dave mcbride

He's certainly complaining too much for the refs about not getting Offside calls when he shouldn't actually be getting them. He lets the play get away from him on those plays and they always end up badly.

... or simply get better interior o-linemen (historically, the easiest positions to find as long as you prioritize them) and a Joe Mixon-type runner.

(A statement up front: the Patriots should not be the benchmark by which to measure the Bills relative to other successful NFL teams. They are an outlier like John Wooden's teams were outliers.) Let's assume for a second that the Bills go 11-6 this season (a big assumption, but plausible). Under McDermott, they will have gone 9-7 6-10 10-6 (would have been 11-5 if the finale actually mattered; they would have utterly destroyed the Jets) 13-3 11-6 / 10-7 Then compare the Bills to other good teams with longtime coaches in recent years: the Ravens under Harbaugh, the Steelers under Tomlin, the Chiefs under Reid, the Saints under Payton, the Packers under McCarthy, the Seahawks under Carroll, and the Giants under Coughlin. Note the trend: most seasons are good ones, but there are a lot of 10-6 and 9-7 seasons. They're never truly terrible teams either; the worst you'll generally see is the occasional 7-9/8-8 seasons. See the links below. My point is that there is a ton of parity in the NFL which makes it very hard to pump out 13-3 seasons year after year. Accounting for the fact that no normal team will ever be the Patriots under Belichick, the Bills are performing like your typical long-term good team. They'll have some great seasons mixed with some decent ones, and every once in a while they'll have injury issues that make them a .500 team. The other constant to go with long-term winning coaches is good quarterbacking, and the Bills are set at that position, thankfully. I don't see them winning the SB this season, but I also think the fixes they need to make to go 13-4 as opposed to 11-6/10-7 are relatively easy to make. They have a good core of talent with holes, just like every other team. But the fixes they need -- better interior offensive linemen, a better RB, one more #2 corner, and a new run-stuffer - are about the easiest positions to find in both FA and the draft assuming you're always drafting in the 20s. I'm just as unhappy as anyone that this isn't shaping up to be a great year, but they're still a good team and are built to be good for a while. The stars really do need to align for a SB run, and this just isn't the year. That's OK. Maybe next year will be. As long as Allen is slinging it and there's continuity with the coach/GM (both of whom are good, perceptive, and self-aware), they'll be competitive. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/pit/ https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/gnb/ https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/rav/ https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/kan/ https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nor/ https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/sea/ https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nyg/

The other I'd add is Allen thinking he got them offside (he didn't; the NE player didn't cross the line) and then throwing a no-chance pass and complaining to the refs. That's the third time he's done something like that this year on a play in which he thought he got the guy to jump but didn't and then played like he could throw it away.

Totally.

The heck with TN; just look at the Pats. Stevenson, Harris, and White were all picked later than Moss and Singletary.

I thought the playoffs was mostly a sure thing until I looked at remaining schedules. Basically, three out of these five teams will be wild cards: LAC, Buffalo, the Colts, the Steelers, and the Bengals. Two won't make it. If the Bills lose the games they're expected to lose (NE and TB), it'll come down to tiebreakers. The Bengals and Steelers have brutal schedules, and the Colts have to play both NE and then AZ on the road.

Thank you! As it happens, I found a clip, and ... it's TOTALLY a penalty. He was running free downfield (3 yards) before the pass left Allen's hands. Check it out. Glad it wasn't called! https://www.espn.co.uk/video/clip?id=32807881

Whether the lineman is engaged or not doesn't matter; it's all about how far downfield he is.

It's actually the rule, and it wasn't a hold. I just watched it again. You're allowed to touch an opponent; that's not holding.

It is actually a rule that once the QB leaves the pocket, the DB can push the receiver around. Richard Sherman made a living doing this. It's not a penalty. The idea is that once the QB leaves the pocket, there's a strong likelihood that he's going to run it, and receivers can therefore block defenders to help the QB on his run. To make it more even, the defenders are allowed to initiate contact. If he is still doing it while the ball is on the air, it's PI, but in this case he turned around to play the ball just as it was released. It was an excellent play.

It is legal, and Allen had been out of the pocket for some time. Personally, I thought it was pretty physical play, but I didn't think it was a penalty. I thought it was good defense. At the defining moment, he out-physicaled Knox. It was a really good play. It was a good throw by Allen too and he made a great play just to get into that position. He should have been sacked.

No, it was definitely a Bills player.

I'm thinking payday, at least in Williams' case.

Not true. PFT covered it. More importantly, it's not publishing until August 2022.

Daryl Williams gave up a very bad sack last night (where he matadored Ekuale at the Pats 44 yard line in the second quarter; see below), but he also did this. Note that while Barnwell says it's the center, it's the LG (Williams). We were lucky that wasn't called given that it was called against the Bills in the Saints game. Williams (#75) is definitely downfield (close to three yards) when the ball is released. I mean, what is he thinking? Personally, I think it's too ticky tack to be called, but it was by definition a penalty and could have been called. I don't want to obsess over this stuff, but that is just sloppy play. I gotta say, he looks overweight and seems to me like a classic case of a guy who got his final big payday and is playing like it. On that sack Williams gave up, Sanders was open for a big play:

I actually think the Bills present a decent matchup and in theory think they could win given the Bucs' secondary issues, but here's the issue: the Bucs are 5-0 at home and here are the scores in their last four home games (they opened with a tight win over Dallas): 48-25 45-17 38-3 30-10 They are absolutely blowing teams out at home this season.

Or the fact that Diggs was wide open for a TD at the goal line after he smoked Jackson and the ball sailed way over his head? Diggs would absolutely have caught a decent pass there. Don't get me wrong - Allen is great. But the crunch time play this year has been subpar. The sacks he takes, the wrong decisions, etc. -- they have added up. He has five games left to rectify things for this team, so all hope isn't lost. My larger point is that it's OK to hold Allen to account even if there are a lot of bad things happening around him. He's been paid a quarter of a billion dollars and he's a physical freak. He needs to rise above.

There are always tons of close games in the NFL. Great QBs make plays to win games all of the time. He hasn't done that this season.

He missed plays last night. He made some good plays, but he wasn't great overall. The throw would never have made it to Davis. It was clearly short (watch the angle from behind the LOS) and behind Davis. Also, Beasley was directly in front of him; it wasn't a sideline throw to his right.

Beasley would easily have scored on that play. Also, he had Sanders wide open for a first vs. Jax and made the wrong decision too -- forcing a throw across his body to a covered Diggs. His back shoulder throw to Diggs at the goal line last night was not only off, it was a bad decision given his struggles with that throw all game (Diggs was open and probably would have scored). He called the wrong sneak play vs. TN (one they were ready for because it's only sneak play he does). He's the best player on the team by a long way, but he has not excelled in crunch time in close games this year so far.

They announced before the game that there would be no sky cam because of the wind. That's the sort of thing Belichick would take note of and adjust accordingly vis-a-vis challenges. Not so much the Bills' coaching staff. Similarly, Allen had multiple throws to his right going into the wind, and they were all blown off course -- the most damaging one being the back shoulder throw to Diggs on their final possession. In normal situations, that's a TD, but this wasn't a normal situation. Why was that pass called given the clear evidence from earlier in the game that balls thrown that way were being blown off course? Indeed, one of the previous ones should probably have been a pick six if Jackson had held onto it. That's on the coaches. Take that play out of the repertoire. Instead, they tried it at crunch time and it failed. Blame also falls on Allen; he has to know that throw isn't working. McDermott's doghouse routine for RB fumbles is getting a little old. None of these guys are great, and there is going to be the occasional fumble. I mean, if you're that concerned about it, just roll Frank Gore out there.

It would have fallen short. If you watch the replay from behind the LOS, that ball is set to die at around just past the goal line. And it was behind Davis too. Watch it again from the angle behind the LOS. That ball ain't getting to Davis given his depth in the end zone.

I don’t know how many times I need to say this, but anyone predicting a fix for the SB to generate ratings/press and isn’t including the Cowboys is doing it wrong. The Cowboys still dominate in the ratings and their SBs are the most watched ones. Again, the Cowboys. Any SB involving the Cowboys regardless of opponent will generate better ratings than a SB fueled by a northeast corridor media story (Brady v Belichick).

Those other two games from the 70s had less to do with weather and everything to do with OJ and an offensive line that just dominated opponents.