It hurts, but let's be realistic

[Greg de'Ville]

...in too many ways imaginable. Three turnovers, 11 penalties, 2-for-11 on 3rd downs, an inexcusable missed FG. Add it up and the Bills indeed were there own worst enemies, especially on offense and STs.

 

A three-play sequence that will stick in the craw of Bills fans for the months to come: 1st down pass to the Pgh 3 in the third quarter (long drive started at Bills' 1), only to have that useless piece of crap Josh Reed flagged (rightly so) for an illegal pick. Then Lindell's costly miss (wide right, it figures). Had to get points out of that drive, to get none was a killer. Then the Steelers' 3rd-string running back, Parker, rips off a 58-yarder after the missed FG and sets up a 4th Steeler FG to give the Steelers back the lead--one they would not relinquish thereafter.

 

The forced fumble and the Harrison return for the TD was the icer. But it never should have come to that.

 

Defense played hard but was on the field a long time, and there were some tackles that had to be made but weren't. Randle El KILLED the Bills in the first half--no one had a handle on him except for the one fumble on his part that led to McGahee's opening TD.

 

For the most part, Bledsoe came up small today. Too many 3-and-outs. I don't know what the hell call that was on that errant pitch-back to Shaud Williams.

 

Galls ya that it was right there for the taking, St. Louis did its part, but the Bills failed to get it done today and that's it, Fort Pitt. The Dog-Ass Jets backed their way in.

 

The first guys who should be shipped out on a rail are Josh Reed and Rian Lindell (nice onside kick too, bub). Those two boneheaded third quarter plays--major blunders--led to the wheels falling off and the end of the trail for Our Heroes.

 

Bills still have the promise of being a good football team in the future, and they made a hell of a 2nd half season run to put themselves in a playoff position, but compared to the Steelers and Patsies, they have a ways to go. Even had they somehow pulled today's game out, their playoff stint likely would have been short-lived. Man, those Steeler OLs really know how to control the LOS. That was some impressive 4th quarter drive to kill time and the Bills hopes.

 

Yeah, it smarts, but the Bills did not bring their "A" game today and frankly got the result they deserved. I called today's game a final exam--and the Bills were a D-grade team--below average.

 

For the players who will be back, the hurt will turn to hunger. I hope they can learn from their miscues in this game and come back ready to go from the OPENING GAME in '05.

 

Losing sucks, but hey, the sun will come up tomorrow, and it's "back to the mines" for me at my job. And I've got a family to take care of. So, today's loss, while it stings, is not the end of the world. Life goes on and so will the Bills next fall.

[JAMIEBUF12]

yes but two were drews fault!i said it all year we were winning in spite of drew not cause of drew.and today when drew had to go up against a team with a real defense he played like.........well drew he played like drew.ive said all year that drew aoint the answer,but hey i wore my drew jersey today and i will root for him as long as he is our qb but i do hope they give jp a fair shot at winning the qb job in training camp this year.this was a good season to build off and i am proud of the bills go bills in 05

[Tolstoy]

Good analysis Greg. I'm with you. Life goes on. Hopefully, the team will learn from this next year, and be all the stronger.

[KRT88]

Plus our defense didn't get it done. How many 3rd downs did the Steelers convert!

 

You can't win when you make too many mistakes and that's what happened.

 

I'm disappointed but it was a good season especially after we started

0-4. We didn't make the playoffs because we didn't beat the teams we needed to. 0-2 vs New England, 1-1 vs the Jets, loses to Oakland, Jacksonville, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh. All winning teams (except for Oakland), so lay the blame at the feet of the Bills.