Logic

I just saw that Cook was the first Bills RB since Thurman Thomas in 1995 (!) to have over 100 yards rushing in a playoff game! Can that be true? Wow. THAT’S what makes this year’s Bills offense different. Josh finally doesn’t have to do it all by himself.

I wouldn’t wanna drive a car right now, but a lifetime of Bills fandom and it’s associated gameday rituals has trained me to still be able to wax eloquent about a guard and tackle expertly passing off a DL stunt even through the thickest of alcohol haze. alternate comment: you got a perdy mouth. Can I buy you a drink? (I couldn’t decide which to go with)

I’m in Cancun (where I’ve gotten a good amount of “Go Bills” from people all day while wearing my Allen shirt and Bills hat, and I’ve had some rum and tequila, so I’ll do my best: - O-line. Some games you can tell who will likely win by seeing who is controlling the line of scrimmage. Our OL absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage all game long. Elite stuff. - James Cook. Silky smooth. Great vision and cutting ability, and he can get skinny with the best of ‘em. What an asset to have in order to take pressure off of Josh. - Ty Johnson. Elite pass catching back and legitimate offensive weapon. Who saw that coming? - Shakir. Human pinball. - Curtis Samuel. Good for you, kid. Way to make a big play and break the game open. Keep it up! - Is Milano back? - HOF spin love by Von on that one play. - Groot. Beast. - Bills defense. Gave up one explosive play for 7. Other than that? Nada. Good team D. - ST kicked away from Mims all day and didn’t allow him to impact the game on teams. Good stuff. - Playoff Josh. A sight to behold. His .67 EPA was ridiculous today. Only negatives: thought they leaned on the run just a liiiittle bit too much in the third quarter. Another fake punt conversion given up (though it didn’t result in anything). Other than that, a nice performance all around, and a convincing win against an inferior opponent. Go Bills!

He has returned to the team and is practicing today.

There's no way Sean McDermott or Matthew Smiley instructed Tyler Bass -- a kicker who has struggled with consistency and confidence all season -- to intentionally miss a kick in the game before the NFL playoffs. No way. 0% chance.

You're obviously right. I still kind of prefer my version.

Yeah, maybe. I'd rather not have to shut myself into a hotel room in the middle of a tropical afternoon if I can help it. But if there are no TVs at the bars, I may have no other choice. I know I know...vacation plus a Bills playoff game. First world problems. Woah is me!

I don't think that Coleman should EXCLUSIVELY be used as a big slot, and I don't think he should displace Shakir. They move guys around a lot. Starting them in one spot and having them shift or motion. The receivers also seem to all know the X, Y, and Z positions in this offense. I think there's room for Shakir to be the primary slot guy and for the Bills to also flex Coleman to the slot in big spots and high leverage situations and to exploit certain advantageous matchups. But ultimately, that's kind of the problem the Bills have right now: They have Cooper, who is a true outside guy, Hollins, who is an outside guy but not a particularly above average one, and then everyone else sort of seems better suited for the slot. While I expect a lot of attention to be paid to the defense in the offseason, I also hope they add more quality receiver talent. Not done building there.

I'll be in Cancun this weekend. I'm glad the game is on Sunday at 1pm. Now I just have to hope there are some TVs at one of the poolside bars. Otherwise I'll be squinting at my cell phone screen for a playoff game. (Side note: always do a "Bills schedule check" when booking trips in advance. *sigh*. Stupid Logic)

First I'll give the caveat that Coleman HAS shown potential this season, his RAC has been impressive, and I've not in any way given up hope that he'll be a good and useful WR for the Bills moving forward. That said, I'm with Matt Harmon and others who have stated: Coleman's best chance at sustained success in the NFL is as a big slot and to be used similarly to the way the Chiefs use Rashee Rice. Sticking him outside at X and telling him to win against outside corners regularly is never going to be his strong suit. Having a big, strong jump ball guy on this roster -- so that when the play breaks down and Josh is rolling out, he has a target to launch it down field to -- is valuable. But I think that in order for Keon to be successful beyond that, it will take intelligent scheming, and it will require improvement on his part in terms of route running and the nuances of the position.

Agreed about him looking great in preseason, but I think that's a good reason NOT to elevate him. Don't wanna give any other teams in the league a reason to sign him to their roster. Wanna keep him stashed on the PS until camp next year.

Call me crazy, but I think we're witnessing a guy coming into his prime who may go down as an all-time great Bills offensive tackle. He's gone from raw, to "promising flashes", to "definitely on the ascent", to -- in my opinion -- a dominant force. And there's a decent chance he's still not done improving. I know some scratched their heads at his re-signing because of the presence of guys like Grable and VanDemark, but man....Spencer Brown is a good one, and health permitting, he may turn out to be a GREAT one.

Just wanted to add this video to the pile. Not gonna lie, I got pretty choked up watching it. Bills fans are just...different.

Just curious. What, in your estimation, registers as hyperbole here? Do the Bills have a 1,000 yard rusher? A 1,000 yard receiver? A bona fide star at any position other than QB? If you go through the list of offenses that have put up similar scoring production throughout NFL history, they all have star players (and, in many cases, multiple HOFers) on the roster. Given the relative dearth of start talent on this offensive roster, what is it about the production of this year's Bills offense that you don't feel merits serious praise for the offensive coordinator?

It would be so Billsy to earn the two-seed, only to see the lineup of Bengals - Ravens- Chiefs sitting before them in order to get to the Super Bowl. Just like its extremely Billsy that the team started getting the two-seed darn near every year the season AFTER they took away the bye week.

This entire thread by Michael F Florio (who, I should note, is not the same person as ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio) is excellent. It's worth reading the entire thing, which is too long to post all of here.

Outstanding post. I have not seen it stated the way you did, and the comparison you made to "total football" is spot on. The crazy thing is that, while at first blush it may seem like exaggeration or hyperbole, an examination of the numbers themselves relative to the production of other historically great teams reveals that its not. The Bills may realistically finish the season without a 1,000 yard receiver and without a 1,000 yard rusher. Considering their historic offensive production, that is WILD! Great post. And here's hoping we somehow, some way get to keep Joe Brady beyond this season.

I hope you're right. What has me concerned is that the MVP voting panel is largely made up of media members and journalists. So if you're saying "the media" are the ones making this a talking point, well...lots of those doing the talking will also be doing the voting.

I'd love to agree with you, but I don't think I do. If Lamar Jackson, say, scores five touchdowns while making a couple spectacular runs, you can't tell me that that -- being the final impression left by either quarterback during this season -- won't sway some votes.

I'm pre-emptively annoyed at Lamar getting another chance to compile stats on a standalone game against a bad opponent, while Josh Allen sits in week 18, and then NFL analysts, talking heads, fans, and MVP voters not taking into consideration WHY it is that Josh is sitting and Lamar is still playing. Ugh.

Fair enough. The defense DID look much better. The offense also played a clean and mostly impressive game. I guess that, if I could further clarify my comments, it would be to say that this game looked like what Bills games have often looked like to me this season (thoug less so recently). They returned to the form they had shown throughout most of the year. Specifically: - The defense lets the opposing offense march down field a few times with relatively little resistance in the first half, but then stiffens up in the second half after learning what the opposing offense is trying to do, and mostly shuts them down from there on out. - The offense looks decent to good in the first half -- stagnating at times, but then re-committing to the running game and getting things going -- but then explodes in the second half and looks unstoppable. - The defense bails out some drives in which they allow the opposing offense to move the ball easily by coming up with a turnover in a big moment. I'll grant that the defense looked quite toothless against the Rams and Lions -- and even against the Pats at times -- so I could see where this apparent trend would be concerning. Taking into account the entirety of the season, though, I'd call those games the exceptions rather than the rules. In this game against the Jets, it felt like the Bills got back to who they have been for most of this season: The defense that gives up yards but takes the ball away, the offense that has a pretty good first half but a great second half, the running game, the Josh Allen rollout magician plays, etc. I suppose that's more so what I meant by the game feeling "ho hum" to me. The Bills team -- after a few concerning weeks -- showed us that they're still the team we were all so excited about for most of the season. But yes, to your point: That return to form was very welcome and much needed, and is a valid reason to feel encouraged this Monday morning.

I've been thinking way too much about the MVP race. I CARE way too much about the MVP race. I'm not one of those "I don't give a damn if Josh wins or not, it's all about the Lombardi" guys. I want to see Josh named MVP because he deserves it, because it would validate him undeniably as an all-time great, and because it would burnish his eventual case for the Hall of Fame. That said... Two things bother me (which have probably already been more clearly stated by others): 1. The criteria suddenly seems to have changed. For about a decade now, the MVP award has generally been given to the best performing quarterback from one of the top two seeds in either conference. Last year was a great example, with Lamar winning largely because the Ravens were the top seed. His statistics were very ordinary and certainly didn't scream "MVP". NOW all of the sudden, out of nowhere, people are disregarding this precedent and suggesting that the QB of the three-seeded team (with two more losses on its resume) should win solely because of superior statistics, when "superior statistics" hasn't been enough to overcome the "wins" criteria of previous years. Given the way in which the goalposts have been moved on Josh Allen again and again throughout his career, it is hard not to take this a little personally and to wonder if this same "shift" would be happening if it was any other player leading the MVP voting. 2. People consider raw statistics way too much without weighing the context that surrounds them. Specifically, Josh Allen has played 100 less snaps than Lamar Jackson. He's also going to sit next week while Lamar racks up more stats against a bad Browns team. I'm already pre-emptively annoyed at all of the "This seals MVP for Lamar!" stuff I'm gonna hear next week as Lamar plays and Josh sits. But WHY is Lamar playing while Josh sits? That should matter to the outcome of the MVP race. Further, the context of the players Josh Allen has surrounding him and the expectations this Bills team had (or didn't have), vs the players Lamar has surrounding him and the expectations his Ravens team had. That's it for me. Those are, as best I can sum them up, the two things that make me feel like Josh Allen deserves to win it over Lamar Jackson this year. If I look sheerly at their play this season and at the numbers themselves, there is no particularly valid argument that Lamar ISN'T a valid and deserving MVP candidate. But deciding, out of nowhere, to change the rules for deciding the award, to suddenly ignore context, surrounding talent, expectations, win totals, precedent, etc...It feels unfair, and it feels lazy and sloppy, and I don't like it. TL;DR: The sudden change in MVP criteria sucks. Josh for MVP.

It's weird, but watching the game yesterday, the win felt kind of "ho-hum" to me. Just sort of like "yeah. That's what we were supposed to do, onto next week". I can think of no better summation of this season and how talented this team is than the fact that a 40-14 thrashing of a division rival registers as "ho-hum" to me. What a Bills team this is.

MVP is voted prior to the playoffs.