Dan

There are entire too many blatantly wrong calls made every week. Either the refs are being told to or allowed to influence games OR the league is completely inept and unable to solve the problem. But you cannot repeatedly make absolutely wrong calls like tripping when it clearly was not happening without some sort of intent.

I'm pretty sure every game since week one we've had someone log in and explain why ..THIS.. week is a must win game. It's hard to imagine the pressure when every single week you just have to win or your entire season is lost.

Sorry... my fat fingers meant to give you a beer for this post.... but instead I selected the "meh" smiley. In no way is your post...meh. What you said is spot on true and a good part of the reason why life long fans, such as myself, rarely watch nonBills games. The league and their condoned poor officiating have ruined the game.

If the Bills win a couple more, as well as that other team in our division, its very likely the final Jets game doesn't matter for our standings? At that point, they could treat it like a bye??

Making the palyoffs, even if one and done, would be huge. First of all, unlike 2 years ago, this year they're on the verge of making the playoffs because they won all the games they needed to, not because of tie breakers and other teams helping us by winnning/losing certain games. IMO, that makes this year's playoff push pretty special. Secondly, for a team as snake biten and bad as the Bills have been for 2 decades, they need to learn how to win. Not only in the regular season, but also in the playoffs. Just getting there, experiencing the level of intensity and then going in to next year ..expecting to make it back.. Is a huge step in the development of a winning culture and building a perennial playoff team. So I have to disagree, being one and done in the playoffs would be a massive step for this team and the culture they're trying to build. Now of course, we all hope they'll win in the playoffs...but I would not by any means consider a one a done playoff season as pointless. With that said... If they become a perennial one and done team, then it's time to make a change. But we have about 3 or 4 years ro worry about that ?

I was never a huge fan of Gore.. mostly because of the teams he's played on. But will readily admit...I'm glad we signed him. I'm glad he's on the roster over Shady. Frank Gore is complete class and the type of guy ou just want to cheer for. I offer him my congratulations and respect. What a good all around guy.

Thank you. I couldn't agree more. Yes, there are issues with this team. It's full of young players that play with emotion and will make mistakes. But... They're half way through the season and not only sitting with a winning record, but the 2nd best record in the conference. The season isn't over; we're not all looking at who to draft. We're talking about playoff position. It feels like half this fan base is just so used to being let down that they refuse to see what's happening. That this team is learning to win, they're getting better. And for the first time this millennium they are in a position to make the playoffs because they won the games, not because other teams helped them get in. I agree with Hyde. I'm not apologizing for wins anymore. We're 6-2. No game is a given, but no game is a guaranteed loss. Enjoy it folks. We haven't seen a season like this in decades. We can nitpick the team all off season, but for now let's enjoy it.

6-2 for the first time in 27 years... yet I read this thread and you'd think the Bills were one of the worst teams in the league? Why do so many people expect complete perfection in every play, every pass? Or blow outs in every game? It would be nice if more people could just enjoy a good season after so many bad ones, and stop trying to set the stage to say I told you so when we don't win the Super Bowl.

I loved my Shout! For a time, it was the best source of Bills news... Albiet a week late! I dropped my subsription not long after finding this place. I still have a few old issues, I'm sure, burried in a box after a multitude of moves. I used to wrap my glasses/plates in them for packing.. Just so I could see the Bills highlights for years after we moved. I'd bet money I still have some form the early 90's wrapped in a box tucked away under a friend's house. Why it hasn't been unpacked since then is another story....

I agree... I'm not ready to push the panic button. But, the last 2 weeks are the beginning of a trend. And the coaching staff is showing little ability to adapt or correct the problems on this team. There are are some glaring deficiencies in players. But there's also glaring deficiencies in the coaching and game planning. The fate of this season comes down to whether they can patch those holes sooner rather than later.

Defenses have figured out the 2019 Bills Offense.... Its all short throws and runs. So they're, more and more, stacking the LOS and daring Allen to beat them deep. And he's not been capable of that. Perhaps more concerning is that we're hardly even trying to throw deep. Its really only a couple times each game. Is that on Allen or Daboll that they're not throwing deep? It's certainly on Allen that he's not getting the ball there. But, like all things you need more attempts to get into the rhythm. Either way the Bills need to stretch the field more or this season is going to get ugly.

Watching Foster not even make the slightest attempt at catching the one long ball yesterday, reminded me we only have 2 viable WRs on the team... which is 2 more than last year. But, it's just mind numbing that they want to build a modern passing attack, that they call the game as though they do have a modern passing attack, but they only have 2 WRs on the roster. So should we draft a WR? Yes.

I completely agree. It's by no means the end. My criticisms here are just to point out things we need to fix going forward.

Yep. Too many.... wtf play calls. We're running the ball well. So what do they do to start the 4th quarter? 3 consecutive passes. It's like Daboll just gets too cute and out thinks everyone several times a game. Other thing it would be nice to see... a dang WR fight for the ball and make a tough catch.

Exactly. That's the type of play you pull out once every few weeks. Not several times a game. Just pitch it to Gore and let him get the 2 yrds. That's his job.

What I don't get... they don't want Josh running with it. They don't want him fumbling it away. So why keep calling the QB sweep in critical situations? Why not give it to the HOF, sure handed RB you signed? It makes no sense to me.

And Foster did absolutely zero to catch thy ball. All he had to do was stop to catch it -And the DB get called for pass interference. We go into half with a bigger lead. Just a bad play by a WR doing nothing to catch a ball.

That was a bad game. The mistakes and miscues finally caught up with them and the Eagles took advantage of everyone one. Time to regroup and figure out how to stop all the stupid penalties, bad drops, bad passes, and blown assignments at critical times. And most of all time for Dabol to realize he need to run the ball more.

The single best thing they can do right now for Allen is extend Daboll or do whatever it takes to keep some consistency for the offense over the next few years. Changing offensive schemes is often a huge setback for many young QBs.

Now imagine if coach of low moral character found a way to keep the headset live and could tell the QB where the blitz was coming from or what the coverage was or whatever he wanted, right up to the snap. And then he took it a step further and recorded every opponents defensive call and formations. I mean that team, and QB, could form the foundation for a dynasty the likes of which the sport has never seen.

I don't completely disagree. It would definitely be nice to see them win more convincingly against certain teams. I'm not convinced McD has that killer instinct, but I do think we have to acknowledge that the offensive side of the ball is really in year 1 of the rebuild. They very clearly focused on the defense, allowing the offense to languish for a couple years. This past offseason they finally addressed it with a complete makeover of players. That's why I tend to be a bit forgiving with their mistakes and miscues through the first 6 games playing together. I dont think we really know how serious of a playoff team they're going to be yet. It does appear that we'll get our chance this year. Hopefully, the coaches and players will learn quite a bit between now and then. At that point I'll feel more comfortable talking about them as a playoff team. At this point, I think they're still learning how to win in the regular season. Fortunately they're figuring that out, the blowout losses at least appear to be gone. Next, perhaps they start to blow teams out in wins.

I think the issue now is for a seemingly large number of posters here is this team is in a no win situation. It they win.. as they've done all but once this seasons.. they didn't win by enough, Allen didn't throw for 300 yds, something. But the win just wasn't good enough. If they lose to the likes of Philly/NE; then it's a a see they're not good enough to compete with the top teams. If they lose to the Dolphins/Redskins, well they just suck. I guess my point is the Bills, although not perfect, are finding ways to win. They're learning, getting better. And there's a tone of room for upside. I'm not saying they'll be the class of the league for the next decade. But they are doing way better than we've seen in nearly 2 decades.

Exactly what I was thinkin.

I have to agree with you. The boos were kinda odd to hear. I think the expectations were/are too high. Although we're in year 3 of the rebuild, we're in year 1 of the offensive rebuild. Other than Allen and Dawkins the entire starting offense is new. It should be expected that continuity will be a problem and mistakes will be made. This team is 5-1. And unlike other fast starts, the way they're winning is sustainable. These aren't fluke wins. Its not the other team having bad days. Its the Bills playing for a full 60minutes ans making the plays they have to, at the times they have to. It's overcoming the bad officiating, the stupid penalities, the bad mistakes. This team won't finish the season 15-1, but they're playing solid football and winning games that past teams would have easily lost. I agree; we should all be enjoying it. This team is heading in the right direction. They're not perfect by any means, but they're doing what it takes to win. I'll take that for now. And continue to watch this team develop and grow together.

But in all fairness... isn't that what they did 2 weeks ago in TN? In that game, Gore got the yards and they ran the clock out. It was a great drive to end the game. In this game, eeehhh not so great. I'm not sure I can fault the game plan there. But the execution surely was lacking.