It was a hard loss AND we closed the gap

[NoHuddleKelly12]

Peter King has similar sentiments about Josh playing out of his mind, and the need for OT changes…

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/01/24/nfl-divisional-playoffs-weekend-fmia-peter-king/

 

“5. I think I would just say this to anyone who is fine with the NFL overtime rule: No matter how good your defense is, if you win the toss at the start of overtime, are you going to choose to kick off? No. Only in exceedingly rare cases—like, if your quarterback is Spergon Wynn and your defense is the ’85 Bears—would you ever choose to kick off to start OT. That is the definition of the coin flip having too much bearing on the outcome of games.

6. I think the best player of the playoff weekend, and this is no slight to Patrick Mahomes, was Josh Allen. Amazing football player. Tremendous thrower, obviously, and a runner who chooses when to be physical and when to run out of bounds.“

Edited January 24, 2022 by NoHuddleKelly12

[JohnBonhamRocks]

1 minute ago, BuffaloBill said:

 

 

To really be this ^^^^ there has to be an answer for Patrick Mahomes. The Bills D was without the guy who was arguably their best payer in Tre last night. Still, they had no answers when they needed them.

 

The Bills really need a leader on defense who steps up in the big games. They were exposed last night by probably the only team in the league capable of doing so,

Allen is our answer to Mahomes.

[HeHateMe]

Coaching was bad again.. D Line didn't get it done despite all those high value draft picks. 

 

Our LBs, Corners, and Safeties all struggled.  Edmunds is not that guy.  Sorry McBeane, move on and get a real MLB.  

 

And get rid of Frasier please.

[BuffaloBill]

Just now, JohnBonhamRocks said:

Allen is our answer to Mahomes.

 

 

Not alone he is not. The D could have won the game last night. They did not. 

[Rebel101]

8 hours ago, QLBillsFan said:

Yes so poly Anna not acceptable.. our coach can’t win big game .. facts 

I said this a long time ago and was mauled for it…McDermott doesn’t have a killer instinct and without it will always allow a team a chance…that is a fact..I will say McDermott has shown me he slowly is learning from his gameday mistakes and JA just is a dog who eventually should just call his own offense and then we won’t have an issue. 

[Rebel101]

Just now, ScottLaw said:

Allen is just as good as Mahomes and maybe better, unfortunately they are a better overall team and have a better coaching staff at the moment. 

They weren’t a better team. Coaching yes 100%

[JohnBonhamRocks]

Just now, BuffaloBill said:

 

 

Not alone he is not. The D could have won the game last night. They did not. 

I hear you, but it’s not like KC’s defense played way better than ours.
 

Thirteen seconds is handled differently or the coin lands on the other side and we’re talking about how our D did just enough to keep us in the game. 
 

I will say for the investments made, our defensive line should be generating more sacks. I was going to say pressure, but you can pressure Mahomes for 8-9 seconds and he will still make a play at the end. Need sacks. 

[Cray51]

Yes we have closed the gap.

 

Daboll called a great game yesterday.  Idk what others were watching.  He very likely is gone this off-season, which will be a tough pill to swallow.  McD actually called a great head coach game… until the final 13 seconds.  Was aggressive and mature throughout.  No wasted timeouts (until the final 13), and is continuing to improve as a coach.

 

Frazier just coached himself out of a head coach opportunity.  42 points is just too much.

 

we have the core locked down for at least two more years.  Players will come and go, and we will continue to get better.

 

ill say this, next year the rematch better come through Buffalo.  I’m done playing them in KC

[JimmyNoodles]

51 minutes ago, WinterSoldierFamily said:

 

Many of you need to stop with this take, it makes our base look foolish.  There is no argument that Allen has eclipsed Mahomes.  They are the same age and Mahomes is trekking towards being the greatest of all time, on pace to shatter every passing record there is in regular season and playoffs.  He has a lifetime of success ahead of Allen already.

 

Just stop with it, its tiresome and foolish.

 

Allen may well be the second best player in league and if we can put some better coaching and skill players around him, we will get there.  

Hardly.  You say it's foolish and then say the same thing.  Allen is better than Mahomes, right now today.  We need a better TEAM.  

[TampaBillsJunkie]

40 minutes ago, Ethan in Portland said:

That's the whole point. They aren't more talented.  They are better coached. The players didn't fail the coaches did.

You can't be serious? Do you think for one second the kicker gets to decide to squib it or kick it short???? That is 100% on McD. 

You don't have to listen. "Hey Coach I tried to kick it through and shanked it."  "Put a little too much under it" 

[WinterSoldierFamily]

1 hour ago, Ethan in Portland said:

That's the whole point. They aren't more talented.  They are better coached. The players didn't fail the coaches did.

You can't be serious? Do you think for one second the kicker gets to decide to squib it or kick it short???? That is 100% on McD. 

 

28 minutes ago, JimmyNoodles said:

Hardly.  You say it's foolish and then say the same thing.  Allen is better than Mahomes, right now today.  We need a better TEAM.  

 I don't know what you guys are seeing that I'm not.  Measuring a quarterback is done on many basis, but both metrically and in success Mahomes is ahead.

 

He is on pace to break every record imaginable, has a SB win and is the same age as Allen.  His trajectory is ahead of Tom Brady.  In terms of slinging the ball Allen might be there with Mahomes but when you look at how players are measured I don't get this take at all.

 

KC's window is ahead of ours, and will close sooner.  They have big cap trouble through '24.

 

 

 

[nucci]

how did we make progress? We were in Championship game last year and didn't get that far this year. Had a lead with :13 left. I don't see progress except we may have the best QB in the league now

[JimmyNoodles]

15 minutes ago, WinterSoldierFamily said:

 

 I don't know what you guys are seeing that I'm not.  Measuring a quarterback is done on many basis, but both metrically and in success Mahomes is ahead.

 

He is on pace to break every record imaginable, has a SB win and is the same age as Allen.  His trajectory is ahead of Tom Brady.  In terms of slinging the ball Allen might be there with Mahomes but when you look at how players are measured I don't get this take at all.

 

KC's window is ahead of ours, and will close sooner.  They have big cap trouble through '24.

 

 

 

Look, it’s a matter of opinion. Mahomes was gifted a playoff team to start his career. Josh had a much tougher road. He has developed into the leagues best player IMO. Winning is a team venture.  The Bills still need work (including coaching changes where needed). 

[BillsFan619]

36 minutes ago, nucci said:

how did we make progress? We were in Championship game last year and didn't get that far this year. Had a lead with :13 left. I don't see progress except we may have the best QB in the league now

As I mentioned before, the Chiefs are the gold standard right now.

 

We didn’t belong on the same field with them last year. This year, we beat them and went to the wire with them in the playoffs.

 

Just because we met them in the divisional round this year vs. the AFC championship game last year doesn’t mean that we didn’t close the gap against the team to beat in the AFC.

[nucci]

9 minutes ago, BillsFan619 said:

As I mentioned before, the Chiefs are the gold standard right now.

 

We didn’t belong on the same field with them last year. This year, we beat them and went to the wire with them in the playoffs.

 

Just because we met them in the divisional round this year vs. the AFC championship game last year doesn’t mean that we didn’t close the gap against the team to beat in the AFC.

we lost...we didn't close any gap. Had a lead with :13 left. I don't see many positives in this

[prissythecat]

55 minutes ago, nucci said:

how did we make progress? We were in Championship game last year and didn't get that far this year. Had a lead with :13 left. I don't see progress except we may have the best QB in the league now

+1 . Hill and Kelce killed us in playoffs last season and unfortunately it happened again .  We seem to be still very bad at stopping RAC plays .

[Last Guy on the Bench]

10 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said:

Reid had a reputation of choking in the biggest moments until he drafted Mahommes.  

Dungy had one of the greatest defenses of all time (3 HOF players) in Tampa and couldn't get it done.  

Reeves was a solid coach that also fell flat on the biggest stage with one of the greatest QBs of all time.  

 

Let's flip the conversation. McDermott is of course not going anywhere this off-season.  What outcome next year is acceptable to you that he is still the coach in 2024?  Like the other thread, how many more years do you give him?

 

That "choking" reputation is what I'm talking about. It's juvenile. Reid won lots of big games before Mahomes. So did all of those coaches. I don't put so much weight on whether a person wins one particular game - the Super Bowl. There is too much randomness in there and too small a sample size. Coaches that go to multiple Super Bowls or even multiple conference championships win tons of big games along the way. I don't subscribe to the idea that there is only one big game. If you do, you are bound to be disappointed in most coaches most of the time. I believe there are many big games every year.

 

That's not to say that all coaches are equal, or that different coaches don't have different strengths and weaknesses, including game management. That goes without saying. I just don't find it so obvious that someone is a genius or an idiot based on, say, whether a kicker hits a kick or not. If one play goes differently yesterday, McD just beat the big bad Chiefs on the road and likely wins a Super Bowl this year, or at least gets there. Is he a different coach based on any one of those plays? Not to me.

 

That being said, I do think McD and Frazier made mistakes in that 13 seconds. I'm particularly troubled by the way they were guarding the boundary as if out of bounds mattered at all with time only for three plays and with three KC timeouts left. Out of bounds or not wasn't going to make any difference. I also don't understand how you don't put two bodies each on Kelce and Hill, and I agree with people who argue that you didn't really need much pass rush, since Mahomes was going to throw it quickly no matter what. Still, we could be wrong about all of that, and even if we're right, so what? They made a mistake. I don't see it as indicative that they will never win "the big one." It's just something they'll have to learn from.

 

To answer your question, I would never put a specific result on a specific year to decide whether to fire a coach, if it were up to me. I'd look at the overall body of work, I'd look at the way that coaches and players do or don't improve over the years, I'd look at the relationships between coaches, players, front office staff, support staff, etc. All of that matters to me. If the Bills continue to field a competitive football team that is generally in the playoff hunt, and if they continue to cultivate what looks like a very healthy organizational culture and learning mindset, I would keep the coach. The only reason I would fire a coach that had that kind sustained competitive success is if it grew clear that things had gotten stale, that he had stopped growing and progressing, and/or that he was no longer relating to and developing players well.

 

So pretty much nothing next year short of a player revolt would make me in favor of letting McD go.

 

Again, I wasn't originally a big fan of the hire. And I still don't think he's the kind of guy I would really jibe with. Not my kind of personality really. I also suspect he might never be the sharpest tactical tool in the shed. And I do wonder what Reid saw in him that made him fire him. Still, with all of that, I think he is doing an absolutely fantastic job and I hope to see him as the Bills coach for many years to come, unless something major changes in his approach.

[Boatdrinks]

They’ve closed the gap, but the coaches blew the best opportunity for a SB win for this team in over 30 years 

[CincyBillsFan]

3 hours ago, JohnBonhamRocks said:

Allen is our answer to Mahomes.

Correct and in the off season Bean must do what KC did - go all in on Allen and surround him with the best possible talent.  KC is not obsessing over not having the leagues best defense. They want to have the leagues best offense. 

 

NEVER again in a big game do you take the ball out of Allen's hand for even one possession. That the Bills did it last night on 3 possessions was a huge mistake.  Scoring a TD on just one of those three possessions and last night ends differently. Score two TD's on those drives and the Bills win comfortably.

 

Going forward you fix minor holes in the offenses before fixing bigger holes in the D.  This might make McD uncomfortable but so what.  If you want to win championships this is what you must do.

 

 

[FilthyBeast]

You don't close the gap until you win.

 

Josh Allen had the best performance ever in the NFL playoffs by a QB and it wasn't enough to get out of the divisional round.

 

I'm not going to pile on McDermott as a knee jerk reaction like most but the question remains whether or not he's going to ever be able to take this team to a SB and/or win a championship.