dave mcbride

They were absolutely robbed in the playoffs four years ago against the Cowboys. They had that game won hands down if not for a historically egregious call by the officials that deservedly lives in infamy.

Looking at it from the other side, maybe it was the Jets who were retaliating against Dawkins' really dirty play on the first play of the game?

Also worth noting when looking at his stats: note the Advanced Passing rating, for which 100 is league average for that year. When people look at his passer ratings, they compare them to today's stats, which is completely wrong. Namath was above average every year except one before his decline phase really set in in 1975. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/N/NamaJo00.htm. Prior to those three seasons, teams he started for were 56-44-4 too. Whatever could make me think that? So what do you think of the Cano trade? I think he's still really good.

This is totally wrong. In 8 postseason games against the highest-level competition, he had 1,140 yards and 12 TDs - which translates to 2,280 yards and 24 TDs over a 16-game season. He is, demonstrably, on a game-by-game basis -- and factoring that he played in a requisite number of games so that the performances aren't merely outliers -- the greatest postseason RB in NFL history. He won a SB MVP and rushed for over 100 yards in the Broncos' other SB victory. Also, this ain't baseball. Postseason performance count a LOT towards enshrinement.

The Lions have a very real shot at making the playoffs, and they don't need to rely on anyone else outside of the Eagles (who have to play the Rams on the road and Houston) and Carolina (who has to play NO *twice*) faltering -- which is very possible. They play Buffalo (winnable), Minnesota at home (winnable), and GB on the road (tougher but winnable, given that GB may be running for the bus). I suspect an 8-8 team will make the playoffs in the NFC.

Well-stated. I lean more toward hoarding timeouts given the huge number of close games in the NFL, but your position is certainly defensible.

That could be the case. It was effectively the first play from scrimmage in the second half. Was there a TV timeout after the turnover? I can't recall. My guess is that there wasn't.

But I'm not really complaining -- I'm raising an issue for which the answer isn't all that apparent or simple. And if you don't think the issue is worth discussing, why participate (multiple times)? Some here seem to think it's at least a moderately interesting issue given that it has come up repeatedly for the Bills this season. One thing I vow never to do is wade into a thread and declare it uninteresting and therefore unworthy of discussion.

I'm not angry. I'm wondering where people stand and why. I think if you're the Rams or KC or NO, most of the time you won't need it. Teams like the Bills, though ...

I respectfully disagree. I just think a TO is worth more than 5 yards in most situations (again, if it's 3rd and 1 on, say, the opponent's 30 yard line, you take the TO). And for a team that commits pre-snap penalties like there's no tomorrow, what's another five yards? Timeouts, however, are genuinely precious, and a team like the Bills should never assume they're going to win walking away. They should assume that any victory scenario will probably be in a close game, and that timeouts will be absolutely crucial.

I think the 13 yard line. Regardless, they had a ways to go (10 yds, I think). I'd of course rather not give up the five yards, but there's a big price to pay when you decide to avoid the loss by burning a TO. I happen to think that the TO is a lot more valuable than the 5 yards, even in a situation like that.

The penalty on Milano was absolutely the correct call. You can't arm bar a receiver and then knock him around without looking back for the ball -- which is exactly what Milano did.

Where do folks stand on that? I'll go on record and say that the TO is pretty much always more important than the five yards in a close game (as this one was). That TO would have been extremely valuable on the Bills final possession, and it would have given the Bills more options and forced the Jets D to defend differently. I'm generally always opposed to burning TOs to save five yards in the second half unless it's something like 3rd and 1 at an important moment.

That drove me nuts! The Bills needed to clock to stop, and he's begging them to roll it. What was he thinking??

It was an extremely dirty play by Dawkins, and obviously so. Before the game, one of the Jets was quoted as saying "they [the Bills] really don't like us, and we don't like them." It was an extremely chippy game on both sides.

Anderson, who is a good player, also had a very nice subtle push-off that dramatically affected the play. It's the sort of push-off that's never called, so that makes it a good play by Anderson. Nothing White could do about that; it knocked him out of position and it's never gonna get called.

Observation: Derek Carr is playing a LOT better than most folks seem to realize. He has 8 TDs and 0 INTs in his last 4 games, and for the season he's at 7.5 ypa, 69.4 completion rate, and 3 fourth quarter comeback wins. He's on pace for 4,226 yards, 22 TDs, and 9-10 INTs. And needless to say, the Raiders roster is garbage.

This will make you feel better: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200209080buf.htm.

This one really sticks in my craw. Bledsoe threw 5 INTs in a game that the Bills D played lights out. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200212220gnb.htm The Bills were 7-7 at the time. Look at how the season ended: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2002/. (Also note the Bills lost a game in OT in the first game when the surrendered a KO return for a TD at the beginning of overtime right after tying it up on a dramatic pass from Bledsoe to Mulds to tie the score as time ran out in regulation. They never touched the ball. Yep ... NFL OT rules.)

Agreed. I was thinking the same thing given the Miami game, but this is pretty eye-opening.

I agree mostly, but I do think Darnold was the better QB yesterday because he played better late. Also, Allen had four TO opportunities (one bad fumble, 2 INTs, and one drop of an easy INT on a terrible throw), while Darnold had 2 (one INT and one drop by Levi Wallace on what should have been an easy pick). 4 is a lot worse than 2. Plus Darnold averaged 2 yards per attempt more than Allen. As for the two missed FGs, the second miss is one that should never have been tried, so I'm not giving credit to the Bills for that missed opportunity. They should have punted it or gone for it given the situation with Hauschka.

My general take on this game: whereas the Miami game was a "good loss" (relatively speaking, of course), this one was a bad loss. The Bills outplayed Miami late and probably should have won the game; they improved over the course of the game and were dominating at the end. The Jets thoroughly outplayed the Bills late, especially at the QB position. Allen's final possession was one of his worst. With everything on the line and a decent amount of time, he made two awful throws. The first short-hopper may have been deliberate (who knows?) because the receiver was double covered, but that just begs the question of why he chose to throw it there in the first place. The INT was a really bad, inaccurate throw. He also had Zay Jones open for a TD but threw the ball out of bounds on their final FG possession. Overall, he had a decent game, but got worse as the game progressed.

There did appear to be some sort of brawl a-brewin' when the players went into the tunnel at halftime. Players had to be restrained. I agree that the decision to kick a 54-yarder with a clearly injured kicker (who had already decided that he needed to squib all kickoffs because of the injury) was completely mystifying. Really poor decision by McDermott.

No -- Darnold averaged 6.8 yards per attempt (league average-ish), and Allen averaged 4.8 (which is bad). YPA is probably the most indicative stat for QB success.

Goff had a bad game - but so does everygood qb at some point in a long season (ie, Brees last week). Just one game. Great performance by the Bears’ D.