Is Playoff Fatigue a Thing?

[st pete gogolak]

After the Bills six year playoff run in the late eighties and early nineties, the team had a miserable 1995 (7 - 9 record).  A lot of scuttlebut concerned the fact that the team had played 16 “extra” games during the playoff run that impacted their performance that year.  
 

Heard some of that with the Chiefs last year.  Playoff fatigue caught up with them.  (Brady and the Pats seemed immune to playoff fatigue but they always had a bye and home field advantage).

 

Really seems true in the NHL this year.  Florida, after three straight years to the Cup finals, looks totally shot. To a lesser extent, same with Edmonton.

 

Don’t want to give Bills fans another reason to worry but we’ve got the worst of all worlds when it comes to playoff fatigue- 15 playoff games in seven years without a Super Bowl appearance.  So what’s the verdict?  Is this a thing or a nothingburger?

[SoonerBillsFan]

If you play as many games as the Bills did in that 4 year span (I think it came out to over 5 regular seasons worth of games) it can happen

[T.E.]

That's why you get knocked out in the division round to avoid too much wear and tear.

[RiotAct]

it was 1994, not 1995  

 

I would know, because that was the season I became old enough to track all the games / player stats / etc. by myself  

[Augie]

Not this year. We will have a lot of new players coming in, and the old guys are getting something new (for better or worse). It think it will be a little more exciting initially, then hopefully they like what they’re seeing. A new voice always gets everyones’s ear.  

[Kelly to Allen]

Not a team that is still young

 

The 80s/90s 49ers 

The 70s/ early 80s cowboys 

The Brady Pats

 

 

If you draft well and you have the QB you can compete for a Superbowl every single year 

[machine gun kelly]

I’m not buying it.  What many forget is after the Kelly Bills, we had another small run with the monster defense of the late 90’s and Flutie.  Probably never would’ve made the SB, but we were competitive with Teddy Washington, Marcellus Wiley, Bryce Paup, Chris Spielman, etc.

 

My bottom line is as long as we have JA17 for another 8-9 years at least given so many QBs playing much longer, we’re in it.  He’s not human in so many ways.  The Elway Broncos went to 5 SBs even if only winning the last 2.

[Mikie2times]

2 minutes ago, machine gun kelly said:

I’m not buying it.  What many forget is after the Kelly Bills, we had another small run with the monster defense of the late 90’s and Flutie.  Probably never would’ve made the SB, but we were competitive with Teddy Washington, Marcellus Wiley, Bryce Paup, Chris Spielman, etc.

 

My bottom line is as long as we have JA17 for another 8-9 years at least given so many QBs playing much longer, we’re in it.  He’s not human in so many ways.  The Elway Broncos went to 5 SBs even if only winning the last 2.

The team that lost in the MCM was the best Bills defense in the Super Bowl era. We get past Tennessee and we are probably going to play the Rams. 

[machine gun kelly]

10 minutes ago, Mikie2times said:

The team that lost in the MCM was the best Bills defense in the Super Bowl era. We get past Tennessee and we are probably going to play the Rams. 

Agreed.  That’s why so many of us felt so robbed on that Music City Robbery.  I’ll go to my death bed that was a forward pass.  I remember some applied math nerds at RIT or U of R proved it.  Anyway, spilt milk.  If Ralph didnt screw up forcing Johnson vs. Flutie, we would’ve won that game.

 

BTW- thanks for that horrible memory.  Just kidding.  I know our defense would’ve given the Rams a defense that would’ve been tough to defeat.  My fiends here in Tampa or gym rats would argue the Bucs had the #1 defense.  I vehemently defended we were #1, and we were in almost every category.

 

What I would give for prime Moulds in this team.  He would be the perfect compliment to DJ.  That would be an offense.  Maybe Evans comments are not BS, as that would put us over the top.

 

Can you imagine, DJ, Evans, Shakir, Palmer as a 4th, trade Coleman for a ham sandwich, and both our RB and TE room.

 

Beat that AFC.

Edited March 8 by machine gun kelly

[boater]

I don't believe in the theory.

 

Though.. data points for someone looking hard to support it:

 

The Sabres have been 14 seasons out of the playoffs. They are plenty rested and that fuels their run this season.

 

The Bandits three-peated as champs and have been lackluster this season.

[Mr Wild]

New Stadium

New Coach

New atmosphere

 

I think these will help with the fans this year.  The really interesting thing will be how loud can the new stadium actually get.  At the loudest we got it to around 104 db.  Everyone who built it says it will be louder but how much louder will it get.

[Your Brown Eye]

Maybe Dawkins should stop getting IV infusions of cow lard every morning, then this team could sustain some semblance of endurance on a week-to-week and year-to-year basis. The guy come to camp fatter than the year before

[RyanC883]

3 hours ago, Your Brown Eye said:

Maybe Dawkins should stop getting IV infusions of cow lard every morning, then this team could sustain some semblance of endurance on a week-to-week and year-to-year basis. The guy come to camp fatter than the year before

most overrated guy on the team. 

[StarlessAndBibleBills]

Ask the Sabres fanbase. Non-playoff fatigue was very much a thing.

[Thurman#1]

9 hours ago, st pete gogolak said:

After the Bills six year playoff run in the late eighties and early nineties, the team had a miserable 1995 (7 - 9 record).  A lot of scuttlebut concerned the fact that the team had played 16 “extra” games during the playoff run that impacted their performance that year.  
 

Heard some of that with the Chiefs last year.  Playoff fatigue caught up with them.  (Brady and the Pats seemed immune to playoff fatigue but they always had a bye and home field advantage).

 

Really seems true in the NHL this year.  Florida, after three straight years to the Cup finals, looks totally shot. To a lesser extent, same with Edmonton.

 

Don’t want to give Bills fans another reason to worry but we’ve got the worst of all worlds when it comes to playoff fatigue- 15 playoff games in seven years without a Super Bowl appearance.  So what’s the verdict?  Is this a thing or a nothingburger?

 

 

It's a thing.

 

But one or two extra games a year isn't likely to bring it about. It's more three or four games several years in a row.

 

Not worried at all about the Bills. 

 

Oh, and I don't think that was the problem with the Chiefs. I don't know what was, but it wasn't playoff fatigue. More bad defense, Kelce getting old and Mahomes not being Superman as much the last year or two. I'm sure there's more as well.

 

 

 

4 hours ago, RyanC883 said:

most overrated guy on the team. 

 

 

Not hardly.

[SoCal Deek]

If this is true then the Sabres should have about EIGHT full seasons of rest on many of the teams they’ll face in this year’s playoffs. Sweet!

(Of course many of the players were in junior high back then but still.)

[GunnerBill]

5 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

Oh, and I don't think that was the problem with the Chiefs. I don't know what was, but it wasn't playoff fatigue. More bad defense, Kelce getting old and Mahomes not being Superman as much the last year or two. I'm sure there's more as well.

 

Even if playoff fatigue does exist (I'm more sceptical) it certaintly wasn't the reason the Chiefs fell off. 

 

Kelce got old, Jones is getting up there and had a down year, they traded their most expeirenced and reliable OL guy before the season, Mahomes wasn't at his best and Andy Reid isn't quite as at the cutting edge as he was 7 or 8 years ago when their run started. Indeed at times last year their offensive scheming was just objectively poor. And there was a reversion to the mean in 1 score games. 

[BarleyNY]

16 hours ago, st pete gogolak said:

After the Bills six year playoff run in the late eighties and early nineties, the team had a miserable 1995 (7 - 9 record).  A lot of scuttlebut concerned the fact that the team had played 16 “extra” games during the playoff run that impacted their performance that year.  
 

Heard some of that with the Chiefs last year.  Playoff fatigue caught up with them.  (Brady and the Pats seemed immune to playoff fatigue but they always had a bye and home field advantage).

 

Really seems true in the NHL this year.  Florida, after three straight years to the Cup finals, looks totally shot. To a lesser extent, same with Edmonton.

 

Don’t want to give Bills fans another reason to worry but we’ve got the worst of all worlds when it comes to playoff fatigue- 15 playoff games in seven years without a Super Bowl appearance.  So what’s the verdict?  Is this a thing or a nothingburger?

 

Every team is different, but, it can be a thing for many teams. It seems more prevalent for teams that get close, but don’t win a championship. Mentally that can be exhausting. Plus there is a physical toll. Not only are players playing in more games later into the season, they’re almost always playing injured to some degree. So if a team is out of the playoff hunt with 3 games left in the season they will probably shut down some players and probably put them on IR to get them healthy for the following season. But a similarly injured player on a SB losing team could play 6 or 7 more games with that injury and then start their rehab 2 months later. There’s going to be a difference in how those players start and play the following season. Especially if they go deep into the playoffs again. Those issues will really show up big when a team has an aging roster. 

Edited March 9 by BarleyNY

[dayman]

Psychological fatigue is a thing, period. So of course, these guys are humans. Seasons are long. You saw Josh after the game. He appeared…fatigued…. I would say. 

[Kirby Jackson]

15 hours ago, Augie said:

Not this year. We will have a lot of new players coming in, and the old guys are getting something new (for better or worse). It think it will be a little more exciting initially, then hopefully they like what they’re seeing. A new voice always gets everyones’s ear.  

This is where I’m at Augie. To me, playoff fatigue is less about the extra games and more about losing the mental edge. It’s tough to always be sharp and motivated. With all the change at OBD, it feels like this year they will as motivated as ever.
 

I think that we saw a little of that “playoff fatigue” over the years (like the year Miami was winning the division for a while). The Bills were just a lot better than everyone in the AFCE (I think that they still are). It was tough for them to fall out of the playoffs from playoff fatigue like the Chiefs did but they weren’t as sharp at times.