WIDE LEFT

They drove 88 yards for their touchdown - would not have needed to go that far to kick a field goal for their touchdown win

Thought it was curious when Brady explained his 3rd down run call on last drive - call was Josh run and even if he just gets it to the one yard line Brady knows they are going for it on 4th down. Really? I’m not certain McD would make that decision. The chance to take an 8 point lead in that situation certainly makes going for it on 4th down a tough decision; certainly not a no brainer. Had the Bills gone for it on 4th & 1 there, and were stopped, Ravens very likely win that game. In situations like that the OC should know and be certain as to what the head coach intends to do on 4th down. That should be communicated before the call. As Brady himself explained, “knowing” that McD would go for it on 4th & 1 there affected Brady’s play call. It’s my hope that it wasn’t just an assumption on Brady’s part. It certainly shouldn’t be. Quite frankly, in that specific situation, I would have kicked the field goal if it was 4th down at one yard line. I suspect that McD would have too. But I really suspect that at the time that 3rd down call was made, McD himself hadn’t made a decision as to what he would do on 4th and 1.

Here - definition of a troll by the fan boys that dominate this board - Anybody who dares whisper a word of criticism of their team. They can only tolerate praise - their idea of the perfect message board is 1000 posts of “Go Bills”. Grow up and learn a bit of tolerance. Diversity of opinion is not trolling

Had to play? Did u ever hear of Shakir, Ingram or Lewis. All available & playing. Ever hear of a thing called the practice squad, where u could have elevated a CB or 2 for a nothing game, rather than risk your specialist

When playoff time rolls around, a constant theme is Coach McD & bad decisions. 13 seconds, clock management, head scratching decisions to punt, or fake punt, at the worst times etc etc. His latest blunder, right as the playoffs are about to begin, ranks right up there. He has had ONE, and only ONE, player return punts all year (kickoffs as well). This player has done very well, unlike the rest of our special teams. So the decision to use this ONE player in a meaningless game RIGHT before the start of playoffs boggles the mind. Even worse, he EXPANDED this players role in this meaningless game, as he had him not only returning kicks, but used him as a DB as well. And now he is injured. And now the Bills have to scramble to find a punt returner just as the playoffs are starting. A yet to be named player who hasn’t returned a punt ALL year. A wiser choice may have been to sit our punt returner, and let another player get a bit of experience returning punts in this meaningless game, just in case our #1 guy got hurt sometime during the playoffs. But wise decisions come the playoffs is not the McD way. Quite the opposite actually.

A big part of the problem with our RB screens ( and I can’t figure why Brady doesn’t see this) is that teams often defend the Bills using a “spy” on Allen. Since a screen is a slower developing play, it’s easy for the spy to recognize and disrupt it. Here’s a simple solution - stop calling that play. It hasn’t worked all season. If you don’t recognize WHY it doesn’t work, just accept that it doesn’t and move on to more effective plays. We have the best QB in football; he doesn’t need that.

The only thing I recommend is what my OP stated - it’s not that hard to comprehend- nobody should be convinced that the inconsistency displayed by our kicker this year, and towards the end of last year, is solved, suddenly, by him making a 61 yard field goal. Especially in the same game where he missed an extra point & barely made another. For so many fan boys out there, reality = negativity.

Nobody says a better option is available. It’s a simple point, which apparently u can’t comprehend- his inconsistency all year does not disappear because he made a 61 yard field goal. He was inconsistent in this game as well. The DEFINITION of inconsistency is when u make a 61 yarder & miss extra points.

Everyone seems to think that the great 61 yard field goal solves what was a major problem. Sorry, but no, Bass is still a huge question mark, and could be a fatal flaw in the playoffs. Prior to that great kick, he missed an extra point. Then clanked ANOTHER extra point off the post. After the extra point he barely made, he mishit his kickoff, allowing a return at the worst possible time. So three consecutive shaky kicks, then one spectacular kick, and problem solved? I don’t think so.

The Bills did the new & recent version of a squib kick on their final kickoff. Why do you think they did this? Because they realized (too late) that a regular kickoff into a wind that’s too strong to reach the end zone creates the risk of a long return. Their squib kick resulted in a penalty but that would have been preferable to a TD return. But a squib kick, even one that stays in bounds, has less chance to be returned for a TD, but also is likely to result in a return longer than which results from a standard kickoff. Am I advocating for squib kicks, generally no, of course. But we are talking about game management here, and yes, if I grab a two score lead late in the game and cannot reach the end zone, yes a squib kick reduces the chance of the one thing I cannot have - a return for a TD. That’s the choice the Bills made on their last kickoff, and it’s the strategic choice they SHOULD have made on the kick retuned for a TD

Okay so both kickers in that game kicked it into the end zone when the wind was at their back. Neither kicker could reach the end zone when the wind was against them. The suggestion that Bass “didn’t even try” is just ridiculous. As is the idea that somehow you can “learn” to kick a low liner into a strong wind by somehow “cutting” it through the wind. Sure And yes, it would be great if nobody ever missed a tackle on special teams, but that doesn’t happen anywhere, anytime in the NFL. They are human beings who aren’t perfect. So devising your strategy based on the assumption that nobody should miss a tackle is just foolish. In golf terms, you can always avoid the big miss if you just hit the ball straight EVERY time. That’s never going to happen, so basing your strategy on the expectation of perfection just will not ever work.

Hank Haney, Tiger’s golf coach for many years, detailed in his book “The big miss” his course management strategy- avoid the big miss. If all the trouble on a hole is on the right side, construct your shots to take that trouble completely out of play. If you have a very long putt, don’t try to make it, just focus on getting it close enough to the hole so that a three putt is out of the equation. I wish the Bills would adopt some of this philosophy when it comes to their game management strategy, which currently can be characterized as poor to non existent. As an example: Jets v Fish last year. Tie game, less than 20 seconds left, game heading to OT and the Jets are punting. What’s the big miss here? The one disaster u must avoid? A long punt return obviously. Avoiding the big miss here would be to punt the ball out of bounds. Instead, punt is returned for a TD and Fish win So Sunday, Bills take a two score lead, and are kicking off, with not a lot of time left in the game. What’s the big miss here? Well now we know. The wind was too strong for either kicker to reach the end zone. What do the Bills do. Line drive kick to returner with a disastrous result - the big miss. Best game management decision would have been to do what they did on their last kickoff, squib kick - even if the result is a penalty placing the ball at the 40. It’s often the case that you have to sacrifice something in an effort to avoid disaster (the big miss). In fact, Bills chose to do that (squib kick) on their very last kickoff. But that was one kickoff TOO LATE. I remain a supporter of McD, but too often he comes up short in game management, especially towards the end of games.

You failed to mention that when the KC defense came out of its shell Allen threw 3 bombs that were dropped. You dink and dunk until the D abandons its shell then you hit them deep. Of course, you actually have to catch the ball. To throw out stats like Allen only averaging small amount of yards per completion, without even a mention of the dropped long passes is classic.

While the national media worships at the feet of Patrick Mahomes, a closer examination and a more nuanced analysis reveals Allen to be the better QB. Allen “can’t beat” Mahomes (in the playoffs) simply because it’s a complete coaching mismatch on both sides of the ball. Just watch the playoff loss to KC. Allen is forced to throw darts into the smallest of targets while Mahomes is consistently throwing to wide open targets, ie the TD pass to Kelce, among others. This is not surprising, Reid is a hall of fame offensive genius while Brady is still getting his feet wet. But Allen was the better QB that day, and almost every time he has played KC Whats disappointing is the coaching mis match on the defensive side of the ball. Anybody think Spagnola would have lost that lead with 13 seconds to go. He is constantly making in game adjustments while McD is like a deer in the headlights. Chris Jones ruined what would have been a go ahead TD via his pressure/hit on Allen. Jones had been moved from his DT position to DE on that play. Nice adjustments. In the meantime KC all pro guard Tuney just ate up Ed Oliver all day, but no movement or adjustment. Oliver had zero impact all day. And BTW, you don’t have to be a Reid level offensive genius to recognize & exploit the fact that AJ Klein CANNOT cover Kielce.

Nobody, not even NFL people who do this for a living, can guarantee anything about the draft. But it’s a SECOND round pick ( two 2nds if u count Basham) and the two thirds where if WR were picked, a strong possibility that one of them could be that difference maker. Pass happy team yes, we should be since we have one of the most talented QBs ever. We have had our most success that way. My point is Allen needs weapons. You don’t acquire those type of weapons by wasting high choices on RBs. You don’t need to, they are easy to find. Johnson for example. The main point is you are wasting Allens talents by not providing him sufficient ammunition, you know like the receivers Tua and Burrow have. A lot of NFL analysts, from Chris Simms to Greg Cosell have commented on the lack of talent on Bills offense. But that’s easy to explain when look at how the Bills have drafted