SaulGoodman

First of all, who cares if Hardman’s goal-line fumble was allegedly flukey? It happened, and it was a big, big help to your hero. If that ball crosses the goal line, game over. Biggest play of the game by either team. And yes, Allen’s receivers dropped a catchable pass or two. It happens. It’s football. If Mahomes’ receivers hadn’t led the league in drops, that game wouldn’t have even taken place in Buffalo.

KC needed 38 pts to win a SB and 42 to win the 13 seconds game. They gave up 37 vs NE at home, 31 vs Tampa in the SB, 31 vs Houston in the '19 divisional, and the same point total vs Cincy that Buffalo allowed the following year.

Which narratives don't work? You didn't even respond to my longest post. Whether or not KC fans were surprised/happy/whatever that MVS came through with a few catches is irrelevant. There were no catches in that game by any KC WR that were out of the ordinary for an NFL WR. "Spectacular for MVS" doesn't equate to spectacular. If any of KC's receptions had been dropped, fans would have been pissed. The catch that Shakir made in the endzone was easily the most spectacular catch of the day.

So when you said the WRs were making spectacular catches, what you meant was that a player who was terrible all year actually held onto the ball a couple times? Hell, I could've tipped you off that there weren't going to be nearly as many focus drops in the playoffs. Does this mean that every catch that Kadarious Toney makes in the future is going to be spectacular?

Based on? The Bills were a playoff team with Tyrod Taylor and a far worse roster. Why couldn’t McD do it with this team? KC doesn’t make the playoffs last year without Mahomes. Hell, they flirted with missing the postseason with him. If they had Tyrod Taylor, they’d have missed the postseason and definitely wouldn’t have sniffed a Super Bowl.

Name one spectacular catch. By far the most spectacular catch in that game was by a Bills WR. Also, there's more to playing WR than catching the ball, you know. At no point in the season did KC have more than one WR that defenses had to respect.

Many now agree that Reid is the best coach in the league. Before Mahomes, no one thought that. And 5 years before Mahomes came along, Reid was fired by Philly. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't fire a guy who is considered the best coach in the league. As for McD, the only ranking I've seen recently had him in the top 10. It's an opinion that few have him ranked highly, and I think it's an inaccurate one. He might not be considered top tier, but higher than most. It's interesting that no one ever seems to break down in specific terms what makes Reid such a massive advantage vs McD. Just a lot of talk about a few late game decisions. You might be aware, but Reid's had a reputation for poor in-game decisions himself. In fact, he's probably made many more game management blunders in his coaching career than McD. Who said anything was tough to deal with?

KC's offense was the butt of jokes all year and there was a season-long narrative that Mahomes didn't have enough offensive help to go deep in the playoffs, even with a dramatically improved defense. The tackles played poorly, WRs dropped or fumbled every other ball, the running game was okay but not exceptional, and Kelce's lost a step. Rice developed into a pretty reliable WR eventually, but he wasn't a legit #1. It's crazy to argue that Allen had less offensive talent around him last year. His WRs were better, tackles were better, running game was better, and he had two good TEs, including a budding star. If someone had told you before the divisional round that KC's offensive talent (minus Mahomes) was better than Buffalo's, you'd have laughed in their face. This only became a narrative after that game.

Kills me that people think Mahomes has had everything one could want. To date, he hasn't had one "loaded," balanced roster. Horrible WR play last year, weak tackle play the last two years, depleted/awful OL in 2020, usually a weak running game, and weak/average defense almost every year to date. Also kills me that people think Allen's had poor rosters in recent years. They've been among the best by pretty much any measure since 2020 or so.

These teams have had similar talent the last four years (I'd even give the Bills the edge in a few of those). I don't see any reason to think Allen would have accomplished the same or more. Especially if he had to deal with the same circumstances, such as the high ankle sprain, no WRs in the AFCC vs Cincy, a decimated OL in the 2020 playoffs, last year's drops/turnovers, and mediocre/poor defense most years. Bills fans believe that Allen's better because he has a hell of an arm, scored more TDs last year, and he's thrown more flashy bombs the past couple seasons. He might have the stronger arm, but he falls short in the mental aspect of the game. Mahomes' receivers were a joke last year. It was comical how often they screwed up. Allen's had better offensive talent the past two years, and better defenses every year but one. How has Mahomes' supporting cast been "that" much better? It's very debatable that it's been better at all the last few seasons.

It’s not that hard to add a few lbs with NFL training and resources. Even if he doesn’t, Desean Jackson was a twig. Would you have passed on him too?

On paper, the Bills have a weaker roster than last year and a much tougher schedule. They might get to double digit wins with a few breaks, but I think it makes the most sense to expect 7-9 wins.

Yep. I’m just not sure how they’ll ever win anything. 😆

Not sure that Reid’s a good comparison. He was consistently going deeper in the playoffs with much less talented QBs than Allen. Lost in the SB by 3 to the best Patriots team ever, thanks to three McNabb picks.

If the Bills had SB expectations this year, I doubt they trade with their nemesis and allow them to get their guy. I also don’t think they’d go to battle with this WR corps in an all-in year.

This was one of the rare times that Buffalo had control over what KC does. And they handed them the player they coveted, gift-wrapped.

I’m not sure how you can put more blame on the offense than the defense in the KC game. The offense moved the ball pretty consistently against arguably the best defense in the league. Missed FG away from 27 pts. Meanwhile, the defense forced one punt and was a goal line fumble away from allowing 34 pts in a low possession game. The defense was not successful at all. That was by far the weakest KC offense in the Mahomes era but they looked like one of the best that day.

That’s my point. A lot of those players (and other talented pieces) are now gone permanently. Yet some are claiming that McD will have them playing championship caliber defense regardless of the personnel on the field.

It’s been said here many times that Buffalo didn’t have the horses on defense to beat KC in the playoff game this year. Now they have less talent on that side of the ball.

Wasn’t the Toney Offside call the difference in making the playoffs last year? The margin for error was already pretty thin, and now they’ve lost a ton of quality players. It shouldn’t be a shock if a few people are doubting the Bills.

Anyone but the Chiefs? 😆

Diggs’ production might have fallen off down the stretch, but I’m guessing that he still drew a lot of attention from defenses, making other receivers’ jobs easier.

So…you expected Allen to be the one player on the planet (including Mahomes) who isn’t bashed on social media? 😆

KC Derangement Syndrome?

Weird season for him. A bunch of 100 yd games in the first half, but barely a factor in most games down the stretch.