How did you feel when Josh set up in the shotgun?

[Freddie's Dead]

The fact that guys were open underneath does not absolve McDummy of stupidity.  Josh was clearly told to win the game, not get a 1st down.

Edited October 7 by Freddie's Dead

[2003Contenders]

The sad thing is that those plays could have worked -- but the personnel on the field was so bad that there was little-to-no chance of having success. On the first play, Coleman (who I still have faith/hope will eventually emerge) gets no separation and pushes off. On the second play, Hollins fails to track a deep ball that could very easily have won the game if a competent receiver is running that pattern. On the third play Josh is pressured as he unloads and fails to get the ball to a wide open Samuel.

 

Of course, part of being a good coach and designing the proper plays takes into account the quality of personnel you have at your disposal -- or lack thereof. I will say that every time a pass was thrown in Hollins direction yesterday, I lost my ever lovin' mind.

 

Back to the original point about Josh being in shotgun, I will say that I was perplexed -- not because I did not necessarily want them throwing the ball there but because it took away any element of surprise, potential for play-action, etc.

[dave mcbride]

21 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Agreed.  The bigger blunder was not taking the 10 second runoff on the grounding penalty when Houston was punting from the 50 yard line and had all 3 timeouts.  

McDermott is a consistently terrible decision maker at the end of halves and games.  

Great point!

[LarryMadman]

26 minutes ago, SCBills said:

They weren’t getting a first down running.  Maybe Allen could get it on a designed run, but the traditional run game had been shut down because they weren’t worried about our downfield threats at all.

 

That doesn’t mean Allen should be chucking it down field when we just need a first down to get to OT. 
 

Let’s say he even connects with Hollins.. what’s happening?  We run up to our own 30 or 40 and spike the ball with 10-15 seconds left, at best.   Then what?

Wasn't about getting a 1st down right then, it was about running out the clock and making Houston use their timeouts to get to overtime. 

 

That was the only plan in that situation and again McDumb***** screwed it up, this idiot is a comically incompetent stupid head coach! 

[MJS]

16 hours ago, Charles Romes said:

If they ran into the line three times, Texans take 3 timeouts and we kicked out of the end zone to the 42, and the great kicker makes a 59 yarder, everyone would say that lost the game as well.  

Fans would be melting down about how conservative and predictable McDermott is.

 

Literally any loss in any fashion is going to get the "fire McDermott" crowd going with their torches and pitchforks.

[zow2]

23 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Agreed.  The bigger blunder was not taking the 10 second runoff on the grounding penalty when Houston was punting from the 50 yard line and had all 3 timeouts.  

McDermott is a consistently terrible decision maker at the end of halves and games.  

 

On Sirius,  the sports show on Mad Dog radio is killing McDermott this morning.  Just said he’s absolutely the worst end of game coach and the Bills are going nowhere with him. That’s the summary but all the ranting was spot on. 

[SCBills]

5 minutes ago, LarryMadman said:

Wasn't about getting a 1st down right then, it was about running out the clock and making Houston use their timeouts to get to overtime. 

 

That was the only plan in that situation and again McDumb***** screwed it up, this idiot is a comically incompetent stupid head coach! 

They got five yards on the game winning drive.  Truthfully, they probably didn’t even need it.  Indoors and their kicker is a monster.   He was banging that kick anywhere under 70.  
 

We needed a first down. 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

16 hours ago, Success said:

On that last series?

 

I was really stunned.  I don't think I've ever seen a coach do that.  You run it 3x, make the Texans use their TO's and punt if you don't get the first, right?  Am I missing something?

 

I thought it was the right move tbh.  If you can't move the ball there the timeouts won't matter.  The goal is a first down so you can kneel for OT.  I had no faith in martin punting it well enough to keep them out of range, without some kind of penalty or something.    

9 hours ago, Scott7975 said:

I was thinking that Brady sucks as an OC.  I don't care that they tried to pass it.  What I care about are the playcalls themselves. That was the time to play efficient small ball offense and just work your way towards a first down.  Not throw downfield all 3 attempts.  Also, a defense never has to guess if we are running or passing. They just know what we are doing.

 

Yeah, something short, some kind of crosser that is a high % completion to get you space out of the end zone... and force them to burn a timeout and open up the ability to run the ball on 2nd and 3rd down to get the 1st.  Once you go incomplete you have to pass, and allen was just so bad throwing beyond the sticks.  

[BillsPride12]

19 minutes ago, HopelessNJBuffaloFan said:

Another embarrassment to add to Buffalo sports history. 

We are running out of pages 

[Process]

8 minutes ago, LarryMadman said:

Wasn't about getting a 1st down right then, it was about running out the clock and making Houston use their timeouts to get to overtime. 

 

That was the only plan in that situation and again McDumb***** screwed it up, this idiot is a comically incompetent stupid head coach! 

The reality of the situation is the exact opposite of what you said. Timeouts and burning the clock weren't a factor. If we didn't get a first down Houston was getting a FG attempt off, bottom line. 

 

Getting a first down was the goal and all that mattered. 

[Charles Romes]

6 minutes ago, MJS said:

Fans would be melting down about how conservative and predictable McDermott is.

 

Literally any loss in any fashion is going to get the "fire McDermott" crowd going with their torches and pitchforks.

that’s right, and noticeably no one is up in arms about McDermott’s stupid gamble on 4th and 5 in the third quarter from our own side of the field. 

[Sojourner]

3 minutes ago, SCBills said:

They got five yards on the game winning drive.  Truthfully, they probably didn’t even need it.  Indoors and their kicker is a monster.   He was banging that kick anywhere under 70.  
 

We needed a first down. 

Running the ball takes just as much time of the clock as what we did given the timeouts. 
 

But you tie the hands of the Texans when/if they get the ball back. You probably even add a couple extra yards for your punter. Our guy had to stand stationary to punt that ball. Couldn’t take a step into the kick and give it more power and air. The game goes to OT with Houston having used their TO’s, that is barring a great return or busted coverage on the punt. 

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

30 minutes ago, Gregg said:

You play for OT at that point. Even if they don't pick up the first down, they still should have run it to force the Texans to use their timeouts.

Exactly. Absolutely baffling decision making by McDermott. Directly cost this team a chance in OT. I don’t get it. I will give the coaching staff credit for keeping the game close when Allen had a whopping 9 completions for the entire game, but seems like he can’t close out a game to save his life. Luckily the AFCE is in shambles and Buffalo will win by default, but I doubt they go far in the post-season unless McDermott does some serious soul searching and Beane swings for a WR before the trade dead line. I would look to ship off a high round pick or even a dude like Epenesa. This passing game is a joke and I will admit that Josh Allen definitely deserves his fair share of blame as well. 

[Sojourner]

 

2 minutes ago, Process said:

The reality of the situation is the exact opposite of what you said. Timeouts and burning the clock weren't a factor. If we didn't get a first down Houston was getting a FG attempt off, bottom line. 

 

Getting a first down was the goal and all that mattered. 

 

They might have got a field goal attempted but it’s not the 60 yarder without a decent return on the punt. 
 

Burning some time and making the opponent use their timeouts should have been all that mattered. 
 

Instead, you leave them with a timeout. Even time to really attack anywhere on the field for a positive play irrespective that it resulted in a check down for a handful of yards. 
 

 

[dave mcbride]

4 minutes ago, zow2 said:

 

On Sirius,  the sports show on Mad Dog radio is killing McDermott this morning.  Just said he’s absolutely the worst end of game coach and the Bills are going nowhere with him. That’s the summary but all the ranting was spot on. 

Here's the thing: the run game had completely stopped working (5 yard on the previous 6 RB carries), and even if they ran it on first and second down and ended up with, say, 3rd and 7, you still need to pass it because the best outcome is getting a first down -- not giving Fairbairn a chance at a long kick. If they get the first on the pass, great, the game goes to OT. If they fail and it's incomplete, Houston still has the one timeout they need. They didn't need three - they needed one. Plus failed running plays are generally shorter in duration than failed passing plays, so that gives Houston a few more seconds.

 

You can rip on the play calls -- the second down one was a heave due more to pressure than a schemed design, I believe - but on the first one Coleman had one-on-one coverage (against Houston's weaker CB, Lassiter) and it was a throw to just past the sticks. To be sure, Coleman was well covered there and his OPI was smart and arguably prevented an INT. On third down, Samuel was wide open for the first. I would have preferred TE usage in that sequence, but the first and third down plays weren't terrible, at least in conception.  More importantly, conceding a punt with three runs up the middle was the worse play, percentage-wise, than trying to pick up a first. And while Allen had a poor game, I would rather put my fate in his hands than those of the running backs.

[Gregg]

3 minutes ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

Exactly. Absolutely baffling decision making by McDermott. Directly cost this team a chance in OT. I don’t get it. I will give the coaching staff credit for keeping the game close when Allen had a whopping 9 completions for the entire game, but seems like he can’t close out a game to save his life. Luckily the AFCE is in shambles and Buffalo will win by default, but I doubt they go far in the post-season unless McDermott does some serious soul searching and Beane swings for a WR before the trade dead line. I would look to ship off a high round pick or even a dude like Epenesa. This passing game is a joke and I will admit that Josh Allen definitely deserves his fair share of blame as well. 

 

I think the Bills would have had a great chance to win OT. They had the momentum in the 2nd half coming back from 17-3 to 20-20. But we will never know.

[Billz4ever]

57 minutes ago, JMM said:

In it he said " I would have preferred to run on first down and then assess from there" on that final drive. PREFER? HUH??? ARE YOU THE F'IN HEAD COACH?? You don't take control in that situation? You don't tell Brady I want a run on first down here? Are you kidding me? I've been a defender of him overall, he has made us a winner when for so long we suffered. But I just can't anymore with this guy.  We simply are not going to get to the top of the mountain with him. And I know he's not going anywhere for at least another season or 2. Just a vent. 

The funniest part is the offense was running on first down almost the entire game until then.

[SCBills]

Just now, Gregg said:

 

I think the Bills would have had a great chance to win OT. They had the momentum in the 2nd half coming back from 17-3 to 20-20. But we will never know.

Both Offenses were stuck in the mud, but Stroud was under pressure and turning it over, whereas our Offense was just incompetent.  
 

I trust Allen to have a moment of brilliance to win the game in OT, before I do Stroud putting a drive together when he struggled to do much of anything after Collins went out. 

[billieve420]

9 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Here's the thing: the run game had completely stopped working (5 yard on the previous 6 RB carries), and even if they ran it on first and second down and ended up with, say, 3rd and 7, you still need to pass it because the best outcome is getting a first down -- not giving Fairbairn a chance at a long kick. If they get the first on the pass, great, the game goes to OT. If they fail and it's incomplete, Houston still has the one timeout they need. They didn't need three - they needed one. Plus failed running plays are generally shorter in duration than failed passing plays, so that gives Houston a few more seconds.

 

You can rip on the play calls -- the second down one was a heave due more to pressure than a schemed design, I believe - but on the first one Coleman had one-on-one coverage (against Houston's weaker CB, Lassiter) and it was a throw to just past the sticks. To be sure, Coleman was well covered there and his OPI was smart and arguably prevented an INT. On third down, Samuel was wide open for the first. I would have preferred TE usage in that sequence, but the first and third down plays weren't terrible, at least in conception.  More importantly, conceding a punt with three runs up the middle was the worse play, percentage-wise, than trying to pick up a first. And while Allen had a poor game, I would rather put my fate in his hands than those of the running backs.

 

Even if it wasn't a run they could have used the quick passing game to gain some easy yards and force Houston to burn some timeouts. Cook is our best offensive playmaker outside of Allen. Find a way to get him the ball in space while burning some time. Also, I would just be having Samuel run nothing but drags and crossers across the field.

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

10 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Here's the thing: the run game had completely stopped working (5 yard on the previous 6 RB carries), and even if they ran it on first and second down and ended up with, say, 3rd and 7, you still need to pass it because the best outcome is getting a first down -- not giving Fairbairn a chance at a long kick. If they get the first on the pass, great, the game goes to OT. If they fail and it's incomplete, Houston still has the one timeout they need. They didn't need three - they needed one. Plus failed running plays are generally shorter in duration than failed passing plays, so that gives Houston a few more seconds.

 

You can rip on the play calls -- the second down one was a heave due more to pressure than a schemed design, I believe - but on the first one Coleman had one-on-one coverage (against Houston's weaker CB, Lassiter) and it was a throw to just past the sticks. To be sure, Coleman was well covered there and his OPI was smart and arguably prevented an INT. On third down, Samuel was wide open for the first. I would have preferred TE usage in that sequence, but the first and third down plays weren't terrible, at least in conception.  More importantly, conceding a punt with three runs up the middle was the worse play, percentage-wise, than trying to pick up a first. And while Allen had a poor game, I would rather put my fate in his hands than those of the running backs.

I disagree. You run it 3 times and make them use all their time outs. Allen was off the entire game so expecting him to get the 1st when the whole defense knows it’s a pass play is asking a lot. If anything, try to pick it up on a scramble and burn some clock in the process. You hope your punter can net a 50 yard punt and let your defense make a stop who were playing great up until that point.