Inigo Montoya

"Life is just a twisting, sucking, eddy of despair, occasionally highlighted by false hopes, in an ever darkening universe." My best friend in basic training told me that one night and I have never forgotten it (he was quite the optimist😉). Over the last two decades those words have been a succinct description of what it's been like to be a Bills' fan. I'm not going to belabor the point of how bad it's been, we all have the scars to show for it. What strikes me now after watching this season unfold is that for the first time in a long time I don't think this season represents a "false hope". I truly believe that the Bills have turned the corner from being a perennially dysfunctional franchise into being a well run organization that should be able to have sustained success. If you are under 50 you might not remember the dumpster fire that was the New Orleans Saints year after year. Fans routinely showed up for "Aint's " games with brown paper bags over their heads. The Tampa Bay Bucs were another model of dysfunction. |They were historically bad. For years and years they lost week in and week out. In the first twenty years of the franchise they had seventeen seasons with six or less wins. The Saints and the Bucs were just horrible. Then something happened... Sean Payton and Mickey Loomis teamed up in New Orleans, and Tony Dungy and John McKay got together in Tampa. They stopped the skid. They drafted soundly. They coached hard. They changed the culture. They built professional football organizations from top to bottom. They began to win. They won Super Bowls. That is what I see happening now with Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott in Buffalo. They are working in concert. They have the same philosophy of how to build a successful organization. No detail is too small. Every part of the organization is being optimized to strengthen the whole. They are bringing in staff, coaches, and players who all are pulling on the rope in the same direction, and they are getting traction. They have stopped the two decades long skid. The Buffalo Bills have become a model NFL franchise. How long has it been since we could say that? I think we have a real shot to win a Super Bowl this year, but even if we fall short, I would be shocked if this organization doesn't win a Super Bowl in the next three years. I think we are set up as a franchise with the Pegulas, Beane, and McDermott to enjoy a sustained period of competitiveness in the NFL. I think we will be a franchise that is consistently at the top of the NFL. After so many years of wandering in the desert, I think the Bills have finally arrived.

"I specifically asked for a side of Ranch!"

I think Belichick was upset because he just got humiliated on national TV. Making things worse is that he knows he is going to be coaching the third best team in the division for the foreseeable future, and there's not a damn thing he can do about it. That BB press conference was the cherry on top of a fabulous Monday night.

Well, if you say so, that's all I need to hear! 🍻

My point is the same people advocating on this thread that the Bills play to win a meaningless Week 17 game will suddenly forget that opinion and nuke McDermott for being stupid enough to play Allen in a meaningless game. The chance of the Bills winning a single playoff game without Allen is <5%.

I'd rather play the Phins than Derrick Henry in bad weather in Orchard Park.

If Josh Allen gets injured playing in a meaningless Week 17 game against the Dolphins, every post on this message board will be dropping napalm on McDermott. If there is nothing to play for, let the starters get in for a series, and then sit them just like last year. We didn't lose the Houston game because the starters rested the week before. We came out hot and got on top of the Texans early and only a comedy of errors and bad officiating cost us the game.

The Grinch who stole Christmas...

I'd go four or five wide and let Josh pick them apart until Bill cries uncle. I trust our wide outs to get a step of separation off the line. I trust Josh to make the right read and put the ball where it needs to go. Bill would like nothing better than to take the ball out of Josh's hands. We need to try and stop him from doing it. Just one man's opinion.

How do we do the dark mode? Sounds interesting...

I love it! My avatar picture looks wonderful. It's like I've had some work done and it's taken 10 years off my face!!! Inconceivable!!!

"Change is bad." Neanderthals

The strength of our offense in the passing game. The Bills need to come out and start throwing and play to our strength. If the Pat's defense can shut the pass down, then we can adjust to the run. No reason to go away from what has been working for us. You can over think things at times. You don't see Andy Reid game plan to minimize Mahomes. Why would he ever take the ball out of Mahomes' hands unless he absolutely had to? I think we are now in the same situation with the Bills. Why take the ball out of Josh's hands? He is the engine that drives this offense. Maybe New England can stop him. If so they'd be the first to do it in quite a while.

Cam doesn't care. Right now he's at a local Goodwill buying his post game presser outfit.

Didn't mean to get your blood pressure up. I'll stand by my take. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I do agree with you 100% that what is most important is that our Bills are playing lights out. 🍻

The Bills are averaging 29.1 points per game this year. Thuman. Thomas. had 1000+ yards rushing each season from 1989 - 1996. During the four Super Bowl seasons he had; 1990 - 1,297 1991 - 1,407 1992 - 1,487 1993 - 1,315 Josh Allen's rushing offense this year? The Bills leading rusher through 14 games, Devin Singletary, has 644 yards. The Super Bowl Era Bills had a fantastic running game to compliment the fantastic passing of Jim Kelly. Josh Allen has essentially no running game. Almost all of the offense this year is the passing game. That was never the case with the Kelly Bills. They could run the ball with Thurman any Sunday. That's not the case this year. I'm not comparing the offense of the Kelly Bills to the offense of the Allen Bills, I'm compatring the passing offense of the two. I'll stand by my point that the 2020 Allen Bills is the best passing offense the Bills have ever fielded.

I stand by my point. This is the best passing offense the BIlls have ever put on the field. I'm not arguing that Kelly wouldn't ball out in today's NFL where QBs are protected and offense is encouraged. That's a totally different argument. To Bob in STL's point, we don't have a Thurman Thomas on our team which makes this team's ability to pass the ball all the more impressive. No defense game plans to stop Moss and Singletary, they game plan all week to stop Josh Allen and Diggs and Beasley and this passing offense. And no one can do it. I'm not crowning this team as better than the Kelly Era teams. Time will tell on that. That's a whole other discussion. I'm not saying that Diggs and Besley are better than Lofton and Reed. That's a different argument too. I watched all those Kelly Era games. I don't ever remember the Bills winning games when they only had three running plays in a half. We are scoring 30+ points a game with no running game this season. It's all about the passing game this year. We might just have to agree to disagree on this one guys. 🍻

This is the best passing offense the Buffalo Bills have ever had. Even back in the Kelly Era the Bills offense really ran through Thurman Thomas. I have never seen a Bills team throw the ball this much and this well. It just looks effortless. When we get John Brown back I don't know who can line up against this passing offense and stop it. I think we can go score for score with the Chiefs at this point. I think we can beat the Chiefs. I think this team can win the Super Bowl.

Town of Tonawanda raised, now living on the banks of the beautiful Ohio River in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Remember anxiously awaiting the start of this season and thinking that the Bills would go as far this year as Josh Allen could take them, and hoping Josh would take another step forward in his development this year? Imagine if someone would have told you then that heading into Week 15 of the season Josh Allen would be third in the MVP conversation?

We are getting healthier and playing better each week in all three phases of the game. We are peaking at just the right time. I don't think I'm being a homer when I say this, if we can stay healthy, I think we have a chance to win it all this year. I can't believe I'm actually saying that... If the Bills win the Super Bowl, Buffalo will look like St. Patrick's Day, Mardi Gras, Cinco de Mayo, and Chinese New Year all rolled into one.

I can't argue that the Bills front office has put Allen is a position to succeed and the Jets' front office has been inadequate in supporting Darnold's development. What I take issue with is that the guy doing the video above gives Josh Allen no credit for any of his improvement. His position is that the Bills made Allen, and while it's true that Beane, McDermott, Daboll, and Dorsey were all a part of the equation, the person most responsible for Josh Allen's success is... Josh Allen. That seems to get lost in the equation somewhere. Revamping the O-Line last year is not responsible for how Allen is now throwing the ball with touch and anticipation causing an almost 20% jump in his completion percentage from his rookie year. Bringing in Beasley and Brown is not responsible for Allen no longer playing Hero Ball causing turnovers and making cringe worthy plays weekly. Bringing in Diggs in not the reason Allen leads the entire NFL in 4th quarter winning drives and come from behind victories. There is just something in Josh Allen that drives him to succeed. Brandon Beane and the coaching staff didn't create that drive in him. Brown, Beasley, and Diggs didn't cause him to move and rent a house so he could be close to his QB coach during the off season so he could continue to work on his craft during the COVID pandemic. The revamped O-Line isn't the reason Josh is the first and last person in and out of the building everyday. Saying that the only difference between Darnold and Allen is the difference between the Jets and the Bills is overly simplistic and short changes the drive that Allen has to be the best QB he can be. Everyone says they want to be the best, very few have the drive to make that happen. Did Darnold get hosed going to the Jets? Absolutely. Would Allen find a way to get better and evolve no matter where he went? Absolutely. That is what the gentleman in the video above fails to acknowledge. It's time people start to acknowledge the simple truth, Josh Allen is the single biggest reason for Josh Allen's success.

Great write up as always Shaw. Couldn't agree more about Andre Roberts and what he has meant to the team this year. He is sure handed and consistently gives the Bills the best starting field position possible. Can't help but feel he is going to take one to the house before this season is over. I hope it's in the playoffs. Roberts is a real weapon and another feather in Beane's cap for going out and making special teams a priority. Beane's attention to teams is paying big dividends now.

Fair points all appoo. I want both of them on the roster next year. Let's hope we get more Magic Beane this offseason with his cap and roster moves.

Hey OP, I think you make a fair point. Our two point defense is pretty bad. Not sure it's my first take after this game, but it is a concern. It's especially confusing because our defense has had so many solid goal line stands this season. At the end of the day, I think it's just hard to stop an offense from gaining two yards on a set play that they have drawn up and practiced specifically for just that situation. I have no idea where Buffalo's rate of surrendering 2 point conversions is compared to the rest of the League. Might be interesting to see where they stand in comparison to other defenses.