Rubes

AJ Klein is the football version of the 2 of diamonds.

This is an interesting example of how our off-season expectations can differ markedly from reality. I think we all expected our defense to be at least as good as it was last year. Certain positions seemed upgraded, while others had more time in the same system and would automatically be better. None of us predicted Edmunds would regress this year, even if much of it is due to the injury. Same with Taron. Same with the offense and someone like Spain. There are always surprises, both good and bad, none of which are predictable.

I agree it's confusing. Against the Pats****, who had only one NFL caliber WR, on a blustery day, with a shaky QB, one would expect the defense to try and completely shut down the running game and force Cam to try and throw it. Seemed to have worked fairly well in the first half, as we held them to under 50 yards rushing and 6 points. Not sure what happened in the second half. I read somewhere that the Pats**** brought in a FB to lead block in the second half with strong results, but I'm still surprised it had so much impact. Bills should have sold out against the run. I guess the concerning thing would be if they did, and they still got shredded. In any case, no matter what defense we try next week, Seattle is going to shred it.

In other news... Weather for Sunday is shaping up nicely. Current forecast: Mostly Sunny, High 67, winds only 5mph. Looking forward to seeing the 6th ranked offense against the 31st ranked defense without any weather concerns...

Actually, I think this is one of the reasons our offense looked so good in Weeks 1-4. The WRs were making sick catches time after time. Not so much now.

I'd say unlikely. He was out there but he did not look anywhere like his old self, missing tackles. Still struggling to use that one arm, and I doubt it improves significantly in a week. I'd sure like to see it, though.

This is precisely what I was thinking. That TD was an absolutely perfect throw, and it had to be. But then the 2-point conversion was there for the taking and he blew it. Up to that point in the game, I was watching him and thinking, "That guy is really not very good." And then he'd pull a miracle 4th down conversion or two out of his butt.

Final boss.

Thanks for posting. I really don't have time to go through and do any of that. I just remember specifically seeing 7 DBs on one play, and hearing the announcers discussing it as well. Sorry, that's all I've got.

Just sayin'.

So the Pats**** prepared for a bad-weather game on defense by...playing 7 DBs and trying to take away the pass?

Actually, I think the main consequence is that drives take longer, which means fewer drives per game and fewer opportunities for TDs. A little like our strategy against KC and the Giants strategy against the Bills in SBXXV, keeping pass-happy teams running the ball helps keep the scoring low and the game tighter.

I didn't get the sense, at least yesterday, that Josh was getting tremendous pressure in the pocket. He was sitting back there a lot, waiting, waiting, waiting, then finally pulling the trigger.

That's a nice explanation, thanks.

I agree, and I think everyone noticed when the Pats**** came out with 7 DBs. I was hoping we would take advantage of that and run the ball down their throats, and it was actually nice to see it happen. I still just wonder if Josh is having issues trusting the WRs to make the catch. I mean, some of the throws earlier in the year were into crazy tight windows.

Allen seemed to use that to good effect in the Jets game, but not so much in others. Is this also more of a shift in defenses from man to zone? Seems like our WRs can take advantage of that.

One trend I've noticed in the last 3-4 games is that Allen has a huge amount of time in the pocket, but is just not pulling the trigger—at least not until very late. I can't quite figure out if it's Allen not trusting his receivers, or if the receivers just aren't getting separation. It seems incredibly unlikely that it's the latter, given the quality of our WRs and what we saw in the first few weeks. Especially this last game, against a NE**** team that was down their best CB and really had sub-par DBs. It sure seemed like the first 4 games Josh was getting rid of it early, and trusting his WRs to make the catch even in tight windows. Is he just not doing it as much now? Or are our WRs just not getting the separation they were getting earlier in the season? Just baffling to me.

The play for me was toward the end of the game, I think it was 3rd and 1 or 2 for the Pats in our end. A stop would make the Pats**** have to think about either going for it or take the FG. So on 3rd down they hand it to Burkhead running left, and Klein fires into the backfield...only to completely miss him and give him the edge. First down.

32 years later and I still remember that one pretty vividly.

Hard to believe they actually led that game 7-0.

My guess is that he was unhappy he lost his starting job and was starting to cause locker room problems. Just a guess, though. If they release a guy who started the season in the same place they just lost another player, it had to have been for a good reason.

That was the first year the Bills were really good, finishing 12-4, so nobody really knew what to expect. But the sense throughout the season (except for that Bucs game flop) was that they were one of the top teams and could play with anyone. Definitely belonged in the final 4 with the Bengals, 49ers, and Bears, although the Bills lost pretty handily to both the Bears and Bengals during the regular season. Both of those games were looked at as big tests for the young resurgent Bills, and they pretty much crapped the bed both times. Those were the only two losses of the season prior to the Bucs debacle.

Nope, 10-5. The only TD in that game was a run by Vinny Testaverde. Bruce got a sack for a safety in the second half. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198812040tam.htm The Bills were 11-2 going into that game, the Bucs 3-10. Bills had a total of 39 yards rushing against a crappy Bucs team. I vividly remember the front page of the Buffalo News sports section the next day, showing a picture of a victorious Eugene Marve, the LB who had been traded to the Bucs from the Bills before the season.

The one that immediately comes to mind is the 1988 loss to the Buccaneers, 10-5. Bucs sucked that year, and the loss basically cost us home field for the championship game against the Bengals, which of course we lost.

I think it's fair to say the win against the Rams is a good one against a strong team, but it's also hard to ignore that it required a last-minute comeback after an epic defensive collapse. That has to be part of the overall conversation.