Looking for a thorough game recap. Help out a married guy who had to miss the game.

[Logic]

As I mentioned in another thread, I was locked into a date with my wife last night and missed the whole game. I NEVER miss games, and I'm very curious to know how last night's game played out.

I have already watched the highlights that are available on YouTube.

What I'm looking and hoping for is a description of how the game played out.

Did Joe Brady call a good game? Did the offensive line protect well? Did the run game generally look productive? Did Fournette make any impact? How did Josh play overall?

Did McDermott call a good game on defense? How did Poona Ford look? Who were the defensive MVPs, if any at all?

Any recap anyone is willing to provide -- the more detail, the better -- I would greatly appreciate. Thank you in advance.

[H2o]

We won, even though this win might as well be a loss because of how close it was. Josh sucks. We're doomed. 

[Dan]

Sent you a message…

 

In short, to answer all your questions from paragraph 1… NO.    Except, overall, I thought Josh had a good game. A couple of off throws, but I don’t expect him to be perfect.  In the end.. he won this game for us along with Ed Oliver. 
 

I thought McDs defense showed the affect of injuries again. They struggled. But held the Chargers to FGs with short fields all night.  Gotta give them credit for that!!  Ed Oliver was easily the defensive, if not entire team, MVP.  Poona was ok.  But ..nothing special. Bottom line. Defense came up big when they needed it most but suffered from having to take the field after 3 turnovers.

to me it felt like a game where… the Bills got this, no problem. Then ..bam.. big set back play.  Ok.  Reset.  We got this now… back.. turnover.  Ok reset. We got this… bam.   Wtf!!  We can still do this..  reset looking good… bam!  No you don’t.   It was just a game of miscues and missed opportunities.   But they did just enough to win and get out of there. 

 

 

[ChevyVanMiller]

I think this graphic says it all.

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

Good luck with your wife .

 

To try to give you the big picture view:

 

The Bills started eager to push the ball early and roll a lesser opponent but never got rythmn. Brady learned early and went back to pounding the rock, but after a three and out Hardy fumbled a punt return to set up an easy score.

 

While the Bills had some groove come back in the 2nd half Allen had a bad pick and Cook fumbled which killed momentum.

 

The Chargers, to their credit, came to play. But McDermott did a great job limiting our miscues to field goals.

 

In crunch time Allen came up big again. Shakir caught a beauty throw to convert a 3rd down and ran it in but it got called back with a down by contact call. So the Bills bled the clock and kicked the field goal.

 

I'm meh on Brady's gameplan, but it's hard to blame him for a punt return fumble and Cook getting the dropsies. 

 

I know it was with an inferior QB but the defense was pretty lights out considering the gifts the turnovers out them in a bad spot 

[Mike in Horseheads]

They sucked, then they didn't, then they did and then they won.

[Dan]

Personally, I was hoping they would call Shakir’s last TD back.  It was far better to have the game end as it did, then with the Chargers have 2mins to score.    They would have needed a touchdown, but still rather have them have 25-30seconds and no time outs than 2mins.  

[stevestojan]

16 minutes ago, ChevyVanMiller said:

I think this graphic says it all.

My wife’s favorite question: do you enjoy any minute of a Bills game?

 

11 years married and she still doesn’t understand Stockholm syndrome. 

[Success]

It reminded me of the Jets, Pats & Broncos games.  A game where we were clearly the better team, but gave the other team a lot of points via turnovers, and self-destructed on our own drives with penalties (in addition to turnovers).

 

Hair-pulling frustration for most of the game - not enjoyable to watch, and basically just an exhale of relief when the clock hit 0.

 

That said - Allen had some absolutely epic throws.  Just superman, physics-defying, game-changing plays.

 

[Saxum]

Summary: Josh Allen took out the team drinking in California (Sam Martin left behind because he is just a punter), stayed out late since they were on ET, skipped meal since they had trouble getting up when alarm rang, was asleep good portion of 1st half with Martin keeping them in game, got some fluids in locker room, big Game Gabe woke up and started dominating, Chargers tried to copy Music City Massacre and but Bills were prepared and went home to meet mob at airport unhappy they did not shutout Chargers. 

 

Bills Chargers 

https://static.www.nfl.com/gamecenter/cbaf2a73-f053-11ed-b4a7-bab79e4492fa.pdf

 

[The Wiz]

It's a +1 in the win column.  Outside of 2 or 3 plays, don't even bother watching the highlights.

[Goin Breakdown]

I saw the game and my marriage needs help.  

[without a drought]

They gave the win to the team with more points, not sure everyone here agrees that is what should have happened.

 

Hopefully you and your wife had a nice dinner, and you can enjoy the W in the win column.

[Big Turk]

How did you end up getting locked into a date during a Bills game? My wife wouldn't have even bothered because she would have known the only place we would have been going was to a bar to watch the game.

 

Recap: Bills looked not great to open the game, went down 10-0 then forced a punt from deep inside Charger territory and got the ball around their own 43...then Allen hit Davis on a scramble drill play for a 57 yard TD deep down field.

 

Then they forced another Charger punt and Allen ran it in himself...14-10 at the half.

 

LA kicked a FG after a Bills TO to make it 14-13, Bills score a TD to make it 21-13 on another Allen keep.

 

Then the fun really started with the turnovers and penalties killing drives. Cook with his 2nd fumble of the game and Allen with an INT on an under throw to Diggs who may have scored on a good throw 

 

LA then kicked 3 more FGs to take a 22-21 lead with about 5 mins left, then Allen drove them down to a 29 yard FG with 28 seconds left to take a 24-22 lead. Initially ruled Shakir scored hit replay overturned it that he was down by contact at the 13 yard line.

 

Stick gets sacked by Oliver on the first play, Chargers with no TOs left, another incompletion and then a throw it around drill that never came close to materializing and eventually ended before the final tackle when a Charger player illegally lateralled it forward.

 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by Big Turk

[GunnerBill]

6 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

How did you end up getting locked into a date during a Bills game? My wife wouldn't have even bothered because she would have known the only place we would have been going was to a bar to watch the game 

 

My other half knows all too well to consult me on Arsenal and Bills schedules before booking anything in at weekends during the season. I will very occasionally prioritise other things over a game, but that is my call to make. If you don't like that, there's the door. Jog on.

[Rat-boy]

7 hours ago, Logic said:

As I mentioned in another thread, I was locked into a date with my wife last night and missed the whole game. I NEVER miss games, and I'm very curious to know how last night's game played out.

I have already watched the highlights that are available on YouTube.

What I'm looking and hoping for is a description of how the game played out.

Did Joe Brady call a good game? Did the offensive line protect well? Did the run game generally look productive? Did Fournette make any impact? How did Josh play overall?

Did McDermott call a good game on defense? How did Poona Ford look? Who were the defensive MVPs, if any at all?

Any recap anyone is willing to provide -- the more detail, the better -- I would greatly appreciate. Thank you in advance.

Depends. Do you want the trolls’ or axe-grinders’ or “the other team has a backup QB, so we should ignore everything else and expect a blowout” version? Then look for rants on the post-game thread. 

 

If on the other hand you want a rational take, I think what’s been posted here is a good overview. Self-inflicted problems, far from perfect, but managed a win in the end.

Edited December 25, 2023 by Rat-boy