finn

How about McDermott and his beautifully timed timeouts at the end? Excellent coaching.

And what happened to going long on third and short? At least twice they ran it and got stuffed. That's not Bills football. Daboll seemed to take the day off, at least on those calls.

Hyde exorcised some serious Hail Murray demons with that knock down. Must have felt great.

Finally!

My family thinks I'm a geek for feeling nervous about the game. Nice to hear others here are feeling nerves.

Someone remind me. Didn't he drop a few balls in the playoff game last year?

He had and still has trouble in pass protection, not good for a pass-first offense. Might be better than Boettger in this respect, though, and he certainly is better as a run blocker.

I never understood this thinking. The Pats* were crushing us with the run game in the first half of the second game, and when they fell behind they went to Cam Newton and his habit of throwing the ball into the ground. So they were three and out after that, allowing the Bills to run the score up. So say you're down 14 points but running the ball well. Keep running it! At least you'll stop digging the hole. And you might score. I can see going to the pass in the fourth quarter, but teams abandon an effective run game in the first or second quarter!

I can see this game starting slowly, with neither team making much progress. A punt battle. But the Bills have shown the ability to adjust, such as in the Steelers game. Once they're ahead, it could snowball in the Bills favor. The only way I see the Bills losing is if the pressure on Allen causes him to fumble or force the ball. That, combined with drops and penalties, would allow the Colts to pound Taylor and drain the clock, keeping Allen off the field.

The media is mostly made up of sheep who follow narrative scripts. A semi-permanent one is that Mahomes is a deity who can do no wrong. much like Brady these past 17 years. No criticism, implied or overt, of the Holy One is allowed. How many times have we heard a commentator say, "Of course, Mahomes is still the best, but..." It's like they feel they need to genuflect at the alter before continuing.

Also, don't fumble, give up on plays, or tip uncatchable balls high in the air so the other team can intercept them.

This could go south, but it's I think it's unlikely. If it did, it would entail a combination of several factors, like Knox fumbling or tipping the ball for an interception, together with badly timed holding and roughing the passer calls, an injury to a key player like White or Milano, and just a few bad bounces, dropped passes (Knox again) or sack-fumbles. Even then the Bills have enough resiliency on both sides of the ball to come back.

At the risk of hyperbole, he's as accurate, smart and mobile as Young and as big as Elway. In short, he's a bigger, faster, stronger Mahomes. I say that not as a homer but based on the evidence. No, he hasn't won the Super Bowl yet, but otherwise he's simply offers more than Mahomes. (Will lightning strike me dead by comparing him to the Holy One?)

They're a pass-first team. I would say they need an upgrade at tight end before running back. Knox doesn't appear to be improving.

You see the same thing in all sports. Look at old film of Gilbert Perreault, Rene Robert and Don Luce, and you'll laugh out loud at how slow they are compared to today's NHL players. It's like an old man's league.

I think this team would destroy the Bills teams from the 90's. Kelly, Thomas and Reed would score points, and Bruce would get some sacks, but not enough in either case. Offense: better. Defense: better. Special teams: same. It wouldn't be close. I'm nostalgic but also realistic.

And the no-look passes?

What execution on that play. Allen with his manipulation, the line, Moss and Mackenzie picking up the blitz, and Brown setting up the CB with that subtle head turn to the inside. Really impressive. That's not bad play from the Dolphins; that's superb play from the Bills.

My instinct is to give him even more weapons, like that TE in the draft, Kyle Pitts. TE is the missing piece. Knox just doesn't appear to be the answer. He's willing, but he doesn't seem to understand zones, and he keeps dropping or fumbling the ball. Can you imagine a Travis Kelse in addition to Diggs, Brown and Beasley?

No Fitz to bail out Tua this time.

Miami writing the book on how to defend against Allen.

Hard to tell if that overthrow was Knox's fault, but given his history, I would bet it is.

Gabe Davis fails to come back for the ball.

I don't think setting records or league leads will factor at all in McDermott's decision. He'll make his decision based on football, not vanity or bragging rights. For this reason, you play the starters so Allen reestablishes his connection to Brown, and, ideally, build a lead for Barkley (who's going to need it; did you ever see his career stats?) so we have take the two seed if Pittsburgh wins. I see him playing the starters for a quarter then sitting them down. But I don't see him putting them back even if Cleveland wins. That sends the wrong signal, that we're ducking the Ravens.

Right. He also talks all the time about the motivation he derived from not being recruited by any big college. But wanting to prove people wrong doesn't have to mean he's any less admirable. I admit the "chip on his shoulder" cliche isn't quite accurate. He's not oversensitive or spoiling for a fight. As he said himself, he wants to prove himself right, not so much others wrong. That rings more true than "he has a chip on his shoulder."