eball

Can’t remember being as anxious for a regular season day as I am this morning. Two huge games — our Bills vs. the Pats***, of course, but also Baltimore/Miami. If the home teams take care of business the New Year’s festivities will be that much more fun. Regardless, just getting into the playoffs is the goal, no matter how it happens. Go Bills! 15-6, Babyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

I don’t understand this sort of thinking. A — the Bills have essentially been the playoffs for the past month. B — they are peaking and playing their best football at the right time. C — there is no evidence that having an “easy” game before entering the playoffs does a team any good whatsoever. I’d even argue that the bye isn’t a good thing unless you’re a team that needs to get key players healthy. Keep the roll going and enter the playoffs on one hell of a heater…

One step ahead of ya…big screen hanging on wall will be the Bills game, and I brought a 2nd TV out of the guest bedroom to sit on the floor beneath it for Fish/Ravens. Gonna be a fun Sunday afternoon!

I guaran-damn-tee you Belichick doesn’t give a rat’s ass about draft position, and neither do his players. That stuff is for fans and the media. And I’m very happy the Browns won Thursday night in that regard…if Baltimore loses to Miami then Cleveland could beat them in W18 for the division. Thus, the Ravens are extra motivated for this game — it is truly for both the division and #1 seed, and they could lose both if they falter.

Hard to imagine them putting a guy who relies upon his upper body strength out there if he's not ready to go 100%. That's just asking for trouble. If anything, I think DaQuan will have some extra juice in those legs from all of the rest he has gotten. I like the idea of letting him shake off some rust this week and then getting after Tua and Mostert next week.

I don't know if his injury is a HAS but besides missing a game he has been in and out of games regularly it seems...

DaQuan practiced fully today...welcome back, big fella!

DaQuan Jones practicing "full" during a normal practice day has me kinda giddy....

If the Bills had blown out the Chargers I'd feel exactly this way...but because that game was closer than expected I am looking to see a highly motivated Bills team on Sunday afternoon. I could be wrong, but that's my gut feeling...

I get myself so much Bills s-h-i-t my family knows they don’t need to give me any. 😂

This. The Steelers are absolutely awful. Cincinnati’s run was due to end behind Browning, so the result last week was not shocking. Seahawks are at home and fighting for their lives this week as well. I get the BBFS and all, but Buffalo just needs to win out and let the chips fall where they may, going into the playoffs on a heater…

In addition, I think Baltimore remembers very vividly the game early last season in which they melted down at home in the 4th quarter and allowed a huge Miami comeback. There is some revenge at play as well...

Ugh. I'm at 25% (2-6). Nailed it with James Cook though...

Fair points, but you also know I didn’t “rip apart” your allegiance…I just made a comment about you defending Mahomes very aggressively in this thread. As for the Allen vs. Mahomes question, I think it is very hard to compare their careers in a vacuum because they came into the league with incredibly disparate backgrounds and were placed into incredibly disparate situations. I don’t think that is up for reasonable debate. Both QBs, I think, have made the best of their situations thus far, but Mahomes has the hardware while Josh does not. They are both on Hall of Fame trajectories and they have each done things to start their careers that no other QB in the history of the NFL has done. I’m thrilled the Bills have Josh and I believe when all the dust settles on both of their careers it will be a far less “easy” question to answer as to who was the “better” QB. Go Bills and Happy New Year!

Interesting premise, but no team looks ahead to the following season’s opponents in deciding how they will approach the rest of the current season when they have Super Bowl aspirations. Plus, with how things transpired this weekend the #2 overall seed is still in play, which means playing #7 in the first round who will likely be either the Steelers, Bengals, Colts, Jags, or Texans (I think). Now, if Miami upsets Baltimore I may reassess…

Any coach worth his salt will prepare for Waddle to be playing…and that doesn’t put the defense at a disadvantage because anyone replacing Waddle is not as good.

Thanks doc.

It’s funny to me when we have supposed Bills fans on this board who seem to think they need to carry on crusades for other teams/players (I’m looking at you, @thenorthremembers). I’m pretty satisfied right now knowing the Chiefs are going to have to win at least one road playoff game to get to the Super Bowl. I won’t ever discount Mahomes but clearly that offense is a shell of its former self. I don’t need to tell myself Josh is “better” than Mahomes, and Kermit’s accomplishments to date are unprecedented, but anyone watching the games can see that right now Josh is playing at a higher level. Mahomes has the best defense he has had at KC and they have their worst record. All of my focus right now is on two 1:00 games on Sunday that will be on side-by-side screens.

Please direct me to the people “ignoring” turnovers or saying they don’t matter. Of course they do. But part of what makes Josh “Josh” is the fact he will take some chances other QBs don’t. But he didn’t fumble Saturday night and the one pick he did throw was just an underthrown ball. It’s easy to look at total turnovers and come to the immediate conclusion there is a “problem” but I think it requires a more thorough analysis of what has happened and why.

Is the 2.5 TDs per game acceptable?

False narrative. The Bills sustained a few self-inflicted wounds last night but got the job done when needed, which is what good teams do. The defense gave up one touchdown on a short field all night. How many times during the drought did the Bills put forth an effort like the Chargers did last night only to come up short? Everybody looking for style points and blowout wins to make themselves feel good should take a step back. The Bills are exactly what we thought they were — a very good team that will be a nightmare for anyone to face in the playoffs.

Josh didn’t have his best stuff. He inexplicably missed two wide open guys on 3rd downs that ended drives. And yet, when it was needed, he brought them back and his receivers made some great plays. The defense was very solid despite being put in terrible situations, and they actually closed out another game. I’m not going to boo-hoo over this victory. All goals are still in play.

I think Buffalo/Baltimore will be one hell of an AFCCG.

Dallas has beaten teams with good rushing offenses (i.e., Philly). In this game, I think their own offense will be able to easily put up points and their pass rush and pass D will force some Tuanovers.

I don’t know why @ScottLaw disagreed with this, but it is exactly right. Miami is consistently in the top 5 in the various “power rankings” floating around the intarwebs, but they have approximately 0.0% chance to actually win the Super Bowl as they currently exist. Fans and media ooh and aah over the bombs to Hill and Waddle, and Mostert has had a great year, but when they face good teams they struggle. The Fish have an opportunity to prove everyone wrong starting this Sunday. I don’t think they’ll do it. I think Dallas beats them in a shootout, Baltimore bludgeons them, and the Bills finish them off.