Why are we not built for cold weather?

[bigK14094]

Before the Bills field house was built, the team practiced outside in the weather.   That was when the Bills had a cold weather advantage.  I doubt they are "out" very much at all except the kickers who go out to learn to play the winds.  The coaches argument will be that they need the field house to teach all the intricacies of the modern game. So, the bills loose some of the former advantage of being hardened to the conditions.  Maybe the Bills should turn off the heat in the field house......

Edited December 15, 2021 by bigK14094

[Greg S]

This is a question for Beane and McDermott. It makes no sense that the BUFFALO Bills who play in an outdoor stadium aren't built for the elements. 

[HamptonBillsfan]

As constructed this team cannot run the ball effectively if conditions make throwing risky and difficult. Our strength is 5 wide and getting our talented receivers in space on a fast track. Conversely, we don't take away the run when good competition want to play the screen, short passing game sprinkled in to a top rush attack. We need a dome if this mangmt team doesn't fix the O-line and add a dynamic runner to Josh's arsenal. 

[since79]

37 minutes ago, bigK14094 said:

Before the Bills field house was built, the team practiced outside in the weather.   That was when the Bills had a cold weather advantage.  I doubt they are "out" very much at all except the kickers who go out to learn to play the winds.  The coaches argument will be that they need the field house to teach all the intricacies of the modern game. So, the bills loose some of the former advantage of being hardened to the conditions.  Maybe the Bills should turn off the heat in the field house......

After The NE it sickened me to to listen Belichick address the team.  He said this is why we practice in this stuff.  Leading up to the game you prepare for what is expected.  Plan for everything.  I am curious if we practiced outside that week like the Pats.

[Frostbite]

Our coaches don't have schemes that account for the bad weather. Daboll's offense has no balance - if weather isnt a factor (and it really wasn't last year) then go ahead and do what you want. His inability to adjust for the elements is our downfall. Same with Fraizer - the fact that we werent prepared to run a heavy defense to stop the pats when every fan knew the weather was going to be horrendous a week before the game shows how out of touch he is.

[clayboy54]

10 hours ago, stuvian said:

It is becoming crystal clear that our roster is not built for winning in cold weather. We can neither run the football nor stop the run.

 

Both of these are hallmarks of a successful cold weather football strategy. I just don't understand how we are expecting to be successful in the post season without being built to maximize our home field advantages. 

 

Ed Oliver is MIA as is Star. Tired of being a turnstile and tired of losing games we should win

Why don't you sleep outside tonight and let us all know tomorrow why we're not built for cold weather.

[Sharky7337]

10 hours ago, stuvian said:

It is becoming crystal clear that our roster is not built for winning in cold weather. We can neither run the football nor stop the run.

 

Both of these are hallmarks of a successful cold weather football strategy. I just don't understand how we are expecting to be successful in the post season without being built to maximize our home field advantages. 

 

Ed Oliver is MIA as is Star. Tired of being a turnstile and tired of losing games we should win

Your prob gonna get a lot of flak for posting this but then a few weeks later someone else will say it and get tons of props once everyone accepts it 

[TampaBillsJunkie]

6 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

We are built exactly the way we were built last year, and that was good enough to get us 2 home playoff wins in January and a berth in the AFC championship game.

The team doesn't need to be rebuilt wholesale, FFS.

 

Agreed on principle. It's the same parts, but the pieces got rusted. Our average OL regressed to WELL-BELOW average. Josh has been on the run and hurried all season.  The presumption was we could protect him and the reality is we can not.  Every player on the OL regressed so much that we plugged in our 3rd round pick. 

 

On paper Breida was an upgrade over Yeldon. Sanders was an upgrade over Brown. Gabe would improve. Josh would play close to his 2020 level. 

What happened? Part of me wants to blame coaching, play calling and scheme.... (calling Daboll out on this)

 

On Defense, we spent high picks addressing the same lackluster pass rush. The rooks started off hot, but flamed out as the season progressed.  Edmonds is the same liability, but another year of film has allowed coaches to draw up plays to isolate him. (Brady's game winner) Star is a no-show again. 

 

Special Teams took a step back letting Roberts walk. McKenzie already cost us a game. And then there's a few unlucky bounces, poor officiating with spotty calls that cost us momentum on drives, general breakdowns at crucial times and not being able to make "the play" when needed. 

 

All of it is the difference between 11-2 and 7-6.  4 Winnable games went the other way. 

 

On top of all this, teams figured out how to defend us on offense and expose us on defense and we haven't completely adjusted yet. Some of this is due to the way we are built.  We're just too small in the trenches and it's showing. 

 

I do have confidence that this team can adjust and put together a run. The question is, will they?

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr. WEO]

make it stop

[Virgil]

A couple of things:

 

1 - This season has been an absolute anomaly regarding weather this season.  We haven't seen this many games affected by weather in a long time

2 - This conversation is extra amplified as there are more power run teams, which we haven't seen in the league in over 5 years. 

 

The two together is a perfect storm for the type of team we built

[34-78-83]

The wind is the only true factor, and somewhat the heavy rain at times...  We've played in a record number of high wind games at home this season. PIT game - 25-30 mph, WFT game - 25-35 mph winds... In the hurricane that was the NE game, the team realized by the 3rd quarter basically that " oh crap, this big a$$ farm boy we drafted CAN throw in this insane wind and that should STILL be our strategy in such games.

[BigDingus]

Because you paid your QB over a quarter billion dollars.

 

Want to make use of his "generational" arm talent? Passing is key. Problem is our O-line is mediocre in run blocking, average in pass protection & our RB's have poor vision. 

The defense is mostly a strong suit, but losing Tre hurts in the secondary, & our D-line isn't big enough/talented enough to pressure QB's or stop the run. RB's may only average 2.5-3.5 ypc "if you take away that one long TD run!" but the problem is that one long run is now a thing that consistently happens! There are now several games where that one long TD run was the difference between winning or losing the game.

 

Long story short, the lines on both sides need dramatic upgrades, & our RB talent leaves a lot to be desired.

[Bubba Gump]

What's this the 3rd, 4th, 5th "are we built for the Buffalo weather" thread?? 🤦‍♂️

[Straight Hucklebuck]

13 hours ago, stuvian said:

It is becoming crystal clear that our roster is not built for winning in cold weather. We can neither run the football nor stop the run.

 

Both of these are hallmarks of a successful cold weather football strategy. I just don't understand how we are expecting to be successful in the post season without being built to maximize our home field advantages. 

 

Ed Oliver is MIA as is Star. Tired of being a turnstile and tired of losing games we should win

Because it's an outdated concept. 

 

How did the Bills get good? 

 

We finally found ourselves a QB after years of trying backups (Trent - 3 years, Fitzpatrick - 3 years, Taylor - 3 years) and Beane traded for a #1 WR. 

 

What the Bills need to do is fix the Offensive Line (Interior) and get more WRs. 

[brianthomas]

Imo its not so much about building a team for the elements. Its about having a balanced roster that on offense can keep defenses honest. Where we're not having to pass 90% of the time & put everything on Josh's shoulders. Does Kelly & those BILLS teams of the past have as much success as they did without a Thurman Thomas, or at least having the ability to run the ball? Players & defenses in this league are too good, even on crappy teams. If they know you're gonna pass 75% of the time, they'll play coverage & take their chances & just a little bit of a run game by us would go a long way. Its not really rocket science lol. I do think a lot of this falls on Daboll too, as there's things he could do in this area but just hasn't for a number of reasons.

 

on defense, we've talked about our LB core these past few years as an area we needed to improve... still waiting on that to be done. Lets not be so undersized where opposing offenses can man handle our front 7 & rb's can feast off us. It's common knowledge we're built to stop the pass. We've gotten shredded by teams that can deploy a power running game. Once again, we should be more balanced to defend against the run too.

 

Lastly we've also just had some officiating not go our way where if 1 call goes our way in some of these losses, a couple of them would be wins. In spite of our deficiencies we're still in positions to win, because we are a solid team & have an elite QB. I just hope it wont all be wasted this season.

 

 

[chris heff]

3 hours ago, TampaBillsJunkie said:

 

Agreed on principle. It's the same parts, but the pieces got rusted. Our average OL regressed to WELL-BELOW average. Josh has been on the run and hurried all season.  The presumption was we could protect him and the reality is we can not.  Every player on the OL regressed so much that we plugged in our 3rd round pick. 

 

On paper Breida was an upgrade over Yeldon. Sanders was an upgrade over Brown. Gabe would improve. Josh would play close to his 2020 level. 

What happened? Part of me wants to blame coaching, play calling and scheme.... (calling Daboll out on this)

 

On Defense, we spent high picks addressing the same lackluster pass rush. The rooks started off hot, but flamed out as the season progressed.  Edmonds is the same liability, but another year of film has allowed coaches to draw up plays to isolate him. (Brady's game winner) Star is a no-show again. 

 

Special Teams took a step back letting Roberts walk. McKenzie already cost us a game. And then there's a few unlucky bounces, poor officiating with spotty calls that cost us momentum on drives, general breakdowns at crucial times and not being able to make "the play" when needed. 

 

All of it is the difference between 11-2 and 7-6.  4 Winnable games went the other way. 

 

On top of all this, teams figured out how to defend us on offense and expose us on defense and we haven't completely adjusted yet. Some of this is due to the way we are built.  We're just too small in the trenches and it's showing. 

 

I do have confidence that this team can adjust and put together a run. The question is, will they?

 

 

 

 

 

I agree last year we don’t get a punt blocked and lose to Steelers. Last year Dawkins makes his block Josh doesn’t slip and we beat Titans. Last year we don’t lose to a bad Jaguars team. Last year Bass doesn’t miss a FG no matter how windy and he makes another at the end to beat Patriots. Last year Josh doesn’t have a toe out of bounds at the 7,  scores TD and we beat the Bucs.

[Ross Murdock]

Just need a beast RB, and a couple more stout O-Lineman and were built for Buffalo. Bills have the NFL's best home-field-advantage if were a little more stout on in the trenches. Bills didn't get to a NFL record 4 straight Super Bowls by accident. The Raiders and Chiefs could not handle the Buffalo weather and admitted as much.    

[Albany,n.y.]

The Bills were built to win the Super Bowl in SoFi, not in cold weather.  Hey, since it look like the Bills will be playing only 1 or maybe no playoff games at home, we're right on target. 😜 

[Chicken Boo]

I find it troubling that our front office subscribes to this "passing league" nonsense.

 

Yes, you need to be able to pass and stop the pass, but if you can't run the ball, your chances of success in the post season, historically, aren't that good.

 

Even Tampa finally realized they had a horse in Fournette that could dictate everything for them.

 

Football will always be football.  For sustained success, you need to be able to run the ball well and of course that starts at the line of scrimmage.

[The Frankish Reich]

Why are we not “built for cold weather?”

1. Because most Bills games are NOT played in cold or inclement weather. 
2. Because a team “built for cold weather” would necessarily sacrifice some of its warm/fair weather capabilities (think “we’ll sign that pricey fullback instead of that speedy wide receiver”)

3. Because if we ever do make the Super Bowl again, it will almost certainly be played in a warm weather location or a dome (the one Meadowlands game being the sole exception).