The Red King

Say it with us...YOU GOTTA PLAY US Honestly, with all of this I get the feeling the Bengals really don't wanna play us. Esp. since a loss means their game with the Ravens next week will be for the division. They're scared, and trying to hype themselves up.

Mahomes has not won a road playoff game. 0-...oh? Yeah, he hasn't played a playoff game outside of Arrowhead. Ever. So yeah, it's very important period. Also, we drop to #3 Seed, we're likely going to Cincy then KC to get to the Super Bowl. We get #1 Seed, we'll only have to face one of the two at most, at home, maybe neither if there is an upset or two.

I think the Giants have a dearth of talent, worse then when Buffalo ended the drought. Without having a good enough draft position, they're not landing an elite QB without trading a decent number of picks away...picks they desperately need to improve the talent around the QB and RB. If I were them, I'd keep Jones and do everything I can to actually get some real talent on that team.

They're scared and posturing. He's trying to flex to settle his teammates down. Remind them what they did last year. Confident teams don't feel the need for stunts like this.

Hope 2023 is good to all of ya!

Apparently Tua and his teammates are all it's us against the world. He's not done! He's gonna get killed at this rate.

I disagree slightly. There is one game that matters, even if we win out, the KC game. If we win and KC loses, we lock the 1st seed and can rest people (and not worry about the Pats game).

My guess is he doesn't want to bail on this season, and will retire after this season regardless of outcome.

Oh, not disputing that. And I was proven wrong about pre-concussion vs. post. I'm not blaming any part of his performance on the concussion anymore, just to be clear. That play I described just stuck out to me. I had never seen anything like it before or after. He just stopped short of the sideline and did nothing but stare into space. Lucky the guy gently shoved him oob. I honestly think he could have ripped the ball out while Edwards was oblivious.

I was determined to prove you wrong, so I checked the stats. Holy crap, who stuck the rose-colored glasses on. Stats-wise prior he was servicable at best. Didn't change much after. I'll still maintain he never looked right after the hit. I remember one play vs. Miami where he ran out of bounds two yards short of the marker on 3rd down. Typical of him, I know. Except he didn't run out of bounds. He stopped like a half yard from the sideline and just stood there. Defender was confused, pulled up and gave him a gentle shove oob. He may not have been good prior or worse after, but there was definately something wrong.

They gambled with Tua, trying to make this year their year, and were still trying this weekend. Which is crazy. They are not winning the SB this year, and they might have just cost themselves what was actually starting to look like a franchise QB this year. Hell, I remember Trent Edwards and how he looked before and after the Cards game. And that was just a single concussion.

IE, the Patriots way. It worked well for them, and now working well for us.

Such a well thought out an nuanced reply. While I can agree with some of your points, I have to disagree on others. Still, I must commend you on breaking down each point and possible scenario to provide a truly verbose opinion on the matter!

I see the occasional talk about adding more teams to the NFL. In some ways it could help. Diluting talent evens the playing field, and more teams mean that more players are drafted ahead of the top teams. But there is one roadblock to this, the QB position. A high-caliber QB is at this point in the NFL a make it or break it position. You have one, or you don't. Adding more teams will not add more star QBs to the pool, and with the rest of the positional talent being thinned down across additional teams league-wide it could serve to simply increase the gap between the top and mid-tier teams. As a result, as things currently stand I don't think the NFL can expand in any capacity without harming the product. A franchise QB is all but required, and there are not enough of them out there for the 32 teams we currently have. Thoughts?

I tried to check. And again not saying the 3rd down D is troubling, just 3rd and long. Buffalo is actually quite good at 3rd and short, so it evens out. That being said, credit where it's due. The Bills did quite well against 3rd and long today.

So, from what I'm hearing from some, it doesn't matter how good or bad our 3rd and long play is, there is nothing to be concerned about because we're 11-3. All 3 or less loss teams have no flaws whatsoever to be worried about? There should be no concerns whatsoever for the Bills, Chiefs, Eagles or Vikings. Not for any facet of their gameplay at all, because hey, less then four losses. Four flawless teams, should make for amazing Championship Games and Super Bowl then.

All this is about is 3rd and long. And don't give me 11-3. This team isn't flawless. 11-3 doesn't mean nothing could be wrong. Look at Pitt two years ago. Had even a better record, then got curb-stomped in the Wild Card game. I think I raised a valid concern. The longer the D is out there, the less our O is. 3rd and long should be when we get off the field, but we're blowing a disproportionate number of them. Honestly, I'm more comfortable with 3rd and 5 then I am 3rd and 10.

I'm trying, but I just can't find the stats. 3rd down overall, but not 3rd and long. Not defensively at least.

We're 17th in 3rd and long, or 3rd overall?

It may be perspective, I didn't check the numbers, but I worry about 3rd and long because our D seems bad at it. I'm actually more confident with 3rd and short. We just seem to keep getting torched on 3rd and 10, 3rd and 12, etc. 3rd and long and you can usually pressure the offense, but it seems we do the opposite, giving the QB time to kill us. Again, maybe I'm wrong, but for all our strengths we just don't look good on third and long plays.

What tickles me are the complaints about the 2pt conversion. First, it would not have mattered, we won by three. Second, there is a clear shot of the ball breaking the plane before coming free. It was literally conclusive.

It's hard to make split-second judgement calls. Face-guarding is an unofficial tie-breaker if the ref isn't sure whether or not to throw the flag.

Go back and re-read my initial reply. I think you missed the point entirely. By black and white you mean what's good for the goose is not good for the gander? If the only thing that matters for the Bills is their record, then the same holds true for the Chiefs. If it doesn't hold true for the Chiefs, then you can't use it as an argument against criticism of the Bills.

Who are the Chefs?

Mahomes has yet to play a road playoff game. I'd love for us to be his first.