Dr. K

At 21-10 in the third quarter and the Bills driving (two first downs, 2nd and 7 on the Ravens' 44-yard-line) it was turning into a game. If the Bills scored a TD it's a new ball game. Then Brady called the trick play that backfired, Josh got the ball knocked out of his hand, the Ravens recovered, scored, and it was over. My point being that despite the terrible first half it was not over yet, and in fact the Bills were coming back and might have made it a close game (as they did the previous time they played the Ravens in Baltimore, when they came from way behind in the second half to beat them 23-20).

For pity's sake, this is silly. Nobody had such expectations--I certainly didn't. And I've been generally supportive of Coleman and expect him to improve. But there's no denying that, for whatever reason, he looked bad yesterday.

I realize he was being thrown to by Trubisky and White instead of Allen, but against a bad secondary he got zero separation yesterday. Two catches on ten targets. He's shown some real flashes this season, but I'd say I'm more worried about him and his prospects now than I have been before this game.

I just love how this has turned into a thread blaming McDermott for losing games that haven’t happened yet.

Whether Josh wins the MVP depends on whether he plays badly in these last two games. A couple of crappy games while Lamar plays well might put him out of it.

This MVP choice is far from over.

I want Allen to get the MVP for all the reasons you state. But right now I want him healthy and able to play. That's much more on my mind given what he said after the game about his shoulder.

This is the thing that really worries me. How many times have we figured at the end of a game that nobody got injured only to find out early in the week that somebody has a serious injury that will affect their ability to play in future games? I, also, hated that particular run at that point in the game. It was not necessary.

I think Allen is great and I would love to see him win the MVP. But I for one am tired about all of the MVP talk. When it gets down to it, I bet Allen is, too. It's irrelevant to what is important for this team, which still has a lot of work to do. Allen needs to stay healthy, not win the MVP. The team needs to stay healthy. The defense needs to pull itself together. The defensive backfield has a lot of vulnerabilities that need to be dealt with. Milano is hurt again. Josh hurt his shoulder on a play that he needn't have made. The first thing I want to know after each game is what's the injury situation. All this MVP yammer is a distraction. I can't imagine anybody on the Bills is spending much time thinking about it.

This worries me. But just about everything worries me.

Thanks. Forget the game and take a walk around that desert. Avoid the gila monsters.

The more I think about it, the more obvious it is that the Rams played way above their heads against the Bills. It was a freak game. They will lose to San Francisco.

I think if the defense has a game like the Rams game in the playoffs, it will be hard to see a reason to keep McDermott, whatever his other virtues.

It was painful to watch them lose the way they did, after Josh (and some others) played as hard as they did. My main takeaway from the game is that it raises the same ugly possibility that has put them out of the playoffs the last four years: not that the offense fails, or that McDermott makes bad decisions (I am far from defending all of his decisions), but that the Bills defense is a no-show in those big games. You can lay that at McDermott's door, or at Beane's, or at the players', I guess.

I think your questions are reasonable. But looking at the specific decisions that were made, I think taking the penalty to move the Rams back to third and 17 rather than fourth and seven was reasonable. I don't think one choice or the other in this situation is a slam dunk. As for running the sneak from the one yard line, even that is defensible if you consider that that play is their most reliable way, proven throughout the season, to pick up a yard. It failed. Maybe they should have tried some passes instead, but that reminds me a little of the Seahawks not giving the ball to Beast Mode, throwing an interception, and thereby losing the Super Bowl against the Pats. After they failed the Bills might have lined up and run it again (or another play), saving the time out, but that would have burned considerable time. In retrospect it's a lot easier to say what they "should have done." But even then I wonder. Plus, do we know that McDermott called the QB sneak in that situation? I think it was more likely Brady, but who knows. My basic point is that the game was lost in the first 58 minutes, not the last two. The reason they lost is that the Rams were playing out of their minds, and the Bills defense could not come up with a way to stop them. That's the real worry, IMHO. And again, was McDermott calling the defensive plays? I expect Babich was doing so at least most of the time. I'm just sick of people telling me that Belichick or heaven forbid John Freakin' GRUDEN is going to do a better job.

These "fire McDermott" responses after any loss at all are more predictable than the sun coming up in the morning. They are tiresome beyond words.

People are overreacting. Rams just played the best offensive game they are capable of playing. I don't expect them to repeat that, and I won't be surprised if they fail to make the playoffs.

This is my take too, when I can muster it. Any other way leads to insanity.

That was one of the most amazing interceptions I've ever seen. That said, I'm not sure he's anything like the player he was, and I don't expect him to be displacing any starter unless and until something happens.

Exactly. The number of totally wasted and disgusting fans you see at these games is depressing, at the least.

I suspect this is a thread mostly useful to those in group 4 who can vent and tell us they have not changed their opinion.

Collinsworth can be annoying when he blathers on but the obsessive hate he draws here is near pathological.

The past is the past. Win the next game.

I readily admit that Miami has a dismal record in cold weather games, but it seems to me they have to break through sometime. They are playing good football and have many talented players and a smart coach.

I missed seeing Bernard move Oliver over on that play. It looks like Mahommes was ready to QB sneak into the gap; the second Bernard and Oliver closed it, the play is over before it's even snapped. That was a brilliant move by Bernard.