Saffold said guys were "exhausted" this week and "out of gas"

[RocCityRoller]

10 minutes ago, Gunsgoodtime said:

How do you fix it?  They obviously can't draft them

I believe this is a retool moment. Look at the cap/ players under contract etc.

 

The Bills need to focus in on making the offense as strong as possible.

 

The investments on offense have been poor. One OL drafted in the 1-3rd round over a 5 year window is pathetic.

Swing and a miss on Ford, it happens. Doesn't mean you stop drafting OL for your franchise player.

Cincy/ KC/ Eagles etc have all retooled OL in 1-2 seasons.

 

if Beane can't do it, it is on him.

[Alphadawg7]

5 hours ago, Process said:

Earlier in the year Josh was running guys over and getting up laughing in their face. We haven't seen that guy in a while. 

 

Something has been off with this team for two months now.

This team stopped having fun playing football.  Too much heavy stuff lingering over them.  

[NoSaint]

1 hour ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

I can tell you even as a fan in the stadium I was gassed yesterday.    I'm not a young man prone to letting disappointment get me down so I caffeined up and still screamed my head off every play on D.   But I didn't want to.   That Damar incident took the wind out of the sails on this season for me.    This game is supposed to be a distraction and when every week at the stadium is another story about someone or some people who got f*cked up by a tragedy it's just not fun.    And it if ain't fun.........it's hard to get energized.    Having high expectations sometimes takes you out of the moment..........but having lived thru the 4 SB years and those hard climbs back up the mountain.........those were a piece of cake emotionally compared to this season.    

 I liken it a bit to working in a disaster zone - the jobs off the rails with no routine, your dealing with chaos at home and after a month or so you have one of those days at work where you just sit staring at your desk without purpose cause you are just burnt and there’s no more adrenaline to just muscle through it. 
 

blizzard to thanksgiving to Thursday to losing von to Christmas blizzard to damar… they went over a month with no routine or normalcy and just a lot of energy drain 

[Nextmanup]

6 hours ago, Success said:

It was pretty easy to see.

 

I've gotta give 'em a pass on that. They're human beings.  Buffalo has been to hell & back over the past year.

 

Garbage! 

 

Eric Wood played in this league for a long time and he was on the field 10 feet away from the players during pre-game warmups and he said (today on gr-55) that without question, the enthusiasm, energy, passion WAS THERE TO SEE.

 

He said it's hard to sustain that in the game when things don't go your way, which is more or less what Josh said in some of his post-game comments as well.

 

 

1 hour ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

I can tell you even as a fan in the stadium I was gassed yesterday.    I'm not a young man prone to letting disappointment get me down so I caffeined up and still screamed my head off every play on D.   But I didn't want to.   That Damar incident took the wind out of the sails on this season for me.    This game is supposed to be a distraction and when every week at the stadium is another story about someone or some people who got f*cked up by a tragedy it's just not fun.    And it if ain't fun.........it's hard to get energized.    Having high expectations sometimes takes you out of the moment..........but having lived thru the 4 SB years and those hard climbs back up the mountain.........those were a piece of cake emotionally compared to this season.    

That's fair enough from your perspective as a fan.

 

I pray to God the players on the team do NOT see things the same way.

 

This is not a fun distraction for them.  

 

 

[Coach Tuesday]

1 minute ago, Nextmanup said:

Garbage! 

 

Eric Wood played in this league for a long time and he was on the field 10 feet away from the players during pre-game warmups and he said (today on gr-55) that without question, the enthusiasm, energy, passion WAS THERE TO SEE.

 

He said it's hard to sustain that in the game when things don't go your way, which is more or less what Josh said in some of his post-game comments as well.

 

 

Both things can be true.  They had energy but no more resilience left.  

[IronyAbounds]

7 hours ago, jhh9327 said:

You really think this team beats Cinci if this game happened two months ago?  I honestly don't.  I'm not saying the emotional toll didn't play any factor yesterday, but this was a flawed team that has been showing those flaws for quite a while and Cinci is designed well to take advantage of those. 

They looked to be heading for a beat down in Cincy before Hamlin dropped, so I'm not quite buying it.

[boyst]

37 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Both things can be true.  They had energy but no more resilience left.  

Resilience is a hard word to grasp. After being down 2 scores this team didn't have the energy to recover. They didn't have the resiliency to put in another level. They didn't have the fuel. It's like they had only been eating salads when they needed a juicy steak. 😝

Edited January 24, 2023 by boyst

[SCBills]

1 hour ago, RocCityRoller said:

I believe this is a retool moment. Look at the cap/ players under contract etc.

 

The Bills need to focus in on making the offense as strong as possible.

 

The investments on offense have been poor. One OL drafted in the 1-3rd round over a 5 year window is pathetic.

Swing and a miss on Ford, it happens. Doesn't mean you stop drafting OL for your franchise player.

Cincy/ KC/ Eagles etc have all retooled OL in 1-2 seasons.

 

if Beane can't do it, it is on him.

If Beane is aggressive in the re-tool, I’ll have faith this team still has the ability to win a Super Bowl with McDermott. 
 

To me that means:

 

-Letting go of Frazier and bringing in an aggressive/innovative DC 

 

-Out of the box personnel moves.  We all know Poyer likely walks.  Edmunds 50/50.  Nobody on this Defense outside Von, Daquan, Rousseau, Milano and Elam should be safe.  If we want money to invest in the Offense, it’s going to have to come at the detriment of the Defense.. a Defense that will have to be built around a few core pieces with schemed up/coached up modest/middle-tier contract vets and mid-late round draft picks. 
 

Edited January 24, 2023 by SCBills

[SectionC3]

2 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

I can tell you even as a fan in the stadium I was gassed yesterday.    I'm not a young man prone to letting disappointment get me down so I caffeined up and still screamed my head off every play on D.   But I didn't want to.   That Damar incident took the wind out of the sails on this season for me.    This game is supposed to be a distraction and when every week at the stadium is another story about someone or some people who got f*cked up by a tragedy it's just not fun.    And it if ain't fun.........it's hard to get energized.    Having high expectations sometimes takes you out of the moment..........but having lived thru the 4 SB years and those hard climbs back up the mountain.........those were a piece of cake emotionally compared to this season.    

This.  All day long. 

[BullBuchanan]

Saffold looked exhausted since we signed him. These guys are professionals. They really don't have any reason to be more "exhausted" than the other teams who are still playing football. Everybody faces adversity and outside of the Hamlin incident, which ended up working out as well as it possibly could, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

[GunnerBill]

8 hours ago, Einstein said:

Ouch.

 

“Guys were exhausted during the week and our coaches did the best they could try to modify the week . . . but there was just uncharacteristic things that were kind of happening . . . I have to kind of put that into effect and not as an excuse just this team has been fighting for so long and fighting through all of this adversity you almost run out of gas at some point,” Saffold said

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/01/23/rodger-saffold-on-bills-loss-you-almost-run-out-of-gas-at-some-point/

 

What was his excuse the other 18 games? 

[The Frankish Reich]

39 minutes ago, IronyAbounds said:

They looked to be heading for a beat down in Cincy before Hamlin dropped, so I'm not quite buying it.

That's the thing. The Bengals drives against the Bills INCLUDING the canceled game (which didn't count in the stats, but that actually was played for about a quarter):

 

- 7 plays, 66 yards, TD

- 5 plays, 79 yards, TD

- 10 plays, 72 yards, TD

- 6 plays, 14 yards, Punt

- 14 plays, 65 yards, FG

- 6 plays, 44 yards, end of half (Bills saved by the bell)

- 12 plays, 75 yards, TD

- 5 plays, 61 yards, FG

- 8 plays, 29 yards, Punt

- 2 plays, 0 yards, End of Game

 

So, not counting the garbage time "drives," the Bengals had:

 

- 7 of 8 drives moved the ball at least 44 yards. The 44 yard drive resulted in the end of the half, so you could say 6 of 7 drives gained at least 61 yards.

- again, not counting the garbage time or end of half drives, 6 of 7 drives resulted in points

 

It was total domination. I am a Leslie Frazier defender, but ... here, the Bills saw what the Bengals were going to do to us on January 2. And then seemingly changed nothing, and let the Bengals do it all over again 20 days later. This wasn't close, and at least from the defensive standpoint, the January 22 game was a resumption of the January 2 game, nothing more or less. If the defense was exhausted and out of gas on January 22, I guess it was exhausted and out of gas on January 2 too.

[prissythecat]

30 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said:

Saffold looked exhausted since we signed him. These guys are professionals. They really don't have any reason to be more "exhausted" than the other teams who are still playing football. Everybody faces adversity and outside of the Hamlin incident, which ended up working out as well as it possibly could, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

 

+1    thought i did read here earlier that the Bills were emotionally spent because of the two Blizzards and the Tops shooting

 

[LABILLBACKER]

8 hours ago, Success said:

It was pretty easy to see.

 

I've gotta give 'em a pass on that. They're human beings.  Buffalo has been to hell & back over the past year.

 

Did Damar meet with the team right before opening kickoff?  Could this have been some type of emotional deflation?  Hopefully next season the team doesn't have to deal with the all the stressful events of 22/23.

[TampaBillsJunkie]

8 hours ago, Patrick Fitzryan said:

There's something weird going on with this team mentally, and it has nothing to do with Hamlin or blizzards. Tough to put my finger on, but it's there. Wonder if there's some type of infighting we're unaware of.

 

I'm betting it comes out sometime after the Super Bowl.  Once the league year ends and players know they won't be back, some will talk about things that went on. 

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

5 hours ago, Dan said:

This isn’t war... it’s entertainment.  Football players should not be compared to soldiers, IMO. 

 

Military lessons carry over to everyday life … loyalty, honor, discipline.  Those concepts carry over to professional sports as well 

[CoudyBills]

7 hours ago, frostbitmic said:

We do need a Safety (ducking for cover) we might not have any ...

 

Poyer - A FA 30+ who will likely price himself out of the Bills range

Hyde - I'll believe he'll play again after he tackles someone in preseason and gets up.

Hamlin - I think his career is over as a football player

Marlowe - FA that maybe we'll re-sign because he'll be cheap and knows the system

Johnson - FA I wouldn't bring back for vet minimum.

Might be down a corner too.  Hope Tre doesn't retire, and gets back to form.  

[Georgia Bill]

The vast majority of us wanted to believe that somehow, some way, the Bills were going to band together and rise up and win themselves and the city of Buffalo a Super Bowl championship - despite everything that had been thrown at them.  What a grand documentary that would have made.  One for the ages.  But I suspect deep down inside as the difficulties mounted and turned from bad to worse, most of us started to realize it just wasn't likely that it was going to be our year.  It takes a combination of skill and a degree of good fortune to win a championship.  And luck was something we absolutely did not have. 

 

The result yesterday wasn't what we hoped for, but if we're honest with ourselves I think we knew it wasn't going to be our year.  I'm looking forward to better seasons in the future.  Like someone said - when football can be fun again!

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

3 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

This team stopped having fun playing football.  Too much heavy stuff lingering over them.  

Interesting take… they need to get younger 

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

5 hours ago, SectionC3 said:

Unless, of course, you’re the emotional crutch of the community like these guys are following Tops and crippling, deadly, back-to-back snowstorms.  Then deal with the Hamlin situation.  Enough was enough for them.  They’re tired, and it shows. 

If they were the emotional crutch of the community, then maybe they should have provided the poor downtrodden residents the emotional uplifting of a championship parade, rather than that uninspired mess.