Bills only had 9 players on the field for the final punt

[Ray Stonada]

 It was a really weird play, hard to understand. There were 7 seconds on the clock, Rams up by two. The Bills knew this was almost certainly the last play of the game--it takes a couple seconds to get the punt off, and a good hang time is 4-5 seconds.  

 

First off, I counted only 9 Bills on the field (you can't see Codrington until later in the shot, and there are 8 guys on the line of scrimmage). 9 guys.

 

Next, they don't have the punt rush OR the return set up. On the last play of the game, you HAVE to go for one or the other. It's your only chance left to win. 

 

Finally, Codrington doesn't even field the ball. It lands just inside the 1 yard line with 0 seconds on the clock, but he's running away from it--as if he was told not to field it, even though the game ends if he doesn't.

 

I mean, I know the chances of a 99 yard punt return, or a blocked punt returned for a touchdown, are pretty low. But that's all we had. Shouldn't we have gone for one or the other? Instead we didn't even have enough players out there. What were the special teams coaches doing? It's like the players had no guidance for that moment and no one in charge, no one with a strategy. 

[Yobogoya!]

While we're on the subject of special teams, is it me or was that onside kick attempt just pathetic-looking?

 

Like, I know it's a super low percentage play but that kick was a duck that had no shot whatsoever. Just low-lobbed it right to the Rams.

 

Between that and the non-punt-block, you have to wonder if we even practice this stuff.

[Dan Darragh]

10 hours ago, BillsFan130 said:

Haha Seriously though - imagine a bill belichick coached team only having 9 guys on the field. It simply wouldn't happen.

What a joke

I hear he's available

[Livinginthepast]

10 hours ago, Big Turk said:

Even worse our returner let the ball bounce instead of trying to return it which allowed the clock to run out.

The game is over when the Rams punter kicks it but incredibly instead of purposely pooching out of bounds, the kick was returnable and even more incredibly the Bills player makes NO ATTEMPT to return it. No Homerun throwback, no reverse, nothing? So we just gave up on the punt block and the return? Terrible coaching and no awareness from Codrington?? Bills threw logic out the window there and just gave up.

7 minutes ago, Yobogoya! said:

While we're on the subject of special teams, is it me or was that onside kick attempt just pathetic-looking?

 

Like, I know it's a super low percentage play but that kick was a duck that had no shot whatsoever. Just low-lobbed it right to the Rams.

 

Between that and the non-punt-block, you have to wonder if we even practice this stuff.

The NFL is filled with moron coaches who dont seem to practice anything let alone use any trickery. Is it against the rules now for Bass to tap it straight ahead 10 yards and try tor recover it. Is it against the rules for Bass to left foot kick it to the opposite sideline? Neither of these strategies could have been worse than that garbage kick yesterday!

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

10 hours ago, ProcessImproverMan said:

His defenses were very good those years and helped a lot. Even Brady's last year it was mostly the defense dragging them to the playoffs and getting the Super Bowl ring in Brady's second to last season there (13-3 win over Rams)

 

McDaniels has been a bum everywhere he's gone without Belichick 

 

Right but that's not what you said, you said Belichick dragged Matt Cassel, Mac Jones to the playoffs. No way was he calling any offensive plays and McDaniels might have been a failure as a HC everywhere he went but as an OC he was very creative imo. 

[RyanC883]

if you notice only 9 guys, why not call a TO to setup a block or return. 

[Matt_In_NH]

4 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

if you notice only 9 guys, why not call a TO to setup a block or return. 

Probably because they had no timeouts but that is just a wild guess.

 

This type of failure after what happened in Denver last year is hard to accept.  Once in a lifetime can a miracle happen anyway but they need to find a way to communicate better on the sidelines in those situations.  You had 3 downs to get ready for it too.....you kind of knew what the situation was probably going to be.

[Mr. WEO]

11 hours ago, Buffalo03 said:

Does it matter? There wasn't enough time for anything to come of it anyway

 

block/scoop/TD

 

harder to do with 9 bums on ST (instead off 11 bums)

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Well, the Bills picked a damn poor time to celebrate and commemorate Wreck's 10 men on the field gaffe against Miami. 🤨

[ProcessImproverMan]

20 minutes ago, BuffaloBillsGospel2014 said:

 

Right but that's not what you said, you said Belichick dragged Matt Cassel, Mac Jones to the playoffs. No way was he calling any offensive plays and McDaniels might have been a failure as a HC everywhere he went but as an OC he was very creative imo. 

Every single coach who has left Belichicks coaching team has been a failure elsewhere and has not replicated the success. It's not like the Shanahan coaching tree where multiple coaches have had success elsewhere (McVay with a super bowl for the Rams, Kyle Shanahan with multiple super bowl appearances with the 49ers with journeymen and a 7th round draft pick at QB, LeFleur in Green Bay with many post season runs, etc) When one takes that into account, it's clear it's pretty much all Belichick. Or else one of the guys who left him (McDaniels, Mangini, Crenel, Patricia, O Brien, etc) would have had a lot of success elsewhere. The only one who had some success was O Brien in Houston and he basically imploded that team after lucking into the rapist Watson (see trading Hopkins for a running back). McDaniels had multiple attempts with the Broncos and Raiders and his offenses were trash without Brady. Meanwhile Belichick got the Browns to the playoffs and a playoff victory without a great QB, the Patriots to multiple winning records without Brady, out coached the Bills offense to win a Super Bowl as a defensive coordinator for the Giants, etc. 

[akinko_kd]

Ask Belichick to be our SPECIAL TEAMS COACH

[RyanC883]

2 hours ago, Matt_In_NH said:

Probably because they had no timeouts but that is just a wild guess.

 

This type of failure after what happened in Denver last year is hard to accept.  Once in a lifetime can a miracle happen anyway but they need to find a way to communicate better on the sidelines in those situations.  You had 3 downs to get ready for it too.....you kind of knew what the situation was probably going to be.

 

That's right, they may have burned all the TOs by then.  

 

The ST coach is an issue, the HC is also an issue.  Not a well-run gameday organization, particularly late in the game.   

[Koufax]

Nine on the field and not returning the kick are unacceptable lack of situational awareness. Changing the chances of winning from 0.1% to 0% so not in the top fifty most relevant plays of the day, but frustrating coming out of a timeout. 
 

We can calm down, learn from it, and not freak out, but we can also call a spade a spade.

[nucci]

oops

[Jukester]

6 hours ago, Ray Stonada said:

 It was a really weird play, hard to understand. There were 7 seconds on the clock, Rams up by two. The Bills knew this was almost certainly the last play of the game--it takes a couple seconds to get the punt off, and a good hang time is 4-5 seconds.  

 

First off, I counted only 9 Bills on the field (you can't see Codrington until later in the shot, and there are 8 guys on the line of scrimmage). 9 guys.

 

Next, they don't have the punt rush OR the return set up. On the last play of the game, you HAVE to go for one or the other. It's your only chance left to win. 

 

Finally, Codrington doesn't even field the ball. It lands just inside the 1 yard line with 0 seconds on the clock, but he's running away from it--as if he was told not to field it, even though the game ends if he doesn't.

 

I mean, I know the chances of a 99 yard punt return, or a blocked punt returned for a touchdown, are pretty low. But that's all we had. Shouldn't we have gone for one or the other? Instead we didn't even have enough players out there. What were the special teams coaches doing? It's like the players had no guidance for that moment and no one in charge, no one with a strategy. 

You nailed it.  They really needed to sell out and go for broke to get the block….but our coaches are idiots 

[Jauronimo]

Its good to see that they have learned their lesson after having 12 guys on the field for the Denver FG attempt last year.

[RichRiderBills]

You got to question the process that McDermott has set up in order to make quick decisions in game real time. 

 

Imo it is not set up as good as it should be for a guy coaching as long as he has.

[shane nelson]

As my grandmother said, never trust the internet.  i just watched the play, there were 11 men on the field. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtvwjLtVVAs

19 hours ago, Roundybout said:

 

 

 

This is a damning indictment of Drew Smiley especially after the blocked punt. 

Just watched the replay, there were 11 men on the field

[The Wiz]

Any officiating geniuses on here?  I'm curious about the blocked punt because watching the replay in slow-mo, Ferguson was hit almost as soon as the ball was snapped.  Isn't the center supposed to be protected in some way during a snap?  I know there is the "lining up over the center" penalty but that apparently wasn't the case.  

 

In any event, he was falling backwards within a second of the ball being snapped and it just looked very odd that we don't see that happen more often.  Here's the snippet of where the ball is when Reid is being contacted.

 

Edited December 9 by The Wiz

[Breakout Squad]

So were there 9 players or 11?? What the hell are we doing?