The Red King

Steelers created their nightmare. They could have ended a divisional rival's playoff chances last week. They *knew* they could face them again and decided that wouldn't be an issue.

Positive? I'm positive those refs... *ahem* Sorry, just teasing. It wasn't pretty. And we underperformed at every position except our kicker and punter. It was far from our best performance. ...we *won* though. Ask Seatle if they'd take an ugly win like we got. The Bills survived a scare, and maybe that will help ground them and keep them humble. Maybe it will fire them up to play better next week, leading to a rout. The Bills won. No matter what the score and circumstance, everything gets reset and next week starts at 0-0. After tomorrow there will be a total of six teams wishing their games played out for them like ours did for us. Just keep *that* in mind if you start feeling too negative about this game. A 'W' is still a "W", after all.

He has been pretty much since the Bills beat his Broncos. He's pretty fair in his evaluations and entertaining to watch.

Am I mistaken, or did the league do the same to Tampa earlier? Close play, looked like a fumble, was near the end of the first half, under two minutes. Looked like the booth wasn't going to review it so Tampa burned a time-out to force the issue. And after the review, call on the field stood. Tampa won, as did we, but the NFL should realize they dodged a bullet twice and really take a look at it's officials and replay system.

I have a new appreciation for the suffering of the Saints and their fans after this...

This. There was no excuse for that one. They had all the time in the world during the injury time out to look at it.

This. I get it, Giants have to blame themselves. Not excusing them or feeling bad for them. If they were 9-7, 10-6 maybe I would. That being said, what the Eagles pulled was unsportsman like. Yes, teams tank. But they at least *try* to conceal that they are. The Eagles just outright threw the game on a national stage so they could blatently improve their draft capital. They should have just saved everyone the drama and emotion and just declared they were forfeiting this game ahead of time.

Wasn't the bomb to Davis retaliation for Miami calling a time-out when the Bills just content to run out the clock? "Well, this was fun. Let's just get this over wi...wait. A time out? Really? You still want to play? Okay. Let's play."

Yeah, usually 10-6 is good enough for a wild card lock and you end up with a handful of 9-7 hopefulls scrambling for the bottom wild cards. When we broke the drought there were actually four 9-7 teams in the AFC all tied for the two wild card spots.

As I revel in the afterglow of this most wonderful beatdown I'm left to wonder...was that painful loss to Arizona actually beneficial? Up to that point, the Bills would roll up an early lead, then go flat dropping into conservative mode. They let their opponents back into games and then we all held our breath as they turned it back on and clawed out a win. They almost did it again against the Cardinals. Forget the painful ending a moment, the Bills had and blew a decent lead. Once again Allen had to fight back near the end to take what looked like a game winning score, only to have their hearts ripped out. Things changed after that. Buffalo stopped trying to protect a lead, and started stepping on throats, and it was glorious. The Bills started leaving a trail of broken bodies, dreams and playoff chances in their wake. So, what do you all think? Was the Hail Murray actually a much needed wake-up call to rouse the meat grinder we saw on display today?

I will openly admit I was wrong. I cut him slack at first, between bad refs on first FG, laces not turned the next one or such, but as the misses kept happening I thought he needed to go. Bills were more patient then I was and it's paid off quite well for them.

If your loss column has more digits then your win column maybe you shouldn't be a playoff team? 😁 On the other hand, I think I would pay money to see Brady lose a wild card game to a 6-10 Giants team. I mean, they played them tight in the regular season.

My daughter and I were stunned at the post-game. Never saw the hoodie seem that lost. His soul was crushed. You could hear it in his voice. He may not have expected to win, but he did *not* expect his team to get chewed up and spit out in their own house by the Bills like that. Rome is burning, chaps. The empire is crumbling.

After the early games the AFC wild card situation is an absolute mess with four teams tied at 10-5. It's not only a toss up as to who makes it in, but also where. Week 17 just got a lot more fun to watch.

Beats not getting to rest our starters a week and playing the Ravens.

Thanks to all of you that pointed out the Cleveland angle. This now seems like a highly likely possibility. So, to revise... *Buf def NE *Ind def Pit ...and one of the following two... *GB def Ten or *Cle def NYJ

I will never write off NE with Beli at the helm. The upside is, with it being Monday Night, they will already know the outcome of the Pitt and Titan games, and know if they can lock in #2 prior to the game.

Exactly. Why I said they need to lose to GB next week.

And now to update, three things need to happen for Buffalo to be locked in at #2 with week #17 being meaningless. And all of a sudden this looks far more likely after the Cincy win... Buffalo beats NE Indy beats Pitt GB beats Titans

Not true. Titans are a game back with tie-breaker on us. If they win next week they will remain so and week 17 will matter as we could still fall to the fourth seed.

The #1 seed is not out of reach. KC has to lose both remaining games, Buf wins out and Pitt loses one and only one. That would force a three-way tie that I *think* Buf can win.

"All packed for Arrowhead."

To several replies, yeah I agree the odds are quite low Cincy wins. Why I used the title I did. Barring a miracle, week 17's game will matter to us.

We're just a game behind Pitt and own the tie-breaker. We just need to gain one game on them. Pitt ends with Indy and Cleveland. #2 is well within reach. Titans face the Pack and could find themselves two back of us by week 17.

Yup, but honestly that's the only longshot of the four. The Steelers play the Colts next week and the Titans play the Packers. If Cinci somehow pulls off the upset the rest of the scenario becomes far more likely.