Bills players were done with this year

[dpberr]

If you are Terry Pegula, the biggest disappointment in a day of them yesterday had to be that the fans who pay a lot of money to see the team had far more enthusiasm to be there than the players and coaches collecting the paychecks to play the game.  

 

IMO, much like the situation in Tampa, the Bills look checked out on their coaches, not necessarily a tough season.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RiotAct]

Always next year.

[AlfaBill]

2 hours ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

Oh brother. I knew this kind of crap would come out. "Too much adversity, I'm still proud of this team, Go Bills!"

 

Yesterday was inexcusable and there need to be consequences.

The facts are this team was dominated on both lines, we have no legit WR2, Frazier was badly out coached. All of these need to be addressed if the Bills want to be a serious contender not a AFCE champ and outside shot contender. I heard Fraziers contract is up this year, hope the let it expire and bring in a fresh young DC

[TheBrownBear]

1 hour ago, Big Turk said:

 

If you have ever had a series of events that repeatedly cause you to have to "dip into the tank" mentally and emotionally over a long period of time, at some point you simply run out. There is only so much left in there and that tank doesn't get refilled during a season. When it runs out, you see what happened yesterday.  It eventually exerts itself physically.  They had to dip into the tank against the Fins last week again and that seemed like it emptied the tank.  

 

Honestly, the tank was far bigger and deeper than I expected, but even that ran out at some point. I can't even really be mad, these are people, not robots.

I hate excuse-making, but you'd have to be incredibly obtuse not to accept that the mental stress hadn't taken a toll on this team.  You could see it in their energy level and lack of excitement leading up to the game. 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

3 hours ago, Billzgobowlin said:

The more I think about it the Bills players wanted to put this year behind them.  Did they play less than their best?  Absolutely not.  But for a team that has faced so much between a missed Christmas, Dawson's brother passing away, to the Tops shooting, to Damar, to Hyde their defensive leader being out this year, to Dane's potential career ender, to Von Miller the other defensive leader being out, to playing 10 away games, to always playing short in the defensive secondary (no Poyer and Hyde for multiple games along with playing rookies at DB), to even Josh's shoulder injury.  I would say they were emotionally spent.  Could they have beat Jacksonville this week?  Maybe but I'll tell you as a fan there is some sort of relief that they finally get to lick their wounds and heal.  They are absolutely done.  The Marv Levy quote states this year perfectly "Fight on, my men, Sir Andrew said. I am hurt, but I am not slain. I'll lay me down and bleed a while, And then I'll rise and fight again."

 

Let's get behind them next year for the best is yet to come.  They get 13-3 this year with all this going on, they will be better for it next year.

I do think there's something to the additional emotional and roster reality weight they carried through the back half of the year, but if that was what got the best of them, then that corroborates the need for coaching changes, as that's coaching your guys up to help overcome challenges along the way. All teams have to deal with injuries, but the adjustments were not forthcoming for us, offensively or defensively.  

[Nextmanup]

I've seen enough of Gabe Davis.

 

I thought he would slot nicely into a #2 guy.

 

Nope!  He's not GOOD enough; he's not CONSISTENT enough---and we now KNOW that.

 

I would be looking to move on from him.

 

To name one guy; I would definitely part with Edmunds, Oliver, and the entire DL can be considered replaceable at this point.  Keep Von, but he'll be getting injured every year at his age.

 

 

 

 

[Billzgobowlin]

1 hour ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

I do think there's something to the additional emotional and roster reality weight they carried through the back half of the year, but if that was what got the best of them, then that corroborates the need for coaching changes, as that's coaching your guys up to help overcome challenges along the way. All teams have to deal with injuries, but the adjustments were not forthcoming for us, offensively or defensively.  

Interesting take.  What if the coach is maxed too?  I'm trying to ride the fine line of excuses and understanding but I think this team was done and when Josh looks like that before a game, we aren't going to win.

[SoCal Deek]

I’ll say it again. From the very start, the Bills players and coaches all looked exhausted yesterday. And while the game was still well within reach deep into the second half, nobody thought there was a chance of a comeback. 

[Billz4ever]

5 hours ago, Billzgobowlin said:

The more I think about it the Bills players wanted to put this year behind them.  Did they play less than their best?  Absolutely not.  But for a team that has faced so much between a missed Christmas, Dawson's brother passing away, to the Tops shooting, to Damar, to Hyde their defensive leader being out this year, to Dane's potential career ender, to Von Miller the other defensive leader being out, to playing 10 away games, to always playing short in the defensive secondary (no Poyer and Hyde for multiple games along with playing rookies at DB), to even Josh's shoulder injury.  I would say they were emotionally spent.  Could they have beat Jacksonville this week?  Maybe but I'll tell you as a fan there is some sort of relief that they finally get to lick their wounds and heal.  They are absolutely done.  The Marv Levy quote states this year perfectly "Fight on, my men, Sir Andrew said. I am hurt, but I am not slain. I'll lay me down and bleed a while, And then I'll rise and fight again."

 

Let's get behind them next year for the best is yet to come.  They get 13-3 this year with all this going on, they will be better for it next year.

Disagree. They just ran into a better and hungrier team than they were.  Nobody is deciding they don't want to play any more 2 games from the SB.

[SCBills]

Bills were mentally exhausted and had nothing to give against the Bengals is a worthwhile excuse if this was a one-off.

 

It is not.  It's a pattern.

 

We're just making excuses for them.  The fact is this coaching staff seems to have reached it's ceiling and our roster construction is flawed - in large part - due to the HC's philosophy.  

 

It's time to make the aggressive move, but we won't, and I fear we'll be having this same conversation next year at this time. 

[Billzgobowlin]

7 minutes ago, Billz4ever said:

Disagree. They just ran into a better and hungrier team than they were.  Nobody is deciding they don't want to play any more 2 games from the SB.

Micah Hyde and Roger Saffold both said today they just felt the team “ran out of gas” with everything that went on this season. Micah even said he was speaking from an outside observer, watching them go through it all as he wasn’t playing. Both made it clear it was not an excuse.

 

Saffold: It was emotionally draining. I kinda feel like we were tired. Guys were exhausted during the week and our coaches did the best they could at trying to modify the week to get us back to snuff.…

 

Two people one that wasn't even playing disagree.  I know they get paid a lot and all but still they are human.  Wish people would see the optimism for next year.  No other team even came close to the drama and I bet some posting on here would fold under much less pressure.

[benderbender]

We’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel for excuses this time. 

 

The Bengals made up their own “disrespect” storyline in their heads on Monday, plugged their ears, repeated it to themselves for 6 days, and hammered us with it. We got beat by a pretend scenario. It’s like a child’s imaginary friend ended our season. And the best we can do is “we weren’t in the mood.” This is rich. 

[Billz4ever]

7 minutes ago, Billzgobowlin said:

Wish people would see the optimism for next year.  No other team even came close to the drama and I bet some posting on here would fold under much less pressure.

I don't have optimism for next year.  We don't have the talent on our O-line or our D-line to compete against teams like Cincy.  Absolutely positively dominated on both sides of the LOS.

 

If the organization is going to stick with the current coaching staff and their coaching philosophy, what's going to be the difference maker that gets this team to the next level?

Edited January 23, 2023 by Billz4ever

[SCBills]

8 minutes ago, Billzgobowlin said:

Micah Hyde and Roger Saffold both said today they just felt the team “ran out of gas” with everything that went on this season. Micah even said he was speaking from an outside observer, watching them go through it all as he wasn’t playing. Both made it clear it was not an excuse.

 

Saffold: It was emotionally draining. I kinda feel like we were tired. Guys were exhausted during the week and our coaches did the best they could at trying to modify the week to get us back to snuff.…

 

Two people one that wasn't even playing disagree.  I know they get paid a lot and all but still they are human.  Wish people would see the optimism for next year.  No other team even came close to the drama and I bet some posting on here would fold under much less pressure.

 

There's validity to this, but it's a really tough sell when this current iteration has failed in similar fashion 3 years in a row. 

 

We have no idea what other teams have gone through.   Sure, likely not to the level of what we have, but it also comes across as a convenient excuse.  I'm sorry, it just does.

 

Pressure makes diamonds.. but there's a flip side to that coin.  

 

What's the excuse next year?  What have you seen that gives you confidence in this current staff's ability to get past Cincy/KC in the Playoffs?

 

....and honestly, it's a bit embarrassing to hear players admit to this. 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by SCBills

[Billzgobowlin]

1 minute ago, benderbender said:

We’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel for excuses this time. 

 

The Bengals made up their own “disrespect” storyline in their heads on Monday, plugged their ears, repeated it to themselves for 6 days, and hammered us with it. We got beat by a pretend scenario. It’s like a child’s imaginary friend ended our season. And the best we can do is “we weren’t in the mood.” This is rich. 

Not what I was saying as all.  It wasn't they weren't in the mood.  They were flat out done.  You notice how few people talked to the media at the end of the year.  Josh was done

[Sharky7337]

Cause they're soft. The coaches are soft. If I was McDermott I'd be motivating them telling them how the line,the ticket sales, the pre season hype, was all set up because they want us to fail. 

 

Instead they come in soft, woah as me, we had a tough season. 

 

Sorry but it's excuses. Soft self anointed kings.

 

Got punched in the mouth. 

 

They're even scared to coach Josh.

 

"That's just josh being josh".

 

Not to mention heads should have rolled after 13 seconds, but again, we're too soft and pushed for overtime rules change.

 

Now it's "we ran outta gas". Gimme a break.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Sharky7337

[dickleyjones]

5 hours ago, Billzgobowlin said:

The more I think about it the Bills players wanted to put this year behind them.  Did they play less than their best?  Absolutely not.  But for a team that has faced so much between a missed Christmas, Dawson's brother passing away, to the Tops shooting, to Damar, to Hyde their defensive leader being out this year, to Dane's potential career ender, to Von Miller the other defensive leader being out, to playing 10 away games, to always playing short in the defensive secondary (no Poyer and Hyde for multiple games along with playing rookies at DB), to even Josh's shoulder injury.  I would say they were emotionally spent.  Could they have beat Jacksonville this week?  Maybe but I'll tell you as a fan there is some sort of relief that they finally get to lick their wounds and heal.  They are absolutely done.  The Marv Levy quote states this year perfectly "Fight on, my men, Sir Andrew said. I am hurt, but I am not slain. I'll lay me down and bleed a while, And then I'll rise and fight again."

 

Let's get behind them next year for the best is yet to come.  They get 13-3 this year with all this going on, they will be better for it next year.

I agree with your take, although i think it really came down to Hamlin. It's not anyone's fault that it happened the way it did, but it was clear that that moment was highly disturbing to the players. All they wanted was for their friend to survive, football be damned. Then they went into "win for Hamlin" mode which worked for a while but as you said, is mentally exhausting. Having Hamlin at the game the way they showed him on tv was weird as well. At the same time you can't ask the players to forget and play as if it never happened. And the same love that fans and media poured out only increased the pressure, good intentions notwithstanding.

 

It would never have been enough to win the sb. You have to be at your best to win and the Bills clearly were not at their best. Allen needed to be processing the field at maximum ability. We have seen him do it. Sadly these playoffs were an aberration in that regard.

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by dickleyjones

[<bills4life>]

This is exactly spot on.  Our team showed that they were just mentally and physically weaker than the bengals. If you can’t get up for a divisional playoff game at home, then your team has some serious deficiencies.  This malaise has been with us since the Vikings game.  One of the top defenses in football the past 4 years only to get smoked in the playoffs.  McDermott has done a great job establishing culture.  The time is now to move in another direction in order to take the next step.  Enough with excuses. Getting to the playoffs and being happy to get there are no longer enough. 

[ShakAttack]

5 hours ago, 97bills said:

Here come the excuses….  We’ve seen this for the last few years… in big games can’t stop the run and can’t get no pressure. CIN knew that … so guess what here comes there run game , and burrow has all day. We got our a$$ kicked hard. And what’s sad is this team has a lot of holes to fill. 

 

Defense mechanisms.  You kind of have to do that instead of facing the reality of "4 years in playoffs and couldn't make a Super Bowl, last year indeed was our chance to do it and the window is probably closed now" because if you believe that, well, then what's the point?

[mjt328]

7 hours ago, Dan said:

The worst thing about a loss like this is gives everyone that is pessimistic and critical of every single thing the opportunity to stand up, pound their chest and shout for vindication. 

 

That is not my intention.  I will gladly point out all the areas I was dead-wrong in the offseason.

 

- I was wrong that Ken Dorsey would be fine, and we wouldn't miss Brian Daboll.

- I was wrong that Gabe Davis would slide into the #2 role with no problems.

- I was wrong that Aaron Kromer, Roger Saffold and a second-year Spencer Brown would help improve the O-Line.

- I was wrong that our young D-Line players would take a major step forward this season.

- I was wrong that we had the strongest depth in the league.

- I was wrong that our defensive coaching staff could learn from past years, and wouldn't be a liability in the postseason.

 

Like many, I went into the season believing this team should be the Super Bowl favorite... and this would finally be our year.

 

The only thing I was correct about?  I realized around mid-season that this team was not really Super Bowl caliber, and all the above issues were going to kill us in the end.  Believe me, I took no pleasure in coming to that conclusion.  I don't think I enjoyed a single Bills victory from November on, because in my heart I realized we were just going through the motions.  What happened on Sunday was the conclusion of what I expected (actually worse, because I anticipated a closer loss).  And I take no pleasure in pointing it out now.