BigDingus

What does "not a number 2" even mean anymore? Do you really mean he's not a number 1 playing the number 2 role like Jalen Waddle, Tee Higgins, Tyler Lockett or Devonta Smith? What kind of production do you want out of your WR2? The vast majority of NFL teams would be thrilled to have a WR2 that puts up 800+ yards, 7 TD's & extends the field like Gabe does. Even right now, he's ranked #27 in receiving yards (automatically putting him ahead of multiple #1's), tied for 4th place in TD's with 5 others (ahead of others like Jamar Chase, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Travis Kelce, Mike Evans, and many other WR1's, TE's, and RB's), and is only 61st in receptions. I'd say he's more than adequate as a WR2, with the only issue being he's not as big a threat in the short-intermediate game as we'd like.

BUY: Stefon Diggs. Always the primary focus of the passing game, but this year he's averaging 11 targets a game & has had 5 x 100 yard receiving games through 6 weeks. Last year he averaged 7 receptions, 98 yards & 1 TD against the Pats, and I expect that to continue. SELL: My mental health & sanity. I was hoping for a Giants beatdown to cleanse the pallete & be confident going into this divisional game, but now I'm oddly worried about a terrible 1-5 team, as a loss could see us drop to 3rd place in the division! Just the possibility that the freaking Zach Wilson Jets could be 4-3 after this week (they're playing the Giants) with a tie breaker over the Bills makes me way too uncomfortable! HOLD: Ken Dorsey. Yeah, the offense hasn't looked amazing the last 2 weeks, but he's better than those performances indicate. On-field execution matters too, and we've seen many dropped passes that otherwise would've moved the chains & extended drives. We've also seen stupid penalties negate other plays or simply put us in more difficult positions overall. Let's hope this week we're firing on all cylinders.

Yes, and I think downplaying it as if we've learned nothing the past 3 years kind of bothers me. Every year, almost always around this time, people talk about how "you are what your record says you are," how we should ignore all the issues we see/only focus on X,Y,Z, how losing to whatever team isn't a bad sign, and how all it will take is Allen cleaning something up/less injuries/adjustments to playcalling/blah blah blah. But by year's end, literally every issue comes home to roost in the playoffs. I'm not saying the sky is falling or that the Bills are doomed, all I'm saying is we pretend we're on the right track, pretend things will only get better, and brush aside the glaring flaws as something that'll just magically go away. Even if we pulled off the OT win in week 1 or rallied back & beat the Jags, I would still feel the same way despite the record. People will point to teams like the Chiefs & say how they don't look unbeatable & had rough games too, but the Bills aren't the Chiefs. We haven't earned the benefit of the doubt & multiple Super Bowls. Aside from 2021, our playoff struggles tend to look awfully similar to our regular season struggles. We all remember week 17 against the Bengals, but outside of the obvious Damar stuff, the football talk was mostly us Bills fans being in denial vs what Bengals fans (and other fans) saw as the Bills being "saved" from a Bengals butt kicking. All the non-Damar chatter was people saying the Bills were getting torched, cruising to a beatdown, and even complaints the NFL was "scripted" & trying to protect the Bills. That was when all the talk about the Bengals/Burrow being better than the Bills/Allen really started, and we denied every bit of it. Even though it was still the first quarter, it was very representative of what was in store come playoff time. I remember me & other Bills fans pointing to recent Bengals games where they looked good one half, fell apart the next, talked up Allen just having slow starts, and also said we play better at home. Surely, the Bills would be motivated & ready come playoff time. NOPE! Despite my rant, I still think things can get better. In fact, I expect another good stretch that will get us all hyped again. But I'm also painfully aware that the recent struggles can't be ignored & could very well be a persistent issue all season.

Thank you! People keep saying we need a "real" WR2, when in reality they actually want a 1A + 1B situation. Most WR2s aren't even as productive as Gabe, but we look at those rare spoiled teams like the Dolphins & want similar production. And that's fine, I want that too, but I don't expect it from your average WR2.

I haven't had much confidence in Elam since early last year, but the fact I barely noticed him last game is a good sign. Even though he was up against captain checkdown, he still did well enough. If anything, the tackle numbers prove it. He had only 3 tackles this week vs having 11 tackles against the Jags (who definitely went after him). So credit to him, just hope to see steady improvement going forward.

C'mon... Diggs only had 16 targets! That's not enough as it is!

After last week's performance, I'm definitely concerned. Quarters 1-3 of both games: 10 combined points. 1 TD and 1 FG... through 6 quarters. 4th Quarter of both games: 27 combined points. 4 TDs through 2 quarters. Craziest part is that our defense is the unit suffering from all the terrible injuries to key players. The offense doesn't have the same excuse.

We got lucky. REAL lucky. That last playcall should've just been a handoff or sneak, but even still it looked like the play was there. Then another miracle - Johnson doesn't get called for a pretty blatant hold, and time thankfully expires. And that says nothing about our own ineptitude on the last drive, capping it off with a missed FG. Literally every other team in the league put up more points against the Giants than we did. Blah...

0 points in the first half... against a defense that gives up 30 points a game. Horrendous.

Yeah, today we got bad Josh & bad Dorsey. Cool that it happens against both NJ teams.

Imagine putting up 0 points in a half against the Giants... the league's 3rd worst defense in terms of points allowed, worse than even the Bears. In the first half, the following teams did this to the Giants: Cowboys put up 26 Cardinals put up 20 49ers put up 17 Seahawks put up 14 Dolphins put up 17 Bills put up 0 so far....

Uh oh. What thread?! After the last 2 games, I've suddenly become superstitious & need to vent my irrational anger!

Benford. Having him back should make a huge difference. Hopefully Williams or Klein (currently listed as the starter) steps up big as well. Impossible to fill Milano's shoes, but we need better than we got last week.

Please don't jinx us! If you think that's the bottom, the football gods may remind us what the bottom REALLY looks like... 😶 Edit: If Allen, Diggs, Gabe, Kincaid, Knox, Rousseau, Von, Dane, Benford, Hyde... well basically ANYBODY ELSE gets injured, I'm blaming YOU!

The one thing I've enjoyed about the 49ers this year - watching Nick Wright squirm over his bad Brock Purdy takes, continually doubling down or nit-picking weird things to avoid admitting he was wrong. It's waking a lot of people up to his terrible takes, and I never miss an opportunity to remind people this is exactly what he's done with Allen the past several years. But if Purdy wins a Super Bowl before Allen, I'll be pissed 😅

I only opened this thread so I could click the laughing emoji, then type this comment. We've all had silly ideas before, but this is another level of silly.

The penalties suck, but I want to know how many were caused by injury replacements. I wasn't paying attention during the game, but if you're missing your 2 best CBs, starting pass rusher, DT, and your best defender period, it'd be easy to see how they'd be a bit less disciplined. Then again, we may have had very few penalties from those guys, and I'm just reaching.

I accidentally wore my white Josh Allen jersey. I swear it's cursed. Every game I've worn it for over the last 2 seasons, we lose. I was never really superstitious, but this weekend turned me. I fell asleep with it on the night before, woke up 30 mins after game started, saw the score and instantly blamed my jersey 😆

Sadly says a lot more about Elam than anything else... 😓

Fans can conjure up whatever imaginary version of Elam they want, but there's a reason a 1st round pick has been a healthy scratch all year and only seeing the field due to injuries. The dude had 11 tackles today. Is that impressive, or is that an indictment of how he was targeted all day, and how many times his guy caught the ball?

Turns out having so many injuries actually hurts. Especially when those injuries lead to sloppy mistakes and a ton of penalties. Also, look at the box stats. We couldnt run the ball all game/gave up on it, they supported Lawrence with it.

Whenever Von says something, I'm inclined to think the opposite is true. The fact that we still haven't heard anything, less than 24 hours before the game, doesn't inspire much confidence that he's actually playing.

Can't overlook opponents in the NFL. We need to stop penciling in wins, as it's never that easy. Commanders just got blown out by the Bears (who everyone thought was the worst team in the league), Cowboys lost to the Cardinals, we lost to the Zach Wilson Jets... and never forget losing 9-6 to Urban Meyer Jags. Sure, it'd be nice for players dealing with injuries to take a couple games off against "easy" opponents, but there's no doubt in my mind that Daboll is going to want his team sharp against his former team.

https://www.espn.com/blog/buffalo-bills/post/_/id/38305/bills-offense-chasing-history-behind-josh-allen-stefon-diggs "Despite the subpar Week 1 performance, the Bills became just the sixth team to score at least 135 points and allow fewer than 60 points through the first four games of a season. The previous five teams to do it all went on to play in the Super Bowl." This article is filled with good information, but this is the only takeaway I care about. I remember a thread from the off-season about QBs winning a SB within their first 5 years, but maybe the Bills are just late bloomers! Sorry if already posted, but I'm just now seeing it, and it definitely got me excited 😅

It's not a great look, but it's pretty well known that players find plays to "take off" to recover some stamina. Especially players like Diggs who are involved in so many plays, even if only as a decoy, you have to pick spots to go half speed or just take yourself out of the game. I'm not saying I like it or don't like it, but going full speed every play will tire you out quick, especially for receivers who have to stretch the field & have a long jog back to the LoS.