Mikie2times

You have been antagonistic enough, I’m sure you can handle a little poke. No, we won’t agree. That’s fine. Go Bills as usual. 🦬🦬

This is the first time I recall in 20+ years of being on this site somebody is arguing a position nobody is talking about and is not the subject of the thread. Congrats on the special award.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2023-nfl-playoffs-injury-report-bengals-rule-out-two-offensive-linemen-vs-bills-in-divisional-round/amp/ Let’s not forget, 3 of 5 starting offensive lineman for the Bengals didn’t even play in that game

This thread is about defense and you went on a rant about the offense for half the thread. Now you call what I'm pointing out as a strawman? Did I miss John Facenda's voice over when NFL films was covering the best regular season performances of all time? I must have missed that. Can you tell me when that episode airs? Is it right after the one about Dan Marino being the best QB of all time?

Hmmmm, looking at his postseason performance against teams he faced more than once. Let me know what you see here.

Prime Randy Moss was the best of all time. Maybe prime Megatron would give him a run for his money as well. Certainly much more accomplished WR’s but those are the most talented in my opinion.

It’s the violence in which the defense has declined against capable offenses in the playoffs. If you look at how this defense has performed in the playoffs against teams that actually have a starting caliber NFL QB, the only even above average showing we have had is vs a Greg Roman offense in a very bad weather environment. Nobody would ever question how his defense would perform vs Skyler Thompson, Mason Rudolph, and Mac Jones. It’s just an extension of the regular season at that point. Which nobody would questions either. So then you look at blowing 16-0 lead to the Houston, then allowing newg 500 yards of offense to the Colts, then being totally decimated by the Bengals and the Chiefs 3 times. In those Chiefs and Bengals games would we have taken even an average performance? Nothing crazy. Just baseline average how they did all season? If we even got that we would have won at least half those games. The precision at which good teams carve this system up in the postseason is stunning. So while we have had a lot of success, I think at this point it’s perfectly logical to wonder what the hell is going on with this system and if it’s capable of doing what we need when the games matter more. Perhaps it is just the talent, but that brings on another conversation given we haven’t been very shy of investing on that side of the ball.

I like watching the play design and execution of the option which has always made this game a lot of fun to me. Was a good game

always enjoyed it

Both sides sucked that day no doubt.

I don't disagree, but to absolve the defense because of the offense was bad is a bit short sighted. I mean in one post, he calls out the offense vs the Bengals and then sites how we didn't lose to the Colts in 2020. I'm pretty sure the reason we didn't lose to the Colts in 2020 was a lot of luck and and above average offensive play. We dropped 27 on nearly 400 yards of offense.

Burrow is still completing passes as you type I found this image of your holistic evaluation

But then you might realize Joe Burrow was 9-9 with two TD passes and a 14-0 lead after two drives 🤣

I'm sorry, I didn't know this thread was about offense? If so I would focus more on the fact that the offense is consistently putting this defense in positive game scripts. All you're pointing out is that it's harder to do that in the playoffs. Ground breaking observation on your part.

Except that's just not true The Colts in 2020 had the 3rd highest EPA facing us of the entire season in the playoffs The Chiefs in 2020 had the 1st highest EPA facing us of the entire season in the playoffs The Chiefs in 2021 had the 3rd highest EPA facing us of the entire season in the playoffs The Bengals in 2022 had the 3rd highest EPA facing us of the entire season in the playoffs The Chiefs in 2023 had the 5th highest EPA facing us of the entire season in the playoffs So we have given 3 separate teams some of the best offensive performances they had all year vs us in the playoffs. Then yes, to your point, we have given KC some of the best offensive performances they have had in multiple seasons.

It's more about the defense struggling in neutral game scripts which are more likely to occur vs good teams. When we jump ahead and force teams into passing situations it immediately covers our biggest weakness with the defense which is the running game. A lot of times we see average to below average QB's struggling against our zone in a situation where they completely abandon the run. We feast, it contributes to a stat profile that is very inflated compared to what the defense would normally do. Then come postseason times when we get destroyed it really looks like we just don't know what we are doing. But I would argue it was there all along. We have allowed 140 yards on the ground 3 times this year. We snuck out a win vs Miami on a 60 yarder, beat the 49ers in the snow, and lost to Baltimore. We are 6-11 since 2021 when we allow more than 140 yards rushing. The only playoff games we did not allow 140 yards rushing in the McD era were the AFC Championship vs KC and the 3 wild card games in 2021, 2022, and 2023. So when we say, will this happen again this season in the playoffs? Well, ya. It most certainly will happen and when it does it is not a good split for us. I don't believe we have a defensive system that is capable of sustained success in the postseason and I put that directly on McD.

I have a tendency to mix up high motor players which made the Tom Donahoe era very challenging

That burns

I say it in an angry German accent

Fine, I agree

No he didn't

If it was all based on that game I wouldn't have this opinion

I don’t know what top two somebody would take over the Eagles and Lions. I have the Eagles in futures bets. To me they look even better than Detroit does. Tampa can cause some issues, Rams clearly can, Vikings, Packers. It’s fairly balanced this year.

I’m from Livonia originally and also did the same with all Bills/Lions games basically going back to 1994. Can’t make this one. Which is a total bummer. I’m happy for my friends who stayed with them or showed some degree of interest in them the last 20+ years. But as I said upthread, I have noticed a whole contingent of people who really couldn’t give a flying F” about them just all over them at this point. Which may or may not be true with Buffalo as well. It’s hard for me to see not being from the area. But my perception is we were always here. Even in the drought era. So it has a fair weather vibe for me. Also, I like the people in that area a lot and still visit a lot, but it would suck if they beat us to it. It’s a little too close to home for me if they do and I would most certainly be subject to some serious crap talking. We will see. Conflicted on them but I’m not really a two team guy anyway.

They just had the draft in Detroit. Anybody from that area feels it’s more up and coming after the money dumped into it the last few years. Then to think Detroit would lose the Red Wings, Tigers, Lions, or Pistons is just humorous to be honest.