Low Positive

Seasons can end fast in the wildcard round. Everyone here in Cincinnati was so happy to have made the postseason, and it will most likely be over in just two days.

With Joe Burrow's injury, that division went from the toughest in the NFL to one of the weakest. But now both the Ravens and Bengals seem broken. Both teams seem to have quit on games that they were still in. I'm not saying that Lamar is not hurt, but they quit before he went out. That's hard to come back from. Here's Zac Taylor and Ja'Marr Chase. Looks like Diggs and McDermott at the end.

We took care of that without @Simon. He's trained us so well.

This. And if they get a high snap, they have to play QB. So, a punter has to be ready to be both a FS and a QB at a moment's notice.

I'll ask this again. Did the Bills lose on Sunday? Because this board feels like it does after a loss. In many ways, it's even worse. The Bills held the Saints to the same number of yards and points as every other team that played them without the benefit of two kick return TDs. They say there is no such thing as a moral victory, but is there such a thing as a moral loss? I guess there is. How about this for something constructive? The Patriots haven't won a game this year in which they didn't get a least one punt return for a TD. In fact, in both of their wins, they were gifted 14 points due to long kick returns. I'm not talking about a return out to midfield. I'm talking returns either for a TD or to the opponent's 15. #1 thing the Bills can't do this week is to let Marcus Jones return punts. He's been the Pats biggest weapon and it's not even close. Tell that new punter to kick touchbacks or to punt out of bounds. Don't let this happen:

Did they trade for Derrick Henry? Because that's what Vrabel had that gave the Bills fits.

Yep. Lots of people in Buffalo and Chicago with various spellings of this name.

The game was in Miami.

What happened is that Cam Lewis starts in to cover a wide open Brandon Cooks and recognizes Rattler's scramble a split second too late. Here's what he sees the moment he decides to break inside towards Cooks.

Coach just saw an elderly lady on the other side of the court and thought she could use a chair. I don't know what the big deal was.

Got a little news for ya. There is 0% chance of you getting a Super Bowl Ring this season.

I've been watching a bunch of plays where the Saints gained yards on their first drive. One thing that I see (that @Simon highlighted) is that the DBs and LBs are confused about where they are supposed to be. So they are often not set at the snap. This is something that should improve with reps. DTs are getting pushed wide, opening up the middle of the field for QB scrambles. That's what happened on that 3-7 on the Saints first drive. The pass rush got there, but the sea opened in front of Rattler. They need to stay in their lanes better. On the scramble that was a few plays later (with the Tre holding call), the Bills were in cover 1 man. Everyone but Cole Bishop is in the box. They ran play action with the whole line moving to their left. The defense went with them, and Rattler rolled right. No one was open, but the seas opened up and he ran. Everyone was covered, for what's its worth. I think the play was designed to go to the crossing route that Tre held. The long TD run was as frustrating from the top as it was on TV. The Bills had 9 guys in the box. There were 3 missed tackles. It was a failure of execution. Under no circumstances should the photo I linked here be a TD.

No, they're not. The Bills have the worst defense in the history of football. I read it right here, so it must be true.

He never called plays in SF, even in that one year. There were a few years in the NFL where everyone clamored to hire anyone with a little gel in their hair who once got a cup of coffee for Shanahan or McVey. Two of those guys, McDaniel and Zac Taylor, are now in bad situations where they are in over their heads. Bobby Slowik almost followed in their path. Then Slowik got canned in Houston, because the league got wise about these young "offensive geniuses.".But did you know that Slowik is currently the "Passing Game Coordinator" in Miami? How about the fact that Ken Dorsey is the "Passing Game Specialist" in Dallas? The list goes on. These guys never leave the game, no matter how poorly they do. And if they do flame out, they just go back to college. Rob Ryan, of all people, is the assistant head coach for defense at USC.

If you have to have injuries, it's nice to have them at positions where competent guys are sitting on their couch waiting for a call.

Seem to have a thing for Aussie punters.

Another thing. Posters want young players to get chances and reps to grow through their mistakes so that they can be ready for end of the season. There are constant complaints that McDermott won't play young players. But then these same posters declare these same young players busts for the predictable mistakes and fire the coaches for the lack of performance.

Shhhh! Don't give them the idea.

Reputation does drive refereeing. They used to say that Wade Boggs had such a reputation for having a good eye that if he didn't swing at a close pitch, he would get the ball called more often than not because the assumption was that if Wade thought it was a ball, then it probably was. I always thought that was BS, but baseball announcers used to remark on that all the time back in the day.

I read that as "Wish him no luck and bad breath." That would probably hurt his planned second career more than bad health.

Name me one time that a coach was fired after a win. ONE TIME.

Could this be the loss of Poyer and Hyde? They did a lot of pre-snap adjustments.

What is going on here is that, as a fan, it's painful to watch your team get run on. If feels like every play should be stopped because someone gets their hands on the RB. Running plays are more physical, and it feels like your team is getting bullied. But what the Bills are doing is keeping the game in front of them. Fans are not satisfied because they want domination. Look at the game prediction threads. People want a level of domination where the backups are playing in the 4th. That's rare in the NFL. Two of those games this year (SEA over NO & NE over CAR) were the result of special teams TD early in the game to get things out of hand.

True. And regardless of what people here think "should" be happening, no team in the NFL has dominated all 4 games that they've played. The Eagles first TD that set the tone of the game against the Bucs, for example, was off of a punt block. But you'll say "the Bucs are a good team." Well, if you are going to play "shoulda/coulda" with the Bills wins, you have to do that with other teams too. The Eagles "shoulda" lost to the Rams. The Bucs "shoulda" lost to both the Texans and Jets. The Colts should be 2-2 because they lost the game to the Broncos, if not for a last-second "leverage" call that saved them. The Chargers just lost to the Giants and shoulda lost to the Broncos. The Jags, on the other hand, should be 4-0 because their sole loss was due almost entirely to a BS DPI call on Travis Hunter. The Lions were dominated by a Packers team that has since lost to the Browns and tied the Cowboys. In fact, if you are being objective, the team that has looked the best this year is the Seattle Seahawks. But they lost week 1 at home and then required one of the most boneheaded special teams mistakes to win in Pittsburgh in week 2. tldr; If you nitpick the Bills' wins, do that for all the other teams too.

This would be a valid discussion if the team were losing. Teams don't fire coaches after wins that were not good enough. I'm sorry that the Bills aren't 4-0 enough for you, but if you want coaching changes, you will have to hope for losses in the next two games.