Day #3 after the loss to KC: Feeling better? Worse? Why? (Thread started at Day #2)

[ShakAttack]

I have found that my typical "stages" in processing each season's elimination game is not too unlike going through the stages of grief.

 

The night of the loss is actually the easiest for me because at that point I'm pretty much just numb and probably emotionally spent from watching the game and all of the buildup during the week, but I usually wake up multiple times overnight, which is the segue into...

 

Day #1 this is where I look to fellow Bills fans and familiar sources for what is essentially a form of therapy. Reading TBD, listening to WGR, listening to Locked On Bills, and relating to everything.  It helps me to surround myself with others that can relate to the pain, particularly the day after the game.  Also, I COMPLETELY avoid ANY and all media related to the Chiefs and their success. 

 

Day #2 is kind of where the sadness peaks for me, and that is where I'm at now.  So yeah, I feel worse this morning than I did yesterday. 

 

Obsession over missed opportunities, feeling of disgust toward KC and worrying about if/when we will ever get back to this game.  A lot of the stuff that I kind of block out in the beginning seems to find it's way through on this day.  Although I'd like to block it out entirely, it has to be processed in order to move on.  Some aspects of the game end up being easier to process than others.  When it is all said and done, there is usually one thing that sticks with me for good.   Last year it was the 2nd and 9 play on the Chiefs 20 or so yard line where Diggs was wide open and Allen didn't throw it to him.  This year I am guessing that "moment" will be the horrible 4th and 1 call that swung momentum back to KC or the Kincaid drop.  OR heck, maybe it will just always be both.

 

Sorry this was a bit rushed and I'd have liked to elaborate a little more/differently, but have to take my son to school in a couple minutes.  I'll probably chime in again once I return and read some of your responses.

Edited yesterday at 04:45 PM by ShakAttack

[TrentEdwardsCheckDownOn4th]

I feel worse knowing that the NFL continues to favor the chiefs and Taylor swift over integrity. 

 

I feel like a fool having spent decades of my life dedicated to a sport which is more aligned with entertainment than actual football.

 

I feel empty knowing a super bowl is only achievable if the refs say it is. It cheapens everything.  

 

Even if the bills won a super bowl in the future it will never be the same. 

[ShakAttack]

23 minutes ago, TrentEdwardsCheckDownOn4th said:

I feel worse knowing that the NFL continues to favor the chiefs and Taylor swift over integrity. 

 

I feel like a fool having spent decades of my life dedicated to a sport which is more aligned with entertainment than actual football.

 

I feel empty knowing a super bowl is only achievable if the refs say it is. It cheapens everything.  

 

Even if the bills won a super bowl in the future it will never be the same. 

 

I agree with you. Definitely one of two moments of the game I haven’t been able to shake. But I really - even with the Chiefs history - did not expect a bad call to be among our lasting memories of the game in the event of a loss. 
 

Some people have not been able to recognize just how impactful on the outcome of the game that this poor decision likely had.

 

Bills were winning at the time, and the Chiefs had no answer for James Cook. The offense was humming. And we had momentum. Say what you want about calling too many QB sneaks, etc, but guess what… IT WORKED ON THAT PLAY!!! Just got a terrible spot out of it.

 

jeez. Yep. It pains me more today to think about this than it did yesterday. This isn’t going to be easy. 
 

One game away from the dream FINALLY coming true… and that’s what we get. Life ain’t fair, I guess, and it has been very cruel to us Bills fans, undeniably so when it comes to football. 

[SCBills]

I honestly believe, at this point, that the NFL has it's finger on the outcomes of games.  Not in the sense that they script or determine who wins, but as Bill Burr put it on Rich Eisen's show "they massage the games a certain way".  

 

I don't like feeling that this is the league I follow, that the team I most passionately support plays in.

 

I think most of the NFL fanbase seems to feel this way.

 

And I can come to terms with the Bills not breaking through.  We've certainly had practice at that.  I can't come to terms with how I now feel about the NFL.

[turbo044]

Feeling a bit better.  Sunday night I had trouble sleeping so it was a long work day Monday. We are Buffalonians so we take these things ridiculously hard, but, in the end it has nothing to do with us/our decision making. I think we are the better team and we have the better QB, but we don't have the better coaches nor the better front office and we executed somewhat poorly on Sunday. 

 

If Josh was given the protection that Mahomes got he would have put up 50 points. Cook getting only 16 touches is borderline insane - he should be on the field 80% of the time not 55%, including the last drive.  Every other defense this year allowed less points to KC than Buffalo D did Sunday.  KC played a lot of bad defenses this year.

 

Not going to get into the refs as we should have won despite them.

 

This is on the coaches and front office as much as or more than the players.  Look at our draft picks in recent years compared to KC's.

 

I'm at peace with myself, disappointed, but their constant failure vs KC is not on me

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 04:32 PM by turbo044

[CircleTheWagons99]

Im at the point where I dont care anymore.....NFL will do what it wants and Im no longer investing anymore emotion, care, or money to this crap product....

[ShakAttack]

1 minute ago, SCBills said:

I honestly believe, at this point, that the NFL has it's finger on the outcomes of games.  Not in the sense that they script or determine who wins, but as Bill Burr put it on Rich Eisen's show "they massage the games a certain way".  

 

I don't like feeling that this is the league I follow, that the team I most passionately support plays in.

 

I think most of the NFL fanbase seems to feel this way.

 

And I can come to terms with the Bills not breaking through.  We've certainly had practice at that.  I can't come to terms with how I now feel about the NFL.

 

 

It feels as though the NFL did whatever they could to hold KC's hand en route to the 3-peat this season.  

 

So if I'm looking for a silver lining, hopefully after they "make history" and become the first team to win 3 straight, the NFL won't favor them as much as they so painfully and obviously did this season.

 

As far as the "refs are human and make mistakes" argument, my counter to that would be...  yes they do make mistakes, but why is it that NONE of these flags thrown in critical moments of the games have gone AGAINST KC!?  They have ALL been to their benefit.  

 

Look at any other team in the NFL and the bad calls go both ways.  You want me to believe that it's pure coincidence that KC is the only team this doesn't happen to?  

[jaybeezee]

9 minutes ago, CircleTheWagons99 said:

Im at the point where I dont care anymore.....NFL will do what it wants and Im no longer investing anymore emotion, care, or money to this crap product....

I feel the same way, but this loss is only the coaches and players fault.  Yes we got screwed on some calls, but we still had the ball in our hands with 3 and some change on the clock and couldn't do squat with it, so that's not on the refs. We also had another opportunity to get the ball back with probably around 58 seconds and failed to stop them on 3rd and long. 

 

As usual, we become small in the biggest moments and that is on the players and coaches,  mostly on the coaches.

Edited Tuesday at 04:42 PM by jaybeezee

[NewEra]

Refs suck-  

 

they aren’t the reason we lost- but they are part of the reason we lost.  Sucks that they are rarely one of the reasons that we win.  
 

Part that gets me most:  the ref that had a clear view of the ball on the 4th down stop had it as a 1st down.  The ref that had a clear view of Josh’s BACK called it short.  Yet somehow- the ref that couldn’t see the ball AT ALL is the one whos opinion stands- while the other ref just stands there-  

 

jones Offside on 2 4th downs.  One of which he made a huge difference.  Yet Ed gets called OS on a play where he causes a fumble.  
 

the worthy catch-  if those are the rules- the rules need to be changed. 

 

KC runs a play after the “catch” and they lose yards-  no whistle on the play-  yet they negate the play and give us a challenge.  Ever see that before?  

 

Insurance flag laying on the ground in case Kincaid catches the ball-  

 

what’s the rule regarding the 2:00 warning and why were they allowed to let it hit 0.  Does the game clock not have 0.0? Only the play clock?

 

it’s just impossible to ignore that those referee decisions hurt our chances to win the game.  They aren’t the reason we lost-  there is never one reason a team loses a game imo, just a compilation of factors. 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:57 PM by NewEra

[Captain_Quint]

I'm surprised by the outcry from non-Bills fans on the game. Celebrities and sportcasters/podcasters like Bill Burr, Rich Eisen, Dave Portnoy, and a handful of others have come out and echoed what Bills fans are saying. Burr and Portnoy have both said that they aren't real interested in watching football anymore after that game because they feel cheated by the league. And thats two guys from Boston! 

Edited Tuesday at 04:46 PM by Captain_Quint

[oldmanfan]

It sucks.  It will suck for a while.  But as one of the old guys around here I have memories of our AFL championships, so I think about those.  And I do think that so long as #17 comes out on the field we have a shot at winning every year.  

 

Bottom line is we have to beat a team that will go down in history as one of the best ever, with a guy in Reid who will go down in history as one of the top 3 coaches and the same with Mahomes.  So it's a tough mountain to climb.  But I think we'll make it.  And I can certainly think of darker days, like when John Rauch used OJ as a decoy, or the Kay Sephenson/Hank Bullough debacle years.  I've got 65 years invested now; I'm not going anywhere.

[Saint Doug]

I’m fine with the loss. Call me a negative Nancy, but I never expected them to make the Super Bowl. As a whole, nothing had really changed player or coaching wise. And our biggest rival, who we are 0-3 against in the playoffs, didn’t change. 
 

In fact, unless there are fundamental changes, the same thing will happen next year. Allen will play lights out (as he always does) and our bend, but don’t break defense will break. This defensive philosophy is fine against rookie QBs and the average starting QB, but it doesn’t work against elite offenses. It just leads to a tired defense and then we break. And this is why we saw our offense suddenly become a ground game first offense in the playoffs. To keep the opposing QB off the field. 

[C.Biscuit97]

1 minute ago, Captain_Quint said:

I'm surprised by the outcry from non-Bills fans on the game. Celebrities and sportcasters/podcasters like Bill Burr, Rich Eisen, Dave Portnoy, and a handful of others have come out and echoed what Bills fans are saying. Burr and Portnoy have both said that they aren't real interested in watching football anymore after that game because they feel cheated by the league. And that two guys from Boston! 

Or the guys from boston don’t want the Chiefs to take shine away from Brady and the Pats. There were a million Pats getting calls game during their streak. If Portnoy is talking, he’s probably lying. 

[SCBills]

1 minute ago, Captain_Quint said:

I'm surprised by the outcry from non-Bills fans on the game. Celebrities and sportcasters/podcasters like Bill Burr, Rich Eisen, Dave Portnoy, and a handful of others have come out and echoed what Bills fans are saying. Burr and Portnoy have both said that they aren't real interested in watching football anymore after that game because they feel cheated by the league. And that two guys from Boston! 

 

I've never seen the NFL fanbase more angry at the league than I do now. 

 

The league's calculus has to be that they don't care and know we'll still watch, but it's not just Bills fans... it's fans of every team outside KC and it's analysts and commentators.  

 

It's the sudden realization by almost everyone that the league isn't about pure competition.  

 

They'll still get ratings because the Super Bowl is an American holiday at this point, but this is the most "out" i've ever seen the NFL fanbase on a game.

 

 

[Lost]

14 minutes ago, ShakAttack said:

 

 

It feels as though the NFL did whatever they could to hold KC's hand en route to the 3-peat this season.  

 

So if I'm looking for a silver lining, hopefully after they "make history" and become the first team to win 3 straight, the NFL won't favor them as much as they so painfully and obviously did this season.

 

As far as the "refs are human and make mistakes" argument, my counter to that would be...  yes they do make mistakes, but why is it that NONE of these flags thrown in critical moments of the games have gone AGAINST KC!?  They have ALL been to their benefit.  

 

Look at any other team in the NFL and the bad calls go both ways.  You want me to believe that it's pure coincidence that KC is the only team this doesn't happen to?  

 

 

I would like to draw comparison to how election and voting irregularities always go in favor of one political party and not the other.   Now let's see how long til @Simon deletes my post  😂

[Freddie's Dead]

It's in the rear view mirror.  I'm resigned to the fact that the Bills will continue to waste Josh Allen's career.

[Sojourner]

10 minutes ago, SCBills said:

I honestly believe, at this point, that the NFL has it's finger on the outcomes of games.  Not in the sense that they script or determine who wins, but as Bill Burr put it on Rich Eisen's show "they massage the games a certain way".  

 

I don't like feeling that this is the league I follow, that the team I most passionately support plays in.

 

I think most of the NFL fanbase seems to feel this way.

 

And I can come to terms with the Bills not breaking through.  We've certainly had practice at that.  I can't come to terms with how I now feel about the NFL.

Yeah, I can go with that. Never been one to complain about officiating other than in game. Refereeing being the outcome of a game was always an excuse unless it’s the very last play that decides it. 
 

However, massaging the outcome might be on to something. 
 

There was what? Like 7 bad spots solely for us throughout the game. Never seen that many before. The Worthy catch. 2 face masks against us but they missed 2 on the Chiefs, one by Tranquill when Josh was over the pile and the other on Cook. They don’t call a Chiefs player diving on the back of Cook’s neck either. Very strange all around. 

[jaybeezee]

Just now, Freddie's Dead said:

It's in the rear view mirror.  I'm resigned to the fact that the Bills will continue to waste Josh Allen's career.

I agree, but Josh seems okay with everything the way that it is. In fact he has had more input than people want to admit on someof our offensive personal.

 

He hand selected Kincaid and Coleman. Its well documented he asked for both.  Both underperformed this year and I personally don't think our coaches scheme to the strengths of our players on either side of the ball, but Coleman is what we see. Its what he was in college.  Why do we keep drafting guys that we think we can change? 

I promise you if Mahomes kept losing to Josh and the Bills, he would demand top flight offensive weapons or he would threaten to walk. Knoxx, Kincaid, Coleman were and have been obsolete this year. We trade a 3rd for Amari Copper but never really target him.

 

If we had the squad we had in 2021,we beat this version of the Refs,oops I mean Chiefs.

[loveorhatembillsfan4life]

The night of the game sucks for me.. trying to process everything and reading all sorts of thoughts from everyone and everywhere.

 

Yesterday was better listening to some up the wrap up interviews. I would like to hear from Beane and Mcd  as well. I don’t feel that same feeling as the 13 second game. 

 

Luckily, my wife and I are taking the kids to Orlando for a week so I can miss all the Super Bowl lead up. 
 

Once the Super Bowl is done I will completely have moved on from this season and on to the offseason! 
 

 

 

 

[Sojourner]

Just now, jaybeezee said:

I agree, but Josh seems okay with everything the way that it is. In fact he has had more input than people want to admit on someof our offensive personal.

 

He hand selected Kincaid and Coleman. Its well documented he asked for both.  Both underperformed this year and I personally don't think our coaches scheme to the strengths of our players on either side of the ball, but Coleman is what we see. Its what he was in college.  Why do we keep drafting guys that we think we can change? 

Did he? That’s news to me. Coleman, yep, the rumbles were that he liked Coleman and would like him if the MHJ/Nabers/Odunze/Thomas Jr’s were off the board. 
 

Never heard about him hand picking Kincaid. That’s even more peculiar to me as Knox was his guy and had just got a big contract. Not saying you’re wrong by any means, just that’s the first I’ve heard about that the case. I always thought it was the FO/Staff who were eager to get a second TE to run more 21 & 22 personnel.