Time to Question the toughness of this team?

[wppete]

After watching this team play today on both sides of the ball it’s fair to question how tough this team really is. Offensive line was very soft and the defense overall looked like a soft Big 12 defense vs Alabama. We need major changes and we need to toughen this team upX major overhaul. 

[That's No Moon]

Today brought you to this conclusion? Not either of the Tennessee games in the last two years, or the Colts curb stomping, or opening day or even the Jacksonville game where the Bills basically threw their helmets on the field and expected to win?

 

This team is soft, it has been soft, and it will continue to be soft.

[bills6969]

The line play is terrible

[FireChans]

This team hasn’t been tough all season. Everyone was pumping up this game because it was our last chance to prove we were. We aren’t.

 

We are playoff team. A wild card team. And that’s as good as we are. We are for sure going to be a first round exit if we even make it at all.

[wppete]

Just now, That's No Moon said:

Today brought you to this conclusion? Not either of the Tennessee games in the last two years, or the Colts curb stomping, or opening day or even the Jacksonville game where the Bills basically threw their helmets on the field and expected to win?

 

This team is soft, it has been soft, and it will continue to be soft.

I agree. I was just holding on for hope but after today there is no way to argue this. This team is soft and really embarrassing. 

[JaCrispy]

What toughness? They are door mats...

[wppete]

Just now, JaCrispy said:

What toughness? They are door mats...

so true and so sad 😭 

[BuffaloRebound]

Stop blaming the players.  They play the way the coaches want them to.  We have no discipline on offense to take what defense is giving us.  And defensively we are built to stop the pass.  Look what they’ve turned Epenesa into.  

[Bangarang]

It’s been questioned for a while now. Where have you been? 

[ndirish1978]

This team is absolutely soft and not just on the lines. We seem mentally weak.

• We miss tackles at the second level and are absolute dogcrap up front on Offense. 
• Josh seems to have lost his clutch gene, he keeps coming up short in big moments.
• Feels like when things aren't going our way the offense just folds. 
• Too many big run plays killing us on D and they haven't fixed this at all.

 

Our coaches are weak as well

• Daboll has lost the ability to call a game.
• McDermott might have some of the worst game management in the league and tonight he called a cowardly game.
  • We never should have kicked that field goal and we should have gone for it rather than punting the possession prior.
  • Why challenge the QB sneak when it was obvious there was NO camera angle that could even ID the QB? 

Edited December 7, 2021 by ndirish1978

[HOUSE]

Buffalo played a sound game, Geeez you guys 😬

[Ethan in Cleveland]

What are you talking about OP? We have been questioning their toughness both physical and mental for a long time.

[cDAVIS]

10 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

Yeah the team is soft… 

Every year since MCD got here there have been games where they get absolutely embarrassed…

 

 

 

We have also made the playoffs 3 out of 4 years. How dare this team have bad games!!! I dont know if you noticed but the pats didnt play that well either, they basically had one explosive play. Their D barely outshined ours. Thats it.

[Aussie Joe]

1 minute ago, cDAVIS said:

We have also made the playoffs 3 out of 4 years. How dare this team have bad games!!! I dont know if you noticed but the pats didnt play that well either, they basically had one explosive play. Their D barely outshined ours. Thats it.

I noticed the Pats won the game..at our house !

 

I noticed they ran the ball all game and the Bills struggled to stop them…

 

 

[ProcessAccepted]

It still just seems to me that we always get called for something in the red zone against the Pats and the Pats don't. Like how was that not a hold on Levi Wallace during the two point conversion. I'll admit that I need to watch it again but I thought the Dawson Knox false start was a little generous.

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

17 minutes ago, wppete said:

After watching this team play today on both sides of the ball it’s fair to question how tough this team really is. Offensive line was very soft and the defense overall looked like a soft Big 12 defense vs Alabama. We need major changes and we need to toughen this team upX major overhaul. 

 

I mean, you're not wrong or alone in the opinion that the Bills D is soft at times.  When I added it up before the end of the game, we'd given up >200 yds rushing.

 

But when you come right down to it, we allowed 11 points against a top offense in a close game.

 

The game came down to a couple of key plays: a missed 33 yd FG that took away the chance for a 2nd FG to win on the final drive; a stupid fumble charged to Josh Allen but 100% on Breida IMO (and Peyton Manning's opinion) are the biggest IMHO.

[TampaBillsJunkie]

1 minute ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

The game came down to a couple of key plays: a missed 33 yd FG that took away the chance for a 2nd FG to win on the final drive; a stupid fumble charged to Josh Allen but 100% on Breida IMO (and Peyton Manning's opinion) are the biggest IMHO.

All this and Harris long TD run. Play that right and it's a different game. Bass missed FG hurt a f'k ton.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 minute ago, ProcessAccepted said:

It still just seems to me that we always get called for something in the red zone against the Pats and the Pats don't. Like how was that not a hold on Levi Wallace during the two point conversion. I'll admit that I need to watch it again but I thought the Dawson Knox false start was a little generous.

 

 

I thought it was reasonably fair on the officiating.  I can't argue with your assessment, but we had it in our power to win and it was our own mistakes or failures of execution that cost us.

[wppete]

2 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I mean, you're not wrong or alone in the opinion that the Bills D is soft at times.

But when you come right down to it, we allowed 11 points against a top offense in a close game.

 

The game came down to a couple of key plays: a missed 33 yd FG that took away the chance for a 2nd FG to win on the final drive; a stupid fumble charged to Josh Allen but 100% on Breida IMO (and Peyton Manning's opinion) are the biggest IMHO.

I understand what you are saying. But Mac Jones I think threw the ball 5 times all game and we got our ass haded to ourselves. We got beat down, that’s why I say we are soft. 

[Rick 'r Mortis]

The time to question was after the Colts beat down.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 minutes ago, TampaBillsJunkie said:

All this and Harris long TD run. Play that right and it's a different game. Bass missed FG hurt a f'k ton.

 

Yes, and that seems to be a hallmark of a McDermott/Frazier D  : play tough most of the game, but give up one freakin long play for a score.

[Nextmanup]

"Tough?"  

What does that even mean?

 

Should we have stomped on Patriot players after the whistle when the refs weren't watching?

 

Or what?

 

This is just ridiculous; fans always love to talk about stuff like this instead of what actually decided the outcome of the game.   

23 minutes ago, bills6969 said:

The line play is terrible

Agreed.  That isn't "toughness" however.

 

We don't possess enough skill up and down the line on both sides of the ball.

 

Look at the resources McDermott and company have dumped into the defensive line.

 

It's not very good.

 

They have largely left the OL alone, and it shows.  It needs MAJOR ADDRESSING in the off-season.

 

 

[Locomark]

Why does a boring running team make you a tough team. BS. We had the same amount of yards, more first downs, and a reasonably close time of possession. If they didn’t rip off that 1 big run, they would have had little offense. The difference is their staff stuck with what got them there and we didn’t. Our staff played scared on offense and ran up the middle even though Josh showed he could still complete passes. We were unimaginative not passing, not pulling any guards, not using motion, running sweeps, or even attempting to use a TE as a blocking back for a run. Just awful coaching. 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Locomark

[That's No Moon]

19 minutes ago, cDAVIS said:

We have also made the playoffs 3 out of 4 years. How dare this team have bad games!!! I dont know if you noticed but the pats didnt play that well either, they basically had one explosive play. Their D barely outshined ours. Thats it.

The Patriots did exactly what they wanted to do tonight. They are a ball grazing off a helmet from giving up a total of a FG in this game. They didn't throw the ball BY CHOICE because they didn't have to.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

Are they soft or just not good? Or the wrong puzzle pieces?

 

We were building a team to beat K.C. it seems. Well we accomplished that. Problem is we didn't consider beating the Patriots and Colts of the world.

[US Egg]

There’s more wrong with this Bills team than anyone could have imagined.

 

Overall, they aren’t good enough upfront on both sides of the ball.

 

The opponents all know it and are relishing playing them.

 

The 2021 Buffalo Bills aren’t intimidating foes.

[RyanC883]

36 minutes ago, wppete said:

After watching this team play today on both sides of the ball it’s fair to question how tough this team really is. Offensive line was very soft and the defense overall looked like a soft Big 12 defense vs Alabama. We need major changes and we need to toughen this team upX major overhaul. 

 

need a nee gm and hc.  

11 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

"Tough?"  

What does that even mean?

 

Should we have stomped on Patriot players after the whistle when the refs weren't watching?

 

Or what?

 

This is just ridiculous; fans always love to talk about stuff like this instead of what actually decided the outcome of the game.   

Agreed.  That isn't "toughness" however.

 

We don't possess enough skill up and down the line on both sides of the ball.

 

Look at the resources McDermott and company have dumped into the defensive line.

 

It's not very good.

 

They have largely left the OL alone, and it shows.  It needs MAJOR ADDRESSING in the off-season.

 

 

 

Bean is an issue.  He has spend picks on the DL and RB position and has got not a single impact player. Meanwhile his OL assembling has been terrible.  

2 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

Are they soft or just not good? Or the wrong puzzle pieces?

 

We were building a team to beat K.C. it seems. Well we accomplished that. Problem is we didn't consider beating the Patriots and Colts of the world.

 

and that’s on Bean.  You need to be able to beat teams in many different ways.  we became one dimensional and missed on too many picks  

[Simon]

27 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

The game came down to a couple of key plays: a missed 33 yd FG that took away the chance for a 2nd FG to win on the final drive; a stupid fumble charged to Josh Allen but 100% on Breida IMO (and Peyton Manning's opinion) are the biggest IMHO

 

A couple balls off Knox's hands changed the scoreboard also.

[Matt_In_NH]

30 minutes ago, ProcessAccepted said:

It still just seems to me that we always get called for something in the red zone against the Pats and the Pats don't. Like how was that not a hold on Levi Wallace during the two point conversion. I'll admit that I need to watch it again but I thought the Dawson Knox false start was a little generous.

 

Patriots 6 penalties.  Bills 3.   The delay of game was bs as was a 15 yarder on the pats to convert a 4th down for the bills.   False starts are mental mistakes.  

[Nelius]

It was time after Jacksonville. They're not tough. There's a few examples - Milano, Spencer Brown, Harrison Phillips at this point, but the majority play soft. Our o-line for the most part is tremendously soft, I feel like even their body language is lazy and out of shape a lot of the time.

[Matt_In_NH]

13 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

Are they soft or just not good? Or the wrong puzzle pieces?

 

We were building a team to beat K.C. it seems. Well we accomplished that. Problem is we didn't consider beating the Patriots and Colts of the world.

This is what the media says.  Not sure I totally agree.   But the philosophy should be to build a team others cannot beat not pick the good team last year and build to beat them.   

[Hapless Bills Fan]

12 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

A couple balls off Knox's hands changed the scoreboard also.

 

Indeed.  And Diggs not being able to adjust a bit and haul in a TD pass that hit him in the arms 😬

That long run the Bills gave up for the TD

 

But the Breida fumble and the missed FG struck me as the biggest game-changers

[Success]

1 minute ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Indeed.  And Diggs not being able to adjust a bit and haul in a TD pass that hit him in the arms 😬

That long run the Bills gave up for the TD

 

But the Breida fumble and the missed FG struck me as the biggest game-changers

 

The Breida fumble was rough.  If that turned into a scoring drive, it could have changed how the rest of the game was played.

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

11 minutes ago, Success said:

 

The Breida fumble was rough.  If that turned into a scoring drive, it could have changed how the rest of the game was played.

 

 

It was partly rough because I believe it got Breida's ass benched, and he's the player on which a varied run vocabulary pretty much depends.

 

But if we drive a little further even if they get the ball back, maybe they get it deeper.  Or maybe we're not overly aggressive on D as we were, and we don't lose contain on that long run.

[Buffalo Junction]

19 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Indeed.  And Diggs not being able to adjust a bit and haul in a TD pass that hit him in the arms 😬

That long run the Bills gave up for the TD

 

But the Breida fumble and the missed FG struck me as the biggest game-changers

A few plays could have changed the game. Really anything that put the Pats in a position to pass likely would have resulted in a Bills win. 
 

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Buffalo Junction

[ProcessAccepted]

11 hours ago, mattynh said:

Patriots 6 penalties.  Bills 3.   The delay of game was bs as was a 15 yarder on the pats to convert a 4th down for the bills.   False starts are mental mistakes.  

Not all penalties are created equal

[Teddy KGB]

Some of us told you we were cooked after the Jags game 

 

Hit the reset button on both lines.  

[DrDawkinstein]

Time now? Heck, most of us knew we werent tough walking into the Tenn game, and that proved to be all too unfortunately correct.

 

This is a soft football team. It's been obvious since very early in the season. One could even argue since the Steelers game.

 

We need badasses added to the interior of both Lines.

[FilthyBeast]

12 hours ago, wppete said:

After watching this team play today on both sides of the ball it’s fair to question how tough this team really is. Offensive line was very soft and the defense overall looked like a soft Big 12 defense vs Alabama. We need major changes and we need to toughen this team upX major overhaul. 

 

If you've been paying attention this team told us exactly who they were in the opening day loss against the Steelers.

 

Obviously it wasn't a fluke in hindsight losing to another mediorce middle of the pack team who happens to play physical brand of football in the trenches.

[BuffaloBillyG]

11 hours ago, cDAVIS said:

We have also made the playoffs 3 out of 4 years. How dare this team have bad games!!! I dont know if you noticed but the pats didnt play that well either, they basically had one explosive play. Their D barely outshined ours. Thats it.

And those playoff games mean absolutely nothing to the 2021 Buffalo Bills team. To paraphrase McD himself: Each season is a new story, new team. What you did last year is irrelevant.

 

This team isn't just having a few bad games. They are being dominated and manhandled at the point of attack. They are constructed poorly and have a lack of execution. They commit penalties left and right. They are a below .500 football team since winning in KC.  The offense has been out of sync even when we were winning. They can't score consistently in the red zone and routinely blow excellent field position after a big return or turnover. This has been happening since LITERALLY the 1st drive of the season against the Steelers. The defense feasted on backup QBs and poor teams. This isn't trolling or being negative. These are just the facts that the season has shown us.

 

"Making the playoffs" isn't the goal anymore. The motto has changed at OBD from "Playoff Caliber" to "Championship Caliber"....and they are falling way short of their own expectations.