hondo in seattle

If you look how they do the tiers, the Bills are 2nd because of their combo of offensive and defensive EPA. We're also second to the Lions according to ELO... www.nfeloapp.com/nfl-power-ratings/

2nd best team according to EPA... Courtesy of rbsdm.com/stats

No sweat, my friend. I don't take the criticisms of my Bills opinions personally. "Hondo" from the original SWAT series is how I got my nickname - though not by choice. Btw, a few Chief fans say they lost to us because they played vanilla and are saving the good stuff for the playoffs. I guess it's encouraging that Bills fans have more accountability & realism: we aren't saving guff for the playoffs - we just sucked that day.

It was one of the bye-week ruminations and - based on the feedback - maybe not one of my better ones. Although not as bad as some of my older Bills takes such as, "Rob Johnson will be a solid QB" and "OJ isn't just a great RB, he's a great person too." It still seems weird to me that (1) both Brady and Babich had their worst game of the year on the same day, and (2) the Bills stuck with their nickel defense even when the Ravens lined up in heavy personnel sets and were running the ball down our throats. But life goes on and right now I'm still enjoying the afterglow of our victory of the Chiefs.

I apologize if someone already mentioned this... but didn't Woody say this was the most talented roster since he owned the Jets? Update: I asked Perplexity the same question... Yes, Woody Johnson did state earlier this season that the current New York Jets roster is "one of the most talented teams that has ever been assembled by the New York Jets." He made this remark on October 8, 2024, emphasizing his belief in the team's potential under general manager Joe Douglas. Why do you fire the guy who built you such a talented team? Maybe it's not so talented after all? Rodgers says he'll continue quarterbacking the team next season if, as the new GM, he also gets to choose the new HC and OC.

You may be right but I don't think this is a traditional 5/6 man receiving corps with three starters and the rest backups. My guess is that Brady sees something different in all these guys. Even when we're fully healthy (and I hope that happens and remains the case through the playoffs), I still expect Samuel - and Hollins - to get snaps depending on playcalls and packages.

You're probably right, Logic, and - if you pardon the pun - your logic is flawless. And that's certainly what I've believed most of my football-watching life. But over the years I've heard coaches & players talk about 'saving things for the playoffs' (though, admittedly, mostly denying it). Or 'putting things on film' so they can surprise a later opponent by doing something different. We've seen Reid, Belichick, and others roll out wrinkles - which they've sometimes admitted originated earlier in the season - in the playoffs. Watching Belichick in the playoffs, I would wonder if he was as much a strategist as a tactician. He knew those Brady teams were heading to the playoffs. Maybe he looked at the big picture and decide to potentially lose some battles but win the war by saving some of his best ideas for January. The amoeba defense, for example. I don't think all coaches attempt to play 4D chess for the reasons you mention. But I think Belichick did and Reid does. And so I wonder if McD does too.

In 10+ years on this board, I've never had so many people disagree with me so quickly. Intellectually, you all make a lot of good points. Psychologically, I want to believe in Santa, that life is fair, and the Bills are better than the Ravens. So I'm stubbornly sticking with the idea that the Bills tried to win with their 'B' plan against the Ravens last month while saving the 'A' plan for the playoffs where we'll crush them mercilessly.

Of course, I believe every coach tries to win every week. I used to believe that coaches throw everything including the kitchen sink at the game in front of them. A one week at a time mindset. But I've come to believe, mostly because of comments coaches have made over the years, that they don't always throw the kitchen sink. I heard one of Belichick's coordinators - forget which one - talk about playing the AFCE. He said they wouldn't scheme both games the same way (which would be predictable). They would think ahead and decide to use one scheme one game and another scheme the next meeting. I'm guessing they employed the better scheme in the matchup they considered more important or challenging. To give different Pats examples, Belichick devised the so-called "ameoba defense" during the 2011 regular season but didn't utilize it till the playoffs. In the 2014, Belichick came up with some weird formations with eligible receivers as ineligible - another idea he saved for January. Sometimes the kitchen sink is saved for the playoffs. I don't know if McD does this. It doesn't seem his style. Yet is seems odd to me that both Babich and Brady both laid big dirty eggs at the same time. Though, I admit, there's a bit of homerism here. I don't want to believe we're as bad as that scoreboard.

The Ravens game has stuck in my memory and led me to believe the Bills aren't as good as their record. But I might be reconsidering my evaluation. I don't remember the exact streak, but that game was something like the first Bills contest since the Tet Offensive that we lost by more than one score. The Raven beat us by 25. Power rankings, ELO, EPA, DVOA, betting markets, etc. All have us rated ahead of the Ravens, and yet they annihilated us. Brady, who's been having a good year, seemed powerless to generate any offense. Babich, who is also enjoying a good year, seemed powerless to stop the Ravens attack. Wierdly, both coordinators picked the very same day to have their worst game of the season. Maybe the impotency was, in a way, by design? Maybe McD said something like this to his coordinators, "Come up with two game plans for the Ravens. Save the better one for the playoffs. Use the more vanilla one this week." Thoughts?

I hope so.

I believe the Bills are a tight-knit team with a lot of camaraderie and esprit d'corps. I think Beane deserves a lot of credit for acquiring the right kind of guys regardless of the criticisms that he should draft for talent instead of drafting process guys when he blends both. I think McD and his coaches also deserve a lot of credit because a culture is built from the top. In the army, we might have called culture a "combat multiplier." It makes your weapons even more effective. Same in football. But the Bills aren't the only team in the NFL with a good culture. And culture is only part of the formula. Talent also matters as does scheme and play-calling. And injuries and luck. It was great to hear Amari's observations but, sadly, the Bills' specialness is no guarantee.

I wonder if Kyle Orton has seen any of these and wondered why no one's put his famous slide to music.

Weirdly, I'm not even a fan of that song but it's also my favorite. Not just the time of the drum but the epic drama of the music fits the moment.

Earlier this season, our WR corps seemed to be our Achilles' Heel - the one position group most likely to prevent a playoff run. Yesterday, our RBs weren't finding daylight and only produced 49 yards on 19 carries. And yet, without Kincaid or Coleman in the lineup, we beat an undefeated team and hung 30 points on a team that hadn't allowed 30 points since 2022. Our receivers must have done something right. And, yep, it does sound funny to say going forward it'll be hard to find snaps and targets for pass catchers who deserve them.

Mea culpa. Before the season, I argued that the Bills WR wasn't great but not horrible either. My logic was this: Shakir and Samuel are legit NFL starters. And between Coleman, MVS, and Claypool it seemed likely that one would also emerge as another legit starter. If we could stay healthy, three was all we needed. In retrospect, it wasn't a good take and I'm really happy we traded for Amari Cooper. And seeing Samuel play like a legit wideout for the first time this year in a game where we needed him warmed my heart. Whether turf toe or Joe Brady was to blame for Samuel's production prior to this game, I'm also hoping neither will be an issue going forward.

Thanks for posting. Great video. Didn't Romo say something about the right side of our line struggling a bit early in the game? I watched "The Cyborg" a few times during the game and thought he was doing well. But I didn't realize how well till watching this. And I would never have believed leaving "The Plumber" one-on-one with Chris Jones was a good idea.

I know this is a popular take but I don't get it. McD and his coaches have a routine. They study film a certain way, run meetings and practices a certain way, build teamwork a certain way, develop game plans in a certain way, etc. It's a "process" based on years of wisdom and experience that has been proven to work. The Bills follow the same process in the postseason that they follow in the regular season. Reid has his own process that's probably very similar. It also works - Reid and McD are the winningest coaches over the past few years. So what happens in the playoffs? Does Reid have a "turbo boost" button that's only available to him in the playoffs that magically makes his way of preparing a team better? Did Reid's secret button make Bass miss that FG or Diggs drop that long ball last year? You need a sample size of at least 30 for an analysis to be scientifically valid. Reid and McD haven't played each other that many times. Most of the games are close and often determined by a few feet or seconds or injuries here or there. I'm not convinced KC is playoff-better. It could very well be just random gridiron luck.

I've been a vocal critic of Brady at times in the past. But it's hard to criticize him for this game. KC excels at run defense and their DL is better than our OL. So you'd expect us to pass a lot. The problem here, though, is that their DL was pressuring Josh. (At halftime someone said on air the Chiefs were pressuring Josh on 50% of pass plays). The other problem is that our receivers don't excel at separation and 2 of our 3 best receivers were out with injuries. No holes for our backs. No time for our QB. Receivers struggling to get open. Sounds like an offensive catastrophe yet we were the first team to hang 30 on a strong Chiefs D all year. Brady did something right.

This was too important a game for Reid to worry about trolling anyone.

There's no supporting metal struts. These tables were designed to break in the middle. And there's a rubber mat underneath to cushion the fall.

I want the Bills to win as badly as anyone. But I don't believe in treating anyone poorly, regardless of who they may root for. The world will become a better a place when we finally decide to treat everyone with respect and loving kindness.

Offense: Shakir... Because Dan Orlovsky says so. Defense: Rasul Douglas... I'm gonna ride this horse until he has a game changing pick.

Decades ago, this kid from Iowa with an impressive bushy black beard joined my 'high level' flag football team as a receiver. He had been a championship sprinter in high school and was blazing fast. But his speed was all straight-line. Weirdly, to cut he'd slow down to something like half-speed and then still perform a wide badly rounded cut. As much as we tried to teach him, we could never get him to run sharp routes. On top of that, his hands were carved from stone. Once in a while, we'd trot him onto the field to run past all the opposing DBs just to force them to play a little deeper. But he never caught a single pass. I get the temptation but NFL speed doesn't make you an NFL receiver.

Ye of little faith. This time, McD will outsmart Reid, flip the script, intentionally lose in the regular season leading to a win in the postseason.