Boatdrinks

Not letting the Bills players off the hook, but don’t confuse talent with performance and effort. An OL starting 3 backups isn’t going to flat out beat you with talent. The Bengals pressures worked largely due to Dorsey’s insistence on slow developing plays in poor conditions. The Bills offense should have been similar to Cincinnati’s : quick throws short of the sticks with blockers ahead. The day called for getting the ball into the hands of Diggs, Knox and Beasley quickly. Designed runs for Allen mixed in. The Bills got beaten by a sound scheme executed well by players not asked to do too much. Not an uber-talented juggernaut. A sensible offensive game plan by the Bills would have produced the close game most expected, and possibly a win. I won’t bother supposing a more aggressive defensive game plan because while the Ravens showed it to be a sound strategy, we knew McFrazier would reject the concept.

They shouldn’t be.

Disagree that the Bengals team the Bills saw Sunday was more talented but that’s just my opinion. The Bills were soundly out coached though , and that removed any chance they had of winning the game. The Bengals did nothing fancy and played small ball. The Bills seemed as though they’d never seen anything like it. Just a huge fail by the Bills staff.

Could be for real , or just on an incredible run that ends in a Super Bowl title before drifting into obscurity. Both have happened in the league before.

Ok

Hate the Bengals , they are a team of d-bags. Can’t stand Kermit and the Chiefs either so I’ll just hope they beat the snot out of each other and take many cheap shots as always. I’d like to see the 49ers win it all.

A lot of it is right there to see with your own eyes , that’s how he knows. Watch the offenses , look at the weapons at each QBs disposal. Watch the scheme and what it offers the QB in terms of options.

Two completely different things though. Lombardi trophy would be an amazing , incredible , sports fandom affirming feeling of self actualization. Stanley Cup would be pretty cool.

Yeah, it’s completely hopeless. Might as well trade Josh and start from scratch with picks. I mean, why even watch really ?

It’s certainly the better part of their team so it makes sense. Some coaches want the chance at back to back possessions / scores that deferring can provide and that’s fine too. Great for CIN but Dorsey needs to take a look in the mirror here. The stat says just as much about the poor job Dorsey did as anything about the Bengals. Have to be at your best in the playoffs and Dorsey came up very small.

They’re much closer to the top than the bottom. Top 3 or 4 but they’ve got work to do to stay there. That’s always true because it’s how the NFL is set up. The biggest key to sustained success is the QB and they’ve got that. Clearly they need to change a few things to reach the summit of an AFC title and the right to compete for a world’s Championship.

So last year was THE year, eh ? Please let me know which team IS the SuperBowl winning team this season, I’d like to make a mint in Vegas this week!

It’s an advantage, but it’s not as big as it used to be. Parity and rules that favor offense have changed that. There’s a reason the home team is only assigned a 1.5-2 points in the odds.

We’ll get some indication by the team’s actions between now and through the draft.

Going out on a limb there on possible regression , eh ? The team has won 13 games exactly twice in franchise history. That they likely won’t equal it in 2023 isn’t a revelation. I attended the game as well, and feel exactly the same way. There was nothing about the teams performance that felt like a playoff game in any way. A huge no show on the part of the Bills and the coaching staff.

The Bills were far from the AFC’s Minnesota. The Vikings were the only playoff team with a negative point differential. The Bills point differential was near the top of the league. The Vikings had a ridiculous record in close games - something like 10-0. That’s an unsustainable run of good fortune. The bills didn’t escape by a thread in many games. They had a few flaws ( some due to injury) that teams either weren’t good enough to take advantage of or Josh Allen’s abilities covered up. That’s tougher to do in the playoffs as the teams/ coaching staffs you face get better.

No

Below average player; complete dill weed. Not nearly cool enough to smoke a cigar.

Agree. The Bills are at a crossroads of sorts here. They can ascend or decline depending on the decisions made in upcoming weeks.

The secondary is a shell of its former self - mostly due to injury. The LBs were never very good -Milano aside. The DL failed to perform. Tackling has been an issue for awhile. Edmunds failed to shed blocks and was stiff/ mechanical as usual. The Bengals didn’t look super talented to me - that sounds like an excuse from McD. They targeted our weakest spots and executed basic plays. The Bills D is suspect at the fundamentals of blocking and tackling. In less than ideal weather conditions and with a beat up OL, the Bengals coaches smartly went to the basics. They outclassed the Bills players in that dept for sure.

Quick passes to the flat , which the Bills didn’t cover seemingly all day.

IF it were for Payton then yes, time to move on. Anyone else currently available, probably not. Need an offensive guru and better OL/ WR for sure. Dorsey’s offense lacked direction and creativity, just Josh winging it too often.

D fundamentals are bad. OL is weak.

Overrated. The Bills were outsmarted and outschemed. The Bengals had a simple to execute scheme and they did it. The Bills D fundamentals of shedding blocks and tackling were bad. Offensively it’s been established that the Bills scheme doesn’t work well in bad weather. They didn’t do much different to adapt to the conditions and suffered the consequences. That game was as much Xs and Os as it was Jimmy’s and Joes. The Bills OL has been terrible all year and they do need upgrades there.

The OL is terrible at “ selling” screens. Josh Allen can certainly throw a screen pass. They always look disjointed from the start- and that starts upfront.