DabillsDaBillsDaBills

Ouch buddy. When you're trying to twist the stats at least own up to it. When you say 5 plays or less* that would mean the 5 play Punt drive wouldn't count. Punt (3 plays) Punt (3 plays) TD (3 plays) FG (9 plays) Punt (3 plays) Punt (4 plays) Punt (5 plays) FG (14 plays) Punt (3 plays) *fewer

I find it more than a little ironic that you keep mentioning that 6 of 9 possessions were 5 plays or less. That includes the 3 play 69 yard TD drive that had the most important play of the game. In normal weather conditions holding a team to 240 yards and 14 points would be an exceptionally good game. In the exceptional weather conditions last night, with the opponent running on 95%+ of the plays, allowing 240 yards and 14 points (with 0 forced turnovers) is bad.

You're mixing the teams up The Bills were the team that recovered a ST turnover and scored on a short field The only Bills turnover was by the offense (Breida's fumble) that NE recovered at their own 31

I'm not saying it's some vast conspiracy. Incompetence is normally the answer, and there were definitely mistakes made here. Whether it was Bills coaches, the refs, ESPN, or the Bills players. If there was a serious injury the refs should've blown the play dead immediately If it was a minor injury the Bills players/coaches should've been smart enough to know the player had to limp off (or carried off by teammates) to avoid a 4th timeout and subsequent runoff after the play clock reset If there was an injury there's a mistake in either the boxscore or by the announcers. Unless both Dodson and Milano were both hurt at the same time

222 rushing yards sounds bad because it is bad. Teams lose 85%+ of the time when allowing that many rushing yards. In the last 3 extreme weather games in Buffalo (Ravens playoff game and Colts snow game) the 14 points that the Patriots offense scored is the most by any offense

46 carries for 222 yards 3 pass attempts In terms of offensive play calls this was one of the most lop-sided games in NFL history. They had 30+ straight running plays. I knew they were going to run the ball, my mom knew they were going to run the ball, all 70k+ people in the stadium knew they were going to run the ball, but apparently the Bills DEF and coaches were surprised by it. The Patriots having any sort of running success in that scenario should be an embarrassment to the defense and coaches.

It very much does matter. As long as an O-linemen engages with the defender within 1 yard of the LOS they are allowed to push them downfield as far as they want. I can't really tell from these computer generated dots if Williams engages the defender within 1 yard. NFL rulebook below (emphasis added): ECTION 3 - INELIGIBLE PLAYER DOWNFIELD ARTICLE 1. LEGAL AND ILLEGAL ACTS On a scrimmage play during which a legal forward pass is thrown, an ineligible offensive player, including a T-formation quarterback, is not permitted to move more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage before the pass has been thrown. Item 1. Legally Downfield. An ineligible player is not illegally downfield if, after initiating contact with an opponent within one yard of the line of scrimmage during his initial charge: (a) he moves more than one yard beyond the line while legally blocking or being blocked by an opponent (b) after breaking legal contact with an opponent more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage, he remains stationary until a forward pass is thrown (c) after losing legal contact with an opponent more than one yard beyond the line of scrimmage, he is forced behind the line of scrimmage by an opponent, at which time he is again subject to normal blocking restrictions for an ineligible offensive player. Note: If an ineligible offensive player moves beyond the line while legally blocking or being blocked by an opponent, an eligible offensive player may catch a pass between them and the line of scrimmage.

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.