What the Ravens loss (and many other bad losses) should teach us

[BillsFan619]

Good teams lose to bad teams. Very good teams have very bad losses.

 

The Ravens just lost to the Dolphins. The same Dolphins that lost to the Jags. The same Dolphins that lost seven in a row. The same Dolphins that still have Tua (who's nursing a broken finger).

 

I was just as shocked as you were. I thought we'd steamroll the Jags. It was a gut punch. It was very disappointing. They had no business being on the same field as us. Until they did.

 

Yes, we have problems. Yes, they need to be addressed and McD promised that they are being addressed (he's typically a man of his word and responds well to adversity). Yes, our margin for error just got smaller.

 

That said, we're not out of this thing because of one bad loss. History has shown us this. I remember one year where the Cowboys won one game. It was to their rivals, the no named football team, who ended up winning the Super Bowl that year. Heck, there were four bad losses by good teams last week (us included). The Ravens game is just simply the newest example.

 

Yes, if we pile up a few more bad losses against teams we should beat than it could be over (for this season). But right now, we're still in this thing and we're still contenders. The Steelers, while a tough loss, was a bad matchup. The Titans loss was a heartbreaker. The Jags is our first bad loss of the season. And guess what, every AFC contender that's at the top of their division has a bad loss now. The Titans do. The Ravens do. The Chargers do. And, our awesome Bills do.

 

I'm not even predicting what the Bills will do. They could lose a few more bad games and then many of you can comeback to this post and tell me that the post didn't age well. You have my permission to do so, btw. But that's not even the point of the post. The point is that every team has a REALLY, HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE BAD loss every once in awhile. We just had ours. That said, one bad loss doesn't have to define our team or their season. Everything is still in front of us and we're still contenders at this point.

 

As fans, let's not let one week define us. Let's cheer our hearts out as our Bills continue to fight for it all. Go Bills Mafia! Let's go Buffalo!

Edited November 12, 2021 by BillsFan619

[JMF2006]

If you don't bring your A game  anyone can lay loss on you.

[Aussie Joe]

As someone said in the game thread … could the Dolphins go on a run and claim the division?

 

Im trying to get an early start on the bedwetters ..

[GoBills808]

No easy games in the NFL

[BillsFan619]

3 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

As someone said in the game thread … could the Dolphins go on a run and claim the division?

 

Im trying to get an early start on the bedwetters ..

Nice, bro!

[Big Turk]

5 minutes ago, JMF2006 said:

If you don't bring your A game  anyone can lay loss on you.

 

More like if they don't bring at least their B- game...they still likely will clock teams with their B- game like they have been much of this year.

 

They brought their F game on offense last week.

[HappyDays]

17 minutes ago, BillsFan619 said:

The Ravens just lost to the Dolphins.

 

So? I didn't think the Ravens were a Super Bowl favorite prior to this game. Coming into the season I thought the Bills were a Super Bowl favorite. Now I am less sure. I thought the Bills were past pitiful offensive performances like that. Just because the Ravens lost to a bad team doesn't mean I feel better about our loss to the Jags.

 

Of course losing to the Jags doesn't mean our Super Bowl chances are zero but it exposed a couple serious flaws with this team. It is by far the worst loss of the McDermott era and the issues that lost us the game have been lurking behind the scenes all year long.

Edited November 12, 2021 by HappyDays

[ALLEN1QB]

Just win baby

[BillsFan619]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

 

So? I didn't think the Ravens were a Super Bowl favorite prior to this game. Coming into the year I thought the Bills were a top Super Bowl contender. Now I am less sure. I thought the Bills were past pitiful offensive performances like that. Just because the Ravens lost to a bad team doesn't mean I feel better about our loss to the Jags.

 

Of course losing to the Jags doesn't mean our Super Bowl chances are zero but it exposed a couple serious flaws with this team. It is by far the worst loss of the McDermott era and the issues that lost us the game have been lurking behind the scenes all year long.

I agree that there are flaws, bro. But every AFC contender has flaws (or in the Titans case an injury to a top player). Even with our flaws, we're still one of the most complete teams, if not the most complete team in the AFC.

[Buffalo Bills Fan]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

 

So? I didn't think the Ravens were a Super Bowl favorite prior to this game. Coming into the season I thought the Bills were a Super Bowl favorite. Now I am less sure. I thought the Bills were past pitiful offensive performances like that. Just because the Ravens lost to a bad team doesn't mean I feel better about our loss to the Jags.

 

Of course losing to the Jags doesn't mean our Super Bowl chances are zero but it exposed a couple serious flaws with this team. It is by far the worst loss of the McDermott era and the issues that lost us the game have been lurking behind the scenes all year long.

Right. On forward McDermott always adjustments. Lots of football left to go. Everyone improves as they grow.  Same issues later on in season worried but not right now. Just wait to see how they respond to all this.

[BillsFan619]

1 minute ago, ALLEN1QB said:

Just win baby

Yessir!

 

Even if it's just like 20-10 or 20-13 (not a prediction just an example) on Sunday, just win.

[RyanC883]

23 minutes ago, BillsFan619 said:

Good teams lose to bad teams. Very good teams have very bad losses.

 

The Ravens just lost to the Dolphins. The same Dolphins that lost to the Jags. The same Dolphins that lost seven in a row. The same Dolphins that still have Tua (who's nursing a broken finger).

 

I was just as shocked as you were. I thought we'd steamroll the Jags. It was a gut punch. It was very disappointing. They had no business being on the same field as us. Until they did.

 

Yes, we have problems. Yes, they need to be addressed and McD promised that they are being addressed (he's typically a man of his word and responds well to adversity). Yes, our margin for error just got smaller.

 

That said, we're not out of this thing because of one bad loss. History has shown us this. I remember one year where the Cowboys won one game. It was to their rivals, the no named football team, who ended up winning the Super Bowl that year. Heck, there were four bad losses by good teams last week (us included). The Ravens game is just simply the newest example.

 

Yes, if we pile up a few more bad losses against teams we should beat than it could be over (for this season). But right now, we're still in this thing and we're still contenders. The Steelers, while a tough loss, was a bad matchup. The Titans loss was a heartbreaker. The Jags is our first bad loss of the season. And guess what, every AFC contender that's at the top of their division has a bad loss now. The Titans do. The Ravens do. The Raiders do. And our awesome Bills do.

 

I'm not even predicting what the Bills will do. They could lose a few more bad games and then many of you can comeback to this post and tell me that the post didn't age well. You have my permission to do so, btw. But that's not even the point of the post. The point is that every team has a REALLY, HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE BAD loss every once in awhile. We just had ours. That said, one bad loss doesn't have to define our team or their season. Everything is still in front of us and we're still contenders at this point.

 

As fans, let's not let one week define us. Let's cheer our hearts out as our Bills continue to fight for it all. Go Bills Mafia! Let's go Buffalo!

 

the problem is that the Jags loss was not “one week.”.  The OL and lack of a running game have been issues since last year.  They have still not been addressed.  This was NOT a one-off.   We have lost 2 of our last 3 games. 

[Big Blitz]

The Saints with or without Kamara can beat Tennessee this week 

 

Tennessee can't run it on them.  Lattimore follow AJ

  

Win an ugly 20-17 game. 

[BillsFan619]

1 minute ago, RyanC883 said:

 

the problem is that the Jags loss was not “one week.”.  The OL and lack of a running game have been issues since last year.  They have still not been addressed.  This was NOT a one-off.   We have lost 2 of our last 3 games. 

I get it. No arguments here. But, at this point, adjustments can be made and McD has responded pretty well when adversity has struck. Heck, the other loss that you mentioned could be put on the o-line as well because of the 4th and inches play.

 

That said, that wasn't a bad loss, it was a heartbreaker to the best team in the AFC right now (that's hard to even say because a month ago I didn't think the Titans would be this good so far).

[Bookie Man]

looks like Dick Jauron was right after all these years.

[Doc Brown]

There's so much pretzel twisting going on trying to justify the Bills loss that at this pace Ford will be regarded as the best guard in the league by Saturday.

[Process]

The Ravens are not a great team, despite what you hear on ESPN. 

[What a Tuel]

7 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

the problem is that the Jags loss was not “one week.”.  The OL and lack of a running game have been issues since last year.  They have still not been addressed.  This was NOT a one-off.   We have lost 2 of our last 3 games. 

 

I don't understand this line of thought. If this dates back to 2020, then clearly we are still good enough to make the AFC Championship right? That wasn't a fluke.

 

I mean, I posted this in another thread, but I want to post it here too. People have veeeeery short memories. Every year sh!t happens. Sometimes we won't squeeze it out. It doesn't mean the team is a dud.

 

 

Bad things that happened this time last year :

 

Got blown out by Titans and Chiefs

Almost lost to the Fitzpatrick led Dolphins

Beat the 2-14 Jets 18-10

Almost lost a 25 point lead to the Rams

Almost lost to the Cam Newton led Patriots if it weren't for a last minute fumble

 

Bad things that happened this year so far:

 

Upset against the Steelers

Tough close loss against the Titans

Upset against the Jaguars

[HappyDays]

19 minutes ago, BillsFan619 said:

I agree that there are flaws, bro. But every AFC contender has flaws (or in the Titans case an injury to a top player). Even with our flaws, we're still one of the most complete teams, if not the most complete team in the AFC.

 

We have had 2 actual TD drives in the last 8 quarters of play, against statistically bad defenses. As it is we were struggling in the red zone early in the season even when we were moving the ball. The Ravens losing a bad game doesn't mean our flaws are less pronounced. We scored six freaking points against a terrible defense.

 

I'm worried that we are stuck with a bottom 5 offensive line and running game and it's just so hard to win in the playoffs with those handicaps. It wasn't just a bad day at the office on Sunday. These are real issues that have come up a few times this year.

 

I will agree that the AFC is so muddled right now we have as good a chance as any other AFC team to make it to the Super Bowl. I still don't buy the Titans offense without Henry. It is as wide open as it gets in the AFC. I tend to think the NFC winner will end up being a significant favorite over whichever AFC team makes it out.

 

But I'm past the point of rooting for other teams to have bad losses so that I feel better about our bad losses. During the drought years, sure. Now we are supposed to be a real Super Bowl contender. Scoring six points against an almost winless team... I don't know man.

Edited November 12, 2021 by HappyDays

[BillsfaninSB]

9 minutes ago, Process said:

The Ravens are not a great team, despite what you hear on ESPN. 

They could easily be 3 - 6. 
 

The Ravens also have a brutal schedule coming up.   

Edited November 12, 2021 by BillsfaninSB