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

[frostbitmic]

The Bills are simply not built for bad Buffalo weather.

 

In two games where the weather was an issue we scored 15 vs the Colts and a pitiful 10 vs the pats. How did our opponents beat us in those games ? ... they ran the ball down our throats. We try to run and we average 1 yard a carry until we break one for 15 yards and then back to a single yard for a few more carries. I truly believe that the running game is just a distant thought for Daboll and it shows. If a team is just going to run against you on every play put three DT's out there as well as two DE's and three LB's. Force them to try and pass.

 

Penalties, dropped passes, fumbles etc ... seems to be areas where we excel and those things lose games.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

18 minutes ago, Billever76 said:

You are not seeing the entire picture...when the wind was in our face in the 2nd quarter we became safe and didnt trust our 250m dollar man to make the plays..we forced the run...now had our backs seen the multiple wide open cut back lanes i still think we win.....but id rather trust our qb to win the game than moss or singletary

 

I love these people who tell me "I'm not seeing the entire picture" because they have some narrative in their head and don't bother to go look at the box score.

 

We had 2 drives in the 2nd Q. 

 

The first was sustained by a 16 yd pass to Gabe Davis for a 1st

Then a Josh Allen scramble for 5 yds when his passing options were covered followed by 2 runs to convert a 1st down

Then finally shut down by a Delay of Game on a pass play, a sack on a pass play, and an incomplete pass to Dawson Knox (which hit him on the numbers, and would have converted for a 1st) on a pass play. 

That's 5 probable intended pass plays out of 10 (counting the 5 yd run as an intended pass play where Josh liked what he saw to run)

 

The second drive was run-pass-pass-punt.  That's 2 pass plays out of 3.

 

We actually hung our drives on the arm of our $258M man in the 2nd Q to a pretty astounding extent for a windy day, either through drops, coverage, execution, or penalties, we couldn't sustain.

Keep in mind gusty winds affect the pass game just as much or more if you're with the wind as against it, for a QB like Josh.  The wind can catch the ball and sail it or blow it to the side, causing incompletions or worse, turnovers.

[Billever76]

1 minute ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I love these people who tell me "I'm not seeing the entire picture" because they have some narrative in their head and don't bother to go look at the box score.

 

We had 2 drives in the 2nd Q. 

 

The first was sustained by a 16 yd pass to Gabe Davis for a 1st, a Josh Allen scramble for 5 yds when his passing options were covered then 2 runs to convert a 1st down, then finally shut down by a Delay of Game on a pass play, a sack on a pass play, and an incomplete pass to Dawson Knox (which hit him on the numbers, and would have converted for a 1st) on a pass play.  That's 5 probable intended pass plays out of 10.

 

The second drive was run-pass-pass-punt.  That's 2 pass plays out of 3.

 

We actually hung our drives on the arm of our $258M man in the 2nd Q, and either through drops, coverage, execution, or penalties, we couldn't sustain.

5 probable pass plays out of 10....There it is!...we are not a balanced team...we are 70 to 75 pass and 25 to 30% run...mcdermott wants a balanced attack..problem is we have no guards or backs to make that happen...we are what we are...we live and die by the pass...now until mcdermott gets a mauling guard and a 25 to 30 carry back in here,we should stay the course....do what got us to the afccg last season....the offense has been changed big time and it cannot all be blamed on oline personal....mcdermot and dabol are at odds with how each envisions the offense imo

[GunnerBill]

2 hours ago, HardyBoy said:

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!

 

The bolded is absolutely, 100% accurate. The Bills were not outcoached. They were not even outplayed IMO. Their players just made some awful basic mistakes on routine plays - Knox, Diggs, Breida etc... was it the genius of Bill Belichick that made Breida unable to collect a simple hand off? Was it the genius of Belichick that made Knox drop two balls right in his hands on third down or commit a back breaking false start on 3rd and 7 game on the line? The wind affected the throw to Diggs, sure, but Stef will tell you himself he HAS to make that play. Wasn't that hard. 

[Billever76]

In my opinion if we play called the entire game the way we called the 4th quarter we win comfortably and are currently leading the divison and the #2 seed in the afc smh

Edited December 8, 2021 by Billever76

[Mark Vader]

1 hour ago, motorj said:

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

McDermott is very unforgiving when it comes to fumbles, which I get, but this discipline tends to come back and bite us.

 

If McKenzie is not playing as a KR anymore because of the fumble against the Colts, I can understand that. What I do not understand is benching McKenzie completely. We should be using him on our offense. What happened to the jet sweeps we would run with him? They were good plays for us last year.

 

As soon as Breida fumbled in the first quarter, I knew that Brieda would not be back until probably the 4th quarter, and that we would get more plays from Zack Moss.

Sure enough that's what happened.

 

I would like to see McDermott be a bit more forgiving of the players, by giving them another chance, instead of benching them and giving lesser players more time.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

6 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

As soon as Breida fumbled in the first quarter, I knew that Brieda would not be back until probably the 4th quarter, and that we would get more plays from Zack Moss.

Sure enough that's what happened.

 

You guys.  Don't let facts interrupt your narrative.

OK, True Confession: it was my narrative too.

 

But in fact, Breida got a carry in the 2nd Q, about 10 minutes after his fumble.

 

Can't rule out though, that Breida's planned role got slashed because of that miscue.

[dave mcbride]

4 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

You guys.  Don't let facts interrupt your narrative.

OK, True Confession: it was my narrative too.

 

But in fact, Breida got a carry in the 2nd Q, about 10 minutes after his fumble.

 

Can't rule out though, that Breida's planned role got slashed because of that miscue.

It totally did. I think it was Griese or Riddick who at the beginning of the game said that the plan called for a lot of Brieda that night, and that was presumably based on conversations with coaches beforehand.  Btw, Riddick is a really good announcer. 

[Never NEVER Give-up]

3 hours 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.

 

Perfect summary.

[Motorin']

3 hours ago, HardyBoy said:

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!

 

The real reason the Bills lost was due to the Patriots Red Zone defense. Not their run game. Not the Bills defense...

 

The Patriots D stopping the Bills from getting TD's on 3 of 4 red zone trips was the difference. 

[Steve O]

3 hours 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.

 

Fact is we did the things you said we couldn't do. New England didn't do those things. Loss was precisely because on Monday we were a worse team than the Patriots. Other than that I agree with everything.

[Never NEVER Give-up]

2 hours 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. 

Yeah, Aaron Rodgers always seems to throw TD's when he has a free play.  He doesn't throw it away on free plays.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

6 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

 

The real reason the Bills lost was due to the Patriots Red Zone defense. Not their run game. Not the Bills defense...

 

The Patriots D stopping the Bills from getting TD's on 3 of 4 red zone trips was the difference. 

 

Again, I'd like to offer the alternative theory that to some extent, we stopped ourselves.

[Motorin']

13 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Again, I'd like to offer the alternative theory that to some extent, we stopped ourselves.

 

That certainly contributed to the L. Sloppy penalties, drops, stupid fumble. But not one mistake or all of them combined lost the game like the McKenzie fumble against the Colts.

 

We had 2 shots in a row to drive for the game winning TD in the 4th. Imo, the most dominant force on the field was NE's red zone defense. They won the game for the Pats in my view.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

45 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

 

That certainly contributed to the L. Sloppy penalties, drops, stupid fumble. But not one mistake or all of them combined lost the game like the McKenzie fumble against the Colts.

 

We had 2 shots in a row to drive for the game winning TD in the 4th. Imo, the most dominant force on the field was NE's red zone defense. They won the game for the Pats in my view.

 

Again, I understand that POV.  But they didn't force Moss to put his head down and run to his gap instead of trying to bounce outside, or Allen to take a sack for 9 yds instead of throwing it away, or Dawson Knox to not be able to catch a contested ball, thus making it 4th and 15 and a missed FG from 33 yds instead of a TD or a FG from 24 yds that might have gone in.  Even the 33 yd FG might have been good if they'd have used the 3rd down to position it most favorably.

 

I could go on but you get my point: NE played tough defense, but red zone woes by the Bills are far from unique to this game.

 

And I don't place the Colts loss on the McKenzie fumble.  It made it 24-7 at the half, true, but if our D could have made adjustments and stopped their run or at least slowed it, 3 scores is not too much to make up in a half.  Putting it all on one player and one play is weak sauce.

 

A missed FG after a sack/fumble that turned 1st and 10 at the Colts 36 into 2nd and 22 at the Colts 48 kept us from going in 24-10 with 2 scores to make up.  McKenzie had nothing to do with that.   2 picks in the 2nd half plus another missed kick played their role as well.  Maybe if we were scoring some points the D would have taken some heart, but with a 24-7 lead the Colts had every reason to keep running.

 

 

[dorquemada]

Part of the reason for our high TOP is because McD might be the worst in the NFL at clock management.  even when we move the ball the clock just seems to bleed, there's never ANY urgency behind anything this team does until it's way too late.  Thats terrible coaching strait up

[Nextmanup]

6 hours 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 agree with your comments.

 

They all collectively indicate that our coaching let us down in that game, in a huge way.

 

And on a night when we needed them to be their best.

 

 

[Cheektowaga Chad]

Lost because we were 1-4 in the red zone

 

Even 2 more fgs gives you the win. 2 tds gives you a 10 pt win and thats still going 75% 

Edited December 8, 2021 by Cheektowaga Chad