jkeerie

I looked at it again at the playoff machine and you are correct. Pittsburgh could rest starters week 18 if they've clinched the division and give Bengals a pass.

You are actually correct. I just looked at it again on the playoff machine. I set everything to home teams winning. Bengals do need to win out, including at Pittsburgh in week 18 which is possible if Pittsburgh rests starters. Best to have Broncos win. They face Bengals in week 17.

Totally disagree. Even if Bengals win out they need an awful lot of help.

I'm watching the replay on NFL Network as we speak and paying attention to the crowd noise based on your write-up. Spot on, Shaw!

I agree. We'd been getting washed on the ground in how many games. Versus Detroit's stout running game, the Bills gave up 48 yards. The Bills were missing 3 of their 5 starters in the secondary and lost another during the game. Then Milano and Williams went out in the second half. I'll cut the defense a bit of slack, considering they faced the number one offense. However, some very poor tackling extended many of the Detroit drives. Backups or not, tackling is fundamental.

You do make valid points with respect to the time aspect. It's easy to second guess. I"ll guarantee you that if McD declined the penalty and LA gets the 1st down and scores, and the game ended up the same, posters on this board would have screamed McD should have taken the penalty. Our defense sucked the entire game. I had no confidence they could force even a single punt. And in truth, they held the Rams to 37 points to our 42. It was the not-so-special teams that cost the Bills greatly! Speaking of which, Bills Special teams have not been stellar this year. And yesterday...in the last moments...we had 9 players on the final punt, and Coddrington is not instructed to field the ball no matter what???? I know McD is the head coach, but a head coach has got to rely on his coordinators to know what they are doing at all times and to instruct the team. So...McD trusted his players and his coordinators. They failed him. The players are owning it. The defensive players know they were awful that game and played with no sense of urgency. McD is owning the defeat...even though many can second-guess his decisions. I'm wondering about his coordinators. McD always talks about learning from these tough defeats. It will be interesting to see particularly in this next game, if they make any changes in their defensive scheme or personnel. As much as we love Taron Johnson (and he is a great nickel corner), it makes us lighter against the run especially with our current defensive tackles when he's always out there. Watching many of the talking heads today, I didn't hear any criticism of taking the holding penalty. The criticism centered around the QB sneak at the goal line which cost the time out when it failed. Interestingly on Up and Adams, Gronkowski was on. He's never really talks about the Bills in glowing terms routinely. Aquib Talib was quite critical of the Bills defense. Yet Gronk talked about, if you watch the game, Bills defenders were not out of position. They forced 3rd downs routinely. He basically gave credit to Stafford and Nacua and Kupp, as playing really lights out the entire game and making spectacular plays. He was critical of the Bills D Line, though, and not being able to pressure Stafford. That's where McD focused in his presser. He said the Bills lost in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Josh just minimized the damage offensively.

Not everyone. 😊

That 6-6 team may well have been 10-2 or better had their offense been healthy all season. They finally got their starting WRs and their starting O line back.

Chargers offense struggles more without McKonkey.

Where's Derwin James? I thought he was supposed to be the difference maker this game.

The Rams were finally healthy on offense this game. They had their starting oline and WRs. That has not been the case the previous games.

I don't disagree. In fact, McD trusted his defense AND his offense at the goal line. He put the game in the hands of his players.

McD said in his presser, they did switch to man at times, but were flagged for PI more when they did. He said they lost at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. He also believed McV would have gone for it had he declined the penalty based on what the Ram kicker was doing in warmups.

I just listened to McD's presser. He said in warmups the Ram kicker was shaky beyond the 38 (or it may have been from more than 38 yds). In any event, because of that he believed McV would have gone for it and not kicked the FG. That's why he took the penalty.

The last I checked, Babich calls the defense.

By taking the penalty, the Bills take LA out of FG range and make it 3rd and 17. The problem was the defense giving up 12 yds on the next play, making it 4th down...then giving up the 5 yds. I don't fault McD. Our defense could not stop LA, and specifically Nakua all game. The Rams offensive starters made the plays when they needed to. For that matter, so did the Bills. It was that dang blocked punt for a TD that made the difference.

Nope. We're still number 2 even with a loss. Bills have tie breaker over Steelers based on divisional wins.

The one place where I could see him going is Navy. But that position isn't open at present.

She's likely gained perspective, comparing what things were like when Poyer was a Bill with him now being part of the Dolphins. Dolphin 's have flashy players but the culture is empty.

I'm an alum of UB, Penn State, and Central Michigan. Also served in the Air Force. So those are my teams.

As a Penn State alum, I was pulling for Michigan. However, teams need to win graciously and lose graciously. Total lack of class if you can't do both.

Add to this that when a new HC takes over... it's a losing franchise likely playing a weak schedule due to how they finished in their division. After year one and the improvement, that coach is now playing a tougher schedule and suddenly the team is not looking as good.

The NFL is brain dead if they think the country wants to see the Chiefs in another Super Bowl. No one likes dynasties except the fans of the dynasty team. There are more non-Chiefs fans than there are Chiefs fans. And it's worse when the dynasty team gets a bit of help along the way.

F the Titans for trading Hopkins to KC!

Kevin O'Connell revived Darnold's career. Likely Jones sees that and envisions the same for his own.