Did the Bills purposely lose or is New England just plain stupid?

[Breakout Squad]

26 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

Have people ever played football or any competitive sport? Pro athletes don’t take, especially football players. Why do they care about next year or a guy who might take their spot? It’s so stupid when fans get mad at players for winning “meaningless” games. It’s their job and they are going to try to win. 
 

 

And it’s incumbent on the coaching staff to navigate the loss. Of course the players are going to play hard especially fringe roster players. 

[Matt_In_NH]

Definitely think the Bills were ok to lose, and maybe wanted to lose.  Number 1 was stay healthy and that involved running the clock as much as possible.  Going into it I figured McDermott wanted to win because it was a game but the way it looked, I think strategically they knew it was better to lose and that was kind of obvious.

[boater]

46 minutes ago, All_Pro_Bills said:

Mike White coming in late and going 3 for 11 sealed the win for NE.

Signing White from the practice squad to the active roster was pure genius on the part of Beane. He gave McDermott the tools he needed to blow the game, while making it look like he was trying, a subtle tanking.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

40 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

Have people ever played football or any competitive sport? Pro athletes don’t take, especially football players. Why do they care about next year or a guy who might take their spot? It’s so stupid when fans get mad at players for winning “meaningless” games. It’s their job and they are going to try to win. 
 

 

Starting Milton was the pats attempt to tank from a coaching level but the bills one upped them by throwing Mike white in late lol the players that are out there definitely take every opportunity they’re given but you can fiddle with things from a coaching/roster perspective to try to lose games 

Edited Monday at 04:58 PM by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Sweats]

Just now, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Starting Milton was the pats attempt to tank from a coaching level but the bills one upped them by throwing Mike white in late lol

 

 

 

Yeah, it was kind of like, "I'll see your garbage and raise you some trash of my own".........who knew McD was a shark?!?

[The Jokeman]

At least we put in a better effort than the Chiefs. 

[gonzo1105]

You don’t fire a guy and expect him and his team to lay down for you to get the first pick. 
 

I think the Bills saw what they needed out of Trubisky and wanted to get White some live work and it was ugly lol. 
 

Wish we could get Alex Austin back from them he seems to make plays everytime I see him out there 

[The Firebaugh Kid]

Coach was masterful yesterday. Let's hope it continues. 

[DCofNC]

1 hour ago, zow2 said:

Once it got to 17-16 then 20-16, it felt like the Bills were pulling some gamesmanship and really not trying to win.  And I guarantee Beane and McD talked about it a bit during the week.  There is no valid reason to help out your division-mate by winning an exhibition game so they have a treasure chest of draft options.

 

On the flip side, once Buffalo went up 16-14, the Patriots absolutely should have thrown in the towel and just run dive plays.  That was dumb not to.

I really thought they would just mail it in at that point, then they didn’t.. I was kinda pissed the Bills scored, glad the Pats were dumb enough to screw themselves.

[Beck Water]

39 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

The Bills were actively trying to lose, and Jerod Mayo knew he was cooked and pulled a Lovie Smith on the Pats.

 

Did you watch the KC-Denver game?

 

I would say KC was actively trying to lose.  Wentz looked Gawdawful.  Mahomes, watching Wentz play QB, looked as though he was in pain and close to requiring sedation on the sidelines.  C'mon man, 27 rush yards, 98 passing yards, 5 sacks for 27 yards, 2 fumbles, 5 (FIVE!) 1st downs, 1 3rd down conversio with only 18 minutes TOP.  Their D looked Gawdawful too.  For Denver's offense 321 passing yards and 4 TD, 159 rush yards, 29 (TWENTY NINE!) 1st downs, 10 out of 14 3rd down and 2 of 2 4th down conversions with 41:49 TOP.  

There's no way a team like KC puts up and allows numbers like that, unless they are actively trying to lose.  As "trying to lose" goes, that was a bank heist in broad daylight in the center of town.

 

Buffalo, on the other hand, actually put up 259 yds of offense, 2 TD, 16 1st downs and 6 of 15 3rd down conversions, 28:46 TOP vs 309 yds of offense allowed, 241 passing yards and 309 yds of offense, 1 TD, 19 1st downs, 4 of 12 3rd down conversions and 31:14 TOP.  We actually held the lead for 7 minutes of the 3rd Q.

 

As "trying to lose" goes, that was (relative to KC) subtle.  

The Bills were far from doing all they could have, and they weren't going to give any plays away to playoff opponents.  But Man!! that was a coaching Masterclass in doing just enough to let your guys earn incentives and to put guys you want to evaluate in positions to succeed and show you what they got, while at the same time very carefully not doing too much. 

To me, pulling Trubisky for Mike White in the 4th Q after the Patriots went up 17 to 16 is the key indicator that winning was truly not a priority for McDermott in this game.  It was hard not to let the guys score when they recovered a botched snap on the NE16 and they wanted to get Cook a TD, but after NE scored on the next drive to re-take the lead, McDermott was Taking No Chances that Trubisky might play too well and do too much.

 

[RiotAct]

1 hour ago, Gregg said:

You hear players and coaches say it all the time that they play to win the game. I don't think the Pats players care about the #1 pick. They wanted to win a game as they are competitors. The Bills tried to win as well with their backups and scrubs. 

the way our secondary was playing, I’m not so sure! 🤣

[boyst]

Milton did great to show his talents given the situation. My hats off to him and I hope it helps him in his future success when he goes to another team. 

[Beck Water]

1 hour ago, pigpen65 said:

Hope McD didn't decline a holding penalty that gave them a 42 yard FG attempt because he was trying to win. 

 

LOL yeah, Pats 17 Bills 16 at the time.  That was McD's insurance against the Bills D being able to score a safety or the O being in position to kick a chip shot FG and win.

Edited Monday at 05:15 PM by Beck Water

[Charles Romes]

This year seemed to set the all time record of teams in tank mode at the end of the year. Not sure how long the current set up without a lottery is sustainable.  

[Beck Water]

5 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

I really thought they would just mail it in at that point, then they didn’t.. I was kinda pissed the Bills scored, glad the Pats were dumb enough to screw themselves.

 

Relax, McDermott had ya.  They wanted to get Jimbo his tuddy and McD had a plan. 
 

I don't think they intended Bass to miss the XP though, that was scary.
 

19 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Starting Milton was the pats attempt to tank from a coaching level but the bills one upped them by throwing Mike white in late lol the players that are out there definitely take every opportunity they’re given but you can fiddle with things from a coaching/roster perspective to try to lose games 

 

And that's exactly what McD did.  Don't we think McDermott, who has a career-long track record of bemusing rookie QB, couldn't have called a defense that would have bemused and confused Milton and had him seeing ghosts?  Vanilla, Vanilla, Vanilla was the flavor of the day.

[Irv]

5 minutes ago, boyst said:

Milton did great to show his talents given the situation. My hats off to him and I hope it helps him in his future success when he goes to another team. 

100%.  That kid looked pretty good with absolutely no experience.  He could have run with the one's.  

[djp14150]

FYI —- Bass intentionally missed the PAT….

37 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

At least we put in a better effort than the Chiefs. 

Chiefs were playing a better team

[wjag]

Of course they did.  They had 3rd stringers out there in the 4th quarter.  

[Just in Atlanta]

Ha ha, the better question is, did the lineman Von Miller was going against collude to give him that $1.5 million sack. 

[colin]

you have to think players in NE don't want them to get better draft picks, because that means there will be more new sharks in the tank fighting for the same cut of meat.  benching the qb but then winning is crazy work, i think mayo knew he was gone and said eff it.