Big Ben to the Bench! #2 Seed is ours!

[John from Riverside]

I would like to see a situation where we start Allen....but destroy them in the 1st half and sit Josh in the second half

 

Just seems like too much on the line to sit the starters.

[GunnerBill]

9 minutes ago, eball said:

 

I recall a similar sentiment in 2017.

 

In 2017 the teams were somewhat close. I always thought Cincy could win that game. This time it is a mismatch. Ravens by 17. 

[balln]

9 minutes ago, 4BillsintheBurgh said:

So the Steelers are breaking the rules by not disclosing that injury during week 16?

 

Ok, sure.

 

No one has ever confused him with Tom Brady or Drew Brees when it comes to workout regime. He is rowing in the same boat as Jerome Bettis, who was always reported "to be in the best shape of his career" every year for the last 5 or so years of his career.

 

rehabbing his elbow injury in the offseason and when they went 11-0 .... where was your "hot take" post then? 

[wvbillsfan]

All this talk about avoiding the Ravens 

Line them up

Ravens

Titans 

Chiefs 

 

We are the best team in the league and everyone is going to find out. 

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

13 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

Bills, Steelers and Bengals winning gets us Ravens.

If the Steelers lose 

 

There are so many variables on outcomes for the 7th seed 

 

Miami

Baltimore

Tennessee

 Indianapolis

The Browns win ends their 17 year drought 

[whatdrought]

I still want us to play. Ride the hot hand. 

[LeGOATski]

Seems unlikely, but is there any way Allen beats Rivers and Roethlisberger for the AFC and then beats Rodgers in the SB? 

 

That'd be cool. Like old generation to new.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

1 minute ago, LeGOATski said:

Seems unlikely, but is there any way Allen beats Rivers and Roethlisberger for the AFC and then beats Rodgers in the SB? 

 

That'd be cool. Like old generation to new.

Ben has proved his dink and dunk style isn’t working In December 

 

Old Man Rivers is good but can he win a shootout?

 

 

[balln]

1 minute ago, SlimShady'sSpaceForce said:

Ben has proved his dink and dunk style isn’t working In December 

 

Old Man Rivers is good but can he win a shootout?

 

 

he threw it plenty downfield against IND

[BigdaddyinOrlando]

I think other teams and fans are wondering and looking at ways to avoid the Bills in the playoffs as much as possible! This is a good feeling and welcomed for sure! Memories of the 90s for sure!!

[TheCockSportif]

40 minutes ago, Man with No Name said:

Ben is old and banged up. His body AND arm need the rest, and Tomlin knows the odds are in favor of the bills winning anyway. That factors in huge. 

We should play guys who feel good, and rest anybody who is banged up. 

 

keep the ball rolling. 

Frankly, I am not sure that Ben has anything left in the tank at all.  Good.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

1 minute ago, balln said:

he threw it plenty downfield against IND

once or twice. 
 

and to overcome the deficit 

 

Indy still lacks defensive talent IIRC

 

[Rochesterfan]

31 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Ravens are in. No way they are losing to the Benglas.

 

I believe a few years ago we said the same thing just before a bunch of money was donated to Dalton’s charity.

 

Truthfully - I agree - see little way they lose.

[4BillsintheBurgh]

10 minutes ago, balln said:

rehabbing his elbow injury in the offseason and when they went 11-0 .... where was your "hot take" post then? 

It takes time for that to catch up with you. Do you deny Ben was looking to sit out of practice? He was actually proud to have asked.

 

And I live around Pittsburgh. I have eyewitness accounts.

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

Mason Rudolph playing is no guarantee that the Browns win, just like Barkley playing would still give the Bills a good chance to win.

 

Rudolph can be good in spurts, even better than Roethlisberger for a bit.

 

Steelers rested starters when 2004 Bills were in exact same situation as 2020 Browns, and we know how that turned out.

 

We also know the Browns are kind of cursed, and the Steelers have their number.

 

This is not a done deal at all.

 

Bills should bury Dolphins and/or wait for Browns to bury Steelers, then rest everyone humanly possible immediately.

[Rochesterfan]

25 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Im sure you’re more than capable of answering the question.

Do you still think the Dolphins can with the division?

 

Hopefully Simon will be back to give more peace.

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

46 minutes ago, H2o said:

I think this is a stab at knocking the Ravens out by any means possible by Pittsburgh. 

This does have a Bledsoe-esque feel to it. 

The Ravens are win and in. This would be more of a move to knock the Colts out as they're the only team that needs help.

There is so much misinformation in this thread! People, please just look at this:

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

I think this is smart move by Tomlin, I think he just figured if his team went all out then we would too. And, doing that just exposed his beat up team to injury. He might as well get healthy to play the Ravens at home as a 3 seed.

[balln]

8 minutes ago, 4BillsintheBurgh said:

It takes time for that to catch up with you. Do you deny Ben was looking to sit out of practice? He was actually proud to have asked.

 

And I live around Pittsburgh. I have eyewitness accounts.

an ELBOW UCL reconstruction. DOES not take time to cath up with you. You will either be able to throw the ball or not / or worse re rupture. im not sure what you mean. I feel like youre saying hes lazy and not conditioning ? which i disagree with. hes BIG BEN. im not sure / dont live in PIT will take your word for it, but VETS take rest days all the time. part of the reason brady wanted to get away from NE

[longtimebillsfan]

We need to take care of business ourselves.  Once our game vs Miami is in hand or it is clear that the Browns will beat the Steelers, we should paly our starters.  We need to keep the momentum rolling going into the playoffs.

 

Just my opinion.

[balln]

1 minute ago, balln said:

an ELBOW UCL reconstruction. DOES not take time to cath up with you. You will either be able to throw the ball or not / or worse re rupture. im not sure what you mean. I feel like youre saying hes lazy and not conditioning ? which i disagree with. hes BIG BEN. im not sure / dont live in PIT will take your word for it, but VETS take rest days all the time. part of the reason brady wanted to get away from NE

hes 38

[billsherd]

If ravens are in maybe they will also pull out the starters after series or two. 

[BITE ME]

1 hour ago, Gene1973 said:

Not a very Tomlin move...

 

They are a tired team. It is a smart move which means it is a Tomlin move.  He is an elite coach.  He knows what he is doing.  I am sure he sees the possibility of a Ravens first round game and knows he needs a fresh team.  That is a very physical game in the first round.

[4BillsintheBurgh]

23 minutes ago, balln said:

an ELBOW UCL reconstruction. DOES not take time to cath up with you. You will either be able to throw the ball or not / or worse re rupture. im not sure what you mean. I feel like youre saying hes lazy and not conditioning ? which i disagree with. hes BIG BEN. im not sure / dont live in PIT will take your word for it, but VETS take rest days all the time. part of the reason brady wanted to get away from NE

What does that even mean? He's never been lauded for his offseason workouts, so I'm saying his normal approach plus the surgery plus the Covid has him tired at this point of the season. If he had taken a non-BIG BEN approach it would have gone better for him. I would love to see him up in Buffalo with a wind chill in the single digits, that would just crush that offense.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

41 minutes ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

Mason Rudolph playing is no guarantee that the Browns win, just like Barkley playing would still give the Bills a good chance to win.

 

Wow, I don't share your optimism on that latter point.

 

Rudolph did end last season with a 5-3 record for Pittsburgh and 62% completions, so even though he didn't light up the league he did display a degree of NFL competence.

[KellyToTasker]

10 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Wow, I don't share your optimism on that latter point.

 

Rudolph did end last season with a 5-3 record for Pittsburgh and 62% completions, so even though he didn't light up the league he did display a degree of NFL competence.

True. But he got benched for Duck Hodges (last season) and Tomlin cemented that change by saying that Hodges gets the helm because he doesn’t kill us. (Paraphrasing a bit). 
 

Myles Garrett is getting free licks on Rudolph next week. He’s gonna be fed to the wolves. First start against the Browns since the great debacle last year. 

[ColoradoBills]

1 hour ago, The Wiz said:

Bills, Steelers and Bengals winning gets us Ravens.

 

My calculator say the Colts have to beat the Jags too.

If Jags win Ravens seed 6.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Don't count them eggs as chickens yet, Fellow Fan

 

Last time the Mason Rudolph led Steelers played the Browns, Rudolph got whalloped upside his Haid with his own helmet.

I assume the Steelers players have opinions about that occurance.

 

Is this Tomlin giving them a chance at the Mason Rudolph Revenge Tour?

 

And the last time the non Mason led steelers played the browns the browns lost to duck hodges 🤣 Cleveland could easily lose this game

[RyanC883]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

I'd love to sweep the Division this year and knock the Dolphins out as well.

 

Maybe play our guys the 1st half and then see what happens.

 

i lime this.  get the starters non rusty, and get backups (esp Barkley) reps in 2nd half and protect Allen, Diggs. 

[RobbRiddick]

1 hour ago, njbuff said:

Watch the Browns still lose.

 

LOL imagine how embarrassed you'd feel as a fan if your team lost a win-and-you're-in game to the Steelers backups...

[PrimeTime101]

Look.. there is a smart reason for this... Send starters out to the regular on a high note knowing there starters could struggle vs the Browns. 

 

End the season on a high note. Spend time with starters for 2 weeks straight fixing what's broke.

 

Its smart.. Its telling your team "I don't care where we seed in the playoffs cause I think we can win"

 

Strong Smart Move

[Seventeen]

1 hour ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

The Ravens are win and in. This would be more of a move to knock the Colts out as they're the only team that needs help.

There is so much misinformation in this thread! People, please just look at this:

 

The mostly likely scenario to me is Bills win / Steelers lose / Ravens,Colts,Titans all win giving us Indy in the wild card round.

[Putin]

8 minutes ago, RobbRiddick said:

 

LOL imagine how embarrassed you'd feel as a fan if your team lost a win-and-you're-in game to the Steelers backups...

even if Big Ben plays im not sure they could beat the Browns , 

[Fan in Chicago]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

In 2017 the teams were somewhat close. I always thought Cincy could win that game. This time it is a mismatch. Ravens by 17. 

My trust in Jackson has eroded this season.  Not saying the Bengals will win,  but it may be a close game if the Bengals can limit his running

[JPP]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Ravens are in. No way they are losing to the Benglas.

Same was said about Pittsburgh and look what happened......never ever know.....

[fergie's ire]

2 hours ago, SlimShady'sSpaceForce said:

Do you really trust the Browns 

 

or Tomlin?

 

There's no WAY a Steelers team could win the last game of the season against a team trying to make it into the playoffs.  Doing something like that would be Bills-y...but maybe now Browns-y.

[QCity]

This is not good news for Miami fans.

[Putin]

1 minute ago, Fan in Chicago said:

My trust in Jackson has eroded this season.  Not saying the Bengals will win,  but it may be a close game if the Bengals can limit his running

I don’t now why people are so freaking scared of Baltimore ???  Yes they can hurt you by pounding the ball down our throats BUT as long as Josh continues to play at that MVP level we can smoke ANYBODY 

[njbuff]

24 minutes ago, RobbRiddick said:

 

LOL imagine how embarrassed you'd feel as a fan if your team lost a win-and-you're-in game to the Steelers backups...

 

Never seen it before. I have no idea what you are talking about. 😁

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, buffalo2218 said:

By Pitt falling to the 3rd seed (provided Mayfield don't sh*t the bed again), would that mean the Bills get the Ravens?

 

According to Football Outsiders, Bills have a 77.2% chance of playing the Browns, Colts, or Dolphins as the #2 seed. Only a 7.8% chance of the Ravens and 14.9% of the Titans.

Edited December 29, 2020 by HappyDays