Livinginthepast

A chance? A snowball in hells chance. Chase caught it and with his big body and momentum just pushed trey back for the first down. If Trey even slight jams him at the line instead of 5 yards back he has a chance. But definitely not in that scenario.

The Bengals have to win the SB to become dominant. KC did it and this has propelled to be perennial powerhouses with Mahomes. In addition, Burrow has already ripped up his knee once. If the Bengals are unlucky that could happen again and that will surely end the chances.

So Diggs supposedly said "dont listen to him"? repeatedly. I guess that was about Dorsey and his terrible playcalls? Thats just the truth. I think Josh succeeded despite Dorsey this season.

You think Reich is a "cute sentimental" choice? because he was a QB here? I guess a SB winning OC who took a pile of dog poop like Nick Foles and made him into a SB winner wasnt relevant to the thought process? As for the "ensconced" in Indy line, I'm sure he was ensconced in Philly before getting Indy, and he was probably "ensconced" in Buffalo when he played here. Whatever the hell that means .

1. We need an inventive offensive mind who is going to put Josh into the positions to succeed with better schemes. Dorsey is N0T that guy. We had a good sample of his "talents" and they were as close to Walmart Great value Vanilla ice cream as possible. I would fire Dorsey and hire Frank Reich. An OC that coached Nick Foles to a SB and a good fit with McD due to full Jesus love. 2. Frazier is too old school defensive mentality. Worked great on the 85 Bears, they just showed up and dominated but not anymore. He needs to be fired immediately. Yesterday he lost whatever credibility as a coach he might have had. Bring in a young defensive coach or a seasoned one. Anyone is better than Frazier. 3. Keep McD but next year is it . If you cant get us there, you are gone. TBH Im actually not convinced that McD should even survive after 13 secs and this embarrassment but I think the players like the stability he brings.

100% Sal has good takes but chooses his words very carefully. He criticizes only to a point or plays devils advocate. I miss the WGR of 15 years ago that didnt "tow the company line".

It appears not. If this was Hollywood it would have been enough to win us the SB. I think that they were likely to lose this game no matter how pumped they were as they were so poorly prepared with schemes and strategy by coaches on both sides of the ball. The snow made it worse but I think that the Bills in their current physical and mental state probably lose this game 9/10 times. The only way they might have been able to get a victory is if Burrow had been injured early on or if their coaches had actually cooked up something special in strategy, which sadly they appear to be completely incapable of doing!

I thought of this yesterday and also the Bills connection as it was Marv who coached the Alouettes to the championship. They also supposedly put the staples in at halftime. Which probably goes down as the best halftime adjustment in any era of pro football. The field in question was the original astro turf in Montreal's Olympic stadium which was garbage.

So you dont think there was any narrative that MANY of the Bengals (other than Mixon) felt disrespected at all? Even if the media "manufactured" the issue of Bills selling tickets to a neutral site and its normal practice, its still very obvious that something or a whole bunch of things were making the Bengals as a whole feel angry and disrespected. Whether the Bills did look past them or it was a media invention to rile them up, the Bengals played with a fierce intensity on Jan3 and especially yesterday because in their minds, the Media and/or the Bills werent giving them any respect. The Bills had nothing in the way of toughness or mental preparation that got them ready for that.

You are absolutely correct. Nobody stepped up and got pissed off with the lack of effort on defense or the hot garbage that the offense served up. Diggs frustration at the end of the game could have been used much earlier. Frazier is the last person on earth that would have done something but his Bears teammates in 85 would have never put up with being embarrassed like that. Somebody needed to step up and get in the faces of that defense and remind them of the moment they were in.

Yes, I think many of us sensed that the Hamlin near tragedy actually saved the Bills from a historic thumping. But apparently a couple of people didnt get that, McD and Leslie Frazier. Going forward was McD so traumatized that he pushed everything about that game in Cinci out of his head. I dont mean to sound insensitive by saying this but as a Head coach and DC, McD and Frazier have to rise above the horror of that moment and go back and learn from those first 2 Bengals drives in Cinci to avert it happening again. They clearly did not do that. Which for me makes Fraser the most guilty but McD heavily culpable as well. The Bengals seem to have learned what to do on offense in that first drive in Cinci and then after the game also adjusted their defense to stymie the Bills. If you remember the Bills actually moved the ball on their first drive in Cinci but crapped out in typical Dorsey style in the red zone. Over and over it comes down to the Bengals coaches putting their players in positions to be successful and the Bills coaches doing the opposite.

I dont think the Bills players necessarily were but allowing fans to prepurchase Atlanta seats before the game was real certainly created that vibe.

I've watched the Bills in the playoffs for the past 4 decades back to the 1980 season and I have to say no opposition opening drive has ever foreshadowed a game more than what the Bengals did today to start off. Sure there have been some terrible Bills teams who have given up terrible opening drives in the regular season (McD era teams have been actually really bad at this) but this is the playoffs. No playoff Bills team I can recall ever took such a punch to the face as the Bills did on the opening drive today. The drive planted the momentum to the Bengals and they never gave it back. The drive was so easy and so effortless that it immediately took the crowd out of the game and oddly seemed to permanently deflate the Bills D going forward. It also exposed Frazier for the fraud that he is defensively with Bengals receivers wide open on every down, no pass rush, a D line getting gashed on runs and a QB completing every single pass. In short it was like a Mike Tyson knockdown or standing 8 count in the first minute of the first round. I just cant get my head around how the Bills (especially Frazier)could have possibly have been so poorly prepared for what they knew the Bengals could do. Its almost as if Frazier didn't watch any film at all this week on the Bengals. One of their best O Lineman was out, yet no pressure or scheme to that side. If this isn't enough to get Frazier fired, I simply don't know what is?

First of all the way we were poorly prepared and the way the Bengals felt disrespected (like the Bills were looking past them) before this game were huge factors. I think we would have lost in a dome too. However I agree with the snow playing havoc with our defense and offensive timing. The offense especially looked out of sync and part of that was the snowy conditions. Weirdly the Bengals were absolutely unaffected by the snow. In the end the overall quality of this game was diminished by the weather and this is probably the 3rd or 4th time in the past 2 years that the weather has negatively affected this team, including moving the game to Detroit. I think its the height of stupidity to not build a dome in Buffalo or at least a retractable roof option. But the way things went today? we were going to lose anyway!

Mccaffery, the one Carolina castoff we could have really used.

The Cowboys kicker is snakebitten worse than any kicker I have ever seen.

Not a rebuild but you could say a major tweak is necessary For coaches: Fire Frazier and Dorsey. Both are not good enough Players: Deep assessment on Poyer and White, If they are both done (as it has appeared lately) then cut Cut Brown, Singletary last chance to Oliver, Davis Dont touch Diggs, dont even think about it. Draft Oline, trade for oline, Sign Oline

We could do exactly as you suggest and there would be a good chance that it would be enough to take us over the top. But at the same time can you really convince yourself that McD has ever been the difference by making a brilliant call mid game that has WON us a game? I actually thought this time last year after the KC loss and the 13 seconds debacle that McD singlehandedly created, that the Bills should have onside kicked to KC at the start of overtime and at least attempted to recover the ball to win the game because there was no chance in hell we were going to stop them on defense. But of course McD would never do that in a million years. Would other coaches have the balls to do that? In the end if we are going to win despite McD as we seem to do often do and he doesnt offer us anything with his poor game management, then what is the point for keeping him. I dont think he gets canned because Mcbeane doesnt throw him under the bus but todays loss wasnt just on the Bills being beaten up and undermanned it was on the Bills having no coherent defensive plan, no adjustable offensive plan and not being mentally ready. Its up to McD to get all that ready and today he failed spectacularly.

As much as I feel bad. Its not as bad as last year where we actually gave up a victory due to stupidity. This season for me just had one gigantic shadow over it after Hyde and then Miller injuries and the multitude of others. The Hamlin injury was just the latest iteration of this doom. It was like we were kidding ourselves that any team that endured what we had could get to the promised land. The clock finally struck 12 today.

Its like the injury and emotional toll finally caused them to run out of gas. The Hamlin injury was so awful that its a miracle they didnt pack it in at that point.

Sadly being unprepared for some big games is something I have seen a few too many times in the McD era. Losing to the Colts, Saints and Bucs in losses where the team looked confused, unready or tired is hard to understand. McD isnt one of those old school "win one for the gipper" speech coaches. Its as if he relies on others to focus the team or just lets the players do it themselves. By contrast the Bengals looked prepared as if they had studied all of the Bills weaknesses and were completely unafraid.

When we lost Micah Hyde for the season I thought disappointing but no worries we got this. But as the season wore on and the pass defense got exposed and the bad tackling got exposed his value became incredibly apparent. Losing Miller though was the Hammer blow, Funny enough I thought he had been a bit disappointing but once again, his value became apparent soon after, Without Miller, the Bills D lost their leader and probably lost the one guy who had the gravitas to change up the D based on what he saw the opposing offense about to do. Something that Frazier would never do mid series. But the greatest loss of all this year? Dabol. Dorsey ran such a vanilla offense that Josh won DESPITE him. Today was yet another example of a guy who used no disguises or trickery in his plays and didnt make adjustments for our terrible O Line. It seems incredible that we were 14-4 this year and yet this was one of the most irritating, stressful and ultimately disappointing Bills seasons I can remember in 43 years of fandom.

Because he has all day to throw even with a backup OLine. They also have a smashmouth RB . Life is so much easier with those 2 things.

We have 1 sack?? maybe 2?

Just wave the white flag. Its been over for a while but the snow made sure that we were never coming back even despite our terrible D. Ironic for a Buffalo Bills team but snow is a huge negative. Coaches were unprepared for this game on both sides of the ball.