Playoff Mindset...the Enemy is...us

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

2 minutes ago, extrahammer said:

 

Do you believe some of the media labeling Allen this generation's Brett Favre is fair?

Certainly not from that game alone. Up until this one he’s been pretty much lights out in the playoffs too so I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I really think pick 1 was on John brown,  pick 2 was a ‘good’ defensive play (questionably pi).  He’s gotta be careful with those fumbles close to his own end zone though that’s my big complaint.  If he wants to take a single coverage shot 60 yards downfield I don’t have any problem with that because at worst that flips the field 

2 hours ago, Thrivefourfive said:

Absolutely the reason to NOT relax.

 

One thing I do like this season is winning the gutty close games. I took them in the regular season because those games can go either way and the NFL season is an absolute grind. But at home against that ^^^^ I hate it, in the almighty playoffs…. Not relaxed one bit. 

I don’t think blowing out Miami yesterday would’ve reasonably meant anything in relation to the game next week.  It honestly might be better that they had to gut it out.  Miami might have given us some looks early that cincy could’ve thrown at us.

 

 We seemed to really be getting after cincy with our offensive line on that one drive so I think it’s going to be a completely different game.

[Thrivefourfive]

7 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Certainly not from that game alone. Up until this one he’s been pretty much lights out in the playoffs too so I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I really think pick 1 was on John brown,  pick 2 was a ‘good’ defensive play (questionably pi).  He’s gotta be careful with those fumbles close to his own end zone though that’s my big complaint.  If he wants to take a single coverage shot 60 yards downfield I don’t have any problem with that because at worst that flips the field 

I don’t think blowing out Miami yesterday would’ve reasonably meant anything in relation to the game next week.  It honestly might be better that they had to gut it out.  Miami might have given us some looks early that cincy could’ve thrown at us.

 

 We seemed to really be getting after cincy with our offensive line on that one drive so I think it’s going to be a completely different game.

Cincinnati is now down three starting O linemen. This has to be exploited! 

[Big Blitz]

21-5 in the 26 games since the Colts debacle. 
 

The rest is correct all 5 losses by a combined 20 points and 3 of them were in OT.  

[PauleeeWalnuts]

28 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Haha imagine what the jokes would’ve been if they lost though…if they win next week no one will care about this game 

 

cincy easily could’ve lost their game as well 

I can’t even imagine haha

[ToGoGo]

3 hours ago, Dan said:

So I see the facts you’re trying to put out there.  But doesn’t it just feel like we lost a lot more than 5 games?  I know you have data, but what about the eye test?  When I’m drunk in the 3rd quarter, I see a team that loses to all the good teams and can’t do anything.  If only we had a better coach, drafting, QB, LT, C, #4DB, dome, line backer, DT, weather, beer, cheerleaders, radio play by play guy; then maybe I could feel better about this team.  But right now, it just feels like we should have lost the last 12 games.  Maybe one day, this team can finally live up to the same standards of excellence I exhibit daily in my personal and professional life.   Until then, I can’t enjoy life.  

 

Nice. 

[Captain Caveman]

2 hours ago, WhoTom said:

 

Yeah, Collinsworth pointed that out - either spread the formation to unclog the middle, making the dive at least feasible, or stay low and let the big guys behind you push you into the end zone. They lined up in the "push" formation but ran the play that belongs in the "dive-over-the-top" formation.

 

 

 

Harbaugh said after the game that Huntley did that on his own, he was supposed to go low and get pushed

[WhoTom]

10 minutes ago, Captain Caveman said:

 

Harbaugh said after the game that Huntley did that on his own, he was supposed to go low and get pushed

 

I wondered if that might be the case.

 

 

[Best Williams Available]

2 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

We'll take great plays from wherever we can get them, but I was really happy to see some contributions from this year's rookie class, including the increased playing time for Cook. Just a few weeks ago it honestly looked like a completed wasted draft. 

With McD teams we have to be patient before assessing drafts. Like years as timescales. 

[folz]

3 hours ago, Thrivefourfive said:

Why I’m I counting 8 losses in the last 30 games played?

 

Yes, 22-8 record over the last 30 games. But to the OP's point, on a broader scale:

 

Since 2020 (last 3 seasons):

Our record is 41-14 for a winning percentage of 74.55% 

Only two of those 14 losses were blowouts (2020 vs. Tenn 42-16; 2021 vs. Ind 41-15)

Only 3 double-digit loses in 55 games (includes 2020 AFCCG loss to KC by 14).

In the other 11 losses, the average point differential was 4.3 points (with three OT games)

[So, in 3 seasons, there have only been 3 games that we didn't either win or have a chance to win late in the game.]

Point differential over those 3 seasons: +519, or +9.44 points per game

3 playoff appearances, 4 playoff wins (thus far)

 

The best of times is indeed NOW...enjoy the ride.

[Golden]

2 hours ago, extrahammer said:

 

Do you believe some of the media labeling Allen this generation's Brett Favre is fair?

His INT rate is very comparable;

2021: 2.3%
2022: 2.5%
——-> as I’m sure you know, there is always recency bias in the media 

[First Round Bust]

5 hours ago, Dan said:

So I see the facts you’re trying to put out there.  But doesn’t it just feel like we lost a lot more than 5 games?  I know you have data, but what about the eye test?  When I’m drunk in the 3rd quarter, I see a team that loses to all the good teams and can’t do anything.  If only we had a better coach, drafting, QB, LT, C, #4DB, dome, line backer, DT, weather, beer, cheerleaders, radio play by play guy; then maybe I could feel better about this team.  But right now, it just feels like we should have lost the last 12 games.  Maybe one day, this team can finally live up to the same standards of excellence I exhibit daily in my personal and professional life.   Until then, I can’t enjoy life.  

yeah I get it...its entertainment after all...but I think the measure of a great team in todays NFL is finding ways to win when you dont have your best qb game, or not playing well or playing down to level off opponent week-after-week...the days of going undefeated are gone and rarer than ever as well as Bills fan want to and expect to win 72-0 cuz Josh can and does make incredible plays and Beane for the most part drafts well, except for early-mid round OL, which we seem to need the most.

 

Football is clear;y the national pastime, the off-season fix is daily free agency predictions, hopes and news, good or bad then the endless mock drafts until the biggest non-event of the NFL calendar, the draft itself...

[TH3]

6 hours ago, First Round Bust said:

relax we won...enjoy...the closeness..the drama...the victory..its hard to beat a division rival when you play them 3 times

 

we are 24-5 record over past 30 games - Cincy MNF included as no game

 

Those 5 losses by a total of 20 points, include 3 OT losses to Mahomes and Brady on the road and to the flukey Vikes at home this season, other losses to Mia and Jets on road 

 

31 points to a 3rd stringer...yes...but besides the picks, we gave them the short field - their 40 (kickoff penalty) our 48, 27 and 15 yard lines..TO START drives...not to mention the sack-fumble-score..Only 1 drive longer than 40 yards...we are not used to the D winning games but they gave FGs not TDs which really was the diff for the W

 

Then the  Rex Ryan defense, stack the line to no space the runs and blitz leaving sticky man-man 1:1 coverage which is high risk or high reward and a safety spy on Josh instead of a usual linebacker.

 

Certainly not Josh best game, but still a good game with inches on the Knox (TD) and Shakir (bomb) just missing which would have been another 7 or 10 points at least.

we won despite Josh not having to be superman

 

We are facing better coaching, QBs and defense, and the pass rush misses a hall-of-famer and the secondary the vet presence in Hyde (not to mention the range of Damar verus Marlowe).

 

Its gonna be another close one, its a different game, different team..rather be at home than Cincy or KC, and we are 5 point favorites opening against the Bengals...

 

Enjoy...

 

 

 

Is there a point here?

[TBBills Fan]

5 hours ago, Big Turk said:

 

That tends to bring out the best in them.

 

People talk about Harbaugh as one of the best coaches with situational football and clock management but what I saw yesterday was dreadful.

 

A QB Sneak with him stretching the ball out and trying to jump over the pile from the 2 yard line?? I mean who the hell does that when you didn't even give Dobbins the ball at ALL inside the 5??

 

Then they run themselves out of time on the final drive with two timeouts in their pocket. Just brutal. Among the worst situational football I have seen.

The Ravens gave that game away. I could t believe it

[Utah John]

The big innovation the Dolphins used that I haven't seen anyone else use successfully was to spy Josh.  It's a big part of the Bills' game for Josh to punish teams for leaving open space near the LOS.  I have never seen anyone take that away like Miami did.

 

All I can say is the Bills better have answers for Ds that do that.  Copycat league -- you see it until you beat it.

 

The key to the Bengals game isn't our offense, anyway.  It's whether our D line and LBs can take advantage of the Bengals' disaster on their O line.  So many injuries.

3 hours ago, TH3 said:

Is there a point here?

I guess the point is that we have a very very good team that now knows it can win close games.   At the start of the year the feeling was the Bills could blow you out by a lot, or lose to you by 3.  Now the Bills win by 3, over and over.  Or by more which is fine.

[AlfaBill]

9 hours ago, Big Turk said:

The difference in this game is when the Bills dialed up the old Daboll move of sending everyone deep, leaving no checkdowns and counting on Allen's legs to be the Checkdown against man coverage, the Fins were ready for it.

 

Several times it appeared the Red Sea parted up front, Allen was staring at 20 yards of open space right up the middle and when he went to take off to exploit it, the Fins DLine converged on him and stopped him for like a yard or half yard loss.

 

That never used to happen and is the type of adjustment ONLY divisional opponents can make when they see something twice a year every year. If the Fins didn't make the adjustment, the game would have likely gotten out of hand as Allen would have run wild on them.

 

Kudos to the Fin for the cat and mouse game of letting Allen think he had something and then taking it away as soon as he tried to take advantage of it. A very interesting wrinkle I saw 3 or 4 times yesterday.

 

Also why I take those 7 sacks with a grain of salt. 3 of them at least weren't real sacks, they were tackles for like a half yard loss as he tried to run through the middle.

 

About Josh’s running the pats* contained him as well. I hope he can break a few off next week

[First Round Bust]

16 hours ago, TH3 said:

Is there a point here?

yes...reading is fundamental but comprehension requires some to have others do it for you...apparently

[DC Greg]

19 hours ago, extrahammer said:

 

Do you believe some of the media labeling Allen this generation's Brett Favre is fair?

 

It's not a bad comparison. Especially if you think about it as in they make watching the game of football more fun for fans than any other player in the league. We're so lucky we get to watch this guy every Sunday. I'll take the good with the bad any day. He's awesome to root for, and he's an amazing talent.

[Thrivefourfive]

23 hours ago, DC Greg said:

 

It's not a bad comparison. Especially if you think about it as in they make watching the game of football more fun for fans than any other player in the league. We're so lucky we get to watch this guy every Sunday. I'll take the good with the bad any day. He's awesome to root for, and he's an amazing talent.

I saw Kelly in Favre. I saw Favre blow too many big games too. Because he was reckless. I don’t want a reckless QB in today’s NFL. It’s unnecessary. The efficiency at the position over the past 1.5 decades is off the charts (Nick Foles 27-2 TD-INT ratio..). Today, a quarterback doesn’t have to fight the defensive (any defensive player on field) like they did in the 80s/90s. If the DLine didn’t break your back, a OLB would Mack truck you a yard out of bounds, all while your WRs would duck and cover after being held and hogtied right before their heads would pop right off their necks from a decapitating hit by a safety. 

 

A 2020s Favre will be a loser. And a liability. And JA needs to get back to the smart football he played in 2020.