Dan

Was just sitting here thinkin…. What the flow of the game might be? I think the 1st quarter is going to be pretty tight. Both teams are going to come out amped up! I expect it to end 7-7, maybe 7-3. From that point on, it’s who makes the better adjustments and who keeps the intensity up. By 4th quarter both teams are gonna be going for it, and it likely comes down to who has the ball last. I hope that’s not how it plays out, but it just feels like this is gonna be a back and forth slug fest because neither QB has any quit in them.

To start the game… I’ll be 30,000 feet over somewhere on a plane. Will miss probably the 2nd quarter when we land and I get to my hotel in Oakland. Then in my room for the 2nd half. After the game… drinking! Either to celebrate ..or to commiserate.

Honestly… if that actually happened. I’d still be nervous!! ..just thinking There’s still a quarter and a half!! We need to stop them!

I know. I shoulda got my act together! If you have Babich’s cell number I’ll text him though. It’s not too late.

Yep

The Bills just have to win one more game this season. Don’t hold anything back!! Tomorrow is it!! I hope they put everything they have into winning it. ….Until 2 weeks from now! Then they would have a single game to be the best team ever. That will be the SuperBowl!

I know it’s a little late, and Babich doesn’t really have time to read my post and correct his game plan… so I guess I just have to hope he’s thinking similarly. As I see it, they had a great plan last week. They schemed and focused on stopping Henry, while containing Lamar so he couldn’t just take off and beat them with his legs. Add in a couple early scores and they forced Lamar to win the game passing. (Which he did a good job of and got close) This week, I see Kelce as the key player that drives their offense. So I really hope they have a plan to focus on Kelce and not let him sit all alone in a zone coverage with no one around him. Then they have to contain Mahomes so he can’t run for first downs. Essentially, don’t give up the easy first down tosses to Kelce or to Pat scrambling untouched. They still have to contend with the running backs, Worthy, etc. But every time Mahomes gets in trouble he looks #1 for Kelce and an easy catch. Or #2 to scramble for the first. Contain those two players and I think they contain their offense. Thats easier said than done! But that’s why they make millions and I don’t. Go Bills!

The other part of this narrative, that requires quite a bit more effort, is how many times KC had a drive extended by a penalty, or their opponent had one cut short. It’s amazing how lopsided it is when you look at raw numbers like number of penalties and yards. But how many times have we seen a 3rd and 10+ pass fall incomplete, but wait… defensive holding. 5yds and a first down. That’s a small penalty for yards, but extremely impactful. Or the opponent is trying desperately to get back into the game, finally gets a huge 3rd down conversion only to have it come back due to a ticky tack call. I suspect the penalty yards to be far more equal tomorrow with all this attention it’s been given, but it’ll be interesting how many KC drives are extended due to a BS call or how many times Kelce is allowed to push our defender down just to watch defensive holding called at a key time.

Every waking moment since Monday morning.

The at would make great viewing and pundits would be drooling. BUT…. I hope the Bills develop a game plan that allows Josh Allen to control a balanced game that leads to a win. I imagine that get less clicks though.

I know that won’t.. and shouldn’t play all man. But they absolutely have to play more man coverage than in the past playoff losses and time the coverages better! Patty will eat the zone up! This may very well decide the game.. how much man vs zone they play.

I very much agree. I just wasn’t so sure they’d play as much 4-3 and have that attitude that they needed.

Agree with so much of this. It was also impressive because the Ravens are such a huge mismatch for our personnel. But the game plan was sound, varied and well executed. Hopefully they have enough wrinkles in their game plan again to keep the Chiefs similarly guessing and off balance.

I think the weather and the fact we had the lead factored into the 2nd half play calling. And then when we got down to the 2yd line… the thinking by McD was go conservative to ensure the FG. That gives us an 8pt lead and ensures, at the worst, overtime. I would bet that they would have been more creative down there if it was a 1 or 2pt game.

why wouldn’t you coach the DLine to just fall to the ground when they feel they’re being held? If Dion is going to get flagged for a perfect block just because he knocked the guy down… seems like I’d be fallin almost every time they held me at all. Make it obvious. Same with their RT… if he’s moving early.. jump into him and make them throw the flag and have that discussion. I said almost the exact same thing to a friend an hour ago!

A point to consider for folks, as well, is Brady is well known to stick with what’s working. I think they realize pretty quickly in the first quarter that the run game was working. So why switch it to a passing attack? If I had to guess I would say the plan all along was to run more heavily in the third quarter. If you look at the splits, Henry always runs for more yards in the second. So I think they wanted to keep the ball away from him and continue pounding it out. Not really a bad strategy at all. Until the ravens adjusted and shut it down. But when we needed to in the fourth quarter they mixed it up and got some scores.

Look at the screen grab right above you. Zoom in. It’s 0, Coleman. (Unless we’re talking about different plays) Agreed.. I like the way they mixed it up. Has a defense ever spied 2 players? In this case I’m thinking Mahomes and Kelce.

That was Coleman.

I saw a comment like this and thought it was evidence of McD out coaching the Ravens. The Bills (1) developed a game plan specifically for the game that they weren’t expecting and hadn’t really prepared for. And (2) the Bills developed a game plan that was perfect for the weather - a cold, wet night - that would minimize mistakes and the chance for turnovers. I expect/hope that they’re developing a completely different way to attack the Chiefs to keep them equally off balance and unprepared. Although, I think that’s harder considering this feels more like a divisional rivalry game given the frequency that we play them the last several years.

How effective is Mahomes when blitzed? We need to pressure him and make him uncomfortable, but is blitzing on half the plays the best way to do that?

Completely agree with all of this. Also, no one has really mentioned the decision to go for it on 4th down in the first drive of the game. Bills got stopped and there was zero hesitation. They lined up and Josh picked up the 1st down and kept the drive going till we scored. Thats a ballsy play on the first drive of the game!

I just am so sick of it always being the Chiefs in the playoffs that we have to get through! It's like the groundhog day movie. Just beat this F'in team and get past this. I'm sure it’s been mentioned, and I missed it, but it’s even bizarre that this is nearly the same scenario we had in last championship game appearance. We had a marginal WC team at home, beat a good Ravens team.. and have to beat the Chiefs in KC. That was a younger, less experienced Bills team. I think we're primed and ready to roll this year. if we score 30+ points, we dam well better win the game! You think people are screaming for McD to be replaced now… let the offense s ore 301 points and lose the game! All I can say is this is it. There should be no holding back. This is the game you play if you're hurt. You use the super secret plays you've been practicing all year. You never take your foot off the pedal because you may see them again. This is the game you give them absolutely everything you've got and a lot they've never seen before. Just get it frigggin done! I got a few thoughts about hoe the game ended: if you drop 8 guys into coverage… they should never be as wide open as those ravens players were! You can't tell from the tv view.. but I can only imagine the Bills defenders all just stood in some zone and watched the ravens players run around. My pet theory is that McD didn't let them score, but kinda didn't play aggressive because he wanted more time on the clock if they scored. Knowing that it takes a TD and a 2 pt conversion, just to tie the game. It was a luxury you can consider. And along that line of reasoning, if that was the idea, was he pulling starters after the 2 min warning so they'd be better rested for an overtime, if we missed the game winning FG try? 4D chess! LOL

Agreed. It’s not fair… but this is the playoffs. They just beat the best team in the league that no one gave them a chance to beat. …now.. we get the bestest team in the league that we’ve never beaten when it mattered. This game is it!! Lay it all on the line. If they have been holding anything back. Now is when you unleash it all!! No lead is safe, no game plan is good enough. And there is no good enough till the final whistle is blown!

Now my paranoia is setting in and I expect half the defense to be listed as questionable on Wednesday’s injury report.

Just as no one in the national media is giving the Bills credit for forcing the turnovers and actually out playing and out scheming the Ravens. …not enough posters here are giving the Ravens enough credit for being a really good team that was playing really good defense. Yeah the Bills looked to struggle but I think the Ravens made great adjustments. We just out lasted them!