Post-game thoughts after a disappointing loss

[Logic]

I'm just gonna get my thoughts out about this painful loss before I take some time away from this forum. It takes me a while to get over season ending losses, so I'm gonna take a break for a bit, and I'll be back for free agency and draft season. Until then...

Right now, I'm not angry, I'm just really disappointed. What a painful way for this season to end. After a season in which the Bills only ever really beat themselves and lost just three games by a combined eight points, the Bills picked a hell of a time to get thoroughly dominated on both sides of the ball. This loss is so disappointing, so painful, exactly for that reason: because the Bills were just thoroughly and absolutely dominated. This game was never really close. The Bills never really had a chance. With as talented a team as they are -- that was a really painful and deflating way for the season to end.

As Brandon Beane is fond of saying, playoff losses show you where you're NOT as a football team. They show you where you're lacking. Well, what did today's loss show us?

 

To start with, this was a total team loss. No one unit or coach or player is solely to blame. From the front office, to the coaching staff, to the players, everyone shares the blame for this loss. 

If you want to understand the main reason the Bills lost the game, just look at the battles in the trenches. The Bills were outclassed convincingly on both the offensive and defensive lines. This is a failure of the front office -- Yes, of Brandon Beane, who we all love. So much draft capital and money spent on the defensive line, and they couldn't even SNIFF Burrow today. Yes, Jones and Miller were out, but that's no excuse. The Bills still boasted multiple 1st round players on the d-line. Couldn't stop the run, couldn't pressure the passer. Absolute domination. The front office also deserves blame for the mediocre-at-best offensive line they trotted out there this season, which was soundly beaten multiple times by Cincinnati defensive linemen. Brandon Beane needs to take a long hard look this offseason at the offensive line and yes, somehow, again, at the defensive line.

Next up we have the coaches. It is hard to conclude anything other than this: The Bills offensive and defensive coaching staffs were BOTH outcoached today. The offense lacked creativity, rhythm, reason. The defense -- which, yes, was without some key players -- looked absolutely toothless. When you boast defensive minds like Sean McDermott and Leslie Frazier, getting out-schemed and beaten as badly as they were today by the Cincy offense simply should never happen -- injured players or not. Today saw total failures of coaching on both sides of the ball.

Lastly, the players deserve blame. For as much as I can say about the personnel and the coaching, at the end of the day, it's up to the players to make the plays. The offensive linemen got whipped all day. The defensive linemen got driven off the ball all day. The corners and linebackers had multiple coverage mixups. The receivers dropped passes. The quarterback missed open receivers or went big play hunting at inopportune times -- again. 

The bottom line is this: Despite a season with many highs and many great moments and a 13-3 record, all of the Bills' season-long deficiencies caught up with them today. The sky is not falling, and the Bills are likely to be playoff and title contenders for years to come. But unless they want to exist a Groundhog's Day of painful yearly playoff exits, they're going to have to take a long, hard look in the mirror, and figure out a way to fix the multiple things that ail them. 

Personnel, coaching, execution in big moments, all of it needs to be better. It was a hell of a season, and I'm proud of the Bills for weathering an insane amount of adversity to make it to the Divisional round of the playoffs. But that's not enough for me, and I know it's not enough for the players and coaches either. It's up to them to figure out how to make sure it doesn't happen again in 2023.

[Coach Tuesday]

Oh so now it’s ok to be critical of the team @Logic?

[oldmanfan]

An old fashioned ass kicking plain and simple.  Out muscled, outcoached, out everythinged.

[Big Turk]

I just think they were spent. They looked spent. They looked flat and they looked like the tank was on E. 

 

People may say otherwise but based on the accumulation of things week after week to overcome, at some point you just have nothing left to give.

 

I can't be mad at them. They went thru so much this year, probably more than any team in history when you look at everything combined.

 

Hamlin is OK, that's good enough for me. 

 

They need to sort things out, figure out what they are going to do and come up with ways to overcome their shortcomings which look far bigger than they did at the start of the season right now.

[BillsFanSD]

Couldn't agree more.  Very nice write-up.

 

My only caveat would be that this seemed to be "one of those days" in terms of it being a total team breakdown.  And the Bengals are a very good team.  Let's hold off drawing sweeping conclusions from this one game in particular.  But man, we've had issues with both lines all season . . . 

[Buckets]

ARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!

 

 

I'm better now.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Buckets
Ad I'm better now

[No_Matter_What]

We had a hard look in the mirror last year and brought Von Miller. Unfortunately for us, he wasn't here when it mattered.

 

I know I am in a minority here but I wouldn't draw any significant conclusions from this loss. Our season was extremely derailed by the first Cincy game, we haven't recovered from that and it showed today. There were other things also but this one was the most important imo.

[Logic]

2 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Oh so now it’s ok to be critical of the team @Logic?

It's ALWAYS okay to be critical of the team.

What I usually find undesirable to read or interact with are the "everything is exclusively awful all the time" pessimists, who are just as upset after Bills WINS as we all are right now.

I'm an eternal optimist. If I clash with anyone on these forums, it's usually the eternal pessimists.

At the end of the day, feel however you want. This is America and I'm not your dad.

[RiotAct]

we’re never winning a Super Bowl.  That’s a given at this point.  This was our year, and we blew it.

 

 

We are Charlie Brown incarnate!!!!

[Coach Tuesday]

2 minutes ago, Logic said:

It's ALWAYS okay to be critical of the team.

What I usually find undesirable to read or interact with are the "everything is exclusively awful all the time" pessimists, who are just as upset after Bills WINS as we all are right now.

I'm an eternal optimist. If I clash with anyone on these forums, it's usually the eternal pessimists.

At the end of the day, feel however you want. This is America and I'm not your dad.

Nope you’re not my dad but missing from your accountability list is yourself, one of several folks here who shouts down anyone who points out a flaw until YOU are ready to have an honest conversation.  It’s exhausting.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Coach Tuesday

[stevestojan]

Anyone else strangely calm after this? Maybe I’m getting used to it or maybe I just never saw a path to beat the Bengals. 
 

But I’m over it already. I do think changes need to be made at the very highest levels, but I’m not going to let this ruin my day. 
 

Maybe next year. 

[dhgold]

+1 for all the negative things OP said -- Bengals kicked Bills collective asses, particularly in the trenches and coaching staffs.

 

What a pile of crap.

[DuckyBoys]

Manhandled once again  Watching the small defense once again get punished in the big game.  This offseason you got to get bigger and more physical on both the O line and D line  Also how has McDermott not fixed the tackling  Its been steadily getting worse

[MAJBobby]

So glad they got run out of the stadium if they were losing. Exposes how bad the construction of this team is. Need a real OL, Real WR2  protect Josh and Give Josh weapons. We have the worst Weapons group in the playoffs this year and one of the worst OLs. Stop spending All you premier assets in Defense. They are irrelevant in the Modern NFL when facing a top end Offense.

[Coach Tuesday]

Just now, stevestojan said:

Anyone else strangely calm after this? Maybe I’m getting used to it or maybe I just never saw a path to beat the Bengals. 
 

But I’m over it already. I do think changes need to be made at the very highest levels, but I’m not going to let this ruin my day. 
 

Maybe next year. 

I’m sorry I won’t get to watch Josh for nine months.  And I feel bad for him because his organization hung him out to dry this year.  But today wasn’t really a surprise.

[muppy]

7 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

An old fashioned ass kicking plain and simple.  Out muscled, outcoached, out everythinged.

we a a fanbase need to acknowlege as TRUTH what you wrote. PUNTO.

[SectionC3]

6 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

I just think they were spent. They looked spent. They looked flat and they looked like the tank was on E. 

 

People may say otherwise but based on the accumulation of things week after week to overcome, at some point you just have nothing left to give.

 

I can't be mad at them. They went thru so much this year, probably more than any team in history when you look at everything combined.

 

Hamlin is OK, that's good enough for me. 

 

They need to sort things out, figure out what they are going to do and come up with ways to overcome their shortcomings which look far bigger than they did at the start of the season right now.

Agreed.   Standing in the stadium today I felt they were gassed.  Everything seemed forced.  They gave everything they had this year in the face of a mass shooting, Matt Araiza, weather, injury, asinine travel, more bad weather, and a near death experience on the field.  Not to mention the offense was a patchwork mess with the new coordinator.   On to next year.  

[FireChans]

5 minutes ago, Logic said:

It's ALWAYS okay to be critical of the team.

What I usually find undesirable to read or interact with are the "everything is exclusively awful all the time" pessimists, who are just as upset after Bills WINS as we all are right now.

I'm an eternal optimist. If I clash with anyone on these forums, it's usually the eternal pessimists.

At the end of the day, feel however you want. This is America and I'm not your dad.

 

2 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Nope you’re not my dad but missing from your accountability list is yourself, one of several folks here who shouts down anyone who points out a flaw until YOU are ready to have an honest conversation.  It’s exhausting.

Preach!

 

The Bills had 3 "team wins" on the year, all in September. Rams, Steelers, Titans.

 

Other than that, they couldn't put together 4 good Q's of executing in all 3 phases ALL YEAR.

 

This ass-kicking was chickens coming home to roost.

[BillsFanSD]

2 minutes ago, stevestojan said:

Anyone else strangely calm after this? Maybe I’m getting used to it or maybe I just never saw a path to beat the Bengals. 
 

But I’m over it already. I do think changes need to be made at the very highest levels, but I’m not going to let this ruin my day. 
 

Maybe next year. 

Same.  Sadly, this game was never really in doubt, which makes it a lot easier to swallow.

[PatsFanNH]

6 minutes ago, Logic said:

I'm just gonna get my thoughts out about this painful loss before I take some time away from this forum. It takes me a while to get over season ending losses, so I'm gonna take a break for a bit, and I'll be back for free agency and draft season. Until then...

Right now, I'm not angry, I'm just really disappointed. What a painful way for this season to end. After a season in which the Bills only ever really beat themselves and lost just three games by a combined eight points, the Bills picked a hell of a time to get thoroughly dominated on both sides of the ball. This loss is so disappointing, so painful, exactly for that reason: because the Bills were just thoroughly and absolutely dominated. This game was never really close. The Bills never really had a chance. With as talented a team as they are -- that was a really painful and deflating way for the season to end.

As Brandon Beane is fond of saying, playoff losses show you where you're NOT as a football team. They show you where you're lacking. Well, what did today's loss show us?

 

To start with, this was a total team loss. No one unit or coach or player is solely to blame. From the front office, to the coaching staff, to the players, everyone shares the blame for this loss. 

If you want to understand the main reason the Bills lost the game, just look at the battles in the trenches. The Bills were outclassed convincingly on both the offensive and defensive lines. This is a failure of the front office -- Yes, of Brandon Beane, who we all love. So much draft capital and money spent on the defensive line, and they couldn't even SNIFF Burrow today. Yes, Jones and Miller were out, but that's no excuse. The Bills still boasted multiple 1st round players on the d-line. Couldn't stop the run, couldn't pressure the passer. Absolute domination. The front office also deserves blame for the mediocre-at-best offensive line they trotted out there this season, which was soundly beaten multiple times by Cincinnati defensive linemen. Brandon Beane needs to take a long hard look this offseason at the offensive line and yes, somehow, again, at the defensive line.

Next up we have the coaches. It is hard to conclude anything other than this: The Bills offensive and defensive coaching staffs were BOTH outcoached today. The offense lacked creativity, rhythm, reason. The defense -- which, yes, was without some key players -- looked absolutely toothless. When you boast defensive minds like Sean McDermott and Leslie Frazier, getting out-schemed and beaten as badly as they were today by the Cincy offense simply should never happen -- injured players or not. Today saw total failures of coaching on both sides of the ball.

Lastly, the players deserve blame. For as much as I can say about the personnel and the coaching, at the end of the day, it's up to the players to make the plays. The offensive linemen got whipped all day. The defensive linemen got driven off the ball all day. The corners and linebackers had multiple coverage mixups. The receivers dropped passes. The quarterback missed open receivers or went big play hunting at inopportune times -- again. 

The bottom line is this: Despite a season with many highs and many great moments and a 13-3 record, all of the Bills' season-long deficiencies caught up with them today. The sky is not falling, and the Bills are likely to be playoff and title contenders for years to come. But unless they want to exist a Groundhog's Day of painful yearly playoff exits, they're going to have to take a long, hard look in the mirror, and figure out a way to fix the multiple things that ail them. 

Personnel, coaching, execution in big moments, all of it needs to be better. It was a hell of a season, and I'm proud of the Bills for weathering an insane amount of adversity to make it to the Divisional round of the playoffs. But that's not enough for me, and I know it's not enough for the players and coaches either. It's up to them to figure out how to make sure it doesn't happen again in 2023.

The Bills were missing 2 starters on their D line while Cincy was down 3 starters on the O line.  That should have been advantage Bills. 
 

10 Runs for the entire game, in a very snowy game is beyond mind blowing. 
 

That said the last 3 games the Bills seem to me to be out of steam. They could have lost all 3 and the Pats and are not that good period this year and the Phins without Tua been toothless.. My point? It seems after the terrible injury the Bills never fully regrouped as a team and just seemed emotionally and physically drained. 

[Goin Breakdown]

I was at this game. Sitting here getting ready to drive away. They looked flat. No passion on either side of the ball. Cinci had open guys almost every play. This offense today was something we haven't seen a full game of. Yes half of a game or a few drives but this was a whole game of just bad offense.  

[Alphadawg7]

I told you all year…we do NOT have any kind of advantage in bad weather games, it’s all make believe.  Also said both Mahomes and Burrow were fully capable of playing well in bad weather.  
 

Everyone argued.  But here it is once again…soft finesse football on both sides of the ball.  
 

I don’t ever want to hear we have some sort of advantage in bad weather, it’s a myth.  

[LeGOATski]

Is this like the post game thread, but for longer winded people?

[SectionC3]

1 minute ago, Coach Tuesday said:

I’m sorry I won’t get to watch Josh for nine months.  And I feel bad for him because his organization hung him out to dry this year.  But today wasn’t really a surprise.

A wasted year for Allen.  I feel the same way.   Here’s an off-season idea: trade Gabe Davis (to the giants?) and start over at WR behind Diggs. 

7 minutes ago, RiotAct said:

we’re never winning a Super Bowl.  That’s a given at this point.  This was our year, and we blew it.

 

 

We are Charlie Brown incarnate!!!!

Keep on hitting that rock and it breaks eventually.  We will never win S with any other attitude. 

[Logic]

6 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Nope you’re not my dad but missing from your accountability list is yourself, one of several folks here who shouts down anyone who points out a flaw until YOU are ready to have an honest conversation.  It’s exhausting.

Okay. I really don't care to argue with you.

What is it you want me to say, exactly?

"I was wrong to be optimistic, from now on I'll be a pessimist"?

Do you simply want me to say "you were right"? Would that make you feel better?

The "Beane stinks and the sky is falling" crowd shouts down the optimists just as loudly as the other way around, and are just as exhausting.

I really don't have the energy to argue with you. You win. I'm the worst. Happy?
 

[LeGOATski]

1 minute ago, Alphadawg7 said:

I told you all year…we do NOT have any kind of advantage in bad weather games, it’s all make believe.  Also said both Mahomes and Burrow were fully capable of playing well in bad weather.  
 

Everyone argued.  But here it is once again…soft finesse football on both sides of the ball.  
 

I don’t ever want to hear we have some sort of advantage in bad weather, it’s a myth.  

Against some teams you do and others you don't. That's always been the truth.

[strive_for_five_guy]

We really missed the Punt God today….lol j/k, had to throw that one in here though…

[Logic]

5 minutes ago, LeGOATski said:

Is this like the post game thread, but for longer winded people?

Exactly.

It's a big, fat LAMP post. 100%.

[jkeerie]

11 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

I just think they were spent. They looked spent. They looked flat and they looked like the tank was on E. 

 

People may say otherwise but based on the accumulation of things week after week to overcome, at some point you just have nothing left to give.

 

I can't be mad at them. They went thru so much this year, probably more than any team in history when you look at everything combined.

 

Hamlin is OK, that's good enough for me. 

 

They need to sort things out, figure out what they are going to do and come up with ways to overcome their shortcomings which look far bigger than they did at the start of the season right now.

I have to agree with this.  Even the rhetoric from the Bills the last few weeks has sounded like they were relieved they came through the storm, but you didn't hear a lot about actually playing the game.  They looked flat even in pregame.  

 

 

[bobobonators]

Biggest complaint during McD era: we are soft. This is not the first time we have been manhandled at the LOS under McD in the playoffs. I dont know how we overcome that. 
 

Enjoy your families ladies and gentleman. Don’t let this loss/team ruin your personal lives. 

[Livinginthepast]

When we lost Micah Hyde for the season I thought disappointing but no worries we got this. But as the season wore on and the pass defense got exposed and the bad tackling got exposed his value became incredibly apparent. Losing Miller though was the Hammer blow, Funny enough I thought he had been a bit disappointing but once again, his value became apparent soon after, Without Miller, the Bills D lost their leader and probably lost the one guy who had the gravitas to change up the D based on what he saw the opposing offense about to do. Something that Frazier would never do mid series. But the greatest loss of all this year? Dabol. Dorsey ran such a vanilla offense that Josh won DESPITE him. Today was yet another example of a guy who used no disguises or trickery in his plays and didnt make adjustments for our terrible O Line.  

 

It seems incredible that we were 14-4 this year and yet this was one of the most irritating, stressful and ultimately disappointing Bills seasons I can remember in 43 years of fandom.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Livinginthepast

[Norcalbillsfan]

14 minutes ago, stevestojan said:

Anyone else strangely calm after this? Maybe I’m getting used to it or maybe I just never saw a path to beat the Bengals. 
 

But I’m over it already. I do think changes need to be made at the very highest levels, but I’m not going to let this ruin my day. 
 

Maybe next year. 

Me too man, I felt like the team never clicked like they did against the titans. I knew unless they magically clicked and played like that again the bills weren't winning a super bowl. But I cheered the whole way, fun season and it's still nice to not not be a joke of a team like we were for so long. Won't let it ruin my day.

[RiotAct]

13 minutes ago, SectionC3 said:

A wasted year for Allen.  I feel the same way.   Here’s an off-season idea: trade Gabe Davis (to the giants?) and start over at WR behind Diggs. 

Keep on hitting that rock and it breaks eventually.  We will never win S with any other attitude. 

okay 👍 😂

[Roundybout]

The most disappointing part of the season was Gabe Davis. He should have emerged as a stud but he's just withering. He looks so bored and doesn't try to make contested catches. 

[Logic]

4 minutes ago, Livinginthepast said:

 

It seems incredible that we were 14-4 this year and yet this was one of the most irritating, stressful and ultimately disappointing Bills seasons I can remember in 43 years of fandom.

Amen to that. Couldn't have said it better (clearly, or else I would have 😆).

[BillsfaninSB]

To be honest, with all that happened, I think they over achieved this year thanks to Allen and Diggs.

 

My expectations were muted going into the off-season.  It was confirmed during the Miami game.

 

I’m just surprised how flat they were today.

[muppy]

13 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

Same.  Sadly, this game was never really in doubt, which makes it a lot easier to swallow.

I distinctly recall  quoting you saying   If the bills lose convincingly I have  no faith that team would advance past the Jags or Chiels in the AFC Game regardless

;

Finito Punto. YEP

 

**Raspberries**

 

m

 

PS: I'm bi-lingual. It happens.

[Buffalo Bills Fan]

 

3 minutes ago, Roundybout said:

The most disappointing part of the season was Gabe Davis. He should have emerged as a stud but he's just withering. He looks so bored and doesn't try to make contested catches. 

 

Agree.

 

Need a oc (less pressure on Allen with more creative plays), wr's, slot wr, oline, back up te on offense.

 

Gabe is a good 3 or great 4th string wr.

[Big Turk]

24 minutes ago, stevestojan said:

Anyone else strangely calm after this? Maybe I’m getting used to it or maybe I just never saw a path to beat the Bengals. 
 

But I’m over it already. I do think changes need to be made at the very highest levels, but I’m not going to let this ruin my day. 
 

Maybe next year. 

 

I was afraid they might look like this. I didn't want to say anything because people would have likely yelled at me for jinxing them, but even last week...they had to expend way more energy than they should have to beat a Dolphin team with their 3rd string QB. 

 

Just think the tank was on E and there was nothing left to give and even with everything on the line they just couldn't muster anything else 

Edited January 22, 2023 by Big Turk

[Livinginthepast]

4 minutes ago, BillsfaninSB said:

To be honest, with all that happened, I think they over achieved this year thanks to Allen and Diggs.

 

My expectations were muted going into the off-season.  It was confirmed during the Miami game.

 

I’m just surprised how flat they were today.

Its like the injury and emotional toll finally caused them to run out of gas. The Hamlin injury was so awful that its a miracle they didnt pack it in at that point.