Crazy how times have changed (for the better)

[Steptide]

I woke up this morning still angry about the game last night. Like many of you, I've gone over all the scenarios of what the bills could've done different. 34 seconds left and we let the Cardinals get to the 40 something yard line to throw the hail Mary. We shouldve been more aggressive, we shouldve squib kicked it etc etc. 

 

But, here's why I'm optimistic and have to keep reminding myself of this today. I lived through the drought. I watched dozens (if not more) heart breaking losses in that time. Year after year those bills teams would get to a point where somewhere in week 10 or 12 we'd have a "must win" game to stay alive in the playoffs and they always blew it. 

 

Now, here we are at 7-3, in the division lead, and we're all feeling terrible. Rewind 5 or so years (maybe even 2 years ago) and we'd be ecstatic. This one is gonna hurt for a few days no doubt. But once the dust settles, we'll start to see the big picture. I said in a thread last night that I think the bills are good enough to get to the afc championship, and I still think that. We will recover bills fans. Just might be a long few weeks 

[Brennan Huff]

I wouldn’t be too overly concerned about it if Miami wasn’t a hot team right now. They’ve caught right up to us and are probably the better team as of right now...

[Bob in STL]

Yup.  We are in it. We are more than relevant  We get some badly needed rest this week. 
 

That game got away from us.  Move on.  The NFL is a tough league.  Most games come down to a play here and a play there.  They have to learn from it and get better.  

1 minute ago, Brennan Huff said:

I wouldn’t be too overly concerned about it if Miami wasn’t a hot team right now. They’ve caught right up to us and are probably the better team as of right now...

How are they better?  That’s crazy to say.  
 

 

[Hebert19]

3 minutes ago, Brennan Huff said:

I wouldn’t be too overly concerned about it if Miami wasn’t a hot team right now. They’ve caught right up to us and are probably the better team as of right now...

If we don't beat Miami then we don't deserve the afc east simple as that.   Everyone is worried about what they are going to do.  Who cares. 

 

They will lose to chiefs and likely pats or raiders.  That will put them at 4 or 5 losses when they play us.   Win.  And we win.  Did we want a cake walk to east of a battle.  I prefer a battle. 

[Brennan Huff]

3 minutes ago, Bob in STL said:

How are they better?  That’s crazy to say.  
 

 

They’re not worlds apart or anything but Miami’s defense is better than ours

[Bob in STL]

1 minute ago, Brennan Huff said:

They’re not worlds apart or anything but Miami’s defense is better than ours

They are not better until they pass us in the standings.  We have more wins, we beat them head to head.  Their defense is playing well but ours has played 2 straight decent games against two great offenses with lots of injuries to deal with.  
 

Let’s get Milano back and healthier in the secondary and we shall see.  
 

Let’s see what Tua does in the stretch and under pressure before we anoint them.  

[MAJBobby]

16 minutes ago, Brennan Huff said:

I wouldn’t be too overly concerned about it if Miami wasn’t a hot team right now. They’ve caught right up to us and are probably the better team as of right now...

They are not. They are winning games like we used to without an offense. Not sustainable their Turnovers and Special Teams plays will come back to earth. 
 

and Chan’s offense will as well like it has in every place he has been OC. 

Not to mention MIA can only win the division by being a full game up on us. We have the tie breakers. 
 

Bills game for the Division is likely the NE game (to get another tie breaker in our favor over MIA). 

[Brennan Huff]

9 minutes ago, Bob in STL said:

They are not better until they pass us in the standings.  We have more wins, we beat them head to head.  Their defense is playing well but ours has played 2 straight decent games against two great offenses with lots of injuries to deal with.  
 

Let’s get Milano back and healthier in the secondary and we shall see.  
 

Let’s see what Tua does in the stretch and under pressure before we anoint them.  

 

5 minutes ago, MAJBobby said:

They are not. They are winning games like we used to without an offense. Not sustainable their Turnovers and Special Teams plays will come back to earth. 
 

and Chan’s offense will as well like it has in every place he has been OC. 

Not to mention MIA can only win the division by being a full game up on us. We have the tie breakers. 
 

Bills game for the Division is likely the NE game (to get another tie breaker in our favor over MIA). 

Ok thanks for letting me know

[BillsFanSD]

Miami shows real promise and they seem to have a good coaching staff in place, but I don't think there's any serious question which team is better in 2020.  I'd happily swap schedules with them, but no way would I swap rosters.  

 

This will be a good rivalry in future seasons.  

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

I hope this doesn't affect my golf and bowling game this week. Im going to have to keep reminding myself that im not leaving 10 pins because the Bills lost, Im not leaving 10 pins because the Bills lost. I forgot that that's all I'm going to hear about at the bowling alley with my friends and Golf all Saturday with my uncles. My uncle sent me two texts, the 1st was your QB looks like Nick Foles and then after Tre got Nuked, Ouch. I will probably be wasted drunk all week to endure this. 

Edited November 16, 2020 by Call_Of_Ktulu

[Big Turk]

1 hour ago, Steptide said:

I woke up this morning still angry about the game last night. Like many of you, I've gone over all the scenarios of what the bills could've done different. 34 seconds left and we let the Cardinals get to the 40 something yard line to throw the hail Mary. We shouldve been more aggressive, we shouldve squib kicked it etc etc. 

 

But, here's why I'm optimistic and have to keep reminding myself of this today. I lived through the drought. I watched dozens (if not more) heart breaking losses in that time. Year after year those bills teams would get to a point where somewhere in week 10 or 12 we'd have a "must win" game to stay alive in the playoffs and they always blew it. 

 

Now, here we are at 7-3, in the division lead, and we're all feeling terrible. Rewind 5 or so years (maybe even 2 years ago) and we'd be ecstatic. This one is gonna hurt for a few days no doubt. But once the dust settles, we'll start to see the big picture. I said in a thread last night that I think the bills are good enough to get to the afc championship, and I still think that. We will recover bills fans. Just might be a long few weeks 

 

We should all be ecstatic because we continue to see time after time that when the game is on the line in the 4th Q that our QB has ice water in his veins and is the most clutch player on the field. Over and over again he leads late drives to win games and give us leads.

 

We should feel good because Allen does this routinely and that is going to continue to happen. The fluke hail mary to beat us after Allen led what should have been his 12th 4th Q comeback in his career is not going to happen very often. If we play this game 100 more times from that point, this might have been the only time we lose it. 

 

So what I am saying I guess is we will have a lot more of Josh Allen heroics late in games versus heart breaking losses after his heroics late in games.

[Billsfan1972]

4 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

 

We should all be ecstatic because we continue to see time after time that when the game is on the line in the 4th Q that our QB has ice water in his veins and is the most clutch player on the field. Over and over again he leads late drives to win games and give us leads.

 

We should feel good because Allen does this routinely and that is going to continue to happen. The fluke hail mary to beat us after Allen led what should have been his 12th 4th Q comeback in his career is not going to happen very often. If we play this game 100 more times from that point, this might have been the only time we lose it. 

 

So what I am saying I guess is we will have a lot more of Josh Allen heroics late in games versus heart breaking losses after his heroics late in games.

I was not at all worried that Josh would get the Bills the lead.  Only problem was leaving too much time on the clock.....😜

 

In the past it was trying to come back down 17-14 where the offense was in neutral most of the game.

[WhoTom]

I expected us to go 1-1 in the two games before the bye, but I thought we'd get crushed by Seattle and win a tight one over Arizona.

 

At the end of last season, I thought this year we'd be good enough to make a playoff run but not win it all; 2021 would be the year we'd become a SB contender. Nothing about this season has changed my mind on that. I continue to see progress, especially in Josh, so I'm still feeling good about the team.

 

 

[wvbillsfan]

We’ve only lost to teams with really good records. So I’m ok 

 

As of now 4 of our last 6 opponents have a losing record. I like our chances 

Teams that don’t- Steelers and Dolphins 

 

[Rigotz]

I'd like to add in another tidbit of positivity I was thinking about this morning:

The playoff seeding this year outside of #1 doesn't matter nearly as much as previous years.

 

Only the #1 seed gets a bye in each division.

If Buffalo wins the division and gets a "home" game, fans will likely not be in the stands. 

So ... division winner vs Wild Card means a whole lot less. We just need to make the playoffs... and with 7 teams making it this year, we're still in a great spot.

[Seoulofstone]

8 minutes ago, Rigotz said:

I'd like to add in another tidbit of positivity I was thinking about this morning:

The playoff seeding this year outside of #1 doesn't matter nearly as much as previous years.

 

Only the #1 seed gets a bye in each division.

If Buffalo wins the division and gets a "home" game, fans will likely not be in the stands. 

So ... division winner vs Wild Card means a whole lot less. We just need to make the playoffs... and with 7 teams making it this year, we're still in a great spot.

 

  True. And it means the Bills won't ease off heading into the playoffs. I want to see them sweep the division not give away an easy win playing their reserves.

[Logic]

In keeping with the spirit of this thread, here’s how things have changed for me:

 

I’m not worried that the Bills won’t make the playoffs. I know they will. But a Wild Card berth isn’t good enough — I want to win the division. 
 

THAT’S why yesterday’s loss hurt for me — because it could negatively affect our chances of winning the division. 
 

The fact that the playoffs have become a given, and that a playoff berth alone is not good enough...THAT is the big sign to me that things have changed in Buffalo. The Bills are likely to make their third playoff trip in the last four seasons — and that’s not good enough.

 

Who’da thunk it?!

[Steptide]

23 minutes ago, Logic said:

In keeping with the spirit of this thread, here’s how things have changed for me:

 

I’m not worried that the Bills won’t make the playoffs. I know they will. But a Wild Card berth isn’t good enough — I want to win the division. 
 

THAT’S why yesterday’s loss hurt for me — because it could negatively affect our chances of winning the division. 
 

The fact that the playoffs have become a given, and that a playoff berth alone is not good enough...THAT is the big sign to me that things have changed in Buffalo. The Bills are likely to make their third playoff trip in the last four seasons — and that’s not good enough.

 

Who’da thunk it?!

Dolphins have a tough stretch at the end (kc, raiders and bills). I have a feeling their record will be close to the bills over the next 2 or 3 weeks, but I think the bills will win the division by a game or 2 

[Success]

Great thread, and an excellent perspective on this.

 

As a football fan, I can marvel at that play.  It was the best play of the year, and really, one for the ages.  And I don't call it lucky, just as I never called the Giants helmet catch lucky - both were just superior efforts from the WR's.

 

It felt like the end of the world when it happened.  But then it's like, oh yeah - we're in 1st place, and undefeated in our division, and it's mid-November.  And this is a great team.  And we have a clutch QB.  

 

It's all about taking care of business now. We have to beat the teams we should beat.  As long as we get to that Miami game with no major hiccups, we should be able to secure the division with a win over them (which is how it probably should be), and may not even need that.

 

It's a good time to be a Bills fan. Not necessarily yesterday or today, though.

 

[Bob in STL]

11 hours ago, Brennan Huff said:

 

Ok thanks for letting me know

No problem.  Anything I can do to help a lost Dolphin fan.