Success

High expectations are the enemy of fun. Just ditch 'em. It's not as easy as it sounds, but I'm working on it. We have a good team - which is more than we could say for 2 decades. They will win a lot of games. They could get hot in January and go on a run. It's easy to lose perspective. This can absolutely be a fun, entertaining team. The mindset of "I won't be happy unless we win a title" can be debilitating.

Kind of stoked about Bernard. That was such a big question mark coming into the season. He seems up to the task so far.

It's funny - but w/ the way that game was being played, I was secretly hoping we wouldn't win the coin toss. Conventional wisdom is that we had some momentum, so of course it made sense for us to get the ball first in OT. But I loved the way our D was playing much more than the O. It just felt like some weird play was going to win it, as opposed to a long, normal drive for a score.

There is no balance. It's a weird thing about the Bills. And it's not just opening day. Most fans around the league can name some of the more prominent ones. But there is a very short list of corresponding flukey/weird endings that went the Bills' way. It's just disproportionate. I'd be okay losing the occasional heartbreaker, if we also won 1 or 2 along the way. The vast majority of time, we're on the losing end of these kinds of games.

Josh said it himself. The loss was really all on him. He gave the game away. The other facets of the game for the Bills were very good (imo). I loved some of what I saw, especially from the D.

"Burned" is so overused in sports. Tre actually played that TD as well as a CB can play it. Just a spectacular catch. My goodness.

Well, argue the point. Aside from Allen: what aspects of the team didn't look improved from last year?

I'm feeling better as the day goes on. Facing the Jets D in the 1st game was a great test. It was one we failed, and Josh certainly failed - they have been kind of a nemesis for him. But I think it will serve him & the team better moving forward. The teams coming up on the schedule in the next few weeks simply won't be like that. I think the offense is going to look completely different in the next few games & beyond.

I'd say that's more a reflection on the fans than on Allen.

Gotta say - I'm not a big fan of the concept of this thread. Allen is likely to go down as the best QB in franchise history. He was the "right Josh" from day 1, and has emerged as the clear best QB from that draft. He has carried the team on his shoulders basically every season to this point, and pulled wins out on his own at times. He leads this team to double-digit wins and playoff appearances every season. I'd expect a thread like this for a Losman or Taylor or any one of the middlin' QB's we've had since Kelly. Allen doesn't really deserve this for a terrible game 1 this year. Would anyone here really want him NOT to be our QB?

There was someting magical about the Allen/Daboll relationship. It's a rare one in football, imo. Opposing fans have been saying that Allen is regressing without Daboll. It's hard to argue right now - though he was brilliant for long stretches last season.

There is a timid nature to our offense which is a bit perplexing. The Jets D is elite, so that has to be taken into consideration. But we were kind of letting them dictate the game. We didn't take the fight to them - we didn't challenge anything they were doing, or make them adjust. This offense should be able to impose it's will on any team. 2 very good TE's, one of the best #1 receivers in the league, a solid RB tandem.

There was never a doubt about locking Allen up long-term. There still isn't.

It was hard to tell from yesterday. Allen just made so many mistakes. If he only throws that 1st pick, we win going away, and there is no hand-wringing today. I'm not good at analysis & x's and o's stuff. But my general feeling after the game is that Dorsey came in w/ a plan for the game, and didn't really adjust based on how the game progressed, and what wasn't working. That's very much just an impression, though. Like I said - if Allen was better, we'd probably feel okay about Dorsey today. Maybe not full faith, but there wouldn't be the questions that we all seem to have.

I didn't think it was as clear as the announcer said, personally. But - as most have said - it wouldn't have made much difference. And we deserved to lose that game. The Jets won it fair & square. Credit to them & Saleh. Some teams might have folded after seeing the QB go down like that.

You're entitled to that opinion - and I can't argue w/ some of that. The D gave up a couple of big runs. Other than that, they were stout. They gave up 1 TD. They pressured the passer all night. Even the best D's give up a big play or 2 here and there. It seems like all people are arguing is that they weren't perfect, but they did an amazing job considering the turnovers and the offense's inability to score points. I thought Cook was very good - but hope Dorsey starts working Harris in more. He's more north-south, and would do better in the short yardage situations. For Kincaid's first game, that was everything I could have hoped for. He & Knox can be a real problem for defenses going forward - and last night's is likely to be one of the best we'll face (Dallas will be too). Last night, to me, was Allen, Allen, Allen. Who I still have great faith in. I said it on another thread, but he's kind of shaping up to be a Favre kind of QB. You just have to take the bad w/ the good. Kelly was a little like that too. Regardless, Allen is who we're riding with for the next decade+ - but he can get it done. He hasn't figured out the Jets D yet. It took Peyton Manning 7 years or so to finally get past New England's defense.

Phew. I didn't think that was real. I agree to an extent about last night. But really, it was just Allen. He had one of his worst games. All I can do is hope it's not going to be the norm or anything, and I don't think it will be. I thought the rest of the team was solid.

Love the sentiment, OP. And I believe they CAN. Not sure if they will. But I'd bet we win most of the games ahead. Everyone is terrified of MIami now - they had an amazing 1st game, and we had a terrible one. I'd favor them in that game, but it's hot-take city to say we have no chance. AT HOME.

This is kind of hard to believe. It doesn't even sound like a real quote - more like a cartoonish version of "things a racist might say."

No reason not to at this point. We lost 3 games last year by a total of 8 points. We fizzled in the postseason - but there were some extraordinary circumstances at play that didn't relate to the process. I'm not going to overreact to 1 game, the 1st game of the 2023 season.

Remember that line in "Apollo 13," where the ship had just malfunctioned, and Ed Harris' character says, "What do we have on the spacecraft that's good?" I need some good Bills news right now.

Oh, for sure on your 1st paragraph there - I didn't take it as a call out. I always respect your posting here. This is just good discussion. And I don't like relying on momentum either. But as good as this team is, it doesn't seem like it could turn into the kind of force that wouldn't need some intangibles to get the title. I think in most years, the team that wins it all is also not just the hottest at that time, but kind of lucky too. That is certainly true of last year's Chiefs, who both got hot, and also got some very favorable officiating in the AFCCG and SB. Honestly, the one thing that concerns me about this team is not Allen's detours into Favre-land (and I think that's the most appropriate comparison for him as a QB - a gunslinger who you have to take the bad w/ at times). I do worry that McDermott and Dorsey just aren't up to the task. McD has done a wonderful job turning this team into a contender, but I don't have faith right now that he can get us to a title. I hope I'm wrong. People used to look at Reid the same way, when he was in Philly - so that gives me some hope.

A few things: 1) To me, the D-line is kind of a revelation this year. Groot looked like a beast yesterday. Oliver was really good. Floyd is a great addition. Even Epenesa chipped in. When Von comes back, we could have one of the better pass rushes in the league. That's a big change. 2) Upgrades on offense: Kincaid is going to be a good one, and you can see what kind of problems he & Knox can create for opposing D's. Cook & Harris are the best RB tandem we've had in quite awhile (Dorsey should use Harris more, imo). The O-line was clearly better, which is huge. 3) Winning a SB is as much about getting hot at the right time as it is about talent. We sort of did the opposite last year - we were crazy hot early in the season, and just fizzled, for a variety of reasons which have been rehashed here often. Who knows - maybe this is the year we start slow, and finish off fast (kind of like the Hail Murray year, where we really should have won it all). I said it all offseason: this is the best team we've had in the JA era. Beane addressed almost every need and deficiency in the offseason. The only area I think we're weaker is MLB, and Bernard did okay yesterday. We just need Josh Allen to play better than he did yesterday. And that's a good bet.

Remember the run we went on after the Hail Murray? That was a similar low moment, but I recall looking back on that game and that play and thinking, I'm glad that happened. Something about it galvanized the team. I don't know if last night was like that. But there were a LOT of lessons in that game that the team can grow from if they take heed. Here's hoping we can look back at the end of the season and see it as a "good" loss, at least in a way.

Can't thank this post enough. This board is INSANE today. People talking about trading Josh and firing everyone. I mean, spoiler alert: we'll still get double digit wins, and make the playoffs, and JA is likely to have a great season and be a top 5 QB at the end. It will never be enough for some.