Bills have a playoff problem..It’s not Josh Allen (Warren Sharp)

[Scott7975]

I feel like we haven't had that guy that has that play when it's crunch time and their number is called. Allen is as good as it gets. Defense is terrible in the playoffs. Just look at what Philly did to the Chiefs last year. Even if you don't expect that, 13 seconds should never happen. Then you look at the offense. Diggs drops the deep one when his number is called. Tough catch but thats what you are paid for. Kincaid could have played that last ball way better than he did. Just as a couple recent in memory examples. Those things change game outcomes. Those are the things we rarely have. 

Edited Thursday at 05:10 PM by Scott7975

[WNYFAN1]

1 hour ago, Einstein said:

Yeah I remember Diggs dropping that deep ball last year too.
And Dawkins getting dog-walked last year too.
And Kincaid dropping the first down pass this year too.

100% on all of those. You're also cherry-picking. Be sure to leave off any plays that Allen missed.

[RochesterLifer]

4 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

I feel like we haven't had that guy that has that play when it's crunch time and their number is called. Allen is as good as it gets. Defense is terrible in the playoffs. Just look at what Philly did to the Chiefs last year. Even if you don't expect that, 13 seconds should never happen. Then you look at the offense. Diggs drops the deep one when his number is called. Tough catch but thats what you are paid for. Kincaid could have played that last ball way better than he did. Just as a couple recent in memory examples. Those things change game outcomes. Those are the things we rarely have. 

The amazing thing about that drop is that it was NOT a tough catch. Josh softly laid it in his hands in stride. It was one of the easiest opportunities an NFL receiver could ask for. The drop was soooooo bad that questioning Diggs' motivation on the play is not unreasonable. 

[GoBills808]

Just now, WNYFAN1 said:

100% on all of those. You're also cherry-picking. Be sure to leave off any plays that Allen missed.

that's the point you don't seem to understand

 

Allen misses plays at one of if not the lowest rate of any postseason QB ever. referring to those plays is the very definition of cherry-picking

Just now, RochesterLifer said:

The amazing thing about that drop is that it was NOT a tough catch. Josh softly laid it in his hands in stride. It was one of the easiest opportunities an NFL receiver could ask for. The drop was soooooo bad that questioning Diggs' motivation on the play is not unreasonable. 

when you rewatch it i think he lost where he was in relation to the sideline

didn't realize how much room he had and was worrying about getting his feet in

 

thats my only explanation

 

[Einstein]

16 minutes ago, WNYFAN1 said:

100% on all of those. You're also cherry-picking. Be sure to leave off any plays that Allen missed.

 

Yeah .. all those came on the final drive that you were talking about. The only thing you could possibly blame Allen for is not shifting the protection, but Fitzpatrick said that would not have helped. Maybe it buys him half a more second. The real problem was Brady calling the same 4th down call all year and Kincaid dropping the ball.

 

So yeah i’m not gonna talk about a random mistake Allen might have made in the 2nd quarter.

[folz]

20 hours ago, JakeFrommStateFarm said:

Yes it's our HC that can't even call a squib kick in the 13 seconds game 

 

Does anyone think think that Andy would make the same mistake ?

 

Um, yes. Go ask Philly fans.

 

Prior to Mahomes starting for him, Andy Reid was 11-13 (.458) in the playoffs over 19 years, with 1 SB appearance, no wins. Are you telling me he didn't make any mistakes in those 13 losses? Is Sirianni a way better coach than Reid for beating him so badly in the Super Bowl? Did Reid make any mistakes in last year's SB? Now, I'm not saying McD is as good or better than Reid, or that Reid isn't a great coach, I'm just saying that all coaches make mistakes.

 

I know the following are mostly old articles, but this idea that McDermott is the only very good coach to make mistakes, or to have made a mistake in the playoffs is ridiculous (hell, look at Sean Payton's playoff losses for one). Name the best 5 coaches of all time and I'm sure that we could still find playoff losses in their careers where they made mistakes. Time to let "13 seconds" go guys. It's almost 4 years ago now.

 

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/151719-evaluating-andy-reid-the-worst-decisions-of-reids-coaching-career

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/nfl/chiefs-reid-trying-to-rewrite-history-of-playoff-letdowns/

https://atozsports.com/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs-news/chiefs-hc-andy-reid-makes-major-mistake-second-straight-game/

https://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2019/1/18/18185839/andy-reid-kansas-city-chiefs-clock-mismanagement-timeouts

https://slate.com/culture/2019/01/andy-reid-chiefs-timeouts-clock-management.html

 

 

Yeah, it is kind of silly to debate this anymore as everyone seems to be pretty entrenched in their viewpoint and nothing will be answered definitively either way unless McD wins a SB with the Bills or is fired.

 

And of course, no Bills fan is going to put the playoff losses on Josh, he's been spectacular in the playoffs...but it is also foolhardy to try and put the Bills' playoff losses down to just one other thing too. Like it's coaching alone or injuries alone. 

 

What has been the problem for the Bills in the playoffs?

A. Youth, inexperience (in the early years)

B. The Chiefs Dynasty

C. Injuries

D. Damar Hamlin incident/Blizzard

E. Coaching mistakes

F. Player Execution

G. The Defense

H. The NFL/Referees

I. Not being stout enough to handle bigger, stronger, more aggressive playoff teams (in the Diggs' years)

J. Not running the ball enough/being balanced enough to close out games, etc. (Daboll years)

K. Luck (coin flips, bad bounces, untimely injuries, etc.)

L. Lack of Depth on the roster at times

M. All of the Above (and probably more)

 

The answer is obviously M. Time to lick our wounds, put the past behind us, and look forward to taking another crack at it with a hopefully improved team and our generational QB who is a hell of a lot of fun to watch. 

 

I mean at the end of regulation in our last three playoff losses to the Chiefs, K.C. was ahead by 6 points. Six points across three games to a team that has appeared in 5 of the last 6 Super Bowls. That is literally like 3 plays away from three Super Bowl appearances (one good kick, one coin toss, one catch---and that's not even bringing the refs into the conversation). We are so close, and the Chiefs aren't quite what they used to be (though I am not writing them off yet, by any means---did that for too many years with the Pats already). But our time is coming. Billeve!

 

 

Edited Thursday at 06:26 PM by folz

[balln]

13 hours ago, Thrivefourfive said:

McDermott and HIS STAFF have to evolve and stay ahead of the curve, instead of being typical trash on defense in the final game of the season each year. 
 

Yea but they’re not gonna. This whole after the regular season before Denver game. The coaches and players were gonna play vanilla / going with what got us here.  
 

I was stunned

 

i thot the best game BUf offense had was Detroit. They were multiple. Had an attack plan. Great goaline / red zone surprise calls. 
 

chiefs game. Looked all too familiar - was painful to get a yard. 

3 hours ago, Gregg said:

 

Blame McDermott. He is the HC. I never understand why they didn't use Cook more. He is really an excellent RB and helps take the pressure off of Allen.

Yea. They want to waste 8 M on okinjoby. And pay 20 M for Rousseau. And then play hardball with their only truly elite player - who happened to play RB- outside of Josh Allen. 

[balln]

2 hours ago, Einstein said:

Joe Brady was absolutely ABYSMAL in the AFCCG. 

- Repeatedly going to the QB sneak when it didnt work the previous 5 times that game
- Not using Cook in that final drive (total headscratcher considering the absolute magic that Cook did two drives before that)
- Going back to the same 4th down play call he head used all year

He was absolutely embarassing.

They wanted to keep

it simple. They told us all playoffs before Denver. Our coaches are a joke

[LABILLBACKER]

2 hours ago, Scott7975 said:

I feel like we haven't had that guy that has that play when it's crunch time and their number is called. Allen is as good as it gets. Defense is terrible in the playoffs. Just look at what Philly did to the Chiefs last year. Even if you don't expect that, 13 seconds should never happen. Then you look at the offense. Diggs drops the deep one when his number is called. Tough catch but thats what you are paid for. Kincaid could have played that last ball way better than he did. Just as a couple recent in memory examples. Those things change game outcomes. Those are the things we rarely have. 

Exactly...over the entire Josh Allen era (7 years), we have not had one game wrecking defensive player!... not one.  We know 17 is a cyborg superstar who is asked to do it all. But that's not fair, realistic or sustainable. Someone else has to step up and make a play. I'm not going to ever pretend our HC is ever going to out-scheme a Reid or McVay.  This team has enough talent to sleepwalk to 11-12 wins every year. But until Josh has a teammate who is capable of making game changing plays, it will be rinse & repeat. 

[Gregg]

4 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Exactly...over the entire Josh Allen era (7 years), we have not had one game wrecking defensive player!... not one.  We know 17 is a cyborg superstar who is asked to do it all. But that's not fair, realistic or sustainable. Someone else has to step up and make a play. I'm not going to ever pretend our HC is ever going to out-scheme a Reid or McVay.  This team has enough talent to sleepwalk to 11-12 wins every year. But until Josh has a teammate who is capable of making game changing plays, it will be rinse & repeat. 

 

This Bills team needs their version of 78. Even 12 had 34 and 83 as major contributors on offense. Who does Allen really have besides Cook. Our WR group is pretty average and there is absolutely nobody on defense who can dominate like Bruce did.

[LABILLBACKER]

14 minutes ago, Gregg said:

 

This Bills team needs their version of 78. Even 12 had 34 and 83 as major contributors on offense. Who does Allen really have besides Cook. Our WR group is pretty average and there is absolutely nobody on defense who can dominate like Bruce did.

Agree...if a star player does rise up somewhere,  I hope it's on defense.  Kelly was surrounded by HOF players. Yes, we need a version of Bruce. Cook is good but not a superstar.  He's not even a 3 down back.  For a very fleeting moment I thought players like Milano or Bernard might be that gamewrecker?  But injuries prevailed. It's Josh and the minions until that player steps up.  I'm praying someone from the Jackson/  Walker/Sanders group emerge?

[Thrivefourfive]

13 hours ago, uticaclub said:

If we score late, KC just drives down and scores again to take the lead

Chunks of yards at will. Imagine how confident they must be knowing they’ll score a TD, FG, whatever, on the final drive against us, if they need to..?! I mean, some around here (me!) are confident that this is our year to beat the Chiefs! We have no idea what tangible confidence even is!😂

[uticaclub]

3 hours ago, Thrivefourfive said:

Chunks of yards at will. Imagine how confident they must be knowing they’ll score a TD, FG, whatever, on the final drive against us, if they need to..?! I mean, some around here (me!) are confident that this is our year to beat the Chiefs! We have no idea what tangible confidence even is!😂

I think its more likely KC misses the playoffs then McDermott beating them in the playoffs.

[HOUSE]

Never trust a sports writer who changes his name then dumps daily  garbage on your lawn

 

.

Edited yesterday at 10:09 AM by HOUSE

[uticaclub]

17 hours ago, WNYFAN1 said:

100% on all of those. You're also cherry-picking. Be sure to leave off any plays that Allen missed.

If Allen is so clutch there is no excuse for him not to have a 100% completion percentage 

[billsfan89]

It's pretty obvious that the defense against KC has been the problem for the Bills 4 out of the last 5 playoff eliminations. Even in some of the Bills playoff wins (Dolphins in 2022 and Ravens in 2024) the Bills defense was shaky. I am willing to write off the 2022 Bengals loss as sort of the "Season from hell" from Buffalo tons of injuries on both sides of the ball and many other mentally exhausting things happening that season with the Demar Hamlin situation being the most notable. But the 4 KC Losses were mostly on the defense. 

 

The only playoff game where the defense "bailed out" Josh was the 2020 Divisional Round. That's it every other game the Bills defense played well (Broncos 2024, and Steelers 2023) the Bills offense put up big points too. In 12 playoff games since 2020 the Bills have only given Josh 3 good defensive performance and one "bail out" there's a reason why the Bills restocked the defense with younger talent in the draft (no WR fell that wasn't a slot and they needed the talent injection.)

[T.E.]

18 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Exactly...over the entire Josh Allen era (7 years), we have not had one game wrecking defensive player!... not one.  We know 17 is a cyborg superstar who is asked to do it all. But that's not fair, realistic or sustainable. Someone else has to step up and make a play.

I'm not even sure the Bills' current defensive strategy would even allow for this type of player to emerge. It's clearly super-reactive and predicated on not taking risks.

[Don Otreply]

It has always been a “coaching and defense” problem, vs the chiefs, hell we average over twenty eight points per game against them, we play a soft style of defense in clutch situations, the defensive style gives away easy yards and it has bit us in the azs regularly, but I ALWAYS hope for the best!!

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Avisan]

1 hour ago, T.E. said:

I'm not even sure the Bills' current defensive strategy would even allow for this type of player to emerge. It's clearly super-reactive and predicated on not taking risks.

So the Bills don't take risks on D, but are still a top 5 unit in generating turnovers year over year?  Sounds like it might be a pretty good defense

[T.E.]

9 minutes ago, Avisan said:

So the Bills don't take risks on D, but are still a top 5 unit in generating turnovers year over year?  Sounds like it might be a pretty good defense

That's all well and good until you play a team in the postseason who is excellent at taking care of the ball.