1/16/21 Divisional Round Playoff BILLS GOING TO AFC CHAMPIONSHIP Postgame Thread

[Watkins101]

2 hours ago, folz said:

Over their last six games (prior to tonight), the Ravens have averaged 262 rushing yards/game and 2.33 rushing TDs/game.

 

Tonight, the Bills held them to 150 yards rushing and O TDs. Kudos to the defensive coaches and players!!!

 

I think an under-rated aspect of McDermott and his staff's coaching is how they manipulate the active roster and game plans to the strengths of their players vs. the strengths/weaknesses of their opponents each week. For instance, Trent Murphy has been inactive for many games, but he was up this week. Why? Because his biggest strength as a DE is stopping the run. And Baltimore is a run-first team that has been lighting it up on the ground. That's just one example---but truly, there are no second- and third-stringers, or practice squaders here---there is just one team with many parts and each part has its strengths which will be utilized when appropriate. McDermott and Beane (from a front office perspective) have been masterful at how they have handled the bottom half of the roster all year.

 

And this isn't to diss anyone, but I have to say that I was surprised earlier this year when so many fans were down on Taron. The kid has done nothing but ball out since he came to Buffalo. He grabbed that slot corner role his rookie year and in three years no one has even come close to challenging him for it. In just his fourth NFL game (as a 4th-round rookie), he had a strip-sack on Aaron Rodgers. And followed that up the next week with an INT. The kid has been a play maker from the start. And what, a bad game or two and people were ready to kick him to the curb? People get so down on players sometimes when we know so little (are they dealing with an injury, what was their responsibility in the scheme, how is the other team game planning against our D, how good is the guy he's guarding, etc., etc.). At points this year people were down on Micah and Tremaine (when they were playing through injury), etc. Taron tonight was a little reminder to maybe not be so rash/harsh with our judgements of players sometimes. 

 

Ok, sorry, enough of that, this is a happy night where we are all ONE BUFFALO! THE BEST FANS IN THE NFL! HEADED TO THE AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME! With a team that it is a pleasure to root for. Talent with character and a family culture. Enjoy this Bills Mafia. This is the best kind of team that we could have ever hoped for! Humble and Hungry! CHEERS TO YOU ALL---WE DESERVE THIS!  🍻 

 

GO BILLS!

I think Trent Murphy was playing because Johnson was out with a knee injury. Good post overall though.

[Magox]

4 hours ago, Rock-A-Bye Beasley said:

My dad, cousin and I jumped up screaming go, go , go! I pointed at Lamar and yelled "block him", and Tre'davious obliged. 

Great job!

[taglientep]

5 hours ago, Rock-A-Bye Beasley said:

My dad, cousin and I jumped up screaming go, go , go! I pointed at Lamar and yelled "block him", and Tre'davious obliged. 

Dont you love it when they do what you told them 

[YoloinOhio]

 

[SoTier]

7 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

It sincerely took you to 15-3 to believe in the Bills?  A team that just shut down the #1 running offense, #6 defense, and beat most of the top 5 defenses in the NFL all year.

 

I believed in the Bills since September, but I didn't think that the Bills run D matched up well with Baltimore's running game because of Lamar, Edwards and Dobbins.   They looked like a juggernaut against Tennessee, and the Bills D got gashed by Indy the game before.   I underestimated how good the Bills D is ... and how limited the Ravens' offense is against a good D.

[loedward22]

The Bills just reached their highest ELO rating ever...

 

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/complete-history-of-the-nfl/#buf

[Meatloaf63]

6 hours ago, buffalo2218 said:

It appeared to me that Jackson's head never touched the turf, so I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how he got concussed

His head bounced like a basketball 🏀 Off the turf, the side shot made it obvious what happened to him.

[Bleed Bills Blue]

7 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

Ha, the swarming Killer Bees

[stevewin]

5 hours ago, Rock-A-Bye Beasley said:

My dad, cousin and I jumped up screaming go, go , go! I pointed at Lamar and yelled "block him", and Tre'davious obliged. 

I did the same thing screaming " block him! Block him!" and then Tre comes in and obliges.  Great hustle play

[Golden*Wheels]

Goddamn....my 11:30 victory Scotch is still doing it's thing.

 

WHAT

A
GAME

[whatdrought]

40 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

He looks pissed at how he played tonight. Good. Go get 400 and 5 scores next week.

[loveorhatembillsfan4life]

The media does so much to dictate the narrative every week that I’m convinced Mcd just shuts out the noise and picks nuggets here and there for motivation.

 

If I never watched a game of football all I would know coming into this game is that no one wants to play the Baltimore Ravens right now. And Lamar is the second coming because he busted a long td run in Nashville. The Ravens are going to bully us and run all over us. 

 

We   shouldn’t fear any team to play. We are good enough to win the whole thing.

 

But wow How hard is it to win a Super Bowl coming from the AfC?! Quality opponents one after another! This team is special!

 

 

 

 

 

[wjag]

A baker's dozen thoughts on the game:

 

1.  Of course T Johnson's INT will be the play of the game, but it was Jerry Hughes' play right before that, that was most important.  He managed to get to Jackson and rush a throw to a wide and I mean wide open M Brown that would have gone for a game tying TD.

2.  How, and I do mean how did our DLine pull that off?  We haven't seen that all season.  It sure did look like it was going to be a long day when Baltimore ripped off big run after big run on that opening drive.  And then Buffalo just shut that thing down.

3.  I think Greg Roman realized one drive too late that Huntley did not know the playbook.  You could see how long it was taking to call plays.  Going to 'ah just go out there and throw it' worked much better with the kid.

4.  Gabe Davis, you have to catch that TD.

5.  Allen missing on the deep throws all game.  It became clear why when NBC put the ball tracker on one.  You could see what happened when he missed a wide open Diggs.  The ball just went right at the end of the throw.  The wind just took it away.

6.  Wind was the biggest weather factor in that game.  Bad punts, bad throws, bad place kicks.

7.  I was joking with my friend who is a Browns fan to start the game.  I asked if Baltimore would gift us a TD on a fumble.  Little did I know that the Baltimore center would get the case of the yips.  How does that happen?  I mean really, how does that happen four different times in the game?

8.  The Bills lone offensive TD was a blown Baltimore coverage.  3 WRs on 2 DBs.  2020 Josh Allen sees that and immediately zips a throw there for a TD.

9.  The Ravens DB took away Beasley.  In the end it was probably okay.  He comes out of the game healthy.

10. The Bills OLine passed blocked their azzes off.  Judon did beat Dion for a blind side sack-fumble though.  

11.  Interesting how Baltimore backed out of their blitzing persona and elected to play coverage.

12. I hope Jackson is okay.  He's not my favorite QB, but he plays to win.  He has changed the game. 

13. Can't leave without poking Tucker. Bahahahaha.  Welcome to Buffalo.  Love the look of disbelief in his eyes when he misses.  He is so clutch.  That's when you really knew it was windy in Buffalo.  I've seen the goal posts sway a lot more than that, but they were definitely moving.

 

Win 10 games or more and get a playoff birth -- check

Win the AFC East -- check

Win a playoff game -- check

Win a divisional round game -- check-o-mongo

Win a conference championship game -- to be checked....

Edited January 17, 2021 by wjag

[stevewin]

6 hours ago, Logic said:

Rodney Harrison is still an idiot.

Thought it was funny he wasn't on the post-game segment from the stadium - NBC knew the crowd would shower him with their strong opinions.  Still hate he was there at all.

[stevewin]

5 hours ago, BillsfaninSB said:

I wish Oliver got a hold of Hundley on that scramble to actually get the safety. 

Or at least bring him down near the goal line.  That was a crazy sequence.  In two plays field position went from 2 yd line to other 25.  If Huntly gets just a small gain there we would most likely have gotten ball at midfield or better

[GunnerBill]

37 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

I believed in the Bills since September, but I didn't think that the Bills run D matched up well with Baltimore's running game because of Lamar, Edwards and Dobbins.   They looked like a juggernaut against Tennessee, and the Bills D got gashed by Indy the game before.   I underestimated how good the Bills D is ... and how limited the Ravens' offense is against a good D.

 

I have been saying since before the playoffs even started that while Baltimore are good and on their day can beat anyone their run game would be less of a problem for us than the Browns or Tennessee. 

 

The Ravens run game is complex and multiple and they beat you with confusion and misdirection and I feel like the Bills dline is good mentally. Where they are less good is when someone just lines up and says "you know we are coming right at you now try and stop it" and that is not really what Greg Roman does. After the scripted drive we held up vert well in run D.

[stuvian]

it's an amazing feeling to go to the AFC title game knowing you have a real chance to win without fearing that you are hyping anything.

[blackngolddigger]

Congrats to you Bills fans.

 

Long overdue.

 

Hopefully you guys win two more.

[Chandler#81]

 

[Blank Stare]

1 hour ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

That’s the look of hunger. He knows there’s more work to do. 

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

7 hours ago, WideNine said:

The Bills are good, but there must have been a change in management for the football gods the way the luck and positive karma has been raining down on our team.

Love this.

[stevewin]

22 minutes ago, wjag said:

A baker's dozen thoughts on the game:

 

1.  Of course T Johnson's INT will be the play of the game, but it was Jerry Hughes' play right before that, that was most important.  He managed to get to Jackson and rush a throw to a wide and I mean wide open M Brown that would have gone for a game tying TD.

2.  How, and I do mean how did our DLine pull that off?  We haven't seen that all season. 

3.  I think Wink Martindale realized one drive too late that Huntley did not know the playbook.  You could see how long it was taking to call plays.  Going to 'ah just go out there and throw it' worked much better with the kid.

4.  Gabe Davis, you have to catch that TD.

5.  Allen missing on the deep throws all game.  It became clear why when NBC put the ball tracker on one.  You could see what happened when he missed a wide open Diggs.  The ball just went left at the end of the throw.  The wind just took it away.

6.  Wind was the biggest weather factor in that game.  Bad punts, bad throws, bad place kicks.

7.  I was joking with my Browns fan to start the game.  I asked if Baltimore would gift us a TD on a fumble.  Little did I know that the Baltimore center would get the case of the yips.  How does that happen?  I mean really, how does that happen four different times in the game?

8.  The Bills lone TD was a blown Baltimore coverage.  3 WRS on 2 DBs.  2020 Josh Allen sees that and immediately zips a throw there for a TD.

9.  The Ravens DB took away Beasley.  In the end it was probably okay.  He comes out of the game healthy.

10. The Bills OLine passed blocked their azzes off.  Judon did beat Dion for a blind side sack-fumble.  

11.  Interesting how Baltimore backed out of their blitzing persona and elected to play coverage.

12. I hope Jackson is okay.  He's not my favorite QB, but he plays to win.  He has changed the game. 

13. Can't leave without poking Tucker. Bahahahaha.  Welcome to Buffalo.  Love the look of disbelief in his eyes when he misses.  He is so clutch.  That's when you really knew it was windy in Buffalo.  I've seen the goal posts sway a lot more than that, but they were definitely moving.

 

Win 10 games or more and get a playoff birth -- check

Win the AFC East -- check

Win a playoff game -- check

Win a divisional round game -- check-o-mongo

Win a conference championship game -- to be checked....

Hughes actually took himself out after that play and I was yelling "No Jerry stay out for one more!"  In the end it turned out alright

 

Re: the wind - I hope this silences all the people who said it wouldnt be a factor bc Josh's strong arm would "cut through it".   Sure it can help for short throws on a line, but for long balls the law of physics gets more involved.  Once the ball is up there on the swirling winds it can go anywhere, regardless of how strong your arm is.  They pointed out on the broadcast that Huntley's overthrow to wide open receiver on 4th down was same end that the

wind took over on Josh's overthrows earlier in the game.  For this team, where the deep ball is one of the keys for the offense, high wind is the worst weather element they can encounter IMO.  Even in snow/rain/ slippery field - most times that favors receivers who know where they are going vs defense having to react 

[4merper4mer]

1 minute ago, stevewin said:

Hughes actually took himself out after that play and I was yelling "No Jerry stay out for one more!"  In the end it turned out alright

 

Re: the wind - I hope this silences all the people who said it wouldnt be a factor bc Josh's strong arm would "cut through it".   Sure it can help for short throws on a line, but for long balls the law of physics gets more involved.  Once the ball is up there on the swirling winds it can go anywhere, regardless of how strong your arm is.  They pointed out on the broadcast that Huntley's overthrow to wide open receiver on 4th down was same end that the

wind took over on Josh's overthrows earlier in the game.  For this team, where the deep ball is one of the keys for the offense, high wind is the worst weather element they can encounter IMO.  Even in snow/rain/ slippery field - most times that favors receivers who know where they are going vs defense having to react 

Ask Tucker and Bass too.  The look on Tucker’s face after one of his misses was that of total confusion about what had just happened.

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

6 hours ago, Logic said:

Rodney Harrison is still an idiot.

What did he say this time?

[wjag]

6 minutes ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

What did he say this time?

 

Nothing.  He picked the Ravens.  He was very complimentary on one of his shows this week about the Bills and Allen.  

[Buffalo Ballin]

This made me cry. It's been 27 years. Pour one out for the countless Bills fans, and the people who witnessed our struggles, who died since then.

 

 

The previous one was 1993. I was only 10 years old.

 

 

Seems like an eternity of heartbreak.

 

But eh, that's all in the past. The present is magical.

- Josh Allen is a Superstar QB.

- Stefon Diggs is a Superstar WR.

- Our defense is currently THE BEST in the AFC.

 

We're obviously lacking an explosive RB. Every time I see us run the ball:

 

 

Oh well. We'll make it work.

 

This is a season for the ages. I don't give a f*ck who we're facing in the AFC Title game. Drink up and sober up.

 

We got business up ahead. To be The Man, we have to beat The Man. I will definitely be watching Patrick Mahomes and his Chiefs vs. Baker Mayfield and the Browns.

 

I want us to dethrone the Super Bowl Champions Kansas City Chiefs. F*ck Baker Mayfield. Our team and our QB should do it.

 

 

Bring their @sses to us. We're ready. We'll bring it. As long as the defense performs like they did against The Ravens and Josh Allen is clicking then we have a good shot on any field.

 

 

 

 

 

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

10 minutes ago, wjag said:

 

Nothing.  He picked the Ravens.  He was very complimentary on one of his shows this week about the Bills and Allen.  

Oh. That's not bad.

 

Chris Simms has been gushing about us for months and he still picked the Ravens

 

At this point it's just fuel

 

[FLFan]

9 hours ago, Billznut said:

FU Chris Simms, Rodney Harrison, Kay Adams and many many others!!!! 

Exactly.  I was sick and tired of the Jackson hype and gushing this week.  Some of those clowns should be embarrassed at being that superficial in their “analysis”.  Jackson showed what he is last night when facing tough competition, something he has not done for the past six weeks of the Ravens streak.  He also showed what he is not, which is an elite QB.  He is a superior athlete who can throw the ball, but he will likely never be a real QB.  

[FLFan]

1 hour ago, wjag said:

A baker's dozen thoughts on the game:

 

1.  Of course T Johnson's INT will be the play of the game, but it was Jerry Hughes' play right before that, that was most important.  He managed to get to Jackson and rush a throw to a wide and I mean wide open M Brown that would have gone for a game tying TD.

2.  How, and I do mean how did our DLine pull that off?  We haven't seen that all season.  It sure did look like it was going to be a long day when Baltimore ripped off big run after big run on that opening drive.  And then Buffalo just shut that thing down.

3.  I think Wink Martindale realized one drive too late that Huntley did not know the playbook.  You could see how long it was taking to call plays.  Going to 'ah just go out there and throw it' worked much better with the kid.

4.  Gabe Davis, you have to catch that TD.

5.  Allen missing on the deep throws all game.  It became clear why when NBC put the ball tracker on one.  You could see what happened when he missed a wide open Diggs.  The ball just went right at the end of the throw.  The wind just took it away.

6.  Wind was the biggest weather factor in that game.  Bad punts, bad throws, bad place kicks.

7.  I was joking with my friend who is a Browns fan to start the game.  I asked if Baltimore would gift us a TD on a fumble.  Little did I know that the Baltimore center would get the case of the yips.  How does that happen?  I mean really, how does that happen four different times in the game?

8.  The Bills lone TD was a blown Baltimore coverage.  3 WRs on 2 DBs.  2020 Josh Allen sees that and immediately zips a throw there for a TD.

9.  The Ravens DB took away Beasley.  In the end it was probably okay.  He comes out of the game healthy.

10. The Bills OLine passed blocked their azzes off.  Judon did beat Dion for a blind side sack-fumble.  

11.  Interesting how Baltimore backed out of their blitzing persona and elected to play coverage.

12. I hope Jackson is okay.  He's not my favorite QB, but he plays to win.  He has changed the game. 

13. Can't leave without poking Tucker. Bahahahaha.  Welcome to Buffalo.  Love the look of disbelief in his eyes when he misses.  He is so clutch.  That's when you really knew it was windy in Buffalo.  I've seen the goal posts sway a lot more than that, but they were definitely moving.

 

Win 10 games or more and get a playoff birth -- check

Win the AFC East -- check

Win a playoff game -- check

Win a divisional round game -- check-o-mongo

Win a conference championship game -- to be checked....

Excellent post.  This was always going to be a tough game and I think shocked some people that in the end, Buffalo was the  tougher  team.  Hats off to that D.  Great job.  And hats off to Allen and the offense who did enough to win and played mistake free.  That was the difference.  

[dollars 2 donuts]

9 hours ago, Georgia Bill said:

I saw 3 for Ravens, 3 for Bills just before the game.  Even most of us who took the poll here said 50/50 chance...

 

I absolutely don’t blame a soul for picking the Ravens.

 

However, I can jump on Stephen A. Smith for his “no way” can or are the Bills going to beat the Ravens.  I stated this in another thread as being just too ignorant a statement for where the Bills are at this season.

Edited January 17, 2021 by dollars 2 donuts

[Bob Chandler's Hands]

1 hour ago, wjag said:

3.  I think Wink Martindale realized one drive too late that Huntley did not know the playbook.  You could see how long it was taking to call plays.  Going to 'ah just go out there and throw it' worked much better with the kid.

Great post, but you mean Greg Roman on this one 😉

 

Personally I think the broadcasts spend too much time showing us close-ups of the coordinators and talking about them. Yes, they are important. But we know what they look like and it's boring to keep seeing them standing or sitting there. Let's talk about the GAME more often please. 

[EmotionallyUnstable]

A goal line pick six.

 

are you kidding me?! 

[Chandler#81]

41 minutes ago, stevewin said:

Hughes actually took himself out after that play and I was yelling "No Jerry stay out for one more!"  In the end it turned out alright

 

Re: the wind - I hope this silences all the people who said it wouldnt be a factor bc Josh's strong arm would "cut through it".   Sure it can help for short throws on a line, but for long balls the law of physics gets more involved.  Once the ball is up there on the swirling winds it can go anywhere, regardless of how strong your arm is.  They pointed out on the broadcast that Huntley's overthrow to wide open receiver on 4th down was same end that the

wind took over on Josh's overthrows earlier in the game.  For this team, where the deep ball is one of the keys for the offense, high wind is the worst weather element they can encounter IMO.  Even in snow/rain/ slippery field - most times that favors receivers who know where they are going vs defense having to react 

Re: the wind. I’ve attended blizzard games at the Rockpile (Denver & Cincy) and the coldest, crappiest games at Rich (Division Title Game vs Jets, Divisional Round game vs Raiders). Like most Bills fans, I pretended it was great to attend bitter cold December/January games. No longer. We have a fabulous, unique QB now who stands to lead us to many memorable seasons to come. Why would we want to inflict wounds to his game?

BUILD THE DOME!

[wjag]

Another random thought.

 

Where were Calais Campbell and Brandon Williams in this game?  Judon flashed through for one strip sack, but I don't believe Campbell nor Williams had much of a game.  That was the strength of their DLine.  It certainly helped when Madubuike limped off.  Hats off to the OLine.

5 minutes ago, Bob Chandler's Hands said:

Great post, but you mean Greg Roman on this one 😉

 

Personally I think the broadcasts spend too much time showing us close-ups of the coordinators and talking about them. Yes, they are important. But we know what they look like and it's boring to keep seeing them standing or sitting there. Let's talk about the GAME more often please. 

 

yep..  You are correct.  Wrong coordinator.  Corrected.

[YoloinOhio]

 

 

[wjag]

1 minute ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

I don't remember Dawkins missing a play..  

[Penfield45]

Is there a reason why we don’t run that 4-3 defense more? 
 

McDermott helped take the panthers to the super bowl in a 4-3. Why do we insist on using a two LB set so much?

[YoloinOhio]

On ESPN they said bills would be an early 4.5 pt favorite vs browns and 4.5 dog vs chiefs 

[H2o]

4 minutes ago, Penfield45 said:

Is there a reason why we don’t run that 4-3 defense more? 
 

McDermott helped take the panthers to the super bowl in a 4-3. Why do we insist on using a two LB set so much?

Because though he is good playing downhill, Klein is more of a liability in pass coverage if we play a pass happy offense. 

[The Wiz]