When 3-0 Isn't Really 3-0

[ngbills]

Yes the Bills can win. But to say our 3-0 looks better than the Pats 3-0 based on the eye test is absurd. The Pats are dominating right now. The Bills have barely sqeaked by. The Bills could be 0-3 with a few bad breaks, while all the Pats games are not even close.

[ROCBillsBeliever]

The Pats are Rocky at the beginning of Rocky III.

 

The Bills are Clubber Lang.

 

My prediction for the Pats: Pain!

[ngbills]

3 hours ago, SoTier said:

 

Pretty much this.  I think for the first time since the arrival of Brady and Belichick in NE, the Bills actually have comparable talent to the Pats throughout the roster.  Unfortunately, they aren't in the same league with NE at QB and HC.   Probably no other team is, either.  A few teams over the years have had good enough coaching and/or QB play and/or over all talent to go toe-to-toe with the Pats for a game or two but nobody has done it consistently.

 

If the Bills can play NE tough and keep the game close, that probably is the best they'll be able to do.  If they can actually win the game, that will border on miraculous, although far more realistic than it appeared to be a month ago.

NFL = Any team can win any week. How many 16-0 teams have their been? Every year, heck every week a bad team team beats a good team. This NE is good but far from the best especially given all the injuries and those better teams lost games. So no it wont be a miracle if the Bills win. 

[RiotAct]

11 hours ago, DefenseWins said:

The debate really is more about the value of having Belichick/Brady vs McD/Allen IMHO. I won't be disappointed no matter what the final score is this weekend. Allen is still learning on the job while Brady is a multiple Superbowl winning QB, maybe the best QB all time. Assuming NE and KC are the two best teams in the AFC, how good are the Bills? We may get some clues to this question this weekend. This season has a long ways to go and injuries are gonna be important as the season goes along. Are the Bills better than say Baltimore? I think we should know more about where the Bills stand in the AFC by the end of this season. They are certainly in fine shape cap wise for next season and with another solid draft like this years draft could be in a position to challenge KC/NE next season. Assuming the Bills make the playoffs which is still a big assumption at this point how will they fare against these two teams in the playoffs assuming they do get that far? Let's just enjoy the ride...

good post.  Even if we lose on Sunday (which, I don’t think we will!!!), there’s no denying this team is on the right path.

[billsfan1959]

1 hour ago, row_33 said:

 

the Jets and Bengals choked away wins to the Bills

 

simple

 

 

Actually they didn't. The Bills dominated the vast majority of both games and allowed both teams to be in the games due to their own mistakes. Both the Jets and the Bengals should have been blown out by halftime. If the Bills didn't make mistakes that (1) took away scoring opportunities and (2) directly led to opponent scoring opportunities, then it wouldn't have mattered what the other teams did.

 

The Bills gifted the Jets and the Bengals opportunities to win games in which they were, for the most part, dominated, and the Bills still beat them.

 

Your analysis is superficial, intellectually lazy, and nonsensical.

 

The Jets and the Bengals didn't lose the games because they choked. They lost because they were outplayed. 

 

Simple.

[billsfan1959]

1 hour ago, Yav said:

None of this matters. Both Buffalo and NE have played poor teams. The difference is NE clobbered those poor teams and the Bills struggled. Sunday will be the hardest game for both teams and we will see what happens. Can't just look at the stats right now and claim a team is good. Look at KC, they've had 1 hard game vs Baltimore and until they face NE they have an easy schedule and I'm sure they will have all sorts of crazy stats, then they will head to NE and get beat. Sure they will make the playoffs and likely loose in the first round, why? Because they played an easy schedule.

 

The Bills played the Jets, Giants and Bungles, not really juggernauts and yea they won all 3 games but they should have dominated the Giants and the Bungles and really should have scored more vs the Jets. NE beat the Steelers 33-3, Miami 43-0 and the Jets 30-14. Sure they are not strong teams but they dominated and took care of business. 

Apparently that is all you are doing, is looking at the stats of the NE games and proclaiming them to be almost unbeatable. Try looking at the actual games. NE and Buff put up almost exactly the same numbers against the Jets. Had Buffalo not turned the ball over 4 times, ended two drives due to penalties and dropped balls, they would have blown the Jets out by halftime. The BIlls dominated the vast majority of the Giants and Bengals games - again beating themselves with turnovers, penalties, and mistakes that prevented both games from blow outs out at half time.

 

The Bills did dominate their opponents in play. They prevented themselves from blowing all three opponents out.

 

The whole point of my original post was to show that they are a good team, offensively, and if they do not beat themselves, they are absolutely capable of beating of the Pats*. No matter how invincible you think they are.

[Chris66]

52 minutes ago, billsfan1959 said:

Actually they didn't. The Bills dominated the vast majority of both games and allowed both teams to be in the games due to their own mistakes. Both the Jets and the Bengals should have been blown out by halftime. If the Bills didn't make mistakes that (1) took away scoring opportunities and (2) directly led to opponent scoring opportunities, then it wouldn't have mattered what the other teams did.

 

The Bills gifted the Jets and the Bengals opportunities to win games in which they were, for the most part, dominated, and the Bills still beat them.

 

Your analysis is superficial, intellectually lazy, and nonsensical.

 

The Jets and the Bengals didn't lose the games because they choked. They lost because they were outplayed. 

 

Simple.

Shoulda coulda would of. They didnt. fact they needed 2 late scores against teams they should of crushed offensively. Fact Bills offence is avg(17th) in ponts scored.

[buffalobloodfloridahome]

The biggest difference is that the media has seemingly jumped on the bills bandwagon and is ranking them highly. So maybe just maybe they are seeing something different from years past.

[ngbills]

58 minutes ago, billsfan1959 said:

Apparently that is all you are doing, is looking at the stats of the NE games and proclaiming them to be almost unbeatable. Try looking at the actual games. NE and Buff put up almost exactly the same numbers against the Jets. Had Buffalo not turned the ball over 4 times, ended two drives due to penalties and dropped balls, they would have blown the Jets out by halftime. The BIlls dominated the vast majority of the Giants and Bengals games - again beating themselves with turnovers, penalties, and mistakes that prevented both games from blow outs out at half time.

 

The Bills did dominate their opponents in play. They prevented themselves from blowing all three opponents out.

 

The whole point of my original post was to show that they are a good team, offensively, and if they do not beat themselves, they are absolutely capable of beating of the Pats*. No matter how invincible you think they are.

Isn't that part of the game and true about every team? Good teams player smarter, make less mistakes, and dont turn the ball over. That is exactly why the Bills are not yet on the level of the Pats. 

[billsfan1959]

17 minutes ago, Chris66 said:

Shoulda coulda would of. They didnt. fact they needed 2 late scores against teams they should of crushed offensively. Fact Bills offence is avg(17th) in ponts scored.

Oh look, Mr. I don't care how immoral the players for my team are...

 

They're 3-0. We'll see what happens Sunday. Don't you have you're own message board to impart your nuggets of wisdom on?

[Chris66]

1 minute ago, billsfan1959 said:

Oh look, Mr. I don't care how immoral the players for my team are...

 

They're 3-0. We'll see what happens Sunday. Don't you have you're own message board to impart your nuggets of wisdom on?

No im fine here.

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, billsfan1959 said:

Actually they didn't. The Bills dominated the vast majority of both games and allowed both teams to be in the games due to their own mistakes. Both the Jets and the Bengals should have been blown out by halftime. If the Bills didn't make mistakes that (1) took away scoring opportunities and (2) directly led to opponent scoring opportunities, then it wouldn't have mattered what the other teams did.

 

The Bills gifted the Jets and the Bengals opportunities to win games in which they were, for the most part, dominated, and the Bills still beat them.

 

Your analysis is superficial, intellectually lazy, and nonsensical.

 

The Jets and the Bengals didn't lose the games because they choked. They lost because they were outplayed. 

 

Simple.

 

The Bengals were being blown out by halftime.

 

 

[billsfan1959]

3 minutes ago, ngbills said:

Isn't that part of the game and true about every team? Good teams player smarter, make less mistakes, and dont turn the ball over. That is exactly why the Bills are not yet on the level of the Pats. 

Last I looked, they are both undefeated. You nor I have any idea which team is better rght now. That is why they actually play the games. I guess we will see who is better this weekend.

[RaoulDuke79]

I don't think this is the "same old Bills" , but it is the same old Patriots. I like our chances better than I haveve in a while, but the Patriots are 7 point favorites for a reason. 

[H2o]

I picked the "SAD" reaction just so homey could get the Septuplefecta 

[billsfan1959]

2 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

The Bengals were being blown out by halftime.

 

 

14-0 at half is not being blown out in today's NFL. Had it not been for a drop by Knox at the 4, or the fumble by Yeldon, they could have been up by 21 and then it becomes a blow out - and changes the complexion of the game. Add in the awful interception by Allen in the 3rd, and a team that was absolutely dominated up to that point, was suddenly in the game.

 

My point was that it was only their own mistakes that kept these games even close. Those are the things they need to improve on before they move to the next level. However, they do have the ability to get there.

[Mr. WEO]

34 minutes ago, billsfan1959 said:

14-0 at half is not being blown out in today's NFL. Had it not been for a drop by Knox at the 4, or the fumble by Yeldon, they could have been up by 21 and then it becomes a blow out - and changes the complexion of the game. Add in the awful interception by Allen in the 3rd, and a team that was absolutely dominated up to that point, was suddenly in the game.

 

My point was that it was only their own mistakes that kept these games even close. Those are the things they need to improve on before they move to the next level. However, they do have the ability to get there.

 

The point others are also making is that they took a 2 TD lead over a bad team they were dominating and came out of the locker room and proceeded to allow 17 unanswered points to this same bad team.  The Bills were dominated in the second half.  Then they put together a winning drive very late.   The bad INT in the 3rd wasn't the only problem....

Edited September 26, 2019 by Mr. WEO

[billsfan1959]

4 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

The point others are also making is that they took a 2 TD lead over a bad team they were dominating and came out of the locker room and proceeded to allow 17 unanswered points to this same bad team.  The Bills were dominated in the second half.  Then they put together a winning drive very late.   The bad INT in the 3rd wasn't the only problem....

Tell Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks how bad the Bengals are when they were outgained by 200 yards, had to score late, and snuck away with a 1 point win after being outplayed for most of the game. They had a bad game against the 49ers; however, they have a good front four, two good corners, and an offense that is capable of pushing the ball downfield and scoring points. 

 

And, yet, the Bills won - and they are 3-0. Why in the world do we have to look for so many reasons to put an asterisk next to it?

 

They have a lot of room for improvement; however, they are a good team - and will only get better.

 

 

[keepthefaith]

Tom Brady plays the game like a robot.  He's nearly perfect.  That doesn't mean he completes every pass.  It means he gets what he can out of nearly every play even when that's nothing.  He rarely is sacked or turns it over and the supporting cast (offense, defense and special teams) fall in line and do their job.  They lack flash but they don't beat themselves.  To beat them you have to be closer to perfect and equally talented.  It's hard to do, but even the Patriots have their off games or find themselves in a tough matchup.

[Steptide]

I'm interested to see how the team reacts if they win. That might sound dumb, but hear me out. When the bills beat new England back in 2011 with Fitz, the team acted like they had just won the superbowl. No doubt it was absolutely awesome for us fans and for the players at the time like Freddy Jackson who had never beaten the Pats, but I'm curious with McDermott, and the whole "it's just the next game" mentality, how bills players will be if they win. Obviously they'll be happy and excited, as they should be with any win, but how do they handle it with the exposure and hype that'll come with beating the Pats 

[Formerly Allan in MD]

3-0 is 3-0.  Do you think Belichick feels otherwise? 

[reddogblitz]

You are what your record says you are.

[Rockinon]

Oh! Oh! Oh! I know the answer! 3-0 isn't really 3-0 when you get your butt handed to you in week 4 by the Buffalo Biills.

[djp14150]

16 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said:

They have dominated their opponents from the opening whistle.  Pittsburgh is a better team than Cincinnati.  The Bills have struggled to move the ball for long stretches in all three games.  The Patriots have not.  It's quite fair to say they are a better 3-0 team.  

But none of that means anything come Sunday.  If anyone thinks the Bills can't win, then they have no understanding of history or the game of NFL football.  

 

The jets team we beat was in better shape than their team and it was a road win

 

they play dolphins vs we play the giants. Giants are better.

 

pittsburgh vs Cincinnati..both 0-3 teams. Thry had the emotion of opponent game season win cellabrsting a super bowl win. Cincinnati is the better team than Pittsburgh. They both played Seattle and SF one home one road. Cincinnati overall played better.

[theRalph]

15 hours ago, JoPar_v2 said:

 

i love this “NE hasn’t faced any adversity so far”...in 3 games, after playing in the playoffs for the last umpteen years and the last 4 superbowls THEY havent faced adversity. They ain’t used to it. Wow yo. I’ve seen some very dumb **** here but this is some DUMB ****. I knew the homer bs would get bad after we won against the bengals but DAMN.

I wrote about adversity, in a game, this season. If you're unable to respond with any civility....don't respond or perhaps go ***** yourself. But based on the age you appear to be you probably don't know what that even is. SMH

16 hours ago, Jared said:

 

Down 3 out of 5 starting OL at the 3 most important OL spots, have barely NFL quality TEs, lost their FB for an unknown period of time.  Edelman has banged up ribs, apparently Gordon keeps getting his finger dislocated.  I don't think you can say NO adversity. 

 

It is true that they haven't played any elite opponents yet, but frankly other than the Chiefs, there don't appear to be any really elite teams out there in the league.  Every team has flaws.  The Fish are a dumpster fire, the Jets are... I don't know, a recycling bin fire?

I was referring to adversity in a game situation, i.e. trailing, being truly challenged. 

[theRalph]

2 hours ago, RaoulDuke79 said:

I don't think this is the "same old Bills" , but it is the same old Patriots. I like our chances better than I haveve in a while, but the Patriots are 7 point favorites for a reason. 

Well put Dr. Thompson. Hopefully the Bills go Gonzo on those pricks.

 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

I actually think we have played pretty dominating football. We have just gotten in our own way too many times. The Jets game was  a disaster in terms of getting in our own way. Same thing with the Bengals game with the two bad plays by JA and the Yeldon fumble. Otherwise I feel like the offense has been firing on all cylinders pretty much all three games. Defense has been solid for all three games with only a drive here or there that went south. 

 

And yeah, of course you can compare the Darnoldless Jets team and Miami to any of the three teams we have played.

[BananaB]

I thought we kind of dominated all three of our opponents in almost all aspects of the game though the scoreboard did not show it. Mistakes have cost us but we managed to get the W regardless, that’s all that matters.  Right now the Pats know how to win and we are just learning how to win. Atleast that’s what I hope is happening. I think these wins will be better for us down the road rather then blowouts, Jmo.... Hopefully it helps us take down these ***** this weekend. 

[Yav]

On 9/26/2019 at 9:50 AM, billsfan1959 said:

Apparently that is all you are doing, is looking at the stats of the NE games and proclaiming them to be almost unbeatable. Try looking at the actual games. NE and Buff put up almost exactly the same numbers against the Jets. Had Buffalo not turned the ball over 4 times, ended two drives due to penalties and dropped balls, they would have blown the Jets out by halftime. The BIlls dominated the vast majority of the Giants and Bengals games - again beating themselves with turnovers, penalties, and mistakes that prevented both games from blow outs out at half time.

 

The Bills did dominate their opponents in play. They prevented themselves from blowing all three opponents out.

 

The whole point of my original post was to show that they are a good team, offensively, and if they do not beat themselves, they are absolutely capable of beating of the Pats*. No matter how invincible you think they are.

Seriously? 

You may want to re-read what you posted. 

 

You're trying to justify your claim that the Bills are just as good as NE if they play mistake free, and through 3 games they haven't been able to do that. But hey, if NE turns the ball over and commits a bunch of penalties (and they get flagged for them) they would be just as bad as Miami. 

[PatsFanNH]

On 9/25/2019 at 10:46 PM, theRalph said:

There is a prevailing school of thought that places NE over the Bills based on their respective 3-0 records. That school maintains that, although the combined records of each teams' opponents are comparable (0-9 for NE, 1-8 for the Bills), the Patriots have been far more dominant in their games than the Bills. Film and stats support this. But the eyeball test does not. They've both played the Jets, but the Jet team NE faced was missing both Darnold and Mosley. I would venture that the Bengals are stronger than the Steelers based on the QB situation...Big Ben's elbow was non-contact, so it likely hampered him in the opener the week prior to the injury. And any team, including the Giants, has to be considered to be stronger than Miami. I'd give the overall edge to the Bill's opponents.

 

Here's the thing: NE has not yet faced any real adversity (except for the Stidham pick-six). The Bills have. Of course that can be explained away by saying NE is superior...hard to argue this. But it is easy to argue that the Bills in their three wins have had to climb more mountains than NE. So we have NE, the heavy weight champion that has easily beaten three weak foes and the Bills, an upstart challenger that has had to fight for inches in 2 of 3 wins. The Buffalo Bills have been in far nastier fights than the Patriots. There is, I would estimate, a bit of an edge to the Bills that NE doesn't have, based on what it took to arrive at 3-0. Not all 3-0 records are created equal.

 

I believe the Bills will be something of a shock to the Patriots. Certainly the Bills are the best team, by far, that NE has faced this season. Buffalo may well win this game. If so, will the national media laud the Bills, or explain it away by saying NE was short-handed and a bit injured? 

 

There is an old adage that says "when we suddenly determine the Bills are good, it will in retrospect be revealed they were already good. The opposite applies also, perhaps for NE. Stat-of-the-Day: In the 18 seasons of Bill and Tom show, the Patriots have gone 4-0 only four times.

The Pats considered better because...

 

1. Pats D - 1 point 199 yards a game.  

 

2.  They are the PATRIOTS, and DEFENDING SB champions! 

 

that said you play who is on your schedule and in the end all that matters is the W. 

[row_33]

Bill Simmons read the riot act on the Bills for his podcast game preview, harsher than i expected him to be, it's after a good interview with Flea about his Lakers fan memories.

 

 

[billsfan1959]

1 hour ago, Yav said:

Seriously? 

You may want to re-read what you posted. 

 

You're trying to justify your claim that the Bills are just as good as NE if they play mistake free, and through 3 games they haven't been able to do that. But hey, if NE turns the ball over and commits a bunch of penalties (and they get flagged for them) they would be just as bad as Miami. 

I don’t need to re-read anything. My point was exactly that:: If they don’t beat themselves they can play with NE. If you don’t believe that, fine. The truth is, you don’t know who will win on Sunday any more than I do.

 

At least I believe in my team

[Nextmanup]

On 9/26/2019 at 1:57 PM, billsfan1959 said:

Last I looked, they are both undefeated. You nor I have any idea which team is better rght now. That is why they actually play the games. I guess we will see who is better this weekend.

Only way to assess competence is by record?  Come on, man.

 

It's OK, you can concede that NE is better.  

 

The world won't end.

 

 

 

 

[row_33]

31 minutes ago, billsfan1959 said:

I don’t need to re-read anything. My point was exactly that:: If they don’t beat themselves they can play with NE. If you don’t believe that, fine. The truth is, you don’t know who will win on Sunday any more than I do.

 

At least I believe in my team

 

there's no reason to deny that the Pats should win this game

 

but the game will be played....

 

[billsfan1959]

37 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

Only way to assess competence is by record?  Come on, man.

 

It's OK, you can concede that NE is better.  

 

The world won't end.

 

 

 

 

I won't concede anything until the game is over.

 

It's ok if there are those of us who actually think the Bills have a pretty good team.

 

The world won't end

27 minutes ago, row_33 said:

 

there's no reason to deny that the Pats should win this game

 

but the game will be played....

 

Actually there is. If you don't believe the Bills can win, then don't watch.

[row_33]

25 minutes ago, billsfan1959 said:

Actually there is. If you don't believe the Bills can win, then don't watch.

 

you aren't the boss of me

 

i will watch and expect the Bills to lose real bad, but hope for something better than that

[skibum]

I think you could argue that about the Pat's defensive dominance so far, but their offense is just a well-oiled machine any way you look at it. Adversity or not, they're going to get their opportunities and take advantage of them. 

Edited September 27, 2019 by skibum

[row_33]

11 minutes ago, skibum said:

I think you could argue that about the Pat's defensive dominance so far, but their offense is just a well-oiled machine any way you look at it. 

 

argue that it's the best D of the Brady Era, yeah that's been argued by many... 

 

 

[billsfan1959]

7 minutes ago, row_33 said:

 

you aren't the boss of me

 

i will watch and expect the Bills to lose real bad, but hope for something better than that

How sad your life must be. Good luck with that...

[ganesh]

On 9/26/2019 at 3:40 PM, billsfan1959 said:

 

 

	Drives	Tot Net Yds	Scores	TD	FG	Missed FG	Safety	INTs	Fumbles	Punts
1st Qtr	11	425	4	3	1	0	0	1	1	5
2nd Qtr	7	281	2	1	1	1	0	1	2	1
3rd Qtr	7	73	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	4
4th Qtr	8	383	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	4

 

 

I love that last line of the stat table.....mistake free football in fourth quarter and 4 TDs....Impressive.