JohnNord

Where was the complaining about the scheme when Buffalo’s defense played a key role in beating Kansas City this season? Also bringing up Andy Reid firing is irrelevant. Philly’s defense got actually worse after McDermott left and Reid would go 8-8 and 4-12 before getting the axe. If you want to use yesterday’s game as evidence - who did NE have the most success going after? Spector, Elam, Lewis, Bishop… it’s no coincidence. The argument continues to be whether it’s scheme or talent. It’s a chicken vs. egg argument. This season they were limited with cap space so they brought back Jones and AJ on modest deals and filled depth with their usual veterans. They were also stuck with the Von Miller contract. But the main area to criticize continues to be the defensive line. There’s been multiple premium picks thrown at the DL. The first rounders of Rosseau and Oliver are solid but not consistently elite. AJ Epinesa has a ceiling of a backup pass rusher and doesn’t defend the run well. Boogie Basham was a flat out bust. Then you have DeWayne Carter who despite being being a rookie 3rd rounder, has not looked all that promising as of late. Their big swings have ultimately failed as well. Von Miller’s trajectory plummeted which he blew his ACL. Then there was Star Lotulelei - another big swing signing that failed. By the way, Star’s not the type of the DL you are describing. So I do think there’s a lot of blame you can throw at McDermott and Beane for how they went about building their defensive line. I’m almost certain this offseason will be about rebuilding the trenches. Von, DaQuan, and maybe even AJ will be gone - I’d expect them to go after a much different type of 1TDT that controls the LOS and keeps the LB’s clean. To have a great defense you need to have that one elite player on the DL. This is what the Bills thought they were getting Von. While Rosseau and Oliver have been good in spurs, Buffalo has never had that type of player.

I think this is partially correct. They don’t want to put too much on tape but I also think yesterday they came out very flat. Josh in particular seemed hellbent on hitting a deep shot rather than moving the sticks with shorter passes. It reminded me of the Ken Dorsey offense. Maybe they were trying to get ahead and then pull the starters early? Either way, health is probably going to be more important than any win over the next two weeks.

I’m not talking about wins and losses with Houston. If I was, I’d mention how the “great” defense gave up 30+ points to Will Levis and the Titans in a loss…. Or how a healthy Texans defense was boatraced in a big loss to Minnesota. Oh and by the way, as much as you love trashing the Buffalo defense. Houston gave up the same number of points to a horrible NE team at full strength earlier this season. Besides the only reason I did anything is because you tried selectively using stats to prove their greatness that were heavily weighted by multiple games. Houston’s great defense has a chance to rebound against Baltimore in a few days. Let’s continue this conversation then. I can see the Steelers keeping it close. They are going to need to force turnovers which is possible versus Mahomes. Not sure if Pickens plays, but if he does the entire offense should be Russ throwing moon balls to Pickens or Austin. Whoever is not matched up with McDuffie. KC’s defense is covering for CB2. Joshua Williams really sucks and teams (like Buffalo) can have success throwing at him. Ultimately though, I think KC wraps it all up on Christmas Day. Russ seems to be the type of QB that Spags has success game planning against

Your stats are a bit deceiving. Goff thew 5 INT in one game. That takes ratio to 7 TD and 5 INT. Oh and Houston still lost this game. Allen passed for 131 playing in a game with a broken hand and without his best WR. It still took a band sequence at the end for Buffalo to lose. Jordan Love was working his way back from injury and Houston still lost. So that leaves 1 game against Tua. I don’t think their defense is as “elite” as you. But I guess we'll find out in 3 days against Baltimore. Sure - but I don’t think either of the scenarios happen. Then again, I didn’t think Buffalo would only beat NE by 3 points

Their defense is very much overrated as we saw on Saturday

There’s some truth to this but you’re embellishing the problem by lumping Houston, NE, and even Detroit (with garbage time) in with Baltimore and LA. These defensive performances weren’t close. The problem is the defensive line. They get beat far too often - especially the interior. The Bills defense is built to rush the QB with the front 4. When that doesn’t happen they typically have issues. Even when the Bills do rush the QB they fail to bring them down. The playoffs begin a completely new year, so I’m hoping for the best. Hopefully he doesn’t spell it “defence” like some here.

Just seemed kind of odd because Crowder barely played for Buffalo. In the 4 games he played he didn’t really distinguish himself much

Appreciated his effort? He played in like 4 games with the Bills!

I don’t agree with some of this. Maye beat the blitz a number of times. I also saw Antonio Gibson pick up a blitzing Dorian Williams several times which is probably why Maye was able to find open receivers. As far as Shakir, Allen threw a great pass which went right through his hands. He’s made that play before but it’s not the easiest catch. The second catch in the endzone would have been a crazy grab but the defended was right there and almost came away with the ball. So not the best day for Shakir but it’s not like he dropped an easy pass. Special teams are very bad however.

Only way the sign Douglas or Cooper would be on a short-term one-year contract. I think Benford is probably their biggest priority in the offseason. He’s somewhat under the radar and while a new contract won’t be cheap it will likely be cheaper in 2025 than it would be in 2026. I think Shakir will be next. Rosseau is a question mark IMO. I think they really like him but might be unsure if they want to pay when he’ll get on the open market. It remind me a lot of Tremaine Edmunds. As good as Cook has been I don’t think Beane likes the idea of giving a big contract to a RB. He hasn’t done this before but we’ll see

What bodes well for Babich is how the defense has performed in the second half of games. After multiple slow starts he’s made some changes and found ways to shut down scorings. You this today as they held NE to 7 points after the half. I’m not sure that the issue is play calling as much as it is losing battles on the DL. It starts with the interior DL which has been below average for most of the season and players like AJ Epinesa have been a liability when setting the edge. The pressure has been inconsistent over the past few weeks, so it forced Babich to dial up pressures leaving the defense vulnerable in coverage when the blitzes don’t get there. You saw this a lot today. Overall, I think Babich has been has been pretty solid and that he’s got a lot of room to grow. I think the bigger issue this season is a DL that struggles to win at the line of scrimmage He was the worst player on the defense today. They can’t put him back out there.

Yes I did this exact scenario the other day. If the Colts win out and Denver loses out, the Colts make the playoffs. They have a tiebreaker over Miami and Cincy. It’s all moot though because I think Denver gets in.

Douglas is a zone corner. Since the pass rush has been ineffective, Babich has dialed up some blitzes and coverages which left Douglas to pay M2M over the past few weeks. This never has been his specialty and a reason he struggled against LAR. He started the season much stronger when he could play zone.

I don’t know… I get what you’re saying about coverage. He didn’t get cooked which is good but he also wants playing against top completion. I don’t think can take the penalties out of the equation when evaluating him though. It seems like Elam was playing his man without looking for the football. If he gets his head around it’s probably not a penalty. If this is his rookie year, I’d be somewhat encouraged. But it’s year 3 and he continues to make these mistakes. I think this is why coaches have a hard time trusting him and thus why he doesn’t get much time. Douglas is going to be back very soon but all we can do is hope that Elam can build off these mistakes.

Ulbrich is in contention for WCOTY - Worst Coach of the Year

Both OBJ and Johnson aren’t going to be difference makers. Consider the fact that both Miami and Baltimore released them, knowing damn well that they can sign with their competitors. They clearly don’t think either WR will offer anything of significance or they wouldn’t have released them.

IMO since we’re talking MVP you have to consider have valuable that player is to their team. Baltimore will probably win 12 games this season. If you take Lamar off of the Ravens, they still likely finish with 8-10 wins and a shot to fight for a playoff spot. If you replace Mitch Trubisky with Josh Allen how many wins does Buffalo have? Maybe a max of 6 wins. There is no player in the NFL more valuable to his team’s success than Josh. Much like Denver last season I think there’s a ceiling with Russ at QB when playing good teams. I don’t think they beat Kansas City but weird things happen on a 3-day turnaround.

Ok I can agree with that. Someone told me last week that this they had a great defense and I disagreed. So it wasn’t you. I watched the entire game versus Miami and thought Tua bailed them out a bunch of time with poor play. Everyone wants to pretend DeMeco Ryans is a great coach but despite having a lot of studs on defense as a unit they struggle when playing good offenses. You’re gonna see Baltimore roll them next week too. Besides the Jets, not team was more talked about as a contender than Houston and they just don’t impress me.

Remember why we used to read this forum and we’d see serious comments about how the Bills should fire Sean McDermott and hire Bobby F’N Slowik. This folx are quiet now. Ah… good times

They are the definition of mediocre. Kansas City did whatever they wanted today Weren't you the one who tried to tell em they were good 😂

I was told Houston’s defense was “good” by several members of this forum. They suck

That was horrible. He has a lot of talent but makes too many dumb mistakes. I really think it’s his terrible OC

I am dumbfounded how bad the play calling is with Houston. Failed screen and failed screen. Bobby F’N Slowik is killing poor CJ Stroud. So many people here wanted to fire McDermott and turn it all to Bobby F’N Slowik. What a train wreck that would be!

Where was Bills Elvis? 🤣

I don’t think Timmy’s comments have anything to do with it. KC was always kicking their arse. Houston is probably the most overrated team in the AFC playoffs. I think Pittsburgh/Baltimore has an easy win if they can end up at #5. The defense is decent but not great. Offensively they’ve regressed and their only chance will probably having Stroud throw bombs to Collins or Dell. Pretty sure they get outclassed tomorrow