RocCityRoller

4th and 2 on SF 36 Need to correct both teams have all 3 TO, graphic was wonky. 6:03 remaining 23-17 49ers at the moment

Miami converted 4th and 1 form their own 18/19. Now in SF territory. SF defense looks gassed

Cincy lost all momentum after the failed 4th and goal... analytics don't know sh!t about momentum and how it affects games

Challenged completion on 3rd an 1, and Play reversed! 4th and 1 Miami at their own 19

Let's go Cincy!

TURNOVER!!! Let's see the refs....

punted, downed at Miami 10 11+ minutes left

SF 4th and 3 at Miami 43, interesting call coming up

45 yd TD pass to Hill. Big drive for the dolphins 23-17

I'm going to blame day drinking, makes things complicated

Robbie Gould 36 yd FG to go 23-10 1:14 left in the third. Interesting fact SF is down to it's last TO

20-10 2:52 left in the third SF ball deep in their own territory

So the real hot sauce is this. If the Cincinnati Bengals can beat the Chiefs this weekend, then the Bills own their own destiny. If Cincy wins, then KC could finish no better than 14-3. If the Bills win out they would be 14-3. if both teams finish 14-3 the Bills have the tie-breaker. Let's go Bengals!

I am no Singletary apologist. I don't think he is a RB#1. Never have. But he may be the best RB#2 in the league outside of Tony Pollard. Problem is he is the Bills #1 RB. But he has been a much better receiver than anyone thought. Recency bias is strong here. Singletary is a solid receiving back. Receiving catch percentage: 2019: 70.7% 2020: 76.0% 2021: 83.6% 2022: 73.8% Not seeing 'stone hands' anywhere TBH.

Hey Gunner, I usually agree with you. But 'Rhodes is washed', and 'Singletary has stone hands' makes me wonder if your Sleep Number mattress is working for you! I replied to your comment about Singletary in the other thread. As for CBs: Elam is giving up a 70% completion percentage against. That is bad. By any account that is bad. Jackson has drawn/ mirrored the #1 WR most of the season due to injuries and gave up 56%, not great, but understandable. That includes guys like Jefferson vs MIN. As for Rhodes, yes he is 32. Yes he regressed a lot in past years. He also played in a Frazier defense in the past. I'm waiting to see Rhodes stats vs New England, because he was a shut down CB vs. Detroit. I only have his 1 game vs Detroit to work with. He played 25 snaps. His receiver was targeted once. 1 time in 25 snaps (4% targeted) The pass allowed went for 5 yards. It's a tiny sample, but he wasn't 'washed'. I'll take 4% target against and 5 yds allowed by my CB any day. ProFootball Reference is updating stats, so let's look at targets against snaps as another qualifier when the data is complete. If QBs are making throws against, that means they think a WR is open or could catch a pass vs a DB. I bet the stats do not agree with you, and much of the board TBH. I am willing to bet QBs do not like throwing against Benford or Rhodes.

Fair assessment IMO. Was really surprised BB went for the FG late instead of going for the TD drive, that should have been an analytics call IMO. More shocked BB didn't call TO with 2:00 to go and 3 TO. I lived in MA for 2 years, pre-Josh Allen. I was there when Buffalo hired Rex Ryan. Hilarity ensued on all parties behalf. We all got drunk and laughed. TBH most of the folks I met there were good people. For basketball and hockey those folks knew their stuff. Football didn't happen Pre-Brady. Certainly there were Massholes. The roads are a mess. Traffic was winner take all. Going out on the green line or orange line on the T was always an adventure. Any Thursday/ Friday/ Saturday/ Sunday night out was crazy. Guys would fight in front of bars off of those stops because 'it was the weekend' and there was nothing better to do. Good old fashioned donneybrooks, the way God intended. NH was very cool. If I had to live in New England it would be New Hampshire or down east Maine. Had a load of good hearted fun in Keene.

Singletary has caught 31 of 40 passes. 77.5% catch rate. How is that Stone hands? I think that is top 3 on the team. 13 of those 31 receptions have gone for 1st downs. (41%) The avg is 6.9 yards per catch, not mind blowing, but still solid. No one will argue he is Thurman Thomas or Marshall Faulk, but 'stone hands'? This is such an odd place after a win.

So what a season so far. 9-3 feels good. SF/MINN/CINCY could help us out big this weekend. I'm really proud of this team. They just effectively won 3 road games in 12 days. The 3 losses are by a combined 8 points. The fact 2 of those 3 were to divisional opponents who have been building to beat our beloved Bills adds spice to the story. The usual mid season doldrums are over. This reduced some of the out of control hype train from the media and some fans. The Bills have been injury lucky for multiple seasons. The 'Law of Averages' caught up in a big way, It may not have been in total games lost, but to key players and have been peppered all over. Parts of 2-3 games the entire DB unit has had backups playing except our NCB. OL has played multiple quarters with LT and C out at the same time. JA and Poyer have been beasts playing through injury. Poyer drove to a f&^$ing game he couldn't fly to. Young guys and journeymen players have had to come in and play. They are battle hardened now. They have won, and have had a few really tough losses. Hamlin/ Van Roten/ Quessenbury/ Hart/ Benford/ Elam/ Cook/ Dodson/ Klein/ Rhodes/ J Johnson etc have all had to play meaningful snaps, and this team is 9-3. 8 points from 12-0. Beane has had to pull in veteran reinforcements in Rhodes/ Klein/ Brown/ Hines. Moves I don't think would have been made otherwise. Brown and Klein both came back as soon as the call went out. Lawson, Phillips, Klein and Brown couldn't wait to be Bills again. Says something about the organization and how it's run. Rhodes and Klein both basically jumped in quickly and added steady veteran play. Rhodes is allowing the young DBs to take a bit of a break and absorb what happened. Klein gets Bernard and Dodson off the field, they aren't ready yet. Hines is the PR/KR the Bills needed. He will break a big return when needed, I just know it. Happy Brown is back for another run, I thought he got a bit of a raw deal. One or many of these guys may or may not be on the roster through the end of the season, but they all answered the call. The injury to Josh Allen has forced Dorsey to balance the offense out and find a running game. Cook is stepping up now, Motor is getting more carries, McKenzie is alive and well, and JA can still can zip it when needed. Davis and Knox have been down, but we know Davis saves his best games for the playoffs (Indy, KC etc) and Knox just shows up when not expected. Tre White is back and rounding into form again. (He showed up after I put him on a milk carton 🤣, sorry Tre had to do it) The Bills dodged what could have been terrible luck with Von Miller. Rest up Closer, we will need you in 3 weeks. Hyde could come back for the playoffs. No team has faced Poyer/ Hyde and White since Thanksgiving of 2021. No team wants to see that. The schedule has been tough, but the schedule gods gave Buffalo this 10 day reprieve in the final 1/3 of the season. Crazy expectations/Snowmageddon/ injuries/ getting the band back together/ blow out wins/ heart stopping wins/ tough losses this team has seen it all this season. 9-3 8 points from 12-0 They beat the Super Bowl winning Rams in week 1, and the Rams never recovered. They took care of business against the Chiefs They made the AFC South leading Titans look like a JV team They had a big come back win against the Ravens They own Bill Belichick and the Pats now I think this is the most battle tested team McDermott has had. Injuries forced solid depth moves to be made, and Beane made it happen. This is now the deepest team McDermott has had. McDermott kept it all together when things could have gotten ugly. He won early when all the hype and pressure was on. No leaks about a split or divided locker room now..... Winning cures all ailments and the Bills just passed a major gut check. If Miller and Hyde can come back for one magical run, I think this team is unstoppable. GO BILLS!

Someone woke Dorsey up and noted that opposing defenses are playing a 2 Deep cover/ shell against the Bills. A pro team should be able to run against that. Removing carries from Moss who was not effective and giving them to Cook who is flashing now was addition by subtraction. The balance is helping.

Really the first time BB seems in awe of an opposing QB. Not sure he even felt this against Manning. (Either of them TBH)

Big games this weekend. Will be fun to watch football knowing the Bills took care of business tonight. 49ers can help by beating the Dolphins and give Buffalo a half game lead on them (Tie breaker to Miami at the moment) Vikings can help by beating the Jets and give a 1.5 game lead (Tie breaker to Jets at the moment) Cincy can prove they weren't a fluke and beat KC which reverts home field advantage back to Buffalo (we have that tie breaker) If those things happen, Buffalo really does control its own destiny. Could be a SUPER weekend for the Bills

Fair points a lot of folks here would agree with you. Will be interesting to see what happens this offseason. Bills are in a cap jam (seemingly) and have a bunch of FAs including Dane Jackson (ERFA) and Poyer. The 'trials by fire' should only help with the impending transitions. Nice to have options.

'And now we know the rest of the story'

Thanks. I was really down on Jackson since the Minny game. I trust ProFootball Reference more than PFF and even Football Outsiders so I wanted to look up the advanced defensive stats on the DB trio, and T Johnson too. I was surprised how, despite 2-3 clear bad games Dane Jackson still was the best of the 3 CBs. It also showed what many thought, that Benford was having a better season than Elam. Elam is more a press cover guy, changing to a heavier zone scheme is not going to be easy. He also was more gifted athletically or on par with a lot of the WRs he faced in college. Won't be the case in the NFL. That said he has the traits and mentality to improve. This season has been trial by fire for the young CBs and I think overall they did enough to help bridge the gap. I know many think Benford will be moved to S. Maybe the right play would be to keep Benford at CB and move Elam to S or Big Nickel (Siran Neal position) where his brand of more physical DB play could be better utilized? He is basically the same size as Poyer and Hyde. If I recall correctly Hyde was available because Green Bay knew he was a good DB, but couldn't figure out how to utilize him. He was a utility DB for GB. McDermott and Frazier knew he was a S and has become a difference maker with their tutelage.

Peruvian marching powder?