A Few Thoughts about the Cowboys Game, in no particular order

[TBBills Fan]

I look forward to reading this every week.  

 

 

Thank you. 

[GunnerBill]

35 minutes ago, dma0034 said:

I'd like the Bills to focus on two things on defense going forward:

1. Coming out to play on the First Drive. It seems like teams have been able to go down and score on Buffalo on the first drive a few times this year. Honestly the Bills looked like they had no answers for the Cowboys for the First Drive

2. It improved throughout the game but tackling was a little bit of an issue in the first half

 

The first drive is when NFL offenses should be at their best. The scripted plays. When you have highly paid coaches who have watched tape and prepared and are intentionally using the defense's tendencies against them and can balance pass and run... that is when you should be productive. I think that is 3 first drive touchdowns we have given up on the season. My guess would be that is about normal league wide. 

[GunnerBill]

Good write up Virgil. Milano was sneaky brilliant again. Took him some time this season. To get back to what we know he can be. Don't think he totally trusted the injury initially and that is bot unusual. The last 3 games he has been playing elite level football. 

[Kelly the Dog]

11 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Good write up Virgil. Milano was sneaky brilliant again. Took him some time this season. To get back to what we know he can be. Don't think he totally trusted the injury initially and that is bot unusual. The last 3 games he has been playing elite level football. 

Milano was fantastic today. I personally think he gets a little too much hype because he makes so many highlight reel plays and is often pedestrian. But some games he dominates and this was one. 

[Gunsgoodtime]

I dont respond much, more of a viewer I guess, but I wanted to respond to this due to its accuracy, and true felt feeling of the fanbase, at least myself.  It was a fantastic win, and everyone saw it.

[Bangarang]

Can the white facemasks be a permanent thing? They were sexy af

[BillsfaninSB]

15 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

Can the white facemasks be a permanent thing? They were sexy af

I liked the white face mask too but still not a fan of the mono look especially the all reds. 

[Virgil]

25 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

Can the white facemasks be a permanent thing? They were sexy af

get one for your lady.  I’m sure she’d be down for a little role play

[ganesh]

13 minutes ago, BillsfaninSB said:

I liked the white face mask too but still not a fan of the mono look especially the all reds. 

And the long white tube socks...they were ugly

[Spiderweb]

What ever happened to "Bill in NY" or "Bill from NY"? Not sure exactly, but he used to also write recaps of the games "in no particular order".. 

[Virgil]

11 minutes ago, Spiderweb said:

What ever happened to "Bill in NY" or "Bill from NY"? Not sure exactly, but he used to also write recaps of the games "in no particular order".. 

 

He decided to stop doing it and I started it back up with his blessing.

[Mark Vader]

1 hour ago, BillsfaninSB said:

I liked the white face mask too but still not a fan of the mono look especially the all reds. 

I actually like the all blue look, but the all red look can disappear, but we will get that next week.

Oh well, GO BILLS!!!

Good write-up, Virgil.

One thing I want to add, was the play of Kevin Johnson tonight. He made some nice stops.

Should the Bills seriously consider keeping him around? He signed a one year prove it deal, but he could be very helpful for us moving forward, especially with Wallace having troubles this year.

I'm not trying to knock Wallace, but Kevin Johnson has been making good plays as of late.

[Nanker]

Virgil, YOU da MAN!!!

[longtimebillsfan]

5 hours ago, Virgil said:

For those of you who read this after the game because they were out doing other things, couldn't get the game where you live, or whatever else; please stop reading now and find a way to watch this game on replay.  Today's win over the Cowboys was arguably the biggest Bills win in the past 20 years.  The Fitz win over the Pats at home is a close second to me.  Usually, when I write these, I take some time to decompress and find the positives and negatives from the game.  Today, I needed the time to just calm down filter out my fandom excitement.  This is the best I've felt about this team in a very long time.  This team would have beaten anyone in the league today and nothing I write can possibly reflect the product we all saw today.

 

After the game, I put my air pods in and walked through some stores to check out some deals.  I was listening to the post game shows and really taking it all in.  I had some friends text me about the game and I thought about how absurd it must be to non-Bills fans to see us get so excited about winning a non-conference game against a now 6-6 team.  But as I listened to the hosts and other fans calling in, it's not about this season as much as it's about the Bills organization as a whole.  No one on the pre-game picked us to win.  The refs were against us early.  We were on prime time where we haven't won in forever.  We are a team who has folded against desperate teams and find the most humiliating ways to lose when everyone is watching.  We were down 7-0 early and looked like we were in for a long day.  But with 10 minutes left in the game, we were running clock because game was ours.  We didn't just win today, we dominated and gave the biggest middle finger to every outside doubter on the world's stage.  It was emotional.  It was a statement.  It was well deserved.  And with that...

 

1 - On 3rd and 6, Josh Allen throws a ball across his body to a streaking McKenzie who catches it across his body with a man in tight coverage.  It's not a play that will make the highlights or many probably noticed at the time.  But to me, that was everything you need to know about Allen's accuracy improvement as an NFL starter.  To put that ball in that tight spot and continue that drive was everything to me.  In that moment, I knew that Allen was going to be our QB for a very long time and we drafted the right man.  Many have thought the light switched on for Allen in the past few weeks.  Today proved it.  Josh Allen has arrived.  He went 11-11 at one point.  His 3rd down pass to Beasley from the end zone was amazing and one that not all QB's can make.  His TD pass to Beasley was a perfect combination of his mobility, keeping his eye's downfield, and arm strength.  I don't have the time to talk about everything that Allen did today, because this would be pages.  He was the best QB on the field today and it was the best QB performance I've seen in 20 years for the Bills.  Even his deep ball, which wasn't completed to Foster was perfectly thrown.  His back shoulder pass to Knox, perfectly thrown.  Allen jersey's will be selling in abundance.  And after his 4th and 1 fumble recovery that he muscled into a 1st down and then let his emotion take over, those sales will be well deserved. 

 

2 - Oliver - Holy crap kid, I said I was sorry last week.  Let it go already.  Oliver played like the pass rushing DT that so many of you thought he would be when we took him #9 overall.  He was a wrecking ball out there today.  His sacks were complete domination over one of the best offensive lines in the NFL.  His strip sack was all him.  He was pushing right through guys and played with a very high motor.  Maybe the benching was good for him and turned the lights on, because they are definitely on.   If Oliver can bring this type of performance out against Brady in a few weeks, look out.  He's quietly amassed a solid sack total this season and is trending up.  Oh yeah, he also tracked and brought Zeke down on quite a few plays.  Just a great day for this kid.

 

3 - Daboll - Another guy I owe an apology to today.  I only had one moment where I mentally swore at the man, which was right after the first turnover where we didn't come away with any points.  I thought he was going to get cocky again and prove how smart he was.  I was both very right and very wrong.  The trick play from Smoke to Motor was beautifully executed and drawn up.  Motor could have crawled into the end zone.  We had a great combination of run and pass, solid short, medium, and deep passes.  It was a well rounded game.  Besides a few plays were our offensive line got blown up (Lawrence had a few plays over Ford), we really didn't have many negative plays.  Just a great overall game plan on a short prep week.  Hats off good sir.

 

4 - I cried when we started to get blown out against the Cowboys in our first Super Bowl against us.  I was thirteen at the time and remember being so frustrated that we just couldn't find a way to win the big game.  It's been over 20 years since that game and I still have that feeling when we are playing a national game.  It's stupid to have such emotion invested into a team that doesn't know you exist, but we all know what it's like to have a personal stake in a team.  Between Allen's excitement after his 4th down conversion, Tre dancing on the sidelines and eating Allen's chicken, the locker room reception for Beasley, and all the fans calling into the radio show; so many of you felt it too.  This wasn't any game.  This was 20+ years of hoping that the Bills were going to be relevant again.  We have 10 days to enjoy this.  Wear your Bills gear with pride. 

 

5 - Beasley/Brown - Beasley had the stats today, but Brown was just as important in this game.  These two have been so big to our team and credit to Beane for bringing them in.  Beasley has been our main guy the past two games and has made the most of it.  The way Allen is finding him in the red zone or on 3rd downs shows kind of QB/WR chemistry we haven't seen since Fitz/Stevie.  And while Beasley got the stats, Brown was downfield making huge blocks.  On Allen's rushing TD, Brown cleared the way.  On the trick play, Brown threw a beautiful pass.  Brown has been so selfless these past few weeks, it just goes to show the type of players we have.  For him to not show up on the stat sheet, but contribute in an offense that has been dominant for two straight weeks, shows just how far we've come.

 

6 - Front Seven - One of my favorite stories is from an old soccer coach who talked about the soccer legend Pele'.   He would watch him as a kid and be unimpressed for the first few minutes of a game; thinking he wasn't anything special.  Then BOOM, he would just turn it on and dominate the game.  He was watching teams tendencies and learning how to beat them.  To me, this is what the Bills defense has now done two weeks in a row.  For the first few drives, we don't blitz, disguise our coverage's, or anything else really impressive.  McD and Frazier just watch and learn.  Then BOOM, we just come right after the offensive line.  Our defense absolutely shut the Cowboys down after their second drive and it was dominating.  Dak never seem comfortable as our front 7 were everywhere.  Shaq came up with a big sack.  Hughes had an amazing pressure where he ran around the entire offensive line.  The Bills pass rush put on a clinic today, continuing their work from the past few weeks.  The pressure was so good, that on 4th and goal at the end of the game, Dak made a terrible throw while anticipating pressure that wasn't even there. 

 

Special shout out to Star with the INT and tip on the field goal.  Just another player really bursting out these past few weeks.

 

7 - Defensive Coverage - I don't think I realized how fast Milano was until I saw him track down Zeke on a few passing plays.  Poyer was used a lot more in man coverage today, even on Cooper.  Tre was everywhere, again.  Besides a few chunk plays and the first drive, Dak had the quietest 300+ game I've seen in a long time.  Hyde SHOULD have had an interception (took me a while to calm down from that call).  Edmunds played fast and decisive against the run and pass.  I said before the game that we needed a bend but don't break coverage unit today and that's what we got.  Dallas took quite a few shots downfield to no avail.  Every DB seems to have a shining moment in coverage.  Just great job overall for this unit.

 

8 - Refs - Thankfully, this forum has a profanity filter because this would get ugly real quick.  I don't buy into conspiracy theories but it was hard today.  Just the way in which the ref's presented their calls to the crowd felt like they were trying to prove a point after taking a beating for the phantom tripping calls against the Pats.  There were two very iffy calls against Tre early for illegal contact that gave the Cowboys first downs.  There was the hit on Allen not called, which wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't call one against us for hitting Dak later on.  Then, you have the illegal hands to the face call against us that negated Hyde's interception.  Even the announcers couldn't see what happened.  Just those things alone is usually enough for the Bills to fold.  But not this Bills team.  They just keep coming, kept fighting, and beat the refs and the Cowboys.   ***** the Refs and there needs to be some form of accountability for these games.

 

9 - Hausch - I really don't know what to do here.  As he missed his extra point, I kept thinking about the Cleveland game and thinking about what could be in this game.  Until we finally pulled away and he made his last field goal, I kept waiting for his misses to haunt us.  Thankfully, the Cowboys kicker helped ease the pain.  In most seasons, I would think the Bills would bring in some kickers on the 10 day break, but field goal kickers as a whole are having overall bad seasons this year.  I don't know if it's a confidence thing, his leg is in decline, or what, but I'm officially worried about Hausch and have zero faith in him from 50+ yards.  We are going to need him as we go deeper in the season and I hope we can get this kicking situation figured out.

 

10 - McD - Thank you.  On a short week, against the Cowboys, on national tv, thank you.  You can't understand what this win means to us.  Thank you for bringing Allen along the right way.  Thank you for benching Oliver and waking him up.  Thank you for building a culture that had these guys celebrating Beasley in the locker room.  Thank you for keeping your composure, always seeing the big picture, and sticking to your plan.  Thank you for having the humility and making changes to your defensive pressure schemes and throwing Daboll in the box.  Thank you for clapping all along the way and being in touch with the Bills fan base and community in a way I haven't seen in a long time.  You're hard work is noticed and paid off today.  Thank you McD. 

 

 

*Bonus* Can we please give Knox one open field play a game?  He stiff armed another guy this game in typical dominating style.  I left my seat when that happened

 

 

I'm spent.  There so much I couldn't get to and I apologize.  There's just no way to sum up this game in a recap.  I'm going to watch this entire game again tomorrow and let it all sink in.  It's going to be a great 10 days.  I'm glad it brought everyone a better Thanksgiving.  I'm thankful for the Bills, Allen, McD, and the entire organization.

 

Go Bills!!!!!

You are the quintessential Bills' fan.  Your write-ups are well thought out and display the passion that we in the Bills' Mafia share.  Thank you for your posts.  Keep up the great work.

 

GO BILLS!!!!!!!!

[Cygnus99]

Awesome  summary !! Now just imagine if we beat the Ravens !! Think about that 

[Fixxxer]

As usual, great write up VIrgil

 

GO BILLS!!

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

6 hours ago, Virgil said:

It's amazing how many posters get genuinely mad at me for doing that

I will no longer question you for it again, ever.

 

 

great post btw

[fansince88]

@Virgil, ANOTHER GREAT POST!!! Only criticism I have is it seemed to be in order this week. ? wow, what a game right.  Im still pumped. Im so anxious to beat the Ravens I cant stand it! Lets go Bills!

[bmur66]

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[Bills Fan In Pittsford]

Another great write up!  I look forward to reading these after each game.  You make a great point about John Brown blocking on Josh's rushing TD.  What a great block and so unselfish.