NE Ran 40+ Times Yet only Won TOP by 2 minutes - How did the Bills Lose?

[HardyBoy]

This narrative that the Bills defense didn't control the game, or should be embarrassed is crazy.

 

New England winning time of possession by only two minutes in a game they ran like 44 times for over 200 yards is really not impressive. How is that even possible? Bills just couldn't finish drives. Yes, some of that is great red zone scheme I'm sure, but the wind impacted a sure back shoulder td to Diggs late in the game that busted that scheme dead to rights.

 

Agree with McD here 100%, they should have won that game and it wasn't good coaching by the Pats, it was poor execution by the Bills o

and bad luck for the Bills due to weather in key moments. The long td to Diggs that he just couldn't track, that back shoulder where Diggs had the guy dead to rights, plus the missed fg by Bass...all three plays doomed by the wind.

 

Though I will say, I think Belichick just showed ATL how to not blow a 28-3 lead, while only having a 1 point lead!

[Ramza86]

Honestly...we lost because we didnt throw the football until late in the game.

 

Allens arm pretty much held up in the wind like it was intended. That was one of the reasons he was drafted...but didnt use that advantage from the jump.

 

Did we actually think wed be able to run against the freakin pats D?

 

Like...where is the trust? Whose idea is it that we want to become more balanced without improving the offensive line?

 

We should be throwing the ball 45 times a game until the offensive line is improved.

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

20 minutes ago, Ramza86 said:

Honestly...we lost because we didnt throw the football until late in the game.

Allens arm pretty much held up in the wind like it was intended. That was one of the reasons he was drafted...but didnt use that advantage from the jump.

Did we actually think wed be able to run against the freakin pats D?

Like...where is the trust? Whose idea is it that we want to become more balanced without improving the offensive line?

We should be throwing the ball 45 times a game until the offensive line is improved.

 

I'd be interested if you could construct an argument for that based upon specific plays or a drive.

 

Given that Allen threw a couple of incompletions to the R that drifted R (and one was nearly picked off) and that Allen in his presser pointed out that the wind affected the threw to Gabe Davis, I think it's a pretty hard argument to make.

[Rigotz]

In a 10-14 game you can't do this:

 

- Fumble a handoff on 1st and 10 at the Opponent's 29 yard line, with the wind at your back.

- Go from 1st and goal at the Opponent's 6 yard line to 4th and 14 with the game on the line.

- Miss a 33 yard field goal.

- Drop several easy first downs.

- Drop touchdowns.

 

That's why we lost. Not because Bill Belichick is a genius. Not because we are a worse team than the Patriots.

We shot ourselves in the foot in a game where the weather favored the Patriots style of play.

 

Simple as that.

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

 

To McDermott, it's very simple and it's pretty hard to argue.  We had 4 trips to the red zone and we only scored a TD on 1 of them, any points on half.

That has been a consistent problem for us this year.  In the Tennessee game, 2 of 5.  3 of 5 we win.

 

The reasons are varied - offensive penalties, sacks, drops, incompletions.  Offensive penalties have been killer.

 

But IMO it comes down to, we have the talent and we're kicking ourselves in the nuts.

 

 

 

 

[JMF2006]

Only one jagoff journo sad the D got owned...sulking sully.

 

2 FG and one busted run play TD is not owned.....owned was the Colts game.

 

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

6 minutes ago, Rigotz said:

In a 10-14 game you can't do this:

 

- Fumble a handoff on 1st and 10 at the Opponent's 29 yard line, with the wind at your back.

- Go from 1st and goal at the Opponent's 6 yard line to 4th and 14 with the game on the line.

- Miss a 33 yard field goal.

- Drop several easy first downs.

- Drop touchdowns.

 

That's why we lost. Not because Bill Belichick is a genius. Not because we are a worse team than the Patriots.

We shot ourselves in the foot in a game where the weather favored the Patriots style of play.

 

Simple as that.

 

Unfortunately, on a weather day, you can miss a 33 yd fieldgoal - which simply emphasizes your previous point.

Run for no Gain

9 yd sack

Incomplete pass to Knox

 

Of the 3, taking that 9 yd sack was killer.  Without it, it's a 24 yd fieldgoal, and maybe it's 3 points and we can kick another for the win the next drive.

 

[Real McClappy]

3 minutes ago, Rigotz said:

In a 10-14 game you can't do this:

 

- Fumble a handoff on 1st and 10 at the Opponent's 29 yard line, with the wind at your back.

- Go from 1st and goal at the Opponent's 6 yard line to 4th and 14 with the game on the line.

- Miss a 33 yard field goal.

- Drop several easy first downs.

- Drop touchdowns.

 

That's why we lost. Not because Bill Belichick is a genius. Not because we are a worse team than the Patriots.

We shot ourselves in the foot in a game where the weather favored the Patriots style of play.

 

Simple as that.

 

I think you nailed it on the head. My initial morning after reactions was all hate to our D. After really looking at the D performance this game 100% was not on that side of the Ball regardless what some people here or in the media are spewing. At the end of the day the Defense gave up 14points and most importantly 3 in the entire 2nd half., that is supposed to win us games. 

The entire O shoulders this loss. Our offense ran more offensive plays in the game versus the Pats Offense 57-49 and straight could not execute.

 

The Bills flat out need help on the Oline and our play makers beside Allen to make plays.

[T master]

As they say it only takes 1 or 2 plays that can completely change the out come of a game and to me those were the one if Diggs could have caught that ball in the end zone which he usually does but didn't this time & i don't hold that against him because he's usually money but game over .

 

Then if Knox could have caught his targets or if Bass could have predicted that huge gust of wind that blew his kick out of the uprights i think the game would have ended differently .

 

But all in all it was a lot closer than it actually was and i hate that they lost i still think they should use Gilliam or Williams more in the back field giving the running game some ass either blocking or just in short yardage . 

 

Motor is a keeper and i think is a back that needs more carries to get in a rhythm Moss is okay but i never liked the pick both our backs are small Moss is 207 lbs Motor is 203 lbs \, Gilliam is 244 lbs & Williams is 215 lbs i think especially as it has been said that the Bills need to be more physical one or both of these guys need to be utilized & only then will the run game be more productive despite some of the shortcomings of the O line . JMHO ...

[dave mcbride]

2 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Unfortunately, on a weather day, you can miss a 33 yd fieldgoal - which simply emphasizes your previous point.

Run for no Gain

9 yd sack

Incomplete pass to Knox

 

Of the 3, taking that 9 yd sack was killer.  Without it, it's a 24 yd fieldgoal, and maybe it's 3 points and we can kick another for the win the next drive.

 

The other I'd add is Allen thinking he got them offside (he didn't; the NE player didn't cross the line) and then throwing a no-chance pass and complaining to the refs. That's the third time he's done something like that this year on a play in which he thought he got the guy to jump but didn't and then played like he could throw it away. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

5 minutes ago, T master said:

As they say it only takes 1 or 2 plays that can completely change the out come of a game and to me those were the one if Diggs could have caught that ball in the end zone which he usually does but didn't this time & i don't hold that against him because he's usually money but game over .

 

Then if Knox could have caught his targets or if Bass could have predicted that huge gust of wind that blew his kick out of the uprights i think the game would have ended differently .

 

But all in all it was a lot closer than it actually was and i hate that they lost i still think they should use Gilliam or Williams more in the back field giving the running game some ass either blocking or just in short yardage . 

 

Motor is a keeper and i think is a back that needs more carries to get in a rhythm Moss is okay but i never liked the pick both our backs are small Moss is 207 lbs Motor is 203 lbs \, Gilliam is 244 lbs & Williams is 215 lbs i think especially as it has been said that the Bills need to be more physical one or both of these guys need to be utilized & only then will the run game be more productive despite some of the shortcomings of the O line . JMHO ...

 

I thought they did some effective runs with Gilliam as a lead blocker hmmm hmmm Jets game?  We showed a more varied run game to some success there, as I recall.  But Gilliam has been nursing an ankle injury, was questionable for the game, and they had him inactive - need two legs and feet to play FB effectively

 

"That guy on the practice squad" is always the fan favorite to "fix" the team, but the coaches see these guys every day.  I have to think if they felt the PS guy could play more effectively than the guy on the field, they'd get their shot.

 

4 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

The other I'd add is Allen thinking he got them offside (he didn't; the NE player didn't cross the line) and then throwing a no-chance pass and complaining to the refs. That's the third time he's done something like that this year on a play in which he thought he got the guy to jump but didn't and then played like he could throw it away. 

 

Agreed.  That Must Stop.  There has to be a play, and it has to be "your next play, your best play". 

 

I wish our "hard hitting journalists" would ask McDermott or Daboll about this issue.

[First Round Bust]

if we knew before the game that we would give up only 14 points and 240 yards in TOTAL offense we would surely take those stats and the win probability would be surely favorable

the getting owned-embarassed question iis in the context of aseason-long question where TEN-IND-NE have owned the LoS against our D-line dont you think ? Why else would Pats only pass 3 times...and why leave 2-3 CBs in for the majority of snaps...against the heavy package of extra OL when you can sub based on that ?

Note that our captains, with the exception of Diggs who is not avail for interviews ?  do a good job of repping-answering...it was a tough-emotional loss and a zinger of question that may or may not asked properly...

[Man with No Name]

i think the run pass balance is fine, though sometimes we call a run at the worst moment. We should be using screens and qb runs for our "run game" in certain situations. 

 

We lose because we can't put the ball in the endzone. It's been comically bad this year. Oh, and the badly timed penalties. That's gotta be the coaching, right? Being prepared is the biggest thing BB's teams always have going for them. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

30 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I'd be interested if you could construct an argument for that based upon specific plays or a drive.

 

Given that Allen threw a couple of incompletions to the R that drifted R (and one was nearly picked off) and that Allen in his presser pointed out that the wind affected the threw to Gabe Davis, I think it's a pretty hard argument to make.

 

Crass to follow my own post, but my intentions are good.  The OP I'm responding to hypothesizes we lost because we didn't start throwing until late in the game (this despite all the evidence that passes, even Allen's passes, were being effected and he  seemed to be throwing them with more "zip" which made them harder to haul in.

 

Here is a resource that may help (or hurt) the argument:
https://nflcdns.nfl.com/liveupdate/gamecenter/58696/BUF_Gamebook.pdf

 

There's a first half summary about page 6.  Note that "offensive plays" include punts, so you have to subtract that out to determine run pass balance.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

 

2 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Considering once they started chucking the ball in the 4th against the wind they had their best two drives of the game…. Sure the wind had an affect on his passes but he was still able to demonstrate he can throw through it …. Why they waited to the 4th to get into passing mode is really infuriating and more proof McD was coaching scared of the weather. 

 

Can you demonstrate factually that they waited until the second half or the 4th quarter to "start chucking the ball"?

 

Also, what were the winds at the start of the game, vs. the start of the 4th Q?

[Andrew Son]

The Red Zone

[JohnNord]

26 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

To McDermott, it's very simple and it's pretty hard to argue.  We had 4 trips to the red zone and we only scored a TD on 1 of them, any points on half.

That has been a consistent problem for us this year.  In the Tennessee game, 2 of 5.  3 of 5 we win.

 

The reasons are varied - offensive penalties, sacks, drops, incompletions.  Offensive penalties have been killer.

 

But IMO it comes down to, we have the talent and we're kicking ourselves in the nuts.

 

 

 

 

I agree on the talent but I also the weakest area of play (Offensive Line and Running Back) are also prime examples why the Bills stall out toward the redzone.  Teams are keying on Allen to take away his running and flooding the endzone with defenders.  
 

Not having to defend against a threat of a run game out the team at a huge disadvantage.  the run calls near the goal line make sense, but the Bills can’t pull it off, even with a numbers advantage 

[T master]

18 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I thought they did some effective runs with Gilliam as a lead blocker hmmm hmmm Jets game?  We showed a more varied run game to some success there, as I recall.  But Gilliam has been nursing an ankle injury, was questionable for the game, and they had him inactive - need two legs and feet to play FB effectively

 

"That guy on the practice squad" is always the fan favorite to "fix" the team, but the coaches see these guys every day.  I have to think if they felt the PS guy could play more effectively than the guy on the field, they'd get their shot.

 

Didn't Williams also do some really good things against the Fins in a fairly recent game if my memory serves me correct which does fail me quite often and yes i agree you do need both legs but the combo of backs they are using now isn't getting it done which of the 2 i like motor better his YPC average i believe is better .

 

Plus i think the run game need more ass which hopefully helps in the physicality aspect not only blocking but in short yardage & Williams is 215 lbs Berida is the speed but only 190 lbs and has shown that he can make some plays but IMHO i would sit Moss & use either of the 2 heavier backs to try to make a difference .

[JoshAllin]

45 minutes ago, Rigotz said:

In a 10-14 game you can't do this:

 

- Fumble a handoff on 1st and 10 at the Opponent's 29 yard line, with the wind at your back.

- Go from 1st and goal at the Opponent's 6 yard line to 4th and 14 with the game on the line.

- Miss a 33 yard field goal.

- Drop several easy first downs.

- Drop touchdowns.

 

That's why we lost. Not because Bill Belichick is a genius. Not because we are a worse team than the Patriots.

We shot ourselves in the foot in a game where the weather favored the Patriots style of play.

 

Simple as that.

 

Is mcd going to bench half the team now? Mckenzie should have been used that game not sure what the deal is that started this

[warrior9]

Brian Daboll