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Yep. They're human beings who went through a lot of extra this season. The injury bug decimated them, I think every starter on defense missed at least one game. Josh had the elbow. Diggs was beat up all year and barely practiced. Nobody's 100% obviously but they dealt with a lot there. Oh, and one of their guys dropped dead on the field. They also had a screwy schedule. Yeah it's nice for them to be featured somewhere else besides the Sunday 1 PM timeslot but they were constantly having to adjust their game prep from week to week. Then you throw in the blizzards, losing a home game, three games in twelve days, leaving early for Chicago, etc. All that stuff takes a toll. It all seemed to catch up to them at the worst possible time and that was last Sunday. They seemed like they'd been running on fumes since the Hamlin situation and on Sunday the needle fell right on E. That said, there seems to be anywhere between one and up to five games a season in the McDermott Era where they look completely unprepared or rattled or flat or soft or whatever. Back in '17 they got shmacked by the Saints. '18 was the mulligan where they suffered several blowouts but it was the necessary growing pains season. 2019 they were real flat in a blowout loss to the Eagles. Then they secure a playoff spot in Week 14 and then lost their next two, limped into the Wild Card round and blew a lead in the loss to the Texans. 2020 and beyond have seen instances of the same thing but now they've been able to battle through that and pull out some victories. 2021 had the crappy Jags game, the blowout loss to the friggin' Colts, etc. 2022 they had a stinker against the Jets. All teams endure these slumps and stuff but it's kinda odd because they'll be on fire a couple weeks in a row and then they follow-up with a big fat dump on the 50 in some random game. I dunno, sometimes it feels like McDermott doesn't quite bring the energy. I think the players like him and there's a healthy level of respect there but I'm not sure if I get the sense that he really connects with his players. Who knows tho. All they can do is keep chipping away. Stay the course, definitely make some adjustments, address areas of need, all that good stuff. I'd like them to say adios to Frazier but we'll see. At the end of the day it's just a game. On the grand scale of all things it's pretty insignificant.

This was a strange season. It was pretty clear they were out of gas Sunday. The injury bug decimated them this year. And those are just the injuries we know about. Who knows how many guys were out there playing thru stuff. I believe every opening day defensive starter missed at least one game this year. A blizzard rolled thru town and cost them a home game. Then three games in 12 days. Von Miller done for the year. Damar Hamlin drops dead on the field. Game gets cancelled. Team is rattled after nearly losing a brother. It is what it is...just doesn't work out the way we want sometimes. I feel bad for us fans. I mean, I feel bad for the players as well but not too bad. I mean, most of them are leaving the stadium in really nice cars taking them to really nice houses with families and fat bank accounts. (yes I know a practice squad guy might not be making mad bank but he's doing a lot better than most of us).

Losing Hyde hurt but with Poyer back there they still had a vet presence to lead the younger guys. And then Tre eventually returned as well so at least the secondary had that. The day they said Von Miller's season was over I felt like their championship aspirations got much more difficult. Outside of Von there's simply nobody on that DL that offensives really have to focus on. And they eventually just ran outta gas.

I don't think Rodgers will want to play for the Jets. I think it's gonna be another off-season of rampant speculation just for him to go back to Green Bay.

What a stupid fartmouth. I genuinely hope he steps on precisely 64 Legos of varying colors, shapes, and sizes. 64. No more no less. I really didn't care for most of that Bengals team whining for the last two weeks about the NFLs handling of the Hamlin situation. It's like, a dude friggin' died on your field, what're we all supposed to do? Hand you a win? It was their coach who agreed not to continue. I hope KC slaps the snot out of them.

Do some of you really expect him to say, "oh yeah, the axe is gonna come down, heads are rolling, we're replacing this guy and that coach and Timmy the clipboard holder he's gone too." The expectations are absolutely absurd from some of y'all. Beane has built a consistent contender, something we hadn't seen for nearly two decades. Does he have some whiffs? Sure. They all do. No GM has a perfect track record. Josh had guys like Robert Foster and Zay Jones in 18 and 19. Everyone said "they need a real receiver for Josh!" Beane goes and gets Diggs. Everyone griped about the pass rush in 2020 and 2021. What'd Beane do? Goes out and gets a Hall of Fame pass rusher. They've drafted well, developed players and retained them. That is how you keep the window open. Crap happens. If they were to do a major overhaul like some of y'all want then we'd all be miserable watching this team go 8-9 for another two or three seasons. And I'm not saying Beane is immune to criticism, I'm saying some of ya need to allow room for error because again, no GM can be perfect. He's done a lot to address the needs of the team and with the way the cap works they have to prioritize the positions they find most important and pay those guys and hope they can get by with average or subpar players are some other spots. This is something all teams have to do. I know Dorsey isn't going anywhere. And yeah at times his calls weren't the best or most creative but other times it was Josh not making the best decisions and the offense not executing. As always it's a combination of things but it's just too easy for people to point at one or two people and place all the blame on them. That said...the one change I think I'd like to see is them moving on from Leslie Frazier. Very consistent in the regular season but when the pressure is on in the big games things just seem to fall apart. I'd like to see some more creativity on that side of the ball. It'll be an interesting off-season.

They weren't on the same page today. If they hit that first target it's a different game. But you also noticed Josh was frustrated with where Diggs was taking his routes a few times. One play they missed on Josh was trying to say he should've gone up when he cut toward the sideline instead. But besides that...Diggs looked like the only one with a fire in him today. Everyone else felt like doldrums just staring at the turf, felt weird. Hate these kinda games. The hot takes are worse tho.

Tough one. Picked the worst time to have their worst game. I really think they should strongly consider moving on from Leslie Frazier. We know he's a good dude and through the regular season the defense is pretty consistent. But in the big games he just doesn't seem to have it. That said, I mean, they're down to their fourth safety, and then Poyer left. Tre ain't the same. Missing Hyde and Von. I knew that rag tag Bengals OL was going to own the day. Saffold should move on. Dion was rough. Spencer Brown might not be the guy at RT. Mitch and Bates are fine. I dunno. It's a bummer. Thought they'd be up for it but the spotted Cincinnati two TDs early and then played like pure crap. Had their chances. Didn't convert. When your OL is constantly giving up pressure I have no idea why you're still asking your WRs to run long routes that keep your QB back there for an extra tick or two. Some of its on Josh because he doesn't always take the easy ones. But today he was when he could but it was like they never called any designed shorter stuff to unload the ball. Don't expect sweeping change, and there shouldn't be. But a hard look at Frazier is needed.

NFL scriptwriters have composed The Great Mahomes Injury Game for this one. He'll have it amputated at the half and come back to throw for 450 and 5 tuddies. The sports media will never shut up about it for the rest of time.

I mean, I think all the talking heads are turds but Collinsworth really ups the stink factor when he's calling a Chiefs game. Everything Kermit does is a miraculous miracle of the universe according to him. The dude literally just praised him for a play where he made a goof and chucked the ball into the ground. "What a great play by Mahomes here. Geez Mike I tell ya, the things I'd do...the unspeakable disgusting things I'd do just to get a sniff of him...oh mi corazon it aches for Kermie!"

It was pretty noticeable that Brown was really struggling out there. He's been inconsistent all year. I know he had some injury stuff and you always wonder if that plays a part that we don't hear about. That said, I think his performance this season will have Beane searching for RT candidates through the draft and free agency. Brown has shown some flashes but overall just far too inconsistent.

Meh, never been much into the "Bills/Bengals Bros" thing. Yeah, they helped Bills into the playoffs back in 2017 but I don't even know if there's any players from that roster on their current roster. It's da playoffs. And I don't like 'em. Don't like 'em one bit. Sick of 'em, really. Lot of them seem to have big mouths. That makes me hope the Bills go out there and piledrive those orange rat sonsabishes right thru a table. Much like Abraham Parnassus did to H.R. Pickens they must CRUSH their enemies into the ground! Grind their bones into dirt!!

I dunno how in the blue crapsicles this dude keeps getting jorbs, or at least interviews. The only times he's looked any sort of successful was when he had a HoF QB running his offense. Every other endeavor he's had has been big cacapoopoo. Edit: That said, go right ahead and hire that guy, Jets.

They've invested five years in the dude and he's entering his prime playing age. I really think they're gonna push hard to retain him. And if they can't reach a deal they can at least franchise him. I think he's too important to this defense. He and Milano play well off each other and Tremaine is such a presence over the middle. He's just a steady, solid player.

I'm hopeful Shakir wins the slot role next season and goes off so half the board can stop lamenting the loss of Isaiah Hodgins.

Is there a fart emoji we can add for responses? Ya know how you can leave a check or a barf face or a beer mug, what have you. How 'bout a fart? Cause that's what I think when I read this. My brain sees it and eventually just starts making a big ol "tthhbbpplllttbblltltl" noise. Farts.

Aye yi yi. 🤪 Where's Brandon Reilly? How about Chris Hogan?! Da'Rick Rodgers? Robert Foster? Crap happens.

Phantom?! Sir, I have it on good authority that #97 farted near #8 and told him he was a booger eater. Man's lucky he wasn't ejected!

It's one o'dem lil plastic tables they stick on da pizza.

That 26Shirts guy said it, I think. When the team signed free agent LB Nick Barnett he made mention of "they got some kinda Mafia up there in Buffalo" and I remember that's when the term started to catch on a lot more. Del (26Shirts guy) also coined the "Legend of Kiko Alonso" hashtag that got hot for a minute. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the moniker but it seems to have stuck.

Schlomo was entertaining his first two years or so but since then he's a cliche machine that exaggerates the crap out of everything.

Ya know, just when it feels like we've hit rock bottom someone hands us a shovel. Yeesh. Hope Murph recovers!

Love Tom. Seems like a good cat.

Ryan Clark

All fair points. What I've been wondering is if they're limiting the offense intentionally these last few games in order to keep some things in their back pocket for the playoffs. I wonder if that's why they have the inconsistency. Doesn't seem like they're doing anything super creative, not a lot of misdirection or pre-snap motion, but they're able to score enough to win despite stalling out on several drives. Just makes me wonder if they're like, hey that's fine, we still won and we didn't have to bust out our big money plays. I could be totally wrong and they could be out there running their big time stuff and just not doing it well. But I feel like once the playoffs start we'll see the offense spark a little more.