Losing to the Steelers was a blessing in disguise

[PolishDave]

Something tells me that come December we are going to be saying "If we had just won that damn Pittsburgh game............"

[BobbyC81]

3 hours ago, Fan in Chicago said:

I shouldn't be concerned but the feeling is growing. This was the fourth game in a row they looked underwhelming. 

I can go with "it's a new season" and think that the loss hurts most as it's the first game of the season. 

But I am now very nervous for next week as Dolphins have a decent D as well

They’ve all been against teams with good defenses who may have figured out ways to slow down this offense.

 

Time for the coaches and players to make the proper adjustments.  

[Solomon Grundy]

I tend to agree with the OP. I think we will see the end of the offensive cuteness i.e 4th and 1 pitchbacks 

[DrPJax]

4 hours ago, FilthyBeast said:

 

On the road against Brees and the Saints......Tom Brady's first start with the Bucs.

 

I really wish people stop making this type of comparison when WE LOST AT HOME, gave up 23 unanswered points and didn't have a chance to win late because we were down 2 scores. Yes Pittsburgh might still be a good to great team but you have to win this game at home if you also fancy yourself the same type of team.

 

Meanwhile the Chiefs and Bucs showed why they were in the SB last year and came back to win big games at home after trailing at one point in the 2nd half.

 

Sure this team might rebound in a big way this week and play great the next few weeks given the upcoming schedule but until we play a real team with a real QB again (i.e. KC) it's hard to know who the 2021 Bills really are at this point.

 Great points.  It’s ok to be concerned even if it’s the first game because this is part of Bills play that is showing a disturbing trend .  Trends can certainly change but they can also be a harbinger of things to come , especially if those trends are in areas that can’t easily be changed at this point as the season has begun.   It’s less concerning if you are still in preseason with time to make scheme or personnel changes. 
 

Comcerning trends that have carried over from last year ( remember , it’s not like we blew out teams during the playoffs before KC beat us the SECOND time last year and we really were not in those games as Reid was the better coach in both games 😞

 

1) our offensive game plan was ineffective as Pitt had it figured out.  Only 10 teams scored 16 points or less yesterday, only 6 scored less than 16.  ZERO OF THOSE TEAMS WON!  There is a blueprint out there on how to slow this offense and for some reason oil OC either refused or could not counter that defensive scheme being used.  That’s a legit concern. Mcd said as much today.  
2) we still either can’t or won’t try to make our running game a legitimate threat or concern.  51 pass attempts when your franchise QB is under duress on almost every drop back is a legit concern. We seem to be the only SB contender that runs so ineffectively. We got some garbage time yards with Pitt in prevent and a two score lead, but before that Devin looked like he did last year.  Not much yardage after contact , shaky ball security, and do you feel confident when he is thrown too?  I don’t.  Is he part of the reason we ran zero screen passes yesterday to try to slow the rush ,,,,,or is this just another thing our OC doesn’t use or perhaps our O line is just not adequate.   We don’t have to be a 50/50  run/ pass team , but when defenses are rushing just 3 dl’s ( and getting to our qb) that’s a legit concern, first game or last game , and we are becoming easier to prepare for and defend against when they don’t have to bring up lbs, safeties, etc with no run threat.  It’s closing passing lanes and that’s a concerning trend over more than just yesterday’s game. 
3) It’s a legit concern.regarding our interior OL.  WHY are we still rotating players at the guard position ?   What other SB contender does this on a routine basis ?  We got manhandled yesterday as Mcd admitted across the o line.   Our LT was very bad yesterday and I don’t care what spin is pit on it , he still is not in football shape after his time away for whatever reason.  Our guards were pushed back into Josh all day and again,  we have no running lanes being opened ( oitsode of that last drive with Pitt in prevent ). We have no faith in just powering for short yardage or goal line situations.   I watched a lot of games this week , and most teams still don’t give up. Running the ball from the ten or five in.  We run it in with Josh , but that’s risky for him for injury and he still has a fumble issue, even if not as bad as it was. These are legit concerns , first game or not , because these issues were there last year.   We still have no answer despite a draft, an off season, and a preseason having passed.  We had 10-11 o lineman. In camp and we still have no answer to poor guard play. We might have future back up tackles, but what’s the answer at guard; still more rotation with Cody and Ike ? Pitt is not the only team with good interior d lineman despite hearing that as an excuse frequently online , Twitter etc yesterday.  What’s a real solution, just hope those guards suddenly become talented and that the Steelers game was an abberation?  I guess that’s possible but it seems like a legit concern and it’s disturbing we chose to do nothing before now. Pretty unlikely one or two serviceable guards pop up.  Hey , I hope for the best and that they turn their play around but right now I doubt we could handle either the Bucs or Chiefs with the line play we witnesssed yesterday.   That’s not a chicken little thing, it’s a trend when we play good teams.  
4) our special teams are not so special.  We are missing a decisive punt returner at this point and with all the line shifting around , maybe the communication error that led to a blocked punt is also a legit concern. We have had at least one punt blocked before with this staff ( perhaps the st coach was changed or fired after that one blocked punt cost us a game as well, I don’t think I’m mixing this up with the rex debacle and if so I apologize ) and there were legit questions around letting punts drop that cost us yardage and w just seemed unsure about when to kick a fg vs going for a first down.   Seems strange to be experiencing this now even with it being the first game because our staff has been here 4 years now.  Those coaching issues should not b happening to a staff that has been together this long.  These issues are legit concerns regardless what game it is now.  This is supposedly an experienced coaching staff with super bowl or bust being preached.  
All I’m saying is it’s ok for people to say they have concerns on a board meant to express ideas amid thoughts and there are legit reasons to not belittle people just for voicing their thoughts.  Time will tell.  There are some disturbing things that happened during a loss at home for a team whose goal is to have a home AFC CHAMPIONSHIP game.  To just ignore all those things because it’s just a first game ignores how thin the margin can be to get those home playoff games. Perhaps all will be corrected and we will end up 16-1 and wouldn’t that be great ?  I don’t see any harm tho in looking at those things now and seeing what actions take place.   Talk is cheap , right !?  

 

[All_Pro_Bills]

12 hours ago, Fan in Chicago said:

I shouldn't be concerned but the feeling is growing. This was the fourth game in a row they looked underwhelming. 

I can go with "it's a new season" and think that the loss hurts most as it's the first game of the season. 

But I am now very nervous for next week as Dolphins have a decent D as well

I think this 2021 Bills team is a very talented group and is the real deal here but I am also nervously watching.  For a little historical perspective my mind wanders back to the Gailey/Bledsoe era.  It was 2002 when the Bills acquired Bledsoe in a trade with the Patriots and the offense lit up the league for a while.  Lots of 300 yard passing games and big point totals.  Optimism was high.  In fact I still have my number 11 Bledsoe jersey hanging in the closet.

 

But after a while defenses figured out Gailey's offense, the big passing totals stopped piling up, the offense became ineffective, and the experiment ended in 2004 with a season ending loss to the 15-1 Steelers 2nd and 3rd stringers where Bledsoe threw for 189 yards and RB Willie Parker became a legend in Pittburgh.  In the draft following the season the Bills pulled off a 1st round trade (I think with Dallas?) and the JP Losman era began and the search for that franchise QB that started when Jim Kelly retired continued until it ended with the appearance of Josh Allen on the scene.  In 2005 Bledsoe went to the Cowboys put up a 9-7 season and in week 7 of the 2006 season was replaced by Tony Romo and never started another game there. 

 

A big reason the Bills lost on Sunday was they didn't win enough of the one-on-one battles.  Beating the guy in front of you, that's what it ultimately comes down to in football.  But Daboll needs to stop outsmarting himself, stop the cute stuff, focus on addressing the fundamental weakness in this offense last season, and put his players in positions to win those one-on-one battles.  His game plan completely hung the offensive line out to dry against arguably the best front 7 in football.  Given that strength of the opponent comes as no surprise that borders on insanity.  Going heavy with 4/5 WR sets against a defense that has 3, maybe 4, pro bowl players on it's front 7 is not a good strategy.  And saying we didn't execute is a cop-out.  Your game plan sucked.  Plain and simple.  A lot of this is linked to the unwillingness to use the running game. 

 

I'll say it again, run the damn ball a little more with the running backs, not the QB.  Now if I see 33% of the plays against the Dolphins in a 4/5 receiver set I am going to start wondering if there is something seriously wrong here.

[r00tabaga]

13 hours ago, MAJBobby said:

If you want to claim to be a contender you beat teams you should. We should have Beat the Steelers. No Silver lining. They laid an egg and let one go. 

Rewatch The game and it'll make you throw up. We clearly shot ourselves in the foot and beat them in almost every facet Off Def ST. The 6 holding penalties, the interception called back, etc .. I mean we outplayed them statistically and just gave them the game. Hopefully this is a huge wake up call.

Edited September 14, 2021 by r00tabaga

[nucci]

opening day loss is a blessing...I  now feel blessed

[machine gun kelly]

10 hours ago, Leonitas said:

This loss will probably lose us the #1 seed and maybe have to play at Pittsburgh in the post season.

This loss is huge.

So you’re expecting the insert team that won to go 17-0.  Cmon bud.  It’s a long season and you have not I any idea we could go on a run.  We lost to the Titans last year with a banged up team, but beat them the previous two years.  What if we were 8-2 at 10 games.  It’s not implausible.  Not you per se, but too much overreaction to a week 1 loss.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

14 hours ago, KzooMike said:

We should have won and if we played really well, it wouldn't have been close. It's a little different going from hunter to hunted and the Bills got a taste of it. We will take every team's best shot and Josh will not be given anything easy with how much film teams have on us from last year. I was getting sick of being everybody's trendy pick. If we expect this team to have SB aspirations we will need to be hardened by competition. I would have rather it not been an AFC game, but taking an L in week one, in my mind, will rally this team. Ground them. Make them better. I see it as Hail Murray 2.0. Not at all concerned. 

I ❤️  moral victory Monday 

[Jerome007]

Josh was tense from the get go and slightly off all game. Some play calls were... suspect. Dawkins had one holding call last season and 3 on Sunday - he should get better soon. White's INT that was cancelled by a dubious call was quite the game changer. Blocked punts are a rarity. ALL things that should rarely happen from now on so in that regards, things look pretty good! Plus the Steelers are a very good team, seems people forget that part.

 

But the lack of pressure by the DL while facing a revamped OL with 2 rookies... that doesn't bode well. Except from one juicy fun spurt, the still absent running game. Not cute plays needed for 3rd/4th and ones if the OL can push the pile...

[QCity]

2 hours ago, nucci said:

opening day loss is a blessing...I  now feel blessed

 

Losing to the Dolphins next week clearly would be a DOUBLE blessing!

[ngbills]

This may be true until 14-3 would have gotten us home field and instead we are 13-4 and heading into KC in the playoffs. 

[Jauronimo]

Is this like when you get pulled over with a BAC of .27 with a tranquilized pig in a wedding dress, a couple of midgets,  and a trunk full of illegal mexican viagra and you lose your job, get divorced, and its the best damn thing that ever happened to you?

 

I certainly hope this is the last of our disguised blessings this year.

[FilthyBeast]

10 hours ago, DrPJax said:

 Great points.  It’s ok to be concerned even if it’s the first game because this is part of Bills play that is showing a disturbing trend .  Trends can certainly change but they can also be a harbinger of things to come , especially if those trends are in areas that can’t easily be changed at this point as the season has begun.   It’s less concerning if you are still in preseason with time to make scheme or personnel changes. 
 

Comcerning trends that have carried over from last year ( remember , it’s not like we blew out teams during the playoffs before KC beat us the SECOND time last year and we really were not in those games as Reid was the better coach in both games 😞

 

1) our offensive game plan was ineffective as Pitt had it figured out.  Only 10 teams scored 16 points or less yesterday, only 6 scored less than 16.  ZERO OF THOSE TEAMS WON!  There is a blueprint out there on how to slow this offense and for some reason oil OC either refused or could not counter that defensive scheme being used.  That’s a legit concern. Mcd said as much today.  
2) we still either can’t or won’t try to make our running game a legitimate threat or concern.  51 pass attempts when your franchise QB is under duress on almost every drop back is a legit concern. We seem to be the only SB contender that runs so ineffectively. We got some garbage time yards with Pitt in prevent and a two score lead, but before that Devin looked like he did last year.  Not much yardage after contact , shaky ball security, and do you feel confident when he is thrown too?  I don’t.  Is he part of the reason we ran zero screen passes yesterday to try to slow the rush ,,,,,or is this just another thing our OC doesn’t use or perhaps our O line is just not adequate.   We don’t have to be a 50/50  run/ pass team , but when defenses are rushing just 3 dl’s ( and getting to our qb) that’s a legit concern, first game or last game , and we are becoming easier to prepare for and defend against when they don’t have to bring up lbs, safeties, etc with no run threat.  It’s closing passing lanes and that’s a concerning trend over more than just yesterday’s game. 
3) It’s a legit concern.regarding our interior OL.  WHY are we still rotating players at the guard position ?   What other SB contender does this on a routine basis ?  We got manhandled yesterday as Mcd admitted across the o line.   Our LT was very bad yesterday and I don’t care what spin is pit on it , he still is not in football shape after his time away for whatever reason.  Our guards were pushed back into Josh all day and again,  we have no running lanes being opened ( oitsode of that last drive with Pitt in prevent ). We have no faith in just powering for short yardage or goal line situations.   I watched a lot of games this week , and most teams still don’t give up. Running the ball from the ten or five in.  We run it in with Josh , but that’s risky for him for injury and he still has a fumble issue, even if not as bad as it was. These are legit concerns , first game or not , because these issues were there last year.   We still have no answer despite a draft, an off season, and a preseason having passed.  We had 10-11 o lineman. In camp and we still have no answer to poor guard play. We might have future back up tackles, but what’s the answer at guard; still more rotation with Cody and Ike ? Pitt is not the only team with good interior d lineman despite hearing that as an excuse frequently online , Twitter etc yesterday.  What’s a real solution, just hope those guards suddenly become talented and that the Steelers game was an abberation?  I guess that’s possible but it seems like a legit concern and it’s disturbing we chose to do nothing before now. Pretty unlikely one or two serviceable guards pop up.  Hey , I hope for the best and that they turn their play around but right now I doubt we could handle either the Bucs or Chiefs with the line play we witnesssed yesterday.   That’s not a chicken little thing, it’s a trend when we play good teams.  
4) our special teams are not so special.  We are missing a decisive punt returner at this point and with all the line shifting around , maybe the communication error that led to a blocked punt is also a legit concern. We have had at least one punt blocked before with this staff ( perhaps the st coach was changed or fired after that one blocked punt cost us a game as well, I don’t think I’m mixing this up with the rex debacle and if so I apologize ) and there were legit questions around letting punts drop that cost us yardage and w just seemed unsure about when to kick a fg vs going for a first down.   Seems strange to be experiencing this now even with it being the first game because our staff has been here 4 years now.  Those coaching issues should not b happening to a staff that has been together this long.  These issues are legit concerns regardless what game it is now.  This is supposedly an experienced coaching staff with super bowl or bust being preached.  
All I’m saying is it’s ok for people to say they have concerns on a board meant to express ideas amid thoughts and there are legit reasons to not belittle people just for voicing their thoughts.  Time will tell.  There are some disturbing things that happened during a loss at home for a team whose goal is to have a home AFC CHAMPIONSHIP game.  To just ignore all those things because it’s just a first game ignores how thin the margin can be to get those home playoff games. Perhaps all will be corrected and we will end up 16-1 and wouldn’t that be great ?  I don’t see any harm tho in looking at those things now and seeing what actions take place.   Talk is cheap , right !?  

 

 

This is also what I've been saying and it turns out the 'armchair GMs' look much smarter than our own GM after one week anyway.

 

Our oline was a disaster in the AFC Championship against the Chiefs but Beane decided to bring the same group back including Feliciano (who is in the top 5 worst graded oline after week one). We are going to regret taking Basham over Creed Humphey and/or not replacing Feliciano in FA for sure.

 

Also for all the ST investment and choosing to keep specific guys around for that reason, I believe it was Makovich who blew it on the blocked punt which essentially won the game for the Steelers. Also ironic since they decided not to keep him and we signed him a few years ago for big money for a ST guy.

 

The more I think about it I simply don't like how this roster is built, but again it's still early and a big win in Miami alleviates all the concerns for one more week anyway.

 

[Chandler#81]

16 hours ago, Steptide said:

We seem to do this everytime we lose or have doubt. We over react like crazy. If there's one thing I've learned in McDermott's tenure here, is that he rights the ship pretty quickly. Let's see what happens next week

I realized this in ‘17. We were thrashed so many times. Not just beaten, beaten DOWN! Traded all our “good players”, had no $$ and started PickPeterman.

 

Yet, due in very large part, the ‘Cincinnati Miracle’ found us in Jacksonville after completion of the Regular Season.

[SCBills]

Maybe it's a blessing in disguise.  Hard to say that without seeing how we respond.  

 

We lose to Miami and I doubt anyone believes it was a blessing in disguise.

 

We run off 3 in a row against teams we should beat, and then take down KC, sure.. We very well may point back to the Steelers Week One loss as the wake up call this team needed after, perhaps, being entirely too caught up in reading their own press clippings.  

[Ramza86]

Honestly half the league looked as off as we did. 

 

We had some rust and the Steelers ended up stealing one from us. 

 

Its clear we should have won that game. 

 

Right the ship and get that rust off. Thats all. 

[Patrick Duffy]

Well, if they're going to lose an AFC game like this, then least it was the 1st game and early.. Looks like @Logicgut feelings leading up to the Steelers game had merit lol

Edited September 14, 2021 by Sheneneh Jenkins

[Logic]

3 minutes ago, Sheneneh Jenkins said:

Well, if they're going to lose an AFC game like this, then least it was the 1st game and early.. Looks like @Logicgut feelings leading up to the Steelers game had merit lol

I'm never happy to be right when I predict the Bills losing a game.

Still, several here called me a whacky Negative Nancy for saying it would be a close game and a Steelers win. As it turned out, well...

I'd still rather have been wrong.

[Patrick Duffy]

Just now, Logic said:

I'm never happy to be right when I predict the Bills losing a game.

Still, several here called me a whacky Negative Nancy for saying it would be a close game and a Steelers win. As it turned out, well...

I'd still rather have been wrong.

Well I didn't call you wacky...I just disagreed. But yeah, sometimes you just get those gut feelings at times. I know I have also before. Lol, sometimes those bad feelings are wrong and other times right. So ya just never know. 

3 minutes ago, Logic said:

I'm never happy to be right when I predict the Bills losing a game.

Still, several here called me a whacky Negative Nancy for saying it would be a close game and a Steelers win. As it turned out, well...

I'd still rather have been wrong.

Lol, hope you're feeling a little different about the Fins game...