Damar Hamlin and the End of the Season

[JackKemp]

As discussed it seems everywhere there are holes to fill and improvements to be made that became apparent as the season progressed. They started out on fire and seemed to slowly run out of gas as things unfolded and created so much to overcome. The biggest of them all to me was what happened to Damar. To me he was on the right team with the right leadership, fanbase and owner for it to be the best possible outcome for him and I believe our nation. It was something that brough a lot of together. The unfortunate thing is that it took a whole lot of energy out of the team. Personally I was upset that the young man may have died immediately. I also couldn't help but think that so did the Bills' season in that moment. How do you mentally recover from that? How do you continue to be aggressive on the field knowing what happened to Damar? I know that there were plenty of sports psychologists helping them, but do you recover this quickly? It just shook the team and Billsmafia to the core.

 

There is another dimension to this. Not finishing the game. Of course it could not be done. No question on that. However, without that incident let's say the Bengals go on to win? Well we do learn a lot from the experience about them. The Bills have come back and beaten the Jets and Miami with a second chance. It is hard to beat a team twice in this league. If the Bills come back and win the game then they would have had more confidence and energy for the second meeting. The Bengals would have been already "put in their place". Also they may not have had to face them again. We also wouldn't have all of the hurt feelings by the Bengals that they weren't given respect with the neutral site game and such.

 

So all in all give the players, the coaches and the GM some slack. They are still a talented team. Beane is still one of the best GMs in the league and we are still lucky for those players to have a leader like Sean McDermott. Go Bills in 2023!

Edited January 25, 2023 by JackKemp
missing word

[StHustle]

You think anything was learned from the 9 minutes of the game we did play? And I mean on the Bills side. Seems like the Bengals took notes seeing they had us go 3 and out on our first two drives for the first time I can remember in years.

 

Frasier seems stubborn and unwilling to change. I remember him being asked about switching things up in a presser and his answer was along the lines of “we will stick with what got us this far” Smdh. Time for him to retire.

[JackKemp]

I didn't say they learned anything from the 9 minutes. But they didn't think they had a bad game plan. If they lost they had a better chance of learning that. I don't think either team learned an awful lot from that disaster of a regular season game if you could call it that. I am also speaking more to the effect the whole incident had on our team and the situation going into that playoff game. I'm not focused on reactive firing of people.

[Steptide]

I've had this thought the last few days, and I say the bills absolutely would have been better had they played the first game against Cincinnati. Look at when the Bengals played the Ravens in week 18 and then the next week in the wild card round. Ravens could have won that game if it wasn't for that stupid fumble 

[jkeerie]

13 minutes ago, JackKemp said:

As discussed it seems everywhere there are holes to fill and improvements to be made that became apparent as the season progressed. They started out on fire and seemed to slowly run out of gas as things unfolded created so much to overcome. The biggest of them all to me was what happened to Damar. To me he was on the right team with the right leadership, fanbase and owner for it to be the best possible outcome for him and I believe our nation. It was something that brough a lot of together. The unfortunate thing is that it took a whole lot of energy out of the team. Personally I was upset that the young man may have died immediately. I also couldn't help but think that so did the Bills' season in that moment. How do you mentally recover from that? How do you continue to be aggressive on the field knowing what happened to Damar? I know that there were plenty of sports psychologists helping them, but do you recover this quickly? It just shook the team and Billsmafia to the core.

 

There is another dimension to this. Not finishing the game. Of course it could not be done. No question on that. However, without that incident let's say the Bengals go on to win? Well we do learn a lot from the experience about them. The Bills have come back and beaten the Jets and Miami with a second chance. It is hard to beat a team twice in this league. If the Bills come back and win the game then they would have had more confidence and energy for the second meeting. The Bengals would have been already "put in their place". Also they may not have had to face them again. We also wouldn't have all of the hurt feelings by the Bengals that they weren't given respect with the neutral site game and such.

 

So all in all give the players, the coaches and the GM some slack. They are still a talented team. Beane is still one of the best GMs in the league and we are still lucky for those players to have a leader like Sean McDermott. Go Bills in 2023!

I couldn't agree with this first part more.  That game...and that incident...ended the Bills season.  Their focus was gone.  It was no longer on football.  

 

Interestingly, how many of us fans in those moments during that Monday night game said and felt the same thing?  Suddenly, who cared about football.  Please let Damar be okay is what we all collectively thought and prayed.  The rest of the season be damned.   That's why I'm bummed by all this vitriol.  We actually got what we said we wanted at the time.  

 

Well...that was it for the season.  We got by the Pats on emotion.  Then nearly lost to the Dolphins because they came into the game with their own energy and emotion.  I didn't expect the Bills to get past the Bengals.  They came in with an edge.  The Bills had nothing.  They were overmatched on every level.

 

Hopefully, it leads to the necessary changes in this off-season.  If it doesn't, I will likely share in some of that vitriol.   For now...I'm good.  But go NFC!

[Livinginthepast]

Did the Bengals learn anything from the first game. I definitely think so. Their first possession was excellent, and the 2nd was working until the Hamlin injury.  Unfortunately, with the horror of the moment the Bills and coaches wiped the first 8 mins out of their minds. Totally understandable. But 2 weeks later they should have revisited game film and quickly understood that had the game progressed we might have experienced a historic drubbing.  At this point, they should have adjusted their defense to counter what they experienced. This they totally failed on.

[jkeerie]

3 minutes ago, Livinginthepast said:

Did the Bengals learn anything from the first game. I definitely think so. Their first possession was excellent, and the 2nd was working until the Hamlin injury.  Unfortunately, with the horror of the moment the Bills and coaches wiped the first 8 mins out of their minds. Totally understandable. But 2 weeks later they should have revisited game film and quickly understood that had the game progressed we might have experienced a historic drubbing.  At this point, they should have adjusted their defense to counter what they experienced. This they totally failed on.

Remember, though, after that incident we would have been down half of our secondary, losing Damar and Taron who went out with a head injury earlier.   So...not sure what we could have adjusted or even what we could have learned. 

[reddogblitz]

Agreed.  Having your teammate die on the field and it take 9 minutes to revive him while you're standing around watching is something most of us can't even imagine.  Then for a couple of days not knowing if he's going to live or if he does if he's going to be brain dead.  Then he lived and they came out super fired up vs Cheats and Fish.  Probably too fired up.  They could only keep that up for so long.

 

Then the NFL gives the Bengals free motivation with the whole neutral site nonsense.  Nothing fires up jocks more than some slight taken as "they said we're not good enough."

 

The situation Is unprecedented.  it has never happened before and hopefully never does again.  Therefore I'm not gonna trash 'em out for a poor performance.  Call it an excuse if you must. I 'm giving the team a Milligan on this one.

Edited January 25, 2023 by reddogblitz

[benderbender]

During the press conferences I would have given my left pinky for a Jerry Sullivan to ask if the team felt proud of the effort in front of a home crowd with Damar and his family in attendance. I’d have taken that in lieu of the accountability we’ll never see.

[Mango]

Hamlin was the nail in the coffin for the season. But we’ve been plying bad football for a few months now. 

[Livinginthepast]

6 minutes ago, jkeerie said:

Remember, though, after that incident we would have been down half of our secondary, losing Damar and Taron who went out with a head injury earlier.   So...not sure what we could have adjusted or even what we could have learned. 

I meant adjustment 2 weeks later before game 2

[Gunsgoodtime]

10 minutes ago, jkeerie said:

Remember, though, after that incident we would have been down half of our secondary, losing Damar and Taron who went out with a head injury earlier.   So...not sure what we could have adjusted or even what we could have learned. 

We were probably going to learn that we would be getting our Ass kicked if we had to play the Bengals in the playoffs, with a far superior talented and coached Offense

[jkeerie]

5 minutes ago, Gunsgoodtime said:

We were probably going to learn that we would be getting our Ass kicked if we had to play the Bengals in the playoffs, with a far superior talented and coached Offense

I cannot argue with this.

[LABILLBACKER]

2 hours ago, StHustle said:

You think anything was learned from the 9 minutes of the game we did play? And I mean on the Bills side. Seems like the Bengals took notes seeing they had us go 3 and out on our first two drives for the first time I can remember in years.

 

Frasier seems stubborn and unwilling to change. I remember him being asked about switching things up in a presser and his answer was along the lines of “we will stick with what got us this far” Smdh. Time for him to retire.

Frazier's absolute stubborn philosophy of never changing or adjusting his defense to his opponent should've been his downfall ages ago. If he's allowed to coach again this season it will be more predictable wide open wrs sitting in his Tampa 2 zone. 

[stevestojan]

The fact that he got to see 1.5 offensive drives from Cincy in that game and still coached the playoff game like he hated his own team is more reason why Frazier needs to go. 

Edited January 25, 2023 by stevestojan

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

2 hours ago, StHustle said:

 Seems like the Bengals took notes seeing they had us go 3 and out on our first two drives for the first time I can remember in years.

 

 Come on, you can remember all the way back to October 20th can't you? Vs Cleveland.....3 plays punt, 3 plays FG(Hines punt return), 3 plays punt. Three 3 and outs to start the game. We scored on the next 7 possessions after that. 

 

 

 

[Dick_Cheney]

Both extremely solid points and I agree entirely.

 

There's a reason why playoff rematches of regular season games are usually next level football. The teams have an intimate sort of nuance for the opponent, both on individual and larger scheme levels. I also believe this is why we struggled against the Dolphins in the wild card round. Both of the regular season matchups against them were just odd games, with unique injuries and playing conditions leading to all 3 of the Bills/Dolphins games feeling very different from one to the other.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if we went into this last Bengals game with the game plan that was essentially what it was during the canceled game when Hamlin was hurt. You'd gotta think that if that game had been played, regardless of whether or not we lost, the plan would have significant adjustments. The Bills could only do so much and the Bengals came more prepared than we were, and we lost.

 

Also I believe that if somehow we had laid a dud against the Pats in the final week instead of having an incredible, overwhelming win, we still might be in this thing. Oh well. Next year.

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

Just now, StHustle said:

ok is that two consecutive 3 and outs to start a game? When is the last time that happened?

 

 No it's 3 consecutive 3 and outs.

 

 

 

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

2 minutes ago, LOVEMESOMEBILLS said:

 

 No it's 3 consecutive 3 and outs.

 

 

 

 

This was to start the game. Buffalo didn't get a 1st down until there was 8:12 left in the 2nd quarter,. Almost 22 minutes for their first 1st down.

 

 

 

[pocoboy]

15 hours ago, JackKemp said:

There is another dimension to this. Not finishing the game. Of course it could not be done. No question on that. However, without that incident let's say the Bengals go on to win? Well we do learn a lot from the experience about them. The Bills have come back and beaten the Jets and Miami with a second chance. It is hard to beat a team twice in this league. If the Bills come back and win the game then they would have had more confidence and energy for the second meeting. The Bengals would have been already "put in their place". Also they may not have had to face them again. We also wouldn't have all of the hurt feelings by the Bengals that they weren't given respect with the neutral site game and such.

 

 

It's been interesting to watch the team continue to try to use the cop-out excuse of "we were out of gas" to try and play on the continued narrative fostered in the media about the snowstorms, Hamlin, Tops, etc. But fans really aren't having it.

 

If they want to use these excuses now, then I would venture to say that they were "out of gas" before the first Bengal game. They were getting destroyed just as handily up until the Hamlin event.

 

The bye on, this team was completely different. It's as if they sunk their entire emotional existence into avenging 13 Seconds. Almost like once they got that out of the way, the level of focus & desire dropped. They got to 2nd half of GB, Josh was in the midst of MVP discussions, then pressing to pad the numbers he dropped a couple of "garbage time" interceptions. Everything unraveled from there - the Jet game started with a bang but ended with a whimper, and then the Viking game was a shitshow of epic proportions.

 

So the coaching staff has some culpability, but I also think that Allen is gonna need to do some serious thinking about the way that midseason stretch went...if he went a little too hard at trying to live up to MVP hype, rather than doing the things every MVP QB does well - go through reads, take what the defense gives, and only press when the situation is right.

 

Lastly, if Dorsey is gonna stay - he has to devise gameplans to close out games that aren't just "let's try to exploit single coverage with the kill shot." Allen seems like a guy whose feast or famine instances are mostly fed by momentum and confidence. The more you ask him to try to hit the deep ball, as long as he hits it, everything's great. But when it doesn't happen...

Edited January 26, 2023 by pocoboy