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Former NFL tackle on Bills' playoff losses: 'They get to the moment and just don’t get it done'


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As the rumors again bubbled about Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and potential interest from the Buffalo Bills, former Tampa Bay defensive tackle Gerald McCoy offered a nuanced take that sent us to the stats. 

"I don’t think offense has really been an issue," McCoy said on "Good Morning Football" this week. "They get to the moment and just don’t get it done."

He added, "When you get to the playoffs, that’s where everybody elevates their game. Buffalo has to get to that moment and just has to elevate their game. Who wouldn’t want DHop? But I don’t think that’s the reason that puts them over the top."

McCoy based his assertion on penalties, among other factors. He noted that the Bills had more penalties than Kansas City in the overtime loss in the 2021 playoffs and that the Bills had significantly more penalties than the Bengals in the 2022 playoffs. 

We went back to the five playoff games the Bills have lost under Sean McDermott – and yes, one of those teams was the end the drought team that played Jacksonville in the 2017 playoffs and another was Josh Allen's first playoff game against Houston in the 2018 playoffs. 

Adding it up, the Bills have had 27 penalties for 229 yards in those games. Opponents have totaled 15 penalties for 105 yards.

If you discard the games in the 2017 and 2018 playoffs, the numbers are 15 penalties for 113 yards for the Bills and six for 51 for the opponents.

"I don’t believe it’s an offense thing, I think it’s a focus thing," McCoy said. "When it’s time to focus, learning when to be the Buffalo Bills. Regular season is great. But to really be that team, you can’t every year get to this point and be like, ‘Well, we don’t know what it is’ or ‘We have to figure a way to get over the hump.'" 

Here is a chart of Bills' penalties and yards and opponent penalty and yards in the five playoff losses.  

  Bills # Bills yds Opp. # Opp. Yds
Cincy 2022 3 15 1 10
KC 2021 8 60 2 9
KC 2020 4 38 3 32
Hou 2018 7 64 4 20
Jax 2017 5 52 5 34
Total 27 229 15 105

“There he goes. One of God's own prototypes.

A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production.

Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”

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I think it is less about focus and more about talent/injuries on the offense and defense.  Fact is teams with superior talent do not take as many penalties because they can just beat their opponents on each play with talent alone.  How many penalties did Bruce Smith cause?  

Buffalo's O line had some pretty weak links.  LG was a turn style and RT was recovering from back injury.  When you are playing against a great team like KC or Bengals the weakness is exposed.   

I think the Bills upgraded the talent on the offense significantly with Torrence and Kincaid.  Having a stud guard will help to cover up a weakness the Bills have had on the Oline.  McGovern might also be a big step forward in pass protection as well.

Defense worries me a little bit, as Williams is a bit undersized for MILB.....but they did sign Ford as a DT and DeQuan was a very stout run stuffer.  Hopefully, Frazier was the issue with his bend dont break D.   

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39 minutes ago, Zan186 said:

I think it is less about focus and more about talent/injuries on the offense and defense.  Fact is teams with superior talent do not take as many penalties because they can just beat their opponents on each play with talent alone.  How many penalties did Bruce Smith cause?  

Buffalo's O line had some pretty weak links.  LG was a turn style and RT was recovering from back injury.  When you are playing against a great team like KC or Bengals the weakness is exposed.   

I think the Bills upgraded the talent on the offense significantly with Torrence and Kincaid.  Having a stud guard will help to cover up a weakness the Bills have had on the Oline.  McGovern might also be a big step forward in pass protection as well.

Defense worries me a little bit, as Williams is a bit undersized for MILB.....but they did sign Ford as a DT and DeQuan was a very stout run stuffer.  Hopefully, Frazier was the issue with his bend dont break D.   

We are going to learn this year just what Frazier did and didn't bring to the Defense playcalling and schemes

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“There he goes. One of God's own prototypes.

A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production.

Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”

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4 minutes ago, HipKat said:

We are going to learn this year just what Frazier did and didn't bring to the Defense playcalling and schemes

Focus, preparedness, scheme ALL things we will see that Frazier wasn’t good at teaching/coaching!

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1 hour ago, Toofast80 said:

Focus, preparedness, scheme ALL things we will see that Frazier wasn’t good at teaching/coaching!

Mostly, I'll be looking for adjusting to what the opponent's offense is doing, that 13 seconds thing that they didn't learn

“There he goes. One of God's own prototypes.

A high-powered mutant of some kind, never even considered for mass production.

Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”

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On 5/27/2023 at 7:56 AM, Zan186 said:

I think it is less about focus and more about talent/injuries on the offense and defense.  Fact is teams with superior talent do not take as many penalties because they can just beat their opponents on each play with talent alone.  How many penalties did Bruce Smith cause?  

Buffalo's O line had some pretty weak links.  LG was a turn style and RT was recovering from back injury.  When you are playing against a great team like KC or Bengals the weakness is exposed.   

I think the Bills upgraded the talent on the offense significantly with Torrence and Kincaid.  Having a stud guard will help to cover up a weakness the Bills have had on the Oline.  McGovern might also be a big step forward in pass protection as well.

Defense worries me a little bit, as Williams is a bit undersized for MILB.....but they did sign Ford as a DT and DeQuan was a very stout run stuffer.  Hopefully, Frazier was the issue with his bend dont break D.   

Dorian Williams is going to be a stud, especially in pass D. The more I research him, the more I appreciate his game. Instinctive, plays big, a heat seeking missile that blows up a teams screen game and hits very hard for his size. That Tulane team went from terrible to good..Williams was a key reason for that. He was a late bloomer. 190 pounds pre COVID to 230 pounds now. He's just starting to hit his stride. Bills upgraded at MLB. Edmunds was always a second too late diagnosing plays, missed tackles(doesn't hit with his Shoulder pads often) and I have seen him struggle to get off blocks with Wrs. He was exposed in the playoffs. Bills can do better and they have. 

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