What the Ravens loss (and many other bad losses) should teach us

[BillsFan619]

Good teams lose to bad teams. Very good teams have very bad losses.

 

The Ravens just lost to the Dolphins. The same Dolphins that lost to the Jags. The same Dolphins that lost seven in a row. The same Dolphins that still have Tua (who's nursing a broken finger).

 

I was just as shocked as you were. I thought we'd steamroll the Jags. It was a gut punch. It was very disappointing. They had no business being on the same field as us. Until they did.

 

Yes, we have problems. Yes, they need to be addressed and McD promised that they are being addressed (he's typically a man of his word and responds well to adversity). Yes, our margin for error just got smaller.

 

That said, we're not out of this thing because of one bad loss. History has shown us this. I remember one year where the Cowboys won one game. It was to their rivals, the no named football team, who ended up winning the Super Bowl that year. Heck, there were four bad losses by good teams last week (us included). The Ravens game is just simply the newest example.

 

Yes, if we pile up a few more bad losses against teams we should beat than it could be over (for this season). But right now, we're still in this thing and we're still contenders. The Steelers, while a tough loss, was a bad matchup. The Titans loss was a heartbreaker. The Jags is our first bad loss of the season. And guess what, every AFC contender that's at the top of their division has a bad loss now. The Titans do. The Ravens do. The Chargers do. And, our awesome Bills do.

 

I'm not even predicting what the Bills will do. They could lose a few more bad games and then many of you can comeback to this post and tell me that the post didn't age well. You have my permission to do so, btw. But that's not even the point of the post. The point is that every team has a REALLY, HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE BAD loss every once in awhile. We just had ours. That said, one bad loss doesn't have to define our team or their season. Everything is still in front of us and we're still contenders at this point.

 

As fans, let's not let one week define us. Let's cheer our hearts out as our Bills continue to fight for it all. Go Bills Mafia! Let's go Buffalo!

Edited November 12, 2021 by BillsFan619

[JMF2006]

If you don't bring your A game  anyone can lay loss on you.

[Aussie Joe]

As someone said in the game thread … could the Dolphins go on a run and claim the division?

 

Im trying to get an early start on the bedwetters ..

[GoBills808]

No easy games in the NFL

[BillsFan619]

3 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

As someone said in the game thread … could the Dolphins go on a run and claim the division?

 

Im trying to get an early start on the bedwetters ..

Nice, bro!

[Big Turk]

5 minutes ago, JMF2006 said:

If you don't bring your A game  anyone can lay loss on you.

 

More like if they don't bring at least their B- game...they still likely will clock teams with their B- game like they have been much of this year.

 

They brought their F game on offense last week.

[HappyDays]

17 minutes ago, BillsFan619 said:

The Ravens just lost to the Dolphins.

 

So? I didn't think the Ravens were a Super Bowl favorite prior to this game. Coming into the season I thought the Bills were a Super Bowl favorite. Now I am less sure. I thought the Bills were past pitiful offensive performances like that. Just because the Ravens lost to a bad team doesn't mean I feel better about our loss to the Jags.

 

Of course losing to the Jags doesn't mean our Super Bowl chances are zero but it exposed a couple serious flaws with this team. It is by far the worst loss of the McDermott era and the issues that lost us the game have been lurking behind the scenes all year long.

Edited November 12, 2021 by HappyDays

[ALLEN1QB]

Just win baby

[BillsFan619]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

 

So? I didn't think the Ravens were a Super Bowl favorite prior to this game. Coming into the year I thought the Bills were a top Super Bowl contender. Now I am less sure. I thought the Bills were past pitiful offensive performances like that. Just because the Ravens lost to a bad team doesn't mean I feel better about our loss to the Jags.

 

Of course losing to the Jags doesn't mean our Super Bowl chances are zero but it exposed a couple serious flaws with this team. It is by far the worst loss of the McDermott era and the issues that lost us the game have been lurking behind the scenes all year long.

I agree that there are flaws, bro. But every AFC contender has flaws (or in the Titans case an injury to a top player). Even with our flaws, we're still one of the most complete teams, if not the most complete team in the AFC.

[Buffalo Bills Fan]

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

 

So? I didn't think the Ravens were a Super Bowl favorite prior to this game. Coming into the season I thought the Bills were a Super Bowl favorite. Now I am less sure. I thought the Bills were past pitiful offensive performances like that. Just because the Ravens lost to a bad team doesn't mean I feel better about our loss to the Jags.

 

Of course losing to the Jags doesn't mean our Super Bowl chances are zero but it exposed a couple serious flaws with this team. It is by far the worst loss of the McDermott era and the issues that lost us the game have been lurking behind the scenes all year long.

Right. On forward McDermott always adjustments. Lots of football left to go. Everyone improves as they grow.  Same issues later on in season worried but not right now. Just wait to see how they respond to all this.

[BillsFan619]

1 minute ago, ALLEN1QB said:

Just win baby

Yessir!

 

Even if it's just like 20-10 or 20-13 (not a prediction just an example) on Sunday, just win.

[RyanC883]

23 minutes ago, BillsFan619 said:

Good teams lose to bad teams. Very good teams have very bad losses.

 

The Ravens just lost to the Dolphins. The same Dolphins that lost to the Jags. The same Dolphins that lost seven in a row. The same Dolphins that still have Tua (who's nursing a broken finger).

 

I was just as shocked as you were. I thought we'd steamroll the Jags. It was a gut punch. It was very disappointing. They had no business being on the same field as us. Until they did.

 

Yes, we have problems. Yes, they need to be addressed and McD promised that they are being addressed (he's typically a man of his word and responds well to adversity). Yes, our margin for error just got smaller.

 

That said, we're not out of this thing because of one bad loss. History has shown us this. I remember one year where the Cowboys won one game. It was to their rivals, the no named football team, who ended up winning the Super Bowl that year. Heck, there were four bad losses by good teams last week (us included). The Ravens game is just simply the newest example.

 

Yes, if we pile up a few more bad losses against teams we should beat than it could be over (for this season). But right now, we're still in this thing and we're still contenders. The Steelers, while a tough loss, was a bad matchup. The Titans loss was a heartbreaker. The Jags is our first bad loss of the season. And guess what, every AFC contender that's at the top of their division has a bad loss now. The Titans do. The Ravens do. The Raiders do. And our awesome Bills do.

 

I'm not even predicting what the Bills will do. They could lose a few more bad games and then many of you can comeback to this post and tell me that the post didn't age well. You have my permission to do so, btw. But that's not even the point of the post. The point is that every team has a REALLY, HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE BAD loss every once in awhile. We just had ours. That said, one bad loss doesn't have to define our team or their season. Everything is still in front of us and we're still contenders at this point.

 

As fans, let's not let one week define us. Let's cheer our hearts out as our Bills continue to fight for it all. Go Bills Mafia! Let's go Buffalo!

 

the problem is that the Jags loss was not “one week.”.  The OL and lack of a running game have been issues since last year.  They have still not been addressed.  This was NOT a one-off.   We have lost 2 of our last 3 games. 

[Big Blitz]

The Saints with or without Kamara can beat Tennessee this week 

 

Tennessee can't run it on them.  Lattimore follow AJ

  

Win an ugly 20-17 game. 

[BillsFan619]

1 minute ago, RyanC883 said:

 

the problem is that the Jags loss was not “one week.”.  The OL and lack of a running game have been issues since last year.  They have still not been addressed.  This was NOT a one-off.   We have lost 2 of our last 3 games. 

I get it. No arguments here. But, at this point, adjustments can be made and McD has responded pretty well when adversity has struck. Heck, the other loss that you mentioned could be put on the o-line as well because of the 4th and inches play.

 

That said, that wasn't a bad loss, it was a heartbreaker to the best team in the AFC right now (that's hard to even say because a month ago I didn't think the Titans would be this good so far).

[Bookie Man]

looks like Dick Jauron was right after all these years.

[Doc Brown]

There's so much pretzel twisting going on trying to justify the Bills loss that at this pace Ford will be regarded as the best guard in the league by Saturday.

[Process]

The Ravens are not a great team, despite what you hear on ESPN. 

[What a Tuel]

7 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

the problem is that the Jags loss was not “one week.”.  The OL and lack of a running game have been issues since last year.  They have still not been addressed.  This was NOT a one-off.   We have lost 2 of our last 3 games. 

 

I don't understand this line of thought. If this dates back to 2020, then clearly we are still good enough to make the AFC Championship right? That wasn't a fluke.

 

I mean, I posted this in another thread, but I want to post it here too. People have veeeeery short memories. Every year sh!t happens. Sometimes we won't squeeze it out. It doesn't mean the team is a dud.

 

 

Bad things that happened this time last year :

 

Got blown out by Titans and Chiefs

Almost lost to the Fitzpatrick led Dolphins

Beat the 2-14 Jets 18-10

Almost lost a 25 point lead to the Rams

Almost lost to the Cam Newton led Patriots if it weren't for a last minute fumble

 

Bad things that happened this year so far:

 

Upset against the Steelers

Tough close loss against the Titans

Upset against the Jaguars

[HappyDays]

19 minutes ago, BillsFan619 said:

I agree that there are flaws, bro. But every AFC contender has flaws (or in the Titans case an injury to a top player). Even with our flaws, we're still one of the most complete teams, if not the most complete team in the AFC.

 

We have had 2 actual TD drives in the last 8 quarters of play, against statistically bad defenses. As it is we were struggling in the red zone early in the season even when we were moving the ball. The Ravens losing a bad game doesn't mean our flaws are less pronounced. We scored six freaking points against a terrible defense.

 

I'm worried that we are stuck with a bottom 5 offensive line and running game and it's just so hard to win in the playoffs with those handicaps. It wasn't just a bad day at the office on Sunday. These are real issues that have come up a few times this year.

 

I will agree that the AFC is so muddled right now we have as good a chance as any other AFC team to make it to the Super Bowl. I still don't buy the Titans offense without Henry. It is as wide open as it gets in the AFC. I tend to think the NFC winner will end up being a significant favorite over whichever AFC team makes it out.

 

But I'm past the point of rooting for other teams to have bad losses so that I feel better about our bad losses. During the drought years, sure. Now we are supposed to be a real Super Bowl contender. Scoring six points against an almost winless team... I don't know man.

Edited November 12, 2021 by HappyDays

[BillsfaninSB]

9 minutes ago, Process said:

The Ravens are not a great team, despite what you hear on ESPN. 

They could easily be 3 - 6. 
 

The Ravens also have a brutal schedule coming up.   

Edited November 12, 2021 by BillsfaninSB

[Bferra13]

The Ravens kinda suck and the Dolphins d is playing how they should have been all year. Problem is, I really don't know about the Bills atm. Pull your heads outta your arses boys.

Edited November 12, 2021 by Bferra13

[BillsFan619]

41 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

There's so much pretzel twisting going on trying to justify the Bills loss that at this pace Ford will be regarded as the best guard in the league by Saturday.

I'm not justifying the loss. The loss was bad. VERY bad. I’m just not putting the nail in the coffin yet.

 

My point was, it doesn't mean we're out of it yet or not a contender at this point because of it. Every team has a bad loss every once in awhile. Every AFC team at the top of their division has a bad loss this year.

34 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

We have had 2 actual TD drives in the last 8 quarters of play, against statistically bad defenses. As it is we were struggling in the red zone early in the season even when we were moving the ball. The Ravens losing a bad game doesn't mean our flaws are less pronounced. We scored six freaking points against a terrible defense.

 

I'm worried that we are stuck with a bottom 5 offensive line and running game and it's just so hard to win in the playoffs with those handicaps. It wasn't just a bad day at the office on Sunday. These are real issues that have come up a few times this year.

 

I will agree that the AFC is so muddled right now we have as good a chance as any other AFC team to make it to the Super Bowl. I still don't buy the Titans offense without Henry. It is as wide open as it gets in the AFC. I tend to think the NFC winner will end up being a significant favorite over whichever AFC team makes it out.

 

But I'm past the point of rooting for other teams to have bad losses so that I feel better about our bad losses. During the drought years, sure. Now we are supposed to be a real Super Bowl contender. Scoring six points against an almost winless team... I don't know man.

Great points, bro.

 

It's not that I feel great about our loss, it still sucks. It's just I don't think we're out of it or not a contender because of the bad loss. The flaws can improve and we can make adjustments (hopefully).

 

Appreciate the thoughts! And, good back and forth.

Edited November 12, 2021 by BillsFan619

[HappyDays]

5 minutes ago, What a Tuel said:

Bad things that happened this time last year :

 

Got blown out by Titans and Chiefs

Almost lost to the Fitzpatrick led Dolphins

Beat the 2-14 Jets 18-10

Almost lost a 25 point lead to the Rams

Almost lost to the Cam Newton led Patriots if it weren't for a last minute fumble

 

None of those are as bad as scoring six points against an awful defense in a game where we were gifted great field position more often than not. I might be more willing to look past it if we lost on flukey plays, or came in undefeated and ran into a team that cared more about the win. Instead we came off an ugly offensive performance against the Dolphins and had an even uglier performance against a worse defense. This was not the same kind of "bad loss" as the Hail Murrary.

[What a Tuel]

7 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

None of those are as bad as scoring six points against an awful defense in a game where we were gifted great field position more often than not. I might be more willing to look past it if we lost on flukey plays, or came in undefeated and ran into a team that cared more about the win. Instead we came off an ugly offensive performance against the Dolphins and had an even uglier performance against a worse defense. This was not the same kind of "bad loss" as the Hail Murrary.

 

I don't understand, are we limiting our view to the jaguars game alone or are we looking at the scope of the team as compared to last year? Because I will take this year over last year 10/10 times so far. The team performed far better against the Chiefs and Titans who blew us out last year, and 4 out of the 6 games we've played were never in question. 

 

Did the Jaguars game suck? Yes. Does it spell our impending doom? No.

 

Also, you say none of them are as bad but bring Miami into it too? How is beating Miami 26-11 worse or more concerning than scoring 6 field goals to beat the 2-14 jets 18-10 last year?

[MJS]

This is the most unpredictable season I can remember. So many upsets. It's crazy.

[HappyDays]

4 minutes ago, What a Tuel said:

I don't understand, are we limiting our view to the jaguars game alone or are we looking at the scope of the team as compared to last year? Because I will take this year over last year 10/10 times so far.

 

Hmm this is an interesting question. Last year's defense really struggled but our offense was absolutely elite, moreso when you consider it had to overcome a bad defense. I think if it is a choice between last year's team in last year's AFC versus this year's team in this year's AFC, I take this year simply because the AFC has no truly elite teams like the Chiefs last year. But in a vacuum I'm pretty sure I still take last year's team. Last year's offense even with the worse defense is probably 7-1 right now IMO. The regression from Dawkins and Williams and Felicano combined with defenses figuring out our scheme a bit have neutered our offense. This is a good question though, it could be a wash since the offense's drop has coincided with the defense's rise.

 

I don't look at last year's Chiefs and Titans game in the same light. First of all those teams were both very good so the comparison with the Jaguars doesn't fit. More importantly we were screwed by the last minute schedule changes and Allen's shoulder was in a sling, plus we were down our top 2 CBs against the Titans. Again not every bad loss is the same. I stand by what I said, the Jaguars loss is the worst loss of the McDermott era, especially if you restrict it to just Allen's tenure.

 

14 minutes ago, What a Tuel said:

Also, you say none of them are as bad but bring Miami into it too? How is beating Miami 26-11 worse or more concerning than scoring 6 field goals to beat the 2-14 jets 18-10 last year?

 

My point is the Jaguars loss was not a one-off or flukey outcome. It was the culmination of several issues that have caused our offense to take a big step back this year. 6 of our last 8 quarters we have not had a TD drive against bad defenses. I mean we couldn't even get the ball close enough to kick more than 2 FGs against the Jaguars. And the biggest issue with our offense in the game, the offensive line, there is no fixing it this season. Our best hope is a rookie and he doesn't fix the fact that 3 out of our 5 starting o-linemen are below average this season. It is really troubling.

[HOUSE]

Sammy Watkins has a Goalpost Phobia. Write that down for future reference

 

 

.

Edited November 12, 2021 by HOUSE

[Mr. K]

4 hours ago, ßookie_tech said:

looks like Dick Jauron was right after all these years.

Imagine if he said it at the right time.

[TBBills]

Yes upset week...

[JerseyBills]

This weekend taught me their is a clear path to the SB. There's no true powerhouse in the AFC like KC was last year.

Respect Tennessee but I still feel we are the better team. 

I could see us being that team. Like last year we won 8 straight, including playoffs after our 3rd L. 

 

Also taught me the Patriots are very much able to win the division if we only play subpar.  They're a sneaky good team. Can win ugly. 

 

1 week at a time. If we lose to the Jests there's going to be some real concern. This place would be the worse it has ever been.  

Let's just get to 6-3! 

Then on to Indy @ home

Edited November 12, 2021 by JerseyBills

[Southern_Bills]

Long season,  enjoy the games. No one knows how it ends regardless of the analytics they cite. They play for a reason. 

[CSBill]

5 hours ago, ßookie_tech said:

looks like Dick Jauron was right after all these years.

 

Every time I see a thread like this I think of Dick J. He was prophetic.

[billybob71]

there is not much difference between the best and worst teams in the NFL, these are the top football players in the world and all 32 teams have em, media and fans over reactions due to current records and trends fuel this misconception of a wide gap between teams. In the NFL margins are slim, everybody is working and scheming to get better each week. 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

6 hours ago, JMF2006 said:

If you don't bring your A game  anyone can lay loss on you.

Even Alabama?!?!

[JMF2006]

Just now, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

Even Alabama?!?!

 

33 franchise ?  

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

2 minutes ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

Even Alabama?!?!

Reported.  I didn't take off my hat when I typed 'Alabama'. 🙁

[Teddy KGB]

8 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

No easy games in the NFL

except the jags with Tavon Austin and Dan Arnold as starters.  

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

On any given Sunday 

 

 

 

 

[Greg S]

Speaking of the Ravens I am surprised they haven't signed Jackson to a long term deal yet like the Bills did with Allen. I think the announcers said Lamar is making 3 million this year. That's a lot for the average joe but that is nothing for a professional athlete and starting QB of his caliber.

[Blainorama5]

8 hours ago, ßookie_tech said:

looks like Dick Jauron was right after all these years.

I'll have to go back and check the tape on that....