Bob in STL

Every Bills game hosted in Toronto should be stricken from the record books. None of that ever seemed real to me.

We really don’t have much history with the Atlanta Falcons. I do remember this one local player with ties to both teams and so I had to look him up again. Back in 1973 we drafted a Buffalo native, Jeff Yeates ( Cardinal O’ Hara HS), in the 4th round (103 overall) from Boston College. He was a backup DT for about 3 years and then waived in 1976. In Atlanta we became a very solid DE and started for them for about 6 or 7 years. As for the game, I expect Buffalo to come out like gang busters and handle this team as they should. But they can’t let up, Ryan is still solid and the NFL is a tough league.

Read. All they have to do is get to one and win it. Besides, we’re talking favorite player, not favorite team. The current Bills are still not as deeply talented as the 90’s SB teams but Allen is on a trajectory to be the greatest Bills player ever.

Groot hit the rookie wall. He didn’t play college last season and an NFL schedule is far more grueling than college. Boogie too. You don’t count on rookies to win you playoff games. The defense played a B- minus or C+ game. Had they not given up that last TD it would have been at least a B+. One critical series dropped the grade. The concern with the defense is the veterans on the DL are running out of steam too. Hughes and Addison are not getting sacks. We are not getting enough heat from Epenesa either. Oliver played well then left with an injury. Harrison played well. So did Obada. The other 5 ? The LBs were solid although I am sure there are some here that will complain about Edmunds. The corners and safeties did well against a weak receiving corps and a below average QB.

Allen is probably the MVP, at least in the top three, if you actually voted by performance and value to team. The fact that he didn’t make the Pro Bowl will probably cause the voters to pick some else - like Brady or Mahommes. Josh will just have to keep plugging and winning games. Wining big games is what the national media looks at first and foremost.

Just like the Pro Bowl voters apparently.

Good job game planning with lots of backups in but I suspect he ran the same plays he would have anyway. I agree that he finally did things to help the pass protection. I really hated the play calling on 2nd and goal from the 1. Three passes was being too cute. Even though Sanders missed a catchable ball. Thankfully the defense bailed us out and forced a 3 and out. That could have changed the momentum otherwise. I don’t like that we don’t have have a heavy package that can grind out a few yards. Our red zone offense has been inconsistent. This roster make up is more on Beane and McD though.

He is nothing like Fitz because he doesn't gun-sling the football. That said, in the safe cocoon of the Pats* organization he is a decent game manager. He does not make a lot of mistakes, he makes the easy throws. He plays like a Tyrod Taylor type of player, maybe a Ryan Tannehill at his highest level.

Hope that Feliciano comes back next week so he can be the backup C. Let Bates play, he earned another game.

I am both relieved and extremely happy. McD had them ready. We started great and never looked back. We won in every phase of the game. With all the injuries and Covid related losses this could have been a bad game but there were no excuses. “Next Man Up” worked this week. McKenzie and Bates both really stepped up. Getting Dawkins back was huge. Allen had another MVP type game. Need to focus on Atlanta. They will be tough. A Christmas win feels so good.

Pretty rotten thing to do. Classless and entitled. Didn’t take him long to be a Pat*.

BB will likely have the DEs set the edge, forcing him up the middle where the likes of Boettger/Morse/Bates/Doyle will have to play better than they have all season.

Thanks. You never know. Maybe this team will rise up and overcome the adversity.

Can we play the game first?

Sure, we can do that that sometimes, but not all game. It more about personnel, not the scheme. Besides, I think BB might figure that out pretty quickly. We just don’t have a good “heavy” package. No blocking TEs and no blocking FB. Maybe a hybrid player like Gilliam can help? Daboll will need to be diverse in packages and playcall. Execution has to be better too.

Really? I don’t see this line being good at anything but this could be one of those classic Bills games where they rise to the occasion and play well. You never know.

If Sanders plays AND can be effective, then we can get by at WR. We essentially have only one TE that is even worth a damm. Now look at the OL without Dawkins, Feliciano, and Ford. It’s not pretty. It’s gonna take great defense and ST, a dramatic improvement in penalties and negative plays, and winning the turnovers. We can win, it will be an epic effort though. Something the 2021 Bills have not had yet.

Davis is a huge loss. Hopefully Sanders can come back. If not we may not have enough horses. Diggs, Sanders and McKenzie with help from Kumerow and Stevenson. Not ideal but we have had much worse. I think missing Ford is a even bigger problem. Brown, Ike, Morse, Bates, Williams. => ugh.

A very useful role player.

TE is part of the offensive line. We need a much better TE2 for sure. Get a TE2 that can block and catch and you just helped the OL and the red zone offense. We don’t have a “heavy” short yardage package that is worth a damm. This is an easy request that Beane should be able to fill. Otherwise, we remain one dimensional.

Gino Cappaletti was a flanker (WR) and a place kicker for Boston George Blanda a QB and kicker for Houston and Oakland Paul McGuire was a punter and LB for the Bills and San Diego Steve Spurier was QB and punter for SF. I met him last year at a bar were my brothers cover band plays. Cool guy.

Stats wise yes, overall talent yes, … but I would like to see more wins, a better home record, and a SB championship

You can’t be “in the stands”. You have to be on the active roster and dressed.

Brown, a rookie, played his first game ever at LT in the NFL with about 10 games of experience. Never played it before and had only a few days to prepare. It different than RT, a position he has been working at. He had a rough day playing against top tier competition. He said in and the post game interview he was learning on the fly. Learning things like what moves the DE made base on his stance (2 point or 3 point). We had another tackle that had a terrible day on his first start. Howard Ballard, who became a pro bowler, was so bad Jim Kelly chewed him out publicly and didn’t want him starting the next week. Some of you look for perfection on every play and in every circumstance. It’s never gonna happen. Brown will go back to RT and will probably end up one our best lineman someday.

Kelly Allen (and still rising) Kemp Ferguson Fitz Lamonica Flutie