What we hear about winning teams

[boyst]

I have been thinking about it more and more and brought it up in a few threads but want to put it all together in a thread. When we think of good teams we think of teams like Seattle, Denver, San Fran, New England, Tampa Bay (early 2000's), Baltimore (2000's), St Louis (90's).

 

There are themes we constantly here about those teams that are successful and usually they are all about the same. Those themes are starting to come up when people talk about the Bills. They are 5 statements that come up with Super Bowl and playoff teams. We have 4 of them covered.

• They constantly hit you and make contact. They play physical and rough up WR's. They play in the grey area and get away with penalties.
  

• They spread the ball around and every week rely upon a different sets or players on offense. Think about it. Gray, Woods, Dixon, Orton, Chandler are players who have come thru for us in clutch moments. Regardless what you say about Orton, we are spreading the ball around.
  

• They play as successful of Special Teams as they do all other aspects of the game and have a core unit of contributors that make a difference. Easley, Dixon, Carpenter.
  

• They find talent and posses depth. We have unheralded players that contribute like Searcy. We pick up other teams cuts and make them in to Gray and Thigpen.
  

 

There is one thing we are not doing, though...

• They run the ball when everyone knows they are going to run the ball and they pick up yardage. I think this is more an indictment to the lack of talent and poor play on the OL then it is one of our RB's.
  

 

 

When I think of everything commentators and talking heads say about successful playoff teams I often hear a mixture of what was said above. Orton may be our weakest link on the team but he is hardly the worst player on our team and he is definitely not holding us back as much as the OL and lack of run game is and those things must be upgraded this off season. If we can come across a QB to help us out then great, but I want to focus on OL and TE in the draft using BPA. If that means drafting a Center and him starting over Wood then move Wood to guard.

 

8-6 is not reflective of how much better this team is getting and where we will be going soon.

[PearlHowardman]

8-6 is not reflective of how much better this team is getting and where we will be going soon.

 

That's a very optimistic thing to state. Especially when you consider that the Buffalo Bills had three lucky wins against Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit, this year. All NFL teams get a lucky win now and then. Occasionally two lucky wins. Rarely does an NFL team get three lucky wins in one season.

 

...we'll see what happens next year, though.

[boyst]

 

 

That's a very optimistic thing to state. Especially when you consider that the Buffalo Bills had three lucky wins against Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit, this year. All NFL teams get a lucky win now and then. Occasionally two lucky wins. Rarely does an NFL team get three lucky wins in one season.

 

...we'll see what happens next year, though.

we are getting better and better. We are young. OT may just be a few little fixes and the ofense will fire up

[Deranged Rhino]

That's a very optimistic thing to state. Especially when you consider that the Buffalo Bills had three lucky wins against Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit, this year. All NFL teams get a lucky win now and then. Occasionally two lucky wins. Rarely does an NFL team get three lucky wins in one season.

 

...we'll see what happens next year, though.

 

There's no such thing as a lucky win in the NFL. The teams are too good. But thanks for trying to be a grinch.

[YoloinOhio]

 

 

That's a very optimistic thing to state. Especially when you consider that the Buffalo Bills had three lucky wins against Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit, this year. All NFL teams get a lucky win now and then. Occasionally two lucky wins. Rarely does an NFL team get three lucky wins in one season.

 

...we'll see what happens next year, though.

i wonder how many "lucky wins" other teams had so we can compare everyone's "real records" and determine who is actually good.

[TSOL]

100 thousand % onboard with drafting a center with our first pic. Not a college football guy or draftnik by any means but a week ago i was looking at the top prospects. These are the names i came up with and i hope, and wouldnt be surprised if the Bills go in this direction.

 

Hroniss Grasu, C, Oregon

Reese Dismukes, C, Auburn

 

Git r done Whaley

On another note, we cant expect these guys to start and dominate from day one. Centers are like QB's where they take awhile to get the gist of the pro's

Edited December 17, 2014 by mastershake

[ganesh]

i wonder how many "lucky wins" other teams had so we can compare everyone's "real records" and determine who is actually good.

Or how many unlucky "losses" that the Bills had against KC, Houston. The pendulum swings both ways.

[CardinalScotts]

That's a very optimistic thing to state. Especially when you consider that the Buffalo Bills had three lucky wins against Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit, this year. All NFL teams get a lucky win now and then. Occasionally two lucky wins. Rarely does an NFL team get three lucky wins in one season.

 

...we'll see what happens next year, though.

 

actually the league is full of "lucky" wins....its the NFL close wins every week. I will say the schedule goes a long way in deciding a teams fate- coaches like Andy Reid he will always be around 8-8 his formula beats bad teams pull of an upset and if the schedule smiles on you he'll win 10 but then the playoffs come around and well you know. Tony Dungy, Marty Schottenheimer, Jeff Fisher all same mold, not gonna beat themselves play enough bad teams 10-11 wins but the teams in the playoffs usually aren't bad...so then they are out

Edited December 17, 2014 by CardinalScotts

[BillsVet]

8-6 is not reflective of how much better this team is getting and where we will be going soon.

 

Gregg Williams went 8-8 in 2002 (with a declining QB) and it led to nothing. Mularkey in 2004 finished 9-7 and it led to nothing. Dick Jauron with a young team in 2006 finished 7-9 and they never improved.

 

There's a lot of emotion being displayed after the GB win and the bar is being lowered from what the GM said in the off-season. He had planned for the Bills to make the playoffs. Yet, some are justifying that getting close to the post-season is good enough. Well, going 9-7, 8-8, whatever from one year guarantees you nothing the following season.

[The Big Cat]

I'm quite curious what makes the Chicago and/or Minnesota wins "lucky."

[Bookie Man]

 

 

That's a very optimistic thing to state. Especially when you consider that the Buffalo Bills had three lucky wins against Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit, this year. All NFL teams get a lucky win now and then. Occasionally two lucky wins. Rarely does an NFL team get three lucky wins in one season.

 

...we'll see what happens next year, though.

Yeah, they stole a few, but also had a few stolen from them. Goes both ways, usually evens out.

[Pete]

That's a very optimistic thing to state. Especially when you consider that the Buffalo Bills had three lucky wins against Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit, this year. All NFL teams get a lucky win now and then. Occasionally two lucky wins. Rarely does an NFL team get three lucky wins in one season.

 

...we'll see what happens next year, though.

KC and Houston had lucky wins too

[Freddie's Dead]

That's a very optimistic thing to state. Especially when you consider that the Buffalo Bills had three lucky wins against Chicago, Minnesota, and Detroit, this year. All NFL teams get a lucky win now and then. Occasionally two lucky wins. Rarely does an NFL team get three lucky wins in one season.

 

...we'll see what happens next year, though.

 

Lucky wins? How about our unlucky losses to KC and Houston? We earned those wins, every single one of them. We had to make some serious plays down the stretch against Minnesota, Fred stiff-armed Conte into Lake Michigan at Chicago, and we had Dan the Man while the Lions had Luis Zendejas and a #$%&ed up fan with a green laser pointer. Tough crap, we won. Given our poor offense, we probably deserve the 8-6, but our defense is 10-4 at least.

[YoloinOhio]

I'm quite curious what makes the Chicago and/or Minnesota wins "lucky."

i was trying to figure that out too.

[ganesh]

actually the league is full of "lucky" wins....its the NFL close wins every week. I will say the schedule goes a long way in deciding a teams fate- coaches like Andy Reid he will always be around 8-8 his formula beats bad teams pull of an upset and if the schedule smiles on you he'll win 10 but then the playoffs come around and well you know. Tony Dungy, Marty Schottenheimer, Jeff Fisher all same mold, not gonna beat themselves play enough bad teams 10-11 wins but the teams in the playoffs usually aren't bad...so then they are out

 

We too had one such head coach and he took his team to 3 consecutive 7-9 seasons......Dick Jauron. If he had a decent QB, may be the luck would have fallen his side to make the playoffs.

[8-8 Forever?]

I have been thinking about it more and more and brought it up in a few threads but want to put it all together in a thread. When we think of good teams we think of teams like Seattle, Denver, San Fran, New England, Tampa Bay (early 2000's), Baltimore (2000's), St Louis (90's).

 

There are themes we constantly here about those teams that are successful and usually they are all about the same. Those themes are starting to come up when people talk about the Bills. They are 5 statements that come up with Super Bowl and playoff teams. We have 4 of them covered.

• They constantly hit you and make contact. They play physical and rough up WR's. They play in the grey area and get away with penalties.
  

• They spread the ball around and every week rely upon a different sets or players on offense. Think about it. Gray, Woods, Dixon, Orton, Chandler are players who have come thru for us in clutch moments. Regardless what you say about Orton, we are spreading the ball around.
  

• They play as successful of Special Teams as they do all other aspects of the game and have a core unit of contributors that make a difference. Easley, Dixon, Carpenter.
  

• They find talent and posses depth. We have unheralded players that contribute like Searcy. We pick up other teams cuts and make them in to Gray and Thigpen.
  

There is one thing we are not doing, though...

• They run the ball when everyone knows they are going to run the ball and they pick up yardage. I think this is more an indictment to the lack of talent and poor play on the OL then it is one of our RB's.
  

 

When I think of everything commentators and talking heads say about successful playoff teams I often hear a mixture of what was said above. Orton may be our weakest link on the team but he is hardly the worst player on our team and he is definitely not holding us back as much as the OL and lack of run game is and those things must be upgraded this off season. If we can come across a QB to help us out then great, but I want to focus on OL and TE in the draft using BPA. If that means drafting a Center and him starting over Wood then move Wood to guard.

 

8-6 is not reflective of how much better this team is getting and where we will be going soon.

We shall see. Belichick has it about right when he says you are who your record says you are. 8-6 is about right. Should have won the KC and Houston games yes, but should have lost the Vikings and Lions games. So those wash... the other games turned out about the way you would think. So 8-6, ending up progbably 9-7 is about right for this team. Wihout a QB and an OC, won't get much better.

[Deranged Rhino]

Gregg Williams went 8-8 in 2002 (with a declining QB) and it led to nothing. Mularkey in 2004 finished 9-7 and it led to nothing. Dick Jauron with a young team in 2006 finished 7-9 and they never improved.

 

I feel your pain, we've commiserated on here before, but you're overlooking a major difference between those teams and this one. This team's roster is on the rise (it's younger, far more talented from top to bottom, and has crazy depth) whereas those rosters were put together with spit and glue and no competent plan. That's why they didn't improve, those win totals represented their ceiling.

 

That's not the case with this roster, or this team. They're not facing the loss of any major UFAs (but for Hughes who I'm betting they're going to resign) and a lot of cap space to improve the few holes remaining. Yes, I know QB is the biggest hole on this team and in the NFL it's the premier position, but Rome wasn't built in a day and there really haven't been a lot of opportunities to improve that position in the short tenure of the new front office.

 

Have some faith, brother. This isn't a repeat of the past. Good times are coming.

[Solomon Grundy]

Don't forget that "they play for one another". I've heard that statement also