Buffalo Bills Week 18: Buffalo (13-3) at New England (3-13), 1/5/25, 1 PM, CBS

[SundherDome]

Jags/Colts and 49ers Cardinals should be on Saturday. Let them finish the season a day early and people will always watch football on Saturday

 

[brian_griffin]

@NotABadPeriod

I think it was you a couple pages back speculating about a wk 18 MNF matchup. There is never a MNF game the final wk of season because of impact on rest for playoff teams and the pre-selected opponents
Edit- I see you were speculating about Super Wild Card Weekend

 

[TehDoak]

The most likely wildcard games, at least for me, are:

Denver @ Buffalo
LAC @ Baltimore
Steelers @ Houston

I don't think Steelers @ Houston matters much, neither are going into KC and winning.

I think Buffalo SHOULD be able to handle denver, assuming no big injuries in week 18. McDermott's record vs rookie QBs is good. I think Buffalo should be able to put up points and I don't think Denver will do well in a track meet style game.

The interesting game for me is LAC at Baltimore. The big difference in that game were the drops by the Chargers WRs. Chargers had a lead going into the 4th quarter. That there is the ideal, Chargers win. Play winner of Houston/Pittsburgh in round 2, let Harbaugh get a 3rd crack at KC. Even if KC wins, that is going to be a tough physical game.

 

[Djp]

@NotABadPeriod

I think it was you a couple pages back speculating about a wk 18 MNF matchup. There is never a MNF game the final wk of season because of impact on rest for playoff teams and the pre-selected opponents
Edit- I see you were speculating about Super Wild Card Weekend

WC weekend you have MNF.
It's a 5 at 4 game
Near certainty its MIN/DET L at Rans or Bucs

The other gsnr of ravens/ sterlers/ chargers at ravens screens early saturday 4pm slot

The 4/5 winner game from monday night can only be played on sunday in divisional round.

My early guess at division assuming #3s win..

SUN Min/Det L at philadelphia
SAT #6 seed at #1 MIN/DET W

At KC ON SAT AND at BUF ON SUN

 

[Djp]

Jags/Colts and 49ers Cardinals should be on Saturday. Let them finish the season a day early and people will always watch football on Saturday

ESPN will want a full refund if the money they paid

 

[Djp]

I wonder what standard they applied last year for the MVP race. Surely wasn’t stats last year. But who cares, they can keep changing the standards to prop up Lamar, he isn’t in the same tier as Allen no matter how badly they want him to be.

(Last year all we heard about was that even though his stats were mediocre, he was the QB of a top team and had amazing prime time games down the stretch. Now that Allen’s team is above them in the standings, and it was Allen who had incredible performances against the chiefs and lions…)

The ast year Lamar did not have the stats but the team got the 1 seed. Surprise finish

By the sane logic Allen should be an easy win because Ravens, bengals, and lions were expected to br 12+ win teams while many if not all had buffalo at 9 winsvir less with jets and fins finishing ahead

the press complaining about D after we clinched weeks ago are idiots ..


we played simple no scheme and probably even beat the Rams looking as b.s. penalties and Josh surfing ram defender in td that was ruled out and you all stoned McD who rescued this season w beane Babich Brady and Josh w the cape .


relax , belief is everything ..

bring on anyone into rich stadium, Cincy , Denver balt Miami and even w the refs and league against us at KC

I trust McD and two newly seasoned coordinators to go head to head scheme at least equally w anyone

w that Josh guy as the difference w Dawkins and that line , Cook and two great backs Cooper and Coleman great outsides and shakir w Kincaid and Knox

On D chill

Milano and a seasoned Dorian are matchup problems and will stop the run w Bernard healthy

Oliver has been playing possum and Rousseau epenesa and a von Miller getting hit and jostled and finally over his injury THINK THE FIRST GAME against Rams w von our d looked unstoppable two years now

all the backups have serious time in the McD system and are possibly healthy for the playoffs in BUFFALO and a year or two of experience playing well aside from Ravens .

and our backups are Matt Milano and Hyde and people are worried a d or scheme against anyone? really?
..im not saying anything in clown world WWE niffle league but c'mon you all should have some belief we may be CAPABLE OF WINNING TWO THREE FOUR IN row


at least admit it's distinctly possible just on D


WHATEVER happens f it but we couldn't be more prepared and more of a team

Against rams and lions. Teams they could face in SB, they played basic defenses

 

[ValJamesDuex]

 

[ValJamesDuex]

 

[misterchainsaw]

As most of us expected: Bills' Allen to start to maintain streak, then sit

 

[Djp]

As most of us expected: Bills' Allen to start to maintain streak, then sit

Put a wager on the first play being s running play

 

[Zman5778]

As most of us expected: Bills' Allen to start to maintain streak, then sit

Frankly, I'd scratch Cook, Cooper and most if not all of the O-line as well. And Benford.

 

[buffa dud]

Put a wager on the first play being s running play

Gilliam, you're up!

 

[NotABadPeriod]

Frankly, I'd scratch Cook, Cooper and most if not all of the O-line as well. And Benford.

I think Cook will get a chance to get to 1000 yards. Don't know if they'll give him a chance to get the TD record, but 19 yards is very doable.

The biggest issue with scratching players is you're not working with a preseason roster. 53 man roster + 2 elevations - 7 inactives = 48 active. There's only so many players you can truly scratch. I'd love to put half the roster in bubble wrap, but even on the O-line, you've only got 9 on the 53. Unless you use an elevation, by necessity you have to keep a starter out there the whole game.

DB: Benford and/or Douglas will probably be active in case of an injury and they need to come in, but Elam/Ingram should be getting the start. Bishop and (hopefully) Hamlin at safety. Lewis plays for Taron. Hamlin/Lewis are banged up, but I'd rather expose them than some of the other guys. But perhaps we see an elevation there, especially if Hamlin can't go (Jackson/Cine?).

LB: Bernard can sit--he can be inactive given the depth we have at LB. Milano/Williams ideally would get some rest as well, so maybe we ride Andreessen/Morrow, with Ulofoshio as the first reserve.

DL: Tougher since to a certain extent you have to rotate guys around. Sit Oliver, Rousseau, and Jones, use Epenesa/Miller sparingly. That gives you a rotation of Carter/Jefferson/Phillips/Johnson inside and Smoot/Solomon outside (perhaps lining one of those tackles at edge on occasion)..this might be a spot to bring up Kingsley Jonathan for an elevation.

O-line: One of Edwards/Torrance probably has to play the whole game unless you elevate a guy like Clapp. Anderson probably plays the whole game, get SVPG in there, with Vandemark and Grable at tackles. My hunch is the starting line plays the first few series before giving way to the backups. Will be interesting to see whether Anderson or SVPG gets first crack at center, in preseason it was Anderson.

Skill guys: Get Cook his yards and then he can become the break in case of emergency reserve. Davis and Johnson can handle it. Receivers, I expect a ton of Hollins/Samuel (if he can play), but you wonder if we see an elevation (Virgil/Hamler) here as well to allow Shakir/Cooper/Coleman to all sit. I expect we'll see a lot of Morris and even Gilliam at TE to allow both Knox and Kincaid to stay on the bench. Gilliam probably sees a ton of snaps to help reduce the numebr of WR you need on the field.

QB: Here's the decision: do you use an elevation on Mike White so that you don't have to worry about putting Allen in if Trubisky gets hurt. Doing so however would mean not using an elevation somewhere else, and we're now at 4 places where an elevation would make sense.

Most importantly: keep the clock running. Shorten the game, the fewer plays the better. Use all 40 seconds on the play clock. Avoid incomplete passes.

 

[zenthusiast]

I’m a sick man but I’m not sick enough to watch three hours of the Mitch Trubisky experience. Glad they’re doing it though

 

[buffa dud]

Trying to think of some more all-time great games this time from this season:

November 17th, 2024 - KC
*Josh's signature scramble. Fans go from screaming "get down! get down! get down!" to "oh my god! did he just actually do that?!"

December 29th, 2024 - NYJ
*So many milestones and none (of the good) went Rodgers' way. Excellent win. Plus, who doesn't love seeing Tyrod succeed?

December 15h, 2024 - DET
*The Lions' D was depleted, but Josh ran roughshod over what was supposed to be the best team in the league.

November 3rd, 2024 - MIA
*The thing I'll remember most about this game is Bass' game winning 61-yard field goal, and the team's reaction.

I'm struggling to think back to last year. All I really remember is the Eagles' game, which they lost, and the Dallas game. Can anyone refresh my memory?

 

[Djp]

Gilliam, you're up!

How many can they elevate from PS?

RB Gilliam, Davis, virgil/gore**
WR shavers ** Hamler**
TE morris Davidson**
QB White**

I’m a sick man but I’m not sick enough to watch three hours of the Mitch Trubisky experience. Glad they’re doing it though

I doubt I get the game where i live.
Just watch redzone on sunday then watch sunday night game

 

[Djp]

Frankly, I'd scratch Cook, Cooper and most if not all of the O-line as well. And Benford.

I dont know how many PS they can elevate for the game.

sitting
Allen after first snap
Cook, johnson
OTs
Douglas, benford, taron all sit
Milano still gets 40% snaps
I'd like to see hyde
Hamlin plays some
Von and Rousseau sits
Id like to ser Hamler play

 

[NotABadPeriod]

How many can they elevate from PS?

RB Gilliam, Davis, virgil/gore**
WR shavers ** Hamler**
TE morris Davidson**
QB White**


I doubt I get the game where i live.
Just watch redzone on sunday then watch sunday night game

2 elevations total per week, each player can get 3 regular season elevations max before they have to be added to the main roster (unlimited in playoffs).

I think they could look at elevations on defense to in order to rest guys. Jackson/Cine at S and Jonathan at DE would be the ones to watch for.

 

[Djp]

2 elevations total per week, each player can get 3 regular season elevations max before they have to be added to the main roster (unlimited in playoffs).

I think they could look at elevations on defense to in order to rest guys. Jackson/Cine at S and Jonathan at DE would be the ones to watch for.

I see them elevating White then

Iy seems they have elevated more than 2 from PS.

Can they have a standard team rosterr is say 50 thus 3 empty slots? Thus 2 are in excess of 53?

 

[NotABadPeriod]

I see them elevating White then

Iy seems they have elevated more than 2 from PS.

Can they have a standard team rosterr is say 50 thus 3 empty slots? Thus 2 are in excess of 53?

Standard roster is 53, they can elevate 2 to make 55 for game day, but max of 48 active players.

It might seem like they have elevated more because they have signed guys to the 53 man roster when they had guys on IR. For example, Virgil started on the PS, got elevated a few times, then signed to the 53, then a few weeks later they released him to make room for someone coming off IR, then re-signed him back to the PS. Clapp is another guy who was like that.

 

[Mike McDermott]

I was going to look at something with standings real quick and my ESPN is just a little drunk.

 

[Zman5778]

I was going to look at something with standings real quick and my ESPN is just a little drunk.

View attachment 953599

A LITTLE drunk? Jeeeeebus, gimme some of what ESPN is having.....that's some goooooooood stuff.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

I was going to look at something with standings real quick and my ESPN is just a little drunk.

View attachment 953599

Same thing on their website under playoff standings: NFL Standings - 2024 Regular Season Playoff Standings - ESPN

 

[Zman5778]

So did I miss a memo or something?

I swear I've seen more Illegal Contact penalty calls this week than I have all the rest of this year combined.

 

[Zman5778]

Annnnnnnnd Detroit scores on another called hook-and-ladder play.

Their defense still can't stop a 5 MPH breeze.