Week 1 Loss Thoughts 24 Hrs Later

[corta765]

I have a rule to generally not comment until at least 24 hrs after a game as emotions run high and lose objectivity in thought. But my second son was born Friday so I’m in a pretty happy place regardless and right now it’s just a game. With that said here was what I saw:

 

1. Expectations alter reality to good and bad places. In this case it was bad. Heading into this week every analyst, major media member, and fan was calling this a win for buffalo with many fans thinking it was a blow out. Honestly I think unless Buffalo won 49-7 people would’ve been disappointed especially since in a close game. I never saw the AFC titles or SBs so having SB hype was new to me. I asked my cousin prior to week 1 how to feel as he went to the AFC title game in 93 against KC and he said don’t even think about the expectations they just need to win enough games first to make the playoffs. Hype is fun and is a great place to be where it’s good, but the reality is win or loss yesterday Buffalo needs to get to 11-12 wins before we can truly think that way and have a real idea what we are as a team.

 

2. This felt like the Titans game in a weird way where we moved the ball on offense but kept shooting ourselves in the foot. The difference is our D came to play. I’ll get more to Allen but he wasn’t atrocious he just wasn’t great and mixed in with bad play calling and an offensive line that was an ez pass all day your mistakes are magnified to 1000%. The Bills didn’t deserve to win this game, but their were def some weird things.

 

3. Fourth down killed the Bills. They punted twice and failed to convert twice. If any of those are converted it’s a different game. Truthfully it’s a statistically anomaly after being so good last year. 

 

4. Allen, this was one of his not great days the problem is nothing else on offense was working either. Probably my greatest frustration was in the 4th the return of hero ball. Whether too much hype or frustration later he forced too much rather then taking what was given to him. In the 3rd quarter Beasley started getting open underneath and he kept looking high. That said he still had some insane passes especially given the pressure and I liked his runs. Like the KC game the pressure def got to him and he is going to need to learn to keep his emotions in check. He will be fine but I don’t need MVP Josh as much as smart Josh because the rest will take care of itself.

 

5. Play calling/Coaching, somehow after losing the AFC title in which they got conservative the Bills coaching stuff doubled down with extra some absolutely madding calls. Whether it was punting in two 4ths, the play call on 4th and 1, the flea flicker on 3rd and 1, or the amount of east west designed plays against a PIT team that was eating them at the line it was bad. It felt super drought like how the game was called. More then the players I hope this lights a fire in the coaches because your not beating KC playing conservatively or any other good AFC team.

 

7. The defense was good. They never got really driven on by PIT and while you want more pressure and a turnover would’ve been big, they did their job and a total of 16 pts were allowed, I’m good with that.

 

8. Week 1 is the biggest overreaction week that exists and many times teams design things that the rest of the NFL hasn’t seen and just takes time to figure out. I think PITs defensive strategy was that and the Bills offensive line was caught off guard moreso then being so talent deficient. Play this game again week 16 I think the offensive line is better and Allen isn’t flushed 40% of the game.

 

9. 4-2, realistically the Bills need to get to 4-2 before the bye. The schedule is far later after that with some real easy games for the taking. I don’t care what it looks like to get there just get to 4-2.

 

10. Last year was a dream regular season where you felt good basically the entire time. That does not happen most seasons and settle in from probably a year that is a bit more turbulent. The Bills no longer are hunting, they are the hunted and yesterday showed that. PIT wanted to play Buffalo and looked like a team ready to take on one of the believed to be top dogs. Many teams will be circling Buffalo similarly and the Bills coaching more needs to prepare the team for that.

[RichRiderBills]

Keep in mind Steelers had an extra week of prep. 

 

I am feeling 24 hours later we lost a close , back and fourth game to a good team with a hof coach and hof QB and top defense. 

 

We are not trash or anything, and i expect us to bounce back. Just stinks because i feel we are better than the Steelers, but killed ourselves some too. 

[zevo]

we got punched directly in the mouth....nobody gave Pitt a shot in hell. kudos to them. hopefully this was a wakeup call.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

7 minutes ago, RichRiderBills said:

Keep in mind Steelers had an extra week of prep. 

 

I am feeling 24 hours later we lost a close , back and fourth game to a good team with a hof coach and hof QB and top defense. 

 

We are not trash or anything, and i expect us to bounce back. Just stinks because i feel we are better than the Steelers, but killed ourselves some too. 

 

Huh?

[Simon]

17 minutes ago, corta765 said:

I have a rule to generally not comment until at least 24 hrs after a game as emotions run high and lose objectivity in thought. But my second son was born Friday so I’m in a pretty happy place regardless and right now it’s just a game

 Congrats!

[Bangarang]

2 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Huh?

Probably referring to the extra preseason game

[Hapless Bills Fan]

19 minutes ago, corta765 said:

I have a rule to generally not comment until at least 24 hrs after a game as emotions run high and lose objectivity in thought. But my second son was born Friday so I’m in a pretty happy place regardless and right now it’s just a game. With that said here was what I saw:

 

Like @Simon sez, Congrats on the birth of your son

[Simon]

1 minute ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Like @Simon sez, Congrats on the birth of your son

 

I was talking about him waiting for 24 hrs....

[John from Riverside]

After my 24 hours past the game I got to thinking

 

Did Josh not getting much pre season time end up being a factor is this slow start?   Green Bay's phenom also had a slow start and didnt play (hardly played) in pre season.

 

Just a thought

[SCBills]

Felt a lot better after seeing that tweet showing similar stats between Allen vs Steelers in ‘20 and ‘21.  
 

Some teams just match up well against you.  
 

Similar to how our defense seems to match up really well against Lamar. 
 

Of course everyone is hunting the Chiefs, but for us, that team seems to be the Steelers… just gonna be a war whenever we play them. 

[RichRiderBills]

they started mini camp 1 week earlier than everyone else.

[Success]

Good post. It's weird getting used to big expectations, and the Bills being a target instead of under the radar.

 

I have to credit Pittsburgh. That was a game where I have no excuses to offer - no bad officiating, no lucky play.  WE had a chance to put them away early, but we let them hang around - and they do what good teams do when their opponent allows that. They took it.

 

 

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

28 minutes ago, Success said:

Good post. It's weird getting used to big expectations, and the Bills being a target instead of under the radar.

 

I have to credit Pittsburgh. That was a game where I have no excuses to offer - no bad officiating, no lucky play.  WE had a chance to put them away early, but we let them hang around - and they do what good teams do when their opponent allows that. They took it.

 

 

What? The Tre hold, the Wallace interference were both questionable-at-best calls. Sal made the point that no one on the sideline was calling for a flag on the Tre INT. That counts as an INT and we probably win going away.

[scuba guy]

So  congrats on the birth of your son.

 

So my thoughts are this most of us fans get upset depressed and very unhappy 😞after a lose like this but I see that did not happen with you.

 

The things about this game that I did not like.

 

1) if your at a tailgate and on someone's property don't throw your garbage on the ground what a pigstie. Bring a garbage bag people were pigs at the lot I was at. Hammers was full.

 

2. Ed Oliver was really one of the best d players out there and tried his best.

 

3. Can you at least call a penalty on the opposing team for once to stop there drive.

 

4. As shaw said body language. The opening kickoff your almost score and the team was not even jumping up and down. Strange 

 

5. So why do you take your 2 best receivers off the field and them throw backwards on 4th down.

 

6. Road rage on the way home everyone has to leave so just stay in line and drive cars where cutting people off and one truck put us in the ditch. (The person that pulled us out thank you again.

 

What I did like.

 

1) Reading this very message board and seeing that one of the members just had a new kid wow.

 

2) coming home to my girlfriend and getting a kiss from her, and she said she was sorry for me about the game.

 

I am not like most people on this board and say I have big families or kids because I don't

 

Both my parents were from Europe and most of there family are still over there.  I dont know what it is like to have a big holiday party or be with family on holidays. I have gone to other people's house for them but I will always feel out of place. My one cousins is in offalen and the other is in daytona there are both 20+ years older than me. Put there kids are much younger than I.

 

So this is the reason I have come to this board since my dad passed away I considered this board my family.

 

 

18 minutes ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

What? The Tre hold, the Wallace interference were both questionable-at-best calls. Sal made the point that no one on the sideline was calling for a flag on the Tre INT. That counts as an INT and we probably win going away.

The sideline ref did not call the flag the lady ref did and it came from 20 yards back.

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

If I remember correctly,  the Steelers were a matchup nightmare during the super bowl years also. I seem to remember them beating the Kelly era bills like a drum on a couple of occasions …. On to Miami 

[NewEra]

30 minutes ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

What? The Tre hold, the Wallace interference were both questionable-at-best calls. Sal made the point that no one on the sideline was calling for a flag on the Tre INT. That counts as an INT and we probably win going away.

Tre’s was questionable imo.

 

Wallaces’ was a PI imo.  I don’t think it’s debatable.  Maybe too ticky tack for some a taste, which I get.  It would’ve been nice if we received one or two of those, but I do think it was a penalty after rewatching it.

[NewEra]

17 minutes ago, scuba guy said:

So  congrats on the birth of your son.

 

So my thoughts are this most of us fans get upset depressed and very unhappy 😞after a lose like this but I see that did not happen with you.

 

The things about this game that I did not like.

 

1) if your at a tailgate and on someone's property don't throw your garbage on the ground what a pigstie. Bring a garbage bag people were pigs at the lot I was at. Hammers was full.

 

2. Ed Oliver was really one of the best d players out there and tried his best.

 

3. Can you at least call a penalty on the opposing team for once to stop there drive.

 

4. As shaw said body language. The opening kickoff your almost score and the team was not even jumping up and down. Strange 

 

5. So why do you take your 2 best receivers off the field and them throw backwards on 4th down.

 

6. Road rage on the way home everyone has to leave so just stay in line and drive cars where cutting people off and one truck put us in the ditch. (The person that pulled us out thank you again.

 

What I did like.

 

1) Reading this very message board and seeing that one of the members just had a new kid wow.

 

2) coming home to my girlfriend and getting a kiss from her, and she said she was sorry for me about the game.

 

I am not like most people on this board and say I have big families or kids because I don't

 

Both my parents were from Europe and most of there family are still over there.  I dont know what it is like to have a big holiday party or be with family on holidays. I have gone to other people's house for them but I will always feel out of place. My one cousins is in offalen and the other is in daytona there are both 20+ years older than me. Put there kids are much younger than I.

 

So this is the reason I have come to this board since my dad passed away I considered this board my family.

 

 

The sideline ref did not call the flag the lady ref did and it came from 20 yards back.

Sorry about your pops. Anytime you need someone to talk to, you’ve got family right here.  💙 

 

I couldn’t pick up my jaw from the floor for a few minutes after that 4th and 8—-and 4th and 1 rejections.  

[BobbyC81]

2 hours ago, corta765 said:

 

9. 4-2, realistically the Bills need to get to 4-2 before the bye. The schedule is far later after that with some real easy games for the taking. I don’t care what it looks like to get there just get to 4-2.

 

 

Here I was thinking it would be great to be 4-0 before the back-to-back road games in KC and Tennessee, with the toughest game probably being this Week2 game in Miami.  Now, have to hope for 3-1.

 

I really liked how last regular season ended and hope it’s the new norm.  The Patriots have always seemed to be working out the kinks in the first month or two and then go on a roll into the playoffs.  That’s what the Bills did last year and is the best scenario.

 

The Bills Super Bowl teams tended to be like 11-1 or 10-2 going into the last month and then finished 13-3 or 12-4.  Granted, they usually could rest their starters in the last game but they didn’t seem to be playing their best at the end.

[Gambit]

9 hours ago, scuba guy said:

So  congrats on the birth of your son.

 

So my thoughts are this most of us fans get upset depressed and very unhappy 😞after a lose like this but I see that did not happen with you.

 

The things about this game that I did not like.

 

1) if your at a tailgate and on someone's property don't throw your garbage on the ground what a pigstie. Bring a garbage bag people were pigs at the lot I was at. Hammers was full.

 

2. Ed Oliver was really one of the best d players out there and tried his best.

 

3. Can you at least call a penalty on the opposing team for once to stop there drive.

 

4. As shaw said body language. The opening kickoff your almost score and the team was not even jumping up and down. Strange 

 

5. So why do you take your 2 best receivers off the field and them throw backwards on 4th down.

 

6. Road rage on the way home everyone has to leave so just stay in line and drive cars where cutting people off and one truck put us in the ditch. (The person that pulled us out thank you again.

 

What I did like.

 

1) Reading this very message board and seeing that one of the members just had a new kid wow.

 

2) coming home to my girlfriend and getting a kiss from her, and she said she was sorry for me about the game.

 

I am not like most people on this board and say I have big families or kids because I don't

 

Both my parents were from Europe and most of there family are still over there.  I dont know what it is like to have a big holiday party or be with family on holidays. I have gone to other people's house for them but I will always feel out of place. My one cousins is in offalen and the other is in daytona there are both 20+ years older than me. Put there kids are much younger than I.

 

So this is the reason I have come to this board since my dad passed away I considered this board my family.

 

 

The sideline ref did not call the flag the lady ref did and it came from 20 yards back.

Sorry about your Dad and I honestly can't imagine not having my family nearby. Nothing but love from a fellow Bills fan. ❤️

 

Also, I've said it before but I don't understand why there isn't a love/heart reaction on here. Just think it fits for so many different things.

Edited September 14, 2021 by Gambit

[AuntieEm]

1 hour ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

If I remember correctly,  the Steelers were a matchup nightmare during the super bowl years also. I seem to remember them beating the Kelly era bills like a drum on a couple of occasions …. On to Miami 

 

    You are correct.  Pittsburgh has always been a tough game irregardless of the talent on each squad at time of each game.   It's also imho, a big example of why coaching stability is so important in the success of a team.  Since the Bills have been in existence the Steelers have had only 6 total head coaches.  The current and previous 2 HC each won a SB at least once.  Cannot argue that the stability isn't part of that success. 

 

  In comparison, the Bills have had 19 HC's in the same time period.  13,  if you subtract the 'interim' hcs  ( Lynn, Fewell during drought era) who never held the job over a season. 

 

   Pittsburgh is 6-2 in their SB appearances.   Buffalo 0-4.  Coaching/culture matters.  Talent can overcome some instability but its much easier to do it with talent and stability.  Gotta be on same page throughout.   We will see how they respond next week in a important divisional game as the stated goal has been to be in position to host playoff games.  First way to make that likely is win your division.  So next week is important.  Recent history versus Miami is strong so a bad performance in Miami would be more alarming than being kept in check by a highly skilled defensive team lik e the Steelers.