The Great Squib Kickoff Controversy - Have reviewed the film like it was Zapruder

[Billsfan1972]

2 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

Think about it.  They call a fair catch no matter where the ball comes down.  That gives them 13 seconds.  Say it's on the 10.  Because of the stupid defenses Frazier called they move right down the middle of the field, still get a FG try.  

 

You think you know it all and you don't.  No one knows what Reid would have had his team do or not do.  What we do know is our defense let them walk down the field 50 yards in 10 seconds.  It is hardly a stretch to think they could have made another 10-15 in that time, because our defense was determined to play passively.  

 

They lost the game because the defense could not hold them that last 13 seconds, and then they let them walk right down the field again in OT.  That is the reason.  There is no other reason.

Mistake after mistake after mistake.  However they went 43 yards in 10 seconds.  43 yards from the 10 yard line if a fair catch (I'd have it closer to the 5), means a 60 yard FG. 

[oldmanfan]

2 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

Mistake after mistake after mistake.  However they went 43 yards in 10 seconds.  43 yards from the 10 yard line if a fair catch (I'd have it closer to the 5), means a 60 yard FG. 

And you don’t know what plays they would have called to get a few more yards in that circumstance.  You do not know what you think you know.  The only thing we do know is our D was playing way back and refusing to do anything to slow down their receivers.

 

 

Edited January 26, 2022 by oldmanfan

[Billsfan1972]

3 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

And you don’t know what plays they would have called to get a few more yards in that circumstance.  You do not know what you think you know.  The only thing we do know is our D was playing way back and refusing to do anything to slow down their receivers.

 

 

13 seconds.  No way they were getting further.  Colossal fail on so many counts, but started with the kickoff. 

[oldmanfan]

1 minute ago, Billsfan1972 said:

13 seconds.  No way they were getting further.  Colossal fail on so many counts, but started with the kickoff. 

You are absolutely ridiculous.  You have no way of knowing that.  They went 50 yards in two plays like it was nothing.  
 

Congrats, you got more of the attention you crave today.

[GaryPinC]

41 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

13 seconds.  No way they were getting further.  Colossal fail on so many counts, but started with the kickoff. 

So which was the critical mistake?  Because you seem to be fixated on the kickoff while many of us feel the defensive strategy was the largest problem/blunder and the kickoff was the more minor mistake.

[Billsfan1972]

56 minutes ago, GaryPinC said:

So which was the critical mistake?  Because you seem to be fixated on the kickoff while many of us feel the defensive strategy was the largest problem/blunder and the kickoff was the more minor mistake.

So many.....  I have commented on the kickoff, because I am not a defensive guru, but seems obvious there were many things botched up there. 

 

As for burning 13 seconds and not allowing KC to get to the 32 yard line, I was screaming at the TV (like Romo too said on the telecast) to make KC return the kick and take seconds off the clock. 

 

To me that was a major mistake. A kick to the 5 yard line would have burned a minimum of 4-5 seconds (with a 20 yard return).  With 9 seconds and I don't see them getting beyond the Buffalo 45 yard line and that still I think is a stretch.  

[Nextmanup]

4 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

How does a kicker not get a special teams play call? 

I'm not saying they did, but it honestly looks like the Bills coaching staff threw the game on purpose. Or at least some of the coaches did.

We can agree they were either confused, there the game, or at a minimum, made some highly baffling decisions.

 

You can see why McDermott doesn't want to talk about it ALL ALL---as it was obviously a colossal cluster-fudge.

 

It's completely inexcusable and it cost us the game.

 

Rushing FOUR MEN when you know Mahomes has to get rid of the ball immediately? 

 

Hell, rush zero or 1 man and put everyone back clogging up the middle of the field.

If that gives Mahomes ALL DAY to throw the ball, great!  Let him take ALL DAY.

 

The game would have ended 13 seconds later regardless.

 

 

[BubbaT]

Looking at the film on the Cover 1 podcast, you can see several Bills players on the kick coverage team look at the sidelines after the kick goes through the end zone with their palms up clearly confused by what just happened. I get the sense the kicker did not get the message. A massive screwup then compounded by the worst, softest looking defense I've ever seen given the yards KC needed.

[GaryPinC]

1 hour ago, Billsfan1972 said:

So many.....  I have commented on the kickoff, because I am not a defensive guru, but seems obvious there were many things botched up there. 

 

As for burning 13 seconds and not allowing KC to get to the 32 yard line, I was screaming at the TV (like Romo too said on the telecast) to make KC return the kick and take seconds off the clock. 

 

To me that was a major mistake. A kick to the 5 yard line would have burned a minimum of 4-5 seconds (with a 20 yard return).  With 9 seconds and I don't see them getting beyond the Buffalo 45 yard line and that still I think is a stretch.  

I agree with you if it works out that way.  However, there's a lot more to chance.   They may hit a long return and only need 5 or 6 seconds to run a play then kick it.  If they had put Tyreek Hill back there, no way do I do anything except kick it out of the EZ.  Obviously they didn't put him back there but I also can cut McD some slack wanting to not take a chance on a return.

 

On the other hand, if memory serves, McD even burned a timeout after KC's first completion and STILL didn't get them into a better defense.  He should at least own that and I consider the entire prevent defense of that series the most troubling component (and most correctable) of the entire sequence.

[Malazan]

22 hours ago, Captain_Quint said:

Fire the guy, come out and say he screwed up, whatever McD needs to do. In the end, Special teams had some glaring errors this season as well as some very strong play so it's tough to just fire the coordinator.

 

lol, this place.

 

McDermott is the HC and needs to accept responsibility! 

 

Also, he needs to finger point at other people whose fault it is!

 

He's doing exactly what he should. He's indicated there was an error. He's accepted responsibility for it. Now he should make whatever decisions about anyone else who screwed up privately. It's shooting yourself in the foot if you start publicly blaming other people when you want to hire other quality coaches. 

[Billsfan1972]

4 minutes ago, Malazan said:

 

lol, this place.

 

McDermott is the HC and needs to accept responsibility! 

 

Also, he needs to finger point at other people whose fault it is!

 

He's doing exactly what he should. He's indicated there was an error. He's accepted responsibility for it. Now he should make whatever decisions about anyone else who screwed up privately. It's shooting yourself in the foot if you start publicly blaming other people when you want to hire other quality coaches. 

It's the "Coaching Cone of Silence".....  Going back to MCM, I will never for a second think it was Wade Phillips decision to start Rob Johnson that game (and worse yet, not yank him when he was so putrid".  That was all Ralph Wilson (and will be taken to the grave).  

[Buffalo_Stampede]

2 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

We can agree they were either confused, there the game, or at a minimum, made some highly baffling decisions.

 

You can see why McDermott doesn't want to talk about it ALL ALL---as it was obviously a colossal cluster-fudge.

 

It's completely inexcusable and it cost us the game.

 

Rushing FOUR MEN when you know Mahomes has to get rid of the ball immediately? 

 

Hell, rush zero or 1 man and put everyone back clogging up the middle of the field.

If that gives Mahomes ALL DAY to throw the ball, great!  Let him take ALL DAY.

 

The game would have ended 13 seconds later regardless.

 

 

Exactly. Break down every part of what the Bills did. They basically did everything to give the Chiefs a fg attempt.

 

If you watch the sideline there's a coach waiving the Bills defense back further and further. Who is this guy? Some of the Bills players are still backing up as the ball is snapped on the 1st play. They're already 15 yards off the ball. Then the ball is snapped and those players 1st step is backwards. I mean what? Hill was full speed by the time they reacted.

 

 

[Malazan]

8 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

It's the "Coaching Cone of Silence".....  Going back to MCM, I will never for a second think it was Wade Phillips decision to start Rob Johnson that game (and worse yet, not yank him when he was so putrid".  That was all Ralph Wilson (and will be taken to the grave).  

 

Whether it was or wasn't (and I agree that the decision was not likely Wade's), it certainly didn't benefit Wade Phillips to publicly say that. The same way that it doesn't really benefit McDermott or the team to to get really specifics on what happened and who wanted to do what or exactly where it went wrong.

[Peter]

McCoach should come clean on exactly what happened.

 

I think he was being way too cute by saying it was "execution." On WGR, Sal and/or Joe said that, by saying it was "execution," McCoach was not throwing someone under the bus.

 

I think it is actually the opposite.

 

I cannot say 100% what happened, but I doubt that Bass did anything other than what he was told. I also have to believe that McCoach heard exactly what the special teams coach told Bass (or he told Bass himself).

 

Whatever happened, it was a blunder that will haunt us for the entire off season.

 

P.S. Even though I thought it was a huge mistake that stopped us from a wonderful opportunity to move on and potentially win the SB, I am NOT one of those people who thinks he should be fired. People make mistakes and this certainly was a big mistake. Nevertheless, there has been a lot more good than bad. Of course, McC has been helped tremendously by the fact that we have our first franchise QB in many years - as well as Brian Daboll who appears to be on his way to being a HC (or at least deserves to be one).

[Captain_Quint]

48 minutes ago, Malazan said:

 

lol, this place.

 

McDermott is the HC and needs to accept responsibility! 

 

Also, he needs to finger point at other people whose fault it is!

 

He's doing exactly what he should. He's indicated there was an error. He's accepted responsibility for it. Now he should make whatever decisions about anyone else who screwed up privately. It's shooting yourself in the foot if you start publicly blaming other people when you want to hire other quality coaches. 

 

I'm not saying to fire him, I'm saying that McD needs to address the problem as he sees fit. And it's a bad look to not tell the truth (at the very least to his team) when you are preaching process. 

 

We as fans aren't owed anything. Same goes for the media. But in order to put this behind them, the team needs to know exactly what the mixup was, whose fault it was, and how it's being addressed by the head coach. I think it's a bad move to just let it hang around and chaulk it up to something vague like "we didnt execute". They need closure in order to bounce back from that kind of a coaching screw up. 

[Malazan]

1 hour ago, Captain_Quint said:

 

I'm not saying to fire him, I'm saying that McD needs to address the problem as he sees fit. And it's a bad look to not tell the truth (at the very least to his team) when you are preaching process. 

 

We as fans aren't owed anything. Same goes for the media. But in order to put this behind them, the team needs to know exactly what the mixup was, whose fault it was, and how it's being addressed by the head coach. I think it's a bad move to just let it hang around and chaulk it up to something vague like "we didnt execute". They need closure in order to bounce back from that kind of a coaching screw up. 

 

What makes you think the team doesn't know any of this?

[Billsfan1972]

Simply put a properly executed squib or kick to the 5-10 yard line and only maybe and a big maybe a hail Mary beats the Bills.

 

 

[FLFan]

I think it is pretty obvious at this point that the call was for a kick within the field of play to force KC to handle the ball but it was not executed correctly.  Some do not want to accept that this was a simple mistake and not some massive failure of strategy or leadership because it does not fit their desired narrative.  McDemott answered the question of this point as honestly as he could.   I will be glad when we can return to rational discussion around here rather than childish emotions.  

[BoccesOnTransit]

On 1/25/2022 at 3:38 PM, Billsfan1972 said:

0!!!!!!! 

Actually, google told me that 0!!!!!!! evaluates to 1. Just wanted to get the facts totally straight.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+0!!!!!!!&ei=j_HxYd2yCeHPytMP78OLsAE&ved=0ahUKEwidtpqh4ND1AhXhp3IEHe_hAhYQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=what+is+0!!!!!!!&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBAgAEEMyBQgAEIAEMgQIABBDMgQIABBDMgUIABCABDIFCAAQgAQyBQgAEIAEMgUIABCABDIECAAQQzIFCAAQgAQ6BwgAEEcQsAM6CggAELEDEIMBEENKBAhBGABKBAhGGABQpwhYxZ4BYKyiAWgCcAJ4AIABXYgBsgKSAQE0mAEAoAEBoAECyAEIwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz

[KOKBILLS]

On 1/25/2022 at 3:38 PM, Billsfan1972 said:

I have posted in other threads so apologies.  And yes still pissed at all the mistakes in the last 13 seconds.

 

I can accept (though inexcusable) that there was miscommunication (and that is an epic fail), but not that Bass was not trying to kick it out of the endzone.

 

Yes in another thread....  I had to go back and watch every kick......  

 

Bass was kicking into the endzone.  His approach was 7-8 yards.....

 

The 29-26 kick, same approach 7-8 yards, After the 75 yard TD, he actually did a 5-6 yard approach and in the end zone.   After HT, 5-6 yards and through the endzone.....  

 

Just before HT and the TD, 7 yard approach and touchback.  At 7-0, again 7 yards and he did not catch it clean and would have bounced in the endzone but Pringle fielded the line drive and returned it to the 25.  

 

No chance he was told to kick it short and blew it!!!!!! 

 

A good pop up or squib kick goes to the 5-10 yard line.  Squibs are often muffed & pop up kicks usually means defense is downfield to defend.

 

You want to know how many short kicks (to the 5-15 yard line) were returned for TD's in 2021 in the NFL (I counted 1,200 kick returns)????

 

0!!!!!!! 

 

Kicks returned were all line drives to the goal line and returned 98-102 yards.

 

Bass was so proficient that the Bills were third in Kickoff defense & the longest return was 31 yards.  That would have eaten 7 seconds minimum.  

 

When he did those short kicks he approached them as FGs, has a 60+ yard leg, and would take a 3 or less step drop.  A 60 yard kick goes to the 5 yard line.  

 

So let's say Bass does kick it to the 5, best return is to the 36 & 7 seconds off the clock.  That gives KC one play to get to the 32 (which is where they ended up) or another 32 yards in 6 seconds.

 

If an average return they are at the 22-25 yard line and 7-8 seconds left.

 

The math is simple, you kick it to the 5 or squib it and eat clock.

 

 

Yep...The Bills pulled off that coffin corner-type KO with real good success at times throughout the year...The roster is structured with precision towards ST's...They have some very good ST's coverage guys...

 

Great post!