A "Tush Push" to the right just once would have been nice....

[Buffalo_Stampede]

I think the Bills OL was sick. Dawkins and Brown had their worst games in a while. The push wasn’t there on the tush push. Typically Dawkins is plowing through.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

10 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

A lot of these were on Josh Allen guys. I would say all of them are but the coaches could probably tell him to do something different. 
 

I’m just tipping my hat to KC. No one stops that play like that and they did. Once again it’s their players on the DL being the difference. Last year it was Chris Jones pressure forcing Allen to miss an open WR.

 

more like Jones lining up Offside and jumping the count.

 

 

[PayDaBill$]

Did we run the snowplow, I saw sneaks going wider left into the gaps basically unassisted.  

[Buffalo_Stampede]

4 minutes ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

more like Jones lining up Offside and jumping the count.

 

 

Yes. That did happen.

[harmonkillebrew]

something was wrong with the tush push from the beginning.  

Josh delayed longer than usual on the first one for the 2 pt and Mack actually ran in to him in the whole.

Other attempts looked like the upright Josh of prior years, before he got it down to more of a science.  It also felt like we didn't have the push element working as well and they were trying to rush it on a quick snap count rather than set it up and do it right. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Just now, harmonkillebrew said:

something was wrong with the tush push from the beginning.  

Josh delayed longer than usual on the first one for the 2 pt and Mack actually ran in to him in the whole.

Other attempts looked like the upright Josh of prior years, before he got it down to more of a science.  It also felt like we didn't have the push element working as well and they were trying to rush it on a quick snap count rather than set it up and do it right. 

I’m convinced Dawkins was weakened by the illness he had earlier in the week. On one push he got absolutely no movement on a guy 50lbs lighter than him.

[Danger Mouse]

3 hours ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

Tell me if I’m crazy for thinking this. But could he hold the ball in the other arm? 

 

I guess he could. He could hold it between his legs, technically. Just feels less secure don't you think - especially for what's basically a rugby play. 

[Not at the table Karlos]

1 hour ago, Danger Mouse said:

 

I guess he could. He could hold it between his legs, technically. Just feels less secure don't you think - especially for what's basically a rugby play. 

Players switch arms with the ball depending where the sidelines are. Why would holding it the same way in the opposite arm be less secure? 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

3 hours ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

more like Jones lining up Offside and jumping the count.

 

 

Still got that fateful one they spotted short pretty easily imo.  I’ve been rewatching it all day because I’m a sick puppy 😂. Really wasn’t even debatable.  The far line judge that ran in had it right on the money 

[Dablitzkrieg]

On 1/27/2025 at 3:35 AM, Ray Stonada said:

Or, knowing KC like Belichick likes to see tendencies and shut them down:

 

Practice a tush push to the right, and practice a play where you fake it left and Josh rolls right with Gilliam on the RPO.   

It's frustrating because the tendency was set in week 2 after multiple successful plays.  But they were 20/21 going into the game.

Edited 5 hours ago by Dablitzkrieg

[Danger Mouse]

11 hours ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

Players switch arms with the ball depending where the sidelines are. Why would holding it the same way in the opposite arm be less secure? 

Just the intensity of the play I imagine. Like I say it’s a scrum. 
 

but it might not be that: it was just a guess. I suppose the real reason could be that Josh - one of the best qb runners in the nfl - just never thought of ‘going to the other side’. It would just never have occurred to him to do something that a ten year old child could think of. 

 

Anyway, it's water under the bridge now. Have a nice summer! 

Edited Tuesday at 10:03 AM by Danger Mouse

[Rochesterfan]

On 1/27/2025 at 3:19 AM, Special K said:

Even though the Tush Push worked all season long, I thought to myself during the regular season "Maybe the Bills should run it to the right once in a while just to keep Defenses honest.", but since it always worked, I didn't give that concept much thought after a while.

 

When it was blatantly obvious the Chiefs were ready for the push to the left, it should've been obvious to have a call to change it up and run it to the right. Its not like running it towards Torrence and Brown would be a bad idea anyway. This is something the Bills coaching staff should've been prepared for weeks ago, but they continued to run the same play over and over again despite the fact it was not working like it usually does.

 

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting a different result......that was some insane play calling right there.

 

Do you ever think maybe - just maybe - there is a reason they go left.  Like maybe the way Josh takes the snap.  It is significantly easier for Josh as a right handed QB to begin to move left as it keeps his primary hand in place to receive the snap.

 

I think they recognize that trying to go right takes a step longer giving more time for the defense to close the gap.

 

Left or Right to me isn’t the issue.  The issue is where are the plays off from it.  Where is the fake block and Knox in the endzone for a pass?

 

I think going right may work sometimes, but my guess is the success rate would be significantly worse than going left for our team.

 

I think the biggest difference overall is the few extra microseconds it takes on the road for the offensive line to move.  They were a quarter of a step late all night and I think that was the difference in the game.  The crowd doesn’t necessarily mean only false starts as an impact - it also leads to just a minor change in timing and for 2 very evenly matched teams - sometimes that is the difference.

 

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:51 AM by Rochesterfan

[Ralonzo]

On 1/27/2025 at 3:43 AM, Ray Stonada said:

Doesn't even take Bobby Fischer to think of trying a tush push to the right. 

 

But with limited practice time they probably never worked on it.

Nah. Bills just never bothered to develop a curve ball for the critical 4th and 1 situation, or didn’t call it. Compare with the 4th down tendency breaker blitz the Chiefs dialed up on 4th and 5. They threw the change-up, Bills struck out swinging.

[Thrivefourfive]

I think you’re not supposed to tush push this many times too. Yes, the Bills sucked at it. Just pathetic at it. But with all the BS short of the line to gain calls that ALWAYS go the offenses way in this offensively dominated league, we needed it more than we should have. 

[Buffalo Barbarian]

20 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Still got that fateful one they spotted short pretty easily imo.  I’ve been rewatching it all day because I’m a sick puppy 😂. Really wasn’t even debatable.  The far line judge that ran in had it right on the money 

 

he did, i have no idea how a guy who couldn't see the ball got to decide where the ball was spotted. Also they spotted Kincaid short to create the fourth down in the first place.

 

 

[pigpen65]

I think a hard count also would have helped with the defense timing a jump over the top, not to mention actually provided the first down without even running the play. 

[transient]

On 1/27/2025 at 3:38 AM, Kelly to Allen said:

It was the weirdest part of this game and a synopsis in the coaching difference between KC and buffalo....

 

We are good chess players

 

KC is Bobby Fischer 

Let's hope so... that would put them on schedule to refuse to defend their title and then disappear from the public eye while reports mount of erratic behavior behind the scenes.

[Comebackkid]

10 hours ago, Ralonzo said:

Nah. Bills just never bothered to develop a curve ball for the critical 4th and 1 situation, or didn’t call it. Compare with the 4th down tendency breaker blitz the Chiefs dialed up on 4th and 5. They threw the change-up, Bills struck out swinging.

its interesting that there is no curve ball in this offense...at any point in the game...maybe the closest they come is the 4x1 and they didnt 

even bring that out.

[I'mBuff]

On 1/27/2025 at 3:43 AM, Ray Stonada said:

Doesn't even take Bobby Fischer to think of trying a tush push to the right. 

 

But with limited practice time they probably never worked on it.

Limited practice time had zero to do with it. Coaching malfeasance had everything to do with it.

[beebe]

Nobody is enjoying the incessant griping about the officials more than Sean McDermott. The coaching staff has been given more of a free pass than they deserve. The Bills have been confident in the tush push play all season long. You can understand why. But it was not a guarantee. The Rams showed us that nearly two months ago. 

 

It was clear after the first few tush pushes that the Chiefs were defending it pretty well. Whatever you thought the success rate of the tush push should be prior to the game - Allen was 28 for 35 (80%) on the year when the Bills needed 1 yard or less - after the first two attempts, you would be foolish not to downgrade those chances. If you count the PAT attempt which was stuffed, the Bills were 2 for their first 5 attempts when using Allen as a runner and needing 1 yard or less.

 

The sixth attempt, Allen resorted to reaching the ball out to convert the 4th-and-1. The fact he did this at midfield rather than at the goal line, where you have some fumble protection the instant it crosses the plane, should have been yet another red flag that something was wrong here. But alas, the Bills improved to 3-for-6 when needing 1 yard with Allen.

 

Which set up the fateful 7th attempt, which was ruled short. The Bills went 3-for-7 (42.9%) when needing 1 yard. Whether he gained the necessary yardage or not, the closeness of the six prior attempts indicated that the 7th one could be very close. And when you have 20+ players crowded around a pile and a couple of geezer refs trying to spot the ball, there's an element of chance involved if it isn't crystal clear beyond words that you converted. It was not crystal clear. Replay reviewed it. The call was upheld. 

 

In other words, McDermott/Brady essentially left it for the officials to decide, when all the talk leading up to the game was that the Chiefs had the refs in their pocket. If you truly believe that, you probably don't call that play. Then again, if McDermott had challenged the prior play with Kincaid, there perhaps wouldn't even be a need for the 4th-and-1 play at all. (Unless you think Kincaid was clearly short or inconclusively short.) 

 

Instead, the Bills raced to the line of scrimmage to get off the fateful 4th-and-1 tush push. They snapped the ball 13 seconds after the Kincaid play ended. The decision was made and it was made quickly. The Kincaid play was nearest the Bills sideline, so they should have had a perfect look at it. They opted to play on instead.

 

Overconfidence in the tush push - in addition to not finding any creative ways to mix it up - crushed the Bills in this game.