Down Years Will Come. When You Have an Elite QB, Even Down Years Aren't So Bad.

[Airseven]

As long as the Bills have Allen, they'll be entertaining to watch - including both his feats of athleticism and mental/physical implosions. Having Allen doesn't mean they'll always be contenders despite the team around him. 

[SoCal Deek]

Great post and comments. Bills fans have been through a great deal, especially those of us who’ve been there from the virtual beginning. BOTH the OPs comments and the many responses are CURRENTLY true. What has many of us on edge is the horrible premonition that what if this is all we get? Years of regular season success rivaling the Kelly years; but this time no Super Bowl…not even an appearance. If true it’ll have been a fun decade for sure but the sheer weight of it all will get heavier and heavier with each passing season. 
Go Bills….please! 

[The Frankish Reich]

4 hours ago, Einstein said:

The entire point is to win a Super Bowl.

 

Anything less is a failure.

 

Well, the entire point is building a consistent winner. That’s what Beane and MCDermott stressed when they were brought in. That’s what they’ve delivered on so far. 
Look, it’s great if you draft Mahomes, wait one year, win Super Bowl. Russell Wilson, Big Ben, Brady: same. Sometimes it requires always being in the hunt, making a good move or two at just the right time, and finishing the job. I promised (threatened? However you see it …) a follow-on post addressing “how long can we expect our Peak Josh Allen window to remain open.” Spoiler alert: a while. 

[Einstein]

8 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Well, the entire point is building a consistent winner. 

 

No it's not.

 

The entire point is winning a Super Bowl. A consistent winner without a Super Bowl is actually a consistent loser.

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

51 minutes ago, NUT said:

Bills probably won't win double digit games this season. 3rd in the division, etc.

so there is a reason they call you nut. 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

37 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Well, the entire point is building a consistent winner. That’s what Beane and MCDermott stressed when they were brought in. That’s what they’ve delivered on so far. 
Look, it’s great if you draft Mahomes, wait one year, win Super Bowl. Russell Wilson, Big Ben, Brady: same. Sometimes it requires always being in the hunt, making a good move or two at just the right time, and finishing the job. I promised (threatened? However you see it …) a follow-on post addressing “how long can we expect our Peak Josh Allen window to remain open.” Spoiler alert: a while. 

Waiting for that good move or two

 

[BillsVet]

3 hours ago, Pine Barrens Mafia said:

Ah yes, let's lower those expectations

 

This thread could be re-titled: "It's hard to win in the NFL."

 

 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Just now, BillsVet said:

 

This thread could be re-titled: "It's hard to win in the NFL."

 

 

Yes, yes it could.

 

 

[The Frankish Reich]

8 minutes ago, Pine Barrens Mafia said:

Waiting for that good move or two

 

We’ve been through this many times before, but maybe our best window (to grab a Von or a similar game changer) was in 2021. But that time should come again. More than once. 

4 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

 

This thread could be re-titled: "It's hard to win in the NFL."

 

 

I meant it to be “it’s really hard not to be a consistent winner when you have a HOF level QB.” Glass half full guy here …

[corta765]

1 hour ago, SoCal Deek said:

Great post and comments. Bills fans have been through a great deal, especially those of us who’ve been there from the virtual beginning. BOTH the OPs comments and the many responses are CURRENTLY true. What has many of us on edge is the horrible premonition that what if this is all we get? Years of regular season success rivaling the Kelly years; but this time no Super Bowl…not even an appearance. If true it’ll have been a fun decade for sure but the sheer weight of it all will get heavier and heavier with each passing season. 
Go Bills….please! 

 

So it is interesting because there are more teams to compete with now so in theory the playoffs are harder, but there are actually more playoff spots open % wise and the prioritization to the league being so QB friendly helps a ton. You really can't compare times as pre free agency once you built a group you could run for a long time without change, that doesn't happen anymore. Even with a great QB you reload two hopefully three times at a lot of spots and you really have to plan it well. The Kelly Bills ascended in a way you kind of dream of by first regaining footing, then relevance, and finally breaking through in 3-4 short years. By comparison HOF guys like Farve were year 6, Manning year 9, and Brees year 8 for their first ring (and for some only). No path for any QB looks the same, Aaron Rodgers is an all time great and if you reversed his career he would've been a chronic failure until the end. Instead he got a ring but never has broken through since for a variety of reasons. Winning a SB title is beyond tough and if you were to take Brady/Pats out of your equation you would see it is so insanely hard to get there multiple times. I hate the Phillip Rivers comparison because it literally is unique to the Chargers as an org (cough Dan Fouts also) and their unwillingness to pay. There isn't a QB of that caliber otherwise who didn't break through with a SB appearance and the league is even more QB friendly.

 

But as a Buffalo fan I get it full heartedly. We go through drought and finally its like maybe its our time... except when is it our time. The 4 SB losses and not breaking through are forever a weight on the franchise and every single player, especially 17 who wears the weight of the region proudly until a title comes. 2018-21 was ascension for this group, 2022 was the first time mortality hit where you maybe had to ask "well this could've been the year so when" and "will it actually happen". That is legitimately fair and tough to have to consider because the other side of the coin blows that we went through. My father use to joke with me "hopefully in my lifetime" and he is turning 67 this year... so f*ck lol starting to run a little short on time here haha. I have dreamed of watching a SB with him and them winning and what that would be like. I have told people I have no desire to see the Bills in their next SB, I want to be in Buffalo and god willing with my father, wife (who is better bills fan then me), and family that day. I already plan on visiting grandparents grave sites with a shot for them in honor, the shout song, and just a nice moment that they broke through finally. I know that the entire fanbase has similar feelings like this when that day comes of how the celebrate which is part of what's organic and real about being a Bills fan, you cannot replicate the community that exists and how it goes. For me I am just enjoying the ride as much as I can, I have said they have until 2030 and I believe they will get a ring in that time. So allll of those feelings mesh into this tension/pressure that sets around that is unavoidable. But remember you have a demigod at QB who has many good years left and if nothing else as long as he is there you got a shot.

[SoCal Deek]

3 minutes ago, corta765 said:

 

So it is interesting because there are more teams to compete with now so in theory the playoffs are harder, but there are actually more playoff spots open % wise and the prioritization to the league being so QB friendly helps a ton. You really can't compare times as pre free agency once you built a group you could run for a long time without change, that doesn't happen anymore. Even with a great QB you reload two hopefully three times at a lot of spots and you really have to plan it well. The Kelly Bills ascended in a way you kind of dream of by first regaining footing, then relevance, and finally breaking through in 3-4 short years. By comparison HOF guys like Farve were year 6, Manning year 9, and Brees year 8 for their first ring (and for some only). No path for any QB looks the same, Aaron Rodgers is an all time great and if you reversed his career he would've been a chronic failure until the end. Instead he got a ring but never has broken through since for a variety of reasons. Winning a SB title is beyond tough and if you were to take Brady/Pats out of your equation you would see it is so insanely hard to get there multiple times. I hate the Phillip Rivers comparison because it literally is unique to the Chargers as an org (cough Dan Fouts also) and their unwillingness to pay. There isn't a QB of that caliber otherwise who didn't break through with a SB appearance and the league is even more QB friendly.

 

But as a Buffalo fan I get it full heartedly. We go through drought and finally its like maybe its our time... except when is it our time. The 4 SB losses and not breaking through are forever a weight on the franchise and every single player, especially 17 who wears the weight of the region proudly until a title comes. 2018-21 was ascension for this group, 2022 was the first time mortality hit where you maybe had to ask "well this could've been the year so when" and "will it actually happen". That is legitimately fair and tough to have to consider because the other side of the coin blows that we went through. My father use to joke with me "hopefully in my lifetime" and he is turning 67 this year... so f*ck lol starting to run a little short on time here haha. I have dreamed of watching a SB with him and them winning and what that would be like. I have told people I have no desire to see the Bills in their next SB, I want to be in Buffalo and god willing with my father, wife (who is better bills fan then me), and family that day. I already plan on visiting grandparents grave sites with a shot for them in honor, the shout song, and just a nice moment that they broke through finally. I know that the entire fanbase has similar feelings like this when that day comes of how the celebrate which is part of what's organic and real about being a Bills fan, you cannot replicate the community that exists and how it goes. For me I am just enjoying the ride as much as I can, I have said they have until 2030 and I believe they will get a ring in that time. So allll of those feelings mesh into this tension/pressure that sets around that is unavoidable. But remember you have a demigod at QB who has many good years left and if nothing else as long as he is there you got a shot.

Now I REALLY feel old. 😉

[BillsVet]

20 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

We’ve been through this many times before, but maybe our best window (to grab a Von or a similar game changer) was in 2021. But that time should come again. More than once. 

I meant it to be “it’s really hard not to be a consistent winner when you have a HOF level QB.” Glass half full guy here …

 

We're not even past the draft or into mini-camp, training camp, or the pre-season.  And already people are trying to get out in front of if there are bad results.  Has nothing to do with "glass half full."  It's mentally setting the basement for results and then we can go back and say...look, I told you so!

 

"One of the problems with being a pessimist is that you can never celebrate when you are proven right." - Thomas Sowell

 

But here, there's no celebration...people just start LAMP's as though they earn royalties off their pessimism. 

 

[Gregg]

Since this thread is about down years. Here is the winning percentage of every NFL franchise.

 

NFL on CBS 🏈 on Twitter: "Where's your squad located? https://t.co/VJFMtLCFE2" / Twitter

[boater]

Ugh. If we suffer a down year, this board would be an unreadable place. There will be constant shrill calls to fire McDermott, fire Beane. Fans will be suicidal.

 

Fans have quickly forgotten how easy it is any year to be sub-500. They quickly became accustomed to winning. A down year will be fugly.

 

Please God: no down years.

[SoCal Deek]

27 minutes ago, Gregg said:

Since this thread is about down years. Here is the winning percentage of every NFL franchise.

 

NFL on CBS 🏈 on Twitter: "Where's your squad located? https://t.co/VJFMtLCFE2" / Twitter

As I’ve always said… 7-9 is our sweet spot! Turns out that Dick Jauron was right all along. Go figure. 

[corta765]

1 hour ago, SoCal Deek said:

Now I REALLY feel old. 😉

 

Lol my bad

49 minutes ago, boater said:

Ugh. If we suffer a down year, this board would be an unreadable place. There will be constant shrill calls to fire McDermott, fire Beane. Fans will be suicidal.

 

Fans have quickly forgotten how easy it is any year to be sub-500. They quickly became accustomed to winning. A down year will be fugly.

 

Please God: no down years.

 

It wasn't too bad until like 2020 which is conversely when the Bills upswing started so you got back some fans who probably took a break or some new ones joined. I will say the last year or two especially has been a bit frustrating as conversations went from some really good strong topics like this to just pure complaining.

[The Frankish Reich]

1 hour ago, BillsVet said:

 

We're not even past the draft or into mini-camp, training camp, or the pre-season.  And already people are trying to get out in front of if there are bad results.  Has nothing to do with "glass half full."  It's mentally setting the basement for results and then we can go back and say...look, I told you so!

 

"One of the problems with being a pessimist is that you can never celebrate when you are proven right." - Thomas Sowell

 

But here, there's no celebration...people just start LAMP's as though they earn royalties off their pessimism. 

 

I know it's long, but read my OP! I am putting Josh Allen in the same elite group as 1 current HOFer, 2 no-doubt first-ballot HOFers, and one likely HOFer. And I'm saying as long as Allen is healthy we will be in the playoff (and yes, SB) hunt. If your expectations are that this team will go 14-3 or 13-4 every season, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. 

3 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

Great post and comments. Bills fans have been through a great deal, especially those of us who’ve been there from the virtual beginning. BOTH the OPs comments and the many responses are CURRENTLY true. What has many of us on edge is the horrible premonition that what if this is all we get? Years of regular season success rivaling the Kelly years; but this time no Super Bowl…not even an appearance. If true it’ll have been a fun decade for sure but the sheer weight of it all will get heavier and heavier with each passing season. 
Go Bills….please! 

You're right ... that old Bills PTSD. It probably will take one Super Bowl win for us to get past that. But hey, until then we get to watch some pretty fantastic football 17 times a year, and then at least a couple times in the playoffs, right?

[BillsVet]

2 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said:

I know it's long, but read my OP! I am putting Josh Allen in the same elite group as 1 current HOFer, 2 no-doubt first-ballot HOFers, and one likely HOFer. And I'm saying as long as Allen is healthy we will be in the playoff (and yes, SB) hunt. If your expectations are that this team will go 14-3 or 13-4 every season, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. 

 

Allen's been in his prime now three seasons - since 2020 - and there are things even he cannot mitigate.  

[billsfan_34]

Not buying it- anything short of hoisting the Lombardi means nothing. Some of us are not getting any younger and the roller coaster ride never quite makes it to the top. We deserve a championships not moral victories anymore. 

[Mikie2times]

It's difficult for fans to accept that often times luck plays a large element in winning it all. It could be in the form of bounces or injuries or countless other things. You always want to field your best team, but in my mind, we have just as much a chance at going all the way as a WC as we do being considered the dominant AFC favorite. In a conference that will likely produce multiple HOF QB's you just need to keep putting yourself in the mix. If you have enough hands to play one of them will be good enough. Allen all but guarantees we will see a lot of hands.