JM57

With this result, Buffalo now needs a 3-way tie at 9-7 to get in. A New England loss to Pittsburgh today would likely be good for the Bills as it theoretically keeps a top 2 seed in play for the Jaguars, as both teams could then go 12-4 at best. That would mean the game against the Titans is still very important to Marrone and co. I don't know which tiebreaker they win, but the ESPN playoff machine has Jacksonville as the #2 and New England as the #3 if both teams go 12-4. The Titans going 8-8 is bad for Buffalo now unless the Ravens somehow drop one to the Colts, Browns, or Bengals. I don't think the Ravens are a very good team, but those 3 teams are pretty bad. Assuming the Chargers also get to 9-7, you need a third team in the mix. That would move the tiebreaker to the conference record, which eliminates the Chargers, and the Bills seem to have the edge in strength of schedule and strength of victory over the Ravens and Titans at the moment.

Just ran it through the ESPN playoff machine where the Chiefs and Chargers end up 9-6-1 and the Bills, Titans and Ravens all end up 9-7. Chiefs, Chargers, Bills are 4-5-6 in that scenario, apparently. http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/machine/_/results/400951772~3~400951774~1~400951777~2~400951778~2~400951781~1~400951814~1~400951813~2~400951812~2~400951811~2~400951809~2~400951808~2~400951806~1~400951784~1~400951816~2~400951596~1~400951602~2~400951642~2~400951667~2~400951613~1~400951671~2~400951675~2~400951617~2~400951621~2~400951682~2~400951625~1~400951709~2~400951714~2~400951631~1~400951719~2~400951637~2~400951739~2~400951734~1~400951759~1~400951762~1~400951764~2~400951741~2~400951745~2~400951788~2~400951748~2~400951789~2~400951791~1~400951750~1~400951756~1~400951792~1~400951793~1~400951757~2

I feel like the Colts have a roughly 0% chance of beating the Ravens, so I'm counting more on it being the Bengals.

This is pretty close to correct I think. Basically, there's not many scenarios where the Bills beat the Ravens in a tiebreaker, short of the Ravens and Bills tied at 9-7 with the Ravens 7th loss coming to the Bengals, and the Bills 2 wins coming against Miami, which would mean conference and common games record is equal, and would move the tiebreaker down into strength of victory, and even that is no guarantee. If the Bills, Ravens and Chargers are all tied at 9-7, the Chargers will have a 6-6 conference record, which would eliminate them, as the Bills and Ravens would be at 7-5. As far as TEN/SF goes, I think you want SF to win no matter what. The easiest way to look at all these scenarios is by eliminating the Titans from the picture all together. It's not crazy to see them losing to the Rams and Jaguars. It's tougher to say that about the 49ers, but at the same time, they ha e looked better with Garoppolo under center and the Titans have looked pretty awful...

Part of me wants to see the memo previously mentioned. Part of me doesn't want to be a sucker either.

Yeah, to further this point, not only does Boger's crew throw a lot of flags, he also has what seems to be an extremely difficult time making announcements in any type of complicated call with any sort of clarity. He'll have no problem with "false start, offense, #62. 5 yard penalty, repeat the down." But if he has to explain a ticky-tack challenged play or offsetting penalties or anything like that, you'll likely be scratching your head

Oh 6'3 is the threshold? Russ Wilson, Drew Brees, Dak Prescott and Aaron Rodgers say hi

Probably because no one on the team is as good as Watkins. Thompson's 40 time is better than Watkins' but if someone as fast as Thompson (allegedly ran a high 4.2/low 4.3 40) was any good at WR as opposed to just being fast, they wouldn't be a journeyman. The rest of the WR corps is not know for their speed or deep ability. Hitting a deep ball takes more than QB accuracy. The WR needs to be able to track it in the air as well, which is where Watkins was >>>> anyone on this roster. Even Goodwin was a better deep tracker than this group.

How's life in fantasy land?

I'm not saying Dennison = McVay. What I'm saying is that good coaches realize that players have imperfections and adjust the offense or defense to minimize those issues. Dennison is not doing that. When you also add in the fact it's a stale uninspiring offense to begin with, he really needs to be gone.

Look at what the Rams are doing with Goff and tell me if you think Dennison is good enough. McVay knows that Goff is still learning to read the full field. What is his remedy? Playing a lot of 4 WR sets with a bunch to one side and then having him read that side of the field and throw. What does Dennison do with a limited QB? Here's my scheme. Run it.

Worse is that Peterman said after the game that the fade was actually the audible because the Patriots stacked the box. The original call? QB draw. Real original play calling and scheming there, Dennison

The knocks on Rudolph generally: - The offense he plays in is VERY QB friendly - The WRs are really good and definitely help bail him out - Average arm strength - Smaller hands

I think the lesson here is never trust a 3G Gregg.

Dennison? Creativity? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Dude, come on. Public drunkenness is a character concern but cocaine and domestic violence aren't because they're just rumors? FFS.

Oh the horror! We all know the rumors of what 12 and 78 did off the field in their hey day and we're going to get our panties in a bunch over being drunk in public?

There's absolutely no way you are going to convince me that the 2014 Ravens offense was good when I can't remember them being good and it was only 3 years ago. For a team like the Ravens that is always driven by defense, if they had an actually good offensive team it would be surprising and noticeable.

Yeah a little crotch grab and cockiness is a character issue. This is a team that, the one time they were good for a sustained period of time, had star players who were absolute party animals, and now we want a team of choir boys.

Ah yes I remember the juggernaut Ravens offense of 2014 well. ....oh wait.

Shaun/Foster/Johnson is Houston is exactly who I'm talking about. Hasn't been good since then.

The last time the Kubiak offense was good they had guys who were at the time, a top 10 QB, top 5 WR and top 5 RB. Without stars at those spots, the results are not glowing. Even then, just because it WAS a good offensive scheme at one point does not mean it still IS a good offensive scheme. The game has passed this scheme by.

This is the worst take in the history of takes. This offensive scheme is bad. It has been bad for the better part of a decade. It is now on its 3rd stop since it was last successful. The last time it was good, it had players who, at the time, were a top 10 QB, a top 10 (maybe top 5?) RB, and top 5 HOF WR. Without those pieces it has been below average over and over again and will continue to be.

A Dennison offense hasn't been successful for the better part of a decade. When he was last successful, he had Arian Foster, Andre Johnson and Matt Schaub, who in that moment were all top 10 at their positions. He's a bad offensive coordinator. His system is simple, and he has no feel for game flow when play calling. He also tips run/throw way too much. Shotgun? Pass, 95% of the time.

I don't disagree with the idea behind this. Bryant himself is a tough sell because of the suspension issues and the amount of pouting he has done this year, but I agree they are desperately missing that deep outside threat.