Josh made the right call to go for the TD

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

All the quibbling about whether or not pocket protection, vs Josh sliding...

 

You know what avoids all that? Throwing the ball to your wide open WR1 on a crossing route.

[BillsFanSD]

I wonder if other fanbases have to deal with stuff like this, or it's just a Josh Allen thing.

 

I mean, obviously it was fine to target the guy breaking open in the end zone.  Allen makes that throw 9 out of 10 times if Dawkins holds his block just slightly better.  People who complain about this are demonstrating either (a) very low football IQ or (b) a willingness to say stupid stuff just to get engagement.

[Neo]

5 hours 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.  He would have had a 1:45 and a pile of timeouts. There would just be a different person to blame. The right play there was to wind the clock down as far as possible and get the TD with under 30 seconds or tie it with a FG as time expires

I agree …  if you get the opening kickoff, the best series is a thirty minute drive scoring a TD on the last play of the half.  Then, no matter what happens on the opponent’s first drive of the second half, you take the kickoff and bleed the entire second half down to one play.  If the opponent scored a TD on their opening drive, you either score a TD or a FG to win.  If the opponent failed to score on their drive, you take a knee and win.

 

You should always pass on scoring TDs and instead bleed the clock to the end because nothing ever happens to end a drive.

 

Edited January 25 by Neo

[london_bills]

5 hours 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.

 

I got the play mixed up with the 3rd down one. In hindsight this was fair enough to go for, it was more the 3rd down decision I had a problem with 

[JoshAllin]

KC just outplayed em in the 2nd and 9. KC knew a first down would pretty much be game so they may have let that TD get open so they could drive it in and score themselves with little time left for bills. They missed then 3rd and 9 happened and that changes thing for KC

Edited January 25 by motorj

[Pokebball]

5 hours 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.

I know it would have been nice to say we had the lead and blame the defense when they couldn't hold. But we all should know based on how they played that they wouldn't hold. KC had one punt all game. The offense was our strength, like it or not. That's what you bet on.

watch the play again. He didn't get hit until after the ball was gone.

That's an extremely common ask that any championship coach would ask of his QB. This isn't the 80s or even the 90s anymore. If you want to be called elite, you have to be able to score at will in the redzone.

Only losers disagree with you? 

[theAteam]

I've accepted the 2nd down throw was the correct play. I do wish he had gone to Shakir on 3rd down. He would have still needed 2-3 yards but we've seen Shakir make magic happen before and his defender had turned his hips to the inside already when the window to throw was there. At the very least you've got 4th and 2 or 3, you can make the decision then whether you want to kick or not. It makes a 44 yard FG into like a 37 yarder and more importantly it would have put Bass on the left hash where he is considerably more comfortable. Maybe he still misses but it's a better setup than what they gave him.

Edited January 25 by theAteam

[Pokebball]

29 minutes ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

All the quibbling about whether or not pocket protection, vs Josh sliding...

 

You know what avoids all that? Throwing the ball to your wide open WR1 on a crossing route.

And it was caught, and Diggs got the YAC for the first down, and....

[Repulsif]

If that pass is completed, half the fanbase know Mahomes would march down the field for an easy TD, giving the Bills 13seconds left with no Time Out. It was all written on the wall !

At least we escaped that infamy 😓

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

11 minutes ago, Pokebball said:

And it was caught, and Diggs got the YAC for the first down, and....

In this hypothetical scenario? The Bills have 1st and 10 inside the 20, or a 1st and goal. The Clock runs to ~1:20 or the Chiefs burn a timeout.

 

Now who knows from there. But Bass has 10+ yards lopped off a FG attempt. Josh has 3 more chances to gun it.

 

But in this scenario, even if Josh throws it in the dirt three times a higher success chance for Bass and less time on the clock/KC timeouts reduces the odds of a KC kill stroke before OT. Which is better than what he happened even if Bass had made it.

 

How is this difficult for people to understand? 

[Success]

46 minutes ago, BillsFanSD said:

I wonder if other fanbases have to deal with stuff like this, or it's just a Josh Allen thing.

 

I mean, obviously it was fine to target the guy breaking open in the end zone.  Allen makes that throw 9 out of 10 times if Dawkins holds his block just slightly better.  People who complain about this are demonstrating either (a) very low football IQ or (b) a willingness to say stupid stuff just to get engagement.

 

Well put.

 

That's the mystifying thing to me.  I just don't see single plays dissected like this for other QB's, unless they're massive mistakes or turnovers.

 

[Nextmanup]

wrong!

[Pokebball]

33 minutes ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

In this hypothetical scenario? The Bills have 1st and 10 inside the 20, or a 1st and goal. The Clock runs to ~1:20 or the Chiefs burn a timeout.

 

Now who knows from there. But Bass has 10+ yards lopped off a FG attempt. Josh has 3 more chances to gun it.

 

But in this scenario, even if Josh throws it in the dirt three times a higher success chance for Bass and less time on the clock/KC timeouts reduces the odds of a KC kill stroke before OT. Which is better than what he happened even if Bass had made it.

 

How is this difficult for people to understand? 

Perfectly awesome, except we're not

[HappyDays]

6 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

Love JA to death but he can get too confident sometimes. This is one of them. 

 

You know it wasn't his decision, right? He is following progressions. Diggs is clearly like 3rd in the progression. Shakir is 1st and they got the exact coverage (cover 2) that they wanted to throw the TD.

 

If people want to criticize Brady for being too aggressive with the play call I guess that's a conversation we can have... But it's patently ridiculous that we're asking the offense to thread an impossible needle of scoring a TD with just the right amount of time on the clock, all because we don't trust our head coach's defense to make a stop. I place the blame for that problem where it belongs.

 

A lot of people are to blame for this loss. Allen, Brady, and Shakir are the exceptions.

[Success]

19 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

wrong!

 

So, you don't think a QB should go for a TD when it's open?

 

[oldmanfan]

Of course you make that throw.  Shakir was wide open.  Puts you up 4 and KC has to score a TD.  Everyone assumes they would have done so, but maybe not.

[dayman]

6 hours ago, frostbitmic said:

If Josh hit Shakir for the TD there, maybe the Chiefs would leave a minute on the clock after they retook the lead.

in all honesty that was the only other way we could win which is lower probability than chunking it going for a 0 second score

Scoring and stopping was lowest probability

basically we should have been assuming chunking and scoring was the way to go and not thrown that ball

 

 

Edited January 25 by dayman

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

17 minutes ago, Pokebball said:

Perfectly awesome, except we're not

yeah. And yet, people are acting like I'm a lunatic for saying that's what Josh should have done.

 

 

[thewookie1]

I’d break down that final set of plays as such.

 

1st & 10 - run the ball and get to the two minute warning. Failure to accomplish much.

 

2nd & 9 - the play was likely Shakir is the go route, although unlikely, if he gets open throw to him. Diggs is your underneath target if Shakir is covered. Shakir was open and thus Allen went for the TD.

 

3rd & 9 - Allen likely rebels or the plan was to roll out right. In my honest opinion, I think Allen knew McD had no intention of going for it on 4th down and was purely looking for a few more yards and let his defense pull off a miracle. However Allen has been burned by this too many times and effectively decided it was 1st down or nothing. He had no intention of making a risky triple coverage pass but hoped rolling out might cause the D to break a bit and allow him to either run or pass to the chains. Kinkaid was the open man but was short of the sticks with little chance of reaching the 1st since he was surrounded and his back was to the 1st. He however had faith Bass could kick it from 44. It wasn’t like we were at a 52 yd kick distance and thus need some extra yardage regardless. When it didn’t work he tossed out of play to assure the FG seemingly. Having to at least assume he’d get to pray the D pulled it off.

 

 

Personally I would of ran Allen on 1st down, then used 2nd down for something underneath, I wouldn’t have guys going to the end zone unless  KC goes pure man which potentially would open up run options for Allen again. Then depending on that result you’d either pick up an easier 1st or be in prime real estate for a win or tie.

Edited January 25 by thewookie1

[HappyDays]

6 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

Because I've watched Patrick Mahomes for 6 years and that's what he does. I also watched what he did to our defense. It gave you a slim  chance for a win - much better than kicking a tying field goal there with the same time left, which IMO was a guaranteed loss.

 

Allen had 4 game winning drives this year (should have been more but whatever). He has 19 in his career.

 

Mahomes had 2 game winning drives this year. He has 16 in his career.

 

Can't wait to see how you try and talk yourself out of this one.