Serious question; what causes a team to pancake like this?

[npeartisgod]

I am sure most, if not all of us, have never been inside the NFL machine. And I am well aware that it is a business and the business lives on our money. But, I am genuinely curious (amidst another disappointing day after) what causes a team with such an auspicious start to just pancake? Is it inner lockerroom politics? Is it that the players and management are at loggerheads? I get that we don't have a real run threat, and that makes us rather one dimensional, but our D is spectacular, and Josh is the real deal. I would be interested to hear serious opinions or insights.

 

BTW, Brady is on his way to a three game losing streak for the first time in a decade.

 

Go Bills!

[Dablitzkrieg]

My guess is a disjointed locker room.  McDermott could give 2 ***** about the guys on the covid list yesterday.  Very telling when your "leader" reacts the way he did.

[SCBills]

We've had a game like this past Colts game every year, even recently since we've become a good team...

 

Eagles 2019

Titans 2020

Colts 2021

 

Each year there has been one game where we just come out and get smoked.  

 

I truly believe they took the Steelers and Jags lightly.  Who we want to put blame on for that.. well, there's plenty to go around.  Titans was frustrating, but looked to be a battle of two heavyweights.  

 

I won't freak out over the Colts game, as that game seems to happen every year... but this team needs to find itself, and quick.  The Jags loss removed their margin for error.  

 

These next few games will be very telling of who this team, and who Sean McDermott is.     

 

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by SCBills

[Big Turk]

Lack of focus. Believing their talent allows them to not have to prepare the way they used to 

[dorquemada]

I said this after the Jax game.  A friend of mine who used to work in the Pats org, and probably knows more about football than anyone I know, said that the Bills have a cancer on the team.  He doesn't follow them close enough to guess who/what it is, but he said it's as clear as day.  It's hard to argue against that, given how they're swirling the drain

[Evian]

They are a mentally weak team.  Covid has nothing to do with it.  Last year in the middle of Covid they were incredibly mentally tough.  I suspect they read the headlines about how good they were and believed them. 

[Roundybout]

Just now, dorquemada said:

I said this after the Jax game.  A friend of mine who used to work in the Pats org, and probably knows more about football than anyone I know, said that the Bills have a cancer on the team.  He doesn't follow them close enough to guess who/what it is, but he said it's as clear as day.  It's hard to argue against that, given how they're swirling the drain

 

Not sure if he's right but I would guess it's Vernon Butler and a couple other fringe signings. Some of the beat reporters were saying Butler was literally doing nothing against the Colts.

[clearwater cadet]

5 minutes ago, Dablitzkrieg said:

My guess is a disjointed locker room.  McDermott could give 2 ***** about the guys on the covid list yesterday.  Very telling when your "leader" reacts the way he did.

What did he say or do, I'm just asking I really don't know.  I'm just shocked and very disappointed.  I've been waiting for 40 years, I really thought this was our year.

[Sugar High JA17]

It seems like they need to get back to just having fun. Sounds easy coming from me

[dorquemada]

2 minutes ago, BillsEnthusiast said:

 

Not sure if he's right but I would guess it's Vernon Butler and a couple other fringe signings. Some of the beat reporters were saying Butler was literally doing nothing against the Colts.

 

The guys that consistently make mental mistakes need to be benched.  The Venn diagram between "team cancer" and "makes lots of mental mistakes" isn't a perfect circle but there's a lot of overlap, imho

[Dablitzkrieg]

5 minutes ago, clearwater cadet said:

What did he say or do, I'm just asking I really don't know.  I'm just shocked and very disappointed.  I've been waiting for 40 years, I really thought this was our year.

He said "I only want to talk about the guys that are here".  Not even "I hope they are ok" or "we look forward to them coming back".  It also comes off like some players, Poyer, Dawkins are very nonchalant about the situation. Allen appears to be the only one with a sense of urgency

Edited November 22, 2021 by Dablitzkrieg

[BuffaloBillies]

The trenches.

O-Line and D-Line are average at best.

Then throw in injuries/covid on top of that.

You get yesterday.

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

1 minute ago, Dablitzkrieg said:

He said "I only want to talk about the guys that are here".  Not even "I hope the are ok" or "we look forward to them coming back"

He's pissed and rightfully so. He believes in team and making sacrifices.

9 minutes ago, Evian said:

They are a mentally weak team.  Covid has nothing to do with it.  Last year in the middle of Covid they were incredibly mentally tough.  I suspect they read the headlines about how good they were and believed them. 

Uh there is a difference, a vaccine.

[Billsflyer12]

11 minutes ago, BillsEnthusiast said:

 

Not sure if he's right but I would guess it's Vernon Butler and a couple other fringe signings. Some of the beat reporters were saying Butler was literally doing nothing against the Colts.

If true, and am inclined to believe it, why don’t they cut him today?

 

In my opinion, one of the biggest negatives I see with the front office and coaching staff is they are way to loyal with their guys and type of guys.  I’m thinking there is a large group of players on this team who knows their actions don’t have real consequences.

Edited November 22, 2021 by Billsflyer12

[dorquemada]

2 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

He's pissed and rightfully so. He believes in team and making sacrifices.

 

 

Then McD needs to bench some people, call them out publicly, and start to act more like a coach and less like a cheerleader.  Billy B must be smiling watching this, if he was capable of smiling anyways

[SCBills]

4 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

He's pissed and rightfully so. He believes in team and making sacrifices.

Uh there is a difference, a vaccine.

 

Hey Cole, make some sacrifices why don't ya...

 

::Plays with busted ribs and a broken leg::

[Eastport bills]

This team is playing as if it is preordained that they will go deep in the playoffs. Some players think their playing time is guaranteed despite poor performances. These things are representative of coaching deficiencies. The other factors are the inevitable results of having difference makers injured or unvaccinated. Now if Sean is the coach we want going forward, he can motivate these players to be better. Will there be enough talent to change our trajectory is the question. 

[dave mcbride]

13 minutes ago, BillsEnthusiast said:

 

Not sure if he's right but I would guess it's Vernon Butler and a couple other fringe signings. Some of the beat reporters were saying Butler was literally doing nothing against the Colts.

Enh ... he's not very good, and a player like Butler isn't important enough to bring a team down. The bigger issue is being figured out schematically and the QB not adjusting. This has been posted elsewhere, but I'll post it again: 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/josh-allen-patrick-mahomes-two-high-cover-two-data-11637552010?st=eszmchtgi8gx64h&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

 

[BuffaloBillyG]

24 minutes ago, npeartisgod said:

I am sure most, if not all of us, have never been inside the NFL machine. And I am well aware that it is a business and the business lives on our money. But, I am genuinely curious (amidst another disappointing day after) what causes a team with such an auspicious start to just pancake? Is it inner lockerroom politics? Is it that the players and management are at loggerheads? I get that we don't have a real run threat, and that makes us rather one dimensional, but our D is spectacular, and Josh is the real deal. I would be interested to hear serious opinions or insights.

 

BTW, Brady is on his way to a three game losing streak for the first time in a decade.

 

Go Bills!

Lack of depth at key positions. Too much depth at some positions. Too many slots for guys that only add special teams reps. Not having an identity other than "We have Josh Allen". Choosing continuity over making upgrades. 

 

I would guess somewhere mixed in there on some levels there many be political divide becaise, let's face at...these days it affects almost every workplace in some way. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

19 minutes ago, Dablitzkrieg said:

My guess is a disjointed locker room.  McDermott could give 2 ***** about the guys on the covid list yesterday.  Very telling when your "leader" reacts the way he did.

 

There was some talk about this in one of the threads after the game.  A divide between covid vaxxed and non covid vaxxed players is one theory.  I don't know if it's true; almost every team is dealing with this, and per Beane, the Bills are 91% vaxxed which by my math means 6 players.

 

I disagree with that interpretation (the context of how McDermott was asked matters, it's not like he was asked "how are they doing?" he was asked 2x in rapid succession "how did missing.....affect you?" and he said first "with all respect, I'm going to talk about the guys who played" and then asked the same thing on the very next question said "we respect their decision and I'm going to talk about the guys who were here". 

 

I thought it was pretty clear 1) he was ticked 2) they were known to be fine but it's not like he was asked "how are they doing?" and showed he didn't care