Week 9 thread - We’re on to Cincinnati

[Jauronimo]

1 hour ago, balln said:

right - notice i said THEY cant even play him. I think Dorian can play and youll have to live and die by his play. But instead true to form these coaches and player evaluators ahve decided to play it safe and die a slow death w dodson. OR poyer at LB!

 

its crazy

He started the last 2 or 3 games and was then benched because he wasn't performing.  He has been playing.

[HereComesTheReignAgain]

1 hour ago, balln said:

I don’t care about reg season winning % for a Hc 

 

Tony dungy

Marty S

marv 

 
how about this 

zac Taylor w burrow is better than McD w Allen 

You said their coaching is measurably better.  How about this, your opinion is not a measurement of coaching success.  Winning percentage is a measurement of success.

[msw2112]

Last year, I knew we were going to get smoked in the playoff game.  Before Hamlin went down, the Bengals were moving the ball and scoring at will, while the Bills could only manage a FG.  By the time the playoff game rolled around, the Bills were not playing any better, but the Bengals were in high gear.  Also, Frazier basically came right out and said "we're going to do what we do" on defense and they lived up to his word.  They did what they do and got shredded.  This year, the Bills defense is depleted and they're going to give up some points, but hopefully, they can be creative enough to force a turnover here or there that will help, and the Bills offense will continue the momentum from Thursday night.  The offense was great on Thursday, but they took their foot off the gas and played conservatively from the middle of the 3rd quarter on.  That won't get it done against Cincinnati.  They need to keep the foot on the gas for 4 quarters.  I don't know if the Bills will win this game, but I am optimistic that we'll see a better performance than we saw in our 5 quarters against the Bengals last season.

[balln]

23 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

that should make them angry and fired up.  Play a more aggressive D.  If Elam has any use (assuming he is still on the roster) it would make sense to use his man skills against a Cincy WR.  

Just like how he did vs Ridley jax 

7 minutes ago, HereComesTheReignAgain said:

You said their coaching is measurably better.  How about this, your opinion is not a measurement of coaching success.  Winning percentage is a measurement of success.

Yea playoff win % , conf championships, and Super Bowl appearances 

[Billever76]

7 hours ago, Billsfan1972 said:

We can only hope.  Issues are however still there.  Up tempo, but still only 24 points.  

 

What however has you feeling positive about the defense?

We went uptempo until we scored to open the 2nd half and go up by 14 then mcclappy and dorsey went into their coveted turtle shells and tried to limp out with a win

[Royale with Cheese]

41 minutes ago, teef said:

this is another mcd thread...right?

He disguises them so well.

[HoofHearted]

28 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

that should make them angry and fired up.  Play a more aggressive D.  If Elam has any use (assuming he is still on the roster) it would make sense to use his man skills against a Cincy WR.  

He was terrible in man coverage when he started those two games.

[Big Turk]

Josh Allen is elite. 

 

 

19 minutes ago, HereComesTheReignAgain said:

You said their coaching is measurably better.  How about this, your opinion is not a measurement of coaching success.  Winning percentage is a measurement of success.

 

I can't see how they are measurably better when Taylor has his offense looking like they belong in D III for the first month of every season.  How about Joe Burrow not coming out in Week 1 every year and throwing for 82 yards or 4 INTs?  Every year it's the same thing...dig themselves a big hole they have to climb out of.  

 

Good coaches don't have teams that do that on a consistent basis. Congrats he figures out how to fix it, but how about not having the issue every year to begin with?

Edited October 30, 2023 by Big Turk

[frostbitmic]

If McD has the DB's line up ten yards off the receivers on 3rd and 5, it'll be a long day.

[Billsfan1972]

10 minutes ago, Billever76 said:

We went uptempo until we scored to open the 2nd half and go up by 14 then mcclappy and dorsey went into their coveted turtle shells and tried to limp out with a win

Agreed a real issue.

8 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

He disguises them so well.

Yes I'm good at it....😜

[Royale with Cheese]

4 hours ago, Billsfan1972 said:

Always excuses.....  SF has a mediocre QB who yes needs all his weapons to look great.  The excuses for the defense never cease, especially since McD is coaching them.  Simply they need to play better and be coached better too.

 

I will agree that the offense and coaching on that side needs to be aggressive and score a lot of points.  

 

Look at what Philly is doing.  The Bills offense woke up some on Thursday, but still things seem difficult.

 

But yup can't wait 'til Cincy put up 31 (not that I want them to) and come Monday we're told they were gutsy and undermanned and can't expect any more from them. 

 

BTW Purdy threw for 365 vs. Cincy's D (ran for 57 too).  Dorsey should be able to exploit their D and Allen has some #'s to shoot for😜. 

Cherry picking at its highest!  Purdy also had 3 turnovers lol.  But we are focusing on yards because of course you are.  Purdy played terribly.

 

Why do you think SF offense has been struggling the last few weeks?  What’s been missing?

 

[BattlinBill]

While I think the defense has done well overall this year despite the injuries, I just can't see them holding the Bungles under 30 points. Hopefully the offense will ball out....

[teef]

13 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

He disguises them so well.

it's easier just to assume at this point.  

[Straight Hucklebuck]

I thought the Bills got pressure on Mayfield in large part because he holds the ball forever. 

[sunshynman]

51 minutes ago, teef said:

this is another mcd thread...right?

Nailed it!

9 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

He disguises them so well.

Some people can't help being pessimistic! It's their nature.  

 

McD has his issue as does Dorsey. He's still got 2x more wins than losses. Players need to execute as well. And during that 3 game span, not many were executing correctly. It's good that they seemed to be waking up. I'd rather things get going in the back half of this season and go with a head of steam into the playoffs. Still think we need to bring in a DT to replace Jones. It makes the rest of the D better if we had a good DT to pair with Oliver. 

[Scott7975]

8 hours ago, PBF81 said:

You don't think we'll end up with a wild-card even? 

 

I think we would be lucky to.  Think about our schedule and what teams have to beat us for us to not win our division. Some of them are the same teams fighting for a wc spot.  Bengals, Chargers, even the Jets are a half game behind us right now lol. If they beat us then they have the head to head.  Then the ones that we don't play, like Pitts and Browns currently have a better conference record.  There are a lot of teams sitting within 1 game of us right now that also won't win their division.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Scott7975

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

54 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said:

Many of your aforementioned individuals do not watch the rest of the league with quite the same frequency that they do the Bills. Sure , some takes in here are measured and reasonable. Many others are over the top with negativity and expect only perfection. They put other teams and staffs on a pedestal and think they can do no wrong. The truth probably lies somewhere in between. Regardless , my point stands. Most NFL observers do not view the Bills as having zero shot in this upcoming game. If you prefer the sentiment that says otherwise , great . Enjoy! 

It seems like when someone is just analyzing the play of their own team, they are comparing to a hypothetically perfect team that can do no wrong and makes no mistakes which leads to a lot of pessimism because we are not even close to that level.  When you benchmark teams against eachother, things start to normalize a bit because no team is perfect.  
 

 Cincy has had a ton of issues this season and their fans have likely been raising the same kinds of complaints over on their board as we are here.  They have been one of the worst teams at running the football, the defense hasn’t been as good as last season, the offense is wildly inconsistent and rarely shows up for 60 minutes 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Billsfan1972]

5 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Cherry picking at its highest!  Purdy also had 3 turnovers lol.  But we are focusing on yards because of course you are.  Purdy played terribly.

 

Why do you think SF offense has been struggling the last few weeks?  What’s been missing?

 

How obtuse are you?  Purdy is no Allen and yes he made a # of bad plays but still threw for 365 and 57 rushing, which means Cincy's defense is gettable.

 

I'll take Allen Sunday.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Defense needs the offense this week more than ever.

[Low Positive]

Just now, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

It seems like when someone is just analyzing the play of their own team, they are comparing to a hypothetically perfect team that can do no wrong and makes no mistakes which leads to a lot of pessimism because we are not even close to that level.  When you benchmark teams against eachother, things start to normalize a bit because no team is perfect.  
 

 Cincy has had a ton of issues this season and their fans have likely been raising the same kinds of complaints over on their board as we are here.  

 

 

They complain about play-calling (vanilla offense with no motion), clock management, being overly reliant on Chase, and not being able to run the ball. Sound familiar? 

[Scott7975]

2 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

It seems like when someone is just analyzing the play of their own team, they are comparing to a hypothetically perfect team that can do no wrong and makes no mistakes which leads to a lot of pessimism because we are not even close to that level.  When you benchmark teams against eachother, things start to normalize a bit because no team is perfect.  
 

 Cincy has had a ton of issues this season and their fans have likely been raising the same kinds of complaints over on their board as we are here.  They have been one of the worst teams at running the football, the defense hasn’t been as good as last season, the offense is wildly inconsistent and rarely shows up for 60 minutes 

 

 

 

Then when you show that other teams make the same mistakes and have the same type of rough games, you'll just get the "yeah but that team won a sb or that team went to a sb."  or "that team always starts slow" or "that team is on the rise and legit sb contenders."  It's always something.

[Royale with Cheese]

3 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

How obtuse are you?  Purdy is no Allen and yes he made a # of bad plays but still threw for 365 and 57 rushing, which means Cincy's defense is gettable.

 

I'll take Allen Sunday.

Purdy played terribly no matter how strong you’re cherry picking is. 
 

What is the reason why SF offense has struggled the last few weeks?

Edited October 30, 2023 by Royale with Cheese

[newcam2012]

39 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

I'd say 90% probably don't.  They see some highlights one week of a team that looks great and scores a ton and then think that's how they are every week.  The NFL doesn't work like that.  Never has, never will.  It's a week to week league with very little carryover from games one week to games the next week. Injuries, matchups, schemes, etc are all different week to week. 

 

Thinking one team should do "X" because they  did that to some other team and thinking that will carry over to the next game doesn't make much sense.

 

And for all the Bengal skill position players, they always seem to leave you thinking they should score far more points than they actually do.

I agree. I felt like the Bengals could have scored 50 points against the Bills in that playoff game. Did you have feel similar feelings? 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

9 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

 

I think we would be lucky to.  Think about our schedule and what teams have to beat us for us to not win our division. Some of them are the same teams fighting for a wc spot.  Bengals, Chargers, even the Jets are a half game behind us right now lol. If they beat us then they have the head to head.  Then the ones that we don't play, like Pitts and Browns currently have a better conference record.  There are a lot of teams sitting within 1 game of us right now that also won't win their division.

Three of those teams you mentioned are in the same division and one of them has to lose every time they play eachother. 4 playoff teams coming out of the north is very very very very unlikely. It’s more than likely going to get whittled down to one wildcard team at best (or 0)
 

then you’ve got teams like the chargers who have as many or more issues than us.  I’ll give cincy the benefit of the doubt making cincy/baltimore a wildcard team but who are the other two teams making it over us? Bills are probably 75%ish to make the playoffs right now and have a very good shot even if they don’t win the division.  

Edited October 30, 2023 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[newcam2012]

40 minutes ago, HereComesTheReignAgain said:

You said their coaching is measurably better.  How about this, your opinion is not a measurement of coaching success.  Winning percentage is a measurement of success.

If that's your measuring stick then what do you make of McD winning success of 44% in the playoffs as a Bills coach?

[Big Turk]

 

[Boatdrinks]

58 minutes ago, Bob Jones said:

Not everyone in here is saying that the Bills have no chance to win, but that’s what you seem to be saying, and you’re wrong. And I’m not saying that either.

 

I surmise that just like the “experts” will do this weekend, the picks in here will probably be about 50/50. Although there is about 30% of people in here who are true blinders wearing homers, so they will always be picking the Bills…and that skews my 50/50 prediction. LOL

 

Again, as far as knowing the team, the players, and the coaches/coaching, tons of people in here are way, way more “in the know” than the “unbiased observers.”

Nope, definitely not saying everyone. There is a very negative segment though, who gloss over the fact that there are no perfect teams out there. Virtually every one of our opponents have their own flaws and warts. On the flip side, you’ll always have your complete homers that see no issues and have overly positive takes . That’s to be expected on a fan message board and we know you can pretty much discount those. 

[Big Turk]

10 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

I agree. I felt like the Bengals could have scored 50 points against the Bills in that playoff game. Did you have feel similar feelings? 

 

And the Bills coulda put 70 on Miami.  Who cares?  

 

I am talking about week in and week out on offense, the Bengals are a "good" offense but not a "great" offense. You look at who they have and you think they should score more points than they actually do most games.  They have been beneath the Bills in scoring every year with far better weapons.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Big Turk

[Goin Breakdown]

No. Offense really needs to play face paced and score. Think patriots and chiefs playoff game style they played. 

[newcam2012]

5 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

And the Bills coulda put 70 on Miami.  Who cares?  

 

I am talking about week in and week out on offense, the Bengals are a "good" offense but not a "great" offense. You look at who they have and you think they should score more points than they actually do most games.  They have been beneath the Bills in scoring every year with far better weapons.

Their big issue for several years is their oline. Their head coach sometimes makes some questionable decisions. 

 

They kind of get a little more media/fan respect perhaps  because they went to the dance by beating KC in Arrowhead. A feat the Bills have fallen short of.

 

I think the football  world will always be critical of the Bills until they can show the ability to advance to the SB and win it. 

[Big Turk]

5 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Their big issue for several years is their oline. Their head coach sometimes makes some questionable decisions. 

 

They kind of get a little more media/fan respect perhaps  because they went to the dance by beating KC in Arrowhead. A feat the Bills have fallen short of.

 

I think the football  world will always be critical of the Bills until they can show the ability to advance to the SB and win it. 

 

You mean other than the 2 times in the last 3 games the Bills actually beat KC in Arrowhead?  Once far worse than the Bengals ever beat them? And without an all-time defensive meltdown 3 of 3?

Edited October 30, 2023 by Big Turk

[Scott7975]

12 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Three of those teams you mentioned are in the same division and one of them has to lose every time they play eachother. 4 playoff teams coming out of the north is very very very very unlikely. It’s more than likely going to get whittled down to one wildcard team at best (or 0)
 

then you’ve got teams like the chargers who have as many or more issues than us.  I’ll give cincy the benefit of the doubt making cincy/baltimore a wildcard team but who are the other two teams making it over us? Bills are probably 75%ish to make the playoffs right now and have a very good shot even if they don’t win the division.  

 

I didn't say 4 teams are going to come out of the north.  At least one is likely to.  Thats one less spot out of 3. It's not unheard of for 3 teams to happen.  It's happened in one conference for the last 3 years.

 

The AFC is still a dog fight this year. There are a lot of teams that are within 1 game of us right now. All but the Pats are within 2 games. We can't afford conference losses if we lose the division because either the other teams have a better conference record currently or we play them.  There are only 3 spots.  There are 4 teams within a game.  There are 4 more within 2 games. Some of them we play. Some of them have a better conference record.  We have to win the conference games if we don't win the division.

[Taro Nimbus]

5 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

You mean other than the 2 times in the last 3 games the Bills actually beat KC in Arrowhead?  Once far worse than the Bengals ever beat them? And without an all-time meltdown 3 of 3?

0-2 in the playoffs.  Should be 1-1 if not for a huge brain fat on defense.

[Big Turk]

Just now, Taro Nimbus said:

0-2 in the playoffs.  Should be 1-1 if not for a huge brain fat on defense.

 

playoffs yeah, but they beat them there both times in the regular season.

[HeHateMe]

1 hour ago, Boatdrinks said:

So you expect the same game that we saw in January ? 

 

We are disjointed on offense still and worse on defense so yea probably.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

12 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

 

I didn't say 4 teams are going to come out of the north.  At least one is likely to.  Thats one less spot out of 3. It's not unheard of for 3 teams to happen.  It's happened in one conference for the last 3 years.

 

The AFC is still a dog fight this year. There are a lot of teams that are within 1 game of us right now. All but the Pats are within 2 games. We can't afford conference losses if we lose the division because either the other teams have a better conference record currently or we play them.  There are only 3 spots.  There are 4 teams within a game.  There are 4 more within 2 games. Some of them we play. Some of them have a better conference record.  We have to win the conference games if we don't win the division.

Oh yea you didn’t say 3 are likely to make it from the north explicitly but you listed a bunch of wildcard competitors to highlight the position were in.  There really are not that many for the reason that 3 are in the same division is what I was saying.  They have to beat eachother up which hurts conference record and overall record. And if one catches fire and clears the other ones out that’s not exactly bad for us either as it’s 2 less teams we’d be competing for a wildcard with. 

 

the teams we have lost to so far aren’t really serious wildcard threats which helps a ton.  Jacksonville will win the south, pats won’t make it, jets likely won’t make it. If they’re in the mix, they have lost to NE also for divisional record purposes and I don’t see them beating Miami.  If they do beat Miami, it helps our division standings 
 

the other teams like cincy and lac we play head to head so conference records are not really that meaningful for us at all 

 

we’re really not in a bad spot at all and the playoffs look very likely.  There aren’t a whole lot of good afc teams this year 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Scott7975]

1 minute ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

the other teams like cincy and lac we play head to head so conference records are not really that meaningful for us at all 

 

Well, I guess we are going to find out.  Losing head to head against Cinci and LAC most certainly is a meaningful conference loss.  Not only do we lose the head to head against them but it worsens our conference record against teams we won't have a head to head game with.  Those to me are the most important wins, not the meaningless ones.

[CincyBillsFan]

3 hours ago, FrenchConnection said:

I know, right. The bills were only down 10 at halftime and got the ball to start the third. They drove the whole field and kicked a FG from the 9. If the Bills had punched that one in, the whole game could have played out differently from there. Also, if Allen doesn't overthrow Diggs on third down on the first drive, the whole game could have been different. That was more than one inflection point in that game.

It would have been 17 - 14 and the subsequent Bengals TD would have made it 24 - 14. Not seeing how that would have made a big difference. After all, when the Bills scored a TD in the 1st half to cut the lead to 14 - 7 it had no effect on the D which promptly allowed the Bengals to use up the rest of the quarter on a long FG drive.  And only a great play by Millano kept the Bengals from scoring a TD on that drive.

 

Also, missing Diggs on a long pass when Allen was getting crushed by the Bengal's DT is just one play.  What's the excuse for a Bills D that started the game by  allowing the Bengals to have TWO long TD drives to set the tone for the whole game. For crying out loud the game was in Buffalo which generally helped stoke a D.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GottaRun]

47 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Purdy played terribly no matter how strong you’re cherry picking is. 
 

What is the reason why SF offense has struggled the last few weeks?

This week I'd say the previous concussion was Purdy's problem.  I say previous because he took a hard hit to the back of the head (head to turf) on the second last play of the game, and it won't shock me if that gave him a another one.

Edited October 30, 2023 by GottaRun

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

Just now, GottaRun said:

This week I'd say the previous concussion was Purdy's problem.  I say previous because he took a hard hit to the back of the head (head to turf) on the second last play of the game, and it won't shock me if they gave him a another one.

 

I think Purdy and the offense are who they've been all year. The last 2 weeks the DEF has been shredded. Purdy and the O are not nearly as good when playing from behind and he's a turnover machine when trying to make something happen late in games.