Koufax

That was hard. We are on to New England. Anybody know when the last time the favored team won an NFL game but failed to score as many points as they were favored by?

Guy throws the ball 50 yards and hits his best receiver in both hands, I'm not going to nitpick. Also, I enjoy Josh not running recklessly, but while we are talking playcalling, I don't want many designed runs, but I think there are options to roll out that allow him to run outside the tackles if nobody is open. And I will state this again. Josh initiating contact with a DB or hurdling someone outside the pocket is less of an injury risk than sitting in the pocket. Rough sport, and I'm would like him to be set up to have some options outside the pocket sometimes, and not put a Drew Bledsoe poster on his wall quite yet.

I wrote about it in the other thread, but I played in Europe (another sport) 14 seasons, and remember every trip over there. You have two priorities: 1) Go as early as you can. Every 24 hour window before performance will be a big benefit. 2) Once travel is set and you can't change it to earlier, shift your schedule at home drastically. Individual players choosing 4am jogs Monday morning, Tues/Weds practice as early in the day as allowed. 3) There is no three. Everything goes into the first two. It sucks, but is the way to maximize your Sunday performance in a strange time zone. 4) I never got a chance to do it and always had red-eyes (west coast start), but from NY you can fly morning with an evening arrival, and I would suspect that is easier on sleep schedule.

I thought Elam played better than the outcome of the plays he will be beat up on. Needs to play better and some flaws, but some good throws against him. Tre isn't coming back this season, so right now I am optimistic and glad to have him, even if he isn't going to be a superstar any time soon.

Not a sports science person, but I played a (different) sport in Europe for 14 seasons, and remember each and every travel week to start the season, a few with games shortly after, and a few with some training time to settle in. My thoughts on the travel: Thursday night is unbelievably hard, and if it was a choice by the Bills team, it was a bad choice (if enforced in any way by the NFL, than a tough scenario against a team that was settled in). You want to go as early as you can AND if not, you need to switch your internal clocks and schedules in Orchard Park AS SOON as the Dolphins game is over. That means putting your watch on London time and if that means a 5am walk through on Tuesday, do it. So in summary two points: 1) Make your travel plans as early as allowed, period. Don't put practice schedule or anything else ahead of that. 2) Before travel switch your schedule immediately and don't pretend you can do things on Buffalo time Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday without it impacting you later in the week. I don't think the Bills/NFL did either of these things perfectly. If it is like a Thursday short week against a team coming off a bye...oh well, blame the schedule makers. But whatever part of this was on the Bills side, if they didn't maximize those two items and considered any third factor, bad on them.

I have $27 burning a hole in my pocket Bills Mafia. What are we doing to make this sad moment special and rally around Tre? Let’s figure out how we can make a difference, show him our love and support, and make something great happen in the community between now and when he charges out of the tunnel healthy next year. Who has some ideas or should this get split into a separate thread?

Absolutely. Dorsey called a bad game, but easily good enough to win if not for bad Josh. This game was easy to win with same Dorsey and mediocre Josh...it took really bad Josh to lose. But a good Dorsey would have also been enough to overcome today's bad Josh and put him in a better position to succeed.

Allen is completely to blame, and my first fault here. Good Josh is so good that bad Josh is just crushing, and this was bad Josh. But the playcalling was also atrocious for this defense. Front four pressure up the middle all night, didn't roll out at all, got away from the 8-12 yard possession passes to Diggs and TEs, etc.

Fixed it a little more. 1. Josh 2. Josh 3. Dorsey 4. Josh 5. Dorsey [6-123 see above] 124: bad punt (middle of the field low hang time and would have only netted 40 on a fair catch?) 125: Josh 126: Dorsey

Josh will win us some games, and today it was a turd by him. No sugar coating. Also a turd by Dorsey. That is a very good defense, but it would have taken so little to beat them and be 1-0 right now. Little things, like two missed tackles by White, and a crazy bounce on the TD, a horrible punt at the worst time. But this one is all about Dorsey and Josh having one of the worst games you could have, and the only good news is first game is so much better than last game for it to happen.

Why? This is a very talented football team, and to add an elite pass catcher will be quite useful over the next five year. He is likely to be the best TE in history of the Buffalo Bills as we don't have a big track record, but he doesn't have to be Kelce for this to be a great pick. #27(25) needs to contribute to the team and he will. Have you seen him play? You need to spend #1 picks on very good football players. Obviously very good is more important at QB/Edge/OT/CB in most cases and these positions often go higher. He has to be good at football, and he has to be better than someone who would have been an obvious pick there.

If you think 27 (25) bears on his shoulders pushing us over the edge then you have bough in to the ESPN/NFL promote the off season hype. Be the best player you can be over five years knowing that rookie impact varies. Do that year after year at 25 and I hope pretty soon at 32 and good things happen. I love the upside of this pick. Someone behind him will be better and someone in front of him will be worse. But at the time we pick he was at the top of my board and can have an impact immediate but doesn’t have to. Go Bills.

Talking to a friend who is very high level in another draft room and he said he really likes our pick of Dorian and thinks he might be a monster in our defense. I was complaining saying that I like our first two picks but didn't quite understand our third, and he quickly disagreed. Fingers crossed he is right.

Great teams get to draft great players and that helps them stay great teams even without top-15 picks. Who do you think was available that will be a better player over the next five years? I don’t see anyone. Maybe because the only game I watched was against USC, or maybe because I have been watching so much Kelce the last few years. Knox or past utilization of TEs are bad reasons to select an inferior player. So if you don’t love this pick, name the player for the record so we can all cycle back. Everyone who was here years ago was on Ngata over Whitner, Orakpo over Maybin, but I think we got the best player we could and am excited. Before the pick was made I was really hoping for Kincaid and think he is by far the best pick we could have made.

"Areas of need"? We are good enough to take talent and not get less talent because of a perceived hole in the roster. If you draft for need you are assuring of getting less talent. Hoping we go get some talent.

Levis will go to the Vikes. Unlike when I wanted Ngata and Orakpo, I would like to be on the record that I have no idea which of the best five guys left I want, and will get excited about whoever we pick and then watch him not play much as a rookie on our super talented roster.

Painful loss, tough to come up short. Picked a bad day and a tough opponent to play a bad game and we played a bad game. I look forward to watching this team get better, grow from it, and offer a really exciting season trying again next year. Ignore the overreactions and noise for the next few weeks. Exciting to be a team that year after year expects to be #1 and is disappointed by anything else, but also by definition that makes today really disappointing. Go Bills

They ran out of downs not out of time and still had an unused timeout. The holding penalty was the big problem. They didn’t want to give Burrow 13 seconds or more and without the hold they have enough downs and time to punch it in. Probably could have gone a little faster and slowed down later but time wasn’t the problem in the end

Excited for the game tomorrow and then what is beyond. So silly for everyone to have thought this four win run was easy: @Cin (trailing 7-3), NE, bye, LAC/JAX, KC but it would be impossible to four or three game NE, Mia, Cin, KC (neutral) Bal, @Cin, KC (neutral) What am I missing? plus, don’t be surprised if the LAC make it a home game and eliminate KC anyway. Go Bills

All three teams were hurt by this/helped by this, and I think it is the best situation given the circumstances. Now that Damar is doing better, I think people will feel free to be a little more open about worrying about things that a couple days ago would have gotten you in trouble, but I still think it is pretty silly. Complicated what-if arguments can and will be made for each hypothetical outcome of the canceled game plus the unfolding games actually played, but in the end they split the difference of what was a pretty close to 50/50 game, and avoided any one side being heavily penalized compared to the more favorable outcome of the canceled game. I officially accept as reasonable the outcome, and promise not to say after we beat the Pats "no fair, we should have had a chance the bye and the home AFC title game".

I know we are in the first 24 hours of this, and all eagerly awaiting great medical news while we pray for Damar and his family. I also am happy and amazed at the millions flowing to his toy drive charity, what that surely means to him and his family, and what that says about all the people who donated. But as the dust settles, I think we can all find a way to have this story have an even happier ending, bringing awareness to CPR and AED equipment, and find together the right way to pour some of our love and energy into that, and pay it forward where the quick medical action and available resources that we all are now hoping will have saved Damar's life become more widespread through sports at all levels, and this deeply tragic moment can find a way to make the world a better place in a lasting way that can help save lives for years to come. I don't want to start any thread or make any specific suggestion now, but I urge those of you with more knowledge of the subject to think about what we might be able to do together in the coming weeks and months whether awareness, charity, or an individual commitment to CPR training.

I have no problem at all if the Bills do not ever continue this game, and I have no problem at all if the New England game is canceled or forfeited. We are less than 24 hours in, but what matters is first of all Damar, and second of all the mental state of the players. If that means the next snap in a football game is Jan 14/15 against the Ravens in Buffalo as the 3 seed, or any other variation along the way, I hope it is with Damar watching and on his way to a full recovery.

This is a unique and incredible moment in sports and life, and our thoughts should be completely with Damar. Just like I think the game should have been postponed sooner than it was last night, I do not see any reasonable path to resuming it and I think it likely will be best for all if it is simply never played, and playoff seeding falls wherever it may.

We cannot accomplish much by speculating while we wait for news. Obviously an unprecedented moment. Whether you believe in the power of prayer or the positive energy of brotherhood or just hope and kindness, let’s all send everything we have his way and hope for the best.

Painful to follow the play by play but at least I don’t have to watch it. This team needs to at some point have some other gears and understand when deep chances and one yard runs isn’t the right combo. Now just find a way to have an ugly win please…