Boatdrinks

Detroit is the highest scoring team in the NFL fwiw .. certainly would have liked to see the Bills hold them in the 20’s. I’m not going to complain too much. The Bills rely on the elite play of Josh Allen to win games- and will do so in the playoffs. Who knew ?

While the sack totals may not be great, Rousseau has had big impacts in many if not most of the Bills games this season. Last week’s no show was out of character for him. Oliver, on the other hand isn’t having a very good year.

Absolutely. I don’t care one bit about beating KC in their own house- as if it’s somehow more satisfying or some mark of sports purity. That doesn’t mean a thing, and I’d much rather have the game in Buffalo- especially with the astronomical price of secondary market SB tickets. Ask any Bills fan however, if they’d take an AFCC game appearance and they’d tell you yes in less than a heartbeat. I thought they had reached the 30 point mark once going into their game in OP. Strange.

Almost forgot about that , but it made the defensive performance even more infuriating at the time.

Nowhere near the pass rush ability of those teams right now. Regardless of scheme. McD and Co have to be willing to throw some different wrinkles at the better QBs / OC’s they will see in the playoffs rather than giving just what they expected.

Honestly, in this case it’s a dumb question.

I liked Marv- but he was far more of a delegator than a specialist. That was less effective as he lost top coordinators. The SB Bills greatest issue was DL based as well- they lacked a great run stuffing NT. This was hugely critical in the NFL game at that time. Perhaps if they had landed Ted Washington in the ‘91 draft like they wanted things may have been different. Polian should have moved up to get him. Anyway, I’m not sure that the Bills need a new HC with Allen at QB- but the defense needs to be better in the playoffs. We’ll see if they can go in with a pretty healthy group and close the deal this time.

The performance of the defense in this years playoffs will be a bigger factor than a couple regular season letdowns.

I’m a gen Xer and lived ( plus died a little bit) through all 4 Super Bowl runs and losses. I agree younger Bills fans than me- or other Gen Xers -might see it differently.

I can’t disagree with this premise. I hope it’s unnecessary because the Bills won the Super Bowl, but if not it’s the number 1 issue going forward. Now, that only matters if T-Pegs sees it the same way. We as fans can’t do anything about it. The career of the greatest QB - and maybe greatest player to ever don a Bills uniform cannot be wasted.

If good enough means reaching the Super Bowl twice with Josh Allen starting at QB in the big game I’ll take it.

True. It’s very much a week to week, what have you done lately league.

Niners D scheme hasn’t changed - it got them to two Superbowls and it probably should have been 3 if they had a QB for championship game vs Eagles. They’ve had a ton of injuries this year- that 6-8 record is a result mostly of that. They’ve had better defensive players than Buffalo- scheme only gets you so far. KC’s offensive has been middling all year. Their Defense is elite and responsible for most of their wins this season.

They need to commit to manufacturing pass rush vs the better QBs in the playoffs. McD seems reluctant or even unwilling to do this. Sean should remember the definition of insanity in this case.

Probably vs Ravens in ‘21. Nothing else stands out.

I haven’t rewatched - but I’m not surprised by what you saw. I remember several drops- especially the Diggs drop late in the game. The defense was up against it that day, but Josh almost pulled off the win anyway. I felt for sure after the 2 minute warning that we would see a large helping of Josh Allen runs . I didn’t understand the final sequence at all- scoring quickly there would have just allowed Mahomes get the winning points in the final seconds. I’m in no way absolving them. I spent a small fortune to attend that game last minute and was bitterly disappointed in McD. They looked to me like they had never seen snow. Seemed like every play the Bengals were catching passes in front of Bills defenders and cruising to easy first downs. Offensively the Bills were trying to hit pass plays well down the field. Worst playoff performance top to bottom by a Bills team in the McDermott era.

The Bills sure looked like they had no idea how to play defense in the snow. The Bengals were happy to pile up rac yards as the Bills backed off. Still, Allen did almost nothing to match the Bengals and Burrow that day. Defense was bad, and offense was non existent.

Yep. Army Navy should be earlier, then a couple NFL games later in the day. I think they used to do this in the 80’s and 90’s.

I think it’s a reference to whether the team is ascending or descending - I could be wrong though.

Mahomes and Burrow are top QBs to be sure. Trying to throw the Skylar Thompson Dolphins game in that same category of game is a stretch- more myth than reality. That game was about one thing: turnovers by the Bills offense. The Bills defense did its job- giving up only field goals on short fields several times. It was a sloppy game by Allen and the offense that made a likely blowout of Miami into a nail biter.

I don’t know if that’s what the Bills defense is “ built” to stop - no GM/ front office thinks that way. I think the scheme - X’s and O’s -is fine. The Bills lack a couple of elite defenders - the Jimmys and Joes- to be a dominant unit. Your point is valid- the Bills defense has failed them in the playoffs. That game is probably not the best example. Offensively I think the game plan was a sound one: play keep away from Mahomes Kelce and Co. It darn near worked.

That was pretty much a shell of the Bills defense with many key starters out.

We can’t say definitively that the Bills can’t get over the hump with McDermott at the helm. We do know he’s the coach leading them into battle for the 2024 season and playoffs. We’ll see what happens - we don’t have to face anything because we’re not the team owners calling the shots. The NFC does have some good offenses , if not the elite QBs that reside in the AFC. That’s fine, because if the Bills face one of them in the postseason it will be in the Super Bowl. Maybe it will just be a high scoring affair - in which I would like the Bills chances. Eh , 50 would be a stunner, seeing as they managed what, 23 vs Chicago? I don’t remember the Bills giving up 50 under McDermott , maybe I’m forgetting it I don’t know. The plan was out there after Baltimore, after Houston , after whomever last year etc etc. Every game is different , that’s why they play ‘em.

So when you watch are you hoping that bad things don’t happen, or wanting to see Josh Allen and teammates do great things? I’m unclear on this. Anyway, I think you realize that sports fandom isn’t primarily based on logic. Regardless of how much of it you want to bring into the conversation to show you’re absolutely not thinking the Bills will win in the playoffs. However you’re more than willing to be ecstatic if they do. If they win Bills fans will rejoice. If they don’t - it’s probably going to mean some big changes will be made in the organization. Most of us would prefer the former I’d venture- as the latter doesn’t guarantee better or even nearly as good results. I’ll be hoping and even expecting to see a lot more wins this season - and I’ll be surprised and disappointed if the Bills don’t at least get to the AFC title game. Don’t want to jinx anything by bringing up more than that- yes illogical , I know.

I’d be surprised at this , even if the Bills get a SuperBowl win.