Octopus Overlords

Nice to see Austin Ekeler be part of a deep playoff run. He was always so clutch for the Chargers.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2025 3:16 am Crushing.

Despite the extra time to recover from injuries, I think the bye hurt the Lions. They were not sharp on defense, Goff was rusty, and the coaching staff wasn't tight.

Yeah. I think the bye in the playoffs is always a double-edged sword. You want it desperately to get healthy and potentially get players back, but it’s also a momentum killer. That’s especially the case when you’re coming off a big win like the Lions were over the Vikings.

Also, I think Goff has games like that in him. It’s not the first time he’s gone wonky and been terribly careless with the ball. The fact that his defense was gutted by injury and clearly unable to stop the Commies just put more pressure on him on a day when he was just not up to the task.

Bummer for Lions fans. Tough loss.

I don't think it was the bye, I think all the injuries on defense finally caught up to them.

They had to blitz on almost every down and they got burned repeatedly against a team that might have beaten them if they were healthy, Daniels was fantastic, but the gaps in the defense the blitzes left were huge. Turnovers were awful, but also in part a reaction to how bad the defense was and how much pressure that put on the offense.

As a Niners fan who was there, I still remember the 6!! turnovers the Niners had to overcome in the 81 NFC Championship (the defense got 3 back tho, and that was key).

It's game on in Philly!

Barkley is one of the best pick ups of all time .

Pyperkub wrote: Sun Jan 19, 2025 1:53 pm

They had to blitz on almost every down and they got burned repeatedly against a team that might have beaten them if they were healthy, Daniels was fantastic, but the gaps in the defense the blitzes left were huge.

Daniels has been absolutely killing blitzes all season long. If that was the Lions' gameplan it was ill-conceived.

Andrews is not going to have a peaceful night's sleep tonight. I feel bad for him.

Brutal drop by Andrews, but I’m not sure the ball would have actually crossed the goal line even if he caught that.

Edit: NVM, he’d have been in if he caught it clean. The pylon cam view at the end made it look like his body was in but the ball may have been short of the line.

Nice to see the Bills catch a break in a critical situation.

Andrews also had a costly turnover before that.

NSFW

I'd expect KC to win off a fluke like that, but not the Bills.

I feel terrible for Mark Andrews. As a fan, I’ve been on the wrong side of moments like that so many times. BAL are going to have to spend all offseason with “He Dropped It” echoing in their ears. They won’t ever think about the fact that Josh Allen had 1:33 and timeouts to get a FG, and likely would have lost anyway. But these things sting.

As for KC. Every year I have to tell people that winning a SB requires two things. There are 5 to 10 moments in every SB Champion’s season that were key moments that randomly and inexplicably went their way.

The key to dynasty teams like KC and NE is to do everything imaginable so that when those moments happen, you are in a position to take advantage of them. That’s what the Bills did yesterday. No mistakes on offense. Calculated risks on defense that paid off.

Two more games (please).

RunningMn9 wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 12:31 pm Two more games (please).

It's beyond me to even dream we beat KC. I'd love to see it, but they've driven all hope for Bills success out of my existence.

Smoove_B wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 3:31 pm

coopasonic wrote:

RunningMn9 wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 12:31 pm Two more games (please).

It's beyond me to even dream we beat KC. I'd love to see it, but they've driven all hope for Bills success out of my existence.

The team is built specifically to play KC. The first AFCCG, KC was clearly a better team, and KC throttled the Bills in that game. The Bills are two plays away from being 6-0 against KC since that game. They are 4-2 and lost the only two games that mattered. I get it. But the Bills aren’t starting AJ Klein off his couch in this game.

There should be hope. On the flip side, it’s really hard to beat a team like KC twice. So maybe dash those hopes. I don’t know.

You missed your calling as a motivational speaker.

Baltimore, Maryland. Home of Post-season disappointment.

Three turnovers, and the dropped 2-point conversion. Ugh. Yeah, Andrews is the goat this time, but Flowers hurt us last year. And Lamar with another 2 TOs himself. Why they didn't keep with the run game bothers me. Bills stuffed Henry in some formations, but when they brought the TEs and the FB in, they seemed to be moving as well as last weekend.

Go NFC.

Baroquen wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 4:00 pm Baltimore, Maryland. Home of Post-season disappointment.

Three turnovers, and the dropped 2-point conversion. Ugh. Yeah, Andrews is the goat this time, but Flowers hurt us last year. And Lamar with another 2 TOs himself. Why they didn't keep with the run game bothers me. Bills stuffed Henry in some formations, but when they brought the TEs and the FB in, they seemed to be moving as well as last weekend.

Go NFC.

I don’t understand not leaning on Henry. Similar to the Eagles and Saquon, if you want the benefits of the homeruns, the guy needs his at bats. Both backs are capable of taking it to the house every time they touch the ball, but they need volume to make that happen.

Henry got touches (16 carries), but I think they’ve seen enough Ravens should have leaned on him much more. For comparison, Saquon had 27 against the Rams.

Kurth wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 6:44 pm I don’t understand not leaning on Henry. Similar to the Eagles and Saquon, if you want the benefits of the homeruns, the guy needs his at bats. Both backs are capable of taking it to the house every time they touch the ball, but they need volume to make that happen.

Henry got touches (16 carries), but I think they’ve seen enough Ravens should have leaned on him much more. For comparison, Saquon had 27 against the Rams.

I agree completely. Now to be fair, Lamar did drive the offense down late in the game, mostly passing & not having to run. So it didn't hurt them in that regard, but you have the weapon. Use it, especially since it was effective last week & last time they faced Buffalo. But ultimately, the turnovers just killed 'em. Baltimore made mistakes. Buffalo did not. Hope they beat KC next week.

Ben Johnson ----> The Bears





(sorry LM)

Kurth wrote:I don’t understand not leaning on Henry.

The Bills completely changed their defensive identity, specifically to stop Henry. They played a 4-3 so much more than normal, and were playing 5 man fronts to stop Henry, and it was working. Behind that they played Man almost 50% of their time (they almost never play man).

Given that, my question wouldn’t be about Henry. Where were the Lamar designed runs? That game was so close to getting blown open, but Brady decided to pretend to be the Steelers for the 3rd quarter, and switched to an incredibly conservative and ineffective set of play calls. Hopefully they learn from that. But if that game gets to 28-10 coming out of the half, that would have been real trouble for BAL.

But BUF turtled up and let BAL punch them in the face. And then you have 3rd and goal from the 2, and you don’t just run two QB sneaks? Oh well.

SEC: This is how a conference shits the bed in the postseason.

NFC North: Hold my beer.

Saquon is ridiculous.

I could tell it was an Eagles championship game at home because there were four F-18s flying a racetrack pattern directly over my neighborhood, presumably prior to a stadium flyover.

They were really low, too, in order to stay clear of the airport approach lanes.

(I'm sure Madmarcus noticed them as well.)

E-L-G-S-E-S!

Daveman wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 7:24 pmE-L-G-S-E-S!

Our mayor.

Holman wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 4:38 pm (I'm sure Madmarcus noticed them as well.)

I didn't see anything but I was an hour north visiting my dad. I liked the warnings that people put out on social media about the planes in an attempt to head off the questions.

Madmarcus wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 7:54 pm

Holman wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 4:38 pm (I'm sure Madmarcus noticed them as well.)

I didn't see anything but I was an hour north visiting my dad. I liked the warnings that people put out on social media about the planes in an attempt to head off the questions.

They were pretty loud!

And now it's all car horns and fireworks.

A funny thing happened on the way to the coronation of Ser Mahomes. The refs penalized away the first fumble (I noticed there was no replay of the offsides). But my favorite replay was of the Bills lineman muscling away the second fumble from his nibs.

I REALLY have no desire to watch this Super Bowl.

McNutt wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 10:46 pm I REALLY have no desire to watch this Super Bowl.

I’m not sure anyone outside of the Philly or KC metro areas does.

And I don't even hate either team. I'm sure I'll watch the game, but it will be just to check off the same box I've checked off for the past 40 years.

The Bills had an excellent chance at the end but couldn't pull it off. It just wasn't in the script.

Jaymann wrote: Mon Jan 27, 2025 1:13 am The Bills had an excellent chance at the end but couldn't pull it off. It just wasn't in the script.

Smoove_B wrote: Mon Jan 20, 2025 3:31 pm

McNutt wrote: Sun Jan 26, 2025 10:46 pm I REALLY have no desire to watch this Super Bowl.

I'll get some squares but even then the game won't hold my interest. Such is life.