Comparing this game to Bengals playoff game

[BillsFan130]

9 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

I honestly am starting to think that the issues with the 2022 and 2023 teams was Dorsey. Our offense ran like a well oiled machine in 2020 and 2021 under Daboll. In 2022 it started where Daboll left off but then became less creative and it seemed like even though we were winning games, everything looked so much harder. The offense that ran so well the 2 years prior had to scrape and scrape to get points on the board it looked like. The first 10 games of 2023 was the same thing. It started off good but then the same struggles started again and we finally cut ties with Dorsey after going 5-5. You started seeing the differences with Brady calling plays but it wasn't fully gelling yet. Now in 2024, without Diggs and Allen spreading the ball around. It seems like the Bills are scoring much easier again like they did in 2020 and 2021 but even better. The defense isn't quite as good but our offense putting up 30 or more a game helps and I do agree it feels a lot different. 

Ya I agree- Cause to start the 2022 year, the bills offence was really good.

Then it seemed like teams figured Dorsey out.

Combine that with a couple of key injuries on defence, (Von miller, Tre white being a shell of himself coming back from injury, etc) and then the Damar Hamlin incident against Cinci? I think that's why that team went sideways 

[Ga boy]

We’re a better team than in 2022 and our chances are better to advance.  But the Ravens (9 pro bowlers) are better than that Cincy team so we better be better.  Go Bills!!

[Tim Tindale]

Following the Jets loss in NY in Game 9 of 2022, when Allen hurt his elbow late (and still uncorked a 65 yard pass for the win that Gabe dropped), everything felt like a grind the rest of that year.  Nothing ever felt easy, despite the 7 straight wins to end the year excluding the Bengals/Hamlin game.  It always seemed like their nose was just above the water line.  Honestly, if I’m a Chiefs fan, I have to be feeling similarly right now about their current team.  
 

For the 2024 version of the Bills, only 2-3 games that felt this way, in my view.  They were the Texans game (loss) and first Patriots game (win)… where you can’t shake the feeling that if the Bills played a middle-of-road, clean game, they win by double digits and the outcome assured by the end of the third quarter. Every game in the back half of ‘22 was that type of grind.  
 

This year has felt more like watching a Brady-led Patriots team for the most part.  Just a surgical blood-letting.  My Broncos friend told me how proud he was of his team, giving the Bills a scare. I let him take the moral win… but I’m thinking “31-7, 42 minutes of possession time, more than doubled them in yards, what’s he talking about”.  We completely dominated them, but I remember making similarly absurd comments about the Bills versus Brady teams during that era.  
 

I’d submit this version of the Bills has some of that vibe and certainly not the vibe of the second half of 2022.  That team was strangely exhausting.  

Edited 3 hours ago by Tim Tindale

[Straight Hucklebuck]

The Bengals Playoff week was DOA.

 

Going into that Monday Night game I had a bad feeling all week, actually a couple of weeks before that game I could feel it coming. I just knew that defense could not stop Chase and Higgins. And we were going to get curb stomped in that game. And Cincinnati was just a loudmouth, brag team. 

 

When I heard Leslie Frazier say that they already had game planned for the Monday Night Game and they were planning on using that plan again I knew we were cooked. 

 

Playing that passive 2-high Tampa Shell against Joe Burrow, it’s like yeah right that’s going to work - again. 
 

So this game is not that feeling of dread. Anxiety yes, stakes yes, but there is something different here - the Bills are 100% healthy on defense and I expect going into this game maybe down Ray Davis.

 

To me, that’s a situation where the Bills have done everything they can to win this game. They’re home, they’re healthy, they’ve played the Ravens once before and hopefully learned what not to do. If they can’t win then it’s another sign to Beane that this roster is at its ceiling.

 

That’s 4-Divisional losses in a row and hopefully it’s a sign to Beane that he has to work harder in the Draft and FA to get high-end talent here. 
 

The Bills have been up against the cap for 2-seasons now, but if the Bills want elite results, they need elite management. 
 

He’s got to more difference makers on both sides of the ball and fight the temptation to call the offense done despite #2 scoring offense this season.

 

[Ray Stonada]

7 hours ago, billsfan89 said:

I think people forgot just how much the 2022 season was the “season from hell” in many ways for the Bills.

The offseason contained the Topps shooting which rocked the community. During Training camp Dawson Knox’s younger brother passes away tragically. In season Buffalo had a tragic snow storm that (I believe) was the deadliest or among the deadliest in the cities history that impacted the team as well. There was a game relocated due to the storm while the team had a flu/Covid outbreak. Then there was the storm in and around Christmas which caused the team to reroute travel plans.

 

That all happened before the team had to deal with the DeMar Hamlin situation which was very traumatic for the team. That’s in addition to a worse than average injuries situation.

 

The Bills just were insanely overmatched in that playoffs. This years team is just not comparable to 2022 on and off the field 

 

Don’t forget the Tops shooting. That affected our players.

[Jimmy Harris 69]

Buffalo’s offense was out of rhythm in 2022, a trend that carried through to Ken Dorsey’s sacking in 2023. This Buffalo offense would have been fine in the snow. That loss is responsible in large part for where we ended up in 2023 and 24. Our offensive line has gotten bigger, we run the ball much more effectively. The passing game is more strategic. We aren’t taking those big shots down the field with the same regularity. The defense is younger, retooled. I like where we are as a team. Josh had his best year as a pro, McDermott has grown as a coach. The sports establishment has under-valued and under estimated the Bills all year. It continues this week with Lamar getting all the touches. That’s perfect for this team. Sunday cant come too soon.

[Warriorspikes51]

Before Bengals game…..the team went through trauma and Josh had certain somebodies screaming in his ear  (one on the field and one off the field)

 

Now the team is playing like a team for each other  & Josh has a great supporter off the field

 

IMO…. of course

[Richard Noggin]

One comparison I hope doesn't play out: Bills fans sold A LOT OF TICKETS to Bengals fans for that playoff game. When Tee Higgins caught a pass, the "TEE" call was way too loud. It didn't feel right at all for Orchard Park. 

 

There were a fair amount of Broncos fans in attendance last week. More visiting fans than we'd seen this season, to my eyes and ears. And we all know tickets are broadly available again this week. Ravens fans are going to pay premiums to come to Orchard Park and potentially shove the whole MVP thing in our faces. Apparently it's a big, contentious deal among the toxic elements of the fan bases.