UKBillFan

The afternoon after the night before and I actually look back on this and feel embarrassed. It was an emotional take posted straight after the loss. I should have waited by it was cathartic at the time. Saying that, I do still have concerns about our ability of getting over the line in close games. Seven straight losses is not good for Super Bowl favourites, and we seem to find interesting new ways to lose as well - McKenzie running in the wrong direction and failing to stop the clock being the latest. I love the blow outs, it's great when things click we can blast teams away. But sometimes we need to grind results out. Injuries are the primary concern now. Offense were spent having to be on the field so much to try and help the defense. We need to be able to trust both sides of the ball and we understandably can't at the moment.

I don't think I would blame the coaches for yesterday's loss. The offensive plays were deliberately called to use up as much time as possible because we did not want the defense on the field. In terms of plan, it worked. Yes, there were some bad calls - the second offensive drive and 3 & 22 stand out - but in general the coaching did not result in the errors being made by the starters in terms of a particularly poor throw, dropped catches, a missed field goal, a lost pick six and dancing round the field rather than getting out of bounds whilst the clock ticked down. And if just one of those mistakes hadn't been made we would have won, all other things being equal. I do agree the O Line has been overlooked for too long and, if we do not win the Super Bowl this year, it will probably be down to that. And, because we wanted the offense to keep the defense off the field for so long, they were absolutely spent during the fourth quarter which led to mental and physical errors. But I can see the logic behind it and, if we had trusted the defense more, would it have been so close? Or would the Dolphins have got into a groove and exploited our injury-enforced weaknesses?

Right, got you. So 0-7 in close score games is more than acceptable. No, only got hooked into NFL and the Bills in 2020. Maybe that's part of the issue - haven't lived through the bad times.

Why does it have to be binary? Why does it have to be a case that we can’t have the blowouts in order to win the close games?

I may regret saying this when the Dolphins go 4-0 but it feels a bit like the Championship game last year. The Chiefs slugged it out against us, went to the Bengals and had nothing in the tank. Have to wonder if the same thing will happen.

Interesting how teams can beat us thanks to extreme weather, when they have the same conditions.

I’d rather us have a better record than 0-7 in one score games from the start of 2021.

FFS who said anything about cutting him? It’s getting to the point where no one can say anything negative or critical about Josh without a defence of you want to trade him, cut him etc.

The OP mentioned Milano, Brown and Bass, to be fair.

In fairness, I have pointed out the errors made by Davis, McKenzie, Milano and Bass. Had overlooked Dawkins, though! Brown was a mess; he’s been generally good for us but was awful today.

Gabe was clearly not 100% fit. Have to hope the minutes he gained today will set up on the right track for next week.

Because it was a throw which could have cost us the game. $250m means expectation and pressure. Our defense rose to the occasion for the most part when it needed to. It just needed clean execution from the main man in one key moment and it didn’t happen. Making clutch plays at the death are so important. For me, the most concerning thing is it was the starters who made the errors today which cost us the win, rather than the back ups. The throw was just one of a multitude of simple errors made across the game which cost us. In a way it’s good; despite tripping over our own feet time and time again we came within two. Josh was a key component of keeping it close. But three offensive points in the second half is a poor return considering the opportunities we had.

True, but for the most part the defense stood up when it mattered. The Dolphins punted far more than I expected them to today.

I’d say today was his worse game of the season so far. Despite the INT (I’m only counting one, as the other wasn’t on him), the Rams was his best, closely followed by the Titans. I don’t think missing half the offensive starters prevents him from completing a 5 yard pass. I do wonder why our red zone play was a mess on the second half. We could move the ball up the field at will but, when we hit the red zone, we couldn’t convert.

True. But then the defeat would have been on the defense, akin to 13 seconds. But, considering how depleted we were, I thought the defense did great overall today.

I’d argue that the second string members of the defense are the last persons on the roster responsible for the loss. Held up brilliantly considering the pressures and having to deal with the likes of Hill and Waddle.

Josh was fine for the most part but not phenomenal, not by any stretch. Other players played their part in the defeat (Davis, McKenzie, Milano, Bass) but failing to complete a simple five yard throw and only putting up three points in the second half, excluding the safety, is not good.

They’re not trash but they’re nothing special. The Chiefs - yes I know they lost today - would have put 40 on us considering how depleted we were.

There were two (perhaps three) coaching errors IMO - the second offensive drive play calling, the defensive set up on 3 & 22 and calling our final timeout instead of taking the delay of game. In comparison we made numerous execution errors on offense (Josh, Diggs, McKenzie, Davis), one key one on defense (Milano) and a couple on STs (Bass and Crowder).

And we lost.

Yes, but we have more talent on the roster. I agree, the mistakes kill us far too often.

Quarterback for one. They scraped over 200 yards against a battered second and third string, and only managed that due to one busted play on 3 and 22.

And it has to be asked why they coped far better with it than us.

Oh blimey, you dared to criticise Josh. Be prepared for the brickbats.

The Dolphins are not for real. Not yet anyway. The took advantage of a shredded secondary last week and the Bills beat themselves today. When they beat a good side due to the quality they possess, rather than injuries and/or errors of their opponents, then I'll take note.