TNF away team

[YodaMan79]

I think we’re past the point of excuses. Every team plays the same number of games in the same amount of time. Some years the schedule looks tougher on paper, some easier and this year was supposed to be one of the easier ones.

 

Every team deals with injuries. The great ones overcome them. The Rams literally signed a guy off the street to play safety and still won the Super Bowl. And honestly, that was the Bills’ window. After :13 seconds, I was ready for major changes, because deep down we all knew that was the chance, just like the Lions/49ers meltdown. In hindsight, that was the moment.

 

At some point, we have to define what “good” actually means. Good teams impose their will. They force opponents to adjust. They don’t live in a world of ifs.

 

That’s not the Bills right now.

 

We’re stuck as a “good enough” team, endlessly chasing the carrot. We comfort ourselves with the same worn-out phrases: If we were healthy… If Josh had one more second… If he catches that ball…If we recover that fumble…

 

It’s always something.

 

We’ve become Uncle Rico: “If coach had just put me in we would have won state…”

And the worst part? It’s not even fun anymore. Every game feels like Season 18 of The Walking Dead just limping forward, hoping the next episode suddenly makes it worth watching again.

 

At some point, the results speak for themselves. There’s no quick fix left. A real philosophical shift has to be on the table.

[BuffaloBillyG]

2 hours ago, WIDE LEFT said:

Not one to excuse poor performances, but we do have a top notch O line and yet Texans shredded them. It does strike me that some of our O lineman are getting up there in age, and these Thursday night games are tough on older players. And Brown was hurt. In any event, on O or D it was the older players who struggled the most. Especially against a younger Texan team playing at home. With all the negativity re: Bills, can’t be.ieve this wasn’t a factor.

 

THURSDAY NIGHT football speaks volumes of the insatiable greed of NFL owners, most of whom have already made billions in franchise appreciation. Never enough for some, especially with JERRY JONES leading the greed charge

Brown was getting slapped around before he got hurt. Dion Dawkins just doesn't seem to care about anything except donuts and his "Schnow Brand". 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

20 minutes ago, YodaMan79 said:

We’ve become Uncle Rico: “If coach had just put me in we would have won state…”

Don't be jealous, but a lot of us have been chatting online with Patriots fans all day...🤔

[sven233]

On 11/21/2025 at 10:45 PM, US Egg said:

Get rid of TNF…..ain’t happening I know.

 

I don't think you need to get rid of it entirely.  What they should do is make Thursday nights for teams coming off a Bye or something.  I know that's not the most conducive thing to schedules and everything, but maybe it's time to reevaluate how the schedules are composed and worry more about player safety rather than be so opponent specific. 

 

There are a lot of smart people working in the NFL.  I am sure with enough meeting time, they could come up with something that would take less of a toll on the body and still allow them to play on Thursday night most weeks.  Maybe the first few weeks there aren't any, but when Bye weeks start, so do Thursday night games or something.  I mean, the easiest way to do it is to make sure every team gets 2 Bye weeks and work it in from there.  Each team would have an abbreviated Bye to play on Thursday Night and then a full Bye later on or something like that.  I know they don't want to do that, but giving teams extra rest during the season can only help the product and player safety.

[US Egg]

20 minutes ago, sven233 said:

There are a lot of smart people working in the NFL.

The smartest and most important being their bean counters. Player safety? Sure they care about that, but it won’t get in the way of the bottom line. A drop of quality of the product and player injury risk is a chance they’re willing to take for the sake of a buck…..a very big buck.

 

Players won’t balk too much for the same reason.

Edited 1 hour ago by US Egg

[sven233]

5 minutes ago, US Egg said:

The smartest and most important being their bean counters. Player safety? Sure they care about that, but it won’t get in the way of the bottom line. A drop of quality of the product and player injury risk is a chance they’re willing to take for the sake of a buck…..a very big buck.

 

Players won’t balk too much for the same reason.

 

Oh, I fully realize this.  I don't expect anything to change at all.  I was just saying they could find a way if they wanted to.  But I am very well aware of the fact they don't care and they're just going to do what they want to anyway.  Should it change?  Yes.  Will it?  Most likely not unless something really bad happens at some point.

[GolfandBills]

On 11/21/2025 at 9:07 PM, harmonkillebrew said:

Almost always loses. 

Texans were always going to be a tough game, given how their D matches up against our O. But you throw in a short week and the Bills having to travel to Houston, makes it damn near impossible.

 

I saw this game on the schedule and thought it was a likely "L". But the backup QB made me hope otherwise. In the end, the Texans D did what it does at home and with three days of opponents prep - it harassed and dominated. Unfortunately, McD and Brady couldn't create a game strategy that controlled field position and kept Josh's exposure to a minimum against that nasty pass rush.  Moving away from Cook after the 1st drive was a huge mistake.

 

But I give the team as a whole a pass. Playing on the road on TNF right after the big game against Tampa was a big ask. 

What will be next weeks excuse?

[Rubes]

29 minutes ago, sven233 said:

 

I don't think you need to get rid of it entirely.  What they should do is make Thursday nights for teams coming off a Bye or something.  I know that's not the most conducive thing to schedules and everything, but maybe it's time to reevaluate how the schedules are composed and worry more about player safety rather than be so opponent specific. 

 

There are a lot of smart people working in the NFL.  I am sure with enough meeting time, they could come up with something that would take less of a toll on the body and still allow them to play on Thursday night most weeks.  Maybe the first few weeks there aren't any, but when Bye weeks start, so do Thursday night games or something.  I mean, the easiest way to do it is to make sure every team gets 2 Bye weeks and work it in from there.  Each team would have an abbreviated Bye to play on Thursday Night and then a full Bye later on or something like that.  I know they don't want to do that, but giving teams extra rest during the season can only help the product and player safety.

 

One thing about scheduling Thursday games for teams coming off a bye, is that they then would go right into a mini-bye. Not a huge problem, but not sure how that would impact scheduling.

 

[sven233]

13 minutes ago, Rubes said:

 

One thing about scheduling Thursday games for teams coming off a bye, is that they then would go right into a mini-bye. Not a huge problem, but not sure how that would impact scheduling.

 

 

Well, the problem is, as of now, the schedule is set by a formula and I think it may be difficult to adhere 100% to the existing formula and still be able to work out the Bye weeks.  I think the teams in the formula would have to change somehow to make things line up.  Sure, you know most of the matchups for every team years in advance, but there are always a couple games determined by record and that's what may throw it off the following year when trying to match up Bye weeks to play on Thursdays or whatever.  I don't know.  Maybe if you just said that the 14 games or whatever that are set in stone are the only ones that can be played on Thursdays, you can figure it out good enough.  I don't know.  I just know that with 32 teams coupled with stadium availability and stuff, trying to add another layer of trying to match up Byes and Thursday night games might be tough.  But, that's what computers are for.  Input the parameters and let the computer do the work.  If you need to adjust things manually in the end, you can, but it may be a little tougher to figure it out.  On the other hand, the out of conference games and the games determined by record maybe should be the ones played on Thursdays anyway since they may mean a little bit less in terms of tiebreakers at the end of the season.  Who knows.  Until they show a willingness to even consider it, it's not something I am going to put much thought into.

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

On 11/21/2025 at 10:11 PM, 17islongenough said:

Does anyone the injury percentage on a Thursday night? Seems every play someone getting injured. Even a ref got hurt.   

 

Should be 3 Thursdays that have football.  Week 1, week of Thanksgiving and the week after with teams that played on Thanksgiving.  

Statistically speaking, Thursday night games feature LESS injuries than Sunday games … I know that crushes a lot of fan’s narratives

[Psautcsk]

40 minutes ago, GolfandBills said:

What will be next weeks excuse?

Darnell Washington is too large to tackle. DK Metcalf is a generational player, TJ Watt dominates everyone. Their secondary is elite. Cam Heyward is an immovable object

Edited 42 minutes ago by Psautcsk

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

16 hours ago, DaVinci said:

I always had Bills losing against the Texans , but not Miami and New England

This is the real issue at hand … don’t blow the ATL/MIA games and this loss is already an afterthought 

16 hours ago, harmonkillebrew said:

NE has gotten better quicker than anyone anticipated.

Miami was a head scratcher, but they wanted it more and we often wilt in the S Florida humidity. 

ATL was also a head scratcher, but I think their aggressive pass rush caused similar headaches as the Texans.

#excuses

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

4 hours ago, WIDE LEFT said:

And Brown was hurt.

He was hurt largely because he was being beaten like a drum from the get go

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

29 minutes ago, Psautcsk said:

Darnell Washington is too large to tackle. DK Metcalf is a generational player, TJ Watt dominates everyone. Their secondary is elite. Cam Heyward is an immovable object

With the inevitable evolution of the NFL into a flag football league due to injury liability, we can all see how far ahead of the curve that Beane and McDermott are in selecting small, agile, fast, (and often injured) players.

[Livinginthepast]

Short week? Yes, banged up and injuries? Yes, Best defense Yes! But the giving up all those points to a backup and especially the drive before halftime? was inexcusable. The Bills simply were not properly prepared for this game on both sides of the ball. The defense took too long to adjust to Texans and made things easier far too easy for Mills in their coverages and not stopping the run. Too many short yardage 3rd downs for the Texans. Offensively Brady should have known that Josh would be overwhelmed with pressure and had counters to the blitz that burned the Texans until they stopped. He did none of those things. Instead of old screens, draws or misdirection's we got that awful wr screen that they sniffed out almost every time. On two critical 4th downs Brady called two plays which were godawful. The Bills despite all the ineptitude of these coaches had a chance to win this game which they certainly didn't deserve. The coaches made it as difficult as possible.