SectionC3

Sorry. I can’t go there. We should have closed the door. We blew a 16-0 halftime lead (IIRC). I get the Duke drop at the end of the first half, and the bogus call on the kickoff to start the second half, and that those things should have put it away. But the D should have bagged that thing. And it didn’t.

I'll condense all of this. He's blown two of four road playoff games. Games that we should have won but that we screwed up. There we have it.

Big whiff by Beane. He’s going to have meaningful dead money next year if they release him. (About $1m, IIRC.). It’s not huge money, but every penny counts when we’re against the cap. Probably looking at a minimum wage punter next year. The more I think about this, the more aggravating it gets. What did they expect in hiring a hangtime/positional punter? It’s windy here. This isn’t Miami or Phoenix. The weather this year was horrible, and we got what we deserved. What a surprise.

I’m not on the fire Frazier train, but these are really, really good points. You may have convinced me. I’ll add that if McD/Beane feels as you do, we won’t see Frazier moved until after all of the head coaching jobs for which Frazier has interviewed have been filled. No reason to nuke him before we know whether we can get a couple of bonus picks for his departure.

We’re going to get them. Look. Both coaching staffs screwed up royally at the end of a game for the ages. I’m not saying that it shouldn’t hurt, and I’m not saying that we don’t have a number of areas in which to improve. But they do, too. The margin is thin. We just have to be better next time. And I’m confident that we will get there. I’d say the same thing if the field goal at the end of regulation hit an upright and bounced out, or if the last sequence of regulation was handled properly. It’s literally a game of inches, and it sucks that several months of preparation was wasted by something eminently controllable at the end. We just have to keep on grinding and good things will happen.

Agreed. It’s going to happen. I read Barnwell’s thesis that the Bills may have blown their best shot to reach the Super Bowl. Give me a break. Allen will have a long career, and I get that he’s at the tail of his rookie deal. But things will happen to other teams, too. Injuries, flukes, mutual assured destruction (e.g., Burrow takes out Herbert or Mahomes for us next year), etc. We just need to keep grinding and to keep getting better.

That’s even worse because I believe Pringle returned the kick. EDIT: was positioned to receive the kick.

I don’t discount anything you say. If the call was pooch, it’s simply inexcusable that it wasn’t communicated to Bass. I totally agree with you, too: in warm weather, Bass runs to the sideline, gets the tee, and huddles. I’m going to guess he stopped at the heater here because of the cold. And, if that’s the case, it explains the FUBAR communication. No matter what happened, it’s inexcusable.

Go to the games. The specialists hang together. Bass probably was by the propane heater/warming up at the time of the huddle. ST should have grabbed him on the way out to tell him what to do.

The recent Schoen quote makes me wonder if the Giants will look away from Daboll. “Proven track record of developing young players” is a lot different from “proven track record of developing quarterbacks.” This isn’t to say that Daboll hasn’t developed other young players—he probably deserves credit for Gabe Davis. But, at this point, if Daniel Jones isn’t the answer, and Trubisky isn’t to the Giants’ liking (Schoen saw him all year in practice), then I question whether the Giants will want to develop a young QB this year. At this point there’s no such QB warranting such faith in the draft, and seemingly nobody of that character available for trade/FA/whatever. (Jordan Love doesn’t count no matter what GB does.) That is, they may work on the rest of the team first and plug in the QB later. Kind of like what the Chargers did with the Flutie bridge and what we did here to an extent with Tyrod until we found Josh. If that’s what they’re thinking, Flores looks like a much stronger candidate. And, he might give them a better shot at Watson to the extent there’s mutual interest. That division is ripe for the taking (sorry, Dallas), and putting Watson in there gives them a shot at the playoffs every year. It’s a very, very interesting idea.

Starting to wonder if maybe daboll loses NYG job Flores. Is Flores/Watson preferable to Daboll/Trubisky?

I agree with the point about Hill. I think his speed freaked them out. Which, of course, is why it would have been a good plan to simple tackle him on the final offensive play of regulation. Take the 5 and roll the dice on a jump ball in the end zone. Which, of course, didn’t go so well once last year. But whatever. We agree that we played scared in the last sequence of regulation.

It sort of does to me, too. I think McDermott would be a lousy poker player because one can tell a lot from his eyes. He gets wide-eyed when he’s frazzled or harried. First game against KC? In the zone. Same thing for Patriots rounds 2 and 3. Didn’t look that way at the end against KC. And not calling timeout when the defense was gassed before the goal line sequence in OT? Silly. Stupid. Inexcusable. But, and I should know this well, we called timeout before at least the first play of the last sequence in regulation, right? So the idea that we were in a state of discombobulation at the time of the snap (we had a chance for a breather that should have allowed for a cooling of heads) doesn’t make sense to me. Then again, having Addison or whomever simply stand there to spy doesn’t make a ton of sense either. Sort of the same idea as rushing four in that situation. Whatever. In any event, I took the McD speak to mean that he wasn’t going to toss anyone under “the bus” but that something was screwed up. (I kind of wondered if Milano blew it by shading so far away from Kelce on the last offensive play of regulation.) Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some element of truth to all of this, and if Farwell gets cut loose. ST blunders permeated this season—first and last games had obvious issues, and the punt return game was a white knuckle affair beginning with the Dolphins home game. Levi typically plays an off-ball role. So there’s that. But jamming Kelce would not have been the worst idea in the world. I was all about tackling him and Hill on one of the last two plays. So there’s that. I took the text message to say that Farwell will resign under duress to protect his reputation. That is, Farwell is being fired.

That’s possible. The Lions are going to draw eyeballs for that game no matter what, though. Home game on Thanksgiving against a marquee opponent (say, the Patriots??) might draw big numbers. We’re one of the big dogs now, both on the field and on the television screen. Anything is possible.

No way. They’re putting bills chiefs on Sunday night in sweeps no matter what. they don’t need to waste this game in the opener.

It was. Kind of like this year, with all of the fires in social media. Not quite the same, but close. Bottom line for this year is that the last game should have been played in Buffalo. But we screwed up the Titans game, the Steelers game, and the Jags game. Frankly a lot of where we are now falls on McD. Not for strategy at the end of the Chiefs game (it’s debatable, but the chiefs screwed a lot of stuff up too in that game and we never should have been in position to win with 13 seconds remaining). But for the body of work this year. The team itself lacked that killer instinct. Sort of like 1989. We are in the cusp of something great. Enjoy the ride, because the next five years are going g to have some pretty great “ups.” Can’t wait.

We are the big boys now.

Another fair point. And one I thought of when I started the thread. In the flip side, this iteration of the Bills has Josh Allen. Kelly was great, but this kid is the best QB the franchise has ever seen.

Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it. And this is just like 1989, for what it’s worth. Just like that season, there was friction within the team and we diddled around most of the year until we figured it out. And by then it was too late. Daboll is out of here, if you’re referring to the fact that we were on 22 points 58 minutes into the game. Frazier … ugh.

He’s a monster now. And I agree with you. Next year is going to be special. This kid has it all. He’s a great leader. Best QB in football. We will be in every game for the next 10 years. We will crack the Mahomes nut sooner or later. Probably sooner, actually, because Kelce is what makes them tick and he’s getting older.

Ask a friend if you’re too young to remember. But this is where we’re at right now. I remember being ill after the Ronnie Harmon drop and losing that game. But we all knew we were on to something. We discovered the no huddle. Cleveland was one of the big dogs in that era and, just like yesterday, their fans left that game knowing that the Bills were really, really, really good. Yesterday we confirmed that we have the best quarterback in the league (you read that right, Mahomes fans). We know there is a paper thin margin between the best team in the league and us. We also know now, just like the 1989 Bills, what it’s like to be the “hunted” and how important it is to bring our best every week. Buckle up. It’s going to be a great ride, and this team is only going to get better. Go Bills.

If forced to answer now, I’d say I won’t watch another minute of football until august. Can’t handle it. But that may change. Going to throw myself into something productive and grind for awhile instead.

Age will guard him. And Tre White, next time through. Yesterday is done. It sucks, but it’s done. I’m focused on smoking them next year. It really, really sucks, and the autopsy is necessary. But it’s also done. This team will win a Super Bowl with Josh Allen as its quarterback. I’m sick to my stomach this morning, but you know what? I’m going to go out and run my *ss off tonight after I work hard today. And I’ll work hard tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that. It’s the only solution. We don’t know joy without sadness. And we wouldn’t love football as much if it didn’t end in despair for all participating teams but one. So how do we get to revel in that joy? Work harder than the next guy. On to 2022. Go Bills. See you at Highmark in August.

Milano walked himself out of position. In my view at least. I hate the result, but I’m coming around on the concept. Hill’s speed scared them. Rightfully so, given what happened earlier.

I HATED the sequence on offense that you’re talking about. And I can’t believe that we didn’t go for it on fourth down. I’ve been replaying the defensive sequence in my mind repeatedly. The only thing I would have done differently is mug hill and Kelce on first down. Otherwise, I kind of understand the idea of coming downhill to make a tackle and keeping every ing in front of the defenders. It sucks that it didn’t work. But I wonder if Hill’s speed and the last Chiefs touchdown in regulation (coupled with the fact that our coaches knew that our secondary was out of gas) contributed to that decision. Bottom line: the whole thing sucks. I believe we would have won the Super Bowl had we stopped KC. But we don’t need to blow anything up. We’re the second best team in the league, and the margin is paper thin. Get better in a few areas, and get a few lucky bounces next time, and we’ll be fine.