Nextmanup

Precisely why I am scared to death of the Titans! I have tremendous respect for Pittsburgh, but I'm not scared to death of them. Any Bills fans who thinks that Indy team yesterday is less than excellent doesn't really know what he/she is watching.

I highly doubt team costs of opening up the upper decks exceeds ticket revenue for opening those areas. Those big slabs up there hold a ton of people. I was surprised they didn't allow fans there as well. I think they just didn't want to get crowd size that big, using bathrooms, going through entrances and exits, milling around waiting to get in with their tickets, etc. They structured the whole idea on 10% of capacity and stuck to that...then figured out how much spacing that would require, and realized they could just shut down the upper decks... That is my theory at least.

Yet more focus on the D. How about the offense? Not nearly as bad as the defense yesterday, but what changed yesterday relative to the last many weeks was the offense didn't slice and dice the opponent and throw touchdowns on the board at will. We did pretty well by the end of things, but we had a lot of 3 and outs. The formula for winning a Super Bowl, for this team, this year, is for the offense to go crazy putting up TDs and 30+ points every game, and daring opponents to keep up. Some of these teams ahead (KC?) will be able to! But our offense still has to do its thing. The offense really struggled yesterday at times. Many times.

Hopefully the film explaining what went wrong there, why, and how to prevent it from happening again, is first thing on the agenda at the next defensive meeting. I suspect the coaching staff was already watching film last night! These guys are working 24 hours a day at this time of year.

I would argue precisely the opposite. Psychology plays a role in sports, but it's way minor to talent on the field, coaching, and in football, matchups on the field. There are reasons why we beat Pittsburgh without too much sweating, and why Tennessee handled us pretty well. The Titans scare me to death, along with KC. I would also add Baltimore to that list, simply b/c of Lamar Jackson. He and Mahomes are the sorts of prima donna QBs who can utterly dominate a football game and dictate the outcome single-handedly, especially if they are really in the mood. Big Ben can't do that at this point in his career. When he was younger? Sure, though he never had the running threat of the others mentioned! All things being equal, I think I like the idea of playing Pittsburgh the most, even if we did just play them. It's worth remembering that, at this time of year, ALL opponents are GOOD teams and all games should be presumed to be extremely difficult! That's why it's the playoffs. I often laugh at posts here when the Bills beat up on what will become a 5 win team early in the season and then draw the conclusion the Bills will win the Super Bowl. 5 win teams don't play at this time of year. Only really solid, tough teams do! All these potential games are going to be tough!

Confucius say: You will be unhappy man.

I don't disagree with anything mentioned in the OP. But I would argue we knew a lot of this prior to yesterday's game, and the real failure was the offense being unable to get into a groove, moving down the field, and scoring touchdowns. We did get to 27 at the end, which ain't bad, but this was not the offense we have seen for the last month +. Of course, we were also playing a very solid team. Don't rely on our D to win games! The Offense has to put 30+ on the board and see which opponents can keep up. That's how we are going to advance in the playoffs. Too early for this, but in the off-season, No. 1 need on D is an edge rushing monster. No. 1 need on Offense is a Rob Gronkowski type of TE, if we can find one. The RB position probably needs upgrading, but I would not commit any serious assets to that pursuit. Big body on D line and real Mike LB finalize our needs IMO, but not before edge rusher.

How does that work if you have a flip phone? Asking for a friend.

I think a number of us are wondering that. I haven't seen or heard anything different, so I think the answer is "YES" but I don't know.

He has a bad reputation for being a sloppy live performer, but I think most of that stems from the era when he became a heroin addict. This is one of my favorite clips of Jimmy; his playing here is sublime (at RAH, 1970). And on that crappy Danelectro too!

We had him today and all he did was drop the football.

I was just going to pose that question. I.E., go into cheering for the upcoming games from the perspective of matching up a team that can beat KC before we get to them. I think I agree Baltimore would be the best candidate for the job. So then perhaps we should all be cheering for them early tomorrow, and then hope Pittsburgh wins at night.

I was just thinking the opposite. We can watch and see who wins the 1pm game, and therefore know who our opponent would be should Pittsburgh lose. Allows us to cheer for Pitt or Cleveland in a more informed way! I'm speaking as a fan obviously, not the team and its need for prep time. I have the game still sitting on the DVR in full and will re-watch in the next couple days. Thanks for the synopsis.

I thought Heinicke was really impressive, especially under the circumstances. He's a quick runner and made some great throws.

That's not how it works. It's not about finding the "right" answer in a specific game. It is about doing what brings with it the highest probably of success. But it's just a probability, which means there is a chance to be unsuccessful too. If I flip a coin 10 times in a row, I am unlikely to get heads 10 times, but you might.

Disagree with the continued Frank Reich bashing here. He definitely made several aggressive, controversial calls, and they didn't go the Colts way. Doesn't mean they were wrong or bad. He was aggressive. He figured he needed to put touchdowns on the board in order to win, and for the most part, he was right.

2 things here. First, the Colts OL is one of the best in the NFL. Second, our pass rush stinks and has all season long. We really no longer have a marquis pass rush specialist; I guess it's supposed to be Jerry Hughes, but he's old now. Dedicated pass rusher should be on our very short list of needs for next season.

Which is a big part of why every team should be going for 2 all the time. Reich was very aggressive and made a bunch of controversial calls in this game, and most (all?) didn't go his way. I disagree they were wrong or bad though. Not all of them at least.

I'm ready to go.

Congrats to JaCrispy. Nailed it!

Irrespective of line play, a number of calls in that game were terrible, and our entire strategy seemed misguided at worst, or at least ineffective at best.

They didn't work well today, but I disagree. Josh running is one of the most dangerous components of the offense, and there is really no data to support the assertion that a QB running is more likely to be hurt.

It looked like it. You really need a pass like that to come down in the end zone b/c you have to assume the receiver will be mobbed and go down in a heap, if he catches it....and there was no time on the clock to have another play.

I feel like we dropped at least 2 cylinders today, and still won. Lots of room for improvement and I think they will. If we can get the engine humming again, watch out.

On the bright side, it's an area where Josh can improve his game. He's gotten so much better at throwing away busted plays but that one got him.