Utah John

I think the first year I was aware of football was 1963 and I've been a diehard Bills fan all these years. I will tell you in all sincerity that most of the teams through the years would be at best 3-5 against this same competition, and some of them would be part of the dregs with 0 or 1 wins for the year. This year's team has guts and toughness. There's a reason it comes back in the fourth quarter. They are pros who figure things out and go get the job done. McBeane have done a great job of elevating the quality of the players across the board, especially on offense. There are no positions where the players are particularly bad or exceptionally good. Across the offense we have B or B+ players. Most teams have some A+ stars but some C- players too. The Bills formula is better. Also the offense and defense are pretty much in balance, with the defense obviously being better. Look at KC, with that great offense and bad defense. That's a way to get lots of attention in the regular season and lose in the playoffs. The challenges going forward will be the schedule -- next year they play the AFC West and NFC West so there will be many long road trips, and more good teams on the schedule; and how to elevate the overall quality of the players without breaking the spirit of the guys who are kept around. This team is very close-knit, like the 1965 Bills were. By 1968 the players had gotten old, there was a lot of unhappiness when veterans were let go and replaced, and Lou Saban quit for the first time. The message is, stop complaining, enjoy the ride, be optimistic, and look forward to an 11-5 record and the playoffs. If lightning strikes, and it might, the Bills could actually win the AFC East and get a home game, possibly even a bye. This week, play Cleveland and beat Cleveland.

When did Oliver play more, in the first half when the run D was sucking like an open chest wound, or the second half when it miraculously got better?

If the Bills are 9-3 at that point, which seems doable, then probably yes.

At the start of the season the Bills controlled their own destiny, too. When they were 3-0 they controlled their own destiny. I'm pleased with their success this year but I feel like I'm watching my daughter drive on the freeway for the first time after she got her license. You watch and hope nothing too bad happens, she gets home OK, and you wonder if the next time out maybe things don't go so well because it wasn't very pretty this time. The OP's point is correct, we should feel good, and I do, sort of. It is a whole lot better to beat a crappy team in a close game than to lose to said crappy team. Almost all teams lay an egg on occasion, so the Eagles game shouldn't be too concerning. But, they've played crappy Giants, Dolphins, and Redskins teams, and weren't very impressive doing it. The Bills barely beat the Jets, and won that game only when their MLB missed the second half. They did beat a tough Titans team, but so have several others. The biggest thing is, opponents have figured out how to run against the Bills. Unless Frazier figures out how to stop that, there are going to be some losses that could have been wins. I watched Edmunds a lot today. The Redskins were running plays right at his spot. Every time, he would run up to the line, leaving that spot, and plug a hole that wasn't there, and the running back would gash the Bills. Over and over, he would disappear into the crowd instead of making the tackle. I think, with his speed, size and strength, he should be a Sam, not a Mike. He doesn't seem to have the instincts or recognition a Mike needs.

What we really oughta do is trade two first round picks for Sammy Watkins.

The bottom line is that Trent Williams has a very valid complaint about how he was treated by the medical staff. He will get through this season and then be a FA. The Bills have a medical staff that no one ever complains about, and great training facilities. Gitter done, McBeane.

McD was right, of course. Whaley did some good things but many more bad things. The Marcel Dareus situation was a disaster almost the entire time. The contract he got screwed up the Bills' cap situation. Watkins has been hurt a lot, but I don't blame Whaley for that. I blame Whaley for paying so much for a WR when we didn't have the QB to go with him. The biggest problem is that all the early to mid-round picks who should be the starters or experienced depth players, were not good enough, or couldn't be retained because the cap was screwed up (for example Robert Woods, whom I'd love to have back now -- we wasted a second on Zay Jones who wasn't as good, instead of resigning Woods, but we couldn't afford him). This is the main reason the Bills aren't a player or two away from being ready for the SB. The Bills depth is getting better but is still not adequate. Look what happened to the D when Milano got hurt. Look what happened to the run defense when Harrison Williams got hurt. Beane did a good job bringing in better players for the O line, but they're better than some bad players, not really great. (I do like Morse and Feliciano.) Beane is trying to build a dynasty. We're at least a year away. Next year's schedule has us playing the AFC West and NFC West, so there will be many long flights, and the Bills have seldom looked good playing on the West Coast. The year after that, 2021, things get sane. Allen should be near his ceiling at that point and there will be 25 players on the team who aren't here now. Beane seems to have a good plan in mind and is working patiently to get there.

In his last year here, Gilmore's play declined. He was always a good cover guy but he was clearly avoiding contact in order to cash in on his next contract. I don't know if Wrecks had much to do with that. To keep him the Bills would have had to pay a fortune in a guaranteed contract to a guy who wasn't doing as well as possible. There's just no way the Bills would come up with that money. To the list of good CBs we've let go, don't forget Ronald Darby. A very good CB who we didn't get much for, who's doing very well in Philly, under Schwartz.

Regarding next year's schedule, it will be harder because we play the NFC West and the AFC West. All that traveling is tough, and the Bills have historically been ineffective on the west coast. According to https://fbschedules.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/ we'll be at home for the Chiefs, Chargers, Rams, Seahawks, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots, and a team from the AFC North. We'll travel to the 49ers, Cardinals, Broncos, Raiders, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots, and a team from the AFC South. Considering the Bills will almost certainly finish #2 in the AFC East this year, those two unnamed teams will be very good. Some of those teams are going to be very tough, others are good now but trending down. If it weren't for the travel, I'd say we should still be OK. But the travel is going to make a difference. I think 2019 is the year to make the playoffs and maybe win a game. 2020 will be a struggle. 2021 looks a lot better.

I'm fine with no trade that costs too much and gains too little. The Jets wanted a second round pick for Robbie Anderson, for heaven's sake.

The key to the game is Milano. The Bills D is built to be a solid unit, and missing Milano creates a weak link in the chain. Other players will try to help the backup player and when that happens the whole machine falls apart. I am very worried about their TEs dominating the game.

Honestly, do you think a 12-4 season that doesn't end up in the Super Bowl is going to get Beane fired? Beane is running this franchise not to be a one and done flash. He wants to create a long-term, winning team. He does not expect to win it all this year although obviously he would take it if it happened. He's thinking about 3 and 4 years from now, when next spring's draft picks are the core of the 2023 team. This is the process they're always talking about. Draft picks are important from a cap management standpoint. Teams use draft picks as relatively cheap labor for a few years. The players who prove themselves get retained, and those who are marginal performers are replaced with the next batch. Even the players who get cut get to come on board and make a lot more than most people make for a few years, so it's not like these are retail store managers who get burned and turned.

That's really cute. But velocity is just speed AND direction combined. In physics, if you exert a force on a moving body, and it changes direction, you've accelerated it by changing its velocity even if the speed doesn't change.

Beating crap teams >>>>>>> losing to crap teams. The spirit of Al Davis lives on. Davis was right, by the way. The Patriots are destroying other teams, except for the Bills. They are not having their intestinal fortitude checked on a regular basis. In the only close game they had, against the Bills, they were choking a bit, not familiar with how to respond to a tight situation. The Bills have had nothing but close games, so they're used to the pressure. Personally I would be delighted to have the Bills win a couple by a wide margin. The games this year have been exciting but really stressful. I might not survive the year at this rate.

My view on him is that he's OK but is vastly overpaid. However, he's on the team, he knows the defensive plans, and we'll be happy we have him if any other DTs get injured.

Williams >> Lotulelei

If the Bills were losing I'd say this was all about distracting the fans. Since they're actually winning I have to assume someone thinks this is a good idea. Well, if they have to have one bad idea, I'm glad it's the uniforms and nothing really important.

How nice for Daryl Johnston that he can get back to WNY.

Absolutely. We have the cap space this year and should use it. We need to lock him up. That means something completely different talking about White than talking about Trump, of course.

Darnold played well in the game before playing the Pats. He was bad against the Pats. Sounds like a young QB having ups and downs, with the downs against a really good D. I have to say that Darnold on his good days is better than I've ever seen Allen on his good days. Both of them have really good talent and I can't predict which of them has a higher eventual ceiling. Allen is on a much better team and will probably do better than Darnold right now because of that.

So if the QB sees ghosts on the field, does the D get a penalty for too many men?

I think Allen needs to improve and is improving. I also think he'd be playing a lot differently if the Bills didn't have a strong defense. As it is, he needs more not to cause a loss than he needs to cause a win. That's a terrible sentence but there's truth there. We've seen that when he takes chances, sometimes they don't work out, and when they don't work out, the mistakes always hurt us, really bad. So the past two games he hasn't taken chances. On the long balls, he's being conservative by throwing it deep instead of just trying to drop it in. If he misses too long, it's incomplete. If he misses too short, bad things could happen. The NFL players and coaches talk about complementary football, and this is that.

The QB and WR have to both understand what the key read is. So, probably part of the problem is that they weren't making the same read. Probably another part of the problem is the defense wasn't just standing around, watching. They react to the play as they're coached to do, probably to confuse either the QB or WR.

It looks like the internal dynamics of the Bills are shining on this issue. The Bills O needs Devin Singletary, and he's been close to being OK for a few weeks now. Instead of bringing him back before they were sure he was completely healed, they gave him more time. The O struggled against the Titans' D, and Singletary could have really helped. The Bills could have lost that game, which would have made their entire season a lot shakier. But the Bills did the right thing. Taron Johnson played through an injury last year until the Bills were out of playoff contention, and then went on IR for surgery. I don't think the Bills forced him to play with the injury. Players around the league will see all that, that the Bills didn't screw around with Singletary's career and even took a chance on losing a key game by letting him heal. Also that a player chose to play with pain for McDermott, as long as it made sense to do it.

By avoiding playing as much as possible. Check out news stories about him and the Saints. They describe his signing as a complete disaster for their organization.