Was Micah Hyde's injury the key to the Bills' season?

[Nextmanup]

4 hours ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

On reflection, I've come to the theory that Micah Hyde's injury is why the Bills aren't moving on. There can be other reasons, of course, but I believe that if Hyde hadn't gotten hurt, that alone would have changed many things.

 

Had Hyde not been injured, he would have been there to knock down the pass to Justin Jefferson; Cam Lewis wouldn't have been playing. This alone makes Bills the #1 seed, with a bye, a win over Jacksonville, and waiting to play the winner of CIN-KC in the AFCCG.

 

Furthermore, if Hyde isn't hurt, Hamlin isn't playing and never gets hurt against Cincinnati. As a result, even if CIN beat KC in the theoretical matchup above, they wouldn't be coming in here with the motivation of the coin toss, ticket sales, etc. because none of that would've happened. Even more importantly, the Bills would be well rested, not having endured the emotional toll that caused them to run out of gas on Sunday.

 

The fact that Micah would have played next week had the Bills won on Sunday just makes it even more fascinating.

No! 

 

We were MASSIVELY outreached against the Bengals.

 

We always will be at the end of the season, that's when you run into the best teams with the best coaches.

 

You can really only measure McDermott with playoff football.

 

 

[ShakAttack]

On the one hand, it seems like it is inevitable we are going to have less talent on the roster next season, because of Free Agents and the cap hits from our top players.

 

On the other hand, it's not like we had all of that talent at our disposal by the time the season ended.  So, if key players are just more healthy than last season, how much are you really losing compared to where you were at the end of this season?  There shouldn't be much of an overall drop-off in talent compared to where we were this season, even if we lost Edmunds & Poyer, for instance.

 

You'd have Hyde, Miller and (ideally) a healthier Tre White.  You'd also have an entire off-season to find a safety to replace Poyer instead of having to deal with it in the middle of the season.

 

It's definitely going to be our most important draft since 2018, and it'll be a bigger challenge because unlike 2018, we don't have high picks and lots of draft capital.

 

Another thought... during Beane's presser when he mentioned that lots of Bills players were out there playing "Really banged up", I thought, man... in some cases, if a guy is THAT banged up, would it not be better to consider playing someone fresh?  The next guy up?  Against a bunch of dudes that are definitely hurting from wear and tear during the season too?  Of course, this is depending on who we are talking about too.   I couldn't help but think about it, again, with the way the 2nd/3rd string Bengals oline dominated our dline (granted, we were technically missing 2 starters on our DLine too in Von and Daquan)   and also the way Cole Beasley has looked... even at his age... he just looked more healthy and fresh than most of our other receivers because of the fact he didn't go through all of that wear and tear during the season.  I don't know, I just feel like their might be something to stashing a few players / using them lightly during the regular season and then unleashing them in the playoffs.   I think a lot of us hoped for that with Nyheim Hines, for instance.  

[BuffaloMatt]

It was the lofty expectations. The unknow variables, timing, injuries, The cosmos.

 

That's why it is so hard to get to the SB much less win it.

 

The reality is the Bills weren't the team to win it this year for a multitude of reasons (some mentioned above). 

 

Also, let's talk about being honest with ourselves as a fanbase. Does the Bills defense stop either NFC team? AND does this OL stop either NFC team's pass rush/DL from killing JA/stuffing the run?

 

Answer - unlikely to both. 

 

They were a real good team, played great at times. Just not our year. 

 

Damn Cosmos . . . 

[BillsPride12]

2 hours ago, Southern_Bills said:

 

Yes, eventually they will be so tired of gaining yards they will get bored and lose focus!

 

The offensive gameplan was just as bad as the defensive one. Defense gave up 30+ first downs and the offense made a living on 3 and out.

 

It was horrible from opening play to the final one.

Reminds me of a quote from my little league football coach as a kid after a really bad loss...."Well we did one thing good today...we lost as a team" 

[wettlaufer]

4 hours ago, H2o said:

His faults as a pet are your failures as an owner. 

 

This is where the dog smothers the owner when the owner genuflects and asks forgiveness.

[Southern_Bills]

1 hour ago, Boatdrinks said:

They need to make some changes to the staff , mostly to the defensive side imo. They’ve been mostly disappointing on defense in the playoffs thus far. 

 

The offensive plan on Sunday was...well offensive to say the least. Is keep McDermott but after that anyone is fair game.

[Momma Pecoraro]

What's the cap hit for cutting Hyde? He's broken and expensive and along with Poyer, part of the past.

Edited January 24, 2023 by Momma Pecoraro

[Drew21PA]

5 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

Von Miller 

Yep this was their ace card and it blew up in their faces.

 

other guys should be able to step up but failed terribly 

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

 

 The uproar over Sunday's loss I get to a point. The low energy, bad offensive play & play calling I get. But we faced the best WR trio in the league, one of the better QBs in the league with a defense that was down a x2 All-Pro Free Safety & a x7 All-Pro LBer. On top of that our Strong Safety, who was 1st team All-Pro last year and our x2 All-Pro CB were both playing on one leg. On top of that Jones was out and Phillips was playing with 1 arm. That doesn't count Josh, who I think was still playing hurt.

 

 There's never a right or wrong player to get hurt, but man did all the wrong ones on defense go down. That's too much talent to be down at any one time. If it wasn't the offense or the Cincy game this week, it was coming soon after. What a sh!tty year to have a bunch of impactful injuries. I wish we were as healthy as we were last year. Imo this year's team would've been able to absorb just a Tre White injury, like we had last postseason. Provided Josh was 100% healthy.