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Rams defense played very well. That DL was setting up shop in the Pats' backfield from the start. The only thing they weren't able to do was shorten more of those NE drives. They did more than enough to give their team a chance to win. All the blame goes on the offense for not adjusting and making too many mistakes. On the one drive where they looked like they were gonna maybe tie it up, Goff gets rattled way too easy and tosses up a wobbler that Gilmore comes down with. Goff was uncomfortable all night and McVay did him no favors by keeping Gurley on the sidelines. McVay has already owned the loss, as he should, he was completely dismantled and out-coached.

Gilmore has always been a good player. He does have a tendency to get burned from time to time and get up after the play looking around like someone else was the cause of his miscue but other than that, he's always been solid. Every DB gets beat. Sometimes with this board you'd think the only way to call a player good or great is if they have a perfect 100% success rate on every down. It's just interesting that they're naming him the best corner in the league right now when honestly, his play has neither elevated nor lowered since he left here. Crazy how much of a difference it makes when you're on a winning team that gets all the attention.

Yeah, I've noticed that a lot this year, rankings are all over the place. I mean, there's like a bazillion more blogs and sources than 10 or 15 years ago. Sometimes I genuinely believe it's just that particular "scout" trying to stand out. Yesterday I saw Jawaan Taylor ranked as the 14th best OT on a site. Guy might be a bit raw but he's likely a first rounder and some think maybe even the first OT off the board.

Yeah, heaven forbid a couple of kids from having some fun.

I'm sure he's on Beane's radar being a local kid and all. The only drawback I've seen about him is he struggles to separate at times and the Bills have a few guys like that already.

I used to be bummed out for the rest of the day if they lost and maybe the next day at work some people and I would lament how they lost, especially if it was one of those "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory" type of losses that they've been so well-known for. I used to be one of those guys that threw stuff and punched walls whenever the opponent did well. Then one day I slugged a nice guitar case I had just got and damaged it pretty bad (thanks, Mike Vick!) and it was at that point that I said to myself, "You gotta cool it, man." Since then, I still feel bummed when they lose but it's more like, "Ah, welp, they'll try again next week" kinda thing. No more punching guitar cases and throwing remotes. Ah, to be young and stoopid. I also gained a better appreciation for the game all around, so when an opponent makes a nice play now, I can appreciate it, even if it comes against the Bills. Sometimes you just gotta say, "Dang, that guy just made a great play to undercut that route and score a pick-six." It also helped knowing that most of the time over these last 18 seasons that the Bills were likely to lose, so, as another poster pointed out earlier in this thread, a win is a pleasant surprise. It's when you start expecting wins that your emotions get a little uneven.

Wasn't he hurt during Senior Bowl week? I thought I had read something stating a current injury might limit him at the Combine and thus drop him down a round or two. And last I had read, he was viewed as a 2nd or 3rd round prospect.

While I'm not sure about his comments about being a black QB in a league where the players are predominately black, I do appreciate that he was able to help the Bills end the drought. And although Allen is gonna throw a couple of picks from time to time, I prefer his tenacity and willingness to push it down the field as opposed to Taylor who played it safe most of the time.

No wonder Beane is so adamant about drafting well. I'm sure he's realized the difficulty in recruiting free agents here... also probably why he seems so apt to pull trades. Hope for the best, I guess.

The guy just wants to show everyone that he's gonna play until 45, like he's said a bunch of times already. Regardless of his goals, age is catching up with him. NE switched to a power running team earlier this season and although Brady can still sling it if they need him to, I think it's become pretty clear that they'd rather not rely on him throwing it 40 times a game. If the decline really speeds up for him I wonder if he'll be aware enough to hang it up or if he'll deny it and become a parody of himself. I vote for the latter.

Yep. Longer hours, less money. But I'm sure if they wanted him in a coaching role they would work out a schedule conducive to his family life.

I don't think making PI something that can be reviewed is a long-term solution. Like most of the game, there are so many variables involved and at the end of each play, it's up to the officials to make (or not) the call. And those calls at times can be subjective (although we know officiating is supposed to be an unbiased, objective look at things) but human error plays a big part and they screw up. The problem is, they've been screwing up a lot more than usual it seems. And the game already suffers enough in delays for penalty conversations that seemingly have to happen with nearly every frickin' flag. Even simple procedural calls like a false start. Those zebra idiots huddle up for five minutes. What the hell they talking about? "Wow Bob, your uniform is top notch today." "Thanks Ed, my mom ironed it for me. I'm here unsupervised too!" "Hey do you guys use TurboTax?" There are times I truly believe that the refs want so badly to be a part of the action that they pull those little conferences for everything so the focus is on them. I've been saying it for years, the rulebook these days is so convoluted and unclear that the whole thing needs to be trashed and they need to start over from scratch. That'll never happen, though. NFL admit mistakes? Ha!

From a lot of what I read on the guy before he got drafted he was seen as a great locker room guy, team leader, etc. I'm sure Tre' White could vouch for him, however, I do agree that there's some arrogance to him. If there's two things I hate, it's people who are intolerant of other people's cultures... and the Dutch. And arrogance.

Still haunts me. Just hand the ball to Thurm all game and they win.

Fair point. I wish they could've won just one.

I think it was part of that Four Falls of Buffalo ESPN special that came out a while back but it showed how the nation was kinda tired of seeing the Bills in the Super Bowl for the third and fourth straight years. People were like, "Anyone but the Bills." Wish I'd hear that with the Patriots. I'm sick of their stupid faces. Nine. Nine friggin' Super Bowls in 18 years... so, 50% of the time, they go to the Super Bowl. Enough's enough. That said, I don't really wanna watch, but I will because football.

If he fumbles do they say, "Poopsie made an oopsie?"

I liked Bruce Arians description of Allen, which he likened to Luck: "Yeah, he's wearing a Superman cape. Luck had that on too when I was with him in Indy." He'll learn to take the easy play every now and again. Seen him look at his checkdowns consistently this year and decide, "Nah." Kind of refreshing when you compare it to Tyrod, but yeah, sometimes just dump it off and get those five or six yards. Kid wants to make a play on every snap, he'll learn to reel that in and learn when to go for it and when to dial it down.

I never wish injury on any player, but I get where people are coming from with Brady. My dream scenario is this: KC beats them soundly and then this supposedly massive east coast winter storm hits and delays the Patriots flight back to Boston so they have to sit in KC and stew with their loss for an extra day or two.

I miss Woods. He's shown for the last two seasons what he's really capable of, caught 86 passes for 1200+ yards and 6 TDs this season. He did have some injury issues during his time in Buffalo, in fact, this season is the first season in which he hasn't missed any games. In Buffalo, he ended up on teams that were run first. He was a good team guy though, he's a solid blocker in the run game. One of my favorite plays of his was when he threw a block on a DB who crashed into another DB behind him, knocking both out of the play as Tyrod ran in the game winning TD against the Titans in... 2015, I think? Yeah, good stuff, good player. And I agree on CJ. I don't think they were as creative as they needed to be with him. He had that breakout season in 2012 but that was it. Never was really able to keep it up, bounced around the league and last played with KC in 2017.

That's his background. He helped Peyton Manning resurrect his career in Denver. That put him on the map and eventually lead to head coaching jobs.

Part of the reason those OLs looked good was because Fitz was pretty good at getting rid of the ball quickly. I'm sure speeding up the snap to throw time will be a big focus for Josh and the coaching staff this season.

The guy helped the Colts OL hold to only 18 sacks this past season, fewest in the league. I'm fine with that.

He looks friggin' nuts. I think he's trying to look "intense/serious" or something but maybe he should've practiced in a mirror because he looks like the kinda guy who lures you into his van with candy and Nintendo and then turns you into a lampshade. He might be a good coordinator, he's probably a really good QB coach, but the Dolphins under his leadership were one of the softest teams in the league. There seemed to be no sense of unity or brotherhood among any of the rosters he coached. Those teams would get down by a couple scores and that was it, everyone checked out. I've heard that from day one when he went to Miami there was constant discord in the locker room and he could never get a handle on things. I feel like the Jets rolled with him because of what he might be able to do with Darnold. But if he can't successfully lead the entire team it'll never matter.

Everyone overpays in free agency, Buffalo is no exception. In fact they probably have to bump up their offers a bit more than others because Buffalo can be a tough draw for free agents. If you watch the All-22 you see the Lotulelei is doing exactly what they're paying him to do despite not showing up much on the stat sheet. And it's not his fault he's playing 49% of the snaps. McDermott prefers to rotate guys on the DL and that's fine.