vegas55 Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 It goes without saying that the players on the field have to produce and make plays in crunch time. But the play calling in critical situations has hurt this team. Specifically the play calls when Bills have the lead late in the game. In the first place, if you exclude the situations where the Bills are way behind and/or running a 2 minute drill at end of half, the Bills are running the ball on first down between 70 - 80 percent of the time. So when they take a 31-24 lead over Atlanta in the 4th quarter it's no surprise to anyone, especially Atlanta, exactly what the Bills were going to do when they got the ball. Bills had two offensive possessions after taking that 31-24 4th quarter lead, and went three and out both times. Each possession the 1st down call was a run up the middle, into the teeth of a defense expecting the run, and it produced a one yard gain and a three yard loss, which helps explain the 3 & out. Same thing happened in the Patriots game, hanging on to a late lead Hackett call three straight runs. Even the win over Ravens, a game we dominated, Hackett tried to sit on a huge halftime lead and ends up scoring just 3 points in second half and squeaking out a 3 point win. This is a passing league. You can't run on first down 70+ percent of the time. You cannot sit on 7 point leads. You cannot run into 9 man fronts. This explains why the Bills have a worse won/loss record than a year ago at this time, despite the fact they have a mind boggling 15+ turnover/takeaway improvement from last year. The conservative play calling is keeping the other team in the game until the end, and as we have seen, bad things can happen when you allow an outplayed team to stay close. Put the foot on the throttle and play (call) to win!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 Great article Vegas55 right on thr mark. We better hope Hackett gets better because he is going nowhere. Tied to the hip or coatails of Marrone. From Syracuse to the Bills to who knows where. He is a like a girl friend you care about ib a bad relationship that you are afraid to cut. One other thing to point out helping to prove what you say is that the Bills rank 22nd in point differential with a -40. The teams behind us with there win totals and point diff are: Jets 5 -121 Giants 5 - 60 Browns 4 -66 Raiders 4 -63 Bills 4 -40 Jags 3 -178 Redskins 3 -93 Bucs 3--68 Falcons 3 -79 Vikings 3 -77 Texans 2 -93 What does this prove? That we are nowhere near one of the worst teams in the league, and better play calling would have us with more wins. The absolutely worse call of the year was the pass call on 3rd and at the KC 1 yard line. A QB sneak and it was a different game. Raiders 4 Jags 3 Falcons 3 Bucs 3 Vikings 3 Three losses to the Jets, Browns and Falcons not as good as us. Sorry, the last 5 teams at the end should have been deleted. Just a typo Instead of 4-8, 7-5 in the not even counting the KC loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Big Cat Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 So are we blaming the coach? Or are we blaming the quarterback who makes most of the playcalls at the line? Are upset about the plays we audible into? Are we upset about the plays we audible out of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatloaf Sandwich Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 (edited) I can't blame Hackett... He isn't the one running the plays aka QB. Edited December 5, 2013 by Meatloaf Sandwich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFan-4-Ever Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 (edited) was EJ running and executing both drives late in the 4th and OT? Yes or No? I say yes ergo both he and play calling was working. Edited December 5, 2013 by BillsFan-4-Ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 Don!t you think its a combination-bad play calling and bad execution by the QB. If you want to say its 50-50 I!ll buy that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoSaint Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 What's the actual play count runs vs pass on first downs? I'm always skeptical when someone just throws out numbers - nothing personal, just that we've seen many (myself included) not remember correctly, and others simply make them up to support a point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mart Posted December 5, 2013 Share Posted December 5, 2013 Atlanta was a top heavy pass team this year until they ran into the Bills, and ran they did much more than they usually do because it was working. Adjustments between games, adjustments in games are what make top NFL coaches, or winning NFL coaches who stick around for a while. The easy way is to do the same thing, the same play calling in game and game after game. What other coach has done what Atlanta did on the kickoff, the handoff and end around. Thats play calling, and it worked, not because it was a trick but because the defense did!nt expect it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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