01-20-2023, 03:58 PM
(01-20-2023, 01:52 PM)BillsFanInCali Wrote: As a Bills fan, I first have to say that I think the way the Bengals coaches, staff, and fans handled the Damar situation was total class. Really impressed. Thank you.
As for the seeding and home field advantage stuff, it was a tough situation for NFL. My opinion was that teams should have been seeded exactly according to their records. They would mean Cinci playing in Buffalo, but if Buffalo should win, we'd have to go to KC. I didn't like that scenario - considering we were the #1 seed going into the Cinci game - but it seemed the most fair. Your record is your record.
As for this game, I have worries. The Bills O Line isn't good. Our running game is nothing special. Our receivers other than Diggs are meh - they have trouble getting open or even just holding onto the ball (I'm too lazy to research if this is still true but at one point the Bills led the league in drops). Our offense is Josh and Diggs - mostly Josh.
On defense, we've struggled to get pressure since Von Miller went out. If you don't know, the Bills D runs nickel something like 90% of the time. The problem is that this makes us vulnerable to the run. The other problem is that it puts 3 DBs on the field when we only have one good DB. And that one good DB - Tre White - hasn't been himself since his knee injury. So we actually have zero good DBs. Safety is problematic for us too. For the past few years, Hyde and Poyer have been an example of "the sum is greater than the parts." They play really well together and - because they're interchangeable - they can disguise coverages really well. With Hyde out, our safety play has been much degraded this year. Burrow is primed for a big day, I think.
And yet, for all the their deficiencies, the Bills have won a lot of games this season. Sometimes, an unexpected hero steps up. Mostly it's been about Josh making Superman plays. But he'll need to make several, I think, for the Bills to overcome the Bengals. I'm hoping he does but wish you guys luck if things don't work out for the Mafia.
Thank you for you analysis. Helping to restore faith in humanity after reading posts on here the last couple of days from Niagara and Billsfan214, who seemed to just join this board to criticize Bengals players and fans and even the city of Cincinnati. I couldn't believe it when Niagara posted the video of Burrow getting his leg shredded against Washington as something he was wishing for in this game. (Since wisely deleted by mods, as well as any replies that included the video links.)
Buffalo and Cincinnati are two small-market towns with good fanbases and decent citizens. My oldest son often attends Bills games and roots for them. My own sister and her entire family (who had lived in Buffalo for a while) are die-hard Bills fans. We never let our different fan affiliations get in the way of our love for one another.
