whats the big deal?

[THE END OF ALL DAYS]

Whats the big deal? No one in the world expected us to win, the experts said it would be a blow out.

The Bills suprised everyone and the pats are lucky to have won.

I dont feel bad at all about this game. At least we did not get embarrased. I would be willing to bet the nat media will not be saying we are a joke on Monday morning.

Chill out... we grew a little today, and thats ok for this team. get a bit better each week and we are building for the future.

Juron made a gutsy call and I bet if he did not make the call every one would be calling him a chicken.

so we lost, big deal. there is promise here.

[Cntrygal]

Good post Keith.

[HHURRICANE]

Jauron decides to kick the field goal. We lose 22-20 and everyone talks how we should have gone for it on 4th and 1 when we had momentum. How winning coaches like Bellichek went for it twice on 4th down and won the game.

[BAM]

Good post I loved the call by DJ. Echo echo echo echo.....

I'm not as happy as I could be, obviously because we didn't pull off the victory, but we definitely showed some upside!

Here's to a better than expected season. :beers:

[OpIv37]

we lost a winnable game.

We blew a 10 point lead.

We got shut out in the second half.

Yes, we made a game of it. We surprised the Patriots, the media, and all the other people who thought the Bills had no chance (myself included). But that doesn't change the fact that this team did the same thing they did all year last year: found ways to turn W's into L's instead of the other way around.

There are things to be happy about with this game but that shouldn't overshadow the fact that we blew an opportunity to go a game up on the Pats and the Dolphins because of stupid mistakes.

[Dozerdog]

I saw a lot of progress out there.


If Spikes and Vincent don't go down, I like our chances

[LABillsFan]

Brady throws an int and fumbles. They had a miserable game and put it together at the finish. They aren't the team they used to be but they have talent and a system that they are used to and it works well. The Bills will get there. But it will take a while.

[TigerJ]

I think the big deal is we started to sense we could win, then didn't. The first thing a team does when it loses is reiterate that the game is about winning, and anything short of winning is unacceptable. I think as fans, we feel some of that too. Once you have recognized that fact, then there are lots of positives to take out of this game, chief of which is that the Bills looked like they belong on the same playing field as the vaunted Patriots. As always it's about execution, but one can be a little less distressed about problems in execution understanding we've got a very young team and everything about the offense and defense is brand new. Mistakes are not to be tolerated, but there is reason to believe that the process of eliminating them is not going to be terribly difficult.

[LABillsFan]

I think the big deal is we started to sense we could win, then didn't. The first thing a team does when it loses is reiterate that the game is about winning, and anything short of winning is unacceptable. I think as fans, we feel some of that too. Once you have recognized that fact, then there are lots of positives to take out of this game, chief of which is that the Bills looked like they belong on the same playing field as the vaunted Patriots. As always it's about execution, but one can be a little less distressed about problems in execution understanding we've got a very young team and everything about the offense and defense is brand new. Mistakes are not to be tolerated, but there is reason to believe that the process of eliminating them is not going to be terribly difficult.

AND, I think the coaching staff, players and our GM are more capable with righting the mistakes than the previous 2 staffs. There's a ways to go, I'm looking for 6 wins and a true visible maturation of JP along the way.

[BADTHINGSMAN]

Bills pulled out a defeat from the clutches of victory..

[billsburgh]

Bills pulled out a defeat from the clutches of victory..
same old same old. how many times have we heard that in the last few years. when will this team learn to finish off other teams? when will the D get off the field in the 4th quarter. We saw some encouraging signs today, but its frustrating to watch the sam things game after game.

[CuseJetsFan83]

like the quote goes

"damned if you do, damned if you dont"

ballsy move..... it just backfired.....
now regroup and take care of the mahimahi this week

[SABURZFAN]

we had a combination of things that went bad but we did better than i thought.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Excellent post, Keith!

And, I agree with you LABillsFan.

Let me just point out that, a couple of weeks ago if you had told most Bills fans that the Bills could go into their first game of the season in Foxboro and play a close game against a very good Patriots team in which JP Losman would play well and the Bills grab a lead, but lose late in the game to the Pats by 2 points, most of those Bills fans would have said that they would be happy or very happy with that result. Well, Bills fans, that's what just happened.

The fact that the Bills could have and perhaps should have won the game should not take away from the fact that they did a lot better in this game than a lot of people, Bills fans included, expected or thought that they really could on the road against a very good Patriots team. And, they should be commended for doing that.

True, the Bills probably should have won the game, but failed to do so. While a lot of people are now blaming Dick Jauron's decision to go for it on 4th and 1 on the Pats' 7 for the subsequent loss, Jauron was showing confidence in his team--confidence that was deserved--by their play to that point--and good for his team in the long run and trying to put the game away before the Patriots get themselves back in the game. And, more importantly, he was trying to show his young team what it needs to do in order to win: as more than one head coach over the years at every level of the game has told his team, "if you can't convert a 4th and 1 (or 3rd and 1), you don't deserve to win!" The Bills didn't convert and now they know that, to win games like this, they must do so or risk losing. But, not making that 4th and 1 was not the only play that cost the Bills the game. The Bills still had chances to win the game, even after they didn't get that yard and the Patriots drove 93 yards for a TD that put them back in the game but still left them trailing by 3 points. Obviously there was Whitner's interception return and the 3rd down pass to Price which were negated by penalties. But, there were other plays and other mistakes that the Bills made as well that contributed to their losing the game in the end. And, yes, the Bills are going to have to learn how to avoid making mistakes and taking those penalties and overcome them--in short, they are going to have to learn how to win in the NFL and how to win these kinds of tight games against good opponents.

So, the Bills did not win. There were questions about the team going into this game that they did not do a good job of answering well. And, they should not be satisfied with how they played. Nor, should we Bills fans.

But, they did play pretty well, even if it was not well enough to win. And, they did answer some of those questions about the team affirmatively. While neither they nor we should be satisfied, we Bills fans should, however, IMHO, be pleased by the improvements and potential that we saw and by the positive things that the team did in its game against the Patriots.

On Sunday evening, C.Berman and T.Jackson on ESPN remarked about the fact that a lot of fans give up on their teams when their team loses its first game of the season and they commented that those fans should not get so down on their teams so soon because, even though it is just a 16 game regular season, it is still a long season and there is still a long way to go and much can change between now and the end of the season. And, I agree. Very few Bills fans, looking at the team objectively, realistically expected this squad to go undefeated or even to win most of its games before the season started. As a result of the outcome of this game, the Bills are not going to go undefeated and they still might not win most of their games. So, even though they had a real chance to win this game, there is no reason to get down on them for losing a game that few realistically expected them to win in the first place. But, there is plenty of reason to be please by the improvements in certain areas of the team and its performance and by the potential of the team that were demonstrated during the course of this game.

I, for one, am pleased, not satisfied with how the Bills played against the Pats and, although I am not happy with the outcome of the game, I saw a number of improvements in the team that make me feel happy and optimistic about the team's ability to compete and get better and even be successful in the future.

[ddaryl]

Jauron decides to kick the field goal. We lose 22-20 and everyone talks how we should have gone for it on 4th and 1 when we had momentum. How winning coaches like Bellichek went for it twice on 4th down and won the game.

There will always be the debate, but I felt with the way our pass D was playing, being up by 13 points would have forced the Patriots hand a little more and with out secondary and LB speed we might have gotten the necessary turnover.

in fact we did on Whitners INT, but it's all hearsay.


There was enough mistakes to spread around, and there truly was no one mistake that lost that game for us.

Never the less I came out of todays game encouraged, not dissapointed.

[SquishDaFish]

Yea the Bills made a mistake of havin TKO and Vincent go out with injuries. Damn you Jauron how dare you hurt our main guys on D.

[HHURRICANE]

There will always be the debate, but I felt with the way our pass D was playing, being up by 13 points would have forced the Patriots hand a little more and with out secondary and LB speed we might have gotten the necessary turnover.

in fact we did on Whitners INT, but it's all hearsay.


There was enough mistakes to spread around, and there truly was no one mistake that lost that game for us.

Never the less I came out of todays game encouraged, not dissapointed.

Do I wish they had kicked the field goal? Yes. Because losing sucks and we know the result of not making it on 4th and 1. However there is no way to say that we would have won the game with a 13 point lead when we still had a third of a game left to play. That's why they call it "Monday morning quarterback". I hate losing and hopefully so does Dick Jauron.

[Historian]

I saw a lot of progress out there.




-Kay Stevenson, 1984...right?

:snicker:

j/k...I saw a lot in this game that showed me this team is for real. Not there yet, but definately heading in the right direction.