A 3rd consecutive Divisional Round home loss? No chance

[Sweats]

50 minutes ago, jaybeezee said:

Never adjusts the defensive scheme when needing too! It is possible to do, as many DC's that win SB's do in games. If he only knows a Nickel Defense and thats all he will play then that tells you all you need to know.

 

Plus his defense always seems to be unprepared. Look at the top offenses we played this year and tell me how our defense faired? Rams, Detroit, Baltimore, Houston  (at the time)?

 

 

 

 

 

You must be new............i guess you don't know that it's ole Sweats as the naysayer, doom and gloom, poo pooer round these parts.

 

Move along now

[Beast]

1 hour ago, MJS said:

Really? Other than 13 seconds, what have his playoff blunders been?

Outside of that the only real questionable decision I saw from the sidelines was the fake punt with Hamlin.

[strive_for_five_guy]

1 hour ago, zow2 said:

There is no way in hell that our Bills are losing a 3rd consecutive Divisional playoff game in Orchard Park in OUR weather and in front of OUR great fans.  Not this team, with this QB.  No way.  I'm willing this to happen and putting it in writing.

 

January 19, 2025   Baltimore at Buffalo??????

January 21, 2024   Kansas City 27 at Buffalo 24

January 22, 2023  Cincinnati 27 at Buffalo 10

January 19, 2025   Baltimore 27 at Buffalo 38

 

Just finishing the pattern here

[ProcessTruster]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

When was the last time a team lost in the playoffs at home 3 straight years? I'm sure it's happened before but don't remember when. If anything it's very rare. 

 

I've always been a McDermott supporter. But losing a third straight time in the Divisional round at home...even I would acknowledge it's time for new leadership.

But you won't get "new leadership".   you will get a top to bottom cold restart.  

 

I continue to be amazed at this board's complete ignorance of what firing the HC of a stable, winning franchise would create.   Chaos.   A complete tear down and restart from a scheme and then a roster standpoint, and probably several years of going sideways adapting to the new top to bottom organization.  

 

Be very careful what you wish for.   There have never been "surgical, just fire the HC" scenarios; its all or nothing.  

[BillsVet]

This is the first year McD has had everything aligned to his standard in coaching, scheme, and players.  He promoted from within each of their OC's, has a more decentralized offense, has Josh being more in control as a passer, has a relatively healthy defense, and obviously is running his scheme there.  

 

Issue is whether having it the way he desires will be successful as the stakes and opponent quality rise.  It's the next phase of the final exam they spent all of 2024 working to be ready for.    

 

It's encouraging that late in the season Buffalo defeated 2 #1 seeds following different paths.  They forced turnovers against KC, played good defense and got some timely scores.  Against Detroit, the defense faltered and the offense could not be stopped.  I like that they beat those teams in very different ways.

 

But Baltimore is a different team .  Then again, Buffalo's evolved a fair amount since they were beaten up in Week 4.    

[klos63]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

When was the last time a team lost in the playoffs at home 3 straight years? I'm sure it's happened before but don't remember when. If anything it's very rare. 

 

I've always been a McDermott supporter. But losing a third straight time in the Divisional round at home...even I would acknowledge it's time for new leadership.

What do you think he did wrong last year against KC? 

1 hour ago, zow2 said:

There is no way in hell that our Bills are losing a 3rd consecutive Divisional playoff game in Orchard Park in OUR weather and in front of OUR great fans.  Not this team, with this QB.  No way.  I'm willing this to happen and putting it in writing.

 

January 19, 2025   Baltimore at Buffalo??????

January 21, 2024   Kansas City 27 at Buffalo 24

January 22, 2023  Cincinnati 27 at Buffalo 10

As we have lost home playoff games the last 2 years,  lost to Jax under Marv at home, 'our' weather and fans don't really mean that much. 

[Heavy Kevi]

20 minutes ago, ProcessTruster said:

But you won't get "new leadership".   you will get a top to bottom cold restart.  

 

I continue to be amazed at this board's complete ignorance of what firing the HC of a stable, winning franchise would create.   Chaos.   A complete tear down and restart from a scheme and then a roster standpoint, and probably several years of going sideways adapting to the new top to bottom organization.  

 

Be very careful what you wish for.   There have never been "surgical, just fire the HC" scenarios; its all or nothing.  

 

Would it though?

 

What if they promoted Joe Brady?

 

The defense would get new leadership and the team a new "mentality", but you could certainly avoid a "cold restart".

 

The offense could stay basically the same, GM stay the same, and Joe could bring in whoever he likes for DC. Given the defense hasn't been good this year anyway, how risky is that really?

 

I get it, new coaches can be highly turbulent. But in this specific case, IF they were to promote Brady; I would argue that's about as clean a transition as would be possible since we have a highly regarded HC candidate on staff currently.

[MJS]

1 hour ago, jaybeezee said:

I can pull up the quotes from former players that have stated that a College team could've scored on us with the defense we played. Not just their performance personally, but the scheme. If you watch enough NFL over the years, you can see adjustments being made. 

 

Our blitzes are comical BTW. The fact that we blitz the same way each and every time, with no real disguises, with the same result should tell you all you need to know about how well we do that.

Then pull the quotes, please. I'd like to see them.

[nosejob]

2 hours ago, zow2 said:

There is no way in hell that our Bills are losing a 3rd consecutive Divisional playoff game in Orchard Park in OUR weather and in front of OUR great fans.  Not this team, with this QB.  No way.  I'm willing this to happen and putting it in writing.

 

January 19, 2025   Baltimore at Buffalo??????

January 21, 2024   Kansas City 27 at Buffalo 24

January 22, 2023  Cincinnati 27 at Buffalo 10

By the time game day gets here, the Texans ( with Hunter, Anderson and Stingley leading the way) will have beaten the Chiefs 27-24 and the road to the SB will go through OP...if the Bills win.  That stadium is gonna will this team to a win. Surprised nobody's talking about this....or at least I haven't seen it.

[MJS]

1 hour ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

What’s the logic behind it? I’d rather have an extra 30 seconds of clock than a time out. Plus some time to regroup and strategize would be nice. You limit yourself when u have 20 seconds and 2 time outs in the red zone opposed to a 50-60 seconds and 1 time out. Idk

They don't want to leave time for the other team in case they have to punt it. You want to get points, but you certainly don't want the other team to get points.

[GoBills808]

1 minute ago, nosejob said:

By the time game day gets here, the Texans ( with Hunter, Anderson and Stingley leading the way) will have beaten the Chiefs 27-24 and the road to the SB will go through OP...if the Bills win.  That stadium is gonna will this team to a win. Surprised nobody's talking about this....or at least I haven't seen it.

probably because the texans are 8.5pt dogs

[MJS]

1 hour ago, T.E. said:

His coaching strategy left a lot to be desired in both second half of the Houston game in 2019 and the first half of the KC AFCCG in 2020. 

Really? I highly doubt that you know what the coaching strategy was or have the technical knowledge to actually evaluate the scheme.

 

When things go bad, fans say stuff like this, but most don't actually know what they are talking about.

44 minutes ago, Beast said:

Outside of that the only real questionable decision I saw from the sidelines was the fake punt with Hamlin.

The special teams coordinator is the first culprit, especially since nobody seemed to be on the same page. But yeah, the buck stops with the head coach. He has to take some blame for trusting his coordinators and players.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

2 hours ago, NORWOODS FOOT said:

We did lose 4 Super Bowls in a row… so there is that… 

 

But I love the optimism!
 

GO BILLS!

 

NFC was way stronger than the AFC back then

Not the case now.

Bills have Allen! He's so locked in right now! 

 

[hondo in seattle]

58 minutes ago, jaybeezee said:

people act like we cant do better and McDermott is the only coach out there that is right for this team. Brandon Bean also needs to be on the Hot seat as well! Hes as much to fault as the Coach.

 

I both agree and disagree.

 

McD has one of the highest winning percentages in NFL history and you can't say it's all Josh.  The NFL has been around 100+ years and a lot of coaches have been blessed with impactful players, yet only an elite few have won a higher percentage of games.

 

Putting both McD and Beane on the hot seat isn't the right path, IMHO.  This tandem has been very good.  

 

But if you do fire either one, figure out who deserves the least credit for the wins and the most blame for the lack of SBs.   Personally, I think Beane is the least excellent of the two.  I don't think there's been a season yet, this one included, when we've had the best roster in the league.  So why expect McD to earn us a Lombardi when he's going up against teams with better rosters?  

 

But I also think this: (A) there are no certainties in football, only probabilities, and (2) Lady Luck has a lot to say and the best team doesn't always win.  

 

Beane and McD earn us a ticket to the dance every year.  I'm thankful for that.  To tilt the probabilities in our favor, I hope they both get a bit better at their jobs.  But I wouldn't advocate firing either because I think the probability in that case is that we get worse.  

 

 

[T.E.]

13 minutes ago, MJS said:

Really? I highly doubt that you know what the coaching strategy was or have the technical knowledge to actually evaluate the scheme.

 

When things go bad, fans say stuff like this, but most don't actually know what they are talking about.

I know when someone is coaching not to lose, I know when a coach stubbornly refuses to make changes when things aren't working, and I also know when clock management is being bungled.

 

You can say that I don't know what I'm talking about all you please, but many fans of this team, with zero coaching experience, would've found a way not to blow the 13 seconds game like McDermott did. A 14-year old with a healthy Madden habit would understand that there was no reason to kick the ball out of the endzone and no reason protect the sidelines and leave the middle of the field open when KC had three timeouts.

[machine gun kelly]

2 hours ago, NORWOODS FOOT said:

We did lose 4 Super Bowls in a row… so there is that… 

 

But I love the optimism!
 

GO BILLS!

 

Shocker, you only have 373 posts.  We’ll win.  This isn’t week 4 where we had five defensive starters out, and no Cooper, nor throwing to our RB’s yet.

 

This will be different.

 

As one of my favorite characters on a show called Rogue Heroes, the birth of the SAS (it’s on MGM+ and worth the watch), Patty Mayne said at the end of season,

 

“NOW, the Blood Will Flow”.

 

Destroy them and let ever y voter for Lamar, they made a mistake!

[T.E.]

7 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

McD has one of the highest winning percentages in NFL history and you can't say it's all Josh. 

Sure you can.

[hondo in seattle]

Just now, T.E. said:

Sure you can.

 

Shoot, you're right.  You can.  But I don't. 

 

I think McD and Josh are the two people most responsible for the recent success of the Bills.  Every year they give a chance to win it all.  Our lottery numbers haven't come yet but we wouldn't even have tickets if not for these two.  

[8BallSippin]

This team beat the 2 #1 seeds in the playoffs, and played Baltimore on the road with a bunch of guys out.  There is no reason they can't win, just have to line up an execute.  

 

Find a way.

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

2 hours ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

When was the last time a team lost in the playoffs at home 3 straight years? I'm sure it's happened before but don't remember when. If anything it's very rare. 

 

I've always been a McDermott supporter. But losing a third straight time in the Divisional round at home...even I would acknowledge it's time for new leadership.

 

The 2016-2018 KC Chiefs had 3 straight home playoff losses. Lots of other close calls (2009-2012 Patriots for example had 3 home playoff losses in 4 years, with the 4th year a SB loss), but that's the only exact match I could find

 

The first 2 KC losses were with Alex Smith as QB. Then they switched to a new QB and the rest, as they say, is history.