MDH

Get rid of divisions and you could also make it so teams have almost identical schedules. My preference would be play every team in your conference once plus one out of conference game against the team that finished in the same place in the other conference the previous year.

Yeah, I've had this opinion for a long time. I'd love to get rid of the divisions format as well.

Because people rationalize and excuse behavior when they are part of that group. They do it for their football teams, their political party, their country, etc. They do it for pretty much everything so they can go on feeling good about themselves. It's what people do.

No, Bills would need the Chiefs to lose a game to get the 2 seed. There obviously is but I can’t find it messing with the playoff machine. edit: Found it. If Pit, Hou, Tenn and NE all finish with 10 wins the Pats are the team that misses out.

Every fiber of my being becomes aggravated when I have to listen to him speak. And every fiber of my being jumps for joy when I see him throw pick after pick.

I just watched the Steelers’ last two games. I’ll say this, Hodges doesn’t make dumb decisions with the ball. He also doesn't make many throws to the middle of the field more than 5-6 yards past the LoS. These two are, obviously, related. He always has a guy near the LoS for him to dump it to, which he does frequently. He also likes chucking the ball down field when he identifies single coverage. These are two of the easiest reads and two of the safest throws. Granted, his deep ball is good. He gives his guy a chance to make a play on just about all of them and the Steelers wideouts have made quite a few. They've also gotten quite a few PI calls that went their way. He also has decent legs and will run for first downs whenever a pass rush is too aggressive. Don’t give this team PI calls and it’s not a tough offense to stop. I’ll take our secondary vs. their deep ball and as long as the run D doesn't revert to be gouged for bug gains the Steelers shouldn't score more than 14 points (barring turnovers...) The Steelers D doesn’t blitz a lot and plays primarily zone. Except for the fact they play a 3-4 they are very similar to the Bills’ D early in the season...except they can pressure the hell out of the QB rushing only 4. They’ll occasionally bring 5 but I don't think I saw them bring 6 a single time in 2 games. They just don't need to. If given time opposing QBs had success attacking the middle of the field and WR screens were pretty successful as well. Their run D is solid but weaker up the middle than outside. They are good at stringing run plays out that try and get the corner. I have a feeling we may see more Frank Gore this game. Their DBs are very aggressive going for the ball. They can be had on double moves, both Josh has to be accurate on his throws down field. Allen struggles with man to man and blitzes and the steelers do neither of these things, they kinda play into Allen’s strengths. That said if Allen takes too long to make decisions or the OL doesn't give him enough time I could easily see a couple of sack/fumbles. Kyler Murray bolted the pocket way more than he had to and the Steelers were very good at keeping his gains to a minimum. They're a fast D. Allen needs his internal clock to be working this game. He needs to finish his drop back and get the ball out of his hands. He cant afford to be indecisive or he’s going to get clobbered. As I said above, avoid turnovers and the Bills should handle this game. Im just not sure I trust the O to do that.

It wasn’t a bad pass but given the coverage it wasn’t where it needed to be. Ideally the ball would have been down and away from Brown so only he could get his hands on it.

If he had the speed he would have been a 1st round pick. Not many guys have his vision, contact balance and elusiveness with break away speed.

That does seem to be an issue. They're a good running team but they're a finesse running team, not a power one. They run out of 11 personnel most of the time and rely on spreading the D out to gain yards on the ground. If a D plays cover zero and clogs the middle of the field Allen seems to struggle in the wind hitting his outside targets.

I haven't seen this mentioned yet but the worst play call of the day (other than not QB sneaking it on 1st and goal at the half yard line) was when they had a 2nd and 1 around the, oh, 15 yard line and did a QB sneak. WHO THE HELL CALLS A QB SNEAK ON 2ND DOWN?! Josh was horrible yesterday but you have to have more faith in your QB than that. Play action and fire a short throw the Beasley or Brown over the middle. Hell, just run Singletary if you want to play it safe as he has the ability to bust off a 10+ yard run. That said, the Daboll hate is a bit much. I saw plenty of guys open and Allen missed them or they dropped good balls. Daboll can't execute the plays, that's on the players.

The only way the NE game is bigger than this Pit game is if the Bills win this week and the Pats lose. Otherwise, this Pit game not only guarantees the playoffs but the 5 seed, which means a road trip (at worst) to Hou or Ten. Other than getting a home playoff game that is the easiest path to getting a playoff win.

Duck doesn't have to drive the field to score 24. The Pit D causes havoc and their ST is fantastic as well. Even a Duck led offense can put the ball in the endzone if their D or ST gives him a couple of short fields. If the Bills don't turn the ball over, they win. Let's see if they can manage that.

Based on messing around with the ESPN Playoff Machine I couldn't find a way for the Bills to not be locked into, at least, the 5 seed if they win this week. The difference between the 5 and 6 seed is huge. No way I want to go on the road to KC in the WC game. Much easier path the the division round if its @Hou or @Ten

If only the coaching staff knew as much as the fans when it comes to Duke Williams. ?

If they lose out they still get in 56% of the time. Not that anybody wants to get in that way... I keep seeing people call a Hodges 3rd string. If Rudolph is benched and Hodges promoted doesn’t that make Hodges 2nd string? If Rudolph was hurt and that was the reason Hodges was promoted then he’d be the 3rd string QB.

QBs have to read leverage. Brown was covered. If he looks to Beasley he’d see the DBs hips turned the wrong way and immediately know Beasley has his man beaten. He shouldn’t be waiting until Beasley is actually open to make that decision. It looks like Allen saw single coverage one Brown and was going there no matter what.

If the Bills beat the Pats in 2 weeks and KC wins out the Pats don’t get a bye.

Exactly.

Great play

Yeah, I’ve had my fill of Allen getting hit on slides with no call.

Not with the Raiders losing their last 3.

If you can’t admit when he has a crap game then yeah, there’s bias being shown, but it’s not on my side of the table.

Yep, if Titans win everything the Bills needed to make the playoffs today would have happened...except the Bills win. Get it done next week and all is forgiven.

C is very generous.

The Bills offense played to the strength of the Raven’s D today. Teams have had much more success with 12 personnel on the field but the Bills decided to go 11 and keep 3 WR on the field against and elite secondary. Most teams try and keep the Ravens in their base D, not the Bills. I’m confident the Bills would have had much more success with Kroft and Knox on the field at the same time. Both running and throwing.