FanPost

Reflections on the season ending



I took a few days after the Bengals beat-down of the Bills in order to process my thoughts and have less of a "hot take" before making this Fanpost.

Obviously, I was disappointed to see the performance of the team on Sunday. Here are some observations/thoughts.

First of all, anytime you end the playoffs with your worst performance of the season, it raises questions about the teams' psyche. And coaching. Frazier and Dorsey deserve the disapproval that I see here, including my own.

My thoughts leading up to the game were that the Bills were already on shaky ground, after the less-than-stellar performance against an overmatched Miami offense. And further back, since the second half of the Packers game, they did not look like a Super Bowl team.

Honestly, I had low expectations. Even the recent New England win was in part due to two incredible plays by the special teams and Hynes. Take those two scores away, and maybe it is a different story.

My main reason for hopeful optimism was that the team would rally around Damar Hamlin, bonding with the city and the fans response to his injury and dramatic recovery. I kind of saw it going one of two ways - implosion, or rally round Damar, and a gutsy win.

Which brings me to my first point. I believe that the team was not mentally prepared to make a deep playoff run. Some of that might have to do with the Monday night game in Cincinatti. But more importantly, it points to coaching.

These players are human and at this time in our culture, mental toughness is not what it used to be. When faced with adversity, not everyone rises to the occasion. The blizzard, having to play an extra road game in Detroit, and of course the Hamlin near-death experience all may have been too much not only for the players, but some of the coaches. More blame for this IMO goes to the coaching staff because they're leaders. Leaders have to step up and take responsibility. They should have had their hands on the pulse of the team. Only Diggs and Allen showed up for the Bengals game.

Which brings me to my second point. I think there was more to Josh Allen's arm injury than the coaches let on. Allen deserves credit for playing through it, but was this really in the long-term interest of the franchise? This isn't an injury like an ACL tear in the knee or sprained knee, that doesn't threaten a QB's career. It is his throwing arm, the most valuable part of his core physical talent. Why not rest him for a game or two, and develop a running game? Or play Keenum and see if he can get you a W? Josh's fumble at the goal line during the freakish 4th quarter collapse against the Vikes might not happen if he's at full strength.

I am just speculating here. But what if Keenum plays that game, and maybe a few more, and the Bills are forced to develop a different style of offense? Worst case, they lose to the Browns and get a lower playoff seed. But the silver lining is they get a rested and fully healthy Allen for the playoffs. And learn how to win without playing the hero ball that JA tends to revert to under duress.

To turn to the future, and possible solutions, here is what I would suggest.

1. Allowing Allen to play and risk further arm injury was unforgivable. The Pegulas need to take a hard look at how that was allowed to happen. Someone needs to be held accountable. I am not going to name names, because I have no insight into whose call that was.

But some head(s) needs to roll. You cannot risk your franchise QB's future over any short-term goal, even a Super Bowl run. With Allen 26 and healthy after this season ends and he recovers, the Bills are a playoff team every year. Without him, go back and watch a tape of the Chan Gailey or Dick Jauron era (when a good year was glorious run to 7-9.)

2. Assuming Frazier had nothing to do with number 1, which seems reasonable, I would keep him for one more season, for continuity's sake. There are going to have to be offensive scheme changes, and adding a new DC to that probably means missing the playoffs next year.

3. Assuming that Dorsey had nothing to do with number 1, which may not be so safe of an assumption, I would also keep him but put him on the shortest of leashes. Put him on a performance improvement plan. With metrics that will be graded by week 4 of next season. McDermott has to make him develop a less predictable offensive scheme, something more than drop-back Josh, rely on him improvise and throw deep if it's there. In other words, hero ball 2.0 is gone. Develop a real commitment to the run. McDermott has to get more involved in the offense at least in terms of demanding more, if not actually calling the plays. Get someone to mentor Josh to help with the intermediate and shorter throws. See how Elway finally won a SB when he got Terrell Davis and a zone-blocking OL coach (Alex Gibbs.)

The most troubling part of this to me is that McDermott had the authority to sit Josh for a game or two and didn't. Maybe he just let JA overrule him, or perhaps it came from higher ups ... either way not a good look.

Just another great fan opinion shared on the pages of BuffaloRumblings.com.