Best I've felt about the bills since 2020

[BringBackFergy]

[ddaryl]

2 minutes ago, BringBackFergy said:

***** superstitions and believing in jinx's

[PoundingDog]

A number of players stepped up. 

Josh Allen - this is shaping up to be his career year even though the yardage number may not be his best (due to TE/WR performance overall), but overall quarterbacking decision making, accuracy are the best of his career (leading to probably his lowest INT number).

James Cook - no question his breakout season. He's not Barkley/Henry type (taking a team on your shoulder). But he's become a top offensive weapon in this league.

O-Line - no one would've guessed that the Bills actually improved their O-line performance from last year which was widely considered their best in this millennium. 

 

Rousseau - his career year thus far. May not have huge sack numbers but opponents are now saying "don't let Rousseau beat us"

Von Miller - was pretty much written off before the season but performed as a solid DE (I want to point out his run defense is surprisingly good, better the Epenesa).

Benford - close to a career year without INT numbers.

Rapp - he's close to what a peak Jordan Poyer is performing as the season progressed so far.

Dorian Williams/Spector - stepped up. Not stars but performed better than we thought.

Bass - re-discovered himself mid-season.

    

[Billsatlastin2018]

2 hours ago, WNYFAN1 said:

Detroit will be the last real test they get this season.

The REGULAR Season.

 

Fortunately, the 2 biggest rivals to a Bills’ Lombardi, play on the NFC side (Lions & Eagles). Only one can get through.

 

 

[Kirby Jackson]

The Bills are winning the Super Bowl. I’ve tried to remain objective and not get ahead of myself. That’s over now. The Bills just feel like a championship team and nothing can derail them at the moment. Book your flights to New Orleans now.

[BuffaloBillyG]

4 hours ago, Steptide said:

Had a few ugly games against Houston and Baltimore, but outside of that, this is probably the best team we've had since 2020. Even the 13 seconds year, that team was 7-7 (I believe) at one point. The next year (Bengals playoff loss at home) even though they finished with a 13-3 record, it just always felt like they were on the brink of losing big. Which unfortunately they did in the playoffs. This offense and defense are gelling. Everyone is making plays. This might be our year folks 

 

3 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

I actually feel better than 2020 haha mostly because the chiefs looked basically unbeatable back then 

This is one of the big things to feel good about. For the first time in a while the AFC seems truly open.

 

KC has lost a lot over the last few seasons. While they have remained good they aren't some unbeatable juggernaut.

 

Pittsburgh/Baltimore/Chargers: all good physical teams that aren't going down easy but I feel we are better than all 3 right now.

 

Miami/Cincinnati/Jets: All basically done for the year. Miami and the Jets have familiarity with us enough to cause a hiccup in the playoffs if they would have made it. And Cincinnati may have a bad defense this year...but we seem to struggle in the recent past with them. 

 

Houston doesn't stand a chance in Buffalo in a rematch of a game we should have won earlier in the season. They seem to have peaked.

[Big Turk]

Josh Allen is inevitable.
 

Edited December 2 by Big Turk

[Buffalo Boy]

5 hours ago, Steptide said:

Had a few ugly games against Houston and Baltimore, but outside of that, this is probably the best team we've had since 2020. Even the 13 seconds year, that team was 7-7 (I believe) at one point. The next year (Bengals playoff loss at home) even though they finished with a 13-3 record, it just always felt like they were on the brink of losing big. Which unfortunately they did in the playoffs. This offense and defense are gelling. Everyone is making plays. This might be our year folks 

   There is absolutely a synergy that seems to have come out of nowhere.

   Coaches, draft picks, free agents, luck…..

   This year certainly has acquired a Feel about it.

    But, none of it mean anything until it does.

[Mat68]

This is the best Bills team I can remember.  Kincaid coming back, Coleman coming back.  Samuel looking healthy.  The offense is a real problem.  Before worrying about the passing game the defense has to stop the run.  The second part has not been real for an Allen offense.  Brady is a mfer in the run game.  What ever scheme or run he finds your leaky on he will spam in.  Buffalo ran for 100 yards using the same formation and same run scheme.  They wont line up and play it.  They will shift they will motion to get back to it over and over.  They will sprinkle play-action off the same thing.  That is keeping up DC at night just as much as Allen and the passing game. 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

8 minutes ago, Buffalo Boy said:

   There is absolutely a synergy that seems to have come out of nowhere.

   Coaches, draft picks, free agents, luck…..

   This year certainly has acquired a Feel about it.

    But, none of it mean anything until it does.

I’ll let out a huge sigh of relief if we stay pretty healthy come playoff time.  It’s almost kind of a win/win now, we either stay in the 1 seed race the rest of the way or we can probably rest some starters the last game or two 

 

As much as people want to say the chiefs always find a way to win yada yada I am certain if we had any injured LB available over AJ Klein we win that playoff game.  He got victimized all night 

[Buffalo Boy]

13 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

I’ll let out a huge sigh of relief if we stay pretty healthy come playoff time.  It’s almost kind of a win/win now, we either stay in the 1 seed race the rest of the way or we can probably rest some starters the last game or two 

 

As much as people want to say the chiefs always find a way to win yada yada I am certain if we had any injured LB available over AJ Klein we win that playoff game.  He got victimized all night 

Having Milano back is huge, in that regard. Having a starting level player in reserve is quite the luxury.

[MiracleAtRich1393]

All I ask is no major injuries, no weather flukes, and let the chips fall where they may. Think we are at worst a coin flip matchup against anyone in the league no matter where's it's played under those two circumstances. If Josh plays as he typically does in the playoffs, there just may be no stopping us this year.

[machine gun kelly]

5 hours ago, WNYFAN1 said:

Detroit will be the last real test they get this season.

FWIW, I have zero question about winning every game except the Detroit one in question.  It’s a toss up on Detroit week.  We are now #2 in pts/game, 2nd only to Detroit at 1.5 pts more per game.  We are 6th vs. pts. Allowed, vs. the Lions who are 3rd, so advantage Detroit.

 

One of the keys to the game will be we are +17 in the turnover differential, #1!  #1!  Detroit is doing well with Turnover differential of +8, which is 7th in the NFL.

 

Were going to need one of those magical turnovers in that game as we have the better QB.

[Riverboat Ritchie]

5 hours ago, WNYFAN1 said:

Agree 100%

 

Some of it is the schedule. Winning the games they need to against inferior opponents. But currently 2-2 against teams with a winning record. And only really Detroit left that should pose any real challenge.

 

All going to come down to the playoffs.

And injuries.  

[ticketssince61]

4 hours ago, Steptide said:

Funny thing is, I feel like they still haven't shown their offense 100% yet. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like they're saving some of it for the playoffs 

 

And hopefully for the first time will a complete receiver lineup:  Cooper, and a healthy: Kincaid, Coleman, and Samuel

[Don Otreply]

7 hours ago, Sweats said:

 

 

 

I love seeing the media doing their backpedaling about how at the beginning of the season the Bills were a hot mess, they were decimated with departures and in a rebuilding year and probably sitting in the bottom of the AFCEast........shocking the media (but not many Bills fans), as they are back on the hype train that this is the Bills year.

 

The media are dolts.

They aren’t necessarily dolts, what we all see from them is scripted, it is a show, if you don’t believe me, ask the script writer…, he has his own show too, 😁👍

[Logic]

Same. I just posted this in the post-game thread, but I'll copy and paste it here, because I think it applies to this conversation specifically:



Aside from the fact that McDermott seems to be in harmony with his current coordinators (which I agree with) and seems freed up to be more of a CEO rather than having to micro-manage (which also helps the team in a big way), I also think there's definitely something to the "scars"/fresh start argument.

That is: Having all these new/young players on the team -- and having six "heart and soul" captains gone -- has removed a lot of the scar tissue that had built up on this team and, with it, a lot of the "tightness" and weight.

The last time we saw the team look this good and the vibes around the team be this good was 2020, which incidentally was the last time this team played free and had fun without the crushing weight of expectation. From 2021 onward, the expectations became greater, the painful losses in big moments mounted, and the collective weight on everyone's shoulders just increased exponentially. It culminated in the 2023 season, where Joe Brady had to actually TELL the players "hey...I want you to celebrate and smile and have some fun out there" once he was hired as OC. He had to try to COACH them into enjoying themselves.

Now, that "version" of the Bills is gone. A lot of the players that went through those experiences are gone. And along with the exodus of those veterans, expectations were comparatively low for the Bills coming into this season. In starting a new chapter, in having a fresh start, in playing free, and being free of the weight of the world, I think this team is once again having fun and bonding, and building their own identity and legacy, somewhat separate from those of the teams that preceded them.

One of the reasons I argued for McDermott to be fired last year was that I felt a fresh psychological start was needed, and I thought that hiring a new head man was the only way to accomplish that. Thankfully, it appears that was not necessary. A few new coordinators and position coaches, a turning of the page and infusion of youth on the roster, and a bunch of preseason "this'll be the worst year of the Josh Allen era" prognostications from the talking heads, and here we are: the team is having fun, playing loose, exceeding expectations, and building something NEW. You love to see it.

[Mikie2times]

7 minutes ago, Logic said:

Same. I just posted this in the post-game thread, but I'll copy and paste it here, because I think it applies to this conversation specifically:



Aside from the fact that McDermott seems to be in harmony with his current coordinators (which I agree with) and seems freed up to be more of a CEO rather than having to micro-manage (which also helps the team in a big way), I also think there's definitely something to the "scars"/fresh start argument.

That is: Having all these new/young players on the team -- and having six "heart and soul" captains gone -- has removed a lot of the scar tissue that had built up on this team and, with it, a lot of the "tightness" and weight.

The last time we saw the team look this good and the vibes around the team be this good was 2020, which incidentally was the last time this team played free and had fun without the crushing weight of expectation. From 2021 onward, the expectations became greater, the painful losses in big moments mounted, and the collective weight on everyone's shoulders just increased exponentially. It culminated in the 2023 season, where Joe Brady had to actually TELL the players "hey...I want you to celebrate and smile and have some fun out there" once he was hired as OC. He had to try to COACH them into enjoying themselves.

Now, that "version" of the Bills is gone. A lot of the players that went through those experiences are gone. And along with the exodus of those veterans, expectations were comparatively low for the Bills coming into this season. In starting a new chapter, in having a fresh start, in playing free, and being free of the weight of the world, I think this team is once again having fun and bonding, and building their own identity and legacy, somewhat separate from those of the teams that preceded them.

One of the reasons I argued for McDermott to be fired last year was that I felt a fresh psychological start was needed, and I thought that hiring a new head man was the only way to accomplish that. Thankfully, it appears that was not necessary. A few new coordinators and position coaches, a turning of the page and infusion of youth on the roster, and a bunch of preseason "this'll be the worst year of the Josh Allen era" prognostications from the talking heads, and here we are: the team is having fun, playing loose, exceeding expectations, and building something NEW. You love to see it.

It's almost like when you go from being a Junior to a Senior in high school. You can still be a leader as a Junior, but those Seniors have the swag and clearly run the show. It's never going to be fully yours as a junior. Once you finally get to be a senior nothing is left that stands in your way. It's yours to build what you please. I felt Allen in particular needed Diggs out of there as it infringed on his potential leadership. It was the first thing I remember posting. Allen is not the type to just punch faces if you don't fall in line. He's a care free, light hearted personality, and those types need to be "seniors" to really feel like it belongs to them.

Edited December 2 by Mikie2times

[Ya Digg?]

8 hours ago, Sweats said:

 

 

 

I love seeing the media doing their backpedaling about how at the beginning of the season the Bills were a hot mess, they were decimated with departures and in a rebuilding year and probably sitting in the bottom of the AFCEast........shocking the media (but not many Bills fans), as they are back on the hype train that this is the Bills year.

 

The media are dolts.

To be fair, there were PLENTY of threads on here during the offseason and preseason talking about how the Bills are wasting one of Allen’s prime years, the team will win 9 or 10 games at best, this team doesn’t have it, etc….the dolts aren’t just reserved for the national media 

[Jerome007]

Hey, I too sense this can be THE year, at last. But 4-5 other teams can legit win it all this year. No inferiority complex, the Bills can beat all of them, but in a one game do or die setting, nothing is guaranteed.