Coach Tuesday

I am being forced to watch this game at a Christmas party deep in the heart of Patriots country. Pray for my soul.

Wow. I usually disagree with your takes. IMO you couldn’t be more wrong here. For the first time in decades I feel like there’s a decent chance the Bills go in there and beat the daylights out of the Pats in their own house. It’s precisely for the reason you mention - the game potentially doesn’t mean much in the standings for each team. That should allow the Bills to play fast and have fun. The Patriots, by contrast, seem miserable this year. I have lots more to say about this game but I have to shower and go to work. But I haven’t been this excited for a game in many years.

I just wanna say: Renegade is a really stupid song.

I mean that's great and all, but King admitted in the preseason that he's not interested in covering the Bills anymore because they lack relevance as an organization (it was in one of his PFT columns in August), and he has barely mentioned them all season. Now, on the heels of the most exciting moment the franchise and its fans have had in 20 years, his feature story is a sit-down with Mike McCarthy. I used to like Peter King. I really miss Dr. Z. Albert Breer is the best read out there right now.

If you're gonna try mounting one of those, I recommend getting it drunk first.

This. The Bills have NOTHING to lose in this game and everything to gain - they've already clinched, they should play loose and have fun and punch them in the nose.

But also, how in the world does Spain hold on that play? And how does Milano tackle a guy by his facemask/helmet on that other play??

This is a really interesting bellwether game for both franchises. The Patriots' offense is reeling right now - they looked terrible against Cincinnati. Edelman is hobbled and teams have been doubling him and White and forcing Brady to find other reads, and he has struggled to do that. Their running game is underperforming. If the Bills' special teams can get their act together (I'm skeptical) and Allen can play faster but less amped (a real challenge for him), the Bills have a serious chance of giving the Patriots the gut punch the entire league has been waiting for. The Patriots usually get hot this time of year - but that's not how their season is going and a loss at home to the Bills could really affect their confidence heading into the playoffs. For once.

(He said in his best Chris Collinsworth voice...)

Anyone else think Collinsworth is still walking around his house muttering to his dog that they should throw the ball to Washington?

This is the difference between these coaching staffs.

Let’s see what Gore plays they have in store!

Protecting the lead on the road is absolutely the right strategy - some of you folks have lost your minds. Especially after Allen just turned it over deep in their own zone.

He’s 100% correct - I don’t see what the big deal is.

Collinsworth is right about that INT

The league is a joke.

He does that every year! Do not tackle like that - ugh.

This is not a playoff-caliber group of pass catchers.

Screen pass install: 2020

Gore over Yeldon is a major mistake in roster management for this game, IMO. Hopefully it doesn’t matter. Man are they stubborn about Gore, just like they were with Tolbert. McD sure has an odd vision of what offense should be.

They disguise the rush very well but they don’t bring an extra rusher with too much frequency. They do get plenty of sacks...

That, and you need to spread out the defenders. If they try to go heavy with the max protect and bunch formations like they did last week, we'll likely see much of the same results.

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/film-room/2019/film-room-steelers-defense Based on this analysis - Gore needs to be deactivated this week, Yeldon should take his place. They allow running backs to slip into the flat and dare you to throw it to them - they're fine with giving up a 4-5 yard swing pass. We need to stay patient and take advantage of that, and Yeldon offers far more upside as a receiver out of the backfield. I repeat: there is ZERO REASON Gore should be active this week, he adds nothing to the gameplan against that kind of defense.

Take a look at Erik Turner's column today in The Athletic. I'm far less concerned about the deep ball than I am with JA's tendency to see ghosts and bail from the pocket before he needs to. The Ravens got in his head early in the game and it threw off his clock and caused him to overthink. I didn't realize this at the time but on the Knox drop, he had Beasley wide open right in front of his face for an easy first down and instead threw it back across his body to Knox. JA needs to keep working on his processing speed and understanding the goal of each play relative to the down-and-distance and game situation. Daboll also needs to go empty backfield more, as explained in Turner's article - they went max protect to help shore up the protection and it resulted in disaster. The deep balls are a plus but not a must.

Except for you.