Still struggling to accept this

[SC STATE NUPE]

I go to one Bills game every year in a city I’ve never visited before. This year was Cleveland and I really enjoyed the city. But I knew at that game this year’s squad was not a championship team. This loss hurts like hell. But how the Patriots are playing and how Vrabel already put into the universe about our holding would’ve been catastrophic losing to them!!! I remember when the Cubs won the World Series, they had this very sentimental commercial of fans through the years sitting through disappointments. Our time will come. We see that those guys really cared about winning despite their obstacles. My heart has been telling me since that Cleveland game they will win it all next year. People forget how the Red Sox got their hearts ripped out by Aaron Boone. I’m a big baseball guy too and that 💩 was brutal and I’m not a Red Sox guy whatsoever. They got their hearts snatched this weekend and will respond accordingly. The Bills gotta strive for 14 wins to assure homefield next year…

Edited January 19 by SC STATE NUPE

[Bill from NYC]

16 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I mean McDermott's had a lot of high octane passing offenses for a guy who you claim is completely against them. Do I think he decided after Dorsey that they needed to get better at running the football to reduce the variance in this offense? Yes, I do. Do I think maybe at his core he is more comfortable with that than with the almost run and shoot style Dorsey ran and the high volume passing of Daboll? Yes, but while it was working under Dabes, McDermott didn't try and fix what wasn't broken. 

 

Do I think he and Beane undervalue receiver? Yes, I do. I predicted it on this board the moment Beane was hired. They come from Carolina. A franchise that made the Superbowl (on the back of a 15-1 season) with Ted Ginn and Devin Funchess, I think they do (and when I say THEY - this is not just McDermott indeed I think Beane is EVEN STRONGER on this than his coach) that you prioritise the trenches and you can get by to an extent at receiver. But it is ALSO the talent evaluation at receiver that has failed and that is entirely on Brandon Beane. So McDermott isn't blameless.... he is in on the strategy. But it is a flawed strategy that has also been dreadfully executed. And so Beane carries more of the can for that. 

 

But as I said before, Beane in my view is out of chances, and I see not rationale for keeping one without the other. I just don't think Pegula sees it that way. I expect both back. 

I am not saying that McDermott is totally against a "high octane passing game." How could he be? After all, he lucked into Josh Allen after trading away Mahomes for a cornerback (before Beane was hired). I do however contend that he cares MUCH more about defense in general and corners specifically than he does about providing Josh with weapons. 

I thing that this is a smart economic philosophy for him but a dumb one for the team. Think about it....his w/l record looks great. If he is (hopefully) fired, another team will soon hire him, perhaps with an increased salary. An owner will look at his record and be impressed. This is what I think contributes to his "play not to lose" mindset of team building.

And btw, I never claimed that McDermott is the worst field general. He isn't. I simply make the case that he has too much power and a dumb philosophy of team building. 

[jahbonas]

1 hour ago, Bill from NYC said:

Don't you find it strange that it hasn't already happened? Is this even excusable? 

 

Count me as one who thinks that Beane should be fired, and followed out the door by his boss McDermott (the man who hired him).

 

Bill I agree - both can be gone   - my reply below here was to a different post - somehow screwed it up

 

 

Edited January 19 by jahbonas
rep;y to wrong post

[Bill from NYC]

1 minute ago, jahbonas said:

 

How do you think Bean works in a vaccuum?  McD is all over all aspects of this organization - including early draft picks  - changing in offensive system from 3WR sets to 3 TE sets  - a system Josh is not all comfy with /   Its amazing how McD slides away from this responsibility - same way he slid away from owning all his 13 seconds poor decisions  - blaming it on execution rather than his decision to not squib kick and his decision to play so soft

Please read my posts in this, and other threads. I make the contention that McDermott is the power, not Beane. I fully agree with the above and fail to see how you got this take.

[jahbonas]

2 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

Please read my posts in this, and other threads. I make the contention that McDermott is the power, not Beane. I fully agree with the above and fail to see how you got this take.

 Bill it was my mistake on reply  - i agree with you 10000pvt

[Sweats]

2 hours ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

It hurts. But I never looked at the core of this roster, specifically the weapons around Josh, and felt this was a Championship team.

 

Certainly not when they performed worse than even I had expected and we were scrambling and pinning our hopes on guys like Gabe Davis, Brandin Cooks, and Mecole Hardman to save the offense.

 

Because of that, we underachieved in the regular season. We were losing to teams like the friggin' Falcons and the Dolphins. We didn't win the division for the first time in forever with the easiest achedule we've had in a long time.

 

And on top of all of those things, we were (once again) snake bitten with injuries all season. Ed Oliver lost for the year before the halfway mark. Our 1st Round Pick only played in 9 of 17 games. Michael Hoecht transformed this defense and we only got a game and a half out of him. The only guy who could consistently get open for us (Dalton Kincaid) was playing through an injury rather than getting work done and had to be managed down the stretch. Jordan Poyer (surprisingly) saved our Secondary alongside Cole Bishop - then we lost him for the Playoffs and were rolling out a Rookie who wasn't ready and then Cam Lewis. And that's not even getting into week to week things.

 

Ultimately, Brandon Beane failed Josh Allen and this team. Watching the Seahawks curb stomp the 49ers, who booted the defending Super Bowl Champions from the playoffs the week before, I couldn't help but think that even if we had beaten the Broncos and the Patriots - we'd have fallen to that team. Even if the Rams pull it off against them, I don't think we'd beat the Rams either. So it would have ended in another Super Bowl loss, in my opinion.

 

I felt the same way last year. That Beane built a team that required Josh Allen to be a God, never make a single mistake, and carry everyone. Even then, we still needed kick. Hopefully, this off-season he (or whoever the GM is if he gets fired) finally builds a team that can actually get it done.

 

 

 

 

This is the correct answer here and what helps me sleep at night..........everyone, including the fans, our FO, other teams, etc. knew that this team was seriously flawed from the top on down and there was absolutely no way we were making a serious push with this pathetic roster.

 

We had hope, but hope doesn't offset the lack of talent.

[All_Pro_Bills]

4 minutes ago, Sweats said:

 

 

 

 

This is the correct answer here and what helps me sleep at night..........everyone, including the fans, our FO, other teams, etc. knew that this team was seriously flawed from the top on down and there was absolutely no way we were making a serious push with this pathetic roster.

 

We had hope, but hope doesn't offset the lack of talent.

So it's seems the consensus is the roster of players is not good enough at their jobs and the people responsible for building the roster the GM, front office, and HC are not good enough at their jobs and the only person with the ability to do something about it the owner won't do anything and is therefore not good enough at his job.

 

 

[Sweats]

1 minute ago, All_Pro_Bills said:

So it's seems the consensus is the roster of players is not good enough at their jobs and the people responsible for building the roster the GM, front office, and HC are not good enough at their jobs and the only person with the ability to do something about it the owner won't do anything and is therefore not good enough at his job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

exactly........the whole organization is flawed from the top on down

[Yobogoya!]

26 minutes ago, Sweats said:

 

 

 

 

This is the correct answer here and what helps me sleep at night..........everyone, including the fans, our FO, other teams, etc. knew that this team was seriously flawed from the top on down and there was absolutely no way we were making a serious push with this pathetic roster.

 

We had hope, but hope doesn't offset the lack of talent.

Whoever thought before he year we’d be getting 70% snaps from Tre and 50% from Poyer… and that we’d be absolutely screwed if either of them went down. 
 

These are guys we cut two years ago for being washed up, lol. 

[<bills4life>]

1 hour ago, CSBill said:

I spent most of last week on vacation with my grandson, at the Happiest Place on Earth - Disney World. (Side note: He's 8 years old, and we wore Bills gear each day to see how many "Go Bills!" we could get, which ended up somewhere around 50. He loved it.)

 

Got home in time for the game, even the misery of that didn't ruin my week. 

 

But then, unwisely so--I knew it would be like this--I logged on to TBD, after a week away. And it is even worse than I imagined . . . 

 

From the Happiest Place on Earth to the Most Miserable and Depressing Place on Earth. 

 

Maybe I need to help him learn to root for another team? Am I being a good grandparent, making him a Bills fan ????

No.  Pain, suffering, and misery are all a part of life. What better way to teach these life lessons than being a bills fan?  And as an added bonus you also touch on the grieving process. Win win. 

[GunnerBill]

34 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

I am not saying that McDermott is totally against a "high octane passing game." How could he be? After all, he lucked into Josh Allen after trading away Mahomes for a cornerback (before Beane was hired). I do however contend that he cares MUCH more about defense in general and corners specifically than he does about providing Josh with weapons. 

I thing that this is a smart economic philosophy for him but a dumb one for the team. Think about it....his w/l record looks great. If he is (hopefully) fired, another team will soon hire him, perhaps with an increased salary. An owner will look at his record and be impressed. This is what I think contributes to his "play not to lose" mindset of team building.

And btw, I never claimed that McDermott is the worst field general. He isn't. I simply make the case that he has too much power and a dumb philosophy of team building. 

 

As you know I don't totally buy your rationale on them over valuing defensive backs. While, yes, 3 DBs in round one since 2017 is the joint most in the NFL, 4 in the first 120 picks of the draft since 2017 is the joint fewest in the NFL over that same time frame. 

[eball]

1 hour ago, Bill from NYC said:

I will never understand why Beane shoulders all of the blame and McDermott is absolved of any responsibility. Do you think that if McDermott insisted on getting more weapons for Josh and more depth for the OL, Beane would (or even could) overrule him? I consider this scenario to be 100% impossible.

 

We are lucky that Josh doesn't insist on a trade. He plays far from his family, in the freezing cold, and with a coach who concentrates of defensive backs and defensive tackles. He deserves better and without McDermott and the GM that he holds on a leash, this team could and should win the Super Bowl in 2027.

 

For what very little it is worth, I predict that this scenario will come true next season. Yes, next year I think that we will have a new coach, a new GM, more weapons and protection for Josh, and a Super Bowl win.

 

As always, jmo.

 

Bill, I don’t want to get into a pissing contest with you because you’ve become very bitter about this, but I still fail to understand your intense dislike of McDermott.  He’s not only concentrating on defensive backs and defensive tackles.  He is a very aggressive, forward-thinking coach who has given Allen and the OC broad latitude.  He is good at the analytics (i.e., 4th down decisions) and doesn’t “play not to lose.”  He has relationships with his players (including Josh).  What is it, specifically, you think he’s doing wrong?  Did he make decisions on Saturday night to lose that football game?  The Bills turned it over 5 times and still scored 30 points!  And then, afterwards, he stood up for his team and said things the league probably doesn’t like very much at all.

 

Anyway, I’m comfortable saying McD is not the problem here.  He doesn’t shop for the groceries.  Beane is the architect of this roster and he needs to be told by Pegula to either support Josh with more weapons or he won’t be here much longer.

 

[juno999]

First of all, anyone struggling with this loss, I’d suggest stay off social media except here. Lot of trolls out there. 
 

Regarding this post, I accept this loss because we had 5 turnovers. If we took better care of the ball, we win this game by 10+ points. No team wins the Super Bowl playing sloppy ball which is what the Bills did on Saturday. A good team, goes out and executes their plays at a high level, wins in the trenches, and takes care of the damn ball. The refs are there to blow the whistle and place the ball. Good teams do this and make the refs irrelevant. 
 

As a rabid fan, remember in the end it’s just a game. There are way more important things in life. Go Bills!

[ren1701]

Probably going to be PatsvRams - 2 teams that have retooled and are going back to the promised land within 5 years. Think about that stat. They are doing it because they have system that uses their MVP QB's with a scrappy defense that doesn't bend don't break. Although I am happy for Cook,  that Buffalo won the rushing title and Josh wasn't even mentioned in the MVP conversation was all you needed to know about how this organization operates. 

 

Let me put the "who's in charge" question to rest - Sean McDermott 100%. Beane drafts to scheme and was actually brought in by McDermott, the issues are simple. We have a head coach that plays outdated football and is a control freak, a GM who over values his players and draft picks and an owner that simply does not care. He just spend 1.6 billion (with a B) on new house for these guys and recouping that is paramount. Football is a business first, game second, like it or not. If you continually have a winning records and make the playoffs that keeps butts in the seats and the merch flowing, that's called sustainability. Bean actually said it a couple times. 

Here's the sad part - no learning will be done. This is 9 YEARS of the same ol formula. Unless 17 demands it (which he won't), these guys are set. We all know how this goes, let me que it up for you as easily as we all know Cook up the middle on first down. 
1. Draft at 28 or close -someone that we could have got in the 3rd or 4th round and then wiff on it 
2. After June 1st look through the has beens and cast offs, over pay them and watch them do nothing
3. For 18 games watch an outdated defense get gouged in the run and give up a 52% 3rd down conversation rate all while 17 most of the time puts on the cape to bail them out  
4. Get to the playoffs to have 17 leave in them in a position to win only to watch said defense blow it in the final 2 minutes
5. Watch as 17 is being wasted and talk about the changes that are needed ad nauseum 
6. Rinse and repeat 

 

I think without changes from the top down - groundhog day here my friends

[Ralonzo]

2 hours ago, Bill from NYC said:

Yes, next year I think that we will have a new coach, a new GM, more weapons and protection for Josh, and a Super Bowl win.

The Ravens just went that direction, dumping their coach who won it all with Joe Freakin Flacco, to try to maximize Lamar who has shown far far less in playoff performance than Allen.

 

I have almost no faith that the Bills would make such a decisive move to remove the limiter from the guy driving their bus.

[SCBills]

3 hours ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

It hurts. But I never looked at the core of this roster, specifically the weapons around Josh, and felt this was a Championship team.

 

Certainly not when they performed worse than even I had expected and we were scrambling and pinning our hopes on guys like Gabe Davis, Brandin Cooks, and Mecole Hardman to save the offense.

 

Because of that, we underachieved in the regular season. We were losing to teams like the friggin' Falcons and the Dolphins. We didn't win the division for the first time in forever with the easiest achedule we've had in a long time.

 

And on top of all of those things, we were (once again) snake bitten with injuries all season. Ed Oliver lost for the year before the halfway mark. Our 1st Round Pick only played in 9 of 17 games. Michael Hoecht transformed this defense and we only got a game and a half out of him. The only guy who could consistently get open for us (Dalton Kincaid) was playing through an injury rather than getting work done and had to be managed down the stretch. Jordan Poyer (surprisingly) saved our Secondary alongside Cole Bishop - then we lost him for the Playoffs and were rolling out a Rookie who wasn't ready and then Cam Lewis. And that's not even getting into week to week things.

 

Ultimately, Brandon Beane failed Josh Allen and this team. Watching the Seahawks curb stomp the 49ers, who booted the defending Super Bowl Champions from the playoffs the week before, I couldn't help but think that even if we had beaten the Broncos and the Patriots - we'd have fallen to that team. Even if the Rams pull it off against them, I don't think we'd beat the Rams either. So it would have ended in another Super Bowl loss, in my opinion.

 

I felt the same way last year. That Beane built a team that required Josh Allen to be a God, never make a single mistake, and carry everyone. Even then, we still needed kick. Hopefully, this off-season he (or whoever the GM is if he gets fired) finally builds a team that can actually get it done.

I get this, but there’s no guarantee Josh stays healthy every year from here on out. 
 

I guess healthy is relative for him since he’s had injuries many other QB’s miss time for and he plays through, but point still stands. 
 

Not a good team, but Josh was healthy and capable of playing at a superhuman level in any game, with only the Pats/Texans in our way.  
 

Even this flawed team should beat either of those teams, which we now know is the Pats. 
 

Instead, it’s another year with another heartbreak and we mark another year of Josh Allen off our calendars. 

[frostbitmic]

4 hours ago, Ray Stonada said:

I know Buffalo is not actually cursed and I don't believe it is rigged but I am having a hard time accepting we lost again. 

 

I still feel that was our game… 20 things went wrong and we lost by 3.

 

I keep wishing Josh had hit Knox on the TD, or Cooks catch had counted, or Hardman caught the sideline pass… they won't stop replaying in my mind.

 

I think Bears fans must be feeling the same way today. But they have everything to look forward to with a young team and Ben Johnson. Maybe Baltimore or SF can feel worse then us: Lamar Jackson has been in the NFL eight years and has won three playoff games. SF never gets there in the end. But those teams have a bunch of Super Bowls in their past.

 

 

We just weren't good enough ... Again.

 

No worries though, we'll run it back next year minus our best coach and things will remarkably be better.

[BeyondTheProcess]

4 hours ago, Kelly to Allen said:

Let's all be honest. Outside Allen, has this ever really been a true Superbowl level team? 

 

I honestly don't think so. The 13 second team was probably a legitimate super bowl team.

 

 

I'm not so sure we were ever supposed to win it all outside that year 

Agreed.   Solid winning franchise for 6 years, for the first time in 20 years, but, outside of the Carolina game, needed all kind of (sometimes miraculous) comebacks to stay in the hunt this year.    

 

To me, the McBeane "process" worked in that the Bills are the winningest team of the past 6 years (go look it up), but not able to get through a single elimination tournament of the half dozen best teams.    Great culture, great fan base, tremendous home game experience, etc.  Kind of a old-school rah, rah college team environment.    McBeanes created that.  

 

With the O Line about to break up, Kromer to retire, only small  cap amounts left to spend, 1st round draft busts the last few years, the window to win the tournament once or twice has now passed, IMHO.  Took me a few seasons to see it, but I see it now.  

 

Josh will get the team 10+ wins every year, just as Moon, Rivers, Rodgers, et al did, but that's about it.   And that works for Pegula, therefore I don't see much change coming.  

Edited January 19 by ProcessTruster

[PauleeeWalnuts]

4 hours ago, Ray Stonada said:

I know Buffalo is not actually cursed and I don't believe it is rigged but I am having a hard time accepting we lost again. 

 

I still feel that was our game… 20 things went wrong and we lost by 3.

 

I keep wishing Josh had hit Knox on the TD, or Cooks catch had counted, or Hardman caught the sideline pass… they won't stop replaying in my mind.

 

I think Bears fans must be feeling the same way today. But they have everything to look forward to with a young team and Ben Johnson. Maybe Baltimore or SF can feel worse then us: Lamar Jackson has been in the NFL eight years and has won three playoff games. SF never gets there in the end. But those teams have a bunch of Super Bowls in their past.

 

 

Yeah this one isn’t going away for a while 

[Bill from NYC]

55 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

As you know I don't totally buy your rationale on them over valuing defensive backs. While, yes, 3 DBs in round one since 2017 is the joint most in the NFL, 4 in the first 120 picks of the draft since 2017 is the joint fewest in the NFL over that same time frame. 

And you raise a good point. That said, do keep in mind that he traded away the Mahomes pick (on a team with no quarterback) and actually traded up for Elam. I cannot find a way to justify his choices.