The biggest blunder of the game IMO

[Bob Jones]

Totally agree with the OP, but was not surprised that McClappy made the wrong choice….he does that often. 😉 And that was after punting in the first half from just about the same spot on the field! It was a cold night where Bass had already missed from 50+ yards.

 

In any case, the Giants were going to have to score a TD. Yes if the FG was made, they would have to have scored a TD + a 2pt conversion to tie the game. 
 

The smarter play was to kick the punt and pin them back close to the 10 and let the defense take care of Tyrod & the Giants. And as already mentioned, the Bills should have run on 3rd down and forced NY to use their last TO.

 

The Bills were unbelievably lucky in the end to have walked away with the W there. 

[BuffaloBaumer]

I still can't believe nobody has brought up not going for 2 pt conversion when it would have forced Giants to make the PAT if needed. There was no difference of going up 5 or 4 points after that last TD. THe whole thing made absolutely zero sense. 

[Simon]

8 minutes ago, BuffaloBaumer said:

I still can't believe nobody has brought up not going for 2 pt conversion when it would have forced Giants to make the PAT if needed. There was no difference of going up 5 or 4 points after that last TD. THe whole thing made absolutely zero sense. 

 

If they kick the PAT to go up 5, and the Giants score a TD to take the lead, the Bills can then still win with a FG.

 

I initially wanted him to go for two when they were at midfield and driving but when they ran so much clock off finishing the drive, taking the PAT was the right call with the clock down under 5:00 and the Giants very unlikely having enough time for two FG drives.

 

[MJS]

You can't win if you are McDermott. Trust the kicker or don't, go for it or don't, even when you win a hard fought game. Even when the defense you coordinate only allows 9 points.

 

Nothing he can do will appease the mindless mob that wants him gone.

[Simon]

2 minutes ago, MJS said:

You can't win if you are McDermott. Trust the kicker or don't, go for it or don't, even when you win a hard fought game. Even when the defense you coordinate only allows 9 points.

 

Nothing he can do will appease the mindless mob that wants him gone.

 

The only egregious mistake he really made last night was the 2nd TO in the 2nd half when the Giants were running late and sort of scrambling and he bailed them out with the clock stoppage to set his defense.

I thought his game management was pretty good the rest of the evening, as it usually is.

[Bob Jones]

9 minutes ago, MJS said:

You can't win if you are McDermott. Trust the kicker or don't, go for it or don't, even when you win a hard fought game. Even when the defense you coordinate only allows 9 points.

 

Nothing he can do will appease the mindless mob that wants him gone.

The Houston loss in 2019, the 13 second disaster in 2021, the total no show vs the Bengals last year….as has been said about a million times in this forum now, he’s just not the guy to get the Bills over the hump.

 

You seem to be intimating here that fans should be proud of the job that McD (and the Bills) did last night, which is totally astounding. They looked like crap and were as lucky as one can get to walk away with a W.

[Bookie Man]

2 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

A bit of an oversimplification…what are the odds you can’t complete that throw to the TE and miss that fg.  Also you’ve gotta still punt the ball out at the 10 lol if it was a touchback it was only like 16 yards of field position change for a chance to end the game.

 

They just missed back to back pretty high percentage plays to win the game and now everybody is playing the hindsight game 

 

5% chance is a weird number to assign even if the punt was guaranteed to be as good as you’re saying they had to go an extra 25 yards in 4 down territory where a td wins it vs  giving up two very high percentage chances of ending the game 

Sometimes simple is good. It's about 50/50 that Bass makes that fg. Not really high %. If he misses that Giants get the ball at the 43 yard line, not the 36. So even if they punt for a touchback, it's 23 yards of field position at the very least, not 16. So Tyrod led offense driving 85+ yards for a TD with 90 seconds with no timeouts, I'd have to give that about a 5-8% chance of happening. But only having to go 57 yards with a timeout? I would give that about a 25-30% of happening. Big increase. I feel like analytics would heavily favor running the ball, make the gmen use up their timeouts and go almost the length of the field. jmho. 

[Rocbillsfan1]

25 minutes ago, MJS said:

You can't win if you are McDermott. Trust the kicker or don't, go for it or don't, even when you win a hard fought game. Even when the defense you coordinate only allows 9 points.

 

Nothing he can do will appease the mindless mob that wants him gone.

I get they aren’t firing him. Not asking for that. But it’s clear that we cannot really trust McDermott to make big decisions in big games. Doesn’t bode well for Confidence moving forward.

[Hebert19]

11 hours ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

The decision to kick a 53 FG when already up 4+ points knowing your kicker has been shaky and shanked another 53 yarder earlier in the game.

Missing the kick would put the Giants in good field position w/ a time out to work with and ample time to dink & dunk their way down to the red zone.

 

If McDermott would’ve punted, it would’ve placed the Giants around the 10 (who haven’t scored a TD in multiple games) and made them drive 90 yards! This decision would’ve eliminated all those Trent Edwards check downs and forced Tyrod to make multiple big plays. I’m sure the analytics would back this up all day. 
 

I know it’s irrelevant now, but the Bills are darn lucky to have escaped this game w/ a win. 

I punt there all day every day.  No way giants can go length of field.  

 

Run the ball again.  Make them use a time out then punt. Only way to play that.  Love the guts on both calls but they were dumb. 

54 minutes ago, MJS said:

You can't win if you are McDermott. Trust the kicker or don't, go for it or don't, even when you win a hard fought game. Even when the defense you coordinate only allows 9 points.

 

Nothing he can do will appease the mindless mob that wants him gone.

Would have been an easier call if they had to use their time out.   If you run the ball on 3rd and they burn timeout then I'm for field goal.  But by doing both throw and FG they literally handed them the game.  Good field possession and a time out to boot.  Pin them inside the 10 with no timeouts and there is no stress at all 

[CodeMonkey]

The biggest blunder of the game was Tyrods brain fart on the last play of the first half.

[billykay]

11 hours ago, Alpo Chino said:

Yes it was extremely questionable. About a 5% chance Giants drive 90 yards with 1:30.

and no timeouts.

[billykay]

6 hours ago, SectionC3 said:

The field likely was a little slick by that point, too.  (There was a mist that might both have been perceptible on TV.). I would have punted, too.  

I've seen teams in that position run it and actually get a first down. Not the probable outcome but you never know.

[DrDawkinstein]

Tyrod had the best play for the Bills all game when he checked to that run before the half. Totally changed the game, and was probably the biggest reason the Giants lost.

[RiotAct]

1 hour ago, Bob Jones said:

The Houston loss in 2019, the 13 second disaster in 2021, the total no show vs the Bengals last year….as has been said about a million times in this forum now, he’s just not the guy to get the Bills over the hump.

 

You seem to be intimating here that fans should be proud of the job that McD (and the Bills) did last night, which is totally astounding. They looked like crap and were as lucky as one can get to walk away with a W.

I don’t really put the Houston playoff loss on McD.   Lots of poor execution and “sugar-high Josh” in the 2nd half and overtime of that game.

[Steve O]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBaumer said:

I still can't believe nobody has brought up not going for 2 pt conversion when it would have forced Giants to make the PAT if needed. There was no difference of going up 5 or 4 points after that last TD. THe whole thing made absolutely zero sense. 

I was thinking the same thing and was about to make a new thread on it. It made absolutely zero sense to kick the extra point. At least with a six point lead the giants would have to kick the extra point in less than ideal conditions. No difference between a 4 or 5 point lead with 3:48 remaining. It would be questionable with 8 minutes left, not with under 4. 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

I dont fault that one on McD. You can defend or critique either way. At some point the players have to play. Bass is good. He should not be 50% on FG attempts even from 50+. He missed right on the first one and didn't correct. He had plenty of distance. 

Just as Knox needs to make that catch Bass needs to make that kick.

For the record, I said in the moment to punt it but I was ok with the FG attempt too.

[Low Positive]

2 minutes ago, RiotAct said:

I don’t really put the Houston playoff loss on McD.   Lots of poor execution and “sugar-high Josh” in the 2nd half and overtime of that game.

Remember this?

 

[DasNootz]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBaumer said:

I still can't believe nobody has brought up not going for 2 pt conversion when it would have forced Giants to make the PAT if needed. There was no difference of going up 5 or 4 points after that last TD. THe whole thing made absolutely zero sense. 

100% - No mention of that anywhere.  It may only be a small +expected value, but the right play certainly was going for 2 there.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

1 hour ago, BuffaloBaumer said:

I still can't believe nobody has brought up not going for 2 pt conversion when it would have forced Giants to make the PAT if needed. There was no difference of going up 5 or 4 points after that last TD. THe whole thing made absolutely zero sense. 

I said in the moment they should have gone for two. There was enough time and Giants had enough TOs they could have had two drives (they did) and could have kicked two FGs to win. 6 pt lead means two FGs is a tie. 

In the end I really don't know that there is a right or wrong decision there.

[RiotAct]

1 minute ago, FrenchConnection said:

Remember this?

 

yes - and I remember subsequently waking up my kids with all the screaming at my TV!