HappyDays

So I do think you were a little harsh in your post but if people can't handle some negativity after a loss they shouldn't come here after a loss... I've always found the discussion here to be the best way to decompress and get over a bad loss. Like many losses in the last couple years we just needed one core player to make one more play. Where I feel you were especially harsh is with Allen's play, although admittedly I am and always have been a Bills QB homer. Allen made several exceptional plays in this game and most other core starters didn't even make one. In a game with around 70 called pass plays in the extreme heat with starters coming in and out of the lineup it is unrealistic to expect the QB to be perfect. The timing of his 4th down miss was obviously very unfortunate and it rises above a simple missed throw because of when it happened. But in context with the rest of his game he was the least of the offense's problems, and in fact he is the only reason we were able to move the ball at all. I believe Allen is one of the most clutch QBs in the game. If falling apart at the end of close games was a recurring them I'd be more concerned.

I was just thinking about how this game was really NOT lost by the backups, it was lost by the starters. 1) Missed Allen TD throw to McKenzie 2) Dropped Davis TD 3) Dropped Milano pick six 4) Spencer Brown abused by Melvin Ingram 5) Singletary and Dawkins both whiffing on a block on the fumble on the 2nd drive 6) Singletary to my eyes missed a couple cutback lanes in the run game 7) Von Miller was invisible pretty much the whole game The backups, especially the safeties, made some mistakes but that was to be expected. We needed our starters to step up and make plays to bridge that talent gap and they couldn't get it done.

It's crazy how much post game reactions on both sides are influenced by the final result. If Milano just returns the easiest pick six of his life the narrative today is Allen can do more with less and Tua will never be able to keep up with him. Instead the close score is prolonged, heat exhaustion and a ton of TOP slowly leads to more sloppiness on offense, and the Dolphins use it to their advantage to get back into the game. The whole game turned on that one play.

They need to find run plays that they are successful with and stick with them. This is what the 49ers under Shanahan have done. They know what their personnel can do, they don't care if defenses know what is coming they will still run it that way because they know they can execute it. For example, take delayed handoffs out of the play book. The two Zack Moss runs to start the 2nd drive were delayed handoffs. Those are dead on arrival every time and they aren't setting anything up. Later on a normal run he picks up 40+ yards. I don't expect 40 yards every time, all I'm asking is that we give the play a chance to be successful. I'd also take read option out of the play book. Allen isn't very good at making the right read on those and more often than not it ends with him on the turf after picking up maybe 1 yard. It's not worth him taking more hits to occasionally spring one of those loose. Designed QB runs I am okay with sparingly, just don't give Allen a handoff option on those. We are at our best running normal runs from under center, end arounds, and pitches. Especially end arounds. Every time McKenzie gets one he is ripping off 6-7 yards but for some reason Daboll and now Dorsey has been afraid to call it. Same with QB sneak on 1 yard to go situations in critical game moments. I don't care if the defense knows it's coming. Make them try to stop it anyways. Everyone knew Derrick Henry was getting the ball at the goal line last week. That knowledge was worth -7 points. It's going on 4 years now that this team lacks an identity in the run game. We've tried a little bit of everything instead of finding a niche or two and sticking with it. The passing offense has a clear identity. Defenses know what we want to do there and still struggle to stop us. I'm not asking for an elite run offense to pair with our elite pass offense. Just a competent run offense that can execute enough plays to keep defenses off balance and take some pressure off of Allen and the WRs.

I'm pretty sure the game plan was to run the ball and keep the ball out of Miami's hands. But unfortunately by the end of the 1st quarter it became clear that running was a waste of time. Losing Kumerow to injury early on had a much bigger impact than anyone realized, we weren't able to spell Diggs and Davis so they were both wiped out by the end of the game. Anyways Shakir wasn't inactive because of all our RBs being active, he was a casualty of us dressing 9 DBs. I think they came into the game expecting Miami's passing offense to give them more trouble than it did... If McDermott knew before the game how well the zone coverage would thwart Miami's offense we would have had a different plan.

A lot of Bills players "disappeared" this game. I assume you know the reason why?

NFL history has been made.

So who is the MVP front runner right now? I'd say if not Allen it's Lamar Jackson, but he had his share of blunders last week allowing the Dolphins to get back into the game. The standard isn't "perfect." The standard is more valuable than any other player in the league. By that standard right now it is Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson and then everyone else.

It was actually more like 70 called pass plays. Allen ran 8 times, mostly on scrambles. And yes that game script in a one score game is a big problem. Whether on coaching or personnel, they need to figure it out. A lack of run game plus a lack of YAC means almost the entire offense is on Allen. Brady never had to do it all on his own. Neither did Manning. This season for the first time in his career Mahomes is being asked to create a lot more production on his own and it isn't going as well as they're used to. Any offense that is too one-dimensional is going to have some issues eventually, even if that one dimension is headlined by an elite player.

In Dorsey's defense, part of the reason for so many pass attempts was that every one of our drives other than the first one went on forever. In the drive starting from our 2 and the drive ending with the missed TD to McKenzie there were 37 combined plays on those 2 drives alone, and I'm sure most of them were passes. Miami's defense got us into a game that McDermott would have loved, forcing us to dink and dunk our way down the field without making mistakes and shutting us down in the red zone. Dorsey needs to figure out ways to beat the blitz other than just 4 yard throws to Singletary. The defense blitzing shouldn't completely take away our downfield passing game that easily. We played right into their hands.

When people make threads saying that they like losing, believe them.

I think the expectations around Allen have gotten ridiculous. I'll agree this is his worst game since the regular season last year but he was also the only reason we were in it. Davis didn't look right, Diggs got cramped up and exhausted, McKenize and Knox had to get IVs at one point, Kumerow left the game early. Allen was getting beat up and running around all day in 100 degree weather with very little rest in between drives. He made several exceptional plays. We needed someone else on offense to make one.

A lot of people misunderstanding the OP. It's not that the result is meaningless. A loss against a divisional opponent matters. But any conclusions to draw from this game are meaningless. It didn't unveil any real issues with the team. A series of bad injuries, heat exhaustion, and unusual missed plays led to us losing the game by one score.

There was a point in this game where we literally had zero OL ready to go from the bench. If Mancz or Doyle had been injured we would not have been able to field an 11 man offense, think about that. This is one of many reasons I am burning this game from my mind.

You have to make a football move. He didn't. As soon as he got his feet down the ball was loose and coming out. Even if you want to argue it's 50/50 they aren't overturning the call on the field.

It would not have been overturned and would have wasted a timeout. Actually I just remembered that timeout we wasted on a 1st or 2nd down early in the 2nd half. That stings.

The frustrating part of this game isn't the loss, it's that we gave it our all with half of our team missing and came away more hurt than we started with nothing to show for it.

Nope. We dropped a TD, a pick six, and missed a FG. All this with half our starting defense injured and a makeshift OL and we lost by 2 points. The better team lost. It happens. Luckily the Chiefs also lost today so we didn't really lose anything in the grand scheme of things. I'm not worried about catching up to Miami. Get healthy and move on from this one.

This was the worst regular season game I've watched in the McDermott era. I'm not making any conclusions about anything.

Davis with 2 drops on the day now

Wait is this really happening??

I think Allen is just really gassed, he never got his feet set on that throw.

Aw man that is the second pass this year he has short hopped. He gave it his all but it comes down to one play. What a shame.

Woah Indy just took a lead against the Chiefs with 24 seconds left.

Ugh I hate how invested I am in this result. If we lose this game it is an utterly meaningless result. But we've come so close and now I really want that win.