The difference in making the playoffs this year was...

[Royale with Cheese]

We did get lucky last year but we also put us in better position to get such luck.

We won 3 out of our last 4 which every year, generally don't win when we need to win.  

[Jobot]

Apparently no bad calls were made that hurt the Bills last year

[Augie]

6 hours ago, Paulus said:

The better team doesn't always win and calls do determine the outcome of some games. 

 

Very true, but I think over time these things balance out, and given time the better teams just find ways to win more....that’s why they are the better team. That’s not decided by looking at the roster, it’s decided by seeing who figures out how to get the win more often. 

[Damian]

The defense making 18 interceptions and 11 forced fumbles was the reason we made it to the playoffs.  Our offense couldn't sustain a long drive with TT dumping the ball off to the checkdown FB/TE.

[Soda Popinski]

The difference was when things went sideways in the middle of the season vs the Saints and Chargers, this team didn't pack it in like they've been known to do 

[CodeMonkey]

Luck.  They have had that same season record before during the drought.  Just got lucky and backed into the playoffs this time.

Edited May 16, 2018 by CodeMonkey

[BuffaLoko]

12 hours ago, Logic said:

Coaching.

It's obvious. 

The roster was WORSE than it was under Rex Ryan. Considerably so, in some areas. But they still won 9 games and made the playoffs. Why? Coaching. McDermott had his men prepared, scheme sound, and fundamentally sound. They gave up a lot of yardage, but they did not (with the exception of the mid-season losing streak) give up a lot of points. And oh, about that losing streak. How many times have we seen past Bills teams start out hot, enter a losing streak like that mid season, and completely go off the rails? Not this team. They were resilient, mentally tough, and won the games they needed to win to put themselves in position for the Andy Dalton miracle. The bounceback started in ARROWHEAD, of all places, against a Chiefs team that made the playoffs. Again, how many must-win November games have we lost to the Chiefs in the past decade? Not this Bills team.

I never, ever accept "bad refereeing" or injuries as excuses. Both happen all over the NFL, every single year. The Bills made it because they understood their schemes, executed them well enough to win 9 games, and earned it....and because Andy Dalton had a horseshoe in his ass.

Coaching.

Sir... only a fist full of posters deserve their nickname as much as you do, I will follow your ´logic´ more closely from now on!! 

45 minutes ago, CodeMonkey said:

Luck.  They have had that same season record before during the drought.  Just got lucky and backed into the playoffs this time.

define luck, please!

[dollars 2 donuts]

Tannehil being out the whole year and San Diego getting lost early in the season.

[Epstein's Mother]

12 hours ago, Buffalo716 said:

 

You are 100% wrong about the Falcons call... the ball was knocked out of his hand and he tried shoveling it forward 

 

it was not a forward pass by the rules because the ball was knocked loose and then shoveled forward 

 

I agree with this 100%.  I couldn't understand why anyone would think this would be an incomplete pass.  As I said to a friend who thought it was incomplete; "Hold a football in a passing position above your shoulder like Matt Ryan had it.  Now take your thumb off the ball like he had it.  Do you have control of the football?  No, the football is on the ground."

[row_33]

11 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

The NFL's amazing three way tiebreak system where we get in with the same record over a team that beat us.

 

I'd also add on that two point conversion that called back against the Colts because of an offensive pass interference (pick).  That's not always called.

 

 

and the Fish sending up a total scrub QB week 17 (and still challenging the Bills) doesn't get nuked on the Bills SOS rankings....

 

hey look, the Raptors just won their 5th(??) division title in a row and FIRST PLACE SEEDING

 

feels like a total piece of **** right now thought

 

the Bills making the playoffs feels slightly better but not worth mentioning at poker games

 

 

[K-9]

Three-way team tie breaker. End of story.

 

All the other stuff, from getting favorable calls from refs to forcing turnovers and everything in between tend to even out over the course of the season and EVERY team benefits or suffers because of them. 

[The Red King]

I will also argue that had Baltimore won, they would have been the lucky ones.  Cinci had control of that game through most of it, and almost choked the game away at the end.  And there was still a decent amount of time left on the clock for the now infamous 4th down play (4th and 12, was it?).  They didn't need a TD on that play, so it's less miraculous then it may seem.  Yes, 4th and 12 is hard to get, but not near impossible.  It wasn't luck, it was poor coverage that gave Cinci the go-ahead TD.  A defensive mistake by another 9-7 team.

 

If we're talking about luck in that regard, then Carolina got lucky that TT underthrew an open receiver near the goal line at the end of that 9-3 loss.  Are people saying Carolina was lucky to make the playoffs because of that?

 

People seem to think the playoff fairy descended from the sky and gave a team that only earned a 3-4 win season a magical playoff birth.  Buffalo earned those wins, all nine of them.  They got locked into a four-way tie for the Wild Card spots and got the tie-breakers.  Those tie-breakers were designed to reward the better-playing team.  They're not arbitrary.  Buffalo did not have to flip a coin or roll a die to get in.  Alphabetical order by city name was not a tie breaker, nor was jersey color.  They had a better conference record then the bolts, and beat better teams then the Ravens (two wins against Cleveland killed them).  If the Chargers wanted in, they should have beaten the Chiefs that second time.  If the Ravens wanted in, they should have beaten the Bengals.  Neither team took care of business when they had the chance.  They couldn't get it done, leaving them 9-7, just like us.

 

I understand.  Buffalo has been sub-par for so long it's easy to want to think they still are.  It's perfectly normal to be skeptical.  But I think there's more at play.  We don't want to be hurt again.  Several seasons we've started out strong, got our hopes up, and had them dashed.  This is an extension.  We made the playoffs, but many people are still waiting for the other shoe to drop, fans that have gotten their hopes up time and again only to see them crushed...those people are just waiting to be disappointed again.  It's a safety mechanism to keep from giving the Bills proper credit.  Because if they did, then there would be reason to hope, and with hope comes the fear of disappointment.  Better to call last season a fluke and assume they will be bad this season.  That way, it doesn't sting as bad if they are...and if they have another good season you can be pleasantly surprised.

 

I get it, but I won't subscribe to it.  This team showed development, earned that Wild Card spot, and are making progress.  This team believes in themselves and their coach.  The culture is finally changing.  There is a reason for optimism.  I know, I've been hurt before.  I understand your fears.  But this team deserves respect for last year, not having it all just written off as luck.  What's the phrase, "Good teams find ways to win, bad teams find ways to lose"?  The Bills found ways to win, and found a way into the playoffs.  That's on them, not luck.

Edited May 16, 2018 by The Red King

[JerseyBills]

13 hours ago, aristocrat said:

Haushka 

*HAU$$$CHKA

[Paulus]

2 hours ago, Augie said:

 

Very true, but I think over time these things balance out, and given time the better teams just find ways to win more....that’s why they are the better team. That’s not decided by looking at the roster, it’s decided by seeing who figures out how to get the win more often. 

I agree. I just find it ironic when people claim that bad luck via officiating has nothing to do with it but the only reason we made the playoffs was because we got lucky. I really think "evens out over time" is a subjective thought. I mean, bad calls can blow a 16 game season, easily. 

Edited May 16, 2018 by Paulus

[PromoTheRobot]

This may come as a shock but every game and every team is affected by breaks, good and bad. To say the Bills lucked out is saying half the playoff teams luck out too.

Edited May 16, 2018 by PromoTheRobot

[Stanley Lombardi]

1. Coaching

2. Culture change (as a result of #1)

[MJS]

Who cares? It happened. For 17 seasons it didn't, and now it did. You can't blame any one factor for it one way or the other. The truth is, EVERYTHING that happened culminated in the Bills getting the playoffs.

[swnybillsfan]

7 hours ago, Buffalo86 said:

 

There's no need for a curse when you hire bad GM after bad GM for so many years.  

yes, but even horribly run teams have been thrown a bone occasionally. the Bills have been so bad that they were never even accidentally decent.

[reddogblitz]

5 hours ago, The Red King said:

What's the phrase, "Good teams find ways to win, bad teams find ways to lose"?  The Bills found ways to win, and found a way into the playoffs.  That's on them, not luck.

 

This is the answer IMHO. The difference was this year we found a way to win a few close games past teams would have figured out a way to lose.  3 games in particular come to mind.

 

Against thE defending NFC champs in their own house. The snow game.  Looked lost til our D forced a 3 and out. We get the football back and our 3rd string QB  hits a WR signed off the street the month before. Against TB, we were winning most of the game but found ourselves down 7 with 3:00 to play.  O and D came together with big plays for the win.

 

During the drought we regularly lost games like this. That's the difference IMHO.

 

As far as the luck I angle, it calls to mind a quote from the late great Louis Pasteur. "Chance favors the prepared mind."

[CodeMonkey]

7 hours ago, BuffaLoko said:

define luck, please!

The AFC was weak enough this past season that a season record that they have had before, which was not close to making the playoffs those times, qualified them for a wildcard this time.  It was not a better season record than they have had before, but as luck would have it, it allowed them to end the drought this particular time.  They did seem to get more calls going their way this past season than in previous years, but that's not the luck I was referring to.