Joe Brady and Aaron Kromer had a rough night

[oldmanfan]

Just now, NoSaint said:

yea but that’s a “I didn’t play perfect but I gave my team a very strong chance anyway” vs “I ended the season because I missed a layup”

Not sure what you mean.

[NoSaint]

1 minute ago, oldmanfan said:

Not sure what you mean.

Josh may have been imperfect but he was an A- by taking a very difficult play, and giving his team a great shot to survive based on his incredible talent. Thats why its going to be remembered as the Kincaid drop and not the Allen line adjustment play

[Sharky7337]

My bigger issue is mcdermot worked with these guys and knows how they like to send pressure but the offense isn't expecting blitzes?

[26TrapDraw]

This shocks me. On that one where Josh Rolls right which he always does, Brady didn’t have an outlet for Josh to throw that ball when those two came on a blitz?! OR did he just not see them?

very uncharacteristic of Brady.

[oldmanfan]

20 minutes ago, 26TrapDraw said:

This shocks me. On that one where Josh Rolls right which he always does, Brady didn’t have an outlet for Josh to throw that ball when those two came on a blitz?! OR did he just not see them?

very uncharacteristic of Brady.

The outlet was Shakir on the left side.  Spags made a great blitz call there.

[Einstein]

While Brady called the same plays we have been calling all year (especially on 4th down), Reid actually did have new plays in his bag that he broke out on us.

 

 

[GunnerBill]

22 hours ago, Sharky7337 said:

My bigger issue is mcdermot worked with these guys and knows how they like to send pressure but the offense isn't expecting blitzes?

 

They did expect a blitz on the final play, but they misread it at the line and protected from the opposite side to where the blitz came. Joe brady had a play that was designed to attack where they thought the blitz was coming but it came the other way and they ended up in scramble mode. 

[Einstein]

14 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

They did expect a blitz on the final play, but they misread it at the line and protected from the opposite side to where the blitz came. Joe brady had a play that was designed to attack where they thought the blitz was coming but it came the other way and they ended up in scramble mode. 

 

That was the same fourth down beater we have ran all year. The mesh concept with the TE going down the middle (actually in the first KC game it was Hollins running seam), and the orbit/swing (which cook ran most of the time).

 

It was so predictable, that even if Allen had time, the only open option was going to be Kincaid. Spags stacked the first down line with linebackers, because he knew exactly what was coming. If Allen threw to any of the mash routes, then they would’ve been blown up. If he threw to the orbit, there were  three linebackers at the first down marker to stop him in the first down.

 

Play was doomed from the start because Spags knew what we were running. The pressure issues just accelerated the issue.

 

and I still do not understand what Torrance was doing. Forget the sliding of pressure, you’re telling me that you don’t put a hand on either free rudher coming through your gap? my goodness.

 

.

Edited 14 hours ago by Einstein

[Ray Stonada]

22 hours ago, MasterStrategist said:

And this is why context matters --- Josh slid protection to his "left".  He was fooled, credit to KC not showing it pre-snap/early, but that's why a free rusher came through.

Benjamin Solak has no idea why Josh didn’t throw to Shakir?

 

Because when he watches the slo motion coaches view over and over he thinks it’s the right choice?

 

Sometimes these pencil necks make me laugh with their unearned arrogance.

[BillMafia716ix]

I just can’t get over the fact that Joe Brady had our 2nd best player watching from the sidelines on that final drive. Just inexcusable. Steve Spags completely out coached Joe Brady on that final possession. 

[GunnerBill]

39 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

That was the same fourth down beater we have ran all year. The mesh concept with the TE going down the middle (actually in the first KC game it was Hollins running seam), and the orbit/swing (which cook ran most of the time).

 

It was so predictable, that even if Allen had time, the only open option was going to be Kincaid. Spags stacked the first down line with linebackers, because he knew exactly what was coming. If Allen threw to any of the mash routes, then they would’ve been blown up. If he threw to the orbit, there were  three linebackers at the first down marker to stop him in the first down.

 

Play was doomed from the start because Spags knew what we were running. The pressure issues just accelerated the issue.

 

and I still do not understand what Torrance was doing. Forget the sliding of pressure, you’re telling me that you don’t put a hand on either free rudher coming through your gap? my goodness.

 

.

 

I don't agree the play was doomed from the start. I do agee that Torrence clearly screwed the pooch whatever the line adjustment was.

[Chaos]

On 1/26/2025 at 10:11 PM, Big Turk said:

Kincaid dropped the ball. Regardless of the playcall, players have to make plays in those situations and he pulled a Mark Andrews.

Two things can be true at the same time.  The Chiefs completely owned the Bills on that play and Kincaid should have caught the ball. 

[Ray Stonada]

Cook not being on the field more does feel like a mistake. Ty Johnson is great but Cook is on another level.

[Julio Hopkins]

30 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I don't agree the play was doomed from the start. I do agee that Torrence clearly screwed the pooch whatever the line adjustment was.

 

There was only two realistic results from Brady's play.  They identify the blitz correctly and the line holds up long enough to get Kincaid the ball or the blitz isn't handled correctly leading to Shakir getting the ball 15 yards short of the marker.  Which means that Kincaid was the only reasonable opportunity to get the first down.  

 

The problems start with Spags already knowing that Brady was going to sit on the same thing he's been running all year.  That meant the defense had everything covered perfectly.  The next problem is identifying the blitz against the best defensive coordinator in the league at disguising blitzes with only one hot route.  A hot route 15 yards short of the first down!  

 

It was the most important play of the season and Brady was outclassed.  

 

[GunnerBill]

3 minutes ago, Ray Stonada said:

Cook not being on the field more does feel like a mistake. Ty Johnson is great but Cook is on another level.

 

Yea I make the same criticism of Joe as I made of Ben Johnson the week before. Cook 13 carries for 85 yards at 6.5 a pop. He didn't get enough carries. The one drive where we really committed to him we went down the field on the Chiefs and they could not stop us. They came out trying to play action early and break tendency by being more pass heavy and the offense never got into a rhythm. It was a mistake. They should have got Cook going much sooner

[tigerthelion]

The o-line did not play as well as I expected.  That was a huge factor, in my opinion.  Josh Allen seemed rushed most of the night.  Everything on offense was a struggle and he had to throw dimes to Hollins, Shakir and Samuel to keep up.   

 

 

[Westside]

On 1/26/2025 at 10:34 PM, Julio Hopkins said:

That third down swing pass before Spags outcoached Brady on fourth down is arguably the worst call of the season.  Up there with the garbage TE screen call last week against the Ravens in an important moment.  Wait...  

 

I might be seeing a pattern here.  

 

Edit - I totally forgot about the third and goal fade route to Coleman too!  That's up there with Doug Marrone and Nate Hackett playcalling.  

Why was Allen throwing to Coleman on crucial plays when we have Cooper warming the bench? This coaching staff seems to have an issue with playing anyone who is new to the team. It’s absolutely ridiculous. It feels like we threw away the third round to acquire Cooper who we seldom played! 

[BarleyNY]

On 1/26/2025 at 10:10 PM, Einstein said:

29 points be damned.

 

- How many times did he watch KC stuff our QB sneak and then he continued to do it!?!? Over and over and over. KC is coached extremely well and knew exactly how to stop it. They blockaded that right side that Josh likes to go to it and he still went to it repeatedly.

 

- Know that play-action roll out play that KC loves where Mahomes can either throw it to the RB or keep it? Yeah, we ran that twice all game. Both times picked up big yards. Never saw it again.

 

- He and Kromer never adjusted the line (or the play-calling) to deal with the pass rush. The final 4th down call was a pick play with crossers that REQUIRES 2-3 seconds to get guys open. Spags knew this and sent the house. Brady apparently didn’t know this!?

 

- Cook didn’t touch the ball once that last drive. And it wasn’t a time issue (we had a full 3 minutes).

 

- A low percentage fade to Coleman on 3rd down with the game on the line?

 

Flame away, but I miss Daboll. I always felt confident with Daboll that we were going to drive the field at the end of games. The only concern I had was the defense. Daboll adjusted mid-game.

 

 

- I am disgusted that we did not run a change up on our tush push play. KC had how to stop it - at least some of the time - figured out and we were too scared to run a change up. I can’t believe that we don’t have a change up so I don’t think it was that. But if we didn’t even have one in the bag, then that’s a fireable offense for Brady.

- The blitz on our last offensive play is one of the change ups that KC hits us with every playoff game. As high a leverage play as you will ever have and we had no idea that they might have something different ready for us. We even had to two minute warning to talk that all over. Every playoff game. It’s gotten well beyond old. 

- The problem with Cook is that he is still poor in pass pro and not a great receiver, so I understand why they’d pull him. But I agree that we could have at least started the drive with him and some runs. 3 1/2 minutes +2 timeouts is enough time for that.

- I saw Coleman lined up by himself on the right on that third and goal and my immediate thought was “please don’t throw him a jump ball here”. SMH

- Dabs had the brass to take chances, let Josh cook and do things McDermott won’t allow. McD is just too conservative. That’s great if the Ravens give you 3 turnovers and drop some passes so you can squeak out a close win, but you won’t beat KC without taking some play calling risks. At least McD has dramatically improved his aggression on 4th downs. That’s a positive. But it needs to extend to play design and calls in games like that one. 

[tigerthelion]

2 minutes ago, Westside said:

Why was Allen throwing to Coleman on crucial plays when we have Cooper warming the bench? This coaching staff seems to have an issue with playing anyone who is new to the team. It’s absolutely ridiculous. It feels like we threw away the third round to acquire Cooper who we seldom played! 

Cooper was an absolute bust for the team, no question.  Made very little impact whatsoever.  Maybe he is washed.  Coleman didn't even deserve to be on the field based on his play over the last few months.   Never would have thought that Mack Hollins would be the guy making the big plays in the playoffs for this team.  Really thought Coleman was showing glimpses of potential earlier in the year, but he just sunk to awful levels.  Made Gabe Davis look like Jerry Rice. 

 

Also, as has been mentioned, James Cook was off the field for way too long.  Win or lose, go down with your best guys.  

[Ray Stonada]

 

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yea I make the same criticism of Joe as I made of Ben Johnson the week before. Cook 13 carries for 85 yards at 6.5 a pop. He didn't get enough carries. The one drive where we really committed to him we went down the field on the Chiefs and they could not stop us. They came out trying to play action early and break tendency by being more pass heavy and the offense never got into a rhythm. It was a mistake. They should have got Cook going much sooner

 

Yep. Given the Chiefs pass rush and their struggles with run defense, and the fact that running can often help a quarterback settle in in a huge game, you'd think we would have started the game with a lot of Cook, and stuck with it.