HappyDays

I missed the post, what did he say? I've also sensed some tension between McDermott and Beane but I don't know how much to read into that. I'd be worried if they weren't feeling competitive tension after all these years of just failing to get over the hump. I still think Pegula views them as a package deal but I could be wrong.

The best thing McDermott did in this game is get out of Allen's way. I don't mean that in an underhanded way, I mean he genuinely just let Allen go win the game for him by being aggressive with 4th downs and the 3rd and 15 call on the final drive. I think McDermott from a couple years ago would have run on that 3rd down and trusted his defense to win the game for him. I want so bad for McDermott to be the coach that gets us there. He's a good man and he could never be accused of not giving the job his all. I've seen him learn from his mistakes, albeit at a much slower pace than I would like. His fatal flaw has been that he clenches up in high leverage moments in critical games. It remains to be seen if he can overcome that flaw in playoff games but I will say this year there haven't been any glaring head scratching moments from him at the end of games. I want to be optimistic but this season is unfolding in an identical manner to pretty much every other season we've had since 2020 so I have to see it happen when it counts to really believe it. I think McDermott and Beane both know at this point the teambuilding strategy on offense was a bust. I expect them both back next year and I expect a big move for a WR no matter how this season ends. Similar to my thoughts above I wish it didn't take them until the edge of disaster to realize their mistake but I don't think they're so stupid that they're going to let the mistake repeat itself next year.

New England is the only team we've faced all year that I thought flat out beat us with their run defense. I know Miami did as well but I attributed that more to the Bills coming in lazy and getting surprised by a Miami team that was still fighting. New England we came into with our normal juice and still got stuffed. They had Milton Williams though and now he's on IR so hopefully we'll get them back this week.

I've played around with the playoff machine. Chargers need one of these two scenarios to occur to get in over the Chiefs: 1) Beat Chiefs OR Broncos 2) Beat Cowboys AND Texans Broncos are going to play kingmaker in the AFC. They play the Chiefs in week 17 and the Chargers in week 18. The outcome of those games will very likely decide the playoff picture from top to bottom.

Yeah that is just crazy. Beane chose to spend $30M on three C+ receivers instead of one A receiver. Obviously that strategy has turned out to be disastrous. Partly because he just refuses to consistently spend draft capital on them. Most teams have their version of Josh Palmer playing on a 3rd-5th round rookie contract. We waste $10M on him then we get lectured by the GM that it's not his fault he can't afford better WR talent.

Allen is literally the most valuable player in the league but that's not what the MVP award is for. Yes as stupid as that sounds. It's more of a season achievement award for the QB of a top seed. I think if New England goes 3-1 to end the season Maye will get it. If they go 2-2 it will go to Stafford. Slight chance of Jordan Love getting it over Stafford if the Packers finish with the #1 seed. Anyone other than those three I'd give 100:1 odds at this point. For Allen to get it we'd have to win out and have everything else happen just right for us to end as the #1 seed.

I'll be honest, the schedule argument really doesn't do it for me. Ripping off 10 wins in a row is incredibly impressive no matter who you play during the run. It's not like the Pats have a ton of talent across their roster either. They are winning these games with elite coaching and fundamentals, and damn good QB play to boot. The Bills have never been the #1 seed because they've failed to ever have a run like that and they find a way to lose to a couple clearly inferior opponents every year. So it's a bit rich to act like it is some hollow feat when we haven't done it once in six seasons with an all-time QB in his prime. By the way I think we are a clearly better team than New England and I expect us to win this week, I just can't bring myself to downplay what Vrabel has them doing this year. It's an amazing stretch of games for a young team, full stop.

Burrow is just injury prone. He takes normal NFL hits and misses half the season. If he was in Allen's place against Houston he would have left the stadium in a body bag. Being able to throw to an elite WR tandem means he can almost always hit the top of his drop and get the ball out immediately which more than cancels out whatever pass protection issues they have. I mean Joe Flacco has the mobility of the Tin Man and had the Bengals averaging 29 PPG in his games so I'm not going to buy that the OL is some fatal flaw for that team.

Mathematically no, practically yes. Really any loss the rest of the year and they are done. I ran a scenario where LA and Indy both lose out but KC loses to Denver, KC misses in that scenario.

Nah. Chargers are not going to win 3 more games after this one. They are toast with the OL injuries and Herbert playing hurt. Luckily we really only need them to win 1 more to keep KC out... Beating KC or Denver (in week 18 when they might be resting starters) will do it.

Haha that's unbelievable. Making a quick pit stop at Chiefs Planet, say a little prayer for me

Chargers are the most hilarious franchise. They just always find a way to lose

I usually have a good feel for 4th down decisions but I have no clue on this one

Yeah it actually depends. If LA loses to Denver as one of their losses then KC gets in over them at 10-7. Couldn't tell you why but that's what the playoff machine says.

I was wrong. A tie is as good as a win for LA. If they tie or win this game they need to win 2 more games and they keep KC out no matter what, even if KC beats them.