finn

But can you point out bad calls for the Chiefs that were pivotal? I don't think you can. Assume for a moment the league wants the Chiefs to win but doesn't want to be obvious about it. Would you have all or even a big majority go against the Chiefs? Of course not. That would be a mistake. But neither would you gamble with your Golden Goose by allowing the Bills to gain home field advantage. So you make sure the Chiefs have that cushion of a game or two during the regular season, and you make sure as hell the calls go the Chiefs' way in the playoff games. I rarely am persuaded by conspiracy theories. For one thing, confirmation bias is just too strong in our species. But even a paranoid person might have real enemies. When you consider the billions and billions of dollars that now hang on every game, it's naïve to think some party has figured out how to put a thumb on the scale somehow. The Bills were not going to win this game. They were/are better than the Chiefs, but not by enough of a margin to overcome the calls of referees who were instructed (threatened, bribed, whatever) to tip the game when they could get away with it. Show me a call of the same impact that went against the Chiefs and I'll rethink my position. The fix is in, people. When it comes out, as it will eventually, it'll be a big scandal, and the accomplishments of the Chiefs, an excellent team that might have won some of these playoff games without help, will forever carry a big asterisk. It stinks no matter how you look at it.

Precisely. I think the Bills would have won in a fair game, but given they lost, Brady's failure to prepare and respond is the story. Also, the quality-control person, whoever that is, should be fired. Brady's patterns were as transparent as air to KC.

I'm in the same place, brother. Am I too invested, to the point of being a bit of a loser, living off the ups and downs of an NFL team instead of living my own life with its own ups and downs? Frankly I think the answer is yes. It's probably healthier to find ways to invest my energy in the real people around me, take pleasure (and pain) in my own plans. The genius of professional sports--the NFL in particular, I think--is its cyclical nature. Soon after the fraudulent Super Bowl is played and the insufferable glazing of Mahomes stops, talk about the draft starts, like little shoots of green in a frozen garden, and I find myself thinking about the Bills again as I go about my life. "If they draft a big DT and sign a real safety and WR, they could go all the way!" Hope rises again, and that's a powerful drug. That's why the media and fan narratives are so important to us, I think; they're the real measure of how the Bills (which is to say we) are doing. It's not just the standings. You identify too closely with your team, the talking heads aren't just describing them as winners or losers, they're talking about us, and that's hard to shut out, even when your team loses. I'm sure, like me, you were right there suffering all those years during the Drought, right? Each year thinking, "This year might be different. This year they [I] will win." But let's not kid. If this has been my pattern for decades--decades!--there's no way I'm going to give up this drug, especially with someone like Allen as quarterback. They're too close. If (here I go) they're just a little better next year, and the ball bounces their way a few more times, they'll overcome the NFL's thumb on the scale and win the Super Bowl. After that, it's all gravy.

I'm getting some clarity by now, thinking a) the refs were biased (and I didn't fully believe that before); b) the Bills were outcoached on both sides of the ball pretty badly; and c) the Bills overachieved with a roster that is mediocre across the board except for Allen, Cook, and the offensive tackles. Putting b) and c) together, the coaches deserve accolades for getting this far with this roster, but they were spanked by better coaches in the final game. To be fair, they had the bye week, a huge, deeply unfair advantage. Bottom line: bitter about the cheating, grateful for all those fun weeks, not yet ready to think about next year.

That's good to hear. After this year, I would be happy to draft one starter-quality safety and two or even prospects to develop. Indulging in hindsight, I wish Beane had traded up for Cooper DeJean instead of down for Coleman. I realize Coleman may still end up to be terrific, but DeJean would have made a much bigger impact this year.

It's worth considering what we'd be saying about the Bills if Kincaid had caught that pass and the Bills went on to score and win. The commentary is almost exclusively negative about everyone concerned, but if they had won it would have been almost exclusively positive. That's irrational, since everything else would be the same. I do think the KC coordinators did a better job than ours, but, again, we're looking at the game through a particular lens; you find what you're looking for, and if the Bills win, we'd be talking about Brady's excellent calls, Allen's clutch performance, Babich's adjustments, and so on. (Even more satisfactorily, the world would be dumping on Mahomes, who is a godhead to the media.) Reality is more dull than joy and despair. The reality is that Allen is incredible, the line is superb, and Babich and Brady have done an excellent job given the roster they've been dealt. Also reality: Outside Allen and the line, the team really is no more than average. Beane has a lot of work to do to get to the level of the Ravens and a healthy Lions team. Meanwhile, no one will beat KC until the league decides it's time to choose another cash cow.

Imagine doing something different than what is on your film. Revolutionary. And preparing for different looks from what your opponent has shown. Astounding innovation. This may be unfair, but it sounds like Brady's attitude was "Why fix it if ain't broke?" and Babich's was "We're well prepared, but only for what they've done in the past!" I hope both coordinators learn from this undressing.

I agree. In fact, someday the evidence will come out, and it will seem obvious to everyone, in hindsight, that of course the league had a finger on the scale. As you say, it's SO easy to sway the outcome of a game, and the stakes are SO high that it's ludicrously naïve to think they (or some other party, like gamblers or the mob) wouldn't jump at the many chances to cheat. Just follow the money.

Thought experiment: Imagine that the refs are in fact biased: they're instructed to "massage the outcome" as one commentator put it. How would those responsible (the cheaters) want everyone involved--players, coaches, fans, the media--to respond to complaints? Answer: They would be thrilled by much of the reaction here and elsewhere: "Boo hoo"; "losers whine, winners win"; "too bad you suck"; "it's lame to blame the refs," even "wait till next year." In other words, if there is cheating (a big if), people sneering at those who are objecting are playing the role of stooge for the cheaters. Useful idiots.

No one will agree with this, but I think it comes down to chance. The Bills had only a slim chance to win the first time they met KC (slim partly because a witless McDermott brought a tennis racquet to a gun fight), but they had a 98.5% chance the second time (again, McDermott stopped them), and an almost even last year and this year. (I do give McDermott credit for other things, btw.) The laws of probability say that they should have won at least one of these, with a smaller chance of winning two, and a very small chance of winning three or four. Sometimes you flip a coin four times and it comes up heads each time.

Oh, I'm quite serious. Allen can do everything Mahomes can do, but Mahomes can't do everything Allen can do. Don't give me the hardware argument, either. Swap the two quarterbacks; you think Saint Patrick could take this otherwise-average Bills teams this far? If so, you either bought into Groupthink or aren't being honest. Nothing personal! You're a Bills fan, which absolves almost all sins.

Good lord, what an athlete Allen is. The other 31 quarterbacks in the league--including His Saintlihood--would have been sacked on that play and likely fumbled. Allen not only gets off the pass, he throws a ball downfield that bounces off his receivers arms. That is just extraordinary. Back to the 24-7 coverage about what how great Mahomes is....

Give me a hundred chances to take Mahomes or Allen, and I would take Allen every time. On the other hand, I would take Creed Humphrey over Boogie Basham and McDuffie over Elam. They can keep Worthy, though. Sounds like an a-hole.

Play action on the tush push, please.

Why isn't KC going after Elam on every play? What am I missing?

That pass to Shakir and the TD to Hollins were excellent, but otherwise Allen is playing as badly as he has all season, missing receivers, throwing into triple coverage, fumbling the ball... He has some of that overly excited look in his eye that he used to have. Reminds me of his play in the Houston game.

Mahomes is going to be deified for these drives, but a high school quarterback can make throws to wide open receivers with no pressure.

Forget the cushion. Elam will just let them walk down the field on every drive until KC wins. Tell him to jump the short route once in a while so at least he gets a TD for us once in a while.

What do you mean you can't control football outcomes? There's a thread after game about how watching the game with one eye closed, etc., is directly responsible for the Bills winning or losing! I mean, talk sense here, man!

It's been a season of overcoming narratives, hasn't it? The Bills will take a step back this year (check); Allen is a turnover machine (check); Lamar is the real MVP (check); the Bills can't stop the run and will be crushed by a superior Ravens team (check); and now, they can't beat the Chiefs in the playoffs. Next up: They can't win the Super Bowl. I really like the mojo of this team since Brady took over last year, which has been amplified by Babich on the defensive side. "Resilient" isn't the word; it's more a low-key "We believe in ourselves, and we're doing this for each other and for Buffalo, so FU with your dismissals and sneers."

Akin to Brady having as his HC and de facto DC one of the best defensive-minded gurus in the NFL all those years. You want a dynasty, you pair your generational quarterback with a generational head coach. If you clearly have one of the two but don't have a dynasty (or even a single Super Bowl win), you probably don't have the other. That's an indictment of Don Shula, Zac Taylor, John Harbaugh (who did had one SB win with Flacco) and, possibly, McDermott. I still have hope for McDermott. This Bills team is better than the sum of its parts, as an Athletic writer just pointed out, and that's not just because Allen has carried them. McDermott clearly cost the Bills a Super Bowl appearance (and likely win) in the 13-second game, but he seems to have realized what he is very good at and what he should leave up to others (i.e., Allen, Brady, and Babich). Does that make him a generational coach? I'm inclined to laugh at that question, but the truth is, the jury is still out.

Pretty big news. As we found out with Ken Dorsey, you never know how a coordinator will turn out. Sticking with proven ones is the way to keep winning. Big reason KC has seen so much success.

I think it's a rule that Kelce must have a free release, and that no one can be within ten yards of him when he catches the ball. I believe it's in the same section of the rule book that says no defender can touch Mahomes at any time, and any incomplete pass on key third downs will result in a PI call.

I agree. If I'm the Chiefs, I would sell out to stop the run and keep him in the pocket and throw to his slow receivers who don't get much separation, putting McDuffie on Shakir. Still not great, since Samuels has speed and Kincaid and Knox can catch (and then fall down), but it's a better option than letting the Bills run all day long, which they will do. In fact, they may still pull it off if KC does stack the box, that's how good the run game has gotten.

Even a brief visit there makes me appreciate this board all the more. Yes, we have a fair amount of complaining and flame wars, and certainly a lot of homerism, but for the most part, TBD posts tend to be well informed, realistic, and courteous. A pleasure to be part of.