(Perhaps) Unpopular Take: I have no expectations for the Bills going forward, and I’m ok with it.

[AlfaBill]

17 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

Hyde went out in the second quarter of the second game.  This season has been off 99% of the year with being tied for the best record in the league?

Yea it has despite the teams win loss record. 

[Big Turk]

Whatever the Bills want to do I am behind them. If that means they play as normal for Hamlin then I'm cool with it. If that means they forfeit the Pats game and get ready for the playoffs then so be it. If that means they simply shut it down for this season completely, then that's what they do.

 

 

[Success]

It feels like this has been such a season of turmoil, with injuries, the snowstorms, the ups & downs, and now Hamlin's health.

 

I'm where the OP is at. I'm ready for whatever comes, and I'm okay w/ it.  Whatever happens the rest of the way, this will probably be the defining moment for it. The team could kind of fade away at this point, where the setbacks have hit critical mass, and it might be hard if not impossible for them to play the kind of inspired football needed for the next month+. 

 

Or, it could be that kind of rallying moment that leads to a big run.

 

At this point, the season is a success for me if Hamlin recovers and gets back to good health. Anything else will be gravy.

 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

Damar is the only thing that matters, I support whatever the team decides to do. 

[Mark Vader]

14 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

I hope we win it all and ESPN creates the greatest documentary of all time.

 

Hamlin may never play again and I say get him a ring.

This is where I'm at.

 

Despite what happened last night, I believe that this will bring the team together even more. I don't see them throwing in the towel.

Did no one see Stefon Diggs doing what he could to rally the team before they postponed the game?

 

The Bills are not going away. I don't care what all the naysayers on this board have said throughout the season, this is a damn good team, and they have what it takes to win it all. 

Yeah, the season may not be playing out the way we all hoped it would, but so what?!

Josh Allen is playing hard for us and is getting us wins. Yes, it sucks that we lost Micah Hyde & Von Miller, but injuries happen, and you have to find a way to deal with it and improve from it.

 

Sean McDermott will find a way to keep this team focused and motivated, and they will be ready come the post season. 

[HappyDays]

The way I feel is that if the team decides to pack it in for the season I support them. If they decide to give it their all and rally for a playoff push I support them, however it ends. I go as the team does.

[JoshAllin]

I know Diggs team leader was emotional and crying but he also wants to win one and would rally the troops

[BullBuchanan]

2 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

You really believe there is “an element in the air that doesn’t want Buffalo to succeed”?

 

Come on man. It was a freak accident playing a violent game. 

Another word for it would be curse., or perhaps stormcloud.

[JTown]

I have not felt up to posting anything after the events that we endured last night. 

 

I have never met Damar nor do I know anything about him as a person. 

Obviously, all my thoughts and prayers are centered around him and his family.   That is all that matters. 

However,  my thoughts and prayers go out to the team, staff, and entire organization.   His teammates have to be shredded emotionally.  I hope that they are able to receive encouraging news as soon as possible.   At which point, they will collectively decide as to how they want to approach the remaining balance of the season. 

 

As a career soldier with 8 combat deployments,  I do know what it takes to stay mentally and emotionally focused on my mission after taking casualties.  However, that was war,  these men are playing a game.  The game is suddenly not important. 

 As many have pointed out, this team has endured so much already this season.  I would be shocked if  they have the motivation to strive to obtain their goals at this time. 

 

I am so proud of everything they have already achieved.   We know that they are unquestionably the best team in the league.   They have nothing to prove to me.  They will be even better next season.  

 

IMO,  they deserve a Superbowl type of parade at the end of their season with or without a Lombardi.  I am proud of this team.   

 

Get well soon Damar.  A full recovery is all that matters to your team.  

 

Go Bills

[Mark92]

19 minutes ago, gonzo1105 said:

This honestly strikes me as one of those NFL fantasy seasons. Patriots winning after 9/11. Saints winning after Katrina. Bills winning it after this. 

This, the deadly blizzard, the injuries and the shootings.  It's been a lot.  The Bills have been an outlet for so many people. 

[billybob71]

If Hamlin recovers and the bills take the field again I am just going to  feel grateful to be able to watch them, whether they win or lose won't really matter for the rest of this season,  just to be able to watch our team with my family will be enough for me.

[Royale with Cheese]

1 minute ago, ScottLaw said:

If anything this is what I see coming out of the unfortunate accident to Hamlin. Really can’t see this team throwing in the towel on the season… they will use it  as just more added motivation to get there.

100% agree

[Buddo]

I said this elsewhere, but the only success I’m now interested in, is the success of a full recovery for Damar Hamlin.

 

Currently, nothing else matters.

[The Wiz]

9 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

I do understand how you feel though. It feels as if the season is over. But I don’t think it has to be.

You're right.  It doesn't have to be over.  I'm more worried about everyone being able to recover from this.

 

I know I was like that in my 20s were I would just dismiss or toss stuff aside that hurt me.  Now as an adult with kids, this stuff feels different to me. 

For all I know, it could end up being something that galvanizes this team into and unstoppable force or could turn every player into a shell of their former self.

 

I just want ALL players to be healthy from this awful situation.

[oldmanfan]

My only concern right now is Damar.  If we get some favorable news this week, I can see the team using that as a positive motivator.  If they get negative news I think it could destroy the team for this season, and justifiably so.

[McBean]

1 hour ago, LABILLBACKER said:

There's an element in the air that just doesn't want Buffalo to succeed this season. With this game likely being a "no contest" we'll lose the #1 seed to KC.  Hope they don't reschedule the Cincy game and as some have suggested let's just rest starters v NE.  We still have a ton of players injured. With all the crap and bad luck this team has endured, they have to be physically and emotionally exhausted. 

Element in the air that doesn’t want the Bills to EVER succeed.

 

4 straight Super Bowl losses, wide right, 13 seconds, the trauma this year…this damn organization is cursed and I’ve been saying that for years. It’s beyond fkn ridiculous and pisses me off.

 

prayers for Hamlin..his recovery is all that matters. 

[BullBuchanan]

2 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Which is ridiculous…

Why?

[Captain Hindsight]

8 minutes ago, billybob71 said:

If Hamlin recovers and the bills take the field again I am just going to  feel grateful to be able to watch them, whether they win or lose won't really matter for the rest of this season,  just to be able to watch our team with my family will be enough for me.

I’m really hoping to see Hamlin record a video that’s played before the game on Sunday 

[Not Applicable]

40 minutes ago, Einstein said:

The season has felt “off” to me as soon as Hyde went down.

You could even say it started in the preseason with the passing of Knox's brother and the whole Araiza mess. Just negative stuff and bad vibes from the jump.

[kkim0904]

At this point, I will not be disappointed if Bills lose to Patriots then lose again in the playoff.  Emotionally it is very hard for Bills players to overcome.  Any WINS going forward, I will take it as BONUS.

[billybob71]

1 minute ago, Captain Hindsight said:

I’m really hoping to see Hamlin record a video that’s played before the game on Sunday 

that would be such an awesome thing, and i like your positive thinking my bills brother!!

[Briscoe89]

Bills fan here from Melbourne, Australia.  Followed the Bills since 1991 which is not easy to do from the other side of the planet... Don't underestimate the resiliency of professional athletes and from where they draw their motivation.  True - they are human like the rest of us are. Some, maybe all will be impacted for life by what they witnessed.   But they also walk a different path day in day out from the rest of us, and no matter what we think, know, guess at or speculate on, the drive and desire that the majority of these players draw on week in week out is something that the rest of us will never really be able to fathom nor rationalise.  Also - as a bit of a crude comparison - a few yeras ago we had a situation in our Aussie Rules league (our professional football league) where a particular clubs' coach was murdered mid week before a scheduled weekend game.  The players were given the option to play or not play that week.  They chose to play, and used the occasion to commeorate the coaches life and impact on them.  

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

I am going to remember what you all said and quote it back to you in the game day threads! 😁

[Steptide]

Assuming Hamlin keeps improving and pulls out of this, I can absolutely see the team rallying around this. There's 2 ways the rest of this season can go. They either mail it in and let this over take them, or they fight on and win the whole damn thing for Hamlin. I suspect the latter. This team is strong. While I don't know Hamlin personally (obviously) I suspect he'd want the team to fight on 

[Steve O]

1 hour ago, eball said:

There’s another thread that lists out what the community of Buffalo and the Bills have dealt with over the past year…it’s almost unbelievable the amount of tragedy, turmoil, and just plain bad luck that has befallen WNY and our favorite team — and none of it self-inflicted.

 

The Bills have to feel mentally exhausted.  They’ve had to overcome so much, and now this.

 

I’m happy with their 3rd consecutive AFC East title and big wins in big moments.  Josh is “the guy” and will  be for years to come, but the defense has been decimated by key injuries all season and when combined with the mental fatigue and trauma, I think it is just too much to overcome going forward.

 

I am proud of the team, the coaches, the fans, the community…proud to call myself a Buffalonian.

 

Go Bills.

 

Good post. I've been saying for years that you can divide life in to two categories, important stuff and unimportant stuff. As far as unimportant stuff goes, football is at the top of the list. But it is still in the unimportant stuff category. Yesterday is proof.

[MAJBobby]

I would FULLY support them if they bowed out the rest of the season and playoffs. 
 

no issue with them doing that if that became their decision. 

[dpberr]

I remember the 1989 Colorado Buffaloes college football team.  The starting quarterback, Sal Anuese, was diagnosed with an inoperable form of stomach cancer in March 1989.  There wasn't much modern medicine could do for the young man, but he showed up to games anyway.  He died in September 1989 shortly after the college football season had begun. He had attended the home game against the Illini just the week before.  

 

The team used the tragedy as a sense of motivation and purpose, to complete the entirely unexpected undefeated regular season, only losing to Notre Dame in the 1990 Orange Bowl.

 

I don't think the Buffs were as good, talent wise, as their record suggests, but they were a team on a mission.  They started beating on teams after Anuese's passing.  They beat Nebraska that year, a Cornhuskers team that had 20 players go to the NFL.

[Chugga]

At the end of the season the grieving I have is more about the loss of the team than it is the loss of the game.

 

I love “this team”.  Allen, Diggs, Oliver, Poyer, etc.

 

Whatever team we have next year won’t be this team.  We might lose Poyer, Singletary is likely gone.  Do we retain Lawson and Phillips?

 

Whatever happens I just want this team to get closure and go out giving everything they got.  No matter what happens this team played their heart out this year.

[ngbills]

I’m the opposite. Seeing the Bills play and come back from this is what I need. I don’t need to time to think and dwell. The sooner the season ends will only make things harder. We need a Super Bowl and a parade with Damar sitting on the float. 

[WEATHER DOT COM]

31 minutes ago, Steptide said:

There's 2 ways the rest of this season can go. They either mail it in and let this over take them, or they fight on and win the whole damn thing for Hamlin.

 

Not to be snide, but the most likely outcome if they play is they fight on and still lose. 

 

I am of the mindset the team will rally around Hamlin, but at the end of the day, a Super Bowl is not a given. 

[extrahammer]

I can understand that sentiment, I can, but as a fan I don't want them to go down without a fight. Maybe this all happened for a reason. But as it stands we're still the best team in the AFC, and we didn't come this far, and go through all this s*** to just lie down. 

 

But that's me. How the players process this and respond is the biggest thing, and I'll be appreciative no matter what. Respectfully. 

[Dan]

I haven’t read all this thread... so my sentiments may be misplaced or already spoken.  If so, you can sue me. 
 

But I must agree... this Bills’ season has been exhausting for fans and I’m sure it had to have been for the players... from the death of Dawson’s brother to Kim’s illness to the snow storms, injuries, and now Hamlin’s fighting for his life.  
 

I was hoping we had finally see the worst of this season and could just focus on football.  But that’s just not the case.   Parts of me just want this season over so we can all reset.  But, other parts, think of what the Bills mean to me and my family.  So i want them to find a way to play on... And continue the never ending quest for a championship that in many ways is more than just a sports championship.  When we watch the Bills play its more than a sport. I think of my mom, my sisters, my childhood dreams.  Its more.  
 

So I don’t want the season to end. But then again I never want it to end.   I support this team and the players for who they are, what they represent in my heart and in my soul.  
 

If they lose a close game in KC or forfeit the season to mourn a friend, I’ll still support them.   Winning and losing isn’t as important as the family this team inspires; its not as important as the lives it brings together.  One day we’ll have our championship... but for today; I’d be happy to have our Bills family whole again.  
 

praying that it will be

[ToGoGo]

We shall overcome. And we will win the Super Bowl. This year. 

[eball]

1 hour ago, Royale with Cheese said:

I’m feeling optimistic about Hamlin.  Its just pure gut but I’m feeling he pulls through.  

 

This tragic event I feel will bring the Bills closer and man, they’ll play their hearts out for Hamlin.

 

1 hour ago, ScottLaw said:

If anything this is what I see coming out of the unfortunate accident to Hamlin. Really can’t see this team throwing in the towel on the season… they will use it  as just more added motivation to get there IMO.

I love what you guys are saying and I’m not by any means saying or predicting the Bills will pack it in. I’m simply saying that with all they’ve been through I am at peace with the season without further expectations. 
 

[BullBuchanan]

27 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

How are they cursed? Because Hamlin suffered a freak injury playing football?

 

It super unfortunate but people think we are “cursed” because this happened along with other coaching/player failures of the past? 
 

Ridiculous.

it's not likely that people think we are cursed because of Hamlin, no. The Bills have a track record of negative highly impactful variance going back quite some time - colloquially referred to as luck. Taken together one could think that this string of events will keep occurring. It doesn't have to mean that any of it's related for it to exist.

[HOUSE]

I am losing my warped sense of humor now. 

But the mods will be happy 😊 

[Steptide]

17 minutes ago, WEATHER DOT COM said:

 

Not to be snide, but the most likely outcome if they play is they fight on and still lose. 

 

I am of the mindset the team will rally around Hamlin, but at the end of the day, a Super Bowl is not a given. 

You're right I agree. But there's still something to be said about gojng out and fighting after all that's happened. If they lose in the playoffs, are any of us really gonna be THAT mad? I mean we can't be. But we as bills fans will all come together for however far this team takes us. At the risk of sounding selfish, I think I speak for alot of bills fans when I say we need this team to push on...... This is all assuming Hamlin continues to improve 

[JohnNord]

2 hours ago, eball said:

There’s another thread that lists out what the community of Buffalo and the Bills have dealt with over the past year…it’s almost unbelievable the amount of tragedy, turmoil, and just plain bad luck that has befallen WNY and our favorite team — and none of it self-inflicted.

 

The Bills have to feel mentally exhausted.  They’ve had to overcome so much, and now this.

 

I’m happy with their 3rd consecutive AFC East title and big wins in big moments.  Josh is “the guy” and will be for years to come, but the defense has been decimated by key injuries all season and when combined with the mental fatigue and trauma, I think it is just too much to overcome going forward.

 

I am proud of the team, the coaches, the fans, the community…proud to call myself a Buffalonian.

 

Go Bills.

 

To be honest, it makes you re-evaluate  what’s really important in life.  We get so wrapped up into the Bills and worry about winning a Super Bowl, but yesterday reinforces what’s really important in life

 

[dollars 2 donuts]

2 hours ago, eball said:

There’s another thread that lists out what the community of Buffalo and the Bills have dealt with over the past year…it’s almost unbelievable the amount of tragedy, turmoil, and just plain bad luck that has befallen WNY and our favorite team — and none of it self-inflicted.

 

The Bills have to feel mentally exhausted.  They’ve had to overcome so much, and now this.

 

I’m happy with their 3rd consecutive AFC East title and big wins in big moments.  Josh is “the guy” and will be for years to come, but the defense has been decimated by key injuries all season and when combined with the mental fatigue and trauma, I think it is just too much to overcome going forward.

 

I am proud of the team, the coaches, the fans, the community…proud to call myself a Buffalonian.

 

Go Bills.

 

 

One of your best, eball.  Thank you.

 

 

[bmur66]

I wrote this and was going to delete it and probably should have but anyways here are my thoughts:

This is my team and I am with them no matter how they decide to face the remainder of this season. With that being said, these guys are football players. It’s probably all they have ever wanted to do. They have great leaders in Coach McDermott, Frazier and probably many others. They seem to be a close team and the events of this season may have brought them closer. They have Josh Allen and other incredibly talented players. Damar may come out of this OK. We can keep praying for him. Soon they will know more about his health status. The Buffalo Bills will all have to look deep into themselves and make their own decision.

Edited January 4, 2023 by bmur66