Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - The last time the Buffalo Bills were on the field was the AFC Championship Game in Kansas City against the Chiefs. Buffalo lost the game, 32-29, marking their fourth-straight playoff loss to the Chiefs.
Before that, Buffalo won games against Kansas City in 1991 and 1993, and also lost in 1966 for a chance to be in the very first Super Bowl.
In the last two playoff losses, the Bills had the ball with a final possession to win the game. In this past season's playoff game, the Bills failed to score in their final three possessions.
Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady thinks a lot about how the offense didn’t get the job done.
"I think when you reflect back, you always reflect back on how you’ve got to find ways to be better. We didn’t do what we wanted to do, and that falls on me. I have to do a better job," said Brady while meeting with the media at Tuesday's session of organized team activities (OTAs).
"I say I’m not a results guy, but when your season ends, the result is the result. And when you’re the offensive coordinator, your job is to score one more point than the opposing team. We didn’t get that done. So that’s what makes it hard. You walk away and say, 'I didn’t do a good enough job.'"
The Bills had what any team would ask for, the ball at the end of the game. Brady knows they had a golden opportunity to win.
“We want the ball in our hands with the game on the line, no doubt about it. And I’ll take that all day, every day," Brady said. "That’s an opportunity for us, and we didn’t get it done. That’s important to us, and that’s always going to stick with you. But if we get that opportunity again, that’s what I want, and that’s what our guys want.
"In that situation, playing on the road, we’ve got to be excited as hell to go onto to that field and win the football game. And we didn’t get it done. So we don’t dwell on it, but we know what we’re working towards. And when those opportunities come, we’re going to make the most of it."
Last season was Brady's first full season as offensive coordinator, and the team had good success. While he realizes that, Brady also knows this is a new season.
"Every year’s a new year. We haven’t done anything this year, so you don’t get to pick up where you left off, and we really don’t want to," he said. "Josh [Allen] embodies that. We’re starting over with the most basics, and we have to master the system at every level."
Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid hasn’t lived up to his draft position yet, and he was challenged by head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane earlier this offseason. Brady likes what he’s seen from his third-year tight end in the offseason.
"I feel like he lived here this offseason, but when you see him out at practice, he looks just like Dalton Kincaid. So credit to him just living in the weight room, and I’ve loved everything I’ve seen from him. He’s playing with confidence again, and it’s really fun to see," Brady said.
Allen is coming off a season where he earned MVP honors for the first time in his career. The Bills quarterback has been around long enough to know that winning that will fuel him to even get better.
"What I love about Josh is his demeanor, his approach, his mindset. It is as impressive as it gets, and it’s infectious around the team," Brady said of his quarterback. "When he walks into the building, you don’t feel a guy that just won the MVP last year. You feel a guy that’s hungry, and is trying to figure out ways to get better, embracing his new teammates and trying to get them on the same page as him. I feel like year-after-year, I’m having to do a little less because he’s doing more."
OTAs continue for the Bills this week, and then they’ll have mandatory minicamp next week before getting a little over a month off before training camp.