As the NFL season has concluded this past Sunday, it has now been over three weeks since the Buffalo Bills got ran off the field by the Cincinnati Bengals in Orchard Park, NY. This marks the second consecutive season that the Bills’ season ended in the Divisional Round, although this one felt different than last year. Having these three weeks to digest this loss, there has been lots of discussion on what went wrong for the Bills and why this season ended in a big disappointment.
Most teams would be happy with a 13-3 regular season record and a playoff win, but no this Buffalo team. It was Super Bowl or bust for this squad that has been together for 3 years now. The Bills came into this season as the betting favorite to win the Super Bowl and not to mention there was some unfinished business from the way last year ended in Arrowhead. Despite coming into this 2022 season the odds-on favorite to win, this Buffalo Bills team may have been better than people expected. They came out on fire and steamrolled the defending Super Bowl Champion Rams in their house 31-10. The Bills followed that with a 41-7 dismantling of the Tennessee Titans and stormed out of the gate to a 6-1 record while defeating good teams like the Chiefs, Ravens, and Packers.
The Bills got off to this start despite having a ton of adversity. Before the season, there was a mass shooting at a Topps in Buffalo that shook up the community. Then once the season started, the injuries on the team started to pile up. Micah Hyde and Dane Jackson both went down Week 2 with scary neck injuries, Hyde would be out for the remainder of the season. The Bills were also missing star-safety Jordan Poyer, Ed Oliver, Mitch Morse, and Jordan Phillips in the Week 3 loss against Miami. Poyer would be in and out of the lineup but played through injuries for the whole season. MVP- favorite Josh Allen also went down in Week 9 against the Jets, he would not miss any time but was nursing that elbow-injury the rest of the year. More big news came when premier pass rusher and big free agent pick up Von Miller tore his ACL on Thanksgiving against the Lions.
After starting 6-1, the Bills would drop two ugly games in a row to the Jets and then the Vikings. However, starting against the Browns the next week the Bills would just find ways to win games the rest of the year. But it was not with the same flair or dominance that we saw in the first 7 games. They rattled off six straight wins setting them up for a classic game at Cincinnati with the number one seed hopes on the line. Then, the biggest adversity of this 2022 season hit. Trailing 7-3 in the second quarter, Damar Hamlin tackled Tee Higgins to the ground on what looked like a routine play. However, that was not the case, Hamlin remained down on the field for a long time. The broadcast went to a few commercial breaks, but nobody knew the levity until we saw the looks on the players faces of both teams. Everyone looked to be in shock of what was transpiring as many Bills players including Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, and Tre White all were in tears.
It was truly one of the scariest things I have ever seen. Hamlin’s heart had stopped laying down on the field, and the medical training staff was performing CPR on him before being taken off the field in an ambulance. The game initially was supposed to resume, however Zach Taylor and Sean McDermott met at mid field to see if they wanted to continue the game. They agreed to both go to the locker rooms until more information became available. The game was then agreed upon by both teams to suspend it and not resume play. Hamlin was in critical condition following the collapse and remained in that condition for a few days. The Bills would return to the field next week and handle the New England Patriots at home to end the regular season.
Earning the two seed in the playoffs, Buffalo then geared up to play the Miami Dolphins in the first round. The Bills jumped on the Dolphins early as it looked like it would be a blowout win in the opening round of the playoffs. But as the second half of the season often went, the Bills self-imploded and made many mistakes resulting in turnovers. However, they would rally late to win and escape into the next round. This setting up a rematch of that game where Hamlin collapse just three weeks ago, a personal game for Buffalo playing for their teammate and brother. It appeared as if this would be a classic game, two young great quarterbacks going head-to-head in the playoffs for the first time.
The Cincinnati game was a nightmare from the start. After the Bills deferred the toss, the Bengals marched right down the field and scored a touchdown without facing a third down. The Bills would go three-and-out while the Bengals responded with another touchdown. Before you could blink it was 14-0 and no signs of life. Perhaps the only sign of life was Josh Allen running a touchdown to cut the lead down to 14-7 early in the second quarter. It was poor play on both sides of the ball, specifically on both lines. The Bills failed to get any pressure on Burrow behind his beat-up o-line and on the other side of the ball Josh Allen was running for his life most of the game. The team just seemed drained, no juice, it was just strange how little energy there was in the biggest moment of the season.
As ugly as the first half went, Josh Allen and the Bills offense got the ball with two minutes left in the half with a perfect opportunity for a double dip. However, the Bills offense stalled out past midfield and decided to punt, and then the first drive of the second half they had to settle for a field goal. Needing at least 10 points over those two drives to get back in it, they managed just 3. It was a microcosm of the game, everything was easy for Cincinnati’s offense, and everything was very difficult for Buffalo’s. It appeared to be a coaching mismatch in the Divisional Round. The Bills refused to use the short passing game that dismantled the Rams and many teams early in the year. And when the downfield passing did not work, there was no pivot to the running game, the best way I can put it is Lou Anarumo took Ken Dorsey to the woodshed and Dorsey did not have a counter punch. The Bills’ offensive identity for much of the season seemed to be “Josh Allen go make a play.” That coupled with no reliable target alongside Diggs allowed for the Bengals to shut down the Buffalo offense. The Bills would fall 27-10, and the Super Bowl favorites were now eliminated in the Divisional Round for the second straight season.
Although it was in the same round as last year, this year’s loss felt like the Bills are now going in reverse. Even with the loss to Kansas City last year, it was a game the Bills were every bit as good if not better for the majority of the game. Kansas City was a team the Bills were chasing after losing in the AFC Championship game in the 2021 playoffs. A 13-second coaching debacle costed them last year as well as a coin toss that did not go their way. That was not the case this year. The Bengals outclassed them in Orchard Park, they came in there and pushed the Bills around for 60 minutes. After that game, it was clear that in trying to pass up the Chiefs, the Bills found themselves looking up at the Bengals too (at least for the time being).
And I think that was the most frustrating part of how this season concluded. Last year it still felt like the Bills were on the come up. This year was “our year”, it was supposed to be Buffalo having that Super Bowl parade this week. A team and city that went through so much this season, I guess it was too good to be true. The Bills are also the same franchise that lost 4 straight Super Bowls in the 1990s. This city and fan base knows heart break all too well and now being in my 20s my generation of Bills fans are experiencing that over the last four seasons. The ending was so abrupt, it was difficult to process this team losing that way on that stage.
A team whose mantra was “Don’t Blink” and “Next Man Up” did not do either thing in the Cincinnati game. A team whose season was defined by resolve and overcoming so much adversity fell in the biggest moment of the year. And that is the beauty and sadness of sports, it can all be over in an instant. Unfortunately, the city of Buffalo and Bills fans worldwide are all too familiar with the season ending in heart break. This fanbase has many scars and is not afraid to admit that and the Cincinnati game is another scar added to the long list of suffering.
This one hurt because I really thought this was the year that the Bills finally get their breakthrough Super Bowl win. It seems in these big moments Buffalo falters, whether it is players or coaching, in these big playoff games something appears to be missing. However, in the big picture, that does not change how I feel about this team. This is the quarterback that we suffered years for, the team we waited years for, and in the end the Bills come up empty handed like that. This will be a long off-season with many big decisions to make regarding trying to keep some key pieces of the team while also adding some players in positions they need. And Brandon Beane, please draft a receiver! Cannot wait to see what next season brings and I’m hoping it ends with a big parade in Buffalo. Bills Mafia 4Life!
Photo via: Democrat and Chronicle