sven233

Crap call as usual.........

I'm definitely not one to just jump to "this game is over" territory, but I think I'm there today. Everything I feared with a Frazier/McDermott defense is showing to be true. They play a defense that can beat average to below average QBs, but when they go against good ones, they can't keep up and they look like fools. It's time for a change in philosophy and it starts by letting Frazier go. This coaching staff has made decisions that have gotten us eliminated every year from the Playoffs the last 3 seasons and it looks no different today.

Leaving Chase wide open is certainly a choice....... Frazier schooled again.

GO BILLS!

It's interesting for sure to not see Brown get the nod. Maybe, this is their way of reigning Josh in just a bit. Don't give him one of his vertical weapons and put more of the guys in that work the underneath stuff to force him to check it down once in a while. We did see that Shakir, although not a burner, could get down the field a bit when they asked him to and with McKenzie back in the fold they feel OK about the speed they are putting on the field. As for Kingsly, we have only seen him a little bit this season. But, from what I remember, he did have a bunch of flash plays rushing the passer when he played, though. I also remember him getting out of position which led to big plays the other way, though. Guess we'll see.

I don't want Allen to change who he is at his core. I love the fact that he takes the deep shots more often than not. But, what I do want for Allen is for him to be completely unstoppable and he has the potential to do that because he has a skill set like nobody has ever had in the NFL. Teams are forced to play Allen differently than any other QB. They are forced to play deeper because they know that is where Allen wants to go with this ball. Like I said earlier, I want Allen pushing the ball down the field because he can. But, I also want that to become as easy as possible to do. All I need Allen to do is take the "free cheese" underneath just enough to force defenses to respect that he might do that. Teams play Allen so deep, that there are several times underneath options are wide open that can easily gain 7-15 yards almost every time. So, in an ideal world, I want Allen to almost set teams up for deep shots by taking a few of these underneath routes early forcing the defense to come up and respect them. And, if they keep giving Allen the easy pitch and catch, so be it. Just march down the field chunk by chunk. But once teams start creeping up I absolutely want Allen chucking the ball down the field. Allen started this year doing this really well. Go back and take a look at some of those early games this year when he was just going off on teams. He was hitting deep shots for sure, but he was also taking the easy stuff when it presented itself, and he was on a record pace to put up something like 6,300 total yards like halfway through the season. It was ridiculous. But, somewhere along the way, he started to stray away for mixing things up and I'm not sure why. Regardless, there are opportunities there to take some of these underneath routes, especially early in games, to make those deeper throws even more open. But you can't change who Allen is and nobody should want to. Keep chucking that Duke, 17! But maybe just make it a bit easier on yourself and I think you will find that teams will get even more frustrated playing you than they already are.

Looks a lot like the NBA game today as well......

Ravens barely over the Taron Johnson Pick 6 and now they have this one to chew on......

I will be the first to admit, I am not the biggest Dorsey fan. Today was a little tough for me, though. I have a hard time criticizing Dorsey too much. Yeah, there were a few calls that I would have liked to have seen something different, but there was some stuff I really liked. I loved the design of the Cook TD run. Took advantage of his speed and was a nice wrinkle to see. I loved the way Diggs was being used early. He caught the deep ball and followed it up with some great work on a slant. But, where I take issue is that he never really went back to some of those things that were working. Where were the slants for the rest of the game? It seems like too many times we don't do the basic stuff most NFL teams do easily at times. All that said, though, we scored 30+ points and it could have been a lot more early. If Knox holds on to that TD early (I would still argue that maybe shouldn't have been overturned, though). If Allen is just a little more accurate on a couple of the deep throws he made (just missed on a couple of bombs that would have been TDs), that would have helped. If his guys just hold on to a couple of dimes Allen threw that should have been caught, that would have been big too. This team was literally 3-4 plays that maybe should have been made that could have led to a 50 burger. I get the frustration with Dorsey for the most part. I'm right there with many of you in that he deserves his fair share of blame most of the time. But, today, I don't come away from this game with him anywhere near the top of the list to blame for things that went wrong.

There is a lot that can be said about this game. It was one of the sloppiest games we have played in a long time. While we all saw what happened, there are a couple of things that really stand out. First, this game should have been over early and it could have been ugly. You could probably pick out 4-5 plays in the first half alone that if they go differently, probably would have had us up by 30+ at halftime. Instead, it was a game that gave many of us health issues until the very end. This is both very concerning and encouraging at the same time. Obviously, this turned into a slop fest, but the way things were going up until the Knox drop in the end zone, and in some of the subsequent mishaps that should have been great plays for us that turned into negatives, shows that the potential is there for us to just kill teams if we just stop actively killing ourselves. That said, I just need a couple of things from this team going forward. I need guys to catch the ball when it hits them in the hands. There were multiple big plays in this game that could have changed this dramatically if the ball is just caught. I need Josh to start taking more of the "free cheese" underneath, especially early in games. I love Josh and the way he plays the game and I don't want him to fundamentally do anything different. I want him to keep pushing the ball down the field more often than not. But, I think it would benefit him, and the entire offense, if he took the easy underneath stuff more often. Every week, you look at the tape and teams are just giving the guys working short a ton of space because they are playing deeper because they know that is where Allen wants to go. If Allen would just take a few of the short ones, and force defenses to respect the fact that he will take those when they present themselves, it will open things up down the field that much more. That is one of the things Allen was doing so well the first few weeks of the season, but somewhere along the way, he stopped doing it. I guarantee that if he started taking the underneath stuff just once in a while, he would find things would get easier down the field. Finally, I need the coaches to stay out of the way. The last few years, this staff has done stupid things in the Playoffs that have cost us our season and they tried to do it today. For the love of God, stop taking these stupid defensive time outs! They NEVER work. I can't remember one time where they have taken one and actually have come out with an outcome any better than if they would have just kept playing. Today, McDermott cost us points, field position, and opportunities to end this game much earlier because of stupid defensive time outs that backfired each time he did it. And this 3rd and long defense never gets any better and it gets more and more frustrating every time a team converts one. We have so many flaws that are showing themselves. While Davis had a better game today, outside of Diggs, we lack a real playmaker outside. Our offensive line is a joke. Granted, the Miami Defense has a really good front 7, maybe better than anyone else we will potentially see in the AFC playoffs, the line isn't good and looks even worse when Allen is having a tough time bailing them out. And while we did get pressure from time to time today, you can see just how much we miss Von getting after the passer. Anyway, this post has gone on a lot longer than anticipated when I started it. But I am not sure my heart rate has returned to normal yet since the game ended and I am still running a little hot! HA! But whatever.......survive and advance. Clean up the stupid stuff and find a way to win the next one. GO BILLS!

While it would be nice to win this game comfortably, and I hope we do, style points go out the window in the Playoffs. It's about one thing now......WINNING. Survive and advance by any means necessary. Doesn't matter whether it's by 1 or 100. JUST WIN. GO BILLS!

The Fins are going to run it, WR screen it, and slant us to death. Their QB won't hold the ball. It's going to be on us to make sure we tackle well which has been a major issue for us all season. I have never seen a worse tackling team than we have been this season. That said, if the offense can put up 28+, and get up really early, we should win comfortably. But this is the NFL. It's a division opponent that has played dirty at times. Regardless of the spread, we will need to be on our game if for no other reason than to get out of the game healthy. Bad things can happen if you are not 100% engaged in the game. Stay focused on the task at hand and survive and advance. That is what the Playoffs are all about.

I'd take his style of defense over what we play now every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Unfortunately, this is just the same Fraizer defense that we have been seeing since he got here. Play a soft zone making sure you don't get beat over the top. It makes for long, sustained drives but in the end, the screws tend to tighten a bit and the hope is to hold teams to 3 and not give up TDs. The thing is, it works fairly well against teams that don't have a good QB or weapons. This is why over the course of a season, the stats look pretty good and we are always ranked high. Where is becomes a major problem is when you go against better QBs and WRs that know how to get open and find the weak spots. And where do you find these teams? In the Playoffs, of course. That is why it is so frustrating every year to go into the Playoffs against teams like the Chiefs knowing that no matter where the defense ranked during the season, that we know we will have to score 35+ to even have a chance because the defense can't get away with this soft coverage it played all season. It's why 13 seconds happens. It is infuriating and I expect nothing different this post season. It also doesn't help to have the guy you brought into be your closer and try to shorten the time the QB has in the pocket go down, one of your stud safeties go out for the season at the very beginning of the year while the other one is being held together with duct tape at this point, and have your former top 3 CB still recovering from a devastating injury.

Prayers up. Please be OK!

If the NFL is going to wait until the games are played this week before making a decision on what to do with Bills/Bengals, they should honestly hope that both the Chiefs and Bengals lose while the Bills win. This cements the standings and the outcome of that game would mean nothing. But also knowing the league, they probably have wanted the Chiefs to be the #1 seed all season. So, who knows. In the end, I fully expect the Chiefs to someway, somehow benefit from all this and get the bye. Just feels like that is the way this is all headed. Regardless, with everything that has gone on, and will continue to be going on all week or even longer, I am honestly not sure how we as a team prepare the way we need to in order to win a football game this week. As bad a team as the Pats* are most of the time, it is a fine line in the NFL in who wins games. In a normal week, I wouldn't think twice about winning this game. But this week, I honestly have no idea what is going to happen. We could come out on fire and win by 30 or we could come out completely disinterested and lose by double digits. What I fear most, though, are more injuries. This game is violent enough when playing 100% focused. I can't imagine trying to play the game with so many thoughts elsewhere. It's a real tough spot for us for sure.

No solution is a good one in this scenario. But there are certain things that can't happen no matter what they decide to do: 1. The Bills and Bengals can't be hurt by what happened on the field last night in the standings. 2. The Chiefs can't be rewarded because of what happened on the field last night (especially since they have already lost to both teams head to head). 3. Using a coin toss in a multi-billion dollar industry doesn't seem like a great idea. 4. The entire football season can't be adjusted (In terms of scheduling dates anyway. Too many logistical nightmares) So, here's the thing. The NFL knows that this was a prime game and they want as many eyes on the product as possible. So, if they just eliminate it all together, they would be losing that matchup. So, what does the NFL do here? How do they get those eyeballs back and maximize revenue since that is all they care about anyway? My proposal is that this game not be made up. Pretend it never happened. In this solution, yes, the NFL would be losing that prime matchup that everyone wanted to see. So, how do they compensate for this loss? They add more playoff games! Make the decision now how many teams would get byes.....2 or 3 in both Conferences and then adjust from there how many additional teams get in at the bottom of both the AFC and NFC and do a sort of supersized Playoff. This way nobody at the top gets hurt and the Chiefs just don't get a free advantage over 2 teams that have already beaten them head to head. The only teams that benefit are the ones currently out of the Playoffs that might get a new life heading into the last week of the season. Yes, in this case the NFL loses out on one very meaningful game, but can potentially add 2-4 more depending on how many teams they want to give a bye to or add into the mix. Not only that, but suddenly a lot more games have more meaning in Week 18 that, as of yesterday, didn't mean anything.

Full disclosure......I was not a fan of him coming out of college. I thought he was physically limited and was successful because of the talent around him. Fast forward to the NFL at this time, I think that largely remains the case, but he has had more success than I thought he would. He does throw a pretty accurate ball when throwing in between the hashes. He's made some really nice throws over the middle of the field. But the fact is, he is very limited when having to throw outside the numbers and I think teams have kind of figured this out. If you clog up the middle of the field and force him to throw outside, you will force him into mistakes because he just can't make a lot of those throws. Miami did a great job of designing an offense that played to his strengths. They use speed to create mismatches and the timing of their offense to get the ball out quickly on a bunch of layered crossers has worked well for them. And, if you can't find a way to cover those WRs over the middle of the field, they will make you pay. If you can take away those quick throws, you can slow them down fairly easily because Tua is still limited. The Dolphins are kind of stuck here. He's good enough to win with if your scheme works. The second you force him out of his comfort zone, though, he will turn the ball over at times. I am sure he will get another look next season, especially if they do get into the Playoffs. And honestly, if he gets hot and you can't clog the middle of the field, they can score on any given play. Hopefully, if they stick with him like I am sure they will, our defensive coaching staff can do what they need to do to take away the middle of the field.

Only fitting that ends with a Peterman pick!

35 points and it feels like we played like crap. But whatever.....just win. AFC EAST CHAMPS! But we want more. Go Bills!

Hamlin finally makes a play on the ball..... cost us a pick

That's 7 if it's Cook. Just no speed....

These refs are dying to throw flags on us every play.....

Just like last week, Beasley gets one target and one catch and he never sees the field. I just don't get it, especially on a day like today where the only throws that should be made for the most part should be underneath.

Knee was down before the stretch. They won't overturn it, though, as these refs have been awful all game.