Josh made the right call to go for the TD

[Process]

The second down throw was the right move. Jones just made a great defensive play to blow it up. It happens. 

 

Third down is where we lost the game. Shakir and Kincaid wide open is going to haunt me. 

[BananaB]

You take the shot when it presents itself because you may never get another opportunity. I got no trust in the D but it’s still the right play. That’s the problem with this team, Josh is expected to do way too much because other guys can’t do their job. Thats on McD

 

Asking Josh to pass up his shot because McDs D is a liability is ridiculous.  What if the next play the oline gives out more and Josh is sacked? Maybe they tip his next ball and it turn into an INT. Who ***** knows how it pans out. 
 

Asking the D to do their job is not unreasonable. It’s part of the game. The fact that this is still getting talked about tells you how bad this D has been in crucial situations over the years and why MCD should be canned.

Edited January 25 by BananaB

[BillsFan130]

Yep!

 

The biggest issue about people saying "go for the first down " is they act like it's a guaranteed TD if they get the first down there. (Probably 50/50 at best, especially if you still want to drain clock)

 

You have to take that open shot to Shakir 

[BBFL]

Can’t believe we are critiquing Josh for a fingertip miss TD throw when he’s got his LT pushed into his chest…

 

Josh has made that throw several times. If he hasn’t got the arm strength to send that there then sure… flame away. 
 

He has. If he makes it there isn’t a single person saying “man wtf is Josh doing… he should have hit Diggs”. 
 

Absolutely bonkers. 

[Royale with Cheese]

27 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said:

Only losers think and play like that. Put KC in our shoes and they run the clock down to nothing and win as football 101 strategy dictates you should. 

 

No, you take the lead when you can take the lead unless it's at the 1 foot line where you know Allen can get it in.  

There is no guarantee that you score when you are at the 12-15 yard line or so which is where we would have been if the ball is thrown to Diggs.

 

18 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said:

Then throw to Kincaid who was also open for the 1st. Allen is a great player. If you wan to call him elite within the current players of the NFL, I can be on board with that. Mahomes is on a different level with guys like Brady and Manning though. Josh is still far away from that.

if you don't, you take it to overtime.

 

LOL

 

Bass missed 3 out of his last 4 FG's including a chip shot from about 28 yards or so out against Pittsburgh.

You guarantee that Mahomes marches down the field, do you guarantee Bass hits that FG?

 

You claim Mahomes can't be beat if he has the ball last but then you want to go to OT with him in which we are 0-6?

 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

Here’s Joe Marino’s analysis of the playcall at the 13:46 mark:

 

 

in short, he says those who think it was the wrong play/read, don’t understand progressions or have situational awareness. Agree or disagree, he offers an impassioned defense of the play design and the call. 

[BananaB]

39 minutes ago, BullBuchanan said:

Only losers think and play like that. Put KC in our shoes and they run the clock down to nothing and win as football 101 strategy dictates you should. It's not like Josh doesn't have a career's worth of these mental mistakes already to look back on.

 

Really? In the 13 second game they had no fear at all in scoring fast and leaving time on the clock. They seen an opportunity and took it. Left the Bills a minute on the clock. 
 

That’s football. More then one guy is expected to do their job

Edited January 25 by BananaB

[BarleyNY]

19 minutes ago, JohnBonhamRocks said:

The bolded, but also your entire post, is the strongest I’ve seen the argument presented. Kudos.

Not saying I think JA17 necessarily made the wrong call because I can’t really fault our QB for making a throw he thinks will put us up 4 near the end of a playoff game, but I do think if both options are there then what you described is the sounder strategy.

Thank you. And I agree. We are talking about a fraction of a second and such slim margins in this. 

12 minutes ago, pennstate10 said:

This is the most useful post in the thread. 
 

it’s not a clear cut right/wrong decision. For instance, the fake punt was the wrong decision for many reasons. 
 

Here, you had a clearer throw to Diggs without 600 lbs of beer in your way. But that wouldn’t have been a td. But it could have led to bleeding the clock. But Diggs had the dropsies. 
 

there were a ton of variables going into the decision, and many unknowns. 
 

I can’t say Josh made the wrong decision. On balance though, I would have liked the higher percentage throw on that play

Thank you. Well said. 

[The Firebaugh Kid]

I was there too. I was telling my nervous wife all we need to do here is run as much clock as possible, forcing them to use their timeouts, and score a td. At the same time, the shot he took was a shot you take, EVERY time. You never know if you'll get a look like that again. 

 

[Buffalo03]

1 hour ago, Success said:

I am beyond tired of the national hand-wringing about that play.  It was THERE.  I've actually heard fans argue that what Allen SHOULD have done is to just keep picking up small chunks, and then score a TD with just a few seconds left on the clock.

 

As though you can script something like that perfectly.  Then there is a holding penalty, or sack, or turnover, or you just can't get in the endzone.  Allen saw Shakir wide open for 6, and he went for it.  And, as we all know, if Chris Jones gets there a half second later, that's a TD and we're likely up by 4.

 

I'm like, is that the best that you've got, Allen haters?  The guy plays a great game, should have had at least 100 more yards and another TD if his receivers could hang onto the ball - and you're saying "same ol' Allen" because he went for an OPEN TOUCHDOWN.

 

And I hope Mahomes throws 3 picks this week so we can all see the double-standard.  It won't be nearly as analyzed and dissected.

 

No he didn't. The Chiefs were moving the ball at will all night long getting 7 or 8 yards a play. Had Shakir caught that for a TD, it would have put us up by 4 and Mahomes having 1:55 on the clock to go down the field and score. If that TD put us up by 7, then I can agree because then it would be at worse a tie game with a KC score. If our defense had shown something all game, it would have been ok. We showed no sign of being able to stop it if KC got the ball with that much time left. The best thing would have been to keep taking underneath routes and possibly make them burn timeouts. Run it down to under a minute and then try for some end zone shots. I know nothing is guaranteed but at worst, a field goal from Bass would have been a lot a closer than the 44 yarder he had to make in those terrible windy conditions. That's the problem with our team. We don't stick with what works that often. The dink and dunk worked the whole game on their defense and then when we really to take more time off the clock, we took a shot. We should have taken more time off and got as close as possible to take better shots or then go for a closer field goal

[The Firebaugh Kid]

17 minutes ago, BananaB said:

You take the shot when it presents itself because you may never get another opportunity. I got no trust in the D but it’s still the right play. That’s the problem with this team, Josh is expected to do way too much because other guys can’t do their job. Thats on McD

 

Asking Josh to pass up his shot because McDs D is a liability is ridiculous.  What if the next play the oline gives out more and Josh is sacked? Maybe they tip his next ball and it turn into an INT. Who ***** knows how it pans out. 
 

Asking the D to do their job is not unreasonable. It’s part of the game. The fact that this is still getting talked about tells you how bad this D has been in crucial situations over the years and why MCD should be canned.

You can't fire a coach because Milano TB White Benford and a host of active players were hurt. You KNOW buffalo wins by 10 with those guys active. 

[Beast]

Anyone that doesn’t think it was the right decision is clueless.

[Einstein]

1 hour ago, BullBuchanan said:

lol, no it wasn't. Josh scores a TD there and we lose. Mahomes beat us with 13 seconds and a far stronger defense. 

I love this line of thinking.

 

Yes, in a world where a first down there means automatic winding of clock and a walk-off TD with no time remaining, then yeah, Josh should have thrown to Diggs.

But in the real world, where we don't know what will happen after that first down, Josh made the right call to go endzone. For example, what if Diggs gets that first down, and then we fumble on the next play and KC gets it? Or we get called for holding on the next play and all of a sudden the drive falters? Or a pass gets tipped and KC intercepts?

You always go for the endzone (if it's open) in that situation because you have NO IDEA what is coming after you get the first down.

But i'm not sure why i'm wasting my finger breath, you're just a troll.

 

Edited January 25 by Einstein

[JerseyBills]

Ya I love it, went for the kill. Jones literally came in at the last second,  Josh makes that theow 90% of the time... 

 

That's what makes this L so frustrating,  we had multiple opportunities and shot ourselves in the foot with drops mainly and a rare miss by 17

[BBFL]

3 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

No he didn't. The Chiefs were moving the ball at will all night long getting 7 or 8 yards a play. Had Shakir caught that for a TD, it would have put us up by 4 and Mahomes having 1:55 on the clock to go down the field and score. If that TD put us up by 7, then I can agree because then it would be at worse a tie game with a KC score. If our defense had shown something all game, it would have been ok. We showed no sign of being able to stop it if KC got the ball with that much time left. The best thing would have been to keep taking underneath routes and possibly make them burn timeouts. Run it down to under a minute and then try for some end zone shots. I know nothing is guaranteed but at worst, a field goal from Bass would have been a lot a closer than the 44 yarder he had to make in those terrible windy conditions. That's the problem with our team. We don't stick with what works that often. The dink and dunk worked the whole game on their defense and then when we really to take more time off the clock, we took a shot. We should have taken more time off and got as close as possible to take better shots or then go for a closer field goal

Um. All night? They had a fumble out the EZ after ripping 30 yards on the ground following the ridiculous fake punt, then followed that up with a 5 play/8 yard drive after we went 3 and out…

 

I honestly believe if Bass ties the game they force the issue and make errors. No score. And if we scored a TD that drive I think the defensive pass rush might have finally got home seeing as they’d need a TD to avoid the season being over. 

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, Low Positive said:

 The only criticism that I can muster here is that maybe Josh should have slid to his right a bit to get clear of the pressure, but that is really picking nits.

After the game, talking about the play, Josh sort of mumbled something about pocket management.  I think Josh was aware of Dion and Jones and thought he had time to make the throw.  If he'd reset himself, the window might have closed.  He probably could have stepped up and made the throw.  Tiny nuances that he'll think about and maybe do a little differently on some future play, but nothing at all to complain about.   Credit to Jones.  

[Bob Jones]

55 minutes ago, BBFL said:

Absolutely right IMO. That throw was on a rope if he’s not knocked backward. We’ve seen him make that throw countless times… none better than the one against Denver a few years back when he connected with Kumerow. 

What about last year vs the Vikings in OT? JA had basically that same exact throw, except it was intended for Davis (and his route took him right to left across the back of the end zone), and the throw was too low and also behind Davis, and it was picked off to end the game. And no one bumped into JA  on that throw.

 

There are NO guarantees in NFL football. Shakir still had to have made the catch too.

 

Funny to see folks saying that he made the right decision, even though the end result is that the play failed. Personally, if something fails, I call it the wrong decision. 

 

The pass to an open Diggs was the right thing to do.

[Buffalo03]

2 minutes ago, BBFL said:

Um. All night? They had a fumble out the EZ after ripping 30 yards on the ground following the ridiculous fake punt, then followed that up with a 5 play/8 yard drive after we went 3 and out…

 

I honestly believe if Bass ties the game they force the issue and make errors. No score. And if we scored a TD that drive I think the defensive pass rush might have finally got home seeing as they’d need a TD to avoid the season being over. 

Yes... all night. You're gonna refer to one play that got lucky enough to go out of the endzone? Do you remember the play right before that? Pacheco had like a 35 yard run that got them down to the 1 yard line and then we got lucky enough o get the ball out of the endzone. The whole game prior to that drive and even after that drive, we couldn't stop them. What was the next play for the Chiefs after bass missed? It was a Pacheco run for 8 yards. Wanna know what the next play was? Another Pacheco run for a first down and it was ball game. We should have taken the easy shots we took on offense all game and drained down more clock

[Einstein]

1 hour ago, Low Positive said:

In retrospect, my least favorite play on that drive was the run up the middle to get to the two-minute warning.

I was screaming this during the game, and it is BY FAR what I believe we should be criticizing. 

It is crunch time. The game is on the line. You have a superstar QB. And you WASTE AN ENTIRE PLAY by running the ball, which hadn't been working in over a quarter! Our last 3 runs prior to that call went for a grand total ZERO yards.

After the 1st down run, Cook had 5 rushes for -2 yards in the 4th quarter. Why are we running him there??????

[PayDaBill$]

Reading this thread makes me think a lot of fans are posting through red and blue glasses.  We needed to run clock, especially given the way the night was going. The defense couldn’t stop a nose bleed. Mahomes with a 1 min + - on the clock and TO beats or ties…. Almost guaranteed.

 

Running was getting tough but I think we could’ve thrown it short with a few higher % quick dink and dunks.

Edited January 25 by PayDaBill$