Rubes

Not that it matters, but you youngins don't recall that waaay back in Super Bowl XII (Cowboys stomped the Broncos 27-10, the defense forcing 8! turnovers) they awarded the MVP to two players, Harvey Martin & Randy White from the defensive line. The DL dominated in general, but they gave it to those two. According to history, "The voters actually wanted to name the entire 11-man starting defensive lineup as co-MVPs, and asked the NFL if this was acceptable. The league said no, and so two players were picked for the award." I could have seen something like that happening this year, but maybe it was just too tough to pick two of them. FYI, Denver QB Craig Morton's passer rating for the game was 0.0, the lowest in Super Bowl history.

The irony of it all is that they just needed one more TD to make the Super Bowl. (or one more stop, but still.)

Holy smokes…

All I want is for us to grab a difference maker on defense and then go out and have a 1985 Chicago Bears-style season next year to close out the Ralph. Is that asking too much???

Some of it definitely has to do with the main coverage scheme (man vs. zone), but there's a lot more to it than that. We seem to run more zone than other teams, which means other teams' WRs can find open spots if the pass rush doesn't get home quickly enough. Other teams seem to play more man vs. us, probably because our WR aren't great at separation. I don't understand it any deeper than that, though.

I've often wondered how much of this is WR skill vs. passing game scheme. I've just seen too many instances where WRs of ours who aren't particularly fast or awesome at route running (or at least, not as fast or good as they used to be) still get wide open on long passes. Gabe Davis somehow made some of the longest catches in recent years. Diggs was wide open several times on deep routes in recent years, on many of which Josh couldn't connect with him. Same with some other less-than-impressive receivers we've had. I think I just don't understand offensive and defensive schemes well enough to understand the issue or answer the question. But plenty of other teams manage to get WRs who aren't superstars wide open at times. Why can't we do that more?

All-Pro post. Glad to see you're in top form on this important game day!

Chiefs fans online are begging McD to guard Kelce the same way he did last time. They think Worthy and Brown will feast all day.

Go Bills indeed.

Dude, are you posting on TBD while you're in a restaurant about to enjoy some steaks? That is some ***** dedication right there.

I agree. I mean, think about it: we were one failed 3rd down inside the 5 from posting 31 points on the best defense in the NFL.

Wait, in the Ravens game? You thought the OL was awful?

I presume then you are a fan of Elden Ring. I hate that ***** game.

Would love to see a replay of that Cowboys game from last year. Including the devastating pancake by Dawkins.

Really? You think the Bills won't be fired up to face the team that has knocked them out of the playoffs 3 of the last 4 years??

Yep, just came here to say the same thing. How they ended up with Epenesa, Jefferson, and Solomon on the field at the same time is beyond me. They also had Dorian Williams as a spy of sorts, not rushing. But it was a three man rush, and none of the three were really trying to get after him, except eventually for Jefferson, who like you said just basically took himself out of the play. Lamar was at his best in that game when we didn't pressure him. Strange to me that they used a package and a strategy at that point in the game that was basically designed to let him make camp in the pocket and spend the evening finding his target.

Get 'er done!!

Yep...that's why I have this belief (hope?) that Beane uses that extra draft capital this year to move up and select a difference-maker for the defense. Let's hope...

We need a WR who has elite speed, runs perfect routes, and is an excellent blocker so we can keep him on the field in all situations and is a threat at all times. Anyone? Bueller?

True, but we also don't exactly have a fearsome pass rush (see: Jackson, Lamar). This game, like most playoff games, is going to come down to the trenches on both sides. We run the ball well, we'll do well. We stop the run and rush the passer well, we'll do well. We do both, we'll win.

Concerns me too. I have a feeling whoever we have out there at safety is going to be tested early and often by Worthy and Hollywood Brown.

No idea what's going on in Western NY, but this seems less than ideal.

McDermott and Babich have definitely been making lemonade from lemons this year, and I give them big credit for helping us get this far. But let's not delude ourselves: if we're in a tight game with KC and they need a score to win, we ain't stopping them. That's why McD went for it on 4th down last time, he knew we needed to score to give us a bigger cushion.