Logic

Has anyone mentioned in this thread yet that Jauron once won NFL Head Coach of the Year?! That seems made up, but it's true!

Josh's passes travel so far, so fast, that his completions often seem like they've gone for less yardage than they really have. He'll throw a pass, and it's on the receiver so fast, and the camera moves so fast to keep up with it, that it looks like it went 10-15 yards. Then you watch the replay or the All-22, and you realize it actually was a 30 yard completion! I've never experienced this phenomenon with other QBs. To be fair, I didn't watch Elway or Favre as closely during their careers as I'm watching Allen, and we didn't have the All-22 and the variety of camera angles then that we have now. I've noticed this phenomenon with his running, too. He's such a big guy, and he takes such big strides, and has this upright running style (sort of like giant toddler meets gazelle), and before you know it, he's rumbled for 25 yards. Josh Allen, master of visual deception and shrinker of football fields.

I'm still not concerned about Mac Jones. I'm never too concerned about any quarterback until they've done it for 2-3 seasons without showing regression. There are lots of instances of QBs lighting it up (or at least showing great promise) in year one, only to be thwarted in years two and three after defenses have some tape study in the offseason. As @Rigotzmentioned, Baker Mayfield is a great example. He was so good and so exciting in year one that they cast him in every single TV commercial that will ever be shown. But since year one? Not so great. Furthermore, I don't see many special traits in Jones' game. He's quite accurate, I suppose, and seems to have a great mind for the game. He has yet to show, however, that he can elevate his team. That he can put them on his back and carry them to victory. He has the supporting system of a HOF coach, elite defense, and great running game. But when the going gets tough, is he going to be a guy whose skill and determination are great enough to power his team to victory by excellent individual effort? I'm not so sure. If it comes down to a shootout between Allen and Jones, or Mahomes and Jones....who are you putting your money on? I could be way off base. I'm saying he seems like the next Baker Mayfield or Kirk Cousins, but maybe he's the next Drew Brees. It's certainly too early to tell. But "worried" about him? No, I am not.

I was at that game. For some reason, I was actually EXCITED because the game had been flexed to Sunday night. Woohoo! Sunday Night Football in Buffalo! The only problem was that JP Losman was our quarterback, Jauron was our head coach, and the team on the opposite sideline was the 2007 Patriots. My most distinct memories from the game are Randy Moss scoring four first half touchdowns (!!!?!!!!), Belichick going for it on 4th down late in the game when already up by over 35 points, and Jauron kicking a late game field goal for reasons that I still can't figure out. As miserable as it was to sit through, now I look back on it and think it was pretty cool to get to see a Hall of Famer in his prime catching four first half touchdown passes. I didn't think it was so cool that night, though...

The bolded is nonsense. You won't back down from it, of course, because you have yet to ever be wrong about anything in your long, illustrious posting career...but it's nonsense all the same.

I don't think the Bills will lose many more regular season games this year. Bucs? One of the Pats games? I've kind of given up on the idea of securing the one seed in the playoffs. The loss of home field for a potential AFC title game doesn't bother me as much, but the loss of the bye week sure does. Oh well. I simply don't see the Bills winning out AND the Titans losing two games, which is what would have to happen.

It's hard not to feel like the best offense for Josh Allen would be more of a classic dropback Air Coryell type scheme instead of Ehrhardt Perkins. Whereas the latter emphasizes intelligence and communication and tends to stress the defense horizontally, the former emphasizes downfield passing, chunk plays, and stressing the defense vertically. Of course, in order to properly run an Air Coryell offense, we'd need a better running game and better pass protection from the o-line. I'm not suggesting that we scrap an offense that Josh has spent four years learning, I'm just suggesting that I wonder if the type of system we run now is really the best utilization of his skillset.

I mean... The Bills have the second ranked scoring offense and first ranked scoring defense in the league. They also lead the league in takeaway differential and point differential by a pretty wide margin. I realize that the Jags loss was bad, and that many are disappointed that the Bills have three losses in general with such a talented squad, but... I'm not so sure anything really needed proving. The Bills are very good.

I'd guess it had much more to do with helping the offense regain their confidence and form than it did with padding stats. McDermott does NOT seem like the stat padding type.

Poor posting decisions still an issue with this forum

I have given up on the notion of getting the 1 seed in the AFC. The Titans have a Charmin soft schedule left. Even IF they lost the required two games, the Bills would need to win out. The likelihood of both things happening -- the Titans losing two games and the Bills losing zero games -- seems quite low. I'm not as upset about the loss of home field advantage as I am about the loss of that bye week. It's a real shame considering how easy the Bills schedule was this year, but hey...that's the way the cookie crumbles.

I'm not saying everyone has to be ALL sunshine and rainbows after a win, but... Imagine it being the day after a 45-17 walloping of a divisional opponent and your first thought for a new thread to post to this forum is "this regime is making bad roster decisions!". Couldn't be me.

Regarding item #4: I was looking through the Jets forums today, and it was a sad affair. One fan called them the "Get Right Jets". Another simply said "We are the Washington Generals". Ouch. Imagine the pain of Jets fandom recently: Since the back-to-back AFC Championship appearances, they've witnessed the downfall of Mark Sanchez and Rex Ryan, the just-good-enough-to-break-your-heart Todd Bowles era, the Adam Gase era, the ruining of Sam Darnold, winning just enough games to miss out on Trevor Lawrence, and now the historically awful defense of Robert Saleh and the potential ruining of another high round QB. Even on this meaningless (for them) sunday of football, their one just-for-fun, just-for-now diversion of The Great Mike White was pulverized to the tune of four interceptions and a trip to the injury tent. Ouch. Regarding item#5: It's always interesting to note how things sound in the stadium vs how they sound on TV. Specifically, I DID feel like Bills fans sounded quite loud on TV. The cheers when big plays or calls by the officials went in the Bills' favor were much louder than the cheers that occurred in favor of the Jets. Glad you enjoyed the game. Over the years, largely due to the long stretch of bad football the Bills played during the drought, I've come to view football as a series of moments. Yes, you can take the long view and consider games in terms of what they mean to the overall season. You can analyze the quality of the opponent or the importance of a game outcome to playoff seeding. But more and more, particularly with regard to games that I attend in person, I just consider each game its own unique entity. By that perspective, you got to witness a 45-17 demolition of a divisional opponent. You got to witness the game that secured this Bills team the franchise record for most points scored through 9 games. Pretty cool!

I believe your impressions are correct. From what I can gather, it seems that the departure of Denico Autry and Justin Houston has allowed teams to frequently double team Buckner, largely nullifying his usual impact. The Colts' first round pass rusher, Kwity Paye, hasn't had the immediate impact they had hoped. This being the case, it seems imperative that the interior of the Bills' o-line communicates well and is prepared to handle double teams and respond to twists and stunts. All in all, I like the Bills' chances in this one, but the outcome -- as always -- will hinge on the war in the trenches. In the Bills' case, being without their starting 1T against a good rushing team. In the Colts' case, potentially making life difficult for the Bills run game and deep passing game by pushing the pocket into Allen's lap.

The thing that scares me about this game is the Colts defensive line. Grover Stewart and Deforest Buckner have the potential to give the Bills' o-line fits. The key to a potential Bills win is Spencer Brown being healthy. The difference in pass protection and run blocking with him in the lineup is stark.

The Boogie and Obada show!

I'd like to see Breida active even WITH Moss clearing protocol. Activate all three backs. Kumerow going on IR means his special teams snaps are up for grabs. I could be mistaken, but Breida played quite a few special teams snaps in the games in which he was active. Activate and use all three backs, says I.

I don't disagree with the notion that the play calling needs to improve and the Bills need to stick with the run more consistently. That said, it's also unfair to blame all of the offense's failures on Brian Daboll. Sometimes it's the Xs and Os, but sometimes it's the Willies and Joes. There are only so many magic scheme rabbits you can pull out of your playcalling hat when the offensive line can't stop a four-man rush from getting home play after play and can't open holes for the running backs to run through.

Just wanted to chime in and say that this is exactly the way it is for me. I always say "the losses hurt much worse than the wins feel good". When we win, it's like I EXPECTED it to happen. That's what's SUPPOSED to happen. Rather than being super happy, I basically just breathe a sigh of relief. I'll re-watch highlights throughout the week, read articles about the game, etc, but it's not as if I'm on cloud nine after regular season wins. I'm happy we won, sure, but it's just a brief feeling of relief, followed by a look ahead to next week. When we lose, on the other hand, it hurts like hell. It often gives me a physically sick feeling in my stomach. If the loss is bad enough, it affects my mood on Monday and Tuesday. I don't know why it is this way for me. Is it this way for everybody? Is it this way for the players? It brings to mind the many Hall of Fame level players over the years who I've heard say that they rarely think back on their moments of success, but often dwell for YEARS on their losses or biggest moments of failure. An interesting phenomenon, to be sure.

Well... As pointed out here recently, the three pass-heaviest games by the Bills offense this season were all losses. Furthermore, since the start of the 2019 season, in regular season games where the Bills hand the ball to running backs 22 or more times, they are 11-0. In games where they don't, they're 17-14. I agree with you that the offense should always run through Josh and that our running game is currently putrid, but...they still need to continue to at least TRY to run the ball. Having Josh fling it 40 times a game simply isn't a recipe for success.

Sure is a lot of Gabriel Davis in those highlights. Hmmm...

I am so damned sick of seeing Brian Daboll miss blocks and allow defenders immediately into the backfield to sack Josh Allen. Ugh!

We went from "with the Dolphins, Jags, Jets, and Colts up next, the Bills get four extra bye weeks Lolllzzz!" to "I don't know if we can beat the Jets" pretty damned quick. Football is a fickle game, and football fans are even fickler. Is "fickler" a word? Huh.

Bring in Jim Brown and Barry Sanders in their prime. It's not gonna matter if this offensive line keeps being this, well....offensive.