SageAgainstTheMachine Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 I realize that you can't assume how the game flow would have been affected but the Colts lost by 3 and Reich left 4 points on the field. First, there was the call to go for it on 4th and 4 when the score was 10-7. Yes, generally speaking you need to score TDs instead of FGs to beat our offense but it was late in the half after the Colts had basically imposed their will and their game plan was working as well as it possibly could. Giving the ball back without scoring was the single best way to turn the momentum. 4th and 1? Yeah, go for it. But after you lose those 3 yards it's a clear call to send out the kicker in my opinion. Next you had the 2 point conversion try which was classic overthinking. Even if you're successful and go down by 6, the opponent can still kick a FG to make it a two-score game and can make up the 2 points if they score a TD in response. The biggest thing, though, was that he left his team with one timeout and then was so passive in his calls on the final drive that the Colts only drove 41 yards in 2:37 during desperation time. I don't think I've ever seen a drive that started with that much time where the offense kept the ball but didn't even get into FG range. 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Turk Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 His aggressiveness didn't make sense based on how he was trying to play the game with ball possession and clock eating. Also their kicker choking on a 33 yard gimme FG was a killer... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beach Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 but he made up for the missed 2 pt by getting a 2 pt later 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SageAgainstTheMachine Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 1 minute ago, Big Turk said: His aggressiveness didn't make sense based on how he was trying to play the game with ball possession and clock eating. Basically, yeah. If he called the entire game with a "burn the ships" mentality those calls would have made sense, but clearly the strategy was to possess the ball for 35 minutes and put up enough points to win by a single score. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shortchaz Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 He coached it well, players failed him 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiotAct Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 he still loves us! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Just now, Shortchaz said: He coached it well, players failed him Agreed. They played the Bills very smartly; better than anybody has in a long time. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warcodered Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 I don't understand the challenge he made seemed like he had plenty of time to know it wouldn't work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steptide Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Hard to believe the 1 win jags made a game of it last week against the Colts. But this is the playoffs and any given Sunday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsFanSD Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 I thought they should have kicked the FG on fourth down. The 2 pt attempt was fine. It was unlikely to matter much one way or the other, and it ended up being totally irrelevant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJS Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 He called an excellent game. He is clearly a good coach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nextmanup Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 11 minutes ago, Beach said: but he made up for the missed 2 pt by getting a 2 pt later Which is a big part of why every team should be going for 2 all the time. Reich was very aggressive and made a bunch of controversial calls in this game, and most (all?) didn't go his way. I disagree they were wrong or bad though. Not all of them at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincec Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 You can question going for the TD on 4th down in retrospect because they failed, but the play was there and should have been a TD if executed properly so it's hard to criticize the decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffaloboyinATL Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 (edited) Once a Bill always a Bill. For @Nick the Greek who is confused; the OP said “Reich did us some favors today” and I responded “once a Bill, always a Bill” jokingly implying Frank Reich did it out of loyalty to his former franchise. Did you know he used to play for us? Edited January 9, 2021 by buffaloboyinATL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Process Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 I mean, we had a coach doing everything humanly possible to lose the game, so I'm not going to be too thankful. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2zipper Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Reich put on a clinic in how to coach against a team that's better than you. Slow down the game,move the ball, limit opportunities to decrease both team's margins of error, And chase every point you can. The downside to a dink and dunk gameplan is that you have to be perfect and the Colts missed the 4th down and the FG. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atlbillsfan1975 Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 (edited) Reich is a great coach, get him a real QB and they will be dangerous. Reich got everything he could out of Rivers. I didn’t like the going for two, but Reich probably also knows that the Bills are terrible at stopping the 2 pt conversion. The Colts were the last team I wanted to play in the opening round. Glad we got that over with. Edited January 9, 2021 by atlbillsfan1975 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Real McClappy Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 (edited) His TO and Challenges were bad. His game or attempt to beat the Bills was flawless controlling TOP and just killing clock The 2 point conversion was corrected on the next Colts TD so that's a wash. Him not taking the FG IMO was smart and actually shows respect to our O. Frank R knows they prob can't win with FGs so he went for it. The ball was a foot high from being a TD. Edited January 9, 2021 by Real McNasty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Red King Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 19 minutes ago, Warcodered said: I don't understand the challenge he made seemed like he had plenty of time to know it wouldn't work. This. There was no excuse for that one. They had all the time in the world during the injury time out to look at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warcodered Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 1 minute ago, The Red King said: This. There was no excuse for that one. They had all the time in the world during the injury time out to look at it. On the flipside McDermott made some clutch decisions at the end of the game. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick the Greek Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 He played to win. He went for it on fourth down. they score that TD, maybe they win. I don’t blame him. He did all the things good NFL teams do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msw2112 Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 16 minutes ago, vincec said: You can question going for the TD on 4th down in retrospect because they failed, but the play was there and should have been a TD if executed properly so it's hard to criticize the decision. This play was one of the few where the Bills actually had some pressure on Rivers and I think the Bills defense forced the throw to be just a little bit off. So the play was there if the Bills hadn't disrupted it, but they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 6 minutes ago, Warcodered said: On the flipside McDermott made some clutch decisions at the end of the game. you can defend every call that Reich made as spot on. But in the end, McD outcoached him. The defensive adjustment when he called a TO at the very end too was brilliant. It ended the game basically. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Turk Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Apparently there are a lot of Colts fans who feel his questionable decisions this year have cost them a few others as well...over on the Colts boards, quite a large contingent want him fired and another contingent is ambivalent and it seems they are not sure what they should do regarding Reich. Kind of surprising with how well they played overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albany,n.y. Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 I understood why he went for it on 4th down rather than kick a field goal. He knew he was playing a high scoring team & figured he had to put as many points on the board that he could. The only way to keep up with the Bills is go for TDs, not FGs that close to the endzone. If he gets the TD, he's up 17-7, otherwise he's up 13-7 and as it turned out, he still would have been down 14-13 at halftime with the Bills getting the 2nd half kickoff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALLEN1QB Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 I think he had a Bills jersey on under his jacket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4merper4mer Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 57 minutes ago, SageAgainstTheMachine said: I realize that you can't assume how the game flow would have been affected but the Colts lost by 3 and Reich left 4 points on the field. First, there was the call to go for it on 4th and 4 when the score was 10-7. Yes, generally speaking you need to score TDs instead of FGs to beat our offense but it was late in the half after the Colts had basically imposed their will and their game plan was working as well as it possibly could. Giving the ball back without scoring was the single best way to turn the momentum. 4th and 1? Yeah, go for it. But after you lose those 3 yards it's a clear call to send out the kicker in my opinion. Next you had the 2 point conversion try which was classic overthinking. Even if you're successful and go down by 6, the opponent can still kick a FG to make it a two-score game and can make up the 2 points if they score a TD in response. The biggest thing, though, was that he left his team with one timeout and then was so passive in his calls on the final drive that the Colts only drove 41 yards in 2:37 during desperation time. I don't think I've ever seen a drive that started with that much time where the offense kept the ball but didn't even get into FG range. He also installed a genius level game plan and coached a team that never quit down 14 in Q4. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SageAgainstTheMachine Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 1 minute ago, 4merper4mer said: He also installed a genius level game plan and coached a team that never quit down 14 in Q4. Very true. I think he's a great coach. One of the interesting things about football is that head coaching breaks down into super nuanced game planning but also binary decision making. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malazan Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Reich made some really questionable decisions, but the Bills had to make him pay for those decisions and they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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