BillsFanSD

I know what you mean, but Allen was lights out for the first six games of the season. That's not a weird aberration. He's proven over multiple seasons that he can shred defenses. He just needs to play within himself, and I don't think he's playing disciplined football right now.

Calling it "absolutely stupid" just isn't a good-faith argument. It might be very slightly against the odds according to certain calculators, but it was completely reasonable to say "You know what, a 13 point lead would be nice but a 17 point lead is game over -- let's put them to the sword right here, right now." And there were like 27 different plays and decisions that all had to go a certain way for the game to end the way it did. It's silly to obsess over the one that was a statistical toss-up at the time. Come on.

I get that McDermott can't just come out and say "He's not game ready because he spent the last year rehabbing an injury, not practicing in training camp." There's no way to say that about a veteran player in a way that doesn't come across as a slight. But it would be nice if this staff could find some way to communicate with fans in a manner less reminiscent of North Korean state media. I don't mind the gamesmanship that took place this week with Allen's elbow, but fans do have a legitimate right to know basic stuff that's going on with notable players. They're being extremely well-compensated for giving up that aspect of their personal privacy.

See, this is what I'm talking about. Your understanding of the situation is completely, totally wrong. We didn't have to worry about four downs, and we weren't worried about getting a first down. We just needed to run one play that kept the clock running and didn't lose yardage. That's it. If this situation had come up with 10 minutes left to go in the game, yeah sure run a regular play. But that wasn't the situation that came up yesterday. Because shotgun snaps never get mishandled, and QBs are never tackled behind the LOS.

13 points is not two TDs, and going for it is exactly what you should be rooting for if you want to put the game out of reach. Make it a three-score game. Sorry guys, but this one and the thing about the QB sneak is just obviously Monday morning QB'ing. You can't criticize McDermott for being too conservative when sitting on a lead and also criticize him for trying to put the game away when he had the chance. If you're going to get mad about the QB sneak, you need to tell us which play you would have called that had no chance of being blown up behind the line of scrimmage and which had no chance of mishandled snap or hand-off.

Why? The situation that we faced yesterday -- first down at the six-inch line, needing only one snap to end the game -- comes up what, once ever 25 years or so? I don't understand how people are so confident in saying that obviously it would be better to hand the ball off deep in the end zone or roll the QB out or whatever people have in mind. I mean, seriously, in what universe is a quarterback sneak "risky?" It's the least-risky play in professional football other than a kneel-down.

Yep. Allen's not a promising youngster anymore. He's a mature superstar and, if you respect him, you should expect him to make a play to win that sort of game. Totally fair to be disappointed that he didn't.

Did you not watch the AFC championship game last year? I mean, I didn't either, but I know how it went.

This fan base suffers from collective PTSD. I'm not kidding or joking in any way, and I honestly don't see how this is even in doubt. I'm definitely including myself in this. Yesterday's loss was so just Billsy that it put me right back in the numbed funk that I grew accustomed to during the drought years, where we all knew the Bills were fraudulent and would find a way to lose games. Now objectively, that's insane. There's nothing fraudulent about this team. They're still be the best team in the league IMO, and there's absolutely no reason -- none whatsoever -- to be anything but confident in their ability to win multiple playoff games if they can just get some key guys healthy. I know all of this on an intellectual level. But emotionally I just can't get past the "here we go again" feeling that many of us share. It's irrational, but that doesn't make it less real.

This post seems exactly wrong. The QB sneak with Allen was probably the safest play at their disposal, and an intentional safety would have been the most hazardous.

Weird thread. The coaching staff had almost nothing to do with yesterday's loss. With just basic execution on one of a bunch of relatively routine plays, we win. Diggs should catch that pass on the sideline. Knock down the pass to Jefferson instead of trying to catch it. Don't jump offside on fourth and goal. Don't fumble the snap. Don't throw a dumb interception in OT. Every single one of these was a failure of execution, not anything the coaches did wrong. Ironically, people are criticizing this exact same coach for turning down a FG and going for the kill instead. Sometimes you can't just can't satisfy people no matter what you do.

Honestly, that's fine anyway. Allen needs to get back to taking the easy underneath stuff like he was doing earlier in the season. I'm never going to try to paint an injury as a blessing in disguise or anything, but the coaches need to be in his ear about not forcing the deep ball.

Well, the Vikings aren't going to see Keenum. They won't be seeing Calm/Chill Josh or Hero Ball Josh. They're getting Pissed-Off Josh. They should just stay in MSP and eat lutefisk or something. Buffalo 51 Minnesota 7

Yeah, I really don't see this team getting cute with Allen. He's starting and he's not coming out of the game unless he gets hurt again or the score gets out of control. Given that the Vikings will be facing angry, pissed-off Josh, I'm hoping for a rout.

I'm actually rather shocked that he's playing. Happy though. Let's get this win and get back on track.

No. This would be pointless, but more importantly we need the active roster spot.

I don't think so, no. If this team did not have Josh Allen on the roster and we were starting Keenum as our every-week starter, the unanimous opinion of everyone on this forum would be that we were wasting whatever other offensive talent we've accumulated. I see no reason to change my mind about that just because we're missing Allen due to a short-term injury.

It's kind of unfair to "evaluate" the offense without Allen, because this offense is built around Allen, and also because Allen is one of the single most impactful players in the NFL. It's one thing if we were missing Diggs or Dawkins or some other important player. Allen is irreplaceable. And yeah, on the defensive side of the ball we're just missing way too many starters to make any meaningful evaluation of anything. We're almost back to the "missing our whole starting secondary" thing, only now with both linebackers banged up and without our second-best edge rusher.

Those are two 2nd round picks that I'd sure like to have back.

The Jets game sucked, but people are making too big a deal out of the second half against GB. Nobody was expecting them to run the ball that much down three scores, and why stop your opponent when he's helping you close out the game?

Forget this "spirit" business. I'm curious about whether Reich is still in game shape and what kind of chemistry he could pick up with Diggs over the next couple of days.

Nobody (I think) is disputing that the Bills have a good team with a loaded roster. If Davis is currently living up to your expectations, your expectations were set far too low.

People are worried because reading tea leaves is all we have, because the team won't say anything about Allen's injury and his talking about him the same way they talked about White and Poyer, who have missed a ton of time. If the team isn't to be communicative, I feel justified in drawing inferences from that.

Relative to what we were hoping for in Week 1, we're missing Poyer, Hyde, Tre, Milano, Oliver, and Groot. That's half our starting defense and every one of those players is potentially a Pro Bowler. This isn't the defense that any of us were expecting, and yes it's kind of trash if this is what we have to put out there.

Honestly, the Bills should still go 2-1 over the next three games even if Allen misses them. They probably lose to Minnesota and beat Cleveland and Detroit. None of those results are sure things of course.