The Bills won; where does the Bills rank in your book in terms of contending for superbowl now?

[GunnerBill]

9 minutes ago, Shortchaz said:

I keep waiting for this team to game-plan  to attack a teams weakness the way the Brady patriots would. it hasn’t happened and I’m losing faith it ever will. 

 

I'd say they attacked the Buccs weak secondary pretty well...

[Bruffalo]

Allen can make any offense elite day Sunday. Whether or not they get hot at the right time is impossible to predict.  

 

I think the defense hinges on the development of Deone Walker moving forward this season. We've lost too many other pieces. 

 

If he can get more dominant, the defense has a chance to be good still, but he's basically our only chance for interior pressure and run stuffing combined. 

 

 

[GunnerBill]

5 minutes ago, GoBills! said:

If Josh has to put up 32-38 points to win in the playoffs we should just pack it up. Everyone knows playoff ball is much different. This defense can’t stop Tua and company id rather tear it down than live in playoff purgatory. 
 

Andy Reid lived in it with the eagles they moved on and won. Also Andy won a few after as well. 

 

The Eagles fired Andy after a 4-12 season on the back of an 8-8 and no playoffs year. I'm not sure McDermott and Beane would survive a single no playoff season. 

 

This defense as currently constructed is trash though. I'd be stunned if we held good teams down in the post season. 

[strive_for_five_guy]

2 hours ago, NoSaint said:

yea, but if you can win 2 out of 3 against contenders, all it takes is a little dumb luck to get a ring. We have just had none of that luck even when we were a 3 out of 4 team

For sure.  If we get into the playoffs, and Chiefs and Ravens don’t, I like our chances to come out of the AFC as much as anyone.  And only because we have Josh.  

[Nephilim17]

With a healthy team (including Ed (I have a little more optimism). But we need Kincaid and Cook at their best to do it and a relatively healthy D including Bosa.

[Kelly to Allen]

Relatively healthy and letting Allen be a gunslinger, they're a top 3 contender. 💯 % legit 

 

When McDermott coaches a philosophy of risk mitigation, too much soft zone, runs too much on 1st down, etc, I think they're a good team that will lose in the wildcard or divisional rd

 

I noticed when Dorian Williams was in the game the bills run defense was much better. This was also the case vs Baltimore in the playoffs...They're going to need to figure out what to do with the linebackers. Hopefully shaq Thompson is healthy soon

Edited 3 hours ago by Kelly to Allen

[Shortchaz]

28 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I'd say they attacked the Buccs weak secondary pretty well...

Sure, but this game was a complete departure from everything the bills have done this season. It felt more like a response to criticism than anything else. Was great but not sure how reliable it is. 

 

I should’ve said my thoughts a little more clearly. I wish the offense was more game-plan oriented (or better at game planning) rather than “this is who we are” (also applies to the defense). I’d like to see them take more control and assert dominance. 
 

today felt chaotic and unsustainable.
 

Edited 3 hours ago by Shortchaz

[Scott7975]

Not contenders IMO. Bills D got tore up in the run game by one of the worst rushing teams in the league while also being down their starting back. Not putting much pressure on the QB. If Tampa had their top wrs that game probably went differently even if we still scored 6 TDs. 
 

if they can somehow turn around their defense then maybe. 

[BobbyC81]

4 hours ago, Magox said:

The biggest difference this year is that there is no other team that looks as tough as last years Eagles or Chiefs.  
 

The field is wide open for the team that is the hottest come the playoffs.

I believe the Eagles are still the best team.  After some shaky defense early, they have really stepped it up the last 2 games after their bye.

 

Denver’s defense may be the best in the AFC but maybe not be able to overcome an offense that just lost Dobbins and has an inconsistent Nix at QB.

 

The Chargers are so weird.  They change coaches, players, etc. but still struggle badly when they have to travel to the east coast.  They’re not likely to be able to avoid a cross country trip and/or a game with cold and possibly snowy weather.

[transplantbillsfan]

To me? In no particular order... Super Bowl teams:

 

Eagles 

Bills 

Rams

Chiefs

 

I understand records but I think it's one of those 4 teams hoisting the Lombardi 

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, Shortchaz said:

 

today felt chaotic and unsustainable.
 

 

It did early, for sure. Think the offense found some rhythm 2nd half. 

[BillsFanForever19]

This didn't change my perception that this isn't a Super Bowl team one iota. It's always fun to get a win.

 

But this was a Tampa Bay team that lost their WR1 in Mike Evans a month ago. Today they were also down Chris Godwin, as well as their star RB Bucky Irving. And they still ran for over 200 yards with an Undrafted Syracuse RB. They still gave up 32 points to a team that beat up.

 

While it was certainly encouraging to see the passing game look better than it has since Week 1 with Gabe Davis interjected, Josh Palmer returning from injury, and Tyrell Shavers getting a bigger role - it's important to know that the Buccaneers have the leagues 24th ranked Pass Defense. They also play their Safeties pretty low, which offers more opportunities deep (as Gabe pointed out Post Game).

 

Long story short, it was good to get the win. But I don't consider the Buccaneers, especially the team they were fielding today, to be a Super Bowl contending team. And it was a battle until the very end. Though I'd love to be wrong, I still don't believe this team is built to actually defeat the leagues best, at their best.

[DeepPass]

6 hours ago, PoundingDog said:

When they were 4-0, even though they did not play that well, you say to yourself that they were missing people and had not played up to their best. Full of hope as a legit Superbowl favorite in January.

 

Then the Patriots game happened, and we pushed it aside as a surprise from an upstart team. Deep down, you say we are going to get it back when we go to Foxborough.

 

The Falcons game to me is a sign that this team has serious flaws on defense and offense that we may not overcome like the Ravens game. But we had hopes for the PED guys to change the fortune on defense.

 

Then the 2nd Dolphins game, along with the out-of-season injuries on D. Everywhere I go, football fans were in shock, not just us Bills fans, in the sense that we REALLY could lose to anyone, to the worst teams. 

 

And that carried over to this game. I can honestly say I did not have confidence when the game went into the 4th quarter, that we got this.   

 

You can clearly see Josh is pressing. He's throwing into tight coverages more like he did in his earlier years in NFL. He's putting his body on the line more like he was 3 years ago.  It won't help his MVP cause and longitivity, but to me, it is necessary for this offense to succeed right now. I know Kincaid didn't dress today so we may see the offense to be able to go busting out in the air like this game, probably earlier than McDermott would've liked this season (i.e., not wait until the playoffs) when the running game is not working.

 

But defensively, I just don't think we have a championship caliber squad. Tampa is not some super lethal offense without their top running back and wide receiver. And we had trouble stopping them. It is just a bad combination of not bigger enough to stop people from running between the tackles and not fast enough to go side line to side line. It was a pain for me watching Bernard could not catchup to Mayfield on one of his 3rd conversions. I believe the LB corp is the weakest link of this D and there is no hope of improvement for guys behind them. 

 

What I'm afraid is that Josh and company will exhaust themselves to get into the playoffs and then simply burn out on a dud, like that Cincy playoff game, to someone in January.

Agree!  The LB's are the weakest link .