THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - I've got Nuthin'

[Saxum]

6 hours ago, CincyBillsFan said:

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

 

Some like humiliation and will call it such; may they find the fat dominant which suits them.  I just call it disappointment.

[Sweats]

Laid in bed after the game and couldn't sleep. I just kept going over the game in my mind and trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. I was just numb to the whole thing. I've seen alot of heartbreak with this team over the past 40 years, but this one hit me harder than most.

The game is a team sport......you win and lose as a team, however, to win championships, all facets of the team need to be on the same page and compliment each aspect........Josh deserves better than this. The man deserves a competent team around him. He deserves team mates that play at his intensity level and eventually, he deserves a ring.

 

I think, we all as fans want not only to get to a SB badly, but to see Josh get that hardware on his knuckles.

I never thought that i could ever like and respect a Buffalo QB more than Kelly, but i can honestly say that JA has grown on me and opened my eyes to his talents, his desire and his heart........sorry Jim, i'm putting JA ahead of you........and knowing Jim, he'd agree with me.

[Shaw66]

11 minutes ago, Reed83HOF said:

Hill is the unicorn that makes them so tough to defend, his catch and run killed us, no other WR in the league can do what he did, they would have been tackled immediately. If you focus on taking him away that is where Kelce, gets a mismatch and they nail you. The rest of their pass catchers etc. are meh.

 

 

Yeah, and I think one place where McDermott/Frazier have fallen down is dealing with the unicorn, whoever he may be.  Derrick Henry, Hill.

 

I remember a few years ago when someone stole a page from Belichick's book against the Patriots and put two defenders on the line of scrimmage opposite Gronk.   They wouldn't let him run a route upfield.   Now, you can't do that every play, but you have to do something.   As we saw last night, not surprisingly at all, Hill was able to break a long touchdown despite the Bills core design to stop big plays.   

 

People have said with 13 seconds left, the Bills should simply should have held receivers at the line of scrimmage, tackle them if need be.  Let them run a play, complete a pass if possible, or take the five-yard penalty and a first down.  

 

Whatever, point is, it can't always be business as usual against special players. 

[Best Williams Available]

I don’t know, either. Next time you can’t expect the D to play that bad, but also can’t expect the O to play so great. It’s a very hard game to gauge what to do next imo. Personnel-wise there may be no one that needs changing apart from a couple old guys or FAs. A better scheme on D with same guys coulda won it. More aggression in 3rd quarter by the O and maybe we don’t gas the D like that. So execution could be improved to.

[Trogdor]

8 minutes ago, Best Williams Available said:

I don’t know, either. Next time you can’t expect the D to play that bad, but also can’t expect the O to play so great. It’s a very hard game to gauge what to do next imo. Personnel-wise there may be no one that needs changing apart from a couple old guys or FAs. A better scheme on D with same guys coulda won it. More aggression in 3rd quarter by the O and maybe we don’t gas the D like that. So execution could be improved to.

The D was gassed the whole game. I don't think you can ask the O to give the defense anymore than what they got. Levi Wallace shouldn't be anywhere near the 1st or 2nd CB spot next year for one.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

8 hours 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.

Outcoached in both games.  Simple as that.  When it mattered most Levy and McDermott let us all down. Thurman showed up in XXV and Allen did yesterday.  The guys that don't play cost the Bills and Buffalo two championships

 

[Mark92]

It's been 21 hours since Mahomes hit Kelce for the winning TD and I am still in shock.  I am back in my usual game day and night time tv viewing spot on the couch.  I can't put into words what the hell happened last night.  Josh Allen took the biggest step of his career fully and emphatically cementing himself not only as one of the best 2-3 QB's in the league but now a proven playoff QB.  The lights are not too brite for him.  Hell, he seems meant for Super Bowl greatness.  Then I remember the Bills lost that game.  Allen won it twice and the Bills lost it Twice.  Josh Allen deserves better than what he was supplied last night.  We have him for at least 7 more seasons and most likely his whole career.  We waited 20 years for the next Jim Kelly to come along.  Well, he is here and he is better than Kelly ( I can't believe I said that and meant it).  The Buffalo Bills organization owes it to Josh Allen to to keep offensive weapons around him and supply him with a defense capable of winning super bowls.  He is 25 and the prime of his career looks like it's gonna be unbelievable.  If anyone can bring a Super Bowl to Western NY it's him.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

Not twice but thrice; homerun throw forward.

 

 

[theRalph]

8 hours ago, oldmanfan said:

This one really hurts.  Just going through the motions at work today and will for quite a while.  I am 66 years old, and have the AFL championships that I still celebrate.  But I want the Bills to win just one Lombardi before I leave the earth, and really thought this year was the year.  And should have been but for the defense playing not to lose.

I’m four years your junior and I understand exactly what you’re saying. An earlier poster asked whether fans take this harder than the team. Of course we do. People like you and I have decades invested into this. McDermott was on another team six years ago.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

8 hours ago, BuffaloBaumer said:

My sentiments exactly, except this was #1 because I have teenage kids now who were also heartbroken, anticipating going to the AFC Championship game with me. THat will never happen and the reason this hurts more is because the coaching threw this game away in 13 seconds while Norwood just missed. The players did not lose this game, the coaches did, and that is what is impossible to accept. This coaching staff will never win a Super Bowl, ever.

 

The players lost it too, they could have actually made a play.

 

 

[Buffalo Barbarian]

8 hours ago, oldmanfan said:

This one really hurts.  Just going through the motions at work today and will for quite a while.  I am 66 years old, and have the AFL championships that I still celebrate.  But I want the Bills to win just one Lombardi before I leave the earth, and really thought this year was the year.  And should have been but for the defense playing not to lose.

 

we will win one if not more with Allen, that im sure of.

 

 

[Buffalo Barbarian]

8 hours ago, blitzboy54 said:

This game for me in all time Buffalo losses

 

1. Wide Right

2. 13 seconds

3. No Goal

4. Music City Miracle 

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Everything else

 

 

The other 3 Superbowls are above this and throwback. This loss sucked but its a just a playoff game , nothing is higher than the Championship.

 

 

[Mark92]

1 minute ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

The other 3 Superbowls are above this and throwback. This loss sucked but its a just a playoff game , nothing is higher than the Championship.

 

 

This was the championship.  This was the toughest test for both teams.  Chiefs will win it all.  

[Buffalo Barbarian]

7 hours 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… 

 

Hopefully Beane takes notes, huge mistake on not bringing in TE Zac Ertz, Knox is good but to have a better TE than him here could have made this offense special. Josh is great but he cant do it all.

 

 

3 minutes ago, Mark92 said:

This was the championship.  This was the toughest test for both teams.  Chiefs will win it all.  

 

I agree but the record books will never say that , the Superbowl will determine the Champion, probably the chiefs.

 

 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

4 hours ago, MTBill said:

The game you didn't mention that always hurt me a bit - was that crazy Bronco's game - the one in Buffalo where they came back at the end and somehow managed to kick a field goal to win it - when everyone was sure they didn't have time to run it.  That thing stung.  It wasn't the playoffs or anything, but it was as bad as the "just give it to them" game in my gut.  No Goal...  Wide Right... Homerun Throwback...  13 Seconds...  All of these are like the old Wide World of Sports opening, the Thrill of (imminent) Victory, the Agony of Defeat...

 

All of that said.  I really thought we would win yesterday because our Defense would slow them down 'enough'.  Which they did a decent job of early, but seemingly could do nothing to stop them in Q4 and OT.  The look on Josh's face on the sideline after the first go ahead score.  followed by having to do it one more time...

 

AND - for the record, the OT rule is what it is.  I don't see how it would have ended any different.  Sorry.  Mahomes was unstoppable from the Bills vantage point.  I hate him every much as I hated Tom Brady.  But he was lights out better than Brady ever was last night.  And him running across the field to find Josh after the win, was pretty special - not Belicheck coming to see you in the locker room special, but pretty classy from someone I thought was classless.

 

Thanks again for your work.  You help put things in perspective for those who aren't going to games, hell I barely get to see them except playoffs and prime time games.

Why did you think Mahommes was classless? Honest question.  I've not heard anything bad about him.  

[Big Blitz]

8 hours ago, BuffaloBaumer said:

My sentiments exactly, except this was #1 because I have teenage kids now who were also heartbroken, anticipating going to the AFC Championship game with me. THat will never happen and the reason this hurts more is because the coaching threw this game away in 13 seconds while Norwood just missed. The players did not lose this game, the coaches did, and that is what is impossible to accept. This coaching staff will never win a Super Bowl, ever.

 

 

Right or wrong.  Rational or Irrational.  This is where I'm at.  

 

I'm not sure McDermott can keep the locker room after this - and I want to be so wrong about that I want to know team leadership went to him and told him we got your back this is on us.  Or something.

 

It's going to hang over this regime forever.  

 

You can't let what happened happen last night.  You just can't. 

 

An unprecedented game and an unprecedented loss.

 

Josh Allen should be the talk of the sports world today - he is to an extent but this would have been next level "congratulations Buffalo you officially have the best player on the planet he's about to get his own State Farm deal." 

 

That means almost as much as a SB win to this city.  That's why we have a freaking "MVP Watch" thread. 

 

 

 

Just so awful.  Awful.   

[Best Williams Available]

40 minutes ago, Trogdor said:

The D was gassed the whole game. I don't think you can ask the O to give the defense anymore than what they got. Levi Wallace shouldn't be anywhere near the 1st or 2nd CB spot next year for one.

Visibly those 2, 3 and outs then fast TD strike in the 3rd, you can see took a toll on them though. They went from making KC earn it to just chunk play after chunk and that never let up essentially, apart from KC’s dumb 3rd down call after the punt return where they took their foot off the gas. Offense just possesses longer for 2 possessions (1 was basically at mid field and we ran it 3x), and the D may have held up.

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, Ethan in Portland said:

Outcoached in both games.  Simple as that.  When it mattered most Levy and McDermott let us all down. Thurman showed up in XXV and Allen did yesterday.  The guys that don't play cost the Bills and Buffalo two championships

 

Ouch.  

 

I've said for years that Marv was outcoached.  I don't know if I can get there about McDermott, but over a couple of beers I could make your argument.   

 

But as I've said, elsewhere, you can't evaluate a coach based on a play or series of plays any more than you can evaluate a player on one or a few plays.  McDermott and Marv deserve credit for all the things that got them to the point where those plays happened.   

 

Nobody and no thing is perfect.   And people learn and develop.  Allen is a better player than he was two years ago.   McDermott is going to be a much better coach ten years from now.  

 

What's happened, happened.  

[Billsfan1972]

14 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Ouch.  

 

I've said for years that Marv was outcoached.  I don't know if I can get there about McDermott, but over a couple of beers I could make your argument.   

 

But as I've said, elsewhere, you can't evaluate a coach based on a play or series of plays any more than you can evaluate a player on one or a few plays.  McDermott and Marv deserve credit for all the things that got them to the point where those plays happened.   

 

Nobody and no thing is perfect.   And people learn and develop.  Allen is a better player than he was two years ago.   McDermott is going to be a much better coach ten years from now.  

 

What's happened, happened.  

Levy lost it because that was the year there was only one week between the Championship and the SB.  The team was too high on themsleves and too much in awe of the week and they were not reigned in and focussed.  Yep can blame Levy, but the players too.  Also that last drive was terrible time management.  They should have been a minimum 10 yards closer.

 

Sunday it was McD being lost and the Defense that was unprepared to play 13 f'ing seconds.

 

McD may not have been outcoached, but he completely blew the last 13 seconds.

 

Edited January 25, 2022 by Billsfan1972

[letsgoteam]

43 minutes ago, Mark92 said:

This was the championship.  This was the toughest test for both teams.  Chiefs will win it all.  

Yes and No. I get what you are saying and yeah Chiefs (or if the Bills would have won) are favored to now win the Super Bowl. However, look at the Chiefs last year. They beat the Bills but their O-Line gets injured in the game and then get destroyed by the Bucs D. 

 

Whose to say first pass that Allen drops back to pass against Cincy (pretending that the Bills won) and breaks his leg (or some type of injury that does not allow him to play the rest the game or Super Bow)?

 

But then again back to your point, its just as easy to say that Allen is hoisting up a SB trophy and SB MVP to go along with it if they would have won as well.

 

That's what is so frustrating. A playoff game where the game was in hand and would have been favored the rest of way if they just held on to win. But to me, the Super Bowl losses are more disappointing (granted I wasnt old enough, I was born in 88) because they just had to win that game. The Chiefs still have to win 2 more.