Game week thread - Buccaneers at Bills

[TheWei44]

I'm ratcheting down my expectations - I expect us to win one of the next two games (probably beat TB and then lose on the road at Houston, although Thurs night games can be crapshoots).  We have a lot of road games coming up where we tend to do worse.  Looks like we're trending toward a WC spot.  But that may not be so bad if we get hot at the right time and luck into favorable matchups.

[Casey D]

1 minute ago, Psautcsk said:

I think there is a lot of complacency within the organization as a whole, and it starts at the top and trickles down.

Could be.  It reminds me of the scene from My Cousin Vinny where Judge Haller mocks Vinny by saying "it seems like you'd just like to skip the whole process and go straight to a directed dismissal."  The Bills seem to just want to go straight to the Championship Game and skip the regular season games altogether-- except those that might be a barometer on their Championship mettle, e.g. the 4th quarter against Ravens and KC.  If only it worked that way.

[Ray Stonada]

I'm almost rooting for the wheels to fall off to get us closer to regime change, than another season of this.

 

The last time we made a clear improvement from one season to the next was the 2020 season.

 

 

[Psautcsk]

11 minutes ago, TheWei44 said:

I'm ratcheting down my expectations - I expect us to win one of the next two games (probably beat TB and then lose on the road at Houston, although Thurs night games can be crapshoots).  We have a lot of road games coming up where we tend to do worse.  Looks like we're trending toward a WC spot.  But that may not be so bad if we get hot at the right time and luck into favorable matchups.

What are our favorable matchups?

[Casey D]

2 minutes ago, Psautcsk said:

What are our favorable matchups?

I think referring to playoff matchups.  

[Psautcsk]

1 minute ago, Casey D said:

I think referring to playoff matchups.  

 

1 minute ago, Casey D said:

I think referring to playoff matchups.  

What are they?

[TheWei44]

2 minutes ago, Psautcsk said:

What are our favorable matchups?

Playing teams like the Broncos or even Indy that seem a bit overrated to me.  This is assuming we have a healthy Kincaid and Palmer and the D reasonably healthy as well.  I am not saying it would be easy but there would be a path if we had "playoff Josh" plus a defense that didn't suck.

[Psautcsk]

Just now, TheWei44 said:

Playing teams like the Broncos or even Indy that seem a bit overrated to me.  This is assuming we have a healthy Kincaid and Palmer and the D reasonably healthy as well.  I am not saying it would be easy but there would be a path if we had "playoff Josh" plus a defense that didn't suck.

Ravens and Chiefs will most likely be in so that worries me.

[FloridaSnow]

4 minutes ago, Psautcsk said:

 

What are they?

We have a good chance against anyone that isn’t Baltimore (with a healthy Lamar) or KC. I like our odds vs any other team.

[TheWei44]

Just now, Psautcsk said:

Ravens and Chiefs will most likely be in so that worries me.

Agreed but Chiefs unlikely to win division so we wouldn't see them until second or third round (and possibly in our house).  Ravens path is most likely to win division and be 3rd or 4th seed, so that is a potential huge issue: facing them in WC round!  That's why I said we need to luck into favorable matchups.  It would certainly suck to play Ravens on the road in WC round when we have the h-to-h win against them!

[Gregg]

13 minutes ago, TheWei44 said:

Playing teams like the Broncos or even Indy that seem a bit overrated to me.  This is assuming we have a healthy Kincaid and Palmer and the D reasonably healthy as well.  I am not saying it would be easy but there would be a path if we had "playoff Josh" plus a defense that didn't suck.

 

I am sure our elite level run defense will bottle up that "scrub" RB Jonathan Taylor. He wouldn't get 10 yards rushing all day against the Bills.

[stlbills13]

We'll make adjustments and win this one. Especially with Bucky Irving out again. Will probably carry those adjustments over and beat the Texans too. Then we'll get complacent and go back to our stubborn mindset and get too cute again and lose to the Steelers. I'm just sensing a general trend. I just hope it's timed well with making a playoff run. 

[zow2]

28 minutes ago, Ray Stonada said:

I'm almost rooting for the wheels to fall off to get us closer to regime change, than another season of this.

 

The last time we made a clear improvement from one season to the next was the 2020 season.

 

 

 

The key is almost..  because i want them to win badly and do something special. 

 

But I'll rationalize an implosion as being a good thing because it will lead to change.

[Gregg]

Just now, zow2 said:

 

The key is almost..  because i want them to win badly and do something special. 

 

But I'll rationalize an implosion as being a good thing because it will lead to change.

 

Will it? I think if Kim were involved then there would be a chance for change. I am not so sure with Terry.

[Jrb1979]

7 minutes ago, stlbills13 said:

We'll make adjustments and win this one. Especially with Bucky Irving out again. Will probably carry those adjustments over and beat the Texans too. Then we'll get complacent and go back to our stubborn mindset and get too cute again and lose to the Steelers. I'm just sensing a general trend. I just hope it's timed well with making a playoff run. 

I disagree that the loses are due to complacency and being cute. I listened to a bit of Sal yesterday morning. He made a good point in that this team is not built to have to play catch-up. 

Tampa can score fast and often. This team doesn't have to offense to score quickly or in bunches like they use to. 

 

I think is going to tough game for the Bills. 

[Talley56]

Cannot lose at home to the team that just lost at home to the team we are trying to keep pace with.

[stlbills13]

13 minutes ago, Jrb1979 said:

I disagree that the loses are due to complacency and being cute. I listened to a bit of Sal yesterday morning. He made a good point in that this team is not built to have to play catch-up. 

Tampa can score fast and often. This team doesn't have to offense to score quickly or in bunches like they use to. 

 

I think is going to tough game for the Bills. 

 

I understand this but I also think the offense looked good playing catch-up against the Ravens. They looked good being aggressive against KC. They looked better playing catch-up against Miami. I agree they aren't built to consistently play catch-up but I semi disagree with the idea that they aren't able to do it. I think it's more the conservative coaching. 

 

I think in our losses, we have gone away from our strengths. Against KC we hammered Cook and got the TE's involved. Against Miami, it took until our 4th drive to get Kincaid a target. In our loss to NE, Cook had 3 touches in our first 4 drives. In our loss to ATL, we gave up almost 300 yards in the 1st half so that may be a bit of an outlier

[Livinginthepast]

I think this game is going to play out like the last one vs TB. With Mayfield running around completing passes and our rushers chasing him like a Benny Hill sketch. I could even see it coming down to a last chance Hail Mary just like the last game.  Our offensive game plan? No idea what to expect. 

[mannc]

13 minutes ago, stlbills13 said:

 

I understand this but I also think the offense looked good playing catch-up against the Ravens. They looked good being aggressive against KC. They looked better playing catch-up against Miami. I agree they aren't built to consistently play catch-up but I semi disagree with the idea that they aren't able to do it. I think it's more the conservative coaching. 

 

I think in our losses, we have gone away from our strengths. Against KC we hammered Cook and got the TE's involved. Against Miami, it took until our 4th drive to get Kincaid a target. In our loss to NE, Cook had 3 touches in our first 4 drives. In our loss to ATL, we gave up almost 300 yards in the 1st half so that may be a bit of an outlier

This offense is much better in no-huddle mode…it takes Brady out of the equation.  McDermott won’t allow it, though, because he doesn’t want to expose his precious defense.

[WNYFAN1]

1 hour ago, TheWei44 said:

Playing teams like the Broncos or even Indy that seem a bit overrated to me.  This is assuming we have a healthy Kincaid and Palmer and the D reasonably healthy as well.  I am not saying it would be easy but there would be a path if we had "playoff Josh" plus a defense that didn't suck.

Let's see how they do against TB this week, because getting waxed by Miami makes me think the Bills might be a bit "overrated" too...