Success

I hate to stand up for a division rival - but this kind of thinking is absolutely ridiculous. The Bills were a joke for years. Now we're back on the upswing. The league has countless stories like that over the years. Anyone remember the Patsies? Yeah - I barely do, as well.

The whole realm of sports punditry is now strictly, exclusively hot takes. Allen absolutely tears it up for the 1st month. Even last week's game, outside of the 2nd INT, was pretty solid. He has a rough one in bad weather, and suddenly he'll never be accurate. I swear, it's hard to even listen to these guys anymore. I think I'll start watching games with the sound down & some nice classical music playing, or maybe Metallica, depending on the game.

Upon further review, I have some reluctant support for last night's strategy. Had we gotten the late fumble and stolen a win, I dare say that some might have called it genius. Basically, it worked. It was brutal to watch - KC grinding out 1st down after 1st down. But it kept the score down, and gave our offense an opportunity to get the W. The offense was really more of the let down than the D. Coaching in the league is not good, in general. I think McD is probably one of the better ones. I certainly don't think he's on the hot seat.

I get not making a long kick in those conditions. But man, did that miss by a mile.

It's a normal NFL schedule.

It would have been a vindication of McD's strategy. I was kind of upset about it when I heard the presser afterwards. I was thinking, we should just play straight up defense - we shouldn't have respected them that much. But the strategy DID keep the score down. And all we needed was one break or stop - the fumble, or Poyer not making that mistake. It would have been a classic bend/don't break kind of strategy - keep the game close & steal it at the end.

I think we all would have signed up for 5-2 in the offseason. Not that the Jets is a given - but it kind of is. As a fanbase, we're probably anxious for the team to be better than it is. At this point in the season, it's clear we have a few glaring weaknesses. Some probably aren't fixable with our current personnel. But we CAN get hot, and hopefully we will when it counts. I haven't lost any faith in Allen whatsoever. A few plays really turned the narrative tonight - would love to have seen the game where Brown caught that very first 1st down, or the Chiefs don't make TD saving plays on the long passes to Brown & Diggs in the endzone. I'd love to see the game where the ball comes out right before the RB's knee hit the ground, or where Poyer didn't make that unnecessary hit out of bounds. It's not like we were that far away from a W. It's too easy to overreact right now.

It did feel that way. But man, do I wish the D had been able to get him just one more opportunity at the end. I felt like he turned the corner on that last TD drive - and we've seen "4th quarter Josh" enough at this point to know that he does find another gear. That completely unnecessary hit by Poyer is going to stick w/ me for awhile. I think there is an excellent chance we win the game without that.

I mean, I guess I can see the reasoning if I really try. But it's tough to watch a team pick up one 1st down after another on the ground and think, "ah, yes - exactly as we planned!"

I really don't put it on him at all. He had a few bad throws in there, but everyone does. It is starting to actually bug me when HE has them, and announcers are like "there it is! That's why people say what they say about Allen," but Mahomes can have 'em with nary a comment. The reason I still have 100% faith in Allen: if we got that fumble, or the D got even one stop that last Chiefs drive, I have no doubt we get the go-ahead score.

In my head, we're already 6-2. Because if we're not, it means we A) weren't able to gut up after 2 excruciating losses and beat a team we should beat 10 times out of 10, or B) we simply cannot beat the Patriots (that's the worse option). 6-2 or bust. We must be 6-2, and then none of what happened today or last week matters.

There seems to be such a lack of discipline. Guys overplaying the ball, and not staying in their lanes & with their assignments. They could use a "do your job" lecture from Belichick. And the game-changing penalties. Last week, Epenesa w/ the Offside on a crucial 3rd down, when we could have still turned things around. This week, Poyer with that thoughtless penalty. Could have set up a 3rd & long, and really had a shot to steal a win w/ a stop. I love Poyer. But man, that cannot happen. I don't know how that happens.

Who stops Cam? It just figures. The year when the Pats become a running team, we can't stop the run. But I agree w/ the basic sentiment. We're where we want to be right now. If we can't beat the Pats, we don't deserve the division. After 20 years, I want to earn it by knocking the king off the hill - not get it w/ some technicality.

I disagree, OP. I saw this game as a failure of the defense. I cannot put it on Josh Allen. QB's need opportunities. The defense could not create more than 1 or 2. They really failed.

I'm in the middle. I get what you're saying - but the man needs to start showing up in these big games. Tonight felt like coaching. It didn't feel like much else. I didn't understand - AT ALL - what kind of defensive identity we were trying to establish. And we played scared the whole game. I'm not giving up on McD. But he hasn't proven much yet, imo.

After the performance against TN, I really had higher hopes for the coaching staff. I was ready to end up w/ a loss & be okay with it. But not like that. We just DID NOT SHOW. For the 2nd week in a row. It's fairly inexcusable. If you lose, leave it all out there. I felt like we spent the whole game worrying that they'd get an 80 yarder to Hill for a TD. And Poyer this week, and Espanza last week. I can hear Marv Levy in my head - don't be dumb, don't be dirty.

We had zero gameplan. None. I could tell in the 1st half watching Norman - we gave KC an extreme amount of respect. Norman kept giving these 15-20 yard cushions, like we were so worried about Mahomes. The whole game was like that. The whole strategy. Play smashmouth football. At the end, we were penetrating on D, and creating losses. We needed to be like that the whole game. I was big on McD. Now, I am not. You cannot play or coach scared.

Defense has zero pride.

Bench Poyer for a month. That is inexcusable.

I'm not usually a negative Nancy. But we are not winning with this defense.

Loads of time here. If we could just remember how to play defense.

I feel like we regressed to Jauron-era Bills.

LONG time coming. I'm not going to spend 2 seconds thinking about the last 2 decades or how good they "were." They're just another team in the division now, and one we should beat w/ the team we have now. More worried about the Phins this year.

So, all you have to do is run some time off the clock. And you throw a hail mary into triple coverage on 1st down.

Can anyone help me w/ Denver's playcalling?