finn

And so young!

Bills 20 Pats 17 Another nail-biter.

I always wonder whether team-wide poor performances like this--the mistakes here and there adding up--are due to preparation, team apathy, distraction, etc., or they're the result of a cascade effect. Gabe Davis doesn't trip, for example, and Allen hits him for a 30-yard gain that excites the crowd, leading Brown to focus just a bit more on his blocking and Knox on his catching. Really hard to know for sure. As an amateur athlete, I have off days that I just can't explain, and sometimes they seem to cause my teammates to lose focus, too. Works the other way, too. A single great play can change everything. In other words, the difference between a very bad and very good game might be very slim indeed. If true, some or most of the media pronouncements about the quality of a team or player could be just plain wrong.

I don't know. It looked to me that Davis and Sherfield both tripped over their own feet. The DB's hand might have brushed Davis' leg, but it looked like he was going down, anyway.

Except Von Miller's. I don't blame Beane or Miller; pure hindsight, so it's not about Beane's judgment or Miller's play. But the fact is Miller got a gigantic contract for eight games of high-level production. It's not at all clear he'll be back to form this year, and he'll be 35 next year. Imagine spending that money on, say, Davante Adams.

Good observation. In this game, the offense wasn't as bad as it seems, and the defense wasn't as good as it seems. Another plain observation that might cut through the smoke: On offense, Bills have two superstars and a bunch of average players, along with an average OC. We're seeing the results, for better and worse.

Are you referring to his string of run plays? That was good to see. Wish he had thought to do that earlier in the game.

Not Bass. Not Knox. Not Brown. Not Dorsey. Not Davis. Oliver played well.

Injuries on D, no one home on O.

Wow, it was like the Giants knew what calls were coming on offense. Dorsey walked right into the lamp post in this game.

Yep.

Yeah, something is wrong, that's for sure.

Shotgun draw coming.

Yeah, but in the hands of a real OC, this offense could be so much better, that's the point. The offense is good despite Dorsey, not because of him.

This. Can you think of anything creative, innovative, or just plain different that Dorsey has done since he became OC? He was given the keys to a Porsche, and he drives like a Ford Pinto.

ok, now I really do think they could lose. Wow.

They could not have done worse if they ran every last play so far this game. They might even be winning. But, no, for Dorsey, it begins and ends with the shotgun.

Allen hardly making his case for MVP.

Occam's Razor. The most obvious answer is the most likely. Dorsey is not an NFL-caliber coordinator. McDermott hired an Allen crony, and they've been paying for it since then.

The Bills are being embarrassed out there. They're playing at at home against a bad team suffering from the worst injuries in the league. There are no excuses at all. Can't blame the refs, the weather, even a fired-up opponent. They look like an overrated team, at least on offense. Is Diggs the only receiver on the team?

This, just this, is the only way the Giants can win. You go into the half 3-0 or 6-0 and do the same for the second half.

Sleepy team. That's on McDermott.

God, what a boring game.

Still too early to judge, I think, but not a lot of urgency on either side of the ball. Maybe they think they'll win by reputation.

Because he thinks it's now or never? And it's against his old team in his old town?