An absolute disaster by the coaches at the end of this game

[Straight Hucklebuck]

17 hours ago, The Wiz said:

You pointed out 5 mistakes in 110 games.  Sound like my ex wife.

 

Texans game,  I prefer them throwing over trying to run the ball.

Last night, they ran the QB sneak and didn't get it (that's on the offensive Co for not telling them to either hurry up and run it again or spike it, not HC)

12-men on the field for Broncos, special teams (Smiley who has turned Bass into an erratic kicker and the coverage unit into a yardage machine)

The big one, Smiley again on the sideline calling the play.

 

And we can go back to last night again, we needed a blocked punt.  Smiley had 9 players on the field and didn't even tell the return man to try to do something.  How do you have your returner call a fair catch with 6 seconds left in the game?

 

I think it’s okay to examine McDermott’s tenure after this Playoff run.

 

The Bills are in as the #1, #2, #3 or #4 seed and will host a Playoff game.

 

If we look at his results in the Playoffs:

 

2017 - Ended the Drought Year 1

 

2019 - Couldn’t get a 16-0 lead into

the garage, but Allen showed playmaking. 
 

2020 - Hung on against the Colts, shutdown Lamar and the Ravens, and the final narrative seems to be Bills weren’t ready to beat the Chiefs.

 

2021 - Perfect game against New England, and then chose not to squib and play 20-yards off every WR.

 

2022 - Survived Miami, got physically whipped against the Bengals. Could not handle their aggressive mindset.

 

2023 - Convincing victory against Pittsburgh, injury riddled team loses to Chiefs.

 

So 5-6 overall, 5-5 with Allen. 
2019 - Wildcard

2020 - AFCCG

2021 - Divisional

2022 - Divisional

2023 - Divisional

2024 - ? 
 

Allen is approaching/at his peak maybe, so again, depending on how far this Playoff run goes I think it’s fair to ask can this organization “get over the hump” with McDermott.

 

Allen has used that phrase several times in press conferences, so it’s valid as the main goal left. 
 

 

 

 

[oldmanfan]

1 hour ago, dave mcbride said:

So you're saying you'd rather have zero chance of winning than a small chance of winning?

We all agree they should not have called d the TO.  But to say they had zero chance is flat out wrong.  They had a chance to recover an onside kick.  even if we score and the Rams got the ball back what do you think the odds were we stop them from getting a first down?  Give how they shredded us all game I'd put it about the same as recovering the onside kick.  McVay would not have just run the ball 3 times.

[BananaB]

Looking back, kind of getting use to McDs late game mistakes. Always surprised when it happens though. 

[LABILLBACKER]

16 hours ago, The Jokeman said:

And if we win the coin flip and score first does the 13 seconds matter? 

The mistakes of 13s still exist regardless of who wins the flip. That game had no business ever going to OT. 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

8 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

We all agree they should not have called d the TO.  But to say they had zero chance is flat out wrong.  They had a chance to recover an onside kick.  even if we score and the Rams got the ball back what do you think the odds were we stop them from getting a first down?  Give how they shredded us all game I'd put it about the same as recovering the onside kick.  McVay would not have just run the ball 3 times.

 

But none of this really says anything.

 

Of course the chances aren’t literally 0.0%, but onside kick recover is 3% - 5% now that you have to declare. 
 

McDermott said yesterday in his 4:00 PM press conference that he wishes he never called the timeout. So all that stuff about two bad options just kind of went away. 
 

Nothing the Bills can do about it now, and we’ll see if this game ultimately would have been the difference in the #1 seed, but this is just such a basic and common scenario so how the coaches got this wrong when McDermott explained they were talking about it during the final drive is beyond me. 

Andy Reid punted on 4th-2 from the Raiders 42 yard line and then watched the Raiders go down the field and get into field goal range only to be bailed out by a botched snap. It happens. 
 

These end of game mistakes on pretty basic scenarios keep happening 2-3 a year under McDermott. It’s not all just happenstance. 
 

 

Edited December 10 by Straight Hucklebuck

[LABILLBACKER]

16 hours ago, The Wiz said:

I think most coaches in the NFL need a course in "Hire the person that I know" if anything.

 

Remember when Rex Ryan claimed "it's not nepotism?" when he hire Rob Ryan as our DC and he couldn't do anything?

 

At some point, every coach is going to fall back into the "devil you know vs the devil you dont" and McD sticking with them, even though they have been bad at times, is giving them a chance to fix it.

 

For fans, no.  That's not acceptable.  Instant gratification is the only true result (AKA fire someone).  So we fire the ST coordinator with 4 games left and then what is going to happen?  Hire a new experienced ST coach?  nope.  Elevate someone else that will result in the ST being better, doubtful.

 

So a firing at this point, when they have clinched the division, are in the playoffs and are likely going to be top 2-3 and have home field until the AFC Championship (cause we call know that KC will luck their way in with a 10-6 game somehow)

 

you don't disrupt it.  You try to fix it.

I agree totally with your theory but unfortunately they never fix it anymore than Sean does.

[Success]

If I'm going to put a positive spin on it, I'd say that Andy Reid used to get the exact same kind of criticism when he was in Philly.  Clock management was considered a big weakness for him.

 

Now, people see him as the best in the league.  McD does a ton of other things very well - but it's just those late-game decisions that seem to be a pattern.

 

[GoBills808]

Just now, Success said:

If I'm going to put a positive spin on it, I'd say that Andy Reid used to get the exact same kind of criticism when he was in Philly.  Clock management was considered a big weakness for him.

 

Now, people see him as the best in the league.  McD does a ton of other things very well - but it's just those late-game decisions that seem to be a pattern.

 

i do not see Reid as best in the league at those moments. he still has lapses

 

i think Tomlin does the best job tbh

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Most of the hand wringing over the coaching decisions came at a point in the game where there was a 1% chance of winning. The game was lost by the defense being unable to stop the Rams. Period.

 

I kind of didn't mind a loss because we needed to get this stinker out of the way in the regular season. Better now than in January. As long as we learn from this and fix it.

There's that battle cry again. Someone explain to some of our fans that we rarely learn from these mistakes nor do we fix them. They just continue to happen over & over.

[PromoTheRobot]

3 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

There's that battle cry again. Someone explain to some of our fans that we rarely learn from these mistakes nor do we fix them. They just continue to happen over & over.

 

How does a team get to 10-3 wins making the same mistakes over and over?  

[oldmanfan]

22 minutes ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

 

But none of this really says anything.

 

Of course the chances aren’t literally 0.0%, but onside kick recover is 3% - 5% now that you have to declare. 
 

McDermott said yesterday in his 4:00 PM press conference that he wishes he never called the timeout. So all that stuff about two bad options just kind of went away. 
 

Nothing the Bills can do about it now, and we’ll see if this game ultimately would have been the difference in the #1 seed, but this is just such a basic and common scenario so how the coaches got this wrong when McDermott explained they were talking about it during the final drive is beyond me. 

Andy Reid punted on 4th-2 from the Raiders 42 yard line and then watched the Raiders go down the field and get into field goal range only to be bailed out by a botched snap. It happens. 
 

These end of game mistakes on pretty basic scenarios keep happening 2-3 a year under McDermott. It’s not all just happenstance. 
 

 

Again we all agree the TO was wrong.  

[LABILLBACKER]

19 minutes ago, Success said:

If I'm going to put a positive spin on it, I'd say that Andy Reid used to get the exact same kind of criticism when he was in Philly.  Clock management was considered a big weakness for him.

 

Now, people see him as the best in the league.  McD does a ton of other things very well - but it's just those late-game decisions that seem to be a pattern.

 

We don't have 20 years to watch McD do what Andy did. Josh is almost 29. So what "course" Sean is taking in eliminating his game stupidity,  he better take the test and pass it very soon. Because when the playoffs start and things get amplified,  he either wets his pants and panics or finally figures it out.  

[The Jokeman]

51 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

The mistakes of 13s still exist regardless of who wins the flip. That game had no business ever going to OT. 

and Homerun throwback should have never happened and the immaculate reception too for that matter. Sometimes plays happen and nothing a coach can do about it to stop it. I get people want to blame McDermott for his handling of it but at same time his players failed him. It was a team loss, I'm not blaming McDermott solely on it which some here want to. 

[zow2]

Reid is very calm, cool and collected during those late game clutch moments of handling clock, timeouts, personnel, etc...  Same thing with Mahomes.  No panic from him and heart rate doesn't appear to be going 150.  I get the sense at the end of games the Bills pucker up a bit.  Except for Allen.  He balls.  

[LABILLBACKER]

10 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

and Homerun throwback should have never happened and the immaculate reception too for that matter. Sometimes plays happen and nothing a coach can do about it to stop it. I get people want to blame McDermott for his handling of it but at same time his players failed him. It was a team loss, I'm not blaming McDermott solely on it which some here want to. 

All he had to do is walk out on the field and tell his kicker/ST to squib it to the 5.  Game over....this incessant protecting Sean is getting old. If you can't see his constant mistakes,  I can't help you. Some people will follow McD to the bitter end. I'm not one of them...

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

How does a team get to 10-3 wins making the same mistakes over and over?  

17...softball Promo

[Success]

1 hour ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

I think it’s okay to examine McDermott’s tenure after this Playoff run.

 

The Bills are in as the #1, #2, #3 or #4 seed and will host a Playoff game.

 

If we look at his results in the Playoffs:

 

2017 - Ended the Drought Year 1

 

2019 - Couldn’t get a 16-0 lead into

the garage, but Allen showed playmaking. 
 

2020 - Hung on against the Colts, shutdown Lamar and the Ravens, and the final narrative seems to be Bills weren’t ready to beat the Chiefs.

 

2021 - Perfect game against New England, and then chose not to squib and play 20-yards off every WR.

 

2022 - Survived Miami, got physically whipped against the Bengals. Could not handle their aggressive mindset.

 

2023 - Convincing victory against Pittsburgh, injury riddled team loses to Chiefs.

 

So 5-6 overall, 5-5 with Allen. 
2019 - Wildcard

2020 - AFCCG

2021 - Divisional

2022 - Divisional

2023 - Divisional

2024 - ? 
 

Allen is approaching/at his peak maybe, so again, depending on how far this Playoff run goes I think it’s fair to ask can this organization “get over the hump” with McDermott.

 

Allen has used that phrase several times in press conferences, so it’s valid as the main goal left. 
 

 

 

 

 

2020 and last year are more "passes" for me.  People say injuries aren't excuses, but they are in those games (imo).

 

People forget - our top 4 WR's all had fairly significant injuries in 2020, and it showed in the game.  Diggs had an oblique; Beasley was playing on a broken leg.  Brown and Davis also had leg injuries which slowed them.  There was no separation the entire game, exacerbated by the officials letting the DB's get away w/ more contact than is usually allowed.

 

Last year, I'll always maintain that if KC had the injuries we had on defense, and we were as healthy as they were - it would have likely been a blowout in our favor.  We were missing too many guys, and even some of the guys playing were gutting it out through injury.

 

But 13 seconds will always live on as a game of terrible decision-making at the end, and the Bengals loss was kind of inexplicable.

 

[DaVinci]

1 hour ago, LABILLBACKER said:

The mistakes of 13s still exist regardless of who wins the flip. That game had no business ever going to OT. 

Squib the kick,game over. We are still dealing with poor decisions and lack of communication. This Never happens in KC.

[PromoTheRobot]

12 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

17...softball Promo

Then why hire coaches?

[pi2000]

I get why they accepted the penalty.   Pushed them back out of field goal range, they get a stop or hold them to a few yards, they have to punt and then you only need a FG to tie the game.     

 

The sneak was the right call... the percentages on that play are much much higher than throwing it.    Just need to get that in the endzone, I have no problem with play call.... but be ready to quickly run it again if it fails.    

 

If they pass on that play and Josh gets sacked, throws a pick or has to throw it away... then everybody is dumbfounded why they didn't just run the sneak.

 

Bottom line, you can second guess the play calls, but it doesn't really matter when you can't get off the field on the third down the ENTIRE game.   

 

McVay absolutely owned Babich.