I’m just curious, though, is there any comprehensive data that shows that these things - short weeks, time changes, travel have a material impact on teams? I know from a logical sense it makes sense that it could, but what does the data say?

Same to you, Bills people.

Eagles’ fan here. I haven’t watched one minute of the Bills this year, but from afar it certainly looks like their record doesn’t reflect their talent.

From an Eagles’ perspective, though, it’s worth noting that this is probably the LEAST important game remaining on their schedule in terms of playoff implications. It’s a common game with Dallas, but the rest of their games are all NFC games. So, not sure if that will contribute to a slight letdown, especially after the KC game last week.

I’m not even really sure . . . what would guys say the Bills’ biggest strengths and weaknesses are?

“This whole Brian Johnson struggle”

You mean the one where a guy who has never OC’ed before has us in the top 10 in almost all offensive categories, comparable to last year but with a much more difficult schedule, while helping us get to 9-1 in pole position for the #1 seed, and have the QB be a leading contender for MVP?

THAT struggle?

“This whole Brian Johnson struggle”

You mean the one where a guy who has never OC’ed before has us in the top 10 in almost all offensive categories, comparable to last year but with a much more difficult schedule, while helping us get to 9-1 in pole position for the #1 seed, and have the QB be a leading contender for MVP?

THAT struggle?

1. Goedert is a “plus blocker”. Jack Stoll is not.
2. Our o-line has been OK in pass blocking, not elite.
3. We like to take deep shots, which take longer to develop.
4. Hurts has a longish time to throw and sometimes holds onto the ball too long.
5. Spags / the Chiefs had a great plan yesterday and really put us in the blender.

Nah, it was fine.

That reffing crew is near the bottom of all reffing crews in holding calls, so it was always going to be a bit of a “let them play” game.

I think this is just confirmation bias. You expect the media to be against him, so every time you see something critical of him, you take it as proof. But you don’t notice the times when the media gives him credit.

By and large, the media is super positive about Hurts. He gets recognition.

Yeah to me it’s a straight up push on a neutral field. Eagles likely to be favored by 3 just because of home field, unless something crazy happens in next week’s games.

Hurts looks eminently beatable if you can keep him in the pocket.

I disagree with this quite a bit. Hurts has evolved quite a bit in that regard. Look at the last month or so. He’s had a hurt knee and barely been mobile, and he’s done just fine executing the offense from the pocket:

• 29 of 38 for 314 and 4 TD vs WAS three weeks ago, 4 rushes for 6 yards
• 29 of 44 for 374 and 3 TD vs DAL two weeks ago, 6 rushes for 14 yards

Where he has looked the worst, which comes as no shock because it’s the same for just about any QB, is when he is constantly under duress. Which he mostly was last night.

So the key to me for SF on D is pressure, pressure, pressure. The key for SF on O, I mostly agree with you. It’s especially attacking their slot, linebackers, and safeties. They looked like they figured out some stuff during the bye though. Their passing D was MUCH better yesterday than they were before the bye. Sure, they benefitted from some drops, but you don’t hold Mahomes to 177 yards passing and 0 points in the second half without doing some good stuff.

The interesting thing is, everyone criticized the Eagles all last season because they had a weak schedule. So, yes, they looked dominant last season. (Just like the Cowboys look dominant when they play the Panthers and Giants of the world.) This season they have a first-place schedule, so naturally the games are closer, and everyone says “They look worse than last season.” Of course they do, they are playing better teams!

They’re 15-1 in their last 16 games vs teams with winning records. Who cares how good they look? That team knows how to win.

This was obviously a game where Spags had our heads in a blender. Props to him for a good design. Props to the Eagles for (mostly) figuring it out at halftime.

This is just confirmation bias, man. They lost three fumbles that bounced vs the Commanders that bounced right to WAS. Everything that could possibly go wrong against the Jets did. Their turnovers are way up this year.

Stuff like that all evens out. It just FEELS like everything goes their way when you watch a single game like that.

Chiefs learned from their loss, Eagles did not.

Huh?

They had three bounce right to the Commanders a few weeks back, and the Jets game was ridiculous. It all evens out.

Serious question: Are you honestly claiming that the refs favor the Eagles . . . over the CHIEFS? I watched that game last night. There were some missed calls on both teams, as always, and some ticky-tack calls against both teams, as always. Nothing to see there.

To be fair, there have been games where they totally didn’t get the breaks. The Jets’ game in particular. But they lost three fumbles in the first WAS game, several of which bounced right to the WAS players, etc. It just FEELS like they always get the breaks because they find ways to win.

I’m not in love with Brian Johnson. There are definitely times where I wonder what we’re doing. But we’re one of the top scoring offenses in the league. We’re 9-1. We just scored the second most of anyone all season on the Chiefs, on three long touchdown drives. All of our metrics are comparable to last season, but as everyone loved to point out, we had a cupcake of a schedule last season. This season is much different. AND WE ARE STILL WINNING. And dude is in his 10th game as an offensive coordinator. It’s not long he’s been an OC for 10 years and he’s always been like this. Give the guy a chance to figure it out WHILE HE’S STILL SUCCESSFULLY LEADING THE OFFENSE OF THE TOP TEAM IN THE LEAGUE.

Additionally, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the season where Hurts looked the best (last season) was the ONE SEASON in his whole career from college onwards where he had the same offensive system two seasons in a row. I think continuity in system is vastly underrated as a predicator of success. Changing coordinators, now or after the season, is only going to set us BACK.

If our offense was performing terribly, sure, pull the trigger. But right now I’m much more inclined to keep at it and keep the continuity.

The OC of the 9-1 Eagles?

Had we not moved on?

Seriously though, I’ve never gotten the sense that we, as a fan base, were having a hard time letting go of last season.