Shaw66

All of the above. Place was full and really loud. Very few people left. No ill effects from the weather. Most fun I've ever had at a football game. And yes, it was a perfect game. Glad I didn't chicken out.

The Buffalo Bills stampeded the New England Patriots Saturday night, 47-17, but it was so much more than a lopsided playoff game. It’s well known: Bills fans love their team. They aren’t the only fans who love their team, and they aren’t the only pro football fans who have suffered through the seemingly endless futility of their team. Still, the story of the pain of Bills fans is legendary: Wide right and the four straight Super Bowl losses, the drought, the endless quarterback frustrations, the Buffalo jokes. Every year, Bills fans hoped for more, hoped for success, hoped for respect, and it didn’t happen. And for the past twenty years, all along the way, there were the New England Patriots, crushing those hopes mercilessly. Then came Kim and Terry Pegula, and then Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane, and things began to change. The fans felt it, not the aimless, empty hopes of the past, but something different: real hope. Then Josh Allen arrived, and there was more than hope; there was genuine excitement. It was all so new, so different, the fans didn’t know how to react to the beginnings of real success. They were confused, full of conflicting emotions. Ending the drought with a win and Andy Dalton’s heroics, and Kyle Williams and his boys, didn’t release the dammed up emotions. Beating the Patriots twice and winning the division didn’t do it, either. Getting to the AFC championship game didn’t do it. As the wildcard game approached, fans still wondered if their team was for real, still dreaded Belichick’s legendary game planning. Saturday night, the dam broke. On the field, the Bills delivered one of the NFL’s most spectacular, dominant playoff performances since, well, since the Bills beat the Raiders 51-3 in the AFC Championship game in 1991. Seven possessions, seven touchdowns, no field goal attempts, no punts, no turnovers. Five touchdown passes, 308 yards passing, 66 yards rushing from Josh Allen. It was an all-time great offensive explosion. The first TD to Knox was great (even for thousands of fans watching on television, waiting to get through security and into the stadium), Hyde’s interception was great, the next drive and the second Knox TD was great, play after play after play was great. No one had seen anything like it – football perfection, and it was wearing the uniform of the Buffalo Bills. By the second half, the fans were delirious. As the plays continued, the Singletary runs, the exquisite deep throw by Allen and catch by Diggs, the Sanders TD reception, the Hyde punt return, the Davis TD reception, we were laughing, we were hugging, we were high-fiving. Fans were dancing. We sang every word of the Shout song, every time. But it was so much more than astoundingly great football. It was the moment that Bills fans finally knew in their hearts that the decades of frustration were over. No more doubts about Josh Allen, no more doubts about the defense, no more deep-seated fear of the Belichick magic. And so, for the fans in Highmark Stadium, the game became a celebration to bury the past. We sang good-bye to the Patriots, and it was more than a derisive chant to mock a defeated opponent. It was the end of the horrible curse that had been Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots, and it was the end of the losing. We sang as loud as we could, letting out all of the frustration of two decades of defeat and domination. It had stopped being about football. It was something more. It was pure joy. It was something we never expected, something we couldn’t have imagined. When the game ended, when the singing and dancing and cheering and laughing were done, many fans stood in the stadium, not wanting the moment to end. It was difficult to understand what had happened; maybe if we stayed another minute or two, we would understand. But whatever amazing thing it was, it was over. After the game, Sean McDermott said as the clock ran down, he turned and looked into the stands. He saw the joy. He said he was happy for the fans. And, interestingly, he essentially said that it was moment for the fans, not for the team. Yes, the fans had decades of disappointment, but these coaches and players didn’t. The fans suffered through twice-a-year spankings by the Patriots, but these coaches and players didn’t. For them, it was just a game they had to win against a team they knew they could beat, it was just a step in a process that continues. There are games still to be played, championships to be won, Lombardi trophies to be raised high into the air. Maybe this year, maybe some other year. But for now, finally, it no longer seems impossible. In one glorious night, all of the ugly past was left behind. Not forgotten, but it no longer matters. We’re done with the past; now is the time.

I forget what I post all the time.

Ticket has been sold.

I remember when people said that happened with Frazier. I never saw McD talking to Frazier, and I've always simply taken it as true that it happened. It was clear, however, that for some reason the defensive strategy changed in the second half of that game. From a management point of view, McD is in a tough place on issues like this. McD's job is to delegate, and he takes his job seriously. He tells his coordinators what their objectives are, and he has to trust them to achieve their objectives. He can't keep second guessing decisions the coordinators make; if he does, they can't grow and develop into the kind of coordinators McD wants. So, it may be that McD intentionally kept his mouth shut, intentionally didn't intervene and tell Daboll to run the ball. After all, it's not like Daboll didn't know the situation. The best way to run the clock was to get first downs, and it's Daboll's job to figure out how to get first downs. So, maybe McDermott thought, maybe even said to Daboll, "I'm not telling you what to do - just get me some first downs." Maybe McD let Daboll sink or swim on this one. Maybe McD concludes from this episode that his OC's judgment just isn't as good as McD needs it to be. Or maybe McD uses it as a teaching moment, lets it be part of Daboll's continuous improvement. Maybe McD wasn't worried. Maybe he was confident that his D would stop the Jets, even when they had the wind with them, and that his offense could score enough in two quarters to win the game. It's the kind of decision McD probably never will discuss publicly, but I love to hear him talk about it. It's a good example of how difficult, and how nuanced, the head coach's job is. All I know is from where I was sitting in the stadium, if I'd had a head set, I would have been saying, forcefully, "Get me out of this quarter as fast as you can. Do not, I repeat, do not stop the clock."

I think if you could talk frankly to with Allen and the pass catchers, they would tell you that their timing was off all night, because Allen was throwing the ball at higher velocity than he normally does. He was humming it all night against the wind, because fastballs aren't affected by the wind as much as touch passes. The result of that was that balls often arrived early, and that's why the receivers had balls going through their hands. There also were a few, maybe four or five, passes that arrived just as the receiver was turning for the ball, so the receiver never had time to locate it. The ball just whizzed by before the receiver could make any kind of play. These guys have worked on their timing all season, and it's hard, if not impossible, for the receivers to make minor changes in how they run their routes because for two quarters in one game the timing is disrupted. Josh was the one who was changing the timing, for good reason. I don't have any complaints about how Allen played in the game. He was, as he usually is, the dominant player on the field. As I continue to see the touchdown pass to Diggs, for example, it occurs to me that Allen may be the only QB in the league who makes the scramble, survives the hit and delivers the ball to the perfect place. His runs were critical to the team's offensive success. And I stand with what I said - for large parts of the game he "looked" pretty bad. I didn't say he had a bad game. It's pretty clear that what I said was that the Bills made a bad tactical decision, trying to pass into the win as much as they did.

Read more carefully, my friend. I gave Allen credit of plenty of good throws and and for his running. I asked the question did Allen off an off day or was it the wind? And I answered it by saying I thought it was the wind. And Allen DID look bad. He threw a lot of balls that looked ugly. Because of the wind.

Yeah. My son just told me about the Saban video. There's another good one out there with a woman sitting in a restaurant, I think, with him when he opens up some. It was after the Super Bowl comeback against Atlanta, about two months later. She asked when they have to do to repeat. He said something like "we aren't thinking about repeating. Everyone at work today is thinking only about what they have to do today, and tomorrow they'll be thinking about tomorrow." But I believe it's true that part of the reason they were so disenchanted with him in Cleveland was that he was horrible with the press. Worse than he is now.

McDermott was on the field and he's the head coach. Seems to me that by early in the third quarter, McD should have told Daboll that he wanted to run on every first and second down, and run on every third down under 8 yards to go. Just run it. Third and seven, it was no better than 50-50 that they'd complete a pass downfield. It was probably close to 50-50 if they ran it. Plus, on the half of plays when they don't make it, running means they can burn another 40 seconds off the clock. They should have been burning two minutes every three downs. In a game like that, there should be a high priority on reducing the number of possessions the opponent gets with wind.

Oh, yeah. He loves the game, and he appreciates good play. We don't like him because he's brilliant, a fierce competitor, and comes off as a jerk in a lot of his press conferences.

That's good. Thanks. Love it every time we get a chance to hear Belichick actually talk football. Nothing really new here. Nice how he appreciates Singletary's vision of that cut.

SOLD - Section 212, Row 10. Covered, heat (for what it's worth). Club to warm up in.

I agree with pretty much all of this. I'm not convinced Daboll is the offensive guru I'd want for the Bills long term. Of course, if he isn't, why would a GM want to hire him as the HC? I hope he goes. I don't dislike him, and if he's the OC in Buffalo for the next ten years, I'm okay with it. He'll grow. But, like you, I would like someone who can change gears better, both from week to week and within games. But I will add that I certainly don't know what I'm talking about. McDermott knows whether what we're saying is accurate or not, and he and Beane are the ones who will decide whether to keep him if he doesn't leave for another job.

Nice comments. I'll respond. 0. We won. Yes, and McDermott knows full well that it's ALL about winning. Style points don't matter, at all. 1. D was porous. Yes. See point 0. This defense is all about containment, so it doesn't look spectacular. There weren't many sacks that were classic, collapse the pocket, on guy breaks through and - BAM!!! 2. I think the weather had the entire passing game out of rhythm, not just Allen. Everything was less precise, less crisp than we're used to. And between the cold, the wind and Allen's lasers, there were more drops. 3. Special teams. Haack had a bad day. That's not good, but I'm not fretting until it becomes something regular. And yes, McDermott's had it with insecure punt returner. I've said it for a couple of years about McKenzie, and his adventures a week or two ago were, I think, the last straw. As I wrote a month ago, the most important thing about punt returning is ball securing, and whatever is the second most important thing isn't important at all. Hyde is the guy who has to be back there.

Hey Stroke. Did you see my PM?

Me too. Everything goes to the Patriots, unless it goes to Brady.

Haack needed to be better, but to be fair, he was trying to figure out how to deal with the wind. I think he was trying to to drive the ball low and on a line, but he was missing it. I haven't seen any explanations about his struggles, but we've all seen the plays where the punter mishits the ball because the wind moved the ball after the drop. That is, from the time the ball is dropped to the time the foot strikes it, the wind blows it off course. That could easily have happened to Haack. It's still his job to get it right, but punters have just as much trouble punting as passers have throwing in that wind.

Thanks for this. I wasn't there for the Patriots game, so I didn't really have a sense of the wind. And on Sunday, I didn't see the wind moving the ball much. However, the effect on punts and kickoffs was clear. Also, it was clear how much the wind was a factor simply by watching Allen throw. Everything has high velocity - the faster the ball gets to the target, the less it will move in the wind. He was ripping it all night, and if the receiver was a step late making the cut, the ball went whizzing by before he ever saw it.

It's decided. I'm going to the game, and I think I just sold my extra ticket to someone here. I am not going to miss home playoff games. I went to the first Bills post-season game ever, the Eastern Division playoff game in 1963. I went to the AFC Championship game against the Chargers the next year, and I went to the 1966 AFC championship game against the Chiefs. I didn't have season tickets in the 90s, so I missed the playoffs then, except for XXV. I went to the Ravens game last year. I'm going Saturday. I've had mixed success selling tickets on Ticketmaster. I didn't want to sell a playoff ticket that way, because it might go to a Pats fan. (I actually invited a Pats season ticket holder to go with me, an old friend, but he said no.) From Hartford, it's usually six and a half hours to a hotel at the airport, seven hours if you go directly to the stadium. Get past Albany and it turns into pretty easy driving. The terrain flattens out, and there isn't a lot of traffic. I don't mind it. Except the weather was horrible last week. Anyway, I'll be there.

Excellent. I agree. McD has the right temperament for that kind of team, and he has the right qb.

I know a guy who has social anxiety - he is very uncomfortable in large crowds. The first time he went to a Bills game, I ask him if the crowd made him uncomfortable. He said no. He said seeing all those fans in Bills jerseys made him feel like he's at home. First thing he did was go buy a McGahee jersey, so he fit in. Being with all those Bills fans is the best.

Not that I think I'm kind of football guru, but I've been saying for a couple of years now that I suspect football people think Edmunds is special. It's pretty amazing to hear a great defensive mind say these things about Edmunds. Notice that he doesn't say he's a great tackler, and he doesn't say that he's a great instinctive player, the criticism that many have of the guy. What he says is Edmunds combination of speed and size makes him unique in terms of the amount of the field he covers. This clip alone convinces me the Bills will keep Edmunds.

Well, I was planning on driving on Saturday and going to the game on Saturday night. A friend just told me the high will be 10 degrees, maybe down to zero. I'm guessing my wife will pass on that, and I have to wonder if I'm really ready for it myself. And that's sitting in club seats with radiant heat.

That's interesting. Bills go to KC (Steelers can't beat the Chiefs), and the Bengals win at Tennessee? Well, yeah, I could see that.

It’s Tuesday morning. Where have the days gone? I got up at 6:30 Saturday morning and was on the road by 7:30. Then it was seven hours of driving in sub-freezing temperatures, freezing rain most of the day, slush on the highway, snowplows at 50 miles per hour. Stop at the hotel, then out to Orchard Park. I passed Schwabl’s on the way; they’re looking for a carver. Hmm. Maybe I could move to Buffalo and take the job. At Highmark Stadium, it was forty degrees, with a steady 20 mph wind out of the southwest. After the game, it was back to the hotel and watch the the Raiders and Chargers. To bed after midnight. Up the next morning, 400 more miles back home in daylight and good weather. Then there was college National Championship game. Someplace in there, I watched the Bills beat the Jets, 27-10, take their second straight AFC East title, and lock up the number 3 seed in the playoffs. What to make of the game? To be honest, I don’t know. It’s all a bit of a blur, but travel is only a part of the problem. The opponent is another part of the problem; the Jets had pretty much nothing to offer as serious competition. Rookie QB, leaky offensive line, inconsistent defense. Fans worried that the Jets somehow could pull off the upset, but really, how? If the Bills couldn’t beat the Jets, playoff seeding would be the least of their worries. And still, remarkably, the Jets were in position to win the game, down 3 points and with the ball in the fourth quarter. It didn’t seem right. Was I delirious from the drive? Weren’t the Jets at risk of setting some kind of 3-and-out record, and now they could take the lead? Well, not really. Truth is, the game was only half of a game. As it happened, neither team could do much of anything on offense against the wind. Three points were scored against the wind – a 41-yard Tyler Bass field goal. Haack did some really ugly punting into the wind. Everything else in the game, offensively, was with the wind. Maybe it’s better to think of the final score as 54-20, which might have happened if each offense could have gone with the wind for four quarters. Or 6-0, if both offenses always went against the wind. So, what happened? The Jets’ woeful offense was no match for the Bills’ statistically league-leading defense. The Jets gained 53 yards, earned four first downs. Okay, call it that much in two quarters; in four quarters with the wind, that would be a whopping 106 yards and eight first downs. The Bills simply smothered the Jets in every aspect of the game. Actually, it looked like the Jets played all four quarters into the wind. It was a field day for the defensive line. Sacks galore (more sacks than completions), tackles for loss. Ed Oliver looked All-Pro, Harrison Phillips was in the middle of the action play after play. Zack Wilson rarely could find an open receiver. The Jets were horrible. The only knock on the defense was that once again it was burned for a long gain or touchdown on a quick-hitting run or short pass with no help deep. The reality is that it’s impossible never to give up a long one; every once in a while everything falls just right for the offense. Maybe the question should be how the defense is able to give up so few of those plays. (One site ranks the Bills 21st in explosive run plays allowed, 2nd in explosive pass plays.) For large stretches of the game, the Bills’ offense looked pretty bad. Well, let’s say for large stretches of the game, Josh Allen looked pretty bad. Why? Because he was trying to throw against the wind in the second and third quarter. Except for the field goal drive to end the half and one deep throw to Knox, Allen did very little against the wind. He threw hard, to cut the effect of the wind, but by throwing hard, his timing was off. Receivers consistently cut too late, or looked for the ball too late – or probably more accurately, the ball arrived too early, and off target. Did Allen have a bad night, or was it simply impossible to deal with the wind? I’d bet on the wind. The bigger question about all of Allen’s second- and third-quarter misfires is this: Why were the Bills passing? It was obvious if not immediately, then by late in the second quarter, that going against the wind was a losing proposition, and the only objective against the wind was to get ought of the quarter as soon as possible. So, why go three and out by throwing incomplete passes? Run the ball. You may still go three and out, but at least the clock keeps running. And if on some series you actually get a first down, run some more. The Bills needlessly extended both quarters, giving the Jets extra possessions, simply by passing instead of running. And, by the way, the running game was working. Singletary saw a couple of monster holes, and plenty of others big enough to get to the second level, and Allen was opportunistic. For a team that was unable to mount any kind of running game most of the season (other than living dangerously with Allen), here was another late-season game where running actually was an option. With the wind, Allen was Allen. He ran the offense, under control, not flustered, taking the necessary time outs when things got out of sync. The touchdown throw to Diggs and the near-touchdown to Diggs were exquisite throws. He found Diggs often, and Beasley, too, and delivered accurate balls. Gabriel Davis was unusually ineffective, dropping a couple of balls and seeming to be off-page with Allen. The path to the Super Bowl is brutal: New England, Kansas City, Tennessee. But the truth is that the path for every team is brutal. None of the Bills’ likely opponents is happy to see the Bills coming down the road. For every team, your very best may not be enough, and less than your best invites an early exit. The formula for the Bills heading into the playoffs is clear: Be solid at every position across the defense and be tough to score on; on offense, be dangerous and find a way to score. For a statistically great team, the Bills don’t dominate, but they also won’t be dominated, not any more. They will be a tough out in the playoffs, and they could make a run. GO BILLS!!!