CincyBillsFan

This is a great observation. There is as much of a difference between playoff games and championship/super bowl games as there is between regular season games and playoff games. The Bills had to get "bloodied" in a championship game to learn how to play in that kind of game. Now that they have the Bills must make sure that they get back there a couple of times over the next 5 years. And I'm confident they will.

How quickly people forget the past. Mahomes in his first AFC championship game was clearly overwhelmed for the first 3 quarters of that game. The Chiefs were shut out in the first half for crying out loud. After 3 quarters KC had only scored 7 points. The stat line between Allen & Mahomes wasn't all that different either. And note how Mahomes was sacked 4 times for minus 46 yards. That's over 11 yards per sack. Looks like Patrick ran backwards some to. As time goes on and the sting of this loss fades we'll appreciate that Allen played okay for his first AFC championship game. The Bills were beat by a better team. It's really that simple. Like in 1988, this Bills team had to experience a deep playoff run in order to make Super Bowl runs. It has and now on to next year.

This is untrue and a great example of revisionist history. Mahomes looked like a deer in the headlights in the fist half as the Patriots led 14 - 0 at the half. He settled down and did a little better in the 3rd quarter but going into the 4th quarter the Pats led the Chiefs 17 - 7. So surrounded by a ton of talent on offense Mahomes could only manage 7 points at home through 3 quarters. Now in the 4th quarter Mahomes exploded and led the Chiefs to 24 points. But it was clear to anyone who watched the game that the moment was clearly to big for Mahomes through 3 quarters.

I disagree. Allen took the underneath stuff a lot yesterday the 17 catches by Beasley, Dawson & Yeldon attest to that. Also the fact that starting at the end of the 2nd period, the Bills had three long drives that ended in 2 FG's and an INT in which the ball bounced out of Browns hands. In those drives Allen took the underneath stuff until the Bills ran out of real estate in the red zone. Then the inability to gain separation by the receivers kept us from scoring TD's on those drives. I'm amazed how when Allen has a couple of bad sacks folks seem to think it happened all game. The fact was that Allen was under pressure very quickly a lot of the time and was the Chiefs got up by 3 scores he had to hold the ball and try to connect on the deep passes.

I don't buy this at all. Late in the season when you started to see fans coming back into the stadiums the Bills were still winning their games in style and that includes two playoff wins against very good teams. The issue is that for 31 teams the season ends on a loss. And the further in the playoffs you go the more disappointing the loss. Yesterday's loss was entirely predictable: * we were playing the best team in football who went 14 - 2 and were defending Super Bowl Champs. * The Bills had a fatal flaw on offense that only 2 teams exploited - the Chiefs & Ravens. That flaw was NO running game and RB's/TE's that were not very dangerous in the passing game. We were one dimensional on O - Allen throwing to WR's. In hindsight it's amazing the Bills O played as well as they did this season. That's a testimony to the elite QB & WR play we enjoyed. * On defense the fatal flaw was that the defensive line didn't have a dominant pass rusher or top level run stopper. Missing these things forced the coaches to game plan on D to hide the defect. That left us vulnerable to an offense that game planned better like KC. These factors have far more to do with yesterdays loss then the presence or absence of fans.

This was the best Bills season since 1993. That's 27 years. Thank you Bills. And the added bonus is we now have a reason to look forward to next season.

I agree with this to a point. The problem I see with our RB's' particularly Singleterry is the lack of production in the passing game. Tow recent examples: 1) Against the Ravens the Bills had the perfect screen set up. Singleterry catches the ball and slips. That should have been a 20 yard gain. 2) Against KC Singleterry drops a potential 20 yard or more gain on a simple swing pass. That's a lot of yards lost on two simple plays. With our downfield WR threat and Allen's threat to run our RB's should be putting up big time receiving numbers but they don't. And that's a big problem but also a big opportunity for the Bills to cheaply add firepower to this offense.

Espinoza got better in the 2nd half of the season. There's every reason to think that he'll be a defensive mainstay next season. Bass was a huge pickup. After a shaky start he was one of the best long FG kickers in the NFL. Just in the playoffs he nailed two 51 yard FG's and a 54 yard FG. Moss developed into a solid #2 RB. Given that we didn't have a #1 pick this years draft class was fine.

Allen and the Bills have made steady progress each year: Bills: from 6 - 10 to 10 - 7 (wildcard playoffs) to 15 - 4 division winner, won 2 playoff games, lost in the championship game. Allen is a top 5 QB and McD and Bean are top 5 coach/GM. It's reasonable to assume that the over the next 10 years the Bills will be regular playoff participants making multiple Super Bowl runs.

The Tampa return guy has to take this KO out to try to get to the two minute warning.

Wow both QB's are playing poorly right now. They were both red hot in the 1st half and early in the 3rd quarter but they're struggling to even complete a pass now.

Judas Priest that was a bad pass by Brady not a drop by #13. Joe & Troy blaming he wrong guy on that INT.

That big completion to Godwin by Brady is why Allen takes shots down the field to his WR's even into double coverage. Sometimes you just have to let a guy make a play.

After this week I'm more convinced then ever that most of the popular national "experts" are a special combination of lazy & ignorant. My favorite dumb take was one guy claiming that the Bills offense is struggling and that they have to score more then 10 points to have any chance against the Chiefs. He was apparently basing his entire "analysis" on the Raven game! You know a game in which the Bills O played in a gale against one of the best defenses in the NFL. Had this moron gone back just one week he would have seen that the Bills O was playing at a very high level and had maintained that level in every game since the bye week.

It's always less stressful when paying with house money and that's exactly what we're playing with. This season has exceeded my most realistic optimistic expectations: 15 wins; division title; 2 playoff wins; elite play by Allen to confirm he's our franchise QB and the big trade for Diggs working better then anyone could have imagined. Throw in the fact that we have the right head coach & GM and the Bills are poised for a long run. Some have hinted that we have to win Sunday because this might be the last time we get so close to a Super Bowl. And yes that may be right. But IMO everything I see argues against a one & done Bills team. In fact all signs point to a 10 year run at the top. From ownership to head coach to GM the Bills are built for long term success. And we have our QB. And given Allen's path into and through the NFL it's reasonable to assume he will get even better over the coming years. So lets hope the Bills win and go to the SB. But in the end this is a learning experience for the Bills and there will be several more chances to reach the SB in the next few years. Count on it.

We are looking at the big picture. The offense against Indy looked exactly like it did all year. Pass happy, dependent on Allen making big plays, about 400 yards and 27 points. And this was done in a PLAYOFF game against a top 10 defense. And I would suggest you let go of your anti-Allen fanaticism. After the year Allen and the Bills offense have had he can throw 3 INT's and only 200 yards on Sunday and I'll still believe he had a great season and is the guy for the Bills. And that's not pro Allen "fanaticism" but seeing the ENTIRE season clearly and appreciating the elite level of QB play Allen has given the Bills.

I agree on the lack of a running game and how it might bite us in the butt in the end but I disagree with the rest of this post. First, Allen played one of his best games against Indy. Our offense looked fine against the Colts, one of the best defenses in the NFL. And in spite of playing in front of the home fans for the first time this season Allen had the best game of any QB that weekend. His play almost single-handedly won the game for the Bills. As for the Ravens game the wind pretty much destroyed DaBold's game plan right from the start. They put the game in Allen's hands in the first half because they didn't have a choice. When you combine the wind with a smart Baltimore defensive plan (much less blitzing) you had the perfect recipe for slowing the Bills down. Yet in the end Allen was efficient enough with the passing game to help get us the win. I'm convinced that in part Jackson forced that pass into the end zone because the Ravens were trailing 10 - 3 at the end of the 3rd quarter and Lamar felt under pressure to score a TD there and not settle for a FG. That opening 2nd half TD drive by the Bills was one of the most important drives of the Bills this year. And Allen shined directing it. Frankly when I see posts like this I see a whole lot of "wrong Josh" passive aggressive crap coming out.

No connection to the Kazakhstan Bills Mafia but I'm tight with the Bills Mafia in Uzbekistan & Kirghistan!

That you even bring Tyrod into this discussion betrays you as one of those "bad Josh" lurkers. Seriously dude, when judging Allen look at his body of work for the entire season including the first playoff game. Also look at the weather which played a huge role. And for the record on a perfect weather day in Jacksonville a couple of years ago Tyrod couldn't even complete 1 TD drive and the Bills lost. I can't believe that on the eve of the Bills playing in the AFC championship game with a 15 - 3 record and winning the AFC East and winning TWO playoff games and after a season in which Allen has 50 TD's (40 passing; 9 rushing; 1 receiving) and about 5,000 yards a 2BD poster is throwing Tyrod out there as a way to criticize Allen.

I disagree on both these points: * People are sensitive about Allen because he's taken a beating in the national media over the last couple of years. Hell a small but vocal group of 2BD posters have been harshly critical of Allen the last couple of years. * We won the first playoff game on the back of Allen. And that surprised a lot of the Allen naysayers out there (there are a lot of these people lurking) who were predicting an Allen meltdown along the lines of his exaggerated meltdown last season in the playoffs. * The story I see about the Bills D in the playoffs has been the enormous inconstancy of the unit. Against Indy they played very poorly giving up 4th quarter leads of 14 & 11 points. The Colts gained almost 500 yards and moved the ball up and down the field. Then last Saturday the D turned in one of Buffalo's greatest playoff defensive performances of all time. The fact is that in the first playoff game we almost lost because of poor defensive play and in the 2nd playoff game we won because of exceptional defensive play.

The other difference in the game was that the Bills put together an offensive TD drive and the Ravens did not.

This is what bugs me the most. The ignorance of this guys statement is breathtaking. All he had to do was look at highlights from the first playoff game to see that Allen carried this team to victory. Then on Saturday the defense carried the team to victory. That's what good teams do. By any standard Allen has been outstanding in the playoffs so far. And I submit that Allen didn't play all that badly in last years playoff game. Go back and watch the whole game if you don't believe me. You're right that we shouldn't let morons get under our skin. But it is more then one guy making one comment. But as you say in the end it doesn't matter. Regardless of what happens on Sunday we found our QB, our Coach and our GM. We'll be in the Super Bowl hunt for the next 10 years.

Don't forget to add in Mayfield & Jackson from Allen's draft class who have played in multiple playoff games and have less then two wins.

Bad weather, or more accurately stated HIGH WINDS are the Kryptonite to any passing game. This is particularly true when your passing game relies so heavily on WR production as the Bills does. Upgrade our RB's & TE's and the Buffalo offense will be very dangerous even on high wind days.

On the play before the pick 6 Jackson had two WR's wide open and he missed them. Was he under pressure - yes. But there's several top flight QB's in the NFL including Allen who likely would have had a TD pass there in spite of the pressure. Of all the shows I listened to only one so called national "expert" had the obvious response to all the Ravens need to upgrade their WR's talk: what top flight WR would want to come to the Ravens with that offense? #15 for the Ravens is a stud. With the right QB this guy would catch 100 passes for 1200 yards. Allen could only dream of a pass catching TE as good as Andrews. And could you imagine how lethal Allen's play action passes would be with the two Baltimore RB's alternating in the Bills backfield?