Sierra Foothills

On the discussion of the Bills DBs, it was ironic that Elam, who is often lauded for his press/man coverage skills was inactive. Ingram dressed but didn't get any snaps. To the bolded, this is a strategy that the Ravens (John Harbaugh) employed against Josh pretty frequently in week 4.

Goff has had a great season, is in the MVP conversation, and has been flawless at times with 2 consecutive games with a perfect passer rating. But what QB throws 5 ints in a game like Goff did last week? That would make me a bit nervous if I was a Lions fan... especially against a Bills D whose coverages are notoriously difficult to figure out.

However the Bills were not playing well when they lost to Houston... they're playing much better right now than they were in week 5. Different subject, I remember lots of comments wishing the Bills bye week came earlier this season... I think due to all of the injuries. It seems now that it couldn't come at a better time AND if the Bills do lock up the top seed they'll have a bye this weekend and another for the Wild Card round on January 11-12. It would be great to have 2 byes in an 7 week period... and then to play all playoff games at home heading into the Super Bowl.

2024 Detroit Lions Schedule Sunday Sep. 8 Los Angeles Rams W 26-20 (OT) Sunday Sep. 15 Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 20-16 Sunday Sep. 22 at Arizona Cardinals W 20-13 Monday Sep. 30 Seattle Seahawks W 42-29 Sunday Oct. 6 BYE Sunday Oct. 13 at Dallas Cowboys W 47-9 Sunday Oct. 20 at Minnesota Vikings W 31-29 Sunday Oct. 27 Tennessee Titans W 52-14 Sunday Nov. 3 at Green Bay Packers W 24-14 Sunday Nov. 10 at Houston Texans W 26-23 Sunday Nov. 17 Jacksonville Jaguars W 52-6 Sunday Nov. 24 at Indianapolis Colts Thursday Nov. 28 Chicago Bears Thursday Dec. 5 Green Bay Packers Sunday Dec. 15 Buffalo Bills Sunday Dec. 22 at Chicago Bears Monday Dec. 30 at San Francisco 49ers Sunday Jan. 5 Minnesota Vikings

2024 Detroit Lions Schedule Sunday Sep. 8 Los Angeles Rams W 26-20 (OT) Sunday Sep. 15 Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 20-16 Sunday Sep. 22 at Arizona Cardinals W 20-13 Monday Sep. 30 Seattle Seahawks W 42-29 Sunday Oct. 6 BYE Sunday Oct. 13 at Dallas Cowboys W 47-9 Sunday Oct. 20 at Minnesota Vikings W 31-29 Sunday Oct. 27 Tennessee Titans W 52-14 Sunday Nov. 3 at Green Bay Packers W 24-14 Sunday Nov. 10 at Houston Texans W 26-23 Sunday Nov. 17 Jacksonville Jaguars W 52-6 Sunday Nov. 24 at Indianapolis Colts Thursday Nov. 28 Chicago Bears Thursday Dec. 5 Green Bay Packers Sunday Dec. 15 Buffalo Bills Sunday Dec. 22 at Chicago Bears Monday Dec. 30 at San Francisco 49ers Sunday Jan. 5 Minnesota Vikings The Lions have beaten some solid teams but haven't played any elite teams. They've run up the score on some bad teams. But his arm is still elite and Sunday's win at New England was a quality start for Stafford. Strange that a fetish porn service ranks the NFL teams. Oh wait... never mind.

That's mostly because all 3 games were close and the ratings numbers are average numbers. If a game is a blowout the numbers drop out very quickly, affecting the average rating. The Bills games against the Dolphins and Ravens were blowouts or they would also have gotten huge numbers.

"The Buffalo Bills' 30-21 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11 brought in record-breaking TV viewership during the CBS National window. According to Sports Business Journal's Austin Karp, an average of 31.2 million viewers tuned in to see Buffalo's home win which snapped Kansas City's unbeaten record and improved the Bills to 9-2 for the first time since 1992. Not only is Bills-Chiefs the most-watched game of the 2024 NFL season so far, it is also the most-watched regular season NFL game, excluding Thanksgiving & Christmas, since the Patriots-Colts game Week 9 in 2007 (33.8 million). That matchup featured the 8-0 Patriots, led by Tom Brady, going against Peyton Manning and the 7-0 Colts. Additionally, Bills-Chiefs is 4th most-watched National window on record (dating back to 1988) and ranks among the 10 most-watched NFL games on record in any window, excluding Thanksgiving."

The Bills have been famously victimized by Hail Mary plays (Hopkins, Jefferson, Lazard) over the years but they've coached/played them poorly. I'm confident that they'll get it right going forward. With big, rangy CBs like Douglas and Benford they have a good start. They have to rush more than 2 guys for starters. I don't think it's helpful for AJ Epenesa and Terrell Bernard to be playing 10 yards off the line of scrimmage either. And for as much as I love Taron Johnson, he and Cam Lewis, Taylor Rapp, and Damar Hamlin is not a good Hail Mary combo to put back there. It seems like Keon Coleman and Mack Hollins should be back there. Anyways, after the Lazard catch, I think the Bills will do better on Hail Marys and I certainly don't lose sleep thinking about them. Spleenectomy. The Jets are in our division... yes... but rivals? Seriously though, I like Cooper over Hopkins but I'd probably take Adams over Cooper if it was equal compensation. Mostly just super pleased that Beane pulled Cooper out of his hat.

Beat me to it! (we mustn't tell the others) In other words, everyone eats. Over the months too... MVS... Samuel was a 4 Star running back recruit when he signed with Ohio State.In his time as a Buckeye he had 176 carries for 1286 yards... an average of 7.5 ypc. He also had 107 receptions for 1249 yards... 11.7 ypr. In his 283 touches he scored 24 TDs. He ran a 4.31 at the 2017 combine before being selected 40th overall by the Carolina Panthers.

And the Bills under McDermott are 1-0 vs Baltimore in the playoffs.

Your alarm clock has a horn?

I'll disagree. As I posted before, Terrell Bernard and Taron Johnson didn't play in the week 4 debacle at Baltimore. Also Cole Bishop played most of that game after Taylor Rapp was injured. There's a lot of people here who don't understand how the loss of "smaller" players could hurt a run defense but all 3 of these players are assignment sound which is the first job of fitting runs... and secondly all are good at using instincts and angles (instead of anchoring) to defeat blocks. Many here just assume that Detroit and Baltimore will run all over this defense. If the Bills are healthy I don't think that happens.

I'm curious in what way Beane got lucky. There were numerous wide receiver-needy teams and Cooper landed with the Bills. Where is luck in this?

'HERE WE GO!!!" 1) I hate the Cowboys and take every opportunity to root against them BUT... I've developed a strong dislike for Houston and wouldn't mind seeing them go to 6-5 in the AFC race. 2) That said, I also despise Trevon Diggs so I'm not sure who I want to see lose more.

Why can't we beat Baltimore? To add to these thoughts, the Bills have scored over 30 points in 5 straight games and in 8 of 11 games this year. Cooper's only been here a few weeks. Coleman, Samuel, and Hollins are still developing chemistry with Josh. Ray Davis is a rookie. I couldn't agree more that this offense has a lot more headroom to improve... there's still almost 7 weeks before the season finale against New England.

Right here... the BBC: https://www.bbc.com/sport/american-football/articles/crez1z8pxyzo#:~:text=It was also a rare,games without conceding that many. I'm gonna blame @GunnerBill for this one! 😃

Interestingly Offensive Tackle can be a position of longevity too. I can think of many OTs that had long and illustrious careers. Dawkins is 30 years old and has 3 years remaining on his contract after this year, with reasonable cap hits. Beane also drafted Cody Ford in the 2nd round so like all GMs, he's had his misses. Still among the top GMs in the league and seemingly getting better.

Changing the subject a bit, the Bills accomplished a few nice things yesterday: The last team to go undefeated in the regular season was the New England Patriots in 2007. KC will not touch that record for at least another year. The Chiefs had won 15 straight games dating back to last season (and including the playoffs). The NFL record is 21 (New England 2003-2004). New England's record is safe. The Chiefs' defense had held 30 straight opponents under 28 points. The streak is the longest for any team since the 2000-01 Philadelphia Eagles posted a 34-game streak under the guidance of – remarkably – Head Coach Andy Reid. That streak is now ended. The Bills are the first team to beat the Chiefs by more than one score since the Titans on October 24th... 2021. It was great to take all of these possible accomplishments away from Kansas City.

Yeah when Josh gets up to speed, defenders are forced to make the old "business decision" and a high percentage of them choose self-preservation. I agree with you Coach. To the bolded, Mahomes completed 6 passes on the TD drive that narrowed our lead to 23-21. Most of them were small window throws made on the run. It was amazing quarterbacking. In contrast, on the Bills final TD drive which settled the outcome, Josh ran the ball 4 times for 41 yards culminating in the 26 yard TD run. With all due respect to Lamar Jackson, no other QB in the NFL could have done that... tacklers want to hit Jackson, they are much less eager to tackle Josh. Imagine the hue and cry of people here had Hopkins or Worthy gone off and the Bills lost. It would have been dismal. I'm hoping we get one more year each out of Babich and Brady.

1) I didn't say he returned from injury. 2) As you've undoubtedly heard numerous times, there's being in shape and there's being in football/game shape. You need to attain the latter to be effective and no amount of time in the gym attains that level of fitness.

Yes, thankfully enough people here understand the difference between being gassed and "quitting" on a play. Yeah that's why Von's getting all these snaps... because McDermott sees him quitting. I guess not many people here are old enough to remember Bruce Smith... Here's an idea... Von returned to action in week 9... he had 21 snaps that game and 23 snaps last week Maybe the team is trying to build up his conditioning?

🤣

Fixed it for you.

The Chiefs wouldn't assume an extra point miss more than they would assume being behind 2 scores. They didn't want Josh to score but once that locomotive gets up to speed, LBs and DBs seem to shy away from contact. No other QB in the game has this effect on defenders.

In addition to some good moves in free agency and a great trade. I agree that Beane continues to improve.