We lost to a better team

[oldmanfan]

The Chiefs are the better team.  It starts with Andy Reid.  He is a first ballot HOFer.  Saying that does not insinuate McDermott is bad; he did a helluva job this year.  But Reid will go down in history as one of the best ever.  Spagnolo is one of the best DCs ever.  Doesn’t mean Brady is bad; he put together an offense without superstars other than Josh that got them to the championship game.  Babich got things figured out in the second half and gave us a shot.  But overall we have good to very good coaching; they have some of the best of all time.

 

They were also the better team yesterday because they had guys that beat our counterparts.  Their D line won physical battles against our O line.  The several tush pushes we didn’t get was simply them winning physical battles.  Their WRs were better matched up against our DBs, especially Elam.  

And I hate to say it, but Mahomes is better than Josh in one category: presnap raads.
 

Were their issues with the refs?  Absolutely.  Despite all this could we still have won?  Yep, if Kincaid catches that ball I think we would have.  But the Chiefs are a great team, just that much better than us.  Just have to keep working and knocking on the door; it will open someday.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

What fans are looking for out of McDermott is the call Spags made on 4th down. Completely fooled Josh Allen with the CB blitz and won the game.

 

I’ve seen McDermott make this call vs Mahomes in the regular season and win the game, but he hasn’t made a game winning call in the playoffs yet. 
 

As for the Chiefs being better. They are always the more talented team. They have better impact players. Allen and Mahomes basically cancel each other out.
 

 

Edited yesterday at 10:55 AM by Buffalo_Stampede

[Conlan58]

I don't know man, feeling like this is becoming the definition of insanity with McDermott at the helm. Did we go farther than expected this year? Yes. Did McDermotts team also come out flat, unprepared, get out coached, and break our hearts yet again? Also yes. 

 

Get me an offensive head coach that can bring in a system that has more than 1 short yardage play in the playbook, and a DC that can be creative for once. 

[colin]

Mahomes had his best game in terms of epa per drop back for the season, and the highest success rate for his career in drop backs.

 

the chiefs are clearly the better team, but this team plays hope and prayer defense, and has since mcd got here.  they play scaredy cat zone which works great vs awful teams, or sort of out of character man, and sprinkle in blitzes here and there.  no creativity, and on O it's just call plays and hope allen makes magic.

 

the roster construction and most importantly how the games are planned and executed are simply not high level.  the bills almost refuse to dictate on O, it's all about allen making reads and extending plays post snap.  the last two drives had kc absolutely sell out to jam every gap and get up the field on first and second down, but the bills just didn't have anything set up to get the ball out quick and easy.  this is vs the master of the blitz.  they also simply didn't run cook anywhere near enough.  4 carries in the first half.  the roll outs and the pitches to him were destroying kc, so they put a pin in them early.

 

the offense left some stuff on the table, but make no mistake about it, our d put in another historically bad performance, and this team has gotten by on d with turnovers since mcd got here.  we need a fix.

[oldmanfan]

1 minute ago, colin said:

Mahomes had his best game in terms of epa per drop back for the season, and the highest success rate for his career in drop backs.

 

the chiefs are clearly the better team, but this team plays hope and prayer defense, and has since mcd got here.  they play scaredy cat zone which works great vs awful teams, or sort of out of character man, and sprinkle in blitzes here and there.  no creativity, and on O it's just call plays and hope allen makes magic.

 

the roster construction and most importantly how the games are planned and executed are simply not high level.  the bills almost refuse to dictate on O, it's all about allen making reads and extending plays post snap.  the last two drives had kc absolutely sell out to jam every gap and get up the field on first and second down, but the bills just didn't have anything set up to get the ball out quick and easy.  this is vs the master of the blitz.  they also simply didn't run cook anywhere near enough.  4 carries in the first half.  the roll outs and the pitches to him were destroying kc, so they put a pin in them early.

 

the offense left some stuff on the table, but make no mistake about it, our d put in another historically bad performance, and this team has gotten by on d with turnovers since mcd got here.  we need a fix.

Some of this is not accurate.  I’ll give you an example from the comments made here during the game yesterday.  Three of our brethren, guys that post a lot and all of whom think they’re experts, commented during the first half about our D.  One complained we were playing softczone, one said we were playing all man and needed to switch out, and one said we were playing both.  
 

We did play more man yesterday that what you are saying about scaredy-cat zones.  And calling D against a guy in Reid who to me is right there with Walsh as the best offensive mind ever.  And the D made one stop and held them to a FG in the fourth quarter and gave us a shot.

[LarryMadman]

Kind of agree, but explain regular season success for Buffalo then, across the board they are similar in talent on the field and would give a slight efge to KC, on the sidlines they are miles apart and there is your difference each and every year in the playoffs.

[colin]

8 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

Some of this is not accurate.  I’ll give you an example from the comments made here during the game yesterday.  Three of our brethren, guys that post a lot and all of whom think they’re experts, commented during the first half about our D.  One complained we were playing softczone, one said we were playing all man and needed to switch out, and one said we were playing both.  
 

We did play more man yesterday that what you are saying about scaredy-cat zones.  And calling D against a guy in Reid who to me is right there with Walsh as the best offensive mind ever.  And the D made one stop and held them to a FG in the fourth quarter and gave us a shot.

 

i didn't say we played zone in the first half, but that our d has two modes and they both suck when the rubber hits the road (one is a passive soft zone which you might remember from such games as 13 seconds) or an ineffectual mix (which you might remember from our playoff exits for every single year since the 2019 season where we allow either close to the highest epa game for all teams for the entire season, or at least the highest epa game for that particular team for that season).

 

the above are verifiable truths.  the sharp money came in late for the bills because cogent analysis shows that the bills had a tremendous advantage running the ball vs kc.  kc had trouble running all night and the bills ran at will.  what was missed by the sharps is that the coaches for the bills are brain dead and just called qb sneaks as often as they could and took our best player this whole playoffs (cook) off the field or denied him the ball as much as they could.

 

this reminds me of the super bowl 25 loss.  the d was over matched and the o had a clear key to victory by dominating with a running back and OL who the other team could not stop.  instead of us winning that chip and getting to one this season, our dumb dumb coaches get tight and panicked and took the ball away from what was our best advantage early, and had no plays practiced and prepared to beat the clearly obvious extreme pressure that spaggs would bring as he has literally every single game we've ever played against him.

 

harping on about the d made a stop and allowed only 3 points giving the o a shot is silly narrative building.  the bills had every chance to run cook and build a lead and wear them out, but figured that wasn't as smart as dogwater stuff they did, and the d as it ALWAYS DOES in the playoffs allowed mahomes the highest success rate per drop back in the history of his career.  no one's ever done it worse.

[oldmanfan]

4 minutes ago, colin said:

 

i didn't say we played zone in the first half, but that our d has two modes and they both suck when the rubber hits the road (one is a passive soft zone which you might remember from such games as 13 seconds) or an ineffectual mix (which you might remember from our playoff exits for every single year since the 2019 season where we allow either close to the highest epa game for all teams for the entire season, or at least the highest epa game for that particular team for that season).

 

the above are verifiable truths.  the sharp money came in late for the bills because cogent analysis shows that the bills had a tremendous advantage running the ball vs kc.  kc had trouble running all night and the bills ran at will.  what was missed by the sharps is that the coaches for the bills are brain dead and just called qb sneaks as often as they could and took our best player this whole playoffs (cook) off the field or denied him the ball as much as they could.

 

this reminds me of the super bowl 25 loss.  the d was over matched and the o had a clear key to victory by dominating with a running back and OL who the other team could not stop.  instead of us winning that chip and getting to one this season, our dumb dumb coaches get tight and panicked and took the ball away from what was our best advantage early, and had no plays practiced and prepared to beat the clearly obvious extreme pressure that spaggs would bring as he has literally every single game we've ever played against him.

 

harping on about the d made a stop and allowed only 3 points giving the o a shot is silly narrative building.  the bills had every chance to run cook and build a lead and wear them out, but figured that wasn't as smart as dogwater stuff they did, and the d as it ALWAYS DOES in the playoffs allowed mahomes the highest success rate per drop back in the history of his career.  no one's ever done it worse.

I agree we should have run Cook more.  But saying the D made two stops in the 4 th quarter giving them only a FG is not silly narrative building.  It is fact.

Edited yesterday at 11:34 AM by oldmanfan

[RobbRiddick]

McD isn't bad by any stretch, he's good. But good isn't enough to beat genius. Reid is an offensive genius. Every year in every playoff game he works up something new, the same way Belichick would always scheme up something new for whichever offense he was up against. You never see the KC offense look confused or outsmarted. 

[stlbills13]

The Chiefs make plays at QB RB WR TE OL DL LB CB special teams coaching in the playoffs (and officiating...)

 

The Bills make plays from maybe half of those every time they play the chiefs 

 

 

[colin]

11 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

I agree we should have run Cook more.  But saying the D made two stops in the 4 th quarter giving them only a FG is not silly narrative building.  It is fact.

 

highest mahomes epa in the season, highest success rate for his career.  that's a fact that includes every single snap for the game by our d.  it is not based on vibes and feels, it is the cold hard numbers.

 

allowed the most points by this not good kc O for the season.  the d got a fluke turnover without forcing it in the first half, if not for that kc scores on every possession save the kneel down at the end of the first half.  the d made a couple plays and forced 2 punts in the second half.  you don't give the d credit for when those two stops came and just ignore the first half.  the d was absolutely awful.  this is a bad d, bottom 5 on 3rd downs all year, bottom 10 pass d.  

 

kc has a bad o this year, that's why we got any stops.  they have horrible talent at tackle and no effective running backs suited up for them in that game.  this d sucks.

[transient]

It feels like the Marv Levy era all over again, and not in a good way. When the stakes are highest the Bills have gotten outcoached every. Single. Time. 

Edited yesterday at 11:58 AM by transient

[Einstein]

1 hour ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

What fans are looking for out of McDermott is the call Spags made on 4th down.

 

Yes. 

 

We never do anything like that with the game on the line.

 

1 hour ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Completely fooled Josh Allen with the CB blitz and won the game.

 

No it didn’t. He just had no options other than a heave because the line caved.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

1 minute ago, Einstein said:

 

 

 

 

No it didn’t. He just had no options other than a heave because the line caved.

That’s completely not true. Shakir was WIDE OPEN. He’s hit that play this year also. 
 

Allen predetermined his options that play and Spags knew what he was going to do. It didn’t help that Torrence blocks no one, that’s really what killed the play.

Edited yesterday at 12:03 PM by Buffalo_Stampede

[DrBob806]

57 minutes ago, Conlan58 said:

I don't know man, feeling like this is becoming the definition of insanity with McDermott at the helm. Did we go farther than expected this year? Yes. 

I honestly don't understand this narrative many Bills fans have.

 

The AFC East is weak. The Bills are a solid team. This division is ours unless JA goes out for the season, or a large chunk of the season.

 

My expectation is the Bills win the AFC East yet again in 2026, and probably by a comfortable margin. 

 

It comes down to making plays. My only doom & gloom take is the 13 seconds game, that was our SB & they gave it away. These other losses are simply because we weren't good enough.

[oldmanfan]

19 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

Yes. 

 

We never do anything like that with the game on the line.

 

 

No it didn’t. He just had no options other than a heave because the line caved.

Nope.  Spags made a great call bringing 2 DBs off our right side.  Not enough guys to block that.

Edited yesterday at 12:20 PM by oldmanfan

[SoonerBillsFan]

1 hour ago, oldmanfan said:

The Chiefs are the better team.  It starts with Andy Reid.  He is a first ballot HOFer.  Saying that does not insinuate McDermott is bad; he did a helluva job this year.  But Reid will go down in history as one of the best ever.  Spagnolo is one of the best DCs ever.  Doesn’t mean Brady is bad; he put together an offense without superstars other than Josh that got them to the championship game.  Babich got things figured out in the second half and gave us a shot.  But overall we have good to very good coaching; they have some of the best of all time.

 

They were also the better team yesterday because they had guys that beat our counterparts.  Their D line won physical battles against our O line.  The several tush pushes we didn’t get was simply them winning physical battles.  Their WRs were better matched up against our DBs, especially Elam.  

And I hate to say it, but Mahomes is better than Josh in one category: presnap raads.
 

Were their issues with the refs?  Absolutely.  Despite all this could we still have won?  Yep, if Kincaid catches that ball I think we would have.  But the Chiefs are a great team, just that much better than us.  Just have to keep working and knocking on the door; it will open someday.

I don't care. At what point are moves made to make us better then them?  They wont be because our FO and staff feels they are doing great jobs.

[oldmanfan]

Just now, SoonerBillsFan said:

I don't care. At what point are moves made to make us better then them?  They wont be because our FO and staff feels they are doing great jobs.

This is just raw emotion after the loss.  Saying you don't care about reality.  We are up against one of the best guys to ever do it in Reid, one of the best DCs in Spagnolo, one of the best QBs ever in Mahomes.  You keep trying to get better, keep coaching your guys, keep trying to improve your roster.  Can we blow things up?  sure.  But historically that fails more than it works.

[Einstein]

6 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

Nope.  Spags made a great call brining 2 DBs off our right side.  Not enough guys to block that.

 

What are you talking about? The Chiefs had 5 pass rushers and we have 5 offensive linemen.

 

You constantly say stuff that simply isn’t true.

 

Torrence literally blocked no-one. He just watched as both pass rushers ran past him.

[oldmanfan]

Just now, Einstein said:

 

What are you talking about? The Chiefs had 5 pass rushers and we have 5 offensive linemen.

 

You constantly say stuff that simply isn’t true.

 

Torrence literally blocked no-one. He just watched as both pass rushers ran past him.

They brought two guys off from our right and Josh shifted protection to the left.  So the CB had no one near him to pick him up.