We got our “ Bad game” out of the way.

[Buffalo Boy]

     First of all, It is an absolute pleasure to drink my coffee and eat my wife’s homemade bread on a playoff VICTORY Sunday morning! We won. This cannot be overstated. It was a huge victory and a necessary victory in our continuing quest to hoist a Lombardi.

    Like so many “ Bad” plays, series and games, there is a tendency to read too much into it. It’s as if no other good team ever had bad stretches f play within their journeys.

    Quick history reference:

     Brady/GOAT is 31-11 in the playoffs

     Payton Manning is 13-13

     Jim Kelly is 9-7

     Aaron Rogers is 10-8

     Drew Brees is 8-8

     Joe Montana is 16-7

     Big Ben is 13-8

   Look at all those losses by QBs we can all agree are HOFers . They all had bad games. Manning alone had multiple, multiple turnover games on the way to a .500 playoff record.

    The main point is, a win in the playoffs is really hard. Obviously, you self scout afterwards and try to shore up deficiencies but that is a better position than planning for the Draft.

    Yesterday’s game was understandable and yet strange in a few ways that were surprising to me.

    IMO, McDermott coached a very good game. First of all, he did nothing rash or stupid. His deft use of time management at the end of the game SEEMED to cause the review of the fumble. I know the officials gave the TO back and said it was a booth review but I get the funny feeling that the next play wouldn’t have been whistled without his TO call.

    He iced a great pass from Rivers that put them, at a minimum, into field goal range. This irked the heck out of Rivers and his passing to end the game, to the same part of the field, was off. Can you attribute it to his emotions due to the icing? Who knows but Rivers has always been known to be firey. It was a masterful use of the timeout.

    Josh Allen played an equally excellent game. He didn’t force things and kept his dumb plays to a minimum. The fumble at the end was flukey. He turned from the first rusher, blindly into the second rusher coming around the left side. 
    Also, the sack he took trying to stiff arm a defensive lineman and getting smacked by a second guy was dumb and risky. He should have thrown it away.  
    I felt he should have hit his outlet receiver/ back a couple times but it’s a nice problem to have a strong armed QB chucking it all over the field😎

    I think we all agree that Daboll’s coordination left a lot to be desired.

   I hated the repeated QB runs. I hated the three run series, especially since it was up the gut runs into stacked boxes.
    I felt they needed more outside dump offs, pitches, bubble screens and a few mis direction plays mixed in. Where was McKenzie???

   My hope is that he had the jitters and self scouts himself into a better game next week.

    The D seemed to play tentative and tight on a lot of pass plays. There seemed to be confusion and finger pointing on the one TDs into the corner of the EZ. The Colts line stonewalled our pass rush. They get paid too. Rivers also played a magnificent game until his last three passes. HOF QBs can’t be stopped easily.
    I truly believe that this was our “ Playoff Cherry” being popped game. Next week I will be surprised if our defensive backfield allows that many long third down conversions. 
    I also think Daboll will be a little more settled in and call a better game with less QB runs. Josh was dealing yesterday when he was allowed. I expect a bigger helping of that next week.

    Good teams find a way to win tough games and we did. Yes, it came down to the last play. Think about Adam Vinateri for some perspective on that.

    CHEERS to a playoff Win!

💪🦬

[Adam]

I'm wondering if the three-run series set up anything later. I was to into the game to watch for that

[mjpbills]

Daboll distracted with his new job possibilities?

[streetkings01]

I think you don’t understand how the playoffs work. We were spoiled with how this team has playing coming out of the bye and expecting blowouts every week. This is the playoffs, every team is good and earned there way in by being good. Most if not all games will look like this......down to 1 possession....get used to it.

[Frat-Train]

Hopefully just playoff jitters, but our Dline and Linebackers will need to leave their E, I, O, U and sometimes Y game and bring the A game that got us here.  With that said...

 

I’m 92% sure my wife didn’t make me any delicious homemade bread on this holiday morning!!!!!  

[Brennan Huff]

13 minutes ago, mjpbills said:

Daboll distracted with his new job possibilities?

Confirmed that he’s going to the Jets. He’s already trying to sabotage us

[Buffalo Boy]

1 minute ago, Brennan Huff said:

Confirmed that he’s going to the Jets. He’s already trying to sabotage us

He’s too smart to go to that Train Wreck. 😜 

[Brennan Huff]

2 minutes ago, Buffalo Boy said:

He’s too smart to go to that Train Wreck. 😜 

Never let facts get in the way of a good story 

[HOUSE]

This eat the clock style game is just the beginning for the Bills

 

The Chiefs face the same strategy every week. The Patriots for 20 years.

 

 

[Matt_In_NH]

30 minutes ago, Buffalo Boy said:

 I hated the repeated QB runs. I hated the three run series, especially since it was up the gut runs into stacked boxes.

Agreed, going into a playoff game it makes sense to use this more of an option than in the regular season.  However they made it a staple for no reason.  Passing the ball worked, they needed to stick with what got them here a little more.  A few runs, yes I'm good with that but there were a few too many.  Especially against a D that is fantastic vs the run and terrible vs the pass.

 

30 minutes ago, Buffalo Boy said:

The fumble at the end was flukey. He turned from the first rusher, blindly into the second rusher coming around the left side. 

What I am about to say here is not Josh hate, I love what he has become, he has improved way more than I thought was possible but there is still room for improvement.  Josh tensed up in the 4th quarter and we saw some "bad Josh".   Earlier in the 4th he was throwing harder than normal, the ball that went through Brown's hands, the next to Beasley where there was good RAC opportunity but his bullet made him go to the ground to secure the catch.  We saw this a lot more in his first two years.  A lot of what has made him better this year is appropriate pace on the ball.  He wants to make a play on every play so when the defense puts him in a position where he is getting wrapped up he fights through, gets out and guess what, another guy shows up.  Sometimes you have to just take the sack.  Go back to the second half vs the Rams, they did this to him consistently, pressure up the middle and then there was a guy in his escape lane on the edge.   That is when bad things can happen.  On that down and distance, a sack was not the end of the world, a turnover is.  Having said all that, these types of plays happen way less frequently now and I think getting a win in a playoff game will help calm him down.  He can now build off the success of winning a playoff game.  

[ALLEN1QB]

44 minutes ago, Buffalo Boy said:

     First of all, It is an absolute pleasure to drink my coffee and eat my wife’s homemade bread on a playoff VICTORY Sunday morning! We won. This cannot be overstated. It was a huge victory and a necessary victory in our continuing quest to hoist a Lombardi.

    Like so many “ Bad” plays, series and games, there is a tendency to read too much into it. It’s as if no other good team ever had bad stretches f play within their journeys.

    Quick history reference:

     Brady/GOAT is 31-11 in the playoffs

     Payton Manning is 13-13

     Jim Kelly is 9-7

     Aaron Rogers is 10-8

     Drew Brees is 8-8

     Joe Montana is 16-7

     Big Ben is 13-8

   Look at all those losses by QBs we can all agree are HOFers . They all had bad games. Manning alone had multiple, multiple turnover games on the way to a .500 playoff record.

    The main point is, a win in the playoffs is really hard. Obviously, you self scout afterwards and try to shore up deficiencies but that is a better position than planning for the Draft.

    Yesterday’s game was understandable and yet strange in a few ways that were surprising to me.

    IMO, McDermott coached a very good game. First of all, he did nothing rash or stupid. His deft use of time management at the end of the game SEEMED to cause the review of the fumble. I know the officials gave the TO back and said it was a booth review but I get the funny feeling that the next play wouldn’t have been whistled without his TO call.

    He iced a great pass from Rivers that put them, at a minimum, into field goal range. This irked the heck out of Rivers and his passing to end the game, to the same part of the field, was off. Can you attribute it to his emotions due to the icing? Who knows but Rivers has always been known to be firey. It was a masterful use of the timeout.

    Josh Allen played an equally excellent game. He didn’t force things and kept his dumb plays to a minimum. The fumble at the end was flukey. He turned from the first rusher, blindly into the second rusher coming around the left side. 
    Also, the sack he took trying to stiff arm a defensive lineman and getting smacked by a second guy was dumb and risky. He should have thrown it away.  
    I felt he should have hit his outlet receiver/ back a couple times but it’s a nice problem to have a strong armed QB chucking it all over the field😎

    I think we all agree that Daboll’s coordination left a lot to be desired.

   I hated the repeated QB runs. I hated the three run series, especially since it was up the gut runs into stacked boxes.
    I felt they needed more outside dump offs, pitches, bubble screens and a few mis direction plays mixed in. Where was McKenzie???

   My hope is that he had the jitters and self scouts himself into a better game next week.

    The D seemed to play tentative and tight on a lot of pass plays. There seemed to be confusion and finger pointing on the one TDs into the corner of the EZ. The Colts line stonewalled our pass rush. They get paid too. Rivers also played a magnificent game until his last three passes. HOF QBs can’t be stopped easily.
    I truly believe that this was our “ Playoff Cherry” being popped game. Next week I will be surprised if our defensive backfield allows that many long third down conversions. 
    I also think Daboll will be a little more settled in and call a better game with less QB runs. Josh was dealing yesterday when he was allowed. I expect a bigger helping of that next week.

    Good teams find a way to win tough games and we did. Yes, it came down to the last play. Think about Adam Vinateri for some perspective on that.

    CHEERS to a playoff Win!

💪🦬

Is her homemade bread better than Dicamillo's I really miss that place

Edited January 10, 2021 by ALLEN1QB

[SCBills]

4 minutes ago, mattynh said:

Agreed, going into a playoff game it makes sense to use this more of an option than in the regular season.  However they made it a staple for no reason.  Passing the ball worked, they needed to stick with what got them here a little more.  A few runs, yes I'm good with that but there were a few too many.  Especially against a D that is fantastic vs the run and terrible vs the pass.

 

What I am about to say here is not Josh hate, I love what he has become, he has improved way more than I thought was possible but there is still room for improvement.  Josh tensed up in the 4th quarter and we saw some "bad Josh".   Earlier in the 4th he was throwing harder than normal, the ball that went through Brown's hands, the next to Beasley where there was good RAC opportunity but his bullet made him go to the ground to secure the catch.  We saw this a lot more in his first two years.  A lot of what has made him better this year is appropriate pace on the ball.  He wants to make a play on every play so when the defense puts him in a position where he is getting wrapped up he fights through, gets out and guess what, another guy shows up.  Sometimes you have to just take the sack.  Go back to the second half vs the Rams, they did this to him consistently, pressure up the middle and then there was a guy in his escape lane on the edge.   That is when bad things can happen.  On that down and distance, a sack was not the end of the world, a turnover is.  Having said all that, these types of plays happen way less frequently now and I think getting a win in a playoff game will help calm him down.  He can now build off the success of winning a playoff game.  

The fumble and missed check down throw to Knox were my only issues in the 4th.  
 

I guess we can count the Beasley throw, but that’s a stretch, imo.  
 

The Brown throw, disallowed, tomfoolery on that criticism.  Brown full blown dropped that.  Allen shouldn’t have to underhand throws to WR’s when they hit them in the hands and they don’t even need to move to catch it. 

[Matt_In_NH]

6 minutes ago, SCBills said:

The fumble and missed check down throw to Knox were my only issues in the 4th.  
 

I guess we can count the Beasley throw, but that’s a stretch, imo.  
 

The Brown throw, disallowed, tomfoolery on that criticism.  Brown full blown dropped that.  Allen shouldn’t have to underhand throws to WR’s when they hit them in the hands and they don’t even need to move to catch it. 

I figured I would get this response and while I am no expert, my opinion is pace is a factor in quarterbacking.  If Allen winds up and throws a heater on a screen to a QB 5 yards away no one would catch it even if it hits him in his hands.   That was a hypothetical, not what happened to show my point obviously.   I dont necessarily disagree, Brown should catch that but I also think pace was a factory there.

[Adam]

51 minutes ago, mattynh said:

Agreed, going into a playoff game it makes sense to use this more of an option than in the regular season.  However they made it a staple for no reason.  Passing the ball worked, they needed to stick with what got them here a little more.  A few runs, yes I'm good with that but there were a few too many.  Especially against a D that is fantastic vs the run and terrible vs the pass.

 

What I am about to say here is not Josh hate, I love what he has become, he has improved way more than I thought was possible but there is still room for improvement.  Josh tensed up in the 4th quarter and we saw some "bad Josh".   Earlier in the 4th he was throwing harder than normal, the ball that went through Brown's hands, the next to Beasley where there was good RAC opportunity but his bullet made him go to the ground to secure the catch.  We saw this a lot more in his first two years.  A lot of what has made him better this year is appropriate pace on the ball.  He wants to make a play on every play so when the defense puts him in a position where he is getting wrapped up he fights through, gets out and guess what, another guy shows up.  Sometimes you have to just take the sack.  Go back to the second half vs the Rams, they did this to him consistently, pressure up the middle and then there was a guy in his escape lane on the edge.   That is when bad things can happen.  On that down and distance, a sack was not the end of the world, a turnover is.  Having said all that, these types of plays happen way less frequently now and I think getting a win in a playoff game will help calm him down.  He can now build off the success of winning a playoff game.  

The QB runs were needed to open things up. Imagine if Rivers had the slightest mobility. It's one more thing to defend

[Niagara Dude]

1 hour ago, Buffalo Boy said:

     First of all, It is an absolute pleasure to drink my coffee and eat my wife’s homemade bread on a playoff VICTORY Sunday morning! We won. This cannot be overstated. It was a huge victory and a necessary victory in our continuing quest to hoist a Lombardi.

    Like so many “ Bad” plays, series and games, there is a tendency to read too much into it. It’s as if no other good team ever had bad stretches f play within their journeys.

    Quick history reference:

     Brady/GOAT is 31-11 in the playoffs

     Payton Manning is 13-13

     Jim Kelly is 9-7

     Aaron Rogers is 10-8

     Drew Brees is 8-8

     Joe Montana is 16-7

     Big Ben is 13-8

   Look at all those losses by QBs we can all agree are HOFers . They all had bad games. Manning alone had multiple, multiple turnover games on the way to a .500 playoff record.

    The main point is, a win in the playoffs is really hard. Obviously, you self scout afterwards and try to shore up deficiencies but that is a better position than planning for the Draft.

    Yesterday’s game was understandable and yet strange in a few ways that were surprising to me.

    IMO, McDermott coached a very good game. First of all, he did nothing rash or stupid. His deft use of time management at the end of the game SEEMED to cause the review of the fumble. I know the officials gave the TO back and said it was a booth review but I get the funny feeling that the next play wouldn’t have been whistled without his TO call.

    He iced a great pass from Rivers that put them, at a minimum, into field goal range. This irked the heck out of Rivers and his passing to end the game, to the same part of the field, was off. Can you attribute it to his emotions due to the icing? Who knows but Rivers has always been known to be firey. It was a masterful use of the timeout.

    Josh Allen played an equally excellent game. He didn’t force things and kept his dumb plays to a minimum. The fumble at the end was flukey. He turned from the first rusher, blindly into the second rusher coming around the left side. 
    Also, the sack he took trying to stiff arm a defensive lineman and getting smacked by a second guy was dumb and risky. He should have thrown it away.  
    I felt he should have hit his outlet receiver/ back a couple times but it’s a nice problem to have a strong armed QB chucking it all over the field😎

    I think we all agree that Daboll’s coordination left a lot to be desired.

   I hated the repeated QB runs. I hated the three run series, especially since it was up the gut runs into stacked boxes.
    I felt they needed more outside dump offs, pitches, bubble screens and a few mis direction plays mixed in. Where was McKenzie???

   My hope is that he had the jitters and self scouts himself into a better game next week.

    The D seemed to play tentative and tight on a lot of pass plays. There seemed to be confusion and finger pointing on the one TDs into the corner of the EZ. The Colts line stonewalled our pass rush. They get paid too. Rivers also played a magnificent game until his last three passes. HOF QBs can’t be stopped easily.
    I truly believe that this was our “ Playoff Cherry” being popped game. Next week I will be surprised if our defensive backfield allows that many long third down conversions. 
    I also think Daboll will be a little more settled in and call a better game with less QB runs. Josh was dealing yesterday when he was allowed. I expect a bigger helping of that next week.

    Good teams find a way to win tough games and we did. Yes, it came down to the last play. Think about Adam Vinateri for some perspective on that.

    CHEERS to a playoff Win!

💪🦬

I think our offence was fine,  not great but fine.  The problem they had limited opportunities because out defence could not get off the field.  How many negative plays /sacks did they have?  The pass rush needs to do better or next time we won't be so lucky,  the Colts make a few of those plays that were there to be made and they win this game.  Did Hughes & Addison even play in this game and White missed on making 3/4 big plays in that game,  rather then just knock the ball down he had opportunities to intercept the pass on a couple of attempts and missed a key tackle in the Colts backfield.  Guys on defence are not making plays and we cannot play this bend but don't break defence. This game should have been over after we got up two touchdowns in the 4th and our defence then allowed two easy drives.  Sean needs to have a chat with Frazier about pressure which has been a problem all season long

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

59 minutes ago, SCBills said:

The fumble and missed check down throw to Knox were my only issues in the 4th.  
 

I guess we can count the Beasley throw, but that’s a stretch, imo.  
 

The Brown throw, disallowed, tomfoolery on that criticism.  Brown full blown dropped that.  Allen shouldn’t have to underhand throws to WR’s when they hit them in the hands and they don’t even need to move to catch it. 

 

I think he's talking about a different Brown throw. The one along the sideline. The drop by Brown was over the middle. The sideline throw was thrown too high. Tough throw but Josh has been making a ton of them. Two yesterday to Davis even.

 

On a side note, Brown 4 targets and 0 catches. Disappointing after he looked pretty good last week in his first game back. But Luckily Davis is stepping up like he has most of the season so far.

[Pokebball]

1 hour ago, mjpbills said:

Daboll distracted with his new job possibilities?

More like Frazier distracted because of Daboll's new job possibilities.

 

I kid!

[SCBills]

1 minute ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

I think he's talking about a different Brown throw. The one along the sideline. The drop by Brown was over the middle. The sideline throw was thrown too high. Tough throw but Josh has been making a ton of them. Two yesterday to Davis even.

 

On a side note, Brown 4 targets and 0 catches. Disappointing after he looked pretty good last week in his first game back. But Luckily Davis is stepping up like he has most of the season so far.

Ah, gotcha.  
 

Brown is going to be an interesting decision.   When “right” he’s a top end #2, but after being injured most of the season, and then disappearing again in a Playoff game, I just don’t know about that $9 mil cap hit.  
 

I generally hate the idea of trading offensive investment for defensive, but with how Davis looks as a rookie, and the fact we might be able to sign a guy like Stills for a fraction of the price... it might make sense to move on from him.  
 

Of course, he could completely change my mind next week.  

[Big Turk]

Great to see Allen was the highest rated QB of the day and Wilson looked God awful for the most part other than an amazing TD throw to Metcalf on a play he escaped but also threw a terrible pick 6 to try and placate Metcalf who was throwing a hissy fit on the sideline right before since they hadn't gotten him involved and completed barely over 40% of his throws.

 

For as great as he can be for long stretches he can be equally bad for long stretches as well which is really confounding to me. Probably why he has never received an MVP vote...an MVP cannot play that bad for long stretches of games and it seems to happen every year.

[Buffalo Boy]

3 hours ago, mattynh said:

Agreed, going into a playoff game it makes sense to use this more of an option than in the regular season.  However they made it a staple for no reason.  Passing the ball worked, they needed to stick with what got them here a little more.  A few runs, yes I'm good with that but there were a few too many.  Especially against a D that is fantastic vs the run and terrible vs the pass.

 

What I am about to say here is not Josh hate, I love what he has become, he has improved way more than I thought was possible but there is still room for improvement.  Josh tensed up in the 4th quarter and we saw some "bad Josh".   Earlier in the 4th he was throwing harder than normal, the ball that went through Brown's hands, the next to Beasley where there was good RAC opportunity but his bullet made him go to the ground to secure the catch.  We saw this a lot more in his first two years.  A lot of what has made him better this year is appropriate pace on the ball.  He wants to make a play on every play so when the defense puts him in a position where he is getting wrapped up he fights through, gets out and guess what, another guy shows up.  Sometimes you have to just take the sack.  Go back to the second half vs the Rams, they did this to him consistently, pressure up the middle and then there was a guy in his escape lane on the edge.   That is when bad things can happen.  On that down and distance, a sack was not the end of the world, a turnover is.  Having said all that, these types of plays happen way less frequently now and I think getting a win in a playoff game will help calm him down.  He can now build off the success of winning a playoff game.  

No disagreement on Josh getting a little too hyped up. That’s the whole point of “ Bad game” thread. This whole team needs to keep gaining experience and confidence. Still needs to study the tape and self scout but you KNOW he will.