Questions to ponder during the bye week

[FilthyBeast]

This was a crappy loss but not necessarily unexpected given the nature of this league and this team likely wasn't going 16-1 anyway. With that said there are a lot of questions to ponder in the next few weeks:

 

1) How good is this team? Are they really a SB contender?

My biggest concern with losing against the Titans is the totality of the season as a whole thus far. Yes we dominated 3 lessor teams and beat what we assume is also a playoff team in KC, but there will be critics that now look at the Bills as paper tigers especially if the Chiefs continue to play inconsistent football. By default the Bills are certainly going to be an AFC contender given the weak remaining schedule and clear path to division titale, but after last night I'm really not sure if they are in the same class as a team like the Cardinals who dominated this same Titans team on the road, and several other contenders in similar fashion. Still plenty of time to go but right now I think the Bills are just another good team that's probably in the secondary tier until proven otherwise.

 

2) Speaking of the Chiefs, was this the Bills 'Super Bowl'?

As of right now I would say check back with me in a few months. But no matter what the players say, there's no question there was an extra motivation last week to have a good showing and get a win if anything to exorcise a necessary demon. I keep thinking back to the 2018 Jaguars who ironically started the season 4-1 that year and destroyed the Patriots (who they lost to in the AFCCG) and them completely falling apart the rest of the way after putting all their eggs in the proverbial basket for that specific game. Obviously this bills team is not a one  hit wonder like the 2017 Jags, and they also have a favorable schedule on deck but you can't argue how emotionally drained they were last night against the Titans particularly on defense. And to essentially lose the game on the last play of the game coming up short on 4th down play could foreshadow a similar end to the season come playoff time.

 

3) Can the Bills overcome the glaring flaws that were on full display again last night?

No team is perfect, but the same specific issues that cost this team against the Steelers (and have still lingered to a certain degree during the Bills 4 game win streak) are why this team lost again. Starting with the oline, they are way to inconsistent and simply not built to handle physical teams. John Feliciano in particular continues to show why he's not an NFL starting olinemen and both tackles struggled mightily again including Spencer Brown crashing to earth in a major way. On defense once again the pass rush was non existent against a QB and team that has been among the worst in the league until they played the Bills off course. As a result once again Levi Wallace was exposed as the weak link getting throw at and completed on over and over again. Just not sure the Bills can overcome this even if they attempt to address at the trade deadline and this is why sadly I don't think they ultimately go very far in the playoffs this year especially if they match up against the Titans or a simliar team again.

 

4) Defense owned and exposed?

Piggy backing off the last question, it's really hard to know if this defense simply had a let down or just isn't as good as we thought. Realistically for me it's probably somewhere in between. Yes there is a talent on defense but it's more a collection of really good role players/above average players and no true game changers (at least against other playoff caliber teams). And once again this is why I've always hated this scheme and the whole 'bend but don't break' style because when it works great, but when it breaks it truly breaks as we saw pretty much the entire game after the 1st quarter against the Titans. I'm sure this defense will come out of the bye week and look great again against the likes of the Dolphins, Jets, etc but there are still going to be a lot of question marks until we play a legit team again.  Also no matter what way you spin it,  a defense that some were comparing to the 2000 Ravens has lost to a washed up Big Ben and Ryan Tannenhill so far this year in just 6 games.

 

Anyways, hopefully this team comes out angry and has a similar finish to the season after last years pre bye week debacle.

[frostbitmic]

Question to ponder - What will it feel like to have a 1 PM Sunday game again.

[Bangarang]

This team is still really good. Like, one of the best in the league good.

 

No, the Chiefs game wasn't our SB. That's nonsense.

 

Tough to overcome OL and DL issues mid season. 

 

Yes, the defense was exposed. All the other teams we play that also have Derrick Henry are licking their chops. Is this a serious question or are you just looking for a reaction? 

[stevestojan]

Question to Ponder: 

 

Will Dawkins stop tweeting about “you already Shnow” and actually hit the weight room? 

[FilthyBeast]

Just now, Bangarang said:

This team is still really good. Like, one of the best in the league good.

 

No, the Chiefs game wasn't our SB. That's nonsense.

 

Tough to overcome OL and DL issues mid season. 

 

Yes, the defense was exposed. All the other teams we play that also have Derrick Henry are licking their chops. Is this a serious question or are you just looking for a reaction? 

 

Yes you are right, this team is good and I stated that.

 

But anybody that thinks they are in the same class as the Cardinals for example show me the proof otherwise. Again this team has lost to Big Ben and Ryan Tannenhill who have been among the worst QB's in the NFL thus far. Cardinals for example destroyed this same Titans team on the road, and the Browns and Rams. Does anybody really believe we'd beat them head to head right now regardless of the venue, especially against that offense and the weapons they have?

 

The good news is that it's a week to week league and there's still a long road ahead but the questions I asked are legitimate and why I've said all along that Bills mafia might want to humble themselves and tap the brakes a bit especially in terms of making travel plans to LA next february.

[Gugny]

Question to Ponder:  Are Meltdown Tuesdays better than Meltdown Mondays? 

[nedboy7]

These 2 weeks are gonna be painful. 

If our D was owned so was theirs.  We could have won that game no doubt.  With our crappy line. 

I do like your last sentence however. 

[First Round Bust]

yeah and still we were inches away from winning ugly and feeling better..they can draft and gameplan and scheme all ya want, we were out-executed man-to-man....kind of reminds me of the playoff win over the Colts, only this time the opponent did not screw-up

[teef]

Just now, Gugny said:

Question to Ponder:  Are Meltdown Tuesdays better than Meltdown Mondays? 

i like to think of it as an over reaction week.   it's the same people letting us know we're just not good enough.

[WhoTom]

Just now, Gugny said:

Question to Ponder:  Are Meltdown Tuesdays better than Meltdown Mondays? 

 

Normally, yes, since we have less time before the next game. But that's of little comfort when the meltdown occurs just before a bye.

 

[nedboy7]

Just now, teef said:

i like to think of it as an over reaction week.   it's the same people letting us know we're just not good enough.

 

2 weeks.  Meltdowwwnnn.....

[Process]

Holy **** it's gonna be a long two weeks on here

 

The bills are currently second in Superbowl betting odds

 

They are still a top 5 team in the league

 

They are still the favorites to win the conference

 

We didn't get "exposed." We lost a tight game on the road to a good team. We are clearly better than the Titans. But they match up well against us and played tough. It happens. 

 

In a month we will be 8-2. Relax.

[JohnBonhamRocks]

Don’t mind being a top AFC team and barely losing in a great game to another top AFC team right after stomping another top AFC team.

Edited October 19, 2021 by JohnBonhamRocks

[gonzo1105]

Yes the Bills are still a super bowl contender they lost by 3 playing terrible to a really good football team with a lot of talent 

[Bangarang]

4 minutes ago, FilthyBeast said:

 

Yes you are right, this team is good and I stated that.

 

But anybody that thinks they are in the same class as the Cardinals for example show me the proof otherwise. Again this team has lost to Big Ben and Ryan Tannenhill who have been among the worst QB's in the NFL thus far. Cardinals for example destroyed this same Titans team on the road, and the Browns and Rams. Does anybody really believe we'd beat them head to head right now regardless of the venue, especially against that offense and the weapons they have?

 

The good news is that it's a week to week league and there's still a long road ahead but the questions I asked are legitimate and why I've said all along that Bills mafia might want to humble themselves and tap the brakes a bit especially in terms of making travel plans to LA next february.

Should the league just give the Lombardi to the Cardinals now then? I don’t understand your point with this.

[Gugny]

1 minute ago, teef said:

i like to think of it as an over reaction week.   it's the same people letting us know we're just not good enough.

 

1 minute ago, WhoTom said:

 

Normally, yes, since we have less time before the next game. But that's of little comfort when the meltdown occurs just before a bye.

 

 

Don't get me wrong ... Meltdowns are one of my favorite activities here on TBD!!  It's like those Facebook friends I have who are only my Facebook friends so I can watch them lose their ***** from time-to-time.  Is it wrong that I think that's fun?  I find it fun here, too!

 

[teef]

4 minutes ago, nedboy7 said:

 

2 weeks.  Meltdowwwnnn.....

i mean...the bills are going to lose more games this season.  it happens to the best teams.  the titans lost the the jets and they never should have.  i don't know why people let their lives be ruined over this.

[Bills fan since 87]

15 minutes ago, frostbitmic said:

Question to ponder - What will it feel like to have a 1 PM Sunday game again.

 

Nice, and 4 in a row to boot

[Gen2]

I think all of your questions can be answered at the same time.

 

The Bills have built their team over the last few years to be able to consistently beat the Patriots who were a passing offense and run the ball almost as an afterthought kind of team, last year the team realized that they had attained that goal (attributed as much to the Pats decline as our buildup). The team then started to build to be able to consistently beat the Chiefs who are also a pass first team, and IMHO have attained that goal. The problem is that when your team is centered on being a fast strike score a billion points on offense, and a flood the passing lanes to harass the the passing game type of defense, you run into problems with smash mouth run it up the gut bully the opponent kind of teams. I think we will always have problems with the Titians and Ravens of the world, but the majority of teams in todays NFL are the air it out to score on any given play rather than the "I'm going to run it a dozen times a series to march down the field", so I think we'll be just fine.

[Greg S]

6 minutes ago, FilthyBeast said:

 

Yes you are right, this team is good and I stated that.

 

But anybody that thinks they are in the same class as the Cardinals for example show me the proof otherwise. Again this team has lost to Big Ben and Ryan Tannenhill who have been among the worst QB's in the NFL thus far. Cardinals for example destroyed this same Titans team on the road, and the Browns and Rams. Does anybody really believe we'd beat them head to head right now regardless of the venue, especially against that offense and the weapons they have?

 

The good news is that it's a week to week league and there's still a long road ahead but the questions I asked are legitimate and why I've said all along that Bills mafia might want to humble themselves and tap the brakes a bit especially in terms of making travel plans to LA next february.

 

It took a great special teams play by the Steelers to win that game. The Bills D held the Steelers O in check for the most part. Watt was healthy that game and he is a game changer on defense. He is the exact kind of player the Bills could use to make their D elite.