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

[Beck Water]

1 hour ago, The Jokeman said:

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

 

Gawd, that was Ugly.  Although to be fair, I think Reid didn't truly understand until yesterday just how broken Carson Wentz remains.

 

 

[All_Pro_Bills]

1 hour ago, Beck Water said:

 

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.

Special teams also did their part as Bass customarily missed another extra point.

[Beck Water]

3 minutes ago, All_Pro_Bills said:

Special teams also did their part as Bass customarily missed another extra point.

 

That, my fellow Bills fan, is the one aspect of yesterday's performance that truly worries me.  I do not think that was done on purpose.

[ddaryl]

you do not chose to lose for a higher draft pick

 

*** See the Buffalo Sabres

[Success]

Pats fans are extremely bitter about this one today.

 

It's a big deal, and I'm glad it seemed like we were aware of it. Even in a down QB year, they might have gotten some team to bite on a big trade-up deal.

 

[L Ron Burgundy]

This is what happens when you get your mind set on picking 1st.  It's not like they dropped down 10 spots.  God I hate Pats fans, everything about them sucks.

 

That qb of theirs looked great.  Can probably sucker a team to give assets for him now.  Yeah won't make up the difference but did they expect their team to lie down?

[Neo]

Buffalo had playoffs in mind when establishing personnel, preparation and plan.    That’s legitimate.   I would be shocked if, at any time, anyone discussed or winked at losing on purpose.    The industry’s only product is competition.   It may tweak, fiddle, change and window dress, but it’s selling competition.   Everything else is based of that.

 

If you’re in an industry and culture of selling competition, deliberately losing is something you’re aware of, but not something you plan or discuss.    The stakes are too high in terms of reputations and careers.  I don’t believe it requires oratory gymnastics to tell people you made personnel and game plan decisions with an eye on the big prize.

 

New England is in the same boat.

[Albany,n.y.]

Let's get real. The Patriots pulled their starting QB for their 6th round 3rd string QB early in the 1st quarter.  What happened is Milton played like a veteran starter, not a 3rd sting rookie & against the Bills backups the Patriots had little opportunity to lose the game with Milton basically taking over the game.  He was the best player on the field Sunday.  No matter what either team's coaches were trying to do, Milton slammed the door shut on any possible tank.  If Milton had played like Mike White, the Bills would have won no matter what McDermott was attempting to do.  

The next question for NE is, what to do with Milton. He's not going to be playing ahead of Maye, so the best they can do, barring a Maye injury, is to showcase him in preseason & after 2 more seasons, hope to find a deal for him similar to when they traded Jimmy Garoppolo to SF.  

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Pats players played to win. 

That backup QB played his heart out to get real game time film. He did quite well for himself.

No kicker is going to miss a FG on purpose. A few misses hear or there really affect life time stats.

Bills played to not get hurt and pick up a few bonus checks. 

 

Will be interesting to see how Coleman reacts to playing the entire game with 2nd and 3rd string guys. 

[C.Biscuit97]

40 minutes ago, ddaryl said:

you do not chose to lose for a higher draft pick

 

*** See the Buffalo Sabres

Great point. It guarantees nothing. This draft isn’t even that great. The Ravens rarely pick high and got their franchise qb later in the first. 
 

good teams figure it out. Bad teams beg to tank. The Pats are a bad team. 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

I think Milton surprised them. But, after Trubisky got us the lead, they took him out and put White in for the next few drives and we gained 32 yds on 17 plays. It sure looked like Pats and Mayo were playing hard defense to stop the Bills too.

[Billsatlastin2018]

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

 

YES!

[HOUSE]

I am not suggesting this but...

If Buffalo truly wanted a win, The starting offense could have played the last set of downs.

 

 

[Billsatlastin2018]

1 hour ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

Great point. It guarantees nothing. This draft isn’t even that great. The Ravens rarely pick high and got their franchise qb later in the first. 
 

good teams figure it out. Bad teams beg to tank. The Pats are a bad team. 

It’s not the Draft for a QB. The Cheats have theirs.

 

The #1 gets you trade leverage to help HIM! By accumulating more picks in exchange for the #1. It was brain dead stupid for a bad team to FUBAR that situation.

[Beck Water]

1 hour ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

I think Milton surprised them. But, after Trubisky got us the lead, they took him out and put White in for the next few drives and we gained 32 yds on 17 plays. It sure looked like Pats and Mayo were playing hard defense to stop the Bills too.

 

Don't forget McDermott declining a 10 yd OH penalty so that NE could kick a 42 instead of a 52 yd FG - just to give us a few point cushion in case his D got a safety or something.  That was ....yeah.

Oh, and that was after we punted instead of attempting a FG from the NWE 35 when the game was BUF 10 NWE 14.
 

1 hour ago, Neo said:

Buffalo had playoffs in mind when establishing personnel, preparation and plan.    That’s legitimate.   I would be shocked if, at any time, anyone discussed or winked at losing on purpose.    The industry’s only product is competition.   It may tweak, fiddle, change and window dress, but it’s selling competition.   Everything else is based of that.

 

If you’re in an industry and culture of selling competition, deliberately losing is something you’re aware of, but not something you plan or discuss.    The stakes are too high in terms of reputations and careers.  I don’t believe it requires oratory gymnastics to tell people you made personnel and game plan decisions with an eye on the big prize.

 

New England is in the same boat.

 

Did you happen to watch the Chiefs at Denver game?

 

What the Bills did was subtle and based on a poke here and a nudge there.

 

There was nothing at all subtle about what the Chiefs did.

Edited Monday at 08:45 PM by Beck Water

[WotAGuy]

3 hours ago, Just in Atlanta said:

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

The QB went down like he was Von’s baby mama. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

2 hours ago, ddaryl said:

you do not chose to lose for a higher draft pick

Don't try your Jedi mind control on me!

[Eastport bills]

Most draft experts agree the best QBs(Sanders, Ward) are not worth trading up for or even 1st rd draft materials in a normal year.  With NE having their franchise QB what’s the difference if they have move to 3 or 4. Mayo knew he was toast and players play to win.

[Success]

3 minutes ago, Eastport bills said:

Most draft experts agree the best QBs(Sanders, Ward) are not worth trading up for or even 1st rd draft materials in a normal year.  With NE having their franchise QB what’s the difference if they have move to 3 or 4. Mayo knew he was toast and players play to win.

 

We say that part about the QB's now - but then the combine happens, and the hype starts gaining volume, and before you know it, some QB-needy team will make that trade.

 

You're not wrong, but I'm curious to see how it plays out this year.

 

[Aussie Joe]

2 minutes ago, Eastport bills said:

Most draft experts agree the best QBs(Sanders, Ward) are not worth trading up for or even 1st rd draft materials in a normal year. 

They may not be worth it .., but some desperate team would have done it … they may not be worth the two top picks in the draft … but they will be picked there … anyway … moot point now for the Patriots