PoundingDog

I know we are supposed to move away from Gregg Williams' way of targeting injured player, but you know NFL is still, for the most part, a testosterone-driven contest, especially for non skill players. DeMeco Ryans is a former linebacker in that era. Do you think he'll challenge his D players to "test" Mahomes' ankles? I hope he does. In a way it helps his team this Saturday and for the rest of of the playoff bound teams, the "test" result is as important. By the way I totally get that Mahomes may play because QB does not need to push off his ankles like other skill players if you have an arm strong enough to do most of the throws. Let him. I want to see the "test" result.

Steelers D Line (and 3-4 alignment) is perfect against an offense like Lamar Jackson's Ravens. Keeanu Benton has developed into a stout NT (I like his key trait coming out of the draft - Very challenging to knock him off his feet - wishing the Bills can get someone like that at 1 DT position). The ageless Heyward is playing at pro-bowl level, very stout. When you can't push the 3 D lineman off their spot while Highsmith and Watt flying in from the outside (Watt is a very underrated run defender), if Lamar does not have his first read available to him, he's pretty much dead with no place to escape.

I think you mean if the Steelers win. In that case, Steelers have 2 games on Ravens with 2 games to go. Even if the Ravens catch up to the Steelers at the end, Steelers would win the division because of head to head results.

The Ravens. You want the Steelers to have something to play for against the Chiefs. The critical game is the Texans at Chiefs. If the Texans pull an upset (no matter the odds), there is a very good chance the Chiefs will lose 2 games for the Bills to leap over them.

No I haven't watched Wentz play recently. He may surprise people with his athleticism. As a backup for a game or 2 he may do well. Not a regular starter where defenses picks up what he's going to do with the rest of the team.

Don't laugh. I tend to believe this is who he is. One reason that Terry Pegula was so enamored with Mahomes back in 2017 was the interaction with him at his workout for Bills brass at Texas Tech, something like "never met a more competitive person in Terry's life" and of course Mahomes' workout in a super windy day on that day. To the point where Terry started to study Mahomes tape himself. But I do think life is not all sunshine in Chiefs land going forward. With the departure of Hill and the decline of Kelce, coupled with some offensive draft picks (O-Line tackles, WRs) not panning out, Mahomes is forced to do more and take more hits in recent years. Just the opposite what the Bills are doing with Allen. And I believe Allen is better suited than Mahomes to handle NFL physical stress on the body (country strong). If the Chiefs front office continues the trend on their O-Line and weapon improvement (drafting in the last at each round does not help), I'll predict Mahomes may have a serious injury - end of season kind - coming next couple of years. Interesting question, who will have their above-the-scheme skillset diminish sooner, Mahomes or Allen? Allen is one year younger than Mahomes though.

That's what I'm afraid that people auto assumed Wentz would lead to losses. Wentz might be the best backup QB in the entire league and Reid has enough time to maximize his talent.

This is on Lewis. He's another one that knows what is going on in the scheme but lacking physical tools which amounts to be a backup. Mind you this is already a huge achievement for the young man. On the St Brown long TD that I saw on TV (not all-22), I thought it's not Bishop's responsibility. It was a nice pass from Goff that just over the finger tips of Bernard (how many times we saw Allen did that against zone defense, just out of the reach of underneath LBs into a hole for his receivers?). Lewis is the safety of the last line of defense on that play and he needs to make the tackle. Sorry to say that I think Hamlin, people think the weakest starter of the whole Bills team, would make the play if he were on the field.

Mostly true. But they do have a chance to catch Steelers and they play Ravens at home on Christmas Day. So if they beat the Chiefs and the Ravens beat Steelers this Saturday. On Chrismas night they may be the 3rd seed. What does a 3rd seed mean to them? Maybe not much. Looks like the 5th seed will be either the Steelers or Ravens. The 3rd seed will play either Chargers or Broncos.

I'm a Bills fan and hated Mahomes for being so good. You gotta appreciate his ultra competitiveness, kind of like Tom Brady level. Don't take it as a shot at Allen or other guys. All of them star players, especially QBs are very competitive. But there are different levels. Some guys just can't accept failure, not even tiny bit, and it propells them to go to maybe the dark side. In Mahomes case, this year shapes to be a year he went too far too many times with so many INTs, trying to make a play.

There are 12 D-Linemen on the roster. They did that by squeezing out a safety (Rapp, Hamlin, Bishop on rsoter) and kind of leveraging Cam Lewis to be backup nickel and safety. Yesterday it was getting close where they had to rely on a practice guy to play every down at safety. Already they have to inactivate a CB on game date for a few weeks as well. They activate 10 D-Lineman every game and simply throw guys out there to see which one sticks for a particular game. Not sure it is a sound strategy going forward, espectially in the playoff. Maybe it speaks volume of their dis-satisfaction at talent on D-Line.

Not saying we sit Rapp, Hamlin, Douglas. Just that if any of them is not 100%, we play the kids. We should still win even if a mistake or two is made. The last thing I want is like last year's playoff game where a clearly not healthy Douglas played over Elam.

Elam's tackling still needs work. He's trying to pry the ball out instead of tackling too many times. Bishop is way too conservative on passing plays, as in try not to get beat deep. I think Romo even said that to the tune of the safety can tighten up in the middle some. In other words, Bishop is not playing free at the moment, which is understandable at this stage of her NFL career.

We are probably going to see the same caliber of teams in the playoff like we saw in the last 4 games. And as it happened, 2 at home, 2 on the road, kind of like a #2 seed team's path to a super bowl. The current version of Allen led offense looked to be more consistent in output. Defense is the question mark. Are they able to somehow keep a lid on the can, even though it maybe popped multiple times but not being completely blown off like in the Rams game?

Mmmm maybe depends on how invested Texans and Broncos are in their games against the Chiefs. I think the Steelers will be, win or lose Saturday against Baltimore. The Texans just clinched their division. Could have a let-down game like the Bills clinching the division. They are guaranteed to host a playoff game. May have outside shot to move up to 2nd seed (unlikely) or 3rd seed (more realistic). What does a 3rd seed buys you instead of the 4th seed? The last game at Denver, everything might be sewed up by then.

How does that logic work? Go score a TD so now I have time to score a TD on my own. It's a zero sum game! The key is to STOP/REDUCE your scoring so I can score to catch up to you. If I do onsite kick, I need to get the ball so I effectively eliminate your chance of scoring in that possession. Any other outcome means squat.

This is what the Bills D need to be --- it wasn't great, giving up, realistically, 35 points. They stopped the Lions high powered offense 3 drives and had a turnover. Personally I feel this is what the D need to do. First and foremoset, STOP THE RUN. The Lions was not able to run with much success. They wound up with 18 runs and 59 passes. We can play shoot up with any team, prefer not against teams chewing up time and leaving our offense with 20 minutes of time like the Rams game. From there, stop them once or twice or a turnover. That's all we need now. Now back to STOP THE RUN part. That's where I think we need some DTs, not necessarily guys who can rush the passer, just guys who's stout against run.

Can't see it on TV well of Lions' coverages. I thought Lions' man to man coverage scheme means Cooper may be a big part of the offense. But he had 0 target. On the positive side, there is no known issue of complaints of not getting targets so far. It looks like the big plays went to Ty Johnson who easily beat his man time after time in the first half.

I heard the sideline reporter said cramp and would be back to the game after taking some IVs. But Don't think I saw him. He needs to play, especially the next 3 games where it is important for him to take some lumps while they get Rapp and Hamlin completely healed for the playoffs.

Don't think he came back to the game.

It's a thin line. The Rams game, Stafford is less mobile than Goff and Rams O-Line is worse than the Lions, but a little bit moving pocket and some amazing catches by Rams receivers made the difference. This game, the Lions could not run the ball (for the most part) and the receivers dropped some balls (frankly not in the class of Kupp and Nucua).

One of the reporter said Dorian was out too. But I thought I saw him back to the game in the last Lion's drive

The Bills had "hands" on both sides with Shakir and Hollins. Taron might have the better hands on defense now that Hyde is not back there. But I'd put Coleman in Taron's place for onside kick defense in the future.

Of course that's the case for the Bills. The reason? Because they don't have another HoF worthy player right now that can pick up the team on his shoulders. I keep reminding people the Chiefs have Chris Jones on Defense in case Mahomes has a rare off day, and Travis Kelce to make Mahome's life easy (maybe not much this year).

Milano had a groin injury - from the CBS side line reporter