BufBills83

Even if you did, like I have, you present this situation to someone, they take it 100%.

I see the Bills coming out after half and going down and getting points, probably a TD, to restore some order.

Before the game, if you said the Bills would be up 14-7 at half and get the ball to start the 2nd, everyone would say they would take that all day.

RB BIlls in this game TE Bills when adding in Knox Dline chiefs? push if anything

I mean, McDermott made that speech in 2019 and none of us knew about it until this week. But there is no way anyone would have known he said those things the way the team continued to play for him in 2019 and beyond. They always play hard for him. People make mistakes. It was a big one, but you can't just bury the guy for one mistake he wishes he took back. Everyone needs to move on from it. 100% agree. Its weird to me right now how confident I am in this game. This to me is like a perfect storm game of being desperate for a win to get in the playoffs, coming off a bye, getting healthier, KC getting banged up, and wanting to take out frustration from the off-the-field stuff and just get back to football all coming together in the same week. We're going to lay it all on the line and I'm really excited for it.

Yeah the last couple days I've been feeling super confident in winning this game. Must win game, we're super desperate, coming off a bye where our offense is starting to look better and we're healthier, along with some KC injuries right now. The off the field stuff doesn't help, but I can't help but think we are in the "darkness before the dawn" moments before the sun starts coming out on our season and we go on a long, successful run from here until the Superbowl, which would be so much fun and so gratifying. All the off the field stuff, starting 6-6, basically left for dead, to come back, play better and then go on a run, which we are certainly capable of doing. It makes me giddy with delight

Honestly, I would be shocked if that part of the story is true regarding the Jordans. That seems far-fetched.

This is what I have been trying to tell people when they say he is turnover prone. Its all about the TD-to-INT ratio. I don't care if you are throwing 20 interceptions (I mean I do but you get my point lol) a season if you are scoring close to 50 TDs a year, which is a 2.5-1 ratio which is really good.

I'm interested in where you, as well as anyone else, think about wanting to keep riding the playoff train and hope we win out (maybe 4-1 will get there but I wouldn't want to risk that) versus just not giving up hope and what happens, happens. I have a hard time with this, its a fine line for me. I am most times an optimist and think we can win any game, that we can make the playoffs, etc. I check the playoff machine for scenarios and think they are possible. But right now, I don't know if I should keep hope and watch the next couple games and see what happens, or just let it play out and not worry about it.

Dude, I was thinking about making a thread about pretty much this exact topic. This season has been probably the most difficult for me to cope with since I have been watching, which has been about 22 years (started when I was 18, I'm turning 40 in a week, haven't missed a game pretty much, come to this board basically daily). The combination of the tough losses plus the expectations of the season has really gotten to me. After the Eagles game, I got very angry and punched a wall. I know this is not something that should happen and I should control my anger, but I couldn't let it go. And now I'm thinking that the stress of how much I follow and care about the Bills is affecting my health. I want to care about them very much and follow them, but there needs to be a limit. Anyway, I agree, this game is a tough one, and it is compounded by the fact that it seems all of these "game of the year" types of games go against us. Its stressful and there is no reward. I have been debating if I want to watch the next couple games because I know that while we can make the playoffs by winning out, I don't want to give me hopes up just to lose to KC in horrific fashion and it be over.

Ravens as they are 7-3 and Bengals are 5-4. Ravens are the better team right now and better chance to win division, so we want them to beat everyone in the division. The next 2 games are big for the Bills. If you win both and are 7-5 going into the bye, confidence is much higher and playoff position is better. We would probably need to go 3-2 or better after the bye, which isn't a terrible spot. However, say we beat the Jets but lose to the Eagles and are 6-6, we're just treading water and have to go probably 4-1 or 5-0 in the last 5, so very little margin for error. I think the Bills beat the Jets Sunday. The Eagles game is going to be the game that could swing the season one way or the other.

I mean, I may be wrong in this line of thinking, but why wouldn't McDermott want to run the type of offense that is most successful for this team, moves the ball best and scores the most points? If that happens, you win football games and that is the ultimate goal. People say he wants to run the ball, but he runs a defense scheme that is suited better for stopping the pass than the run. So he knows the league has evolved to more of a passing league. So why would he be the opposite in his philosophy of the offense and want to run the ball? Unless he wants to go against the grain and run more because teams are going smaller on defense to defend the pass, which I don't think is true, then the whole McDermott wants more ball control and less passing and high tempo just doesn't make sense to me.

This is what I have been saying for a bit and I totally agree. The turnover narrative is totally misplaced and unfair to Josh. Is he throwing some interceptions that are his fault, of course. Fumbles? yes. But in the overall body of work for the year, the plays that are run for the most part are not reckless and needlessly putting the ball in harms way. He's had extremely bad luck with most of the turnovers. Ball bouncing off receivers hands (Gabe davis vs Denver), the deflection in the Tampa game that no one bats down, no dropped interceptions, I can go on. And if some of these weren't turnovers, we possibly win another game or 2 and we're 7-3 instead of 5-5. But maybe its a blessing in disguise, Brady does a better job than Dorsey, and the play calls are better AND we cut down turnovers and we vastly improve the offense the rest of the way.

At this point, with McDermott's seat getting hotter and the offense not working well enough so far this season, why would he meddle in Brady's offense when while he was meddling (if he was), it wasn't working? And if it continues not to work, he'll probably be fired.

I think a couple issues are, Dorsey's offense was very predictable according to a number of people and when its predictable, it makes it that much easier to defend. How many times lately are we seeing Allen double clutching the ball and looking for another option. If defenses know whats coming, a lot of times receivers are going to be open, allen is going to get pressured and feel the need to escape, and bad things could happen. Also as Rodgers said in his interview and I've been saying for a while, if the check down is open, he needs to start taking it way more often. I've seen tons of plays where the check down in the flat or someone short is open, he has time and is looking downfield, but when its not open he won't even look to the check down. He has to start taking these. Instead of an incompletion, sack or even a turnover, it could be a 5-6 yard gain. Even a 2-3 yard gain is fine, just move the ball a bit. I'm not sure why he isn't looking there all the time but it has to start so we're more consistent moving the ball.

Why is that so hard to believe?

We need to win the next 2 games to get to 7-4. That's an absolute must. Then we'll see what happens in the Eagles game before the bye. If we can somehow pull the Eagles game out, going 8-4 into the bye is not a bad place at all. If we're 7-5, we probably need to go 3-2 in the last 5 to make it into the playoffs at 10-7. That means most likely beating New England, Miami, and 1 of the other 3 games against KC, Dallas and LAC. I don't think that's unrealistic.

The upsetting thing for me is that the better play and effort by the team overall last night is lost because of bad luck. If you break down the game, the Bills controlled it for most of it. They were clearly the better team on the field. Unfortunately, sometimes bad bounces happen, which is why there is no much variance in the NFL. It happens, but odds of all those things happening again like last night is very low.

Thank you, that's exactly what I was talking about. I never mentioned the other games. Each one is a different conversation. But as far as last night, yes, the reason was the crazy amount of unlucky or 50/50 plays where the Bucs got the bounce or benefit of the doubt, etc. That statistical wise the odds of all of that happening again are very very low.

Its like people didn't watch the same game or something. This board is insufferable right now.

That's not what I said. I said the unlucky plays and situations that happened in the Bucs game won't happen again.

I totally agree with this strategy. When on defense in a situation like the last drive last night, or 13 seconds against KC, we should rush 1 or 2 guys and drop the rest. The offense has to throw the ball quickly, so the pash rush isn't going to get there, and since they have to throw quick, you can have more defenders in coverage. I would say almost go to the point of not rushing anyone, but not sure about that.

I hate reading this board right now, the takes are just totally out of wack. The game was close because the last drive had incredibly unfortunately penalties in situations where (the facemask penalty) the play should have been blown dead, or, on the same drive, the TD AND the 2 pt conversion were deflected off of defenders into the arms of a receiver. That isn't going to happen again.

Most fans see what they want to see in a player or football in general (offense, defense), and any stats or evidence to the contrary to their pre-conceived notions are thrown out as irrelevant for no reason other than it goes against their opinion. I just wish more fans would look at all of the data available and take it into consideration along with their own opinions and then form a more education one, instead of just "this guy is trash" because he played a couple bad games.

So I'm wondering, for real, does anyone really have a legitimate, convincing reason why Dorsey should be fired? Like I get the hate for the 2nd and long draw plays out of shotgun or the occasional bad play call here or there. Everyone has those, that isn't a reason to fire someone. From most of what I have watched and read, analysts and former players like what Dorsey is doing. Some posters on here do too. We're top 5 or 6 in scoring. I feel like I know more than the average football fan as far as X's and O's, but I could not give you any good reason to fire Dorsey that would make sense. That's above my pay grade. So is it basically people want him fired because he runs draws on 2nd and 15? Or does anyone have something on a deeper level?