Players Came Up Small

[DrMaxPower]

What an awful disappointment of a game. I see the board is already flooded with 'coaching failure' takes. I don't recall a decision from McD that I really had a problem with. While I have beef with Kromer, Brady and Babich, this loss is on the players. The list of guys who did not bring their best is a long one.

 

Biggest one is obviously Kincaid for the drop and an overall lack of physicality. He better tackle the offseason like his career depends on it because he had a brutal year.

 

Right behind him on the disappointment list are the OL and Josh. The people who carried us all season played C+/B- games when it mattered most. Bad decisions all over the place and OL getting physically dominated. The short yardage game was horrendous. Josh got it together enough to keep them in it but he was far from his MVP best.

 

Groot, where are you? Spent half the game on the ground. At this point, I'm no longer in favor of extending him. Try and trade for Crosby or Garrett or another difference maker.

 

Taron Johnson's play hasn't matched his reputation for the last half of the year. No positive impact.

 

Bernard took a huge step back this year. He had games last year with more impact than he had all season. He was invisible all night, with the exception of being 3 steps behind on the clinching pass.

 

We had a giant black hole at safety. Bye Demar. Bishop I thought flashed a bit but has a long way to go. I'm not sure how he and Rapp really work as a duo.

 

You could add about a dozen more guys who were MIA but less obvious. While the coaching wasn't great, the players on the field came up small in the big game.

[NewEra]

Seemed like Ed and Cook were the only ones to have good games.  
 

Edit:  after coming to my senses- addy guy Mack Hollins and Milano to the list.  

Edited 12 hours ago by NewEra

[Andrew Son]

Just now, NewEra said:

Seemed like Ed and Cook were the only ones to have good games.  

And Mack

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Just now, DrMaxPower said:

What an awful disappointment of a game. I see the board is already flooded with 'coaching failure' takes. I don't recall a decision from McD that I really had a problem with. While I have beef with Kromer, Brady and Babich, this loss is on the players. The list of guys who did not bring their best is a long one.

 

Biggest one is obviously Kincaid for the drop and an overall lack of physicality. He better tackle the offseason like his career depends on it because he had a brutal year.

 

Right behind him on the disappointment list are the OL and Josh. The people who carried us all season played C+/B- games when it mattered most. Bad decisions all over the place and OL getting physically dominated. The short yardage game was horrendous. Josh got it together enough to keep them in it but he was far from his MVP best.

 

Groot, where are you? Spent half the game on the ground. At this point, I'm no longer in favor of extending him. Try and trade for Crosby or Garrett or another difference maker.

 

Taron Johnson's play hasn't matched his reputation for the last half of the year. No positive impact.

 

Bernard took a huge step back this year. He had games last year with more impact than he had all season. He was invisible all night, with the exception of being 3 steps behind on the clinching pass.

 

We had a giant black hole at safety. Bye Demar. Bishop I thought flashed a bit but has a long way to go. I'm not sure how he and Rapp really work as a duo.

 

You could add about a dozen more guys who were MIA but less obvious. While the coaching wasn't great, the players on the field came up small in the big game.

Agreed. It’s all about execution in the playoffs.

 

i remember the lions win and thinking how well we all executed on offense— guys making hard catches, etc. 

 

We needed a broken tackle from coop, or a better block from Torrance, or a hard catch from Kincaid. That would have been the game.

[Sojourner]

I’ll tell you two who didn’t. 
 

Josh and Cook. 
 

Especially Cook. Gutted that TD isn’t going to be something anyone other than the majority of Bills fans remember. Truly a score for the ages. 

[DrMaxPower]

2 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Seemed like Ed and Cook were the only ones to have good games.  

It's definitely a short list.

 

This would have been ugly without Cook.

[CoudyBills]

3 minutes ago, DrMaxPower said:

What an awful disappointment of a game. I see the board is already flooded with 'coaching failure' takes. I don't recall a decision from McD that I really had a problem with. While I have beef with Kromer, Brady and Babich, this loss is on the players. The list of guys who did not bring their best is a long one.

 

Biggest one is obviously Kincaid for the drop and an overall lack of physicality. He better tackle the offseason like his career depends on it because he had a brutal year.

 

Right behind him on the disappointment list are the OL and Josh. The people who carried us all season played C+/B- games when it mattered most. Bad decisions all over the place and OL getting physically dominated. The short yardage game was horrendous. Josh got it together enough to keep them in it but he was far from his MVP best.

 

Groot, where are you? Spent half the game on the ground. At this point, I'm no longer in favor of extending him. Try and trade for Crosby or Garrett or another difference maker.

 

Taron Johnson's play hasn't matched his reputation for the last half of the year. No positive impact.

 

Bernard took a huge step back this year. He had games last year with more impact than he had all season. He was invisible all night, with the exception of being 3 steps behind on the clinching pass.

 

We had a giant black hole at safety. Bye Demar. Bishop I thought flashed a bit but has a long way to go. I'm not sure how he and Rapp really work as a duo.

 

You could add about a dozen more guys who were MIA but less obvious. While the coaching wasn't great, the players on the field came up small in the big game.

Yes.  Well said.  Taron hasn't lived up to the hype for a long time.  

[gjv]

Kincade is not a clutch TE. Personally I think he plays soft, and is overrated.

[FireChans]

2 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Seemed like Ed and Cook were the only ones to have good games.  

 

1 minute ago, Andrew Son said:

And Mack

I was SO ready to write a massive apology post to Mack if we pulled this one out.

 

I said all offseason my biggest fear was Mack playing WR in the AFCCG against the Chiefs, little did I know he was gonna be our BEST WR in that scenario. Still not good enough but it was like a perfect ending to the narrative.

 

Brutal.

[CoudyBills]

Just now, DrMaxPower said:

It's definitely a short list.

 

This would have been ugly without Cook.

Taking the ball away from him was a mistake.

[GunnerBill]

3 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Seemed like Ed and Cook were the only ones to have good games.  

 

And Milano. He was a factor on both drives we stopper them. And Hollins who had our two big plays.

 

And while Josh wasn't his best today he definitely still played a good game. I don't think it is fair to say because he wasn't perfection the loss is any way on him.

 

1 minute ago, CoudyBills said:

Taking the ball away from him was a mistake.

 

Agree. They got too cute first half with the gamplan on both sides. Not enough Cook on offense and too much man coverage on defense.

[Billsfanatic8989]

Miller was a no show

[colin]

Our coaching sucked as well as several of our players.

 

Our advantage in o was running the ball w cook.  We took away all the motion and misdirection and took cook off the field as much as we could.

 

Our d gave mahomes his best EPA of the year, and that's the MCD specialty.

 

Our crappy players played badly where they are bad, ol and Josh in blitz identification, Torrence was an awful pass blocker today.  D in coverage, and zero advantage short yardage stuff.

 

We have a stupid team and we lost stupidly.

[DrMaxPower]

Just now, GunnerBill said:

 

And Milano. He was a factor on both drives we stopper them. And Hollins who had our two big plays.

 

And while Josh wasn't his best today he definitely still played a good game. I don't think it is fair to say because he wasn't perfection the loss is any way on him.

 

 

Maybe I'm hanging onto the 1st couple drives too much. He's EXTREMELY lucky he didn't throw multiple picks and put them in a huge hole. I have no faith that they would have recovered today.

 

I had him as a B-. Not a flop but if you are an MVP, if you want to beat Mahomes, not good enough to overcome all the other issues.

[PoundingDog]

Josh played his levelbut not his best. Josh is compared to Mahomes, and I have to say Mohomes, despite a fumble, outplayed Josh tonight.

 

Like I said in the game thread, going forward, this offense is going to be Josh and Cook. Cook has arrived, proved he can deal with the big boys the Ravens and Chiefs game.

 

Then spend resources on D. Without having to chase points, this offense can is scoring about 30 points on the Chiefs. You'd like to say we should be able to hold them to 30, but we could not. We have to transform the D just like we have transformed the offense: get stout upfront.

[Allen2Moulds]

Was it only 1 punt combined between Chiefs and Ravens?

[notpolian]

I thought Cook played great.  I noticed Oliver make a few plays.  But Miller did bupkus and he was joined by a long list of others.  We need a talent (and size) infusion, and it really needs to be via the draft with our cap situation.  But I don't have much confidence in it happening.

[L Ron Burgundy]

3 minutes ago, PoundingDog said:

Josh played his levelbut not his best. Josh is compared to Mahomes, and I have to say Mohomes, despite a fumble, outplayed Josh tonight.

 

Like I said in the game thread, going forward, this offense is going to be Josh and Cook. Cook has arrived, proved he can deal with the big boys the Ravens and Chiefs game.

 

Then spend resources on D. Without having to chase points, this offense can is scoring about 30 points on the Chiefs. You'd like to say we should be able to hold them to 30, but we could not. We have to transform the D just like we have transformed the offense: get stout upfront.

Mahomes had easy plays every drive.  Wide open throws to players schemed to be open against our crap defense. 

[JohnNord]

15 minutes ago, DrMaxPower said:

What an awful disappointment of a game. I see the board is already flooded with 'coaching failure' takes. I don't recall a decision from McD that I really had a problem with. While I have beef with Kromer, Brady and Babich, this loss is on the players. The list of guys who did not bring their best is a long one.

 

Biggest one is obviously Kincaid for the drop and an overall lack of physicality. He better tackle the offseason like his career depends on it because he had a brutal year.

 

Right behind him on the disappointment list are the OL and Josh. The people who carried us all season played C+/B- games when it mattered most. Bad decisions all over the place and OL getting physically dominated. The short yardage game was horrendous. Josh got it together enough to keep them in it but he was far from his MVP best.

 

Groot, where are you? Spent half the game on the ground. At this point, I'm no longer in favor of extending him. Try and trade for Crosby or Garrett or another difference maker.

 

Taron Johnson's play hasn't matched his reputation for the last half of the year. No positive impact.

 

Bernard took a huge step back this year. He had games last year with more impact than he had all season. He was invisible all night, with the exception of being 3 steps behind on the clinching pass.

 

We had a giant black hole at safety. Bye Demar. Bishop I thought flashed a bit but has a long way to go. I'm not sure how he and Rapp really work as a duo.

 

You could add about a dozen more guys who were MIA but less obvious. While the coaching wasn't great, the players on the field came up small in the big game.

I don’t entirely agree but this topic helps adds nuance to the scapegoat conversations that want to pin everything on the HC.

 

Could coaching have been better?  Absolutely.  But you are correct, players have to step as well.  Out of everyone on defense the one person that did was probably Ed Oliver or Jordan Phillips.  That’s it.  
 

Is some of that on coaching and not putting them in position to be successful?  Yes.  But there’s also players just getting beat.  

[NewEra]

18 minutes ago, Andrew Son said:

And Mack

Not sure how I left out my boy-  certainly our best WR today