filthymcnasty08 Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Momentum is such an X factor in NFL games. I think more so than in any other sport. It has so much to do with upset games, big comebacks, last minute victories and halftime turnarounds. Nothing is more difficult than getting 11 players to successfully execute as a unit - positive momentum always seems to be the one thing that can do it time and time again. When your team has a momentum surge, you ride it like a wave. The NFL is mostly a parity league.....the differences between winners and losers can be so thinly marginal. Gotta ride that momentum when you have it. Most of my frustrations from yesterday have been well documented by others on the board, but the one that really got me yesterday was our offensive possession after JL's interception. Cincy was driving strong to go up at least by 10 and most likely by 14. They were moving the ball on us at will at that point in the game. Pettine called a great defensive shift on them and JL caught a rare mistake by Dalton. Took what looked to be a runaway game and gave the Bills a chance to tie it. We have a running QB that Cincy had almost no film on....we have 2 very fast WR's....we have supposedly an entire playbook of up-tempo offense......and we have momentum. After a pick like that, the offense comes on the field strapped in.....receivers are ready to run harder. What an opportunity to go right for the jugular. Run something different! Get their DC guessing. You're on house money on this drive. Flea flicker? End around? Roll out? RB pass? Naked bootleg? pass out of an obvious running front? Play action?????? Nope....ran a slowly developing screen and lost 3. They were ready for it. Burfict came in like a missile - could have killed Freddy - fooled nobody. Sets up obvious passing situation (empty backfield) on 2nd down and they completely had us from there. SACK. 3rd and 20. (this would have been the spot for a screen but we went empty backfield instead and signaled the pass rush to dig in) My point is our play calling on first down set the tone - we choked and handed the momentum back to Cincy. We should have destabilized their DC with something different....instead we let him call the perfect D because we did NOTHING different there. We connect and we send them into the tunnel worrying about us in the 2nd half......even if we miss, we get them to think about how they call the D against us. Great offenses ride that momentum, immediately attack you vertically and make you pay for that pick. We required an all-world punt from B-Mo to prevent Cincy from trying to score. Our OC/HC gave momentum/opportunity away there with predictably bad play calling. Am I wrong Dude??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ (not THAT RJ) Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 "Run more screens! Why won't Hackett run more screens!!!!" "Running a screen is a terrible idea... terrible...!" Choose one. Or, if you want to criticize the Bills coaching, choose both. A screen can be smart against an aggressive D... in that case, it did not work out well. That happens, because the other team is playing hard too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan_in_raleigh Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Kelso always says that after a turnover the best call is play action deep ball. Rarely do I see Bills attack after the turnover. We also went conservative when we got ball in OT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 I'm more angry because we didn't boot leg on the goal line. The first 3 dive plays, there was absolutely no intent on Cincy's part to contain the edges. Every player was crashing the line of scrimmage and the ends were pinching. If Thad keeps the ball on any of them, he walks into the end zone. That drive was the absolute killer, even though it happened early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bills_fan_in_raleigh Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 I'm more angry because we didn't boot leg on the goal line. The first 3 dive plays, there was absolutely no intent on Cincy's part to contain the edges. Every player was crashing the line of scrimmage and the ends were pinching. If Thad keeps the ball on any of them, he walks into the end zone. That drive was the absolute killer, even though it happened early. Plus we ran out of heavy lineup instead of trying to spread them and than run. We needed two lousy yards and called the wrong plays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ (not THAT RJ) Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 I understand the complaints about the goal-line playcalling... but ask all to remember that in CLE that heavy set led to two easy TDs from the one. Coaches are, for better or (in this case) worse influenced heavily by recent history. Would not be surprised if next time they go wide on the goal line. And if they fail, people will talk about how the obviously should have gone heavy.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffOrange Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 How did the Bengals offense overcome the momentum after the Bills opening TD drive? How did their defense overcome the momentum of the Leohnard int? How did the Bills overcome the Bengals momentum when they went down 24-10? How did the Bengals re-take the momentum after a blowing a 14pt lead? Here's a theory: Momentum is a garbage term that gets thrown around by announcers that doesn't mean anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filthymcnasty08 Posted October 14, 2013 Author Share Posted October 14, 2013 How did the Bengals offense overcome the momentum after the Bills opening TD drive? By gashing us for the next 2 quarters. How did their defense overcome the momentum of the Leohnard int? They didn't have to, our Coaches took care of that for them. How did the Bills overcome the Bengals momentum when they went down 24-10? We caught a HUGE break on a missed chip shot FG or else that game was over. How did the Bengals re-take the momentum after a blowing a 14pt lead? Again, we did nothing imaginative in OT after the D makes a key stop - was time to go for it - we 3 and outed. Here's a theory: Momentum is a garbage term that gets thrown around by announcers that doesn't mean anything. Yeah - nobody in sports but announcers use the term Momentum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 You guys do realize why that drive blew up? Go back and look who was playing LG, and who singlehandedly blew things up on 2--maybe all 3--plays on that drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 I understand the complaints about the goal-line playcalling... but ask all to remember that in CLE that heavy set led to two easy TDs from the one. Coaches are, for better or (in this case) worse influenced heavily by recent history. Would not be surprised if next time they go wide on the goal line. And if they fail, people will talk about how the obviously should have gone heavy.... Which is all the more reason to do something different from the same formation. I wasn't questioning the personnel, simply the inability to quickly adapt to what was going on right in front of you. Cincinnati did the same thing on 3 consecutive plays. All the BILLS had to do was play fake to Freddie and have Thad run the naked. Six points, easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDH Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Which is all the more reason to do something different from the same formation. I wasn't questioning the personnel, simply the inability to quickly adapt to what was going on right in front of you. Cincinnati did the same thing on 3 consecutive plays. All the BILLS had to do was play fake to Freddie and have Thad run the naked. Six points, easy. Or a play fake to FJ and have Chandler slip out to the back of the end zone. If he's covered Thad can run it. Unlike other's I don't mind running it up the middle on the goal line. It works most of the time. But one of those three plays had to take advantage of the total sell out the Bengals were making to stop the middle run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts