BigDingus

Good teams find ways to win, even when not playing their best. But the Steelers are taking that a whole new level. Tomlin just refuses to finish below .500.

Can't believe that was only Stroud's 2nd INT all year. Dude had 15 passing TD's to 1 INT.

Sucks that we have to rely on so many other teams to do our dirty work for us. The Bills from a couple years ago would've feasted on this schedule.

We can sign him as a backup to push Josh to compete in practice.... You know, like that one thread a week ago suggested! 😆

I know I'm in the minority, but I still think offensive playcalling, lack of balance/creativity, and Allen's decision-making (plus shoulder issues) is affecting offensive production more than anything Gabe can control. Gabe's production has taken a nose dive along with Allen's deep ball accuracy. With Allen now ranking 31st in deep pass accuracy, Gabe's ability to stretch the field isn't as relevant anymore. And with the offense allergic to running the ball, playing exclusively from shotgun & consistently stalling out midfield/inside opponents territory, Gabe's opportunities dry up. I don't think he's amazing or anything, but I think this is another Singletary/Moss situation where the Bills offense doesn't use the player, and we'll see them have success elsewhere.

I definitely think this is one element, and I think teams smell blood in the water facing us. All these "bad" teams see they have a legit chance of winning, so players go all out hoping to pull off the upset.

I'm only now going back & watching the Pats/Colts game, and I'm at a complete loss how that team beat us. I know the Panthers have a worse record, but they'd beat the Pats 9 out of 10 times.

The Bills have let a lot of "ordinary" & unimpressive teams look better than they should. The Bills from a couple years ago would've dominated this schedule.

Is this worse than last year when we had Von, Hyde, Poyer, Tre, etc. all injured at various points? I know they weren't all 4 injured at the same time, but there was definitely overlap with Von + others.

Time to suck it up & break out these bad boys more often!

That segment was one of the most telling. Even though the Bills are objectively more successful running from under center, other teams also run prominently out of shotgun. The only difference is those other teams do so in more creative & confident ways, leading to their RBs still having success. We wasted 2 x 3rd round picks on Singletary & Moss, and a 2nd rounder on Cook, yet we still do nothing with these guys. We even traded away Moss + a 6th to get another RB in Hines, as if we had plans to utilize him in some unique way. Nope. Suddenly, Zack Moss is the 2nd leading rusher in the league, and with a team that runs from shotgun as well! With our QB & roster, RBs SHOULD have an easier time given that defenses prioritize defending the pass. Nope again!

Individual teams can recognize their pre-Super Bowl championships, but the league shouldn't elevate those to the same level of actual Super Bowl championships. With only 10 teams & 10 seasons (more like 6 seasons before the merger & Super Bowl started being played between the leagues), its titles aren't quite on that same level. Same can be said with the NFL though, with only 16 teams at the time but a longer history. Even worse, counting AFL championships on the same level would give the Chiefs 1 extra championship, unless you want to give them 2, since they won the AFL championship in 1969 before going on to win the "AFL-NFL World Championship" (Super Bowl IV) that same year. I won't stand for that! 😉 ****AFC/NFC Championship Game Rant Below**** All that being said, I think the NFL does a pretty good job recognizing pre-SB era history, AFL included. The only other thing I'd like to see is conference championship games elevated to higher status somehow. I know most people will disagree with me, but hosting them at a neutral site (as was planned last season if the Bills advanced in the AFC), and include all the pagentry/celebratory stuff that would honor such a great achievement. I want conferences to matter more, almost like the AFL vs NFL days. Instead of them just being a footnote for the eventual Super Bowl winner, make it something worth recognizing (like baseball has done).

Since we have the highest win% with the All-Reds, it's now my favorite. Despite how ugly it looks, the superstitious part of me doesn't care anymore. Wear it with the non-existent throwback 90's helmets for all I care, just win! 😅

I know it sounds crazy, especially considering how this regime has turned around the franchise, but ***IF*** McDermott does go at the end of the year, I'd be happy with Harbaugh. As a rookie HC in the NFL, he turned the 49ers into contenders. Remember, the 49ers hadn't even had a winning record (or playoff appearance) for 9 years before he got there in 2011. In a "rebuiliding year," he coached that previously terrible 49ers roster (which finished 6-10 the year before), with supposed "bust" Alex Smith, to a 13-3 record & NFCCG appearance. Then in year 2, the 49ers made it to the Super Bowl. They went 8-8 & had a messed up year with injuries in 2013, then disputes with management lead to him leaving after only 3 years. Then the 49ers instantly reverted to crap until 2019. I'd say our roster & QB situation is definitely superior to the 49ers team he inherited in 2011, so I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be interested to see what he could do with this group ***IF*** the position became available.

You and me both brother 😅 Even with all the analytical football content I consume, I'll admit I'm nowhere close to an expert on these things. As critical as we are of players or coaches, Ken Dorsey has more football knowledge in his pinky finger than I'll ever have.

I'm not sure there's been a more obnoxious whiner of the OL quality than me the last several years, but I don't think that has much impact on his points. Good offenses (and good coordinators) will try & shore up those weaknesses with schemes & creative play designs. The Bills don't. Like he said, they run 2 basic concepts, essentially expecting to fail. Because they want shotgun to be their identity, they refuse to call formations that they actually have success running out of... As he said, they base their ENTIRE run game on the 2 "least explosive" concepts imaginable (inside zone & duo), and even then, they run them in the most predictable & least creative ways imaginable ("straight downhill, into the jaws of hell" as he put it). Even if your OL talent stinks, you are deliberately handicapping yourself even further by doing this. Other teams that run out of shotgun don't do this, but we do. All these problems lead to the other big issue he discusses, where the Bills are now a "TD or nothing" team. They're ranked 6th in drives ending in a TD, but ranked 31st in drives that result in a FG... only attempting 6 FGs the last 5 games, and only making 3... THREE! We don't even try to be creative with running, refuse to run outside of shotgun, and then just exclusively throw when we get to the 50 - opponent's 30 yard line. If it was just OL talent, the Bills wouldn't have the 3rd highest yards per carry in the NFL when running from under center. They just CHOOSE not to.

Just for those who are interested. Crazy to see how the Bills are ranked so highly in many offensive metrics, yet still so low in PPG the last 5 weeks. Edit - 6:36 in the video is where it gets interesting, breaking down how EPA is the PROBABILITY of scoring points (which the Bills are ranked #2 in), and how the Bills are "the best team in the league at taking a theoretically strong field position after a big play, and totally squandering it."

Except for those who have eyes & watch the full games, rather than checkout box scores. I already made this point in another thread, but the last month+ of this season, Allen has been nowhere close to the top QB in the league, and suggesting "no other QB has performed as well" as him over the season looks more & more silly with each passing game. Averaging it out over 9 & pretending that's how he's played all year is just a nice way to disguise how he's played for 5 straight games. Using box stats to inflate how good he was in a game also is misleading. I mean, look at how great Josh was in London against the Jags - 27/40, 359 yards, 3 TDs, 102 passer rating! But in reality, the Bills only put up 7 points on 1 TD & 1 INT until only about 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter. And it's not like the Giants, Pats or Bengals games were much better. Even the Bucs game was inconsistent, but the box score looks solid! There is no way anyone but Bills fans would suggest that NO OTHER QB has performed as well as Allen this season.

This video should be mandatory viewing for everyone on this board. Just like the drought days, people need to remember EXECUTION matters more than anything else. We all love to blame the OC for the shortcomings of the offense, but so many of these issues are simply failure to execute. Josh being banged up certainly doesn't help, but way too many of these issues are about not reading the situation, and making the wrong choices. Accuracy on deep throws is terrible as well, but that's one of those problems you can argue is most impacted by whatever is going on with his shoulder. But if the injury is impacting him THAT much (with only Mac Jones being less accurate on those throws), then that's where Dorsey, Allen & even McDermott need to come together & figure out a gameplan that doesn't involve many of those throws.

I've never quoted myself before, but I wasn't too far off! Still waiting on that "good stretch" though... 😅

Of course they won't be "get right" games. Jets are tough, and Allen will certainly add extra pressure to himself given how he's played against them in recent games. That may result in even worse performance, especially given that the Jets defense has zero fear of the Bills. The Broncos held the Chiefs to 9 points, but this Bills team may still take them lightly. Our defense may be able to make some plays, but who knows what the offense will look like.

This is pretty accurate. I'm actually relieved when a replay shows an INT was at least thrown close to a receiver, as there are many times where he just lobs something up when he's trying to avoid a sack, and nobody is in the area. Either that, or he throws some inexplicable limp-armed floater right to a group of defenders with nobody else around (Bears game last year?), but unfortunately I don't think that will ever change at this point.

But we fans will act like he hasn't EARNED that reputation. Didn't we hear another stat recently that Allen hasn't managed 2 consecutive games without a turnover? This is why I think Allen is more hesitant now. He's aware of his reputation.

Allen isn't on Mahomes or Burrow's level, but he's good enough to win. We need better coaching & better weapons though. May as well stop wasting resources on RBs too, since we never use them anyway. Go all in on OL & WRs, then get a more competent offensive play caller. Defense is bipolar, but they held the Bengals to 3 points in the 2nd half, and that's with all the injuries to key players.

Yep. It's also not easy to criticize Josh, as we all love him as our QB. But there wasn't one single thing I thought was "overhyped" about the Bengals. If anything, the responses in this thread were overhyping Allen & the Bills. I've said it probably 3 times in this thread already, but the tendency to use cumulative yearly stats like "Allen has 22 TDs, #1 in QBR, #5 passer rating!" to disguise the recent play, allows everyone to pretend this team is playing a lot better overall than it truly is. But look back at recent games & see the offensive struggles: Jaguars: Scored only 7 points through 3 quarters, then we got 2 TDs in the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter to make the game look closer than it really was. Giants: Scored 0 points through 3 quarters, then again scored 2 TDs in the 4th quarter (and needed the Giants to miss a goal line TD pass to win) Patriots: Scored 10 points through 3 quarters, then scored 2 TDs in the 4th quarter yet again (against a defense ranked 26th in ppg allowed) Buccaneers: Actually had a good first half, scoring 17 points, but then only scored 1 TD the remainder of the game Bengals: Scored 10 points through 3 quarters, then scored 1 TD with 3:30 left in the 4th quarter So why did people think the Bengals game was going to be any different? Nearly every game the offense does very little until the 4th quarter, or in the Bucs game, did nothing after the first half. Thankfully, the Broncos beat the Chiefs, so at least players won't be thinking "easy game" in the back of their heads.