Ray Stonada

Mahomes is a cut above right now, agreed. But they won't be there every year. Cap, injuries, too many factors conspire to keep a team from having no off-years. And, if we had a great running back who can catch swing passes out the backfield when our receivers are blanketed, we can beat them.

PS the level of negativity of some fans, after our best season in 30 years, surprises me. It's like the negativity is hard-wired no matter how well we do. If some of you were running a team, you'd be blowing up your team after every loss, cutting guys who had one bad game, and generally running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

I agree 100% with the OP. We had an amazing season, 13-3 plus two playoff wins, exceeding ALL expectations, learned how to win in playoff football, Allen is 24, AND we plenty to work on and improve. In two weeks it will be clearer, after KC waxes the Bucs, that we lost to the best team. But KC can't do it every season. The Pats run was 9 Super Bowls in 18 years, meaning there were 9 seasons where they got beat in the AFC. We will beat KC or someone else will, or they'll have injuries or an off-year. To me there is every chance Buffalo brings home that ring in the next five years. LET'S GO!

For whatever it's worth, I know we all have gut feelings and they are all different, but here's mine: We are gonna play an outstanding football game today!

Got a feeling Brady will show out and prevent GB from rolling, and the Bucs sneak it out. If it gets tight, Rodgers is 1-3 in NFC Championships... Let's see!

WE HAVE WAITED 27 YEARS FOR THIS DAY. I feel so proud of what the Bills have done this year. Thank you, Buffalo Bills, from top to bottom. And it's not over yet... two more games... LET'S GO!!!!!!!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/01/22/stefon-diggs-buffalo-afc-championship/ Stefon Diggs wanted a new start. The Bills needed a spark. Now the NFL is on notice. By Barry Svrluga Sports columnist Jan. 22, 2021 at 11:14 a.m. GMT+1 The third day of the 2015 NFL draft was about to unfold, and Stefon Diggs’s name remained uncalled. Michael Locksley, his offensive coordinator at Maryland, fidgeted. He knew Diggs’s pride and Diggs’s competitiveness. He knew with three rounds and 99 players already gone, Diggs would be seething. “I was agonizing right there along with him,” Locksley said. “I remember thinking, ‘We got to do something to get his mind off this draft.’” So that Saturday morning, the draft’s final day, Locksley grabbed three things: his son Kai, who was then a high school quarterback, some footballs and a boombox. He told Diggs to meet him at Maryland Stadium. They went down to the field. They flipped on some music. And for two hours, they caught passes. “That’s how he cleared his head: working out, catching balls, running routes,” Locksley said. “He needed to work.” .......

Has anyone seen an update on Clyde Edwards-Helaire?

Alright! Finally caught up and finished all 73 pages of the thread. What's amazing to me is that after all the discussion and so many takes, so many talking heads, there is no clarity at all. If the Bills win 38-17, I won't be surprised. If it's a shootout decided by 1-3 points, I won't be surprised. If KC beats Buffalo by three scores, I won't be surprised. Anything could happen (except maybe a 7-3 game). The teams are really closely matched and both are explosive. Am I the only one who is finding the minutes ticking by unbearably slowly till Sunday?

I think so too, my only nightmare is returning to the Super and losing (to a rolling Pack, for instance). That would be tough.

Bills 32 Chiefs 22

So much great stuff in this thread. I think the 1988 season, when we broke out and lost to Cincinatti twice including in the AFC game, our team was not as far developed as the 2020 Bills. We were a defensive team that year and the offense found itself the next year, really in the playoff game against the Browns. We lost on the Harmon drop, but something clicked there. In 1990, I was at the 44-34 game against the Dolphins and the 51-3 game against the Raiders. I remember how long we chanted Howie Long's name up in the upper deck, after he'd talked trash about the Bills before the game... That season we got a sense of destiny going, especially in the Denver game where Biscuit started us off scoring three times in 90 seconds and we just exploded. Suddenly it was like the team knew it could do anything. The 2020 Bills had those moment against the Rams and Seahawks, this year. By the time we got to the 49ers and Pittsburgh, we knew we could do anything. This team is different in a lot of ways, but the biggest one is that that 1990 team had THURMAN THOMAS. He was just an incredible spark plug, and drove the team with his will more than he gets credit for, and should have won Super Bowl MVP of course (win or lose). This 2020 team has already won 2 playoff games and is only in the AFC championship. Grueling. The prior year similar to that is of course 1993, when we were a wildcard and won the comeback game. The great news, to my mind, is that like the 1990 team we have broken through. Our guys know we can beat anyone now, we are in control of our own destiny, and that knowledge/feeling usually lasts for a while... for multiple seasons to come. LET'S DO THIS.

In some article recently, didn't Thurman mention the group chat the 90s guys have, that goes nuts during this team's games, and he also said Bruce Smith keeps calling him during games without much to say but very excited. One of the cool things about the current Bills is how the 90s team seems to love and root for them... I think they're on the magical ride with the rest of us!

This feeling the OP had was on the MONEY. Keep sharing these feelings!

Welcome to the AFC championship game, everyone... I sat in the endzone for the last one, 26 years ago. Thurman ran for 186 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Bruce Smith sacked Montana to end the threat against... Kansas City! GO BUFFALO

Feels like everyone nationally is picking the Ravens. I like it. They’re gonna have to learn the hard way... We are gonna roll. I can feel it in the air. They can not stop DIGGS, and Allen is shredding everyone elite defenses included. We have no fear of this defense or any defense. We will elevate and they can't match it.

31-20 Bills They can't stop our 4 wide set. They make big plays but not enough and we've played great defense all year when we really needed it.

About age, 61 is not that old these days. He's got potentially 10-15 years of coaching left. Marv certainly did an incredible job in his 60s (on his second go round). Andy Reid is 62 or 63 I think and on his second go round and is doing pretty well too. (And of course, Belichick got a second chance and now he's getting a medal for cheating his way to the top.)

The first Bills playoff game I watched was in 1988. This was the worst nail biting of any game. 60 minutes of terrible uncertainty. But, we're a team of destiny now. I firmly believe that. The fans might be mostly dead of heart attacks and aneurysms but a few will see the Bills holding the Lombardi trophy

Wow. Reid Ferguson is AWESOME.

38-25 Buffalo. They score first. Josh throws 3 TDs to Diggs, Smoke, and Lee Smith. He runs one in too. We're up 31-10 in the third quarter. Motor breaks a 30-40 yarder for a score to ice it. Rivers and Taylor get some meaningless yards and a TD and 2 pt conversion with under five minutes left.

We live in Germany so the game is at 7pm (all the late games have been tough, setting the alarm for 2:30am). We're frying wings (my sauce: big bottle of Frank's, melted butter, some tabasco and a little apple cider vinegar), and making loaded nachos, with guac, black beans, chorizo, cheese, salsa fresca, sour cream. Might do a plate of ham and cheese subs too. A shot of tequila at kickoff. Setting up the whole living room as a sports den with projector, couch, mini-fridge for beer, buffet table, etc.

Me too. We dropped 56 on the best scoring defense in the league without him, after all. Are these things really happening???

Based on the Phins game, I'd say Beasley won't play against the Colts. Daboll and Josh were trying to get Smoke back in rhythm to get ready for the playoffs, sure, but we were clearly also trying to get McKenzie and Gabe going. That seemed to be our MAIN priority in the game, from an offensive standpoint. Why would we do this? Maybe because we know Bease is not likely to play against the Colts, and we wanted to shore up our number 3 receiver (Gabe, who'd been slumping) and our backup slot (McKenzie).

Whoops! I didn't remember that...