Bermuda Triangle

And even in losing, the NE D limited one of the hottest offenses in the league to 14 and Philly held Wilson, Lockett, Metcalf, etc. to 17 points.

IMO, what McDermott says runs counter to how he coaches. Nothing about the strategy at the end of the first half would lead one to believe that the goal was to get to 21 points. His comments to Allen earlier in the year, to "play fearlessly"? Did it seem like Allen had carte blanche to play fearlessly against NE, Pitt or Houston?

Great post. One of the best that I've read in my time lurking and posting here.

no team scored more than 20 in regulation, yet our vaunted defense gave up 19 points in the last 21:00 of regulation time.

Didn't see a replay of the penalty. For all we know, he was penalized for patting a teammate on the helmet, like in the New England game a few years ago.

Could have just as easily been OPI on Hopkins. Also, per the rule book, the call on Ford was incorrect,

I mentioned the conspicuous absence of post-snap penalties against Houston yesterday in the post-game thread. Amazing that Houston didn't commit a single post-snap infraction in nearly 75:00 of game time. I would have loved to have seen a replay of the Hughes PF as well. Garbage officiating yesterday, which is par for the course for the NFL,

what negative impact did the lateral have? Perhaps McDermott should be more upset with the defenders who missed tackles today, or maybe he should be questioning why Gore got 8 carries, and Singletary 13.

Mike Pereira said that it was a bogus call.

It actually served to stop the clock.

there were :20 seconds left before the 2nd down play, and ;15 left before the 3rd down play. Throwing inbounds and spiking the ball on the 2nd down play would have been cutting it close. Hauschka made the FG regardless, so I'm not sure what the issue is with this sequence.

With no timeouts left, those passes either had to be OOB our in the end zone. Hauschka made the FG regardless, so I'm not sure what sort of negative impact those two plays had. Would love to hear McDermott's explanation for the sequence at the end of the first half - TO, followed by Gore run (?), followed by spike. Mind boggling.

the officiating in this league is such a joke.

Yep, he mistimed his jump, TJ Graham-style.

I guess trying to do too much is better than curling up into a shell.

Funny thing is, when reading threads like this, one has a pretty good idea of who is going to say what.

The OL was pretty bad in the second half.

Random thoughts: 1. The staff needs to stop being so damn conservative - on both sides of the ball. They spent the #7 overall pick on Allen....let the kid play. IMO, he was in a pretty good rhythm until the play calls got conservative. Too many sets with Dimarco and Lee Smith. You can't beat good, playoff caliber teams, when handcuffing your offense and relying on your defense to win games. I hoped that maybe McDermott learned something from the NE game a couple of weeks ago, but I guess not. 2. We do need a WR1. Look, I like Smoke, but he's best suited to be a WR2, and Beasley a WR3. Smoke seemed to lose sight of his bearings on the field at least twice - once on the last possession of regulation, and once when he didn't try to drag his feet on a deep out near the goal line. 3. The D - just a personal preference, but I don't like the "bend but don't break" style of defense, and the poor tackling is maddening. I'm not going to blame any unit for the loss, but if you want to be considered elite, you have to show up for the whole game... 4. Speaking of tackling, man, does Poyer simply not like hitting guys or tackling? It was embarrassing seeing him get carried 5 yards by a QB. For a staff that preaches fundamentals, I can't believe that the tackling has been poor all year long 5. The refs - brutal, Just brutal. I can't remember the last time that a team wasn't called for even ONE 'live action' (i.e an infraction committed after the snap) penalty in an entire game (70+ minutes, in this case). The "blindside block", non-Delay of Game, curious on-field reversal of the TD on the 2nd half kickoff. Embarrassing. 6. speaking of embarrassing, the Tessitore/Booger crew. So sick of hearing about Watt, Watson and Hopkins. 7. Allen scrambled and threw a long ball to Dimarco. On the replay, it looked like the ball was actually there, but Dimarco badly mistimed his jump - shades of TJ Graham 8. Disappointed in Allen's 2nd half. He reverted to some poor habits, and his decision making was questionable at best. 9. Thought Duke played well in general, but he came up empty on two 50/50 balls, one of which was a great throw by Allen in the EZ 10. I should be used to this, as a Bills fan, but this one....it really hurt. 11. ETA: if Knox blocks someone on Allen's sweep on 1st down on our last set of downs in OT, we win. We didn't do the little (or some of the big) things well today.

The rule is "forcible contact" - it was a half-hearted block by Ford. Weak call.

These refs in the black jackets - are they instructed or authorized to run onto the field and put in their .02 whenever they see fit? I can't say that I've ever seen that happen before. And the ref in the EZ danced away from the ball after the returner tossed it in his direction.

If Roberts is inactive, then Hyde will be the PR, right? He's really sure-handed.

https://twitter.com/TrainwreckSprts/status/1213525138865557504?s=20

Yeah, I doubt that I'll be getting much sleep tonight. Watched "Playoff Caliber" tonight, for the umpteenth time.....every time I watch it, without fail, I get choked up. It's such a well done video. So many awesome moments: 1. The reaction of Tre, Poyer and Hyde when KW scored, and KW then getting mobbed on the sideline 2. KW's pre-game speeches 3. The fan reactions to the end of the Cincinnati/Baltimore game - I'm sure so many of us had similar reactions 4. The locker room reaction - seeing KW have that moment with his boys was incredible 5. Prior Aviation reactions 6. McDermott - dude just GETS IT. He's a true leader of men, It's clear to me that the bond between the Bills, WNY and Bills fans is truly unique. Like KW said "WE LIVE IN THE HIGH WATER". LET'S GO BILLS!!!

Fixed.