Now that the dust on the season has settled (a bit) can we please consider the Elephant in the room?

[Xwnyer]

The elephant is Josh without him this team is 5-12 

[reddogblitz]

1 hour ago, GolfandBills said:

Bengals are way ahead of us is what i took from this season and it’s not really close.    Lots of work to do to catch up to them.  

 

Are they really? They barely beat the Ravens with a backup QB that is not very good in their own house.  Had the Ravens backup QB not given them a free 97 yard TD they may very well have lost that game.

 

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

1 hour ago, HOUSE said:

I fixed it for you, you forgot one

 

 

I really think that was the straw that broke the camels back...

[US Egg]

That Buffalo folks have cleared more snow this winter than the last few and its still January looms large too.

Edited January 28, 2023 by I am the egg man

[SinceThe70s]

1 hour ago, zow2 said:

Eh, it’s excuses.   they didn’t have the leadership and assassin mentality during the week to do whatever it took to beat Cinci.  They didn’t seize the moment during an 3 hour block of time and take it seriously enough. They figured being “home” would take care of things.

 

I blame McDermott,, and pin some on Frazier and Dorsey, and to be honest the team leaders as well. They lollygagged during the week and Cincinnati was incensed and ready to pound the Bills.

 

Is this something you know of and can expound on or just speculation based on the result?

[The Firebaugh Kid]

This is just another blown opportunity. Truly sad to waste a great season with a piss poor performance like that at home, with “Who Dey” mocking us for an entire quarter. Embarrassing 

[78thealltimegreat]

46 minutes ago, reddogblitz said:

 

Are they really? They barely beat the Ravens with a backup QB that is not very good in their own house.  Had the Ravens backup QB not given them a free 97 yard TD they may very well have lost that game.

 

 

What I’m saying and even during their wining streak they weren’t blowing teams out and before their winning streak they were beaten by Jacoby Brissette and Cooper Rush. This isn’t some second coming of the patriots the bills coaching just sucked in this game. 

[Captain Hindsight]

1 hour ago, strive_for_five_guy said:

Please, we all know you are resting comfortably on your pile of money 😉

He stole my wallet

[Zerovoltz]

I agree with the OP.  This stuff matters.  but I want to put another spin on it...and if this has been brought up in another thread(s) forgive me...I haven't read through them all here.

 

Damar happening didn't help.

 

Like everyone, I am so happy he lived and is alive but adding that to a all the other emotially draining events of this season was too much...and here is why I tihink so.

 

The Bills already had the minor burden of being the odds on favorite to advance to and win the SB in the preseason and your hot start did nothing but add fuel to that fire.  When it became clear that Demar was going to live and recover....from the outside looking in, it seemed like that was supposed to almost automatically propel the Bills to the SB....like that whole sequence of Damar dying and living meant that the Bills were all but a foregone conclusion to win it all becaue it surely had to be their destiny and now there was this insirational figure and story added to it...

 

So in my opinion, the emotial lift from that was basically the kickoff return VS the Pats and then after that, the burden of delivering on all the expectations and fulfilling the destiny that the story says you will....that's pressure.  ...add in that a narrative developed that you benefitted from not playing the conclusion of that game...that's alot. 

[transplantbillsfan]

2 hours ago, Marcus Aurelius said:

Covered before ad infinitum  ...

 

2 hours ago, JohnBonhamRocks said:

Certainly was a lot of adversity.
 

But adversity didn’t outmatch our offensive and defensive lines on most snaps. 
 

Edit: Elephant in the room implies something big people aren’t talking about. See covered “ad infinitum” above. 

 

The thing is, it's become the afterthought to the belief this team needs major changes personnel wise to compete for a Super Bowl.

 

Since priority #1 on this board right now appears to be "Fire! Cut! Trade! Upgrade!" I think it fits.

2 hours ago, GolfandBills said:

Bengals are way ahead of us is what i took from this season and it’s not really close.    Lots of work to do to catch up to them.  

 

Did you watch that game they played against the Ravens the week before? 

 

Or the game they played against the Patriots a few weeks before that?

 

The Bengals should have lost both those games. Do you think the Bills are worse than the Ravens and Patriots?

[LABILLBACKER]

3 hours ago, transplantbillsfan said:

This is something we all know and acknowledge anyway about the 2022-2023 Buffalo Bills:

 

They went through some *****!!!

 

Tops shooting

Kim Pegula getting sick

Knox's brother dying

120 degree heat game in Miami

Davis lingering ankle injury (multiple reporters, including Dan Fetes, said he just didn't look right in practice for most of the season)

Dane Jackson having to get taken off the field in an Ambulance

Micah Hyde being lost for the season

Josh Allen elbow injury and minimal practice/throwing for a couple weeks and lingering through the season

7 foot blizzard that didn't allow for a week of real practice and then relocated a home game to Detroit

A 2nd home game in Detroit 4 days later

4 away games in 11 days

Getting stuck in Chicago overnight on Christmas Eve because of a blizzard that killed dozens of people in Buffalo

Missing what many would argue are the 2 biggest Holidays of the year with their families

Damar

 

And I'm sure I'm missing some of these things.

 

EDIT: Somehow I forgot losing Von Miller... insane list 

 

These guys are human beings and I challenge anyone to find another team in NFL history that went through as much crap as Buffalo did this year and still managed to go 13-3 in the regular season and win a playoff game with one of the harder SoSs in that year.

 

I had issues with the offensive and defensive gameplan by Dorsey and Frazier.  Obviously a problem--big problem as far as Frazier goes when you're playing zone with guys 10 yards off the line against a QB with one of the quickest releases in the NFL.

 

But let's all take a breath.  This clearly wasn't our year.  But maybe it's more Acts of God than the team just not being good.

Yes it was an unbelievably brutal year. You forgot our coaches still suck.  There that should complete the list.

[PrimeTime101]

1 hour ago, DJB said:

Can the elephant play oline? 🧐

 

(Yes I stole it from someone else lol)

(Replied exactly like this last time too)

[MJS]

3 hours ago, Lost said:

They battled through adversity knocking out win after win and just when they turned the corner...things were looking better, Damar was back in the building...they were 2 games away from their dream...just at that moment they decided they didn't have anything left in them.   Sorry I don't buy it.  I feel for all the players went through this season but Cincy game was a complete coaching mismatch.  

I don't know. Maybe everyone is smarter than me and they know how to recognize coaching in a game. I see the players and their performances. The PLAYERS were not good enough. I think we need more talent. The offensive line is bad. Gabe didn't step up into that #2 role. The defensive line wasn't getting pressure.

 

Yeah, I think the coaches need to take a hard look at their schemes and be willing to make some significant changes. You have to be evolving constantly in this league.

 

People can continue to dump everything on coaching, but it is far more obvious to see the lack of execution from the players to me. We have a good team, but the oline is a big problem and we need a few more pieces besides that. Heck, Josh Allen needs to play better too. Let's not pretend like he was playing his best ball in 2022.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

1 hour ago, DCbillsfan said:

This is the grim reality.  Reminds me of when we lost to Chiefs in AFC Championship game.

 

The thing that sucks is I think they caught the Chiefs based on winning two out of the last three. But now the Bengals are better than both teams. If Burrow didn't have the appendectomy surgery that caused him to miss the entire preseason, leading to an 0-2 start, they probably take the 1 seed over both the Chiefs and Bills. 

[PrimeTime101]

28 minutes ago, MJS said:

I don't know. Maybe everyone is smarter than me and they know how to recognize coaching in a game. I see the players and their performances. The PLAYERS were not good enough. I think we need more talent. The offensive line is bad. Gabe didn't step up into that #2 role. The defensive line wasn't getting pressure.

 

Yeah, I think the coaches need to take a hard look at their schemes and be willing to make some significant changes. You have to be evolving constantly in this league.

 

People can continue to dump everything on coaching, but it is far more obvious to see the lack of execution from the players to me. We have a good team, but the oline is a big problem and we need a few more pieces besides that. Heck, Josh Allen needs to play better too. Let's not pretend like he was playing his best ball in 2022.

the scheme is not the fatal flaw if you have the right players on both sides. We don't and that is up to the coaching to recognize this. At what point do we reconize that coaching is doing one of 2 things... going up the slippery slope and falling backwards or falling down that same slope and not having control....

[Success]

I 100% agree w/ the OP. It's too easy to say "every team faces adversity" and expect these guys to be robots.  

 

After Hamlin, the season flipped for me. I went from riding the SB train, to just hoping he'd be alright.  The season didn't even seem to matter anymore.

 

When Hines returned that 1st kick against the Pats, I was sort of back in - hey, maybe they can really do this. But even that game, they were kind of going on fumes. Without the TD returns, we might have lost that game - to a much worse team, at home.

 

Adversity does reach a kind of critical mass at some point, and we got there this season.  It just wasn't in the cards.  Eyeroll & vomit away.

 

[Boatdrinks]

2 hours ago, reddogblitz said:

 

Are they really? They barely beat the Ravens with a backup QB that is not very good in their own house.  Had the Ravens backup QB not given them a free 97 yard TD they may very well have lost that game.

 

 

Bills fans are often far too critical of their own team, while not critical enough of rival teams. 

[reddogblitz]

1 hour ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

The thing that sucks is I think they caught the Chiefs based on winning two out of the last three. But now the Bengals are better than both teams. If Burrow didn't have the appendectomy surgery that caused him to miss the entire preseason, leading to an 0-2 start, they probably take the 1 seed over both the Chiefs and Bills. 

 

We'll see on Sunday who is better. KC or the mighty Bengals.

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

They need guys who can rush the passer and OL who can block for Josh and the run game, if we count on 2 people and they get hurt or have an off game we will continue to have games like this. This Bengals game was an eye opener, I've watched it 3 times now and I want to know how a 3 man rush got to Josh Allen but we get 1 sack on Joe Burrow with 3 starting OL out for the Bengals. I've not been a fan of Frazier for awhile but I thought maybe after the 13 seconds debacle that he would be more creative and possibly adjust on the fly if things aren't working but he doesn't and wont. I understand that Frazier is running a version of McDermott's defense but is there nobody out there who can maybe add a more fresh perspective? When the defense wasn't working at all why didn't McDermott pull the reigns and take it over himself? Failing again and again and thinking it will correct itself is setting yourself up for failure. It's going to be interesting to see what they can possibly do with very little cap and all these holes to fill. 

[ExiledInIllinois]

5 hours ago, Strethor said:

This is all an excuse, the Bills failed with their mission! All teams fight through adversity, even where there is none teams will manufacture it out of thin air to gather the chip on the shoulder mentality. Of course the adversity was an all time high - things won't get any easier.

How does one come out and say: "I don't want to compete because I am stressed about dying?"

 

Never before did a team face death face to face on the field. This team did. They blocked it off with a human wall to stop the prying cameras of today from viewing, recording it.  Even the Bengals players were walled off to a certain extent.

 

The PTSD is different for the players that have to put themselves right back into the situation that caused the stress.  Probably the first time in their careers they thought about how dangerous their occupation reallt is. 

 

Not using it as an excuse, yet it probably isn't a coincidence that the team was off the next time they met the Bengals.

 

Just saying... I will give them a bad game solely for that reason. 

 

Remember,  everyone handles stress in different ways.  These guys aren't robots. 

Edited January 28, 2023 by ExiledInIllinois