CincyBillsFan

The biggest difference was that the Colts had a borderline HOF QB still playing well and the Bills were in only their 2nd playoff game with this current group of players.

That first half by Lawrence, playing at home against an average defense, was beyond terrible. Allen has never had a half that bad. All credit is due the guy for leading a great comeback but against the Bengals, Bills & Chiefs the game would be over at half if Lawrence throws 4 INT's.

I don't disagree. But that first half was so terrible, and at home against an average defense, that I wouldn't even consider putting Lawrence up there with Mahomes, Allen & Burrow. Could he get there? Yes but IMO he's not there yet.

Not quite. That comeback that Lawrence engineered was fantastic and he played great showing a lot of grit. But he did throw 4 INT's in the first half. You just can't forget that. I would say that Lawrence is CLOSE to being in that conversation but he's not there yet.

Herbert owns this loss as much as Staley. Up 24 - 0 late in the 2nd period and being gifted with the ball at the Jags 4 yard line courtesy of a fumbled punt all the Chargers could do was kick a FG after Herbert missed a wide open Keenan Allen for the TD. In the 2nd half all the Chargers could score was one FG and missed another. Herbert took no chances repeatedly checking down and taking what the defense wanted to give him and that contributed a great deal to this loss.

Gee, I wish Allen would take what the defense gives him on those big 3d down plays like Herbert does.

Purdy is playing very well. But if you look at how the 49's O is destructed and where their skill player talent lined up McCaffrey was the PERFECT addition. Makes me wonder how big of a lift CMAC would have given the Bills O. My guess is it would have been huge as teams tried to spy both Allen & CMAC.

I wonder if Lawrence will get the same level of derision from the sports media for his 3 INT's in one quarter that Allen got for his attempted lateral to Knox in his first playoff game?

That's what I thought to. There is no way that was defensive PI. He had his head turned to the ball and batted it down. The WR was grabbing the DB.

It's McCaffrey. His versatility - he's both an elite RB and receiver - may be playing the biggest role here.

SF is also helped by a diverse assortment of elite play makers at BOTH WR's, TE, FB and HB. This is a rare accumulation of talent.

McCaffrey plays a huge role as a decoy in these very clever play designs.

Good thing for the Bills then that it isn't going to be windy or very cold!

And for the first time in his career with the Bills at the end of the season Beasley is close to 100% physically. So even with the drop off in performance a fresh Beasley may actually contribute more to this playoff run then he did in previous playoff runs.

Tampa Bay was beating the Bengals 17 - 3 at halftime. We were beating BOTH the NY Jets and Vikings at halftime.

So you are blaming the dropped passes on Allen forcing throws! That makes no sense to me. In all my years of watching football I've never heard someone blame the QB for DROPPED passes before. What distinguishes an NFL QB from a college QB is the willingness and ability to throw the ball into tight spaces. If Allen wasn't as aggressive as he is, which leads to INT's, and focused his game on taking what the defense gave him rather then taking what he wanted the Bills would have been lucky to win 10 games - and that is the truth right there. As for Allen throwing INT's in the red zone in the playoffs let's wait and see what happens. What we do know for a fact is that through 6 playoff games Allen has yet to throw an INT ANYWHERE on the field.

Didn't the Bills lead the league in longest downfield completions and highest rate of 3rd and long conversions? That's pretty damn explosive. I think that the Bills were more explosive during the REGULAR season in 2022 then they were in 2021. You might be inflating last season's explosiveness by including the Bill's playoff performances from 2021/22. Allen & the O were very explosive in those two playoff games. Let's see how this season's playoffs go.

This is completely wrong and your analytics make no sense from a football perspective. The Bills didn't need to overcome Allen's "14 INT's" to go 13 - 3. This is a gross distortion of the season. Allen takes more risks and pushes the ball down field. The end result is more big plays and turnovers. Obviously with the Bills winning 13 games, having the #2 ranked Offense in yards & points and Allen gaining over 5,000 total yards and scoring 42 TD's his INT's had a secondary impact on the season. The only thing Allen's TO's impacted were: * A couple of our wins were closer then they might have been with 1 - 2 score wins instead of 3 score wins. * Allen's 14 INT's may have kept us from going 15 - 1. But then again his aggressive style of play may have kept the Bills from going 10 - 6.

With their best RB & O-line banged up that might be easier said then done. And the Bills can take more chances with their run defense knowing that Tua isn't throwing to Hill & Waddle.

You can't say that a QB "carved up the defense" when they throw for less then 250 yards and 3 INT's. Our secondary has been an issue since Hyde went down, White was coming back from his knee surgery and Poyner has been hobbled. But overall they've held up fairly well and with White returning to form we are probably better in the secondary then we've been since early in the season. And with Hyde possibly coming back we might be better soon.

A little perspective please. Jones DID NOT carve up the Bills secondary. In fact he had a much better game against the Bengals. Mac Jone versus the Bengals: 21/33 for 240 yards, 2 TD's, 0 INT's and a rating = 105.6 Mac Jones versus the Bills: 26/40 for 243 yards, 3TD's & 3 INT's and a rating = 75.3

They do?

It frustrates me to but in the end it's working. And while Jones at times looked like Brady his 3 INT's at critical points in the game sure weren't very Bradyesqe and in the end NE lost by two scores.

He made a pretty good back shoulder throw to Diggs yesterday. Something he's done a few times this year.

But were they really wide open? No matter the game I'm watching the RB's often look wide open. Yet if they get the ball it's a 3 or 4 yard gain on 2nd & 10. My guess is that defenses often organize themselves in such a way that they want the QB to take the check down and then they rally to the ball. That's why McCaffrey is so valuable in the check down passing game - he makes the first guy miss and turns a 4 yard gain into an 8 yard gain. Our RB's haven't show the ability to consistently to do that.