Overreactions to Preseason games

[Don Otreply]

2 hours ago, Ya Digg? said:

I would just like to thank all of you who have these extreme overreactions to the preseason games, it makes this place incredibly entertaining for the rest of us to watch the meltdowns during the preseason.  It really makes me giddy when I see the Bishop/Hamlin/back up QB/ def line doom and gloom posts right now, I legit enjoy coming here to read them! 😁

 

At no point during the offseason does anyone ever say they want to see wins or even great play during these games, they want everyone to come out healthy.  But then, lo and behold, these games start and it's thread after thread of "this team has no chance" or "they need to fire Beane/McDermott now" to go with "This years and last years draft classes are horrible" I for one really enjoy watching so many go off the deep end

 

So cheers to all of you who are a part of this, know that you are making my day!

 

 

It’s a Pavlov’s dog thing, 🤣

 

or, a Schrodengers cat thing dead and alive all at once, 🤣 🍸🚬

[PayDaBill$]

Somewhat, but the lack of talent / depth we see in pre-season goes a long way to explaining why we have issues down the stretch in the reg season when we get bit by the injury bug.

[SoTier]

1 hour ago, H2o said:

If I say last night's game was a complete trash performance from game plan, to the execution of said game plan, to the players on the field, does anyone disagree with me in any, way, shape, or form? If you do, I have no idea what game were watching. We were horrendous, all except for Hancock and the Punter. That is not an overaction, that is an honest take. Thankfully, many of those guys will not be seeing meaningful snaps come the regular season, if they even make the team, because the suck. And if any of those guys do see snaps, the rest of the players around them will be better. They couldn't do a single thing right last night. It was rough to watch, even for a Preseason game. 

 

Teams don't "game plan" -- in the sense of planning to win the game -- for preseason.  They "game plan" to try different combinations of players or to give players experience in certain situations or to give young or fringe players experience, but the final score is immaterial.

Edited August 18 by SoTier

[DeepPass]

1 hour ago, H2o said:

If I say last night's game was a complete trash performance from game plan, to the execution of said game plan, to the players on the field, does anyone disagree with me in any, way, shape, or form? If you do, I have no idea what game were watching. We were horrendous, all except for Hancock and the Punter. That is not an overaction, that is an honest take. Thankfully, many of those guys will not be seeing meaningful snaps come the regular season, if they even make the team, because the suck. And if any of those guys do see snaps, the rest of the players around them will be better. They couldn't do a single thing right last night. It was rough to watch, even for a Preseason game. 

Amen Brother!

[<bills4life>]

1 minute ago, SoTier said:

 

Team don't "game plan" -- in the sense of planning to win the game -- for preseason.  They "game plan" to try different combinations of players or to give players experience in certain situations or to give young or fringe players experience, but the final score is immaterial.

True. But damn you would think there would be a sense of urgency from young men, where their entire future hinges on their performance. One game, one play could mean the difference between a roster spot, practice squad or “ stocking shelves” for the rest of their lives. Zero passion, urgency, or emotion on full display from many of the players last night. 

[DeepPass]

19 minutes ago, PayDaBill$ said:

Somewhat, but the lack of talent / depth we see in pre-season goes a long way to explaining why we have issues down the stretch in the reg season when we get bit by the injury bug.

Very true.  And, drafting in the 30ish spot every year, is becoming more evident with the lack of talent in our depth players!

[GolfandBills]

It has nothing to do with wins and loses… It’s about this team looking lost two weeks in a row now.  A lot of these guys playing are going to make the team.  It’s definitely concerning to a point 

Edited August 18 by GolfandBills

[JohnNord]

3 hours ago, Ya Digg? said:

I would just like to thank all of you who have these extreme overreactions to the preseason games, it makes this place incredibly entertaining for the rest of us to watch the meltdowns during the preseason.  It really makes me giddy when I see the Bishop/Hamlin/back up QB/ def line doom and gloom posts right now, I legit enjoy coming here to read them! 😁

 

At no point during the offseason does anyone ever say they want to see wins or even great play during these games, they want everyone to come out healthy.  But then, lo and behold, these games start and it's thread after thread of "this team has no chance" or "they need to fire Beane/McDermott now" to go with "This years and last years draft classes are horrible" I for one really enjoy watching so many go off the deep end

 

So cheers to all of you who are a part of this, know that you are making my day!

 

 

There’s a few things that made me not overreact.  The first is that Buffalo likely won’t be playing with that many backups.  Who you play next does matter.   Everyone is like “oh the starters better never get hurt.”  Well yes, when you have a defense made up of 2nd and 3rd stringers they are bad.  But when you take 1 or 2 of these 2nd stringers and add them on the regular defense, the play of the starters will likely elevate the reserves.  
 

Take someone like Ryan VanDemark.  He was pretty horrible playing on a line with backups last night.  But he started against KC with the other 4 starting OL and looked pretty decent.  You game play around their weaknesses and other player strengths.  
 

The other thing is what McDermott alluded to last week.  He likes to test individual players and see how they react.  Normally they don’t do this dusting the regular season.  
 

A few examples I noticed:

- Mike White as starter

- VanDemark at LT 

- Codrington at CB

- forced targets to Shavers/Moore

- extended work for Carter and Andreessen

- Cole Bishop guarding Zacchius in man

 

The coaches don’t care about the score as much as they do seeing what type of players they have.  
 

Now I’d argue all of these players, with the exception of Shavers, failed in their individual challenges.  But many of these players won’t be on the team or won’t be playing much - besides Bishop

 

Edited August 18 by JohnNord

[SoTier]

3 minutes ago, &lt;bills4life&gt; said:

True. But damn you would think there would be a sense of urgency from young men, where their entire future hinges on their performance. One game, one play could mean the difference between a roster spot, practice squad or “ stocking shelves” for the rest of their lives. Zero passion, urgency, or emotion on full display from many of the players last night. 

 

People aren't machines.  Sometimes, the harder you try, the worse you do at whatever task you're attempting.  

[<bills4life>]

33 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

People aren't machines.  Sometimes, the harder you try, the worse you do at whatever task you're attempting.  

Trying too hard and not playing within yourself can definitely be a detriment.  I’m talking more about intensity and a sense of urgency.  If anything I saw the opposite of “trying too hard”.  It looked more like going through the motions.  Hard to quantify.  Jordan Hancock looked like he was playing with a sense of urgency. 

[Buffalo03]

I can't take how we played last night. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't focus at work today. My mind was on nothing but how bad we played. We aren't going anywhere this year. I think I'm gonna go heavy on Labatt blue tonight. 

 

Just kidding. I'm fine. Everything is good. It's only preseason 😁

 

Edited August 18 by Buffalo03

[MikePJ76]

I remember in the 90’s star players used to leave at halftime of preseason games.

 

arrogant Troy Aikman used to do this all the time.

 

now we have all 22 game film and can analyze everything along with the backwards hat YouTube scouts and endless sports radio guys with their beards.   
 

there was a time when I would never even consider watching a pre season game.  

[gregmo]

I turned the tv off at halftime, went to bed, and turned on wgr.  Fell asleep listening to the game and woke up to hear part of the post game.  

 

I slept fine because the game doesn't matter.

 

Yeah, they really stunk.

 

Not much to really take out of that game other than I hope the starters are healthy all season.

[zow2]

For me it’s just about individual guys. and most of them were bad.  The QBs were lousy, both trenches were dominated, the secondary stunk up the joint. So each guy in those units needs to be concerned with his level of play.

[Mat68]

1 hour ago, GolfandBills said:

It has nothing to do with wins and loses… It’s about this team looking lost two weeks in a row now.  A lot of these guys playing are going to make the team.  It’s definitely concerning to a point 

Majority of the guys playing and playing poorly wont play at all.  

[SoonerBillsFan]

4 hours ago, Pete said:

no one cares about losing a preseason game.  Its about Player Evaluation. Can each of 11 players on field, who can win, win their 1 on 1 battles?  Its dissappointing that we spend the entire draft on defense, and not have more Bills making plays.

 

I do beleive that the real Bills game was the practice, and that Bills were fatiqued and flat after 4 days in Chicago.  Coach said those that perfomed well at practice, got the game off.  And those that performed poorly, they played.

And played like crap

[muppy]

a healthy concern for the final roster decisions is a valid Bills diehard fans  concern

 

 

Being concerned when you see garbage play is not an over reaction. it was  a real suckfest we watched last night

 

expectations and hopes are sky high

 

we all want success and a Lombardi and No weaknesses in our roster. Last night we saw ineptness bad play and overall weakness against better competition

 

It wasn't pretty

 

Guess what. I can be critical but my blood pressure is even keel.

 

It's not the end of the world.

 

 

 

things WILL be better moving forward

42 minutes ago, zow2 said:

For me it’s just about individual guys. and most of them were bad.  The QBs were lousy, both trenches were dominated, the secondary stunk up the joint. So each guy in those units needs to be concerned with his level of play.

trust me, if they are not by golly they better be. Jobs are at stake. High paying ones. and Pride FCOL.

[vincec]

Luckily McDermott sounded a lot more concerned at his post game press conference than some on TBD.

[Alphadawg7]

5 hours ago, FormerLV-BILLS said:

I for one, after a regime having 8 years to establish itself, would just like to see someone other than Josh Allen look like a star player.  Or hell, I'll even take a WR that looks like they might be better than a typical fourth WR on almost any other NFL team that has even the slightest clue.  I could care less about the score. 

 

When you watch these games, I see none of that.  That's all I want.  I ask again, if one of our WR's gets hurt, does it even matter?  Once again, we have a stable of about 10 medicore, at best, WR's playing with the best QB in the league.  Yet, we have about 400 rotational, and mediocre, defensive lineman again.   It's the same tired philosphy of a defensive coach not adding to his strength. 

 

I keep hearing about this "best offense in the league crap" every week.  But yet, they've had the ball last a few times in the playoffs and couldn't come through.  Mainly because when it's crunch time, the mediocre shows.  Of course, we all know the defense fails when it counts as well.

 

Catch the friggin ball Kincaid.  You are a first round pick that needed to make a decent play as a professional.  Mediocre.  All over the field.  Mediocre players and Josh Allen.

 

But hey Josh, "Don't Try To Do Too Much".

Palmer was a WR2 before here.  Shakir is one of the most respected slot WRs in the league and starts anywhere he wanted to go right now.  Keon is a starting WR entering his sophomore season who was on pace for 1000 yards as a rookie before he got hurt against the Dolphins.
 

But you don’t see any WRs who would be more than a 4 on any other team?  
 

Sounds like you don’t know what you are looking at.  

[dayman]

We’re gong to be very good everyone is just hoping see flashes from new defensive talent and it’s understandable to be disappointed to not see that given it is sort of the perceived barrier between us and the Super Bowl.