Inigo Montoya Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 (edited) The Rams got the ball coming out of the half. On their opening drive the Rams got a single first down and ended up moving the ball 27 yards before failing to convert on a 4th and 4 and turned the ball over on downs. The Bills then got the ball for their first drive of the 3rd quarter and marched down the field and scored a touchdown. So at the beginning of the 3rd quarter, the Bills defense stops the Rams and the Bills get the ball back and immediately march down the field and score another TD to go up 28-3. Not the typical 3rd quarter start. On the next drive the Rams' offense finally put together a great drive and scored on a Goff 1 yard QB sneak, the Rams' first TD of the game with less than 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. The score was 28-10 after that, the Bills and Rams essentially traded TDs in the 3rd quarter. The next Bills possession was the Interception That Wasn't. It happened with 4:20 seconds left in the 3rd quarter and gave the Rams the ball on their own 41, the first time they got the ball with a short field in the game. Three plays later Goff hit Robert Woods on a nice 25 yard catch and run for the TD. The score was now 28-17 and that was the score at the end of the 3rd quarter. If we look at the entirety of the 3rd quarter the BIlls actually played really well. Without the Interception That Wasn't, I think the Bills enter the 4th quarter with a 28-10 lead. At a minimum, the drive with the Interception That Wasn't would have eaten more clock and we probably would have entered the 4th quarter still up 18 points. I don't remember the last time the Bills scored a TD on the opening drive in the second half. The Interception That Wasn't completely flipped this game around and allowed the Rams to get momentum, and in an empty stadium in Orchard Park, it was hard for the Bills to get that momentum back. At worst, without the Interception That Wasn't, the Bills would have ended the 3rd quarter trading TDs with the Rams and going into the 4th quarter still up 18 points. Edited September 29, 2020 by Inigo Montoya 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Brown Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Inigo Montoya said: When the Bills went into halftime with the 21-3 lead I was concerned about what would happen in the 3rd quarter. The 3rd quarter for some inexplicable reason has been the Bills' Achilles Heel. It doesn't matter how good the Bills play in the 1st half, the 3rd quarter kicks their butt. Against the Rams the 3rd quarter wasn't that bad. Now, before you guys break a nail on the keyboard writing that I'm crazy, take a look at what happened in the 3rd quarter against the Rams. The Rams got the ball coming out of the half. The Bills were up 21-3. On their opening drive the Rams got a single first down and ended up moving the ball 27 yards before failing to convert on a 3rd and 4 and punted. It was a great sequence for the defense and started the 3rd quarter off right. The Bills then got the ball for their first drive of the 3rd quarter and marched 57 yards down the field and scored a touchdown when Allen hit Diggs in the end zone beating Jalen Ramsey. So here we have the beginning of the 3rd quarter, the Bills defense stops the Rams and forces a punt, the Bills get the ball back and immediately march down the field and score another TD to go up 28-3. Not the typical 3rd quarter start. On the next drive the Rams' offense finally put together a great drive and scored on a Goff 1 yard QB sneak, scoring the Rams' first TD of the game with less than 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. I definitely didn't think that the Bill's were going to keep the Rams out of the endzone the entire game. The Rams have a great offense and it's a tribute to our defense, that bent but didn't break up until this point, that the Rams first TD came with less than 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. The score was 28-10 after the Bills and Rams essentially traded TDs in the 3rd quarter. The next Bills possession was the Interception That Wasn't. It happened with 4:20 seconds left in the 3rd quarter and gave the Rams the ball on their own 41, the first time they got the ball with a short field in the game. Three plays later Goff hit Robert Woods on a nice 25 yard catch and run for the TD. The score was now 28-17 and that was the score at the end of the 3rd quarter. If we look at the entirety of the 3rd quarter the BIlls actually played really well. Without the Interception That Wasn't, I think the Bills enter the 4th quarter with a 28-10 lead. We also could have scored more points on the drive that the Interception That Wasn't stopped. The Bills were moving the ball effortlessly against the Rams defense up until that point with the three previous Bills' drives all ending up in the endzone. At a minimum, the drive with the Interception That Wasn't would have eaten more clock and we probably would have entered the 4th quarter still up 18 points. It was definitely a lot better performance in the 3rd quarter than we have seen in a along time. I don't remember the last time the Bills scored a TD on the opening drive in the second half. The Interception That Wasn't completely flipped this game around and allowed the Rams to get momentum, and in an empty stadium in Orchard Park, it was even harder for the Bills to get that momentum back. At worst, without the Interception That Wasn't, the Bills would have ended the 3rd quarter trading TDs with the Rams and going into the 4th quarter still up 18 points. That's not a bad 3rd quarter of football, especially for the Bills. Rams actually went for it on 4th and missed. Did they even punt yesterday? Then they scored four straight touchdowns. You're right in that it was unusual for us to both stop the opponent and score to open the half. However, the rest of the game up until that final drives was a disaster on defense and our offense was stymied a little bit mostly because of Donald. Edited September 29, 2020 by Doc Brown 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigo Montoya Posted September 29, 2020 Author Share Posted September 29, 2020 (edited) 31 minutes ago, Doc Brown said: Rams actually went for it on 4th and missed. Then they scored four straight touchdowns. You're right in that it was unusual for us to both stop the opponent and score to open the half. However, the rest of the game up until that final drives was a disaster on defense and our offense was stymied a little bit mostly because of Donald. You're right Doc, I'll edit the post. Thanks. 🍺 31 minutes ago, Doc Brown said: Rams actually went for it on 4th and missed. Did they even punt yesterday? Then they scored four straight touchdowns. You're right in that it was unusual for us to both stop the opponent and score to open the half. However, the rest of the game up until that final drives was a disaster on defense and our offense was stymied a little bit mostly because of Donald. You always hear about a great player just taking over a game and it happened with Donald this week in the second half. Fortunately we have a baller of our own who was able to respond again when the chips were down. Edited September 29, 2020 by Inigo Montoya 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StHustle Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 Doesn't mean much to play a better 3rd quarter but then collapse in the 4th. Yes we won in the end and have plenty to celebrate but a better 3rd quarter isn't one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigo Montoya Posted September 29, 2020 Author Share Posted September 29, 2020 5 minutes ago, StHustle said: Doesn't mean much to play a better 3rd quarter but then collapse in the 4th. Yes we won in the end and have plenty to celebrate but a better 3rd quarter isn't one of them. We’re going to have to agree to disagree on that. Coming out and playing well in the 3rd quarter is a big deal for this team. It’s been a big problem for this team. If the Bills can stop crawling in a hole during the 3rd quarter of games we are going to end up having a lot fewer 4th quarter nail biters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah John Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 (edited) The Bills once again had a bad 15 minutes, but this time it started late in the 3rd quarter and extended to the middle or so of the 4th. The incorrect interception call definitely changed the momentum, but that sort of thing is gonna happen, and the Bills need to be able not to let things spiral away when it does. This time they were able to grab victory from the jaws of defeat (how many times have we seen other Bills teams do the opposite?), but they were fortunate to have built such a huge lead before the defense went catatonic for a while. I hope the coaches and the player leaders get the picture, and figure out a way to halt the slide a lot quicker than yesterday. Edited September 29, 2020 by Utah John Can't use a perfectly good word, I guess 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnNord Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 I know what you mean. They were never going to shut out the Rams and they were out scored only 14-7. But I think the amount of time the defense was on the field, started to wear on the defense in the 4th when they were out scored 15-7. That phantom INT was a pretty pivotal point in the game. Just like with the Houston game, one more stop or 1 less turnover could have resulted in a completely outcome. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ILBillsfan Posted September 29, 2020 Share Posted September 29, 2020 4 hours ago, Utah John said: The Bills once again had a bad 15 minutes, but this time it started late in the 3rd quarter and extended to the middle or so of the 4th. The incorrect interception call definitely changed the momentum, but that sort of thing is gonna happen, and the Bills need to be able not to let things spiral away when it does. This time they were able to grab victory from the jaws of defeat (how many times have we seen other Bills teams do the opposite?), but they were fortunate to have built such a huge lead before the defense went catatonic for a while. I hope the coaches and the player leaders get the picture, and figure out a way to halt the slide a lot quicker than yesterday. The punt to pin the Rams back inside the 5 I thought was the opportunity that was missed for the Bills to recapture that momentum and instead the Rams added more by scoring on that possession. Some clear learning points for this staff and teaching moments. It's nice to come out of a game with a win as the last 18min of that game really got away from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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