Postgame Thoughts

[PBF81]

14 minutes ago, Returntoglory said:

Josh is given too much free reign! He needs that QB whisperer on the sidelines with him throughout the game to keep his head in check.

 

Is McD afraid to confront JA? Is Beane?

 

He pretty much single handedly lost the game for us last night.

 

And then there's the reckless abandon he has of his body.

 

No disagreement here except that it's not Beane's job to get involved there.  

 

It is Dorsey and McD's job, and if Dorsey ain't doin' it, then McD's to "explain it" to Dorsey.  It appears that either little of that is happening, which after last season would be inexplicable, or that Allen's ignoring it.   Either way, it's not good.  

 

 

[BillsUberAlles]

Bills continue their regular season "Nobody can beat them, they just beat themselves".

 

It literally almost takes an Act of God for this team to lose during the last 2 years in the reg season.

 

Jets are a pain in this teams ass on D. Not many can matchup that well against us.

 

It's the first game...irritating as hell since we would have already had a 1 game lead on Cincy and KC but all 3 are 0-1 now. Bet the parlay on that bet would have paid huge.

 

People will freak out and overreact but what you see for the first 4 weeks doesn't mean a whole lot by the end of the year tho. They should look a lot better against the Raiders I think.

 

 

[Mark Vader]

10 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I mean Dorsey called a touchdown play on that second down. Cook had the defender beat and woulda walked in. Josh under threw it.

This is true, but why take up so much time and rely on deep throws to get a touchdown, when you can get closer to the end zone and give yourself more options?

 

They wasted a lot of time.

[BuffaninSarasota]

4 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

There is no such thing as smoke and mirrors whenever it comes to a record stop trying to downplay it

I'm not trying to downplay the record John. Everyone who can think objectively could see the way they were winning was not sustainable. By "smoke and mirrors", I meant there was definitely something "off" and things were definitely more difficult than a 13-3 record would indicate otherwise. The fact they achieved that record was remarkable.

 

Compare games 1-6 with the rest of the season.

[Not at the table Karlos]

16 hours ago, arcane said:

There's a reason that Bellichick starts from scratch with, and harps on, fundamentals and situational awareness, more than any coach I've ever seen. And it's no coincidence his teams were so COMPETENT, even when you account for having the GOAT QB. The Bills do not do this well enough. This week they were embarrassing, in fact, and couldn't handle a close, back and forth game when both offenses weren't going to light it up. The problem is, that’s NFL football. Even the Chiefs with Andy Reid and Pat Mahomes, often find themselves in a slog. They win them. We don’t. There are a million people to blame, and a million tiny reasons why it keeps happening. But these guys need to learn that this is what football is, and they need to learn to be comfortable executing the boring stuff in those situations.

 

Josh is at the forefront of that. He was doing just fine in the first half, it looked like the second Jets game last year - accept that you aren't going to dunk on these guys, and dink on them instead. Even the first pick - it looks like he didn't have a rushing lane or an open receiver, so he heaved one up in hopes of a flag, and if it's picked, it's basically a punt. That's fine. I guess he decided he was done beating the Jets the way you are supposed to in the third quarter though, and he put on a display of the least-clutch, least-in-control quarterbacking I have seen from him since he was a guy I was convinced we'd be moving on from. @Shaw66's worries about Josh were on full display today - the kid could be the best in the world if he wanted to. It's year 6. I don't think he wants to. 

 

If you fumble a snap, fall on it. don't run straight at Quinnen Williams to try and get that extra half of a yard. Just sit on it. If the throw isn't there, don't force it. Put it in the dirt, live to play another down. Josh, you are human, and you need to be a quarterback for this team to go anywhere. Not whatever the hell that was. This game was all lined up to play out like last year’s home game vs. the Jets – the Bills would have found their way to 20 points, and would have left with a 20-13 win. Josh didn’t want it that way I guess. He’s taken this class 10 times, so I’m not sure it’s a lesson he’s capable of learning.

 

I am not trying to infer that Dorsey is perfect – but he was doing what all the film-heads said you have to do to beat the Jets. Josh is the one that bailed. Yeah, that draw play in OT was mind-numbing. Anti-clutch on all levels. 0-5 in OT. These guys are great when they are great. If they are drawn into the muck, they are as bad as any bad team can be. Whatever they are doing to teach composure and fundamentals, it seems to work less each year. They are on a timer and need to get this figured out.

You know, as I think about that last paragraph more, if Dorsey can’t keep Allen on track, it doesn’t matter what his plays look like. In 2020 Allen threw 10 picks. He’s a third of the way there after one game. In theory it’s possible to stop this.

 

Our safeties are old. Our defense has some great players that will make big plays this year, but they will not be a top 5 defense purely because of their personnel. Poyer struggled to tackle Allen Lazard. That is disturbing. They will try to get Kirksey worked up as quickly as possible I think. Bernard got lost too often. I am not particularly worried about the unit in today’s NFL, unless Josh plays like this every week. Then they will need to be better, they will need to be near perfect. But against teams that aren’t the Jets, I saw things that make me think the D will be fine on balance.
 

The Jets clearly know how to stifle Allen to a degree unmatched by any other team. I think Saleh took that 2020 game personally. And I think he’s put together a defense worthy of the talk they’ve been getting. This is not an excuse, as the Bills still should have beaten them.
 

The Jets have likely lost Rodgers for the year based on what I saw. Either way, when he threw that first pass  away, I wondered aloud how on earth that guy is going to make it through one full NFL game, let alone a season. He looked beyond shot. Their Super Bowl aspirations were probably a mirage, unless they really are the 85 Bears.
 

It’s a long season and nobody else on the Bills schedule can play defense that well. I’m not sure exactly who handled what well and poorly, the tape will tell us. But this offense is going to be able to move the ball and do damage against most teams. My concern is not that we have a bad team, I don’t think we do. It’s not that we won’t win a lot of games, I saw enough tonight to think we will. This game will be a distant memory in November, the Bengals and Chiefs will say the same thing. But I am starting to be concerned that they aren’t just drawing insane streaks of bad luck at bad times, or enduring fluky gaffes that surely won’t/can’t happen again. I’m starting to be concerned that it’s been too long, games like this keep popping up here and there, and players will start to be convinced in their core that it won’t be overcome. Because then things might will get ugly.
 

In the NFL, it’s usually true that things aren’t as good as they feel after a win, and aren’t as bad as they seem after a loss. That’s probably true here too, but there is a clock ticking and at this point nobody is denying that they can hear it.

People keep saying this but it's no where near accurate. He rolled out of the pocket and there was nobody that close to him. At worst the closest defender would have met him about a yard from the first down marker and that's because he slowed to make the poor decision to throw it. If he just went it was easy first down. 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Not at the table Karlos
Stupid phone

[Unforgiven]

15 hours ago, NY to VA to NV to TX to AZ said:

The team is just a bunch of losers, it’s the culture, the club, the city…they get a quarterback after 20 years of irrelevance and the best they can do is hire a defensive minded coach and let go of the offensive coach that made the team and quarterback good. I totally understand why the media says Diggs wants to leave, it’s because he does…as it seems right now, every team in the AFC East has a better shot to make it to the post season. They just lost to a back up qb!!! And not even a good back-up!!!! The Bills “premier quarterback” lost to a back up quarterback and it’s not the first time. Hell, last year they almost lost to a third string quarterback in the playoffs…WTF!!! It really appears that what the national media says about the team and the narrative about the quarterback is the truth and we are just too fanatical to see it. Same thing year in and year out.

This is now 3 bad games straight, the dolphin sort of win vs 3rd string qb, the bengal ass kicking,

and this jet embarrassment. Something is wrong for sure.

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

The whole thing is now what? I mean does this piss us off, wake us up and spark a run of 8 straight wins? Or do we just implode here, blow it all up and end up ruining a team that should have won a championship? I mean it feels like this is a legitimate crossroads here. The response here might be a turning point of this franchise 

[Believer]

17 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

Short of injury on the Bills side… is there a worse scenario losing to Wilson? 

Wilson was the starter last year… The kid has game… He embarrassed McD’s defense.

[UKBillFan]

Just now, Believer said:

Wilson was the starter last year… The kid has game… He embarrassed McD’s defense.

 

No he didn't, well not yesterday anyway.

[Believer]

McD needs to coach tackling… Start back at the basics… Our tackling is pathetic.

[stevestojan]

I ran the original post through chatGPT, asking for a summary in 75 words or less:

 

The author criticizes the Bills' performance, highlighting their lack of focus on fundamentals and situational awareness, unlike Coach Bellichick's approach. Despite Josh Allen's initial good performance, his later decisions questioned his commitment to excellence. Mistakes, especially in OT, show a lack of composure. The defense, while having notable players, isn't top-tier due to personnel limitations. The Jets effectively countered Allen, possibly influenced by past games. Despite challenges, the author remains hopeful for the season, but expresses concern that persistent mistakes might impact team morale. The NFL’s unpredictability means things could change, but time is running out.

 

 

And in case you have very limited time, here’s the OP in haiku form:

 

 

Bills falter, time ticks,
Jets counter, Allen's path slips,
Hope dims, clock clicks quick.

Edited September 12, 2023 by stevestojan