Don’t miss running down the clock in the first half!

[Jammer8732]

I must say it’s refreshing having a head coach that doesn’t play each game “not to lose”. For so many years having a 14 point lead meant running down the clock with predictable play calling. No matter what quarter we were in. A victory or loss was decided on the final drive in way too many games. 
 

I love this coaching staff! Go bills!!

[K-9]

Great point. I was convinced McD was just gonna take a knee but damned if he didn’t let Josh go 50 yards and get us a FG. Masterful work by Josh and the offense there. 

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

I was 100% sure that Josh would get us into FG range on that drive so long as his receivers held onto the ball.  He was in total control.

[BillsFan130]

That was beautiful to watch 

[Ya Digg?]

Up until last year no one would’ve blamed McDermott For just taking a knee there-no QB in years had earned the trust of the head coach to try and get in field goal range. It’s obvious Josh has earned that trust and he showed why. There’s no question at this point that Josh is in the same category as Mahomes, Rodgers, Brady, and Wilson 

[Shaw66]

6 minutes ago, Ya Digg? said:

Up until last year no one would’ve blamed McDermott For just taking a knee there-no QB in years had earned the trust of the head coach to try and get in field goal range. It’s obvious Josh has earned that trust and he showed why. There’s no question at this point that Josh is in the same category as Mahomes, Rodgers, Brady, and Wilson 

This is really the point.  McDermott is not stupid.  He's a student of the game.  He knows that great teams have great QBs, and QBs distinguish themselves in those situations, such as Rodgers last night.  McDermott knows he has a guy who could be one of those guys, and the only way to find out is to get him position to show he can do it.   

 

When you're a bad team trying to get to mediocre, you're conservative.   It's the right strategy, from an analytics point of view.   When you're a good team trying to be the best, you're aggressive, for a couple of reasons:  You're good, so you're probabilities are better than most teams, not the league average.  Also, you're good, so you're better able to recover later if something goes wrong.  You figure you can afford to take the risk.  

 

McDermott knows what he has, and he knows what he has to do.  

[benderbender]

That last out pass for just a little more yardage was the icing on the cake. The wind was swirling, Bass looked like he appreciated it.

[CSBill]

I think a part of it was for practice purpose to give confidence for a future game situation where those three points will be needed. Regardless, it was great to see them go for it, and even better to get the 3 points.

[Rochesterfan]

1 hour ago, Jammer8732 said:

I must say it’s refreshing having a head coach that doesn’t play each game “not to lose”. For so many years having a 14 point lead meant running down the clock with predictable play calling. No matter what quarter we were in. A victory or loss was decided on the final drive in way too many games. 
 

I love this coaching staff! Go bills!!

 

The difference between this staff and other staffs is we finally have the QB and therefore the faith in the offense.  If you remember year 1 with Tyrod - they were always conservative to the point on this board people complained non stop about McD basically being Jauron.  Things like taking a knee or running out the clock, punting on 4th down no matter where on the field you are, and running the ball many times on both 1st down and any third and longs. 
 

Those were all things this staff did also - playing not to lose, but once they got their QB and started building - What a difference.  They can now play percentages because a turn-over on downs and any loss of field position does not change the offense.  I think they are even better when they have a longer field because Josh gets into rhythm.

 

This staff has done a great job adapting and choosing points to be aggressive and when to lay back.  I will be interested to see if they go a bit more conservative at some point - as they have struggled more this year on 4th downs and if that impacts the philosophy.

[Shaw66]

25 minutes ago, benderbender said:

That last out pass for just a little more yardage was the icing on the cake. The wind was swirling, Bass looked like he appreciated it.

This is a really good point.   I was at the game, and I was thinking, "what are you doing?  You don't have time to go deep, you're within range, something could go wrong.   McDermott would have none of that.   Go get six more yards or whatever, because we can.  It was an aggressive decision, they had the play and got closer for Bass.   That's trusting the QB. 

[beer]

Loved it. Never, ever, ever take your foot off the pedal in today's NFL 

[Jerome007]

It's weird in that I wasn't surprised at all, I just expected it. Without this thread I would have forgotten about it. The 3 time outs made it a must try IMO. The surprise was how easy they accomplished it.

[Shaw66]

24 minutes ago, Jerome007 said:

It's weird in that I wasn't surprised at all, I just expected it. Without this thread I would have forgotten about it. The 3 time outs made it a must try IMO. The surprise was how easy they accomplished it.

 

 

I didn't expect to see it.  I expected they'd struggle and stall, maybe find themselves managing the clock so as not to have give the ball back.  I knew they could do it, but I didn't expect it.  And I really didn't expect they could be so clinical about it, so efficient.   They knew exactly what they were doing.  It was impressive. 

[Jerome007]

15 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

 

 

I didn't expect to see it.  I expected they'd struggle and stall, maybe find themselves managing the clock so as not to have give the ball back.  I knew they could do it, but I didn't expect it.  And I really didn't expect they could be so clinical about it, so efficient.   They knew exactly what they were doing.  It was impressive. 

Well yes, I didn't expect t hem to do it as easily (TBH I kind of did, ha ha, call it arrogance). I meant I fully expected them to try. If the first one or two plays are a bust, kneel down. But with 3 time outs and this explosive an offense, I took for granted they'd try.

[Shaw66]

3 minutes ago, Jerome007 said:

Well yes, I didn't expect t hem to do it as easily (TBH I kind of did, ha ha, call it arrogance). I meant I fully expected them to try. If the first one or two plays are a bust, kneel down. But with 3 time outs and this explosive an offense, I took for granted they'd try.

Oh, yes, I agree about they'd try.   McDermott saw it as an opportunity to find out how his team works in that situation.  He knows he has the team that should be able to do it, so let's find out.   I didn't expect success.  That's where they blew me away.  Success, and it just wasn't all that hard. 

 

Think about this.  I know, it's a different situation, but Aaron Rodgers went 42 yards in 6 plays with 37 seconds.   Allen went 51 yards in 5 plays with 26 seconds.  Rodgers was fantastic, so what was Allen?

[Punching Bag]

32 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Oh, yes, I agree about they'd try.   McDermott saw it as an opportunity to find out how his team works in that situation.  He knows he has the team that should be able to do it, so let's find out.   I didn't expect success.  That's where they blew me away.  Success, and it just wasn't all that hard. 

 

We have seen it done to Bills defense.  It is hard to maintain defense when plays are fast and offense has seen how you defend the plays.   

[HappyDays]

Calling another play with 6 seconds on the clock is something you only do if you've practiced that exact situation dozens of times. I have no doubt McDermott knew that play would take exactly 4 seconds off the clock. He trusts Allen to get the ball out and Knox to find his way out of bounds or go right to the ground so a timeout can be called. Then Bass nails the kick like it was nothing. It's the kind of underrated sequence that exemplifies a coaching staff and roster firing on all cylinders.

Edited September 28, 2021 by HappyDays

[Dan]

That final 2 series of the half effectively ended WFT’s chance of winning.  They had just gotten the 2 “fluke” plays and in the span of about 3 minutes made it a one score game. 
 

The Bills responded.  They took to the field and methodically marched down and got a FG.  Then got the ball back with 26 seconds and with a few perfect passes, ended the half with another FG. And just like that, the game was back to a 2 score lead.
 

They never looked back.  It’s what we’ve seen so many teams do to us over the years when we had 7-9 teams and glimmers of hope.  They just took control of the game and effectively imposed their will.  It was beautiful to watch as a Bills fan. 

[Utah John]

I think McD did that to let his players realize they're good enough to pull that off.  

 

It's one thing to practice things, but to be in live situation like that with no margin for error, running several plays all working perfectly, lets the players look around at each other and say, damn, we really are good.

 

There's no price tag for that kind of reinforcement.

[GunnerBill]

7 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

This is really the point.  McDermott is not stupid.  He's a student of the game.  He knows that great teams have great QBs, and QBs distinguish themselves in those situations, such as Rodgers last night.  McDermott knows he has a guy who could be one of those guys, and the only way to find out is to get him position to show he can do it.   

 

When you're a bad team trying to get to mediocre, you're conservative.   It's the right strategy, from an analytics point of view.   When you're a good team trying to be the best, you're aggressive, for a couple of reasons:  You're good, so you're probabilities are better than most teams, not the league average.  Also, you're good, so you're better able to recover later if something goes wrong.  You figure you can afford to take the risk.  

 

McDermott knows what he has, and he knows what he has to do.  

 

Yep and this has always been my issue with the people who say "the numbers say you should go for it because X% convert". The teams with better offenses go for it more than the teams with bad offenses. They are not good offenses because they go for 4th downs. They go for 4th downs because they are good offenses. It's the same with points before the half. 13 points up at home with pretty much every other Quarterback of my fandom and under 30 seconds to go you might run a draw and see if you can pop one for 15-20 yards against a team expecting a pass and then try one shot to get into FG range, but you are not coming out throwing it straight away because the likelihood of something bad happening is higher.