ShakAttack

I will be disappointed, but not lose interest. If I had the ability to lose interest over something like this, I would have stopped being a Bills fan a very long time ago, probably somewhere during the 17 year drought. But what disappoints me about Frazier is how predictable his defense is, and how unwilling he is to change anything about it, especially in the playoffs. These playoff runs should have been GIFTS to Frazier to teach him lessons about how and where to adjust and change his scheme. Instead, the more our defense shows up in the playoffs, the more it seems to give everyone else an advantage against us.

Well, now that KC has represented the AFC in 3 of the past 4 Super Bowls... While the NFC has had a different team reach the SB each year. That's enough for me to root for the Eagles. Because I AM in the "one before I die" camp and I DO believe we would've had that ONE if the Chiefs did not exist.

When Gabe Davis famously scored 4 TD's in the "13 seconds" game, I think Josh Allen might have developed a trust in Gabe Davis as being the go to guy when it is all on the line. I.e. when the chips are down, when the pass rush is getting home and he needs to get rid of the ball in the red zone, Davis has become the guy that he will "throw it up" to whether or not he is actually open. As opposed to, pre-13 seconds, when Allen seemed to play more freely in these moments and/or looked for Diggs (the better receiver) which resulted in Allen having only ONE red-zone turnover in his career, to that point (might need to be checked on that, but pretty sure it was either 1 or 2). Allen is one of those QBs that plays very instinctively, as we know, and I think he might have put a little too much into Davis' career day. Could it also be part of the reason Diggs has grown frustrated? Could it be that Diggs has picked up on this tendency as well? And could it be he is also frustrated because A) It isn't working; we aren't coming away with TDs in these situations B) Diggs isn't "him" in those moments and C) Diggs knows if Allen was targeting him instead in those moments - especially those in which he becomes "WIDE OPEN" - there would have been a better outcome for the team? Perhaps Davis is hurting this offense more than just the obvious poor 50% catch rate and 10% drop rate. Perhaps he is subconsciously hurting Allen's decision making as well? It will be interesting to see where this goes next season i.e. What will Gabe's role be? Will Allen continue forcing passes to him? Or will he actually step up in a contract year and resemble "Playoff Gabe" during the regular season as well? Now, having said all of that... I'd have to actually go back and look at film (that I do not have) for each of these turnovers to confirm this tendency to be true, but if memory serves me correct, I do remember Davis being the target on some of these throws, even when he was not at all open, which is the concerning part here. But for example, I definitely remember him being the target on Allen's OT interception against the Vikings which is one of many plays in that game that was the difference between winning and losing, the difference between having the #1 seed in the AFC and not having it... the difference between getting a much needed bye and getting to the SB and going home. And I really do not think he would have been the target in that moment prior to "13 Seconds". Also, even though not all of these throws necessarily ended with interceptions, they might have ended our drive, and our chance to put up 6 points, and again, that is disturbing when Allen is forcing passes to a covered receiver, much more than we see him do with other Bills receivers. If I'm wrong here, then I should've never posted this, and I apologize. But if there is something to this, hopefully the Bills are catching it as well.

The time spent writing that post pales in comparison to the years of agonizing over various Bills losses (especially Music City Miracle and 13 Seconds). So I'd say that leveraging this platform to spew my thoughts over the 2022 Bills season was well worth exorcizing some of these demons, for me anyway.

I mean, after seeing what our defense and pass rush looked like when Von Miller was healthy, I do believe we could have met those expectations if he were healthy for the playoffs. After all, this is what makes him such a special player. Most guys with 8 sacks, they were probably registered on random passing plays, etc. but with Miller, almost ALL of his 8 sacks were incredibly timely, and that is what you want to have in the playoffs. Yes, that ONE player could have potentially changed the entire Bengals game. But without a pass rush, there was never a chance. Sub Mahomes in for Allen in that game, and the Bills still lose, probably just as badly. I think the part that sucks the most, when I think about "next season" is that he tore his ACL, so he when he is back, he likely won't be back to 100%, and heck, he might never be 100% ever again. I think if you could tell us "Von will be return at 100%" even if it were in Week 5-8 or so, we would have more hope for the team in 2023 because he really was making that much of a difference, even in Frazier's vanilla defense. I've learned the biggest one of all, is overall health of the team. You look at the 2 teams in the Super Bowl and you've got 2 of the healthiest teams in football. You look at some of teams that went deep into the playoffs and lost and why they lost, and injuries stand out as much as anything... - Bills lost Von Miller and lost a pass rush that was among the best in the NFL when he was healthy - Niners lost their QBs and couldn't even throw a pass for half the game - Bengals lost their OL and it finally caught up to them when they faced a HEALTHY and talented D-Line that was able to take advantage Heck, if we are relatively healthy next season, that's an advantage in itself. It sucks, but that's true with the NFL more so than any other sport.

True, but, I guess my point was, the Chiefs needed us to "lose" 1 more game to get the 1 Seed, and that's exactly what they got, because the 1 team in the AFC that we matched up horribly against happened to be one of the last teams on our schedule. I do agree that we would have lost that game too; I was just trying to point out that the way in which they ended up getting the #1 seed, well, let's just say "ONLY with the Chiefs..." Meanwhile, there were at least 4 games in which they narrowly escaped and arguably should have lost (Chargers 2x, Raiders, Texans, maybe others too), but somehow they win all four of them, which turns out to be precisely what they needed to have. In contrast, the Bills have a game that was literally in the bag against the Vikings, but found a way to lose, and there is your 1 game difference. It's just amazing to me that year after year they do JUST ENOUGH to get the #1 seed. And say what you want about Mahomes, but you cannot credit him for ALL of these wins because I believe 3 of the 4 aforementioned games were won on defense and/or by their opponent making inexplicable self-inflicted mistakes at the worst possible time. ONE of the four did have an absolutely incredible game winning drive by Mahomes, but again, that's one out of four. Their defense essentially turns into the clutch equivalent of their future HOF QB somehow in these close games.

I remember when the Bills had a roster like that... 2013-2014. The best we ended up doing was Kyle Orton. And like the Jets, we nearly made the playoffs.

I am a 38-year-old lifelong Bills fan, so I am old enough to have been there for all the heartbreaking playoff exits over the years. This year’s loss to the Bengals, however, did not qualify as a “heartbreak”. In fact, I was able to digest the 27-10 beatdown faster than any other Bills playoff loss, ever. But what I came to realize soon thereafter was that just because I was able to move on from this game relatively faster than others, that did not mean that I would have an easy time moving on from the season and the missed opportunity that it was. One of the things that sticks with me, and bugs me, is that I cannot help but notice the Chiefs path to the Super Bowl reflects the vision the Bills had for this season in many ways. It all started in the NFL draft, when many of us wanted the Bills to draft Trent McDuffie, so naturally, the Chiefs trade up in front of us to get him. Now, Kaiir Elam has shown promise, I get that, but the point is how the Chiefs continue to be the team that gets everything we want, seemingly every time. And when we do seem to get a leg up onthe Chiefs, something goes wrong instead. Case in point. Before the draft, we signed Von Miller because it was pretty clear that the absence of a pass rush (specifically, a closer) was keeping us from advancing to the Super Bowl. There is a long history of elite QBs that have their way with every playoff opponent UNLESS that opponent has a pass rush(er) that can get home. Von is a textbook closer and he lived up to his reputation in the early part of the season because, not only was he among the league leaders with 8 sacks, but most of those sacks came in critical moments of the game! He had such a feel for the game and was able to turn it on when it was most needed which is exactly why we brought him to Buffalo. Not only that, but Leslie Frazier’s defense actually looked GOOD when Miller was out there, aside from the secondary at times which had also been decimated with injuries. But we had an effective four-man pass rush and Rousseau and Oliver were benefiting from Von Miller getting double-teams. Bottom line… when he was out there, HE WAS WORTH IT!!! Well… Von tears his ACL on Thanksgiving, and our pass rush is never the same after that, nor is our defense. Meanwhile, the Chiefs advance to the Super Bowl after their closer, Chris Jones, comes up with a 3rd down sack of Joe Burrow to end the threat and VERY likely possibility of the Bengals moving the ball into game winning FG range and milking the clock to ensure Mahomes never touches the ball again (i.e. similar to how we beat the Ravens and Dolphins this season, and the vast majority of the time you have an elite QB going up against a non-elite defense, he will win that matchup). But again… Chris Jones. How fitting... right? Who else would it be? Just to rub it in our faces. I don't know how, but it NEVER fails. Yet again, KC plays out the scenario we had envisioned and dreamed of for ourselves after signing Von Miller, and they are going to the Super Bowl… again. Now if you had told me at the beginning of the season that we would be 13-3 and beat the Chiefs in Arrowhead, I would be feeling confident that we had achieved our goal at attaining the #1 seed in the conference. But of course, the Chiefs got it instead, by 1 game, and it literally took Damar Hamlin going into cardiac arrest in a nationally televised football game for the Chiefs to leapfrog the Bills and snag the #1 seed in the AFC right before the season ended. God forbid Patrick Mahomes ever has to play an away playoff game. I mean it’s truly remarkable, isn’t it? Sure, I give the KC Chiefs credit for how well the franchise is run, but the fact is, year after year, they just BARELY get that #1 seed and there were at least 3-4 games this season where Mr. Mahomes did not deliver at the end of the game and put KC in position to LOSE, but something ALWAYS happened and at the end of the day, they had JUST ENOUGH to secure the #1 seed. Greatness with a lot of LUCK sprinkled in. Helluva formula for success. And it sounds much like the NE Patriots dynasty. It's funny though. On the subject of how difficult it has been for me to put this season in the rear view window, I the think Von Miller injury has been the most difficult of all. And I say “it’s funny” because I didn’t necessarily feel that way when it was announced that he had a torn ACL and would be shut down for the season. Yes, I hated it, and I realized that our playoff run would be negatively impacted by his absence, but I guess you could say it didn’t really hit home until the playoffs happened, and we got beat by the Bengals pass rush + not having a pass rush of our own, and then the Chiefs beat the Bengals with a pass rush, and then the 2 teams with the most sacks in the NFL end up going h2h in the Super Bowl. That is when it really hit home. Still, I can’t help but think our path to the Super Bowl – even without Von Miller – would have been MUCH more feasible with that #1 seed (thank you, Vikings game) and that is what made it difficult to move on from the season, even though I had moved on from that final game. Just look at Kansas City’s path vs. our own. We would have started with a much needed first round bye week. The Bills probably needed the opportunity to regroup and refocus more than any other team in the NFL at that time. Then, as it turns out, we would have hosted Jacksonville instead of the Bengals who apparently were THE WORST matchup possible for the Bills, and finally, we would get our rematch against Kansas City. And even though it would really suck to have that rematch without Von Miller, I do not believe for one second that a game against the Chiefs would have played out the way the Bengals game did. Buffalo would not come out flat against KC, period. We knew KC and KC knew us. It would have been a 50/50 ballgame (slightly in our favor if we had Von Miller). But instead, we will never know. Point is, I realized that I could not just pass this off as “Well, this was not going to be our year anyway after everything that happened” because that isn’t true; it might have been because that #1 seed was significant and it is no coincidence that the two #1 seeds are now meeting in the Super Bowl. And, as always, we came up JUST SHORT of that goal. Like we came up JUST SHORT of finishing the game in 2021, with arguably the best Buffalo Bills team in franchise history. And JUST SHORT in 2020, yes, even 2020, because only one team and one QB stood in our way of the Super Bowl that year. So that’s really it. This season, while it felt a lot different initially because of the one-sided loss that ended our season, it was just another chapter in the same old never-ending story. Also, I realize this post was a bit disorganized, so I apologize to those that attempted to follow along. Really, I just needed to use this platform to vent and release these thoughts rather than being bothered by them. 😂

Admittedly, I was not as aware of the (full) recovery time from ACL injuries until we went through this with White and started hearing "it takes two full years for most players" as he struggled coming back this year. That said, I also keep hearing how we expect Von Miller to be back next year, yet nobody is really bringing up the 2-year recovery concern for Von or how he probably won't be himself at first, etc. And why is that? What am I missing here?

I do agree that - old as it is - the recipe for success is still the same 3 years later. You CONTINUE to make DLine a priority. Recognize that Epenesa and Basham were wasted picks, but that you have something in Miller and Rousseau, and you keep striving to build an elite pass rush because that WILL make a huge difference when the games matter most. it’s tricky because OL is also a huge priority now but as much as people wanna scream about getting a WR2, I think priority 1a and 1b is OL and DL (pass rusher) still. Unfortunately you can’t control injury luck (unless you’re KC maybe) , but as far as approach, once you have the franchise QB in place, emphasis on OL&DL and the surrounding skill positions will benefit.

we had a Chris jones. But he got hurt. Chiefs key players never do.

It’s truly amazing how even though Mahomes gets all the glory, their middle-of-the-pack (at best) ranked defense ALWAYS come through the rare times Mahomes is stopped. The Bengals controlled their own destiny at the end of the game. Chris Jones is an Example of the reason we signed Von Miller, as we should have! The Bills recognized the value of having a closer in the playoffs, but naturally, it’s OUR closer that gets hurt. I don’t think it is just a Bills fan’s perspective when I say, the Chiefs are the luckiest team in the NFL. like the old Pats, something, somehow, no matter how absurd, always seems to go right for them at the end of the game…. Even if it’s unrelated to their QB!! I hate football. Really do.

On the one hand, it seems like it is inevitable we are going to have less talent on the roster next season, because of Free Agents and the cap hits from our top players. On the other hand, it's not like we had all of that talent at our disposal by the time the season ended. So, if key players are just more healthy than last season, how much are you really losing compared to where you were at the end of this season? There shouldn't be much of an overall drop-off in talent compared to where we were this season, even if we lost Edmunds & Poyer, for instance. You'd have Hyde, Miller and (ideally) a healthier Tre White. You'd also have an entire off-season to find a safety to replace Poyer instead of having to deal with it in the middle of the season. It's definitely going to be our most important draft since 2018, and it'll be a bigger challenge because unlike 2018, we don't have high picks and lots of draft capital. Another thought... during Beane's presser when he mentioned that lots of Bills players were out there playing "Really banged up", I thought, man... in some cases, if a guy is THAT banged up, would it not be better to consider playing someone fresh? The next guy up? Against a bunch of dudes that are definitely hurting from wear and tear during the season too? Of course, this is depending on who we are talking about too. I couldn't help but think about it, again, with the way the 2nd/3rd string Bengals oline dominated our dline (granted, we were technically missing 2 starters on our DLine too in Von and Daquan) and also the way Cole Beasley has looked... even at his age... he just looked more healthy and fresh than most of our other receivers because of the fact he didn't go through all of that wear and tear during the season. I don't know, I just feel like their might be something to stashing a few players / using them lightly during the regular season and then unleashing them in the playoffs. I think a lot of us hoped for that with Nyheim Hines, for instance.

This is worse than the drought anyway because during the drought all we wanted was an opportunity to contend again, a franchise QB, and now we have have those things, been back to the playoff 4 years in a row with that franchise QB and after going all-in and failing this year, and it’s just NEVER enough for one reason or another. I feel the window closing, and once it does, who knows if we have to wait 10-15 years to be in this position again. 2020 and ESPECIALLY 2021 were better opportunities than this season, so in the back of my mind I did think we would come up short somewhere along the way, but to lose by 17? I did not think that was ever going to be possible in a playoff game in Josh Allen’s career, much like I can’t imagine Mahomes ever bowing out like that, even with a high ankle sprain. But heck, his defense will probably step up for him, keep the game low scoring enough for him to have a shot at the end. I’ll admit though, it would actually make me feel better to see KC get their @$$ kicked… but they won’t… cause their coaching staff is far superior, for one thing.

It's hard not to wonder if we didn't use Shakir enough? He made some great plays when we called his number this season. Makes you wonder, if he were given an expanded role, would he come through? Like Hodgins did for Daboll in NY. Yeah I know, completely different players, but my point is, is it a matter of how we are (incorrectly) evaluating our talent?

Why? Well, I think part of it probably has something to do with maybe because the previous 2 years offense did not seem to be as much of an issue? Particularly, the passing game. I think most of us agreed where we would need an upgrade most was at running back. But after this season, and after yesterday's game, the need for a better WR2 became a seemingly greater priority than it was in the past. I don't think it's rocket science though. Needs change every year. Let's not forget how it used to seem like our WRs had very little issue getting open. So the system was working, at the time. Maybe it's Dorsey's fault? Don't know. When last season ended, it seemed like our offense was elite, ESPECIALLY in the passing game, but the lack of a pass rush kept us out of the Super Bowl, so the priority was pass rush and getting a faster/bigger/more athletic corner to add to our talented backfield. Then everyone got hurt. And things changed. I really always felt like the loss of Daboll was being so underrated when people automatically pegged us the Super Bowl favorites this season. And now Daboll is the NFL's coach of the year.

Defense mechanisms. You kind of have to do that instead of facing the reality of "4 years in playoffs and couldn't make a Super Bowl, last year indeed was our chance to do it and the window is probably closed now" because if you believe that, well, then what's the point?

It’s funny, this is off-topic, but for some reason the OP made me think of it… past couple seasons, it seemed like we were only a “couple pieces away” from winning a championship. Then going into this season, it felt like we picked up the missing piece in Von Miller. but as of right now, this very moment, it seems we have so many deficiencies that it’s more like “Where the hell do we even start?” I wish I could believe this was easily fixable, but this really has the feel of taking several steps back (and quite possibly, the rest of our division may continue moving forward)

You know, if we make the Super Bowl, it will remind me a lot of Flacco and the Ravens. I remember Flacco being a turnover machine during the regular season that year, but once the playoffs started he could not be stopped. And at least, for ONE off-season, some considered him to be one of the league’s best QBs. Go figure. As for Allen, I have to say, aside from the fumble, the interceptions were not Allen’s fault; he actually had a really good day, especially throwing the ball, and I don’t need to remind about the 2 drops that were reversed by replay which also was not on him. But my point is, I still feel like Allen WAS in playoff mode yesterday. It’s a shame that 2 interceptions that were not on him will blemish his career playoff stats though

I live in WA (20 min drive north of Portland, Oregon) and there are actually a LOT of Bills fans here, so Oregon does not surprise me too much.

Wouldn’t be something McD hasn’t done before actually. Member the 2019 playoff game against the Texans? And how heavily we featured Duke Williams? Now, that experiment didn’t really work, but we still should have won. I don’t know. It’s tough. We are frustrated about Davis and McKenzie because of drops. But Beasley had a significant drop on MNF against the Bengals. And I remember Smoke with some unfortunate drops in his last season with us. Who do you trust? And is any one of them that much more important than the next? It’s tough… but my top 2 would be Davis and Smoke. With Davis, I would imagine his presence on the field would help Allen’s confidence in the playoffs. And perhaps, like Allen, he is one of those dudes that comes up big in the playoffs. As for Smoke, our offense is SO MUCH BETTER when Allen has the deep ball working for him and Smoke/Davis/Diggs all have that threat. I was tempted to take Beasley as one of my top 2, but we signed him to be the safety valve guy he used to be, yet he has played 3 game and received 1 target in each, so if we aren’t going to really use him to serve that purpose, then what’s the point?

Stage 1?? I heard he is in Stage 3? https://news.yahoo.com/tua-tagovailoa-not-cleared-to-practice-raheem-mostert-has-broken-thumb-ahead-of-dolphins-bills-playoff-game-215328414.html "Tua remained in Stage 3 on Sunday" Stage 4 - I believe - is when you can start practicing. If he is indeed already in Stage 3, I expect he is practicing as soon as tomorrow. That said, after the Damar Hamlin incident, all the concussion stuff with Tua this year is probably the next "scariest" story line, so I would just hope he doesn't play..... regardless of whether he is cleared.

i don’t know. I wondered about that a couple of weeks ago. If we won the Vikings game, would it have changed the sense of urgency at the end of the Lions game, for instance, when we couldn’t afford to lose another game in large part due to the Vikings game and the urgency to win the game at the end of the 4th quarter so that there would be no chance of going to OT? (to avoid another potential outcome LIKE the Vikings game?) It might sound silly on the surface but as Von and many other players have pointed out “you learn more from the losses than the wins” and all I know is we have not lost a “close game” since that Vikings game. All I am saying is that, if we won that Vikings game, it doesn’t automatically mean we still would have won every game after that

I predict instead, first time we drive down the field, assuming it gets to 1st and goal, we kick a FG on first down to put 3 on the board first in honor of Damar.

To be completely honest, I feel like as of right now, I do not really care as much about the games, playoff seeding, etc. But I think once that Pats game kicks off, I will be sucked right back into it all for the same reasons I became a football fan in the first place: This sport is the ultimate distraction and escape for me and I have been rooting for this team practically my entire life; I do not follow any other team in any other sport, so in my case, whether I like it or not, I think I will be caught up in the hype of the next game as soon as it starts. as for the players, I think many of them will be too. Over the years, I have watched many of these players lose a loved one right before playing a game, and I cannot remember one time where the player did not want to play that next game. Often times, they come out and play harder, better, because in their minds, they are honoring the loved one that has deceased. I realize every person is different, and I realize this situation was brand new to ALL of these players, but from what I understand about football players and their mentality, I do believe that for most of them, the football field will serve as the stage in which they honor Damar Hamlin on Sunday, and if they are successful in doing that, I think it would be a beautiful thing, and one of my fondest regular season memories as a Bills fan.