MPL

Is it concerning that 20% of the players on this list played for or currently play for the Bills?

Last year at halfway point, the Bills (and Steelers) were considered by some to be historically lucky. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-steelers-and-bills-have-been-historically-lucky-so-far-the-chargers-have-not/ So it shouldn't be too surprising to see things not go their way as much this year... though, it still sucks. Just a lot of unfortunate stuff this year... Allen not converting a sneak, guys dropping passes that they would have caught last year, McKenzie falling down and fumbling without being touched (I mean, seriously, wtf?). Some of its fundamentals, some of its physicality, some of its mental, and some of it just the way game goes. I'm not convinced they can't still get it together and make a run, but my expectations are significantly lowered at this point.

Can Joc Pederson play Guard?

uhhh... Reid coached for 20 years before winning a Super Bowl. Dude has lost multiple NFC and AFC Championship games. Pretty sure no one viewed him as a cut-throat destroyer prior to finally winning a championship 20 years into his coaching career. Arians coached for 6 years before winning a SB and also... Tom Brady. Pete Carroll? 3 pretty mediocre years in New England in the late 90s after inheriting a team that had just been to the Super Bowl. Also hasn't been back to the Super Bowl with Seattle for 6 or 7 years despite making the playoffs every year. (maybe missed 1 in that stretch?) Belichick is the exception... and what can you really say? McD isn't Belichick? No one is. Look, I get the frustration that this team isn't living up to the hype. It's disappointing, but progress is rarely linear.

Oh, this is unfortunate.

I am very grateful to have been born in 86.

oof, I was at this game. Roscoe Parish muffed a punt late in the 4th, allowing the Browns to kick the go-ahead field goal. We boo'd the offense every time they took field in the 2nd half. After the game, Trent Edwards was asked if he would have boo'd if he was a fan, to which he responded, "I don't know; I'm not a fan." Those were tough times.

31 teams aren't going to win the Super Bowl this year. Will the Buffalo Bills be one of them? Tune in to find out.

Not many running backs are going to hit 100 yards, let alone be effective, on 9 carries (and that was the combined number of carries for Moss and Singletary yesterday).

That Bills Rams game in week 3 last year was pretty wild and the Bills came out on top in that one. Or the first Bills Patriots game last year where the Pats were driving for the game-winning score until Zimmer knocked the ball out of Cam's hands. But yeah, Monday's game set a record for the most lead changes in MNF history and it's a bummer to be on the losing end of that one.

The NFL is such a week-to-week league. It felt great to be on top of the world after last week, and this loss stings because we got knocked off our perch. But as noted, nobody is dropping the Bills very far in their power rankings. Nobody is hitting the panic button on the Bills season and the general consensus is that they're still the very legitimate Super Bowl Contender that they were before Monday night. Rankings are kind of bogus anyway. At any given time, you can make the case that any 4 or 5 teams are the best in the league. It only matters in February. On the other side, that's a damn good Titans team, despite the fact that they lost to the Jets. Henry is a legitimate MVP candidate and is doing things that we haven't seen a running back do since Terrell Davis. We weren't going to hold running backs under 50 yards per game for the entire length of the season. And honestly, I'd rather see Henry gash us than someone like Clyde Edwards-Helaire. At least my brain can make sense of Henry rushing for 120+ yards and 3 TDs. Yeah, there were play left on the field. Missed opportunities, bad calls, guys out of position, whatever. You can say the same for Tennessee. You can say the same for KC last week. I feel the same way after this game as I did after the Cardinals game last year. It feels flukey. I know what my eyes saw last night and the Bills were the better team for most of that game. There's a lot of "if only" today. I do trust that they'll use this game as fuel and be ready to play if they run into Tennessee in the playoffs. I was mad as hell last night and for most of this morning. But being a little more removed from it now, all I can think is man, that was one hell of a football game between two teams who have every reason to believe that they can beat anyone on any given Sunday—or Monday. That's why we watch. The highs and the lows and the resiliency and the fight. It's life, all wrapped up on a rectangle field and played out over the course of 60 minutes. And like in life, the highs never last as long as the lows, and that's why you get up every morning and put in the work. Success is fleeting. I watched this team be bottom feeders for close to 20 years. This is a great time to be a Bills fan. Last night doesn't change that. There are going to be a lot of games like this in the coming years—and the Bills aren't going to win all of them. Yeah, like all of you, I want to see this team win a Super Bowl. I believe this team can. Will they? I don't know. None of us do, and there's nothing any of us can do about it—unless someone in here actually works for the Bills. All we can do is watch it play out—and be grateful that we aren't the Dolphins.

I'm jonesing for the 90's unis again.

I worked at Old Dominion University when Heinicke was the Quarterback there. ODU had just made the jump to the FBS. He's undersized but gutsy—likable and easy to root for. He's smart and can makes some throws, but I think our defense will keep him confused and running for his life. I hope he does well this year—just not this week.

Ah, last year, we spent the whole season wondering why the defense wasn't playing like the 2019 defense. Now, we'll spend all of this year wondering why the offense isn't playing like the 2020 offense. It's a tough time to be a Bills fan.

Ah, sorry... division.

This is a reasonable take. Josh Allen and Matt Barkley shredded the Dolphins in week 17 last year—a game in which Miami needed to make the playoffs. That was Miami's last game of the season and they had to sit with that all Spring and all Summer. I'm pretty confident that Flores spent a ton of time this offseason figuring out how to slow down the Bills passing attack. Considering that the Bills are the team to beat in the division now, and had won 5 straight against Miami, I'd be willing to bet that figuring out Buffalo's offense was the top priority for Miami this offseason. Their secondary played their asses off yesterday—I give them credit. They shut our passing game down... and we still flat-out embarrassed them on their home turf. Now, against Pittsburgh in week 1? To me, this seems like a matchup thing. It happens in sports. Most teams, for whatever reason, have another team that just gives them problems. The Steelers just matchup very well against our offense, and it's been this way going back to 2019. Statistically speaking, Josh played his best game against the Steelers this year (highest yardage total, highest completion percentage, and highest passer rating). Now, to be fair, there is clearly something not clicking with the passing game right now. Is it concerning? A little bit. Josh seems to not be getting the ball out his quickly, he hasn't looked as comfortable in the pocket, and he seems like he's got happy feet a little bit. Is it all on Josh? I don't know. What about the receivers? In the first month of last season, our wideouts were running wide open on crossing patterns. Josh was playing pitch and catch. This year, it seems like every single throw is tightly contested. Are our receivers getting jammed at the line and not getting in and out of their breaks well? Did Pittsburgh and Miami both do a fantastic job of disguising coverages? I'm not making excuses for the offense. I'm not making excuses for Josh. I want to see more. I want to see him play better. I want to see him completing passes somewhere between 65% and 70%. I hope they figure it out. Josh is going to miss throws. He is going to have games where for one reason or another, he's just not as sharp. He's also going to make plays and throws that that no one else can make, and he's going to have games where he just lights it up. That IS who Josh is. Now, if you're looking for someone to blame for his slow start this year—blame me. I bought a Josh Allen jersey in the offseason and I drafted him in a fantasy league. I'm fairly confident that's the reason for his struggles.

Changing organizational culture is like turning a giant container ship. Changing fan culture is also like turning a giant container ship, but that ship is in the Suez Canal. We'll get there eventually. Maybe?

That's not Bart Scott... That's Marcus Spears... (sorry if you knew that and calling him Bart was the joke. Hard to tell sometimes haha) He was pretty late to get on board with the Bills last year... but pretty much everyone on ESPN not named Dan Orlovsky was. Most of the time, I think these analysts are just paid to have different opinions so there is something to debate.

“Playoffs? Don’t talk about? playoffs?! You kidding me? Playoffs?! I just hope we can win a game!" - All Bills fans this morning

Alright, I'll go ahead and say what we're all thinking... we should have kept Tyrod Taylor. That guy throws a great deep ball and practically never fumbles. Sure, we would have to suffer through listening to him clear his throat 78 times per interview, but if he was able to lead the Texans to victory yesterday, imagine what he would do with all this talent in Buffalo? (disclaimer: this post is a joke)

I don't know... my Mom still has all of my participation trophies from pop warner. They mean something to her.

It was me... I put the Buffalo wings in the fridge at halftime. I should have just left them out on the counter. Sorry, guys.

It's really the NFL Schedule Maker's fault for not giving us the Jets week 1 like they have 3 out of the past 4 years. In all seriousness, that Steelers defense is great, and that front 4 is going to wreak havoc on a lot of offenses. TJ Watt might very well be DPOY and that secondary doesn't get enough credit. We struggle against teams that can generate consistent pressure with 4 men rushing and keep 7 in coverage. That's how KC beats us and that's how Tampa beat KC. It's also how the Giants beat New England in both Super Bowls. The good news is that most teams we play don't have the DLine talent to do this. The bad news is, KC, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh can do this. Hey, at least Tennessee and Indy also looked terrible yesterday.

As a person who shares the surname Lawson, I sure hate to see any Lawson go down with an injury. I of course had wanted the Bills to sign Carl, mainly because it's been too long since there was a Lawson on this team to root for. In all seriousness, always hate to see serious injuries. It's always preferable to see the Bills dominate a fully healthy team over a team missing their best players. My best friend is a Jets fan. We used to have arguments over whether it was worse to be a Bills fan or a Jets fan. I've been happily losing that argument for the past few years. That said, I hope there comes a day when the Patriots are irrelevant, the Dolphins are a mess, and the Bills and Jets duke it out for the AFC East every year for a decade. Of course, it's much easier to have sympathy for Jets fans now that I don't live in New York City and am no longer surrounded by guys in Wayne Chrebet jerseys.

No. No one is talking about it in Austin. We just got an MLS team this year and that's most of the sports buzz here... that and UT. I have a hard time imagining an NFL team here—it's not really an NFL town. That said, I can see Austin making a push in another 5–10 years to bring a team here. The growth here is insane and the demographics of this city will be completely different by 2026. I just hope it's not the Bills—and I feel pretty confident that it won't be.