SCBills

Were they though?.. in conventional fashion? The only big time downfield throw they connected on in structure (that I can remember) was the pass to Bateman over Hamlin. Bills had one to Shakir first drive of the game. Ravens had some bigger plays down the field when Lamar scrambled or bought time, whereas Allen was pretty much hemmed in the pocket and we seemed ultra-focused on keeping things safe.

It's a fair criticism. We called an extremely conservative game up 11 out of half and put it all on our Defense to save the day because of it. Then we got lucky with the Andrews drop. The result was Allen constantly being put in tough passing downs. Also, upon seeing some film reviews, our TE's basically killed that 3rd Q. Kincaid lost his footing and couldn't make the catch which led to a 3 and out and then Knox turned upfield like he lacks any peripheral vision ending another drive.

It did seem like we came out of half.. 1) Thinking what we did in the 1st half would just keep working and 2) Thinking we could just grind the game out up 11 Very frustrating half that was saved by an elite defensive play by Bernard and Andrews drop, but I will give credit to Baltimore.. Their Defense showed why they were the best in the league for the last half of the season and Henry/Lamar got rolling.

Backing track wouldn’t play, so after a minute of awkward silence, she just went a cappella and absolutely killed it

That Carrie Underwood moment was incredible

I honestly don't think so, despite some tongue and cheek remarks by our favorite podcasters. I do think you need to be able to force "some" actual stops. We saw them do it against Denver and I think they can do it against KC. Baltimore is a different beast.. matchup nightmare for us, and one where creating chaos in hopes of forcing mistakes in bad weather was our best chance.. and to their credit, they executed. We hunt turnovers. The Bernard play is the best example. That was simply an elite defensive play and one you can only make if you practice that, which we clearly do. KC however, is not Baltimore. Not as talented. Not a mismatch. But.. they are clutch and don't lose games by making a bunch of mistakes. Our Defense needs to show up again, and it needs to show up by forcing some FG's and punts.

I honestly think this is a low key big deal. The outrage publicly to the officiating in that Chiefs/Texans game was unlike anything i've seen before in the modern NFL.

Hollins and Coleman are monster run blockers, which Brady loves and keeps us incredibly difficult to defend with the ability to kill teams through the run or pass. That said.. when the Offense bogs down like we saw in the 3rd Q yesterday, you want to see plays dialed up and plays made by our outside WR's. Hollins did what we expect Hollins to do. Keon had a 5 yard catch that was so close to breaking for a TD and drew a huge DPI down the field. Cooper did..nothing. We know he can, we saw it against these very same Chiefs. I hope we see it again. Somebody not named Shakir or a Running Back will hopefully emerge in these next two games.. Be it Cooper, Coleman and/or Kincaid.

Is Derek Carr our QB, because im pretty sure thats who our coaching staff think is our QB so far this half

Rapidly approaching a place where if we don’t win, it’s in the Offense 21-10 at half and then absolute trash from the Offense in its first two drives

It’s so important to try and get up a score on them and the refs just destroyed our chance of doing it that drive.

Baltimore up 1-0 in game altering bad calls so far.

These are the games his defense needs To show up in. No offense to Bo Nix, Mac Jones, Skylar Thompson etc., but he gets only so much credit for those games.

Wide open receivers everywhere after Milano completely whiffed on a 3rd and long stop as a spy.

Fwiw, I don’t think the Chiefs will get calls like that if we play them next weekend. But I don’t think for one second that the NFL wanted the Texans in the AFC CG, when they’re staring down the barrel of Allen or Jackson trying to dethrone Mahomes.

Just able to scroll through social media reaction to the Chiefs game and wow.. the analysts and fans alike seem to have finally had just about enough of the NFL/Refs/Chiefs collab. And good on Mixon, Anderson & Ryans for blatantly calling it out. I’ve never seen so much disgust towards the NFL than I do now from large following accounts over the refs influence on helping the Chiefs year in/year out.

Cautiously optimistic that you’re correct about our Defense, now fully healthy.

Ravens Defense also gets the “allure” factor of people just always viewing them as a strong unit .. and since the halfway mark of the season, they have been. Bills have been Josh Allen going nuclear to try and save us from McDermott’s oft-injured postseason defenses against good QB’s of recent (last defense win against a good QB in the playoffs being against these Ravens). I don’t take much issue with the sentiment that there’s more pre-game concern for the Bills on how to stop the Lamar/Henry Ravens Offense. There is… because we’ve seen Josh Allen be elite in big games and it still hasn’t mattered. McDermott’s Defense may not be the best Defense he’s had here, but it’s the healthiest, and that has to matter now.

I agree with this. As people above have pointed out, when we’ve gone up against a good running team and focused on stopping the run, we typically do. The game we get get gouged are usually a random “Week Whatever” game where Henry or Taylor run all over us in the regular season as we enter/are in the midst of our 2-3 game swoon. With the extreme cold and Lamar having never played in cold like this, I think you load the box to limit the run and tell Lamar he has to beat us throwing to Andrews, Likely, Koehler, Bateman and Agholar. If he does, more power to him. But at least this creates the opportunity for Lamar to struggle. Because right now you can tell he’s feeling himself by putting defenses on skates with the read option run and wide open receivers down field.

Vibe Check on both teams.. -Ravens seem very confident -Bills seem strangely relaxed and very focused, including McDermott You can project false confidence... especially when your brand is bully ball. The vibe the Bills are giving off between McDermott cracking jokes, Allen all smiles envisioning Mr Brightside playing in the 4th and the Von story about Bernard's philosophical take regarding "the man in the river" is something else you can't really fake. We'll find out which approach was warranted/validated Sunday Night.

Chris Jones was pick 37. Yea, you have to get lucky, but there are DT's that can make a difference available late RD1 and into RD2.

Draft a DT with Pick 32 and another with Pick 54. Infuse that talent with Oliver and Jones and then watch Rousseau become the guy we are likely paying him to be. It will also help AJ, Solomon and Von/Smoot (if brought back) off the edge. If we can get Myles Garrett or Maxx Crosby, sure, go for it.. but outside of those moves, this (imo) is the way.

Do we know he does? I don't recall off the top of my head many frigid cold weather games with Lamar in them. There's definitely a difference between cold and what the conditions will be Sunday Night. We know the Bills can play in them and we know Allen can still throw anywhere on the field in them. If, big if, Lamar is off at all down the field due to the extreme cold, that would be massive in our ability rush 5 and/or spy, especially if no/hobbled Zay Flowers. It's essentially what happened last time we played them in the Playoffs. The Ravens came into that game a juggernaut, but once we realized they couldn't throw down the field due to the wind, our Defense put the clamps on them. I say all this, again, with zero idea whether or not the extreme cold affects Lamar.

Not for nothing, but it’s a bit strange that football starts in warm weather and ends with high stakes matchups sometimes decided by who can execute better in extreme cold.

Bills are a Barstool/Alt Sports Media favorite. On ESPN, the only real allies they seem to have are McAfee & his crew, Rex Ryan, Dan Orlovsky and Mina Kimes. Most other personalities on that network else really…really.. want Lamar and Mahomes as the face of the league.