Long Suffering Fan

I'll allow it.

Scott Sterling! Sweet, buttered crumpets! It starts slow, but well worth the watch.

If you want to go after the OP fine, but don't mock my goals. I'm well on my way. Great croogly-moogly.

Shaw, in my mind you don't just look like your profile pic...you are your profile pic. Please don't correct my misconception.

Curse you. I watched the clip and ended up seeing Dick Jauron's face. Now my nightmares will return.

Okay, try different things, but don't try something that everyone knows will not work. Let me try framing it this way. Would you try that exact same defense, except that all those not rushing are standing on the goal line? No, on third and four, that would be absurd. It would never work. Why is that absurd? Because it automatically gives up the first down. The defense Frazier called is just as absurd for the exact same reason. Again, my rant is not really about this play. This play is merely an example of a REAL problem that will make it much harder for Buffalo to beat good teams in the playoffs. It is the same problem as 13 seconds.

Sure. IMO it makes the way they lined up worse because it is so much harder to close. Burrow was getting the ball out so quick (most of the time) that any pass rush would have a hard time getting home. He could do that effectively because of the cushion his WRs had. Bills WRs, for the most part, had much less space early in the routes, which meant Josh had to hold and gave the Cinn pass rush a chance. I really like the way you think. Honestly, what good is a defense that works against good teams, but not the best offenses. We need our D to have a chance of success against the KCs and the Cinns of the league. I don't care how good their defensive ranking is because they can dominate a team that went 500. Arcane, come on, you know that is not correct, especially if they have to get the pass out quick - which they did most of the day. Throws over the top are harder and Tre is going to be at least in the neighborhood. The one thing that is 100% with that call is that they can get the first down if they want it. That is why the call is so bad. The Tre tackle thing - I respectfully disagree. No one is making that tackle before the sticks. They WR would need to be stood straight up and dropped immediately. A WR of Chase's quality is always going to be able to take an angle and fall forward. He is not going to be stopped, especially with that footing. Let's say you did stop them half a yard short by some miracle. Are we confident we are going to stop the fourth and a half? I'm not. And let's not forget the other three targets were given even more space. Burrow had his pick of ways to get the first.

Right, and this is the right formation for ZERO BLITZ on third and 15, perhaps - not on third and 4. Trey can get to the sticks at the same time as Chase, but there is no way that Chase can't get the first down. He just has to angle a little bit to one side. Trey sold out to try to make the tackle and missed (giving up some more yards) but, even if he made it, it would have been a first down.

The snap was a couple of seconds later, but this was their alignment at snap. After the snap, Trey nervously shuffled his feet, but didn't move. The other three defenders were practically statues. When the ball was on its way to Chase, Trey began to move up.

I have no problem with keeping everything in front of you on early downs - make them earn it, but you can't play that way on third and fourth down.

Third and 4 (see below). You all remember it. This play is important for two reasons: 1. It shows a complete lack of defensive situational awareness on what can be given up on a play. 2. It is the exact same mistake that was made during 13 seconds. On this play, they are guarding the end zone, but will easily give up the first down. On 13 seconds, we were guarding the end zone, but willing to give up the two quick plays needed for a field goal. It is actually worse because this play typified our defensive philosophy for most of the day. I'm a level headed guy who does not normally call for firings (as if that matters), but this is beyond belief. There is simply no excuse to give so much space in this situation. I know I am not an expert. In my mind, this only makes it worse. Like probably half of Bills fandom, I was yelling at my screen before the snap. Shouldn't an expert been able to see what we all saw? I can be patient: Trey - He wasn't what he was last year, but at least I can have hope that he will be back to his old self next year. Poyer - Not his best game, but he was playing with Hyde, Hamlin, Marlowe, Johnson so I'll cut him some slack that he couldn't be himself. Dorsey - Not happy with him, but I can at least talk myself into the fact that this was his first year as a coordinator. But with Frazier I can have absolutely no confidence that he has learned how ridiculously bad this is. Last year I was hoping that he would be hired away from us. This year I don't think I have any hope of that. He's smarter than me, he knows more about defense than I ever will, yada, yada, but you don't have to work for NASA to realize that spacecraft need to be air tight.

It is its own language, like - I am Groot.

Maybe, but that doesn't mean you can't ask. 😀 My kids would get off the boss and always have some unimportant story or detail from their day that they wanted to tell me. I was never interested in the substance or the conversation, but always loved having them none the less. I became interested in things that were "beneath me" because I loved my kids. This. The key to eliminating hate is remembering we are on the same team. So true. Tom Brady was "humble" on the surface but it came across as soooo fake. Josh seems genuinely humble, good dude, guy you would like to hang with, etc.

There are so many major advantages that go with the one seed. 1. It means a first round bye and one less playoff game that you have to win. 2. The bye means that in the next round you go in rested and prepared while your opponent doesn't. 3. It means that you get to play the weakest team (usually) in the next round. That is especially huge this year. There are three teams that stand out above the rest in the AFC. If Buffalo gets the one seed, that means they would only play one of KC/Cinn. Finish 2nd or 3rd and you will have to beat both. 4. And you also get home field advantage in the playoffs. Everyone is always talking about home field. That is not even close to the most important thing on the above list.

I agree with Warriorspikes51. Forfeiting or cancelling the season just doesn't make any sense and I am NOT speaking from the standpoint of a fan. Many of us have put ourselves in the shoes of the players on the field and correctly came to the decision that the game had to be suspended last night. Their brother was getting CPR. If I keep myself in those same shoes, while I am still reeling today, eventually I am going to care. Meaning the players will begin to care about playoffs at some point. For us football is a distraction/entertainment. For them, football is their life. They work their entire lives to get to the point where they are in the NFL. They often work 12 months of the year training and getting ready. They shoot for personal and team goals. They dream. The Superbowl matters to them. It defines careers and impacts contracts and they only have a very short window. I can't imagine putting in the work that they do and not caring. Today, yes, Damar is all the matters - praying. Eventually, the players will also care about the thing they have devoted their life to, while still caring about their brother. Forget the fan. Forfeiting or canceling the season? That is not fair to them.

I haven't posted, but I have been reading and following along everything in this thread. Like most of you, I was shook by what I saw and this thread was helpful for me to process it all. You guys are great. Just as the Bills and Bengals players came together over this, we should as well. Everybody probably needs a little more grace tonight. I'm going to bed. Thanks again, everyone.

Nice. Buy that wasn't a tell. Ryan needed a break. 😀 I too am going to watch for these. I'm sure every team has tells, like the old Josh Reed in motion slowly behind the line meant a run with him as a blocker. And every team should work hard to eliminate them. As you say, if we can see it, so can the other team. If you are right, I tip my cap to the OP because these are pretty detailed.

Shaw looks like a modern QB when he drops. The Lions QB doing that run backwards for a drop back looks so awkward, especially since it is so deep. No three step drops here.

Unless you have him on your fantasy team because of his TD production last year and you thought he would get even more usage after his big contract. 😭

My problem with Frazier is his stubborn refusal to blitz more, even when the situation calls for it. I get why we don't blitz Mahomes, but Goff is not Mahomes. He is TERRIBLE under pressure. There we are with our top two DEs out and he is refusing to blitz. I am begging my TV to blitz all game. Finally in the fourth quarter he pressured Goff two straight plays and it led to a three and out. And on those two plays Goff's throws were way off target. There is Josh under pressure constantly (mainly because of our oline) and fighting thru like a gamer. Goff can't do that consistently.

Yeah, I think I like what Brady wrote for two reasons: 1. From the outside looking in, that is what AB looks like to me. I agree with him (with my very limited knowledge). 2. I have had situations with self destructive people and it takes a mixture of caring and bravery to confront them. You have to do it if you care about them and want to help them. OTOH, you know that those are usually the exact people that lash out at you for trying to help them. Props to TB.

FIFY. It is the Vikings game after all!

Have we? I think he has done a great job possibly underpaying some of the home grown talent - Josh, Milano stick out the most to me. Your second point is amazing and needs to said. When comparing a GM to perfection by listing a handful of mistakes, the GM will always fail because every GM has those handful of "mistakes". This. True, but we've all seen backup QBs perform well. I think this is based on three things: The QB, the coordinator, and the run game. As an extreme example, obviously a backup to the 90s Troy Aikman Cowboys should have an advantage when their offense is built on running it for 5 ypc. The Cooper Rush cowboys got wins, but did not exactly light it up through the air. Although it has performed better this year, the Bills don't have the strongest running game. That is one strike against us and puts more pressure on the coordinator and the QB. Personally, if Josh is out, I will be very curious how the early scripted plays go. I have memories of some bad Bills QBs (Emanuel?) having good early drives because of the scripted plays and then struggling when they had to just run the offense.

Here is why this is a good thread....if Miller had signed with the Rams again for similar money (or a little less) and we had just traded a second or third round pick for him, I would be psyched and excited about him coming in and being that final piece we needed to get us over the top this year.

Exactly. There has to be more going on. He has a max of a few years left. She can see the end in sight. If she wont wiggle, then why would he sacrifice so much against so few years. If they had marital bliss, they both had to weigh the moment against 40 more years of rich, marital bliss. It leads me to believe that their relationship is not so blissful. If there is not more going on, they are both the most near-sighted people in the history of the world...and the most selfish.