When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

[Billscusey]

Hey everyone, I was just wondering when you got that feeling that everything was going to crumble for the Bills last season. I started feeling it early during the home opener when the Bills had to resort to all those field goals against a crummy team like the Texans, but it really hit when Spikes got injured. At that moment, I knew the season was over.

[Mitchy moo]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

Tampa was really hot and exposed many potential problems.

[tat2dmike77]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

I would have to say after the NE game at NE.

I really thought that had the team that won that game it was going to tunr thier season around. The pats weren't playing so good and the bills just came off a loss to the raiders. After they lost that game i knew the season was going to ge worse. Unfortunatlly it did.

[Bill Cody]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

Last March when we let Bledsoe go and TD said it was a "step forward".

[Ebenezer]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

When Pat Williams signed with Minnesota and DB was cut.

[AndreReed83]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

Somewhere between the Falcons and Saints game. When I realized the coaching staff wasn't going to make the necessary changes to turn the team around.

[OpIv37]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

Hey everyone, I was just wondering when you got that feeling that everything was going to crumble for the Bills last season. I started feeling it early during the home opener when the Bills had to resort to all those field goals against a crummy team like the Texans, but it really hit when Spikes got injured. At that moment, I knew the season was over.

I chalked the FG's up to a new QB and early season jitters so that didn't immediately concern me. When I saw Spikes go off on the cart, that's when I knew it was over. I still had some superficial hope, but deep inside I knew that our playoff hopes left the field on that cart with him.

[RedEyE]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

The Tampa game. Once the defense deflated, it was all over.

[DaBills]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

When Mularkey benched JP.

[Mr. Cynical]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

Hey everyone, I was just wondering when you got that feeling that everything was going to crumble for the Bills last season. I started feeling it early during the home opener when the Bills had to resort to all those field goals against a crummy team like the Texans, but it really hit when Spikes got injured. At that moment, I knew the season was over.

Last season was over when TD and MM were still here during the offseason.

[DynaPaul]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

Definitely the meltdown at Gillette. To lead the whole game and outplay a team only to disintegrate in the end like that really showed that this team had no heart. The Miami game solidified that thought.

[That Guy]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

The moment I looked at the schedule after losing to New Orleans.

[!Papacrunk!]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

When I ate the Titanic Taco when my friends warned me not to.

[Stewie]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

I too was not happy we couldn't get it in the end zone, but the way our defense played that day it looked like they could carry us again.

Turns out Houston sucks.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Re: When did you get that "sinking feeling" last season?

For me there were two points:

The first was when the article appeared before the first game where Eric Moulds was complaining about having to start over again with a new QB in Buffalo unlike his good friend Marvin Harrison in Indy. That raised my suspicions that Moulds and perhaps some other older players on the team might not be entirely on board with the program that the front office and coaching staff had stated that they wanted to employ. I was worried that that might undermine the team, but my concerns faded somewhat when the Bills beat Houston following that program.

The second point, when it really hit me that the team was going to be in big trouble and that sinking feeling wouldn't go away, was when JP Losman stepped out of the end zone for the safety in Tampa and, after the special teams forced the Bucs to start their drive at their own 30 (the special teams did a great job there!), the defense promptly allowed Tampa Bay to drive the length of the field for a TD that put the Bills behind 9-0, offering virtually no resistance to the Bucs along the way. IMO a good NFL team would have responded to the excellent play by the STs there and rallied to the support of their young QB who was having a predictably rough time in his first road start against a tough TB defense. When the Bills defense laid down rather than rising to the occasion, I knew that the team wasn't that good and had the sinking feeling that this was not going to be a very good season.

If I place a LOT more responsibility for the Bills lost season on their veteran players and on the coaches and management than on JP Losman, it is because, despite winning their first game with JP at the helm, I saw the veteran-led defense quit and lie down the first time that the kid made a big mistake that hurt the team and they were faced with some real adversity. That's when the good teams have the character and determination to pick up their games--but the Bills didn't do that, not in that game or in most of their games the rest of the season. Instead, they let their season go downhill from there and the coaches were too incompetent to get that turned around.

It won't matter who the OB, GM or coaches of the team are if the players on the roster who are supposed to be the leaders of the team continue to respond adversity in the way that they did last season. While the team had enough talent to beat Cincy and play tough against Carolina, Tampa Bay and the Pats, etc. and guys like London Fletcher, Chris Kelsay, Sam Adams and Troy Vincent know the right things to say, actions speak louder than words when a team is faced with adversity. Somehow, Marv Levy and Dick Jauron and the Bills coaching staff is going to have to convince the players on the roster to play with a lot more heart, character and determination than they did last year when things were not going their way or this won't be a very good team next year either. To me, it's not so much about talent and ability for the Bills, but about character and how they respond to adversity. No excuses, no "we can win now if only...." and no "well, we were only a couple of plays away from winning"...we saw too much of that last season.