Logic

I have never before seen a post that so perfectly distills and summarizes the poster's personality.

I've thought about this before. Lambeau, too. Is it strictly the fact that those stadiums are more "historic" than Highmark? I know Lambeau had extensive modernizations done, but you can't tell me that those modernizations brought the stadium up to par with the modern palaces that Goodell and co seem to prefer. Again, is it those stadiums' historic value that save their franchises from the "build a stadium or move!" mandates?

I dunno. I'm not sold on McDermott yet.

Peter King's FMIA column today is heavy on Bills-Chiefs stuff. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/10/17/josh-allen-bills-peter-king-fmia-week-six/ KANSAS CITY—You come to write about Allen-Mahomes V, and to see if Josh Allen could bury the vivid, bitter memory of last January’s playoff debacle here and stake the Buffalo claim as the best team in football, and of course that’s the story of the day, of the week, of the month in the NFL. But there’s something else that happened in the 3 hours and 10 minutes of this tight duel. Something significant. In the four previous meetings between these great quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes and the Andy Reid offense averaged 32 points a game. In their 10 drives Sunday, everything Mahomes did was a struggle. Nothing was easy. You realize it was a struggle because of the difference Von Miller made in his 46 snaps on the field. Miller wrecked Kansas City’s last three drives with play reminiscent of his Super Bowl MVP performance terrorizing Cam Newton seven years ago. First a tackle of a scrambling Mahomes from behind, then a third-down sack, and finally a pressure leading to the game-ending interception. “Games like this one, this is why I came here,” said Miller, 33 going on 23, weary but happy, walking down the narrow hall to the Bills’ locker room after the game. Buffalo is so much better on big stages because of a fearsome defensive front led by Miller. And because of his influence in cramped locker rooms like this one. “He’s my mentor,” defensive end Greg Rousseau said. This from star linebacker Matt Milano: “Guys want to be like him. Von’s inspiring.” Just about then, as the buzz in the Buffalo locker room began to die down, Miller had a moment with one of the heroes of the day. Cornerback Taron Johnson benefited from the Miller pressure on his game-sealing interception with 51 seconds left, and he was still beaming about it when Miller reminded him of one of his points of emphasis. “Hey,” Miller, from the stool at his locker, said to Johnson, a few feet away. “Remember what I told you?” “Don’t blink,” Johnson said “That’s right,” Miller said. “We don’t blink.” Buffalo 24, Kansas City 20, and it was closer than that. “Millimeters,” Josh Allen said. These two teams just seem destined to meet again. Kansas City and Buffalo have met in October of three straight regular seasons, and in late January in two straight playoffs, and please, please, please, let there be a third straight playoff game this January. “This is Josh and Pat’s league,” said Jordan Palmer, the offseason quarterback tutor for quarterbacks including Allen, and a major admirer of Mahomes. “They are established, bonafide superstars in the league, and neither is 28 yet. They’re becoming a rivalry like Brady and Manning was.” I’d say they’re there. Allen, 26, started his 67th game Sunday. Mahomes, 27, started his 69th. Mahomes leads the rivalry 3-2. (Tom Brady won the head-to-head with Peyton Manning, 10-6.) Game recognizes game. You know what the most interesting crowd reaction from the 73,586 in Arrowhead Stadium Sunday was? It came with 9:49 left in the fourth quarter. Kansas City kicker Harrison Butker booted a 44-yard field goal to give the home team a 20-17 lead. From the crowd came a noise that was, well … polite applause. Seriously. This game had ping-ponged from 0-0 after one quarter to 3-0 to 7-3 to 10-7 to 10-10 to 17-10 to 17-17, and you’d think taking a lead in the fourth quarter in such a tight game would mean joy to a crowd that year after year leads the AFC in decibels. But no. I’ll guess why: The Kansas City fans respect Allen so much that they knew handing the ball to him with nine minutes left was a recipe for either danger or disaster. Buffalo went four-and-out, though, on the ensuing series. Kansas City went three-and-out, capped by Miller’s second sack of the day. So Buffalo got it back at its 24- with 5:31 left. The Bills converted a fourth-and-one at their 33- when Allen burrowed for two. They converted a third-and-two when Allen hit the smooth Stefon Diggs on an out-route for 11, and worked the ball to the KC 14-yard line with 69 seconds left. There’s a reason I wrote what I consider a “combo lede” in this column. If the Bills won, Allen had to be the story, right? And he was … partially. Von Miller forced his way into the story, though. Without this next play, this column would have been Miller, Miller and more Miller. But there was this throw from Allen that reduced the crowd to sounding funereal. Silent, like no time all day. It was second-and-12 from the Kansas City 14-yard line with 1:09 left. Allen took a deep drop, to the 23, and he motioned with his left hand to tight end Dawson Knox to move to an open spot, but Knox didn’t see it and … could this be headed for disasterville? Sitting on an equipment box and waiting for his turn in the press conference room post-game, Allen explained what he saw and what he was trying to do. “They tried to double Stef [Diggs], and I think the DB just got a little confused because Stef started inside at the snap and went outside [shallow, just off the line],” Allen said. “I was just trying to point Dawson to go inside because there was nobody there. But he went outside and I just kinda took a split second …” A wide-angle view of the play shows Knox, near the left side of the end zone, blanketed by safety Justin Reid, with safety Deon Bush in the sightline of Allen-to-Knox. And if you slow the replay, you can see Allen motion Knox to the right, like, Get out of the corner—you got space inside. But what’s not apparent from the first replay is the presence of the safety in the sightline, which made the degree of difficulty of the throw absolutely ridiculous. Allen had a covered tight end in the end zone, with a 6-foot safety about eight yards in front of Knox. Knox didn’t shift inside—he stayed out. Allen threw it anyway. “Josh just threw a dime,” Knox said. “I did see the safety underneath,” Allen told me. “I just knew I had to get the ball up a little higher. Those are the ones where, I mean, it’s like, millimeters of distance of space that you have when you release the ball.” Allen put his right hand in front of him, and put his thumb and index finger maybe a quarter-inch apart. “Just millimeters,” he said. “Inches,” Knox said. Allen: “I trusted the throw. I saw how close it was to the DB. Dawson made a hell of a catch. Sometimes you get lucky.” That’s not luck. That’s greatness. As with Brady/Manning, Allen/Mahomes can engender the who’s better arguments. In the last 50 years, we’ve seen some good rivalries. But the vagaries of the schedule and the short intersection of great careers have combined to limit what could have been historic rivalries. Terry Bradshaw and Ken Stabler did have five playoff duels, but started against each other in Pittsburgh-Oakland games just twice more. Joe Montana never really had one great rival. Dan Marino and John Elway would have had a great rivalry, but they faced each other just once in the first 15 years of their careers. Mahomes-Allen could grow to rival Brady-Manning. Brady was 25 and Manning 24 when they first played, in 2001. Their youth and long-term drive helped the rivalry last 15 seasons, till the 2015 playoffs. Style of play, of course, is far, far different—but in some ways, the relative styles befit the eras of the game. Coaches and GMs a generation ago lusted for pocket quarterbacks. Manning and Brady were perfect stylistically in an age when passers were getting more protection from the league and weren’t sitting-duck targets as much as in the seventies and eighties. That has helped Brady last till 45 and it certainly helped Manning last till 39, when he won his second Super Bowl in his last game. Mahomes and Allen both are mechanically very sound with plus arms. But as we’ve seen, they can both be circus performers. Peyton Manning never trucked safeties in the open field, as Allen does. “Tackling him is like tackling a defensive end,” KC linebacker Nick Bolton said. Manning never leapt over safeties, as Allen did Sunday on the game-winning drive. Tom Brady never rolled out and evaded four tacklers and threw a set-shot TD pass, as Mahomes can do. One other thing these two teams have: excellent organizations to make sure Allen and Mahomes continue to be surrounded by cap-wise, scouting-smart teams. GMs Brandon Beane of the Bills and Brett Veach of Kansas City know how to keep the windows open around good quarterbacks. They know when to take shots—the way Beane and coach Sean McDermott did with Miller last spring. The last time Buffalo played here, Kansas City scored 42 points, Mahomes threw for 378 yards and KC ran for 182. It was a defensive debacle. After that game, McDermott remembered something he learned as a young coach on Andy Reid’s staff in Philadelphia: Make sure you’re comfortable with each line, offense and defense. McDermott and Beane liked their young talent on the defensive front. But they both wanted a horse. “We felt like we needed a player, a marquee player, to help us a little bit there for games like this,” McDermott told me after the game. “Blitzing Patrick Mahomes, that’s been well-publicized is not very effective. So you gotta be able to win with your front four.” Miller was going to be 33, and the Bills weren’t sure how many snaps per game they’d get out of him. But Beane went all-out. Miller was certain at the start of free-agency he’d stay with the Rams, but Buffalo offered a better guarantee package in its six-year, $120-million offer, and Miller took it. After the game Sunday, he admitted to having some serious buyer’s remorse right away. “So tough leaving LA,” he told me. “Not only L.A. but Aaron Donald, man. I could’ve just rushed with Aaron Donald and Greg Gaines and rode off into the sunset. “But to come here and have success and win the way we are and have this type of impact on a group of young guys, this is what it’s about. I battled through training camp. I was homesick and L.A.’s not even my home. I was homesick all the way through training camp.” The craziest thing helped turn the tide: toilet paper. “Bills Mafia started to make me feel at home when I was battling all that homesickness,” Miller said of the intensely loyal fan group that follows the Bills. “I said something in the media about how we were staying in a dorm in training camp, and the toilet paper was not that great. And Bills Mafia sent me tons and tons and tons of toilet paper. Wipes too! So that made me feel good.” Right away, he became influential with the young players. He told Greg Rousseau, the 2021 first-round defensive end, that the best way to be an impact defensive player is to play like you’re on offense. “Always be aggressive,” Miller told Rousseau. And Don’t blink became the defensive mantra. Don’t be scared—you’re better than they are. Miller says it every day, over and over. As I’d expected, McDermott, in the minutes after the game, already had his players pooh-poohing a seminal victory. There was joy in the locker room, but nothing over-the-top. “How big was this,” I asked Allen, “considering the heartache you went through here last January?” “It was good,” he said evenly. “Just try to find a way to win a game. That’s all it was.” In some ways, he’s absolutely right to play it down. The Bills had a very nice win, stamping themselves as the team to beat in the AFC. And they made a great move to making the AFC tournament go through Orchard Park in January. Ask New England how it felt to play a playoff game against the Bills machine in sub-zero wind chill. The home-field edge could be huge for the Bills in three months. But if they don’t make it out of the AFC tournament in January, this win won’t be much salve. What was proven Sunday is Buffalo now has a difference-maker on defense to make life hard for Mahomes. Buffalo knew it had that guy on offense, and Allen proved it again with the amazing touchdown throw to Knox. But with Miller, Buffalo’s got to be the favorite to get to that elusive fifth Super Bowl. Winning it, we’ll see.

Motioning a man behind the QB to push him on sneaks is brilliant. I've been reading "How Football Became Football", about the history and evolution of the sport. In it, I learned that players pushing their teammates from behind to help them gain more yardage used to be a big part of the game of football. Some players even sewed little loops onto their pants for their teammates to grab and help push or pull them forward. We've been seeing more and more of offensive linemen and other teammates pushing ball carriers forward in recent years. Since, at this moment, there's no rule against it, it's very wise to scheme up a guy behind the QB, pushing him forward on sneaks. Expect this to be copied by other teams going forward.

I just want to point out one more coaching thing that I just read in Peter King's FMIA column: Coming into this game, the Chiefs averaged 32 points per game They scored 20 yesterday. Great defensive gameplan overall.

I mostly agree with your overall point here. The one exception I'll point out is that in the 2020 Chiefs games specifically, and at the end of the 2021 playoff game against the Chiefs -- McDermott got a bit conservative. Settling for field goals instead of touchdowns. The prevent defense travesty with 13 seconds on the clock rather than, say, pressing the Chiefs receivers or some other aggressive, dare-you-to-throw-it kind of tactic. I agree that McDermott isn't -- and for the most part, hasn't been -- overly conservative. Against the Chiefs in the past, particularly the instances I mentioned, I thought he got a bit too conservative. I'd suggest that the score was closer than it should've been because McKenzie fumbled in the red zone on one occasion and tripped over his own feet in the end zone on another occasion, which are both player execution issues rather than coaching issues. I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.

It takes incredible selective tunnel vision to point out one or two plays you didn't like but ignore the dozens of other plays that went well. How did you feel about the go balls to Diggs and Davis that resulted in touchdowns? How did you feel about the Bills offense establishing the run effectively? How did you feel about the switch to a three-man rush with Milano spying Mahomes that stymied the Chiefs offense in the 4th quarter? How did you feel about the playcall that resulted in a game-sealing Mahomes interception? How did you feel about holding the explosive Chiefs offense to 20 points? If you make a "things I like" and "things I didn't like" list, which side would have more line items? If you're still not sold on the winningest coach in Bills history -- who has coached the Bills to the playoffs in 4 out of 5 seasons, has them at 5-1, with a top two offense and top two defense, has instilled a winning culture that is the envy of the league, and has the Bills positioned as Super Bowl favorites...well... God bless. The guy's not perfect. No coach is. But to still "not be sold on him" five years into his tenure here, when the Bills are as consistently good and successful as they are? That's wild to me.

In most games, I would have taken the field goal, too. For me, the Chiefs are simply one of those teams where field goals aren't going to get the job done. I also think that the players LOVE IT when you go for the touchdown instead of the field goal in that area of the field. It sends the message that you believe in them, and you're going to do everything you can to win the game. Normally, most Sundays, I'm a "take the points" guy. Against the Chiefs...not so much. As for the option play where McKenzie fumbled and the Chiefs recovered...I feel like that one is on the player who didn't execute -- in this case, McKenzie. We, as fans, didn't watch practice all week. Maybe they DID consistently execute it correctly. Maybe it went for big gainers a few times against the Bills defense in practice. We simply don't know. We only saw the one instance of it being used in a game, where it DIDN'T work...and it's hard for me to blame the coaches for a play in which execution (particularly a dumb concentration error like the one McKenzie made) was to blame. Sometimes it's the X's and O's, sometimes it's the Willies and Joes. That looked like a Willie and Joe mistake to me.

I had a yogurt parfait for breakfast.

And if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.

Yep, you're in the minority.

Sal C mentioned that Arrowhead is by far the highest play by play booth in the league.

It makes sense on this Victory Monday to reflect on the amazing plays we saw our players make on the football field yesterday. Josh Allen's hurdle and golden-armed rocket throws, Von Miller closing, Taron Johnson sealing the win with a pick..,. It makes sense on this Victory Monday to reflect on the awesome job that our GM Brandon Beane has done in building this roster...the late round gems, the trade acquisitions, the brilliant free agent signings... One thing I want to make sure doesn't get lost in the good feelings of this Victory Monday, though, is the credit that Coach McDermott deserves for yesterday's win. For making all the right "Go for it vs kick it" decisions. For being aggressive throughout the game and not falling back any conservative tendencies. For keeping his team composed after early adversity. For great clock management decisions at the end of the game. For having this team ready to beat a high quality opponent on the road. Hell of a game, coach!

McKenzie is the perfect WR4. I'd like to see him return to his role as jet sweep guy/gadget player a bit more. Considering how awful our offense has been on 3rd and 1, I think a little jet sweep action -- even if its usually only a decoy -- could be helpful. And then, every now and again, you actually hand it off on the jet sweep for a 10+ yard gain to McKenzie. That's really the ONLY thing from the Daboll playbook that I miss under Dorsey.

An emerging pattern: For the first time in what feels like forever, the Bills don’t go into a hole when things don’t go their way early. In previous seasons, even with Josh and McD at the helm, if things went poorly in the first quarter, it tended to snowball and became one of “those” games. Now? This team can experience early adversity and miscues, but push through it and work their way back toward a victory. We saw it in Baltimore and we saw it again today. Huge, huge step in the evolution of this team.

Von. We don’t win that game without Von. I’d say Josh, but that’s an every week occurrence. Back to back drives in crunch time, first a sack, then a pressure that led to an interception. My game ball 1000% goes to Von Miller.

I'm on cloud nine. I don't know what else to say. I am speechless. I am without speech. GO BILLS!!!!!!

Three determining factors in that outcome: - Leslie Frazier moving to a 3-man rush with Milano spying Mahomes for much of the second half - Von Miller, closer - Josh ***** Allen

A couple of great early window outcomes for the Bills, with AFC contenders Baltimore and Miami losing. The Jets won to get to 4-2, but is anybody really worried about them this season?

The Giants are totally the 2017 Bills. An inferior roster winning games because of a culture change, discipline, and a newly instilled confidence. Way to go, Daboll.

I’d like to know where this rumor came from, too.

Well, I suppose I look at how healthy the Bills roster has been compared to the rest of the league over the past few years. Yes, a lot of that is obviously due to luck and chance, but not all of it. Soft tissue injuries, for instance, as noted in the article below, have been dealt with well. Vet rest days, being smart with injuries that have the chance to be recurring, etc. I don't think the Bills' excellent medical facilities and medical staff should be overlooked as contributing factors to the health of the Bills roster the past few years. It also seems like they err on the side of caution more often than not with regard to bringing players back from injury. Compared to the years leading up to the McDermott regime, the way the team deals with injuries has quantifiably improved. Here's an article talking about this issue. https://buffalonews.com/sports/bills/bills-enjoyed-the-second-healthiest-starting-lineup-in-nfl-in-2021/article_b37146d8-8e94-11ec-ac3a-f787068ebed4.html The Bills were the second healthiest team in the NFL in 2021 in terms of fewest games missed by starters, according to a study by The Buffalo News. The Buffalo Bills continued their impressive string of good health under head coach Sean McDermott in the 2020 NFL season. The Bills lost only 36 games by starters, which counts both injuries and games lost due to Covid-19. Only New England had fewer games lost with 23. In 2020, the Bills had the fifth healthiest starting lineup in the league, according to a News roster review. In 2019, they lost the fewest games in the NFL by starters to injury. In 2018, they lost the fourth fewest, and in 2017, they ranked ninth best. Bills general manager Brandon Beane credits a team effort by the Bills’ training and medical staff. Nate Breske has been the Bills’ head athletic trainer since early in 2018. Eric Ciano has been head strength and conditioning coach since 2010. Joe Collins was hired as director of performance science in 2017. Dr. Leslie Bisson is the team’s medical director. “It’s a credit to our group,” Beane said. “When I got here, we had injury issues. It’s something we took a deep dive on, and we built up our sports science department. We meshed Eric Ciano’s group, Nate Breske – who we brought in – and Joe Collins and his group. “It’s important those guys are all on the same page, it starts there,” Beane said. Some football injuries – particularly broken bones – simply are bad luck. If a player is making a tackle and a teammate’s helmet smashes into his forearm and breaks it, it’s unavoidable. “Car crash injuries you can’t do anything about,” Beane acknowledged. However, the Bills have done an outstanding job keeping soft-tissue injuries – hamstring and leg-muscle pulls, in particular – to a minimum. Like all NFL teams, the Bills closely monitor the running and workload of each player every day at the team facility. “They really follow the GPS – the load that each player has,” Beane said. “You see the veteran rest days guys get, and sometimes the limited vet rest that happens. We want the guy out there, we want to give him some reps, but we don’t want him running too much. “We really, I think, have a good process in place,” Beane said. “There’s a lot of communication. Availability is the No. 1 ability. You’re paying a lot of money for guys to be on the sidelines.”