Bob in STL

This is an excuse and it is getting old. We won a bunch of games with both Johnson and Hamlin at safety, and everyone talked about how good the backups were. We won a bunch of games with Tre out, and Dane Jackson, and Edmunds out. The big difference the past 2 games has been the pass rush. We are not getting sustained pressure like we did early in the season. Not only talking sacks, but pressure to make the QB get rid of the ball under duress. Rousseau is a loss but are we not carrying 9 DLs for a reason? Let's get to the QB and force some turnovers. Frazier needs to come up with something new today to address this.

Dane Jackson and Benford are our corners. Who would have thought that in week 10? I thought Tre would see some action today.

Sack the Vikings QB a lot so Jefferson gets less targets. Our DL needs another coming out party. It been a while since we had a lot of pressure.

Sounds easy. Ball out and pound rock, got it. How many games has he started? one?

You would think it would be easier to get the running game going with the threat of Allen's passing in the lineup. There will be no fear of Keenam, and there will be 7 (or 8) in the box if we try to run all day. Defense and ST will have to come up big too.

It would be nice to rest Allen for a week and still win this game. The key to winning without Allen playing is simple to lay out, but not easy to do. 1. The defense needs to play great football and get turnovers. With all the injuries this is not a given. Hopefully Milano, Poyer, Tre, and Rosseau are back. If they are I will feel a lot better. 2. The OL must run block better than they typically do, especially when the other team knows you are running. 3. Special teams have to consistently set up favorable field position and no negative plays. The hardest for this team to achieve is most likely #2. Allen makes this mediocre OL look better than it is. Hoping Brown is back at RT so that Knox can get more targets. It will be a battle on Sunday.

Thanks, but I am not saying I think Kelly is better than Allen. I am saying that the Kelly Bills are so far a better team than the Allen Bills, and that the Allen Bills are a year behind the Kelly Bills in getting to the SB. That said, I think Allen is a better overall talent than Kelly and is going to be better than Kelly if he plays as long. I believe that Kelly had a much better OL that stayed together a long time. He also had HOF'ers like Thurman and Andre and Lofton, plus many other very good players. The OLs and RBs on Allen's Bills are not even close to what Kelly had.

I can see Davis on the list and that is it. Knox has suffered a personal tragedy, give him a break. Plus he is called on to block a lot since the RT (Brown) is hurt so damn much. Edmunds is playing good football unless you are one of those "not enough splash plays" guys. Cook and especially Shakir are not getting enough touches to even rate and they are rookies . My list is: 1 - Crowder - did not fill the Beasley spot adequately, then he got hurt and left two holes (slot and PR). 2 - McKenzie - not a top 3 WR and is error prone 3 - Saffold - Not helping the run game as expected 4 - Jacquan Johnson - filling big shoes and has good moments but also poor tackling and a few blown assignments 5 - Gabe Davis - inconsistent but shows up at times

The caller must not have been Stanley from Sloan.

Very interesting. Their record in close games is excellent so we shall see if they are real or pretenders. A healthy Allen and I am confident. A limited Allen, or no Allen, and this is a close game.

Dalvin Cook will get a lot a lot of carries. We need to take a big lead early and force them to get away from running like GB and Jets did.

This current Bills team has already lost 3 heartbreaker playoff games to Texans, Chiefs, and Chiefs - all on the road. Blowing a 16-0 halftime lead in Houston only to lose in OT, blowing a 9-0 first quarter lead in KC (a lead that should have been much bigger), and then wilting in the 13 second debacle in KC last year. There is a major difference to the Kelly era teams that made it to the SB in their 3rd playoff season. I would not rate this Bills team at the level of the Kelly era teams until to get to the SB. To pass those teams they will have to win a SB. The biggest difference between the two teams is the Oline and Thurman. The Kelly era had superior offensive lineman at every position, and they had a big time HoF player in Thurman Thomas. If Kelly was off, or the weather was bad, we had Thurman/Davis/Garner/Mueller and an OL that you could ride. The current team is relying heavily on Allen/Diggs and a usually stingy defense.

They had an occasional bad game. No slumps and no swoons, and they rarely lost to inferior teams, which is why they had home field advantage in the playoffs a lot of the time. This team has not shown they are as good as the Kelly era teams. Not yet anyway.

Between the Jets likely dogging it to get back and the Bills recent tendency to not manage the two-minute drill it would have been very tough.

Agree 100% and this was a big reason we did not re-sign him the first time. He tends to freelance on his running assignments. Sometimes he makes a big play but other times he is just out of position. With only two LBs back there playing your line gap is critical to stopping the run. With all the rotation on the DL there is no reason we aren't playing our best 4 in crunch time.

Lots of pain after a loss. Milano & Poyer out was the biggest problem with the defense today. A defense already missing Tre and Hyde. We finally showed a crack in the armor. There were so many things wrong with the Bills play on both sides of the ball today that it is not all on the offense or all on the defense. The Jets played better today. The Jets had made more plays and less mistakes. Things went their way too.

Milano and Poyer out is the biggest factor in the run defense. Still, it would be good to see some other formations such as 3 LBs in there occasionally, especially against a QB like the one we played today.

Team loss. Get mad and get to work on the Vikings. We will see the Jets again in 5 weeks.

Today is the day I join the OBJ crowd. 1- Diggs is a star and will draw double coverage. 2 - I don't understand Davis. He disappears for games at a time. Good CBs can cover him and take him out of the game. 3 - They miss a reliable guy like Beasley in the slot (the Beasley of a few years back). Crowder did not do the job. McKenzie is not a slot guy and would be better as the 4th WR and gadget guy. 4 - Shakir looks promising but not getting many targets. For some reason the TE's don't get targeted much either. 5- Kummerow is an emergency plug-in WR, plus Special Teams. OBJ can help.

Agree. Thankfully the defense bailed him out on the kick out of bounds.

No way you challenge. Not enough on film to overturn it. The call on the field has priority and by rule, the offense wins in a simultaneous possession.

Giving up 20 on the road should have given us a win. You could argue that the defense gave up 13 points and 7 points are directly related to the second Allen interception. The offense does not sustain one single drive after their first 3 possessions. The offense refuses to run, and lately they have stopped throwing the much higher percentage short passes. Big plays happen when you can consistently make small plays, causing the opponents defense to cheat on what you are doing. The last two weeks Josh has checked down much less than he has in previous games. They are throwing deep more, and they are not hitting the long ball enough to warrant that. Take away his running game today and you have a guy with a 51.9 QBR. Final comment - if Josh is trying to make big plays, then he should target Diggs more. Diggs was a forgotten man in the second half.

The running defense is a concern. Milano out hurt was a factor. Bad backup DB tackling was a factor. From the X and O standpoint, they never left the nickel defense either, at least from what I saw. I think the problem was more about missing Milano and some bad tackling on top of it. Still, we only needed 21 points to win and we left at least 10 on the field.

In the 3rd quarter the defense gave up a long drive but got them the ball back only to see the offense turn it over two plays later and advance the Jets even closer to the goal line. That is why we didn't "touch the ball". You want the offense to get more touches? Get more first downs, stop the constant 20 yard deep plays and take what is given underneath.

Some refs would call that pass interference, especially if you see the reverse angle with the DB making contact way down the field, but Davis still needs to go get the ball, not wait for it. If he goes to the ball and fights for it, he might get the PI since the DB never turns around. Davis was NOT good today.