WideNine

That kind of contact happens all the time in those inside slants... Not penalty worthy.

Lewis is our Waldo. ...and Pittsburgh has found him. McD needs to think about what to do there. Or we just need to have Shakir do that!

They have a pretty solid red zone defense considering how many trips we and the Chiefs made down there to come away empty or with field goals. And they were missing a lot of pieces on D. Curious what Fangio cooked up down there that was so effective. Since they are no longer in it, I am sure they would not mind if we steal a page from their book.

Our Bills have not given us any reason not to take any opposing team seriously. Especially Pittsburgh, as they usually play physical and their defensive fronts, zone blitzes, and simulated pressures have traditionally given us fits. They also are a league leader when it comes to limiting negative plays and mistakes. They don't hurt themselves with mistakes, the Bills we know have been less disciplined in that regard under McDermott. I don't imagine any Bills fan that has followed this league, especially the past few years, would assume the betting favorite will have the win in the bag. Of course I like our chances and there is no reason for this team to play scared, but they are still going to have to strap'em up and play hard and play smart for 60 minutes. Would be nice, but I don't see Pittsburgh just rolling over for us even if we get up a few on them.

I have the same concerns with Cook dropping passes and ball security in the elements. Fingers crossed and I agree he seemed a lot less determined running vs NE, but they have a very good run defense. Trying to just let go of all the worries and just enjoy a B-Lo snow bowl game....trying.

When you watch Davis take out two Miami defenders on a bubble screen to Shakir during the Miami game so Shakir can scamper nearly 40 yards you get how that role is important to those plays, our outside zone runs, and our rub routes. Sherfield has the size and did a good job stepping into that key role when Gabe went down even though it is often a thankless role.

Weather may well be a factor and that somewhat benefits Pittsburgh's ground and pound game. That being said, I trust Allen throwing into elements far more than I would trust Mason Rudolph. Will likely be one of those situations where teams take more of their shots whenever the wind is at their back. If so, it would benefit us to have the wind at our back in the 4th qtr. and the Steelers going into it to negate any late deep threat Pickens would pose or late field goals. My real hope is that we get some stops and our offense gets up on them some scores. We should be able to lean on our own running game and TEs too as there should be some windows and matchup issues for them in the middle of the field. I sort of like those snow bowls, but think those conditions would benefit the Steelers a bit more than our team.

I feel the Diggs AWOL hype is just a bone media got ahold of and ran with... They have to go with something. Defenses focus a lot of attention on taking Diggs out of the game which means Shakir and Kincaid and others get more room to operate. Diggs is just fine and they are finding creative ways to get the ball in his hands.

The way we knifed through Miami's defense only to crap ourselves in the red zone...has become a bit of a trend. I feel like too much changes down there, we take longer getting plays in, and we play a bit more on our heels. We need some good RedZone work this week and execution on our go-to plays. The talking heads stress the INTs, but miss that Knox was obviously held on one possession, that pass to Cook that he dropped was so money, and Allen was half a second off from pulling the trigger and leading Ty Johnson in a way where I feel he gets in before the half. They are really close and I think Allen is getting some of that swagger and confidence back that was causing him to delay throws a bit or turn down throws. Been a while since he was himself and that is good to see. You could see the ball was coming out really good even when having to throw from odd platforms eluding the rush. Other than that it was just having better execution and having some blitz beaters down there, some better blocking from our RB (asking Cook to pick up blitzers is hit or miss so maybe more Fournette down there) or go heavy max protect if you think plays are going to take time developing.

Poona is good against the run too he is an odd specimen that is hard to block. He also has some pass rush moves and played all over Seattle's front so you could move him around so maybe Lawson sits and keep Poona in the rotation to keep more beef up front and fresh. Miami was having success on the perimeter... Basically running away from our run stuffers, but McD made some good adjustments at the half. Pittsbugh loves those gap runs and are pretty stout up front and have running backs that can break tackles. They ran more 13 sets and heavily used their TEs to wash out the second level defenders too vs Seattle. Our best defense would be to get up on them a few scores and force them into a boat race... Not what they are built best to do

That Ty Johnson route was a strange one... With no time on the clock you don't run a drag route shallow of the EZ unless it is a pick and he was not meant to get the ball. That did not seem to be the case. Just a strange play and it will be interesting hearing some of the Xs and Os guys break that one down. Truth... they left a lot of meat on the bone, but played hard for 60 minutes. Good things can happen when teams do that...like an unexpected Harty return for a TD that was a catalyst and spark that got them back into the game.

I think a lot of those not-so-good decisions with the ball get cleaned up if they can stop leaking so much pressure up the middle and Allen can get into a rhythm. He and Diggs have just been off on the deep shots all year, but still glad they took that shot and it would have been sweet to get another play like that over on Ramsey.

What fans said Allen should be pulled? ...and replaced with the king of handing the ball off? Just silly.

I admit. I literally said "stick a fork in them".

Not sure where all the McD criticism comes from as I think he has navigated a pretty tough season fairly well. I thought he needed to manage games better and I think he has stepped up in those areas and gotten better and his defenses are closing out games. All the other things from his clapping and expressing his faith at the podium I don't think have changed very much from his day 1 with this club. For some it has probably gotten stale and on their nerves, but he is a coach that has led this club to multiple AFC Championships and I can appreciate that. I wouldn't read too much into it. I used to rag on Wade waffling between QBs and then regretted the turnstile decade-plus of fail at HC after he got the boot. Maybe McD is not the guy to get us over the hump, but you have to be in the playoffs to even have a chance and he has gotten this club there....again.

To your point about the flip side is the quality of our new players and reserves this year. Bernard starting the season for that guy that left for Chicago. Kincaid at TE having to take all the reps for and injured Knox early on. Dodson stepping up for Milano when he went down. Then Spector having to come in for him. Dane coming in for Tre when he went down, and then Rasul Douglas brought in as an upgrade to Dane and depth. Dane having to come back in for Rasul and having to cover Hill in this game. Rapp coming on at safety. Van Demark coming in for Dawkins at LT. The RBs they have brought in. Beane has done a great job of finding players that can step up when their number is called and ensuring good competition at key positions. The sloppy execution, blocking from guard to guard, and clock management have to get cleaned up so there is work for our coaches and players to do - that is critique not hate BTW. I always want our players and coaches to be successful. I also think that teams have figured out our run tendencies and Miami had some answers for our go-to pulling plays so we need to come up with some counters and wrinkles.... This is where self-scouting and finding tendency-breakers comes into play as we need to get Cook cooking again.

What a weird game where the difference makers were players who have been mostly invisible or drawing penalties this year. Sherfield, Harty, and Rapp. Would never have expected those guys to tilt the game our way, but glad they came in when they did.

We really struggled getting that run game going for the last few weeks. Protection issues early and some bad Allen decisions and key drops. BUT, Allen heated up and this team has learned to play a full 60 minutes and the defense has learned how to close the door.

Yup. We were getting killed by those RPOs and with those misdirection motion edge/toss sweep plays. They have adjusted.

That is just a simple way of looking at football, but you do you

He was not playing well early on. It is what it is no hate needed. Seems to take a few quarters for our guy to settle in and get more confident with what he is seeing.

We have a solid backup in that Van Whatever guy. He is pretty solid on the left side not so much on the right.

Not sure how many of our turnovers today were on Davis or just Allen, but seemed he broke in on one route and Allen threw to his outside for the first INT, the other INT the turf tackled him before he could make a play on the ball leaving it up for grabs. Either poor play OR simply Allen and Davis not in sync. Chance for other receivers to step up, but Shakir seems like he got dinged early and has been slow getting off the turf the past few receptions he has had.

Harty????? Huh? Where did that come from?

OLine is absolutely sucking tonight against everything. There is no reason for a 4 man rush to get home and Morse should always be helping Torrence with Wilkins IMO. Really poor protection schemes the past few games. Had been an area of strength, but defenses have been getting free rushers up the middle a lot. Brady and Kromer need to go back to work. Brady's runs have been diagnosed all game long. Fangio seems to know when they are coming and where. Kromer needs to figure why protection is getting beat from LG to RG.