Mikie2times

I wasn't talking about your take in my response but I see why it seemed that way. I agree with your take. I was just adding that Buffalo does the stat padding in a way that is somewhat historic. I have speculated a part of that is playing with the lead so much in the regular season. Which makes teams unbalanced. Mind you we can't stop either the run or the pass in the postseason, but the fact that both are a constant threat, when in the regular season so much of the time offenses are one dimensional. I'm nearly certain that is part of it. But it's a lot of things I'm sure.

Kincaid really added some muscle this year

The top graph is the increase or decrease in performance of EPA offense, regular season vs postseason since 2020 The bottom graph is the increase or decrease in performance of EPA defense, regular season vs postseason since 2020 So while most teams do perform worse defensively in the postseason, I would argue no team in NFL history has fallen so drastically as we have. Dallas is twice as bad as the next team in that sample and we are 50% worse than Dallas. The why has been talked about to nauseous levels. I'm only bringing this up again because I saw a post that was just factually not close.

Vs Skyler Thompson, Mason Rudolph, Mac Jones, and Bo Nix we allowed 18 PPG, 271 Yards, 18 First Downs, 4.8 Yards per play Vs Joe Burrow, Phillip River, Lamar Jackson (2nd game) 25 PPG, 433 Yards, 27 First Downs, 6.4 Yards per play Vs Kansas City 35 PPG, 430 Yards, 27 First Downs, 7.1 Yards per play In the only other playoff game not listed, the Ravens/Bills wind game, we were only able to score 10 offensive points on 220 yards and 17 First downs. Neither team did anything offensively that game. A total of 13 offensive points were scored. So when conditions are clearly not impacting output it's been any competent QB, not just KC. But you know this already because it's been talked about a thousand times. If you want to ignore it or bucket it another way that is up to you. Really nothing more to talk about on this topic.

I thought he was one of the best TE prospects in some time. Looked like that for awhile as well until his injury. I imagine he will still produce a few great years. He was just unreal with the Gators.

It's a pretty amazing location, tons of Bills fans, love it here 😍

Chat GPT did well here. Can you discuss the pros and cons of being a fan of an NFL team that is very good and very successful over a prolonged period but never wins the super bowl Pros 🏈 1. Consistent Enjoyment Your team wins a lot of games, often dominates the regular season, and makes deep playoff runs. Sundays (and sometimes Mondays or Thursdays) are generally fun and hopeful. You can count on exciting football nearly every year. 🏆 2. Relevance and Respect Your team is in national conversations, featured in prime-time games, and often considered a contender. Players earn Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors, and the team earns league-wide respect, even if they don’t win it all. 💬 3. Bragging Rights (Sort Of) You get to chirp fans of teams that are truly bad or dysfunctional — “At least we’re not the [insert struggling team here].” You enjoy rivalry games with higher stakes. 📈 4. Hope Every Year Offseasons are filled with "just one piece away" optimism. The window to win feels open for a long time, which is rare in the NFL’s parity-driven system. Cons 🫠 1. Crushing Disappointment Losing in the playoffs — especially in heartbreaking or controversial fashion — can be emotionally exhausting. Each year ends with “maybe next year,” which gets heavier the longer the drought continues. 😐 2. Perceived Failure Despite Success Success without a Super Bowl leads to labels like “chokers,” “frauds,” or “underachievers.” Even great players or coaches may be undervalued historically due to the lack of a championship ring. 😬 3. High Expectations Become a Burden Every year starts with Super Bowl hopes. When it doesn’t happen, the disappointment stings more than if the team were just average. Fans of these teams often swing between extreme confidence and fatalism. 📉 4. Legacy Issues Without a title, eras that should be celebrated (like the 2000s Chargers, early 2010s Falcons, or recent Bills/49ers) are viewed as missed opportunities. Hall of Fame debates can turn into “but he never won the big one.” Examples of Fanbases Living This Buffalo Bills (especially the 1990s and current Josh Allen era) Minnesota Vikings (multiple great teams, 0 titles) San Francisco 49ers post-1995 (lots of NFC title game appearances, no recent rings) Cincinnati Bengals in the Burrow era (so far) Philadelphia Eagles before 2017 Bottom Line Being a fan of a consistently great but ringless team is a paradox. You get joyful consistency, meaningful football, and hope. But that same consistency makes the ultimate failure more bitter, with each near-miss deepening the longing for just one championship to validate the journey. It’s like being so close to the summit of Everest year after year — but always stuck just below the peak

1998 Minnesota = Gary Anderson choke job 2007 New England = Giants Upset These teams that are super successful and don't win one are ultimately remembered for not winning. Not for winning. EX: 13 seconds.

If they're remembered at all, it's as paper tigers and choke artists. Not exactly a legacy that is that appealing. To say they're remembered for anything positive at this stage is poppyballs.

Raiders had the Steelers, Colts had the Patriots, Dallas had the 49ers. It's not like the Chiefs can't be beat. If they're worthy enough they will, if they aren't they won't. That is sort of the point I'm making?

Agree it doesn't need to be discussed in literally every thread. We all know it and feel it.

Name 5 highly successful teams that never went to a Super Bowl that history holds in high regard? Hell, name 3?

"The only thing that matters" is a really subjective concept so it's hard for me to unpack. You can argue nearly everything matters just as easily. To me what is ultimately remembered about a team or era is what matters. I can't think of any franchise in NFL history who is remembered very fondly for incredible success in the regular season and never having won one. The 90's Bills are about as close as it comes to that and it took 20+ years for them to be remembered in any positive manner. The Purple people eaters, Broncos are similar, but in all these examples teams went to 3 or more Super Bowls. What is the group we are discussing when we start to say never having been to one or maybe just one? It's hard to think of many. Maybe the Run and Shoot Houston Oilers or the Air Coryell Chargers? Both might be more memorable simply from offensive innovation and not success. Most people don't want that as fans or for Josh. So the celebratory notions ring a bit hollow.

What makes the lesser triumphs not as appealing to me at this stage is those 90's Bills. This franchise already has the gold standard in all of sports for doing everything BUT winning a championship. The success of this team is nearly unprecedented comparative to the lack of success in the postseason. That will be the narrative that gets remembered long term about this period in Bills history if they never get it done. The pursuit of a championship is always enjoyable. Josh is incredible. It's a much more fun time to be a fan than the drought years. I think that can be true along with the general feeling some of expressed in this thread.

If history is the judge it is true. Take the Patriots undefeated regular season. Without question the most dominant year in NFL history. But when that topic gets brought up they aren’t even in the conversation.

Allen averaged 6.5 YAC per completion last year. His next closest since 2020 was the year prior at 5.1 and after that no season over 5.0. Shakir was #1 in the NFL at 100 targets or more. We run a ton of screens that are basically extensions of the run game. Outside of Shakir, Kinkaid is participating the most in those concepts. So while Kincaid is good at turning upfield after the catch he also doesn't have a lot of lower YAC outcomes in his sample. Very few jump balls/contested catches or comeback routes which yield low YAC. He's always in motion when he catches the ball. All of this is a large result of Brady's offense and scheme. We saw none of this with prior OC's and were consistently one of the worst in the NFL in YAC leaning more into total air yards per attempt.

Does this mean he's trucking people to accomplish that or being schemed open? I don't have the answer, but just calling his YAC out isn't the answer either.

Some here argue Bernard is a Pro Bowl LB. Which was always dumb. He's a fringe starter on a lot of teams and works here based on scheme.

Somebody needs to let Kyle Whittingham know he runs a soft program.

One judge was put in under Reagan, one Obama, and one Trump.

He’s on a one year deal. How else would you have spent his contract?

This thread has the full dose of Bills ridiculousness. You get the sky is falling negative people. Then you get the nothing to see here people mocking the negative people. The guy hasn't been healthy in years. If you booked his comeback tour for this year that's on you. He was a no harm signing. Anything he gives us is a + anything he fails to give us is sort of expected.

He's got a nice rack

You can also choose to defend your take. The Ravens beat us handily in every major statistical category across both games. So why is your take accurate here? We ran the ball well in the 2nd game. We played excellent first half defense. We played about as well as we could have and we still got statistically dominated (talking about the 2nd game). So from my perspective I wouldn’t make us a favorite here. But lines are lines and even Vegas opened us up as favorites. So it’s not like your opinion is THAT novel. We are recognized as one of the league elite and at home. Regardless of what the line says I see a lot more paths to Baltimore blowing us out than Buffalo blowing them out. As it stands I think they’re ahead of us, but that’s why we added a bunch of pieces which needed to happen. But they likely wont have the best moments of the year Game 1. So in the nature of this thread I think it’s not a good thing to play them early.

They averaged 7.3 yards per play to our 4.6. The first game it was 7.9 to 4.1. They had more total yards, like the first game. More totals first downs, like the first game. More rushing yards in total, like the first game. More rushing yards by running backs, like the first game. Better EPA offense and defense, like the first game. In two games vs the Ravens last year, they had 843 yards to our 509 and averaged over 7.5 yards per play. They did literally anything they wanted for about 6 out of the 8 quarters we played. We won the turnover battle 3-0, that is why we won that game. Which is nothing to dismiss, if we played again the odds are with us that we will force more turnovers and likely not give any up. But we were outplayed physically and it wasn't really that close. This is not the same team as last year. But then again, we just punted on a 1 tech for about the 15th year in a row. So we will see. That is the role that was important to fill for this game.