Beck Water

Who didn't want the questions being heard, the team or the reporters? I mean, it's called "Q & A" for a reason. The "A" doesn't entirely make sense without the "Q" context.

I agree that the defense improved markedly, but they started the season on "sieve-like" so I'm not sure that's entirely to Payton's credit. On the other hand, he held the team together and brought them back from the Miami debacle, so there's that.

That's a point, but Dimes was coming off a season where he looked much improved, had a league-leading low in INT, and a career-high and #4 in league rushing contribution of more than 700 yds. He's also 25. Wilson is 35 and has taken a terrible beating with sacks the last 2 seasons. He's actually had as many rush attempts for as many yards as he did 4-5 years ago, but to me he now runs like a busted mower in high grass. Still, it's a point that one never knows what a QB-desperate NFL team will do

I know, right? Other team's pressers, you can actually hear the questions the reporters ask. In some, the team calls on the reporters, presumably so that the sound guy can activate the relevant mic, but the WNY press corps is not so big that they shouldn't be able to pass around a portable mic or two. I Read No Lies

Fair points. Agree completely on the impact of sacks - some coaches rate them as similar to a turnover. But, I hadn't watched enough Broncos games to have a sense of whether Wilson was at fault or whether they were expecting him to operate behind scraps and turnstiles on OL. I had the impression, the latter, but there may well be designed hot reads Wilson isn't taking, as well - he certainly had a pattern as a Seattle QB of ignoring the hot read to try to extend plays and create. (As Allen has done at times) He does have 10 fumbles, only 5 fumbles lost FWIW. The thing is, if they're going to bite the bullet, eat the massive dead cap next year, and move on from Wilson, What's the Plan at QB? They've been a bit too successful to draft a QB high. They still owe the Saints their 2nd round pick this year as part of the trade for Sean Payton so their maneuvering room in the draft will be limited.

Yeah, I was looking at that myself. I see Poona Ford, Kingsley Jonathan, and Germain Ifedi as the three most likely candidates. -Jonathan was active for 10 games Week 3 to Week 12 playing mostly ST. He then did not show up on the injury report, but his ST snaps dropped about 20% Week 12 so he may have gotten injured. He was inactive the week after the bye - which would mean 2 weeks off, with the bye - possible injury that didn't hamper him in practice. Since then his ST snaps have fallen to 30-40%. He may be trying to play through an injury, so the Bills might be able to IR him and he might prefer the sure $$ to trying to catch on with another team if he's playing hurt. -Cutting Ford seems like a bit of an iffy proposition as it would mean going with 4 DT until the 2nd round of playoffs, and not having any room to let Jones work his way back on a pitch count. Ford got 39% of the D snaps against the Chargers and has had a previous 3-game stretch of significant D snaps. -Germain Ifedi has been active for 0 games this season, so he would seem like the entrant for "least likely to contribute". But, unless stuff has changed, I think he's the only OT on the roster with experience at RT? Van Demark has been active every game and has taken a few snaps (and played a little Teams) but, at least in pre-season am I remembering correctly he was strictly LT? I'm thinking the prudent course of action is to hang on to an "emergency backup plan" for Spencer Brown. My guess would be they either IR or cut Kingsley Jonathan, providing that AJE is "good to go", and that they'll keep DaQuan out against NE and make a move prior to the Miami game. Here's the roster if anyone else wants to try "Play the GM"

Heh. Fair point. We not only were mathematically alive, we actually made the playoffs that year.

The Broncos have a mediocre scoring offense and a bottom-dweller defense, despite being mid-pack on offensive turnovers too (meaning the offense isn't putting the defense in bad positions an excessive amount). They have a "meh" rushing offense, but are near the bottom of the league for rushing TDs, which says they're hanging on Wilson's arm to score. He actually put up decent numbers. 26 TD, 8 INT, 204.5 ypg, 98 passer rating are all QB numbers a team should be able to win with. Decent "bounceback" year. On the other hand, they're not paying Wilson to be "a QB you can win with", they're paying him to be a Star of Stars. It's clear that Russ has not been the game changer that the Broncos envisioned when they traded for him so I can't disagree with the Broncos on the financial decision, but to me, this recks of scapegoating Russ for the pretty putrid defensive performances Payton started off the season with. As we know, Payton has such a great track record*** for how he handled the QB position and cap/personnel decisions in general in N'Orleans at the end of his tenure there, so he must know what he's doing 🙄 ***sarcasm font enabled

Did. Not. See. that. coming. Is there precedent for a team benching their starter when they are still mathematically alive for the playoffs? I grant that after the last two losses, their odds are apparently very low https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/nfl-playoff-picture-broncos-arent-technically-eliminated-yet/ar-AA1m2PHq

Brown has improved, but his strength seems to be run blocking. Agree with the first part, but the roster is 53 since today was the end of Elam's 21-day-window to return. So to activate Daquan, the Bills will have to waive someone or put someone on IR. My totally personal based-on-nothing guess is that the wiser heads really want to IR Hyde (and likely wanted to before the Dallas game) but Hyde is fighting it tooth and nail.

Wow, I suppose I deserve that nasty crack in your view. Wow. If you think I'm just typing to type instead of having useful or interesting stuff to contribute, why not do us both a favor and put me on "ignore" instead of posting just to take a swipe? My understanding of what you meant when you typed "By “average team among the league’s parity” he means collectively ranked top 5 and rising by people who actually know things.", was that you were agreeing - since these people "actually know things". If you believe people (whoever they are) actually know things and rank the Bills as an average team, it seems reasonable to ask you "who are these people who actually know things? And what criteria do they use?" If you weren't agreeing with him, what was your point? Were you posting just to give his stuff more "Air"play and propegate it? As far as what I honestly think, I believe "Bills currently #6 offense on points. #3 for NY/A (aren't you a fan of that?). #3 for Y/P. #4 defense on points. #5 for NY/A against. With these objective stats plus a very close OT loss against the Eagles, dismantling the Cowboys, and earlier in season solid win against the Dolphins (all top teams), it's a bit difficult to defend a ranking by "people who actually know things" that places the Bills as an "average team among the league's parity" or even outside the top 5 teams." is reasonably clear to most folks. I have had Airseven on ignore for a long time because he/she/it is a well-known troll.

https://buffalonews.com/sports/professional/nfl/bills/terrel-bernard-builds-upon-own-confidence-as-he-leads-bills-defense/article_1002c8ea-a428-11ee-95d8-f768fa4d5fee.html IMO, Terrel Bernard's ankle is a critical body part for the team. He's become that important to their game.

Pretty good twitter post by Sal C outlining various elevation deadlines. Does not explain the deadline to elevate DQJ prior to Pats game though if they roll that way.

Jones still could be active this Sunday.

I don't think it means "no Jones" against NE necessarily. I think it means that Elam had a 21 day window to be elevated or revert to season-ending IR. Elam's window was opened Dec 6th so it expired today, so the Bills had to make a decision today. AFAIK Jones can practice with the team and be elevated to the roster as late the day before, when PS elevations take place. But his window opened only a week ago, so the Bills have 2 more weeks to make a decision on him. No need to tip their hand today.

Unless I'm missing something, they had an open slot on the 53 man roster because of putting Jordan Phillips on IR.

How do you know what he means? You are talking to a fellow who "talks like this".....(and don't dis off Jr College English professors like that) If YOU mean "ranked top 5 and rising by people who actually know things", who are these people who actually know things? Media pundits? And what criteria do they use? The Mark I eyeball? Bills currently #6 offense on points. #3 for NY/A (aren't you a fan of that?). #3 for Y/P. #4 defense on points. #5 for NY/A against. With these objective stats plus a very close OT loss against the Eagles, dismantling the Cowboys, and earlier in season solid win against the Dolphins (all top teams), it's a bit difficult to defend a ranking by "people who actually know things" that places the Bills as an "average team among the league's parity" or even outside the top 5 teams.

Well, in 2022 when the Dolphins played the Ravens, the Poe-Birds took their foot off the gas and shamefully let the Fins back into it scoring 28 points in the 4th quarter, including a go-ahead TD drive with 2 minutes left. So the Dfans think "we did it once, we can do it again", ignoring the fact that last year's Ravens flapped their way to a 10-7 record on the backs of a #3 defense and #19 offense. This season #1 defense and #4 offense, Poe-birds not quite the same foe for the Fins. But the above is how the Dfans see it. As for the Bills, they see an inconsistent team that lost to a Broncos team they (the Fins) humiliated and to a Patriots team they thumped pretty well. So they're doing that transitive property thing.

I think we were all frustrated by their play. I expected the Bills to struggle a bit - when players who could, potentially, play in a critical game (Questionable status) are held out (Epenesa, DaQuan Jones, Ty Johnson etc), I think players "take a message" from that. But I didn't expect the Bills to make Dingleberry errors (Cook 2 fumbles 1 loss, Harty a muff, Allen a bad pick), and I did expect them to assert control. Right On (pretty sure Leonard Floyd said it was him, and he is the only Bill with double digit sacks so....). There are always a handful of called or uncalled penalties, made or missed plays that can swing a game, and the Bills have had 5 close games that swung against them this season. Yes, exactly. We can even do the Chiefs game and say if the Chiefs had been properly called for a hands to the face penalty to Josh Allen on the Bills prior drive, it would have extended the drive and the Chiefs aren't on the field for Toney's faux pas.

In addition if the Ravens win, they clinch the 1-seed and the bye? Hoo Baby Go Poe-Birds!

I think that's probably true of every NFL star. I don't for a minute expect that the Josh Allen face we see and the carefully crafted words he says, are the same he is every moment of the day and in private. Do you? But yes, Mahomes has had great success and it does seem to have bred a sense of entitlement there.

This is reality. Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, and KC all arguably played inferior teams this week - and lost. For Cincy, Jake Browning aka "who is this *****in' guy?" against Jax, Indy, and Minn, came down to earth with a *thump* throwing 3 picks and fumbling. In the Minshew/Heinicke bowl, 'ol Masculine Mustache threw a pick at the worst time. KC looked awful vs the Raiders, a 6-8 team lead by a 4th round rookie from that football powerhouse, Purdue: Pacheco fumbled, Mahomes threw a pick. And while it's two top tier teams battling it out, the Ravens came into the 49ers home, dug up their dirt, and planted daisies in it which they fertilized with 4 "Purdy Good" interceptions and some Christian McCaffrey tears. Reality is that lesser teams beat good teams every week. Especially at this time of the year, teams who are out of it play free and loose to delight in playing "spoiler", and top teams start looking past this week's game, past the end of the season towards playoffs. The Bills played badly enough to lose, with TWO (not one) Cook fumbles and a bad Josh Allen pick. They didn't lose, like Cincy Indy Jax, KC, and the 9ers did: they won. That's reality, The End.

If victory was sealed with 1:15 on the clock and 3 time outs for the opponent, the Bills woulda been in the 2021 AFCCG for real with 13 seconds remaining vs KC

Your point of view is fine, we agree you're entitled. But "reality" means "actual or true". Phenomenon like the sun rising, an accident on the road, a squirrel or squirrels biting through the holiday lights wound around the trees in our front yard - those are reality. Drivers suck around this time of year due to holiday stress and trying to do too much for the holidays thus causing accidents, or squirrels get drawn to our yard by the birdfeeders then get territorial about the trees, is my opinion or point of view. Nothing personal, it just irritates me when people try to press their point of view (to which we agree, you are entitled) on other people by telling them to "accept reality" as in your OP "Why is it so hard for fans to admit reality" No, it's not "reality" it's "your point of view"

It’s kind of rough when the ref falls down and pulls up his legs so that he trips you to cause a safety.