THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - I've got Nuthin'

[Shaw66]

I’ve written this column for about 15 years.  It varies from week to week, sometimes about the stadium experience, sometimes about an important play, sometimes about what players or coaches did or didn’t do.  I write about trends, prospects, shortcomings and needs.  Sometimes it might be funny, sometimes quirky, and certainly sometimes boring or pedestrian.  When I start writing, I don’t always have a plan – the essay just seems to go where it needs to go.

 

Last night in Kansas City, in the second round of the playoffs, the Chiefs beat the Buffalo Bills in overtime, 42-36.  This morning, I sit before my keyboard, numb.

 

I’ve got nuthin’.

 

If you watched the game, you understand.  If you didn’t, I cannot go all Grantland Rice on you to explain.  I’m not Shirley Povich.  Where is Frank Deford when we really need him?  

 

I’ve been a fan of the Buffalo Bills since 1960.  There were several years when work and family and geography left me less involved with the team, not going to games or being able to see them on television.  Still, fan-wise, I’ve had a pretty good run.   I can say figuratively, if not literally, I’ve seen it all.

 

The only way to describe what happened last night is that it was Wide Right, 31 years later.  (If you don’t know what Wide Right was, look it up.  It has its own Wikipedia article.)  I was in Tampa that night, I sat in the stadium stunned as the winning field goal sailed past the right upright.  (I was in Buffalo on the Monday night when the Cowboys beat the Bills with a long field goal on the final play – that game gets honorable mention, but wide right and Chiefs-Bills stand together on top of the “OMG -what-just-happened?” list.)  The day after Super Bowl XXV, I walked aimlessly through Epcot Center, and it seemed every third person was wearing a Giants sweatshirt.  This morning, everything is Chiefs red. 

 

When your team loses a game like that, and my team has done it twice, I’m here to tell you that everything in your life goes numb for a day or two.  It’s not a tragedy, it’s not life changing; after all, it’s just football, but when you’re emotionally invested and a game like that happens, it’s stunning.  It’s as though you’ve seen and heard a large explosion, so large that for a few seconds or minutes or even hours, your eyes are recovering from the flash and your ears are ringing.   “OMG!  What just happened?”

 

A week before the game, I thought that this game might be the real Super Bowl, that these were the two best teams playing for all the marbles.   No, that couldn’t really be true, because the King was back leading the Titans, there was the G.O.A.T., trying for another repeat, and if it wasn’t going to be Brady in the Super Bowl, it was going to be Rodgers. 

 

Then, one by one, Derrick Henry lost, Rodgers lost, Brady lost, and the surviving teams lacked the key ingredient – the star quarterback.  Burrows may be a star on the rise, Stafford may be a star postponed, and Tannehill may be, well, a nice guy, but nobody is crowning any of them as a legendary signal caller, at least not yet.

 

So, by Sunday night, the game between the Bills and the Chiefs actually was looking like the Super Bowl, without the halftime show.  These were the two hottest teams in the playoffs, each coming off blistering blowout wins the previous week, each having overcome early season inconsistencies to look now like powerhouse winners.  Each with an already certifiable superstar quarterback.  Before the opening kickoff, people knew it was a big game.  I got my pizza and sat before the TV.

 

What happened was epic. 

 

There have been a lot of great football games with spectacular plays and dramatic finishes.  I can’t sit here this morning and say that Chiefs-Bills was the greatest, but it has to be in the discussion.  This was two great teams with two great quarterbacks playing their best games.  Two teams and two guys refusing to lose in a game where ultimately someone would win.  

 

A couple of days before the Bills-Chiefs game, I looked up the playoff passer rating records.   If you’re not a fan boy like me, know that the passer rating is a number that is calculated using a formula and some of the more important statistics that demonstrate passing effectiveness.  The passer rating isn’t perfect, but it’s a pretty good measure of who’s the best.  After last week’s games, Patrick Mahomes (did I mention that he is the Chiefs quarterback?) was number 1 on the all-time playoff passer rating list.  Josh Allen, the Bills quarterback, was fourth.  Now, that data is skewed by a variety of factors, so it isn’t necessarily the definitive measure of greatness, but it isn’t bad.  Bart Starr and Kurt Warner, two legendary QBs who are in the Hall of Fame, were number 2 and number 3 on the list.  Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Troy Aikman are in the top 20, along with future Hall of Famers Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees. 

 

This morning, Patrick Mahomes is still number 1.  Josh Allen is number 2. 

 

The game was a display of modern quarterbacking excellence that rarely has been seen in the NFL, dual excellence that probably never has been seen in a playoff game.  Mahomes and Allen performed superbly from the very beginning of the game, passing and running, confounding the opposing defenses.  But their excellence through three quarters was simply prelude. 

 

When Harrison Butker kicked a field goal to give the Chiefs a five-point lead with less than nine minutes remaining in the game, there seemed to be only one question:  could Josh Allen and the Bills mount one more drive for one more touchdown and win the game?  That, as it turned out, was merely the first question.  Allen and the Bills went on an excruciating 17-play, seven-minute drive for the touchdown and, with the two-point conversion, a three-point lead.  Mahomes answered with a touchdown in five plays, dashing the Bills’ hopes for a victory.  Incredibly, truly incredibly, Allen returned the favor in six plays to retake the lead.  And yet, in the 13 seconds remaining, Mahomes managed to get the Chiefs in position for the tying field goal.  The Chiefs won the coin toss at the beginning of overtime, and Mahomes continued the scoring onslaught, hitting Travis Kelce with another touchdown pass.  The overtime rules didn’t afford Allen and the Bills the opportunity to respond, and the Chiefs won.

 

Undoubtedly, this morning thousands of Chiefs fans are talking about how great their team is and how this decision or that play won the game.  Thousands of Bills fans are talking about how that decision or this play lost the game.  I can’t do that, not now.

 

My only consolation after Super Bowl XXV was that for fifteen or twenty years, sportswriters and fans everywhere said it was the greatest Super Bowl ever.  I could be proud that my team was part of it, but it hurt to think about it.  Eventually, memories dimmed and other games awed the fans.  Eventually, I didn’t have to respond politely to people who thought they were making me feel good when they said, “You’re a Bills fan?  That was the greatest Super Bowl of all time!”

 

“You’re a Bills fan?  Bills-Chiefs was the best playoff game I’ve ever seen!”

 

Yeah, right.  Thanks.

[billsfanmiamioh]

Having a lot of trouble with this one. I know it’s still raw so that factors in but man this is just tough. I’m not going to be right for a few days that’s for sure. 

[UKBillFan]

Great review but your final point is spot on. So we played in one of the best play off games ever? Who gives a ****?

[Big Turk]

5 minutes ago, billsfanmiamioh said:

Having a lot of trouble with this one. I know it’s still raw so that factors in but man this is just tough. I’m not going to be right for a few days that’s for sure. 

 

3 coaching blunders lost this game in the last 13 seconds. Inexcusable. The kickoff and then the 2 defensive play calls and schemes.

Edited January 24, 2022 by Big Turk

[BuffaloBaumer]

My sentiments exactly, except this was #1 because I have teenage kids now who were also heartbroken, anticipating going to the AFC Championship game with me. THat will never happen and the reason this hurts more is because the coaching threw this game away in 13 seconds while Norwood just missed. The players did not lose this game, the coaches did, and that is what is impossible to accept. This coaching staff will never win a Super Bowl, ever.

[Big Turk]

1 minute ago, BuffaloBaumer said:

My sentiments exactly, except this was #1 because I have teenage kids now who were also heartbroken, anticipating going to the AFC Championship game with me. THat will never happen and the reason this hurts more is because the coaching threw this game away in 13 seconds while Norwood just missed. The players did not lose this game, the coaches did, and that is what is impossible to accept. This coaching staff will never win a Super Bowl, ever.

 

Yeah it was a brutal way to lose and the coaches really let these players down who deserved better. Especially Allen who gave everything he had out there and put this team on his back one more time.

[ILBillsfan]

This loss is squarely on the coaches at the end of the game and specifically McDermott/Frazier....One an ex HC and both DC.... 

 

The coaches have to put the players in a better position to execute and last night they did not simple as that, even after calling timeouts on both plays.

 

 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

At least your columns never disappoint OP! Strike the perfect notes per usual…thank you! 

[oldmanfan]

This one really hurts.  Just going through the motions at work today and will for quite a while.  I am 66 years old, and have the AFL championships that I still celebrate.  But I want the Bills to win just one Lombardi before I leave the earth, and really thought this year was the year.  And should have been but for the defense playing not to lose.

[Big Turk]

3 minutes ago, ILBillsfan said:

This loss is squarely on the coaches at the end of the game and specifically McDermott/Frazier....One an ex HC and both DC.... 

 

The coaches have to put the players in a better position to execute and last night they did not simple as that, even after calling timeouts on both plays.

 

 

 

What is even more funny, if you will, is that the play to Kelce only happened because the Bills called the second TO.  Kelce noticed how they were set up and he told Mahomes if they came out the same way he would go up the seam because it was wide open.  At the line you hear Mahomes yell "do it Kels! Do it! Do it Kels!" and then snap the ball and Kelce runs up the seam with Wallace guarding the sideline against nobody. WTF.

[blitzboy54]

This game for me in all time Buffalo losses

 

1. Wide Right

2. 13 seconds

3. No Goal

4. Music City Miracle 

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Everything else

 

[elijah]

That was excellent @Shaw66, little bit of goosebumps reading the finish there

[Freddie's Dead]

Just when you think the Bills can't possibly embarrass us further by losing in a humiliating fashion, they invent a way to do so.

[LABILLBACKER]

Josh is the greatest QB that's ever played in Buffalo. You could argue he's the best football player in the NFL. Last night our so called #1 Defense played embarrassingly. And our coaches especially McDermott failed Josh and our offense. I need some time on this one and yes Shaw we're all numb. You only get so many SB chances.  Ask Marino

[B-Large]

Meh, it was an incredible bout and the Bills lost on a coin toss.... I'm about 100% confident had it been tails, we'd be excited for next week.  The OT rule is awful, and it cut short a special night.... I hope they consider changing it.

 

I feel like we're just entering our window here.... while this one is disappointing, this is a game that the organization will grow from.  Maybe they won't lose to poor teams in the regular season and hurt themselves on the playoffs by being on the road... that is a big takeaway...

 

The Chiefs have been an excellent organization for 10+ years now... this game shows we're almost there, and we will have our run and opportunites.

 

I'd rather lose like that 99/100 times that get blown out, or 20 seasons with draft threads in early December.

 

Fix what needs fixed, get ready to kick ass next season....

 

Josh is special.  He'll get a ring, no doubt.

 

 

Edited January 24, 2022 by B-Large

[gdabillsfan]

1 minute ago, blitzboy54 said:

This game for me in all time Buffalo losses

 

1. Wide Right

2. 13 seconds

3. No Goal

4. Music City Miracle 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Everything else

 

Thats just about right, but true Bills fans are resilient, and we will be back next year to cheer again even harder. Personally I've been conditioned to expect this from the Bills, but someday.....

I Don't know how the Sabres fans do it though (bless their hearts)

[Shaw66]

19 minutes ago, B-Large said:

Meh, it was an incredible bout and the Bills lost on a coin toss.... I'm about 100% confident had it been tails, we'd be excited for next week.  The OT rule is awful, and it cut short a special night.... I hope they consider changing it.

 

I feel like we're just entering our window here.... while this one is disappointing, this is a game that the organization will grow from.  Maybe they won't lose to poor teams in the regular season and hurt themselves on the playoffs by being on the road... that is a big takeaway...

 

The Chiefs have been an excellent organization for 10+ years now... this game shows we're almost there, and we will have our run and opportunites.

 

I'd rather lose like that 99/100 times that get blown out, or 20 seasons with draft threads in early December.

 

Fix what needs fixeExcd, get ready to kick ass next season....

 

Josh is special.  He'll get a ring, no doubt.

 

 

Excellent comments.  Especially about the Chiefs.   They're just so good.  

[B-Large]

15 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Excellent comments.  Especially about the Chiefs.   They're just so good.  

Organizationally, they are first class.  They just always bring in guys, at least on offense, that contribute big…. 

 

It will be interesting when Kelce and Hill are gone if that offense can still be unstoppable.  That is very special trio, a unique combination of elements.  
 

I’m biased, but I still think Allen is the more compete player.  We don’t have anyone quite near Kelce, and while Diggs is out outstanding and McKenzie has wheels, Hill is in a league of his own….. 

 

Man the flip of a coin…. What could have been.. 

 

and thanks for all the write ups… always a joy….going back to the beginning of the BBMB if I recall… 

Edited January 24, 2022 by B-Large

[HamSandwhich]

When Josh is playing all world like he was these playoffs, you expect the be the champion of all the world. Just so happened the other QB was also playing all world. Hurts because the O was playing like you would hope and beyond but we still couldn’t get over the finish line. 
 

The Bills didn’t lose because of Allen, as I see it, that game reinforced Allen >>>> Mahomes. The D/coaching lost that game. 

[CincyBillsFan]

46 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

Just when you think the Bills can't possibly embarrass us further by losing in a humiliating fashion, they invent a way to do so.

You can call last nights loss a lot of things but "humiliating" is not one of them.