We lost to a better team

[K D]

We lost to a worse team by playing down to their level. They could not keep up with us on offense if we had a Rams or Lions type game. But they wanted to play it safe. Very disappointing

[LarryMadman]

23 minutes ago, DrBob806 said:

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.

Oh, so you're saying the AFC East can and should be won by who ever is coaching the Bills, therefor a new coach shouldn't struggle at all in winning with the Bills. Time for a change then.

[Ramza86]

I feel like playcalling for the Chiefs was the difference maker. 

 

They called better plays for who they were up against and we didnt. 

[ExiledInIllinois]

They won by 3 points.   Only slightly better.  AND that's debatable.

 

Definitely luckier with more situational awareness to influence and leverage right situations. Me? That's not a criteria for being the better team in football...

Edited Monday at 12:33 PM by ExiledInIllinois

[Straight Hucklebuck]

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.

Nah I ain’t doing that.

 

The whole this makes me feel better to say ah chucks we’ll get them next time.

 

 

[oldmanfan]

Just now, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Nah I ain’t doing that.

 

The whole this makes me feel better to say ah chucks we’ll get them next time.

 

 

Do you deny they’re better?  Not by a ton, by a razor’s edge maybe.  But they are.  

[ExiledInIllinois]

34 minutes ago, DrBob806 said:

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.

But the Bills converted 1st Down twice while going in for a scoring drive.  First on 3rd & 3, second on 4 & 1.  Erroneous Reffing on 4th Down is like committing a fumble!

 

We were good enough, just NOT allowed to be good enough.

[Einstein]

9 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

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.

 

This did not happen.

 

Torrence just blocked NO ONE.

 

That is what happened. He watched as TWO rushers ran past him and he touched no one.

 

If one rusher went through, Allen can evade that. Like he does all year. 

 

It had nothing to do with too many rushers. It was 5 on 5. 

 

 

[DrBob806]

19 minutes ago, LarryMadman said:

Oh, so you're saying the AFC East can and should be won by who ever is coaching the Bills, therefor a new coach shouldn't struggle at all in winning with the Bills. Time for a change then.

Only if the players don't have McD's back

[GreggTX]

Thanks for saying it, but I would add that this team vastly over performed. The defense was a train wreck and had they not had so many takeaways, we would have seen it more clearly. The rookie class seemed to fade as the year went on. All you need to know is that we were $25 million under the cap due to dead cap space. Last year was our year, but too many all pro talents were laid up or not ready to contribute. Let's replay that division game vs KC with Von, Trae, Milano and TB at full strength and we'd have a very different outcome. I would actually commend Beane and McDermott for getting this much out a roster all full of holes. I don't think we can fill all those holes in one off-season either.

[Shortchaz]

If we had any other afc playoff team defense (and defensive coordinator) we win that game. 

[Casey D]

1 hour ago, RobbRiddick said:

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. 

And they find a way to beat everyone.  It's not just us, it's everyone.  Sad to be this good but have them in the way.

[oldmanfan]

30 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

This did not happen.

 

Torrence just blocked NO ONE.

 

That is what happened. He watched as TWO rushers ran past him and he touched no one.

 

If one rusher went through, Allen can evade that. Like he does all year. 

 

It had nothing to do with too many rushers. It was 5 on 5. 

 

 

Yeah, the video shows it.  Three guys coming from the right side.  Even if protection isn't shifted to the left, even if Torrence picks up one guy, a guy is running free at Josh.  

[Kmart128]

The thing is Chiefs are not a better team. They've been outplayed in so many games... but league want Chiefs to win.

[Einstein]

2 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

Yeah, the video shows it.  Three guys coming from the right side.  Even if protection isn't shifted to the left, even if Torrence picks up one guy, a guy is running free at Josh.  

 

that has happened all year long. A free guy running at Josh. That is normal. That is par for the course. Josh just evades them and makes a throw.

 

The problem with that play is that Torrance got nobody. he did not touch a single defender. So we have five against four. Because of Torrance.

[oldmanfan]

Just now, Einstein said:

 

that has happened all year long. A free guy running at Josh. That is normal. That is par for the course. Josh just evades them and makes a throw.

 

The problem with that play is that Torrance got nobody. he did not touch a single defender. So we have five against four. Because of Torrance.

You believe what you want.  The video you showed as proof of your thesis shows the opposite.  Spags fooled Josh on that one and it worked.

[BuffaloRebound]

The difference in the game was how easily the Chiefs moved the ball on our defense while the Chiefs defense made things more difficult on our offense.  We only put the chiefs offense in 3rd or 4th down ten times.  Conversely, the Chiefs put our offense in 3rd and 4th down twenty times.  If our defense doesn’t get turnovers, we can’t get off the field against Mahomes, Lamar, Burrow. 

We’ve had a championship caliber offense for the last 3-4 years.  This defense has never been championship caliber yet we have a defensive minded head coach.  It’s groundhog day.  

Edited Monday at 01:25 PM by BuffaloRebound

[ProcessTruster]

pretty much.   HOF coaches doing HOF coach things against first time coordinators.   Both lines got bullied in spots for sure.   Josh was off.  

 

Any they still almost pulled it off !  

 

go bills

[LarryMadman]

41 minutes ago, DrBob806 said:

Only if the players don't have McD's back

At some point I would expect some players to go Diggs and voice their displeasure with constantly being outcoached in the playoffs.

[Rocbillsfan1]

1 hour ago, transient said:

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. 

Yup Marv got outcoached in all the biggest games and the same has happened to McDermott now.