HardyBoy

Lol, let's be careful throwing the word dumb around so freely (I kid and it's early out your way ). It's not a 3 possession game, 19 points would have made it 3 possessions and that is the entire point of this thread. The strategy at 16-0 had to be to get it to 3 possessions first and foremost, even if that meant running a draw on 3rd and 5 from the 35 as a hypothetical.

How is trying to extend the lead to three scores just sitting on the lead? That was their regular d...that's the point, someone said earlier it was a standard cover 4 defense, not prevent. From what I've gathered Edmunds dropped too far back, which was a mistake by a player, and a mistake in the playcall. The receiver catching the ball 10 yards from the first with the entire defense ready to swarm is exactly what you want...Edmunds got too far away to swarm, he didn't cover his responsibility from the sound of it...he'll learn.

So that's not conservative play calling then (not saying you are saying they went conservative). Again, I would argue that it was worth being aggressive to get a field goal asap out of halftime. Now that for sure could mean run, protect the ball and play field position, and that's what they really were doing until the sack by Watt caused the wheels to fall off. I do think a field goal (three scores really, in the least risky way) is worth taking some risks that you extend the game some (passing instead of running like you mentioned), because up three scores is really tough to see them coming back from there. That said, my understanding of football strategy is that of a casual fan, so I could be wrong on the best way to get there, but making it a three score game was insanely important. Houston not only stopped it from happening, but they kept it a one score game with the 2pt converstion...that sack by Watt was huge. I'm arguing Dabol actually called a conservative pass with a half field read the throw it away, but Allen did hero ball (only way to explain Ford on Watt island)

Yes, I'm not talking about football in general or coaching philosophy overall. At the start of the second half up 16-0, going up by 3 scores is going for the throat. Doesn't matter if it's a fg or a touchdown there. Whatever is the most likely way to go up by three scores in that situation is the best strategy. Also, the Falcons were only up 28-3, so not by 30...going for "the throat" cost them a Super Bowl without question.

Exactly why we need to wait for the All 22...Allen literary lost his mind yesterday I think...it happens when you are in super stressful situations. Not a knock, it's why people go through crazy training for war (not in any way comparing war and a football game except both are stressful...obviously one is literally life and death and the other isn't at all, but brains have a hard time telling sometime). It happened to LeBron in the finals...dude wouldn't post up a guard who would have scored on every single possession in crunch time. He might have checked into runs on all those Gore runs for all we know. Singletary was struggling in pass pro, makes sense they would put Gore in to protect

This was never supposed to be the year, this team is still rebuilding. The offense is light years better than last season. This team is not ultra conservative on defense, and have gotten a lot more aggressive each year as they got better talent. With an extra year to largely finish the rebuild on offense, I am guessing the offensive aggressiveness ramps up to match the defense aggression.

Fair, and line I said I largely agree on the larger strategy of going for as many points as possible while things are working, but we need to see what their strategy looks like with an upgraded o-line and an additional wr before we are firing people (hopefully the oline is just an offseason for Ford). I would say that we really need to wait to see what the A22 shows as well. We're judging everything on outcome at the moment and not on what the playcall actually was and if they made sense given the formations and looks. Allen might have checked into wrong things too. Now I will absolutely give you they should have been going no huddle and calling plays at the line more, no idea why that happened so rarely. Also, they ran way, way more two TE than they had been. 11 personnel with Duke run blocking seemed like a dream match up given their CB depth, but maybe Watt and their dline caused that. Again, we really need the all 22 before we start firing people. Absolutely Ford got left on an island on the Watt sack, but if it was supposed to be a quick hitter to the left side, throw it away if the first or maaaaybe second read wasn't open (half field read) and Allen went off script and tried to look for his third read and got sacked then that's a good island to put Ford on, because he held up well long enough for that playcall. Going for 19 points there, whatever way they thought was best to get it, even if it meant playing field position for 3 drives to get a fg is the absolute key the moment they went into half 16-0. Everything before doesn't matter coming out of half...that said, neither does the Bills d holding them to 91 yards necessarily and the Texans are a known second half team (Hopkins half stat splits are wild).

Sure I understand the overall sentiment and the larger strategy and coaching philosophy debate, which I tend to agree that you need to go for as many points as quickly as possible while things are working, and letting your foot off the gas gives the other team a chance to get back in it. I'm talking specifically being up 16-0 starting the second half, you play for a field goal first to get it to a three score game. If you have the ball 4th and inches on their 13 yard line in that situation you basically have to kick I think as painful as that would be. Being up by 17+ points in the second half is absolutely huge and forces the other team to have to pass basically every down. 19 points where it would require 3 tds to lose is absolutely gigantically huge (assuming you can stop one of two 2pt conversions, which well...)

Ugh...so he didn't run away, that happened in his first year with Miami...it was the first of crazy long streak of straight finals appearances where he won a bunch of championships, but choked away the first one...a lot of those years he completely carried the team and with the Cavs he beat arguably the best team in the history of the league in a best of 7 series to win a championship.

Yup, huge play. Seriously, at 16-0 the strategy is to get it to 19-0 first. Bad strategy would be going for a td and taking a sack and getting out of fg range...now, I think on that Watt sack that sparked the comeback, they were trying an out and up double move with Duke, which is why Allen turned right into the sack, but need to A22 for that. In my opinion that should have been a draw or a quick hitter to get in better fg range, and I think they went for a td...which is why this they went all conservative narrative is a bit annoying, or at the very least premature.

Kelly in 91 or Kelly in 87? I think that's probably ok...I mean I'm not a football coach or player, so maybe someone could weigh in, but I would think you keep everything in front of you and swarm to get the tackle. I really think the play worked exactly as designed.

The goal there is 3 scores...doesn't matter if it's a td of a fg...3 scores and it's basically game over.

They were in prevent from what I could tell, and it worked perfectly until he was able to run for a first...he caught the ball in the middle of the field 10 yards or so from a first down with the entire defense ready to swarm and tackle him short by 5 yards...they were too far away though...why is the question, I'm thinking that was on players and not coaches...again, the ball went to the exact spot you would want in that situation to force a 4th down.

For sure on the 3rd and 18, but we need to wait for the All-22 before we can say too much there...could have been a blown coverage or a great play call against the defense that opened the middle if the field up. The issue is he wasn't contacted 5 yards sooner, not that they were in a shell.

The only goal there is to get up by three scores, period, end of story. They were in perfect position to do that before the Watt sack and Allen got rattled after that, which happens and impacted everything that came after it...and they still almost won. Put away the pitchforks. That was the biggest game of Josh Allen's life he'll learn from this. Shoot it took Lebron James getting posted up by JJ Barea and the Mavs to learn the lessons that allowed him to mentally excel in that level of stress and expectation.

Tre did a very similar thing after a game sealing int earlier this year and they said he gave himself up. That in no way should be a touchdown, it would have been garbage.

I think it's very important to not forget the number of high wind games the bills played in this year. I know this cuts both ways, but the defense is really good and is pretty consistent in not giving up points in great conditions. I think if the Bills had started the season with the turnover rate they ended the season with, the pf number is a lot higher (the pa number would be lower too, because they set teams up in scoring position when they turned it over). I feel like arguing this point: the Bills offense got significantly better over the course of the season, based largely, but not only, on the turnover numbers, but the insane winds hid that improvement. The other games that weren't windy were against the Pats and Steelers (top 5 defenses).

Yes, but his entire knee turned as well and it looked like his foot was planted enough where his knee twisted.

I'll potentially give you screens, but Josh Allen is amazing at play action.

Wow, could have sworn it was a twisted knee...great news!

Sophie's Choice!...picture this: a human hanging by their fingers on the edge of a cliff, next to them the bills emblem. Your choice, but you can only save one of them. You let the human go, you are directly responsible for the death of a human, you save human, the Bills move to a different city and change the team name...think Burbank Showcase Showdowns What do you choose??

Yes, bringing up fictional characters, it's more fun that way...you're right though on the wrong sport, should have brought up Bobby Bouche... Probably not heart rate monitors, but they do have accelerometers on (or the stadiums are set up to track that stuff). Based on baseline data I'm sure they are collecting in practice with what a player's heart rate gets to when running so fast for so long, they should be able to fairly confidently judge heart rates in game without a heart rate checker. As far as being serious...yeah mostly. I'm just trying to take down the straw man of practice or even just walking down the street is risky, so therefore games are no more risky. It's like saying an F1 racer has as much chance of dying on the way to the race going 65 mph on a highway as dying going 200+ in a racecar. Perhaps my approach isn't as nuanced as it typically is (or maybe I think it is, lol), but cut me a bit of slack, I just had my second son a week ago, and I'm tired!!

Oh I'm 100% for keeping them out of the game and if staying game fit is even something playing into the decision having the players hit their game fit thresholds in warm-up or a simulated game before the game. There just aren't the roster spots to do that. Even where you have a backup, they're not game fit to play 40 snaps when they usually play 6. You can't ask Perry to carry 20 times, he very much most likely does not have the game fitness and will pull a hamstring or something.

Yes, you're making up a different argument that is easier to win and arguing that instead of the one we are having, but acting like it proves your point. The chance of an injury in practice for JA with a red non-contact jersey are not the same as in a game. I have no doubt that boxing league Rocky was fighting in at the start of the movie had boxers fighting weekly btw. I love the passion you are brining to this discussion, and I really do think you are approaching this genuinely (would be an awesome troll job though!), but yes logical fallacy:

Now I will say this. They have a sports science dept and detailed stats on each player in terms of their acceleration, top speed, cut abgle, etc with all sorts of variables baked in. They know how much rest will cause certain players and positions will cause them to get out of game fitness/shape. My guess, there will be certain players that the moment they hit a certain heart rate or some other measure they will get pulled. My guess is also for many players those benchmarks could get hit in pregame warm-ups.