Success

"It's a Wonderful Life" still rocks, and rocks hard.

This could just be round 2 this season. Pretty decent chance we see them again in the playoffs.

Well, when you put it THAT way. Seriously, though - would you trade places w/ them right now? They say it themselves - they only get excited about AFCCG's and SB's. No matter what Jones does, he'll only ever be a fraction of what Brady was. Their best days are behind them.

I see Patriots fans as a cautionary tale. It's cool when your team wins. But your team can win TOO much. They are absurdly detached from reality at this point. I think they envy Bills fans. They see us & remember what it was like to just be a normal fun-loving fan.

Bourne for Beasley is pretty even. Nothing yet to indicate it will tip any scales one way or the other.

If we have Diggs, Knox & Davis, we're fine. There will be a drop-off, but we have capable receivers who can fill in for Beasley. This is not the end of the world. I'm more concerned about headlines that we might see in the next few days. The attrition needs to stay relatively even.

The Pats may be without a few receivers also. This is hardly insurmountable. I wouldn't mind seeing Hodgins brought up - but they can still be potent w/ what they have, and it would be cool to see Stevenson in on some plays to stretch the field.

Re: the bolded. Absolutely. Why wouldn't we have a "chance?" We're actually built to beat that team, and we beat them handily there last time. Our 4 top receivers had significant injuries in the AFCCG. No one holds that game as any kind of standard.

Isn't the guideline now to only test when there are symptoms? I didn't think it was tied to vaccinated or not. Gotta bad feeling though. My season goal now is to beat NE and win the division. If we get playoff football, it's a bonus.

After all of the hype - he's playing exactly like scouts figured he would. We're seeing his ceiling.

The Pats blueprint against the Bills only works if the Bills don't succeed in the blueprint against the Pats. Get an early lead, force the Patriots to come from behind & pass the ball. Win.

I mean, life goes on if we don't win this game. I think we WILL win, but the ball can get bouncy, and nothing is guaranteed. The way some are talking, we go back to watching NE win one division title after another if we lose this one. Their HOF coach will be 70. We'll have the best QB by a few miles, for at least a decade & probably more. If we drop the division this year, it's a blip. An extremely unpleasant blip, but we should be faves to win the division again next year. And really, as long as we have Allen.

15 mph might be a lot for a completely overhyped, weak-armed, game manager-type QB. Not saying that there is one of those playing Sunday. But I'm not not saying that.

I think they think we envy them. But they're cartoon characters. I can't really envy cartoon characters.

If there is a "most pleasant surprise of '21" award, it goes to Harrison Phillips. He's been a joy to watch, and at a time when we need good play in that unit. Great summary!

I have to appreciate not going into a game against the Patriots thinking we will need luck or certain breaks to go our way to have a chance. It's kind of the opposite. I feel like the Pats need those things to beat the Bills. If it's just talent against talent & everything else is equal, the Bills win. And we have the better QB - finally.

You implied that Jones has been deemed "good," and we're just not acknowledging that because we're rival fans. I think the hype on him to this point is what isn't valid, or realistic. I think my take is unbiased, and it's actually the take that is most consistent w/ the scouting on Jones coming in. Time's gonna tell on this one. I know that after initially being concerned about Jones, I no longer have any worry about him at all. I think at best that he'll be a marginal starter. He's exactly what scouts said he was going to be.

And what does the bolded have to do w/ Jones?

Lame cheap shot.

The bolded is hilarious, and typical of what I've seen from Pats fans online. So many are convinced he'll be as good as Brady or close to it, based on the fact that his stats are better than some of Brady's 1st year stats. Jones is such an average prospect right now. He gets more time than just about any QB in the NFL, and he's hyped through the roof for completing game-manager kinds of passes under almost no duress. When he is pressured somewhat, we see what we saw on Saturday - less accuracy, crucial picks, and a QB who looked lost halfway through the game. Personally, I'm happy about the hype. He'll never play well enough to match it. Could he still pan out & be a solid starter? Of course. But he could just as easily end up as a career backup. He'd be floundering in NY or Jax, or almost anywhere else.

Jones is bad under pressure, as well. He can't really move in the pocket, so it's fairly easy to sack him if you can get back there - which is the biggest challenge against that line. The line is one of the best in the league, imo.

I thought it was more 50/50. There were times that Allen was running for his life, as usual - but I thought there were significant portions of the game where it actually looked normal, and he had plenty of time to throw. I was actually kind of encouraged after watching the game. They also looked better run blocking, imo.

I think a bit of that is tied to the pandemic, too. It's definitely something I'm feeling this year - and really in a full blown way for the 1st time. As an adult, Christmas definitely has some exhausting elements to it. It's awesome, but trying to juggle family visits if you're married, get gifts for the same people you've shopped for over the course of years, plan schedules/entertaining/cooking etc. - it can be draining. Add to that the complications of COVID, which can change shopping & traveling plans among other considerations, and it can be a bit overwhelming. I think I'll be more relieved this year when it's over. Kind of like beating the Patriots if it happens.

On one of the sports shows, they said that the Bills don't have a chance in the next one because of McD's comments about Belichick after the wind game. You know - because Belichick will now be "mad." These are paid professionals who said this. They said that a HOF coach who is preparing for the most important late-season game in the AFCE in decades will try harder because he's "mad."

Had they missed that 2-point conversion, and we took a 7-6 lead on that TD - the entire game would have been different, imo. Jones would have been seen as MUCH more of a liability in any kind of comeback situation in those conditions. Even a single point.