When the dust settled... Was easy to move on from the blowout game... But not the season itself

[ShakAttack]

I am a 38-year-old lifelong Bills fan, so I am old enough to have been there for all the heartbreaking playoff exits over the years.  

 

This year’s loss to the Bengals, however, did not qualify as a “heartbreak”.  In fact, I was able to digest the 27-10 beatdown faster than any other Bills playoff loss, ever. 

But what I came to realize soon thereafter was that just because I was able to move on from this game relatively faster than others, that did not mean that I would have an easy time moving on from the season and the missed opportunity that it was.

 

One of the things that sticks with me, and bugs me, is that I cannot help but notice the Chiefs path to the Super Bowl reflects the vision the Bills had for this season in many ways.

 

It all started in the NFL draft, when many of us wanted the Bills to draft Trent McDuffie, so naturally, the Chiefs trade up in front of us to get him.  Now, Kaiir Elam has shown promise, I get that, but the point is how the Chiefs continue to be the team that gets everything we want, seemingly every time.

 

And when we do seem to get a leg up onthe Chiefs, something goes wrong instead.

 

Case in point. Before the draft, we signed Von Miller because it was pretty clear that the absence of a pass rush (specifically, a closer) was keeping us from advancing to the Super Bowl.  There is a long history of elite QBs that have their way with every playoff opponent UNLESS that opponent has a pass rush(er) that can get home.  

 

Von is a textbook closer and he lived up to his reputation in the early part of the season because, not only was he among the league leaders with 8 sacks, but most of those sacks came in critical moments of the game!  He had such a feel for the game and was able to turn it on when it was most needed which is exactly why we brought him to Buffalo.  Not only that, but Leslie Frazier’s defense actually looked GOOD when Miller was out there, aside from the secondary at times which had also been decimated with injuries.  But we had an effective four-man pass rush and Rousseau and Oliver were benefiting from Von Miller getting double-teams.  Bottom line… when he was out there, HE WAS WORTH IT!!!

 

Well… Von tears his ACL on Thanksgiving, and our pass rush is never the same after that, nor is our defense.  

 

Meanwhile, the Chiefs advance to the Super Bowl after their closer, Chris Jones, comes up with a 3rd down sack of Joe Burrow to end the threat and VERY likely possibility of the Bengals moving the ball into game winning FG range and milking the clock to ensure Mahomes never touches the ball again (i.e. similar to how we beat the Ravens and Dolphins this season, and the vast majority of the time you have an elite QB going up against a non-elite defense, he will win that matchup). 

 

But again… Chris Jones.  How fitting... right?  Who else would it be?  Just to rub it in our faces.  I don't know how, but it NEVER fails.   Yet again, KC plays out the scenario we had envisioned and dreamed of for ourselves after signing Von Miller, and they are going to the Super Bowl… again.

 

Now if you had told me at the beginning of the season that we would be 13-3 and beat the Chiefs in Arrowhead, I would be feeling confident that we had achieved our goal at attaining the #1 seed in the conference.

 

But of course, the Chiefs got it instead, by 1 game, and it literally took Damar Hamlin going into cardiac arrest in a nationally televised football game for the Chiefs to leapfrog the Bills and snag the #1 seed in the AFC right before the season ended. 

 

God forbid Patrick Mahomes ever has to play an away playoff game.  I mean it’s truly remarkable, isn’t it?  Sure, I give the KC Chiefs credit for how well the franchise is run, but the fact is, year after year, they just BARELY get that #1 seed and there were at least 3-4 games this season where Mr. Mahomes did not deliver at the end of the game and put KC in position to LOSE, but something ALWAYS happened and at the end of the day, they had JUST ENOUGH to secure the #1 seed.   Greatness with a lot of LUCK sprinkled in.  Helluva formula for success.  And it sounds much like the NE Patriots dynasty.

 

It's funny though.  On the subject of how difficult it has been for me to put this season in the rear view window, I the think Von Miller injury has been the most difficult of all.  And I say “it’s funny” because I didn’t necessarily feel that way when it was announced that he had a torn ACL and would be shut down for the season.  Yes, I hated it, and I realized that our playoff run would be negatively impacted by his absence, but I guess you could say it didn’t really hit home until the playoffs happened, and we got beat by the Bengals pass rush + not having a pass rush of our own, and then the Chiefs beat the Bengals with a pass rush, and then the 2 teams with the most sacks in the NFL end up going h2h in the Super Bowl.  That is when it really hit home.   

 

Still, I can’t help but think our path to the Super Bowl – even without Von Miller – would have been MUCH more feasible with that #1 seed (thank you, Vikings game) and that is what made it difficult to move on from the season, even though I had moved on from that final game.

 

Just look at Kansas City’s path vs. our own. 

 

We would have started with a much needed first round bye week.  The Bills probably needed the opportunity to regroup and refocus more than any other team in the NFL at that time.  Then, as it turns out, we would have hosted Jacksonville instead of the Bengals who apparently were THE WORST matchup possible for the Bills, and finally, we would get our rematch against Kansas City.  And even though it would really suck to have that rematch without Von Miller, I do not believe for one second that a game against the Chiefs would have played out the way the Bengals game did.  Buffalo would not come out flat against KC, period.  We knew KC and KC knew us.     It would have been a 50/50 ballgame (slightly in our favor if we had Von Miller).  But instead, we will never know. 

 

Point is, I realized that I could not just pass this off as “Well, this was not going to be our year anyway after everything that happened” because that isn’t true; it might have been because that #1 seed was significant and it is no coincidence that the two #1 seeds are now meeting in the Super Bowl.

 

And, as always, we came up JUST SHORT of that goal.

 

Like we came up JUST SHORT of finishing the game in 2021, with arguably the best Buffalo Bills team in franchise history.

 

And JUST SHORT in 2020, yes, even 2020, because only one team and one QB stood in our way of the Super Bowl that year.

 

So that’s really it.  This season, while it felt a lot different initially because of the one-sided loss that ended our season, it was just another chapter in the same old never-ending story. 

 

Also, I realize this post was a bit disorganized, so I apologize to those that attempted to follow along.  Really, I just needed to use this platform to vent and release these thoughts rather than being bothered by them. 😂

[26TrapDraw]

2 hours ago, BobBelcher said:

I am a 38-year-old lifelong Bills fan, so I am old enough to have been there for all the heartbreaking playoff exits over the years.  

 

This year’s loss to the Bengals, however, did not qualify as a “heartbreak”.  In fact, I was able to digest the 27-10 beatdown faster than any other Bills playoff loss, ever. 

But what I came to realize soon thereafter was that just because I was able to move on from this game relatively faster than others, that did not mean that I would have an easy time moving on from the season and the missed opportunity that it was.

 

One of the things that sticks with me, and bugs me, is that I cannot help but notice the Chiefs path to the Super Bowl reflects the vision the Bills had for this season in many ways.

 

It all started in the NFL draft, when many of us wanted the Bills to draft Trent McDuffie, so naturally, the Chiefs trade up in front of us to get him.  Now, Kaiir Elam has shown promise, I get that, but the point is how the Chiefs continue to be the team that gets everything we want, seemingly every time.

 

And when we do seem to get a leg up onthe Chiefs, something goes wrong instead.

 

Case in point. Before the draft, we signed Von Miller because it was pretty clear that the absence of a pass rush (specifically, a closer) was keeping us from advancing to the Super Bowl.  There is a long history of elite QBs that have their way with every playoff opponent UNLESS that opponent has a pass rush(er) that can get home.  

 

Von is a textbook closer and he lived up to his reputation in the early part of the season because, not only was he among the league leaders with 8 sacks, but most of those sacks came in critical moments of the game!  He had such a feel for the game and was able to turn it on when it was most needed which is exactly why we brought him to Buffalo.  Not only that, but Leslie Frazier’s defense actually looked GOOD when Miller was out there, aside from the secondary at times which had also been decimated with injuries.  But we had an effective four-man pass rush and Rousseau and Oliver were benefiting from Von Miller getting double-teams.  Bottom line… when he was out there, HE WAS WORTH IT!!!

 

Well… Von tears his ACL on Thanksgiving, and our pass rush is never the same after that, nor is our defense.  

 

Meanwhile, the Chiefs advance to the Super Bowl after their closer, Chris Jones, comes up with a 3rd down sack of Joe Burrow to end the threat and VERY likely possibility of the Bengals moving the ball into game winning FG range and milking the clock to ensure Mahomes never touches the ball again (i.e. similar to how we beat the Ravens and Dolphins this season, and the vast majority of the time you have an elite QB going up against a non-elite defense, he will win that matchup). 

 

But again… Chris Jones.  How fitting... right?  Who else would it be?  Just to rub it in our faces.  I don't know how, but it NEVER fails.   Yet again, KC plays out the scenario we had envisioned and dreamed of for ourselves after signing Von Miller, and they are going to the Super Bowl… again.

 

Now if you had told me at the beginning of the season that we would be 13-3 and beat the Chiefs in Arrowhead, I would be feeling confident that we had achieved our goal at attaining the #1 seed in the conference.

 

But of course, the Chiefs got it instead, by 1 game, and it literally took Damar Hamlin going into cardiac arrest in a nationally televised football game for the Chiefs to leapfrog the Bills and snag the #1 seed in the AFC right before the season ended. 

 

God forbid Patrick Mahomes ever has to play an away playoff game.  I mean it’s truly remarkable, isn’t it?  Sure, I give the KC Chiefs credit for how well the franchise is run, but the fact is, year after year, they just BARELY get that #1 seed and there were at least 3-4 games this season where Mr. Mahomes did not deliver at the end of the game and put KC in position to LOSE, but something ALWAYS happened and at the end of the day, they had JUST ENOUGH to secure the #1 seed.   Greatness with a lot of LUCK sprinkled in.  Helluva formula for success.  And it sounds much like the NE Patriots dynasty.

 

It's funny though.  On the subject of how difficult it has been for me to put this season in the rear view window, I the think Von Miller injury has been the most difficult of all.  And I say “it’s funny” because I didn’t necessarily feel that way when it was announced that he had a torn ACL and would be shut down for the season.  Yes, I hated it, and I realized that our playoff run would be negatively impacted by his absence, but I guess you could say it didn’t really hit home until the playoffs happened, and we got beat by the Bengals pass rush + not having a pass rush of our own, and then the Chiefs beat the Bengals with a pass rush, and then the 2 teams with the most sacks in the NFL end up going h2h in the Super Bowl.  That is when it really hit home.   

 

Still, I can’t help but think our path to the Super Bowl – even without Von Miller – would have been MUCH more feasible with that #1 seed (thank you, Vikings game) and that is what made it difficult to move on from the season, even though I had moved on from that final game.

 

Just look at Kansas City’s path vs. our own. 

 

We would have started with a much needed first round bye week.  The Bills probably needed the opportunity to regroup and refocus more than any other team in the NFL at that time.  Then, as it turns out, we would have hosted Jacksonville instead of the Bengals who apparently were THE WORST matchup possible for the Bills, and finally, we would get our rematch against Kansas City.  And even though it would really suck to have that rematch without Von Miller, I do not believe for one second that a game against the Chiefs would have played out the way the Bengals game did.  Buffalo would not come out flat against KC, period.  We knew KC and KC knew us.     It would have been a 50/50 ballgame (slightly in our favor if we had Von Miller).  But instead, we will never know. 

 

Point is, I realized that I could not just pass this off as “Well, this was not going to be our year anyway after everything that happened” because that isn’t true; it might have been because that #1 seed was significant and it is no coincidence that the two #1 seeds are now meeting in the Super Bowl.

 

And, as always, we came up JUST SHORT of that goal.

 

Like we came up JUST SHORT of finishing the game in 2021, with arguably the best Buffalo Bills team in franchise history.

 

And JUST SHORT in 2020, yes, even 2020, because only one team and one QB stood in our way of the Super Bowl that year.

 

So that’s really it.  This season, while it felt a lot different initially because of the one-sided loss that ended our season, it was just another chapter in the same old never-ending story. 

 

Also, I realize this post was a bit disorganized, so I apologize to those that attempted to follow along.  Really, I just needed to use this platform to vent and release these thoughts rather than being bothered by them. 😂

Good.

[LABILLBACKER]

They'll come a time after Kelce retires when Andy and Mahomes run out of luck. 

[Einstein]

Quote

But of course, the Chiefs got it instead, by 1 game, and it literally took Damar Hamlin going into cardiac arrest in a nationally televised football game for the Chiefs to leapfrog the Bills and snag the #1 seed in the AFC right before the season ended. 

 

While we cant say for sure, that regular season Bengals game was starting like the playoff blowout. 

 

I have a hard time believing we win that regular season game even if Hamlin didn't go down. 

[Charles Romes]

A major table that turned is that their division was supposed to be highly competitive and ours a cupcake. The reverse turned out to be true. 

Edited February 2, 2023 by Charles Romes

[QCity]

18 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

They'll come a time after Kelce retires when Andy and Mahomes run out of luck. 

 

I was told that was this year when Tyreek left.

[TampaBillsJunkie]

This is why we need a closer at DE and a LB who can blanket the best tight ends. Add a #2 WR, true #1RB and sprinkle me in a little RG/LG action and we are ready to make a run. But alas, that is a tall order to fulfill in one off-season with our cap situation. Beaner needs an A+ draft and some cap flexibility to pull off this magic trick. 

 

Oh, if by some chance all the magic comes true, we better get more out of Dorsey and Frazier better get aggressive on D or we are going to suffer the same bitter ending.

[JMM]

38 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

While we cant say for sure, that regular season Bengals game was starting like the playoff blowout. 

 

I have a hard time believing we win that regular season game even if Hamlin didn't go down. 

This! We weren't winning that game. One seed was gone either way after that night. 

[Einstein]

34 minutes ago, QCity said:

 

I was told that was this year when Tyreek left.

 

Chiefs lost their best WR and got better lol.

 

 

[Buffalo Boy]

1 hour ago, LABILLBACKER said:

They'll come a time after Kelce retires when Andy and Mahomes run out of luck. 

  Will Allen still be in one piece then or is he Truly Cam 2.0….. getting the crap knocked out of himself behind criminally inept line in an offense run by an OC that treats him like a get out of jail free card????

[Success]

KC's run of home AFCCG's reminds me a bit of how things were earlier in the Pats run.  They always got Manning at their place.  He finally broke through - barely - when the Colts were able to host the Pats in '06, and Manning got the better of that rivalry from that point on.

 

A lot of things have to go right to get to a Super Bowl, especially these days in the AFC.  They didn't for us this year.  All we can do is saddle up and hope it works out better next season.  At least we have Allen, and still one of the best teams in the league.

 

 

[Man with No Name]

the chiefs have a system that works. I always thought they would be severely weakened when they lost the threat of having the fastest open field WR in the league, but they didn't seem to miss him much once they got moving. I don't know what our issue is, but we do not fire on all cylinders the way KC does. 

 

There are just too many problems to start pointing fingers and imagine we are solving problems. I give up. Expectations were just higher than we were worth this year. Maybe next year will be more fun coming from the position of a dog. 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Man with No Name

[ShakAttack]

5 hours ago, JMM said:

This! We weren't winning that game. One seed was gone either way after that night. 

 

True, but, I guess my point was, the Chiefs needed us to "lose" 1 more game to get the 1 Seed, and that's exactly what they got, because the 1 team in the AFC that we matched up horribly against happened to be one of the last teams on our schedule.  I do agree that we would have lost that game too; I was just trying to point out that the way in which they ended up getting the #1 seed, well, let's just say "ONLY with the Chiefs..."  Meanwhile, there were at least 4 games in which they narrowly escaped and arguably should have lost  (Chargers 2x, Raiders, Texans, maybe others too), but somehow they win all four of them, which turns out to be precisely what they needed to have.  In contrast, the Bills have a game that was literally in the bag against the Vikings, but found a way to lose, and there is your 1 game difference.  

 

It's just amazing to me that year after year they do JUST ENOUGH to get the #1 seed.   And say what you want about Mahomes, but you cannot credit him for ALL of these wins because I believe 3 of the 4 aforementioned games were won on defense and/or by their opponent making inexplicable self-inflicted mistakes at the worst possible time.    ONE of the four did have an absolutely incredible game winning drive by Mahomes, but again, that's one out of four.      Their defense essentially turns into the clutch equivalent of their future HOF QB somehow in these close games.  

[ShakAttack]

1 hour ago, Man with No Name said:

the chiefs have a system that works. I always thought they would be severely weakened when they lost the threat of having the fastest open field WR in the league, but they didn't seem to miss him much once they got moving. I don't know what our issue is, but we do not fire on all cylinders the way KC does. 

 

There are just too many problems to start pointing fingers and imagine we are solving problems. I give up. Expectations were just higher than we were worth this year. Maybe next year will be more fun coming from the position of a dog. 

 

I mean, after seeing what our defense and pass rush looked like when Von Miller was healthy, I do believe we could have met those expectations if he were healthy for the playoffs.  After all, this is what makes him such a special player.  Most guys with 8 sacks, they were probably registered on random passing plays, etc.  but with Miller, almost ALL of his 8 sacks were incredibly timely, and that is what you want to have in the playoffs.   Yes, that ONE player could have potentially changed the entire Bengals game.  But without a pass rush, there was never a chance.  Sub Mahomes in for Allen in that game, and the Bills still lose, probably just as badly.

 

I think the part that sucks the most, when I think about "next season" is that he tore his ACL, so he when he is back, he likely won't be back to 100%, and heck, he might never be 100% ever again.  I think if you could tell us "Von will be return at 100%" even if it were in Week 5-8 or so, we would have more hope for the team in 2023 because he really was making that much of a difference, even in Frazier's vanilla defense.

 

4 hours ago, Success said:

KC's run of home AFCCG's reminds me a bit of how things were earlier in the Pats run.  They always got Manning at their place.  He finally broke through - barely - when the Colts were able to host the Pats in '06, and Manning got the better of that rivalry from that point on.

 

A lot of things have to go right to get to a Super Bowl, especially these days in the AFC.  They didn't for us this year.  All we can do is saddle up and hope it works out better next season.  At least we have Allen, and still one of the best teams in the league.

 

 

 

I've learned the biggest one of all, is overall health of the team.  You look at the 2 teams in the Super Bowl and you've got 2 of the healthiest teams in football.  You look at some of teams that went deep into the playoffs and lost and why they lost, and injuries stand out as much as anything...

 

- Bills lost Von Miller and lost a pass rush that was among the best in the NFL when he was healthy

- Niners lost their QBs and couldn't even throw a pass for half the game

- Bengals lost their OL and it finally caught up to them when they faced a HEALTHY and talented D-Line that was able to take advantage

 

Heck, if we are relatively healthy next season, that's an advantage in itself.

 

It sucks, but that's true with the NFL more so than any other sport.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

1 hour ago, Man with No Name said:

the chiefs have a system that works. I always thought they would be severely weakened when they lost the threat of having the fastest open field WR in the league, but they didn't seem to miss him much once they got moving. I don't know what our issue is, but we do not fire on all cylinders the way KC does. 

 

There are just too many problems to start pointing fingers and imagine we are solving problems. I give up. Expectations were just higher than we were worth this year. Maybe next year will be more fun coming from the position of a dog. 

amazingly, the chiefs even looked really good with Henne back there. 

[Big Blitz]

5 hours ago, TampaBillsJunkie said:

This is why we need a closer at DE and a LB who can blanket the best tight ends. Add a #2 WR, true #1RB and sprinkle me in a little RG/LG action and we are ready to make a run. But alas, that is a tall order to fulfill in one off-season with our cap situation. Beaner needs an A+ draft and some cap flexibility to pull off this magic trick. 

 

Oh, if by some chance all the magic comes true, we better get more out of Dorsey and Frazier better get aggressive on D or we are going to suffer the same bitter ending.

 

If we still after 7 years of McBeane need these things we have a serious problem 

 

I think the 2022 roster was built to win it this year.  
 

They gambled Von would not get hurt like that.  And of course he did AND we lost Hyde.  
 

They were indeed all in.  

[TampaBillsJunkie]

33 minutes ago, Big Blitz said:

They gambled Von would not get hurt like that.  And of course he did AND we lost Hyde.  
They were indeed all in.  

 

I don't disagree. We were all in and flopped with the injuries. A fully healthy Bills team could have won the Super Bowl and would have lived up to the lofty expectations.  We were down 5 key players on D, but that can't be "the" excuse that sank us.

[Airseven]

7 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

They'll come a time after Kelce retires when Andy and Mahomes run out of luck. 

They’ll come a time after Mahomes retires when the Bills may have a shot in the AFC. Sort of like when Brady allowed the Bills to take over the AFCE.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Airseven

[That's No Moon]

End of the day I just don't believe in this team's construction.  Will they win games? Sure. They will never win a Super Bowl constructed the way they currently are.

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

14 hours ago, Charles Romes said:

A major table that turned is that their division was supposed to be highly competitive and ours a cupcake. The reverse turned out to be true. 

 

 While I agree the AFC west was easier than expected, ours wasn't that competitive either, unless you count the end of the season at the halfway point. The Dolphins finished the season 1-5 in their last 6 games. The Pats 2-5 in their last 7 and the Jets 1-7 in their last 8.

 

  As far as the competition is concerned, the Chargers had the best record in either division. And we won our division by 4.5 games, KC won theirs by 4 games.