A Few Thoughts About The Game, in no particular order.....

[Bill from NYC]

1) I admit to being somewhat shocked to see Brady shouting obscenities at his blockers in the 2nd quarter. And yes, I was hoping that one of them would punch him in his mouth.

 

2) The end of the first half was particularly upsetting. Two consecutive drops, then to consecutive bad plays by Gilmore. Now, Gilmore had the pick and also the great break-up in the 3rd. He even added a couple of nice tackles vs. the run. The man can play, I just wish he was more consistent.

 

3) Graham did all he could to hit Brady. In the second quarter, one of the hits was just a bit low too. Oh well, he almost put him out.

 

4) Felton was useless tonight.

 

5) The Bills didn't lose anything when Urbik came in. As a matter of fact he threw the key block on McCoy's TD run.

 

6) If the Bills had any depth at all at OT, I would cut Seantrell Henderson tomorrow morning. He was so bad it reminded me of players such as Marcus Spriggs. That's right, absolutely terrible.

 

7) Everybody's bragging and drinking that wine,

I can tell the Queen of Diamonds, by the way she shine.

Come to Daddy, on an inside straight,

Well I got no chance of losing, this time.

No, I got no chance of losing, this time

 

8) Listen, I like EJ as a qb just a little bit more than I like scarlet fever. That said, it was very stupid to not pull an injured Tyrod at the end.

 

9) I didn't have one beer tonight, but here is what I heard the ref say: "Before the snap, holding #20, defense." This was the play with off setting penalties that brought back the interception. Did anyone else hear this. Please say yes!

 

10) Even before the injury, Tyrod was less than impressive.

 

11) Here comes the obvious.....why didn't Tyrod throw more often to Sammy???

 

12) Nice game for Hogan. He could have got even more yardage too if he was lead properly or the throws were made earlier.

 

13) What a mess

 

14) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[truth on hold]

Taylor: has to go. He can't pressure a team deep, especially over the middle. Bellichick game planned totally around containing the run and defending from 15 yards and in. And he can't feel pressure coming from his right side and gets blasted at the worst times. Get him out, ceiling is too low. He can't take us far.

2-minute offense: do we even have one?

Hughes: had a nice game both in coverage and getting pressure. And miraculously no PFs

Officiating: no blaming them this time. If anything it netted slightly in our favor

Overall: we're a sloppy team, they're not. That's a glimpse of how a real champ plays.

Edited November 24, 2015 by JTSP

[Dragonborn10]

It was Karlos Williams block that set edge against Hightower for the Shady TD.

Henderson is awful.

Felton and Mulligan do not deserve roster spots.

Duke Williams sucks. He should not have made the roster either. He is horrible. I said that in training camp and he proves me right every game.

This team misses Aaron Williams.

They will be ok if Miller is gone for a while. Any street FA would not be much of downgrade from the crap that is the right side of the line.

[r00tabaga]

Taylor: has to go. He can't pressure a team deep, especially over the middle. Bellichick game planned totally around containing the run and defending from 15 yards and in. And he can't feel pressure coming from his right side and gets blasted at the worst times. Get him out, ceiling is too low. He can't take us far.

 

2-minute offense: do we even have one?

 

Hughes: had a nice game both in coverage and getting pressure. And miraculously no PFs

 

Overall: we're a sloppy team, they're not. That's a glimpse of how a real champ plays.

You're kidding right?

[Reed83HOF]

Hughes: had a nice game both in coverage and getting pressure. And miraculously no PFs

 

He was hustling all night. One play in the 4th he was running into the back field and changed course and ran all the way to the RB who was talked for a 8 yardish gain. He harassed Brady all night.

[34-78-83]

"Has to go" lol. Emotion runs high.

[Nuncha]

Not only is the Ferrari in the garage, it is up on jackstands, the wheels have been removed, and the fuel drained......

Edited November 24, 2015 by Azucho98

[Georgia Bill]

Frankly, if we had made the field goal near end of half we would have won. Lead to ten point swing. Then we'd all be celebrating the genius defensive game plan instead of bemoaning the loss.

[Fixxxer]

1) Brady benched his starting center, little B word that he is, I was very happy with the defensive gameplan, he was never comfortable tonight

 

2) Gilmore's play can drive one mad, I agree.

 

6) If Cujo is healthy, I want him starting, maybe he's not better than Henderson, but I get the feeling Henderson doesn't care about football, just a guy with ability to play the sport (I have no proof of this)

 

8) You need to cover the field and score a TD, sit the QB with bum shoulder, I agree.

 

10) he wasn't good tonight, missed some throws and wasn't patient when he had a pocket (we obviously need to see if there were WRs open on some plays)

 

11) Roman needs to get Sammy involved, period.

 

12) Hogan had a nice game, though sometimes he needs to be more decisive and get the 1st down.

 

13) sad but true.

[Deranged Rhino]

Good stuff as always, Bill.

 

Dareus showed me something today. As did the defense overall. Watching Brady get hit, and hit, and hit again was a delight.

 

Hopefully the injuries aren't as bad as they looked and we get most of the guys back in time to beat the Chiefs.

[Nihilarian]

The defense played much better then I expected on the road, and against Brady. They hit him, and hurried him a lot! Then Brady took full advantage when Rambo left with an injury.

 

The difference in this game was the difference in the QB's. One is a future HoFer, and probably GOAT. The other was starting in his eighth game, and was playing injured at the end.

 

The team played with a lot of heart, and never gave up. They were simply over matched in the QB position.

 

This team gave up two firsts for a WR when they didn't have that franchise QB, and I can only wonder how many years will they be paying for that move? Sammy Watkins was the 4th best receiver in this game, and was mostly invisible all game long. 6 targets for 3 receptions for 39 yards. Sure he had some great catches at the end, but why did it take so long in the game to finally get him the ball?

 

It really isn't his fault if he isn't seeing enough targets each game. So meanwhile the team has a great WR that nobody can get the ball to enough, and are still in desperate need of that franchise QB.

[BuffaloHokie13]

Lot of issues tonight, which is why the game felt somewhat within reach.

 

- Holding call on Graham to negate the early INT. After the replay it looked like an okay call, but it definitely takes some steam out of the D. Kudos to them for holding it together.

- Non-call on the PI against Butler on Hogan. It was a poor throw, but Butler made contact with Hogan before the ball made contact with him and he was not making any sort of play for the ball.

- Shady dropped TD. It was well defended thanks to an excellent recovery by McCourty, but it should have been a catch. That led to...

- Carp Missed FG. Gave the Pats* good field position before the half, something you never want to give Brady.

- Mario blown coverage leads to Pats* TD to end the half.

- Still don't know why we kneel at the end of the half instead of taking a shot at the end zone...

- Inadvertent whistle leads to a completion + 15 yard penalty. This was a no win situation for the refs, so why not make it bad for the Bills instead of the Pats*? Announcers even expected it to be a replayed down.

- McFumble set the Pats* up for some easy points on an extremely short field. More Kudos to the D on this drive.

- Henderson got whooped this game. 2 costly penalties and got beat constantly.

- Tyrod's ball placement was off pretty much all game. Underthrows on his favorite wheel/go routes and 2 hard dives for Woods on out routes come to mind.

- Last drive had 2 terrible calls on the sideline involving Sammy catches. Why don't we have a handful of plays for Sammy? He's double teamed? Run a bubble screen. Think they'll jump it? Run an end around. Just put the ball in his hands.

 

At the end of the day a lot went wrong and we were still in it to the end. In fact I think we still have 2 seconds on the clock. Oh well, it'll probably be a delayed handoff to Shady up the middle out of the shotgun.

[Koufax]

Lots went right, lots went wrong.

 

No fun to have Dareus and Mario not be able to play 60 with Kyle already out.

 

Need to get Watkins the ball.

 

Bad officiating today, but the net wasn't a difference maker.

 

Clock management was off and so was Tyrod. Zero runs by him before the injury seems to be something the Pats worked to make happen, but I would have liked some keep me honest plays.

 

Unreal to shut down Gronk. I won't bore anybody by telling you I needed him in single digits to keep my fantasy season alive, but scheme and execution really worked there.

 

This was probably a game we drop in a 15-1 fairy tale, so I was excited to be in it down to the last second. We need to hope that Tyrod has a strain and not a break, because this team is better than people think and ready for a good finish.

[John from Riverside]

You're kidding right?

No...he is serious....which is why you have to ignore him

[Nuncha]

Frankly, if we had made the field goal near end of half we would have won. Lead to ten point swing. Then we'd all be celebrating the genius defensive game plan instead of bemoaning the loss.

IF IF IF IF IF IF IF IF

 

If we wouldn't have lost we would have won or tied...

[youngjebrey]

I was at the game tonight.... Freezing. I thought both teams were pretty flat overall.

 

This was Brady's best/worst game of the season.

There were a lot of passes he could have forced and thrown a pick. Instead, he threw the ball into the dirt and didn't force a pass. That was smart play. His stats don't show it tonight but he played very smart.

 

As for the bills, this wasn't as bad a loss to swallow as most. Yes, the bills could have easily won if they executed and blah blah blah,... This was a wash game for the bills. Aside from the Chiefs, the wildcard is very much in favor for us.

Mckevin- let's just sit him from here on out when we play the pats. He obviously sees ghosts when it's time to play the pats

 

McCoy- He's very good. VERY good. Kept us in the game once again.

 

Patriots- Won't go undefeated. They're going drop one. Might be next week against the Broncos, might be in the playoffs, But I doubt they have a perfect season. They're vulnerable. Brady is frustrated with this offense without Edelman and Lewis.

 

Pray for the Chiefs next week. They're about to walk into a buzzsaw

 

 

 

P.S. Got chirped hard by pats fans tonight. I was in the 300 level. Heckled like crazy but it was total Karma for how I heckled pats fan in buffalo week 2. The stadium was like night before Christmas. SILENT. Really embarrassing for pats fans. The tailgate was a snooze fest. As bills fans, we are champs at tailgating/ fan experience. No one comes close.

[jeffismagic]

I'll mention a positive. The Rex Ryan we wanted when we hired showed up. He called a great game and beat the crap out of Brady. In typical Bills fashion when the D finally steps up the wheels fall off their QB and offense. So many missed opportunities, bad playcalls, awful to watch.

[Big C]

Urbik is better than Miller right now. But it's important to get Miller experience.

[stevewin]

- I was thinking the same thing, that Brady's OLmen must have been having fantasies of breaking his face. I know I did

 

- I've never seen a game with so many questionable calls and no replays or sometimes not even a mention by the announcers, It's MNF - where are the friggin replays? And never seen so many tackles by the head that weren't called - I counted three times one of our players almost got their head ripped off on a tackle and no call

 

- The guy who thinks the angle from the stupid sky camera is a good one must also be the guy who thinks the train horn at the Ralph is awesome

 

- Goes without saying will be happy to never see McLovin return a kick ever again. Point Blank Period. OMFG then they had to show the lowlight of the last time he did that 6 years ago. Only for the Bills can you just go to the archives and find an almost exact match brutal game changing play

 

- Loved to see them go after and hit Brady. Hopefully teams will use the tape and at least beat the crap out of him the rest of the way

 

- That last series of events at the end of the first half was so bad, but yet we actually came back to tie it at 10. At the time I didn't think there was any way we were going to do that

 

- God I hate the Patriots**

 

- Hogan needs to learn to go for the first down - there was one when going out of bounds and one absolutely killer in the middle of the field in the 4th Q

 

- Once again Shady showed the most heart on the team. Love this guy

 

- Tyrod looked totally lost. Staying in for that last series was a joke. He hurt the team by doing that. With a minute left would have rather had EJ air a few out - at least he would have gotten it down the field further than 10 yds. Crazy that we had a full two minutes left and it actually seemed like it dragged on forever but we gained like 20 yds

 

- Is there an intermediate throw or slant in our playbook?

 

- So as I sit here my wife went to bed without speaking to me, still pissed after my involuntary screeching F-bomb laced mental breakdown at the end of the half in front of her and my kids. Watched the 2nd half in self-imposed seclusion in another room. Sigh. I hate the god damn Patriots**

[Billsfansince90]

We had control of this game until the McCoy drop/Carp miss and subsequent TD

 

We regained control holding them down to start the 2nd half. The key play there is we have 3rd and 3 in their territory, why the hell does Roman calls a read option there? You MUST put the ball in your QBS hands to convert that in the air. I was so pissed at that one. We convert there and I feel we keep the momentum. Roman really needs to evaluate how he balances run and pass. Get more aggressive in the pass game! After a while Pats were just sitting on our Wams.

[BaaadThingsMan]

**The D came to play, hitting *marsha in the mouth early and often, getting him and the *cheats frustrated

**The Offense has too many 3 and outs at the wrong time

**Roman needs to call more power run plays and stop looking for seams on the hashes all the time, those plays take a while to develop and when diagnosed, rarely work

**TT was inaccurate all night and Roman called too many deep balls in the 3rd AGAINST the wind and none with the wind in the 4th???

**I absolutely loved getting in *marsha's head and the way he threw a tantrum because of it

**Rex had a plan, the D stopped their consecutive scoring streak, *marsha only had 1 td for the 1st time this season. Minus some coverage mistakes by Duke and miscommunication by Mario on TD to White they played really well

**Leodis killed em with that fumble

**It amazes me that the fanbase knew for the past 11 days that the refs would affect the outcome of this game without a doubt and it unfolded right before our eyes tonight....atrocious

**Win or Lose they're gonna be feeling that game for the next few weeks, both teams

[truth on hold]

Question on last play when Watkins was called in. It's a no brainer now, but even if not would work have been better off if he just cut and run up field, rather than setup Hail Mary? I've seen guys like sammy, beckham, brown, etc...exploit little seams between Defenders take it to the house. Still not easy with secondary in prevent , but my question is that preferred to Hail Mary?

Edited November 24, 2015 by JTSP

[ganesh]

 

 

The team played with a lot of heart, and never gave up. They were simply over matched in the QB position.

 

 

The one took the limited opportunity given to him and the other not!

[Freddie's Dead]

- So as I sit here my wife went to bed without speaking to me, still pissed after my involuntary screeching F-bomb laced mental breakdown at the end of the half in front of her and my kids. Watched the 2nd half in self-imposed seclusion in another room. Sigh. I hate the god damn Patriots**

What were you doing at my house?

[eball]

The Bills have the best five-minute 2:00 offense in football.

[PO16FFS]

The Bills have the best five-minute 2:00 offense in football.

[chef4131]

I don't ever remember seeing a reply showing Graham pen on the interception...did I miss it?

[BuffaloHokie13]

I don't ever remember seeing a reply showing Graham pen on the interception...did I miss it?

they showed it during the halftime quick highlights if I remember right, he had a hanfull of jersey and pulled a bit

[Bill from NYC]

they showed it during the halftime quick highlights if I remember right, he had a hanfull of jersey and pulled a bit

Are you sure that was the play to which I referred? I really thought that the ref announced "before the snap, holding." I was wondering how this is possible. I suppose with the Pats, any penalty to the opposing team is possible.

[BuffaloHokie13]

Are you sure that was the play to which I referred? I really thought that the ref announced "before the snap, holding." I was wondering how this is possible. I suppose with the Pats, any penalty to the opposing team is possible.

well it ended with a rambo pick and return, which only happened once as far as I know

[Bill from NYC]

6) If Cujo is healthy, I want him starting, maybe he's not better than Henderson, but I get the feeling Henderson doesn't care about football, just a guy with ability to play the sport (I have no proof of this)

Cujo is pretty bad, but at least he seems to care. Henderson has a ton of ability. I knew this the first time I saw him play.

 

Henderson let the team down and placed TT in danger in this game.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

"Has to go" lol. Emotion runs high.

Except he's right draft QB early

[finn]

- Shady dropped TD. It was well defended thanks to an excellent recovery by McCourty, but it should have been a catch. That led to...

Here I disagree. That was a beautiful throw, beautiful "catch," beautiful breakup. Just good football all around. The loss hurts, but there were some terrific plays from players on both teams. The Watkins catch and the Gilmore breakup are two more that come to mind.

[racecitybills]

Need one of you guys that has some technical abilities to find a "gif" and get it up here- in the first half Brady was pressured and three a third down incompletion- Hughes had been the one who pressured him and they were exchanging pleasantries as the play ended-

 

Suddenly Marcia flipped out and went running at Gene Sterratore pointing at Hughes - he was crying and whining about something but it was funny- "he called me a name" or something- it was just the ultimate example of Marcia whining and of course another official allowing himself to be berated by Brady-

 

someone find that "gif"

[Coach Tuesday]

From my standpoint the Bills looked almost like a playoff team last night. They went into hostile territory in primetime and matched an undefeated dynasty punch for punch. They lost because of: (i) an inexperienced QB who is going to look uneven from time to time; (ii) a horrid right tackle; (iii) an offensive coordinator with zero situational awareness; (iv) the usual bizarre and one-sided NFL officiating; and (v) the Patriots simply made plays and the Bills didn't when it mattered. Of all of these - (v) was the real difference. Make the plays and we win. As bad as the offensive coaching was - the plays were there and the players simply have to execute them.

 

That said - while the officiating isn't why we lost - the NFL has a SERIOUS officiating problem. Does it care?

[PO16FFS]

From my standpoint the Bills looked almost like a playoff team last night. They went into hostile territory in primetime and matched an undefeated dynasty punch for punch. They lost because of: (i) an inexperienced QB who is going to look uneven from time to time; (ii) a horrid right tackle; (iii) an offensive coordinator with zero situational awareness; (iv) the usual bizarre and one-sided NFL officiating; and (v) the Patriots simply made plays and the Bills didn't when it mattered. Of all of these - (v) was the real difference. Make the plays and we win. As bad as the offensive coaching was - the plays were there and the players simply have to execute them.

 

That said - while the officiating isn't why we lost - the NFL has a SERIOUS officiating problem. Does it care?

DId you watch the game? It was a morgue. A poster said he was at the game and it was so quiet.

[GunnerBill]

Taylor: has to go. He can't pressure a team deep, especially over the middle. Bellichick game planned totally around containing the run and defending from 15 yards and in. And he can't feel pressure coming from his right side and gets blasted at the worst times. Get him out, ceiling is too low. He can't take us far.

 

2-minute offense: do we even have one?

 

Hughes: had a nice game both in coverage and getting pressure. And miraculously no PFs

 

Officiating: no blaming them this time. If anything it netted slightly in our favor

 

Overall: we're a sloppy team, they're not. That's a glimpse of how a real champ plays.

 

I agree re Hughes - he was a monster and to be honest has been better than the numbers suggest all year. The officiating was some of the worst I have ever witnessed but it would be hard to claim that they stopped us winning. They were dreadful for both teams.

 

I think your overall point is correct too. We are still a team that makes too many mistakes and the Patriots don't make them. That is the bottom line.

 

On Tyrod I just know this.... if he is done for the year we may well end up 5-11 or 6-10 and in position to draft one of the top QBs in this draft and if we are then we should. Tyrod is a serviceable placeholder. He is not THE guy.

[ko12010]

Taylor: has to go. He can't pressure a team deep, especially over the middle. Bellichick game planned totally around containing the run and defending from 15 yards and in. And he can't feel pressure coming from his right side and gets blasted at the worst times. Get him out, ceiling is too low. He can't take us far.

 

2-minute offense: do we even have one?

 

Hughes: had a nice game both in coverage and getting pressure. And miraculously no PFs

 

Officiating: no blaming them this time. If anything it netted slightly in our favor

 

Overall: we're a sloppy team, they're not. That's a glimpse of how a real champ plays.

You are out of your mind on essentially all points here

[Tu-Toned]

What were you doing at my house?

Hilarious, could have said the same thing about my house!

From my standpoint the Bills looked almost like a playoff team last night. They went into hostile territory in primetime and matched an undefeated dynasty punch for punch. They lost because of: (i) an inexperienced QB who is going to look uneven from time to time; (ii) a horrid right tackle; (iii) an offensive coordinator with zero situational awareness; (iv) the usual bizarre and one-sided NFL officiating; and (v) the Patriots simply made plays and the Bills didn't when it mattered. Of all of these - (v) was the real difference. Make the plays and we win. As bad as the offensive coaching was - the plays were there and the players simply have to execute them.

 

That said - while the officiating isn't why we lost - the NFL has a SERIOUS officiating problem. Does it care?

Greenie from Mike & Mike does, he was very upset about the officiating this morning, particularly the lost two seconds gaffe at the end.

[truth on hold]

Greenie from Mike & Mike does, he was very upset about the officiating this morning, particularly the lost two seconds gaffe at the end.

Id also heard someone say it was the correct call becauae Watkins moved backwards as he was going to the ground. I'm not sure. Like I said earlier I would have preferred he try to cut it up field and take our chances that way vs a hail Mary Edited November 24, 2015 by JTSP