The word in Pittsburgh

[ghz in pittsburgh]

and "let them win." From the papers to radios, most importantly from the players. Parker said to a radio host that the general sense leading to the game is that the Bills would win easily, especially when he and other backups replace the starters. In fact he said it is exactly how Cowher motivated the 2nd stringers that the Bills were expecting walk all over them.

Looking back last week, I do get the sense that we all counted this game as an automatic win once the Steelers beat the Ravens. Don't tell me the players don't think that way. How else would Moulds worry about calling Colts and Rams players on how they play the Broncos and Jets instead of focusing on beating the Steelers? And I'd bet some of that went into the coaching staff's heads, too. Once the game didn't go as expected, I could sense a panick all over the players/coaches, which was exactly what got the Bills to the 0-4 start to begin the season with.

Another lesson for Mularkey as a rookie coach, I guess.

[Pride]

I was afraid of that all week. Everyone was talking about how we were going to win, and our only concern was the Jets game.

If Mularky did not prepare for this game... he should be taken out back and shot!

[RedEyE]

I think many of us have been barking up this tree all season. This guy is a major concern in our secondary.

Honestly, I think that Pittsburgh was just the better team. Maddox and Haynes are excellent benchman. They have the best defense in the league, and a top 5, perhaps even top 3, WR corps in the league.

Going into this game, I knew that Buffalo was going to have to keep the Pittsburgh O off the field. With only 2 yards passing and just over 5 minutes of ball control late in the first half, obviouly they failed to do just that. The defense wore itself out by the end of the 3rd quarter. Pittsburgh throws in some fresh bench talent against a beat up D and an O that just can't get it done against a solid D.

Lets' face it. Who did the Bills beat this year? Who?

SF (worst in the league), Arizona, Cleveland, Miami twice, a crumbling Jets team that lost their way into the playoffs, an injured Rams team, a slumpping Seattle team, and a banged up Cincy team.

They showed early in the season that they could keep up with the higher caliber teams, but not surpass them.

I wasn't at all suprised at the outcome.

[Drive 4 Five]

Good point RedEye. I like many thought the bills would win this contest handidly, but the Steelers showed why they are the best team in the NFL. Their game plan was solid. Even the very design of their defense seemed to confuse the Bill's offense regardless of who they were playing. Another thing is that the Steelers must have the most explosive trio of receivers in the league considering how far our corners played off of them. The did not even show that kind of respect to Chad Johnson or Chris Chambers. I refuse to belive that the Bills did not take them seriously enough, Mularkey does not strike me as that type of coach and while he may be a rookie, do not forget that he has a highly experienced veteran staff. The Steelers had a better game plan and their second and third string players are apparently better than the less than mediocre teams we beat up on all year. This buffalo Bills team did not make it inot the playoffs because they simply were not good enough.

[RedEyE]

Good point RedEye. I like many thought the bills would win this contest handidly, but the Steelers showed why they are the best team in the NFL. Their game plan was solid. Even the very design of their defense seemed to confuse the Bill's offense regardless of who they were playing. Another thing is that the Steelers must have the most explosive trio of receivers in the league considering how far our corners played off of them. The did not even show that kind of respect to Chad Johnson or Chris Chambers. I refuse to belive that the Bills did not take them seriously enough, Mularkey does not strike me as that type of coach and while he may be a rookie, do not forget that he has a highly experienced veteran staff. The Steelers had a better game plan and their second and third string players are apparently better than the less than mediocre teams we beat up on all year. This buffalo Bills team did not make it inot the playoffs because they simply were not good enough.

Exactly. Next year should be different....should be.

[DaBills]

I guess in hindsight, the second-stringers from a 14-1 were better than the rest of the league's. Pitt was 14-1 for a reason. Why would they necessarily have a bad bench, ya' know?

;-p

We had a few breaks not go our way, what else can you say? And if on just one drive more we score a TD, or we don't give up that fumble/TD, we come out 31-29. However, nothing would have changed the fact that we still would have looked very average doing it against that 'second' string.

Would have loved to escape with a W just the same, no matter how we got it though.

[gggbills]

[QUOTE=ghz in pittsburgh]and "let them win." From the papers to radios, most importantly from the players. Parker said to a radio host that the general sense leading to the game is that the Bills would win easily, especially when he and other backups replace the starters. In fact he said it is exactly how Cowher motivated the 2nd stringers that the Bills were expecting walk all over them.

Looking back last week, I do get the sense that we all counted this game as an automatic win once the Steelers beat the Ravens. Don't tell me the players don't think that way. How else would Moulds worry about calling Colts and Rams players on how they play the Broncos and Jets instead of focusing on beating the Steelers? And I'd bet some of that went into the coaching staff's heads, too. Once the game didn't go as expected, I could sense a panick all over the players/coaches, which was exactly what got the Bills to the 0-4 start to begin the season with.

Another lesson for Mularkey as a rookie coach, I guess.[/QUOT

The bottom line is we did lose this game because the Steelers did not roll over for us. We also did not lose this game because the Steelers backups are any good. We lost because we played like sh**....plain and simple. We would have lost to any NFL team (starters or backups), and most college bowl teams playing like we did Sunday. I do not care what Cowher said to motivatied his players, or what they think afterwards. Had we showed up and played even our D level game, we would have won.

[lynobx]

We can go on and on with what if's and more but let's look foward to next year; we have the makings for a great season from the last few weeks of "real team" work.

There is LIFE after football.

[TigerJ]

It's quite possible that the Biklls players were guilty of thinking that. I would hope MM and TC knew better. Maybe MM just needs to get a bit better at communicating with his players about what to expect from other teams.

[DaBills]

We can go on and on with what if's and more but let's look foward to next year; we have the makings for a great season from the last few weeks of "real team" work.

There is LIFE after football.

True. We can run the ball, and stop it. That's a very good foundation for potential playoff teams to build on. Major weakness is our secondary and how many 3rd down conversions we allow. Then comes the ? mark at QB.

[paladin warrior]

drop dead I hate Pittsburgh

[Iehoshua]

drop dead

[jamze132]

I guess in hindsight, the second-stringers from a 14-1 were better than the rest of the league's. Pitt was 14-1 for a reason. Why would they necessarily have a bad bench, ya' know?

If you are going to quote me, then gimme some recognition!!!

[paladin warrior]

and "let them win." From the papers to radios, most importantly from the players. Parker said to a radio host that the general sense leading to the game is that the Bills would win easily, especially when he and other backups replace the starters. In fact he said it is exactly how Cowher motivated the 2nd stringers that the Bills were expecting walk all over them.

Looking back last week, I do get the sense that we all counted this game as an automatic win once the Steelers beat the Ravens. Don't tell me the players don't think that way. How else would Moulds worry about calling Colts and Rams players on how they play the Broncos and Jets instead of focusing on beating the Steelers? And I'd bet some of that went into the coaching staff's heads, too. Once the game didn't go as expected, I could sense a panick all over the players/coaches, which was exactly what got the Bills to the 0-4 start to begin the season with.

Another lesson for Mularkey as a rookie coach, I guess.

If you are going to quote me, then gimme some recognition!!!

I wish Pittsburgh lose in playoff.

[BAM]

Honestly, I think that Pittsburgh was just the better team. Maddox and Haynes are excellent benchman. They have the best defense in the league, and a top 5, perhaps even top 3, WR corps in the league.

I agree with this too. I don't think we overlooked Pittsburgh at all. They just whooped our asses.