Well, that stung a bit…
Bills 20, Eagles 23 was the game result, but the final result is a nail being hammered into the coffin on the Bills’ shot at the playoffs. In a vacuum, this is disappointing. In the collective of the 16 years they have not been in the playoffs this is a veritable mountain of failure falling not only on the fans now, but on Rex Ryan and the Bills organization. The irony of ironies for me personally is the Rex Ryan contract – I thought 5 years was great, to give him this transition year to figure out QB hell or high water and let the defense carry the day. Instead, Tyrod seems to be legit enough to be the starter going forward, but the defense has been shaky all year. It’s great to scoreboard watch and say “they didn’t give up more than 6 points in the 2nd half” but when you look at the defense they…react. They never dictate themselves to the offense. And that wasn’t what Rex claimed (and I know he can) to bring to the table. Defensive linemen jumping offsides 4-5 times in a game is shameful. Keeping Leodis on the field if he is such a threat to the coverage, is on the coaches and again, is shameful. And on offense, the line (and Felton) false starts, plus the holding? That’s just nuts.
Here are my big take-aways from the game:
- Let’s Have A Real Talk Moment on Tyrod: As I read twitter, fans and media are calling out Taylor for a bad game. Missing a few reads, going deep on third and short and not returning to opposite side of field on reads are fair critiques. However – I want to remind our readers that the deal going into this season was to find a “manager” quarterback that played within scheme and was supported by defense and special teams. Well, special teams fumbled a punt and the D let that in for a score. That’s not how you compliment a manager. So now, the statement becomes “he has to step up” – and post interception “he has to read better”. I’m sorry, but that’s moving the goal posts. You want a 1st year starter to not only play game manager but to now evolve into THE offense, while the line deteriorates under pressure from Philly’s defense? Nope. Not going to let that logic work. Where are you going to look from here? A focus on a QB that has to play for 10+ years is insane Buffalo. Stop it. If Taylor is good for a few years, then someone else is for a few years, that’s okay too. Instant gratification in a 16 year playoff drought is the height of insanity. I mentioned last week I thought a lot of Taylor’s game seemed similar to Flacco, but now his narrative does as well. Instead of the Flacc-o-meter “Elite or Not Elite” scale, we need a Taylor scale as well. This tweet is my everything re: Tyrod and this method of thinking:
When you build your team to win w/defense and running, you can’t take the number of flags the Bills do and ask QB to overcome it.
— JG_1611 (@JG_1611) December 13, 2015
- As the Losses Mount, So Too Does My 2nd Least Favorite Buffalo Past-Time: Up there with “is the QB THE GUY OH MY GOD” as my least favorite thing that happens around these parts is the “is player X a number (insert here) for this offense”. Up next, is Bob Woods a solid #2? A guy who gets 100 yards and does the dirty work wouldn’t seem to be a target of scorn on most teams, but the Bills (ahem) are not most teams. Let’s get to the real question: Is Bob Woods good enough to be a complimentary receiver that also occasionally catches really deep balls like Sammy because he has the same talent level only in a 2nd round package? No. Is he a great complimentary receiver? YES. If you want someone to match Sammy pass for pass like Harvin did earlier this year you better get him cheap – because the cap can’t fit all of that offense under it. Also, the calls of Woods’ inferiority came after Clay left with a back injury. Could that have affected the coverages? Nah, it was just Bobby boy’s lack of elite-d-ness. Definitely.
- Some of the Offense-Related Complaints are Execution Based: Complaining about a drop or a bad pass is fine. Complaining about a pass going deep when they could’ve checked it down, especially in a year where we all (fans and media) screamed for Watkins to be thrown the ball coverage be damned is lazy. Listening to WGR post-game, hearing that the McCoy trade shouldn’t have happened and that backs are overrated are insane to me. The Steelers losing Bell and then having DeAngelo Williams as his backup was a great signing by their front office, not an indicator that “anyone” could run for the Steelers. Same with the Seahawks – if anyone could do it, how was Rawls able to replace Lynch (until today) while Jackson hangs out on the bench? These are the maddening confirmation biases some will use to just hop on their talking points, but nope, not gonna fly here.
In the interests of getting the rest of my evening on and #TLC on my tv, here’s the tweet-bag:
#Bills How often do we see these hastily assembled "teams" of all-stars underachieve? Pretty much all of them? @RDotDeuce
— Brian Cummings (@B_inShortsville) December 13, 2015
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Most of the time, the free agent super-team doesn’t amount to much. In the Bills’ case, Clay, Harvin (pre-injury) and even Felton were good to great. The problem lied in the case of Felton with opportunities early; with Clay and Harvin injuries to both themselves and their quarterback; and in the case of the defense, the high profile signings were internal (Hughes/Dareus) and their failure has been a combination of Rex’s inability to be flexible with his defense and a pretty silly usage of 3 man rushes. And in 3 – 4 years they may be looking for a new coach that’ll run a 4-3 because of course they will….
@RDotDeuce @fgif just for this instead of asking questions I'm gonna ask you to "talk about" some stuff like the worst kind of journalist
— Ryan Nagelhout (@goosesroost) December 13, 2015
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I enjoyed this one, mainly because there are some media I’d like to do that with. “Talk about your focus on the salaries of players. Is this something you’ve always been concerned with? Who hurt you?”
@RDotDeuce @BuffaloWins are refs worse now or do we just see every mistake they make?
— Mike McKenzie (@mack10zie) December 13, 2015
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I think it’s both. And the fact that the NFL has made it a goal to dissect the atomic structure of a catch, while saying other plays are just what they are, even if a ref screws up.
@RDotDeuce @BuffaloWins Should the #Bills replace Dennis Thurman as DC this offseason?
— Shawn Ryder (@ShawnGRyder) December 13, 2015
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Gotta #StayWoke. Rex has called the plays from day 1. You can complain about Thurman not doing x or y, but during the week Dennis Thurman helps with the plan; on Sunday’s it’s all Rex. So, no I wouldn’t fire him, because you’re not changing the person that’s making those decisions. And Rex’s loyalty is well known – so there’s no doubt this staff is intact for 2016, barring a head coach job (Roman or Lyn).
@goosesroost @RDotDeuce I notice the bills didn't run 3-4 on the first drive n the other guys did scoring talk about that you hack
— yung turbo man (@fgif) December 13, 2015
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Frank’s right. My hack-dom is confirmed.
Now we’re on to Washington. YOU LIKE THAT?
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