The Red King

He makes a good #3 WR. As a #2 he is too hot and cold. The great plays he makes are great, the bad plays are costly. Where I don't like him is on the hands team. As I noted above, Davis has a 10% drop rate! That is not a guy you want on your hands team. I would think that would be even more obvious given the fact that he muffed that onside kick, and it would have been Detroit ball had not one of his teammates bailed him out and punched the ball out of bounds. His handling of that onside kick actually vindicates my view. A guy that drops one in ten passes dropped an onside kick. It's pattern recognition. Davis has strengths, but sure hands is not one of them. As I noted before, I am not one of the people clamoring for anyone to be fired. Have not said that, here or anywhere else on the board. I do, however, believe there are valid criticisms that can be leveled against the coaching staff. Deciding to put a guy with a 10% drop rate on the hands-team was a mistake by McD that nearly cost us. I disagree with the people calling to fire this staff, but I also disagree with people here that are acting like McD is one of the greatest coaches in the NFL.

Just checked. Gabe has been targeted 60 times this season, and has 6 drops, so that is a 10% drop rate. Yeah, that's the kind of guy you want on the hands team, right? 🙄

A ball? I'm not saying Davis shouldn't be on the field because he dropped A ball. He has dropped a lot, several in key situations (re: end of Jets and Vikings games). Josh slipped at the end of the Titans game last year. Doesn't mean he shouldn't sneak, because it was an isolated incident. Davis having greased hands is not an isolated incident. It's happened too many times, many in key situations. A guy that does not have good hands should not be on the hands team. Should a guy that repeatedly fumbles be given the ball on 4th and 1? Because it sounds like you'd approve of that, too.

You really answer like a politician, don't you. Asked you a yes or no question. You give a three-sentence answer, where neither the word "yes" or the word "no" appear even once. The fact that you ducked my question twice is an answer in and of itself. You know I'm right, otherwise you would have actually answered the question.

Davis had the ball hit him. He didn't catch it. The ball was free. So...that did happen. It was a (coaching) mistake to put him out there. You also ducked the question. Let me make it easier. Do you think McD made a mistake putting a guy that regularly drops the ball out on his hands-team. Yes or no. You even get the benefit of hindsight on this one.

We are 2-2 our last four games. In those games our point differential is just +4. Josh has thrown an alarming number of red-zone ints. At the moment the wheels are coming off the bus. It falls on the coaching staff to right the ship. If we were 8-3 while looking good with an odd loss here or there people wouldn't be as worried. This is now the fourth straight game they have not looked right. Case in point, look how Pitt. started two years ago (11-0 I think?). Then the team fell into a slump at the end of the season and got crushed by the Browns for a one-and-done in the playoffs.

Gotcha, thank you. Wouldn't have been as bad, but still a bad choice by McD.

I thought they could if it hit a member of the recieving team first. Regardless, putting Davis on the hands team was a clear mistake. I'm not saying the coaching staff is terrible and should be fired. Just saying there are some points of real concern at this point.

You are completely, 100% fine with the decision to put Davis on the hands team when it almost cost us the game?

Another specific? McD putting Davis, a reciever with an alarming number of drops, on our "hands team". Almost cost us the game. Were it not for the heroics of a teammate punching the ball OOB at the last moment, Detroit would not only have recovered, they would have scored a TD as he had nothing but daylight ahead of him. I'm not going doom and gloom, but this coaching staff should be raising concerns right now.

I'll bite. This team no longer makes halftime adjustments at all, continuing to get torched by the same thing. Defense is particularly bad for this. Detroit shredded our bend but don't break D, and we changed nothing. Offensively, Dorsey has been figured out, yet he refuses to adapt. Be honest, how many offensive plays were you able to predict Thursday? "Here comes a run." If the screen keeps failing miserably, stop calling it! The coaching is doing just enough to win, but a lot of it is our roster simply being just that good, even with injuries.

The point made is that Detroit made it deep into Buffalo territory and settled for a tying FG. Had we made the extra point, Detroit would have needed 4 instead of 3. They would not have kicked a FG there, and gone for it instead. Detroit had already attempted and made several 4th down conversions. If they succeeded they'd have a new set of downs, a decent amount of time and their time-outs. There was a very good chance Detroit would have gotten the TD, and not given Buffalo enough time to get the TD they'd need. THAT is the point the OP was making.

I didn't realize it at the time, but it occured to me later. I even mentioned it to my kids. Yes, by default you'd want the 4-point lead each time. Make them work more. They got close though, and elected to kick a field goal. Had they needed a TD they would have gone for it instead. I have no confidence we would have stopped them, given we already blew multiple 4th down stops. There was a very real risk the Lions would have killed more time and punched in the TD, which now would have forced us to drive all the way down for a TD with even less time. I believe that missed XP very, very likely saved our bacon this game.

Thank you. This is exactly what I was trying to say in my OP, except you said it more elegantly then I did. No. But what good does bringing it up do? It's done. It's over. There is absolutely nothing constructive in bringing it up every single time the Bills suffer a setback.

I do, actually. And I at least contribued as much, if not more, then any comments of "Last year was our year."

Before anything else, yes, Buffalo blew a phenominal chance to win the Super Bowl last season. It cut deep. With that being said, I'm getting real sick of hearing about it, especially on every thread where anything bad happens. "Allen got indigestion from supper.", "Last year was our year." We get it. Last season hurt. And it stings seeing such a promising season floundering. But replies that simply comment "Last year was our year." don't contribute anything. It's no more useful then people who comment "First!" on videos. We got it. You're bitter about how last season ended. We are too, but this is a new season. Move on.

They gave their all against us and were worn down after. In another division, maybe, but the Vikes are too good and have too much of a lead in theirs to be caught.

It's possible to win and still see things to be truly concerned about.

Wow. Gabe almost cost us there. >.<

He was out. No booth review?

Josh still seems off, but it's all at least looking better.

Why don't our defenders turn their heads?

No replay on the OPI?

Running Cook is working? Madness.

Wow weak a** call. I swear these refs were told to keep the game close.