Paup 1995MVP

You answered your own question. Get Shakir out there as a starter, and plant McKenzie on the bench except for gadget plays. And even those plays can be given to Hines. He has way more talent then McKenzie. Shakir has plenty of ability. Guy could catch at least 60 balls this year if used on a regular basis. The roster is not as problematic as how we use the players we have. Cook, Shakir and Hines are a nice complement to Davis, Diggs and Knox. And we still have Singletary Morris and Gilliam as well. And don't forget Josh Allen running the rock. That could be the best weapon we have. No reason this offense can't be explosive either running or passing. That's on the coaching staff to use all our weapons. KC can do it. No reason we can't.

Exactly. If we can get those 4 back, our defense looks so much stronger. And we can be a real force through the rest of the season. The offense should move the ball well and score a lot of points against the Lions secondary. They have played better of late. But we are better across the board then Detroit. And I think our D line will get after Jared Goff.

Good points DrPJax. The narrative of the season is definitely changed. Who would have thought we would be fighting for a division championship after starting 6-1. The division is much better then expected. And every game (including this Thursday against Detroit) will be very competitive. But that's fine. That's how it should be. You want to be a champion, you need to beat everyone in your way, home and away. The injuries on the defense have really been devastating and taken some of the juice out of the team. But if we can get a few guys back. (Rousseau, Edmunds and Elam. Maybe White, who the hell knows what happens there. And keep Poyer on the field.) We can still beat anybody on any given Sunday. When Josh is on there is noone better. And Milano is playing as well as any defender in the league. We need other guys to step up each week. And I think they will. McDermott did a real good job keeping things together in a tough situation w the snowstorm and a tough start to the game yesterday. Kudos to him. But he and the coaches need to continue to live in the moment and be creative w our playmakers each week. Hines and Cook can both be bigtime playmakers, and need to be used as such. The Chiefs are good. And have good coaching. But we always match up well against them because we always seem to bring a little extra physicality against them. And Josh is always dialed in against them, to bring his best. We need to keep grinding every week, and gradually play better, play smarter, and coach better. We have the horses. Just have to be peaking as we get to January. Hopefully Mcdermott gets that and sees the big picture on where we need to end up.

We were up 31-10 in the 4th qtr. Problem is we can't play prevent because Jackson Benford T Johnson and Hamlin were all terrible in coverage. And Dodson has no range whatsoever. We needed to be more aggressive with our pass rush and plant Brissett in the turf.

Do we see Tre back this year is the question. His injury and long recovery is killing us on the back end.

Great point. Jackson gets bodied off the ball on almost every one on one situation. And Taron Johnson looked overmatched as well. I like T Johnson in run defense better then pass coverage.

Exactly Hucklebuck. We could not cover Jefferson last week. Safety has been a big problem this year. And corner has been decent but inconsistent. Through the summer and training camp the question seemed to be whether Tre White would be ready for the season. Now here we are in week 11 and he is still not playing, although he is supposedly practicing, and we the fan base are pretty perplexed by the situation and the vagueness which McDermott talks about it. If White isn't playing against the Pats after the Thanksgiving game which would be our 12th game, I would not expect him to play the rest of the year.

How do you know I didn't play for Coughlin?

Coughlin was old school, and came off uptight and cranky with his off the field rules in meetings, practices, players behavior, etc. On the field coaching he seemed more intense then uptight. Definitely more animated then McDermott.

On the pick at the end of OT, you can see Morris #85 dragging across the middle at the 5 yard line. It was an easy throw and would have given us a 1st down at around the 3-4 yard line. And Singletary was open in the rt flat and would have gotten at least to the 12 yard line. Instead Josh got tunnel vision and choked. He is pressing at times, and needs to start playing within himself when he is passing the ball. He looked calm as can be on the last drive in regulation that tied the game. And his running has never been better then it was against the Vikings. He just needs to relax and stop pressing in the red zone.

Are you McDermott's agent? I guess you really love his coaching. The team is not a ***** show. But in a lot of big situations the team has come up short. Yes players have to make plays. And we did not make enough of them on Sunday to beat the Vikings. But the head coach sets the tone. Along with your QB. And McDermott comes off as very uptight. And we tend to play that way in key situations. He doesn't give off the confidence of a leader that knows his team is going to win as long as we play our game. I think that is needed to be a Super Bowl champion.

Where did the narrative start that Frank Reich is a good head coach? The shutout loss to Jacksonville in week 18 last year when the playoffs were on the line is all time stinker.

Settle the F down. You like to run your mouth bro. The coaching has not been top notch in the slightest. McDermott looks miserable on the sideline. The pressure is getting to him bigtime. He doesn't look confident in the slightest out there. If your leader isn't confident, how are the troops going to play that are supposed to be following him. Josh Allen is the Bills. He should be here long after McDermott and Frazier. Regardless of his mistakes, noone makes plays at the QB position like him.

Because seriously what else is there to talk about on this message board? It gets pretty stale and tedious at times to be honest.

Keenum looked like ***** in the preseason. His arm looked pretty weak. The guy has some moxie but not a lot else. But I agree about the Vikings. They don't really pass the smell test as a real good team. And I agree that Josh should and will play. The guy is like Jimbo. He is a tough football player. And football players play when nicked up. As for Tre, anyone have some real scoop on his status? The Bills have been so tight lipped about things. You really have to wonder if he plays much if at all this season. But Benford Elam and Jackson better be ready to cover Jefferson and Thielen.

Bottom line we need to right the ship regardless of who is playing QB. (I personally think Josh will not miss a start. You don't throw a pass 69.3 yards on the money if your elbow is seriously injured.) Football is still a team game. And yes Josh Allen when on his game is the best in the NFL. (Sorry Mahomes. Josh is just better.) But the rest of the roster needs to step up. As does the coaching. We need to win every game we play at this point. Baltimore Cincinnati Tennessee KC Chargers, the rest of our division are all playing well. We need to embrace the challenge and bring our A game against the Vikings. We need to start out fast, and set a tone. Cousins can be rattled pretty easily. Championship teams don't look as listless as we did in the last game and a half. Need to change the mojo this week.

You know your football Corta. Rich Gannon was a very solid player. Got the most out of his ability and his career. That Raider toughness from yesteryear is no longer part of their mantra.

That's an interesting take HardyBoy. (I read those books as a kid. LOL) And what your father in law said cracks me up. Not sure I am in total agreement with your thoughts. But I can respect where you are coming from my friend.

And how do you get shut out by a pretty marginal New Orleans team? And then lose to Jacksonville up by 3 scores? I heard the Raiders have lost 3 games already this year where they were up by at least 17 points. Good god that is awful. I was watching a 30 for 30 the other nite about Al Davis vs the NFL and Pete Rozelle. Great story. I grew up watching the Raiders when they were a dominant franchise. Was never a big fan of there's. But respected how good they were. And the fear they brought to the field. Thank god Al Davis doesn't have to see how weak of a team they are today.

That's a fair response DC Orange. I don't live in the Washinton DC area so I don't know a lot of the details about Dan Snyder. And yes the team has been adrift for years. I remember as a kid watching George Allen coach the Redskins. And seeing some of his locker room speeches on NFL Films. I loved his enthusiasm. Thought that was awesome.

I love this thread. Because I love going back to a golden era of Bills football. You are spot on Bob. The O line and RB situation on the Bills' teams of 30 years ago were much better then today. We have noone close to Thurman, or Kenny Davis for that matter. And no comparison on the O lines. I would dare say that our overall coaching was better then then now. I was really excited about this years roster at the start of the season. But watching against the Jets, we were dominated on both lines. Very good teams are tough in the trenches. Beane and McDermott have just not been able to build a solid O line. Its a tough chore. But Kansas City and Baltimore have it. We do not. Not sure what the problem is besides lack of talent. And in the front 7 the only two playmakers we have are Milano and Von Miller, and Rousseau is hopefully on the way to becoming that. The rest of the D lineman seem like JAGs. No explosiveness. Watching the Titans D on Sunday nite. The energy they brought was impressive. Settle, D Jones, Oliver, Basham, Epenesa Lawson. Where is the juice. And don't get me started about Edmonds. He did nothing against the Jets, and is lost without Milano. Injuries have hurt our team. And I think the coaching on the whole is mediocre. McDermott is no savant. He isn't a clown. But he brings no energy and juice. And sometimes a little emotion and energy is needed from the man in charge. And as for Frazier. He reminds me of a walking corpse. Isn't Defense about emotion passion and knocking the crap out of someone? We have a great QB, a great WR and some good complimentary parts. And when the offense is humming, we are tough to beat. But we have two tough home games coming up. Minnesota is 7-1 but does not dominate teams. Cousins will get rattled on the road if you bring the heat and rough him up. But the defense really needs to come with some nastiness. Lets hope Milano and Poyer are able to play. That will help things. J Johnson looked lost last Sunday. So did Bernard and Edmunds. And how about some D Lineman not named Von making some plays and knocking the crap out of some Vikings? Lets go Buffalo. Remember the NFL is a week to week league. Just because we are 6-2 doesn't mean anything, because the last 6 qtrs we have been sorry looking. Time to rev it up.

That's a very interesting take Buftex. You very well maybe right about younger kids not being overly excited about the sport of football. But I think you can take it a little bit further then that on a bigger scale. I am in my mid 50's. When my generation grew up in the 70's and 80's, life was just so much rougher. We scrapped in middle school and high school all the time. I grew up in suburban Buffalo in a middle class area. And you had better be able to stand up for yourself, otherwise life was not going to be easy. I have 3 young adult children between the age of 19 and 25. There wasn't near the fighting when they went to school as in my day. That's not bad. Its just what it is. Basically the world has become super soft. And I think that translates over to sports as well. Look at how professional hockey and football are played today versus 30-40 years ago. Very different. The machismo that was so ingrained in sports like hockey and football from the violence and brutality of it, (and in males in general) just does not exist in the game or in society in general anymore. Not saying its good or bad, just saying that's how life has evolved. (Heck, when my son was playing pee wee football in the mid 2000's they were doing the Oklahoma drill with a bunch of 7 year olds. And the parents loved it) And with that young boys and their parents probably don't feel that playing football is a sign of their machismo and manliness, if the younger generation even knows what that means. My older son started playing football at 6 years old in suburban Atlanta. He is 23 and a 6th year senior in his last year of college football. He has loved every minute of playing. And hopes to have a shot of playing in the NFL. He has suffered injuries that required surgery. But he is extremely driven and focused about the game. But that life is not for everyone. I am just glad that there are enough young men who love playing the game still. Because I still love watching it. But nothing lasts forever. Is the NFL going to be around in the next millenium? That's quite a question to ponder.

Why do you care if Snyder owns the team unless you are a big Commanders fan or he has done something bad to you personally?

Good stuff Corta. Was surprised by the Raiders getting shut out by a pretty average Saints team led by the Red Rifle. But Carr isn't winning you anything. And has been over hyped his entire career. Have to be impressed by Geno Smith. The guy has really turned things around. And plays with a lot of passion. I did not like him early in his career. But have to give it up to him for keeping his mojo thru pretty much a lost first decade of his career. If EJ Manuel had Geno's passion for the game, he might still be playing. As for the Vikings and Cousins. No reason we don't make Kirk part of the Ralph turf. He plays scared on the road. And I don't see that changing coming into Buffalo. The G Men have some heart. But that will only get you so far. Kudos for Dabol in getting the most out of them. But it can be painful watching Daniel Jones play QB. Don't blame the NFL for the Panthers losing. Blame their kicker. Bottom line. As long as the Bills don't lose most of their starters including Josh Allen to injury late in the season, we are the favorite to win the Lombardi.

Green Bay's O line was getting run over by us in pass protection. And Rodgers isn't outrunning many defenders any longer. Plus they were running well on us in the second half. You keep doing what works. Rodgers may have been MVP last year. But he is not that great any longer. He has one Super Bowl in 14 seasons as a starter. And this year will make it 15 years w one Super Bowl appearance. The hype surrounding Aaron Rodgers is ridiculous and has always been that way. Brady has 10 Super Bowls. Peyton 4 Rodgers 1. Brees 1. Rivers 0. End of story.