Is There a Chance McD Threw the Game Yesterday?

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

2 hours ago, Irv said:

A lot of talk about a plane Jane gameplay.  Is there a chance McD put in a very basic game plan to not show his hat because he knows NE won't lose to Miami, the AFC East title was not going to happen, and he thinks we will play the Pats in the playoffs?  

 

Sincerely,

I Need to Get a Life.  

 

..that ship sailed EONS ago.....

[Dr.Sack]

Well he decided to punt on 4th & 1 and the rest is history, Patriots 11 Bills 0. We will never know if Allen converts & it would have been nice to see him do what he did on the final drive in the 3rd Qtr up 17-13.

[buffaloboyinATL]

Lol. Zero chance. 

[Boatdrinks]

1 hour ago, Magox said:

 

Definitely not throw the game and I have a hard time believing they wouldn't go all out to win but on the surface it seemed like they were holding back at least from a scheme point of view.  The pass rush packages were definitely Vanilla.   

 

With that said, I just think their offense  out schemed and executed against the Bills defense.

Wasn’t much scheming going on with the Pats* O yesterday, either. Just old school big boy football. The talking heads are drooling over how they threw an LB in to play FB. Big deal; same body type. Their most exotic scheme facet was the play action pass, which the Bills bit on more than the cameraman. Then they tried some blatant cheating out of pure desperation with pick plays, which amazingly were flagged by the incompetent officiating crew. 

13 minutes ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

The only thing he needed to throw was the red challenge flag

Are you referring to the 4th down spot ? Good luck; those just don’t get overturned. Even BB lost that vs KC a couple weeks back. I was actually amazed Belly threw it, but he does strange things when faced with a likely loss. 

[WhoTom]

49 minutes ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

The only thing he needed to throw was the red challenge flag

 

36 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said:

Are you referring to the 4th down spot ? Good luck; those just don’t get overturned.

 

It's good that he didn't throw it on that one - we'd have lost a TO, and that last TO allowed the TD just before halftime.

 

 

[Irv]

Ok so we agree.  Sorry for poor spelling. McD didn’t show his cards. Obvious if you understand basic football strategy 

 

 

Edited December 22, 2019 by Irv

[Heitz]

Oy - literally one of the dumbest threads in a sea of stupid.  We lost, LET'S ALL FREAK OUT!!  ?

[Buffalo Barbarian]

I hope so because we were not aggressive on either side of the ball. Maybe he thought lets see how we do straight up, which was close but not good enough and then let er  rip in the playoffs.

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, GoFlamesGo said:

I don’t think he ‘threw’ the game as much as tried to win with a very simple defensive plan. Yes, McD is the type to not show all his cards in a game that wouldn’t have any standings relevance. Brady and the Patriots have been an atrocity for 2 years now vs the blitz, rushing 4 all game just isn’t the way to play them any more.

 

IF they play again this year, you will see a very different defensive formula. And a different defensive outcome. Book it.

 

better be different offense too.

 

 

 

[Steptide]

What I don't completely understand is, Brady has been pretty terrible against pressure all season long, yet the bills defense brought very little pressure last night. I don't get that. What's the logic there? 

[Scott7975]

There is zero chance McD threw the game.  Zero.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

5 hours ago, WhoTom said:

 

I'd call the tackle-eligible TD pass a trick play.

 

 

Is she also a flight attendant? Plane Jane?

 

 

 

 

 

[US Egg]

McDermott sprinting down the sideline to call a timeout faster and farther than any head coach I've ever seen was a good way to sell his going through the motions game plan.

Edited December 22, 2019 by I am the egg man

[HOUSE]

30% chance 

[John in Jax]

This thread is idiotic. YOU PLAY THE GAME TO WIN, PERIOD.

 

If I was the Pegulas and found out that McD was not trying 100% to win this game, I'd fire his A** in a heartbeat.

[fathersnowman]

well taken all day and my take on this was yes we tried to win but knowing we were in playoffs why show every play before hand.

the defense was avg at best but if we play houston in playoffs we can beat them , but our offense  does not score enough points in games and maybe we are not good enough to go much further  than that.

could we beat pats in playoffs score 21 points or more in game yes.   until we put points on board we wont win  enough games....i want to see battles won on field  and  see what we achieve ....

 

[LB48]

7 hours ago, DCbillsfan said:

I believe Bills saved their "A" game plan for either Watson or Mahomes, whoever they play in the playoffs.  If they play Brady again, they'll come at him hard.

Agree with your comment.  I had the feeling they didn't want to show anything but even with that they scored 17 points and made it close.

[djp14150]

I’ve said this in other threads...

 

thry saved thrir A game for the pkayoffs

 

had this game bern a game of we win we control are own fate we eoukd have played differently.

 

why try to win by giving up film to a future playoff opponent who could use it to their advantage and they have 2 weeks to prep for it.

[Rock'em Sock'em]

8 hours ago, Irv said:

McD put in a very basic game

IMO, a basic game plan happens most weeks - both offense and defense.  It mostly comes down to execution and fundamentals.  This week the Bills did not tackle super well.  I think NE may have "wanted" this game more than the Bills.

 

Side note: Edelman's "sell job" confirms what I have believed for a long time.  NE players will do just about anything to win, including in this case, faking concussions and hiring a clock keeper who will consistently try to screw the away team.  I'm somewhere between impressed and disgusted at the level of coaching and attention that must goes into practicing all the cheap ways to help your team win.

[billybob71]

Yes I believe McD threw this game along with throwing the previous Pats game, Browns, Ravens, and Eagles games. Its all part of his and the wizard Beane's magical process, the 5 seed is right where they want to be. Once the playoffs start they will unveil their magical golden playbook/game plan nobody will see it coming, gonna be epic.

Edited December 23, 2019 by billybob71

[SirAndrew]

49 minutes ago, billybob71 said:

Yes I believe McD threw this game along with throwing the previous Pats game, Browns, Ravens, and Eagles games. Its all part of his and the wizard Beane's magical process, the 5 seed is right where they want to be. Once the playoffs start they will unveil their magical golden playbook/game plan nobody will see it coming, gonna be epic.

The awesome thing is this post is meant to be sarcastic, but many posters have essentially said this all season. Early in the year I was told our offense struggled against teams like Washington because we don’t want to show what we got. 

[Comebackkid]

as much as i really want to laugh my ass of at this idea, it sounds much better than to think that McD and Fraiser missed the mark that badly on their defensive game plan against the pats.   the game plan was much better week 4 and im of the opinion our D is better than it was then.  Our pass rush didnt even come into fruition until the second half of the season yet we got good pressure on brady in week 4.   play Ne like we played balt on D and we win that game.  

 

[GreggTX]

No.

[par73]

Not a chance. That was Buffalo giving their all against a hated team. Face it-- Patsies are their daddy.

[Putin]

18 hours ago, WhoTom said:

"Throwing" the game implies intentionally losing. No, he didn't throw the game.

 

However, if you think of it like a poker game, the first few hands aren't necessarily played to win, they're played to get a feel for your opponent. That way, you can cash in big in later hands. In that respect, it's very possible that McD, knowing that a win yesterday was unlikely to change the Bills' overall playoff status, didn't want to show too much of his hand. That doesn't mean he didn't try to win the game, just that he tried to win it with a less flashy game-plan - a plan similar to the one that beat the Steelers the week before.

 

 

I agree with this being a possibility , but all the miss tackles and losing the line of scrimmage on BOTH sides ( IMO ) was a BIG reason for us losing this game , I hope this will get fixed moving forward 

GO BILLS!!!

[colin]

I honestly do think they called an overly vanilla game plan on purpose.

 

They didn't want to show anything and wanted to see how they could do just playing straight up

[Hapless Bills Fan]

19 hours ago, WhoTom said:

"Throwing" the game implies intentionally losing. No, he didn't throw the game.

 

However, if you think of it like a poker game, the first few hands aren't necessarily played to win, they're played to get a feel for your opponent. That way, you can cash in big in later hands. In that respect, it's very possible that McD, knowing that a win yesterday was unlikely to change the Bills' overall playoff status, didn't want to show too much of his hand. That doesn't mean he didn't try to win the game, just that he tried to win it with a less flashy game-plan - a plan similar to the one that beat the Steelers the week before.

 

Yes.

 

I think also, McDermott may not have fully gotten to grips yet with the full Foxborough experience, as laid out by Marc Sanchez (starting about :40).  Sanchez ought to know.  He's one of the few QB this century who has gone into Foxborough with playoff implications or for a playoff game and come out with the win. 

 

In addition to the stuff he mentions which may be less easy due to NFL change to VOIP equipment on a dedicated FCC frequency, there's crap we saw Saturday like the play clock continuing to run after incompletions on our final drive.  Constant shifting the spot of the ball to favor the Pats by a couple hands.  Messing up down and distance on the scoreboard.  Booing an injured player (Morse)  The stuff his players probably won't tell him like the way they'll go dirty after the QB any time they feel it's hidden from the ref (like on a designed run).  I'm sure all teams do this some, it's Football, the Pats make an art form out of it.

 

You can not win in Foxborough with the same conservative game plan that did the job in Pittsburgh.  You have to come prepared to fold them in half and go for their throat.

 

 

13 hours ago, I am the egg man said:

McDermott sprinting down the sideline to call a timeout faster and farther than any head coach I've ever seen was a good way to sell his going through the motions game plan.

 

Man, that guy can still move! 

[without a drought]

I heard that they threw both NE games because a home playoff game would be cold and he also likes hotels too much. 

[US Egg]

11 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Man, that guy can still move! 

He's in great shape and obviously works out.

 

Not positive, but think he also practices, when he can, some mad man fighting/defense skills.

 

The guy puts his heart into whatever he does.

 

Edited December 23, 2019 by I am the egg man

[Orlando Tim]

I do not think he threw the game, but he might not have used every play he could have to win. McDermott seems to me to be a guy who knows this team is still building towards something and might have spent some time yesterday figuring things out.

[elroy16]

I hope they were holding back on defense. Cover1 and a few other people were talking about how NE has struggled a bit when the defense runs a diamond front and stunts and blitzes. I was inebriated and can't bring myself to re-watch the game, but I remember very little creativity up front on defense. I hope that was McDermott holding back, because I wanted them to be much more aggressive considering the lack of weapons on NE.

 

 

I also hope they finally figured out that Josh is much better when the field is spread out in 11 personnel. I know it puts some pressure on the front 5 when the defense brings heat, but bringing it DiMarco or Smith isn't helping. 

Edited December 23, 2019 by elroy16

[T master]

No i don't think he threw the game there may be some head scratchers as far as why did Gore only go in on 2 plays & never carry the ball & WHY THE HELL IS DUKE ON THE BENCH INACTIVE ??

 

But besides those things i don't think he threw the game !! 

[billsfan_34]

No way- McD would never ever throw a game especially with the possibility of winning the division- ridiculous speak.

[PatsFanNH]

How did he game plan for so many missed tackles? Burkhead broke two for the go ahead TD. That was just poor execution on the players part. 
 

I was thinking perhaps they were flat because they knew they were the 5th seed unless a miracle happened  so the lack of focus led to missed tackles and taking poor angles?

 

all a guess game is over and the Bills have had a damn good year and I am predicting they beat the Texans in the wildcard round. 
 

 

[elroy16]

I wish the OP hadn't said "throw the game," because that's obviously something McDermott would never do. 

 

I think it's fair to argue whether he held back and how much. Teams don't show their entire deck of cards every game. Pretty much every coach, every game holds a thing or two to their chest to save for the future, that is until the playoffs.

 

 

Hell, I hope they've been putting the hard counts on 4th down to try and get people to jump only to take a TO or delay on film, just so later they can have Josh hard count a time or two and then actually run a play and catch the other team off guard. Everyone and their mother assumes they aren't going for it after he hard counts two separate times in this scenario, you have to think the defense is relaxing just a little bit at that point.