CincyBillsFan

As long as he wins the NATI for the next decade I can live with that. College football is now the Jr NFL and even THE GAME will fall victim to the playoffs as Michigan vs Ohio state will be nor more important then any other game. like the NFL, all that will matter is whether or not you make and advance through the playoffs. As an aside, the Buckeye's impressive romp (4 straight wins all by double digit or greater margins) through the playoffs has completely vindicated the expanded 12 game playoff field. After all in the old format the 2 loss, #8 ranked Ohio State never would have made the playoffs.

Allen because he scored 2 out of the 3 Bills TD's and was instrumental in enabling the Bills to score the other TD by converting a 3rd & 8 with a great 35 yard throw and converting a 4th & 2 with his legs on the drive that got the Bills their 1st TD.

No one is trashing Jackson TO PROP UP ALLEN. Be precise when quoting me please. You don't think Henry improved Jackson's play? Seriously? Jackson has never put up the passing numbers he has this year and you think it didn't have a lot to do with having a 2000 yard rusher in the backfield?

No one is trashing Jackson to prop up Allen. That is a straw man argument. Look at the Ravens record when Henry has 20 or more carry's versus less then that. Jackson's improved play this season is due in large part to the addition of Henry. And there is no way the NFL media would be treating Allen the same way as they've been treating Jackson if the results were reversed.

I long for the days when the biggest news at this time of the year for the Bills was who the new coach would be. Now I have to go through the agony of worrying about these damn playoff games every week. Imaginary football in January/February always worked out great for me with our new coach.

That's been the dumbest and strangest take of the day so far and it's been multiple media people saying this. With a minute and a half and two TO's left the Bills were in a great position to win the game in regulation with a FG at the end.

Last night big bodied TE's had an advantage over a smaller DB like Johnson with the slippery conditions. When they collided in the physical play that makes #7 elite it can result in the DB on the ground. You saw it in the Eagles/Rams game where the Eagles TE was eating up the Rams.

But that appeared to be by design as Brady has shown in the past that he can adjust the game plan with the best of them. In fact just last week they opened things up on offense and blew the Bronco's out in the 2nd half. I suspect the conditions last night worried McD that if he started pressing more to put the game away they would commit the type of TO's that the Ravens did. Agree or disagree with McD's 2nd half assessment, he seemed to think they had the game won at half as long as the Bills didn't give it away with TO's.

I think we're witnessing a fundamental change in how the Bills use Allen and his amazing skill set. It is designed to win championships and keep Allen in his prime for the next decade. First, they have decided, correctly IMO, that you can not depend on Allen being Superman in every game. It is not sustainable and as Greg Cosell, who is a very smart QB analyst, has been warning us you won't win championships with this mindset. Second, they have worked hard to build a good running game and O line to take the pressure off Allen. Third they did put the ball in Allen's hand in the first half and the Bills responded by scoring 3 TD's and were robbed from scoring more by a horrible holding call on the one possession they punted. At half they had a commanding 21 - 10 lead. And finally, the problem IMO is that McD still has to high of an opinion of his D. He was playing the odds and gambling that being conservative on offense and not making any TO's would be enough to win. And he was right though it was close. The fact was that the Bills held a 27 - 19 lead with three and a half minutes left in the game and the Ravens at their own 11 yard line.

And the type of play Allen has made "famous" and would have been eviscerated for. The double standard in talking about these two QB's is alarming. In a way this was an all in year for them. It's hard to believe that Henry has any more 2000 yard seasons in him. If I was a Ravens fan I would be thinking that we really blew it this year. First, they lost 5 games which lands them as the 3rd seed. Second, they lose in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Ravens under performed in spite of at times over the season looking like the best team in football.

I would say that Henry and the other RB gashing the Bills in the 3rd quarter threw the Bills D and coaches into a panic which Jackson then exploited. In fact looking at the Ravens season this is exactly how they won/lost games. In the 1st half the Bills largely shut down Henry and the result was Jackson having 2 TO's and the Ravens trailing 21 - 10. If the Ravens didn't have the beast of a RB like Henry last nights game probably ends up being a 3 score Bills blowout as Jackson would have had 1 or 2 more TO's as he tried to get his team back in the game.

What? Jackson did not outplay Allen in any way. Those two TO's were huge and contributed more to the loss then any other plays including the Edwards fumble & drop. Would you and others be saying the same thing had Allen & Jackson switched places? I don't think so.

This is a great point. His momentum was definitely taking him out of bounds so even if he had caught the pass his back was to the plane of the end zone and the ball may never have broken the plane before he slid out of bounds.

The first Bills play of the 3rd quarter was the pitch play that had burned the Ravens in that last drive of the half. It was stuffed for no gain. All I could think was didn't Brady assume that the Ravens D coaches discussed THAT play extensively in the locker room and adjusted their D? Sure Allen may have changed some calls but there was a clear intention of not being aggressive on offense the entire 2nd half. It worked as we won the game but it was very risky IMO.

As others have pointed out the situation was 100% different then last night. We were at our own 5 yard line and on the road.