Questions for those of us who endured the drought

[BillsFanSD]

For me, I guess it was the combination of making the playoffs in 2017 and then the whole organization being willing to move heaven and earth to get a franchise QB and clear out a lot of salary cap deadwood.  That was encouraging because the Bills of old would have tried to patch a hole here and there but otherwise keep the 2017 together and milk the flukey success they had for another season or two.  I like that this regime had a long-range plan in mind and were willing to do a tear-down of a semi-successful roster to get there.

[LVGrown]

At 40 years old, my entire adult life was spent experiencing Buffalo Bills heart break. However, seeing JA17 come into that second game against the Chargers in 2018 changed everything for me. He plays the games with the same intensity I cheer for the game and it's clearly what I had been missing from the Bills. I wasn't even upset by losses anymore because I knew he left it all on the field. 

 

I've repped JA so hard since we drafted him and my non-Bills fan friends (which is basically everyone) clowned hella hard. By the end of 2020 they were in awe.

 

My Dad and brother live in New Orleans and I have plans to be out there for Thanksgiving to welcome what will be my first nephew to the world AND I can't wait to see JA live on Turkey Day. 

[Dan]

Like others, I hated the Rex hire and that may have been my low point. With all the other treadmill coaches of the drought, I had at least a glimmer of hope they could do something. But with Rex, I knew the team was going to be losers.  His second year, for the first time ever... I cancelled Sunday Ticket and consciously missed games if I had something better to do.   That’s how bad it was... I felt no desire to watch every crappy play of the season. 
 

Then came McD. I wasn’t sold at first, I had seen so many others come and go.  Then the MN game and Josh’s leap!   I felt the first tingle that this kid and the team might be different.  That feeling waivers a bit, even after making the playoffs for the first time in forever. 
 

So for me, I think it was the 4th down play in Dallas. That’s when I said to myself ..we finally have a QB that just refuses to lose and is going to lead this team.   That was the type of some we’d always come out flat and get embarrassed. But not that day.   I went  to bed that night with a full belly, half drunk and content knowing the Bills finally had a good team that could compete on the biggest stages. 
 

Last season just confirmed it all.  Re-signing our good players confirmed it all. Seeing solid draft picks and stability in the coaching staff just confirmed it all.  Winning the AFC East was.. awesomeness.  And by the time we go to the Championship game last season.. winning wasn’t even the most important thing to me.  Because I knew, and I’m comfortable now in the knowledge that the Bills are a legitimate playoff team each year that will be playing for the Super Bowl year in and year out. 
 

I don’t expect them to win every week.  But I know they can. And that feels good after so many years. 

[Stank_Nasty]

Mine lasted all the way up into this last season. 2019 I started to kick it and then the playoff implosion happened. But now, finally, in 2021 I can see it’s all gone.

 

…. Although waiting all these years for last years type of team and not being able to attend was pretty dang… “Billsy” 

[Dopey]

When we fired sexy rexy and his pregnant brother.

[TheBrownBear]

I've been a fan since birth and a die hard for as long as I have a memory (1985).  We've been great and we've sucked during these times, so I've never suffered from BBFS or whatever you call it, and I knew the good times would eventually come around again, just like I know there will be disappointing crappy seasons at some point in the future.

 

So, when did I know that we no longer sucked azz and were on the verge of a good-to-great cycle?  I'd say week 17 of 2018.  We finished the season 4-3 over our last 7 games and Josh looked confident and electric in dismantling the Dolphins.  The first 3 games of 2019 definitely cemented my belief.  And that Thanksgiving game against Dallas gave me a certainty that we weren't just going to be good, but great.

Edited August 7, 2021 by TheBrownBear

[Saxum]

6 hours ago, Utah John said:

During his last few years, Ralph wasn't a very energetic presence for the team, but his budget guy, whose name I have mercifully forgotten, was still very active, and he was behind many terrible personnel and coaching moves. So it wasn't so much Ralph being out the picture, it was THAT guy.

Every GM before Beane was required to get "advice" from Jim Overdorf.  It is optional now but he is still on payroll.

[RunTheBall]

This is good therapy. I think it’s great to remember where we came from and to keep perspective on the team as we attempt to climb to greatness. I’ve been a fan since I was born in the early 70s but moved away after college. So many fans from other teams when they hear I’m from Buffalo bring up how awful it must have been to lose 4 Super Bowls and I have to explain that yeah it sucked to lose but we had 4-5 straight years of expecting to go to the Super Bowl! That was our mentality and it was great. 16 years of mediocrity and suckitude was much worse than losing Super Bowls.

 

My low point was the Rex hire. I was outright laughing at our team at that point. I enjoyed it for what it was, an absolute sht show of an organization with a clown head coach who was more entertainer than coach. For the first time in my life it didn’t hurt to lose, I expected it and felt the team deserved it because of how awful the franchise was inside and out.

 

Once Pegula cleaned house in the front office, especially all those holdovers like Brandon who were absolute losers, I started to believe again. He needed to fumigate the entire place to exterminate the culture of losing that permeated everything Buffalo Bills. We were a joke of a franchise and I give Pegs credit for seeing that and making the change that needed to me made.

 

I liked McD, thought he had potential, and absolutely loved his message of process, accountability and culture.

 

Loved the JA pick, he was the only QB I really wanted though I would have been happy with Darnold at the time. I saw the glimmer of greatness very early on but had no idea if he’d actually achieve it. 

 

I was all in after the Dallas 4th down. You can’t teach that level of intensity. You can’t coach a kid to want it more than the other guy. That play, more so than leaping Bar in MN showed who JA was.

 

Enjoy the ride, it won’t last forever but we’ve got some good years ahead.

 

 

 

[BillsFan619]

4 hours ago, Steptide said:

For me I think it was McDermott's first season. I was unsure about him when they hired him. Seemed conservative and like a younger jauron. After he started Peterman, and then rallied the team to stay together and get to the playoffs (with a little help of course) I knew he was different from previous coaches. Admittedly, drafting Allen had me concerned, but we're all past that and we've all seen what happened since. 

 

On a side note, during those drought years, I think I actually got to a point where I thought we'd never make the playoffs again. It's crazy what us bills fans endured for almost 2 decades 

Great side note. I’m a pretty optimistic Bills fan, but yeah, there were some years where the mediocrity was so abysmal because we were just stuck in neutral. Not horrible but not good either.

 

You’re right, it was crazy. Here’s to hoping the next two decades are crazy amazing!

[blacklabel]

I felt good about the McDermott hire when it happened but I was still cautious. But then in 2017 he took a 9-7 mishmash team not really built by him and went to the playoffs. I knew 2018 was the "growing pains" season and some of the blowouts were tough (there were people on this board demanding everyone get fired like after the Saints game.)

 

2019 really saw things start falling into place and lining up with the McBeane vision. And then in 2020 they really took off, although I do admit after the Tennessee and KC games last year I was nervous that they would be a team that could beat up on the slack teams but not hang with the good ones. They proved me wrong. I also think KC just has their number right now. Hope they can beat them this season. 

 

Sticking to the process and the four seasons of major continuity both for the players and coaching staff is a huge reason this team is so good. McDermott has completely overhauled the culture and even the outside perception of the team. No longer are they an undesirable destination for free agents but now people are actually trying to get up here and play whereas before it was more like, well they signed a couple guys but you know they've told their agents, "Hey man, I'mma ball out on this one year deal but afterwards you gotta get me the heck outta here." 

 

They've done so well at identifying core leaders and core team members here for the long haul like Tre White, big Dion, Josh, Tremaine, Diggs, Hyde, Poyer, Milano, etc. And again, the continuity is so vital. They have so little turnover of coaches and players. It's a much more welcome sight. Sometimes it feels odd to have such competent leaders at the HC and GM spots. And I'm so glad the Pegulas have their guys and just let them do their thing and trust them. 

 

That all said...early in the season whenever a bad play goes down I tend to exaggerate like, "Welp that's it, they may as well pack it in, they ain't winning another game this season." I think that's the Bills PTSD OP was talking about, haha. 

Edited August 7, 2021 by blacklabel

[BillsFan619]

3 hours ago, Stank_Nasty said:

Mine lasted all the way up into this last season. 2019 I started to kick it and then the playoff implosion happened. But now, finally, in 2021 I can see it’s all gone.

 

…. Although waiting all these years for last years type of team and not being able to attend was pretty dang… “Billsy” 

🤣 As Billsy as it gets!

 

[BillsFan619]

2 hours ago, RunTheBall said:

This is good therapy. I think it’s great to remember where we came from and to keep perspective on the team as we attempt to climb to greatness. I’ve been a fan since I was born in the early 70s but moved away after college. So many fans from other teams when they hear I’m from Buffalo bring up how awful it must have been to lose 4 Super Bowls and I have to explain that yeah it sucked to lose but we had 4-5 straight years of expecting to go to the Super Bowl! That was our mentality and it was great. 16 years of mediocrity and suckitude was much worse than losing Super Bowls.

 

My low point was the Rex hire. I was outright laughing at our team at that point. I enjoyed it for what it was, an absolute sht show of an organization with a clown head coach who was more entertainer than coach. For the first time in my life it didn’t hurt to lose, I expected it and felt the team deserved it because of how awful the franchise was inside and out.

 

Once Pegula cleaned house in the front office, especially all those holdovers like Brandon who were absolute losers, I started to believe again. He needed to fumigate the entire place to exterminate the culture of losing that permeated everything Buffalo Bills. We were a joke of a franchise and I give Pegs credit for seeing that and making the change that needed to me made.

 

I liked McD, thought he had potential, and absolutely loved his message of process, accountability and culture.

 

Loved the JA pick, he was the only QB I really wanted though I would have been happy with Darnold at the time. I saw the glimmer of greatness very early on but had no idea if he’d actually achieve it. 

 

I was all in after the Dallas 4th down. You can’t teach that level of intensity. You can’t coach a kid to want it more than the other guy. That play, more so than leaping Bar in MN showed who JA was.

 

Enjoy the ride, it won’t last forever but we’ve got some good years ahead.

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing. And I agree with you, I think it’s so healthy to remember where you’ve been so you don’t take the good years for granted or even get too knit picky when greatness is upon you.

 

It was kind of crazy to hear the nitpicky fans last year. I believe in constructive critique and I want a Super Bowl just as much as anyone else but it was crazy at times.

[BillsFan619]

7 hours ago, BillsFanSD said:

For me, I guess it was the combination of making the playoffs in 2017 and then the whole organization being willing to move heaven and earth to get a franchise QB and clear out a lot of salary cap deadwood.  That was encouraging because the Bills of old would have tried to patch a hole here and there but otherwise keep the 2017 together and milk the flukey success they had for another season or two.  I like that this regime had a long-range plan in mind and were willing to do a tear-down of a semi-successful roster to get there.

Bro, do you live in San Diego? I do, so I was curious by the SD in your TBD name.

 

That’s why I have 619 in my TBD name. 🤣

Edited August 7, 2021 by BillsFan619

[Bferra13]

On 8/7/2021 at 6:20 AM, JMF2006 said:

 

Skeletor was in over his head.

 

Sure he was a nice guy but he wasn't exactly a winner with a 35-45 record in 5 seasons with the Bears.

 

6-10 then 5-11 then a huge anomaly to 13-3 then a return to 4-12 then the very familiar 7-9 then a 1-4 as interim coach of the Lions.

 

Then he had 3 x 7-9 seasons with the Bills before getting gassed with a 3-6 record.

 

Where do you think 7-9 Forever got his user name?  

 

 

Oh yeah I agree 100%. He was terrible. But I was just replying to the humble and sincere spot. He's a good human being. Just not a good coach.

[The Firebaugh Kid]

That Dallas game was huge, I agree. If I had to pick one game that'd be it.

[Rocky Landing]

During the drought, I learned to take a very zen, game-by-game attitude. I learned to not focus on what position a W, or an L might put us, but rather to think of each game as its own entity. Like the games before and after had no relevance. Which still made it pretty painful because we lost so many goddamned games, but hey... every Sunday was a new day...

[foreboding]

 

When Sean was hired and started off by talking about a level headed, growth-mindset process, I was very hopeful the Desolation might end soon.

[Don Otreply]

For me it was several points that showed that things were going to change, and that McDermott was a serious guy, like when he fired the entire scouting staff and made them all reapply for there jobs, it said to me that he was going to sweep out the same old same old BS that had been going on for what seemed like forever, then Beane came on board, he was all business, then came the purge, everyone who wasn’t on board was in essence fired, players and coaches, it was to me so obvious that he was rebuilding the team by getting “the right pieces, he and Beane had a real plan and knew the logistics of implementing it, and stuck to the plan no matter the howling and gnashing of teeth from the press and fans.  From that point onward I just felt we were on the way back.  
 

It is so nice to have smart people running the show now, it was almost unbearable at times before Beane and McDermott changed everything. We as Bills fans are so damn lucky…, enjoy this everyone, 👍

 

 

[BillsFan619]

15 hours ago, Rocky Landing said:

During the drought, I learned to take a very zen, game-by-game attitude. I learned to not focus on what position a W, or an L might put us, but rather to think of each game as its own entity. Like the games before and after had no relevance. Which still made it pretty painful because we lost so many goddamned games, but hey... every Sunday was a new day...

While it’s sad that we had to go through it as fans, I love that perspective, Rocky. I bet if more of us did that it would’ve saved us at times. 🤣

 

I was only able to do something like this with one or two games left in the season when we were completely out of it. It was like, “Well, I might as well enjoy this last game or two no matter what because bills football isn’t going to be back until September.”

[FilthyBeast]

The NFL (and pro sports in general) is all about cycles. And every team goes through it no matter how big/small the market, or previous playoff/championship success.

 

The issues with the Bills is that it was longer than normal in a parity driven league and at least peronally what was so frustrating is getting very close a few times (specifically the 2004 season losing to the steelers 3rd stringers) and never being able to seal the deal with Bills 90's teams.

 

But if Allen is truly an elite franchise QB and can take this team where kelly couldn't than not many folks are going to worry or remember the previous 20 years similar to Pats fans pre Bledsoe/Brady.