[Postgame Thoughts]

3 hours ago, arcane said:

There's a reason that Bellichick starts from scratch with, and harps on, fundamentals and situational awareness, more than any coach I've ever seen. And it's no coincidence his teams were so COMPETENT, even when you account for having the GOAT QB. The Bills do not do this well enough. This week they were embarrassing, in fact, and couldn't handle a close, back and forth game when both offenses weren't going to light it up. The problem is, that’s NFL football. Even the Chiefs with Andy Reid and Pat Mahomes, often find themselves in a slog. They win them. We don’t. There are a million people to blame, and a million tiny reasons why it keeps happening. But these guys need to learn that this is what football is, and they need to learn to be comfortable executing the boring stuff in those situations.

 

Josh is at the forefront of that. He was doing just fine in the first half, it looked like the second Jets game last year - accept that you aren't going to dunk on these guys, and dink on them instead. Even the first pick - it looks like he didn't have a rushing lane or an open receiver, so he heaved one up in hopes of a flag, and if it's picked, it's basically a punt. That's fine. I guess he decided he was done beating the Jets the way you are supposed to in the third quarter though, and he put on a display of the least-clutch, least-in-control quarterbacking I have seen from him since he was a guy I was convinced we'd be moving on from. @Shaw66's worries about Josh were on full display today - the kid could be the best in the world if he wanted to. It's year 6. I don't think he wants to. 

 

If you fumble a snap, fall on it. don't run straight at Quinnen Williams to try and get that extra half of a yard. Just sit on it. If the throw isn't there, don't force it. Put it in the dirt, live to play another down. Josh, you are human, and you need to be a quarterback for this team to go anywhere. Not whatever the hell that was. This game was all lined up to play out like last year’s home game vs. the Jets – the Bills would have found their way to 20 points, and would have left with a 20-13 win. Josh didn’t want it that way I guess. He’s taken this class 10 times, so I’m not sure it’s a lesson he’s capable of learning.

 

I am not trying to infer that Dorsey is perfect – but he was doing what all the film-heads said you have to do to beat the Jets. Josh is the one that bailed. Yeah, that draw play in OT was mind-numbing. Anti-clutch on all levels. 0-5 in OT. These guys are great when they are great. If they are drawn into the muck, they are as bad as any bad team can be. Whatever they are doing to teach composure and fundamentals, it seems to work less each year. They are on a timer and need to get this figured out.

You know, as I think about that last paragraph more, if Dorsey can’t keep Allen on track, it doesn’t matter what his plays look like. In 2020 Allen threw 10 picks. He’s a third of the way there after one game. In theory it’s possible to stop this.

 

Our safeties are old. Our defense has some great players that will make big plays this year, but they will not be a top 5 defense purely because of their personnel. Poyer struggled to tackle Allen Lazard. That is disturbing. They will try to get Kirksey worked up as quickly as possible I think. Bernard got lost too often. I am not particularly worried about the unit in today’s NFL, unless Josh plays like this every week. Then they will need to be better, they will need to be near perfect. But against teams that aren’t the Jets, I saw things that make me think the D will be fine on balance.
 

The Jets clearly know how to stifle Allen to a degree unmatched by any other team. I think Saleh took that 2020 game personally. And I think he’s put together a defense worthy of the talk they’ve been getting. This is not an excuse, as the Bills still should have beaten them.
 

The Jets have likely lost Rodgers for the year based on what I saw. Either way, when he threw that first pass  away, I wondered aloud how on earth that guy is going to make it through one full NFL game, let alone a season. He looked beyond shot. Their Super Bowl aspirations were probably a mirage, unless they really are the 85 Bears.
 

It’s a long season and nobody else on the Bills schedule can play defense that well. I’m not sure exactly who handled what well and poorly, the tape will tell us. But this offense is going to be able to move the ball and do damage against most teams. My concern is not that we have a bad team, I don’t think we do. It’s not that we won’t win a lot of games, I saw enough tonight to think we will. This game will be a distant memory in November, the Bengals and Chiefs will say the same thing. But I am starting to be concerned that they aren’t just drawing insane streaks of bad luck at bad times, or enduring fluky gaffes that surely won’t/can’t happen again. I’m starting to be concerned that it’s been too long, games like this keep popping up here and there, and players will start to be convinced in their core that it won’t be overcome. Because then things might will get ugly.
 

In the NFL, it’s usually true that things aren’t as good as they feel after a win, and aren’t as bad as they seem after a loss. That’s probably true here too, but there is a clock ticking and at this point nobody is denying that they can hear it.

The fact of the matter is the owners have mailed it in. They could've told Beane get us some players that are not on the trash heap. They are cutting cost and waiting until they get their ROI. It's going to backfire as this team is spiraling down quickly and the owners will not fill those PSL seats with this crap on the field. The giants are the only team that played worse than The Bills this weekend. Talk about shutting the SB window that MF has been bricked up after this finely reloaded team by Brandon Beane.

[Game Day Thread? Bills @ Steelers 8/19]

3 minutes ago, Chaos said:

we stopped a third and long.  This is a huge improvement over last year

It’s a second string offense. The bills flat out suck. Pittsburgh was a last place team last year and it looks like Buffalo is the crap team. Way to go beane

 

[Dalvin signs with jets]

8 hours ago, wppete said:

Beane better start working the Phones and get something done. AFCE is loading up, we need to keep up. 

Beane is going to do what he's been instructed to do from the owners. Stop spending money, we have the stadium paid for and the PSL. No more big contracts. Ride Josh Allen into the ground and get just enough has been players to keep the fans spending money. 

[Now that the dust on the season has settled (a bit) can we please consider the Elephant in the room?]

18 hours ago, transplantbillsfan said:

This is something we all know and acknowledge anyway about the 2022-2023 Buffalo Bills:

 

They went through some *****!!!

 

Tops shooting

Kim Pegula getting sick

Knox's brother dying

120 degree heat game in Miami

Davis lingering ankle injury (multiple reporters, including Dan Fetes, said he just didn't look right in practice for most of the season)

Dane Jackson having to get taken off the field in an Ambulance

Micah Hyde being lost for the season

Josh Allen elbow injury and minimal practice/throwing for a couple weeks and lingering through the season

7 foot blizzard that didn't allow for a week of real practice and then relocated a home game to Detroit

A 2nd home game in Detroit 4 days later

4 away games in 11 days

Getting stuck in Chicago overnight on Christmas Eve because of a blizzard that killed dozens of people in Buffalo

Missing what many would argue are the 2 biggest Holidays of the year with their families

Damar

 

And I'm sure I'm missing some of these things.

 

EDIT: Somehow I forgot losing Von Miller... insane list 

 

These guys are human beings and I challenge anyone to find another team in NFL history that went through as much crap as Buffalo did this year and still managed to go 13-3 in the regular season and win a playoff game with one of the harder SoSs in that year.

 

I had issues with the offensive and defensive gameplan by Dorsey and Frazier.  Obviously a problem--big problem as far as Frazier goes when you're playing zone with guys 10 yards off the line against a QB with one of the quickest releases in the NFL.

 

But let's all take a breath.  This clearly wasn't our year.  But maybe it's more Acts of God than the team just not being good.

It would be breath of fresh air if people would quit saying “oh they had a tough year”. Yes these millionaires had a tough year and life cashing their checks. Please try to compare what soldiers have endured the past 20 years while these millionaires took a knee on the field. These players have zero idea what a solider getting paid $9 an hour endures so these millionaires can play football on tv. They certainly don’t have it in china, Russia, North Korea, Afghanistan, etc…

[What Bengals & Chiefs fans are saying about the situation:]

When he chose to take this team off the field he was over his head in that decision. His job is to get the players ready to play. The work done over this whole year is wasted. Many players now out on IR put their bodies in physical danger to win. Never has a coach done  what he did. It's understandable to worry about players hurt during the game but they get the best medical care on this planet. It isn't his job to make sure every player is feeling good about themselves. He's here to coach and not forfeit games because he believes he is there to be players parents.

[What if the Bills refuse to play the Patriots?]

2 hours ago, HOUSE said:

I would back the Bills decision if Hamlin does not drastically improve.

 

Make sure you open this link before replying...

https://www.boston.com/sports/new-england-patriots/2023/01/04/damar-hamlin-decision-bills-patriots-game-postponed/

 

.

I wouldn't back that at all. These are professionals and the least they would dedicate the game to #3. 

[Bengals playing dirty?]

5 hours ago, transplantbillsfan said:

 

Okay... that roll on Josh's ankle looked obviously intentional.

 

Not gonna lie... I kinda started hating the Bengals over the last few weeks. Something about their attitude really grinds my gears. And those videos don't make me feel any better.

 

However, I will give them the benefit of the doubt for the moment because their team and fans have been total class for the last 24 hours.

 

That said... if Taron or especially Josh are seriously hurt... I hate them.

I believe they quite drug testing in December so the dudes can juice up

[(Perhaps) Unpopular Take: I have no expectations for the Bills going forward, and I’m ok with it.]

If the Bills forfeit the rest of the season because of this accident then they should sell the franchise. Imagine if a 18 year old soldier watched his brother die on the battlefield and the military said we are too devastated to go on? All football is violent and sometimes dangerous. One reason they get paid extremely well. This is a very devastating accident that occurred. Put things in perspective. 

[Will we see the same light boxes and heavy coverage looks against Cincy?]

On 12/25/2022 at 12:31 PM, boyst said:

This is how you beat Josh. It was well done today and the bears lacked the quality of players to execute it. On offense they didn't have an answer for our defense. 

 

Our defense is better than Cincis and designed to stop their kind of offense. They'll have luck running against us, they'll attack and look for weaknesses in penalty calls and scheme breakdowns. A lot will depend on the refs. Tre will play very physical when allowed.

 

But back to offense - Cinci needs to bring the pressure up the middle. Do this over and over again. Eventually Spencer Brown will be beat on the outside and give up a bad play and possibly contribute to a turnover. 3 guys with two attacking inside the 5s and 1 outside beyond 6. Delay your linebacker to key off our RBs and Josh. This puts it all on Josh.

 

Further, no one talks about it but our runners are not smart players able to mix up the coverage. The once decent pass blocking Singleterry has struggled. The others can't block at all. Our full backs need to be used better, along with our ends.

 

I'll keep thinking on it but for Cinci this isn't a hard matchup for them on defense because their offense has talent. Overrated talent, however... IMO. 

You mean all of a sudden there's a defense that can stop Josh? Please ! They can't stop digs gabe or bease and now somehow they are going to stop Godzilla. Better try a different scenario because if the refs are neutral in this game borrows is exposed once again as a bumbling clown. 

[TUA in Concussion Protocol Again!]

On 12/27/2022 at 6:19 AM, atlbillsfan1975 said:

If it did occur in the first half and he played the second half, shame on Miami and McDaniel. McDaniel is proving he is in over his head. 

 

On 12/27/2022 at 6:12 AM, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Holy hell. If this is true what the hell happened during the game to allow him to keep playing??

 
of course mcdainels is over his head. How could any player respect a coach that is everyone's buddy plus he looks like a freaking sickly weasel on the sideline 

[TUA in Concussion Protocol Again!]

I'm sure it's just like before they want to get in the playoffs and that coach just like the jets coach don't really give a dam about a player making millions of dollars to play

[White, Edmunds and Rousseau - OUT]

16 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

I just think they’re being extra cautious and patient because they have CBs that can play.

 

There is no reason to rush him back.

Rush? Did you say rush? He's been in the sidelines eating popcorn for the last 6 weeks

[Bills sign Mitch Trubisky, QB.]

Trubisky downfield percentage over  20 yards is 18%. That’s worse than the midget tyrod. We are in trouble if he has to play