Utah John

What made me cringe was watching the Browns, Texans, and Bengals pull last-minute wins out of their butts. If any two of the Bears, Titans, or Vikings played like professionals, the Bills would be in a wild card slot already. (The Browns win was the toughest to take, with a Hail Mary that worked until the receiver didn't hold on to the ball. But, the Bears.) Those earlier games could be seen as the football gods saying no to the Bills. Or they could be seen as saying, OK Buffalo do what you should have been doing all season, and be playing your best football when you get in.

I think he meant "complementary" although a lot of compliments were due for this game.

I think the Cowboys and Dolphins are very similar teams. Fast, good skills. And the Bills will do to the Dolphins what they did to the Cowboys. This after the Dolphins lose to either the Cowboys or the Ravens, or both. Which is pretty likely since they both have winning records (and the Fish haven't beaten any team this year with winning record when they played).

I think some Bills fans would like to see Davis being chased by an alligator. A big one that's unusually fast. Not me. He is playing an important role in the success of the offense.

The Bills exposed the Cowboys as a lightweight, fast, team that can be pushed around. Not what you need in the playoffs. Any team with a good O line will now be trying to run the ball, even if the Cowboys are ahead. The Bills smashed Prescott a couple of times and he wasn't the same player afterward. The Cowboys tried to smash Josh a couple of times and he just smashed them back.

If you want something besides the interim coach factor to worry about, it's a short week. Sunday afternoon game today, travel day on Friday. Three hour time difference. Playing late (Eastern Standard Time). Could be a tired and distracted Bills team. Over the years I've seen so many Bills teams lose December games on the West Coast. It's true that most of those Bills teams were pretty bad, had little or no chance at the playoffs, and saw no reason to try to make their coach look good. Quite different from this year and this team. Nevertheless I refuse to stop worrying. Well, they might do just that.

Diggs had one, Cook had one (would have been a TD), and Kincaid had two. OTOH Diggs had an amazing catch, in the rain, with one hand.

Look at it this way. Gabe Davis is an offensive lineman who gets to run downfield and make blocks. He is REALLY good at it. Do you think James Cook made all those yards on his own? Someone was making blocks down the field. At this point, any catches he makes are gravy.

Wait till Hurts gets hurt. That'll be the end of that.

If he couldn't play effectively with that injury why didn't the Bills put him on IR and let him have the surgery he needs, so he'll be back and ready to go next year? Why let him linger when he couldn't play effectively?

Jalen Ramsey is a great CB. Xavien Howard is very good but he gets a lot of action because teams avoid Ramsey. The Fins offense had a HUGE dropoff in all areas when Hill was on the sidelines. It was amazing how much easier it was for the Titans to cover receivers and defend the run. (Do the Fins even have a tight end? They let Gesicki go and now they never seem to throw to whoever replaced him.) The Fins offense had a HUGE dropoff when Hill was on the sidelines. The Titans suddenly were able to cover all the receivers and defend against the run.

You're probably right that the complete collapse is going to weigh more on their minds, but both those losses were gut punches to the favored team. The Bills have had more time to recover.

The Pats D is decent, and the Chiefs offense will probably try that Kelce throw back play two or three times, fumbling each time. So there's hope. Plus I'd like to see the Pats hurt their draft position.

He's still a good coach but he's been a terrible GM for years. Can't draft, picks the wrong FAs. The Pats need an actual GM more than they need a new coach. The problem is it's going to take a new GM a few years to clean up the roster, and it's asking a lot for the Krafts, who are used to success, to keep BB around that long. But the mess is still going to be there, BB or no BB, and if they go with a new coach that poor guy will suffer and be fired, putting the Pats into the hire/fail/fire rinse and repeat we all saw with the Bills. That makes perfect sense. The fans are demanding a coaching change, which is a couple years late since Staley screwed himself out of a playoff spot by not settling for a tie in the last game of the season.

The Dolphins have a great CB and a very good one too. Beyond that, not much on defense.

Seems to me DK1 has caught a few of those the past couple of years. And DK2 is an even better receiver. Sounds like some illegal formations and motions on the 50, and definitely holding. Maybe even a naked bootleg if your Mom changed her mind. But who knows, if the Bills start losing a lot, maybe that'll bring the fans back.

The Dolphins loss to the Titans was the equivalent of ours to the Pats. Hard to believe either one happened. I think the Bills as a team lost a lot of mojo with that Pats loss, and haven't really gotten it back yet. Who knows what will happen to the Fins this week and going forward.

Miller is playing better. It's Rousseau who's gone radio silent. Almost never hear his name called. I think the Bills are playing Rousseau more on the interior which shows the team's need at DT now that Jones is out and Settle and Ford aren't doing much, and Joseph has also evaporated after an encouraging start. Anyway this might explain why we don't hear about Rousseau. But we need AJE and Miller back, badly.

Well, it's looking like there's a shot at a playoff game which will very likely be on the road. At least the first one, and maybe the second one. The third one could be back in Orchard Park depending on seeding. Then the SB of course will be at a neutral site.

I haven't read all the pages of this thread, but I wonder if anyone has pointed out to Mahomes and Reid that Toney actually committed a blatant OPI on that play, which is how Kelce got so wide open. The Offside call was correct but not calling the OPI was a huge mistake by the refs, that could have cost the Bills the game and possibly the playoffs.

I have been expecting this to happen. Opponents have been game planning to stop Dorsey's offense. Brady has different tendencies and favorite plays, and DCs figure those things out. Big test this Sunday against a good Dallas defense.

I'm so glad someone else noticed this. The refs blew it by not making that call. OPI would have pushed the Chiefs back 10 yards instead of the 5 the got hit for the Offside. And there would have been no controversy. Toney ran straight at one of the Bills' DBs, then straight into another one, and the second one was the guy marking Kelce. Kelce popped clear not by skill but because the Chiefs were cheating. It was a clearly deliberate illegal play, and Toney got away with it. If good things come in threes, it's definitely time to buy a lottery ticket.

The Kelce meltdown, I didn't see, but there could have been one on his magic play near the end. Maybe he was just so delighted with his own creativity (well-deserved) that he could tolerate the Offside call against Toney. About Toney -- The refs actually did the Chiefs a favor on that play, just calling the Offside. Toney ran straight into one of the Bills DB, and then ran straight into another one. The second one was the pick that got Kelce so wide open. Go back and watch the replay. It was blatant OPI. If the refs had called that, which they should have, it would have backed the Chiefs up by 10, and not by 5. Fortunately Mahomes' next three passes all fell incomplete, and the Bills won. But, maybe this is better in the long run. The Chiefs will have a week to stew about the Offside call, telling each other the refs somehow were to blame or that the refs somehow screwed up. Any distraction is a good thing. Here's why. The Chiefs, whom the Bills beat and would have the tiebreaker over, are only one game ahead of the Broncos, who beat the Bills. If it comes down to playoff tiebreakers, I want every edge the Bills can get, so I'm hoping Denver wins the AFCW. (Also if the Chiefs don't make the playoffs, Mahomes will keep alive his streak of never playing a playoff game on the road.)

The Bills pass rush was extremely focused on not giving Mahomes lanes to escape the pocket downfield. I've seen this in several games this year, and it's a very good thing against QBs who are good at running. It also means the D line is working as a unit, and not having anyone freelance. They're still getting their sacks (maybe not quite as many) and applying good pressure while not letting excellent runners like Mahomes hurt them, at least with his legs. The flip side is that Mahomes ends up with a little more time to find receivers, but his receivers are worse than ours, except for Kelce. This approach wouldn't work against Tyreek Hill AND Kelce, but that we don't have to worry about that anymore. Here's hoping Spagnuolo gets a HC job next year, in the NFC. He gives the Bills a tough time every time as the Chief's DC.

Either way if teams start teaching their players to be aware of opportunities like that, particularly throwing it back to a guy who's not covered, it could really open up the game. Defenses would not be able to collapse on the receiver after he catches the ball. Kinda ironic this play happened on the day Frank Wychek passed away.