Tank the Pats game?

[The Red King]

We lose tomorrow and Cincy wins, we are the 3rd seed and face the prospect of going back to Cincy to play them there.  We win, and we'll be 2nd seed, and Cinci will have to come here instead.

 

Yeah...tomorrow is kinda important.

[Billznut]

34 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

The road to the Super Bowl is a lot tougher if it's through first Cincinnati and then KC.  A win tomorrow and we avoid both scenarios.

 

 

I think a lot of people don’t understand this. I know I didn’t realize it til just a while ago. If we lose and finish 12-4 we will finish 1.5 games behind KC and we would have to go to Arrowhead for the AFC championship game. So tomorrow is pretty important to win. We need to win to get the 2 seed and to be able to play KC on a neutral field in a possible AFC championship game. 

[Solomon Grundy]

On 1/5/2023 at 5:30 PM, KDIGGZ said:

The better solution is...Dolphins lose (very likely with 3rd string QB) and Pittsburgh wins and then we play the Steelers which is equivalent to a bye

Ummmm.... TJ Watt, Cam Heyward?? 

[DCofNC]

We want to win the 1.9 seed, so tomorrow is important, it gives you home field, but no bye.   Sucks that some garbage plays and a tragedy robbed us of a bye, but it is what it is. It’s go time now. Every game matters, bury the Pats, take on whatever comes from there.

[Airseven]

1 hour ago, CincyBillsFan said:

We are healthier now then we've been since the early part of the season.  And you're dreaming if you think Baltimore will beat Cincy tomorrow.

 

Serious question - are you a Bills fan?  I'm asking because there is nothing to gain if you rest players and we lose to NE. And I don't see us beating NE if we rest Allen and other key players.  Given what we stand to lose (a 2nd round home playoff game & a neutral site Championship game) it's insane to advocate that the Bills rest players tomorrow.

 

 

They’re healthy according to the injury report. But the injury report doesn’t include the fact Hyde and Miller are figments of the imagination.

 

Bills can rest players tomorrow…perhaps in the second half if there’s an act of god inflicted upon the Bengals.

[BillsShredder83]

Have to admit im very nervous about injury tmrw.

A. Woulda been regardless week b4 playoffs

B. Teams gunns be pumped. Stadium is going to be juiced like never before.

 

Im ready to see Josh turn into a human snowplow in the playoffs.... just not tmrw

[Motor26]

10 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Ummmm.... TJ Watt, Cam Heyward?? 

Ummm….Kenny Pickett??

[The Red King]

I count nothing as an automatic win in the playoffs.  Yes, I'd prefer to play Pitt, but I'm not about to call it an auto-win.

[Seventeen]

Any talk of the Bills tanking tomorrow's game for the #3 seed, giving up a potential home divisional game, and negating KC's home field advantage at a neutral site is unbridled insanity. 

[muppy]

ahem. AS IF  McDermott would ask his team to tank ANYTHING Especially tomorrows game.

 

It might be one of the most lame ideas I have heard in a while.  It reduces our Bills to the level of cowards. Ridiculous

 

 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

12 minutes ago, Seventeen said:

Any talk of the Bills tanking tomorrow's game for the #3 seed, giving up a potential home divisional game, and negating KC's home field advantage at a neutral site is unbridled insanity. 

And coughing up home field advantage to cincy should we play them, AND probably getting the ravens with Lamar instead of the pats/dolphins/Steelers in round 1.  Our game tomorrow is huge 

Edited January 8, 2023 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

 

No way they tank this game after what Damar just battled through. Bills by a million. Ahemmm....by 3 million.   #3

13 minutes ago, muppy said:

ahem. AS IF  McDermott would ask his team to tank ANYTHING Especially tomorrows game.

 

 

 

 I know right? What would Lamar Hamlin think?😂

 

 

 

 

[ArtVandalay]

You don't win super bowls by losing. 

[PatsFanNH]

1 hour ago, Kiva said:

Didn’t the nfl decide not finish the bengals game because of bad mojo?  You may not realize yet but this season has completely off the rails. We need to mess with the mojo to get back on track.  Mojo isn’t even real anyways, it’s a magical power.  Lol

They should have made that game a neutral site if it happened (assuming Cincy wins tomorrow) they got hosed by the NFL not considering the fact that if they won they be the 2nd seed. 

[Breakout Squad]

1 minute ago, ArtVandalay said:

You don't win super bowls by losing. 

Thanks Captain Obvious 😝😝 j/k

[Nextmanup]

The word "tank" in the context of this game is not correct.

 

Even if we rest the starters, that's not tanking.

 

 

[CaliBills]

Hahaha

 

tank?

 

this thread is just a bunch of....  weirdness lol

[transplantbillsfan]

7 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

I'm not being a jerk here.  I'm truly astounded that a Bills fan would advocate resting players tomorrow and risk falling to a three seed.  I see NO advantage to this at all.  The path to the Super Bowl as a 3 seed is much more difficult then as a 2 seed.  IMO the week of rest doesn't come close to compensating for falling to the 3rd seed.

 

 

 

 

 

Respectfully, I'd be fine if they rested players and treated it as a potential bye week to get healthy. Allen now has an injured ankle along with his elbow. Other players have injuries.

 

This game is completely insignificant in terms of the WC round.

 

And frankly, it's one game at a time at this point.

 

Don't think it'll happen, but I'd be fine if they rested their starters. And I'm also fine if they don't.

[WotAGuy]

1 hour ago, Kiva said:

 Mojo isn’t even real anyways, it’s a magical power.  Lol

Interesting take, coming from someone called “kiva”. 

[ArtVandalay]

1 hour ago, Nextmanup said:

The word "tank" in the context of this game is not correct.

 

Even if we rest the starters, that's not tanking.

 

 

Yes it is. 

[Billznut]

55 minutes ago, transplantbillsfan said:

 

Respectfully, I'd be fine if they rested players and treated it as a potential bye week to get healthy. Allen now has an injured ankle along with his elbow. Other players have injuries.

 

This game is completely insignificant in terms of the WC round.

 

And frankly, it's one game at a time at this point.

 

Don't think it'll happen, but I'd be fine if they rested their starters. And I'm also fine if they don't.

But not insignificant for the divisional round or AFC championship game. A loss tomorrow and then we head to Cincy for round 2 and KC for AFC champ. No thanks. Would much rather have two playoffs rounds at home and then AFC champ game at a neutral field. Luckily the Bills will also agree with all this and do their best to win tomorrow. 

[Best Williams Available]

The object of this game is get up big early then hopefully rest starters the 4th quarter. No McDermott-led team is not competing.

[transplantbillsfan]

28 minutes ago, Billznut said:

But not insignificant for the divisional round or AFC championship game. A loss tomorrow and then we head to Cincy for round 2 and KC for AFC champ. No thanks. Would much rather have two playoffs rounds at home and then AFC champ game at a neutral field. Luckily the Bills will also agree with all this and do their best to win tomorrow. 

 

You're assuming Cincy wins one game and KC wins 2 games.

 

It's the playoffs, which means win or go home.

 

The last few days everyone has been assuming who wins each game. Seems naive to me.

 

Set yourself up in the best position to win each game you're assured to play. Right now, that's the WC round. That's it.

[Warriorspikes51]

Losing to NE will mean a Divisional game would be @CIN  no thanks

[HerdMentality]

Tank for Wembanyama!

[Billznut]

4 minutes ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Losing to NE will mean a Divisional game would be @CIN  no thanks

And a AFC championship game at Arrowhead. Double no thanks. 

[Playoffs?]

5 hours ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

Losing to NE will mean a Divisional game would be @CIN  no thanks

Unless Cincy also loses today. 
But regardless, a loss would mean the AFC Championship would be at Arrowhead..

[machine gun kelly]

On 1/5/2023 at 4:52 PM, TheBrownBear said:

I said the same in the Pats pregame thread.  Bills should absolutely rest their starters on Sunday if KC wins.  They have zero incentive to go all out and risk injuries to their most key players.  

We’ve demonstrated in the past we’ve been able to beat other teams with a portion of second stringers against their starters.  If it were up to me, most of the guys who are banged up, but can play should play a series to a half, and then punt.

 

We need all starters as healthy as possible wildcard weekend, but also not rusty.  Playing one half would accomplish it.

[Doc Brown]

Home against the Bengals and a neutral site game against the Chiefs is too appealing not to go all out in this game.  I don't want them to have to go back to the scene of the Hamlin injury and I don't want the playoff mystique of Arrowhead in their heads if they were to make it to the AFC Championship game.  Hoping for a Fins loss too.

[muppy]

oh my goodness. Firstly if you think that our buffalo bills are going to do Anything besides run through walls for damar hamlin in this game I think you would be wrong

 

Im reading rest the starters and I think it sounds Logical. But Realistic? NOPE. This team will do nothing less than play balls out for #3 today.

 

. If only emotion Guaranteed a Dub then we could already slot today a WIN. You KNOW they will be fired UP to plqy. Let Them Play! They want to do it for #3

 

I would rather not see the Bills enter the playoffs with a "rest day"  This team wants to get to WORK

 

Rest the starters if it turns into a blowout? Absolutely.

 

GO BILLS!~!~!~!!!!!!

[BillsFanSD]

I wouldn't even consider resting starters.  First of all, we want every seeding advantage we can get -- there's not much separating us from KC or CIN.  Second, it has to be good for the team to get out there and play a normal week of football.  If they're going to be flat and out of it, better to get it out of the way today than next week.  Resting starters amounts to very weird and disjointed back-to-back soft byes, and teams often seem to struggle to snap out of those.

[CincyBillsFan]

12 hours ago, transplantbillsfan said:

 

Respectfully, I'd be fine if they rested players and treated it as a potential bye week to get healthy. Allen now has an injured ankle along with his elbow. Other players have injuries.

 

This game is completely insignificant in terms of the WC round.

 

And frankly, it's one game at a time at this point.

 

Don't think it'll happen, but I'd be fine if they rested their starters. And I'm also fine if they don't.

We'll have to agree to disagree. On a practical level it is one game at a time and if the Bills forget that they will be out of the playoffs regardless of the seedings.  But on a strategic level the path to the SB is much harder as a #3 seed then as a #2 seed.

 

As for resting players we don't know that one week would be enough.  There are no guarantees that Allen's ankle, which didn't prevent him from practicing, would measurably improve in a week.  Ditto for any other players nagging injures.  What we do know for a fact is that if we win today we will get two home playoff games and a neutral site Championship game.

 

 

2 hours ago, muppy said:

oh my goodness. Firstly if you think that our buffalo bills are going to do Anything besides run through walls for damar hamlin in this game I think you would be wrong

 

Im reading rest the starters and I think it sounds Logical. But Realistic? NOPE. This team will do nothing less than play balls out for #3 today.

 

. If only emotion Guaranteed a Dub then we could already slot today a WIN. You KNOW they will be fired UP to plqy. Let Them Play! They want to do it for #3

 

I would rather not see the Bills enter the playoffs with a "rest day"  This team wants to get to WORK

 

Rest the starters if it turns into a blowout? Absolutely.

 

GO BILLS!~!~!~!!!!!!

I don't think it's even logical considering that resting our starters would likley lead directly to our dropping from the 2nd seed to the 3rd seed.

 

 

[Thurman#1]

14 hours ago, ArtVandalay said:

You don't win super bowls by losing. 

 

 

Nonsense.

 

Of course you do, in the right situation.

 

This isn't the right situation, of course. We've got a lot to play for.

 

But plenty of teams have given up on the last game and won Super Bowls. Most recently the 2014 Pats who lost to us 17-9 with Garoppolo replacing Brady at halftime. Plenty of other examples as well.

[Low Positive]

The Ravens are tanking today. If by some chance we lose and fall to the 3 we would host then next week while the Pats would go to Cincinnati. But then the road to the SB would probably go through Paycor and Arrowhead. I say just win the game and play the Fins next week.