Rational Thoughts After Pats Loss

[Big Turk]

The difference between us being 7-5 and 10-2 is us not making a handful of plays in close games that we pretty much made all the time the first few years McD was here...

 

We went from having "Billsy way to lose" being a thing for 2 decades, to us pretty much always winning in those situations under McD...until this year and we are perilously close to going back to being "Billsy" again with the ways we have lost this year...

 

Really 3 of the losses are inexcusable. Tennessee, Jacksonville and New England. Pittsburgh was pretty close to inexcusable.

 

Indy we just weren't ready to go.

 

Not sure how McD flips the switch back again. They are not performing well in tight games anymore.

[JohnNord]

8 hours ago, corta765 said:

 

This year has been kinda a sports evolution year for me for two reasons:

 

1. AFC Title. Once we made it there finally!, it reset my expectations and also kinda grounded me from living and dying on every play. 

 

2. Had my second child, my wife got COVID (recovered thankfully), and my mother in law got diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. Football stopped mattering nearly as much for what really is important. I do not mean to put people down either saying that as if it is your thing to max that is awesome and good for you. But life for me hit a major refocus and losing my mind and ruining my week over a game played by millionaires lost its importance.

This is where I am.  I’ve been getting so worked up this season during games that it almost hasn’t been fun.  When they lose, I literally lose sleep.  And for what?  It really doesn’t have any effect on my life - at all.  

I’m not at the point where I can say a bad loss doesnt ruin my day but I’m getting there 

 

[BADOLBILZ]

9 hours ago, corta765 said:

Let me first start off by saying yea last night stunk and for many fans a gut punch of the worst kind. For others the Bills lived up or rather down to the fears they expected.

 

With all of that said lets be a little bit rational with our approach and thoughts as fans. I 100% understand your feelings if you want McD gone as this does not feel. If you feel like that or some other pretty strong feelings understand that what I say below probably won't satisfy your feelings today and come back a few days from now haha

 

With that said here we go:

 

 McD Bad Coaching Year: Lets just go out and say this has been his worst year coaching and truthfully the coaching staffs worst year since he started in 2017. As I said above if you want him fired I get your frustration, but use some perspective or come back 2 days and read this. The standard has changed and elevated since McD has gotten here which is awesome and something he deserves heaps of credit for. Within 5 years we went from just hoping to break the playoffs to accepting that a title is something we should at least hope for. The flipside of that is the Bills have climbed the proverbial mountain to the point there is much left to climb other then a title so successes feel less big and failures larger. A year after his best coaching job his team just looks all over the place and that goes straight to the top. Last nights game alone was a synopsis on the coaching issues that have frustrated many:

 

-Down 8-0 in a game where scoring was coming at a premium the Bills get a TD and then.... kick a FG to still be down. One of the best things about McD the prior two years was the teams evolution to playing a burn the ships type mindset. If we lost we lost throwing everything out there right down to the kitchen sink. What difference did it make going for two vs FG. Either your tied or your down, didn't make a difference. This type of in game questioning has been constant all season and since the Titans loss when they went for it on 4th down the team has looked incredibly nervous and conservative as if that game short circuited him.

 

-The offense which had a solid identity on offense the prior two years (2019 strong running team with complementary passing, 2020 fast passing attack) just looks lost at points and uncreative. Like the other losses (minus IND) there was a lack of play action, movement pre snap, running Josh on a night he could've and should've been used and just general creativity.

 

-Many weeks the Bills have looked like a team expecting success just because they have in the past. I have said this in numerous posts but the first four seasons I never once questioned the play and intensity of the team. This year in multiple wins and losses I have questioned what the heck they are doing and their focus. This goes back to the guy leading the team. Yes this team seems to have a propensity to not doing well with tough line play, but prior Bills teams overcame talent issues like this and managed. This team just hasn't been able to do so.

 

-Buffalo many weeks seems to be playing catch up with game design rather then dictating what is happening which again goes back to the coach. Defenses across the NFL have adjusted to years of high passing attacks to forcing a more patient approach something the Bills just don't seem fully adjusted to. 

 

So yea if you feel McD has been bad this year your right to an extent. Many of the things above he was far better at in the prior years and mixed with the highest expectations the club has had in a while its a combo of puke all at once. With that said this isn't the end even if the season does go off the cliff for good. Sports are not linear and for coaches the most difficult thing in my opinion once your team has had success is managing expectations and focus. Many times coaches themselves have to fail before they learn that themselves. There is a laundry list of coaches and teams (1989 Bills are a popular one brought up here) who after the first big break through regress a bit before moving forward for real. I said a month ago this was the biggest challenge McD had faced since he became coach and the Peterman mess, right now he seems to be losing this challenge.

 

Daboll: I already covered some of this but he has had a bad year also. Part of this stems though from what is looking like an ideology clash between Sean and Brian. I think Sean has seen enough this season and is trying to tell Daboll to run and balance things more. Daboll to me is been vanilla and lacked creativity, but I also think he understands the Bills are at their best passing with how they are designed. Neither are right and neither are wrong, but part of the lack of identity comes from what seems to be the clash of these ideas. The biggest issue to me is they are protecting Josh too much. In far too many games that were close like NE or JAX they barely used Josh as a runner. Listen I get running your franchise QB is a risk, but he is also really good at it and the defenses have been leaving it out there. The same with play action or pre snap movement which are both things Allen excels at. For whatever reason the play design and calls have been incredibly porus. With that said Josh and Sean would both credit a lot of Joshs growth to Daboll. Regardless of where this season goes I would expect him to be back next season and the offense is going to evolve a bit to a bit more like the 2019 style that runs a bit better to setup Josh's best assets. 

 

Allen- It is funny I was nervous of regression from Allen, yet his numbers are pretty close to equal from last year and overall he has had another strong year. If there is one thing I miss from Josh it is the end of game killer instinct. Prior to this year he has had multiple game winning drives each season and generally seemed to thrive. Whether it is the offense, bad luck, some poor play, or just the way the cards have fallen he is 0-4 this year after last night which is a little surprising to me. The Bills were 5-1 in one score games last year vs 0-4 this year so some of it is statistics working there way back, but I do agree that he has been a little off in an area you could always count on him. With that said last night was not on Josh he was one of the few bright spots and it sucks I left feeling the team let him down.

 

Playoffs/Division:  Football is the dumbest sport out there because of how things change so fast week by week. Despite the loss Buffalo could lose win out there last 4 games and with a NE loss still win the division. I do not expect that to happen as I think the Jags game on has exposed them a bit as just not being there year, but no one knows anything. The eye test doesn't sit too good right now, but win the next two games and the NE rematch feels different. I guess what I am saying is it is 1000% fair to feel like this is looking pretty dire, but this is a really really weird sport where weird reigns supreme. The Bills to me look like a 6-7 seed playoff team that we will all look and say after losing well they came close and repeat all the issues we've said all year for their loss.

 

Long Term:  I understand that everyone wants the offensive line overhauled and the defense to get better at pass rushing in the offseason. There is absolutely room for both, but the bigger picture for me is what direction is the league moving in and how do the Bills stay with. The Bills have a lot of talent across the board and the biggest thing they need to do which they failed at in my eyes this offseason is evolving that talent whereas the Bills just seemed to bring the band back from round 2. Improving the lines is a needed fix, but just is needed is adding players who will maximize our best players talents. Identity keeps being the buzz word, but for good reason and it will be the largest question that needs addressing on offense especially for what they want to do. The same goes for the defense in terms of addressing the run. It is easy to say they need another run stopper, the bigger question is adding people who don't take away from the Bills success against the pass. 

 

That is all I have to say. If you read this thank you regardless of whether you agree or it angered you or your indifferent. This has been a frustrating season of sorts as at points the Bills have looked like title contenders and at other points the look like a team that is drafting mid round. If you were at last nights game credit to you for sticking it out despite the weather and end result. The Bills are just 3-3 at home which is pretty annoying as a fans considering the energy the fans put in and support for the team. 

 

 

Here is a much simpler rational and actually FACTUAL thought:

 

The Bucs were 7-5 last year........blown out twice by their division rival Saints in the process.........and went on to win 3 road playoff games and the SB.

 

Their structure is similar to the Bills........a talented team with a great QB whose coach puts a lot of trust and faith in his players and looked very bad at times for doing so after 12 games last year.

 

So anyone making absolute conclusions at this point of the season is getting ahead of themselves.

 

[Georgia Bill]

We lost by 4 points to the hottest team in the NFL.  A team that like us has a great defense.  A huge part of their game is the rushing attack - which the horrific wind had no effect on.  A huge part of our game is the passing attack - which the wind impacted significantly.  When you add that up I'm not surprised by the loss, nor disheartened by it.  I thought our defense actually played pretty tough (outside of the one big 60-65 yard run), and I was proud that they did not quit, despite being pounded into all night.   Don't lose heart fellow fans - we are not out of this.  Go Bills!  

 

"Adversity is an opportunity for heroism"  - Marv Levy