Fan in Chicago

Random thought - if Fitz retires, we should hire him as a coach. I think with his intelligence and knowledge, he will make a good one

I like your optimism but the Pats** game set me back with my expectations to 2018 levels. After each of the games against Colts, Jags and Pats** game, we came up with different excuses. Losers make excuses, winners just win. We are looking more like the former than the latter

RIP

That's why I said that the next game with the Pats** will be important. Right now we have 2 data points (last season) where we beat them and one (recency effect) where we fielded our healthiest units and lost. Is this data point an outlier or a trend? There is a common factor in several of our losses - getting domninated on both lines and not having a balanced O. These will persist. Maybe the recent disappointment is a realization that we are not a SB contender as many of us believed and were led to believe.

Good post. I agree. Esp the part about being able to commiserate with like minded folks. I can understand Casey's point - last season brought hope that we can finally compete with and beat the Pats+BB. If Casey took from the MNF that we will continue to be BB's female canine even with a rookie QB, I cant fault him to feel extra dis-heartened. In my mind, the next game with the Pats is going to be critical. If we lose again, then we may have to resign ourselves to a very bitter truth - that BB will trump any combination of coach and QB that the Bills put up.

Many ways to say the same story. 222 yards on the ground (~160+ minus the long TD run, which counts big time) 4.9 YPR average --> Lot of yards on the ground, knowing they weren't going to pass. It is never the fault of just one side of the ball, but I would place the blame 60-40 on D and O.

Good game. I am glad we played hard but a loss is a loss. I am going to have a bad night of sleep.

If he had made those 2 catches he would have been

You can bet BB is making his players do extra "punch the ball out" drills. Allen better slide as soon as he gets a first down and doesnt fight for more yards Presuming, of course, that Daboll doesnt try to out smart the opposition and just calls a well balanced game

Sounds more like "we will choose the less bad out of two poor options"

I actually needed this reminder as I am dreading losing on the national stage facing the resurrected Pats** hype. Maybe it is BBFS. Thanks, really. Like losing your v-card. 🙂

At least the takes by @Ghost_002! And @PatsFanNH have balanced and reasonable takes. Come on, the Pats performance is directly correlated to the (head) coaching. There is little evidence to say that the Pats** team is better than the Bills.

Last night reminded me of the Bills MNF where Romo threw 5 INTs and still walked out with a win. The Browns' D played well with the takeaways but their O blew it by only scoring 10. But your point on not hanging your head and still going about your business, makes a lot of sense. You can bet that BB is (again) training for turnovers and ST advantages. My bet is that, very early, he will bait Allen to run and then go for the fumble, which Allen is prone to do. Not only will that get the ball but also seek to affect him psychologically. This is a massive test for the entire Bills team.

Thats one of the points of the OP. Sacks are great to show off but need to be correlated to metrics that matter ( @Big Turk has posted). With White now out, perhaps the D philosophy will change where Frazier may feel more obligated to manufacture sacks. We shall see in 6 days.

As long as it's the Bills scoring 9. And also if one enjoys hearing about half the Bills fans needing cardiac resuscitation.

Were you drunk?

After last season, I will admit that I was running out of patience and didn't think he would turn the corner. I am glad I was wrong. Even if he doesn't improve further (doubtful) and keeps up this performance , we will finally have a reliable TE weapon which we haven't had in a long long time

Pretty commendable for Knox considering the Pats** O is TE centric and ours is not

I did not. If McD was angry it was entirely justified except that the expressed unhappiness by itself won't make any changes to the way refs call these games. Actually I don't know why the NFL doesn't make changes to ensure officiating consistency across games

There were at least 3 plays in the first half where Allen was hit late and should have drawn roughing the passer penalties. These did not happen when he was running, he was hit when he had dropped back to pass. It was odd to not see any such flags.

Understandable. Disappointing season from him. I was hoping he was a good complement to Singletary but we have to fly with those that perform.

Not quite. He was just comparing the flip passes

I disagree. If its a physical opponent, you have to play hard. We played that way against the Chiefs with good results

Which begs the question - why did it take so long to activate him? We have to start with a win tomorrow but a win in the following game will calm more nerves (mine for sure).

McD should have control of his team's philosophies in all 3 facets of the game. It is inexcusable if Daboll is not listening to his boss. If thats the case, I want to see Daboll fired after the Saints game. I know it can be disruptive but given how his O has been continually neutralized, we arent going far this season with him at the O controls anyway.