Giuseppe Tognarelli Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 This game could have played out differently. Looking back on it 48 hours later, a different decision before halftime could have changed the game. None of this "what if" scenario even factors in the Singletary drop or the idea of the defense just getting one stop on one of KC's scoring drives. 0:11 - 2nd. 4th & Goal at KC 2. Bills go for it and score, kick XP. 5:49 - 3rd. 4th & 3 at KC 8. Bills go for it and score, kick XP. 13:20 - 4th. 2nd & 10 at KC 20. John Brown catches the ball at KC 12. Bills go on to score and convert two-point conversion. 31-31. In real life, Chiefs and Bills then traded TDs. 38-38, ball to Chiefs at 4:08 - 4th. The Bills could have done this. Imagine: they then get an interception, throw a strike and go up 45-38. Defense holds on final possession. Bills go to Super Bowl. It's very easy to imagine it playing out this way. It could have played out this way, with the players we currently have and despite the game plan leaving much to be desired on both sides of the ball. The whole "KC would've responded differently if we had scored those TDs" rebuttal won't really work, because KC scored on all of their possessions surrounding these anyway and I haven't taken any points away from them here. If anything, our offense getting TDs might have sparked our defense to come up with a stop. I think if we play this game 10 times, we win 3 or so. 1 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfanmiamioh Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Make believe is fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BADOLBILZ Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Playing scared was a bad decision...........I gave McD too much credit........I really didn't expect him to actually turtle up like that again. Guess the lessons learned in the WC last year and in so many unnecessarily close games earlier this season were lost after a long winning streak that coincided with an aggressive mindset. Sounds like McD regrets it so hopefully lesson is hardwired in now. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Generic_Bills_Fan Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 11 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said: Playing scared was a bad decision...........I gave McD too much credit........I really didn't expect him to actually turtle up like that again. Guess the lessons learned in the WC last year and in so many unnecessarily close games earlier this season were lost after a long winning streak that coincided with an aggressive mindset. Sounds like McD regrets it so hopefully lesson is hardwired in now. I think he just had absolutely no confidence we'd convert those 4th downs after we used that nice 4th down play earlier in the game...he had to know our defense wasn't stopping anyone lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnNord Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 1 hour ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said: This game could have played out differently. Looking back on it 48 hours later, a different decision before halftime could have changed the game. None of this "what if" scenario even factors in the Singletary drop or the idea of the defense just getting one stop on one of KC's scoring drives. 0:11 - 2nd. 4th & Goal at KC 2. Bills go for it and score, kick XP. 5:49 - 3rd. 4th & 3 at KC 8. Bills go for it and score, kick XP. 13:20 - 4th. 2nd & 10 at KC 20. John Brown catches the ball at KC 12. Bills go on to score and convert two-point conversion. 31-31. In real life, Chiefs and Bills then traded TDs. 38-38, ball to Chiefs at 4:08 - 4th. The Bills could have done this. Imagine: they then get an interception, throw a strike and go up 45-38. Defense holds on final possession. Bills go to Super Bowl. It's very easy to imagine it playing out this way. It could have played out this way, with the players we currently have and despite the game plan leaving much to be desired on both sides of the ball. The whole "KC would've responded differently if we had scored those TDs" rebuttal won't really work, because KC scored on all of their possessions surrounding these anyway and I haven't taken any points away from them here. If anything, our offense getting TDs might have sparked our defense to come up with a stop. I think if we play this game 10 times, we win 3 or so. It’s a stretch to think that even if we did go for it on all those possessions that we’d convert on every single one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zow2 Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 people like to Monday morning QB this to death. but I don’t think we convert either 4th down. i don’t even think Allen gets a clean pass off and if he does our receivers we’re blanketed. Go ahead and kill McDermott, but we lose that game 10 out of 10 times. Chiefs are just better right now, and beat us twice to prove the point. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie's Dead Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 If the Queen had balls, she'd be King. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Johnson Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 If we had a good goal line play and shown some evidence that we could execute it, McDermott would have gone for it. I didn't like the FGs better than anyone else, but the truth is they weren't likely to convert. The FGs just delayed the inevitable. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nextmanup Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Nah. We were outclassed by a substantially better team. You can slice and dice how you want, we would lose to that team 5 out of 5 times. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshAllin Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Both games they played with kc, it never looked close they way kc drove the ball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJS Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 What if lightning struck Tyreek Hill because God was angry that he is such a douche? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frostbitmic Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 We did score before the half, we got a FG ... 5 more FGs and we would've won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
machine gun kelly Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 Ifs and Buts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewEra Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 1 hour ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said: I think he just had absolutely no confidence we'd convert those 4th downs after we used that nice 4th down play earlier in the game...he had to know our defense wasn't stopping anyone lol But he had confidence in stopping the chiefs!! Bwhahaha. He put the game in the defenses hands and he laid the price. He shriveled up and took the ball away from the guy that got you here and let the D decide the game. In a game where the Frazier and d was being eaten alive by Reid. I was shocked when he kicked the 2nd fg. The first one I thought “stopping the bleeding. A definite Mcdermott thing to do”. I didn’t agree with it, but I was shocked tne 2nd fg was lunacy. going for 2 to cut the lead to 15 when we could’ve gone down 16 .......what was I missing? How was that a good idea. I was flummoxed. Still am. hopefully he continues to evolve as a HC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Generic_Bills_Fan Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 34 minutes ago, NewEra said: But he had confidence in stopping the chiefs!! Bwhahaha. He put the game in the defenses hands and he laid the price. He shriveled up and took the ball away from the guy that got you here and let the D decide the game. In a game where the Frazier and d was being eaten alive by Reid. I was shocked when he kicked the 2nd fg. The first one I thought “stopping the bleeding. A definite Mcdermott thing to do”. I didn’t agree with it, but I was shocked tne 2nd fg was lunacy. going for 2 to cut the lead to 15 when we could’ve gone down 16 .......what was I missing? How was that a good idea. I was flummoxed. Still am. hopefully he continues to evolve as a HC Oh no he had no confidence in anything 🤣...maybe he figured we could stop them on a couple drives if we kept everything in front of us but we couldn't even do that lol They just straight up whooped us across the board...idk why I thought they were just going through the motions assuming they were gonna skate into the super bowl and we were gonna catch them napping lol they were all over us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QCity Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 What if the Chiefs don't fumble that kick and gift us that TD? It would be a laughable blowout that wouldn't have anyone playing these silly what-if games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giuseppe Tognarelli Posted January 27, 2021 Author Share Posted January 27, 2021 Of course it's a stretch (because it didn't happen!), of course it's make believe, of course it's a "What if" scenario. The thread title does begin with "What if..." But those three scenarios could've easily played out differently, obviously -- they were a lot closer to happening than Hill being struck by lightning or the Queen growing balls. Looking at the drive chart, it's easy to see a lot closer of a game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurman#1 Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 (edited) First, how could John Brown have caught that ball. It was deflected. The Athletic put an article up about it. The bottom line is that the reason most of those plays you are talking about fell for the Chiefs is that the Chiefs were better. More experienced, and they had Kelce and Hill and nobody can guard both, much less when Mahomes is the one throwing to them. I wanted them to go for that. But it wasn't the reason things happened the way they did. IMO if we'd gotten closer the Chiefs could have stepped it up. I think if they played 10 games we might win one, maybe. Maybe. Edited January 27, 2021 by Thurman#1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Royale with Cheese Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 What if Patrick Mahomes actually had a concussion? What if the Bills drafted Rosen? What if Kelly actually played Linebacker at Penn State? What if Michael Jordan just stuck with baseball as a kid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg S Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 KC was/is a better team right now. The Bills had a fantastic season but their is a gap between the Chiefs and Bills that Beane/McDermott must close if the Bills want to beat KC in the playoffs. Even if the Bills scored a TD before half they still would have lost the game. KC outplayed them. Simple as that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Romes Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 The Singletary drop with the score 9-7 is particularly mind-numbing. We are in FG range and answering their score if he simply just doesn’t drop the ball and we show RB pass catching threat. I couldn’t believe it when it happened and 9 plays later the game was indeed nearly over. They get to tee off on third and long. Then a 5 play TD drive. Then a 3 and out while our O pressing. Disgusting drop. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_Formerly_of_Roch Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 9 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said: I think he just had absolutely no confidence we'd convert those 4th downs after we used that nice 4th down play earlier in the game...he had to know our defense wasn't stopping anyone lol I agree and I'm saying that in a good way. Based on what we displayed on the 1st 3 downs, it wasn't very likely we would score, so kicking the FG still kept us a little closer so that if we did finally figure things out and could look like the team that played all season, maybe then could get back into it. All the comments about playing scared and didn't learn anything after being aggressive all season, it was a different team all season, a team that couldn't be stopped and likely never would have got to 4th down as would have already scored on 2nd down. But not Sunday, that team couldn't do anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mcbride Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 9 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said: Playing scared was a bad decision...........I gave McD too much credit........I really didn't expect him to actually turtle up like that again. Guess the lessons learned in the WC last year and in so many unnecessarily close games earlier this season were lost after a long winning streak that coincided with an aggressive mindset. Sounds like McD regrets it so hopefully lesson is hardwired in now. I thought the FG at the end of the half was the correct call, but not the second one. They (especially Allen) looked lost in that goal-to-go sequence, and the Chiefs had them figured out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_Formerly_of_Roch Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 7 hours ago, NewEra said: going for 2 to cut the lead to 15 when we could’ve gone down 16 .......what was I missing? How was that a good idea. I was flummoxed. Still am. Guess I don't understand the difference? Before we scored the TD we were 23 points behind so needed to score 3 TD's and on two of them needed to convert the 2 point conversion to tie. So what difference does it make if we went for and made the 2 pointer on the 1st two TD's or the last two? You could argue going for it on the first two TD's scored makes the most sense as then you know where you are, once they missed they then knew they'd need 2 more TD's plus a FG. If they kick after the first TD, get the two on the 2nd TD, now they come down score another TD with 20 seconds left, go for two and fail, there's no time left to do anything else. The sooner in the game you know what you need to do to come back the better. Here's an except from one article and if you Google, you can find a dozen other articles all basically stating the same, go for it early: Knowledge is power. You need to get a two-point conversion at some point, and knowing whether you’re going to convert is important information. There is no reasonable reason not to go for 2 after your first touchdown. Yes, missing out on the two-point conversion earlier could be demoralizing. But what would you call missing out on a two-point conversion with 5 seconds left when trailing by 2? https://www.footballperspective.com/trailing-by-15-in-the-middle-of-the-4th-quarter-teams-are-foolish-to-not-go-for-2-after-touchdowns/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewEra Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 4 minutes ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said: Guess I don't understand the difference? Before we scored the TD we were 23 points behind so needed to score 3 TD's and on two of them needed to convert the 2 point conversion to tie. So what difference does it make if we went for and made the 2 pointer on the 1st two TD's or the last two? You could argue going for it on the first two TD's scored makes the most sense as then you know where you are, once they missed they then knew they'd need 2 more TD's plus a FG. If they kick after the first TD, get the two on the 2nd TD, now they come down score another TD with 20 seconds left, go for two and fail, there's no time left to do anything else. The sooner in the game you know what you need to do to come back the better. Here's an except from one article and if you Google, you can find a dozen other articles all basically stating the same, go for it early: Knowledge is power. You need to get a two-point conversion at some point, and knowing whether you’re going to convert is important information. There is no reasonable reason not to go for 2 after your first touchdown. Yes, missing out on the two-point conversion earlier could be demoralizing. But what would you call missing out on a two-point conversion with 5 seconds left when trailing by 2? https://www.footballperspective.com/trailing-by-15-in-the-middle-of-the-4th-quarter-teams-are-foolish-to-not-go-for-2-after-touchdowns/ It gives the player more hope. Hope is what drives every them. I get your point and I thought about that when it happened. I just don’t agree with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mcbride Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 11 hours ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said: This game could have played out differently. Looking back on it 48 hours later, a different decision before halftime could have changed the game. None of this "what if" scenario even factors in the Singletary drop or the idea of the defense just getting one stop on one of KC's scoring drives. 0:11 - 2nd. 4th & Goal at KC 2. Bills go for it and score, kick XP. 5:49 - 3rd. 4th & 3 at KC 8. Bills go for it and score, kick XP. 13:20 - 4th. 2nd & 10 at KC 20. John Brown catches the ball at KC 12. Bills go on to score and convert two-point conversion. 31-31. In real life, Chiefs and Bills then traded TDs. 38-38, ball to Chiefs at 4:08 - 4th. The Bills could have done this. Imagine: they then get an interception, throw a strike and go up 45-38. Defense holds on final possession. Bills go to Super Bowl. It's very easy to imagine it playing out this way. It could have played out this way, with the players we currently have and despite the game plan leaving much to be desired on both sides of the ball. The whole "KC would've responded differently if we had scored those TDs" rebuttal won't really work, because KC scored on all of their possessions surrounding these anyway and I haven't taken any points away from them here. If anything, our offense getting TDs might have sparked our defense to come up with a stop. I think if we play this game 10 times, we win 3 or so. Can we end the fiction that Brown “dropped” the pass? It was a bad decision by Allen and he was completely covered: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern_Bills Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 KC could have hung 50 if they tried IMO. Playing more aggressive on 4th downs and forcing them to do so obviously gives you a better chance. I don't think the outcome of the game necessarily changes. I would have went for every 4th down against Mahomes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloBobs Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 8 hours ago, NewEra said: going for 2 to cut the lead to 15 when we could’ve gone down 16 .......what was I missing? How was that a good idea. I was flummoxed. Still am. hopefully he continues to evolve as a HC That made sense to me. Either way you're going to need the two point conversion, so it makes sense to go for it earlier. That way if you don't get it, you have more time to adjust rather than to wait and not get it later in the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewEra Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 4 minutes ago, BuffaloBobs said: That made sense to me. Either way you're going to need the two point conversion, so it makes sense to go for it earlier. That way if you don't get it, you have more time to adjust rather than to wait and not get it later in the game. Cool. Didn’t make sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_Formerly_of_Roch Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 52 minutes ago, dave mcbride said: Can we end the fiction that Brown “dropped” the pass? It was a bad decision by Allen and he was completely covered: Most of the articles I've read all blame Brown for running a poor route. That he shouldn't have been covered that tight if he had fought thru it. But he didn't and Allen expected him to get open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave mcbride Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 25 minutes ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said: Most of the articles I've read all blame Brown for running a poor route. That he shouldn't have been covered that tight if he had fought thru it. But he didn't and Allen expected him to get open. My inexpert take: that was a pretty bad play design and no one was open. Easy for me to say, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BADOLBILZ Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 12 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said: I think he just had absolutely no confidence we'd convert those 4th downs after we used that nice 4th down play earlier in the game...he had to know our defense wasn't stopping anyone lol Josh Allen with the ball in his hands should have been enough confidence for them. Again, hopefully lesson learned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Ferguson Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 We'd lose to Brady anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ethan in Cleveland Posted January 27, 2021 Share Posted January 27, 2021 KC is a better team. The Singletary drop was a killer. I can't remember the exact drive but the game was still in reach nad it would have been a certain first down and possibly a lot more. Josh caught them on a blitz and made a perfect throw. Could have been a really big play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts