We're onto Miami(Miami's headed to Buffalo)...opening line BUF -10! Game at 1:05 PM SUN 1/15

[Big Blitz]

1 minute ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Agreed. Honestly what real difference is there in a week once this type of injury/surgery has healed. Seems strange

 

And why not say this yesterday?

 

Smokescreen.   

[Airseven]

12 hours ago, The Wiz said:

Beginning of the season  is a little different than the end of the season, don't you think?

Exactly. Where they started and where they ended up is the point.

[Beck Water]

13 hours ago, CNYfan said:

I think it is not terribly out of order to say that the Bills looked the better team, for the most part, the first meeting.  But the Dolphins looked every bit our equal the second game.

So my thinking is this will be a very difficult match-up and the Bills need to be focused and ready

 

I agree with the "need to be focused and ready" part.   It's fantastic that Damar is back home and it appears that he's going to be fine.  My concern is that some of the Bills players (and who can blame them?) are still working through the Damar Hamlin thing.  Even believing it's a fluky thing - it's one thing to say to a reporter "I want to hit a guy so hard I smash his chest in" and another to see a guy fall to the turf.  I thought @Simon had a point that the Bills played the Patriots "with love" in the first half.  In the second half i thought they started to get back into it.  Nyheim Hines and Taron Johnson certainly played with abandon and led the way.

 

As far as the second game - the Bills had 9 more first downs.  They had 446 yds to the Fins 405 yds.  They had more passing yards, 304 to 234.  They had 4 passing TD to the Fins 2 passing TD.  They had more 3rd down conversions, 57% vs 36%.  Overall, they had the same penalty yards.

 

The Bills scored TDs on 3 successive drives in the first half.  And, the Bills were leading by a TD for the majority of the first half.

 

So it's a bit mind boggling to me what people are looking at when they say "the Dolphins looked every bit our equal" in the second meeting. 

 

What I saw was:

1) two long plays given up, due to apparent confusion in the secondary.  Even with Poyer in the game, something has happened to communication in our secondary and it's gotta be fixed, Fast.

2) OL/C issues in the 3Q: we went into the game without Bates, we lost Morse to concussion halfway through the game.  At that point, we were playing our 3rd string C and playing a tackle at RG, and it showed in the issues Allen had.  Fortunately, we adjusted and started moving the ball again in the 4Q after what could have been a costly strip-sack fumble where Allen was (wait for it) holding on to the ball trying to make something happen after 4 successive punts.  It was 1D.  Throw it away, 2nd down.

3) Critically, the Bills D held the Dolphins to a FG after that strip sack at midfield, limiting the damage.  That was huge

4) back to the 3Q, the Bills Gifted the Dolphins a 4th down conversion with a really stupid RTP

5) back to back long drives for the Bills resulting in a TD and what could have been a TD, but was limited to a FG by the Bills in order to kill clock.

 

I would say the reason the Bills didn't dominate the game had less to do with the Dolphins, and more to do with the Bills.  Mistakes in the 2ndary, poor OL play by 3rd string players at 2 positions, a really costly RTP penalty.  "Only the Bills can Beat the Bills".

 

 

 

[NewEra]

59 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

LOL

We have scored on the Chiefs the last 3 times we've played them.  Chris Jones hasn't stopped us.

He didn’t play in the regular season game last season.  

[Beck Water]

21 minutes ago, balln said:

Yea I don’t know what McD is really saying there? 

 

I think he's saying at this point, it's like Hyde has missed all of training camp and he needs a minute to work himself into football shape. 

I think McDermott is disappointed and is trying to manage his own expectations.

[mannc]

17 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Agreed. Honestly what real difference is there in a week once this type of injury/surgery has healed. Seems strange

If the Bengals are coming to Orchard Park next week, it would be huge to have Hyde available. If that happens, I think he’ll be active.

Edited January 13, 2023 by mannc

[Airseven]

31 minutes ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

What a cold bucket of water in regards to Hyde. 

Only if you had unrealistic expectations.

 

The fact there is any chance at all that Hyde could suit up and contribute in some fashion in a hypothetical Super Bowl game is incredible news.

[NewEra]

52 minutes ago, Logic said:

So...

Do the Bills ride with the hot hand and make this a James Cook game and a James Cook playoffs, or do they rely on Singletary because he's the veteran?

To me, it's clear that Cook has been outplaying Singletary recently. He offers more in the passing game, has improved his run blocking, and has been finding creases and hitting the hole. His contact balance has improved, too. It seems like he very rarely gets stopped for no gain. 

Cook also hasn't fumbled since week 1, whereas Singletary always feels like a bit of a risk in that department.

Still, this coaching staff has a little bit of a history of deferring/defaulting to vets in big games. Here's hoping they don't. Cook has earned the lion's share, IMO.

I think Cook has earned more than 50% of the carries.  He’s been electric and has me salivating thinking about his potential going forward.  He’s the best rb on the team atm imo.  
 

That said, he hasn’t been a lions share rb.  Even in HS, he never tallied more than 100 carries in a single season.  Some guys are meant to be on the lesser end of a committee.
 

5’11 190 playing rb in the nfl in 2023.  If we knew he’d hold up, I’m sure he’d get more run.  I’m just not so sure we want to find out if he’ll hold up.  I expect around a 50/50 carry split with Cook getting more targets in the passing game.

 

it could be win or go elsewhere for Motor in his contract year.  I don’t think they’d cut into his touches very much.  

[Process]

So this is... perfect

 

 

[Logic]

4 minutes ago, NewEra said:

I think Cook has earned more than 50% of the carries.  He’s been electric and has me salivating thinking about his potential going forward.  He’s the best rb on the team atm imo.  
 

That said, he hasn’t been a lions share rb.  Even in HS, he never tallied more than 100 carries in a single season.  Some guys are meant to be on the lesser end of a committee.
 

5’11 190 playing rb in the nfl in 2023.  If we knew he’d hold up, I’m sure he’d get more run.  I’m just not so sure we want to find out if he’ll hold up.  I expect around a 50/50 carry split with Cook getting more targets in the passing game.

 

it could be win or go elsewhere for Motor in his contract year.  I don’t think they’d cut into his touches very much.  

Yeah, I agree that he'll never be a workhorse guy. I don't think this coaching staff wants that anyway.

I'd be happy with at least a 60/40 split, though, with the key being that Cook's in the lineup for more of the "gotta have it" moments and gets more passing work.

Basically, in my opinion, Singletary should be spelling Cook and keeping him fresh and taking neutral situation, early down work, not splitting carries evenly with him. 

As much as I love Singletary's attitude and I think he's a pretty good back...the combination of Cook's emergence, the presence of Hines on the roster, and the other roster needs being much more pressing this offseason, I don't think they should sign Singletary to a second contract. I think they can replicate his production with a late round pick, and that Cook/Hines could be a pretty formidable 1/2 punch anyway.
 

[HappyDays]

Now official:

 

 

[Big Blitz]

For the Bengals - Kappa is out. 
 

Right side of their line is out.  

[Warriorspikes51]

2 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

For the Bengals - Kappa is out. 
 

Right side of their line is out.  

Ravens may give them a fight, but it'll be an uphill battle for them to beat Cincy.

[Low Positive]

3 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

For the Bengals - Kappa is out. 
 

Right side of their line is out.  

Tee Higgins hasn't practiced all week with a hip pointer.

[Draconator]

 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

14 hours ago, Airseven said:

Blowouts were the expectation and standard at the beginning of the season. Bills were the consensus Super Bowl juggernaut (according to Eisen, they were coming for your soul). They have a great record, but the dominance vanished. No wire to wire blowouts is concerning in that context.

The ‘coming for your soul’ rich risen monologue was with the understanding that we absolutely destroyed a superbowl caliber rams team and great titans team
 

Neither were good teams.  We saw a better version of the rams than they had down the stretch but they still had big holes on their roster that we exploited.  

Edited January 13, 2023 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Dan]

23 minutes ago, Logic said:

Yeah, I agree that he'll never be a workhorse guy. I don't think this coaching staff wants that anyway.

I'd be happy with at least a 60/40 split, though, with the key being that Cook's in the lineup for more of the "gotta have it" moments and gets more passing work.

Basically, in my opinion, Singletary should be spelling Cook and keeping him fresh and taking neutral situation, early down work, not splitting carries evenly with him. 

As much as I love Singletary's attitude and I think he's a pretty good back...the combination of Cook's emergence, the presence of Hines on the roster, and the other roster needs being much more pressing this offseason, I don't think they should sign Singletary to a second contract. I think they can replicate his production with a late round pick, and that Cook/Hines could be a pretty formidable 1/2 punch anyway.
 

I’m not saying I completely disagree with most of these thoughts.   However, I do think Singletary is grossly undervalued and under appreciated by most fans for some reason.   He doesn’t have the breakaway speed to take it to the  house on any play, but he almost always makes more yards, than the play seems allowable with our line. 

[The Wiz]

 

[jletha]

15 minutes ago, Draconator said:

 

I believe they also went: Lost in AFC Champ Game, Lost in AFC Divisional Round in the two years preceding their first SB appearance.

[Logic]

13 minutes ago, Dan said:

I’m not saying I completely disagree with most of these thoughts.   However, I do think Singletary is grossly undervalued and under appreciated by most fans for some reason.   He doesn’t have the breakaway speed to take it to the  house on any play, but he almost always makes more yards, than the play seems allowable with our line. 

I actually really like Singletary. 

His ability to shake a defender in a phone booth is elite. Like if it's a linebacker or safety with a perfect angle, meeting him one-on-one, Singletary almost always shakes him and gains more yards. He also has a tremendous work ethic and fits in great in the locker room.

That said, he'll continue to see meaningful work throughout the playoffs, obviously. But after that? Well...The main reasons I don't want to re-sign him are:

1.) I don't ever believe in giving out second contracts to running backs UNLESS they're either elite, game changing talents (Derrick Henry, Dalvin Cook) or meaningful passing game assets (CMC, Kamara).

2.) With James Cook and Nyheim Hines, the Bills will already possess a pretty fast, scary duo that can both also contribute in the passing game.

3.) Too many more pressing needs elsewhere to spend what limited cap space the Bills will have on.

If Singletary will come back at a very reasonable and team friendly deal, then MAYBE, but even then....it's probably better business to just draft a late round guy to replace him.

Edited January 13, 2023 by Logic