DaggersEOD

I hate them both. But what gets me when people talk about the Brady/BB split is that it’s not like they walked away equal partners on equal footing. Brady stepped out of a custom vehicle that was built specifically to his every preference and into a Supercar. Maybe it’s not as custom as the one he had, but it’s an amazing vehicle. BB walked away with a custom vehicle built to the last drivers preferences. Now he has to find a new driver that is close enough to drive the custom vehicle down the road, until he can find a decent enough long term driver to start customizing the car to his specs. Can’t compare who made who just yet. Did I mention that I hate them both...

First, I will concede that because of how this played out, it's easier for me to look back and say that playing them was the right choice. I will also concede that not all examples will have the same result so I don't consider your position to be wrong even in this instance. Now concerning the bolded I disagree. The Bills walked away from that game with a TON more momentum and swagger than they would've if they rested their starters, potentially losing the game (of course with the way our backups played, we may still have crushed them!). We historically dismantled the #1 scoring Defense in a way never done before. We are the hottest team entering the playoffs and the Team now knows that there is no defense that can stop them. That has value. That feeling of invincibility is hard earned and IMO it would not have been as prominent if the blowout didn't happen. Look at the ferocity our 2nd's played with. It was that supreme confidence that allowed them to "play up" to their competition. They weren't intimidated, they intimidated. That is 100% morale. The 2nds performing so well is an example of the old saying, "If you don't think you can do it, you will always be right". They obviously "knew that they could". I guess the part I can't get on board with you on is that they didn't LOSE swagger. While technically true, The Bills would've lost the opportunity to GAIN swagger and momentum. I contend, that for THIS Bills team, we can use all the swagger and momentum we can grab. In the examples you provided, while relevant, don't paint the same picture as our current situation: Pats '14, They were ALREADY a multi-Superbowl winning franchise with a consensus All-Pro QB playing a craptastic, non-threatening Bills team. Put another way, the Mia game would not have been as important if Mia was having a similar season as the Jets. The Pats beating the Bills didn't prove anything. STOMPING a 10 win, #1 scoring D team looking to get into the post season is just a different animal IMO. The Pats already had swagger/confidence because they already won the big game. If we were in that position (Like the Chiefs this year) we'd probably approach the Mia game differently. Ravens '12, I mean, as I conceded, not all examples will support my side as I believe there is no 100% correct decision in 100% of scenarios. Sitting their guys was obviously the right choice for them at the time. I will say that winning their game, much like the Pats example, wasn't against such a high quality opponent. They're winning that game had zero potential to gain momentum or swagger and I contend that the Mia game did. So I suppose my position is that they had a solid opportunity to GAIN momentum/swagger entering what they hope is the first winning post season in decades. I don't FEEL (very subjective) that your examples would have provided the teams involved with the same potential.

Honestly I HOPE they show up ready to play Sunday...by then, we'd already have won!

I would have preferred an accurate test to begin with.

Finally some information past "now on Covid list". I hope those last two recover soon! I found it very interesting that the topic of conversation was more about game impacts than the actual health of the players who have contracted a deadly virus. Not sure what you're hinting at here. This is where we discuss Covid infections, I wanted to know more than "he got it" and was surprised to not see more follow-up in this thread. A normal question for a fan of football concerned about the health of players!

Wait did the guy say he was the "Whitest" wide receiver????

We've seen all these posts about infections but ZERO follow up on how they are doing, if they survived, if anyone in their family has had any serious medical issues due to the infection or if any of them have sustained permanent lung damage as we all know is a very common consequence. This is a DEADLY virus but for some reason, no one seems to be worried about the health of those infected! What's up with that??

In hindsight, playing the fins in the playoffs would’ve been sweet, but for that to happen, yesterday would not have happened. Instead of all this glowing warm happy feelings, we’d be thinking that next week, despite losing, we’re going to get back at them. They would be walking proud and with a little more confidence. No broken Tua. No demoralized Fish. This feeling of invincibility and inevitability watching them with a “come at me bro” swagger would not be here. Wins are more important than rest IMO. Concerning the Browns/Steelers, the scenario is different and the teams are in different places. IMO, the Browns/Steelers have a different relationship than we have with the Fish. Browns still have to prove they are better than the Steelers. That said, I think the Steelers may regret letting the Browns into the playoffs. And I think the Browns are going into the game with a little more confidence. Ben’s arm is shot and the Browns know it. If solely looking at the teams, the Browns have momentum and the Steelers are sputtering out and I think their last game only added to it. I know I may be projecting but moral is a HUGE factor that decides more games than most acknowledge IMO.

We keep talking up the reason to rest vs play from the Bills POV. How about from the fins perspective. They beat a super hot Bills team as they earn their way into the playoffs. That kind of win can set them up to make a run in the playoffs. Also, as mentioned, if they beat us and the chips fall the right way, we could play them the very next week. Do you think it’d have any psychological impact on either team knowing just the week before that they won/we lost? It will give them a little confidence and who knows what happens in the playoffs. What I’m saying is that resting starters has more impact than potential rust. Resting starters always hit me the same way as prevent defense.

It’s a good point. Why would anyone hire a non-minority for any job below and including OC/DC? You can hire a non-minority, but he better be better than all other applicants AND potentially (2) 3rd round picks if he was to succeed. I mean why hire/develop young non-minority personnel when doing so brings no benefit to the organization? Look, as mentioned before, the pool of individuals who can PLAY in the NFL is completely different than the pool of people who can COACH in the NFL. Just because the pool of players is racially imbalanced, it doesn’t mean that all aspects it touches also has to have the same racial imbalance. I think the idea came from the right place, but the execution is trash. If the real goal is to break up the good ‘ol boys club, this is not the right way to do it and to be honest, probably won’t work. Leaving the perceived good ‘ol boys club safe and intact (seriously how many sons of previous coaches are in the NFL?)

Of course this is completely tongue in cheek. It was obviously a terrible year so it was a bit of gallows humor (Vet, my bad). Looking back on a terrible disaster of a situation that somehow through the grace of god you miraculously survived and saying defiantly, “Was it really THAT bad?” as you limp away is just how I roll haha But both for the Bills and 2021, things are coming out of the darkest of days and things are looking at least dimly brighter. Of course for the Bills it’s anything but dim! So, even if the post season doesn’t go the way we want, at this time in 2020, with the last game of the year played, I feel great optimism for my team. This has been a LONG awaited year and it tastes so sweet. So fully tongue in cheek... I mean REALLY it wasn’t all THAT bad right??

Evidence: AFCE Champs Sweep Pats (and seems to have broken them 😈) Jets Implosion Fish impending QB purgatory Has there been a better and more promising year than 2020 for the Bills this millennia?? I mean was 2020 really THAT BAD?? LETS GO BUFFALO!!

I guess that's why this situation is so curious. In order for a QB to have good numbers, his WRs have to catch balls. So usually they would also be "good". Thinking about it a second, it seems more like a Defensive problem than anything else. If the QB is doing so well, points are being scored. That could explain why JJ was so upset. It's his side of the ball that's wasting Watson's talent IMO.

You know I was just thinking. If you could add a superstar from another team to your weakest position group, I think it would benefit the team.

This Ladies and Gentlemen is a person who would always find a problem or something to complain about, no matter how good/positive the event. Listen kids, Don’t be an Andy Dickh@rd (sp?)

I don’t know the OP but I happen to know that he does not expect him to lose 2 in a row.

Unlike other young and promising QBs like Lamar, Mahomes, Murray, Wilson, Watson and Dak, Josh doesn’t seem to have what it takes to be a spokesperson for a product. Weird.

Can’t disagree that convincing him to stay would be a tough sell. I just think that when you spend this much time developing / growing something like we now have at the Bills, it’s tough to walk away right before you arrive. But I may just be wishing lol

Good point. Not too often you have this many teams with young talented QBs, have HC openings. Absolutely a big factor here. Hopefully the relationships and winning trump draw of a HC job.

I think if we “back up the brinks truck” for him to show that we acknowledge his skills/talent it could blunt the draw of a HC position. I have also heard that him and JA are like BFFs and that has to count for something. I think being a part of a potentially historic team is better than a potential HC position where we can potentially fall on his face when he doesn’t have a transcendent QB.

If a coach’s decision results in a -.75 win, who gets the win? Shouldn’t it all equal zero at the end with an average coach losing 0 as a result of his decisions, the lowest at -.75 and best at +.75? I think what’s throwing everyone off is that average of -.75. That would mean something like the worst coaches -1.25 and the best winning coaches around +3 or +5 (don’t math back at me. All off the top of my head to give an estimated example). Something lopsided like that would have to be true for the -.75 to be the average. What I can say is that coaching has a TON to do with how a team performs. I always thought that it wasn’t the talent keeping us back/average for so long. It was the cheap coaches.

I thought the ankle injury was different from his previous one. I recall seeing the play in real time and thinking, well we just lost Brown for the season (actually very surprised he's able to come back based on what it looked like). I guess what I'm saying is that bringing him back "early" last time was irrelevant to his current injury and should be viewed as a stand alone injury, not a re-injury which implies "injury prone" or at least more susceptible to injury. I think it's better to have him playing vs. not because there is more to getting 100% game-day ready than just not being injured. It's getting his timing with Josh back in sync, getting game-day endurance (can't get that in practice/drills/workouts) getting back into the game-day prep cycle, and a bunch of other aspects to playing professional football that don't just jump off the page. I guess we tend to call it "knocking the rust off". IMO we want Brown warmed up, loose and firing on all cylinders before we finish up the Reg season and jump into the playoffs.

Absolutely not disagreeing with you on any point and in a strong TE class, we have an opportunity to strengthen the position and we should (will?) I just think that he is very raw and needs more time than others with a higher floor but lower ceiling. I know we always talk about the DK/Ford pick, but I was surprised we passed on him because it seems like McD puts a lot of value in physical freaks (Allen, Edmunds), even if they're raw. I think Knox falls into this category.

People have been mentioning how great Mike Gesicki is this year, but they don't known that he wasn't very good at all before this year. I think Knox just needs more time to develop.