ShakAttack

Yeah, I don't understand this one at all. It's the punter position. Not exactly highest demand. There had to be a better option than Matt Haack...

it was still the most important player for one of the Super Bowl teams last year. But that’s about it.

Especially when you consider down the stretch of last season, Allen and the offense came up with TDs over and over again at the end of games when needed. That includes games in which Allen struggled during the first 3 quarters. He was insanely clutch last season. Ironically, one of the only times we failed to score a TD in that scenario was the regular season game against KC, where we instead had to settle for a FG. Granted, that was a go-ahead FG, but it still felt like a TD was necessary in that situation at the time.

That 16 play, 54 yard drive… just looking at that makes me want to cry. It was THE perfect drive for that situation, until we went off script, stopped doing what we were doing to get to that part of the field and got greedy. I think the part that hurts the most is if we kept chipping away (I.e. throw to Diggs on 2nd and 9) you probably end up around the 10 yard line eventually where the Bills are likely one of the most efficient teams in the NFL at striking from the distance, in large part due to the threat of Allen as a runner. But we all know this already, so I will stop. It’s just, I knew that was a perfect drive, but I did not realize until reading the OP that it was a 16 play 54 yard drive. Just wow.

Very true, regarding Thuney. At the same time, I have always felt that teams can overcome one major injury, but when it is multiple starters, it becomes insurmountable. Look at it this way. Yes, they were out Thuney, and Omenihu (who technically is not their starter). But the Bills in contrast (only naming starters): Tredavious White Matt Milano Christian Benford Terrell Bernard Gabe Davis Rasul Douglas (was playing, but should not have been due to injury. Honestly, we may have been better off with Elam. He has picked off Mahomes once, after all) Every single one of those guys was extremely valuable to the Bills and were sorely missed vs KC. That includes Gabe Davis, considering Sherfield's abysmal play in that game.

Would there though? I think majority of fans wanted him back last year when Sam Martin was struggling.

All punter jokes aside, this actually is a pretty big deal. The fact that Araiza can flip field position from just about anywhere means good luck getting a "short field" against a great defense next year. Field position is a huge part of the game... If anything, hopefully these big punts will lead to big returns here and there...

It’s funny how each off-season fans talk about how they can’t wait to get x, y and z back. This was the same thing before last season even started. What makes anyone think that next season we aren’t going to lose a few important starters at some point? Most teams do. Yes, we did have it worse than most these past couple of seasons due to the fact injuries would accumulate at the same position groups making them harder to overcome, but we can’t just assume the starters at the beginning of the year will be the starters at the end of the year, because they won’t. there is only one Kansas City (aka teams that do not lose critical pieces at critical stages of the season)

Funny thing is, this happened to me yesterday too, but when I first clicked on the thread, I thought you were talking about sports cards. Fellow collectors know that "skunked" is the term used for getting 0 cards in a sports card break.

Thank you for this great post. After reading this, I have a more "positive" take on our Chiefs problem. Well, positive, but with a caveat. As you stated, the Chiefs are a generationally good team; they are the team that "no one beats". But here is the difference between the Bills vs. Chiefs (in the playoffs) and other teams that chased dynasties in the past and could never get past them: The last 2 times we lost to KC, I would have to say the Bills beat themselves more-so than the Chiefs beat the Bills... As "mighty" as the Chiefs are, the Bills were in a GREAT situation, both times! Why did we lose both games? Our own coaching in 13 seconds and this year it was our own execution (for example, not throwing to a wide open Diggs even though we had successfully executed a dink and dunk attack that drained 6 minutes off the clock in the 4th quarter. During that particular drive, I was fooled into thinking, "Wow. We actually did learn. We actually do know how to win this game without giving Mahomes another chance!" I think Joe Brady and Mcdermott were on the same page there, but perhaps Allen was not, which goes back to my "if it isn't one thing, it's another" feeling when things go wrong with the Bills). So, my point is both of those games were completely on US. The Bills beat the Bills. Plain and simple. Now, typically this would be a (relatively) good thing because is it not better to be the team that beats itself against the very best as opposed to being just another team that gets flat out beat by the very best? Yeah, I'd say so. But in our case, we have shown, time and time again, in different situations, but especially this one, that we are NOT learning from our mistakes as much as we should. First thing that comes to mind is the Bills defending Hail Marys. After "Hail Murray" went down, I think we all expected that to be something that couldn't possibly happen again, and to be fair, it hasn't happened again, but... The very next week Herbert completed a Hail Mary against us. Fortunately, it did not impact the outcome. And this past year vs. Tampa, we lucked out with Godwin's back being turned. It just seems like this team repeats the same mistakes more often than a great team should. And that where my positivity turns to pessimism and it is what I meant by "I'll believe it when I see it". Which, I don't believe is the same thing as saying "they can't do it better", which is how you had interpreted it. I would say my perspective is more like, "Yes, we are fully capable of getting past KC, but until we PROVE that we can get out of our own way in game-winning moments, I am not going to expect it". I also agree with you 100% about Mcdermott. I think coaching far too often gets blame for issues that they shouldn't. And a lot of the time our blame is misplaced because a lot of situations/plays/decisions are more complicated than we could possibly know.

That this year’s playoff loss was worse than 13 seconds because it was a better opportunity to make the Super Bowl. and what also made it worse is after 13 seconds we were itching to get another shot at KC in the playoffs and redeem ourselves (not shoot ourselves in the foot again). We get that chance - at home - only 2 years later, with the Bengals out of the playoffs, and we shoot ourselves in the foot, again… after all of that. This team does not learn.

My only problem with this is it is exactly where we have been since "13 seconds" and it is where we still are now, so I'm at the point where I will believe it when I see it. I made a post a couple weeks ago how I eventually took this loss just as hard as 13 seconds. It was an unpopular take, understandably so. Thing is, I didn't say this in the post, but I now realize the main reason for how I felt about the game is because after "13 seconds" happened, we were ITCHING to get another shot at the Chiefs. There was no way in hell we were going to come up short again, right? And yet we did, again, in the form of shooting ourselves in the foot, again, after being in the best possible position to leave our own stadium with a walk-off TD (because if we had continued milking the clock en route to a TD, we probably make KC spend their last 2 time outs in the process, with very little time remaining and this time they would need a TD, not a FG). And after all that, after being in that position only for this to happen AGAIN, was a hell of a gut punch and I can't help but wonder why I should be optimistic next time around if we couldn't take advantage of an incredible opportunity this time... And trust me, on the surface, I feel like you, because I have to believe in the Bills, but deep down, this is the reality based on what I have been witnessing.

If it’s not the injuries, it’ll be the refs if it’s not the refs, it’ll be the defense if it’s not the defense, it’ll be the receivers If it’s not the receivers, it’ll be allen etc this is Buffalo bills football something, somewhere, will always go wrong. Come on guys, don’t kid yourselves; we know this by now!

while this is true, it always feels like despite all of the injuries and all of the obstacles we have to overcome almost every year, when you look at the elimination games - particularly last 2 vs KC - and how we lost, it always come down to some stupid blunder. You know, the type the chiefs never have either. Like… neglecting to squib kick in “13 seconds” or, Allen neglecting to hit Diggs on the wide open crossing route on 2nd and 9. Ultimately, our most promising seasons end on what we did to ourselves, more-so than what the opponent did to us. And other than losing a game on a blown call by the refs, the next worst way to go out is over a stupid mistake at the very end of the game, that takes away from everything great you did up to that point. the Eagles OT game felt very much like this year’s KC loss too, but that game ended up being much less significant than it felt at the time

Props on the avatar btw. 2018 Panini America Canvas #307 Josh Allen RC A very nice card.

Just when I thought I had made it through the first 24-hour period (since the KC game) without a flashback to this play. Thank you for that. And I agree btw, which is why I had such an insanely difficult time with it when it happened. I was yelling & pointing frantically at my TV "DIGGS!!! HE'S WIDE OPEN!!!!!" and when Allen released the ball, I was certain it was going to Diggs. Smh.

When it started off with Tom saying "You're 27 years old" did anyone else think this was going to be a conversation about Super Bowls?

From reading the responses, I think a lot of people are looking at 13 seconds as a missed opportunity from the perspective of how explosive that team appeared to be in the playoffs. But that doesn't necessarily render it a better opportunity than this season. Look at KC, the offense they had that season had more fire power than they did last year or this year, but they still came up short. To me, the opportunity this year was more based on what was happening around us in the AFC. This year was a great opportunity because no team was running away with it, all of the "good" teams had major flaws and there were also a lot of QB injuries down the stretch (most notably, Burrow). And to top it off, we were on a longer winning streak than any other team in the AFC at the end of the season besides maybe the Ravens? And they clearly have a playoff Lamar issue. I mean this year's Chiefs is the prime example. One of the reasons so many people felt this year was a great opportunity is because the Chiefs were having a down year, but look at them now! And honestly, the difference between KC being in the Super Bowl instead of the Bills might be as simple as 2nd and 9 from the KC 26. We will never know. But it really feels like that is how close we may have been. But I can't minimize the opportunity that we had this year just because our elimination game was not on the same level as "13 seconds". Ultimately, we had just as much of a shot at making it to the Super Bowl at minimum, based on what was happening in the AFC this year. Next year? Who knows. KC's only notable FA is Chris Jones, so they will probably get better (but again, getting better as a team doesn't always mean better opportunity at a Super Bowl, as evidenced this year). But if we meet again in the playoffs, it might not be a home game again. Cincy is probably back. On and on it goes. That said, even if this is a missed opportunity, I am not one of the fans that feels like we are "running out" of opportunities. In fact, I am very excited about our offense next season because it looks like we are in line to have our first "reboot" on offense since acquiring Diggs in 2020. I anticipate the Bills using their first round pick on a WR for the first time in Allen's career, giving us a genuine top-end talent to go with James Cook and Shakir coming off breakout seasons and Kincaid entering Year #2. If we play our cards right, this could be the most dynamic group of receivers JA17 has ever had.

True. They did lose a couple key players during the game as well though, to be fair. It did not balance it out, but it helped. And we were moving on their defense effectively enough, which is why I thought we would get the job done at the very end (and score the TD with very little time on on the clock). Especially because - despite the Bills struggles this season - how many times have we watched Allen go down the field late in the 4th quarter and score a TD, even in his worst performances, he always came through in those "gotta have it" moments at the very end (even if the defense was unable to hang on for him, like earlier in the year). So, even though it was the "mighty KC" when I saw us moving the ball on that last drive that sucked 6 minutes off the clock, the plan was obvious, and it was genius, it seemed like we could all see what the Bills were trying to do and it was working... until suddenly... we went off script... and that was that.

Well, hopefully the team does not feel the same way. Rather than "getting used to it" like us, I hope it adds more fuel to the fire than ever before. I hope they are sick and tired of the narratives, sick and tired of the labels and I hope we prove them all wrong. I remember the first thought that crossed my mind when we had 1st and 10 at the KC 26 with 2:00 left to play and it looked like we would be in position to score a TD with very little time remaining on the clock and it was "This is the chance to shut down ALL the narratives. Bills can't beat KC in the big game. Allen can't win a close playoff game. Mahomes is unstoppable." It was all right there. And in that moment I wanted it badly. It has stuck with me, and I hope it sticks with the team as well. Because, you know, these are the things that separate KC from the rest. And if we want to beat KC, we need to be on their level mentally, as well.

I said the "new" injuries, so that did not include Milano, or Tre white. And the context of the word "small" was that they were not "season ending" injuries like Milano or White, for instance. The point was that we would likely have guys like Rasul Douglas, Bernard, and Gabe Davis ready to go by the Ravens game and/or Super Bowl, so they were coming back (in Douglas' case, I mean back to form). Edit.. also left out Benford and Rapp. Those guys would have been back by Ravens and/or SB as well. Hence "relatively small" injuries (compared to the injuries from Week 4-5).

Something else I left out. When it is all said and done, I am willing to bet that nobody would have been as close to beating KC in these playoffs as we were. If that doesn’t scream “missed opportunity” (injuries or not) I don’t know what to say. Despite the injuries, we were on a roll. And most of the “new” injuries were small anyway, would have probably had them back by Baltimore, and definitely by the Super Bowl.

You know, I used to think that way, but I am not so sure. The problem with that logic is that it assumes we beat Cincy in the next game, a team that we have since learned that we seem to match up against worse than any other team in the NFL. This year, Cincy was not even in the playoffs. Therefore, if we beat KC, which we were in great position to do at home, I like our chances more vs Baltimore than I would the 2021 Bengals tbh. And I will also add that this year’s KC offense was 9th in Yards per game and 15th in Points per game (compared to FIRST in both categories last year, yes even without Tyreek). They were at their worst on offense, which adds to the missed opportunity in my opinion. Next year, they have nowhere to go but up on offense. Hopefully their defense will not be as good, at least.

well, I guess it depends on how you look at it. I am not thinking about the FG. I think about the missed opportunities before that. Specifically, the 2nd and 9, and where that drive was going until that play.

Yeah, I know, a couple weeks have passed, but that's partially the point. "13 seconds" probably took me a full month to get over, particularly with Allen playing the perfect game, but still coming up short, etc. This year, I thought I had digested the game after only a couple days; I thought it hurt exponentially less The difference is, with this year's loss to KC, even though I did not obsess over it the way I did in 2021, when I did think about it, it would hurt more... and more... and more... as time went on. That's because as time passed, it became more evident that this was an even greater missed opportunity than 2021. We were at home against KC. There was no Cincy in the playoffs. We got uncharacteristic breaks during the game. The Hardman fumble was something that never happened for the Bills. We were in the best position to do exactly what you'd think we would want to do after spending two years waiting to have this opportunity again(!!!) We were doing precisely what we must have learned from "13 seconds" which is kill the clock and give Mahomes as little time as possible if/when he ever does get the ball again. 8 minutes remaining when we start the drive at our own 25, and before you know it, had it down to 2 minutes left at the KC 26. Diggs is running by himself wide open for an easy catch that would almost certainly continue this pace, but Shakir is open in the end zone too, and that's the decision Allen would make in that moment. Writing that out is painful. Ugh. Anyway, it's old news, right? Yeah, and that's the point. As it becomes increasingly clear that we missed an even bigger opportunity, thinking back on this game is associated with an increasingly sh*t feeling as well. And then, once the Ravens lost with apparently the "same old Lamar" it was very clear to me. This should have been the year of the "Berman Special" (SF vs Buffalo). It's a strange feeling, because, unlike 2021, it is not something I necessarily dwell on, but when it does come up and I flash back to the dreadful 2nd and 9 play, I want to go punch a wall. It's also a strange feeling because, also unlike 2021, I am already looking forward to the next season with anticipation and excitement (in 2021, I wasn't ready yet, and I was turned off by all the hype and expectations for the Bills going into the year; I did not think it would help us at all). Anyway, the real question is where does Allen go from here? How did Allen take this loss in comparison with years past? Does this add more fuel to the fire (like we all hope) so he works his ass off wanting a Super Bowl more than ever? Or does this have some cumulative effect where it becomes exhausting after a while, after telling himself, "We are going to get better from this" over and over, only to find himself right back to where he started at the end of the day? I get the impression that Diggs feels something like this. And I really hope Allen never gets to that point, because we need him to be as hungry as ever. Side note...let's get him that young dynamic WR in 2024. Anticipation of a "rebooted" young offense is what has me amped up already for 2024 (something I did not feel nearly as much after 2021). Basically...from my "fan" perspective, I now know this year has made me want it even more because it ultimately hurts more and also served as a reminder that our playoff window is always open, unlike last season where we got smacked around for four quarters and went into the off-season looking like a broken team which had people not only betting on the window being closed, but predicting the 2023 Bills would miss the playoffs altogether. I just hope the Bills feel the same. And I hope they use that feeling to drive them next season. The loss to Cincy seemed to have an unhealthy residual effect on the team, but I hope this latest loss to KC just pisses everyone off.