Logic

I have been reading a lot of concern over the Washington D-line. I, too, initially had this concern. I just read, however, that the WFT is only ranked 13th in pass rush win rate this season. It's not like they've played against great o-lines, either. At the end of the day, I see a team that just BARELY squeaked out a win at home against a bad Giants team. The advantages that they have are 3 days more rest than the Bills and a talented (though somewhat under-performing) D-line. Aside from those, I don't really see any areas where Washington is better than the Bills.

I think it would be a bit more interesting to talk about the all-time list of Bills tight ends. Yes, it's a motley crew. Something like... 1. Ernie Warlick 2. Pete Metzelaars 3. Keith McKellar 4. Jay Riemersma 5. Charles Clay Woof. On second thought, let's never discuss this again.

Blue on white Tears on a river Push on a shove It don't mean much

Six pages of discussion based off of one photo indicating that our quarterback may have gotten a pretty common form of physical therapy done. Never change, Two Bills Drive.

Did anyone else already post this? All-22 should be back tomorrow. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/09/22/nfl-says-all-22-film-is-expected-to-return-on-friday/ "The All-22 film is returning. Soon. Very soon. According to the NFL. The league had been targeting late Week One or early Week Two for a return of the coaching film to the Game Pass feature. Per the NFL, the current plan is for the All-22 films to become reincorporated into the Game Pass function on Friday of this week."

Bills should be fine. Just gotta keep an eye out for Darrell Green on the back end and make sure they contain Mark Rypien in the pocket.

No.

Bills Mafia after Bass makes a 37 yard field goal attempt:

Bills defense is balling out, and I'm here for it!

@BringBackFlutie Johnny K for the win

Thanks for the post. I agree wholeheartedly that McDermott seems to follow the Belichick-esque "we won't be the team we're trying to become until November and December" model of team building. How many years did we see the Pats look mortal, even mediocre, in September, only to be unbeatable in December? As for Josh Allen -- he who will decide just how far this team can go in each of the next 10 seasons or so...A poster on this forum made a great point yesterday (I've already forgotten who it was): The Josh Allen of 2019 was often trying to do too much. He felt like he had to win games by himself, so he forced things a lot of the time. He didn't often look calm and in control, because he felt he had to singlehandedly will the team to victory. In 2020, on the other hand, his motto of "just relax and realize there's quality talent around you now, you don't have to do everything by yourself" paid off handsomely. He was calm, collected, poised, relaxed. He was like a veteran point guard distributing the ball to his playmaking teammates. When he had to make WOW plays, he did, but in between those came a lot of calm ball distribution and in-control decision making. The poster went on to say that if we look at 2021, it started with the national media predicting a Super Bowl trip and MVP candidacy for Allen. It started with him signing a mega contract and running out of the tunnel in Orchard Park to chants of "M-V-P! M-V-P!". Could it be that under the weight of this new attention and these new expectations, that the Josh who feels he has to do it all (in order to live up these new massive expectations) has returned? That the Josh who looked so calm because he realized he just had to do his one eleventh has yet to show his face? Perhaps Josh just has a case of the yips. Perhaps he just needs to take a deep breath and relax. His struggles certainly appear to be more mental than physical -- we all know he's not lacking in the latter category, but he may be struggling in the former at the moment. Perhaps learning to function as The Hunted rather than The Hunter is just a new challenge for Allen -- one which he has never faced in his life before. Perhaps his overcoming that mental hurdle is all that's needed to see him return to elite form.

One of the seven least efficient QBs in the leaguethrough two weeks. He is not in good company. 😳

Not sure if this was already posted in this thread or not, but... I saw it pointed out on Twitter today that Josh Allen had just two games in all of 2020 where he completed less than 60% of his passes. He already has two such games in two outings this season. Just another log for the "it's more than just facing good defenses or o-line problems" fire.

This is since 2018, and has McDermott in 13th place in the "going for it when they should on 4th down" metric. Looking at just 2020, I believe McDermott was top three, although I can't seem to find a graphic to prove it.

Yes, I think he absolutely does. McDermott was one of the most aggressive 4th and 1 coaches in the league last year.

Thanks. Nice, clean way of looking at the present and future. I'll just add one thing: I wish the Bills had kept Daryl Johnson and jettisoned Addison. I understand why they didn't, and I realize that the cap implications of doing so would not have been great. Still, it seemed he was FINALLY starting to make defensive contributions that matched those he was making on special teams. It's tough to choose between the present and the future, and clearly Beane and McDermott think the Bills' Super Bowl window is open RIGHT NOW. I can't argue. Still, it was a bit painful to see Johnson traded away, knowing that Hughes and Addison won't be here next year.

I don't have an answer just yet, but I'd bet my bottom dollar that Erik Turner and the Cover 1 crew will be breaking down the d-line play on Twitter throughout the week. They'll have the usual cut-ups, looping replays, analysis, and explanations. I presume you already follow them and/or are familiar with their work. If not, I'm sure someone here will post links as it becomes available. That seems like the best bet as far as ascertaining who played where and when.

I thought this was a cool little factoid from Peter King's column this morning: "Two of Miami’s last three games have been against Buffalo. Tagovailoa got yanked for ineffective play against the Bills in Week 17 last year. He had to leave because of injury after two series Sunday in south Florida. Combined score of the two games: Buffalo 91, Miami 26. Even in the great Jim Kelly/Thurman Thomas days, the Bills never laid it on the Dolphins like this in a two-game span; Kelly’s high score in back-to-back games was 79 points. The Dolphins are not in Buffalo’s league, no matter who is quarterbacking—and backup Jacoby Brissett was as ineffective as the man drafted to be the franchise quarterback 17 months ago." https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/09/20/ravens-chiefs-oweh-nfl-fmia-week-2-peter-king/

This is, in all honesty, the first game this season that I've felt totally comfortable in predicting a Bills win. I picked the Steelers in week 1 and was unfortunately correct. I thought yesterday's game was a coin flip -- and I was thankfully WAY off on that one. Washington, though? Bills win comfortably. There's no way Tyler Heinecke is outdueling Josh Allen. Ain't happenin'. He's EXACTLY the type of QB this McDermott defense -- especially the way it's playing right now -- usually feasts on.

Epenesa and Rousseau looked excellent yesterday, there's no doubt about it. What's even more wild is that they both seemed to straight up outplay Hughes and Addison. Have to wonder if after this season, the vets might be on the way out. I wouldn't have thought so with Hughes, but with the way Epenesa and Rousseau are playing, and with what Jerry makes, they may force Beane's hand on the issue. The cool thing about both Epenesa and Rousseau is that they each had an elite season in college -- both were at one point talked about as early first round picks -- and both fell to the Bills largely due to poor combine showings. Having two really good, young pass rushers will transform this defense. Now if only Basham can prove to be a player, too, by 2022...

I've gotta be honest... I just could not possibly care any less about this.

Shhhh. If I don't acknowledge it, it's not real. 16 games forever, FTW!

The prime time games this year -- with the exception of Rams-bears -- have been fantastic and gone down to the wire. Another great win. Credit to the Ravens and to Jackson for a great game. I guess Chiefs fans' "17-0?" undefeated season talk ended earlier than they thought it would this season.