Logic

This. To say that I'm not looking forward to the Ravens-Bills game would be a massive understatement.

Personally I won't be upset if the Bills DO go one-and-done. I mean, I would obviously rather that they win a playoff game, but.... Getting some experience in a playoff game would be huge for all the youngsters on the Bills squad. It would be a wonderful stepping stone on the path to sustained success that they're building. Furthermore, it would instill confidence in the team that they are capable of making the playoffs, and a simple thing like confidence can do wonders in the seasons to come.

I'm at like a 6.5 to 7. I was at a 9 before the Bills offense woke up and the defense got its mojo back. I feel weirdly confident about the Cowboys and Ravens games, and weirdly terrified of the Steelers and Jets games.

While I always appreciate your ability to be an #######, my original statement wasn't incorrect. As I pointed out in the article, a loss yesterday would have dropped the Bills to a 43% chance to make the playoffs. A win brought them to an 82% chance. I'm not sure what it is about a near 40% swing in playoff probability -- from less than 50% to greater than 80% -- that doesn't say "saved the season" to you. Side note: Do you contribute literally ANYTHING to these forums other than insulting people? I mean, it's a good schtick and all, but it gets a little tiring after a while. Not only did the Broncos not try to shuttle in much different personnel when the Bills were hurrying up, they also dialed up quite a few rather vanilla schemes and concepts. Their defensive players also looked gassed by the fourth quarter. Put simply, I hope the Bills continue going no huddle as much as humanly possible for the forseeable future. The difference in offensive performance when they do so is undeniable.

Thanks to the upcoming Thanksgiving day tilt against the Cowboys, the Bills will wind up playing five games in the month of November. With a 3-1 record through the first four and an 8-3 overall record (their best since 1996!), the Bills have made this a November to remember. There is a lot to discuss about Sunday's enormous win over the Broncos, so let's get to it! 1.) Opponent's record be damned, that was an ENORMOUS win. Taking a quick look at a 7-3 football team defeating a 3-7 football team at home, one might surmise that nothing too extraordinary happened. But something extraordinary DID happen. The Bills' win against the Broncos saved their season and kept their playoff hopes alive. A quick look at Fivethirtyeight.com's playoff odds showed that the win over Denver pushed the Bills to an 82% chance to make the playoffs. Not bad! A LOSS against the Broncos would have dropped the Bills to just a 43% chance! That means that result of Sunday's game against the lowly Broncos accounted for a near 40% swing in the Bills' chances of making the postseason dance! Rarely is one regular season game so critical in determining a team's fate. For that reason, Sunday's win was the biggest of the season. The upcoming slate of games sets Bills fans up for the most exciting December in recent memory. None of it would have mattered, though, if they hadn't won on Sunday. So that Bills' performance against a so-so Broncos squad in a game that Buffalo was "supposed to" win? Enormous. 2.) "We're not in Foxborough any more, Toto" redux. After two straight months of offensive ineptitude, culminating in a loss at Cleveland that arguably should have been a win, I was begging offensive coordinator Brian Daboll to forget the "tailored weekly gameplan" approach he brought over from New England and to simplify things for his young offense. Thankfully -- mercifully, even -- he did. Beginning in the Miami Dolphins game, the Bills decided to try something different on offense. They eschewed the constant shuttling in and out of different offensive personnel. They decided to stick with the the same 11 personnel grouping (1 running back, 1 tight end, 3 wide receivers) of Singletary, Knox, Brown, Beasley, and McKenzie for most of the game. This allowed them to quicken the pace of their offensive attack. By moving to a no-huddle, the Bills offense was able to get to the line with 25 to 30 seconds still on the play clock. This, in turn, allowed offensive coordinator Brian Daboll to talk to Josh Allen through the radio headset for a full 10 to 15 seconds before communication shut off, sharing with the young QB what he was seeing from the coaching box and allowing Allen more time to diagnose the defense. This approach isn't revolutionary, of course -- Sean McVay's Rams rode it all the way to the Super Bowl last season. It's new in Buffalo, though, and it has paid immediate dividends. The Bills' opponent on Sunday, the Denver Broncos, may not have had a great record, but they DID roll into Buffalo boasting an elite defense. With Von Miller attacking the edges, Chris Harris and Justin Simmons patrolling the secondary, and defensive genius Vic Fangio calling plays, there was every reason to believe that the Bills offense would struggle against Denver. It didn't struggle, though -- it thrived. Once again the no-huddle attack kept the opposing defense off balance and didn't allow them to employ exotic looks and disguised blitzes in the way they would have liked. The Bills offense moved the ball, controlled the clock, ran for over 200 yards, and converted multiple key 3rd downs. They piled up over 400 yards total and scored 20 points -- great accomplishments, both -- against a great defense. Brian Daboll deserves credit for re-thinking his X's and O's, and we must also give credit to the improved execution by the Willies and Joes. 3.) Three cheers for Bobby Johnson and Brandon Beane. Anyone who watched the Bills offensive line in action last season knows that it was, well...offensive. It was less a wall of protection and more a collection of turnstyles, "Toro!"s, and thoroughly thwarted third-stringers. Knowing this, Bills general manager Brandon Beane signed approximately 684 offensive linemen this offseason. The resulting makeover of the offensive line left just one 2018 starter in place. Gone, too, was offensive line coach Juan Castillo. In his place was Sal Capaccio look-alike Bobby Johnson. Both factors -- the wholesale changeover of personnel and the coaching switch -- have resulted in a drastic improvement in performance from the most crucial non-QB room of the Bills offense. The latest evidence of this improvement was on full display on Sunday against Denver. Sporting the likes of Shelby Harris, Derek Wolfe, and Von Miller, the Broncos front seven is no joke. With Bills right tackle Ty Nsekhe out with injury, much of Bills Mafia dreaded Sunday's matchup and anticipated a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for rookie right tackle Cody Ford and, therefore, for Josh Allen. Instead, Bills fans were treated to as dominant an offensive line performance by Bobby Johnson's unit as they're likely to see all year. Free agents Quinton Spain, Mitch Morse, and John Feliciano all performed excellently, to the tune of a over 200 yards rushing and only one sack allowed. Starting center Mitch Morse missed much of the game due to a hand injury, but right guard John Feliciano stepped into the role more than capably, bringing ANOTHER free agent, Spencer Long, off the bench. He, too, performed well. And the oft beleaguered rookie, Cody Ford? He more than held his own against one of the all time great pass rushers in Von Miller. On Sunday, the Bills offensive line not only was not a liability against the Broncos, it was an outright strength. Thank you, Brandon Beane. Thank you, Bobby Johnson. 4.) A tale of two Allens. As the CBS graphics department showed, Sunday's game marked only the third time in the past 35 years that two quarterbacks sharing the same last name, but who were not related to each other, squared off against each other. Brandon Allen vs Josh Allen (and there was a third Allen starting at quarterback elsewhere in the league on Sunday, for good measure).To the joy of Bills fans everywhere, Buffalo's offense featured the better Allen. To wit: Josh Allen's passes again and again carved through the wicked winds of November like a knife through butter, dropping into the waiting hands of receivers and breaking the wills of the opposing defenders. Brandon Allen's passes, well...didn't. Josh Allen again and again spun out of harm's way, evaded oncoming marauders and thrilling the Orchard Park faithful, delivering 1st down conversions and, eventually, victory. Brandon Allen, well...didn't. Making matters even sweeter for Bills fans is the fact that the surprisingly over-confident Broncos fans had to be sitting on their couches wondering whether their general manager, John Elway, did the right thing by passing on the GOOD Allen, and that his doing so left them in the hands on Sunday of the not-so-good Allen. I suppose when it comes to scouting quarterbacks, there's no accounting for taste (*cough* Siemian, Osweiler, Lynch, Keenum, Flacco, Brandon Allen *cough*). 5.) Defensive dominance defies description. What do you say about the performance of the Bills defense on Sunday? I could have written this entire article solely about the defense's performance. I could go on and on about Shaq Lawson's two sacks, Ed Oliver awakening from his rookie slumber, Tre'Davious Whtie further cementing himself as an elite corner, or Matt Milano's second straight great game. Instead, I'll just quote WGR's Sal Capaccio in summarizing the defensive dominance: On Sunday, the Denver Broncos: Had 49(!) net passing yards Had 85 total rushing yards Had 134 total yards Went 2-for-11 (18%) on third down Averaged only 2.9 yards per play (The fourth lowest total for any team in any NFL game this season) Went 3-and-out on five straight possessions to end the game Did not take a single snap inside the Bills red zone. Had 7 of their 10 possessions finish on their own side of midfield There’s one word for all of that: Domination. 6.) Bills fans get the last laugh, show their mettle once again. Leading up to Sunday's game, Broncos fans were weirdly confident. They also said quite a few defamatory things about the Bills. The SBNation Broncos website, The Mile High Report, featured an article detailing how great a chance the Broncos had of "exposing a Super Bowl pretender". Naturally, fans all over the NFL are confident in their favorite teams. No one should expect any different. The particular brand of confidence exhibited by Broncos fans, though, highlighted by dismissive and derogatory takes about the Bills and their quarterback, left a bad taste in the mouths of much of Bills Mafia. How perfect then, that after the game, the Broncos' fans were the ones with the bad taste in their mouths, courtesy of the medicine they'd just been force-fed by the "Super Bowl pretender" Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo faithful, to the surprise of no one, showed up and showed out. They were there in mittens and scarves, all shivers and secret whiskey flask binoculars and pre-game impromptu fire pits. They were there, screaming and yelling with passion and pride, representing their team with vigor and aplomb. It's easy to be a fan of a team with a winning history and multiple Super Bowl victories, of course. It's not so easy to show up over a 20 year period of football irrelevance, though. It's not so easy to show up when fall turns to winter, when toes and hearts go numb and the warm couch beckons louder than the wet, grey skies of Orchard Park. And yet, show up the Bills fans do. A quick look around the league shows that this type of loyalty is NOT the norm. It is NOT the rule, but the exception. Bills fans are a special breed, and after a tough two decades (heck, a tough FIVE decades, really), they are finally starting to reap the rewards that accompany an up-and-coming, exciting, winning football team. No fan base anywhere in sports deserves it more. Kudos, Bills fans. The Extra Point The dominant theme this season for the Bills has been the legitimacy of Buffalo's record. You can't turn on an ESPN broadcast or scroll through a Twitter feed without seeing doubters, haters, accusations of "Paper Tigers!". Given that, until recently, the Bills weren't winning in dominant fashion and were often doing JUST enough to squeak by the dregs of the league, Bills Mafia didn't really have the opportunity to offer much proof to the contrary. That's about to change. Beginning on Thursday, the Bills face five straight games against quality opponents. They get the NFC East leading Cowboys on Thanksgiving, followed by the media darling Baltimore Ravens, a trip to Pittsburgh (which is NEVER easy, regardless of the Steelers' record), and a rematch against the hated Patriots. Even their season finale against the New York Jets doesn't look as easy as it once did, as Darnold's crew has come alive in recent weeks. If the Bills are able to tally a couple wins in the coming weeks, it will be hard to say "they haven't beaten anyone!". If they manage to put the clamps on Ezekiel Elliott or to topple Tom Brady or Lamar Jackson, it will be hard to say they haven't earned their record. Prior to the past two Sundays, Bills fans likely didn't feel very confident about the team's chances in this crucial stretch of games. Against first the Dolphins and then the Broncos, though, things changed. The offense, defense, and (this week, at least), the special teams all came to play. You hear the term "complimentary football" a lot. Well, if you ever wonder what "complimentary football" means, just think back to the Bills-Broncos game. When your offense runs the ball for over 200 yards against a top five unit, your defense bails out your young quarterback moments after throwing a pick by securing a pick of their own, and your special teams help you win the field position game all day long...that's complimentary football. Sunday's victory was the most complete Bills victory of the season, and it couldn't have come at a better time. All three units, as well as the coaching staff, have begun to hit their stride. What not long ago seemed like sure losses now seem to be there for the taking. It's setting up to be quite the December for Bills fans. Before we get to December, though, one more big game in this November to Remember: The Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day. It's been a long time since Bills talk at the dinner table on Turkey Day was about playoff seeding rather than draft order. It's been an even longer time since we all got to watch our favorite team take the field in a pivotal match-up with real postseason implications. So this Thursday, when the tryptophan begins to take hold and Uncle Marty won't give up the good armchair and the smell of pie wafts into the living room as everyone settles in for Bills football, remember to be thankful. Be thankful to be part of such a loyal fan base, thankful to to the Pegulas for saving our team, and thankful, of course, to be indoors, full and warm and surrounded by family. Lastly, be thankful that the 2019 Buffalo Bills have taken care of business to the tune of an 8-3 record, and that in so doing, they have given Bills Mafia an exciting Thanksgiving day match-up and a November to Remember.

What I'm saying is that the Bills won't be favored in any of the next four games. My language of "stealing" wins refers to that fact. My gut tells me they finish 10-6.

Bills seem to be hitting their stride at just the right time of the year. If they can steal one or two wins in the next four games, that would be swell.

For our psyches and our enjoyment of the season as fans, a win over the Cowboys on Thanksgiving would be epic! BUT... Of the remaining games on the schedule, it is actually the win the Bills need the LEAST. All other games are against AFC opponents, and the Bills need those wins more. I'm not saying they don't need this win -- they need to get to 10 wins one way or the other, so a win would be huge -- but if you go play around with the New York Times playoff machine, you'll see what I mean. Side note: If the Bills win the Steelers and Jets games -- and that's no guarantee, because playing in Pittsburgh is always tough and the Jets are starting to look dangerous -- and lose all the others, they still have higher than a 95% chance at playoffs.

Poorly.

McCaffrey's great. So is Barkley. So are a handful of other guys. None of their teams are winning many games. If we take a look at the Patriots, Ravens, 49ers, Chiefs, Packers, Seahawks, Texans, i.e. the leading teams in the league....none of them have big contract, mega-star running backs. I just don't think that having an All World running back is going to win you many more games in the NFL in 2019 than having a pretty good one that you let walk after his rookie contract. Give me high quality defense, offensive line, coaching, and quarterback all day. But having an elite running back in 2019? A luxury.

The only thing that could make me even LESS confident than I already am in a Bills win at Pittsburgh is if the game is flexed to prime time. The Bills STINK in prime time. Full stop.

THERE HE IS! ?

The model is this: Build an All World o-line and then plug in whoever the hell you like at running back. Of the recent running back mega extensions, which teams that doled them out are currently happy they did so? Anyone?

Draft a couple of running backs in rounds 3-5. Ride them through their rookie contracts. Let them walk and draft two more. Rinse and repeat.

Now that's the same Josh Allen that you said on the Orange Mane message board that you're not a fan of and you find to be highly inaccurate, right? Just trying to keep The Troll Report straight.

No. I disagree that Williams should be active. The best the Bills offense has looked all season was last week, when they stuck with 21 personnel (3WR, 1HB, 1TE). The three receivers were Brown, Beasley, and McKenzie. Speed and shiftiness are the common elements. Williams has neither. As for special teams contributions: Williams hardly makes any. Foster is a starting gunner. Williams stays on the bench this week.

It's almost like he's a CFL caliber receiver who doesn't have NFL speed and can't separate.

I expect Josh Allen to have a bad outing vs the Broncos. Vic Fangio's defensive schemes have been cited by many as some of the toughest in the NFL to prepare for and for quarterbacks to diagnose. Defenses like this are the ones that have given Allen the most trouble so far in his career. Forget Denver's poor record -- just look at the defense. It's very good. I'm not saying I think the Bills will lose, I'm just saying it will be tough sledding for Buffalo's offense. I hope I'm as wrong as can be on this one.

I guess the "We could've had Watson or Mahomes!" takes weren't enough. Now we're doomed to "We could've had Lamar Jackson!" takes, too. Yippy.

In reading a preview of this game just now, it was notable that the Broncos defense struggles against hurry-up offenses. Given that fact, and given that the Bills offense moves the ball most effectively when in hurry-up mode, it seems obvious what the gameplan should be this Sunday.

I disagree. The Bills likely need 10 wins to make the playoffs, and with the Cowboys, Patriots, Ravens, and Steelers coming up, that won't be an easy task. As such, the Bills need every single win they can get, including yesterday's win, ESPECIALLY since it was an AFC opponent. As far as it being a confidence booster: You're right, it was. And boy oh boy, did this Bills team need one. Let's hope their confidence stays boosted as they head into the toughest stretch of the season.

From the sinking feeling of last week's loss to the joy of this week's victory -- what a difference a week makes. 1.) Fearless Josh is the best Josh. Throughout his up-and-down rookie season, Josh Allen made one thing abundantly clear: He was a rare athlete, an improvisational wunderkind, and a potentially lethal playmaker. Sure, there were some head-scratching lows mixed in with the dazzling highs, but overall, the potential that Allen showed in his rookie season was incredibly exciting for Bills fans. Fast forward to his sophomore season. Though Allen had thus far been limiting mistakes and improving his throwing accuracy, he no longer seemed to be showing the same playmaking potential that he did as a rookie. This caused many Bills fans, myself included, to wonder if he had OVER-corrected. As I asked in this column two weeks ago, had the coaching staff taken the Josh Allen out of Josh Allen? Allen's performance in the 37-20 victory over the Dolphins showed that when he's not overthinking things, and when "play fearless" is the edict of the day, he IS still the electrifying playmaker we saw in season one. What a welcome sight! Allen had arguably his best and most complete game as a pro. He played well within the structure of the offense, he improvised when things broke down, he ran well, he threw well, and ultimately, he tallied four touchdowns on the day. When #17 plays the way he played on Sunday, the Bills are a dangerous team. Before I move on, some cool Josh Allen stats from the Twitterverse: Since the week 4 Patriots game, Josh Allen has 10 touchdown passes and 1 interception. In the last five games, Josh Allen has accounted for 12 total touchdowns and zero interceptions. And most impressively, courtesy of Buffalo Bills PR: "Josh Allen has now tallied five consecutive games with 2 TDs/0 INTs, becoming the first QB since Russell Wilson in 2015 to do so. Allen joins Wilson, Aaron Rodgers (2014), Peyton Manning (2012), Tom Brady (2012) and Drew Brees (2011) as the only QBs to do so since 2011." Wowza. The arrow is certainly pointing up with Josh Allen. 2.) Smoke has himself a day. John Brown has been arguably the best free agent signing in the entire NFL this season. Actually, scratch the "arguably" part. Brown is on pace for 1,300 receiving yards and six touchdowns, and he has provided a dangerous and consistent pass catcher to an offense that direly needed one. Sunday's game against Miami was Brown's best game as a Bill. He caught short passes and accrued run-after-catch yardage. He ran crisp routes and secured critical 1st down catches. He stretched the field. He collected two touchdowns. The 40 yard touchdown strike he caught from Josh Allen may have been the prettiest play the Bills offense has produced all season. Put simply: John Brown was a free agency steal, and Bills fans should be extremely happy that Brandon Beane was persistent in going after him two offseasons in a row. 3.) It must have been the mustache. One week after taking an absolute beating from Bills Mafia about his gameplan and playcalling against the Browns, Brian Daboll redeemed himself with an excellent day in both categories on Sunday. He provided a good run-pass balance, he gave Singletary a good amount of touches, and he repeatedly put Allen in positions to succeed. Encouragingly, the Bills offense did things that had yet to do this season. The passing attack beating all-out cover zero blitzes -- something it had, up until Sunday, been unable to do -- was a sight for sore eyes. The best and most encouraging thing the Bills offense did, however, was staying aggressive into the fourth quarter. Too many times this season and last, we watched the Bills offense go into a conservative and predictable shell when they obtained a lead. Not Sunday. With the Dolphins and the ever-persistent Fitzpatrick refusing to quit, the Bills decided to put the pedal to the metal and secure the victory. The offense ran a hurry-up, no huddle or muddle huddle attack that saw the quarterback getting to the line with 20 or more seconds still on the clock. The CBS announcers were confused, stating that they thought it was a mistake for the Bills not to bleed the clock and run the ball. Personally, I couldn't disagree more. I understand the argument for better clock management, sure, but I'll take a highly aggressive offense that trusts its playmakers and tries to score more points all day over a wimpy and frightened attack that plays not to lose. The buzz word leading up to the game was "fearless", and the offense didn't just talk the talk, they walked the walk. Cole Beasley stated leading up the game that he and John Brown had a good feeling about the offense going forward. Based on Sunday's results, Beasley might just be on to something. 4.) Defense Gets right. After several consecutive weeks of getting gashed in the run game and appearing as though they had lost their mojo, the Bills defense was back in a big way on Sunday. They stopped the run, allowing a measly 1.8 yards per carry to the Dolphins ground attack. They got after Ryan Fitzpatrick, sacking him six times. Every single Bills defensive tackle had a sack. They rallied to the football. They tackled well. In short, they did just about everything right.The most interesting development of the day might have been the frequency with which Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier dialed up blitzes. The Bills are not typically a very blitz-heavy team. After seeing Ryan Fitzpatrick have an excellent day against them in Orchard Park, however, they seem to have decided things would be different this time around. Middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds rushed the passer a season high 13 times. His running mate at linebacker, Matt Milano, rushed the passer 12 times, also a season high. The pressure packages were mightily effective. The Dolphins offensive line simply couldn't stop them with any consistency, and it was a huge key in the Bills victory. While the schematic details and the sound execution by Buffalo's defense were impressive, the biggest change seemed to come from an intangible quality: confidence. One of the Bills defenders after the game stated that Tremaine Edmunds gave a fiery speech to the defense on Saturday night. Whatever he said, it worked. Buffalo's defense got their mojo back. 5.) Special Teams anything but special. It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows on Sunday. The Bills special teams nearly cost them the game. At the very least, the unit was responsible for making the game much closer than it should have been. They allowed a 101 yard kickoff return touchdown. They were one tackle away from allowing a SECOND kickoff return touchdown. They failed to recover an onside kick that could easily have let the Dolphins right back into the game. Against an inferior Miami team, the Bills offense and defense were good enough to overcome the abysmal play of the special teams. Against the opponents coming up on the Bills schedule, however, Buffalo might not be so lucky. Heath Farwell's unit simply MUST find a way to improve in a hurry, or it may cost the Bills a game or two this season. 6.) He'll always be Fitzmagic to me. I have to take a moment to proclaim my love for Ryan Fitzpatrick. In both games against the Bills this season, he reminded me why he captured the hearts and minds of Bills Mafia during his time in Orchard Park. He plays with heart, passion, persistence, and -- to go back to the buzzword of the day -- fearlessness. Virtually everyone who has ever met him or shared a locker room with him also says that he is whip-smart, hilarious, and kind, too. While I certainly wasn't rooting for him on Sunday, I absolutely WILL root for him in every game in which he is not facing the Buffalo Bills. He is one of my all time favorite players from any era in the NFL. To have the career that he has had, given his physical limitations and draft pedigree, is amazing. His longevity in a league whose initials stand for "Not For Long" is impressive. I tip my cap now and forever to the Amish Rifle, the once and forever Buffalo Bill, Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Extra Point Sunday's game against the Dolphins was a great reminder that football fans should try not to get too high or too low after a single game, no matter the outcome. Last week's loss to Cleveland had Bills fans questioning the offensive and defensive coordinators, the head coach, and the quarterback. Some fans were even ready to fire Brian Daboll and to begin to wonder aloud whether Josh Allen was a bust. Despite the Bills' 6-3 record, fans were some combination of livid, disheartened, depressed, and as I wrote here last week, ready to say "here we go again". Luckily, the week passed, and the next Sunday came around, and things changed. Sean McDermott constantly preaches a "one game at a time" mantra. To hear him tell it, each game is its own unique entity, its own snapshot. It should perhaps come as no surprise, then, that a team that looked so inept in every phase one week could look so phenomenal the next. Was it the "play fearless" edict that ignited the offense? Was it Tremaine Edmunds' fiery Saturday night speech that ignited the defense? Were the Bills just sick of hearing what a disappointment they were? Sick of the outside noise and the doubt and the narrative that they are nothing more than paper tiger pretenders? Whatever was going around Buffalo's locker room that infected the players with the passion and effectiveness we saw on Sunday, the Bills need to bottle it and drink from it for six more weeks. Many looked at the upcoming games against teams like the Cowboys, Ravens, and Patriots as surefire losses. If the Bills play like they did on Sunday, however, they will have a much better chance at victory than fans would have guessed. If the defense can continue to stymie the run and attack the opposing quarterback, and if the offense can continue to play fearlessly and connect on big plays in the run and pass game, the Bills can absolutely make the playoffs. And if they do? Who knows. Once the tournament starts, it's anybody's game. From the pit of despair to the joy and exultation of a convincing victory -- what a difference a week makes.

Great post. Especially the bolded.

Fair enough. THAT I can agree with.