6-2 mid-season....not too shabby

[without a drought]

The only difference between the 90's and today is that after a loss like this . No one is calling for Case Keenum to start. The rest of these takes are just selective memories to try and back their story of the past.

[SMAKCruiser]

3 minutes ago, without a drought said:

The only difference between the 90's and today is that after a loss like this . No one is calling for Case Keenum to start. The rest of these takes are just selective memories to try and back their story of the past.

Remember how ridiculous some of the fans were back then and wanted Frank Reich to start over Kelly.   Lolll

[Royale with Cheese]

10 hours ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Except we’ve seen this before.

 

A swoon is not a Playoff chances killer, but the whole point was to get the #1 seed.

 

We’ve done road Arrowhead twice and it sucks.

 

8 games in and we’re sitting here asking again about run game for the third year in a row, who is our #2, why don’t we have a Tight End, who is our Right Tackle this week, why does our offense go off the rails for 2-4 games every season? 
 

 

Because every team goes through slumps.  Chiefs were 3-4 last year after 7 games and still secured homefield.

We were #3 in run defense in the league before the last 6 quarters.  We just have been bad very recently.

[T master]

6-2 is definitely a lot better than 4-4 a lot of the division leaders are at 5-3 so yes it is good but these injuries are killing the Bills along with not utilizing certain players they have all the weapons a team would ever need to keep any D guessing what they are going to do but they don't use some of what has worked this year .

 

I think the next game against the Jets will be different but the Fins are playing really good so the division is not ours to win the Bills will have to earn it if they want it i hope they get & stay healthy ...

[klos63]

1 hour ago, Billzgobowlin said:

I love the fact that a 6-2 Bills team is a disappointment as opposed to a disappointing 2-6 team.  Let's go undefeated the rest of the way!!!!

Do you think the team is trending up or down right now?

[Buckets]

11 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

Did the Kelly era team(s) have mid season "slumps" and "swoons"?

 

Its so long ago I cant recall ... also it was pre internet days so I had to look up the results each week in the Tuesday newspaper at the time.

I remember that most of the losses during the "golden years" were squarely on game planning and coaching. Sound familiar?

[US Egg]

Shabby play, a 6-2 record.

 

Unacceptable/acceptable.
 

It’s the flying fickle of fate.

[BillsVet]

LOL at the comparisons to Bills teams from 30 years ago.  Pre salary cap when Buffalo's roster was exceedingly better than just about every team in the league.  It's as if people cannot comprehend the game's changed markedly in the intervening years.

 

The loss to Miami was not good, nor the Jets loss.  It happens and every reasonable fan knew they weren't going 16-1 or 17-0.  

 

Doesn't mean it's fun to see division rivals win, albeit when they're home.  

 

At this point, it's time to see what this staff can do. For all the plaudits given them, at crucial times they seem caught flat-footed.  Time will tell.  

[Moulds 808080]

Just win!!!

[msw2112]

2 hours ago, SMAKCruiser said:

Remember how ridiculous some of the fans were back then and wanted Frank Reich to start over Kelly.   Lolll

 

I was never a proponent of pulling a healthy Jim Kelly for Frank Reich, even when the Bills had some slumps.  

 

That said, in 1992, Kelly was injured and Reich was starting in his place.  Reich was at the helm for the greatest comeback in NFL history in the Wild Card round.  Then the team went into Pittsburgh with Reich at QB and won 24-3.  The team had great momentum and was playing excellent football.  Reich was in total command.

 

The following week, in the AFCCG, they went back to Kelly, who I don't think was 100%.  Yes, the Bills beat Miami (29-10) and cruised to the Super Bowl.  But, in that game, Kelly was all screen passes, dinks and dunks.  He was not at the top of his game.  In the Super Bowl, Kelly was not good and ultimately was pulled for Reich due to injury, but he was also ineffective.  Reich was better than Kelly in that SB, but the game was already out of hand.

 

I believed then, and still do today, that they should have stuck with Reich.  They had great momentum and chemistry, and Kelly was not 100%.  Bill Pacells stuck with the hot hand in Jeff Hostetler in 1990-91 and we all know how that turned out.  Was Hostetler the better QB than Phil Simms?  No.  But was the team on a roll with him at QB?  Yes.  Reich was not a better QB than Jim Kelly, but he was the right guy at that time, just like Hostetler was for the Giants.

 

The good news for the Bills is that if Allen is injured, Reich is now available!  (Bad joke, I know.)

[Nextmanup]

Where do you live OP?

 

 

[Success]

I think this team is about to go on a run similar to what they did after the "Hail Murray."

 

It's not like our losses were blowouts that would make you re-think how good this team really is.  We're as good as anyone, and better than most.

 

[CorkScrewHill]

10 hours ago, newcam2012 said:

That 90s Kelly led team was elite on both sides of the ball with huge playmakers. One should never compare those teams with the current Bills team. It's not even close. You have several Hall of famers from that team. Four straight super Bowl appearances. Stop with the non sense. There was no panic because they were that good. They proved it year after year. This version of the Bills has proven they can't even get to an AFC Championship game. Maybe that's why there's concern. 

1988 2020 Bills AFC Championship - got beat soundly in both games

1989 2021 Bills Divisional Round - lost a heartbreaker

1990-1994 SBs ..

 

So not seeing a difference so far.

[MJS]

13 hours ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Except we’ve seen this before.

 

A swoon is not a Playoff chances killer, but the whole point was to get the #1 seed.

 

We’ve done road Arrowhead twice and it sucks.

 

8 games in and we’re sitting here asking again about run game for the third year in a row, who is our #2, why don’t we have a Tight End, who is our Right Tackle this week, why does our offense go off the rails for 2-4 games every season? 
 

We've seen this before because it happens to every single team every single year. That's football. Every team goes through a tough stretch of games and needs to change things up and get back on track.

[billybob71]

my slump my slump my lovely billsy slump

[B-Large]

After witnessing 2000-2016, I will just be grateful that this team will always be in the hunt as long as Allen plays.  
 

It feels good to be the guys on the pedestal, rather that buried under it somewhere in endless irrelevancy. 
 

6-2 is lovely. 

[Billzgobowlin]

2 hours ago, klos63 said:

Do you think the team is trending up or down right now?

I'm not worried about trending because all that's important right now is the Vikings.  Yes they can beat the Vikings even without Josh

[msw2112]

I said this after the Miami loss and it applies again here.  Better to lose to a team that you face again, than to a AFC contender that you only play once.  The Bills can avenge these 2 losses later in the season when momentum is even more important.  Playing the Ravens, KC, and Tennessee only once, it was critical to win those games and retain the tie-breaker over those teams.  While the Bills currently don't have the tie-breaker against Miami and the Jests, they can negate the loss of tie-breaker by beating them in the 2nd matchup.

 

Let me be clear - it is never good to lose a game and losing certain games does not improve the team's playoff chances.  (I'm sure some will remember a post here a few years ago implying that a loss to a NFC team would help the Bills playoff chances....)  The point is that if you are going to lose 2 games, these are better ones to lose than some others.  And yes, I realize that division and conference records are important for playoff seeding, but I still stand by the premise that, based on this season, how the schedule pans out, etc., that these 2 games were "better" losses than Baltimore, KC, and Tennessee.  (Obviously, losses to NFC teams and non-division, non-contending AFC teams would be even better losses.)

[Bob in STL]

14 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

Did the Kelly era team(s) have mid season "slumps" and "swoons"?

 

Its so long ago I cant recall ... also it was pre internet days so I had to look up the results each week in the Tuesday newspaper at the time.

They had an occasional bad game.  No slumps and no swoons, and they rarely lost to inferior teams, which is why they had home field advantage in the playoffs a lot of the time.  

 

This team has not shown they are as good as the Kelly era teams.  Not yet anyway.  

Edited November 8, 2022 by Bob in STL

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

33 minutes ago, Success said:

I think this team is about to go on a run similar to what they did after the "Hail Murray."

 

It's not like our losses were blowouts that would make you re-think how good this team really is.  We're as good as anyone, and better than most.

 

yeah, what indicators have you seeing that