Mikie2times

Johnsons pick 6 is probably the most memorable play (my opinion)

When I'm talking to a drought era born fan, it's like when they talk about what life was like before the outbreak on walking dead. I feel for you. It's so bizarre to have experienced this version as the only successful version.

Did they get the stash right? Also the elbow does not look healthy. Is he carrying a golf club?

I don't think win total equates to happiness. Happiness is just a weird thing in general. Arguably the best we ever played was at the end of the 2021 season. Still, how that concluded, I just can't rank that one as the the one I enjoyed the most. To me, my favorite Josh Allen year was actually the 2019 season. Sure, we had ended the drought, but 2019 was the first major signal that we were back. That Allen was a stud. The Dallas Thanksgiving game was special. The fumble recovery turned into beast mode first down perhaps captured Josh as well as any play in his career. We were ascending in all facets of the game into what we had been dreaming of for decades. It was exciting. Even with the disappointment of the the Houston game, we seemed to have everything in front of us. Thing is, we still do. It just depends on how you look at things. For every action is an equal an opposite reaction. That is true of the board right now. Still, some years are just damn fun and 2019 was one of them. I hope we find that excitement again.

Mitch will be back

If they compromised the rules to achieve anything I'm about to say, so be it. I'm not posting to talk about that concept. 1. Brady and the offensive system, Brady was able to get a football out faster and with more precision than anybody. He often had a strong offensive line. He played with some elite players at times. But the Patriots also showed they did not need these things to win a Super Bowl. They won super bowls with nearly zero offensive talent early in his career. 2. Who did they compete against? Manning was not a playoff QB. Once in awhile the Steelers would flash. Outside of that, they had a cakewalk division and fairly easy conference to contend with for nearly 20 years. 3. Bill B. ran a 3-4 but his philosophy is so multiple. He changes his system every week for the opponent he is playing. Teams could never get ahead of it fully. Where is counter parts of the time were pretty clear cut. The Colts were going to play a similar style to Buffalo. The Steelers were going to run a very aggressive 3-4. Most teams were scheme dependent, still are. 4. Closing out games. You score with a minute left, you lose. You leave time on the clock, you lose. You had to win by more than a TD or have the ball last. Mahomes has been good in this regard. Allen and Burrow as well, but nobody compares to those teams. Anybody who watched those teams for 20 years knows the depths of what I'm saying. They could be down 7 with a minute and 80 yards to go and they should be a favorite. 5. Incredible amount of luck. For Brady to even become Brady. You saw the huge gap in the middle of the dynasty. Winning allows for a lot of things to happen, especially the way it happened. I mean, in many minds, New England was the underdog for several of those initial Super Bowl runs. I would say the Bills were more widely considered a favorite this year than any of those initial super bowls New England won. The environment was perfect and the amount of random beneficial occurrences (which is why people didn't believe them to be as good as they were) compiled. Goal line Super Bowl INT's, all time SB comebacks, game winning kicks, tuck rule, the list goes on. Eventually, later in the run, they no longer needed the luck. They were very good. Early on, they needed some help. Many will also say you make your own luck and I won't argue that point.

Dan Orvlosky used to be somebody I enjoyed watching. He was knowledgeable and covered the game more intellectually. The more he was around Stephen A, the more he became Skip Bayless.

I would agree 99.9% of the time with this statement, but I don't think it applies to them. They didn't lose the game to KC because they talked crap. If you aren't motivated now, when will you be? The Bengals like to talk crap to get in your head. Similar to the way the Pistons used to be. Biggest problem being, they're a very physical team with talent out the rear. So yes, they can back it up. They will not stop talking, it's swag to them. They want to be the bully. Has anybody mentioned we are soft as mushy custard?

They're a legit playoff team. But I think they will be favored in the SB regardless if it's KC or Cincy and that's too much in my opinion.

The Bills would 100% be in the Super Bowl this year if they played the same schedule the Eagles did. They played the Jaguars at home when the Jaguars still sucked. They played the Vikings at home. Those are the only teams who made the playoffs that play outside the division, which consisted of an overachieving Giants team and a perennial choke job in Dallas. They took care of business, sure, but again, I think we also take care of business if we play this schedule. Different story in the AFC.

I would love some Evan Engram. You can split him out and play WR. Very versatile player. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/E/EngrEv00.htm

This is where I'm at. Heard all the counter arguments at this point. 1. We are ranked in the top 5 2. No good defense stops good offense nowadays 3. Injuries I'm sure some of this stuff has a place in the conversation, but we just aren't aggressive in our scheme. We aren't going to shut down a playoff caliber offense. Before you say, well, nobody shuts down a playoff caliber offense. SF just did it to advance to the NFC championship. Before you say, it's the Cowboys, well, Cincinnati just did to us. KC has done to us in previous games. It's actually fairly common for a Super Bowl push to be partnered with a game or two of dominant defensive play. I want the capability of our defense carrying us in a game against a good offense. When you have to win 3-4 straight against the best, that is a requirement. If that comes with lower low's so be it. We need the higher high's.

We hear the word physical all the time and that's just not what we are. A base nickle is not a physical alignment and rarely is zone defense. Physical defense is numbers in the box, press, and a general willingness to get beat deep in order to disrupt timing. These are things we rarely do. On Offense we can't establish a run game and Josh isn't a dink and dunk QB. So if you slow down his rush game we struggle to control the ball which just compounds things on the other side. Perhaps what discourages me the most with both these concepts is they stay rather hidden in the data which can always be used as a reason to ignore or not acknowledge the issue. Each year we have a top rated defense and one of the better rush offenses as far as output, but in this case it's not what you did, it's how you did that is our demise. The issue to me is much more clear than pass rushers. We need to be a more physical team on both sides.

I feel like our defensive system is purgatory and I'm worried our otherwise tremendous leader in McDermott is married to that system.

Good post. Sort of the point of my post was to say we aren't the Colts or the Patriots. I think the Phillip Rivers era Chargers is a bit off as well. If we ran with your analogy we fit into what other have said. The Steelers. That is, if the Chiefs and Bengals occupy Brady/Manning, we would be Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh was always in it. They had a year they broke through. We will have that year, within that we will have no more steady incline on our trajectory. We will get to the SB because it's inevitable we do. Not because we are so dominant we hold the spot for multiple years.

I don't think this should be something people view negatively. It's more, just trying to get people to understand what we are. Christ, I bet we go 13-3 or better every year Josh plays a full season. We will eventually breath through, but we should never be considered " the favorite". We will be capable of beating anybody for likely the next 6-10 years. Eventually it will align.

No and no Packer fan would have ever traded Favre. Better or worse, when you get a guy like this you just don't care what negatives it comes with. It will be special the whole time no matter the end result.

This is how I view it. We will get one. We will take on the mold of the Packers in the 90's or Steelers in the 2000's. Led by a gunslinger, in the mix every year. Eventually we will break through.

But Allen is literally nothing like Manning. Favre couldn't have been on the "Manning" Colts. That whole team was about precision. Favre and Allen are the opposite of precision.

Burrow is the modern version of Brady and at the end of the day raw ability was never what made TB great. An ability to get the ball out immediately with intelligence and accuracy is what made him great. You can replicate that behavior. You can't replicate what Josh does.

Josh didn’t lose this game and for years he has made plays no player in FB can make. Favre was the same way and he ended up winning a title, but for how great he was, generating multiple MVP’s, widely considered one of the best of all time…..He just wasn’t consistent enough to be a late season closer. He made deep playoff runs each year, but each year he would typically be the team who lost in the Divisional or Championship round only winning one SB. Josh is similar to Favre. He is adored for his guts and heart and recognized for his freakish ability to do things nobody else can. With this, he’s been the bridesmaid for several years now. At this point I don’t know how anybody could make Buffalo the favorites. They will challenge each year, but at the end of the day, better or worse, we ride Allen’s back on offense and that just doesn’t work against the better teams for multiple games in a row. It’s also not always on Josh where that breakdown occurs. Our version of the Tampa 2 doesn’t seem to hold past the Wild Card. I wish I knew the fix. I don’t think one exists. Like Favre, I think we will win a Super Bowl one day. With that, we will never be consistent. We will constantly be in the deep playoffs but we won’t break into being in the SB with consistency. What allows us to get to that position is also the thing that prevents us form consistently getting deeper. We will remain a lethal team but eventually our style will hinder our ability to get far or deep in the playoffs with consistency.

Burrow is is the threat. He was always the threat.

Allen is Favre. He will win a SB, but that's all he will get. Which is fine by my account.

Wouldn't matter, Burrow is Brady

I almost can't help but laugh at our arrogance. The Bengals are off a SB run and have a QB that is more consistent by any measure that could be a measure. Meanwhile we were acting like we should roll and go to KC (who the team we are playing has owned)