UKBillFan

Has this crew called a penalty on the Jets?

Bad play calling by the Broncos on that drive. Not sure what they were trying to do.

Does it? Can you explain it to me, please?

That's what I meant. Though the way he's playing the O Line might be after him too. The end of the half was bizarrely hilarious, unless you're a Jets fan.

I was going to call them hysterical. What are they doing?

Unless their D force another turnover in Broncos territory.

How much time does Fields need. He does realise there's an O Line after him?

That was a nice drive by the Broncos.

I like Thursday night games if the Bills win. Sets up the NFL weekend nicely. If they lose, it's horrible. Monday night games are nasty - especially off the back of a loss.

I don't think Maye is 'trash'. I think the Bills D made him look better than he is, though.

Though what team is this year?

All I'm responding to is "I think we tend to come back and play better after a loss like last week". The evidence does not back this up. In fairness, after the back-to-back losses, the Bills have tended to go on strong, successful runs.

Not always. Last year, we followed the Ravens blow out with the loss at Texans (similar circumstances to last week). In 2023, we lost three games in four weeks, or four in six. In 2022, we had Jets and Vikings losses back to back. 2021 - Pats and Bucs. 2020 - Titans and Chiefs. 2019 - Pats and Jets (albeit we had nothing to play for in week 17). Under McDermott, we haven't gone through a season without back-to-back losses.

The Falcons are ridiculous - no one knows what they're going to do. If they play like they did against the Panthers it could be a 40 burger. However, if they play as they did against the Commanders, we could be looking at 4-2. Prediction wise, before week one, I thought this coule be the Bills second loss of the season (after the Ravens).

It's not just one game, though. As I said in another thread - it was a similar story against the Jets, the Dolphins and the Saints. Even the Ravens, though they were nearly at full strength in week one. The difference is Josh played exceptionally well in those weeks, compared to simply well against the Pats. And that is enough to switch a victory to a defeat. It should not be.

The issue is the Bills have played dumb football for most of the season. The Jets, Dolphins and Saints were all in a game for far longer than they should have been. They only went 1-0 because of a miracle fourth quarter. A few people dismissed these wins as the Bills playing with their food. Well, in the Pats case, they choked on the dish.

The league is full of decent but flawed teams so nothing is clear or certain. Avoid injuries, get a trade right and/or adapt play calls correctly and you could be on the path to win a ring. Get it/them wrong, and suddenly even winning the division looks a struggle.

Wishful thinking and reality are always two different things! Though I thought we might drop games to the likes of the Eagles, Chiefs, a fully fit Bengals, maybe at Foxborough, rather than at home to the Pats.

My faith has been tested by the Pats game - not by the standard of performance, as I don't think the Bills were that much worse than the rest of season, but by the failure to get over the line. I suppose 17-0 was always going to be a long shot but there have been so many issues from week one which have not been sorted out. Hopefully the extra day may seem some of these addressed. Every AFC team is flawed and, really, only the one at Highmark (and perhaps the Colts) went against the Bills. Recovering before the bye is really important.

“They put the game on Allen’s shoulders” Tentatively saying this, but don’t we mock the Ravens when defenses lock down Henry and force Jackson to throw?

I fear Poyer would look just like White.

I shouldn't post when overly tired and emotional. Saying that, I'm still doing the tired bit. I've had under three hours sleep, but the emotions have settled somewhat. I also realise I have these emotional reactions after every loss then have to grovel so it's going to seem quite shallow right now. But I do want to apologise for the post immediately after the game. Maybe some of it was based on my truth (I do wish Josh would cut down on the commercials!) but the phrasing could have been better. And he definitely deserved the opportunity to make a jibe post Ravens. But it is a shame it didn't work out last night. I will maintain, for me, the offense was the main issue. That's not to say the defense and ST were blameless - nothing of the sort - but there were too many errors over the game to get over the line. The All-22 will be interesting to see, as a cold rational look rather than emotive, how the last proper drive planned out. Was there a lack of open receivers? Were potential successful plays missed underneath? My main concern is this defeat was coming. It's not as if the Bills have looked like a smooth operation coming into today. We've relied on big plays and moments to defeat poor teams. Today an average team came in and turned us over. The one is not as secure as it was 24 hours ago, and neither is the division. The shadow of the Chiefs is growing and the Patriots are in with more than a sniff. The AFC seems flawed his year, no team is anywhere near perfect. I think the two most complete teams are in the NFC (though, as said, I think the Chiefs might be starting to click). We need to take advantage of the good position this puts us in, and yesterday was a failure in that regard.

The worst thing is we have to wait until Monday to correct it. Still, at least it's not a bye and we're dwelling on this for two weeks.

True. To be pedantic they could have forced a turnover and prevented any points being scored but it would have been tough from that position.

Other than maybe the Lions I'm starting to think that is the case at the moment. Though I fear the Chiefs are staring to get into their stride.