Mikie2times

Yup. I'm not going all in on the OP's rant, but that call was just awful. No contender is playing for OT in that spot and we seemed 100% content doing so.

We are good fans, good fans can get angry when it's bad (we can't help it) but should also love when it's good. Hauschka took a lot of heat after going 8 of 13 through week 10. Since, he is 14 of 15, now 16 of 17 with the first half in Houston. Give the man his props. Her seemed to be in the darkest places of the kicking world and has gotten it together.

I think he's done. Just watching him all year and I have watched a lot of New England this year. Just a good fade bet so I was tuned in a lot. I mean he celebrated a 10 yard sneak against the Chiefs for a first down as if he won a Super Bowl. Outside of that I haven't seen a smile all season. He knows he's working against time. I think he feels it and it weighs on him. You don't really know that feeling until your body fails you at something it never has before. He knows he's working against his HC in many ways. He was just frustrated and angry seemingly all season. If he has any sense he will hang it up.

Only maggots that didn't graduate elementary work weekends. I was top of my class at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School. I got it made.

I agree about the defenses, but we are only looking up, and that is in both areas you mention. Johnson and Flutie vs Allen (Forward Outlook). Allen all day. As far as that defense, well, we saw what happened. That was the latest best window we had. I see the next 3-5 years giving us a better windows than those teams. Especially when you consider we haven't laid it on with spending, YET.

I have been more in the corner of the OP as far as coming back to earth on this team, but even within that, this isn't as black and white as I felt earlier in the season. Early in the season you could make a pretty good argument for us being overrated against our record. Pretty much all of the advanced data showed as much. As the season progressed we played much better and the advanced data shows that as well. So while I have been bearish on the Bills most the year, I'm bullish in the sense that we can A) steal a game from anybody in the league this year B) expect more progression next year. This is a bright future ahead of us, as good as it's looked since the early 90's. I will even give it a +1 against the Flutie era playoff teams and those teams were no joke. The year we lost MCM, we very well could have went to the Super Bowl. That was one of the best defenses in Bills history.

I live 30 minutes from his home town and the stories that come out of Findlay are far worse than anything the Media has reported. Also well before the media reported it.

OP, to give you an idea, you not only have the local fan base fighting for a ticket but you have an entire generation of Bills fans between the ages of 34-41 (Give or take) across the United States that has never had a chance to see a Home playoff game. That fan base was was born from the early 90's Bills and these people become fans as kids because we had a lot of national exposure. Now they make adult money. I'm one of them and know several others. Good luck getting a ticket, it will be hard to come by.

I watch a lot of college football and was singing his praises when we drafted him. Shifty in space, overlooked because of his size, college, and lack of a top end top gear. I thought he was first round talent 5-10 yards from the line of scrimmage. That is to say, the guy is hard to find, shifty, power, balance, acceleration. I really don't care if he's going to finish a 60 yard run or not at the clip he's breaking 10+ yard runs.

Shame, these conditions in a home game SHOULD make us favorites against just about the entire league outside Baltimore and the 49ers. Dealing with cooler weather and 20+ MPH, only Allen and a few others can manage. Tom would shrink (See Philadelphia away game), Brees would struggle. The list of cerebral QB's with fading arms is rather long. About the only thing you would really not like to see if your Buffalo is a run oriented team and probably the best kicker in NFL history (should we end up in a one score game). That is exactly what we get Sunday.

I remember putting $100 on the ML at +950 on that game. Nice hit. In fact I miss Lamar at Louisville because he was such a great fade after he became really well known. That offense literally turned into give it to Lamar. He manufactured everything on every play. Petrino was just awful in how they utilized him. I like the notion that some of our players are familiar with him but take very little away from his time at Louisville. I'm not scared of Lamar. He is having an amazing season, should be the MVP if things hold serve, but he will get figured out. You look at his passing numbers and it's easy to say and he's a great pocket passer. He isn't. His athleticism and the power Greg Romans run game has made two athletic QB's look like great passers, especially in the stat book. Lamar is just the next level of it all and Roman is having a field day. But all of his game and the Baltimore offense is predicated on running and once teams figure out how to neutralize that more Lamar will start looking much more baffled. I don't know when the blue print will come, I just know it will. Hopefully this weekend.

I attended one of them with Jimbo in Detroit.

Huge win today by the Bills and easily the most impressive of the season. That Denver team wasn't nearly as bad as the record indicated.

I referenced this about Brady after the Eagles game and I based most of it on one concept. Not evaluating how good he is currently or how long he can play above average football. Just evaluating the psychological challenges age can have on a player like him. He's one of the most competitive players in NFL history. Not only from a standpoint of winning and losing but from the standpoint of evaluating his own performance. He has be talking for years about how long he can play. I don't think he really got his head around the concept that his body could just start failing him. So in a situation where he might have played poorly in the past he would usually show the poor body language, dust himself off, and whoever played him the following week good luck. What I think he's finding now is he keeps dusting himself off and nothing is happening. He keeps hitting a wall against what his expectations of himself are. He will come to the realization very soon that he will never be the player he was. Given who he is as a competitor, I just don't think he can survive long in that environment. He is too critical with himself and the psychological tole will eventually do him in. This is his last season in my opinion.

21-13 Broncos

I expect it to be very polarizing. Pretty much every advanced model used to forecast future success has Buffalo very poorly rated. Most well below even the lowly 3-7 Broncos. They have us rated below Cleveland. It seems to me the more these simulations play out, the more it turns into see the advanced stats were right. Then a win like last week and it’s see we are that good, but the advanced stat guys are like, ugh, this is another powder puff. As usual the truth is somewhere in the middle. Look at the line movement on this game if you want a clear picture of exactly what I'm saying. Started off -5 and got immediately dropped to -4 and will close at -3. So what you got is the record driven thinkers/perception off record driving the opening number. Then the advanced guys driving it down. Handicappers do not care very much about records, in fact they want teams like Buffalo to have a following and become a popular bet only to fade the hell out of them if the data indicates a regression. I can say to a certainty the data indicates a regression, that doesn't mean it will occur, it's just the data. I can say for Denver it indicates a progression. If you care about that or not, that’s each fans perspective. Just as how much or little the fan base reacts to one game or a series of games. How much they factor in record, base stats, advanced stats and opponents. So on, so forth.

Anybody that thinks Denver falls into the easy win category, rude awakening come Sunday . Don't let the record fool you. This is not a good match up for us. Denver could easily be 6-1 over the last 7 games playing a much more difficult schedule. Two losses by a total of 4 points and the Minnesota debacle last week. They looked better in wins against the Titans and Cleveland. They have an excellent running game ranking 10th on football outsiders. They have the 9th rated defense and 6th rated run defense on Football Outsiders. The make up they have is basically a carbon copy of the Eagles. We do get the benefit of facing an inexperienced QB but if we win this will certainly be the best team we have beat all season. Following Denver we get another challenging situation. Dallas, like Denver, an excellent run game ranking 3rd in the league behind a huge offensive line. Unlike Denver we should have more luck running the ball. You can run on Dallas and you better try, because that pass rush. Dear lord. Ever since they added Bennett it's gone nuclear. Just having watched them two straight weeks the type of speed they bring off the edge and how aggressive they play. If Josh is dropping back and hanging out he will be done. We have to mirror what Minnesota did to them Sunday Night two weeks ago. Lot of running, misdirection, using the speed against them. Garett is capable of beating himself. We will play consecutive weeks against teams that directly challenge our weaknesses as we have seen thus far. Excellent rushing teams, excellent run defense and pass rushing. We have to get a split out of this thing. We will know how far this team has come and where we stand moving forward once everybody is fat and happy on Turkey next Thursday.

Right....how many teams would have asked Lamar to stop running. Learn how to be a NFL quarterback. This guy did the same thing with Kaep and Tyrod. Again, not nearly the talent of Lamar. But he’s got a special ability in the run game nobody else in the league has. In a league with growing pedestrian QB play, that and great defense can do a lot of damage.

Title says he will be a HC. I agree he's better served as an OC but somebody will pursue him for a HC role soon. Even while thinking he would be a much better OC vs HC, I wouldn't have a problem with the hire. I don't see evidence from most converted OC's and DC's that they have some superior level of HC ability. Most fail in that spot, NFL is littered with them. At least he has a very clear plan. About as decisive in what he wants to do and accomplish as any coordinator in the league. He knows the path to accomplish it. He knows how to teach it. He knows the players he needs and he can get those players. This all pertaining to offense which makes him even more appealing. 99% of the rest of leagues OC's have a requirement that most teams never find (Excellent passing QB).

I don't remember the general thoughts on Roman when we brought him on. Too much discussion over Tyrod and Rex at the time. What I do remember was some of the "This is a passing league comments". I remember fans thinking Roman was past his time. As we all know the league changes. Perhaps Roman was a bit past his time a few years ago, perhaps he was ahead of it? I think many coaches will look at what Baltimore is doing and say hey, I'm not going to try and find the Bill Walsh 1 in 50 QB anymore. Why should I? Who can I get that is an athletic passer/runner, develop an outstanding run game and stack the defense. If that's your model who has a better history of executing it than Roman? His level of success is rather absurd, perhaps constantly undervalued during an era where the running game was all but dead. His two years here we finished in the top 15 in points scored. Last time we did that in two consecutive years was 1995 and 1996. He was with the 49ers prior, 3 straight years they finished top 15 in points scored. Last time they accomplished that was 2001, 2002, and 2003. They also went to two NFC championships and one Super Bowl during that time. Now with Baltimore, leading the league in points scored and certainly looking poised to go on a deep playoff run. I always loved this guys offense. He has done some great things with Kaep and Taylor, and some down right stupid things with Lamar. Lamar is a rare talent, I understand that. But he didn't exactly fail with less.

I don't disagree about Dallas as a whole. I don't think they're a threat for a Super Bowl or anything. They're inconsistent. That said, what they do consistently is exactly what we don't do well. Namely run the ball with power (offensive line has been healthy and unhealthy all year, hopefully we get unhealthy). Then since they added Bennett, that pass rush is just dumb = Allen bailing, fumbles, picks, etc. If you caught them play the Vikings a few weeks ago, that is what we need to do in order to have a chance. Minnesota lived off play action, screens, anything to turn the speed and aggressiveness Dallas has on defense against itself.

Dallas game is going to really be a struggle. Just the way the Cowboys are built. I don't think they're Top 5, but they have a huge offensive line geared toward the power run game and a defense that gets to the QB about as fast as any team in the NFL. If you watched them lately you would know what I'm talking about. OK results, it's the the style of play that scares me.

I’m not ready to concede to this. Just like I’m not ready to get overzealous about the Bills. New England got waxed by Baltimore. Philadelphia has played several times this year with both Jackson and Jeffery out and they look like crap when that happens, Wentz has looked lost in these spots. Like Buffalo, they just haven’t played anybody. Points for taking care of business, but I would give the Bills better odds at winning a playoff game this year than New England MAKING the Super Bowl.

That’s what drove my post. He has the look of a man whose body is failing him. It’s like you can see him start to get it. You can only dust yourself off so many times and try and overcome that adversity. I also agree on the weather. If he keeps playing, I imagine it will be somewhere warm. It would be a mistake though. I can’t stand the dude, but after his career I would much rather him go out semi on top or on top than as a beaten man half of what he was.

Actually I do see a decline there. Maybe a millisecond or two. Then another couple milliseconds on release. Then weaker arm. His offensive line isn’t doing him any favors nor are his receivers but they didn’t in the past all that much either. Again, main point is this is not a guy I’m scared of anymore. He’s not done per say, but I’m not worried about some magical Brady GOAT legend virtually guaranteeing outcomes like he has his whole career. He’s not that player anymore. Defense or not, that makes New England vulnerable.