Did losing to the Falcons save the Bills season?

[GASabresIUFan]

I had the displeasure of going to the Bills Falcons game in the Atl.  Disappointing is hardly the word for it, except it may have been the look in the mirror the Bills, the coaches and management needed.

 

3 major changes came out of that game.

1.  The coaches (McD and Brady) reminded themselves that Cook is a superstar and they need to feed the beast.  In the last two games he’s rushed for 330 yards.  He now has 867 yards for the season and is averaging 5.7 yards a carry.  The one issue remaining here is getting him more involved in the passing game.  His important 1st down catch today since was his first catch since the NO game 2 months ago.  Cook has had 18 or more touches every week, but two.  Guess the 2 weeks

 

2. Throwing to the TE.  This is the Bills deepest position group.  Kincaid is a star in the making.  Brady needs to feed him more and today he finally did it.  Hawes and Knox also made plays in the passing game.

 

3.  McD back to calling the defense.  Over the last two games the Bills pass rush is getting home, opponents 3rd down efficiency has deceased and we have only give up 30 points.  This despite injuries all over the defense.  

Edited 6 hours ago by GASabresIUFan

[Brand J]

It certainly forced McD to look at the team under a microscope. He spoke about how he was sitting at home with the wife, getting antsy, and she told him to go ahead and go in, “go watch film.” Maybe Rapp is still starting if they had beaten the Falcons. Maybe he doesn’t assume a larger defensive role. Hard to say. 

[BuffaloBillyG]

2 minutes ago, Brand J said:

It certainly forced McD to look at the team under a microscope. He spoke about how he was sitting at home with the wife, getting antsy, and she told him to go ahead and go in, “go watch film.” Maybe Rapp is still starting if they had beaten the Falcons. Maybe he doesn’t assume a larger defensive role. Hard to say. 

If Rapp wasn't injured, he would be starting. The Falcons loss has nothing to do with that.

[Marcus Aurelius]

The opposite of a Pyrrihic Victory is a Laevinic defeat .. 

 

Look it up.

[Royale with Cheese]

4 minutes ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

If Rapp wasn't injured, he would be starting. The Falcons loss has nothing to do with that.

I don’t think so.  If he was playing well, he wouldn’t have had surgery.  He wasn’t on any injury report.  Now we are making plays on defense.  He was a major weakness.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

Seems like we got even heavier personnel-wise after that falcons game.  I gotta think they were kicking themselves for not trying to run Atlanta straight out of the building.  Falcons defense is kind of a chiefs-lite vibe where they’re good in pass coverage and like to send blitzes.  
 

defensive improvements seem like they speak for themselves also on top of that haha Hairston definitely looks like he’s got the juice 

Edited 6 hours ago by Generic_Bills_Fan

[chris heff]

7 minutes ago, Marcus Aurelius said:

The opposite of a Pyrrihic Victory is a Laevinic defeat .. 

 

Look it up.

Won the battle, but lost the war, or lost the battle, but won the war.

[CincyBillsFan]

2 minutes ago, chris heff said:

Won the battle, but lost the war, or lost the battle, but won the war.

Or got hosed by some guy named Laevinic!

 

 

[harryS]

Possibly.  You would hope that a close win would still have resulted in changes during the bye but you never know.

 

As of now, the losses to the Patriots and Falcons still endanger our seeding and division chances.  We need to go on a long win streak before we can speculate that they were good things.

[JohnNord]

34 minutes ago, GASabresIUFan said:

I had the displeasure of going to the Bills Falcons game in the Atl.  Disappointing is hardly the word for it, except it may have been the look in the mirror the Bills, the coaches and management needed.

 

3 major changes came out of that game.

1.  The coaches (McD and Brady) reminded themselves that Cook is a superstar and they need to feed the beast.  In the last two games he’s rushed for 330 yards.  He now has 867 yards for the season and is averaging 5.7 yards a carry.  The one issue remaining here is getting him more involved in the passing game.  His important 1st down catch today since was his first catch since the NO game 2 months ago.  Cook has had 18 or more touches every week, but two.  Guess the 2 weeks

 

2. Throwing to the TE.  This is the Bills deepest position group.  Kincaid is a star in the making.  Brady needs to feed him more and today he finally did it.  Hawes and Knox also made plays in the passing game.

 

3.  McD back to calling the defense.  Over the last two games the Bills pass rush is getting home, opponents 3rd down efficiency has deceased and we have only give up 30 points.  This despite injuries all over the defense.  

I think the most important outcome was #3.  Since McDermott took over the play calling….I mean “collaborated more” with Babich the defense has looked better.  I’m hoping it was all about Hoecht who was a menace and is now hurt.  I don’t think it was entirely him though.    
 

And if Buffalo ends up trading for a WR that also might come out of this game as well.  

30 minutes ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

If Rapp wasn't injured, he would be starting. The Falcons loss has nothing to do with that.

If you believe the team part of the reason he wasn’t playing well was because he was injured 

[GASabresIUFan]

13 minutes ago, harryS said:

Possibly.  You would hope that a close win would still have resulted in changes during the bye but you never know.

 

As of now, the losses to the Patriots and Falcons still endanger our seeding and division chances.  We need to go on a long win streak before we can speculate that they were good things.

I didn’t say it was “good” that we lost.  Far from it, but it did re-focus McD and the team to going back to what they do best; McD coaching the D, running Cook, using the TE and a 4th thing I forgot, Josh not playing hero ball.

Edited 6 hours ago by GASabresIUFan

[billsfan714]

Seems like McD made a comment last week about despite what people say he likes physical football.   For sure seen a more physical defense the last 2 weeks.  More aggressive.  Seems like before they were playing on their heels to much earlier in the season.   i give him a lot of crap, but I have to give credit that he is addressing it and its showing.

[90sBills]

Season was never lost to begin with. 

[The Frankish Reich]

In retrospect, I am so glad we lost to the Falcons on purpose.

[Special K]

I think it was more the Bye Week coming at the perfect time.........it gave the team a chance to look in the mirror, figure out what isn't working, and what needed to change to get back on track.

 

I agree that the most important change was McD realizing that he needed to put the D into his own hands, and call the Defensive plays full-time.

 

The loss of Oliver and now Hoecht really hurts the Pass Rush, but the continued emergence of Bishop, Hairston, and hopefully Hancock in the secondary could help counteract those losses.

 

Go Bills!!!!

[BADOLBILZ]

2 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

I had the displeasure of going to the Bills Falcons game in the Atl.  Disappointing is hardly the word for it, except it may have been the look in the mirror the Bills, the coaches and management needed.

 

3 major changes came out of that game.

1.  The coaches (McD and Brady) reminded themselves that Cook is a superstar and they need to feed the beast.  In the last two games he’s rushed for 330 yards.  He now has 867 yards for the season and is averaging 5.7 yards a carry.  The one issue remaining here is getting him more involved in the passing game.  His important 1st down catch today since was his first catch since the NO game 2 months ago.  Cook has had 18 or more touches every week, but two.  Guess the 2 weeks

 

2. Throwing to the TE.  This is the Bills deepest position group.  Kincaid is a star in the making.  Brady needs to feed him more and today he finally did it.  Hawes and Knox also made plays in the passing game.

 

3.  McD back to calling the defense.  Over the last two games the Bills pass rush is getting home, opponents 3rd down efficiency has deceased and we have only give up 30 points.  This despite injuries all over the defense.  

 

 

 

I agree with @Special K that the bye week was far more important.    The loss to the Falcons may prove to cost the Bills the division and a #1 seed.   A terrible loss to a team that was basically trying to give the game away in the second half.   Nothing they may have learned that day wouldn't have been obvious with a self-scout during the bye week.   They still have plenty of issues to address regarding things they may not be able to execute with the personnel they have in games where the players aren't as excited about the project as they were today.   

[Don Otreply]

That and chasing to he fuh king patriots for division lead, certainly presents some urgency…, 

[ganesh]

2 hours ago, GASabresIUFan said:

I had the displeasure of going to the Bills Falcons game in the Atl.  Disappointing is hardly the word for it, except it may have been the look in the mirror the Bills, the coaches and management needed.

 

3 major changes came out of that game.

1.  The coaches (McD and Brady) reminded themselves that Cook is a superstar and they need to feed the beast.  In the last two games he’s rushed for 330 yards.  He now has 867 yards for the season and is averaging 5.7 yards a carry.  The one issue remaining here is getting him more involved in the passing game.  His important 1st down catch today since was his first catch since the NO game 2 months ago.  Cook has had 18 or more touches every week, but two.  Guess the 2 weeks

 

2. Throwing to the TE.  This is the Bills deepest position group.  Kincaid is a star in the making.  Brady needs to feed him more and today he finally did it.  Hawes and Knox also made plays in the passing game.

 

3.  McD back to calling the defense.  Over the last two games the Bills pass rush is getting home, opponents 3rd down efficiency has deceased and we have only give up 30 points.  This despite injuries all over the defense.  

If McD is calling the defense, then he needs to be accountable for the failure of Babich.  We had a shot to get Vic Fangio and instead went with this painful exercise.

[ganesh]

2 hours ago, JohnNord said:

I think the most important outcome was #3.  Since McDermott took over the play calling….I mean “collaborated more” with Babich the defense has looked better.  I’m hoping it was all about Hoecht who was a menace and is now hurt.  I don’t think it was entirely him though.    
 

And if Buffalo ends up trading for a WR that also might come out of this game as well.  

If you believe the team part of the reason he wasn’t playing well was because he was injured 

I think the Bills #1 requirement at the trade deadline now is DL.  We are super thin there with Hoecht's injury

[SC STATE NUPE]

It made it tougher unfortunately… But they’re awake now…