Einstein

I don’t agree with this. Sean is a good leader, a good man, and a quality coach in many facets. He has end of game issues, but EVERY coach will come with some issue they struggle with. I genuinely don’t think we could find anyone better. I don’t even think we can find anyone that’s even equal to him.

McDermott, about 10 mins ago at the press conference: “I wish I had that back”.

Im genuinely curious what some fans wanted Allen to do. Escape an untouched rusher, roll to his right, and then throw to an absolutely blanketed receiver? What was he supposed to do!?

This is an insane take in my opinion. There is not a QB in the NFL who throws into tighter windows and makes covered guys open more than Josh Allen. What… the… literal… bleep. I can not begin to understand the mental leaps one must make to think that the QB running for his life the entirety of the game and watching as his receivers dropped 5 passes, as well as a TD pass, was the problem.

I respect this view viewpoint. To make the view even more micro, the game was lost when the line could not contain Houston’s pass rush. Allen was bailing to his right repeatedly due to non-stop pressure… which is why that final drive failed.

You’re right - they likely would have gotten a kick off. But all else being equal, It would have been a longer kick. And every yard you add to kick, reduces the probability of making it. And there’s also a chance time runs out during the spike play - heck, it was getting dangerously close to running out with Watson buying time on the second to last play even with a timeout. You need a *minimum* of 12 seconds to run a play and spike the ball. That doesn’t mean it can’t take, 13, 14, 15 seconds. 12 seconds is minimum. Especially when the defense knows you can’t throw deep and puts 10 defenders within 5-8 yards. The absolute best chance of stacking your odds to win the game (outside of a first down), is to take away their timeouts. That drastically limits their playbook. Sure, you want a first down. But we don’t live in a world where we always get what we want. That is why you must have backup plans. You have to understand every chess move before it happens. That is what made Belichick so damn deadly. Outside of having the GOAT Qb, he simply knew every move before it happened. It was special to watch, if not nauseating as well. In an interview about the Super Bowl where they beat the Seahawks, he mentioned that a lot of coaches would have called timeout inbetween the play before Wilson threw the game sealing INT. And he thought about it. But he had such a great sense for the game that he looked over to the other sideline and could tell that they were in disarray. Position groups were having trouble figuring out who was going in and out, coaches were scrambling, etc. So he decided not to bail them out with a timeout, which would have given them extra time to think and perhaps run the ball. The next play, they intercept Wilson. He just had a great sense for the game and he knew every chess move. Coaches need to understand the game further than just “dur, need first down, dur”. This isn’t caveman football. If you don’t get that first down, you need a contingency. The best contingency is removing their timeouts. Sure, they might still get a kick. But that kick is significantly harder without timeouts. Heck, the whole situation is significantly harder without timeouts. Not only are they further back, but their playbook is also limited due to no timeouts. The Bills committed 2 safeties deep on that second to last play because McD knew that with Houston having timeouts, the entire field was fair game. With no timeouts, the Bills could have squatted 10 guys within 5-8 yards of the LOS and it would have been next to impossible for them to gain more than a yard or two before spiking the ball. I think more than likely, Watson throws the ball away with so many defenders squatting. He wouldn’t take the turnover risk. So yes, the kick may have happened. But the kick would have absolutely been longer - there is practically no way for it not to have been. It was a failure of thinking. And thankfully McD seems to agree, which means he learned from it. That’s all you can ask for.

Cant speak for others, but I can say this is NOT true for me. I was screaming at my TV to hand the ball off before they took a single snap. Why? Its logic and game theory. Around the NFL, broadcasters were live-criticizing the decision to throw *as it happened*. Not in retrospect. As it was occurring. This is not a hindsight-is-20/20 situation. The football world was lamenting these horrible decisions while the crash was happening.

Scheming people open appears to have left with Daboll. Sometimes I daydream of that 2020 season where we seemingly had open WR’s running everywhere. I loved that season.

Hamlin is a special type of awful. No one can convince me that there is a worse starting safety in the NFL right now.

I don’t care if it wouldn’t have been successful, you challenge that catch. We were reeling. We needed to take a chance on getting that overturned. Worst case scenario we lose a timeout that we never used.

We ars wasting a year of a hall-of-fame QB’s career. That is disgusting.

Agreed and I plan to watch it later to hear more. I’m just reading what the Bills reporters are saying. Its mind boggling to me, personally.

They already asked him. He admitted it wasn’t smart.

Yes. Giving up a 65 yard kick to maybe hopefully get closer…but also maybe don’t get any chance. Thats risk. I don’t think most coaches do that.

That would have been extremely risky on Houston’s part (to run a play and spike). And it would have to be a 10 yard play (to make all else equal). That would take some balls. I’m not sure they try that.

Circus catch? Come on… I get it - you’re one of the posters who thinks players shouldn’t be expected to catch a pass unless it drills them between the numbers of their jersey. I am the complete opposite. This is the NFL. If a ball hits your hands, you catch it. Period. No if’s, ands, or butts. There are players all over the league making *actual* circus catches. The fact that our fans consider a routine over the shoulder pass that hits the receiver in both, a “circus catch” is laughable. And pathetic. Just catch the damn ball!

No, I don’t think so. Im also in the minority that thinks Josh played fine today. Yes, his stats will show a poor performance, but that is without context. 1) He was pressured on nearly 80% of his drop backs in the first half. That is absurd. It’s mind boggling. It’s insane. 2) We had 4 receiver drops in the first half, including a dropped TD. 3) None of his receiving options were getting separation. 4) Brady was awful. Enough with the WR screens. It’s our only hot route and teams have figured it out. Any QB is going to start to press when his line is a sieve, his receivers aren’t catching, no-one is getting separation, and his coach sers him up for failure. Allen didn’t fail the team today - the team failed him. And that’s not the same thing as saying he didn’t play below average. What it means is that he played below average due to circumstances beyond his shoulder pads.

This is true. They would have had 1 play and a kick regardless. But with these caveats: 1) That one play would have been without a timeout, meaning that they wouldn’t have been able to use the middle of the field. No team is risking a spike with 11 seconds left. The game clock could easily run out. They would have had to play the sideline game, which NFL defenses defend in that situation. 2) That one play would have been from 5 or so yards deeper, meaning they would have had to gain 10 or so yards to kick the same length field goal. Yeah… The whole team knows it was the wrong decision. McD knows too. The only folks who don’t know are a few posters on this forum that are holding on to a bad decision.

The point of the sneak isn’t to remove time. Thats irrelevant. It’s to give you breathing room to run plays without being in your endzone. And it burns a defensive timeout. McDermott knows he screwed up. He’ll learn from it.

Oh I agree with you. Sucky situation all around.

Typically you QB sneak on first down. That gets you a yard or two, which gives you breathing room.

This is a legitimate alternative to run 3 times. Run twice, burn two timeouts, then let Josh either pass to an open guy, or scramble for the first. Passing all 3 times removes any chance of a 3rd down scramble because of the angle of pressure in the endzone. If its 3rd and 5 or 6 though? Different story.

It’s also hard to stop him from blocking when the line is a sieve.