This was the year, and the coaches blew it

[Rampage]

Okay maybe a bit dramatic. Allen still has another 10-12 years of top level play left in him but this year was the perfect storm to win a Super Bowl.

 

The NFC was weak this year, there was no clear cut favourite other than a 45 year old Tom Brady. The 49ers don’t awe you and the Rams are and up and down football team. Who knows who wins Sunday. The AFC had a lot of mediocre playoff teams. Vegas, Pittsburgh, Tennessee had no offense down the stretch yet we’re a one seed. Cincinnati is playing out of their minds right now but need a last second FG to beat Tennessee and Vegas went down to the last play.

 

Speaking of Cincinnati, they’ll only get better. Burrow another year older same with Chase. KC still has Mahomes. You have to think the Chargers begin to start

putting it together in Herbert’s third year. Baltimore gets Jackson back, who were 8-3 when he got injured. Cleveland could be back in the mix, they made the AFCCG last year and played the Chiefs close. Indy has a good team other than Wentz. Etc. The NFC who knows, I don’t see any franchise quarterbacks up and coming in that conference.
 

After 2022 Allen’s cap hit goes to 40 million dollars, unless that’s adjusted we start losing room to build a team. Competing gets tougher. Bad teams overpay our good players because we can’t afford them. And winning gets harder. With Allen, winning every game is possible but it’s not as straight forward as it could have been this year.

[GunnerBill]

This year was A chance. And a good one. It wasn't the only chance. The Bills will be back.

[Greg S]

I think they had a good shot as well but I also think the Rams would have had a good shot to beat the Bills. That game would have been a 50/50 IMHO. I do think the Bills would have beaten the 49ers though.

[Mynamemike]

2 minutes ago, Rampage said:

Okay maybe a bit dramatic. Allen still has another 10-12 years of top level play left in him but this year was the perfect storm to win a Super Bowl.

 

The NFC was weak this year, there was no clear cut favourite other than a 45 year old Tom Brady. The 49ers don’t awe you and the Rams are and up and down football team. Who knows who wins Sunday. The AFC had a lot of mediocre playoff teams. Vegas, Pittsburgh, Tennessee had no offense down the stretch yet we’re a one seed. Cincinnati is playing out of their minds right now but need a last second FG to beat Tennessee and Vegas went down to the last play.

 

Speaking of Cincinnati, they’ll only get better. Burrow another year older same with Chase. KC still has Mahomes. You have to think the Chargers begin to start

putting it together in Herbert’s third year. Baltimore gets Jackson back, who were 8-3 when he got injured. Cleveland could be back in the mix, they made the AFCCG last year and played the Chiefs close. Indy has a good team other than Wentz. Etc. The NFC who knows, I don’t see any franchise quarterbacks up and coming in that conference.
 

After 2022 Allen’s cap hit goes to 40 million dollars, unless that’s adjusted we start losing room to build a team. Competing gets tougher. Bad teams overpay our good players because we can’t afford them. And winning gets harder. With Allen, winning every game is possible but it’s not as straight forward as it could have been this year.

I think with the way Allen plays five more years of this level of play is probable.  He keeps taking the beatings he does he’s going to hit the Cam Newton wall and his body will fall apart after 30. Our window is smaller than what people are thinking.  10 more years of this style of play and he’ll be using a walker by the time he’s 40.  Nothing says he can’t be more of a pocket passer but the elite running/throwing from him is only viable a few more years IMO.

[Success]

The Rams are probably a better team than us.  Not that we wouldn't have had a great chance, but their D is fierce, and D usually wins championships.

 

We were more of a one-man team this year, even in our good games.  I'd love to see the D-line move up a tier next year.

 

[Augie]

Oh NO! We suck AGAIN! 

 

Couldn’t this go into one of the many other “we suck” threads? We will be back. We have Josh, a strong FO and good coaches, despite making some mistakes and being imperfect. Andy Reid got fired for such events, and I bet the Eagles would like him back.

 

 We will have more chances. Every year 31 teams go home unhappy. At least we were a serious contender. I’ve stepped away from the ledge. Maybe look up the serenity prayer. 

 

EDIT: Some might argue we didn’t get as far as last year because we were not in the AFCCG. I would argue we improved and gave the Chiefs a SERIOUS run for their money this year. I call that progress. 

 

.

 

.

Edited January 28, 2022 by Augie

[GunnerBill]

Just quickly on salary as well and affect of Josh's hit.... the cap is jumping up $26m this year and is expected to jump another $15-20m next year. 

 

2025 is the one year I think it will really hamstring the Bills at $51m cap hit by which time I'd expect the cap to be at about $265m. But they will likely restructure then to kick some can down the road. 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

10 minutes ago, Greg S said:

I think they had a good shot as well but I also think the Rams would have had a good shot to beat the Bills. That game would have been a 50/50 IMHO. I do think the Bills would have beaten the 49ers though.

Rams are a terrible match up for the bills.  Ironically rams match up poorly vs niners.  But Their front four alone is ludicrous. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Over 29 years of fanhood

[Rock-A-Bye Beasley]

So true. And even if the Bills had already won multiple Super Bowls those 13 seconds would still be an epic screw up by the coaches. The fact that this could’ve been the first and all the history makes it that much tougher to swallow. 
 

The AFC is filled with good young QBs so there’s no guarantee we will ever get the the SB. Marino only made one and he had a good coach. 
 

Our coach has screwed up in all of our playoff losses in some way. He doesn’t have to be perfect but I don’t want Allen to have to overcome him his whole career. 

[FilthyBeast]

4 minutes ago, Success said:

The Rams are probably a better team than us.  Not that we wouldn't have had a great chance, but their D is fierce, and D usually wins championships.

 

We were more of a one-man team this year, even in our good games.  I'd love to see the D-line move up a tier next year.

 

 

I think realistically they are the only team that can beat KC that is left because they have a similar formula the Bucs used last year against Mahomes.

 

And as good as Creed Humphrey and the rest of KC's new look oline has played this year Aaron Donald is the type of player that will truly expose the situation especially with Miller on the outside to compliment.

 

Ed Oliver is not Aaron Donald but he's as close as we are going to get to him and that's why Beane must make a power move to land an elite pass rusher on the edge to exploit the situation.

[Beast]

Just sell it all off and start over.

 

Imagine what we can get for Allen?

[Back2Buff]

Before the year started every reasonable person knew this was the year, but Beane did barely anything to improve this team.

 

KC went out and rebuilt their entire oline with less money going into the offseason than what we had.

 

They then traded for Ingram at the deadline.

 

This season was not just on the coaches, Beane let everyone down by not going for it.  He still defends taking a DE in 2nd that was inactive for half the year.  Look at who KC drafted in 2nd.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

2 minutes ago, FilthyBeast said:

 

I think realistically they are the only team that can beat KC that is left because they have a similar formula the Bucs used last year against Mahomes.

 

And as good as Creed Humphrey and the rest of KC's new look oline has played this year Aaron Donald is the type of player that will truly expose the situation especially with Miller on the outside to compliment.

 

Ed Oliver is not Aaron Donald but he's as close as we are going to get to him and that's why Beane must make a power move to land an elite pass rusher on the edge to exploit the situation.

It’s really annoying after all those free agents and draft picks that Jerry is still the best pass rusher by a lot. 

[Patrick Duffy]

I'm sure they are aware they blew it, main thing now moving forward is learning from it. 

[Peter]

I cannot think of bigger coaching blunders in the entire history of the Buffalo Bills than the decisions our coach/coaches made from the kickoff through each defensive call until the end of the game.

 

This is especially true given the magnitude of the game.

[HOUSE]

Maybe this wasn't the year and the coaches knew it

[MJS]

Maybe just post your identical opinion in one of the countless other threads that exist on this topic.

[Patrick Duffy]

Just now, MJS said:

Maybe just post your identical opinion in one of the countless other threads that exist on this topic.

Lol, yeah it does seem to be quite a few of these, "13 seconds/coaches blew it etc" type threads. 

[ToGoGo]

27 minutes ago, Mynamemike said:

I think with the way Allen plays five more years of this level of play is probable.  He keeps taking the beatings he does he’s going to hit the Cam Newton wall and his body will fall apart after 30. Our window is smaller than what people are thinking.  10 more years of this style of play and he’ll be using a walker by the time he’s 40.  Nothing says he can’t be more of a pocket passer but the elite running/throwing from him is only viable a few more years IMO.

 

His style will change with Daboll gone and improvements in our O-line and RB game, which will be Beane priorities moving forward. That's when we finally win a SB. 

 

We'll look back on these years as miraculous that we did as well as we did with what Josh had. 

[Niagara Dude]

3 minutes ago, ToGoGo said:

 

His style will change with Daboll gone and improvements in our O-line and RB game, which will be Beane priorities moving forward. That's when we finally win a SB. 

 

We'll look back on these years as miraculous that we did as well as we did with what Josh had. 

As much as I appreciated the hard running we received from Singletary late in the season I still think that our greatest gift to Allen this offseason is getting him a running with burst/speed and improving out defence so he is not expected to score on every series to beat good teams with elite QB's this this league.  While I am ok with Allen running more in playoffs,  I want him running less in the regular season to avoid taking shots. 

[Nuncha]

Defense can't get heat on a QB unless they are playing a bottom feeder team, and we don't consistently run the ball.  Until these two things change we won't beat the top teams.

[Gugny]

37 minutes ago, Augie said:

Oh NO! We suck AGAIN! 

 

Couldn’t this go into one of the many other “we suck” threads? We will be back. We have Josh, a strong FO and good coaches, despite making some mistakes and being imperfect. Andy Reid got fired for such events, and I bet the Eagles would like him back.

 

 We will have more chances. Every year 31 teams go home unhappy. At least we were a serious contender. I’ve stepped away from the ledge. Maybe look up the serenity prayer. 

 

 

.

 

Frank Costanza?

 

[ControllerOfPlanetX]

“..and the coaches blew it.”.... said no one 3,656,931 times

[Augie]

30 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

Frank Costanza?

 

 

I was thinking more Rob Schneider in The Waterboy.  The accent adds a nice touch! 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi1LMIUOOAI

 

Well, THAT didn’t go as hoped. 

 

 

.

Edited January 28, 2022 by Augie

[Niagara Dude]

1 hour ago, Rampage said:

Okay maybe a bit dramatic. Allen still has another 10-12 years of top level play left in him but this year was the perfect storm to win a Super Bowl.

 

The NFC was weak this year, there was no clear cut favourite other than a 45 year old Tom Brady. The 49ers don’t awe you and the Rams are and up and down football team. Who knows who wins Sunday. The AFC had a lot of mediocre playoff teams. Vegas, Pittsburgh, Tennessee had no offense down the stretch yet we’re a one seed. Cincinnati is playing out of their minds right now but need a last second FG to beat Tennessee and Vegas went down to the last play.

 

Speaking of Cincinnati, they’ll only get better. Burrow another year older same with Chase. KC still has Mahomes. You have to think the Chargers begin to start

putting it together in Herbert’s third year. Baltimore gets Jackson back, who were 8-3 when he got injured. Cleveland could be back in the mix, they made the AFCCG last year and played the Chiefs close. Indy has a good team other than Wentz. Etc. The NFC who knows, I don’t see any franchise quarterbacks up and coming in that conference.
 

After 2022 Allen’s cap hit goes to 40 million dollars, unless that’s adjusted we start losing room to build a team. Competing gets tougher. Bad teams overpay our good players because we can’t afford them. And winning gets harder. With Allen, winning every game is possible but it’s not as straight forward as it could have been this year.

Terrible but maybe we need to start posting about how this team gets better next season

[TheBrownBear]

Nothing is a given.  Those 13 seconds should have taught us that, if nothing else.  Time to turn the page, retool and look forward to next year.  

[ProcessTruster]

We don't know who blew it yet.  I'm waiting for Bass to be asked what he was told to do.  

[Fred Slacks]

After watching the game back a second time finally there was a few plays that irked me.  Mahomes big scramble for 34 yards should have been called back for holding.  Obada was absolutely tackled by the O-lineman.  In OT the big Hardman catch and run was a pick play by Kelce.  It was blatant.  At first viewing I thought it was Edmunds blown coverage but his responsibility was the RB which was obvious because of how decisive he was pursuing in coverage.  That would have been a 10 yard offensive PA.  Still his coverage liability is more obvious in a game like this where Mahomes buys time.  Maybe against less mobile QB's he looks better.  Leaves a bit to be desired though in this game.

 

Obviously the last 13 seconds are brutal to watch.  Frustrating to see how aggressive we were in the first drive only to shut down in the 2nd and 3rd quarter.  The long drive to score the go ahead TD just after the 2:00 warning was a masterpiece.  The Hill TD immediately afterwards I thought was blown coverage on the original viewing but turns out it was just an impressive pass and catch.   Levi Wallace actually had pretty darn good coverage all things considered.  Josh's drive with 1:03 on the clock was the most impressive of all.  This game should of solidified him as legendary status among the league.  I think he is more pissed than he is letting on.  I feel bad for him because of how much work he puts into this.  I still think the league took notice this weekend.   Funny how a narrative can turn like Mahomes out dueled JA.  If we hold on the last 13 seconds JA finishes with more passing yards and passing TD's (Mahomes did have the running TD though).  If that game finishes without overtime people wouldn't be able to stop talking about JA.  So yes in that department I think the coaches let JA down big time.  Chiefs situational awareness vs ours on defense was embarrassing.  

 

Beasley was huge in this game and was bracketed a ton.  I am still shocked for the board's hate towards him.  I feel like it might be mainly political.  the guy absolutely can still play and was huge on the long 4th quarter drive as well as an earlier drive.  I am not saying he is better than McKenzie.  Just saying he hasn't lost a step.

 

Also Rouseeau was so darn close on several plays for sacks and knocking the ball down.  A lot more than I thought during original viewing.  97 blew it on a couple plays on defense.  The Hardman run he got juked out of his shorts.  A few rushes he allows Mahomes to break contain.  I still believe we are 1 elite D-lineman away from shutting teams down.  Not a quality player, but a dominant player.  Reaffirms my thoughts of sell the farm for that one difference maker.  I know I will get a lot of blow back but I strongly feel that way.

 

All that being considered I would gladly take all coaches back in a heart beat.  I am not one for fire everyone and start over.  There were so many close plays that could have been the difference here.  Quite frankly I am shocked that our defense held up as well as they did vs such elite talent.  With Wallace and 30 at CB we forced a lot of coverage scrambles.  In a bigger lens than the last 13 seconds I think the defense played better than one is willing to give credit for.  Also I believe that McDermott is more humble than most coaches and willing to make corrections and grow from his and his staff's mistakes.  As much as I think home field would be helpful I really think on the big stage Josh will deliver.  

 

One of my biggest concerns is roster turn over.  There is no guarantee that the Chiefs don't somehow get better DB's themselves in the offseason.  I wonder if next year matched up against them we look as good at WR.  

 

Just a lot of thoughts that I wanted to put down to vent a little frustration.  I need some healing.

[Patrick Duffy]

 

[TH3]

1 hour ago, Rampage said:

Okay maybe a bit dramatic. Allen still has another 10-12 years of top level play left in him but this year was the perfect storm to win a Super Bowl.

 

The NFC was weak this year, there was no clear cut favourite other than a 45 year old Tom Brady. The 49ers don’t awe you and the Rams are and up and down football team. Who knows who wins Sunday. The AFC had a lot of mediocre playoff teams. Vegas, Pittsburgh, Tennessee had no offense down the stretch yet we’re a one seed. Cincinnati is playing out of their minds right now but need a last second FG to beat Tennessee and Vegas went down to the last play.

 

Speaking of Cincinnati, they’ll only get better. Burrow another year older same with Chase. KC still has Mahomes. You have to think the Chargers begin to start

putting it together in Herbert’s third year. Baltimore gets Jackson back, who were 8-3 when he got injured. Cleveland could be back in the mix, they made the AFCCG last year and played the Chiefs close. Indy has a good team other than Wentz. Etc. The NFC who knows, I don’t see any franchise quarterbacks up and coming in that conference.
 

After 2022 Allen’s cap hit goes to 40 million dollars, unless that’s adjusted we start losing room to build a team. Competing gets tougher. Bad teams overpay our good players because we can’t afford them. And winning gets harder. With Allen, winning every game is possible but it’s not as straight forward as it could have been this year.

Thanks for ANOTHER thread..JFC

[BillsSbSoon]

1 hour ago, Mynamemike said:

I think with the way Allen plays five more years of this level of play is probable.  He keeps taking the beatings he does he’s going to hit the Cam Newton wall and his body will fall apart after 30. Our window is smaller than what people are thinking.  10 more years of this style of play and he’ll be using a walker by the time he’s 40.  Nothing says he can’t be more of a pocket passer but the elite running/throwing from him is only viable a few more years IMO.

Youre not wrong, and this has been in the back of my mind as well. You would have to assume/hope josh realizes this as well, and that so do beane/mcd and they get wiser about it. Beane kind of alluded to this in his presser the other day. And that we put together a better run game/oline to take that off of him. 

[Cruiserplayer]

For every bad decision that “cost us” there was ten great decisions that got us there.

[billybrew1]

I still say it was execution. There is no defense where you are supposed to allow the other team's best player to run down the field uncovered. Period. End of story.

 

Go Bills!

[NewEra]

It may have been the year. They definitely blew it.  We know this.  Move on.  It’s been 5 days.  Reading the same sadness 24/7 is getting so old

[Ethan in Cleveland]

1 hour ago, Back2Buff said:

Before the year started every reasonable person knew this was the year, but Beane did barely anything to improve this team.

 

KC went out and rebuilt their entire oline with less money going into the offseason than what we had.

 

They then traded for Ingram at the deadline.

 

This season was not just on the coaches, Beane let everyone down by not going for it.  He still defends taking a DE in 2nd that was inactive for half the year.  Look at who KC drafted in 2nd.

Agree 100% and we were saying this before the trade deadline.  It will be very interesting to see how aggressive Beane and McDermott are, and how much roster turnover happens.

[Stuartjohn]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

This year was A chance. And a good one. It wasn't the only chance. The Bills will be back.

 

1 hour ago, Niagara Dude said:

As much as I appreciated the hard running we received from Singletary late in the season I still think that our greatest gift to Allen this offseason is getting him a running with burst/speed and improving out defence so he is not expected to score on every series to beat good teams with elite QB's this this league.  While I am ok with Allen running more in playoffs,  I want him running less in the regular season to avoid taking shots. 

 

1 hour ago, Peter said:

I cannot think of bigger coaching blunders in the entire history of the Buffalo Bills than the decisions our coach/coaches made from the kickoff through each defensive call until the end of the game.

 

This is especially true given the magnitude of the game.

 

1 hour ago, Niagara Dude said:

As much as I appreciated the hard running we received from Singletary late in the season I still think that our greatest gift to Allen this offseason is getting him a running with burst/speed and improving out defence so he is not expected to score on every series to beat good teams with elite QB's this this league.  While I am ok with Allen running more in playoffs,  I want him running less in the regular season to avoid taking shots. 

 

1 hour ago, Niagara Dude said:

As much as I appreciated the hard running we received from Singletary late in the season I still think that our greatest gift to Allen this offseason is getting him a running with burst/speed and improving out defence so he is not expected to score on every series to beat good teams with elite QB's this this league.  While I am ok with Allen running more in playoffs,  I want him running less in the regular season to avoid taking shots. 

 

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

This year was A chance. And a good one. It wasn't the only chance. The Bills will be back.

Yes it was! 13 seconds of inexcusable piss poor clock management!
LUCKY  Bills fans we're stuck with Lesley Frazier!  He’ll never get a HC job! What fanbase would want him after watching his defense cost the Bills the Lombardi! Fire Lesley or both McD & him will forever own this - 13 seconds a day that lives in Bills infamy!

[BananaB]

Since early this season I always felt next year was gonna be the season 

[billybrew1]

On the other hand, the defense never resembled the one that won the game in week five. It was tentative and non aggressive..

You won't win many football games playing defense like that....

[T&C]

These threads all look and sound the same... weird.

[DrPJax]

2 hours ago, Back2Buff said:

Before the year started every reasonable person knew this was the year, but Beane did barely anything to improve this team.

 

KC went out and rebuilt their entire oline with less money going into the offseason than what we had.

 

They then traded for Ingram at the deadline.

 

This season was not just on the coaches, Beane let everyone down by not going for it.  He still defends taking a DE in 2nd that was inactive for half the year.  Look at who KC drafted in 2nd.

Like your post. It was indeed supposedly the year. Couple that with knowing going into the KC game that the Titans , Rodgers, and Brady were already out , and it was a once in who knows how long to have tbe AFC CHAMPIONSHIP game at home!  Yes, we will be competitive with Josh. However ,looks likely Daboll is gone and Frazier with his passive d scheme stays , which I think is the worst scenario concerning coordinators.    Hopefully the qb coach moves up for continuity but it’s his first year as a coordinator so we will have a learning curve scenario.  Frazier staying really bothers me. This d benefited from playing several teams with horrible qbs. In the crucial games , good qbs carved this d up. Take a look at next years schedule , it looks formidable. KC again in KC stinks!  On the road against the Bengals, Rams as well. It’s not a soft schedule like this year.  Green Bay , titans coming to Buffalo in addition to division schedule. It will be tough as our o adjusts ( Daboll def gone to giants, as it’s on NFL  home page reported by rappaport. ).

 

Beane has stated we will not be that active in FA.  He had a chance to make moves like Ingram , and blew it.  He doesn’t want to give up draft picks again like he did to get Diggs, he said it during the draft.  Imho , he values draft potential over established free agents too much. This is not the old NFL, other teams are willing to make moves.  He stated they will prob keep adding to the d line , and will have to with turnover related to age.   Mcd is 0-4 in playoff road games.  This is not like the 90’s where we kept our core with no FA and no cap to deal with.   If Frazier can’t get a job after 9 openings were present , I think That tells you how others view his “#1”  defense.    
 

Yes , we will have a shot with Josh.  Lots of roster changes coming and now offense will be different without Daboll.   The d staying under Frazier looks like a bad move to me. Teams will watch what the Bucs , Chiefs, Titans did and mimic the use of plays run against soft zone coverages. I was hoping we would get an aggressive minded D coordinator in.   The Bills draft will lean toward the d , and I just wish Beane would give Allen another Big receiver with long strides like Gabe or get a legitimate back with speed for use in screens and to add to our offensive weapons. Continuing to try to beat KC with d, one great edge guy won’t work. You have to outscore them.  I hope we recover from this, having been around to see us lose 4 SB’s, it’s a lesson that there are no promises. We were peaking at the exact right moment , and coaching with players on the d inexplicably freezing ( regarding the Kelce stuff) lost a huge opportunity this year and it will be a challenge to have that fall in place again.