Was 2021 a step back or step forward for the Buffalo Bills?

[transplantbillsfan]

This is about the entire team and I think it's reasonable to put heavier weight on the most critical aspects of the team, particularly Quarterback play and coaching.  The arguments would seem to be:

 

Step Back: Allen regressed, which is pretty obvious in his stats.  The team lost 2 more games, including 1 to the worst team in the NFL. In 2021 Buffalo was 2-4 against playoff teams in the regular season.  Buffalo swept the division in 2020 and was 3-2 against playoff teams in the regular season.  Buffalo won fewer playoff games reaching only the divisional round after getting to the AFC Conference Championship the year before.  Buffalo didn't win ANY one score games in 2021 and really seemed to lack resilience in close games after going 5-1 in one score games in 2020, with the only loss coming on a Hail Murray.

 

Step Forward: QB is the absolute most important position and Allen may not have had the statistics, but he had better command of the offence and his statistics were largely hurt by factors out of his control like weather.  He was also lights out and flawless in the playoffs against a Bill Belicheck coached defense and on the road against the Chiefs.  The team came into the season on everybody else's hit list and still managed to win the AFC East and win 12 games.  They proved they can beat Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City in Kansas City in the regular season.  The Bills had the highest point differential in the NFL.  Buffalo finally discovered a running game with Singletary and found a seemingly solid starting 5 on OL moving forward to protect Allen and make sure we aren't so one-dimensional.  

 

 

Add whatever else needs to be added for your argument.  I realize I said nothing about coaching and defense... mainly I don't even know if I know what to make of those 2 things.

[Draconator]

In two playoff performances by Josh, it's a step forward. Jacksonville game not with standing.

[Warcodered]

I mean performance wise it's pretty well even we became a SB contender last year and were one this year.

 

Overall though I do feel like we became a better team this season, defenses found ways to get after Josh after his breakout year and he figured those defenses out.

[Alphadawg7]

Step forward.  Not everything is in a vacuum, so comparing stats, w/l records etc lacks context.  
 

End of the day, you play for the post season.  And the team that was in this post season was significantly better than last years team even with the loss of our best defensive player in White.   
 

It took a coaching blunder by our ST coordinator not telling Bass the squib kick call and a poor response by Frazier after to end our season.  The better team lost in KC, and IMHO we are the best team between Rams, Bengals, Chiefs, and Bills right now.

 

6 minutes ago, Draconator said:

In two playoff performances by Josh, it's a step forward. Jacksonville game not with standing.

This is NOT directed at you, but since you mentioned Jax…people need to let this go.  Upsets happen like this all the time to the best teams.  Bengals lost to the Jets and are in the SB.  It means absolutely nothing.  It meant nothing in our post season either where our offense that had 6 points against Jags, was other world’s dominant against its two post season opponents.
 

I assure everyone Bengals fans are not obsessing over the Jets loss right now.  

Again, not pointed at you.  But there are still a bunch of people who need to read this.  

Edited February 9, 2022 by Alphadawg7

[Draconator]

4 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

This is NOT directed at you, but since you mentioned Jax…people need to let this go.  Upsets happen like this all the time to the best teams.  Bengals lost to the Jets and are in the SB.  It means absolutely nothing.  It meant nothing in our post season either where our offense that had 6 points against Jags, was other world’s dominant against its two post season opponents.
 

I assure everyone Bengals fans are not obsessing over the Jets loss right now.  

Again, not pointed at you.  But there are still a bunch of people who need to read this.  

 

No offense taken. All good.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Step back. Not sure how you see it any other way. Won less games, didn't even make Champioship game, and despite heavy investment in d-line the pass rush was no better. The o-line was worse for most of the year.  Edmunds is still not playing well and he had no injury excuse.  Best player on defense tore his ACL.  McDermott and coaching staff despite showing more aggressive tendencies cost Buffalo a SB appearance.  Beane did nothing during the season to make the team better.

 

Not everyone took a step back. Oliver played well. Phillips improved. And Bates, Singletary, Davis, Dawkins, and Morse were all playing well at the end of the season.  Also two rookies won starting jobs.

 

None of the above matters. Allen proved again he was a superstar. The coaching staff proved to be a liability. None of that will change next year.  Beane must fill some holes and be aggressive before Allen's contract kicks in.

 

Trust in Allen

 

[BuffaloBobs]

Step forward - after outperforming expectations two years ago the team held up to the pressure of being one of the best and proved that they belong in the conversation as a Superbowl contender. 

[Greg S]

Step forward. Allen proved to be a big time player in the playoffs. Two drives in the 4th quarter he led the Bills back to take the lead at Arrowhead. He is one of the best players in the game and he might be the best QB in the game today. This is a really good team and should be a Super Bowl contender next year as well. But their are areas of this team that need to be improved mostly on defense. Despite the #1 ranking we all saw what happened when they faced good QB's and offenses. Overall  the future is bright. 

[78thealltimegreat]

Forward Allen is a megastar now and not just a nice story about a guy who exceeded the likes of Mina Kimes or Nick Wrights expectations.

What he did in the playoffs the man quite frankly is arguably the best player in football and I don’t think it’s particularly close.

 

 

[BuffaloBillyG]

Lateral movement. We lost in KC to end the season last year. We lost to the same team in the same place this year.

 

I think losing a week earlier, yet deserving the win as opposed to getting embarrassed the years before is an offset. 

 

Some positives and some negatives. 

 

Next season I figure we will have a few upgrades in players. We are also going to see a lot of new faces on the coaching staff. How those new coaches fair will,, in my opinion either take us to that next level or flatline us if they are in over their head. 

 

#GoBills

[loveorhatembillsfan4life]

The Natural progression from AFC Chanpionship  would be to the SuperBowl. From that standpoint we stepped back.  Allen took the next step forward to Elite Greatness. I think we’re close but need a Superstar or game changer on D. Now maybe if Tre didn’t get hurt the Kc ending is a different story. Tre alters game plans.

 

Maybe Oliver was our biggest disrupter but outside of him I don’t think we have two many Guys who raise the D to another level. That’s not bad, we are solid but can’t help feel that one more impact player would make a huge difference. 

[Southern_Bills]

We were ousted sooner, lost some games we should have won. 

 

Though I do think it's a step forward, we know what we have in Allen without question and he has learned how to play controlled chaos in big spots. Didn't work out this year but it will pay dividends later.

[TPS]

Step forward.  Last year the Bills really weren't in the game with KC; this year it was won....with 13 left.  They should be facing the Rams this weekend.

[Rocky Landing]

Just in the most general, and over-simplified terms, my explanation for the Bills' '21 season is that the Bills' mid-season slump, where we lost half of our games and looked like pretenders, was more or less due to the league figuring out how to defend our spread offense, and it taking the Bills two months to adjust to it. It was a question of scheme, and finally figuring out how to engineer a zone blocking O-line that, along with giving Allen adequate protection, could also block for a decent rushing attack.

 

And that is huge. Once they had that dialed in, the Bills' offense became elite, and that is where they pick up next season. Had we won that coin toss to start in OT, it would have been Allen marching down the field against a gassed defense, and scoring a TD. Sure, we didn't advance to the AFCCG, but to this homer, I'm calling it a step forward.

[Don Otreply]

It was going the wrong way until,(I’m guessing here) SM forced Dabol to install a functioning run game, then it really gave the offense the opportunity to really fire up the after burners, jmo.

 

Go Bills!!!

Edited February 9, 2022 by Don Otreply

[Albwan]

I'm afraid the Bills and Allen may go the way of Rodgers and the Packers...minus the Super Bowl win.

[Success]

Patriots fans hate us now.

 

Step forward.

 

[Stuartjohn]

3 hours ago, 78thealltimegreat said:

Forward Allen is a megastar now and not just a nice story about a guy who exceeded the likes of Mina Kimes or Nick Wrights expectations.

What he did in the playoffs the man quite frankly is arguably the best player in football and I don’t think it’s particularly close.

 

 

God I agree 1000% percent what you just said! It was Criminal how “ Lesley Frazier & Heath Farwell” blew the Bills Super Bowl chances this year! So let’s see Harrell is gone hopefully Frazier follows! 

[RalphWilson'sNewWar]

“Worse” has such icky label to it.

 

Did the stats, record and length of season all get worse?  Yes.

But I don’t think their standing in the conference changed at all.  2nd or 3rd Best team in AFC.

[FireChans]

4 hours ago, transplantbillsfan said:

This is about the entire team and I think it's reasonable to put heavier weight on the most critical aspects of the team, particularly Quarterback play and coaching.  The arguments would seem to be:

 

Step Back: Allen regressed, which is pretty obvious in his stats.  The team lost 2 more games, including 1 to the worst team in the NFL. In 2021 Buffalo was 2-4 against playoff teams in the regular season.  Buffalo swept the division in 2020 and was 3-2 against playoff teams in the regular season.  Buffalo won fewer playoff games reaching only the divisional round after getting to the AFC Conference Championship the year before.  Buffalo didn't win ANY one score games in 2021 and really seemed to lack resilience in close games after going 5-1 in one score games in 2020, with the only loss coming on a Hail Murray.

 

Step Forward: QB is the absolute most important position and Allen may not have had the statistics, but he had better command of the offence and his statistics were largely hurt by factors out of his control like weather.  He was also lights out and flawless in the playoffs against a Bill Belicheck coached defense and on the road against the Chiefs.  The team came into the season on everybody else's hit list and still managed to win the AFC East and win 12 games.  They proved they can beat Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City in Kansas City in the regular season.  The Bills had the highest point differential in the NFL.  Buffalo finally discovered a running game with Singletary and found a seemingly solid starting 5 on OL moving forward to protect Allen and make sure we aren't so one-dimensional.  

 

 

Add whatever else needs to be added for your argument.  I realize I said nothing about coaching and defense... mainly I don't even know if I know what to make of those 2 things.

 

Other:

 

We proved we weren't a one year wonder. We didn't go as far, but Josh still rules. Our defensive core is still pretty good. Our offense is really good.  And when push comes to shove, in the biggest moments we can hang with or beat the best teams in the NFL. 

 

Now, if we don't win the AFCCG next year, I would argue that we still aren't "stepping back" or "stepping forward" but are stuck in neutral trying to get over the hump.