THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - I've got Nuthin'

[B-Large]

4 minutes ago, HamSandwhich said:

When Josh is playing all world like he was these playoffs, you expect the be the champion of all the world. Just so happened the other QB was also playing all world. Hurts because the O was playing like you would hope and beyond but we still couldn’t get over the finish line. 
 

The Bills didn’t lose because of Allen, as I see it, that game reinforced Allen >>>> Mahomes. The D/coaching lost that game. 

a poor OT rule decided that game… that’s a disservice to all football fans and advertisers everywhere… how great would a 10 minute, who scores the most run off be??…. There might have been 30 more points scored…

 

too bad… 

[ColoradoBills]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

This morning, I sit before my keyboard, numb.

 

Yes, numb is right.  Been a fan since the AFL Championships too.

 

I ask myself how do they come back from this?

There is always X's and O's, player personnel and coaching changes and all the other stuff to be discussed but this will

come down to their character. 

 

I will support them as a fan and hope they can do it again.  This time hopefully in Orchard Park.

 

[HamSandwhich]

12 minutes ago, B-Large said:

a poor OT rule decided that game… that’s a disservice to all football fans and advertisers everywhere… how great would a 10 minute, who scores the most run off be??…. There might have been 30 more points scored…

 

too bad… 

This is true. 

[ALLEN1QB]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

I’ve written this column for about 15 years.  It varies from week to week, sometimes about the stadium experience, sometimes about an important play, sometimes about what players or coaches did or didn’t do.  I write about trends, prospects, shortcomings and needs.  Sometimes it might be funny, sometimes quirky, and certainly sometimes boring or pedestrian.  When I start writing, I don’t always have a plan – the essay just seems to go where it needs to go.

 

Last night in Kansas City, in the second round of the playoffs, the Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in overtime, 42-36.  This morning, I sit before my keyboard, numb.

 

I’ve got nuthin’.

 

If you watched the game, you understand.  If you didn’t, I cannot go all Grantland Rice on you to explain.  I’m not Shirley Povich.  Where is Frank Deford when we really need him?  

 

I’ve been a fan of the Buffalo Bills since 1960.  There were several years when work and family and geography left me less involved with the team, not going to games or being able to see them on television.  Still, fan-wise, I’ve had a pretty good run.   I can say figuratively, if not literally, I’ve seen it all.

 

The only way to describe what happened last night is that it was Wide Right, 31 years later.  (If you don’t know what Wide Right was, look it up.  It has its own Wikipedia article.)  I was in Tampa that night, I sat in the stadium stunned as the winning field goal sailed past the right upright.  (I was in Buffalo on the Monday night when the Cowboys beat the Bills with a long field goal on the final play – that game gets honorable mention, but wide right and Chiefs-Bills stand together on top of the “OMG -what-just-happened?” list.)  The day after Super Bowl XXV, I walked aimlessly through Epcot Center, and it seemed every third person was wearing a Giants sweatshirt.  This morning, everything is Chiefs red. 

 

When your team loses a game like that, and my team has done it twice, I’m here to tell you that everything in your life goes numb for a day or two.  It’s not a tragedy, it’s not life changing; after all, it’s just football, but when you’re emotionally invested and a game like that happens, it’s stunning.  It’s as though you’ve seen and heard a large explosion, so large that for a few seconds or minutes or even hours, your eyes are recovering from the flash and your ears are ringing.   “OMG!  What just happened?”

 

A week before the game, I thought that this game might be the real Super Bowl, that these were the two best teams playing for all the marbles.   No, that couldn’t really be true, because the King was back leading the Titans, there was the G.O.A.T., trying for another repeat, and if it wasn’t going to be Brady in the Super Bowl, it was going to be Rodgers. 

 

Then, one by one, Derrick Henry lost, Rodgers lost, Brady lost, and the surviving teams lacked the key ingredient – the star quarterback.  Burrows may be a star on the rise, Stafford may be a star postponed, and Tannehill may be, well, a nice guy, but nobody is crowning any of them as a legendary signal caller, at least not yet.

 

So, by Sunday night, the game between the Bills and the Chiefs actually was looking like the Super Bowl, without the halftime show.  These were the two hottest teams in the playoffs, each coming off blistering blowout wins the previous week, each having overcome early season inconsistencies to look now like powerhouse winners.  Each with an already certifiable superstar quarterback.  Before the opening kickoff, people knew it was a big game.  I got my pizza and sat before the TV.

 

What happened was epic. 

 

There have been a lot of great football games with spectacular plays and dramatic finishes.  I can’t sit here this morning and say that Chiefs-Bills was the greatest, but it has to be in the discussion.  This was two great teams with two great quarterbacks playing their best games.  Two teams and two guys refusing to lose in a game where ultimately someone would win.  

 

A couple of days before the Bills-Chiefs game, I looked up the playoff passer rating records.   If you’re not a fan boy like me, know that the passer rating is a number that is calculated using a formula and some of the more important statistics that demonstrate passing effectiveness.  The passer rating isn’t perfect, but it’s a pretty good measure of who’s the best.  After last week’s games, Patrick Mahomes (did I mention that he is the Chiefs quarterback?) was number 1 on the all-time playoff passer rating list.  Josh Allen, the Bills quarterback, was fourth.  Now, that data is skewed by a variety of factors, so it isn’t necessarily the definitive measure of greatness, but it isn’t bad.  Bart Starr and Kurt Warner, two legendary QBs who are in the Hall of Fame, were number 2 and number 3 on the list.  Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Troy Aikman are in the top 20, along with future Hall of Famers Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees. 

 

This morning, Patrick Mahomes is still number 1.  Josh Allen is number 2. 

 

The game was a display of modern quarterbacking excellence that rarely has been seen in the NFL, dual excellence that probably never has been seen in a playoff game.  Mahomes and Allen performed superbly from the very beginning of the game, passing and running, confounding the opposing defenses.  But their excellence through three quarters was simply prelude. 

 

When Harrison Butker kicked a field goal to give the Chiefs a five-point lead with less than nine minutes remaining in the game, there seemed to be only one question:  could Josh Allen and the Bills mount one more drive for one more touchdown and win the game?  That, as it turned out, was merely the first question.  Allen and the Bills went on an excruciating 17-play, seven-minute drive for the touchdown and, with the two-point conversion, a three-point lead.  Mahomes answered with a touchdown in five plays, dashing the Bills’ hopes for a victory.  Incredibly, truly incredibly, Allen returned the favor in six plays to retake the lead.  And yet, in the 13 seconds remaining, Mahomes managed to get the Chiefs in position for the tying field goal.  The Chiefs won the coin toss at the beginning of overtime, and Mahomes continued the scoring onslaught, hitting Travis Kelce with another touchdown pass.  The overtime rules didn’t afford Allen and the Bills the opportunity to respond, and the Chiefs won.

 

Undoubtedly, this morning thousands of Chiefs fans are talking about how great their team is and how this decision or that play won the game.  Thousands of Bills fans are talking about how that decision or this play lost the game.  I can’t do that, not now.

 

My only consolation after Super Bowl XXV was that for fifteen or twenty years, sportswriters and fans everywhere said it was the greatest Super Bowl ever.  I could be proud that my team was part of it, but it hurt to think about it.  Eventually, memories dimmed and other games awed the fans.  Eventually, I didn’t have to respond politely to people who thought they were making me feel good when they said, “You’re a Bills fan?  That was the greatest Super Bowl of all time!”

 

“You’re a Bills fan?  Bills-Chiefs was the best playoff game I’ve ever seen!”

 

Yeah, right.  Thanks.

That sure is a lot of nothin. Lol

[Do The Reich Thing]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

I’ve written this column for about 15 years.  It varies from week to week, sometimes about the stadium experience, sometimes about an important play, sometimes about what players or coaches did or didn’t do.  I write about trends, prospects, shortcomings and needs.  Sometimes it might be funny, sometimes quirky, and certainly sometimes boring or pedestrian.  When I start writing, I don’t always have a plan – the essay just seems to go where it needs to go.

 

Last night in Kansas City, in the second round of the playoffs, the Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in overtime, 42-36.  This morning, I sit before my keyboard, numb.

 

I’ve got nuthin’.

 

If you watched the game, you understand.  If you didn’t, I cannot go all Grantland Rice on you to explain.  I’m not Shirley Povich.  Where is Frank Deford when we really need him?  

 

I’ve been a fan of the Buffalo Bills since 1960.  There were several years when work and family and geography left me less involved with the team, not going to games or being able to see them on television.  Still, fan-wise, I’ve had a pretty good run.   I can say figuratively, if not literally, I’ve seen it all.

 

The only way to describe what happened last night is that it was Wide Right, 31 years later.  (If you don’t know what Wide Right was, look it up.  It has its own Wikipedia article.)  I was in Tampa that night, I sat in the stadium stunned as the winning field goal sailed past the right upright.  (I was in Buffalo on the Monday night when the Cowboys beat the Bills with a long field goal on the final play – that game gets honorable mention, but wide right and Chiefs-Bills stand together on top of the “OMG -what-just-happened?” list.)  The day after Super Bowl XXV, I walked aimlessly through Epcot Center, and it seemed every third person was wearing a Giants sweatshirt.  This morning, everything is Chiefs red. 

 

When your team loses a game like that, and my team has done it twice, I’m here to tell you that everything in your life goes numb for a day or two.  It’s not a tragedy, it’s not life changing; after all, it’s just football, but when you’re emotionally invested and a game like that happens, it’s stunning.  It’s as though you’ve seen and heard a large explosion, so large that for a few seconds or minutes or even hours, your eyes are recovering from the flash and your ears are ringing.   “OMG!  What just happened?”

 

A week before the game, I thought that this game might be the real Super Bowl, that these were the two best teams playing for all the marbles.   No, that couldn’t really be true, because the King was back leading the Titans, there was the G.O.A.T., trying for another repeat, and if it wasn’t going to be Brady in the Super Bowl, it was going to be Rodgers. 

 

Then, one by one, Derrick Henry lost, Rodgers lost, Brady lost, and the surviving teams lacked the key ingredient – the star quarterback.  Burrows may be a star on the rise, Stafford may be a star postponed, and Tannehill may be, well, a nice guy, but nobody is crowning any of them as a legendary signal caller, at least not yet.

 

So, by Sunday night, the game between the Bills and the Chiefs actually was looking like the Super Bowl, without the halftime show.  These were the two hottest teams in the playoffs, each coming off blistering blowout wins the previous week, each having overcome early season inconsistencies to look now like powerhouse winners.  Each with an already certifiable superstar quarterback.  Before the opening kickoff, people knew it was a big game.  I got my pizza and sat before the TV.

 

What happened was epic. 

 

There have been a lot of great football games with spectacular plays and dramatic finishes.  I can’t sit here this morning and say that Chiefs-Bills was the greatest, but it has to be in the discussion.  This was two great teams with two great quarterbacks playing their best games.  Two teams and two guys refusing to lose in a game where ultimately someone would win.  

 

A couple of days before the Bills-Chiefs game, I looked up the playoff passer rating records.   If you’re not a fan boy like me, know that the passer rating is a number that is calculated using a formula and some of the more important statistics that demonstrate passing effectiveness.  The passer rating isn’t perfect, but it’s a pretty good measure of who’s the best.  After last week’s games, Patrick Mahomes (did I mention that he is the Chiefs quarterback?) was number 1 on the all-time playoff passer rating list.  Josh Allen, the Bills quarterback, was fourth.  Now, that data is skewed by a variety of factors, so it isn’t necessarily the definitive measure of greatness, but it isn’t bad.  Bart Starr and Kurt Warner, two legendary QBs who are in the Hall of Fame, were number 2 and number 3 on the list.  Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Troy Aikman are in the top 20, along with future Hall of Famers Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees. 

 

This morning, Patrick Mahomes is still number 1.  Josh Allen is number 2. 

 

The game was a display of modern quarterbacking excellence that rarely has been seen in the NFL, dual excellence that probably never has been seen in a playoff game.  Mahomes and Allen performed superbly from the very beginning of the game, passing and running, confounding the opposing defenses.  But their excellence through three quarters was simply prelude. 

 

When Harrison Butker kicked a field goal to give the Chiefs a five-point lead with less than nine minutes remaining in the game, there seemed to be only one question:  could Josh Allen and the Bills mount one more drive for one more touchdown and win the game?  That, as it turned out, was merely the first question.  Allen and the Bills went on an excruciating 17-play, seven-minute drive for the touchdown and, with the two-point conversion, a three-point lead.  Mahomes answered with a touchdown in five plays, dashing the Bills’ hopes for a victory.  Incredibly, truly incredibly, Allen returned the favor in six plays to retake the lead.  And yet, in the 13 seconds remaining, Mahomes managed to get the Chiefs in position for the tying field goal.  The Chiefs won the coin toss at the beginning of overtime, and Mahomes continued the scoring onslaught, hitting Travis Kelce with another touchdown pass.  The overtime rules didn’t afford Allen and the Bills the opportunity to respond, and the Chiefs won.

 

Undoubtedly, this morning thousands of Chiefs fans are talking about how great their team is and how this decision or that play won the game.  Thousands of Bills fans are talking about how that decision or this play lost the game.  I can’t do that, not now.

 

My only consolation after Super Bowl XXV was that for fifteen or twenty years, sportswriters and fans everywhere said it was the greatest Super Bowl ever.  I could be proud that my team was part of it, but it hurt to think about it.  Eventually, memories dimmed and other games awed the fans.  Eventually, I didn’t have to respond politely to people who thought they were making me feel good when they said, “You’re a Bills fan?  That was the greatest Super Bowl of all time!”

 

“You’re a Bills fan?  Bills-Chiefs was the best playoff game I’ve ever seen!”

 

Yeah, right.  Thanks.

So well done. I felt all of this deeply. 

[RoyBatty is alive]

20 minutes ago, B-Large said:

Organizationally, they are first class.  They just always bring in guys, at least on offense, that contribute big…. 

 

It will be interesting when Kelce and Hill are gone if that offense can still be unstoppable.  That is very special trio, a unique combination of elements.  
 

I’m biased, but I still think Allen is the more compete player.  We don’t have anyone quite near Kelce, and while Diggs is out outstanding and McKenzie has wheels, Hill is in a league of his own….. 

 

Man the flip of a coin…. What could have been.. 

 

and thanks for all the write ups… always a joy….going back to the beginning of the BBMB if I recall… 

They are great ON OFFESNE WHEN they are clicking.  Very similar to the Bills.  Their defense has a good streak for a short time this year but they are beatable no doubt and not nearly perfect.

 

I think our "great" defense was more a matter of scheduling and 2nd or 3rd string QBs we played this year.

 

NFL is all about parity and this year EVERY NFL team was a victim of "on any given Sunday.  We can look back on this year and think f the JAX debacle, had we won we would have been at home and probably headed to the Super Bowl.

[LewPort71]

" I got nothing"

 and then what follows is one of your best write ups ever.

 

Thanks for the time you spend doing this.

 

[Stuartjohn]

1 hour ago, Big Turk said:

 

3 coaching blunders lost this game in the last 13 seconds. Inexcusable. The kickoff and then the 2 defensive play calls and schemes.

My thoughts are- They should Fire Frazier if he called the defensive plays with 13 seconds left.

Bring in Vic Fangio and have a Real #1 defense next year! Regarding  that “Paper tiger “ # 1 defense- I’m glad Not “one player made the pro bowl”-  do you think Any of them deserved it now?
This feels as bad as Music City miracle! I keep thinking  What would Bellichek  or Parcells or Bill Walsh or Jimmy Johnson done differently with 13 seconds left! I bet they would have won the game- inexcusable!

[Stroke 17]

I got a lot to say, my heart is broke again by the Bills especially the coaches in this one.

 

How can Coaches who supposedly  work 20 hrs a day, sleep in their offices, game plan, watch film, have advance scouts and a staff that can spot the most miniscule point not take care of 13 freakin seconds with the lead.  Squib, nah not that, Kelsey , nah he can"t hurt us, Hill, no freakin way can he hurt us,  Maybe just hold the guy for a second and take a penalty, no not that lets just play deep and tackle the guy when he gets in field goal range.

 

Sorry again Shaw, I got a lot on my mind but its just not worth it, 50 years and it all the same, no matter the players or the coaches, 

 

I got nuthin, NUMB!

[Big Turk]

1 minute ago, Stuartjohn said:

My thoughts are- They should Fire Frazier if he called the defensive plays with 13 seconds left.

Bring in Vic Fangio and have a Real #1 defense next year! Regarding  that “Paper tiger “ # 1 defense- I’m glad Not “one player made the pro bowl”-  do you think Any of them deserved it now?
This feels as bad as Music City miracle! I keep thinking  What would Bellichek  or Parcells or Bill Walsh or Jimmy Johnson done differently with 13 seconds left! I bet they would have won the game- inexcusable!

 

Way worse. This team legit would have been the Super Bowl favorite. That team wasn't going anywhere.

[B-Large]

25 minutes ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

They are great ON OFFESNE WHEN they are clicking.  Very similar to the Bills.  Their defense has a good streak for a short time this year but they are beatable no doubt and not nearly perfect.

 

I think our "great" defense was more a matter of scheduling and 2nd or 3rd string QBs we played this year.

 

NFL is all about parity and this year EVERY NFL team was a victim of "on any given Sunday.  We can look back on this year and think f the JAX debacle, had we won we would have been at home and probably headed to the Super Bowl.

 

at the time you just knew that Jax loss was catastrophic.... where a home game versus a road game gives you an edge in a tight conference, you can't lose a game to a 1-5 squad anymore...

 

 

 

[FilthyBeast]

1 hour ago, UKBillFan said:

Great review but your final point is spot on. So we played in one of the best play off games ever? Who gives a ****?

 

That's just it, next year...5 years from now....20 years from now when this game is looked back on the only thing that anyone will remember is the winner of the game, especially if we are looking back in hindsight at another Chiefs SB win and Mahomes having as many rings on his finger as Brady.

 

Just tired of constantly being on the losing end of these type of games and you really have to wonder if this franchise will ever win a game that matters.

[Freddie's Dead]

1 hour ago, CincyBillsFan said:

You can call last nights loss a lot of things but "humiliating" is not one of them.

 

 

 

Humiliating is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  This is up there with Monday Night in Dallas.  All anybody will remember is that we lost because our coaches choked yet again with the game on the line.

[KCNC]

I'll be 62 on Wednesday.  I am not sure I can take much more.

• Wide Right
• MCM
• 16-0 lead on Texans choke job
• Hail Murray (granted small potatoes)
• Kansas City 2021 collapse
• "13 second" game

 

I'm having a really tough day today as many of you are.

McD's defenses just seem to get a deer in the headlights look when the pressure is really on.  I got nuthin either really.  Just completely stunned.

[Helpmenow]

Mahomes and Allen Remind me of Kelly versus Marino. Great players

[Freddie's Dead]

7 minutes ago, KCNC said:

I'll be 62 on Wednesday.  I am not sure I can take much more.

• Wide Right
• MCM
• 16-0 lead on Texans choke job
• Hail Murray (granted small potatoes)
• Kansas City 2021 collapse
• "13 second" game

 

I'm having a really tough day today as many of you are.

McD's defenses just seem to get a deer in the headlights look when the pressure is really on.  I got nuthin either really.  Just completely stunned.

 

All excellent examples of humiliating Bills losses.  I'll add the 9/9/07 game against the Broncos, where they ran out Elam to kick a FG with the clock running down to :00 to win.  All because Jauron dialed up an incomplete bomb on 3rd down which stopped the clock before the Bills punted.  We always seem to land the coaches that choke.

[HappyDays]

I'm frustrated because the same issues that lost us the AFCCG last year lost us this game:

 

1) The run game wasn't good enough.

2) The pass rush wasn't good enough.

 

Last night we burned two drives on running plays on 3rd down. And all night our pass rush couldn't get home. Deja vu.

 

Beane failed to do his job. The whole offseason was supposed to be about becoming good enough to dethrone the Chiefs. Even with Allen playing the best game of his career we couldn't do it. It's going to take a splash move in the offseason to bridge the gap, I just hope he's willing and able to make it.

[Shaw66]

6 minutes ago, KCNC said:

McD's defenses just seem to get a deer in the headlights look when the pressure is really on. 

I haven't entered the fray to talk who's fault it was, what might have been done differently, etc.   I've seen several comments about the loss being on the coaches and how they did or did not manage the defense down the stretch.  I have a variety of thoughts about all of that, and I might talk about it more later, but for now I want to respond this idea.

 

I don't think I agree with McDermott's defensive philosophy, but this "deer in the headlights"  thing is wrong.  That's what people said about the defense when they gave up some drives in the Houston playoff game, and they completely ignored multiple stops the defense made in that game, stops that allowed the Bills to get back into the game.  

 

Last night, Hill had a humongus return late in the game, and the defense held on three downs and forced a field goal.  A huge stand. 

 

The fact that the Bills defense can't stop two of the top five offensive players in the league, at will, any time, is NOT the problem.   Did the Chiefs also have a deer in the headlights look?   They couldn't stop the Bills, either.  

 

 

[Success]

Sums it up for me.

 

We were so close to this being called the "4th & 14" game, instead of the "13 seconds" game.

 

A Lombardi will erase all of it: Harmon, Wide Right, MCM, last night.  But right now, they're all still there - and all feel more pronounced today because of the most recent.

 

But man, do we have a resume of heartbreak.  

 

[Lost]

2 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

 

 

The game was a display of modern quarterbacking excellence that rarely has been seen in the NFL, dual excellence that probably never has been seen in a playoff game.  Mahomes and Allen performed superbly from the very beginning of the game, passing and running, confounding the opposing defenses.  But their excellence through three quarters was simply prelude. 

 

 

 It's truly remarkable how similar the stat lines of these two QBs are over the last two post season games.   The fact that Allen went into a hostile environment and did what he did is even more impressive to me than Mahomes.