Beck Water

You just did? Edited post. Muu. I unsay it.

Am I the only one who is a little freaked out by Keenum missing practice with an "Illness" designation, even though he has no game status? Reportedly the QB room is very close and socializes together, like, A Lot, which would mean Josh Allen could be sick or getting sick right now? Note that Poyer has no game designation. One thought I've had about recent communication problems in secondary, is whether they're linked to Poyer missing practice so much? Viewed from that perspective - the value of having Hyde on the field may be to serve as the "choir director" for the secondary (or at least the safeties) while Poyer rests up. LOL if I hadn't YOLO would have been less than a minute behind! Shout out to @YoloinOhio. Thank You for your Service, Sir!

"Battered Bills Fan Syndrome" or "Buffalo Bills Fan Syndrome" A disorder characterized by inability to relax prior to, or during, a Bills game and a seemingly irrational anticipation of negative outcomes The root cause is 4 successive Superbowl losses and 17 years of playoff drought A relapse or secondary infection was transmitted by the Men in Black and the Cody Ford illegal block penalty vs. Houston followed by 13 seconds last year I suffer a mild to moderate case myself, but several regular posters on this board have severe and debilitating disorders

A representative of the Dolphins loyal fanbase here:

In stats, we were pretty dominant in the 2nd meeting too. Close in TOP, but 3rd down conversions 57% to 36%, pass yards 304 - 4 TD 0 INT vs 234 - 2 TD 0 INT. They had more rushing yards, but that's fundamentally 1 busted play where Mostert went for 67 yds. (I know I know I know) but without that one play, we held them to 2.8 YPC rushing.

Lost 3 in the 2nd Dolphins game. Went in with Bates out, Van Roten at RG. Lost Morse, moved Van Roten to C, brought Quess in at RG. So 3rd string C, 3rd ???? string RG (I think after the game, Quessenberry said he hadn't played guard in like, forever)

The Dolphins defense Looooooooovvvvvvvvves them their Zero Blitz. We have to remember that after a punt on our first possession, the Bills scored TDs on the next 3 possessions in the 2nd game. Then we lost Morse, Van Roten moved from backup RG to 3rd string center, Quessenberry came in at RG, and it took us into the 4th Q to sort that out. But they caused problems with pressure largely because, for like half of both games against them, we were down to 3rd string OL playing out of position. What they mainly did that slowed us down a bit was make Josh think. They did a great job of showing blitz, dropping into coverage, showing Cover 2, bringing pressure etc etc.

By the way, for those scoring at home, Joey Bosa practiced in full this week and has no game designation, meaning he's "good to go" Mike Williams, on the other hand, is listed as "questionable"??????????????? with a back fracture???????????? something not right here https://www.chargers.com/team/injury-report/ Prediction: It's gonna take a couple weird calls (which the NFL later acknowledges were wrong) and the Men In Black to stop them. Which could happen, but it's less likely to happen against the Vikings than against the Cowboys.

The Chargers don't have that luxury when they're locked into the #5 seed, but the Giants, who had clinched playoffs and (I think) 6th seed, did have that luxury? Something wrong with that picture. Oh, and BTW, the Giants put up a good fight with their 3rd string QB and a bunch of backups, and Daboll can point to that and say look, 16-22 and we can only improve from there when everyone is All In.

Jesus. Ouch. (literally and figurativel).

I actually could see Milano saying that.

Glad to see our boy get some recognition! It's especially cool in that I remember one of our players - might have been Hyde - explaining why it was especially difficult for an LB in Milano's role to get that recognition, because they're lumped into a category with a lot of pass-rusher types.

Look at it a different way as well. During the season, there are 3 practices per week plus a walk-through on Saturday, and depending upon this or that, Wednesday may be a walk-thru as well. So two weeks = 6 practices That's not a lot

Long day. It's like a 12 hr drive from KC and a bit over a 13 hr drive from Buffalo. Bit under a 2 hr flight from KC, bit over a 2 hr drive from Buffalo. I would have loved to see both teams play in Indy, even though it's closer to KC than to Buffalo. But Volleyball must have its day!

Hyde said it in his interview after his first practice, that "it wasn't up to him if he plays, it's up to his doctors". The only way I can interpret that is they cleared him to practice, not to play at this point. Similar thing to Tre White (though hopefully, not as prolonged); he was cleared to start practicing, not to play. I think it is, in some sense, a Hail Mary. It's saying if we get through the next two games and Poyer (playing on a torn meniscus in his knee) or Dean Marlow can't go, there may be a proven alternative ready to rock. If Hyde doesn't start practicing now, there's no good alternative what with Hamlin out. I may be totally dissing on Jaquan Johnson and Cam Lewis but nothing I've seen leads me to believe they could hold up against a top, multi-dimensional team.

Guys, it's a 21-day practice window for a reason. Players who have been on IR have a legit need to work their bodies back into football shape. That's real, just the impacts these guys take landing on the ground and rolling and getting up again when they aren't actually smashing into someone or being smashed takes some adjustment. I haven't talked to a football player about this, we have some guys here who played they can confirm or deny. The closest analogy I have is a friend who fights in the SCA (society of creative anachronism). That's the medieval recreation group that dons actual re-creation armor and, as he puts it, "hits each other with sticks". He describes how when you start fighting, you get hit and each blow you take, even a non-disaabling blow to your shield, sends a disabling wave of pain through you. As you keep fighting, your perception of "normal" pain shifts and the same blow is accepted by your body as "OK, not a problem" you're able to follow through and maintain your guard and carry on your body control. It even kind of revs you up in a weird way (that's the Josh Allen "I need a little contact") He's cleared by his docs to practice, wearing a no-contact jersey. He's not cleared to play football. Yet.

IDK, there's stuff about his knee is still grossly swollen. It's possible he had more than a PCL sprain too (cartilage damage?) I don't think the public has enough info to say if there's bridge burning in effect - at least, not more bridge burning than was in effect when they couldn't get a contract done in the off-season. Question - and I honestly have no idea - when fully healthy do the Jets have a Roman-esque OL, which is basically large athletic, physical bruisers? I had the impression they were more skill/athletic types. I think the upgrade thing goes right back to the question some pundits asked when Roman was coaching the Bills offense with Tyrod Taylor: is the design of the passing game, and the coaching/execution of it good enough to win? No one doubts Roman's abilities to craft a kick-ass freight train of a run game. But I think there are legit questions about the design of his passing game as well as questions about the quality of the QB as a passer and the quality of the receivers.

I think he's saying at this point, it's like Hyde has missed all of training camp and he needs a minute to work himself into football shape. I think McDermott is disappointed and is trying to manage his own expectations.

I agree with the "need to be focused and ready" part. It's fantastic that Damar is back home and it appears that he's going to be fine. My concern is that some of the Bills players (and who can blame them?) are still working through the Damar Hamlin thing. Even believing it's a fluky thing - it's one thing to say to a reporter "I want to hit a guy so hard I smash his chest in" and another to see a guy fall to the turf. I thought @Simon had a point that the Bills played the Patriots "with love" in the first half. In the second half i thought they started to get back into it. Nyheim Hines and Taron Johnson certainly played with abandon and led the way. As far as the second game - the Bills had 9 more first downs. They had 446 yds to the Fins 405 yds. They had more passing yards, 304 to 234. They had 4 passing TD to the Fins 2 passing TD. They had more 3rd down conversions, 57% vs 36%. Overall, they had the same penalty yards. The Bills scored TDs on 3 successive drives in the first half. And, the Bills were leading by a TD for the majority of the first half. So it's a bit mind boggling to me what people are looking at when they say "the Dolphins looked every bit our equal" in the second meeting. What I saw was: 1) two long plays given up, due to apparent confusion in the secondary. Even with Poyer in the game, something has happened to communication in our secondary and it's gotta be fixed, Fast. 2) OL/C issues in the 3Q: we went into the game without Bates, we lost Morse to concussion halfway through the game. At that point, we were playing our 3rd string C and playing a tackle at RG, and it showed in the issues Allen had. Fortunately, we adjusted and started moving the ball again in the 4Q after what could have been a costly strip-sack fumble where Allen was (wait for it) holding on to the ball trying to make something happen after 4 successive punts. It was 1D. Throw it away, 2nd down. 3) Critically, the Bills D held the Dolphins to a FG after that strip sack at midfield, limiting the damage. That was huge 4) back to the 3Q, the Bills Gifted the Dolphins a 4th down conversion with a really stupid RTP 5) back to back long drives for the Bills resulting in a TD and what could have been a TD, but was limited to a FG by the Bills in order to kill clock. I would say the reason the Bills didn't dominate the game had less to do with the Dolphins, and more to do with the Bills. Mistakes in the 2ndary, poor OL play by 3rd string players at 2 positions, a really costly RTP penalty. "Only the Bills can Beat the Bills".

No we don’t. We need a win. Hopefully a comfortable win with a nice lead by halftime and a good third quarter, but the only thing that matters is a win. There are no style points in the playoffs.

Well, yeah. This is a football bulletin board. We judge other posters here by the quality of the words they post - not by who they are in a life we know nothing about.. What other way can it be? What’s Your Point?

It’s not just enroute. There’s a reason the FAA requires seatbelts on takeoff and landing.

That would indeed surprise me. It pains me to say this because McDaniel gives me the grues, but the Dolphins appear to be a well-coached football team. They will be Lit for this game, having not had a playoff game in what, 6 years? They have enough talent on offense that they will take advantage of any miscues or miscommunications or mistakes on D and it seems to be a halllmark of our D that we will give up 1-2 big plays per game. They have a good DC who has been able to slow us down. As long as we don’t make stupid ass mistakes I expect the Bills to win handily but I don’t expect to see us relax and take our foot off the gas until the game is over.

A non-zero chance? I guess, but I don’t think we sit Shakir in favor of playing Brown and Beasley. We’re going to have a minimum of 5 WR active. That would be Diggs, Davis, McKenzie, Shakir, Beasley. If McKenzie can’t go, I’m sure Brown would get a call-up, keeping us at 5 My point was that even if McKenzie “gets right” by gameday, IMO it would make some sense to call up Brown anyway and have 6 WR active.