HappyDays

Mahomes airmails a pass to a wide open WR and gets rewarded with a BS 15 yard penalty. Typical

Wow they're calling that today?

You know what, not a terrible result for Houston. They basically get the ball to start both halfs but start with a 3 point deficit.

Okay so you're obviously a Dolphins fan. I've been debating between that and Chiefs. The constant obsession with the weather is the dead giveaway.

I'll say this - this past wildcard game was the first playoff game ever in McDermott's tenure where I thought the defense performed above expectations. That gives me hope that he's finally figured out whatever problems have caused our defense to fall off a cliff in the playoffs. The only defensive play call that I thought was exceptionally stupid came on Denver's first drive, and no it wasn't the TD - it was the 3rd and 8 just before where we blitzed but played soft cover 3 behind creating an easy throwing window to beat the blitz. Watching that followed by the TD confirmed all of my worst fears about this coaching staff... but then we proceeded to completely shut them down. Of course I don't expect us to hold Baltimore to 7 points. I just want to hold them below 30. I would be satisfied with that. If we hold them to 24 or lower I'll consider that to be performing above expectations, and that would tell me McDermott has completely flipped the script. Sandbag the regular season but then stun opponents in the playoffs.

Rice had become an elite WR before his injury. Nobody talks about it though because they found a way to keep winning, even before adding Hopkins. And yes Hopkins has been a good starter for them but they lost an elite talent at a critical position and it barely even slowed them down. And I'm not talking about previous years, I'm talking about this year. This year they've missed as many starters as almost any team. They parlayed that into their best regular season ever. IMO injuries are often a red herring used by fans to excuse losses. For example if we beat the Ravens this week no one here is going to say it doesn't count because they're missing their best WR. In general I reject the common belief that the Chiefs have been especially lucky in recent years.

Their 2nd most important player on offense is out for the year. They're just now getting back their #2 CB who has been out for over a month and will probably be rusty. They won 15 games while missing a bunch of important players. So it's not really correct to say they have been lucky with injuries this year. They just keeping finding ways to win and don't have to make excuses later.

Did they add prime Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce when the rest of the NFL wasn't paying attention? This Chiefs team isn't coming back from that kind of deficit and you know it. But it's equally true that this Chiefs team won't ever find themselves with that kind of deficit. They'll keep it within one score and punch the dagger in at the end if they need to.

That's right. We came out fully healthy and confident after a big win, and the matchups this weekend are exactly what they would be in the old format. I don't feel like KC got some massive added advantage as the #1 seed. Who knows, maybe they'll be rusty after three weeks of no real football. They get the usual advantage of playing the weakest remaining team in the divisional round, that's all.

I agree Houston's defense can give KC some trouble, probably keep them to around 20, but I just don't see how Houston will move the ball at all when it's their turn. Houston's OL is garbage and is not remotely equipped to deal with Spag's crazy blitzes. Mixon or not KC is going to shut down the run like they always do. And Stroud just hasn't shown he's capable of making it work with his depleted WR corps and poor pass protection. I think for Houston to have a chance they'll need one of two things to happen: 1) Their offense comes out on fire and stuns KC early, going up at least 10-0 in the 1st quarter. This version of KC is not a play from behind kind of team so that would spell trouble. 2) They get a defensive score. What I actually expect to happen is that it will be a plodding defensive struggle for 40 minutes but KC will start to pull away and ultimately win by 10+ points. Hopefully Mahomes at least takes a few shots.

Interesting snippet from Matt Parrino: I continue to feel a quiet confidence about the defense. I think they learned a lot from that first matchup and Baltimore will see things they aren't prepared for. To me the offense is still my biggest question mark. I'm not sure we have the personnel to attack Baltimore where they're weak. Brady will have to be in his bag and Allen will need to have a superstar performance to put up 30. If we do that we win.

Speak for yourself. I saw a video of Mark Zuckerburg offering access to his cryogenic freezing chamber. All I had to do was send 5 bitcoin to an offshore account.

Whelp you got fooled by AI on Facebook. By rule you're required to take a one week sabbatical from the internet. I'm genuinely terrified for the future.

Bills 31 Ravens 24 I don't really have a clue. But I won't predict us to lose a playoff game and if we win this is what I think the final score looks like.

The Jets hiring a former Dolphins head coach. What could possibly go wrong.

Collins and ARSB are the only players from that list that I would trade for him straight up right now.

Rousseau is not a JAG. That's patently ridiculous. Of course I wish he was Myles Garrett but there are many tiers between Garrett and the AJ Epenesas of the world, so lumping Rousseau and him together is silly and you know it. Very good player and a great pick considering who was drafted after him. Singlehandedly takes an entire side of the field away from RBs and mobile QBs.

I genuinely would have taken just the section I bolded, if it came down to it. Getting Diggs out of the locker room and out of the city was worth it on its own. The definition of addition by subtraction. The 2nd round pick was a nice throw in gift from a dumb team writing their own ticket too early.

Man, really? I don't understand the Cole Bishop truthers. Every time he's been on the field this year he's made multiple big mistakes. I get that you might prefer more sizzle from the position than we get from Hamlin, especially after years of being spoiled by Hyde's excellence, but you can't just replace him for the sake of replacing him. The replacement has to be a better player. Hamlin is unspectacular and can get beaten 1v1 by athletic mismatches but he doesn't make those fundamental mistakes.

That final line bears repeating because I think it defines this generation of the Buffalo Bills. I said it in the live game thread for Bills/Broncos that we are one of the best momentum teams I've seen in the NFL. Our league leading point differential over the past however many years is a testament to this, and to my eyes it's been even more stark this year. How many games have we watched where we're plodding along with a 3 point lead (or deficit) and it feels like we're one mistake away from a disaster, and then you check the scoreboard 15 minutes later and we're up by 25 with Trubisky warming up on the sidelines. It's really uncanny. Like we smell blood in the water and just start piling on in all three phases. And being able to win like that in a playoff game is just extremely impressive. It shows the level of experience we held over Denver. Of course as we've seen over the years the problem with this manner of winning is that you aren't going to pile on other great teams. To win the Super Bowl this year we'll need to overcome our kryptonite - high leverage moments in close games against other great teams. Those moments lost us the Texans game, and the Rams gams, and the Chiefs game going back to the divisional round last year. We'll need to execute in those moments in three consecutive games to bring home the Lombardi.

This is one of the best lines you've had. Good stuff. It is kind of unfortunate that we've become a victim of our own success. I still make it a point to enjoy every single win and every single big play. But once the clock hits :00 I'm very much in "ok, so what's next?" mode. It must be nice to be a Commanders fan right now. Winning this past Sunday was a cherry on top. Whatever happened in that game, and whatever happens from here on out, they already won the season. I remember watching the Jags wildcard game in 2018 without a hint of anxiety. Honestly I wouldn't have cared if we had lost 40-0. In retrospect that was pathetic of me. I'd much rather have the risk of ultimate heartbreak over that feeling of nonchalance. Ultimate heartbreak means ultimate glory if/when we go all the way.

I almost never bet except for parlays that are like $5 to win $5,000. That's the only kind of gambling I enjoy. No risk, big upside. Of course I never win but it's just fun for me. I did something I never do and bet $1,000 on the over in the Bills/Lions game as soon as our inactive list came out. I just couldn't imagine that game not going over given the injuries on both defenses, it felt like a total no brainer. But once the game started I absolutely hated every minute of the experience and found myself feeling secretly happy when the Lions scored a couple TDs. FanDuel offered me a $1,600 cashout right before halftime and I took it. No regrets that I would have won the full bet if I let it ride. I was able to relax and enjoy the rest of the game and could fully root for us to stop them on every play. That's my long winded way of saying no I will never again bet in any way where I find myself wanting the Bills to fail. It takes all the fun out of the game for me.

The only thing I'll say to this is that the reduction in mistakes happened right after Brady took over last year. He re-distributed targets to our most efficient pass catchers and stopped feeding into Allen's worst tendencies, where I thought Dorsey was way too boom or bust in the way he structured the offense and divvied out targets. So yes I acknowledge that Allen himself is most responsible for his increased efficiency, but I give Brady his due credit as well.