Bengals @ Bills - Post Game Thread - January 22, 2023 - NFL Divisional Round Playoffs

[Big Turk]

Just now, Punch said:

This was an utterly exhausting season for the Bills even if you only factor in the constant decimating injuries. All the snow plus Damar and the Tops shooting—— it had to be emotionally draining. 
 

I don’t want to make excuses but no other team has had anywhere near as many issues.

 

I'd go so far as to say likely no other team in history has 

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

2 minutes ago, Maine-iac said:

Give me Miller, the Tre White we drafted, and Hyde back and I'd love to see this game run back.  The teams that were on the field today I'd give it to the Bengals 9 out of 10 times.

The Tre white we drafted is not coming back. The guy lost a step and a half and none of these guys are getting any younger. I’d be good with running it back with Hyde and Poyer for 2 more but it seems like Poyer is all but gone. We need an influx of youthful talent and an aggressive mindset change on defense. 

[boater]

57 minutes ago, Punch said:

This is a huge disappointment and the sting is worse than it’ll be for most of the other 31 teams that don’t win. I don’t know how anyone can look at this any differently.

I can empathize with why you feel that way, and I guess unwarranted sky high preseason expectations only amplify your pain.

 

For me, it's different. The pain tonight is not much different from the pain I felt when the Bills ended the season 8-8 and just missed the playoffs by one more victory (story of the drought). Dashed dreams when you were so close just suck.

 

I suspect the pain felt by Jacksonville and Giants fans is about the same we're experiencing.

 

I imagine Jets and Pats are in just as much pain for just missing the playoffs by an iota.

 

And I know Dolphins fans are mourning their loss to the Bills.

 

Losing is like "wind chill forecasts"  ..it doesn't matter the magnitude, it just sucks no matter which way you experience it.

 

My thesis anyway.

 

 

[starrymessenger]

2 minutes ago, FrenchConnection said:

We gotta drop the culture BS. We need some bad dudes to play a team like the Bengals. They have actual criminals and we have milk drinkers.

Well you saw what the Ravens D did to the Bengals. But for no QB and a fluke play with a 14 point spread they basically beat them. 

[thenorthremembers]

11 minutes ago, Steptide said:

I was thinking about the Tampa game last year where the bills were getting absolutely annihilated the first half. They came back to tie and go to overtime(down 27 points I think) . I never felt the bills were gonna come back after they went down 14-0 today. They were just so lack luster and no fire 

I felt the same.   It highlights a big problem around the way the Bills are built, they cant overwhelm anyone physically.  Neither line can control the line of scrimmage.  The momentum has to come solely from 17 and that was off the table today.    They have a lot of work to do going forward.  

[Low Positive]

Just now, starrymessenger said:

Well you saw what the Ravens D did to the Bengals. But for no QB and a fluke play with a 14 point spread they basically beat them. 

The Ravens play with an edge that we don't. You have to play with violence to win in this game. Joe Mixon is an actual violent criminal, and he brought that violence to a football game today and ran all over our nice guys. You can have a team of good guys or you can win. I want to win.

[UKBillFan]

1 minute ago, SoMAn said:

That’s what it looked like- Like they were mentally spent. I don’t doubt that all the physical and emotional  obstacles they’ve endured throughout the season finally caught up with them. It didn’t help that the play calling was pedestrian. 
I think they were simply due for a ‘let-down’ game and this was it. 
in some way, I’d rather it happen now than in the Super Bowl. They would have been saddled with that Bills losing super bowls stigma going forward, making it harder to get there again. 

Under McDermott, the Bills seem to be blown out at least once a year. There were a few in 2017 (Saints, Chargers, Pats x2); I’m actually not going to bother listing the number in 2018; in 2019 it was a 31-19 loss to the Eagles; in 2020 a 42-16 loss to the Titans and, in 2021, a 41-15 defeat to the Colts. 
 

For some reason, under McDermott, there is at least a game day each year where the Bills simply do not show up. Unfortunately, for this year, today was it.

[Georgia Bill]

After the 13 seconds debacle I think the feeling was we were a Von Miller away from getting where we needed to be against the teams with the best QB's (Mahomes, Burrow).   I don't know if we can definitively say that wasn't true.  We won't know because we lost him, then all the other series of unfortunate events to deal with happened.  Put Von Miller back, erase all the misfortune and maybe, just maybe things turn out differently - including capturing the bye.  We won't ever know.  But it creates a serious quandry into considering where to go from here.  Maybe we really aren't as far away as most are thinking based upon this one lackluster performance.

[Punch]

2 minutes ago, boater said:

I can empathize with why you feel that way, and I guess unwarranted sky high preseason expectations only amplify your pain.

 

For me, it's different. The pain tonight is not much different from the pain I felt when the Bills ended the season 8-8 and just missed the playoffs by one more victory (story of the drought). Dashed dreams when you were so close just suck.

 

I suspect the pain felt by Jacksonville and Giants fans is about the same we're experiencing.

 

I imagine Jets and Pats are in just as much pain for just missing the playoffs by an iota.

 

And I know Dolphins fans are mourning their loss to the Bills.

 

Losing is like "wind chill forecasts"  ..it doesn't matter the magnitude, it just sucks no matter which way you experience it.

 

My thesis anyway.

 

 

I shouldn’t say “I don’t know how anyone can feel differently” because I understand exactly what you’re saying. Ultimately, it’s true. This just feels particularly brutal.

[Locomark]

I am always cautious of the mad emotional extremism that occurs at the end of the last game which we are all guilty of. One conclusion I do think I will stick with is the Bills looked exhausted. I feel this year the ending was partially due to being too emotionally and physically drained from the events of the year and it was just their time to bow out today. It mattered as much as talent. 

[thenorthremembers]

1 minute ago, Georgia Bill said:

After the 13 seconds debacle I think the feeling was we were a Von Miller away from getting where we needed to be against the teams with the best QB's (Mahomes, Burrow).   I don't know if we can definitively say that wasn't true.  We won't know because we lost him, then all the other series of unfortunate events to deal with happened.  Put Von Miller back, erase all the misfortune and maybe, just maybe things turn out differently - including capturing the bye.  We won't ever know.  But it creates a serious quandry into considering where to go from here.  Maybe we really aren't as far away as most are thinking based upon this one lackluster performance.

They are more than just a Von Miller away on the defensive line alone.    They cant get pressure up the middle, and they cant get pressure off the edge without him.  

[Punch]

7 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

I'd go so far as to say likely no other team in history has 

To be perfectly honest, I’m emotionally drained from this season as a fan. A Bills season has never felt more like a slog and I remember Hank Bullough.

[Simon]

9 minutes ago, Maine-iac said:

Give me Miller, the Tre White we drafted, and Hyde back and I'd love to see this game run back.  The teams that were on the field today I'd give it to the Bengals 9 out of 10 times.

 

Not to mention DaQuan Jones, a Poyer who's in one piece and a healthy Jordan Phillips

[starrymessenger]

1 minute ago, Simon said:

 

Not to mention DaQuan Jones, a Poyer who's in one piece and a healthy Jordan Phillips

Cincinnati had to replace 3 starters on the O-line and a fourth was hobbled. 

[Big Turk]

1 minute ago, Punch said:

To be perfectly honest, I’m emotionally drained from this season as a fan. A Bills season has never felt more like a slog and I remember Hank Bullough.

 

It's funny because I just said that exact same thing in a text to one of my buddies...

 

And if I feel like this I can't imagine what they must have felt like with the weight of all of WNY on them on top of it.

 

 

[CSBill]

11 rushing attempts today 

[The Firebaugh Kid]

The lack of physicality on the oline and dline just jumped off the screen. They got their asses whipped. And didn’t seem all that upset about it. 

[Marcus Aurelius]

2 minutes ago, Punch said:

To be perfectly honest, I’m emotionally drained from this season as a fan. A Bills season has never felt more like a slog and I remember Hank Bullough.

I agree totally.

I think another word fits here also, the BILLS were a disjointed mess going down the stretch.

[Georgia Bill]

2 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

They are more than just a Von Miller away on the defensive line alone.    They cant get pressure up the middle, and they cant get pressure off the edge without him.  

I know we are more than a Von Miller away, but some are acting like we need to fire all the coaches and blow the team up.  With all our players healthy and Von and Hyde playing, this might have been a lot closer, maybe a win.   I just don't think we need to blow up the team.  More bruising power in the middle of the line, that can collapse the pocket?  Yes - we need that too.  

[78thealltimegreat]

15 minutes ago, ngbills said:

Much harder. Allen contract. Jac and Lac only getting better. 

Nah Allen is only 43 mill which when you see what Herbert, Burrow, and Jackson will be a bargain  

[newcam2012]

33 minutes ago, BillzFreak said:

It's Frasiers mindset and it's bad. He plays his defense scared. We don't throw anything exotic out there for a team to even consider a problem. We can have the best defense in the league for all we know but he plays so timid it's frustrating. So scared to get beat deep he rather let Burrow take all the easy throws which he can make 99% of the time instead of trying different looks to at least make him put a ball over the top which is harder to do in the weather we had today. 

The Bills game plan was baffling. What were they thinking? Fraizer had a 2 series sample of their offense shredding them. Seems like they made zero adjustments. Maybe someone can give some insight?

[muppy]

29 minutes ago, frostbitmic said:

I'm guessing this game takes Dorsey and Frazier off of teams HC want lists.

exhale yep. ****** both ways

[Boatdrinks]

8 minutes ago, FrenchConnection said:

The Ravens play with an edge that we don't. You have to play with violence to win in this game. Joe Mixon is an actual violent criminal, and he brought that violence to a football game today and ran all over our nice guys. You can have a team of good guys or you can win. I want to win.

Playing the game with a physical edge doesn’t require signing / drafting criminals or scum bags , sorry but no thanks. 

[Coffeesforclosers]

1 hour ago, stevestojan said:

Honest question: deep down, most of us knew this wasn’t the SB year, right?. Sure, we won 8 in a row, but it just never felt like last year. Maybe it’s why I’m not upset right now, but I 100% didn’t expect to make it to the SB this year. Hopefully it’s that and not just finally apathy. 

 

Agreed.  There was no way we could content in the post-season, as mediocre as we were in the trenches on offense, and as inconsistent as were in the trenches on defense without Von.  It would have been one hell of a fluke.

 

O-line personel need a shake up. Kromer needs a kick in the ass and Saffold needs to pay back the wages he stole and get the ***** out of town.   Dline coaching needs to improve too, up to and including giving Washington his pink slip.

 

We've got 21 UFA and the D needs new ideas and new schemes.  Frazier has the perfect defense for carving up the field in the regular season, but come the playoffs we fall on our faces.  We need a new DC who doesn't rely so heavily on disguising zone coverages, and can develop some creative blitzes.  Beat people up, the post-season isn't officiated the same way as the regular season.

[starrymessenger]

1 minute ago, The Firebaugh Kid said:

The lack of physicality on the oline and dline just jumped off the screen. They got their asses whipped. And didn’t seem all that upset about it. 

Choirboys at Sunday school. Look, McD is a good man and has forgotten more about football than I will ever know. 
Now just get rid of him and his assistants if there is better out there.

[Punch]

2 minutes ago, Marcus Aurelius said:

I agree totally.

I think another word fits here also, the BILLS were a disjointed mess going down the stretch.

They were often confounding and everything seemed like a supreme struggle. Maybe it’s a testament to how talented they are that they performed so out of joint yet continued to win.

[starrymessenger]

2 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

The Bills game plan was baffling. What were they thinking? Fraizer had a 2 series sample of their offense shredding them. Seems like they made zero adjustments. Maybe someone can give some insight?

There have been no adjustments all year. And since the bye they haven't fooled anyone.

[Big Turk]

3 minutes ago, Georgia Bill said:

I know we are more than a Von Miller away, but some are acting like we need to fire all the coaches and blow the team up.  With all our players healthy and Von and Hyde playing, this might have been a lot closer, maybe a win.   I just don't think we need to blow up the team.  More bruising power in the middle of the line, that can collapse the pocket?  Yes - we need that too.  

 

But it's unrealistic to think ANY team is going to have all it's players healthy during a season let alone the postseason.

 

 

[IronyAbounds]

Had to record the game, but I'm glad I didn't waste a full three hours watching that crap. Bills' window of opportunity was last year. Don't see a Super Bowl anytime soon.

21 minutes ago, Governor said:

They’re a lot better than us across the board. Fans have to let go of these love affairs they made with these players. They aren’t very good.

As good as Allen is, he isn't as good as Burrow or Mahomes, and that isn't going to change anytime in the next several years. Biggest factor though is OL and next the DL. Without a better OL the team will never scale the mountain.

[Billschinatown]

2 minutes ago, IronyAbounds said:

Had to record the game, but I'm glad I didn't waste a full three hours watching that crap. Bills' window of opportunity was last year. Don't see a Super Bowl anytime soon.

Don’t watch it lol

[Boatdrinks]

1 minute ago, Big Turk said:

 

But it's unrealistic to think ANY team is going to have all it's players healthy during a season let alone the postseason.

 

 

Yep, injuries are a losers lament. It’s on the coaches to work with what they have and make it work. The Bills failed at this in a huge way today. This was by far the worst performance the Bills had all year . Awful when a team that was such a favorite to start the year doesn’t even show up for a home playoff game. 

[Perk71]

So where are they slated in this year's draft?

 

Go Bills!!

[IronyAbounds]

2 minutes ago, Billschinatown said:

Don’t watch it lol

Unfortunately I did, but only wasted an hour instead of an entire afternoon. Really is inexcusable for the Bills at home to never be competitive in the game. They were completely flat.

[Coach Tuesday]

Allen has to spend the whole offseason thinking about becoming a grownup.  Burrow showed that a QB has to manipulate the defense with his eyes and his brain.  Allen has spent too much of the year trying to break the opposing defense with “brute force.”  It doesn’t work and it’s going to get him killed.  

[thenorthremembers]

13 minutes ago, Georgia Bill said:

I know we are more than a Von Miller away, but some are acting like we need to fire all the coaches and blow the team up.  With all our players healthy and Von and Hyde playing, this might have been a lot closer, maybe a win.   I just don't think we need to blow up the team.  More bruising power in the middle of the line, that can collapse the pocket?  Yes - we need that too.  

I disagree with anyone saying we need to fire the coaches.   They do need to fix the lines on both sides of the ball.  But more than anything they need to figure out how to outscore everyone, because defense is just to finicky to count on.    I am fine with them not resigning Poyer, and Edmunds.  I am fine with them moving on from Ed Oliver.  As long as that means a better Oline and Deandre Hopkins.

[78thealltimegreat]

8 minutes ago, IronyAbounds said:

Had to record the game, but I'm glad I didn't waste a full three hours watching that crap. Bills' window of opportunity was last year. Don't see a Super Bowl anytime soon.

As good as Allen is, he isn't as good as Burrow or Mahomes, and that isn't going to change anytime in the next several years. Biggest factor though is OL and next the DL. Without a better OL the team will never scale the mountain.

Allen has been responsible for over 180 touchdowns. He’s every bit as good as those two. The resources those two other franchises allocate to the offense is far superior to what the bills do 

[Mango]

2 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Allen has to spend the whole offseason thinking about becoming a grownup.  Burrow showed that a QB has to manipulate the defense with his eyes and his brain.  Allen has spent too much of the year trying to break the opposing defense with “brute force.”  It doesn’t work and it’s going to get him killed.  

Josh has had issues with zone all year. He’s near the bottom of the league.
 

I thought he had some weird responses post game. Granted a tough loss and a lot of emotions. But he couldn’t give one example of one thing they struggled with when asked a couple of times. I thought it was odd.

 

Your brute force analogy makes sense.

Allen was Lamar’ed a bit last week. He’ll have to get better with his eyes and reads going forward. 

[Nextmanup]

3 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Allen has to spend the whole offseason thinking about becoming a grownup.  Burrow showed that a QB has to manipulate the defense with his eyes and his brain.  Allen has spent too much of the year trying to break the opposing defense with “brute force.”  It doesn’t work and it’s going to get him killed.  

It may get him killed, but Josh's running is a HUGE part of what makes Josh, Josh.

 

It's not that way at all with Burrow.

 

If Josh gets hurt running, so be it.  He should be doing it routinely, it's a part of his value to the team.

 

One of many flaws in this game today is that he didn't run nearly enough.

 

 

 

[BIGFOOTspaceman]

Not for nothing but didn’t we go through this same wish list last year?  Fire Frazier, fire McD, OLine etc?  What did McBeane and Co. do?  Signed Roger Saffold. 
 

Great work front office. 🤮 

[Dan in Owego]

1 minute ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Allen has to spend the whole offseason thinking about becoming a grownup.  Burrow showed that a QB has to manipulate the defense with his eyes and his brain.  Allen has spent too much of the year trying to break the opposing defense with “brute force.”  It doesn’t work and it’s going to get him killed.  

True Josh needs to improve everybody always needs to, but please don't confuse their situations swap them out for each other and I'm betting on about the same results. This loss was on the whole Bills philosophy and it needs to change. When a DK Metcalf is there take him Creed Humphrey the same accentuate your strength's mask your weaknesses