Rochesterfan

The Bills did play several 3rd downs at the sticks, but they also mentioned several times how Burrow does not like to throw short of the sticks - the Bills played tendencies and Burrow did throw short because of it and the Bills did a poor job of tackling at the catch point.

Like the Bills did on the Bengals first 3rd down - where we brought an extra LB and rushed 5, while simulating a 6 man rush? First 3rd down of the game - had 4 down and 2 LBs on the LOS - the announcer mentioned the Bills rarely blitz, but they brought 5 and 1 LB dropped into coverage.

I totally get it also and if he had tried the onside kick that would be fine also. I just don’t see why fans think it was the only choice and Taylor messed up. The old school thinking would always be to onside because no one went for it on forth down if they were ahead and old style onside kicks had a higher recovery percentage. Modern thinking looks at teams and where the line of demarcation is for going versus punting and the rules have neutered the on side kicks - which to me is fine - you should not have a good chance to get the ball back just because you are losing. The killer is the Bengals played it perfectly on the first 2 and then came after Josh with man behind - giving him a lane toward the 1st down.

I hear you - I just believe the onside kick puts you in having to stop the Bills on 4 plays rather than 3. McDermott had already showed you he was willing to go for it on your side of the 50 multiple times. I don’t think McD pulls a Reid at his 30 and goes for it. So for the very slim chance you recover - your defense the weak link - would have had to come up with 4 big stop against the run as I think they go into heavy run mode. To me if it had been under 2 minutes or you had 0 timeouts - onside kick 100%, but you had 2 stops of the clock out of 3 potential plays - I want yardage to give me at minimum a Hail Mary to the endzone and potentially multiple shots. I get it - it’s slippery and the ball is hard, but that is also true on the punt return - so potential of a short punt or if the Bengals player catches it on the run of a nice return versus a high punt that the Bills can try to angle out of bounds or let bounce around.

I get why you don’t onside kick - it is about yardage - it was never about points as it was very doubtful the Bills attempt a long FG in those conditions. The onside kick with a 3% recovery gives the Bills the ball on your side of the 50. The kickoff put the ball on the Bills 25. Either way you still need the stop - 1 first down finishes the game. If you onside kick and get the stop - the Bills are punting from midfield to pin you deep with little chance for return - so 30 seconds to go 90+ yards. Plus if it gets to 4th and 1 or 2 the Bills are more likely to go for it to seal the game - just like at the end of the first half. By kicking off - you have the Bills punting from deeper in their own end and potentially open up a return as the punter has to try and kick it for distance not height. The Bills are also more likely to punt on 4th and short rather than go for it. So if you assume a 3% recovery chance, but then either 90 yards with 30 seconds and no timeouts or a chance at getting the ball at the 30 or 40 with 30 seconds left- the yardage is more important to me. It also changes the Bills approach to getting the 1st down.

100% - the entire post! The fact that after this long and the number of 4th downs and other aggressive calls the Bills make - how people consider him a conservative coach - I just do not get. The fact that year over year he seems to be one of the top coaches in aggressive index and typically at the top of the analytics charts for going for it at the correct time and when to go for TD versus FG versus punt. People just go back and think he coaches like he did with Tyrod, but he hasn’t in 7-8 years.

I don’t disagree, but they pulled him out after the first one and he passed the tests. At some point it is on the player to say wait this is an issue because he knows what he feels. The refs can barely handle the game and fans/players go crazy right now when they get a call to have someone checked - the number of this ref is fixed would be insane - so not really their job. The coaches and Bengals doctors should be the ones, but if the player clears the protocols even if he has gamed the system - and he says he is fine - it is difficult to keep him out. Everything you say is correct, but rather than being advocates for Player safety - the NFLPA has not worked to advance that and therefore the teams are working under the agreed to rules. Why the NFLPA supports things that are actually worse for their players I don’t get, but they do.

Except they missed last year with Burrow 100% healthy and the year before with that talent. They have had all this talent and have not won double digits or made the playoffs since 2022. Some is injury, but a lot is talent does not trump teamwork over the long term. They would be a better team allowing some talent to go and building more mid tier players to compete.

I love this and I will add that a huge issue the Bills had is timing. Beane is very calculating and is drafting not for this year, but typically the following FA class. Where things fell apart in his plan was when Josh got good and needed his extension. It was COVID years and Beane had to pay Josh, but the overall Cap went down rather than going up as was planned. They lost a ton of available Cap space that he had planned to use. The 2 Covid years coincided with the timing that they would of had some extra money before the big part of Josh’s extension kicked in and instead of having the money like NE will with Maye - the Bills had to kick some money down the road with the drop in salary cap. They have been fighting that ever since just to retain their talent and bring in help. The Bills could have done the Eagles approach and get rid of a ton of talent - fall apart and miss the playoffs a couple of times and then hope the higher draft picks in the top 10 then increase your talent, but everyone would flip out missing the playoffs. Teams like SF, LA, Cincinnati, Houston, NE all had to be really bad to get better - the Bills are maintaining their excellent level, but it comes with a talent drain that they have to overcome. You see the same thing in KC right now. It happens to consistently good teams over time.

This is a huge nothing - he was holding out hope for. Potential playoff push and now they are done and he can get the surgery and be ready to be a FA this off season and get away. The Bengals did nothing wrong - this is the team admitting they are done and trying to find players for the future.

You could be Cincinnati- a high high high ceiling team that is going to miss the playoffs again.

The difficulty is the NFLPA needs to agree and they have fought for choice over mandate as the NFL has tried with things like OLine/DLine in preseason. In this case - I really don’t get it - multiple times he held his head after plays - the NFL has a protocol, but it is also up to the players. The questions asked aren’t hard and the players have talked about gaming them by answering slowly during offseason testing - so they look better during a game and can pass the testing. The players need to be honest and help themselves and that should be driven by the NFLPA.

This year that may be true, but the years before when missing their starter the back-up had 0 wins and were significantly worse. This year they brought in the guy they should have drafted over Lance and even then his record is not as good as Purdy’s.

I agree - people going after Taylor for not onside kicking is wrong. The onside kick is so lo percentage and even if you stop the Bills it is near the Cincinnati 40 and therefore in potential 4th down area. By kicking off - you still need the same stop, but as it will be deeper in Bills territory- less chance for a 4th down attempt and you have a chance to get the ball significantly closer to the winning TD.

Interesting to pick those teams. 1st: SF and Philly have been to several superbowls, but guess who beat them in the Super Bowl until last year. That pesky KC team we couldn’t get by. That means if those teams had been in the AFC neither makes the SB until last year. They have a combined record against KC that is worse than Buffalo. 2nd: Both SF and Philly have routinely drafted higher including have top 10 ( and top 3 in SF case) picks and missed the playoffs several times. And overall their win % and playoff % is worse than Buffalo. The same goes for the Rams (multiple playoff failures under McVay with 2 QBs drafted #1 overall), or Detroit with Campbell. The NFL is not easy and to get the type of consistent play year over year with only 1 team - KC having a higher win % shows we have a good team and a good coaching staff and even trying to adjust for Allen is difficult because this staff has allowed him to grow and develop in ways many other staffs would not. Look at the job SF did trying to develop Trey Lance or how Philly treats Hurts - McDermott has allowed Josh to be himself and grow and make mistakes, but mostly get better.