The Cincy game & its affect on how we view the team

[Mr. WEO]

Bad game and a very poorly prepared team.  
 

Coaching

[papazoid]

I'm still incredibly positive on our immediate future....as in top 5 in the league  for next  3 years

 

sure, that cincy game hurt like hell......but i have lots of excuses

 

#1- the weather sucked and changed everything for us.....we need a fast track

#2- half the defense was not themselves....von, daquan & hyde out. poyer, tre, others a shell of themselves

#3- the whole demar hamlin energy came crashing down

#4- leslie frazier played soft and predictable....he's gone

 

i could go on. nobody is running away with the lombardi.....we will be in the thick of it.... GO  BILLS !!

 

just give Josh more time...fix the O-line and lookout

Edited March 18, 2023 by papazoid

[cba fan]

the weather made the d callers play soft. Bills need a dome to excel in post season.

[JohnNord]

1 hour ago, Success said:

If we talked about this team anytime in September or October, I think it would have been hard to find a poster here who didn't think we were either the best team in the league, or at least even with the best.  We went to the house of the eventual SB champ, and beat them, without any breaks or anything flukey.   We had some blowouts.  The offense was clicking on all cylinders, and the defense - at that time - was pretty smothering.

 

Our losses were all 1 score, 1 play.  Cincy in the playoffs was the 1st time that any team took it to us, and just beat us up and down the field, all game.  THAT is now how many here now view the team. Very flawed, and much weaker than we thought.

 

But ultimately, it was just one game.  Teams lay eggs, and given how emotional the last month of the season was, it's easy to see in hindsight how that affected the team (and the Bengals were kind of the opposite, playing w/ a real chip on their shoulder).  They also may just be a bad match-up for the Bills, which I'm hoping will change w/ the change in DC.  I think Frazier's defense was very effective against quite a few teams - but against Cincy & those receivers, you have to be aggressive, and challenge them more at the line.

 

I don't buy the whole "we were already behind the top teams and now we're falling further behind" narrative of FA.  When healthy, we're still right there w/ the best teams - and we're rolling everything back minus Edmunds, and with a new guard, a faster receiver than we've had in awhile, and the draft still ahead.

 

I don't see us taking a step back in '23.  We'll be right there w/ the top teams.

 

 

 

 

 

People underestimate the role of luck when it comes to winning a Super Bowl.  The Bills had perhaps, the worst luck of any teams when it came to injuries.

 

Compare the Bills with Kansas City who was incredibly lucky all season long and really lucky in the postseason.   Consider the Mahomes injury in both playoff games which hobbled him but didn’t result in him missing many plays.  Or the minor injuries to the WR’s that knocked them out of the AFCCG, but they had healed up significantly thanks to the 2 week bye.   This does not even take into account the lucky breaks they got on the field all season long and in the playoffs - especially the AFCCG.  
 

I think the injury situation caught up to them as did the weaknesses on the roster which were exploited in the Cincy game 
 

 

 

[Aussie Joe]

Hope they have fixed the issues with their cleats by now..

 

They played like they were on roller skates…

[JohnNord]

4 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

Bad game and a very poorly prepared team.  
 

Coaching

Which part of coaching involved Tremaine Edmunds and Ed Oliver getting physically bullied by Cincinnati’s makeshift OL?

 

To say it was all “coaching” is inaccurate.  It was a combo of bad coaching and bad execution.  Players who needed to step up on the Bills…didn’t.  

[blacklabel]

It was just the worst time for them to have their worst game. They really just burned out after a grueling season. 

[JohnNord]

1 hour ago, Playoffs? said:

I think what that game did was expose our weaknesses. Both sides of our lines were beaten up and down. Offensively, we realized that we’d been leaning on a crappy O-Line all season, but Allen made up for it.  In this game, Allen was off, and we suffered the consequences. We had it coming.  Allen and Diggs need help, and our other players need to step up. 
 

On the D-Line, we realized that we pretty much sucked without Von. Injuries compounded the problem. And our D scheme was pitiful… playing soft, allowing QB’s to get the ball out quickly, and not allowing our linemen to get to the opposing QB.  Our secondary was decimated..

 

I think we’ll be back in the mix.. but definitely tempering expectations.

I agree for the most part.  I do think that the disguised coverages from Cincy confused Josh but he was also running for his life most of the time.  

[BillsVet]

https://www.buffalobills.com/news/takeaways-as-gm-brandon-beane-looks-ahead-to-the-2021-offseason

 

The GM himself said after the 13 seconds game your last game says a lot about what's wrong with your roster.  And that holds true for the 2022 season.

 

Observant posters saw and commented on the lack of WR depth and issues along the OL heading into last season.  Offensive skill talent speed has been an issue for a couple seasons now along with over-investment into the defense which lacks scheme versatility.  

 

Maybe McBeane up their game from the last 2 off-seasons and figure how to construct a roster that isn't cap poor and gets value.  Maybe they support Josh more this season...but the last 2 end of season losses spoke volumes about where they were. 

[JohnNord]

1 minute ago, blacklabel said:

It was just the worst time for them to have their worst game. They really just burned out after a grueling season. 

Sometimes it’s just that simple.

[atlbillsfan1975]

1 hour ago, birdo67 said:

Eh, it's one of my main shticks (schticks is also acceptable).

Posters who police grammar are great. 
 

I kept bracing myself all season for a blowout, I knew it was coming. Under McD there has been one every year. Stinks it had to happen in the playoffs. 

Edited March 18, 2023 by atlbillsfan1975

[Aussie Joe]

It wasn’t just “one bad game”…

 

They were lucky to win against Miami the week before with Skylar Thompson at the helm…

 

They were on the decline the second half of the season…

[Mr. WEO]

7 minutes ago, JohnNord said:

Which part of coaching involved Tremaine Edmunds and Ed Oliver getting physically bullied by Cincinnati’s makeshift OL?

 

To say it was all “coaching” is inaccurate.  It was a combo of bad coaching and bad execution.  Players who needed to step up on the Bills…didn’t.  

Biggest game of the year and they came out flat, with no energy and poorly prepared. 
 

 

[The Wiz]

20 minutes ago, cba fan said:

the weather made the d callers play soft. Bills need a dome to excel in post season.

Also not playing 10 yards off the receivers on 3rd and 3 might help.

Edited March 18, 2023 by The Wiz

[Another Fan]

Much less hype presently.   

 

On March 16, 2022 the Bills signed Von Miller which is almost a year ago today.  I would say from that point up until the Bengals game the team was extremely hyped on these boards.  Even after the Dolphins first round game I still thought the consensus on the boards was ah well we are the best team and it's good we got our clunker game out of the way early on in the playoffs.  

 

A lot different vibes here now.  

Edited March 18, 2023 by Another Fan

[Augie]

5 minutes ago, The Wiz said:

Also not playing 10 yards off the receivers on 3rd and 3 might help.

 

I’ll never say we were the better team, because I think the Bengals would have beaten us twice if given the chance. But that was a bad set of circumstances and decisions. If I’m in slippery conditions like that I’d like to play less fearful in a zone, and mix in a lot more man coverage. It’s easier to try to run with them than play WAY off and try to break quickly on the ball. Slippery for our DLine too, so not much rush. That’s like shooting fish in a barrel. 

[BBFL]

How anyone views the team is going to be subjective to personal opinions so for me… I view the team changed after the bye against the Packers where it became a common theme this team just felt to winging it on offense, bend and don’t break on D in the hope points will be scored. 

[nosejob]

1 hour ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

There’s just no way to think we can beat them now, until we see it.  Both times we saw them last season, our defense was on skates. Zero answers. The 1 saving grace is Fraizer being gone. If we ran back the same defense, it was going to be a very helpless feeling. At least now you think it can be different. But again, I’ll have to see us beat them before I know they can.

I believe the guys we have will be much improved with McD running the D. I believe we'll see some freshness to it.  We'll have to wait and hope for good additions and for our younger guys to make progress.  ie  Bernard and Spector with some conditioning and an off season experience. Elam, Benford, Shakir. I really think there will be some pleasant surprises.

Edited March 18, 2023 by nosejob

[BBFL]

7 minutes ago, Another Fan said:

Much less hype presently.   

 

On March 16, 2022 the Bills signed Von Miller which is almost a year ago today.  I would say from that point up until the Bengals game the team was extremely hyped on these boards.  Even after the Dolphins first round game I still thought the consensus on the boards was ah well we are the best team and it's good we got our clunker game out of the way early on in the playoffs.  

 

A lot different vibes here now.  

Disagree. Two pivotal games had people concerned legitimately what this team was capable of doing; Packers and Vikings. 

[birdo67]

26 minutes ago, atlbillsfan1975 said:

Posters who police grammar are great. 
 

I kept bracing myself all season for a blowout, I knew it was coming. Under McD there has been one every year. Stinks it had to happen in the playoffs. 

I kept bracing myself all season for a blowout; I knew it was coming.