OldTimer1960 Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 (edited) Today's loss was in many ways a reality check. I am glad that this team has so much heart and will to win that it has over-achieved. However, they still have a significant talent deficit against the upper-eschelon teams in the league. I don't think that they will be able to overcome that talent deficit down the stretch and they will likely not make the playoffs. I am encouraged to see that the talent level is well above what it has been in the past, however this team is still devoid of pass rushers. It lacks a legitimate starting WR across from Stevie Johnson. It has an than OK, but still mediocre TE. It does not have elite CBs and the Safeties are OK, not great. I haven't even touched on the LT, but they have fared alright there and QB is fair-to-midland. I like Fitzpatrick. He is clearly the best QB that they have had in the last decade, but he is not a GREAT QB who can overcome big problems and he doesn't have a very strong supporting cast. I expect this team to continue to fight and be competitive all year, but in the end, they will be better than last year, but not playoff calibre. Edited November 7, 2011 by OldTimer1960 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PO'14 Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 After todays display, the only thing that the Bills need to grow are some balls on defense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
It's in My Blood Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Today's loss was in many ways a reality check. I am glad that this team has so much heart and will to win that it has over-achieved. However, they still have a significant talent deficit against the upper-eschelon teams in the league. I don't think that they will be able to overcome that talent deficit down the stretch and they will likely not make the playoffs. I am encouraged to see that the talent level is well above what it has been in the past, however this team is still devoid of pass rushers. It lacks a legitimate starting WR across from Stevie Johnson. It has an than OK, but still mediocre TE. It does not have elite CBs and the Safeties are OK, not great. I haven't even touched on the LT, but they have fared alright there and QB is fair-to-midland. I like Fitzpatrick. He is clearly the best QB that they have had in the last decade, but he is not a GREAT QB who can overcome big problems and he doesn't have a very strong supporting cast. I expect this team to continue to fight and be competitive all year, but in the end, they will be better than last year, but not playoff calibre. I totally disagree. These Bills have shown that they can score points in bunches, create turnover after turnover , bounce back from bad losses,beat upper echelon teams (pats,eagles), and they know how to win. The Bills had a bad game today led by a horrible game plan. A huge letdown if you will. However, I still believe that this teams has what it takes to beat any team in the NFL. They are playoff caliber. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BiggieScooby Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 We are playing for our playoffs lifes the next 3 games all on the road. There is a lot of film on the Bills and Gailey needs to add some wrinkles to counter game plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Blizzard Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Today's loss was in many ways a reality check. I am glad that this team has so much heart and will to win that it has over-achieved. However, they still have a significant talent deficit against the upper-eschelon teams in the league. I don't think that they will be able to overcome that talent deficit down the stretch and they will likely not make the playoffs. I am encouraged to see that the talent level is well above what it has been in the past, however this team is still devoid of pass rushers. It lacks a legitimate starting WR across from Stevie Johnson. It has an than OK, but still mediocre TE. It does not have elite CBs and the Safeties are OK, not great. I haven't even touched on the LT, but they have fared alright there and QB is fair-to-midland. I like Fitzpatrick. He is clearly the best QB that they have had in the last decade, but he is not a GREAT QB who can overcome big problems and he doesn't have a very strong supporting cast. I expect this team to continue to fight and be competitive all year, but in the end, they will be better than last year, but not playoff calibre. This team reminds me of the '87 Bills (although not quite the same talent level as the '87 team). A team on the rise that can blow people out one week, but gets sent home with their tails between their legs occasionally. They are entertaining, and other than today, they have been "in" every game that they've lost. I still think we finish with a winning record. Wild card is a question mark, but we may sneak in as the 6th seed. Time will tell . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewildrabbit Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Today's loss was in many ways a reality check. I am glad that this team has so much heart and will to win that it has over-achieved. However, they still have a significant talent deficit against the upper-eschelon teams in the league. I don't think that they will be able to overcome that talent deficit down the stretch and they will likely not make the playoffs. I am encouraged to see that the talent level is well above what it has been in the past, however this team is still devoid of pass rushers. It lacks a legitimate starting WR across from Stevie Johnson. It has an than OK, but still mediocre TE. It does not have elite CBs and the Safeties are OK, not great. I haven't even touched on the LT, but they have fared alright there and QB is fair-to-midland. I like Fitzpatrick. He is clearly the best QB that they have had in the last decade, but he is not a GREAT QB who can overcome big problems and he doesn't have a very strong supporting cast. I expect this team to continue to fight and be competitive all year, but in the end, they will be better than last year, but not playoff calibre. If you know me, you already know what I'll say...games are won and lost in the trenches. I doubt the Bills do any better with all their tackles healthy The better defense won the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckeyeBill Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 The Bills are definitely a playoff caliber team. The only thing that may keep them out of the playoffs this year is that both Pittsburgh and Baltimore are very good, and both New England and New Jersey are very good too. I consider a playoff team to be a team that all teams need to account for. I believe the Bills are a team that even the elite teams will have to carefully game plan for, and not considered an easy win. (Remember, even yesterday, it was a one score game late into the 3rd quarter before the defense began wearing down). I also think that a playoff team is one that will be in the "thick of things" come January. I would not be surprised to see the Bills, Jets, and Patriots* all sitting at 11-4 going into the last week of the season. My fear is that New England will not lose that game at home, and the Bills will be sent home packing for another year. Does anybody think that the Dolphins, Broncos, and Titans are better than Buffalo? That's four wins right there, and most people would consider a 9-7 team... a playoff team. With that said, I certainly agree with the OP, this team is still growing. Dareus and Shepherd will only get better. Aaron Williams will turn around and replace one of our aging corners. Kyle Williams and Chris Kelsay will get healthy again, and our defensive unit will grow stronger. Our offense is already there (in my opinion). Fitz is a franchise quarterback, Stevie (I hope we can keep him) Johnson is a franchise wide receiver, and Freddie is Freddie. I think the Bills have a very real shot at getting into the playoffs this year, and next year (if not sooner) will challenge for the AFC East crown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Vader Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 After todays display, the only thing that the Bills need to grow are some balls on defense! You can't put the blame on the defense for today's loss. They did all they could today. They were on the field far too long. The Jets were not that spectacular on offense today. They had a long opening drive that led to an INT, 3 drives that went for long range FG's, one of which was a miss, and one legitimate TD drive. The Jets scored two TD's today resulting from one non-call of a pass interference on Plaxico, and a bogus pass interference on McKelvin. The Jets got the ball inside the 5 yard line twice because of those plays. It's hard to fault the Bills defense for losing today. The offense did not hold up it's end today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John from Riverside Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 The thinking behind giving he defense a pass just horrifies me from the fans......I dont care how many are saying I think you have all lost your damn minds...... The jets offense kept that ball the majority of the game......and in games where we are facing good defenses our defense needs to force punts and not let them keep converting.....and converting....and converting......and then punt after our offense has been sitting on the sideline for 8 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitzyflakes67 Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Yeah our D played pretty bad, there really is no silver lining there. A few big mistakes - Sanchez pick in the redzone, fumble in Bills territory, and missed field goal - are really the only reason it wasn't like 20-0 at the half. Sanchez seemed to mostly complete passes with ease and wore the Bills down with long, long drives. On the same token, two PI's in the endzone, missed 4th and shorts, and Jacksons fumble allowed the Jets to really capitalize and run away with the game. Whatever the case, I have a good feeling they'll bounce back fairly well. This Jets game just felt like it was be one that knocked us back a bit, and like the last two losses we bounced back well, and I have faith we can do the same against Dallas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedy G Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 It's a tough game for tough people, and the Jets were the tougher team, the Bills just need a couple more nasty snarling beasts on the D-line and O-line and they'll be a force for a long time, there were not enough to "lead the charge" against the Jets!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSBill Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 (edited) You can't put the blame on the defense for today's loss. They did all they could today. They were on the field far too long. The Jets were not that spectacular on offense today. They had a long opening drive that led to an INT, 3 drives that went for long range FG's, one of which was a miss, and one legitimate TD drive. The Jets scored two TD's today resulting from one non-call of a pass interference on Plaxico, and a bogus pass interference on McKelvin. The Jets got the ball inside the 5 yard line twice because of those plays. It's hard to fault the Bills defense for losing today. The offense did not hold up it's end today. yep, the D was good enough...actually better then the Pats, Raiders, or Eagles game. And, I think it is getting better. Washington was a start, showed some positives today, did what they could to keep us in the game--which we were until that last TD No offense is why we lost, but I think the good news is, that was an aberration. This offense is better, much better, than it showed today. Good things still to come. Edited November 7, 2011 by CSBill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALLEN1QB Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 After watching I am not so sure that we are better than last year! Take away a few lucky breaks and we are 2-6! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealityCheck Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 I only know one thing. This team is on the rise and will continue to get better into the foreseeable future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Fong Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 After watching I am not so sure that we are better than last year! Take away a few lucky breaks and we are 2-6! You've gotta be friggin kidding me. The team is much better this year. You're just talking nonsense now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EldaBillsFan Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 After todays display, the only thing that the Bills need to grow are some balls on defense! The defense played well enough to win..... they had 2 turnovers.....should have been 3.... Jets first td came after freddy fumbled on our 20... and the next one was a bogus PI call Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris heff Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 This team reminds me of the '87 Bills (although not quite the same talent level as the '87 team). A team on the rise that can blow people out one week, but gets sent home with their tails between their legs occasionally. They are entertaining, and other than today, they have been "in" every game that they've lost. I still think we finish with a winning record. Wild card is a question mark, but we may sneak in as the 6th seed. Time will tell . . . I've said it before, enter Bennett and Lofton. The acquisition of those guys changed that team. We are a few players away. Too bad about Merriman, it was a nice try. Had he been 80% of his former self this would be a different D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26TrapDraw Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Today's loss was in many ways a reality check. I am glad that this team has so much heart and will to win that it has over-achieved. However, they still have a significant talent deficit against the upper-eschelon teams in the league. I don't think that they will be able to overcome that talent deficit down the stretch and they will likely not make the playoffs. I am encouraged to see that the talent level is well above what it has been in the past, however this team is still devoid of pass rushers. It lacks a legitimate starting WR across from Stevie Johnson. It has an than OK, but still mediocre TE. It does not have elite CBs and the Safeties are OK, not great. I haven't even touched on the LT, but they have fared alright there and QB is fair-to-midland. I like Fitzpatrick. He is clearly the best QB that they have had in the last decade, but he is not a GREAT QB who can overcome big problems and he doesn't have a very strong supporting cast. I expect this team to continue to fight and be competitive all year, but in the end, they will be better than last year, but not playoff calibre. We talked about statement games all year. The Bills were aware that as tight as the afc east is and will be for the rest of the season they could ill afford to come out and lay an egg. They did and as was evidenced by our offense thinking they could come out and play their offense without adjusting to the defenses that were in front of them shows us that A. gailey was not prepared. B. Fitzpatrick seemed desperate trying to fit the ball in tight spaces in double and sometimes triple coverage. There were no "adjustments" made at the half and we actually thought we could just come out and show the jets more of the same crap that wasn't working in the first half. I am upset that i actually bought into the bills success too early and drank way too much of the kool aid. This team is clearly not ready for the next step just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just in Atlanta Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 After watching I am not so sure that we are better than last year! Take away a few lucky breaks and we are 2-6! ...And a few unlucky breaks from 7-1. Ridiculous statement. There is no comparison from last year's squad to this year's. We played a bad game--first one of the year. Bad play calling, bad gameplan, somewhat bad execution. Our D showed up yesterday despite the bad offense, and we were victimized by some bad officiating. We lead the league in INTs, have the No. 1 rusher, are No. 5 in total points, have the No. 9 QB, are 5-3, and tied for 1st place in the AFC East. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CodeMonkey Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 We talked about statement games all year. The Bills were aware that as tight as the afc east is and will be for the rest of the season they could ill afford to come out and lay an egg. They did and as was evidenced by our offense thinking they could come out and play their offense without adjusting to the defenses that were in front of them shows us that A. gailey was not prepared. B. Fitzpatrick seemed desperate trying to fit the ball in tight spaces in double and sometimes triple coverage. There were no "adjustments" made at the half and we actually thought we could just come out and show the jets more of the same crap that wasn't working in the first half. I am upset that i actually bought into the bills success too early and drank way too much of the kool aid. This team is clearly not ready for the next step just yet. What a lot of people don't seem to grasp is that we have only one offensive style. And it relies on the short game working. Take that away, as the Jets did perfectly, and the Bills offense is done. That's the bad news. The good news is no other defense we will see has the defensive players to completely take away the short game (except the Jets again in 3 weeks). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Blizzard Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I've said it before, enter Bennett and Lofton. The acquisition of those guys changed that team. We are a few players away. Too bad about Merriman, it was a nice try. Had he been 80% of his former self this would be a different D. Yup. We make a couple of key acquisitions, coupled with a good draft next spring, we will be ready for a playoff run. I hope we can still sneak in this year, but we need to sweep Miami, (and possibly N.E.) and knock off the Jets at home. I don't see 10-6 in this division getting us into the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fitzyflakes67 Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I think people forget that last year we were a few short breaks from being much better then our record. The Chiefs and Steelers game were ours to win and we lost due to a dropped ball and last second timeout. We also barely lost to the Bears, Dolphins, Ravens, and Pats. We gave a lot of good teams trouble and with some of the breaks we could have been 8-8 or better. Good teams put themselves in position to get breaks, and capitalize on them when they do get them. And none of our breaks were as lucky and random as say, Rivers fumble against the Chiefs. Most of our breaks are from making plays on errant balls. I mean, remember the Jets beat both the Cowboys and Chargers on huge breaks they got from mistakes by the opposing QB like that endzone throw by Rivers where the ball popped up and was picked. By your logic they should be a 3-5 team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maryland-bills-fan Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 I expected the Bills to get to 8-8 to 10-6 this year and fall just short of the playoffs. Missing Kyle, Bell, Williams and Merriman is giving us a little more of aan uphill battle to get to 10-6. We need stud outside linebackers to get a pass rush from the 3-4 and Jasper to come through. Then, next year is playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthGeorgiaBillsFan Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 (edited) You can't put the blame on the defense for today's loss. They did all they could today. They were on the field far too long. The Jets were not that spectacular on offense today. They had a long opening drive that led to an INT, 3 drives that went for long range FG's, one of which was a miss, and one legitimate TD drive. The Jets scored two TD's today resulting from one non-call of a pass interference on Plaxico, and a bogus pass interference on McKelvin. The Jets got the ball inside the 5 yard line twice because of those plays. It's hard to fault the Bills defense for losing today. The offense did not hold up it's end today. You know what, your exactly right, except the defense did struggle a bit on 3rd and long - but still, it was a solid overall performance. And how much can we really complain, knowing that the Jets have one of the best defenses in the NFL with 2 weeks to prepare? I thought Gailey's game plan, while conservative, was a good plan, and the only call I'd question at all was the 4th and inches - and even still, giving the ball to your best player in that situation cannot under any circumstances be considered a bad call. In that situation, against a great D coming off a bye, you SHOULD have a conservative game plan. The idea was to try and control the clock and keep the game close until half-time, where we can make adjustments, and not show the Jets anything they can adjust to, thereby eliminating the advantage of the bye in the 2nd half. Unfortunately, due to 2 plays that were quite beyond the control of Gailey (the Jackson fumble and the phantom PI call on McKelvin - who played very well THANK YOU VERY MUCH), a one score game spiraled quickly into a large deficit. After this, the Bills were in fact quite successful moving the ball, and unfortunately the game situation was too far out of hand to mount a comeback. So if people want to blame anyone, they should blame Fred Jackson - not that I'm going to criticize the guy, he's been our best player all season, but his fumble really hurt - and they should blame the refs. But oh no - let's just run to OBD and start posting completely thoughtless criticisms and absolutely ridiculous amateur analysis while screaming about how much our team sucks. It was not that bad of a game. Crap happens and teams lose some games sometimes, especially against teams coming off of a bye. But the knee-jerk reactions and thoughtless criticisms of so many of the fans on the board are just embarrassing. To anyone who doesn't like this team: DON'T !@#$ING WATCH THEM. Edited November 9, 2011 by SouthGeorgiaBillsFan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Blizzard Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 I expected the Bills to get to 8-8 to 10-6 this year and fall just short of the playoffs. Missing Kyle, Bell, Williams and Merriman is giving us a little more of aan uphill battle to get to 10-6. We need stud outside linebackers to get a pass rush from the 3-4 and Jasper to come through. Then, next year is playoffs. I expected about 8-8 this year. The great start to the season was exciting, and the team has a legit shot at the first winning record since 2004. Would love to see 10-6 or better, but given how depleted the roster is now (meaning how many impact players are out), I think we end up 9-7. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clippers of Nfl Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 what a letdown though. damn! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Blizzard Posted November 10, 2011 Share Posted November 10, 2011 what a letdown though. damn! Ya, sucks but they are entertaining to watch and I think they will have a good game this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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