Home Field Advantage & #1 seed…

[LabattBlue]

The regular season goal for 2022 and beyond is the #1 seed and home field advantage through the playoffs.  
 

I don’t care that the two #1 seeds lost in the division round(because of the bye, blah blah blah), or the number of road teams winning in the playoffs recently.  
 

To think if they didn’t have 4th quarter fails against Jax, Pats and/or Titans…😞

[ProcessTruster]

Agree.  From 2010 to 2020, the home team wins Conf Champ game 68% of the time by an average of 2 scores.  Nuf said.  

[Alphadawg7]

The only goal that matters...Super Bowl.  I don't care about the #1 seed that much.  Sure if we can get it, great, but I am not going to lose sleep over getting it or not either.

[Rubes]

If Josh Allen hadn't slipped on 4th down against the Titans, it would all have been ours.

 

[Freddie's Dead]

#1 seed is meaningless.  We had them beat.  Away.  Not at home. AND WE LET 'EM OFF THE HOOK.

[zow2]

Avoiding Arrowhead is more important than the #1 seed imo.  @ KC in the playoffs is really hard but under Allen the Bills have been a really good road team.  Just unfortunate that we had to go to Arrowhead twice in January.  

[Paup 1995MVP]

1 hour ago, BTB said:

The regular season goal for 2022 and beyond is the #1 seed and home field advantage through the playoffs.  
 

I don’t care that the two #1 seeds lost in the division round(because of the bye, blah blah blah), or the number of road teams winning in the playoffs recently.  
 

To think if they didn’t have 4th quarter fails against Jax, Pats and/or Titans…😞

The Jacksonville game was an epic failure beyond comprehension..  That seriously tarnished our season.  The only thing I can think of worse was the Colts performance at Jacksonville in the last game of the season where their playoff lives were on the line.  But they have Carson Wentz and we have Josh Allen.  Should never have happened to us.  I am surprised that the Colts did not clean house after that loss.  Why Frank Reich got a free pass after that loss is beyond me.  Between that loss and him completely blowing the Monday nite game against the Ravens when he got ultra conservative to try and settle for a FG at the end of the game, he should have been canned.  (I know he won the great comeback game against the Oilers in 93-God Bless him for that.  But those two losses I mentioned were horrendous.)

 

As for homefield advantage.  We need to be a 1 or 2 seed to get at least two home playoff games.  But regardless our defense needs a serious retooling.  And an attitude adjustment of some meanness.

[Sweats]

It sounds good in theory, but i'm sure other teams might have a say in this.

[LABILLBACKER]

59 minutes ago, Rubes said:

If Josh Allen hadn't slipped on 4th down against the Titans, it would all have been ours.

 

The whole damn season is littered with "what ifs". If Haacks punt doesn't get blocked.  If Josh doesn't slip. If the offense showed up in Jacksonville. If that ref calls OPI on the Diggs in Tampa. If 50 mph winds don't pop up in Buffalo.  If McDermott calls for a pop up kickoff. Next season take that anger of not executing and get 13-14 wins. That should be enough for a 1 seed.

[BullBuchanan]

2 hours ago, BTB said:

The regular season goal for 2022 and beyond is the #1 seed and home field advantage through the playoffs.  
 

I don’t care that the two #1 seeds lost in the division round(because of the bye, blah blah blah), or the number of road teams winning in the playoffs recently.  
 

To think if they didn’t have 4th quarter fails against Jax, Pats and/or Titans…😞

3/4 1&2 seeds lost at home. The bills were the only road team that lost.

[Utah John]

1 hour ago, Paup 1995MVP said:

The Jacksonville game was an epic failure beyond comprehension..  That seriously tarnished our season.  The only thing I can think of worse was the Colts performance at Jacksonville in the last game of the season where their playoff lives were on the line.  But they have Carson Wentz and we have Josh Allen.  Should never have happened to us.  I am surprised that the Colts did not clean house after that loss.  Why Frank Reich got a free pass after that loss is beyond me.  Between that loss and him completely blowing the Monday nite game against the Ravens when he got ultra conservative to try and settle for a FG at the end of the game, he should have been canned.  (I know he won the great comeback game against the Oilers in 93-God Bless him for that.  But those two losses I mentioned were horrendous.)

 

As for homefield advantage.  We need to be a 1 or 2 seed to get at least two home playoff games.  But regardless our defense needs a serious retooling.  And an attitude adjustment of some meanness.

The Colts loss to the Ravens was completely down to injuries to several of the Colts' DBs.  The Ravens receivers and Lamar Jackson might as well have been playing against air.  That's what allowed the Ravens to be able to come back as they did.  No team has enough DBs on their active roster to sustain that many injuries and still be effective against an offense as good as the Ravens is, when everyone on the Ravens is healthy.

 

The Colts loss to the Jags was simply inexcusable.  I saw that game and it seemed like the Colts, like the Bills, were in some kind of fog when playing in that stadium.  Neither the Colts nor the Bills went with what worked well for them.  They both seemed to approach the game like the Jags were pushovers and they could just use it as a warmup for other, tougher games.  I think both the Bills and Colts will take a clear lesson from their inexplicable losses, and do a better job of never taking an opponent lightly or playing down to an inferior opponent.

[dorquemada]

There's a huge difference playing KC in the playoffs in Buffalo, and playing them in KC.  Only a complete and utter moron would think otherwise.  The Bills have to take care of business during the regular season, win the close games, and get home field.  The fact that they can't close out those games seems to offer a lot of predictive value for the playoffs

[mabden]

1 hour ago, Rubes said:

If Josh Allen hadn't slipped on 4th down against the Titans, it would all have been ours.

 

 

If we hadn't played one of the stupidest games I have ever witnessed in jacksonville, we are home against KC.

6 minutes ago, dorquemada said:

There's a huge difference playing KC in the playoffs in Buffalo, and playing them in KC.  Only a complete and utter moron would think otherwise.  The Bills have to take care of business during the regular season, win the close games, and get home field.  The fact that they can't close out those games seems to offer a lot of predictive value for the playoffs

 

100%.  2022 regular season has us playing Titans (H) and Chiefs (A).  Hard money says we will meet one or both of those teams in the playoffs.  Much prefer playing them at home.

1 hour ago, Freddie's Dead said:

#1 seed is meaningless.  We had them beat.  Away.  Not at home. AND WE LET 'EM OFF THE HOOK.

 

Hard to argue with that.

[QCity]

3 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

#1 seed is meaningless.  We had them beat.  Away.  Not at home. AND WE LET 'EM OFF THE HOOK.

 

Stop with this nonsense. If we had them beat we'd be playing this weekend. We just went to Arrowhead in the playoffs twice and lost both. The notion that home field advantage is meaningless is Looney Tunes.

[LabattBlue]

1 hour ago, dorquemada said:

There's a huge difference playing KC in the playoffs in Buffalo, and playing them in KC.  Only a complete and utter moron would think otherwise.  The Bills have to take care of business during the regular season, win the close games, and get home field.  The fact that they can't close out those games seems to offer a lot of predictive value for the playoffs

Thank you!

[BuffaloMatt]

3 out of 4 road teams won last weekend. So I will go off on a tangent.

 

I thought to myself today "Was I happier went they sucked?" When they were bad there was always the potential for bluer skies but my expectations were low. Now I/we have extremely high expectations and that is a slippery slope which doesn't allow us as fans any breathing room as it's SB or bust. I am not making excuses for the team and I have said it in other threads, it's easy to second guess and wonder what if, the fact is decisions were made and they didn't pan out.  We should remember the many many lean years as a reminder of how bad it was and relish the fact that we have a quality team that has given us meaningful football deep into January and should do so for the foreseeable future. So to answer my own question. I am happier now because they are a relevant, exciting, dynamic football team. Whether there is a Lombardi Trophy in their future is uncertain, but that's why they play and we watch and love the game!

[Freddie's Dead]

15 minutes ago, QCity said:

 

Stop with this nonsense. If we had them beat we'd be playing this weekend. We just went to Arrowhead in the playoffs twice and lost both. The notion that home field advantage is meaningless is Looney Tunes.

 

We got beat in spectacular fashion because our coach choked.  Home field would not have changed that fact.

[BADOLBILZ]

3 hours ago, Freddie's Dead said:

#1 seed is meaningless.  We had them beat.  Away.  Not at home. AND WE LET 'EM OFF THE HOOK.

 

Bills in playoffs this century:

 

3-0 at home in playoffs

0-4 on road in playoffs

 

home field is not meaningless.

 

Also #1 seed means a bye and less games to win to get there.

 

 

[Mat68]

That is why it took Manning so long to get past New England.  When they played in Indy they won.  Most games it wont matter.  Both teams are so close thats the one extra grain of sand that tips the scales.  Buffalo had them beat. Blah Blah Blah.  The game was insanely close and neither defense was going to stop either.  

[Freddie's Dead]

2 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Bills in playoffs this century:

 

3-0 at home in playoffs

0-1 on road in playoffs

0-3 choking in playoffs

 

home field is not meaningless.

 

Also #1 seed means a bye and less games to win to get there.

 

 

 

FTFY.  Coaching competence was a much bigger factor in our road playoff losses than the venue itself.

Edited January 28, 2022 by Freddie's Dead