. I struggle to find anything to be concerned about in this one.

I don't know, I think McDaniel's scheme hides OL deficiencies as well as anyone. Ball is in out in 2 seconds, or the run scheme dials up big blockers on small defensive players for an automatic mismatch. I'm sure they'll make a couple investments there but I wouldn't expect it to be a priority... Their biggest need is playmakers at every level of the defense.

Baker is the same player he was in Cleveland, which is a perfectly decent QB that will always hover around 16th best in the league. Cleveland let him go because they thought Watson could be a top 5 QB, obviously that has not worked out. Darnold hasn't resurrected his career. He will continue to be a backup/bridge starter because he doesn't see the field well and doesn't move through his progressions fast enough. All of his warts are popping up again now that opposing defenses have several games of tape on him in that offense. He'll be the primary reason the Vikings don't go far in the playoffs this year and they'll switch to JJ McCarthy next year.

I wouldn't count out the Dolphins next year. We just saw firsthand how good that offense is when everyone is healthy and McDaniel is willing to be patient as a play caller. They did anything they wanted to against us, and if they can drag us into a shootout it becomes basically a coin flip game. I still see them as our most viable competition for the next couple years. I don't think people are giving enough credit to how bad the Pats roster is right now... They're kind of where the Bills were in 2018 but arguably with even less talent, and Jerod Mayo has not been good at all IMO. He's a defensive coach and his defense has been abysmal (30th in DVOA). And it's very unlikely Drake Maye becomes as good as Josh Allen. I know they have a ton of resources to spend next year but they are almost like an expansion team starting from scratch. They will have to make a lot of good decisions to climb their way back into contention. I'm really not worried about them at all. The Jets are in for a few years of pain. They made a massive mistake trying to go all in with a 40 year old QB. Short term all in teams very rarely work out. The Rams did it and it worked but it took them a couple years just to get back into wildcard contention and that was with an elite coach and very good QB guiding the ship. The Jets by comparison are lost at sea and don't even have a captain. Get back to me in four seasons, we'll see where they're at.

My post on the last page:

Yeah in a way I was glad to see us win a game like we did against Miami. It's good for the team in the long run. Inevitably you are going to have to win some shootouts in this league. If for example we face Baltimore in the playoffs it isn't going to be a 21-17 kind of win... It was good to see our offense keep pace and that was without our best WR on the field.

Sounds like he had a bad attitude from the start and didn't put forth enough of an effort for the coaches to give him a shot after he recovered from his injury. Opportunities are earned, not gifted.