DabillsDaBillsDaBills

That's the whole point though. We don't know when (or even if) Dodson went down. We don't even know if it was Dodson or Milano. If Dodson went down with an injury around 1:20 then the refs did everything correctly. I find it potentially fishy for these reasons: 1) Refs blew their whistles for an injury 30 seconds after the play 2) No replay was ever shown 3) Boxscore says the injury was to Dodson. Announcers said it was Milano As far as McDermott yelling at the refs, I'm not entirely confident he would understand the 4th timeout and time implications in the heat of the moment. Even if something untoward did happen it's probably a moot point. The Bills would've needed to score a TD in the final ~25 seconds going into the wind

I will agree that Josh has played hero ball, at times, this year. I also agree that it has put us in bad positions and potentially cost us games. The 4th down play last night, in a vacuum, is about the farthest thing you can get from hero ball. It was 4th and 14 from the 18 yard line and the Patriots brought an all out blitz. Targeting the end zone vs going for a 1st down would have about the same chance of success (pretty slim). Beasley was not wide open when Allen was forced into making a decision on where to throw the ball.

The whole sequence in the last 2 minutes was bizarre. ESPN had a lengthy commercial break for the 2 minute warning and when we got back to the game a Patriots player was suddenly "hurt". They cut to commercial again and then we had our 4th down play. I think OP is complaining about the sequence that I have bolded below: 1st & 10 at NE 19 (1:55 - 4th) One-yard difference on change of possession. R.Stevenson right tackle to NE 21 for 2 yards (H.Phillips). (0:21 - 4th) Timeout #3 by BUF at 01:50. 2nd & 8 at NE 21 (1:50 - 4th) R.Stevenson up the middle to NE 23 for 2 yards (E.Ankou). BUF-T.Dodson was injured during the play. (1:18 - 4th) Timeout #4 by BUF at 01:23. Extra timeout granted due to injury inside 2:00. (0:44 - 4th) Timeout #2 by NE at 00:44. 3rd & 6 at NE 23 (0:43 - 4th) M.Jones kneels to NE 19 for -4 yards. 4th & 10 at NE 19 (0:01 - 4th) (Run formation) PENALTY on NE, Delay of Game, 5 yards, enforced at NE 19 - No Play. 4th & 15 at NE 14 (0:00 - 4th) M.Jones kneels to NE 10 for -4 yards. The broadcast never showed a Bills player down with an injury after the 2nd down play. They refs let 30 seconds run off the clock before blowing their whistles, at which point there was a lengthy discussion and they said that play was stopped due to a Bills injury and there would be a 4th TO charged to the Bills. The announcers said that Milano was injured (but again, never showed a replay). Boxscore says that Dodson was injured. My big question is why did they let 30 seconds run after the 2nd down play before blowing whistles for a (phantom?) injury?

Posters throw the term "hero ball" around way too much on these boards. That 4th down play was the opposite of hero ball. "Hero ball" would have been Allen trying to dodge the unblocked blitzer on his own, scrambling around, and then heaving up a prayer or trying to run for it on his own. In the face of an all out blitz Allen stood his ground in the pocket and threw it a fraction of a second before being sacked. He made a mistake in who he threw it too (or maybe the wind took it), but that's not hero ball at all.

If not now, then when? Having a top 5 QB on a rookie contract is a gigantic advantage for constructing a roster. If Beane can't build a superbowl contending roster while Josh has a 10mm cap hit - what makes you think he'll be able to build one in the future when Josh has a 40mm cap hit?

Anyone that's watched the NFL should know that refs only overturn yardage spots if there is concrete evidence to do so. In a replay where you literally can't see Mac Jones or the ball there's a 0% chance that it would be overturned. Completely wasted timeout that loomed large by the end of the game.

I think there's plenty of blame to go around. Trying to decide if the offense or defense deserves more blame is rather like picking between a giant douche and a turd sandwich. Sure, the defense gave up "only" 14 points, but in those weather conditions that's a lot. Comparable games would be Ravens playoff game and the Colts snow game. 14 points is the most scored by any offense in those 3 games.

The comments aren't as bad as others are making them out to be. More than a little ironic that the guy McDermott trusts to return kick offs had an unforced lost fumble on offense, and also muffed a kickoff (which thankfully went out the endzone and didn't cost us). Side note - it's pretty bogus that Breida's fumble gets credited to Josh. Looked like a routine handoff to me

One of these guys is a depth LB getting paid league minimum. The other is a team "leader" that is going to be paid 12+million next season. It seemed like every big running play featured Edmunds hitting the wrong gap, or getting dominated by a 1 on 1 block

You forgot Brian Moorman !

I disagree. Allen's hard counts routinely fool his own O-linemen

Allen's first INT was returned to the Colts 43 yard line. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the DEF to force a punt there (or at least hold them to a FG). The McKenzie fumble recovered at the 2 is a different story of course.

Superbowl winning teams can and do lose blowout losses at home. The SB champion Bucs lost 38-3 to the Saints at home in week 9 last year. One god awful game from the Bills doesn't invalidate the rest of the season. We're still one of the most talented teams in the NFL and if we play to our potential we should beat any team.

I'm actually a bit curious how the SEC allows this. What they are offering are not "shares" in any sense of the word.

This is fascinating to me. I thought Allen would've had significantly better stats in 2020 than in 2021. With league average QB play last year we probably finish 8-8 or so. With league average QB play in 2021 we'd probably be 5-3, if not 6-2 so far. I guess that speaks more to the DEF than to Josh Allen, but it is interesting.

The fumble was on 3rd down. Not to mention it would've been a 55 yarder 3rd & 2 at JAX 37 (5:41 - 4th) (Shotgun) J.Allen right end to JAX 38 for -1 yards (D.Smoot). FUMBLES (D.Smoot), RECOVERED by JAX-J.Allen at JAX 37. You may be confusing it with this play where Ike had a false start: 4th & 2 at JAX 43 (10:04 - 4th) (Shotgun) PENALTY on BUF-I.Boettger, False Start, 5 yards, enforced at JAX 43 - No Play. I doubt there's a single coach in the NFL that would have attempted a 61 yard FG instead of going for the 4th down there (and it's a moot point after the false start penalty). I think the sack in question is this play: 3rd & 7 at JAX 39 (1:17 - 4th) (Shotgun) J.Allen sacked at JAX 48 for -9 yards (D.Smoot). That would've been a 57 yard FG attempt had we run the ball for no gain and with the way we were failing at running the ball (for the entire game and season) can you really fault the play call there?

I can agree that the Giants in XXV and the Jags yesterday both sold out to stop the pass. The gigantic difference is that Thurman was eating the Giants alive, whereas Singletary & Moss were utterly ineffective. Thurman Thomas in XXV 15 carries 135 yards 1 TD Moss & Singletary combined stats yesterday 9 carries 22 yards "riverboat gambling" would be trying to run the ball and settling for 65+ yard FGs. It's not like we went out there and called some stupid trick play that generated a huge loss to knock us out of FG range. We ran routine plays that ultimately did not work. Complaining about it is 100% hindsight

Couldn't disagree more. There was exactly one drive that ended in FG range with no points (Josh's first INT). Is your suggestion that McD should've known Josh was going to throw an INT there and we should've run the ball for no gain? Or are you talking about the 4th and 2 from JAX 43 yard line? Every coach in the league is going to go for the 4th down instead of attempting a 60 yard FG. After the false start penalty it turns into a 65 yard FG vs a punt. Final drive was 4th and 16 from the JAX 48. 65 yard FG vs a very long 4th down are both bad options, but I think going for it is the right choice.

How about this gem towards the end of the first half right after the Jags fumble ? 1st & 10 at BUF 20 (1:24 - 2nd) (Shotgun) J.Allen up the middle to BUF 21 for 1 yard (J.Allen).

Bills 31 Jags 10 Really don't see this one being close. Our DEF will eat Lawrence alive

The only Steelers game I've seen this year was when we played them in week 1 and I thought Ingram was dominating that game. Surprised he only went for a 6th, but maybe that was his best game of the year ?

Despite the stats I don't trust our DEF to play well against good offenses, or to step up and win a game in the clutch. If a 1 score game is coming down to the final possession I would want to see Josh and the offense out there 10 out of 10 times instead of relying on the DEF for a stop. The DEF is certainly good enough to win a SuperBowl, although not good enough to carry the team to a Superbowl (like the Ravens or Bears).

The decisions were made according to The Process™. As much as we love Beane his O-line decisions have left a lot to be desired. He traded Teller (and a 7th) for a 5th and 6th. He released Spain 6 weeks into a 3 year deal and returned negative value with the dead cap hit. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/positional/offensive-line/ We have one of the pricier O-lines in the league this season, and our O-line is one of the worst in the league. We have to be dead last in terms of money spent vs quality of play.

Sure, and there was the comeback game. But neither of those games required scoring 16 points with 1 minute left in the 4th Q with 0 timeouts. It's pretty telling to me that the Dolphins didn't even try to score after we failed the 2 pt conversion.

The TD was on a 3rd and 6 from the 7 yard line with over a minute left. I don't see how anyone could complain about that. However, going for 2 was completely unnecessary. The Dolphins had no chance of winning. We can talk about hypotheticals and point out that teams have scored 2 TDs in <1 minute before, but how many times has a team overcome a 16 point deficit with 1 minute left in the 4th Quarter (and no timeouts)? Has it ever happened in NFL history? The Dolphins didn't even try to drive down the field to score after we failed the conversion.