The Bills did not "luck" into the playoffs

[formerlyofCtown]

8 hours ago, Koko78 said:

 

9 wins and how many tiebreakers? Oh, forgot about those already?

Your missing the point.  We got in because we won 9 games, that was the first tiebreaker.  Now if there was a bad call and the the communication system didn't work so the call couldn't get over turned and we won because of that.  That would be luck. We won 9 games with the more difficult schedule that isn't luck.  We didn't draw straws or win a coin toss.  We won football games.

 

It's pretty sad to see fans tear down their own teams accomplishment with weak and illegitimate arguments.  We sure are lucky the rest of the league didn't go 16-0.

Edited May 25, 2018 by formerlyofCtown

[oldmanfan]

They put themselves in position pending the outcome of the Ravens game.  They earned their spot 

[Koko78]

8 hours ago, formerlyofCtown said:

Your missing the point.  We got in because we won 9 games, that was the first tiebreaker.  Now if there was a bad call and the the communication system didn't work so the call couldn't get over turned and we won because of that.  That would be luck. We won 9 games with the more difficult schedule that isn't luck.  We didn't draw straws or win a coin toss.  We won football games.

 

It's pretty sad to see fans tear down their own teams accomplishment with weak and illegitimate arguments.  We sure are lucky the rest of the league didn't go 16-0.

 

Acknowledging what occurred in reality - you know, that the Bills did NOT control their own destiny and had to rely on a lucky TD pass on a 4th down being played ~1,000 miles away to get in on a third or fourth tiebreaker - is not "tearing down" anything. The bottom line is that the Bills won 9 games, which is great. However they got in the playoffs due to pure luck. Winning 9 games by itself was not enough to get into the playoffs. They needed help, got help, and the help was pure happenstance.

 

Why do you believe that understanding what actually happened is somehow belittling the team? How insecure are you in your fanhood that you refuse to accept the reality that the Bills got lucky?

 

[Drunken Pygmy Goat]

23 hours ago, The Red King said:

Alright, this has been eating at me for awhile, and it's time I get it off my chest.  I want to scream every time I see someone claiming that the only reason the Bills made the playoffs last season was luck. 

 

I stopped reading here.

 

Are there people that say luck was the only reason? If so, it's probably only a few, and it would be wise to simply ignore those people, for obvious reasons. 

 

Of course the Bills got lucky. Without that TD by Boyd (among other plays in that game), the Bills would have been golfing the following weekend. You can say the same about the blown call at the end of the Colts game. How many times over the last several years have we said that 3-4 plays throughout the year was the difference between 7 wins and 9? 

 

But anyone with even a little common sense knows that the Bills had done enough throughout the season to put themselves in that position in the first place. 

Edited May 25, 2018 by Drunken Pygmy Goat

[NoSaint]

Luck doesn’t have to be a dirty word. I know the American dream is purely merit based but we all get good and bad breaks and this team worked hard and caught a few breaks. That’s not an insult to them. They got a little lucky- no shame in that.

[Rock-A-Bye Beasley]

Don't have time to read all the replies but yeah it was "lucky" that they made the playoffs in many ways. Unless you want to argue semantics of what luck actually means, but that doesn't sound like fun.

 

Haha we only lost by 7 points in the playoffs! Why don't you say we managed only a field goal? What a loser mentality you have.

 

This team was not fun to watch and not very good, they got "lucky" by the AFC having a bad record against the NFC, the Texans' slew of injuries, the pass interference agains the colts, von miller penalty, matt ryan fumble, Andy Dalton .

 

 

[Royale with Cheese]

We got breaks like every team gets.  Over a course of a 16 game season, you have to rely a lot more on production than luck.  We produced enough win 9 games and get into the playoffs.

[formerlyofCtown]

58 minutes ago, Koko78 said:

 

Acknowledging what occurred in reality - you know, that the Bills did NOT control their own destiny and had to rely on a lucky TD pass on a 4th down being played ~1,000 miles away to get in on a third or fourth tiebreaker - is not "tearing down" anything. The bottom line is that the Bills won 9 games, which is great. However they got in the playoffs due to pure luck. Winning 9 games by itself was not enough to get into the playoffs. They needed help, got help, and the help was pure happenstance.

 

Why do you believe that understanding what actually happened is somehow belittling the team? How insecure are you in your fanhood that you refuse to accept the reality that the Bills got lucky?

 

Nevermind.  I say that the other teams got lucky they won more than 9 games, makes about as much sense.

[Koko78]

2 hours ago, formerlyofCtown said:

Nevermind.  I say that the other teams got lucky they won more than 9 games, makes about as much sense.

 

That's fine, your insecurities are noted.

[Royale with Cheese]

19 hours ago, Another Fan said:

Were a solid 9-7 middle of the road team.  Law of averages- I mean losing to Pittsburgh's backups in 2004 and the end zone fumble in the Chiefs game in 14'.  Were bound and deserved to catch a break one of these years. 

 

You could create a thread of all the bad breaks we had over the draught and it would be 100 pages long.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

2 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

We got breaks like every team gets.  Over a course of a 16 game season, you have to rely a lot more on production than luck.  We produced enough win 9 games and get into the playoffs.

 

...and in terms of playoff implications, "finally" comes to mind......when was Ravens meltdown and Dalton wearing the "Lady Luck" mask scenario happening in the last 17 years prior?....closest was Moo's 2004 club at 9-6 going to Steelersville to play their 3rd stringers.....win and we're in at 10-6......lose and we're........um the schneid lived on at 9-7....

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

Nearly 1/3 of Taylor’s games were very bad.   

 

I have said that stats didn’t matter when people stated T2s high QB ratings in losses and then commented on his very bad QB ratings in losses.  

 

Doing so I was called out for mentioning those stats, but 4 games with QB ratings  under 45 has to be mentioned.    

 

Said good and bad stats both happened with the “poor” receivers on the roster. 

 

With that many bad games it can be said we lucked out.   Just look at the output in the playoff game as proof.  

 

 

 

[BigDingus]

I think the luck aspect comes from the fact they had the worst chance of any of the AFC teams to make it going into that weekend.

I believe it was a 10% chance, and after our win, only bumped up a little bit.

Considering the odds, they were "lucky" to have made it, but they didn't just "luck into" the playoffs.

[The Red King]

1 hour ago, BigDingus said:

Considering the odds, they were "lucky" to have made it, but they didn't just "luck into" the playoffs.

 

I think that's a fair assessment.  Sometimes it takes a lucky bounce here or there.  My issue is with people that attribute their playoff appearance mostly or entirely to luck, usually in the context that they didn't deserve/earn it.  That team busted their asses to get to 9-7, even pulling themselves out of a three-game losing streak that would have been a death spiral other seasons in the past.  What I object to are people that think last season's team was terrible and didn't deserve to make it.  As if the playoff fairy descended from above and blessed a 4-12 team with a playoff birth, and Buffalo didn't do a thing to actually earn it.  And yes, some people here feel that way and have said as much.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

If you want an example of luck see the last Caps game.  

 

Tampa had a ton of opportunities but luck wasn’t on their side.   

 

 

[Teddy KGB]

On 5/24/2018 at 3:00 PM, Logic said:

Disagree. I've watched Andy Dalton's game winning touchdown throw about a billion times now. That play was NOT luck. It was perfect execution by both Dalton and Boyd. 

 

4th and 14    

 

 

They should have executed more and made the playoffs themselves 

[TigerJ]

Unless you happen to be a completely dominant team, there is always an extent to which you will depend on what other teams are  doing.  That was a little more obvious in Buffalo's case with the dependence on Cincinnati's last second win.  Buffalo still had to have its share of clutch performances.  I see no shame in benefitting from something that happens elsewhere in the league.

[Thurman#1]

On 5/25/2018 at 2:25 AM, The Red King said:

The Bills did not luck into the playoffs

 

 

Of course they did. 

 

How many playoff teams this year got in without winning 10 games? One out of twelve. Us.

 

The year before? Two out of twelve, one of which won their division with a 9-7. The year before that? Two out of twelve, both by winning their division, the 9-7 Washington and Texas teams. The year before that, 2014? One out of twelve, the 7-8 Panthers who won a horrible division.

 

I could keep going but in the last four years, two teams have managed to get a wild-card birth without winning ten games.

 

Of course we were lucky, wildly lucky, actually, to be in a weak AFC. And further lucky to have a really really easy schedule and luckier still that when we were scheduled against good teams we ran up against them when they were having losing streaks.

 

We weren't a little lucky, we were very lucky.

[The Red King]

48 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

Of course they did. 

 

How many playoff teams this year got in without winning 10 games? One out of twelve. Us.

 

The year before? Two out of twelve, one of which won their division with a 9-7. The year before that? Two out of twelve, both by winning their division, the 9-7 Washington and Texas teams. The year before that, 2014? One out of twelve, the 7-8 Panthers who won a horrible division.

 

I could keep going but in the last four years, two teams have managed to get a wild-card birth without winning ten games.

 

Of course we were lucky, wildly lucky, actually, to be in a weak AFC. And further lucky to have a really really easy schedule and luckier still that when we were scheduled against good teams we ran up against them when they were having losing streaks.

 

We weren't a little lucky, we were very lucky.

 

The Titans were also 9-7 last season.  I don't hear anyone saying they were lucky.  9-7 is frequently good enough for a Wild Card.  And again, it was a weak schedule that cost Baltimore a spot, we beat them out through strength of victory.  Did you even read my OP?

[SoCal Deek]

Nobody should read this the wrong way, but the drought would’ve been a whole lot shorter if the Bills didn’t have to play the Patriots twice a year. I’m not whining but the NE run over the past decade plus has been unprecedented and while I know you have to beat who they put on your schedule, I think you’d get the same reaction from Jets and Dolphin fans.