Weren't we a first half team for a while?

[boyst]

I tried googling it and looking it up here and memory is fuzzy on this... but wasn't there a time in the last 4-5 years where we always started the games really well and fell asleep in the 3rd quarter?

 

Am I completely wrong?

 

Right now we are playing the last half of the game excellently. I 100% know we were among the best to ever start a game with opening drives scoring a few years ago - Daboll era I think. But, I do remember at some point we shined in the first half and fell apart later in the game...

 

Please help me get this straight...

[MJS]

There was a time when the Bills fell asleep in the 2nd and 3rd quarters on offense, particularly the 3rd. You are remembering correctly. Those were the Daboll years. But they would usually wake up by the 4th quarter.

Edited 6 hours ago by MJS

[Just Jack]

Unless someone else wants to jump on this research sooner, I can look into it tonight. 

[Roundybout]

It seems like we would get up to big leads and then coast. 
 

Bills/Packers 2022 comes to mind. 

[transient]

I remember back to back seasons when the Bills were several games into the season before they even punted. One of them was the season we opened with the Rams coming off of their SB win. 

[BuffaloBillyG]

I know we opened the season with a first drive touchdown several straight weeks to open the season this year. Can't remember how many off the top of my head. 

 

Offense and defense have sort of been the opposite to me. Brady has done well on the first drive, but as soon as his scripted plays are spent he's lost. Defense has been the opposite. They are terrible at first then adjust well. 

[Sweats]

I used to get so pissed off when we would fall asleep in the 3rd quarter of games and it wasn't until their backs were against the wall and someone would slap them around a little bit to wake them up, where they would come alive again in the 4th.

 

Now it seems they zombie walk the 1st half of games and then come out with both pistols a-blazing for the 2nd.

 

Like, come on boys, this old man's heart can't take much more.

[gobills404]

This site will let you look at points per game over the years in each quarter or each half.

https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/team-stats/

[DD4Bills]

Aggressively avoiding work today, so took a peek TeamRankings.com...

 

  

Make of this what you will.

[BillytheKid]

53 minutes ago, boyst said:

I tried googling it and looking it up here and memory is fuzzy on this... but wasn't there a time in the last 4-5 years where we always started the games really well and fell asleep in the 3rd quarter?

 

Am I completely wrong?

 

Right now we are playing the last half of the game excellently. I 100% know we were among the best to ever start a game with opening drives scoring a few years ago - Daboll era I think. But, I do remember at some point we shined in the first half and fell apart later in the game...

 

Please help me get this straight...

Bills this year have been the best on opening drives but the rest of the first half as a whole they are like 19th or 20th in point differential while they are number 1 in the league in the 2nd half point differential. 
 

I believe last year they were asleep in quarters 2 and 3 for part of the year and were good in quarters 1 and 4 but think they eventually got better. 

Edited 5 hours ago by BillytheKid

[boyst]

7 minutes ago, DD4Bills said:

Aggressively avoiding work today, so took a peek TeamRankings.com...

 

  

Make of this what you will.

First thing, I'd like to see this against the rest of the league as I would imagine most teams score more in the later part of the game. That could be due to two issues. Teams trailing will look to get a few points on the board since defenses aren't as tough and tight. And the highest scoring games always get more high scoring in that last little bit 

 

But I also swear that we were setting records with opening drive scores at some point under Daboll maybe. Maybe it was something along the lines of we'd score on the first drive and then fall asleep. 

[Fr. Jerk]

Right, it all evens out and everything comes full circle. The frozen tundra!!! Nobody circles the wagon like the Bills!!

 

We're winning the SB, ya dig?

Edited 5 hours ago by Fr. Jerk

[SoonerBillsFan]

1 hour ago, MJS said:

There was a time when the Bills fell asleep in the 2nd and 3rd quarters on offense, particularly the 3rd. You are remembering correctly. Those were the Daboll years. But they would usually wake up by the 4th quarter.

We would score 7-14 in the first... jack squat in 2nd and 3rd, then like 30 in the 4th lol

[Rew]

Offense has felt a bit of a lull in Q2 and sometimes Q3, but has pretty consistently been strong in Q4 (particularly the last 5 minutes).  However, as a team we have consistently (for many years) been having better 2nd halves than first halves.  Our 2nd half scoring differential was breaking records a couple years ago.  Our defensive adjustments this year have followed this trend.

 

I think you're having flashbacks to the pre-McD years, when it never seemed to matter how close we came we always lost games.

Edited 5 hours ago by Rew

[boyst]

1 hour ago, Rew said:

Offense has felt a bit of a lull in Q2 and sometimes Q3, but has pretty consistently been strong in Q4 (particularly the last 5 minutes).  However, as a team we have consistently (for many years) been having better 2nd halves than first halves.  Our 2nd half scoring differential was breaking records a couple years ago.  Our defensive adjustments this year have followed this trend.

 

I think you're having flashbacks to the pre-McD years, when it never seemed to matter how close we came we always lost games.

I think that maybe happening, too.

 

I remember that we were setting a record for most opening drives with points 5ish years ago. 

[Goin Breakdown]

2 hours ago, Sweats said:

I used to get so pissed off when we would fall asleep in the 3rd quarter of games and it wasn't until their backs were against the wall and someone would slap them around a little bit to wake them up, where they would come alive again in the 4th.

 

Now it seems they zombie walk the 1st half of games and then come out with both pistols a-blazing for the 2nd.

 

Like, come on boys, this old man's heart can't take much more.

I agree. This pattern can't happen in the playoffs. 

[Joe Mama]

6 hours ago, Sweats said:

 

 

Now it seems they zombie walk the 1st half of games and then come out with both pistols a-blazing for the 2nd.

 

Like, come on boys, this old man's heart can't take much more.

This may be the result of having a run first, TOP offense, and always deferring opening KO. Wear them down early and stomp on them in the second half.