Reassessing the Over-Reactions to the Divisional Round

[BernieBill]

The Bills are in major trouble.  Sean McDermott is not the right head coach for Josh Allen and each year McDermott remains coach, that's another wasted year in Josh Allen's career.  The Chiefs and Bengals are way better than the Bills.  You cannot have a home playoff game in the snow in Buffalo and put up the garbage performance the McDermott-led Bills just put up.  McDermott is not in the same class as Andy Reid, Zac Taylor, Nick Sirianni, Kyle Shanahan, etc.  When the Bills were bottom-dwellers, a hire like McDermott seemed reasonable ... but then you hit the lottery and draft Josh Allen and suddenly a defensive-minded little engine that could head coach is completely overmatched.  The Bills defense could not stop elite teams 3 straight years in the playoffs ... and the Bills offense this year ended the season with a disgusting 10-point output.  The Bills need an offensive-minded head coach to maximize the Josh Allen years and the Bills need root and branch change on the defensive side of the ball (new DC, etc.).

[Billsfan1972]

8 minutes ago, boyst said:

The first super bowl is win within 5 yrs. 

 

It was a stat discussed in NFLN. I'm too lazy to look it up... Wait. I'm at work... Meh here goes. 

 

As of 2017

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-coaches-and-qbs-should-divorce-after-five-years-of-not-winning/amp/

 

To my knowledge still true

So McD & Allen now are toast and Cincy has a 2 year window with Burrow & Taylor. 

 

More importantly has McD done anything to help Allen as a QB?

Edited January 30, 2023 by Billsfan1972

[JohnNord]

2 hours ago, Never NEVER Give-up said:

Now that the Championship games are over, I'd like to hear opinions on:

1. Are the Bills inside or outside the top tier of the AFC?  (Did the Bills have a bad game against the Bengals or are the Bills clearly inferior to the Bengals & Chiefs?)
2. What's the take on the Eagles?  (Have they been tested yet?  Played the 5th string QB for SF!! (Purdy w/no arm!)  Now they will play the Chiefs - who are so banged up they are thanking God there is 2 weeks until the SB.)

 

My Take:

1. The Bills are in the conversation!  They played their worst game since the Indy game early in 2021.  They were 14-4 this year (not 4-14).  Unfortunately that last game will stay in our mouths until September.
2. The Eagles have had it easy this year and I honestly don't know if they're as good as the Chiefs, Bengals or Bills.  However, much like their season, they will be facing a diminished opponent in their next game (wounded Chiefs).  Maybe a healthier Bengals team would have been a more formidable opponent for them.  Can Mahomes work his magic one more week?

I disagree on the Eagles.  I think their strengths matchup really against Kansas City.  Plus KC is not going to be healthy even with the extra week of rest.
 

Hurts is not as good as Mahomes, Allen, Burrow etc but he really doesn’t have to be in that offense.   If he can hit the deep ball, which he failed to do versus SF, I think he’s a SB champion 

[Gregg]

26 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

Hurts looked massively overrated yesterday...basically looked like a very VERY poor man's Josh Allen when healthy without the ability to stiff arm DLinemen to the ground or run over LBs.  Basically like a 70% Josh Allen.

 

The Niners defense can make anyone struggle. They did the best they could to keep SF in the game. After Purdy got hurt, they had no QB and nothing from the passing game. The Niners defense eventually wore down.

[Jrb1979]

1 hour ago, jletha said:

The Bills are not clearly inferior to the Bengals and Chiefs. They played their worst game in 2 years at the worst time. Their lines are clearly inferior, specifically O-line. The D-line, while not great, was missing its two most important pieces in Jones & Miller. So I am willing to chalk it up to that and know that it should be better next year assuming they arent injured again. Evidence that we are not clearly inferior to the Chiefs is that we beat them at full strength this year. OF course its no guarantee we would beat them in January but to say we are *clearly* inferior is wrong. Same with the Bengals.

That defense from the start of this season is not returning. Poyer is all but gone plus likely losing a few others. IMO it won't matter what they do as they have hit their ceiling. I say that cause there defensive scheme doesn't work against elite teams. Case in point, look at how KC's defense played the Bengals compared to how the Bills played them. KC jammed the Bengals recievers and didn't play off the ball which game Burrow no time to throw. 

[Big Turk]

4 minutes ago, Jrb1979 said:

That defense from the start of this season is not returning. Poyer is all but gone plus likely losing a few others. IMO it won't matter what they do as they have hit their ceiling. I say that cause there defensive scheme doesn't work against elite teams. Case in point, look at how KC's defense played the Bengals compared to how the Bills played them. KC jammed the Bengals recievers and didn't play off the ball which game Burrow no time to throw. 

 

Works fine in the regular season.  It's not the scheme, it's the passiveness they call it with in the playoffs due to being too scared to give up big plays

[boyst]

14 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

So McD & Allen now are toast and Cincy has a 2 year window with Burrow & Taylor. 

 

More importantly has McD done anything to help Allen as a QB?

He has helped him achieve moral victories

[Billsfan1972]

1 minute ago, boyst said:

He has helped him achieve moral victories

Don't forget he also installed/instilled "the process" 

[ExiledInIllinois]

Elway was 38 & 39 when he finally won a SB. Josh is 26. 😆 🤣 😂 

8 minutes ago, boyst said:

He has helped him achieve moral victories

And laugh in the face of death!

[Jrb1979]

10 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

Works fine in the regular season.  It's not the scheme, it's the passiveness they call it with in the playoffs due to being too scared to give up big plays

Either way til that changes the results will be the same.  What I don't get is why they rarely take what other teams do that works against the teams they are playing and don't use some of them. They clearly saw what the Ravens did against the Bengals and did none of that. 

[ExiledInIllinois]

17 minutes ago, Gregg said:

 

The Niners defense can make anyone struggle. They did the best they could to keep SF in the game. After Purdy got hurt, they had no QB and nothing from the passing game. The Niners defense eventually wore down.

They gave up 31 points.  The D did the best they could! 😆 🤣  Bills gave up 27 and they were totally physically and psychologically gassed.

 

But the Bills didn't wear down over the last 2 months?

 

Hey... This is an overreaction thread! 😉 

[TheFunPolice]

After watching this weekends' games, I'm inclined to think we just got beat. 

 

Also, I wouldn't mind having McDermott call the plays on D, since it's his D anyway. In the past he has done it for short spurts, and it has almost always been effective. 

 

We have a very good defensive coach, so let's get the full benefit. 

 

 

 

 

[Gregg]

6 minutes ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

They gave up 31 points.  The D did the best they could! 😆 🤣  Bills gave up 27 and they were totally physically and psychologically gassed.

 

But the Bills didn't wear down over the last 2 months?

 

Hey... This is an overreaction thread! 😉 

 

SF had no QB and got nothing from the passing game. Even a defense as good as SF was eventually going to wear down. The penalties didn't help either.

[Dr. Who]

Just now, TheFunPolice said:

After watching this weekends' games, I'm inclined to think we just got beat. 

 

Also, I wouldn't mind having McDermott call the plays on D, since it's his D anyway. In the past he has done it for short spurts, and it has almost always been effective. 

 

We have a very good defensive coach, so let's get the full benefit. 

 

 

 

 

He needs to elevate the level of his players on D and not demand the best picks and bulk of free agency support his side of the ball. That's the only compensation for going against the trend that is successful in the current NFL, offensive coaches as HC.

[TheFunPolice]

1 minute ago, Gregg said:

 

SF had no QB and got nothing from the passing game. Even a defense as good as SF was eventually going to wear down. The penalties didn't help either.

 

SF didn't really attempt to pass after the first drive when Purdy went down. 

[Gregg]

1 minute ago, TheFunPolice said:

 

SF didn't really attempt to pass after the first drive when Purdy went down. 

 

I could understand with Purdy because of the injury but when Johnson was in there they should have thrown more.

[Rocbillsfan1]

The biggest overreaction was how bad the DL was for the Bills. Jones on the Chiefs had the fastest sack for the Chiefs last night at about 4 seconds. When Burrow played us he was getting most of his completions out at about 2.5 seconds. You aren't going to get sacks or presssures when the QB is getting the ball out that fast. And how was he getting the ball out so fast? It was bad coaching decisions on the Bills to play zone coverage and routinely be 5 - 10 yards off their receivers. I get that Mcdermott and Frazier's system works for most of the season against inferior talent and coordinators but they basically did the exact opposite of what they were supposed to do in that game. 

 

Our coaching sucks and I think that is generally still an under reaction on this board. Mcdermott needs to go. He is going to come up small just like he has in all 4 of his playoff loses with Josh Allen as his QB. Just inexcusable that you give up 19 second half points to Houston. Give up around 40+ both times to the Chiefs and allow Burrow with no offensive line to come into Buffalo in the winter and carve you up. I'm so sick of his inexcusable failure at this point. 

 

 

[Deadstroke]

2 hours ago, Awwufelloff said:

Bengals, Chiefs, and Bills can all beat each other on any given Sunday. 

Chiefs beat the Bengals, Bengals beat the Bills, and Bills beat the Chiefs.  Go figger!🤔

[Orlando Buffalo]

The OL is our Achilles heel right now, the DL was missing Von and DaQuan which is probably our two most important players vs someone like the Bengals. I want to improve the DL but our biggest issue is clearly the OL.

[Awwufelloff]

The Houston Texans almost beat the team going to the superbowl in the AFC.