The Buffalo Bills managing to lose a game that they were in total control of for the majority of the time on the field was so infuriating that I simply will not be able to write this article without letting some of my inner, enraged and semi-coherent Bills fan out a little bit.
First, hats off to the defense of the Bills, who put up another great performance against the Chiefs. They allowed 17 points, which isn’t much to begin with, and 7 of those points came off of a turnover in our half of the field. They totaled six sacks, with another three sack performance from Marcel Dareus. They held Jamaal Charles to less than 100 yards and the Chiefs’ offense to less than 300 total yards on the day. In short, they had as good a day as anyone can reasonably expect from any defense. It’s just that the offense was too pathetically inept to take advantage of a golden opportunity laid before them by the defense, a chance to make a statement that this team is a real contender in the AFC playoff race. Instead, they once again proved that they’re just the same old Bills.
My god, how bad is Nathaniel Hackett? He has two running backs on the field averaging five or more yards per carry (Dixon had 6.9 YPC and Brown had 5 YPC), but instead of ramming the ball down the Chiefs throat when the Bills had a ten point lead in the second half, he chooses to throw the ball. I couldn’t tell you how many drives stalled yesterday because the Bills threw it on first, second, and third down for no particular reason. Usually Can’t Hack-ett waits until the Bills are down by a whole three points before abandoning the run, but yesterday I guess he decided to abandon it because it was effective. He’s horrible at his job and he should be fired today. The Bills need to get someone new in there and pretty much anyone new would be an upgrade. Remember what happened to the Ravens on their Super Bowl run? It’s not as crazy as it sounds.
I know I joke (well, half joke anyway) about applying for the Bills OC job when it opens up, but I honestly believe I could do a better job. I bet you that half of the fans on this blog could do a better job, in fact. I am just appalled at how the game was called yesterday. I mean, if a team can’t come off of a bye week to host a mediocre team and win, what the hell can they do? I lack the words to properly describe the magnitude of the failure that was the Bills game yesterday.
So, aside from the incredibly lopsided play calling (49 passes to 22 runs), turnovers once again reared their ugly head. The three Bills fumbles comprised the second most impactful reason why they lost the game yesterday. Wasn’t Bryce Brown known for giving up the ball in Philly? It is shocking to me that these men, people who have played the game since they were five years old, still haven’t gotten the fundamental aspects of the game locked down. You know, highly complex things like ball security and tackling are just impossible to master in 15 to 20 years on the field, right? It’s just pathetic.
And so the Bills begin another second-half swoon, as they so often have in the last decade. Even if the Bills were to go down to Miami and win, then somehow win against the Jets and Browns in November, they’re still sitting at only 8-4 with three games against top 5 teams in the NFL left on the schedule. Even if the Bills end up 9-7, which I highly doubt, they won’t make the playoffs on that record this year and, at this point, anything other than playoffs is a disappointment for a fan base that has had precious little to cheer about on the field for 14 years.
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