MPL

Discipline, pursuit angles, and getting multiple guys to the ball will be critical on Defense. Lamar Jackson can flip a game on its head with one play.

Why wouldn't this be heavily discussed? Two quarterbacks from the same draft class who were both viewed by many as quarterbacks who wouldn't be successful in the NFL. One has a league MVP title and their first career playoff win, and the other is playing at an MVP level and just won their first playoff game. For both teams, the offense is almost entirely dependent on the QB. Good defenses aside, this game is about Allen vs. Jackson.

I think you could make the argument that no crowds made it easier for offenses. But, here's a question—if playing with no fans was such a big reason for Allen's success, then why didn't every quarterback in the league take a massive jump in performance, accuracy, decision making, etc? Every QB played in mostly empty stadiums this year. Only few did what Allen did.

I had the impression Chan came back this year specifically to work with Fitz. Pure speculation here, but I wonder if the decision to switch to Tua, despite Fitz playing well, rubbed Chan the wrong way.

Only because you asked... Yes, foresightful is a word, but not one that is commonly used. "Terry and Kim displayed great foresight when they brought in Beane and McDermott" would sound more natural.

That Stevie Johnson "Why So Serious?" game was 10 years ago already?! Holy smokes.

I, for one, am hoping the Cowboys and Redskins Football Team both lose, opening the door for the 6-10 Giants to make the playoffs. I think it would be hilarious.

We all had our chance to make Duke Williams a write-in candidate for the Pro Bowl and vote for him 1,000,000 times. We let Duke down.

There's a reason Austin's motto is, "Keep Austin Weird."

You either have to have the best record in football or significantly exceed expectations. While the Bills are certainly exceeding expectations this year, they aren't exceeding expectations as much as Miami. That team wasn't supposed to be competitive this year. Ron Rivera is a contender because he has Washington in playoff contention with a pretty lousy roster, all while undergoing cancer treatment. It's pretty remarkable even if it only takes 7 wins to win that division. McDermott is in the conversation, and I think he's widely regarded as a top 10 coach (just not always in this board). If we finish 13-3, maybe he's included as more serious contender for the award. Let's just all be thankful it's not Rex Ryan, Chan Gailey, Dick Jauron, or Gregg Williams at the helm anymore.

These type of candles are everywhere in Austin, TX. A company down here called Illumidol started making these a number of years ago. They have a sports line, but no Bills players on it yet. I think a McDermott one would be pretty funny. https://www.illuminidol.com/

Picture this... McDonald's commercial. Mahomes and Allen playing a game of horse a la Bird and Jordan, but with football trick throws instead of basketball. Winner gets a Big Mac.

Man, oh man. Was this the last time Buffalo blocked a FG? Or even a punt for that matter?

Forget home and road playoff games. Put the playoffs in a bubble in Arizona. Allen has been lights out in two games in Glendale this year. But the way things are shaping up, looks like playoff road games in KC and Pitt. will be the only options, unless Pitt. keeps sliding or we fall apart in the last three weeks.

Risk schmisk. Attending a Bills game has always come with a risk of death, bodily injury, or a drunk guy falling on you from the upper deck. Get smart, y'all, it's all a conspiracy to keep the Bills out of the Super Bowl! Just joshing—get a dang vaccine.

I worked as a marketing manager at an animal shelter in the southeastern United States for a couple years. Part of my job involved managing the shelter's social media account, which involved interacting with more than my fair share of facebook profiles with dogs, American flags, and bald eagles as their avatars. It would be a lie if I said I didn't laugh a little when I heard Foxworth's comments, because I know exactly the type of profiles he's talking about. That said, Foxworth's comments were dumb and he was making broad, incoherent generalizations about Bills fans. Does Foxworth hate America and dogs? I don't know. Probably not. Maybe. Whatever. Etc. The cool thing about America—and probably also the worst thing about America—is that you can literally get your news, sports, and opinions from like, 8,000,000 different sources. Everyone's an expert while everyone else is simultaneously an idiot. Can't find what you're looking for on cable? Try YouTube, where anyone with a computer and a microphone is ready to give you their expert opinion. Don't like their opinion? Don't worry, there's another channel already set up to rebuke that opinion. Sometime between 2004 and now, social media created an information clusterf***, where everyone is right, everything is a fact, and everyone is smarter than everyone else. Hell, I don't know what to do. I just want the Bills to make it to the AFC Championship so Nick Wright gets a mustard and ketchup bukkake on his dumb looking face.

Hell, I'd say there's a grain of truth in that.

Sorry for the crumby joke.

Man, oh man. This post is a bread end.

Madden is long overdue for a Kicker on the cover. Rodrigo Blankenship has my vote. That face belongs on covers.

This is an incredibly resilient team. Three weeks ago, after the Hail Murray, the question was whether or not this team could bounce back from such a heartbreaking loss. And it would have been easy for the wheels to start to come off after that game. Instead, they put together a quality win against a good Chargers team. Then comes San Fransisco, and all week the conversation is, "the Bills stink against the run," and, "Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk are back," and, "the Bills can't win in prime time." They go down 7-0 after the Moss fumble and again, it would have been easy for the wheels to come off. I think that resiliency comes from McDermott, and it shows up in moments like these. Anyone who has ever been in charge of getting the best performance out of a group of adults knows how hard leadership is. McDermott has it.

Oh yeah, was mostly joking around. I've played my share of Madden over the years. It's a fine game. Though, I played this year's game and Charles Davis kept referring to Tyler Kroft as Austin Sefarian-Jenkins. Weird glitch.

Madden has been going downhill since they removed the ambulance driving on the field and running over the injured player animation. Bring back Tecmo Super Bowl.

I don't know that the general feeling nationally is that we were lucky against the Chargers. Gregg Rosenthal and co. on the Around the NFL Podcast talked positively about the Bills win—particularly the Defense doing a great job of making Herbert uncomfortable early and staying on him, and getting the run game going with over 170 yards. Nantz and Romo also got into a discussion about how good the AFC is this year, and I think it was Nantz that said something along the lines of, "don't forget the Bills. They probably don't get as much recognition as they deserve." I think with the exception of the Steelers and Chiefs, every team that is currently in the playoffs (or in the hunt) has question marks that get brought up regularly by analysts, writers, etc. That said, I have no faith in this team if a game comes down to a Hail Mary. 😆