JohnNord

Call me crazy but I don’t think the defense was that bad over 3 quarters. They held the Colt ground game in check until the 4th quarter. It’s easy to point out the weaknesses but they also did some good things as well. They stuffed Indy on 4th and goal and were faced with some terrible field position in the first half that they overcame by allowing only 10 points. Phillip Rivers sliced up the defensive secondary up the entire afternoon. I’m not sure whether it was a good passing game from Rivers or if the secondary just struggled with the route concepts, but it seemed like receivers were always open. Also the Bills failed to force any turnovers. The 4th quarter is another story. I’m not sure how they let up those big drives so easily and so quickly but that will need to be addressed. The one point I think we’re sleeping on is that Reich and OC Nick Siranni are very good offensive minds. They put together a solid game plan to exploit the weakness of the defense and Rivers did a great job executing. Make no mistake about it - outside of a failed 4th down conversion and a few drops - this was the Colts “A” game. The Bills didn’t play their best but still withstood a good performance from an 11-5 win team.

Yep... that’s about the only one left

I would agree with this, I think people definitely see the generosity of the fan base. In a way though, I feel the majority of people see “The Bills Mafia” as drunk, frat party-goers, who jump through tables and do stupid *****, thanks to the ridiculous videos from the Hammer’s Lot. The past two years when I’ve gone to Bills games you always see an out-of-town fan from Canada or elsewhere asking “where can we see broken tables?” You have to really search to find this sort thing at a tailgate. I was pleased to hear that fans today complied with all the regulations and this will likely mean fans in attendance for a 2nd game

Yep difference between an 8 yard and a 23 yard loss

Part of the most gratifying thing about this season is the narratives surrounding the Bills which the fan base has carried around....some for decades...that have all but ended. Team Narratives: 1. The Bills haven’t had a 300 yard passer in 2+ years. 2. The Bills haven’t been AFC East Champions since 1996. 3. The Bills haven’t hosted a home playoff game since 1995. 4. The Bills haven’t won a playoff game since 1995 5. The McDermott led Bills teams can’t beat playoff teams and only beat up on bad ones. 6. The Bills can’t beat The Patriots (yeah I know...but still) Individual Narratives: 1. Josh Allen is inaccurate and a bad QB 2. Sean McDermott prefers to coach conservatively and can’t match wits with good coaches 3. Stefan Diggs is a diva and will complain by mid-season about his lack of targets. Any others I’m forgetting?

Sorry 2nd ranked rush defense

This game didn’t really go down like “the Otis Anderson game.” The Bills shut down Indy’s running game for about 3 quarters and held JT to under 80 yards, his lowest output all year. Not sure why they got gashed by Hines, but for the most part the run defense held. What hurt the Bills was Phillip Rivers. Say what you will about him but he had a great game today. He beat pressures and almost always found the right receivers. There seemed to be route concepts the defense struggled with today too.

The fact they carted him off the field is not a good sign at all

I thought we should’ve scrapped the running game. I heard the ratio was 60/40. Probably a bit too high given the fact that Indy has the second ranked defense. We don’t know for sure whether the runs by Josh were the play call or if it was improvised. The only series I didn’t like were three straight runs deep in Bills territory and then the called run by Josh.

I think experience is very valuable. Williams looks like a similar runner to Moss but his inexperience does worry me.

All of this is correct. I’m not sure the Colts win if the kick the FG there to make it 13-7. We have no idea how the rest of the game plays out. I didn’t have a problem with the call.

This is along the lines of what I think. I think Reich is getting too much crap for the call. You don’t beat scoring teams like the Bills with FG’s. I think he saw an opportunity to go up 10 on the Bills and put a lot of pressure on them going into the second half. The logic was good and even the play that was called was a good one. The execution with Rivers and Pittman was just a little off. So while the result was poor the thinking was good.

They’ve got a lot of soul searching to do for sure. It’s not like they beat a pretty solid 11-5 team, led by respectable coaches, a top 10 offense and defense and a potential HOF QB.

He also played his worst game of the year against KC in an empty stadium - another so-so game vs NE too. He seemed to play his best game in stadiums with more than 6,700 like Miami and SF (Arizona) abs Denver. I think he’ll be ok

Haha if you watch him then, he’s definitely more robotic. I think he’s come a long way since.

It’s fair to want to see consistency and a larger sample size. If Josh can do this, then the Bills are going to be a good team for years to come!

It’s almost 4 years to the day that the Bills announced the hiring on Carolina Panthers DC Sean McDermott. It’s crazy to think that he’s probably the most successful Bills coach over his first 4 seasons. What was your initial reaction then to his hiring? I was close to an all-time frustration level with the Bills - specifically with Rex Ryan and Doug Whaley. I wanted them both fired and for Terry to start a clean. Actually, I wanted the Pegulas to hire Bill Polian as President to hire his own GM and Coach. I thought the Pegulas were clueless and that they needed an experienced executive like to Polian to turn the franchise around. Foolish thinking. As for the McDermott hiring, I was pretty indifferent. I didn’t really know much about him from Carolina other than the fact they had a great defense the year that they went to the Super Bowl. I also knew from the Rex experiment that sometimes hiring a retread coach is not always the best option. At the time in 2015, I thought the Rex hire was a great move. Little did I know.... So I guess I was sightly cautiously optimistic but was taking a “wait and see” approach. I felt that the team would suck in 2017 but that a tank year would give them a shot at drafting a legit franchise QB which was what they needed. I knew that if they found a legit franchise QB it would solve all of their problems and you can argue that’s kind of what happened, though McDermott’s coaching and defense helped a ton as well

True.... but then again they also got smoked 31-13 by a high powered offense on the road in Arrowhead the week after they beat the Texans. The also struggled with a 1-15 team last week in a game they had to win. I wouldn’t take too much from instances these loses in the past, the same way we shouldn’t take too much from even more distant victories. 0-0 in the playoffs. Nothing before matters

1 game at a time

Few good ones on this channel:

In a way I kind of do. If the Bills are lucky enough to to make it to the Super Bowl, conquering the QB who has been nearly unbeatable over the past 2 years would be perfect. On the other hand that Tampa Bay team is LOADED with talent. I don’t think they are playing anywhere as good as they can. Either way...we’re a long way from the Super Bowl. I just hope the Bills get past Indy first

Not at all.... he probably has the least charisma of any coach in the NFL. He’d be a terrible studio host. It won’t happen and he likely has no interest Football is his life. He started studying plays with his father about 6 decades ago and has been involved coaching for most of his adult life. I can’t see him leaving for another team. What I am almost certain will happen, is that he coaches for a year or two and then retires so one of his sons can take over. IMO I think he’s hoping to one have one last run on his own and then to retire on top with his sons carrying on his legacy. Unfortunately he won’t have Tom Brady

I hope so. I keep thinking about the Baltimore vs. Tennessee game from last year and how everyone expected Lamar to own TEN. It turned out to be a huge upset . Just hope that doesn’t happen this time around

If this was 2019, I would be concerned because it seemed like Daboll consistently found a way to get WR’s open. This year, I think Josh has taken some pretty big steps on his own. I don’t see Josh’s improvement as only being a bi-product of Daboll’s offense in the way that Sean McVay was responsible for improving Jared Goff. I think Josh took a lot of those steps on his own. With that being said, I’m not sure if we’ll see Josh duplicate the numbers this season in 2021. But I also don’t see major regression either. As far as OC, it will be an interesting choice. You have internal candidates like Ken Dorsey or Chad Hall who probably would be good. But McDermott might also get a lot of interest from coaches that want a chance to work with Allen, Diggs, Beasley, etc...

Yep. I think they wanted that to happen in the off-season but AJ wasn’t at that point. They ended up keeping Murphy as insurance