Ed_Formerly_of_Roch

You bring up a good point! Sort of! One thing I haven't seen much mention of, many Bill's fans here on this message board and other places including myself gave the Bills a real good chance to beat the Chiefs for a couple of reasons: The only team besides the Bills to win their last six regular season games was Green Bay, plus the Bills won 11 of the final 12 which no other team had done. So they were the hottest team in the league. In December they weren't just winning games, they were crushing teams. In that same time frame KC was just squeaking by in their games, not very impressive at all. For these reasons many in the national media, plus local media and certainly Bills fans gave them a good chance to beat KC Also heard some discussion from the national media as to what's wrong with KC? There were a couple of response that nothings wrong , they are just bored. Guess they were the ones that nailed it correctly! Add to that KC sat most of their starters in the last regular season game and lost, then a week bye. By the time they played Cleveland they came out kind of a bit rusty. Unfortunately for the Bills they were ready this week. Also read or heard some report that Mahomes may be getting a little tired of hearing reports that Allen has caught or even passed Mahomes. Recall on the Fox pre-game Bradshaw stated Allen is the best passer in the league or some words similar. All these things may have made the media and Bills fans more confident that the team could beat KC, but may have also helped motivate KC to play their best game in a couple of months.

We do have alot of those types, Roberts, Jones, Matakvich, Gilliam to some extent, though he does at least contribute some on offense Is that only after adding in Allens yards gained rushing? Always felt kind of unfair how QB running yards are measured. If a QB scrambles and gets sacked even as little as one yard behind the LOS it counts as a sack, but as soon as he crosses the LOS it becomes positive rushing yards gained. Seems like the only time a QB gets negative rushing yards in when taking a knee. Would like to see QB running yards tracked differently, once he drops back to pass yards gained or lost is totaled separately, call it yards scrambling

Most of the articles I've read all blame Brown for running a poor route. That he shouldn't have been covered that tight if he had fought thru it. But he didn't and Allen expected him to get open.

Guess I don't understand the difference? Before we scored the TD we were 23 points behind so needed to score 3 TD's and on two of them needed to convert the 2 point conversion to tie. So what difference does it make if we went for and made the 2 pointer on the 1st two TD's or the last two? You could argue going for it on the first two TD's scored makes the most sense as then you know where you are, once they missed they then knew they'd need 2 more TD's plus a FG. If they kick after the first TD, get the two on the 2nd TD, now they come down score another TD with 20 seconds left, go for two and fail, there's no time left to do anything else. The sooner in the game you know what you need to do to come back the better. Here's an except from one article and if you Google, you can find a dozen other articles all basically stating the same, go for it early: Knowledge is power. You need to get a two-point conversion at some point, and knowing whether you’re going to convert is important information. There is no reasonable reason not to go for 2 after your first touchdown. Yes, missing out on the two-point conversion earlier could be demoralizing. But what would you call missing out on a two-point conversion with 5 seconds left when trailing by 2? https://www.footballperspective.com/trailing-by-15-in-the-middle-of-the-4th-quarter-teams-are-foolish-to-not-go-for-2-after-touchdowns/

I agree and I'm saying that in a good way. Based on what we displayed on the 1st 3 downs, it wasn't very likely we would score, so kicking the FG still kept us a little closer so that if we did finally figure things out and could look like the team that played all season, maybe then could get back into it. All the comments about playing scared and didn't learn anything after being aggressive all season, it was a different team all season, a team that couldn't be stopped and likely never would have got to 4th down as would have already scored on 2nd down. But not Sunday, that team couldn't do anything.

Recall one time back in the 90's on a weekend in October; Syracuse played Florida State Sat afternoon, both Saturday and Sunday evening the Atlanta Braves had a playoff game and MNF was the Bills at Chiefs. At that point on Monday my wife said to me, "whats the deal does everyone do this same chant"!

His name is Gabe Davis! I really question this speed thing. I did some calculations a few weeks back. The difference between Davis at 4.52 seconds and Brown 4.3, (assuming he can even still do a 4.3 at his age) results in a 40 yard run about 5 1/2 feet. In other words Brown would beat Davis by that amount. But when throwing a pass, have to factor in Davis being taller, likely longer arms makes up some of that distance. Maybe it's an effective difference of about 1.5 yard. So how many passes are going to be dropped perfectly into that spot that Brown would have caught it and it would have sailed over Davis head? How many passes does a team even throw over 40 yards over the course of the season, and how many are then even completed? Maybe 40 are thrown and 10 completed. Does it really stretch the field all that much more, and if so, how many more yards does it actually gain the team? And then is it worth spending an extra $7 mil for that or better spent elsewhere?

Obviously NOT a math Wizard!

So here's another question for all to explain: How come players seem to root for the team that knocks them out, but fans seem to hate and always root against the team the knocks them out? Never could figure that one out, and not saying I'm not guilty of this myself either!

Agree Allen never looked comfortable all game, throws were often high. He made a few good ones, but more bad ones than we'd seen all season. I just commented in another thread, maybe part of Allen's problem this year was he never really faced much adversity. Other than the Tenn and 1st KC game, were we ever behind by more than one score all year? And those two games Allen supposedly was playing hurt. So now when things weren't going well, makes it harder to know what to do when you've hardly been in that position all season. The entire play of offense took a big step back once playoffs started. Was it due to facing better defenses? Certainly true of Indy and Ravens, but Allen certainly didn't look as rattled and the line gave him time to throw. Not so much in this game as constantly under pressure. Excluding Brown the WR's were pretty healthy all season, but they all caught up at once it seemed. Running game is a complete mess. I do wonder as proficient as the passing game was all season, did they not devote enough practice time to the running game? Just looked up Singletery's stats for the past two seasons. Actually surprised me to see they were pretty close both season dropped from 775 yards to 687 2 TD's each year , 151 t o156 attempts, little better receptions and yards passing in 2020, dropped from 4 fumbles in 2019 to 1 this season. So how come he seemed light years better in 2019??

I remember as a kid they were literally in candy dishes at funeral homes to revive the grieving widow. Know idea if that's still common practice.

Like our #6 WR Roberts, add to that a 3rd RB in T Jones that only plays ST too. I understand the reluctance to play Williams over Yeldon as again all we'd seen of him looking real great was in mock up duty against Miami. But maybe they could have also activated Williams at the expense of Jones. Would think Williams could play some ST? At least then if Williams doesn't doo much still have Yeldon and Singletery to go back to. Could even throw in Matakevich as a LB who does nothing but play ST so are somewhat short in 3 position groupings, but have 9 D lineman and CB typically active. May need to find more Gilliam types that are good ST players, but can still contribute to offense and defense when called upon and more importantly, not to seemingly be afraid to call on them.

Believe it's because he was cut at the beginning, then signed to PS, never under actual contract. This year due to Covid changes, they had this thing every week where you could bring two players up to the 53 and not be subject to Waivers when brought back down, think it also could only happen to any one player two times through the year, so allowed Jackson to actually play in couple of games. Think at the end of the season everyone on the PS is either signed to a futures contract or becomes a FA May depend on what they view of Fromm's development. St this point I'd be kind of nervous having your back up QB's being Fromm and Webb. Maybe over off-season and pre-season, one or both play pretty well and fears are reduced considerably to go with them. Will be very surprised too if they don't also bring in a vet to be ready for backup position if either/both of these guys look shaky. Maybe it will even be Barkley unless they feel they can find a much cheaper but compatible talented option?

Seeing this photo, now it makes much more sense!!!

This was from an article from the Athletic, (need to be a subscriber) Putting this into context, this happened early 2nd quarter right after the Chiefs scored their first TD so score 9-7 Bills. Was in an article chronicling his final game of season. After some brief throws on the sideline, Allen grabbed a packet of smelling salts and took a deep inhale at 7:21. He quickly shook his head back and forth three times and then waited to take the field. My question is does this happen every time he goes onto the field. Did this mean he was actually knocked a bit woozy last possession. Sounds like something common place 30 years ago, in today's NFL would think the league would question the need for or is this a typical practice everyone in the league does??

If you could get a 3rd or 4th for Hughes, then would agree trade him, but doubt they could. If they can't I'd keep him, maybe redo the contract to lessen the hit and add one year and in a way they could easily walk away from. I think if you put Ngakoue on the other end, Hughes may all of a sudden look better too. Also don't want to see so much change on line in one off season. I'd let Addison and Butler both go, but would keep Jefferson as he can play both inside and out, plus was asked to play out of position most of year as they were juggling things all over due to Star's opt out. If you're signing Thomlinson to replace Star, think I'd wait till next year and sign the best 1 technique FA in 2022 and save the money this year.

Why in the first 18 games of the season did Allen have enough time back there to read a book before throwing? I don't care how bad they looked against one team, you need to look at the complete body of work before making rash decisions like firing a coach. Do think alot can be traced back to poor running game, which maybe the line coach is at fault for that. But wouldn't fault him for Allen being under duress. Also much easier for a D line to look reel good when team you're facing is 3 TD's behind and has no running game.

I think it's a little more than that. McD's scheme on the D line appears to be rather than trying to get a superstar lineman, we're going to rotate 8 to 9 deep and wear you down. By the 3rd quarter we'll be beating you, even if it's our backups as they are still pretty good players. That idea seemed to work for the most part in 2018 and 2019, but not in 2020. Whether it was lack of an off season for the new players to fully be comfortable in the system or they signed the wrong guys, not sure which, but didn't get the value for what they spent. Maybe the secret is pickup or sign guys on one year deals so they want to go out and prove something, like Phillips and Shaq last year and maybe Williams on the O-line this season. Will be interesting to see if they would even try to sign a high end pass rusher if they could or again stick with the come at you in waves concept. I will say this philosophy seems to be prevalent across all sports of resting players. Look at the NBA giving players games off, pitchers never pitching anymore on three days rest, etc. Compare that to Bruce Smith, when did he come out of games?

Lorenzo retired so not much the team could do there. Always worry when guys in contract years like Shaq and Phillips have great seasons so really didn't have a problem with them letting them go. Personally I think losing Star was the biggest hurdle and they never completly overcame.

Doubt you want to cut 4 D Lineman of the team. I'd cut Butler and if you can sign a higher level proven edge rusher would also add in Addision. Going further than that you're going to start to weaken the team too far and/or will need to sign a bunch of replacments. Could see a restructure/extension for Hughes maybe add one more year to deal, think I'd like to keep Jefferson as he's more versatile, can play inside or outside. On the O-Line I'd cut Morse if means can resign Mongo and Williams. If only signing one, then would keep Morse. Brown is gone unless takes a huge like 50% pay cut. You also need to keep around $5 mil for draft picks, plus teams like to keep between $3 to $5 mil for in season injury replacements.

Be accurate here, Bealsey said it was only partially broken! LOL

Boettger, Bojorquez and Wallace are all RFA so would sign them cheap. Of the unrestricted, I'd try to resign: Feliciano, Williams, Milano, McKenzie, & Jones. Some like McKenzie, and Jones won't break the bank, some of the others will. The Bills spent a fair amount of $$ and effort to improve ST, can't see them letting Jones and Roberts both walk, maybe Roberts prices himself out and goes, but not both. I'd also let Morse, Brown, Butler all walk, maybe Addison too if could sign a more high impact edge rusher. Then redo the contracts of Hyde, Smith, and Matakevich to lower cap hit. Likely a couple others the team will also redo to lower cap. With Kroft a FA if they also let Smith go, they will need to find a backup TE who can also block well as you do want that big blocking TE on the roster, even if used sparingly. Maybe the team feels they've seen enough from Sweeney to be the backup TE, then keep Smith as the blocker. If not then maybe try and find another Kroft like guy for less money, but the less money part might be too hard to do, so maybe they keep Smith.

You actually left a couple out Boettger, Bojorquez also FA and Wallace are all RFA so would sign them cheap. Of the unrestricted, I'd try to resign: Feliciano, Williams, Milano, McKenzie, Jones, Roberts, and Barkley (they need a #2 QB so unless they can find someone better for similar $$ why not him) Some like McKenzie, Jones, and Roberts won't break the bank, some of the others will. I'd also let Morse, Brown, Butler all walk, maybe Addison too if could sign a more high impact edge rusher. Then redo the contracts of Hyde, Smith, and Matakevich to lower cap hit. Likely a couple others the team will also redo to lower cap.

I do wonder if Daboll (and maybe Allen too) got too infatuated with the early season success of the passing game and just kind of forgot about the running game to some extent. How much did they practice it, did that also drop off some, maybe not a conscious decision but might have been the result. That result trickled down to time spent working in run blocking too. Assuming they resign Williams and Mongo, let Morse go, resign Ike and Bates as backups. Draft an interior lineman fairly high to become starting guard, maybe they start year off with Ike starting, but by late October rookie takes over. I'd also draft another lineman maybe around the 5th round or so to develop There have been some good RB's drafted in 3rd round so not impossible. K Hunt, A Kamera, David Johnson before injured

The one thing that worries me about Williams is he looked real good against Miami, but that was at a point in game where Miami was running for the bus as they like to say. Am a bit nervous to count on him. Feel that's part of the reason the running game has looked that bad is we've kind of assumed mediocre players are going to produce more for the past couple of seasons now. Yeah I like the idea of signing Stills for $2 to 3 mil, but does Stills like that idea? I did look up him last contract was in the $8 mil range. But he also wasn't re-signed by anyone after he was cut so maybe $3 mil doesn't sound so bad for him. Green wouldn't be a bad guy to sign, see his market value is listed as $6 mil, but will he get it. With all the 2020 rookie WR and supposedly 2021 will also be a deep draft class, may mean WR free agent salaries drop.