Shaw66

Thanks. That's great! So Edmunds WAS supposed to be shallow there, and that also explains why he seemed to be so surprised seeing Perriman slashing free across the middle like that. In that case, Edmunds did about everything he could do. Good for him. Good recognition. I also read your comment about his tackle/miss in the hole. He stops all the time. He doesn't hit; he's a read and react guy, and I don't think he ever will change.

Thanks for these. Nice to hear from a non-Bills fan that the game looked the same to you.

Thanks you and BTB. I didn't watch many replays, and I didn't understand that. So, maybe Jackson DID cost the Bills the game. White might have been there. Oh, well. It's just hard seeing the Bills get close but lose important games this year. Tennessee, New England, Tampa Bay. Win 2 out of 3, and the Bills are 9-4. Tough.

I’ve been a Bills fan for 62 years. This year I’ve noticed that, for the first time in my life as a fan, the losses don’t bother me much more than watching say, the Broncos lose. My family and friends offer condolences, but I don’t need them. It’s just a football game. It wasn’t always that way – I used to agonize over each of the 492 losses. I’m not sure exactly when, or how, this happened, but it happened. I can watch the Bills fail at the end of the game against the Titans, I can watch them fail again against the Patriots, but I don’t get upset. (Okay, when they lose to Jacksonville, that’s different.) So, if you’re looking for angry postgame ravings about who should be cut and who should be fired and how Diggs should have gotten the interference call, you’ll be disappointed here. The Bills lost in overtime to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a nationally televised game Sunday afternoon. It was disappointing, but it was just a loss. Fans see the Patriots’ running game gash the Bills’ defense, and they want McDermott on the next stage out of town. They see the Buccaneers annihilate the Bills in the first half, and they want the offense torn down and rebuilt. What did I see? I saw the Bills play two of the best teams in the league even, six days apart. They played them even. Against the Patriots, they failed to get a touchdown in the red zone at the end of the game, and they lost. Against the Bucs, the reigning Super Bowl champions with a good shot at repeating, the Bills got only a field goal and a tie in the red zone at the end of the game, and they lost in overtime. If they’d made two plays, they would have had two wins. The Bills went to the AFC Championship game last season. They were a good team. This was the season Bills fans expected them to take the next step. They haven’t. The Bills still are a good team, but they haven’t figured out how to win games. They looked better in 2020 than they have so far in 2021, but they really aren’t much different. Defense is better but still has letdowns, offense isn’t as good and still can’t run the ball. The little things that went right last season aren’t going right this season, and the Bills are losing some close games that they didn’t lose last season. Still, the Bills are a good team. They held the Bucs under their league-leading points per game average. They limited their long-time, all-world nemesis, Tom Brady, to one field goal-drive in the second half, and one first down in all of his other second-half drives. The stats for the game were practically dead-even. The Bills just didn’t win. Things I saw: 1. Josh Allen is still my quarterback. I wanted to be on the sidelines, shaking him, screaming at him, after he threw that God-awful interception. My goodness! Make a great escape like that, still under pressure, THROW IT AWAY! Turns out, the interception cost the Bills nothing, and the rest of the game, Allen was borderline brilliant. Great throws, powerful runs. The guy’s a great player, has some things to learn, and he’ll keep learning them. 2. Brian Daboll showed off some offensive creativity against the Bucs, finally. Devin Singletary got some running room. There were some clever routes to Dawson Knox. Cole Beasley returned to a meaningful role in the passing game. 3. Is patience paying off with Harrison Phillips? The guy has become a presence in the middle of the defensive line. 4. Tremaine Edmunds seemed confused on the game-winning touchdown. Was his drop too shallow? Or was it more? Did he fail to understand that Perriman was his man coming across the middle? Something was wrong, and it was on Edmunds. And give the Bucs credit for the play design. Every other Bills defender had run away from the play, leaving Edmunds on an island or, rather, five yards off the island, drowning. 5. As I suspected, the game didn’t turn on what Dane Jackson did or did not do. This is a team defense, and Jackson’s a team player. The Bills could have won with Jackson. That’s not to say Tre’Davious White might not have changed things – a play here or there, and who knows? 6. Seems like Gabriel Davis needs a bigger role in this offense. He’s a poor-man’s Mike Evans, and Mike Evans is a baller. 7. The fake punt seemed to have no chance whatsoever. Any one of three defenders might have made the tackle. That’s a lousy fake punt. Either the Xs and Os were simply wrong, or the Bills didn’t have players on the field who could execute them. Either way, the coaches should have known they were running a play that wasn’t likely to succeed. The Bills would have had a better chance just going for it with their regular offense. Still, the play didn’t cost the Bills. The 2021 Bills have been disappointing so far. They clearly haven’t taken the next step, at least not yet, and it feels like a big step. There are four games to be played, and three wins should get them into the playoffs. The playoffs is where next steps are truly important. GO BILLS!

I don't know about a whole new line, but I think your analysis is correct. Beane and McDermott underestimated the increasing importance of being able to run with power when you need to. The league is changing, as it always does. I also think, however, that the coaches bear some of the responsibility here. There has to be a running style, from an offensive line point of view, that can be at least somewhat effective with the guys they have. All they need to do is make SOMETHING work somewhat well, not so much that the Bills win by strictly running the ball, but enough success at some kind of running game that troubles the defense. If finesse is what they're built for, let's see some finesse. Where are the complex pulling schemes, the traps, and the misdirections?

Belichick doesn't miss much, so I'm sure you're correct - it was a calculated shot across the bow. I don't that anyone was fooled by it. Before the half ended, it was completely clear that Belichick didn't want to throw the ball. As for the circus catches - someone has to help out Allen once in a while. He gives them a lot of essentially perfect balls to catch, so he misfires it would be good to see a receiver step up, As Happy (and others have said), if your team is going to compete at the highest levels, Knox has to catch that ball in the end zone.

If he'd shown anything in practice, he would already have been on the roster. And the running backs aren't the problem. It's the line and the schemes. Either the line isn't talented enough to block the schemes, or the schemes aren't good enough to create opportunities, or both.

Correct. Rookie QB against the best pass defense in the league in that wind, there was no way he was passing.

Happy - Thanks for this. I don't disagree. A couple comments. Lately I've been writing these without listening to the postgame press conferences, so I hadn't heard Allen's comment about the wind. I heard it yesterday. I agree with you that that means the wind WAS the reason the ball was short, because Allen doesn't make excuses. He just kind of quietly said it. I think the ball got knocked down in the same way Bass's kick got knocked down. I also think Allen took a little off the ball, because (if I I remember correctly) earlier in the quarter Allen airmailed one through the endzone. It's one of the many problems in throwing in that wind - you always remember the last throw, that didn't fly exactly like the one before that, so your brain is telling you to adjust and readjust every time. Anyway, I thought he took a little off, wanting drop it in and give Davis a better ball to catch, and then the wind must have stopped it. And I don't disagree about the play before. It was, on Allen's end, a championship play. Knox was completely covered, but it nevertheless wasn't a bad choice to throw there. Allen had to get rid of it. It was a tough catch for Knox - the defender actually was in front of Knox when Allen threw, and Knox made a great play just to get in front and get his hands on the ball. Tough or not, I agree with you and others - that's a catch a championship tight end makes. He got in position and he had it in his hands. Shoulda been a touchdown. I will say again what I said earlier, and this is not directed at anything you said, Happy. People are angry at or disappointed with or frustrated by the Bills, They seem to want to blame someone. I'm not there. I certainly don't want to blow up the team. The Patriots probably are the toughest team in the league right now, along with maybe the Cardinals. The Bills played them essentially dead even and as McDermott kept saying, they had opportunities to win. People complain about the Patriots rushing yardage, but the Bills held the Pats 100 yards below their average total yards. The Bills gave up one big rushing play - that's it. One mistake. It's extraordinarily difficult to be dominant in the NFL for a season. Every week is a new test. During this stretch, the Bills have not been doing well enough, but they aren't a disaster. If they need another season to take another stride forward, I'm okay with that. A year from now, Spencer Brown is older, there'll probably be a new offensive lineman added to the mix, there may be a new offensive coordinator, Allen will be wiser. Point is, as I said before, this a good team. There are maybe 10 good teams in the NFL. They're all struggling to be better, and some are having more challenges right now than others. The Bills are one of those. I don't see that as any reason to be angry with them, or any reason to believe that wholesale changes are necessary, or anything. If the Bills go 3-2 to end the season, they're 10-7 on the season, and that would be a disappointment, but not a disaster. If they go 4-1, they're 11-6 and in the playoffs. That's a successful season - not what we hoped, but a successful season. And if they have a good run in the playoffs, then I'm happy. It's not enough, but I'm certainly not going to be suicidal. If they go 2-3 and finish 9-8, then McBeane and the Pegulas need to have some serious talk about how the Bills are going to get better.

You're right, or at least he has to win some of them. We saw some great 4th quarter wins in the first couple of seasons, but not so much any more. A star QB doesn't fall down on the QB sneak, and he makes that throw. That's two wins that would completely change the outlook right now. Two out of three would have been good enough. He could, however, use some help from Daboll. I can't listen to Daboll - he's all just bs when he talks, but in his presser today he as much as said what you just said. Something like we tried this, we tried that. It sounded like he doesn't really understand the run game, just knows the styles and puts in a couple of plays from each style.

Buddo - this is really good. Your fundamental point is well stated and something I've thought about and don't understand. I don't know understand offensive line play, and particularly the run game. So far as I can tell, the Bills' run blocking schemes are (1) straight ahead, (2) interior zone blocking (which I don't understand), and (3) outside zone blocking. One reason I think those are the primary schemes is that every few weeks the Bills run these Allen sweeps with a couple of pulling linemen out in front of him. It looks so odd to see linemen leading a ball carrier. Why isn't there more of that? Or more of something else? I agree with you - there are techniques that have worked for decades. I don't see them in Buffalo. Belichick, on the other hand, is the master of football history. He knows every run blocking scheme, every strategy, and whatever defense a team may feature, he knows a run blocking scheme that can exploit it. And although it isn't directly on point here, I've thought often this season about Belichick and the quarterback sneak. It is the most basic play in football. Every kid on every team learns to run a quarterback sneak. Why is it the most basic? Straight ahead power, no complications. It's like learning to walk before you can run. So, in Belichick's mind, there's something wrong with your team if you can't run the most basic play well. That's why, in this era of amazingly complex football, the Patriots run the QB sneak better than everyone else, and that's why it's an integral part of their offense, and they run it on 3rd and 4 in four-down territory. What does that have to do with the Bills? Well, with the best power running quarterback in football, the Bills aren't very good at running the sneak. But it also says something about the Bills' mastery of the fundamentals. There are some pro football coaches, somewhere, who know how to get production out of the run game with the Bills' personnel. I think it's clear that Daboll isn't one of them. If he knew, he would have done it by now.

Sure. Red zone lost the game. That's what McDermott said after the game. I find in writing these things, I'm getting away from trying to explain why things happened, and what's wrong with the Bills. I'm just a fan; I'm no expert. I just have observations about the game. In this case, you're correct that 4th and 14 is not a winning down, and yet, on 4th and 14, 10 players on the field did their jobs well enough for the Bills to win the down and win the game. It was an opportunity, an open opportunity, and the Bills didn't execute. If Allen makes a better throw, we're all celebrating today.

I'm don't disagree. I thought it was on Breida. Not that it has anything to do with it, but I saw a clip of Manning, maybe from his show last night, in which he said that in his entire football career he NEVER took a handoff. I suppose it's understandable - I mean, what pee wee coach is going to tell Archie Manning that his son isn't playing QB?

I agree with most of this. Particularly that we don't know how well New England would have passed if they had chosen to, except that I know that Jones has, at best, an average NFL arm. We also don't know how much trouble he would have had reading the Bills' defense, which surely would have been the most complex pass defense he's encountered this season. And, yes, they failed. The NFL is strictly a pass-fail league, and your grade is determined by the final score. Pats pass, Bills fail. Got it. However, the Bills also played one of the very best teams in the league head-to-head, and one play was the difference in the outcome. The Bills have a good team.

It was the two-minute warning. The Bills trailed the Patriots 14-10 and were fourth and 14 from the Patriots’ 18 yard line. The Bills needed a big play. Josh Allen trotted to the sideline. “Kid,” Bill Belichick said, “I’m coming after you with everything I have. Let’s see if you can stand and deliver.” Wait, what? Josh Allen was talking to Bill Belichick on the sideline? Of course not, but that is exactly what Belichick was thinking, and Allen knew it. The Patriots came with their zero blitz, playing straight man-to-man. Allen didn’t have all day to study his options, but he had time. He stood but he didn’t deliver, and the Patriots won. That’s not a knock on Allen. It’s simply what happened. In any sport, the star gets the ball and is asked to win the game. The star doesn’t always make the play, but if a guy wants to be the star, he has to make it more often than not. Monday night, Allen didn’t make the play. That’s all. Of course, Allen was the primary reason the Bills were in the game in the first place. In fact, Allen may be the only person on the planet who could have made the Bills competitive in that game. Why? Because Allen is just about the only person on the planet who can pass effectively in wind like that. Belichick’s not stupid; he had been watching the forecasts, and when he stepped on the field Monday night he knew – Mac Jones could not pass in that wind. Jones threw three times all night. Allen is a different animal altogether. He throws with exceptional velocity, velocity that allowed him to be effective in the short passing game on Monday night. Well, sort of effective. He still had passes affected by the wind, and he threw some fastballs that his receivers, who are used to catching Allen’s throws, couldn’t handle. Dawson Knox, in particular, dropped a couple of incoming rockets. In a game when it was assumed no one could pass, Allen could. He could pass with the wind, and he could pass against the wind. On top of that, Allen can escape the pass rush, and he can run. Put it altogether, and the Bills had a guy on offense who said, “damn the weather, LET’S GO!” And go they did, up and down the field, before repeatedly stalling in the red zone, where the Patriot defense is extraordinary. So, it came down to one play, on fourth down with two minutes left in the game. And on that play, after a night full of on-target throws, Allen missed badly. He wasn’t beaten by a great defensive play, as the television announcers said. He badly underthrew Gabriel Davis in the end zone; a well-thrown pass would have been out of reach of the poaching defender. Was the moment too big for Allen? Did he misjudge the wind? Whatever, the ball was short and the defender knocked it away. And Allen had Beasley streaming across the middle, with certain first-down yardage and maybe the touchdown. Did Allen not see him? Did Allen decide that that throw would be in a cross wind and tougher to complete? Whatever happened, Allen didn’t get the ball someplace it had to be, and the Patriots won. This was a great football game, old-fashioned football, two teams fighting it out in whatever the weather happened to be. It was the kind of football we played as kids in December. It was, as others have said, a heavyweight fight, two teams slugging their way to the finish. Defenses dominated. Both defenses held their opponents below their league leading averages in points and yards. The Patriots, not surprisingly, ran the ball well and often. The Bills, not surprisingly, couldn’t run that well, but their balanced offense had equal success – or lack of success – moving the ball. Mistakes were even more or less even. Each team turned it over once, and each turnover was followed by a touchdown, the only touchdown each team scored. Penalties were even enough, and penalties didn’t determine the outcome. Big plays were the difference in the game. The Patriots had one, a 64-yard burst by Damien Harris early in the game. In fact, but for that one play, the Bills did a good job controlling the Patriot running game. If the Bills had made the stop on that play, the outcome could very well have been different. One play. The Bills, on the other hand, were 0-for-2 in the big play category. Allen’s misfire on fourth and 14 to end the game was one. The other was Stephon Diggs’ “drop” in the end zone in the third quarter. It hit him in the arm, so I guess it was a drop, but in those conditions it would have been a great catch. Diggs was running full speed downfield, tracking a ball that was on a flight path that Diggs had never seen before and probably never will again. Most receivers would have misjudged the ball, slowed and had no chance to catch it as it carried into the end zone. And Allen’s throw on that play was borderline miraculous. Given the wind, Allen was uncannily accurate most of the night. No throw was better than that ball to Diggs, 50+ yards in the air, hitting Diggs pretty much in stride, despite the wind pushing the ball downfield and to the left. A few miscellaneous observations: 1. The Bills couldn’t have asked for a better situation to start Dane Jackson in place of Tre White – Jones attempted only three passes. Bills will need a hurricane in Tampa Bay next week, so Jackson won’t have to worry about Brady. 2. Tremaine Edmunds looked to me to be overrunning gaps for the entire first half, running to chase down the sweep while the back was cutting upfield off tackle. Maybe that was his assignment, but it looked like the play was right in front of him and he simply didn’t react. 3. Harry Phillips was hard to miss. He was a major disruptor. 4. It looked like the fumble was on Allen, but who knows? Either way, it was a bad mistake in a game where there was no room for error. 5. I thought the unnecessary roughness call on Allen on the sideline was the correct call. Sure, Allen technically was not out of bounds and the play was not over yet, but the play also is not over when a receiver catches the ball and falls down. A defensive back can’t explode on the receiver while he’s on the ground, and that guy can’t blow up Allen on the sideline, either. The tackler was out of bounds when he hit Allen, so the instant he touched Allen, the play was over; a touch was all that was needed. 6. I can’t wait for the day they have a chip in the ball and determine its location. Jones was short of the line to gain on his fourth down quarterback sneak, but there is absolutely no way (1) any official could see it or (2) the call could be overturned on replay, because you couldn’t see the ball. But we all could see Jones’s helmet, and his helmet didn’t get to the line. The ball certainly was behind his helmet. That play cost the Bills three points. 7. Winning a game like that is all about making the play you need to make. Bass needed to make that kick, wind or no wind. He’ll be better next time. 8. It’s fun to see the evidence of how the coaches’ brains are working. Belichick clearly decided, in advance of the game, that he wasn’t likely to try any place kicks into the wind. He also knew that he had to be in desperation mode before he’d let Jones pass; fortunately for him, his run game delivered just well enough. McDermott knew he wanted no part of anyone returning punts except Hyde – get a sure-handed, smart guy back there. That game was championship-level competition – put it all on the line every play. It was great to watch. The Bills showed they can play at that level; they still have to show they can win at that level. Allen has to make the throws, Diggs has to make the catches, Bass needs to make the kicks. Right now, the Bills need a win in Tampa. Then a win in New England. That’s what champions do. GO BILLS!!!

I never did this and should have. I'd go look at them and realize that well-made, truly waterproof pants can cost over $100, and a good foul-weather coat is more. It is an investment. But once you do it, you always have it, and every few years you drag it out and it does the job.

If you read the twitter pages attached to the OP, it's sounds fairly certain that Michaels is going to Amazon Prime to do Thursday night games. This news about Collinsworth ends, sort of, the speculation that he would go with Michaels. None of it is final yet, apparently, but it all makes sense to me. Prime needs a big-name announcer for Thursday night, and they'll have to overpay. They're not likely to want to overpay two. If I were NBC, I'd be happy to let Michaels go, because they've been overpaying Tirico for a few years - when he was hired, it was assumed that Michaels was about to retire and Tirico would take that job. Then Michaels decided not to retire, and Tirico's been hanging around, waiting. NBC already knows that Tirico and Collinsworth work well together, and Brees wasn't all that good as a commentator when he did color on a recent game. So, I'd think Tirico and Collinsworth are likely to be the pair in 2022.

I like Collinsworth. He says some stuff that really irritates me, but he sees the field really well and is good at pointing out the little things that some player did to make a play work. Simms did that really well, Aikman's pretty good, and Romo can only do it on certain passing plays. For a non-QB, Collinsworth is good at it. The news I like is that Michaels will be leaving. Michaels has mailed it in for years. All he seems to be interested in is reciting stats and slipping in comments about how the score looks compared to the spread. Tirico is much better at actually calling the game.

Mask! Absolutely. And neck covering. You can wear all these layers and then have water run down your neck and your undershirt gets wet and then cold. I always have a turtle neck shirt as one of my underlayers, and a knit sleeve - we gall them gaiters - that I pull over my head to cover my neck right up to the bottom of my chin. The gaiter and the turtle neck generally keep the water out, and I have my parka or coat fastened all the way to the top. Once again, no style points.

I have a few thoughts. Overdress. Put on more layers you think you'll need. Especially for a night game. Getting your clothes wet is the obvious problem. So don't let them get wet. Easier said than done. I've always envied the people who have serious bad weather gear - snowmobile outfits, for example. They always look dry and warm. I wear waterproof boots, to be sure my socks and feet stay dry. I wear long underwear, pants, and either rain or snow pants. I wear a winter parka, which isn't completely waterproof, or a rain parka, both with hoods. Multiple layers under that, and a hat under the hood. Every part of my body gets two layers. Even gloves. You can buy silk or other thin gloves to wear inside your regular gloves - they make a big difference. Two layers or more everywhere gives you warmth and makes it less likely that the water will get to your skin. Finally, I bring a couple of plastic yard bags that you use for yard cleanup. I cut the bottom off, so it's open. Then when I get to my seats, I put on the bag like a skirt, using the tie string to hold it at my waist. That way, when I sit down on the wet seat, the water isn't soaking into my pants. That helps a lot. It looks stupid, but I've completely given up on style points when dressing for that weather. Dry and warm is all I'm shooting for, and if I look ridiculous, I don't really care. Nothing's perfect. I've had games when I've stayed really dry and warm, and I've had games doing mostly the same things when I've been wet and wondering what I'm doing out there. The more you plan for it, the better off you'll be. If you do it right, you can enjoy the game.

$150,000 would be a nice number to settle into.

And, as others have said, starting experience somewhere, even though you don't win a long-term starting job, enhances your prospects as a backup. And, let's not forget Fitzpatrick's career. When he came to Buffalo, fans dismissed him as a "career backup." Fitzy showed that the past is not necessarily the future.

Right. These guys want to be starters, and they want a shot. If they fail, they'll deal with it, but they want a shot. Fromm hasn't had a shot and he's not going to get one in Buffalo. Heck, he watches MNF and hears the announcers say that the WFT is considering Heinicke as a potential long-term starter and thinks to himself, "I'm better than that guy." He watches Tennessee and thinks, "I could start there." He watches Tua and thinks the same thing. Makes sense that he'd want at least a chance to get on the field and run a team.

Ryan Fitzpatrick.

That's cool. What a goof. What you do if you got a call out of the blue one day, and the guy says, "Hi, I'm Jim Kelly, just calling to chat." I had a friend who was getting his hip replaced. He asked the doctor if he could talk to one of his former patients as a reference. Doctor says, "sure." A couple of days later, my friend gets a call. "Hi. This is Jack Nicklaus. Did you want to talk about Dr. X?"