We Won the Game Right? Right?

[TheConsigliere]

You don't always win them pretty.

Does anyone think the Dolphins won all of their games pretty during their perfect season?

R-E-L-A-X

[kgun12]

Should have saved this post for this thread, so I’ll put it here also.

I don’t think there are many teams in this edition of the NFL that could take as many injuries as the Bills have and still be 8-3! Seriously, I don’t like Dorsey’s offense and Frazier’s defense with this group that is fighting there butts off makes it hard to watch. Think about how many games the starters have missed! We have played second and third testers and waiver wire pickups.

Yes they are VERY hard to watch but right now I still see the glass as more than half full!

[Novacane]

I'm relaxed. We still have Josh Allen. Anything's possible.

[DraftBoy]

Whose freaking out? It’s just a game, go eat some Turkey and you’ll be fine.

[Historian]

A ****ty half against the Packers?

It's an outlyer.

A loss to the Jets?

It's a warning sign.

Fumble a win away at home?

It's a bad trend.

Get picked apart by Brissett and Goff?

This team is a first round playoff exit.

[Dr. Lecter]

All seasons have ebbs and flows. The Rams were not perfect all year last season. Lest we forget, the Lions had 3 consecutive wins.

It is easy to lose sight of all of this. There are high expectations on this team, as there should be. They are extremely talented and are one of the top teams in the league.
At the end of the week they will still be no worse than having the second best record in the AFC with 4 more games at the east to come, 3 of which are home.

Just keep winning and work on fixing the issues that exist (If White can come back full force that will be a huge help)

[TacklingDummy]

This team is a first round playoff exit.

Hopefully this isn’t the team that’s in the playoffs, hopefully it’s the healthy team that is in the playoffs. Huge difference.

[TacklingDummy]

1st team in NFL history to win 2 games in 5 days that wasn’t in their home venue.

They suck.

[Mace]

I'm not really comfortable with any game they play, much less 4 critical division games. I understand the injuries, but haven't seen coaching step up. You see personnel step up when talent and skill is better, but you don't see coaching scheming for matchups or compensating. It's going to come down to pure player talent, and frankly it might not be healthy pure player talent.

It's not going to ruin my life any worse, but it's a disappointing result in the 6th year of a program with hand picked talent in a contending season. We just played the Brown and Lions, not the other contenders.

I don't feel this is going well, despite the injuries, because Allen is not throwing well and the receivers are not catching well, and that's the bread and butter.

They have an apathy, next game will work out better, but they don't look real focused and intent on the prize besides lip service.

[Woodman]

1st team in NFL history to win 2 games in 5 days that wasn’t in their home venue.

They suck.

Woodman Tackling Dummy

[Saratoga Slim]

This was the game where it finally sunk in for me how badly the injuries have affected us. Josh is clearly feeling the elbow. Morse out and then Dawkins. Entered the game without our 2nd and 3rd DEs, then lost our #1. Missing Micah Hyde and (mostly) Tre White. Pro Bowl MLB out. Can’t forget Jamison Crowder either.

There are very few teams that could even dream of being 8-3 with a lineup that worn through.

If we can get back to a somewhat reasonable injury level, there’s no one we can’t beat in the playoffs.

[Woodman]

Healthy we would be prettay prettay prettay good.

[YardRat]

1st team in NFL history to win 2 games in 5 days that wasn’t in their home venue.

They suck.

It's kind of hard to believe that's the case and somebody else hasn't won a road game and then beaten Detroit on Thanksgiving. But, maybe the league has paid more attention to making sure the Lions opponent has had a home game the Sunday before than I have.

[Night Train]

I get injuries and the weekly challenge of winning games.

Bills found a way to win.

I don't need VR googles to read 8-3. That's real.

Yet some will spend the next week with the googles on, instructing us they will lose to the Pats. Convinced everyone loves whining.

Coaches will need to change up schemes and put the past game to bed. Somethings many fans have trouble doing.

3 straight divisonal games on the schedule.

Only the Pats matter. Meanwhile, I get to watch more college/pro football this weekend without a football worry in the world. We're in the clubhouse with a win.

[Forward_Lateral]

I get injuries and the weekly challenge of winning games.

Bills found a way to win.

I don't need VR googles to read 8-3. That's real.

Yet some will spend the next week with the googles on, instructing us they will lose to the Pats. Convinced everyone loves whining.

Coaches will need to change up schemes and put the past game to bed. Somethings many fans have trouble doing.

3 straight divisonal games on the schedule.

Only the Pats matter. Meanwhile, I get to watch more college/pro football this weekend without a football worry in the world. We're in the clubhouse with a win.

Great post. The Bills are basically playing with half backups on both sides of the ball. The entire O-line was backups besides RT. The entire defense was backups besides Milano, Poyer, Oliver and Dane.

If they can find a way to beat New England Thursday, it will be a huge feat. Winning 3 games in 12 days with one game being moved due to an avalanche from the sky, and having zero practice for said game, then a quick turnaround to play a hot Lions team, followed up by another Thursday game against arch Rival New England.

[Woodman]

‘When the Bills needed Allen to be at his best, he delivered. When they needed Diggs to win his one-on-one matchup or find a seam in the coverage, he delivered. And when the offensive line, which began the game without center Mitch Morse (ankle) and played the second half minus left tackle Dion Dawkins (ankle), needed to give Allen time to throw, they delivered.’

[Gibby 2.0]

A ****ty half against the Packers?

It's an outlyer.

A loss to the Jets?

It's a warning sign.

Fumble a win away at home?

It's a bad trend.

Get picked apart by Brissett and Goff?

This team is a first round playoff exit.

I'd like to remind you that not many seasons ago this team would very easily be 5-6 with an 0-4 December a very likely scenario. Yeah, remember 2011? Fitzmagic looks good until he gets injured in Toronto against the R[edacted]s and then they collapse? First round exit? I honestly don't know that. I will say with this massive clusterf*** of injuries I would be very surprised if they made the Superbowl or even the AFCCG but honestly I don't know. I say every year I can't get a feel for this team, well except 2020 that team was therapeutic, and every year they surprise me, sometimes for better 17, 19, and sometimes they disappoint 21, but they are always there to compete. A minimum of 3 wins in December tells me I have less to worry about than I thought. 2-2 means playoffs, but an early exit. 1-3 means they may not even make.

At worst this team reminds me of the 2018 Steelers, an undisciplined lot that relied heavily on the high end talent to bail out their constantly sloppy play. You can watch more on that team in Urinatingtree's Days of our Steeleers. This team, as long as it has Allen, Diggs, and co, has high end talent that will allow it to stay in ball games. Allen is very much a Peyton Manning type qb who can cover a multitude of football sins including his own. However, it sorely lacks discipline. We've seen this vs Miami where they commit a stupid penalty on their final drive followed by not getting out of bounds in time to stop the clock. We saw it against the Jets, and we really saw it v Minnesota. Hell, we saw the slop all season long starting in week 1. Stupid penalties, even dumber turnovers, poor clock management, piss poor blocking and tackling, playing fast and loose with the ball, moving away from things that were working. Yeah, its the indiscipline that gets me.

At best? This team reminds me of the 1988 Cleveland Browns. Marty's last in Cleveland. A trainwreck of injuries that was on QB 4, Don Strock (how old was that guy that year anyways?) who improbably limped into the dance and was even able to host a home game. That was a mediocre 8-8 team, but was arguably Schottenheimer's finest achievement as a coach considering just how very little he had to work with.

The good news is this is a playoff team. The bad news is that change is needed. We need to stop dicking around and get Allen an offensive line, we need to let Edmunds go, can Frazier and get a defense that isn't a Tampon 2 derivative. We also need to get an OC who actually uses the run game. I get it, we have a quarter billion dollar back who you want to have the ball when the game is on the line because more often than not he gets you a win, but he needs help and some of that help comes from getting a ground game going. He is very much like Jim Kelly in the 80s pre Thurmal. Kelly's Gamblers and Bills were exciting to watch and competative too, but without Thurmal they don't get to four straight superbowls. Allen's Bills are the same. He will never realize his full potential until we commit to getting him a ground game. Oh that we had a Thurmal. Hell, if he just had an FJax and Spiller to play with we'd be far better off than we were.

Well I was going somewhere with this, hope I haven't lost the narrative, but that is my ranty take on the subject.

[TigerJ]

I'm always happy with a win. I'm sure McDermott and Josh, and all the players and staff are too. At the same time McDermott no doubt has everybody going over film to scrutinize every missed tackle, penalty, dropped pass or poor call in hopes of not making the same mistakes the next time they play. There's plenty to look at.

[Historian]

[Woodman]

McDermott no doubt has everybody going over film to scrutinize every missed tackle, penalty, dropped pass or poor call in hopes of not making the same mistakes the next time they play. There's plenty to look at.

It's a full time job, always with adjustments that need to be made !