Maybe it was just a bad day

[Real McClappy]

13 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

The only thing I’ll say is that they have not played to their best over the second half of the season …. 
 

That loss was coming for some time … even before the Damar incident…

 

Maybe in hindsight it might have been better for them to get that beat down in Week 17…

I've been thinking about this for awhile now and truly think we needed a beat down from them week17 to wake the F up. 

 

[Airseven]

Cincy is better than the Bills at every position. The change of heart around here feels sudden, in part, because the winning streak was smoke and mirrors against middling teams. The moment the Bills played a quality team, they got smoked. That’s jarring.

[harmonkillebrew]

10 points on Offense is the real outlier here. We have never been that bad, including against much better Defenses.  The Bengals also have not been that great of a D this year and only held a team to 10 points or less once this season (the Browns). Even Huntley and the Ravens scored 17 on them the prior week.

 

That makes me think something else was going on beyond the Bengals and their great DC.  I think the Bills came out flat. I think the wet snow and footing affected Allen and the Offenses execution (we have smaller, quicker WR and rely on deep passes). And I think the Bengals are a tough matchup for us, especially in the snow, where our quickness is neutralized and lack of size (both on D and O) is exposed.  Play this game in better conditions and I think it plays to our strength and it's closer.

 

That said, playoffs are in January and we play in Buffalo, outside, for god's sake. We need to be built to pound the rock with a mauling Oline and bigger RBs. We need better Offensive schemes and WRs/TEs that can make contested catches. We need to build an O that is not so damn reliant on Allen to make plays time and time again. We need a stout Dline that can't be moved, even in the snow, not just quick, undersized DTs/DEs.

[Chuck Schick]

The whole "we aren't an elite team" argument just doesn't seem to be as relevant in today's NFL.  

Every contending team other than maybe SF has looked average to bad MULTIPLE times over the last month or so. KC damn near lost to Houston and Denver; Cincinnati should/could have lost to NE and probably Lamar-less Balt; etc etc.

Even over the last few seasons, Tampa was a 5 seed and won the whole thing, and LA was a 4...obviously not "elite" coming into the playoffs.

You just have to hit on all cylinders, have guys step up, and get a few bounces your way.

 

[LittleSammy]

13 hours ago, SinceThe70s said:

 

Just curious, what does the bolded mean to you? If 'they aren't allowed' what's the consequence?  Will you stop watching? Hold your breath until your blue in the face? Or is it less personal and 'they' will all be shown the door or face imprisonment or a firing squad? If 'they aren't allowed' there must be some inherent consequence in your mind. What is it?

 

We're all upset with how the season ended - it effen sucked! - but some of the hyperbole here is a cross between comical and childish.

 

I'll skip the "comical and childish hyperbole" and just stick to the facts. The last 4 years in a row this team has been outcoached (even Bill O'Brien outcoached us) and/or outplayed and not made it to a Super Bowl. This is a results driven league, not T-Ball where everybody gets a participation trophy at the end of the year. I'm tired of "close enough is good enough"  and "tough loss, but we'll get them next year". Time to make some tough decisions to change the status-quo.

[ALLEN1QB]

Starting to think they are chokers. 

[Low Positive]

All of these things are true:

• The Bills played their worst game of the season
• The Bills have problems in their lineup that were exposed (which all teams have in the salary cap era)
• The Bengals are a bad matchup.

There is also another thing. The Bengals wound themselves into a frenzy over a perceived slight due to ticket sales while the Bills cancelled practice on Saturday to have "Family Day." I think that explains a lot.

[dakrider]

1 hour ago, Chuck Schick said:

The whole "we aren't an elite team" argument just doesn't seem to be as relevant in today's NFL.  

Every contending team other than maybe SF has looked average to bad MULTIPLE times over the last month or so. KC damn near lost to Houston and Denver; Cincinnati should/could have lost to NE and probably Lamar-less Balt; etc etc.

Even over the last few seasons, Tampa was a 5 seed and won the whole thing, and LA was a 4...obviously not "elite" coming into the playoffs.

You just have to hit on all cylinders, have guys step up, and get a few bounces your way.

 

Its well established that any NFL team can lose to any other NFL team in a given week and often games against poor teams are close. 
But when the stakes are higher and you're playing for a real chance to get to the Super Bowl, the more elite teams show up and find a way to win.  Playoff seeding seems to be overrated, especially in the AFC.  The whole AFC championship game in Atlanta was just another distraction they didn't need. 

[SinceThe70s]

33 minutes ago, LittleSammy said:

I'll skip the "comical and childish hyperbole" and just stick to the facts. The last 4 years in a row this team has been outcoached (even Bill O'Brien outcoached us) and/or outplayed and not made it to a Super Bowl. This is a results driven league, not T-Ball where everybody gets a participation trophy at the end of the year. I'm tired of "close enough is good enough"  and "tough loss, but we'll get them next year". Time to make some tough decisions to change the status-quo.

 

I don't disagree with any of this and I come here daily to see what tough decisions folks think should be made - some I agree with, some I don't and some go into my I'm not sure category.  But I'll stand by how I described the 'they aren't allowed to' comment. It adds no substance IMO.

[ngbills]

16 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

The only thing I’ll say is that they have not played to their best over the second half of the season …. 
 

That loss was coming for some time … even before the Damar incident…

 

Maybe in hindsight it might have been better for them to get that beat down in Week 17…

I was thinking about this. Maybe if they got beat down by CIN and were the underdog going into this game it would have lit a fire under them to play. Seemed like the team was used to playing bad and just finding ways to win. But maybe that beat down could have woke them up. Never know. 

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

15 hours ago, Best Williams Available said:

This team peaked the first 6 weeks of the season. After they beat the Chiefs, it was like they thought their jobs were finished.

 

Then after the bye, they were unmotivated and unprepared every game thereafter (despite winning a lot toward the end). They were in cruise control with no identity. It would have been exposed had Damar not gone down that night. That a** whooping maybe would have lit a fire. But instead, their laze festered, until the inevitable happened Sunday.

This is 100% on point.

 

The concerning thing is they relaxed in the same way after beating the Chiefs in 2021.

 

You could see it in Allen's approach after both games. It was never as serious. Couldn't even get the laser focus back for the playoffs.

 

Go back and look at the Rams game... That team was locked in.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Giuseppe Tognarelli

[nedboy7]

I think we needed that beat down in week 17.  That could have changed the mindset.  I think if Bean can fix the OL we are back in the mix.  If not we aint doing much. 

[Best Williams Available]

1 minute ago, nedboy7 said:

I think we needed that beat down in week 17.  That could have changed the mindset.  I think if Bean can fix the OL we are back in the mix.  If not we aint doing much. 

Yeah an a** whooping by the Bengals week 17 needed to happen in the same way the Bucs game woke them up last year. They got complacent playing just well enough to win games that when true resistance came, they folded like laundry. 

45 minutes ago, FrenchConnection said:

All of these things are true:

• The Bills played their worst game of the season
• The Bills have problems in their lineup that were exposed (which all teams have in the salary cap era)
• The Bengals are a bad matchup.

There is also another thing. The Bengals wound themselves into a frenzy over a perceived slight due to ticket sales while the Bills cancelled practice on Saturday to have "Family Day." I think that explains a lot.

Trying to have work/life balance in the middle of the playoffs when if you lose you don’t have to work for months. Failure of priorities right there.

[harmonkillebrew]

10 minutes ago, Best Williams Available said:

Yeah an a** whooping by the Bengals week 17 needed to happen in the same way the Bucs game woke them up last year. They got complacent playing just well enough to win games that when true resistance came, they folded like laundry. 

 

Tampa game last year is a good comparison. Changed our mentality entirely moving forward.

So, I guess people are buying the McDermott line that we peaked too early?

I'm still blaming that wet, heavy snow

[Real McClappy]

5 hours ago, nedboy7 said:

I think we needed that beat down in week 17.  That could have changed the mindset.  I think if Bean can fix the OL we are back in the mix.  If not we aint doing much. 

Right there with you.  In his presser Beane really only talked about Spencer Brown which is concerning and overall Josh not getting bruises. 

I truly hope he seen or realizes how much of an absolute disaster this years line was to force some serious investment here this offseason? Saffold was an absolute failure of a signing and Brown is not ready.

Edited January 25, 2023 by Real McNasty

[Success]

I've gotta agree that it would have helped to get beat by Cincy on MNF.

 

They had so many games they eeked out in the 2nd half of the season - but I think that gave them a feeling like "we'll always figure it out by the end of the game."

 

They just had no urgency this past Sunday. 

 

[Low Positive]

7 minutes ago, Success said:

I've gotta agree that it would have helped to get beat by Cincy on MNF.

 

They had so many games they eeked out in the 2nd half of the season - but I think that gave them a feeling like "we'll always figure it out by the end of the game."

 

They just had no urgency this past Sunday. 

 

I actually think that the loss that would have helped was the KC game. The Bengals got stomped by the Browns going into their bye and they used the week off to make major adjustments. We went into the bye and hit the beach. 

[Returntoglory]

Maybe???

[DCbillsfan]

3 hours ago, Airseven said:

Cincy is better than the Bills at every position. The change of heart around here feels sudden, in part, because the winning streak was smoke and mirrors against middling teams. The moment the Bills played a quality team, they got smoked. That’s jarring.

What's scary too is Taylor is only in his 4th season as head coach.  He's already made it to 2 AFC Championship games and a Super Bowl.  It might be 2 Super Bowls here soon.

[Airseven]

1 hour ago, FrenchConnection said:

All of these things are true:

• The Bills played their worst game of the season
• The Bills have problems in their lineup that were exposed (which all teams have in the salary cap era)
• The Bengals are a bad matchup.

There is also another thing. The Bengals wound themselves into a frenzy over a perceived slight due to ticket sales while the Bills cancelled practice on Saturday to have "Family Day." I think that explains a lot.

Also, the Bengals are better than the Bills in every way - coaching, personnel, execution. That truth should also factor in.