Do Bills fans really have hope?
 

I mean, come on.

Buffalo had the number 1 defense virtually across the board.

This was the "Patrick Mahomes is broken" season. This was it. This was your big chance.

Their peak and valley quarterback strung together back to back games of his life. Are we going to see that consistently? The odds are we won't.

The Chiefs secondary lost its best player on the opening series, and were the keystone cops the rest of the way.

Still couldn't get it done.

If I were a Bills fan right now, I don't think I like the prospect of what I'm facing going forward. You not only have to match what you did, but be better? Keeping in mind if Butker just makes his kicks you probably just lose outright without all the heroics needed.

Their only hope is that Patrick Mahomes takes a year off to go invent a longer lasting light bulb or something.

32nd ranked schedule and went 11-6.

Bet they miss the playoffs next year.

In Toronto(international dome) & they're not the Broncos.

I think any honest KC fan will admit that the gap between the Chiefs and the rest of the AFC feels a lot narrower than at this time last year. Which is why they need to seal the deal and get another trophy this year. It's not going to get any easier as teams continue to build around Allen, Burrow, Herbert, etc.

I'd rather be them than about 12-13 other AFC teams. They at least have a shot. Hard to repeat as a #1 defense but they definitely aren't the 90s Chiefs. They absolutely have the QB, and Gabriel Davis came on strong at the end of the year. They may have something with Allen, Diggs, Davis and Dawson Knox.

What they really need to do is not blow games to teams like the Jaguars and then they're hosting that game this weekend. That's really when they'll be able to say they blew their best shot. They were only the 3 seed this year.

They should, they were a **** hair away from beating the Chiefs at home.

God bless Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Tyreek Hill.

Gonna get tougher to build around them as those rookie contracts run out.

They will make it there eventually. Josh Allen is good enough to win it all and the Chiefs will eventually have a down year.

Dumb thread

No, but they definitely have AIDS!!!!!!!!11111

They’ll be back. Josh Allen is too good for them not to.

Why are we already putting Herbert in this category? Really. 2 years on a relatively stacked roster and he can't even make the playoffs. Hell, the shambling corpse of Roethlisberger made it in over them.

They are really good and have more reason to hope than they've had in a long time. Honestly, Tre White not suiting up on the other side may have been the difference in that game.

If Buffalo fans don't get a SB win in the Allen era I'm worried for the health of the longtime fans in that city. But right now, they're excited, but they all know that Mahomes and KC are the standard they have to surpass if they're going to go all the way - and they know what a challenge that's going to be.

GFY

Yep.

It's the NFL. Literally anything can happen.

All it would take is a key season-ending injury to an irreplaceable player, or for Andy to suddenly be unable to coach, or any of possibly a hundred other things and KC could spin out.

Or hell, just go back and look at last year's SB. Just have a whole officiating crew decide that KC isn't allowed to play defense and that'd be all she wrote.

BUF is definitely good enough to get there and win it all. Several things outside their organization have to go right for them, but it's not crazy to think it could happen.

Some of that secondary play reminded me of when 'GoChiefs' (not sure if still around or current name if so, he seemed to change that frequently) used to make amusing gifs of guys like Mike Goff tripping over team mates

That's a good team with a good coach, a smart (young) front office and a premier QB.

They're not going anywhere.

Addison, Hughes, Beasley, Hyde and Poyer are their biggest contributors on the wrong side of 30, but we have a few of our own there. Diggs and Hill are about the same age.

While our OL is young and improving, their DL is in the same boat. They'll have Tre'Davious White back next season as well.

Our cap is in a little better shape than theirs at first blush, but we also have a LOT of open roster spots to fill even with depth players before we start talking about key areas of improvement required.

And I believe their schedule is easier than ours next year for a couple of reasons - A) The East will be dog-ass again and B) they don't have the NFC West as their NFC division next season and we do.

They'll be back. Probably playing us again next year. Potentially in Buffalo.

But **** if I care. We have Patrick Mahomes and they don't. They can have hope. In fact I'd love it if they did. It'll make Mahomes squeezing the life out of them again that much sweeter.

Of course they do; Allen is a top 5 QB.

His cap hit was $10m this year. It will jump to $16m next year and then $39m, $41m, and $51m. They really needed to capitalize this year, same as we did last season. It'll only get harder to field a great team.

Now it's looking like the Bengals and Chargers are primed to be contenders with franchise QBs on rookie contracts. The Bengals specifically have like $50m in cap space for 2022. Imagine if they can pull off an OL rebuild like the one we did this offseason..

Everyone (except delusional Buffalo fans) knew their defensive stats were inflated by the horrible opposing QB’s they faced this season (other than when they played Mahomes and Brady).

That dumbass is here. His name is Hammock

They absolutely do, they'll get one before Allen is done I guarantee it

They have the main thing to succeed. Franchise QB.

Bingo.

I will be curious as to how Allen/The Offense looks next year under a different OC though.

Very much so. They have a great young QB. From what I can tell a young defense. That game was a toss up game if I've ever seen it. They could have easily won. There was no divine destiny that made us win, lets be honest, we were quite fortunate.

I think Cinci and the Chargers could also possible get to that level too with some alterations. I cannot emphasize how important it is to get HFA in later years. That decided this game.

You were gone for like 86 years, where the hell you been?

Bills fans were sold a bill of goods. Nasty nasty goods. They were hyped due to "the #1 defense" and touted by the talking heads that they would beat KC.

Didn't happen. Came Damn close, but, cuz Chiefs.

They should take this as a learning experience and do the work for themselves evaluating the numbers. But I bet most won't.

Don't get me wrong, we as Chiefs fans have been as well. See the 9-0 season. But we learned from that. Now is their time to learn.

Unless Staley learns to coach football, he's going to continue to outsmart himself to mediocre records and waste the prime of Herbert's career.

And, this

The AFC is loaded with good, young QB’s.

Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Herbert, Lamar….

I hope Wilson and Rogers stay in the NFC at least.

Their coach is a very good defensive coach, they have the best QB in football not named Patrick Mahomes and their GM is excellent.

They draft really well.

They’ll be right there with us moving forward

Yeah - that's gonna be interesting to see.

How much did Daboll develop Allen vs. work around his deficiencies? Hard to say.

I mean he didn't make many bad throws last night. And in years past he'd have had Davis lunging for some of those balls even in busted coverage. He hit the dude right between the 1 and the 3 (I only know his number because it just. kept. getting. called.)

So I don't think Allen will fall off much, if at all, under a new OC. He looks like a genuinely different player than he was 3 seasons ago.

They could be at a crossroads. You would assume Allen will still be legit but his style of play he could falter as well. Be interesting who they replace Daboll with.

Honestly, it isn't hard for these offensive guys to pull in concepts from other offenses and tailor to a QB's strengths.

Daboll isn't THAT good of a coach or wouldn't have been a complete failure here.

They'll find somebody that's compatible with Allen and I bet they don't even really skip a beat.

We've talked about this over the years, but it is pretty remarkable that he was able to fix his accuracy issues. Not many NFL QBs have been able to do that.

NEVER hire a coordinator that's success came with a generational talent at QB.

Hush!

I want more draft picks.

Think you might want to reflect on how close that game was and herman edwards years.

Especially with as bad as his were.

Best I can figure is it was a Randy Johnson kind of thing where he grew into his body and figured stuff out. Long levered throwers often have trouble with repetition.

If GM's listened to our advice on CP they would win SB's every year.

Veach obviously lurks.

I've never seen a QB improve every year the way that Josh Allen has. He wasn't nearly that good last year in the AFC championship game and he was pretty wild and inaccurate his rookie year. Everyone knew he had unreal arm talent but to put it all together the way he has is pretty remarkable. I'd bet that he wins at least one Super Bowl in his career.

While they are (rightfully) hopeful, it's funny because during the game, their fanbase was the loudest that the game wasn't over with 13 seconds left in the NFL thread on reddit. Even as Chiefs fans were despairing their fans were largely like "I just can't celebrate yet." Those fans were molded by the darkness of January heartbreak.

<iframe id="reddit-embed" src="https://www.redditmedia.com/r/buffalobills/comments/sboptp/all_bills_fans_ages_30_and_older_amidst_a/?ref_source=embed&amp;ref=share&amp;embed=true" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups" style="border: none;" height="415" width="640" scrolling="no"></iframe>

For all the talk of “Chiefs can’t afford anyone when they pay Mahomes!”…we never seem to hear that about any of these other QBs.

Frankly, I think Herbert's going to be better than Allen. Wait til he has a defense.

Buffalo will be alright. They are still a great team that is loaded. The belief that Allen is still an inaccurate passer that can't read a defense needs to be put to rest. He has grown by leaps and bounds from when he was a rookie. That bomb he threw to Davis was perfect. The Allen of previous years overthrows that ball. If Buffalo's pass rushers develop they will constantly compete for the AFC with KC. The key though will be keeping Allen healthy as those designed runs will catch up with him in time.

They have plenty of hope. Allen is pretty awesome. Their front office seems to be doing a very good job when it comes to acquiring effective players. McDermott is a very good coach. The one thing they probably need to keep in mind is the career of Cam Newton. They should cut back on those designed runs into traffic for Allen, or his career will not run as long as they hope.

Cam Newton looked pretty unstoppable until the injuries started happening. Allen has Newton's body/athleticism, but Allen is a much better passer. Take advantage of his passing ability and keep him away from the injuries by not calling so many designed runs for him. Get him to slide or go out of bounds as often as possible when he decides to run during a broken play.

Yes but it’s slim. The Chiefs draft better and make better moves in free agency. Buffalo has finally gotten good after years of sucking resulting in high picks.

Imagine if Watson stays in the AFC. The playoffs will be out of control.

Brady didn't win every SB and neither will Mahomes. Every 4th SB or so the Bills, Bengals or anyone else with a legit QB can duke it out to see who'll get in. Then we'll take it back for a few more years, and in about 8 years they can duke it out all over again.

Mahomes will have about 8 SB wins, and Allen and the Bills will sneak in one or two when its all said and done.

At least they did not lose him during the game like Tyrann Mathieu. Buffalo had time to prepare for the loss of White. KC's secondary had blown coverages all over the place deep down the field. KC only had one really good safety and he was gone early in this game. At least Buffalo had 2 All-Pro safeties back in Cover 2 protecting the deep shots for 90% of the snaps.

You have to have a great QB...that's what we all have been saying since before Mahomes. Well...they have one. They are perennial contenders as long as old boy is healthy. The only thing I'd worry about is his running and how he welcomes contact...could be a problem in a couple of years. But for now...hell yeah, I'd have a ton of hope if I was a Bills fan.

No doubt. Tre can cover Hill in a way few singular defenders can -- but Tyrann getting injured devastated our secondary in a major way and it's fair to wonder if Allen has as dominant of a 4th quarter with him in the game.

If I could give up 2021 Tyrann in exchange for White being off the field, however? I'd probably do that 10/10 times, meaning no insult to Tyrann - Tre White is just that good and Tyrann has had a rough few weeks to end the year.

You think the Pats will win the division? I think the Bills have some of the components neede to stay relevant. Top tier quarterback, some good defensive players, good weapons. They have a few areas to attempt to upgrade, but they’re far from done. I’m not saying KC doesn’t win still, but let’s face it... the game would have been a little different if they had White playing. Myself, I’m wondering if McD is the coach to get them over the hump. They’re likely to lose Daboll, and possibly Frazier. Might lose Ken Dorsey if Daboll gets a job too, but he may decide to stay with Buffalo as OC. I think he’ll be a decent replacement for Daboll if that situation happens. Imagine Frazier leaves and the hire either Wink, or Fangio to run their D. I’d say either of those guys would be an upgrade from Frazier. If McD can grow as a coach, and learn to play KC without the fear and mental mistakes he showed at the end of the game then I’d say they have a good shot. If he can’t adapt any further then maybe they need to move on from him and find someone to put them over the top. I still think they have a bright future. But chances are they’re gonna have to beat Mahomes/Reid in the playoffs if they want to make the SB.

There are a handful of teams with the QB power to compete with KC. Still believe if the Chiefs play their “A” game it will beat anyone else’s “A” game but if you look at 2021 we ended up losing to all of the teams in the playoffs except the Steelers and Raiders and where are we? At Arrowhead for the Conference Championship game. We literally took the league’s best shot and STILL came out on top. Why would next year be any different?

These things usually go in threes. Fangio fired, Roethlisberger retired, ______.

The current Bills remind me of the Oilers in the late 70s. The Oilers lost to the Steelers in the AFC championship game (not a close game) and put their focus into beating the Steelers. The next year, the Oilers were better and again met the Steelers in the AFC championship game (pretty close game.) They vowed that they would be back. Bum Phillips promised that the next year they were going to kick the "sum bitch in." With all their focus on the Steelers, they got beat by the Raiders early in the playoffs and they were never the same again. You can't put all of your focus on the one team you think you have to beat.

The Bills are a Josh Allen injury away from being the 2018 Jaguars.

Allen has to be more consistent. He just played the greatest 2 games he will ever play. He was up and down all year. He's being loved more than he should.

The guy is just a few weeks removed from putting up a 17 qbr against the falcons. He got on a hot streak, let's see how he looks next season. The guy rarely put 2 games together in a row this year. Way up, huge drop-off.

The were also beaten in every single contest that came down to one score. It's easy to boat race and beat up bad teams. But when you have to find a way to close out against similar competition and you lose them ALL, I'm not sure I'm sold on McDerpit being this amazing coach.

Moreover, making the kind of mistakes they made late, big coaching questions.

Not squib/kicking short to run some of the 13 seconds (assuming you'd won the game at that point)

Playing the sidelines against an offense with 3 timeouts?

Letting 15 get a look at your defense, calling a timeout, and lining up exactly the same way again?

Definitely earned the derp in McDerpit.

He cant run designed runs and last for long. He could be Mahomes-esque or could be on the path of Cam Newton.

While that is a good example, when you have a great QB... the past doesn't matter.

----Mahomes.

Sure.

We're not going to win every year. We'll have some down years, even dynasties do.

This is the new NFL, and if we're the dynasty of the '20's, well, even The Patriots had Manning to contend with, and he got a couple in there.

and Cinci is building something over there, too. Burrow is impressive as hell.

All the good young QB's are in the AFC. It's going to be a wild ride for the next decade.

I can see the AFC going on a roll like the NFC did in the 80s and 90s.

Josh Allen first started in 2018, same as Mahomes.

4 years in the league.

McDermott got there in 2017. Next year is year 6 for him.

They're not new. Their roster is older than ours.

The problem is they have a few years left before Allen's salary skyrockets and they have to beat us to go to the Super Bowl.

So they have to beat Mahomes also entering his prime with Kelce and Hill and Reid.

They a very conservative FO. They won't go for it to beat us by adding big time FAs.

Allen doesn't strike me as a guy who's going to demand to be the highest paid. I would bet anything he'll work some deal that's kind of like Patrick's, so they can build a team.

That kid wants to win.

big name FA's are almost never worth it; it just makes fans giddy in the offseason.

Josh Allens shelf life is going to be pretty short if they continue designing runs for him. The other shoe is going to drop eventually and he will sustain some serious injuries. Let him scramble within the flow of the game. Frequent shotgun speed sweeps where hes asked to drop his shoulder into linebackers and safeties will end poorly. If I remember correctly hes already sustained one really bad concussion a year or two back.

Hell we wont even let Mahomes QB sneak it and thats justified. Keep that dude healthy at all costs. I noticed Mahomes scambled a lot less frequently in the regular season. He knew he had to hang it out there against Buffalo and took off several times and took a few hits.

Exactly, the Bills should learn to be more consistent. You can’t lose to garbage teams like Jacksonville the way they did. At least the Chiefs lost to good teams.

I'm on to the Bengals.....

He's already on a contract that is structured in a team-friendly manner. They will have plenty of wiggle room to build the team around him, just like KC has a team-friendly deal with Mahomes.

Very well said, the AFC is stacked with QB talent

The NFC looks DEAD