Season end, how good are the Bills really?

[K-9]

2 hours ago, redtail hawk said:

14 wins against NFL teams is excellent.  Josh was not good today.

They gave up 230 yards today.  Not too bad!

3.9 yards per pass, 2.1 yards per rush, 3.3 yards per play. Few defenses in the history of the league have dominated a game like that in any game, let alone a playoff game. We tend to focus on the numerous third and very long situations our D gives up and we lose sight of what they actually accomplish in a game. That said, imo a truly dominant defense just doesn’t give up those third and longs. 

[AuntieEm]

53 minutes ago, Andy1 said:

This style of this season seems to be the Bills winning ugly. They just might win the SB playing ugly and we’d all say they just can’t put it all together.

 

Darn right if the Bills go on and win the SB this year but in ugly fashion I will be demanding they win next year with a pretty win  and I will keep demanding that until Josh retires.  I know the Bills won't win every game I expect them to because i expect a win every game. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by AuntieEm

[BobbyC81]

8 hours ago, DCofNC said:

Josh was fine today, if this game pointed anything out, it’s a resounding lack of talent at WR, the drops on all the deep shots were unreal.

Later I watched Giants/Vikes and saw Isaiah Hodgins catching everything thrown his way.

[GunnerBill]

8 hours ago, K-9 said:

3.9 yards per pass, 2.1 yards per rush, 3.3 yards per play. Few defenses in the history of the league have dominated a game like that in any game, let alone a playoff game. We tend to focus on the numerous third and very long situations our D gives up and we lose sight of what they actually accomplish in a game. That said, imo a truly dominant defense just doesn’t give up those third and longs. 

 

How many 3rd and longs was it? I can only remember one to Hill - the third and 19. And that looked to me like a dropped coverage by Jackson. 

[GreggTX]

We're good, but between the OL and the injury to Von Miller, we are vulnerable in the trenches. Philly and SF are very strong in the trenches and could be a real problem for Josh if we can even get by the Bengals and Chiefs. We can't play like we did against Miami and beat any team we are likely to play from here on out. I hope the players and coaches are up to the task.

 

[mannc]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

How many 3rd and longs was it? I can only remember one to Hill - the third and 19. And that looked to me like a dropped coverage by Jackson. 

There were three bad ones. I think there was also a third and 10 and a fourth and 8. I really don’t understand it.
 

On the other hand, in three games this year, Tyreek Hill really didn’t hurt us much at all…

[GunnerBill]

9 minutes ago, mannc said:

There were three bad ones. I think there was also a third and 10 and a fourth and 8. I really don’t understand it.
 

On the other hand, in three games this year, Tyreek Hill really didn’t hurt us much at all…

 

There was a 4th an 8, Milano whiffed on the tackle and there was a 3rd and 10 on the final drive to Waddle. Overall the Dolphins were 5/18 on 3rd and 4th down. People let individual plays color their perception of what is going on. 

[newcam2012]

11 hours ago, BobbyC81 said:

Having watched the Bills and Niners the last few weeks, I think the Niners would kill the Bills in the Super Bowl.  SF is more disciplined, make fewer mistakes, faster, tougher and I’d have to say are coached better.  Josh would have no time to pass, Diggs would be smothered and they wouldn’t gain much running.

 

Given 2 weeks to prepare, Shanahan would exploit all of the Bills weaknesses defensively.  If you have trouble tackling the likes of Ahmed, Hill, Waddle, etc, what are they going to do vs McCaffrey, Deebo, Aiyuk and Kittle.  
 

Like everyone else, I hoped this was the year for the Bills, but I don’t see it.  I also don’t see anyone beating the Niners.  The addition of McCaffrey moved them up a notch to unbeatable.  The Bills should’ve done whatever they needed to acquire him.  When your offense, like the Niners, becomes that potent and gets leads, the defense can just be aggressive, which they already were.

Don't disagree with your take. I don't think the Bills match up well vs the 49ers. Would very much be happy to see the game take place. 

 

On CMC, the guy is a beast and completely upgrades an offense by a lot. He was a bit of a tough buy for Buffalo because of the injuries and cost. So I get why they didn't pull the trigger. 

[John from Riverside]

14 hours ago, Comebackkid said:

Ive been thinking about this for a while now.   How good are the Bills this year??

 

Early when they were saying that we had like the 5th hardest strength of schedule we seemed kind of good compared to last year. 

If you look at how our schedule played out now im questioning that.

 

teams the bills have beat.

Rams....Record 5-12

Titans..  Record 7-10

Ravens Record 10-7  won by 3 pts

Steelers Record 9-8

Chiefs Record 14-3 good win 

Packers Record 8-9

Browns Record 7-10

Lions Record 9-8 won by 3 pts

Pats Record 8-9 won twice.   

Jets Record 7-10 only scored 20 pts 

Dolphins 9-8 won by 3 gave up 29 pts

Bears Record 3-14  good win but not saying much

 

Only the Chiefs have a dominant record follows by Ravens probably would have had Lamar not gotten injured.

Both good wins before the bye.

 

Losses

*Dolphins...  heat and injuries killed the Bills but again Dolphins finished 9-8

Jets Not much to say here... yuk

Vikings Record 13-4   Should have won this game but Bills mental issues came back to haunt them..   *Vikings lucky af this season.

 

This year has been a very wierd season.   Injuries early on.   New OC, horrible weather games and Damar near death.  

The Bills have fought tooth and nail this season to hold on after the first couple games.   They have done this while looking sloppy and poorly coached at times.

 

So whats your guys opinion?   are the Bills good this year?   

My opinion is they are not as good as we thought they were and i think that all the above reasons are to blame.   Between injuries and weather, along with Dorsey 

being a rookie, I think this has compromised thier abilty to train and focus.   

 

After today Ive got my fingers crossed and throwing salt over my shoulder.   

Two more games guys.   Bills need their mojo back. 

 

Go Bills 

 

 

do you have to compare a compared to the other playoff teams in the league this year and what their records were like against winning teams? I think ours is very comparable.

[newcam2012]

10 hours ago, K-9 said:

3.9 yards per pass, 2.1 yards per rush, 3.3 yards per play. Few defenses in the history of the league have dominated a game like that in any game, let alone a playoff game. We tend to focus on the numerous third and very long situations our D gives up and we lose sight of what they actually accomplish in a game. That said, imo a truly dominant defense just doesn’t give up those third and longs. 

For me, I just have a hard time trusting the defense. The tackling is inconsistent and the secondary is concerning. 

 

 

3 hours ago, BobbyC81 said:

Later I watched Giants/Vikes and saw Isaiah Hodgins catching everything thrown his way.

He looks very good. Bills made a mistake letting him go. 

[K-9]

3 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

How many 3rd and longs was it? I can only remember one to Hill - the third and 19. And that looked to me like a dropped coverage by Jackson. 

There were a couple, but it was more of a comment on a season-long trend. 

[mjt328]

We got a brief glimpse of what this team is capable of when focused and fully healthy (during Weeks 1 and 2).

THAT team was easily the best in the NFL, and fully capable of rolling through the postseason and winning the Super Bowl.

 

Since that point, we've seen this team knocked down a notch by injuries.  At times the sheer number of players hurt was absolutely overwhelming.  Right now the team is mostly healthy, and we are starting to see Tre White getting back to normal.  But being without two All-Pro talents in Micah Hyde and Von Miller still takes us down a peg from where we started.  No matter how good our depth is, losing that kind of talent does absolutely hurt.

 

I'm also starting to wonder if this team is mentally/emotionally drained from all of the drama surrounding this season.  I know that I'm already worn-out, and I'm just a fan watching from my living room couch.  Nobody came into the league with higher expectations, which is a level of pressure I'm not sure they were prepared for.  Almost every starter on this roster has missed time with some level of injury, and been forced to battle through.  Then you have the constant battles off-field with weather, costing them valuable practice and preparation time.  I don't even know how you can describe the Damar Hamlin situation, and how it must affect the players on this roster.

 

What I see now, is a team that HAD the best roster in the NFL... but is now somewhere amongst the Top 5.

What I see now, is a team that shows occasional flashes of greatness... but constantly hurts itself with the same stupid mistakes and mental errors every single week.  Turnovers.  Drops.  Missed tackles.

 

Yes.  It was enough to get us to 13-3 on the regular season, along with a slim victory in the Wild Card round.  It was enough to make us great on paper statistically.  The problem is that (due to the injuries), we no longer have a significant talent edge over teams like the Bengals, Chiefs, Eagles and 49ers.  And when teams are evenly matched, it's going to come down to whoever can limit the mistakes.  That's where the mental aspect comes in.  And I've seen no evidence in the last 3-4 months that Buffalo is mentally focused enough to roll through those teams.

 

[78thealltimegreat]

I often laugh at threads like this the Buffalo Bills have lost 3 games by a combined 8 points. They usually play up or down to their competition. In two of their three losses Miami and Minnesota it took acts of Mother Nature and God to beat them. 
If Buffalo plays their A game even with the talent deficiencies at WR and safety nobody can beat them. 
BTW this talk about good and bad wins the San Francisco 49ers had the easiest strength of schedule of any playoff team…is anyone complaining about them?

12 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Allen said it in his PC. They played man and doubled Diggs. Other guys were open. Allen missed some deep shots and the Shakir drop was just beautiful.  It was great play design as he and Diggs were running close and Diggs went short and drew two defenders with him and Shakir blew past his man. 

The sack fumble was a hot read. He should have thrown the ball to Motor. Greg Olson described a similar play to Saquan. The RB is supposed to let the pass rusher go and get out into the flat. Bad recognition by Allen.

My question is why Dorsey can not dial up more balls to Knox. He is a mismatch out there and they just don't use him.

Really hoping Cole gets about 7 - 10 targets next week. He is still lethal underneath. 

That call which caused the fumble was just ridiculous. Should have been a screen. It was a bad call by Dorsey 

[BillsVet]

14 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

Look I am the biggest critic of the oline but a lot of the pressure today came from cover 0 blitzes. That is mainly OC and Quarterback who have to adjust to that.... and their only answer today seemed "chuck it deep." That is kinda back where we were 3 years ago. The last two years we killed heavy blitz teams. 

 

I'm not limiting the issue to one game...this has been a season long problem.  Their UFA signings last off-season were underwhelming and draft picks on OL have not performed to expectations.  It's not a priority for them.  

[dave mcbride]

13 hours ago, K-9 said:

3.9 yards per pass, 2.1 yards per rush, 3.3 yards per play. Few defenses in the history of the league have dominated a game like that in any game, let alone a playoff game. We tend to focus on the numerous third and very long situations our D gives up and we lose sight of what they actually accomplish in a game. That said, imo a truly dominant defense just doesn’t give up those third and longs. 

I said this in another thread: The defense gave up 15 points yesterday — https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401438002. The Dolphins started 3 drives in FG range yesterday and scored on a fumble recovery. On the three drives that started in FG range, they scored one TD, meaning the D gave up 5 points they could have denied (inclusive of the 2-pt conversion). That’s 16 points that the Dolphins O had to do zero work for. 15 points were legit, but even three of those came after a terrible Bass kick that gave the Dolphins the ball at the 40. 

Edited January 16, 2023 by dave mcbride

[T master]

16 hours ago, Comebackkid said:

Ive been thinking about this for a while now.   How good are the Bills this year??

 

Early when they were saying that we had like the 5th hardest strength of schedule we seemed kind of good compared to last year. 

If you look at how our schedule played out now im questioning that.

 

teams the bills have beat.

Rams....Record 5-12

Titans..  Record 7-10

Ravens Record 10-7  won by 3 pts

Steelers Record 9-8

Chiefs Record 14-3 good win 

Packers Record 8-9

Browns Record 7-10

Lions Record 9-8 won by 3 pts

Pats Record 8-9 won twice.   

Jets Record 7-10 only scored 20 pts 

Dolphins 9-8 won by 3 gave up 29 pts

Bears Record 3-14  good win but not saying much

 

Only the Chiefs have a dominant record follows by Ravens probably would have had Lamar not gotten injured.

Both good wins before the bye.

 

Losses

*Dolphins...  heat and injuries killed the Bills but again Dolphins finished 9-8

Jets Not much to say here... yuk

Vikings Record 13-4   Should have won this game but Bills mental issues came back to haunt them..   *Vikings lucky af this season.

 

This year has been a very wierd season.   Injuries early on.   New OC, horrible weather games and Damar near death.  

The Bills have fought tooth and nail this season to hold on after the first couple games.   They have done this while looking sloppy and poorly coached at times.

 

So whats your guys opinion?   are the Bills good this year?   

My opinion is they are not as good as we thought they were and i think that all the above reasons are to blame.   Between injuries and weather, along with Dorsey 

being a rookie, I think this has compromised thier abilty to train and focus.   

 

After today Ive got my fingers crossed and throwing salt over my shoulder.   

Two more games guys.   Bills need their mojo back. 

 

Go Bills 

 

 

 

I see the Rams, Titans, Ravens , Chiefs, Lions, Dolphins games all as good wins these were all teams that were at full straight when the Bills played against them & a couple at the beginning of the season so there wasn't as much tape on them & didn't know what changes they may have made to their game plan so good wins .

 

There were a few that the Bills should have won but i'm good with it they just need to cut down on the mistakes at critical times yesterdays game would have been totally different with out the mistakes which they got lucky & over came them which is good but i don't think the Bengals would be as forgiving this week .

 

But this game will let us know exactly what this team is made of & in front of our home crowd if they play a mistake free game they can beat the Bengals !

[Comebackkid]

3 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

do you have to compare a compared to the other playoff teams in the league this year and what their records were like against winning teams? I think ours is very comparable.

no, a lot of it was looking back after the end of the season at teams we had played and their records and thinking maybe the competition we faced wasn't as good as we  thought mid-year

[The Red King]

17 hours ago, Comebackkid said:

Ive been thinking about this for a while now.   How good are the Bills this year??

 

Early when they were saying that we had like the 5th hardest strength of schedule we seemed kind of good compared to last year. 

If you look at how our schedule played out now im questioning that.

 

teams the bills have beat.

Rams....Record 5-12

Titans..  Record 7-10

Ravens Record 10-7  won by 3 pts

Steelers Record 9-8

Chiefs Record 14-3 good win 

Packers Record 8-9

Browns Record 7-10

Lions Record 9-8 won by 3 pts

Pats Record 8-9 won twice.   

Jets Record 7-10 only scored 20 pts 

Dolphins 9-8 won by 3 gave up 29 pts

Bears Record 3-14  good win but not saying much

 

Only the Chiefs have a dominant record follows by Ravens probably would have had Lamar not gotten injured.

Both good wins before the bye.

 

Losses

*Dolphins...  heat and injuries killed the Bills but again Dolphins finished 9-8

Jets Not much to say here... yuk

Vikings Record 13-4   Should have won this game but Bills mental issues came back to haunt them..   *Vikings lucky af this season.

 

This year has been a very wierd season.   Injuries early on.   New OC, horrible weather games and Damar near death.  

The Bills have fought tooth and nail this season to hold on after the first couple games.   They have done this while looking sloppy and poorly coached at times.

 

So whats your guys opinion?   are the Bills good this year?   

My opinion is they are not as good as we thought they were and i think that all the above reasons are to blame.   Between injuries and weather, along with Dorsey 

being a rookie, I think this has compromised thier abilty to train and focus.   

 

After today Ive got my fingers crossed and throwing salt over my shoulder.   

Two more games guys.   Bills need their mojo back. 

 

Go Bills 

 

 

 

Look at the Patriots' run.  While there were a couple years they looked dominant, many years they looked real good, but flawed.  They looked beatable.  But they kept winning all the same.

 

We may not look 14-3, but we're 14-3.  Two of our three losses were to this year playoff teams, and all three were by 3 or less points.  And all this while decimated by injuries.  We looked rough yesterday, but divisional games often are.  Look at the Ravens/Bengals game.

 

We are who we are, and this team can grind out a win against anyone.  They may not be the Tyson they were Weeks 1 and 2, but they're doing just fine as a Foreman right now.

[TampaBillsJunkie]

17 hours ago, Dr.Sack said:

We won’t play another defense as stacked as the fins are at DL (Philips, Chubb and Wilkins are beasts). 

San Francisco is better than Miami on the DL. That could be our Super Bowl and Bosa will devour this OL.  Philly has maulers in the middle.  If we get to the big game, we will have our hands full. 

Are the Bills good? YES. VERY GOOD. This team is resilient, they have character and they are talented. But they are plagued by misfortune, poor decisions at critical times and some bad play calling.  

 

Who is better? The way teams are playing now I'd rank.
1. SF

2. Phil

3. KC
4. Cin
5. Buf
6. Dal

7.NYG
8. Jax
9. Tampa 
 

KC has an easy ride. The Bills need to figure it out quick. Time is running out and we need to be on our A game.  We really needed Von and Micah on D for this run. Maybe we can get Hyde back. That would be huge. If Josh can limit his negative plays and turnovers we have a chance to run the table.  It's on him, unfortunately.

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by TampaBillsJunkie

[Dr.Sack]

4 hours ago, TampaBillsJunkie said:

San Francisco is better than Miami on the DL. That could be our Super Bowl and Bosa will devour this OL.  Philly has maulers in the middle.  If we get to the big game, we will have our hands full. 

Are the Bills good? YES. VERY GOOD. This team is resilient, they have character and they are talented. But they are plagued by misfortune, poor decisions at critical times and some bad play calling.  

 

Who is better? The way teams are playing now I'd rank.
1. SF

2. Phil

3. KC
4. Cin
5. Buf
6. Dal

7.NYG
8. Jax
9. Tampa 
 

KC has an easy ride. The Bills need to figure it out quick. Time is running out and we need to be on our A game.  We really needed Von and Micah on D for this run. Maybe we can get Hyde back. That would be huge. If Josh can limit his negative plays and turnovers we have a chance to run the table.  It's on him, unfortunately.

 

I’d agree with your point. As a counter point I’d ask you to consider what team could have won if they had 2 picks, 3 fumbles, a muffed punt, and gave up a 50 yard punt return? There is maybe one team (KC) that could on your list outside of Buffalo. 

 

The Bills won a game where all previous teams had failed. This should give us a sigh of relief and also a tremendous amount of confidence going forward.