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Feely wasn't great. He repeats himself a lot and seemed to pick really mundane plays/moments in the game to highlight as crucial or important. Mowins is OK. I'm not a huge fan of her voice but she does a good job. She might work better with a different commentator than Feely. Next week is Nantz and Romo. I quickly grew tired of those two. Nantz used to be tolerable when he had Phil Seems next to him but I suppose anyone sounds good next to Seems. And how he ended up with the main anchor job in the studio is beyond me. Dude constantly trailed off mid-sentence, said incoherent things, said "talked about" 52 times a game, etc. And as for Romo, I got a kick out of his first few games when he was sitting there calling out what the plays were gonna be. His insight as a former QB is fantastic but he gets a little annoying when he tries too hard to make something sound exciting. I dig Gus Johnson the most, probably. But he's been on Fox since 2011 and Buffalo plays on Fox only once or twice a year.

Didn't really look intentional to me. I think he was going for the tackle on Taylor and then saw the ball go to McCoy and shifted that way and his hand came up and whacked Taylor. But I agree with what some others have pointed out, intentional or not, shots to the QBs head are always supposed to be called. Yesterday's officiating was pretty bad. Missing that facemask on McCoy is inexcusable, I mean, those are the things these dingbats are paid to watch for. I also thought Landry should have gotten a PF for blocking a guy well out of bounds. He'd already been flagged once for unnecessary roughness and a second penalty of that nature would've seen him get ejected but I don't recall them stating during his first personal foul penalty that if he was flagged again for another PF he would be booted. Refs were not on their game yesterday. And that's been the case in way too many games this season. To me, it's the worst part of the game. I know it's not an easy job but perhaps it'd become a little easier if they overhauled the rulebook and wrote everything out in clear and concise terms.

I turned off this game as soon as Brady hit Gronk for 20 some yards to get them on Pittsburgh's 10 yard line. I knew they would score to take the lead, and then I really didn't watch many highlights later so I missed this whole thing with James. That is 100% a touchdown. I'm sure they've rewritten the rule in some fashion but as long as I've watched football the rule has always been, the moment the ball breaks the plain of the goal line, it's a touchdown, play is over. Look at Tyrod's little jump and extend it over the line vs. the Raiders this season. He had the ball smacked out of his hands but by then the ball had already cross the line so it was a TD, play over. A player carrying the ball over the line can fall and drop the ball but it's still a touchdown as he carried the ball over the line. It's the same concept here. He catches it, turns, gets it over the goal line and that should be it, touchdown, play over. Glad I didn't see this live, like I needed more reasons to hate the Pats. I remember when Buffalo went on their Super Bowl run and there were so many people that were sick of the Bills during those times. Nobody except Bills fans wanted them in the Super Bowl after like, the second loss. Even national media analysts were like, "We're sick of the Bills, please don't let them win the AFC Championship game." Ain't no one saying that about the Pats these days. Over the last 16 Super Bowls, the AFC representative has been either Pittsburgh or New England in 10 of those games. For the love of crap I hope a different AFC team breaks through this year.

Yeah. I think Nantz or Romo said during the game that he's been a healthy scratch for over a month now. I know he was injured earlier this year, but he's been good to go since November. Belichick recently said RB is one position they don't worry about, adding that they feel it's their deepest position. They usually roll with James White, Dion Lewis and Rex Burkhead. When Gillislee played, he wasn't any more productive than those three. I wonder if he regrets his decision to sign there now, haha. Also, saw Gilmore get beat for a TD yesterday, that was neat. He did his usual turn around and look at his teammates like, "Hey, not my bad guys, someone was supposed to help me." He also made a horrible attempt at tackling Bell. He did have a monster OL bearing down on him so he went low to avoid getting smushed but still, not the greatest effort you wanna put on tape.

He has my approval right now. He's made some questionable decisions but he's a first time head coach. There's going to be some trial and error as he gains more experience which should serve him well to make better decisions in the future. It's amazing that some people expect a first time head coach to come roaring out of the gate and win 642 straight Super Bowls. Even if a Buffalo coach did accomplish that there'd be a percentage of fans who wouldn't be happy with it. They'd find some menial mistake to pick on and use as their justification for why they think the coach sucks. It's also too early to tell. What's the golden rule with rookie players? Can't really make a true evaluation until they're three seasons in. Seems the same never applies for rookie head coaches. All fan blades are impatient and want their teams to succeed but it's as if Bills fans feel they're entitled to instantaneous success based on the drought...which this staff has nothing to do with. Based on the talent, the lack of consistency on offense and the roster turnover, McDermott has had a successful rookie season. He's had some blunders but again, he's learning. He seems to be intelligent and prepared enough to fix his mistakes going forward but no coach is perfect. My only gripe would be the sense of how they wanna build this team. I understand wanting players who wanna win and put the team first, I understand wanting a strong locker room free of massive egos, that's all fine. But... I don't wanna see this regime go after *only* those types of players. I mean, if you've built a strong enough locker room with solid leadership then they should be fine taking some guys who may have a few character red flags because they can be mentored by the leaders in the locker room. I don't want a team full of strictly boy scouts. Hope they don't limit themselves in that fashion. A little attitude and swagger is never a bad thing as long as it's not keeping the player from reach his full potential. Other than that, McD's whole "earn the right to start" mentality should apply to his coaches as well. Because if we're using that logic then Rick Dennison hasn't earned the right to be the OC for the last 6 weeks. Edit: pardon the typos, mobile

I have it on good authority that after the season Kirk Cousins will be invited to Buffalo to go do karate in the garage.

Yeah, he has a good eye for talent. He's a good scout. That doesn't mean he's a good GM. He didn't work his way up the front office ladder in Pittsburgh because he was clueless. Steelers are one of the most well-run organizations in all of sports. That's why I was excited when they hired Whaley. I figured he'd bring to Buffalo what he learned in Pittsburgh and I'm sure he tried it just never worked. He absolutely nailed the Hughes trade because the player they gave up was Kelvin Sheppard who has since bounced around to a bunch of different teams, mostly in back-up/special teams roles. In fact I think the Bills see him this Sunday as he's on the Colts now. Alonso for McCoy, yeah, no brainer. He didn't draft Dareus, Nix did, and it was the right pick at that time. Nobody complained when Dareus received his extension because he had just come off excellent seasons in 2013 and 2014. He was starting to turn the corner and show that he could be a truly dominant DT. Now had they not extended him, this fan base would have been livid. "There goes another one of our best players! Walks away and we get nothing!" So with that logic, he really can't win either way, can he? Sign him and it's a mistake. Don't sign him, also a mistake. For years fans whined endlessly about how this team consistently would not re-sign key players. Once they started doing that, everyone starts going, "No no, not that way, not that guy!" Can't win. Dareus fizzled out here because he was stuck in a scheme for two years that didn't suit him. He's in Jacksonville now, playing well as part of one of the top defenses in the league. The Watkins trade in hindsight doesn't look great, but before that, fans were constantly upset that no Bills GM would make any moves during draft day. Nix wouldn't budge on his picks. The super-duo of Marv and Russ were clueless so they didn't bounce around in the draft. There weren't any player for player or player for picks trades. People be like, "They need to make moves if they wanna win! They need to take risks and be bold!" So Whaley comes in and he's almost a polar opposite of Nix and Marv/Russ. He swings trades, he keeps the phone lines open, he makes bold moves. He does what fans had been calling for a Bills front office to do for years. What's he get for it? Crapped on. Whaley did find some street FAs that happened to play really well, Gillislee for instance. And Justin Hunter last season was a nice addition. So let's not act as though the man came in and was a trainwreck from the start. He was able to retain guys like Dareus, Hughes and Glenn at a time when it seemed those players were gonna be cornerstones for the franchise (think around 2014). Had those guys left, fans would've wanted him fired for not signing them. He signs them, they still want him fired. And look around the league right now, there are a number of former Bills, drafted or signed by Whaley who are doing pretty well with their new teams. Woods has been balling in LA. Watkins is finally coming around. Robey-Coleman is also out there and is their starting nickel CB. Chris Hogan has an important role in NE. Like I said, a good eye for talent but was never very good at team chemistry and finding the right types of players for the locker room. Is what it is. What exactly can any of these executives or coaches do to truly appease this fan base? Cause absolutely NOTHING is ever good enough. I swear, this team is gonna win the Super Bowl one day and during the parade there's gonna be a truckload of fans screaming about how McD (or whoever is coach by then) mismanaged his time outs or how he should've challenged that one play. "Yeah, they won the Super Bowl, but NOT IN THE WAY I WANTED!" And what are your contingency plans for when you start screaming for coaches and executives to be fired? "Hire this guy here, I know he's good, I read an article and heard a guy talk about him on NFL Network, he is the best ever!" We all get it. 17 years of suck, well, sucks. We're impatient. But for cripes sake, if anyone thinks constantly hitting the reset button every other season is going to fix this team, you're wrong. Doing that will only keep them in the cycle of suck for even longer.

Whaley = great scout, but not a great team builder. He has a good eye for talent, I just don't think his philosophy of drafting guys from big time/winning programs and expecting those young guys to carry that winning tradition over into the NFL.

Really? He's already crowning Wentz alongside guys like Brady and Brees? That's a little premature, IMO. Wentz is having an excellent season but the key factor in him being mentioned in the same class as those QBs would be consistency. Can/will he play like that each season? And it's interesting to see how things have played out between Winston/Mariota and Wentz/Goff. Popular opinion said Winston and Mariota would be the better players. But as of right now, Goff and Wentz are quite a ways ahead of those dudes.

Yeah, I agree. And on the flipside, had they let Glenn walk this fan base would have lost they damn minds. "They can't keep letting good players go! This is absurd, fire everyone!" Constantly put in no-win situations by some in this fan base. I thought it was fine when they extended Glenn. Dude played a full season after an off-season of dealing with a kidney illness. He's been consistent when he's been in there. It's been a tough luck year for him with these injuries. And it's all hindsight. He was healthy and playing at a respectable level when he received his extension.

Because he looked McD right in the eye and said, "Yeah, I know, it was bull ****" and you could tell he wasn't pleased about it.

Finally, everyone gets their wish and sees Reilly called up. Anyone wanna take bets on how many offensive snaps he plays? I'd put the over at 15 haha. Don't think he'll be out there much.

It was more of a mutual understanding between two coaches who, regardless of the responsible party, knew it was complete crap. McD said something like, "Nothing personal but what happened out there was f*cked up." And Belichick said, "Oh I know, yeah, it was bull *****t" in a genuine tone of voice. Belichick may push the envelope with the rules but he certainly doesn't coach his players to do what Gronk did and I hope he tore Gronk a new one on Monday. He clearly wasn't pleased with him because Gronk spent the next offensive series on the bench.

Appreciate it, teef.

Google it up, man. McCoy and Taylor both have made comments in the past about how important Wood is to the offense. Now, that may have changed a little now that they're using the zone scheme as opposed to the power/pull scheme they ran the last two seasons. Roman's playbook and blocking schemes were very fluid. They'd line up and Wood is the one directing how the line is going to block based on the look they're getting from the defense. And on a line with Mills and Ducasse, I just have a hard time getting behind the idea of harping on Wood for not being good enough. It's a five man unit that needs all five guys to do their jobs as assigned otherwise it can go downhill in a hurry. To the right of him are two incredibly inconsistent players and that has an effect on his play. Say Ducasse misses a block or blocks the wrong guy, that creates a problem for Wood. The defender might zip past Wood but it may not be on Wood for that happening. Overall, the zone scheme doesn't play to the strengths of this OL. They really had Roman's system down and they excelled at it, especially last season. And that's a scheme that's a lot more complex than the zone stuff. I know they've implemented some stuff from Roman's playbook but the majority of it is all Dennison's stuff which, as we know, is modeled after Shanahan and Kubiak. I wonder if one of the reasons McD went with Dennison happens to be because Dennison was the OC for Denver when they beat Carolina in the Super Bowl a couple years ago where McD was the DC. "I know, I'll hire the guy that beat me in the biggest game of my career." I'm not trashing that notion by any means, just curious. Really, all I want is a coaching staff that thoroughly evaluates their roster and pinpoints the things that their players are A) exceptional at doing, B) show the ability to expand upon their existing skill set, and C) identifies what their players don't do so well and then design their playbooks based off the concepts of A and B. Wade Phillips has been coaching like that for years and it should leave no question as to why he continues to get jobs. He identifies what his players do well and he puts them in schemes that allow them to maximize the things they excel at. It's not rocket science.

Just to try and understand a little better, those that aren't impressed with McDermott or are ready to fire him or think this team is the worst team to ever step on the field in the history of all sports... just what exactly were you expecting for this season? Because based on your comments it's pretty clear that unless these dudes go out and win the Super Bowl right away, you'll consider them complete failures. Clearly hitting the restart button every two years has not worked here. What would your expectations be if McDermott were canned after one year and they did yet another overhaul on the roster and coaching staff? The point of the post is that in the context of everything that's gone down this year, it is indeed pretty impressive to finish 9-7 or 8-8. Yeah, it's another "stuck in the middle" year but this is after everyone assumed this team was tanking and wouldn't win more than four games this season. The moves they made and the way they geared up for 2018 left a lot of people saying, "It's not really about 2017, it'll probably be a disaster but everyone is gonna get a pass because they are completely overhauling this thing." Instead, they've overachieved which has led to more wins than we expected. Is that supposed to be a bad thing? If you're saying "Yes" because you want them to tank out for a higher draft pick, take a look at the Sabres and tell me how that's worked out for them so far. There is absolutely zero guarantee that any of the top prospects are going to become top NFL players. And what kind of first impression/statement do you make as a first-year and first-time HC if you come in here and say, "Hey look, we're gutting the roster, tearing everything down, going for high picks, so uh, don't try too hard out there. Try real hard not to win, ya know? I mean, risk life and limb and put your body through a beating each week but don't do that in an effort to win because BAGAWD WE GOTS TA HAVE DEM SUPER HIGH DRAFT PICKS!!!" I dunno, I mean when you go into the season with everyone having super low expectations and then you exceed those expectations early on only to bottom out and have a rough middle of the year yet you're still left with a legitimate chance at the playoffs with four games to go... I'd say that's something to rally around. Where they're at, what they've done and the team they've done it with should instill some confidence for the future. If they can pull off 8-8 or 9-7 with a team full of self-proclaimed misfits, only one real star (McCoy) and an entirely new staff and new schemes then I'm interested/excited to see what they can do going forward after more roster shaping and more experience with this coaching staff.

I disagree. Wood isn't an all-pro but he's pretty consistent. He gets beat here and there but his play isn't anything that'd make me say, "He shouldn't be in there." Plus, he calls out all the protections. McCoy has said on numerous occasions that Wood is one of the most important guys on offense for them. Ducasse and Mills on the other hand.... yeesh. I wonder if Henderson isn't quite 100% yet because how have they not considered playing him over Mills? Maybe he hasn't adjusted fully to the zone concepts or whatever but he's more athletic than Mills at the least. There was a play this past Sunday where Mills completely whiffed on his block where he was supposed to seal off the backside. Had he executed the block, McCoy likely runs in for a touchdown. Instead, he barely got a hand on the defender who got free pretty quick and made the tackle.

Haha, I love this photo. It's saying so many different things. Brandon is obviously excited because he'd have something to sell the fans. Whaley looks a little stoic, like, "I hope this works." And then in the background, I love that the only guy not celebrating is Buddy Nix. He's kinda just looking on and I bet he was thinking, "That was a lot to give up but hey it's your show now." Because as we know, Nix was never in on big time draft trades.

I think they almost 100% have to make some type of move to put themselves in position to draft one of this years top QBs. I don't want them to spend a ton of this years draft picks to get there, though, as they have a lot of other areas of need. But yeah, I don't think they can afford to fart around anymore. It's time to get it done and go after who they think can be their franchise guy.

This isn't intended to make excuses for the receivers not consistently getting open but since Roman became OC, they've had some pretty elementary passing schemes that aren't difficult to defend. Now, I haven't looked much into Dennison's passing game but he does seem to excel at getting the tight end open. When Clay has been active he's been a difference maker on offense. And it may not look like guys aren't getting open but they are and there are plenty of times per game where Taylor flat out doesn't see them, or does see them and doesn't pull the trigger because he's not confident enough to zip one into a tight window. But yeah, as it's been said already, a speed guy to make safeties back up would go a long way in helping the other dudes get open. And it's clear that Taylor is part of the problem. Woods has been balling all year, and Watkins seems like he's coming into a groove over the last few games. McVay has done wonders for Goff and that offense. It's incredible what happens when you design your scheme around the natural skill sets of your players.

McDermott: "As a gesture of my appreciation to the fans here in the fine city of Buffalo, Mr. Pegula is writing every fan a check for 2 million dollars. Also, we drafted Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen and Lamar Jackson. We also signed Tom Brady and Drew Brees as alternate options. Also, we are very proud of the 19 straight Super Bowl wins we've racked up." The Fans: Puke! Barf! Get this bum outta here! This is crap! I have serious concerns! This is not good enough! Spineless! They didn't put a hit out on Gronk, losers!

At game speed it looked like a legal lateral. When they slow things down and look at it, you see all sorts of different angles and such so it opens the situation up to a lot of questions. But at first look, and again, at game speed, it looked like it was a legal lateral. It's difficult to ascertain exactly what direction the ball went when you have two players carrying a bunch of forward momentum but the Eagles had time to look at it and challenge it and they didn't so I guess they felt it was legal as well.

So of all the players on the team you single out the most respected and tenured one? Because he didn't run across the field and deliver a Hulk Hogan-style leg-drop on Gronk? This team is coached to keep their composure, this isn't Club Rex anymore. Retaliation would've caused penalties for them, and I guess it didn't matter anyway because they ended up being penalized when it was all said and done, which is ridiculous because they basically said, "55, Buffalo, hurt the officials feelings and this takes precedence over the cheapshot and head injury that just happened so, uh, yeah..." I mean, honestly it looked like they weren't even gonna throw the flag until P. Brown and T. Elston looked at the nearest official like, "WTF?!" and then the flag came out. I dunno what Hughes said but I don't really care because the officials botched that entire situation and should receive discipline from the league. But this is the Bills we have here so clearly Gronk will be let off the hook, that officiating squad will be selected for Super Bowl duty and Hughes will be fined some moronic amount for mouthing off.

That's fair. I mean, he's a team guy so obviously he wants to turn things around out there but he can only do so much. But just with this current situation he's been dealing with and the way its been handled by his organization, wouldn't be surprised if he's at least thought about a trade. But seems he's stuck there for the long haul.

You're spot on. Grigson has to be one of the worst GMs I've ever seen. Year after year he ignored the obvious weak spots on the team and drafted players like Phillip Dorsett. And then the owner, also one of the worst in sports, recently overheard telling Tony Dungy that he believes Luck's injury is "all in his head." On top of that there's now speculation that this injury could end his career. It was absurd for Irsay to hype him up all off-season and say he'd be ready for the opener when it was clear he wasn't anywhere close to being healed. Luck is a good dude so I'm sure he just wants to heal up and get back to work but he's human as well and I wouldn't doubt that he's at least thought about asking for a trade as he sees how things have been handled with this team and he's just kinda been left hanging in the wind at times.