Game week thread - Bills at Patriots*

[DrDawkinstein]

Do we ever show up psyched for games? Feels more like its always "low positive". Get pushed around in the beginning, then hope we find some traction, get a fluke TO on Defense, and Josh pulls a rabbit out of his hat.

 

Real interested in how this McD v Vrable series plays out over this season and over the years.

 

[SCBills]

8 minutes ago, Gregg said:

 

I think the AFC playoffs will be.

 

East - Pats

South - Jags or Texans (loser gets a WC)

North - Steelers

West - Broncos

 

WC's - Bills, Texans/Jags, Chargers.

This week is massive for setting the stage.  
 

Chargers can end the Chiefs.  We’ll see if the Colts have any chance or if their season all but ends against Seattle.  Bills can keep the door open against New England and the Steelers/Ravens/Browns either becomes a race down to the wire or the Steelers could potentially put distance between them and Baltimore. 
 

Edited 4 hours ago by SCBills

[Sweats]

They've come out slow in every game, sleepwalking in the 1st half, but coming alive in the 2nd...........i see nothing to suggest that this will not be the same.

[Gregg]

4 minutes ago, SCBills said:

This week is massive for setting the stage.  
 

Chargers can end the Broncos.  We’ll see if the Colts have any chance or if their season all but ends against Seattle.  Bills can keep the door open against New England and the Steelers/Ravens/Browns either becomes a race down to the wire or the Steelers could potentially put distance between them and Baltimore. 

 

I can't see the Colts making it. They are counting on 44-year-old Philip Rivers to save them. He last played 5 years ago. Take a look at their remaining schedule. It is a tough one.

 

at Seahawks

49ers

Jaguars

at Texans.

[SCBills]

56 minutes ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

We are missing way more than just Oliver. Palmer and Bosa are probably long shots to play. Hoecht playing that I didn't hear? Shakir probably plays but he isn't right injury wise right now. First practice is today. There will likely be a long list of others that are limited to DNP. 

I think it's a worse look for the players. These are grown ass men. Professionals in their field. If they need a little bald dude giving them a rah-rah speech to rev them up that's on the players. They know what's at stake. 

Pats are down Milton Williams - similar impact as Ed Oliver and they’re down Will Campbell - similar impact to Brown, if he doesn’t play. 
 

We’ve got to stop acting like Hoecht makes or breaks this team.  
 

What else are we missing?  Palmer, Bernard, Rapp. 
 

Palmer hurts, but he isn’t some massive difference maker.   
 

We’re good at LB with Thompson & Milano.  Getting Bernard healthy is a bonus at some point, but as of right now, we don’t need him.  
 

Same goes for Safety, where Poyer/Bishop are playing at a pretty high level together.  
 

Too many injury excuses right now.  Everybody is playing hurt this time of the season.  Guys get surgery after their season ends at an incredibly high clip.  To say Shakir is banged up… I don’t care… either you can play or not.  Everyone is banged up in December. 

[Psautcsk]

1 hour ago, WhiskyBreath said:

Or, will it be another sleepwalk?  Like the last time around when they simply assumed that showing up would assure a win.

 

IMO, this should be all about pride, not just a possible #1 seed.  We need to make a statement now that we are relatively injury free (other than Oliver).

I can't remember an Allen led Bills team losing twice in a season to the same team. There is the Diggs effect however. If the Pats win, how much will the Diggs effect be talked about?

[Steptide]

Kiss of death 

 

 

[Ray Stonada]

4 minutes ago, Psautcsk said:

I can't remember an Allen led Bills team losing twice in a season to the same team.

2020 Chiefs got us twice

[Artful Dodger]

As they normally do, the Bills will probably fall behind by a couple of touchdowns, at which time Joe Brady will have to stop calling wide receiver screens and James Cook running off tackle on first down.  Hopefully the game will still be in reach, and if so, at some point in the second half, Allen will take over from his offensive coordinator, and the Bills will start gaining chunks of yards and scores on the strength of Allen's ability to create something out of nothing.

 

Against good teams, the team's main strategy seems to be to try to keep the games close and let Josh Allen perform heroics at the end.  It's a bad strategy, but more often than not it works especially when Allen feels as if he has something to prove against a good team like the Patriots. 

[SCBills]

5 minutes ago, Artful Dodger said:

As they normally do, the Bills will probably fall behind by a couple of touchdowns, at which time Joe Brady will have to stop calling wide receiver screens and James Cook running off tackle on first down.  Hopefully the game will still be in reach, and if so, at some point in the second half, Allen will take over from his offensive coordinator, and the Bills will start gaining chunks of yards and scores on the strength of Allen's ability to create something out of nothing.

 

Against good teams, the team's main strategy seems to be to try to keep the games close and let Josh Allen perform heroics at the end.  It's a bad strategy, but more often than not it works especially when Allen feels as if he has something to prove against a good team like the Patriots. 

I think we’ll win, and maybe even comfortably, but to this point - it’s a bit hilarious that we just excuse the Defense allowing themselves to be dominated in first halves because “we need to get a look at what the opponent is doing”

 

No other playoff teams have this issue and it puts insane stress on the offense right out the gate. 
 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by SCBills

[JP51]

If they are not they have deep issues.

20 minutes ago, SCBills said:

Pats are down Milton Williams - similar impact as Ed Oliver and they’re down Will Campbell - similar impact to Brown, if he doesn’t play. 
 

We’ve got to stop acting like Hoecht makes or breaks this team.  
 

What else are we missing?  Palmer, Bernard, Rapp. 
 

Palmer hurts, but he isn’t some massive difference maker.   
 

We’re good at LB with Thompson & Milano.  Getting Bernard healthy is a bonus at some point, but as of right now, we don’t need him.  
 

Same goes for Safety, where Poyer/Bishop are playing at a pretty high level together.  
 

Too many injury excuses right now.  Everybody is playing hurt this time of the season.  Guys get surgery after their season ends at an incredibly high clip.  To say Shakir is banged up… I don’t care… either you can play or not.  Everyone is banged up in December. 

Quite honestly, I take Gabe over Palmer at this point... 

[Tanoros]

45 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

Hopefully we get him back for the playoffs. 

I know, I was hoping we’d have him back for a week or two before the seasons ends, just to get him back up to speed, but yes, playoffs at least. 

[fergie's ire]

50 minutes ago, SCBills said:

I’m sure this will change for me come Sunday, but I just don’t have the juice for this game that everyone else seems to have.  
 

If anyone can convince me that the Pats can lose to the Jets or Dolphins, I’d have a different tune, but it just seems like delaying the inevitable. 
 

And worst case scenario is us playing everyone Week 18 on the off chance Pats lose and it doesn’t matter. 
 

I don’t necessarily trust Vrabel against good teams in the playoffs.  He’s also never had a Drake Maye.. and we’ll see what Maye looks like in Dec/Jan clutch football, but the closest they’ve come to remotely losing to a bad team is against the Flacco led/no Chase Bengals. 
 

And on the bright side, should the Pats eventually clinch the Division.. if the Chiefs manage to sneak in as the 7 seed, it just doesn’t seem right to have Bills/Chiefs in the Wild Card.  Give me the 5 seed in that scenario & Bills/Chiefs at Highmark.. last game ever there, with a Super Bowl on the line.  Absolute cinema. 
 

Yeah the very thought that something like that could happen is ridiculous.  It would be like a 9-3 Dolphins team a couple of years ago losing to a team like the Will Levis led Titans.

[MDH]

5 minutes ago, fergie's ire said:

Yeah the very thought that something like that could happen is ridiculous.  It would be like a 9-3 Dolphins team a couple of years ago losing to a team like the Will Levis led Titans.

Phins have actually been playing well lately. It’s not likely they beat the Pats but it’s not a ridiculous notion.

16 minutes ago, JP51 said:

If they are not they have deep issues.

Quite honestly, I take Gabe over Palmer at this point... 

 

It’s not an “over” discussion. Gabe tends to line up at X and Palmer at Z.

Gabe is playing over Coleman, not Palmer.

[DrDawkinstein]

18 minutes ago, SCBills said:

I think we’ll win, and maybe even comfortably, but to this point - it’s a bit hilarious that we just excuse the Defense allowing themselves to be dominated in first halves because “we need to get a look at what the opponent is doing”

 

No other playoff teams have this issue and it puts insane stress on the offense right out the gate. 
 

 

 

The excuse list for this McDefense is longer than the actual Defensive play sheet.

[TheFunPolice]

12 minutes ago, fergie's ire said:

Yeah the very thought that something like that could happen is ridiculous.  It would be like a 9-3 Dolphins team a couple of years ago losing to a team like the Will Levis led Titans.

 

Thank you!

 

Every single year we have the same discussion (as football fans). Everything is set in stone, Team A is "done" Team B is going to run away with whatever. 

 

Then Will Levis, a man who adds mayonnaise to his coffee,  come out of nowhere and takes down a division leader and resets the entire thing. 

 

The thing is, this happens EVERY YEAR. There are always upsets or games nobody saw coming that totally change things. 

 

 

Just this season:

 

Miami led us 16-0 in the second half and eventually blew us out after firing their GM and trading players away. 

Cleveland beat Green Bay and made Love look horrible. 

The pathetic Falcons blew us out on MNF 

Joe Flacco threw for like 600 yards and 7 TD to beat the Steelers 97-96 (I'm exaggerating but that game was drunk) 

 

This season has some more craziness to it. Every NFL team has talent and some guys are getting an opportunity for the first time and want to live their dream and build a career for themselves. It's their Super Bowl. 

 

Oh another one: the Saints just beat the Bucs last week! 

Edited 3 hours ago by TheFunPolice

[PaattMaann]

5 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

The excuse list for this McDefense is longer than the actual Defensive play sheet.

 

yet they are doing enough to be successful and put the team in position to win games. 

[Success]

1 hour ago, SCBills said:

I’m sure this will change for me come Sunday, but I just don’t have the juice for this game that everyone else seems to have.  
 

If anyone can convince me that the Pats can lose to the Jets or Dolphins, I’d have a different tune, but it just seems like delaying the inevitable. 
 

And worst case scenario is us playing everyone Week 18 on the off chance Pats lose and it doesn’t matter. 
 

I don’t necessarily trust Vrabel against good teams in the playoffs.  He’s also never had a Drake Maye.. and we’ll see what Maye looks like in Dec/Jan clutch football, but the closest they’ve come to remotely losing to a bad team is against the Flacco led/no Chase Bengals. 
 

And on the bright side, should the Pats eventually clinch the Division.. if the Chiefs manage to sneak in as the 7 seed, it just doesn’t seem right to have Bills/Chiefs in the Wild Card.  Give me the 5 seed in that scenario & Bills/Chiefs at Highmark.. last game ever there, with a Super Bowl on the line.  Absolute cinema. 
 

 

The Pats could definitely lose to Miami.  If a player didn't step out of bounds by an inch in the 1st match-up, they would have in that one - and Miami is playing really well right now.

 

[DrDawkinstein]

16 minutes ago, PaattMaann said:

 

yet they are doing enough to be successful and put the team in position to win games. 

 

Arguable. And mostly thanks to Josh being super man, so we're always in position to win games.

 

We got a couple of great individual plays for turn overs, thank goodness. We only forced one stop/punt the 2nd half, and allowed the Bengals to move right down the field otherwise.

 

I guess we disagree on what "in position to win" means.

[Urban Achievers]

I think James Cook is gonna have a monster day regardless of the Patriots defense. I’m sure he’s been anxious to get back out and redeem himself for last week.