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Off-Season Hot Take: Mid Season Struggles And The #1 Seed


Bills!Win!

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We’ve known that the Bills have had one of the most talented rosters and have had good depth since 2020. We have also seen that they can hang with KC. They’ve really only been blown out by them once in the 7 games they’ve played.
 

I’m thinking that the reason the bills can’t get past the chiefs (and bengals) is because Buffalo keeps finding themselves in a mid season slump. They then have to spend the next several weeks retooling their offense and getting out of the slump, meanwhile battling for playoff positioning and the division against tough teams. By the time they get to the playoffs they’re already burnt out from fighting up hill battles. 

 
in 2020 they were the #1 seed most of the season and lost to the Chiefs, titans and the hail Murray game right in the middle of the season and finished as the 2nd seed.

 

In 2021 we had inexcusable losses to the titans, jags and the colts and had to battle our way to the 3rd seed

 

in 2022 we had the loss to the jets and the Minnesota debacle and then had fight our way to the 2nd seed again 

 

in 2023 we started off great. Had some injuries. Then played dumbed down football against teams like the patriots and broncos. Then had to go through murderers row to end the season as the 2nd seed once again. 
 

The bills need to take care of business in the mid part of the season and get the 1 seed. We all know McDermott is great coming off the bye and the rest would benefit the Bills mentally and physically. 
 

It’ll happen boys. Stay patient. Trust the process! 

Edited by Bills!Win!
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1 minute ago, MPL said:

So, let me get this straight — the Bills just need to, like, not lose? 


They need to stop putting themselves in position where they have to play all out just to get into the playoffs and win the division. Every year it just seems to be a struggle. Take care of business against the teams you should beat and they could’ve been the 1 seed several times 

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  • Bills!Win! changed the title to Off-Season Hot Take: Mid Season Struggles And The #1 Seed

Lots of worrying about the 1 seed. It didn’t help the Ravens much. The Bills got KC in Orchard Park for the playoffs and still lost. San Francisco made it as the 1 seed, but they were on the ropes  at 24-7 vs the Lions. The Bills don’t need to have a perfect regular season to make the Super Bowl. They don’t need some magic formula. They just need a bit of good luck with injuries and to be better than their opponents on the day they play them in the postseason. They haven’t done it thus far, and that’s about it. 

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I still see the value of the 1 seed to rest starters week 18 and again a week later for your bye. With all the injuries we had besides Milano, we really could've used it. Just stop under performing against teams we should've handled.  Stop screwing around every year in the middle of the season. 

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They have slumps because their game plan is for Josh to be superman every week. Even the best players have off games. When he's off the Bills lose. Check the stats

 

That's not a sustainable model for success. Simple as that.

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39 minutes ago, Bills!Win! said:


They need to stop putting themselves in position where they have to play all out just to get into the playoffs and win the division. Every year it just seems to be a struggle. Take care of business against the teams you should beat and they could’ve been the 1 seed several times 


Most people would call this ‘battle tested’. 

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The biggest issues in my opinion is injuries, especially on defence.

 

2021- Tre white- prob win that chiefs game with him

 

2022- tons of injuries on d but I still think they lose to the bengals as bills were flat 

 

2023- Down to our 4th string retired linebacker in Klein covering Kelce
 

Meanwhile chiefs stayed relatively healthy during those games and didn't have any major pieces missing.

 

I am not a "excuse guy " but objectively the bills have had some bad luck with injuries, especially on the d side 

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55 minutes ago, Bills!Win! said:

We’ve known that the Bills have had one of the most talented rosters and have had good depth since 2020. We have also seen that they can hang with KC. They’ve really only been blown out by them once in the 7 games they’ve played.
 

I’m thinking that the reason the bills can’t get past the chiefs (and bengals) is because Buffalo keeps finding themselves in a mid season slump. They then have to spend the next several weeks retooling their offense and getting out of the slump, meanwhile battling for playoff positioning and the division against tough teams. By the time they get to the playoffs they’re already burnt out from fighting up hill battles. 

 
in 2020 they were the #1 seed most of the season and lost to the Chiefs, titans and the hail Murray game right in the middle of the season and finished as the 2nd seed.

 

In 2021 we had inexcusable losses to the titans, jags and the colts and had to battle our way to the 3rd seed

 

in 2022 we had the loss to the jets and the Minnesota debacle and then had fight our way to the 2nd seed again 

 

in 2023 we started off great. Had some injuries. Then played dumbed down football against teams like the patriots and broncos. Then had to go through murderers row to end the season as the 2nd seed once again. 
 

The bills need to take care of business in the mid part of the season and get the 1 seed. We all know McDermott is great coming off the bye and the rest would benefit the Bills mentally and physically. 
 

It’ll happen boys. Stay patient. Trust the process! 

 

 

Yeah the mid-season malaise has been a pretty regular thing under McDermott since the first one in 2017.   That one was a doozy where they had arguably the worst 3 game defensive stretch in team history prior to breaking out of it with an upset win in KC.

 

Your point is right on, IMO.  These swoons have resulted in them never having the #1 seed.

 

More importantly than home field, IMO,  it has meant that they've never had the bye to rest and recover and instead are often playing de facto playoff games as early as November due to starting with 6-5 and 6-6 records etc.   And that has taken it's toll on their health in the playoffs.   

 

It's not the only reason, obviously....but they haven't had that #1 seed that KC had in 2018, 2019 and 2020 and 2022.    This season was the first in which they reached the SB without that #1 seed/bye.

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1 hour ago, Bills!Win! said:

We’ve known that the Bills have had one of the most talented rosters and have had good depth since 2020. We have also seen that they can hang with KC. They’ve really only been blown out by them once in the 7 games they’ve played.
 

I’m thinking that the reason the bills can’t get past the chiefs (and bengals) is because Buffalo keeps finding themselves in a mid season slump. They then have to spend the next several weeks retooling their offense and getting out of the slump, meanwhile battling for playoff positioning and the division against tough teams. By the time they get to the playoffs they’re already burnt out from fighting up hill battles. 

 
in 2020 they were the #1 seed most of the season and lost to the Chiefs, titans and the hail Murray game right in the middle of the season and finished as the 2nd seed.

 

In 2021 we had inexcusable losses to the titans, jags and the colts and had to battle our way to the 3rd seed

 

in 2022 we had the loss to the jets and the Minnesota debacle and then had fight our way to the 2nd seed again 

 

in 2023 we started off great. Had some injuries. Then played dumbed down football against teams like the patriots and broncos. Then had to go through murderers row to end the season as the 2nd seed once again. 
 

The bills need to take care of business in the mid part of the season and get the 1 seed. We all know McDermott is great coming off the bye and the rest would benefit the Bills mentally and physically. 
 

It’ll happen boys. Stay patient. Trust the process! 

 

From a scoring & yardage perspective on both O and D we're trending worse since 2020.  

 

 

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1 hour ago, LABILLBACKER said:

I still see the value of the 1 seed to rest starters week 18 and again a week later for your bye. With all the injuries we had besides Milano, we really could've used it. Just stop under performing against teams we should've handled.  Stop screwing around every year in the middle of the season. 

 

Before the NFL added the extra Wild Card team a few years ago, both the 1 and 2 seed got a first round bye.....that bye would have changed a lot for the Bills vs. the Chiefs, seeing that Bernard and Benford were both injured in the Steelers game....a game the Bills would not have had to play in the old format.....plus, the Bills would have had 2 weeks to prepare for the Chiefs, and the Chiefs would have been playing the game on 6 days rest instead of the Bills playing on 6 days rest.🤬

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I get what some on this thread are saying about homefield not having been so much of an advantage over the past couple of years.

 

But, quite clearly - having the bye week would be a huge advantage.  Just this past season alone - to have that week to heal from some of our injuries, as well as the NEW injuries we incurred on WC weekend.

 

Having that week off is huge. It still bothers me that only the 1 seed gets the bye now.

 

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8 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

They have slumps because their game plan is for Josh to be superman every week. Even the best players have off games. When he's off the Bills lose. Check the stats

 

That's not a sustainable model for success. Simple as that.

There is some truth in this.  But there is a bigger problem with the premise of this thread.  The concept that you can only get to the Super Bowl if you are the #1 seed is truly not a sustainable strategy.  Certainly the strategy the Chiefs relied on this year. 

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