Virgil

For what? Being happy we dumped the bloated contract of a guy who played maybe 40% of the defensive snaps and was one drug suspension away from missing the season? Can you apologize for trying to be an “I told you so” posters? Both seem equally offensive.

I would like to see him start, but I think it would be unfair to him. Let him start the next home game on a normal schedule. You aren’t doing him any favors doing it on a West Coast trip.

Was that the worst overall loss in the last 3 years? The score, the defensive effort, the offensive result, being at home in an important game to save the playoff talk? Maybe it’s just fresh, but it looks to be as bad a loss in the past few years that I can remember.

When they were being cute with Tolbert, they weren’t shutting McCoy down. We just abandoned it and had some really questionable playcalling before it turned into a blowout

The second half of the season is officially upon us and we start it with a home game with extra rest. We got healthy in some key positions and added a true number one receiver. If the Bills were to prove they aren't the same old Bills who blow a 5-2 season start, this was where it began. 1 - Rush Defense - I start here because it's all that really needs to be known about the game. The Saints completed a 10 play drive for 93 yards where they didn't throw a single pass. It was capped with a Brees rushing TD. Yes, a Drew Brees 7 yard rushing touchdown. On that drive, Kamara fell down just beyond the line of scrimmage, had time to get back up, and rush for three more yards. That's how bad our once great rush defense was. We were absolutely gashed on the ground as well as multiple 3rd and long plays where a simple pitch got the first. This might have been the most brutal rush defense I can remember in years, and that includes the Ajayi games last year. 2 - Tackling - For a team that was praised for it's fundamentals in the first few weeks, the wheels have completely fallen off the past few weeks. If you saw the Jets game and all of those broken tackles, you saw more of the same and a little more this week. Multiple, and I mean multiple drives could have been stopped with better tackling but we just couldn't get it done. I'm talking Hyde, Lorax, Humber; everyone came to the party. As the game went on and it was clear our offense wasn't going to do anything, you could see them giving up and it showed in the tackling effort. 3 - Defensive Penalties - If you didn't know any better, you would think we were playing in New Orleans. We jumped offsides on 3rd and short twice to give up first downs and were right back to extending early drives with ridiculous judgement lapse penalties. Again, another area of pride in the early season is now showing signs of previous regimes and falling apart. 4 - You say you cannot live with me, you need your own identity And now we air our laundry on national TV And so you hate my arrogance, my smothering and sitting on the fence, But I'm afraid of the hard permanence of letting you go free 5 - Pass Rush - I hate to harp on the same things week after week, but this is my number one issue with McDermott and our defense. We just refuse to send more that 4-5 guys at any time. When we send 5, there are no stunts or masking rushers. When we send 4, there's little to no result. There were a few 3rd and long plays were the coverage was good downfield, but Brees just had all day to throw. It got to the point where even the announcers didn't know what to say about it. It's the definition of insanity out there and we have Rivers, Brady x2, and Smith coming up. It's going to get worse before it gets better. 6 - Special Teams - I can't understand why we kept punting to Ginn, and we punted A LOT. No, he didn't break one, but his returns were good. We didn't try to pin him in a corner or contain him at all. We even outpunted our coverage a few times. Just made no sense. Also, the Saints didn't punt one time. That's right. THE SAINTS DID NOT PUNT THE BALL! 7 - Offensive Play Calling - I'm not dumping our offense just on Dennison. He gets a fair share of the blame though. Outside of the first drive, our offense might have been the worst I've seen it in the past few years. We ran a toss option to Tolbert. That's right, Tolbert. Announcers kept calling out how receivers were running the same routes downfield and couldn't get open. Dennison isn't on the field to make the reads, but he also isn't creating a gameplan that fits TT's strengths. In a game where Clay is back and Benjamin is out there, 3 points is inexcusable. 8 - Tyrod - While I put half of this on Dennison, TT owns the rest. If he's on point, we score a touchdown on the first drive. He missed Kelvin twice, once for a TD. After that drive, there's nothing to even write about. His protection was pretty good all day. The running game was there if needed. He had all his weapons. And we were playing the Saints. At that point, you can't just point to playcalling or receivers getting open, the QB owns it too. After 2.5 years and with this surrounding cast, it's just time to call it as I see it. Nothing personal, but it's Peterman time. 9 - The Process - If this is what we get for trusting the process, I'm concerned or the fans and the players. You could see the defense start to give up at the beginning of the second half and it's understandable knowing the offense wasn't going to do anything. We knew it could be a rough year with the players we lost and the salary dump, and our schedule, but we were 5-2. I've questioned what would happen when we hit a rough patch, and now we will see. This team looks as much like last years Rex team as anything else. We will now see what the process brings out. 10 - McDermott - There was a thread comparing McDermott to Chip Kelly. I thought it was absurd at the time, but I'm starting to wonder a bit. Not because of the playcalling philosophy, but because of the "my way or the highway" mentality. The players on the field are the ones McDermott wants. Dareus, Sammy, Woods, were not good fits. Tolbert is his 2nd rb, Ducasse is his starting guard while Miller is a healthy scratch. I believe a Head Coach is supposed to find ways to motivate his players, give them a goal, and also find a system that maximizes their talents. McDermott only seems to want people who will do what he wants and shares his vision, talented or not. We are seeing the results of that now. Hopefully, with cap space and draft picks, he will get all those guys. If not, this could be year 1 of 3 before another rebuild. *Side Note - I'm not the ethical standard of posters and don't want to pretend to be. But we have so many threads calling us a playoff team after 5 wins and so many other posters who can't wait to say I told you so. Can we please acknowledge that we all want the same goal and this hurts us all equally? The pessimists remember the previous two 5-2 starts and the optimists saw the flashes of hope and ran with it. Neither are wrong for their opinions. No one wins when the other is right. That's all I got. Two rough weeks in a row and some quality QB's coming up. Let's remember what this season was supposed to be and keep watching some of these guys develop. Go Bills!

This is about as useful as a 2018 NFL mock draft

This makes me like Goodell even more. If Jerry doesn’t like him, he must be doing something right.

Hey, I’m happy to be wrong. But I’ve been on this forum for all of the 5-2 starts and seen the same optimistic reasons for why it would be different. Yet here we are. Our gaps are massive on both sides of the line and there’s no reason to believe it will get any better. McDermott refuses to send more than 4 rushers and the QB’s will continue to pick us apart. Again, happy to be wrong.

This is who the Bills are until they prove otherwise

It would be the definition of bittersweet. Now, to beat them in their house to advance.............

Is this supposed to make us feel better or worse?

So far, this might be the most up and down season I've seen in regards to teams performance from week to week. Teams go from getting blown out one week, to blowing out their next opponent. Injuries of marquis players seems higher than normal while normally offensive ProBowlers are anything but. I've seen strange starts to the season before, but it usually levels out by now. On some level, this helps us because it's anyone's game. But from an overall fan perspective, I'm just surprised by what I'm seeing. I don't know if this is what's contributing to the lower ratings, but it's possible. Top 2 Fantasy QB's 1 - Alex Smith 2 - Carson Wentz 3 - Deshaun Watson (now done) Top 3 Fantasy RB's 1 - Kareem Hunt 2 - Zeke 3 - Todd Gurley Top 3 WR 1 - Antonio Brown 2 - DeAndre Hopkins 3 - Tyreek Hill

He better get used to them, because they aren’t going anywhere.

I tell you man, keeping a cautiously optimistic attitude while writing these things can be exhausting sometimes. I try to give myself some time to cool down and be more levelheaded, but the predictable 5-2 collapse was just too much again. I agree that we are exceeding expectations this year, but that doesnt make you want it any less when its right there for the taking. Plus, to see the same crap right side of the line march out there, when everyone can see its crap, drives me nuts. How McDermott keeps sending those guys out there and only rushes 4 is getting maddening as we are wasting a great opportunity. Good news is, with our upcoming schedule plus last nights performance, my expectations are right back to where they should be...as a Bills fan

Even with those guys out there last night, we lose. Offensive line, defensive pass rush is the issue that isnt getting addressed

They need to let the Lorax put his hand down as a 5th rusher. Trying to do it with only 4 and basic stunts isnt getting it done. And at this point, opposing offenses know we are only coming with 4

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times.....BBFS. It's not pessimism or hating on the team, it's 17 years and the reality of history. Tonight exposed a lot of our holes and opportunities that we've been able to hide or suppress. And yes, we just got BLOWN OUT by the Jets on primetime TV. This is why we, and will continue, to not have the respect of anyone. 1 - McDermott - This loss starts with our coach. This team did not show up tonight in a variety of ways. I don't care if it's a short week or on the road. This is a divisional game that we need to be relevant in a division dominated by the Pats. The Jets are supposed to be a weaker team and equally on short rest. We had terrible starting drives in both halves, poor tackling, penalties, and stupid turnovers. Easily our worst game of the season at a time where many of us were looking for this team to prove this team was different. 2 - BBFS - I've had people ask what this is. This game was it. Battered Buffalo Fan Syndrome. It's the ongoing mental anguish of waiting for the other shoe to drop when something positive happens to the Bills. I'ts snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. It's the 2nd and 2 direct snap to McCoy that almost leads to a turnover. It's starting 5-2 on three occasions over the past 17 years and finishing 7-9 two times. As of right now, anything is possible again. Special thanks for the Bills losing before the bye week and 10 day stretch, to really rub in the pain. 3 - Penalties - One of the biggest differences this season has been the discipline shown by the team. Tonight, we saw that completely unravel. The refs even gave us a gift offensive PI call to negate a Jets TD. Shaq had an idiotic late hit. Jerry pulled a Jerry with his unsportsmanlike conduct. Nice facemask penalty where the defender just reached out with his arms towards the McCown's head expecting...god knows what. I'd complain about hte phantom offsides for the onside kick, but it doesn't matter. Penalties were just the perfect icing on the cake 4 - Offensive Line - Normally, the lyrics go here, but there's just too many things that need to be called out. Our offensive line was an absolute joke. I can't really even evaluate the running or passing game much because of it. The right side of the line was as bad as I've seen it and got absolutely blown up. How Groy is not at RG and Dawkins isn't getting snaps at RT is beyond me. After a week where they dominated the Raiders defensive line, the overall offense stood no chance because of these guys. 7 sacks...... 5 - Pass Rush - I'm getting pretty sick of our 4 man pass rush, especially after seeing what the Jets did to us with rushing 5. McCown had all day to throw while Tyrod got terrorized. It's infuriating how obvious it is to see the difference an extra rusher makes. Some may want to call out the loss of Dareus, but he was playing less than 40% of the snaps. We are going to get destroyed by Brees, Brady x2, and Alex Smith. Btw, that would be 8 losses after tonight to those guys. The Dolphins and Chargers, on the West Coast btw, could be the difference in our season. 6 - Turnovers - We knew we couldn't rely on being +3 in the turnover column every week, but who thought it would look like this? Two fumbles by the offense that were completely self inflicted, both killing scoring drives. A dropped INT that couldn't have been any easier to bring in. We weren't flying to the ball like normal, delivering the bigs hits, and overall seemed out of position a lot. 7 - Tackling - Tackling tonight was the worst I've seen since our last game against the Pats. I don't know if it's because we kept trying to knock the ball out or what, but there were broken tackles all not. As the game went on, the misses got worse. Nevermind the blown contain on McCown to start the game, but the big rushing plays to drive the dagger into our hearts were just pathetic. Nothing about this performance looked anything like our season to date. 8 - Tolbert - After two weeks of crediting the use of Tolbert and praising his effectiveness, we went right back to the maddening play call we saw in the first 5 games. Tolbert running the ball on 1st and 2nd down, without McCoy on the field. swing passes, the full rushing compliment for a guy who has no business being a runningback. Why we keep trying shove a square into a round hole is beyond me. This might be the most infuriating team. 9 - Road Games - We are now 1-3 on road games. While the first two losses were close, we looked flat in all three losses and worse each time. This is becoming an area of concern and makes me extremely anxious about the Chargers and Dolphins games, who are against two beatable teams. McDermott needs to figure this out and quickly. 10 - Zay Jones - As easy as it would be to go negative for all ten points, I have to give credit to Zay for his coming out game. He looked crisp in his routes, didn't drop a pass, and only his injury kept him from having a big game. Very proud of this kid and happy to see the potential from the guy we took in the 2nd round. I hope the knee issue doesn't linger and his confidence continues to grow. What a rollercoaster 5 days it's been. A blowout win against the Raiders where our offense and defense looked dominant, an amazing trade for Benjamin, and now a blowout loss to the Jets. This game was lost on effort alone. We didn't have it and I have to question why. The easiest answer? It's because we are the Bills. This is what the Bills do and none of us should be surprised. Watching all the threads about playoffs pop up reminded me of the previous 5-2 starts and I just had a feeling all day about this game. We aren't a playoff team until there's an "x" next to our name in the standings. We've proven nothing so far. No matter how it feels, we are 5-3 again with some scary opportunities. I'm starting to get worried about our inability to generate any pass rush, road game intensity, and how easily our offense can go flat. We have some good teams coming up that will exploit these issues and things could get ugly quick. I'm not saying we will finish 7-9 again, but 8-8 is a very real possibility. Go Bills

Dont buy it. They are on a short week also. Half our games are on the road and this is a weaker team. Playoff teams cant lose this game.

And this is why you dont get excited at 5-2

Looks like he nailed it

The BBFS is real

Just broke down in tears laughing after reading some of those comments. My favorite: Oh. My. God. We just got bent over.. the Bills went in dry. WTF are they thinking?

A 3rd? Not sure how I feel about that. Basically gave up Sammy for Kelvin, acquired a 2nd for a 3rd. Is that a good deal?

If its a second, I wont be happy. Other than that.....Wow

Rumor is the Skins are looking for a WR at the deadline and Pryor is buried on the depth chart. Hes on a one year deal and half his salary is already paid. Id give a 7th in 2019 for him. He's only one year removed from a great season and has the size and speed to be a deep threat. If he sucks, no harm.