ShakAttack

For me the concern is simply our schedule. It seems like every week we are going up against another playoff team, which was rare last season. Frankly we could be a better team than last season and end up with a worse record. We were also incredibly lucky with injuries last season. You take this year’s offense with last years schedule and I think we are at least 13-3, regardless of the defense. On the bright side, however, the division seems a lot more attainable this season and this is our year to win it.

Do we know which players on the Titans will remain out due to COVID? Sorry if already posted but have not seen anything.

How many finalists are there?

Somehow I had a feeling it was going to be a Bills player that did something to get me out of this playoff loss funk (and yeah... I was still kind of in it). 35 year old Bills fan here. A little too young to fully appreciate the SB teams, so this is probably the most fun Bills team I’ve ever known, and it started in year 1 with McDermott ,the coach we hired the same day my son was born, speaking of babies. I do believe the future is bright with this team; I just hate waiting through an entire off season to get started again.

It’s amazing how many huge missed opportunities we could dissect from this game and to think, if we just had any ONE of them, we probably win. I know it’s easy to say this about a playoff game but I genuinely cannot remember a game with more missed opportunities than this one... and you can even add the top 3 controversial calls / non-calls to the list... any one of those go our way instead and we likely win as well. yeah, Texans had their dropped picks as missed opportunities but hell we had one of those too, and I wasn’t even thinking of that one yet, but if we come away with that pick we are up at least 20-0 and game is likely out of reach. SIGH...

Haushka was on point in the playoff game. I actually thought he would have made the ~55 yard attempt that we earned only to have the refs rob us. Plus you had perfect conditions for a kicker in Houston (still sickens me to think of that bad call + the morse missed block on the Allen sweep play before that would have sprung a huge gain. I can’t get over it and hope I do soon). now Bojo on the other hand, it makes NO SENSE how he has been our punter for as long as he has. Almost every single game he’s got at least one terrible punt and is the worst punter on the field.

Of all the things that happened yesterday, this is the one that stuck with me, because there is absolutely nothing worse than the outcome of a game being heavily influenced by a single call, when it’s a bad call. When this happened in the NFC championship game last season, it was the talk of the NFL and resulted in a rule change for this season. Everyone knew the Saints got robbed in the worst way, and yes I realize that was the NFC championship game but we are still in the playoffs. There is no room for that garbage in ANY playoff game and I feel the call in the Bills is being overlooked and deserves much more attention than what it is getting so far. if the call isn’t made, Haushka attempts a 55 yard field goal. I realize that could be a 50/50 kick; it’s no guarantee, but I know for sure if we had at least had the opportunity to attempt that kick, as we should have, I’d be over this loss by now, knowing that at least we had a fair shot at winning the game. And on a side note, I think he would have nailed the kick anyway. The guy was on point yesterday. If he attempts that kick and makes it, we are hearing about the incredibly clutch passes that Allen made to get us in position for the game winning attempt. honestly, none of that last part even matters, the point is there were a lot of borderline / questionable calls in that game, the delay of game on 3rd and 18 comes to mind as well, but this is the one that completely robbed us of something that we EARNED on that drive: a chance at a game winning field goal.

I've also heard the Texans expect to be healthier than they've been all season... They're getting Watt back... seems like Fuller is more likely to play than not... and then Joseph injured his hammy today but completely downplayed it after the game and seemed 100% certain about playing. I think we've been healthier than our opponent every week of the season, so this will be a first...

Yeah I hate the Watts. Truly. They terrorize the Bills whenever we play against them. My hope is that an older JJ Watt fresh off missing several weeks due to injury will only be a shell of his old self that tormented EJ Manuel some years ago and pretty much single handily won the game. I think he either pick sixed EJ or scored on a sack & fumble... but either way... (And yes... it was EJ Manuel... but after TJ's impact on the Bills-Steelers game, I've concluded that any Watt can give any Bills QB fits)

So... do we really need to start Mckenzie if Wallace can't go? Was KevJo hurt too? Thought he was just sitting out to be safe. And if that's the case, wouldn't that mean Wallace is the only injured DB right now? Neal & Taron did not seem to be serious...

Any updates on Morse? What is behind the optimism that he will be ready for the playoffs? I haven’t heard anything yet

I don’t think it’s fair to evaluate him on the Pats game because the entire defense was making uncharacteristic mistakes like that. I think the combination of Pats extremely long drives plus the Bills offense unable to move the chains at all for an entire half resulted in the defense being gassed and it’s the reason you saw a lot of guys making the same mistakes. Certainly not coincidental when it’s coming from a defense that is normally one or the leagues best tackling units

1. Josh Rosen ...kidding

Yeah can’t be a coincidence that we tend to lose someone of importance every time we play them. I guess we didn’t end up losing Allen in the first game but it sure complicated the following week

What makes you so confident about this? Has anyone said what the injury was yet?

Isn’t it funny how every time we play this team the damage goes beyond the day we play them? We almost always end up losing someone important against the Pats. Today I honestly cared about coming out healthy much more than winning or losing because our playoff position was highly unlikely to change win or lose, but our playoff chances are highly effected by losing a key player. Then I think.. wow! Are we ACTUALLY going to get out of a pats game healthy?! Nope... Mitch Morse walking off the field with his leg sideways with just a few plays left in the game. Wonderful. Now I’m no doctor but... that can’t be good can it. Obviously we won’t have an update yet but what do you think we might be looking at? Return for playoffs? Out for year? Something in between? if he’s not ready for the playoffs it means our lineup will be worse in the playoffs than it was today, and that’s a scary thought. on a positive side note, at least we can rest starters against jets now. I’d hate to have to play our butts off in that game for the 1% chance of Miami beating New England only to lose someone else of importance

Who cares about the missed calls. The most important thing in this game - more important than winning or losing - was to come out of it healthy... and we lost Morse. When do we not lose an important player in a Pats game? Seriously.

I stick with this team every single season, but there have been several seasons in which I didn’t want to, but fortunately (I can say that now) there was not a damn thing I could do about it; my Bills obsession was too deep. Cool little side note: My only son was born on 1/11/2017, the day the Bills hired Sean Mcdermott .

I just hope Heinz field won’t be as windy as Buffalo. We drafted this kid to give us an advantage in bad weather at home and so far, the advantage has been going to whoever we play in those games

well, don’t put me in that crowd! When we were coming off the browns loss I called a blowout against Miami and to my surprise more fans disagreed. I think I expect us to beat the Steelers (although I keep going back and forth) I know I expect us to give DUCK his worst game as a pro, but I also worry about our offense against this defense because two games come to mind against aggressive defenses that were able to get pressure on Allen all day long, pats and ravens. Those were his worst games of the season. Now we have the Steelers who lead the NFL in sacks, and I’m just supposed to ignore what has happened in the past against this type of defense and expect our offense to be fine? and no... Dallas is not a good defense... maybe had a few good games, but a good defense doesn’t get lit up by the bears.

What’s up with the blowout predictions!? I would tend to expect a win but man... have you looked at their schedule? They’ve been blown out once... and it was in week 1. They’ve played everyone close including several quality teams. Took Baltimore to OT, lost to Seahawks by 2, etc. All these steeler blowout predictions and then when I predict we blowout the DOLPHINS hardly anyone takes my side!? Makes NO sense!!! We were unlikely to blowout Miami but the Steelers should be a breeze. Ok! well, I heard the Bills had the best record in the NFL ATS going into the Ravens game, and we almost covered that too... Still, you could be right. We should probably win, but I expect it to be down to the wire which means anything goes and if we lose I don’t even know how I can be a functional human being in the ensuing week.

Yes people still do not trust Josh.... against a top tier defense. And until he puts in a good game against one of those defenses, that is going to be the feeling. Denver was the best defense that he looked good against, and that was fairly recent which is encouraging, but I think the Steelers defense is on a higher level and have much more to play for

Despite everything I said in the OP, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a tougher game than NE. While I think we give Duck his first bad game, Allen could very well have the same issues with their defense. I personally think we have a slight edge, but a slight edge usually means the game goes down to the wire and when that happens, who knows? You’ve got 2 defenses that are capable of sealing the win for their team.

I’ve watched this guys highlights and I think he’s a meltdown waiting to happen. Kinda like how Kyle Allen, Minshew and arguably Brandon Allen came down to earth once they faced a real defense. In Brandon Allens case that defense was of course the Bills. When I watch this guy all I see are screens and little dump passes. We know all about captain checkDowns; that strategy doesn’t last. Sooner or later he’s going to face a defense that will force him into some real NFL throws and we’ll see why he is an undrafted QB. I’ve watched some of his intermediate / long passes and they seem to hang in the air for an eternity; “a pick waiting to happen” as Jalen Ramsey once famously said about our boy Josh Allen (but for different reasons). To me, a poor man’s Doug Flutie even comes to mind when I watch him ? couldn’t resist. I think the NFL and fans just love these backup QB stories but the fact is, for all of them, they initially benefit from the lack of film available and sooner or later they face real adversity when a good defense takes away what they do well (and since many of these guys are one dimensional it becomes an issue) now, having said all of this, I am still nervous as hell about this game because on the flip side, our QB seems to ALSO struggle against real defenses... and the Steelers have one. I would give Buffalo the edge, but this may as well be a wild card playoff game, and it could get crazy. I don’t think I’ve been more nervous for a game this season. Heck I spent all of this past week being more nervous towards the steeler game than the ravens game! Dont know how I’m going to get through this week (and it’s also why I was bummed when we got flexed to SNF... don’t know how I’m gonna make it through the day anxiously waiting for the outcome of this game)

I’d have to verify this but it seemed like a lot of Haushka’s FG attempts were of the longer variety. With the exception of a couple bad games in which he missed shorter FGs (Browns & Cowboys I believe) most of his misses have come on kicks that are far from slam dunks, then you have to consider he’s probably played in more poor kicking conditions this season than the vast majority of kickers in the league. THAT SAID.... this is definitely his worst season as a Bill, Dallas was in a dome and he still struggled, and McLaughlin seems to be pretty good and had been doing well this season as well as in the pre-season for us, so I’m glad the Bills made an attempt at him on waivers.