Success

Hot takes have become like a religion w/ the sports punditry. I have been slack-jawed all week - a last second loss to a division opponent in a sloppy game, and all of a sudden the Bills are frauds, the Patriots are "back" (whatever that means), and Drake Maye is now a top-tier QB. If we lose to Atlanta, the next 2 weeks will be next to intolerable. I probably wouldn't watch anything. Not what I'm expecting, though - I think Sunday was more of a wake-up call for this team to start taking this season seriously. Atlanta is a very good, solid team, but if this Bills team is who I think they are, this one isn't that close.

Something weird going on w/ the rash of "unexpectedly limited" we've been seeing late in these game weeks....

So, we're back to Levitre/Wood/Wang-level discourse this week?

I thought Dart's game last night - his 3rd in the NFL? - was better than any game I've seen Maye play so far. I'm not downplaying Maye's potential - he has all of the skills, and has made some "wow" plays. But the level of hype he's getting right now seems to be more people wanting him to be that guy. It's almost like there is this weird obsession nationally among the analysts & pundits to see New England resume their "villain" role or something.

Dart is completely impressive tonight. Probably saving Daboll's job.

I will love the Giants forever for 2007.

Does Sirianni always have a 5 o'clock shadow?

Dart has already done more to impress me than the wildly overhyped Maye.

Dart is fun to watch. I have a feeling he's going to end up being best from that class.

I love Chicago - but it's a casserole, not pizza. NYC.

The Pats do. And I know the Ravens are collapsing - but believe strongly they will right the ship. It's the NFL. Anyone can lose to anyone.

If you're a top 3 team - most teams you play will logically be "not as good." Particularly in the division, upsets happen fairly frequently. We saw that in the Pats' dynasty years - not from us, sadly, save one time. But the Jets and Miami would upset them kind of regularly.

Whew, boy - oblique can be more long term. Not loving hearing that. We need that new & improved Kincaid.

I'll add to the chorus - Rasul was great for us for a year. It's very common sense for this Bills team to try to improve the roster, THIS year, right now. As we've gotten into the season, 2 things are pretty clear: 1) The AFC is as weak as I can remember it in the Allen era. KC & Baltimore are faltering and look like they could end up as WC teams. Cincy is out of the running. The other "top" teams are the Chargers, Colts and Steelers (all of whom are decidedly NOT juggernauts). 2) We have identified some clear needs on this team, which can be addressed by being active prior to the deadline. If ever there was a year to pull out the stops, this is it.

I think we'll know more about this team after Monday. Wasn't it Parcells who said that the season doesn't even really start until November? And it think it was Belichick who saw September as more of an extended preseason. We have some new receivers, we have players like Bishop who are still developing, we're likely to add 3-4 players to the defense in the coming weeks, and I'd be surprised if we didn't have a big add by the trade deadline. I feel like this team is still finding its identity, and when you're doing that, there will be some lumps you take early on. This wasn't even THAT big of a lump. The Pats were playing the biggest regular season game they've had since Brady left - we treated it like just another divisional match-up. Lost in the loss was that Allen led yet another 4th quarter comeback from 2 score deficit, and probably should have taken the lead if a ref crew that was calling ticky tack stuff all night threw a flag on a blatant PI against Shakir.

I don't suppose anyone watched their game w/ the Panthers? That seems like a crazy lopsided loss to arguably the league's worst team. They have certainly looked better in their other games, but I'm just wondering how that came to pass. 30-0 is crazy to a team like that.

Good teams lose to "not as good" teams all the time. That's why they play games, and it's why even the top teams in the league end up with 3 or 4 losses by the end.

I don't think it's comparable to the Pats, or that WE are comparable to the Pats in terms of where we are. We're still top 3 in most power rankings. The Pats are in the late 'teens in most. I'm not saying they can't win the division, but it's unlikely they get a sweep this season. If we beat them in the rematch, that's 2 games they have to make up - and their losses so far are conference losses.

I think a lot of people forget what it's like to be a team at the point in their trajectory that NE is. They could literally lose ANY of those games. I think they'll probably have a tough time w/ the Saints this weekend. They could struggle in any division game at this point (would have likely lost to Miami if the receiver doesn't step out of bounds by about 2 inches). Browns, Falcons, Bucs, Bengals, Giants & Ravens could all give them a tough game. The Pats weakness is their depth. I was bummed for Gibson, but they'll already start to see that at the RB position. As the season wears on, that could be a pretty major factor.

If the Pats had any kind of tough schedule, I wouldn't worry about that at all. I mean, our schedule is pretty easy, but theirs is all kinds of soft. I'm curious how the next 3 go for them. Pretty easy on paper - but they did lose to the Raiders & Steelers, and came a couple of inches away from losing to the Phins. I think Vrabel (and Diggs) pulled out all the stops to get the win the other night, but I still think the Pats are pretty mid.

We played our worst game of the season, turned the ball over 3x, and faced some....what shall we call it...."overactive officiating?" One less turnover, or a different ref crew - and it's a good bet we're the last undefeated team in the league. I feel like we need an AR "R-E-L-A-X" or something. We have some needs for sure, but we also have some guys coming back, and 2 guys coming who haven't even seen the field yet. I'd agree that the secondary is a concern right NOW, but either Hairston or Strong back will help quite a bit. And I expect a move or 2 by the deadline. But it's not like we're in a dire situation here. Remember KC's season last year? They won something like 11 games by a play or 2. There was a ton of hand-wringing there, and they still made it to the SB. I still think this is the best team in the AFC, by a somewhat comfortable margin.

Maye hype is over the top this week, and the renewed questioning of Allen is surprising. Like, one bad game, which was actually pretty good? I would love to see how Maye would have done against the Pats defense, and how Josh would have done against the Bills.

The Falcons look tougher than I would have thought at the start of the season. Had we pulled out a close one over the Pats, I could see where this one might have been our 1st loss, being another night game on the road. I think losing a game like we just lost makes that much less likely (though not out of the realm). A good measure of a true contender is their ability to respond after a tough loss - showing resiliency. I have a lot of faith that we right the ship on Monday.

One way the org could keep McDermott (if we fall way short this year) & make the fanbase happy is to bring in a real DC, with his own schemes & strategies, and let him run w/ it. McD can be HC and set the overall gameplan & culture, but it wouldn't be his defense.

I have to wash my hair.