Lothar

I really don't think there's a reasonable scenario to play this game in a timely fashion. And with regard to the most fairness to the league, you really want teams playing to win next week. Here's my potential solution: 1. Cancel this game. 2. For fairness to all teams, if all of BUF, KC, CIN win next week, the solution might be to give KC the top seed but if KC and BUF as 1,2 meet for the championship game, they play at a neutral site like Indy with fans of both teams given an opportunity to buy half the tickets. Similarly, if BUF and CIN meet as 2 vs 3, they play at a neutral site. Should any team lose next week, we go strictly to winning percentage. I think this gives all the outside teams a fair shot (reduces Bills/Bengals possibility to have top seed and removes Ravens possibility of winning division)

Here's one solution: 1. Cancel this game. 2. For fairness to all teams, if all of BUF, KC, CIN win next week, the solution might be to give KC the top seed but if KC and BUF as 1,2 meet for the championship game, they play at a neutral site like Indy with fans of both teams given an opportunity to buy half the tickets. Similarly, if BUF and CIN meet as 2 vs 3, they play at a neutral site. Should any team lose next week, we go strictly to winning percentage.

I think it was one of the Cover 1 guys talking about 3-man rushes out of a blitz look that has consistently given Burrow trouble all season. Usually it takes a defeat for the Bills to make an adjustment to their zone heavy schemes so I'm not sure we'll see much of it this go-round. Conversely, Allen had been one of the worst QBs against the blitz this season ... I think like 30th out of 35 qualified passers. I do think the Bengals DC is great at finding a team's weakness. That's not against pressure, where he's been really good. That in itself is an odd stat. I'm really curious how the two defenses adjust and play the opposing QBs in this game.

We need to be rooting for the Ravens. Even if we lose against the Bengals, we could get #2 seed if they then lose to Ravens. Just sayin' .... Playing 1 game on the road, I still like our chances but on the road against both Bengals and Chiefs would be a tough go.

I'm just worried about YOLO. We need him to be in form for the Monday nighter.

I think they call that an All-Pro team.

No. Both teams had the ball. A field goal wins the game.

Except that the Bills were trying to gain draft picks and Darby netted them more than he was probably worth to a team that can develop corners.

We have always been one of the worst tackling teams in the McBeane tenure. It might be the type of linebackers we get or the emphasis we place on scheme and coverage over basics like sound tackling. It's usually hard to find fault with a defense that has been among the top 5 but that is definitely a thing and since the first 2 games this year, it had become a team wide phenomenon. Joe Marino listed the percent missed tackles of every player - he said we should average about 10-12%. Some like Epenesa are over 50% and most of the team is well over that threshold.

They have regularly been among the 5 worst tackling teams in the NFL in McD tenure. Why is anyone surprised - we have light linebackers and nickel CBs on the field all the time.

This game feels a lot like the Atlanta game last year. We won but it felt grimy. It's ok. We have a lot to work on still but I'd rather be firing on all cylinders at the end of the season.

24 hours. Meh. Non-story.

Actually, no. Joe Marino pointed out on his podcast that since the first two games, the tackling has been near the bottom of the league. We just get away with it because we've made some big impact plays on defense via sacks and turnovers. Poor tackling is unfortunately a hallmark of this defense - and we're still pretty damn good. You can see how good we'd be if we also were a good tackling defense.

I still would have liked them to hold all the receivers at the line with 5 second left.

Absolutely! Whodathunk the Lions would be the highest scoring offense in the NFL?

I hate GameDay threads.

You gonna stay up all night Wednesday too, huh? I can dig it.

Realistically, he's probably not playing a full role till week 7 after the bye. He won't start practicing with the team until after week 4. And I think that's ok.

I still think he comes back after all the moves are done. I think it's just roster shuffling with injuries.

https://theathletic.com/3540232/2022/08/26/ravens-cornerback-kevon-seymour-nfl-journey?source=user-shared-article Behind paywall but a good read on what he's had to overcome to still be fighting for a job on the Ravens some 6 years after he was drafted.

Yah, compared to last week when he played with second stringers against the Colts first team.

S RB CB WR OL P Blue

I don't think you fully appreciate the effect Bates had on the offense once he came in. The Bills were hoping to go cheap but if they lose him, we're definitely going to have to consider drafting a starter in the first couple rounds. That's not nothing.

Holy smoke. That division is bananas!

I'm ok with getting Hughes back. He'll cost less than half of Jones. His pressure percentage was 11th best in the league. If the new-look middle forces the pocket to collapse, he'll get more sacks. Hughes for 5mil > Jones @ 15mil. Plus we know he's good in the locker room.