Upon further review...was Bass supposed to pop the kick up?

[LABILLBACKER]

10 minutes ago, Ralonzo said:

defensive timeouts give the offense a chance to adjust to what you were going to adjust your defense to. Kelce said as much.

 

As for Bass, I get it, sometimes I hit it through the fairway and into the hazard because I hit it too good.

Well we may never know unless Tyler admits it?

[QCity]

4 hours ago, Paulus said:

Regardless, Buffalo really needs to work on its 120 second defense.

 

If you really want to get technical, maybe work on the 3600 second defense because 560+ yds ayyy?

[Rock-A-Bye Beasley]

4 hours ago, BoccesOnTransit said:

McDermott emphasized execution.

Still takes the knife for his team.

 

 

No, and even if you could excuse him for this aspect (Posters in the other thread have pointed out Bass takes a different approach to the ball when he’s trying to kick short) here are a few other things he did wrong in the last 13 seconds:

 

having players covering the sidelines even though KC has 3 timeouts

 

 not pressing or even having the coverage

close to kelce

 

 calling the timeout(s). Kelce said after the game that gave them time to recognize Bills coverage. 

 

pass rushing 4 players

 

him blaming execution is throwing his players under the bus. It’s 100% his fault. Just because he says he takes responsibility doesn’t me he actually does. He can’t refuse to admit he was wrong and take responsibility. That’s not how it works. 

[Utah John]

McDermott talking so much about execution on the kickoff with 13 seconds left -- it doesn't seem fair to execute Bass, who's pretty young, but Heath Farwell the special teams coach might want to have his wife start the car each morning. 

[HOUSE]

The wind BLOWED the ball into the End zone, this would not happen with a dome. (natural field, 65,000 seats, near the water, )

[HOUSE]

I no nothing about popping

[Billsatlastin2018]

The entire sequence was a HC decision making failure of CATASTROPHIC proportions!

 

1) Clearly, Bass was instructed to kick it normally. As EVERYONE from me to Romo said at the time, where was the squib kick? And a squib kick cannot be auto dead balled. The rule is, you need to go to the ground to give yourself up. Therefore, an immediate loss of time for KC’s only enemy- TIME. NEITHER Hill, nor Kelce were out there. I checked.
 

Instead of celebrating, Josh’s magician like play, the Clapper had to immediately get to Bass and the kicking team, to tell him what to do! 
MASSIVE FAIL.

 

2) That would have left nine critical seconds. Bringing you to the next ineptness of the Clapper. He knew his D was gassed. He needed to instruct them to line up, right on Kelce AND Hill and knock the ***** out of them! That brings the clock to 4 seconds and even with a Personal Foul and ball say at the 50, there is only time for ONE Hail Mary! I’ll take that chance.

 

McD didn’t! Even though, he specifically called not one, but TWO TOs!! To do what exactly, if not instruct that?

SUPER BOWL WIN FAIL!

 

[newcam2012]

11 hours ago, WotAGuy said:

Ever heard of the Music City Miracle?  Forget the kick, how about covering Hill and Kelce?

I get that. Here is my take. Of course there is a risk of kicking a returnable ball. That's a given. However, in this situation the clock was our best friend and the Chiefs worst enemy. Imho, the top priority was to burn as much time off the clock as possible before getting the ball in Mahomes hands. One less play for Mahomes would have been huge. No way should he had the opportunity to have another play especially in this game. It's Mahomes and he was on fire. A kick into the end zone never gives the Bill's a chance to diminish the clock. That's it in a nutshell. I can live with the risk of a good run back or a poor kick that gives them good field position. A very good executed kick could have easily taken 3 to 5 seconds of the clock. The risk reward was clearly in favor of squib or high kicking the ball to the 5 or 10 yard line. Imho, the kick in the end zone was a collasal mistake. You have to trust your kicker and special teams to execute the play especially when the defense was getting shredded by Mahomes. When Mahomes went under center at the 25 yard line with 3 time outs and 13 seconds I never felt comfortable. Couldn't you feel that they were going to have a decent chance to tie the game? I could especially the way the game playing out. Hindsight is 20 20. It's easy after the fact. 

[Rock-A-Bye Beasley]

7 hours ago, BobbyC81 said:

Of course he owned it.  He repeatedly said “It’s on me.”  I respect that more than someone like Arians criticizing Brady’s play.

saying it’s execution is throwing the players under the bus. Just because he said “it’s on me” doesn’t mean he’s taking responsibility. If he had said “I should have told Bass to kick it short of the goal line, it’s on me” or “we shouldn’t have been defending the sideline when the other team has 3 timeouts, it’s on me” or “we shouldn’t have been rushing 4, it’s on me” or “the timeouts I took backfired and allowed KC to adjust to our coverage,it’s on me” THAT is taking responsibility. 
 

but saying “it’s execution” completely nullifies any claims that he’s taking responsibility. 
 

 

[Billsfan1972]

I just posted elsewhere (my thread), that the b Bills were #3 in Kicking defence and the longest kick return they allowed all year was 33 yards.

 

These are stats that these coaches who work 20 hours/day and look at everything, because they are so damn good, should know.  

 

https://www.footballdb.com/stats/teamstat.html?group=D&cat=KR&yr=2021&lg=NFL

 

I was screaming at the TV to do a pop up kick to the 5-10 yard line that Bass is adept at.

2 minutes ago, Rock-A-Bye Beasley said:

saying it’s execution is throwing the players under the bus. Just because he said “it’s on me” doesn’t mean he’s taking responsibility. If he had said “I should have told Bass to kick it short of the goal line, it’s on me” or “we shouldn’t have been defending the sideline when the other team has 3 timeouts, it’s on me” or “we shouldn’t have been rushing 4, it’s on me” or “the timeouts I took backfired and allowed KC to adjust to our coverage,it’s on me” THAT is taking responsibility. 
 

but saying “it’s execution” completely nullifies any claims that he’s taking responsibility. 
 

 

McD speak....  He should teach a masterclass.

[Nextmanup]

12 hours ago, Hebert19 said:

The way that McDermott said it was an execution thing (and that starts with me) and seeing the way bass kicked it...I'm guessing he meant to do his normal pop up that lands by the 5...

 

Pure speculation but that was definitely the play and feels like thay was the intention. 

Nah---all coaches talk about "execution" all the time---largely b/c it is the most important factor in any game--but also to protect their butts as "execution" deflects blame from the coach.

 

McDermott was asked THREE TIMES in the post game PC about this and he refused to comment, effectively.

 

He just choked, feared another huge return, and made the wrong choice.  He does that a lot when it comes to in-game tactical decision making. 

 

You don't tell a pro NFL kicker "pop it up and drop it on the 15 yard line" or however they would describe such a kick and then he blasts it through the end zone. 

 

This isn't rocket science.

 

 

[Billsfan1972]

7 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

Nah---all coaches talk about "execution" all the time---largely b/c it is the most important factor in any game--but also to protect their butts as "execution" deflects blame from the coach.

 

McDermott was asked THREE TIMES in the post game PC about this and he refused to comment, effectively.

 

He just choked, feared another huge return, and made the wrong choice.  He does that a lot when it comes to in-game tactical decision making. 

 

You don't tell a pro NFL kicker "pop it up and drop it on the 15 yard line" or however they would describe such a kick and then he blasts it through the end zone. 

 

This isn't rocket science.

 

 

And as I said above, the Bills did not allow a big return all year.  The longest was 33 yards.   Average was 17 yards. 

 

If a 17 yard return, they eat up 6 seconds, we are down to 7 seconds and let's say they are at the 30 (being generous).  Mahomes then needs to complete a 35 yard pass in 7 seconds.  Good luck.....  

 

  

Edited January 25, 2022 by Billsfan1972

[Billsfan1972]

Again he did a full run up and full leg.....  There was no attempt to keep it in the field of play.  Bass has a leg for 60 yard FG, which requires a 3-4 yard approach.  He did his 7 yard one.  

 

All season long the Bills when they wanted to allow a return Bass did a shorter approach.

 

Case closed.....😜

[PayDaBill$]

The kick was only part of the problem.

 

Truth be told dropping regular season games like Jacksonville Indy and other close calls killed us.

 

If that KC game was home we win going away.

 

[CorkScrewHill]

7 hours ago, Ralonzo said:

defensive timeouts give the offense a chance to adjust to what you were going to adjust your defense to. Kelce said as much.

 

As for Bass, I get it, sometimes I hit it through the fairway and into the hazard because I hit it too good.

Almost every coach takes that timeout because it causes the defense to better understand what is coming if the offense doesn’t change or it causes the offense to go to a secondary play that they like less than the first one called. It appears it was Kelce who spotted something… so kudos to him. I hate the result but I would be surprised if you see any coach use their timeout differently in that situation 

Edited January 25, 2022 by CorkScrewHill

[YoloinOhio]

Yes. McDermott said it without saying it. Don’t know who is responsible for not doing it - ST coaches or Bass

[Dr. Who]

11 hours ago, Mango said:

 

His answers feel weird by McD standards to me. Feels like something was not quite right. At first I thought maybe he gave Farwell enough rope to hang himself with. But I also maybe thought when he kept mentioning execution, that a lot went wrong in those 13 seconds, focusing on the kick is meh. But maybe it was on Bass. We will never know. 
 

Unless of course Farwell gets fired. Then we will know. 

If they execute him, we'll really know.

[st pete gogolak]

I'll buy that there was a miscommunication and Bass incorrectly thought he was supposed to kick it deep.  On the other hand, I'm not buying that he tried to kick it short but kicked it deep because he had the adrenaline flowing.  He hammered the ball on purpose.  We've seen him do the short pop up kick all season.  It was overwhelmingly successful and usually pinned teams inside the 20.  

 

The short pop up kick was absolutely the right call.  First, Butker has a big leg.  KC would have been trying a FG from 55 yards out, maybe even longer.  That means if you give them the ball on the 25 with no time off the clock, they have 13 seconds and all their timeouts to move the ball to the Bills' 38 - 40 yard line - 35 - 37 yards.  Difficult but certainly not impossible.  

 

Plus, a pop up kick gives KC kind of a Hobson's choice.  KC returner (not Hill) can (1) let the ball bounce and hope it goes in the end zone.  If it doesn't, game over.  (2) call for a fair catch around the 10 or 15 yard line.  No time runs off the clock but now Mahones has to pick up 45 or 50 yards in two plays.  Not impossible the way Mahones was moving the ball but even a 15 yard play to Hill like they ran would have left them in a tough spot.  More likely Mahones is throwing down the field with 8 defenders protecting against a 20 - 25 yard pass.  (3) return the kick and hope to break it.  I'm guessing that Pringle was told under no circumstances return the kick.  Even a good return to the 30 or 35 leaves 6 maybe 7 seconds on the clock.  Time for one play to pick up 25 or 30 yards.  Again, doable but difficult.  

[K-9]

Squib wasn’t the best option as it stood a good chance to just be covered immediately and in better field position than a deep kick. Only one second would have run off because the receiver would have immediately given himself up and the ref would have stopped the clock upon seeing no attempt at a run back.
 

Should have been a pop fly kick off to the middle of the field at the 10. KC would have called a fair catch and while no time would have run off the clock, they would have had to go further than 40 yards to get into FG range. If McD and company feared a run back would hurt them, they were mistaken because Reid wouldn’t have allowed time to be run off on a return attempt. 
 

 

[starrymessenger]

Maybe the reference to execution was made to deflect away from the real problem. Maybe the kick and the defensive alignments in the last 13 seconds were all part of the same pathetic mindset. The deep kick was called because it provided certainty as to the result, the certainty being that it would not be returned for a touchdown. The prevent defence was called because it reduced the possibility that the Chiefs would score a touchdown and win the game in the last 13 seconds (Hill had just taken a crossing pattern to the house, beating Wallace) when correct situational football called for “preventing” the field goal.

Overly conservative. Or maybe there is another word for it.