Mikie2times

As many of you recall, we met last on Thanksgiving day, 2022. We won that game by the slimmest of margins 28-25 with Allen going nearly the length of the field in seconds to set up a game winning field goal. Detroit had us on the ropes in that game. We were totally off balance on defense often seeing Detroit run the ball on third down regardless of distance. They went 3 for 3 that day on 4th down conversions. It had that "escape" feel when it was over. It likely only went that direction as a result of Detroit getting too conservative at the very end, opting for a field goal in 4th and short vs going for it with a first down likely ending the game. Since that game the collective record of the two teams is 55-18. Detroit has a 1.5 game edge on us since then. We will be facing elite coaching, excellent power run game and rightfully, the current Super Bowl favorite. We will have aspirations of the #1 seed on the line as Detroit is far and away the hardest game left on our schedule. Detroit is also becoming a rather difficult place to play. It's pretty simple to me, if we really want to know how this team stacks up for a potential Super Bowl run you will know after that game. They can throw haymaker and have balance like the Colts, Bengals, Titans, and Ravens in the past, teams that were able to knock us out when so few can. They're very hard nose. Houston just beat the living crap out of them and they found a way. As all this relates to the timing of the KC game, well, massive win, clearly. They either round into playoff form, at which point I will have a hard time drawing any conclusions from it or they won't, at which point we have bigger fish to fry. Detroit being the biggest if we can eventually make it that far. I just don't see anybody in the NFC pushing them. Another side note, being from that area, a Detroit & Buffalo Super Bowl would be epic. I also imagine it would be a massive ratings draw. Already getting chills for this one.

Very few do, he's elite in the scheme of the whole league in that area. I think Samuel is a more explosive athlete. 10 yard race, he wins over everybody on our WR roster, doing it sideways, Shakir would.

Classy

You don't want to argue like a bunch of b's anymore? Fine. I hope one day Ty Johnson becomes our version of Bill Brasky

So in your mind, you think a LB can just shoot straight up an open lane and wreck a play? You realize they call that....ugh....what is that again. A blitz?

Allen drops back, plants his leg, and goes immediately upfield. Play some madden or read a book.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqBjaw7bvHA Because on 4th and 2 with the game on the line you can expect Allen to drop back and just play with himself like Mahomes does on the play you're talking about?

Check out this love tap by Watt

Maybe you can tackle him 3 yards into the end zone 🤣 Yup

Run your spys on those two point conversions you football guru

You're right on offense you run the same playbook with 2 yards as you do with 4 yards. Brilliant.

2 yards and 4 yards is different enough that they give one a definition of short. Not the same situation.

Go to sleep Bills brother, he will get one and we won’t have to argue about this anymore 😂 Go Bills!

I live in a world where the very best players win championships and the ones that fail to do so explain how it’s a team game. I’m pretty sure it’s the same world most people live in. If it wasn’t we would be talking about Kelly, Marino, Fouts, Tarkenton, and several others in the best of all time conversations. Allen’s performance in the wild card round means relatively little in the scheme of history. While Mahomes performing that way deep in the playoffs has solidified him as a legend. Similar to Brady, similar to Montana. If that bothers you or you don’t understand why I don’t know what to tell you.

I’m sure Marino will be happy to hear you think he’s the best of all time

We aren’t talking about single runs with all time great defenses, and there is a 100% correlation with defensive success and deeper playoff rounds, and what team did we play that you have pegged as being that elite wild card team? This is about two players and discussing playoff performance. Do you ever remember watching NFL films and becoming engrossed in all the legendary stories of wild card greatness? Probably not because it’s never happened. For all the great Josh has done in the postseason, to compare that to a guy who has performed at that level in deep rounds including multiple comebacks (to Allen’s none) is just a bad take all together. Typical for this place. But it doesn’t make it any better.

I’m counting games at a level of competition that is above the wild card round. His stats are still very good post wild card, but it looks rather pedestrian compared to what Mahomes has done in literally every statistical category. His data in the divisional or later rounds, is the best of all time, conversation over. It’s not close. Now why is it sane to look at in these terms? Allen’s 5 wild card games against Mahomes divisional and later games are different. It’s a significant difference in competition and performance by both. If it wasn’t we wouldn’t get stuck at the divisional round every year. When you just compare similar rounds, you get the results I’m showing. I don’t know what logic you land on where it makes sense to eliminate the bulk of the games Mahomes has played just because Allen didn’t advance. You think the issue is Allen is younger. Thats not why he has so many less games. It’s because we lost. He has had 4 opportunities to advance past the divisional round and he did so once. Mahomes has had 6 opportunities and he did so 6 times. Who cares what the first 10 games for each resulted in, when we are comparing several wild card games vs multiple divisional, championship, and Super Bowl games. Do you not see how convoluted it is to look at it in these terms?

Wait, so because Josh and the Bills haven’t advanced and played the bulk of his playoff games in the wild card round, we should manipulate Mahomes playoff data to somehow match Allen’s? Dude you’re on one. You do realize Mahomes has played in 18 playoff games and still has played in less wild card games than Allen. He’s almost played in as many Super Bowls as Allen has wild card games. Pump the breaks and get some relevant context to the data you’re spewing.

Mahomes first 5 divisional playoff games? What contorted crooked math are you pulling here? Let me make this really simple for you. Mahomes has played in 10 divisional or conference championship games. He has 28 passing TD’s and 2 INT’s. He has the highest EPA in divisional and conference championship history at .333 Allen has played in 5 divisional or conference championship games. He has 8 passing TD’s and 2 INT’s. He has an EPA of .146 which is less than half of Mahomes.

In that distance you either want more coverage or more disruptors. A spy is more passive and almost worthless in that spot. Spags was aggressive, he had plenty of guys penetrating. Allen took advantage of the over pursuit and it worked out.

That trucking in the Bengals game was legend

I love his angry runs

It "felt" a little different, yes. I don't know what to fully make of it. Part of me doesn't feel KC is our biggest problem this year. They could become that if they turn on the playoff switch as they have in the past. Which isn't to discredit the win, but we actually match up fairly well against them now winning 4 straight in the regular season. That Detroit game will be a huge test for us. We don't need to win, but I want to see a one score game. Our run defense seems to be stiffening but we still haven't faced a power run game like Baltimore since that shellacking. The 49ers don't really scare me but Detroit is a Super Bowl team no doubt. Power run game. Should be the exact style team I'm most concerned with. I'm also from that area so it means a little more. I know it will mean a lot to them. They have a ton of the same players as the roster they had on Thanksgiving and I assure you they did not forget that loss. I don't like McD and I have been brutally skeptical all year of just how good this team is, but I did feel a lot of good after this one. I wanted some hope this year that was sincere and I didn't expect that. That is building a bit for me. This team could get signifgantly better by years end. I feel like Diggs subtraction has led to some positive diversity on offense which is now actually being realized by the addition Cooper (what a catch). But the team feels fun again to some extent now that Diggs left, almost like the early iterations in 2020 did. Babich seems to be adding a nice dimension and limiting some of that McD predictability (or perhaps McD has just learned). We have seen some defensive progression by multiple players. Lastly, Josh seems to finally be willing to check it down and understand his role as QB in a broader plan. With all that said, this team has made people feel like THIS is the year so many times just to totally lay an egg. Any optimism from me is going to be guarded. I have my bit of hope that I really did not think would happen this year. I don't need to go full "Here we come Dallas" Super Bowl mode at this point. Go Bills!

Literally the entire game thread was people complaining about the coaching decisions. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like we are a 4th down away from winning the Super Bowl vs being horrible, having awesome coaches vs getting schooled. It was one game, it shouldn't change how you feel or felt that drastically. I'm not a McD fan, but felt we did a solid job I felt and Babich is giving me some hope. Seeing us more in man was nice. We had some head scratching moments but all and all I'm happy with what we did. Especially in defending Hunt.