Virgil

Same for Daboll, but Fraziers guys weren't winning the one on one match-ups in the trenches. The Colts have a great offensive line and Rivers got rid of the ball quickly. This was always going to be tough for him. I blame execution and disadvantage of talent as our biggest deficit, not Leslie's playcalling

I respectfully disagree. Our field position and inability to execute on short yardage rushing plays against a weak box really hurt the Bills today. My only issue was with a few of the Allen outside keepers, but that's all. I think the players would tell you the same thing. 5 on the 5 in the box should lead to a 3-5 rushing yards easily every single time.

There's a lot of boxes a team needs to check to be considered legitimate after 25 years of futility. The Bills checked every single box this season and had but one more to go. A box that held back many great QB's; the elusive first playoff win. This was the type of game that made me wonder why I enjoy watching the Bills play. I'll be completely honest, I couldn't sleep last night and felt sick after the final whistle. The amount of stress and anxiety built up inside of me led to consecutive naps after this game and I'm only now just coming back down to earth. With that being said... 1 - Respect - The highest form of respect one team can give an opposing team is to create a game plan that's completely tailored to slowing them down. Yes, teams do some form of this every week, but this game was different. The Bills will adjust their defense to the opposing offense based off of strengths, but still play their style of football. In this game, the Colts play an infuriating style of offense with only one goal in mind; to keep the Bills off the field. Never in my football watching history have I seen a team run the playclock down to 1 (arguably 0) on so many plays. Honestly, it really infuriated me at times and felt cowardly. I understand strategy, but this was a bit over the top. The Colts dragged out every single series to the best of their ability with both the clock and using all 3 downs. The other sign of respect was Frank going for it on 4th down within the 5 and attempting the 2 point conversion. All of these thing made one thing perfectly clear, the Colts believed the Bills could explode on offense at any moment, and there was nothing would be able to do to stop it. 2 - All Coming Together - You'll watch movies where the main character goes on a series of missions that each teach him a specific lesson. Then, once reaching the climax of the film, all of those lessons taught him enough to beat the final boss. This game felt like the final boss, where we were able to use all of our previous experiences to get the win. The Bills didn't collapse after the Allen fumble or the incorrect non-fumble call at the end. They survived a Hail Mary pass with authority. They didn't let multiple 3 and outs slow them down on offense. No matter what diversity was thrown at this team, the Bills stayed true to who they were. They never got discouraged or lost hope. They did what every elite team does, they stayed the course and pulled out the win. 3 - Trenches - One of the biggest game-deciding match-ups going into this game was both our offensive and defensive lines battling. In both areas, the Colts won big and the main reason why the Colts were able to execute their game plan. We got zero pressure on Rivers all game and they were able to pull off some solid runs. Their biggest runs came out of the shotgun off the left tackle as we got gashed for 20+ yards on multiple plays. On the flip side, the Colts were able to make Josh move in the pocket a few times as well as deliver some big hits. Most importantly, and to where I think Daboll is taking some unnecessary heat, was in our rushing attack. On multiple short yardage downs, the Bills couldn't get a first down rushing against 4-5 in the box. Most offensive coordinators and players expect to gain a few yards in that scenario, but the Colts shut the Bills down repeatedly and created multiple three and outs. My only gripe with the play call was rushing to the left side of our line, where the Colts are arguable the strongest on their defensive line. 4 - Maybe you like to give a kiss so sweet Only for one night you belong to me Maybe you go away and drive a car But the taste of wine is worse than none at all 5 - Bass - If it weren't the last few minutes of the game, did anyone else want to see Bass get a chance at the field goal from the 40? Seriously, how far has this kid come to where he's just splitting the uprights from over 50 in a playoff game. All 9 of Bass' points today were huge and had room to spare. He's an absolute weapon and the performance between kickers today was the difference makers 6 - Receivers - This had to be one of Diggs' quietest 100 yard games all season, but that deep touchdown was beautiful. Beasley came up big a few times, but looked to have re-aggravated his leg injury. Based off the way he was limping off the field, I wouldn't be surprised if he missed next weeks game. I'm a little disappointed that McKenzie wasn't on the field more, even if just to flash the option of the jet sweep, and Smoke was non-existent out there. The real receiving hero though, Davis! Gabe had multiple deep sideline catches where his footwork was masterful. For a rookie, this kid has been the play maker we didn't know we needed. Davis has made the most of his opportunities on this field and Josh keeps getting rewarded for putting his trust in him. 7 - Linebackers - Edmunds may have had his best game of the season today. He was quick to the hole, made some solid tackles, and broke to coverage quicker than I've seen him in a while. On the 4th and short run in the 4th quarter, he may have been able to shut that down better, but if so, that was his only blemish for the day. I'm glad to see him picking up his game at the right time. Milano had an up and down game, and his blown coverage led to a touchdown. To my untrained eye, it seems like he lost contain on a few of the big runs, but I could be wrong. As for Klein, I have no idea where he was today. In a game where we gave up a lot of 3rd and short plays, I was hoping for more. 8 - Taron - Levi Wallace should send TJ a thank you card for taking the mantle of whipping boy today. Johnson was picked on early and often in this game and gave up a touchdown after getting picked off by his own guy over the middle. It seemed like Johnson was on the wrong end of the very limited passes Rivers through to receivers and didn't get better as the game went on. Hopefully it was just a bad day for him, as we may be facing a deeper receiving team coming up soon. 9 - Allen - It would have been easy to get frustrated by the early drops by Diggs and Brown, or the runningbacks complete inability to make anything happen against a light box. And honestly, I got a little worried early when you could see it on Allen's face on the sideline. Josh though, reminded all of us of just how that ice flows through his veins. Allen was never over hyped and didn't let the offenses lack of rhythm hold him back. He took advantage of the 3 deep coverage and empty boxes to lead the team in rushing. He dropped an absolute dime to Diggs for the deep touchdown. His sideline throws on scrambles are almost automatic for him at this point. He broke the 300 mark again and ended with an impressive overall stat line. The question I have; was the Knox touchdown scripted or improvised? 10 - Stats - If you couldn't watch the game and I told you after that the Bills had consistently terrible starting field position, got dominated in time of possession, destroyed in 3rd down conversion percentage, and overall total yardage; what would you think was the outcome of the game? If there's one thing we've learned this year, is that stats are nice but they don't lead to wins. The Bills seemed to start every drive inside their own 10 yards line, couldn't get off the field on 3rd down, and punted more than they have since the first half against the Steelers. However, when it mattered, the offense, defense, and special teams all showed up. When they weren't going three and out, the offense showed just how potent they could be. The defense clamped down when it needed to, and honestly showed great energy on the final drive when it would have been completely justifiable if they were winded. The point is, this team was resilient all game and were ahead on the scoreboard at the end of every single quarter. The Bills found a new way to win, and that should terrify every other team in the league. Overall, the Bills pulled off their first playoff win in 25 years and had fans in the stands to enjoy it with them. For those worried about the blueprint to stop the Bills being put on display today, don't. The Colts presented a very unique challenge to the Bills that most teams won't be able to replicate. If anything, I'm impressed with how the Bills responded to adversity and still walked away with the win. Great job to Allen and Davis to keep the offense alive. Great job by the defense in buckling down when it mattered most. And thank you to McD for getting us here. Go Bills!!!!

I think they matched up well against our weaknesses and executed a good gameplan.

I already took a 15 min nap. I’m that emotionally exhausted

I don’t even know. I need a bottle of Xanax, a liter of Captain, and a priest.

What a journey for this kid. Amazing job

Magnum

You're right Colt 42 Bills 3

Don't you dare toy with my emotions

I was 3-13 this year. I'm really bad at this 😀

You're right. I am amazing 😋

Colts 31 Bills 20 Colts come out the gate fast and punch us in the mouth. We can't stop the running game and are down 10 at half. Josh goes into hero mode and turns the ball over 3 times in the second half. Diggs gets a touchdown in the final two minutes to make it respectable. An entire season of positivity ends in the same Bills fashion

I'm not sure who used to start these threads, but like I'm sure many of you, I keep thinking about what needs to happen for the Bills to win this game. Momentum and previous success is nice, but we've seen many teams do the same and get bounced in the first round. The Colts have playmakers, solid play on both sides of the ball, and a good record. I don't think any team losing in the AFC playoffs would be considered an upset this year. Not a huge one, anyways. 1 - Linebackers - The Colts have a strong running game, complete passes on an average of 7 yards downfield, and utilize their TE's. Our linebackers have a lot to watch out for and need strong tackling. We can't give up YAC. Edmunds needs to be concise on his run commitments and gap integrity. Klein and Milano need to keep showing good pursuit on the end. 2 - Poyer - We need our arguably best defensive player to continue that level of play. When he's in the box, be effective and disrupt plays. Also, disguise his coverage enough to where we don't let Hilton take us over the top by telegraphing out coverage. Poyer can take away any non-WR on the field, and he may be asked to so sporadically 3 - Front 4 - If these guys can generate pressure on their own, while also not getting caught up in mis-direction runs, then the Colts will be in for a long day. We need these guys to hold their own against a strong offensive line. 4 - Allen - Just be you Josh. You've proven that you can master Man or Zone, Zero blitz or 3 deep, and the short and long ball. Take what they give you, but also take your shots. You've earned the right to dictate how the defense plays, not the other way around 5 - Motor/Moss - Just break a few tackles early and make them respect you. Just this alone will be huge for our offense Overall, score early and often. If we can get an early lead and force the Colts into a one dimensional passing attack, we will be in great shape. We can't allow the Colts to dictate tempo with a long, drawn out rushing attack.

I would think the fact that they play in a dome would be a non-starter. I could see outdoor teams requesting 30k fans. You could easily assign seating to accommodate. The bigger issue is getting them into the building, but you could work a schedule of sorts. However, I will never trust a drunken mass to follow rules

Here’s my issue. When we don’t get the attention, we don’t feel like the media knows our team and just repeats the same casual soundbites. Now that we are winning, we listen to the media like they are Bills experts. Not a knock on the OP, just the overall media hype

They brought personality to the defense that was missing in the first half of the season. It’s been replaced and elevated since

No, because it’s usually followed by how wrong they were

I know, I know....... I almost went back and updated the original post to put a bonus thought about him. It's hard for me because he's not going to take time from Motor or Moss and he did it against a broken Dolphins defense. He was still very impressive and would love to see him get more time

Love this idea

I don’t see them bailing on him already. Trevor would have to be available, and I still doubt it would happen. I’d say it’s a 99% probability

Agreed. That offense also had Thurman who put ridiculous all-purpose yards. Imagine this offense with a Dalvin Cook on it.

Eh, I don’t know if that will hurt him. The Bills brought Allen in around the same time and he turned out somewhat decent 😋

I don’t think that will ring true. The Dolphins were a broken team by that point. They went from 85% probable to making the playoffs to humiliated by backups.

I feel bad for leaving him out. He had great burst and was happy for him out there. He may earned the #3 spot in the playoffs, but I don’t see anyone taking carries from Moss and Motor unless there’s an injury. His first touchdown was fantastic