Tank the Pats game?

[Billznut]

55 minutes ago, transplantbillsfan said:

 

Respectfully, I'd be fine if they rested players and treated it as a potential bye week to get healthy. Allen now has an injured ankle along with his elbow. Other players have injuries.

 

This game is completely insignificant in terms of the WC round.

 

And frankly, it's one game at a time at this point.

 

Don't think it'll happen, but I'd be fine if they rested their starters. And I'm also fine if they don't.

But not insignificant for the divisional round or AFC championship game. A loss tomorrow and then we head to Cincy for round 2 and KC for AFC champ. No thanks. Would much rather have two playoffs rounds at home and then AFC champ game at a neutral field. Luckily the Bills will also agree with all this and do their best to win tomorrow. 

[Best Williams Available]

The object of this game is get up big early then hopefully rest starters the 4th quarter. No McDermott-led team is not competing.

[transplantbillsfan]

28 minutes ago, Billznut said:

But not insignificant for the divisional round or AFC championship game. A loss tomorrow and then we head to Cincy for round 2 and KC for AFC champ. No thanks. Would much rather have two playoffs rounds at home and then AFC champ game at a neutral field. Luckily the Bills will also agree with all this and do their best to win tomorrow. 

 

You're assuming Cincy wins one game and KC wins 2 games.

 

It's the playoffs, which means win or go home.

 

The last few days everyone has been assuming who wins each game. Seems naive to me.

 

Set yourself up in the best position to win each game you're assured to play. Right now, that's the WC round. That's it.

[Warriorspikes51]

Losing to NE will mean a Divisional game would be @CIN  no thanks

[HerdMentality]

Tank for Wembanyama!

[Billznut]

4 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Losing to NE will mean a Divisional game would be @CIN  no thanks

And a AFC championship game at Arrowhead. Double no thanks. 

[Playoffs?]

5 hours ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Losing to NE will mean a Divisional game would be @CIN  no thanks

Unless Cincy also loses today. 
But regardless, a loss would mean the AFC Championship would be at Arrowhead..

[machine gun kelly]

On 1/5/2023 at 4:52 PM, TheBrownBear said:

I said the same in the Pats pregame thread.  Bills should absolutely rest their starters on Sunday if KC wins.  They have zero incentive to go all out and risk injuries to their most key players.  

We’ve demonstrated in the past we’ve been able to beat other teams with a portion of second stringers against their starters.  If it were up to me, most of the guys who are banged up, but can play should play a series to a half, and then punt.

 

We need all starters as healthy as possible wildcard weekend, but also not rusty.  Playing one half would accomplish it.

[Doc Brown]

Home against the Bengals and a neutral site game against the Chiefs is too appealing not to go all out in this game.  I don't want them to have to go back to the scene of the Hamlin injury and I don't want the playoff mystique of Arrowhead in their heads if they were to make it to the AFC Championship game.  Hoping for a Fins loss too.

[muppy]

oh my goodness. Firstly if you think that our buffalo bills are going to do Anything besides run through walls for damar hamlin in this game I think you would be wrong

 

Im reading rest the starters and I think it sounds Logical. But Realistic? NOPE. This team will do nothing less than play balls out for #3 today.

 

. If only emotion Guaranteed a Dub then we could already slot today a WIN. You KNOW they will be fired UP to plqy. Let Them Play! They want to do it for #3

 

I would rather not see the Bills enter the playoffs with a "rest day"  This team wants to get to WORK

 

Rest the starters if it turns into a blowout? Absolutely.

 

GO BILLS!~!~!~!!!!!!

[BillsFanSD]

I wouldn't even consider resting starters.  First of all, we want every seeding advantage we can get -- there's not much separating us from KC or CIN.  Second, it has to be good for the team to get out there and play a normal week of football.  If they're going to be flat and out of it, better to get it out of the way today than next week.  Resting starters amounts to very weird and disjointed back-to-back soft byes, and teams often seem to struggle to snap out of those.

[CincyBillsFan]

12 hours ago, transplantbillsfan said:

 

Respectfully, I'd be fine if they rested players and treated it as a potential bye week to get healthy. Allen now has an injured ankle along with his elbow. Other players have injuries.

 

This game is completely insignificant in terms of the WC round.

 

And frankly, it's one game at a time at this point.

 

Don't think it'll happen, but I'd be fine if they rested their starters. And I'm also fine if they don't.

We'll have to agree to disagree. On a practical level it is one game at a time and if the Bills forget that they will be out of the playoffs regardless of the seedings.  But on a strategic level the path to the SB is much harder as a #3 seed then as a #2 seed.

 

As for resting players we don't know that one week would be enough.  There are no guarantees that Allen's ankle, which didn't prevent him from practicing, would measurably improve in a week.  Ditto for any other players nagging injures.  What we do know for a fact is that if we win today we will get two home playoff games and a neutral site Championship game.

 

 

2 hours ago, muppy said:

oh my goodness. Firstly if you think that our buffalo bills are going to do Anything besides run through walls for damar hamlin in this game I think you would be wrong

 

Im reading rest the starters and I think it sounds Logical. But Realistic? NOPE. This team will do nothing less than play balls out for #3 today.

 

. If only emotion Guaranteed a Dub then we could already slot today a WIN. You KNOW they will be fired UP to plqy. Let Them Play! They want to do it for #3

 

I would rather not see the Bills enter the playoffs with a "rest day"  This team wants to get to WORK

 

Rest the starters if it turns into a blowout? Absolutely.

 

GO BILLS!~!~!~!!!!!!

I don't think it's even logical considering that resting our starters would likley lead directly to our dropping from the 2nd seed to the 3rd seed.

 

 

[Thurman#1]

14 hours ago, ArtVandalay said:

You don't win super bowls by losing. 

 

 

Nonsense.

 

Of course you do, in the right situation.

 

This isn't the right situation, of course. We've got a lot to play for.

 

But plenty of teams have given up on the last game and won Super Bowls. Most recently the 2014 Pats who lost to us 17-9 with Garoppolo replacing Brady at halftime. Plenty of other examples as well.

[Low Positive]

The Ravens are tanking today. If by some chance we lose and fall to the 3 we would host then next week while the Pats would go to Cincinnati. But then the road to the SB would probably go through Paycor and Arrowhead. I say just win the game and play the Fins next week.