hondo in seattle

Since McD arrived, I thought each season he either overperformed versus the roster strength, or performed about as expected, depending on the season you look at. I think he overperformed in the 2024 regular season. If we hadn't sat our starters against the Pats, we would have finished the season with 14 wins. Along the way, we defeated arguably the best two teams in the league. Even with Josh, this isn't a 14-win roster with an average NFL coach. And yesterday we beat a team with elite coaching that fielded a team loaded with All-Pros and Pro-Bowlers. So already, at this point, he's overperformed in the playoffs this season. I hope he keeps overperforming all the way to the Lombardi. But Lombardi or not, if McDermott resigned after the season, he'd instantly be the hottest commodity in the coaching market.

I don't disagree with anything you say but to see 6 defensive guys recognized in a game where we gave up 400+ yards and only a dropped pass stopped the Ravens from tying the game in the waning minutes seems a little much. Personally, the only defensive game balls I'd give out would be to the guys who created the TOs.

I agree with the notion that Josh is safer with the ball these days. But I don't think he would have made that pitch 4 years ago. Or ever. We were winning. Players were draped on him. There was little if any chance of making a clean pitch.

I was geared up with a Bills jersey (#17), Bills sweats, and Bills socks. But I noticed that one sock had a hole. Rather than blow it off, which would be an offense to the Gridiron Gods who expect devotees to be dressed appropriately, I darned the sock before kickoff.

Condolences for the loss of your wife and best wishes for your Bills aspirations. At this very moment, I'm wearing my "Just One Before I Die" sweatshirt though I've accepted the possibility that, after 50+ years of fandom, I may never see the Bills hoist the Lombardi. So be it. Being a Bills fan has added more joy than pain to my life. I've enjoyed the wins, but I've also relished the camaraderie with my fellow members of the mafia from blood relatives to complete strangers. All fanbases say theirs is the best but there's truly something special about ours. I hope somewhere in the Great Beyond, your wife gets to watch the Bills trounce whoever the NFC trots out against us when we do reach the SB.

How do you prove an opinion? Let's do an experiment. Let's replay the Ravens season 500 times with Lamar at QB and another 500 without Lamar at QB. Run the same experiment with the Bills. Let's see which QB adds the most wins. My guess is that it's Josh. But that's just an unverifiable opinion. And that's me equating "most valuable" with "adds the most wins" which may or may not be the same thing. By accepted definition - even if I don't like it - the MVP is the guy the AP panel decides is the MVP.

I thought about this before the Ravens last drive. For them to win, they would need to: 1. Score a TD, 2. Score a 2-point conversion, 3. Stop us from getting at least a FG. Any one of these seemed likely enough. For them to do all three, however, seemed unlikely. At least that's what I told myself as I paced in front of the tv with blood pressure in the danger range.

A lot of commentators are saying the Bills won yesterday even though the Ravens looked like the better team. When we played the Chiefs earlier this season, we looked like the better team. In all our other playoff matchups with KC, I thought it was an uphill battle against a great roster with an elite coaching staff. This year, though, I like our chances.

It thought the coloring exercise was a fail but loved Orlovsky's support for Allen and the Bills.

The very first time I saw Damar on an NFL field, I felt like one of my sandlot buddies (via a time machine from 40 years ago), just got a chance to play for the Bills. In other words, he looked like he didn't belong out there. And when he was listed as a starter this preseason, I didn't believe it. I thought he was just a placeholder until they named Edwards or Bishop as the actual starter. But I give Damar credit. He's done reasonably well. It hasn't been forget-Hyde-and-Poyer greatness, but he's certainly exceeded my expectations.

My starting assumption is that Joe Brady is a smart man. He's been in football a long time and knows the X's and O's of the game far better than I do. But the conservatism, particularly in the 3rd quarter but really all game long, was puzzling. It was a bad weather game, but Josh has excelled in inclement weather before. And he's clearly our best player. Yet he didn't throw a lot and especially didn't throw downfield much. I think Coop and Coleman were targeted only once each. And Josh didn't run a ton either. It was an odd game plan, not what I was expecting at all. My guess is that it was about the weather. Close-ups on the ball showed that it was wet. And guys had cold hands. Brady might have wanted to win the turnover battle more than the yardage battle. He ran safe plays to avoid fumbles and ints - and still put up 27 points and notched a victory. I still love the Clockwork Orange idea though. I think we'll need more Josh going forward.

Do you really believe Dunne painted an accurate picture of McDermott and his relationship with Josh Allen? With his anonymous army of malcontents? Despite well-known published evidence to the contrary, I don't believe in Bigfoot, the Lochness Monster, or that the US was behind the 9/11 attacks. And I don't believe in Tyler Dunne. If you're so minded, you can find support for any wacky theory and construct a hit piece with real quotes on any public figure. I'm told there's a saying in India, "When a pickpocket walks down the street, all he sees is pockets." When Dunne walks down the street, all he finds is crap about McD. Science calls this confirmation bias. While I don't trust Dunne, I do trust Josh when he says he goes to McD's office a couple of times each week just to chat. "Our relationship, honestly, has never been stronger."

I think the Bills should fire McD after we win the Super Bowl. Yeah, that's starting our search a little late. But on the flip side, (A) it sends the right message about our high standards, and (B) it makes the job super attractive as we'd have an established Super Bowl roster with the GM who built it.

What accounts?

We all know that it's not true that the best team always wins the Super Bowl. But if we get through Baltimore, KC (!!!), and perhaps the Lions, the Bills will be widely and wildly praised, and we'll all celebrate like never before.

I don't agree with all the premises (Buffalo has the better roster?), but I love the optimism! Go Bills!!!

Exactly what I was thinking when I watched the 4th quarter.

I don't know if the Bills defense is built right and has the talent to stop a Lamar-Henry duo. But if we can keep Henry in check like we've done in 4 of 6 encounters, we'll win...

Defense: Bernard Offense: Shakir I don't think Cook is going to get a lot of yards on the ground, certainly not as many as Henry. But I do expect Josh to pass for more yards than Lamar.

It's been encouraging to see him regain form. According to SI... "Since Week 13, the two-time Super Bowl champion leads the NFL in quarterback pressure rate (25.5), meaning he's disrupting the passer on more than one-quarter of pass-rush snaps." www.si.com/nfl/bills/news/von-miller-officially-back-leads-nfl-pass-rushers-last-six-weeks

There's a certain flavor of Bills fan (you know who you are!), who give credit to Josh when we win and assign blame to McDermott when we lose. And that's fine. But it's almost as if we don't have 52 other players, and Sean doesn't do anything to contribute to our wins, and Josh never contributes to our losses, and Beane has nothing to do with any of it.

Win: Josh is the best player in the league. Lose: Fire McDermott.

Maybe we're not good at attracting famous fans because I don't know who half these people are. 😕

I have a different take on 13 seconds. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong and who was responsible except that, as head coach, McD is accountable for everything the team does. I give McD credit for getting us into that game. I give him credit for going toe-to-toe with Reid-Spags duo and nearly winning. And I blame him for flubbing at the end. But imagine you're an art expert visiting the Louvre. When you get close to the masterpieces, you see imperfect brush strokes. But when you stand back, you see beautiful works of art. "13 Seconds" was a huge disappointment. But when I stand back, I like McD overall body of work. I think he gives us a better chance of winning it all than most head coaches.

Exactly. McDermott is punished by the fans because he raises expectations by overachieving during the regular season. Then we crash back down to earth in the postseason, people blame McD. Beane has never given McD a SB roster (i.e. the best roster in the league) but folks think McD should be fired for not delivering a SB anyway. Weirdly, McD seems to be well respected by his players (who rated him an "A" in the NFLPA survey and had his back when he was attacked by Dunne), fellow coaches, sportswriters, etc. - but not so much by Bills fans.