Devin Singletary not scoring a TD with 34 seconds left

[slipkid]

19 minutes ago, chongli said:

 

I agree with your sentiment, but I was initially worried about the conditions. In light of what @PromoTheRobot said about how it was not icy, I now think McD made the right call,

Ultimately, I trust the snap on the field goal more than from Van Rotten. It’s worth noting that the kneel down came after a shotgun snap, not under center—gave Josh more time to recover a bad snap.

[Low Positive]

I think a lot of people complaining about this had financial reasons to want that TD.

[Roundybout]

Going down and taking the field goal was the best guarantee of a win. By giving them the ball back, you risk a loss. 

[chongli]

5 minutes ago, BCAS Baritone said:

Actually I was a little critical of the swiping they were doing.  The place to focus was the kicker's plant foot and where he was standing before the kick - and while the plant area was clear, he was still standing in snow at the snap.

 

Something they can coach up for future home games.

 

Certainly the effort was highly praiseworthy.

 

Agree 100%! I said the same thing on page 2. You clear the kicker's entire run path, plus an extra foot around that. (And the holder's area too if there is time for that.)

Edited December 18, 2022 by chongli

[Freddie's Dead]

I gave Motor a game ball just because of this play.  Downing himself before scoring a TD is 4D chess!

[frostbitmic]

21 minutes ago, nkreed said:

I'm not sure, but I think he was bordering on the edge of a penalty, as he was pulled by another lineman back to the huddle. Then after he went back again! 🤣😂🤣

Wait a minute, you saw it? I have watched the replay tons of times and still can't find the ball! I had no clue until I saw the officials put up their arms.

I could only tell it went through by the reaction of the fans.

 

 

[Bob Jones]

1 hour ago, Rubes said:

Why? The Dolphins had one timeout left and the Bills had another play to run, so everyone knew they would be able to run the clock out before trying the FG. It didn’t matter at all.

 

The most obvious answer is that they wouldn't be forced to kick the FG on 4th down. Get the 1st down, run a play (same play they ran on 3rd down), then stop the clock with the TO at about 10 seconds and kick the FG. That way, if there was a bad snap, a bad handle by Martin, or a slip/bad approach by Bass, they'd have a second chance at the FG. The latter would leave about 4-5 seconds (if the first FG try is good) on the clock. Then squib the kickoff and it's over.

[Fetou]

The Dolphins were trying to let him score. That really says it all in terms of which way gives them a better chance to win 

[Punching Bag]

When I saw the play I spoke aloud "smart play".  

Players often play for stats and acclamations and this is contrary to instincts.

 

There will be very few highlights of this play and he is in last year of contract. 

Hopefully whatever team considering signing him will be cognizant of the situation in this game. 

[OldTimer1960]

That has worked 2x this year, but what it says to me is that the staff doesn’t trust the defense to be able to hold a lead for 34 seconds.  That’s a pretty harsh indictment of the defense without Miller.

[KHAN]

1 hour ago, chongli said:

 Apparently, Mark Sanchez was critical of Motor's decision to kneel at the four yard line.

Here's the thing.

 

At first  he was critical of the Bills for not taking the points. Called it "arrogant".

 

Then he criticized Motor for not at least getting the first down. He was corrected by the play by play guy that with only one time out left for Miami that point was totally wrong.

 

He then (and this is the best part) said that it would been better for Miami to pull Motor in to the end zone so they would at least have some time left to try to score. This totally contradicts his first criticism of the Bills.  That's a lot of fail in a very short period of time.

 

 

Survey Says: Mr. Butt Fumble sucks at QB and announcing.

[vincec]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

It wasn't icy. It was fresh snow that was swept away to kick a chip spot. It was how you do it.

 

 

 

The way receivers were sliding around at the end, and everyone after the game, I'd say the footing was not ideal. I could totally see Bass slipping or the wet ball going through the holders hands or something. It's probably a 50-50 call, IMO. But with either choice, the Bills probably have a 95% chance to win so you can't really criticize and it would take a major gaffe to lose.

[KHAN]

2 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

That has worked 2x this year, but what it says to me is that the staff doesn’t trust the defense to be able to hold a lead for 34 seconds.  That’s a pretty harsh indictment of the defense without Miller.

LOL

 

Giving a team no time is always > giving a team time.

[LABILLBACKER]

I thought it was brilliant.  Run the clock down to :02 and let our reliable kicker make a very short 22 yarder. There wasn't that much snow on the field. The way our defense was playing last night, the kickoff would've been returned to the 40 and Hill or Waddle would've just burned someone on a deep play. Look how far KC traveled in :13.  Bravo Motor

[stevestojan]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

It wasn't icy. It was fresh snow that was swept away to kick a chip spot. It was how you do it.

 

 

 

It seemed pretty slick when Bass dove and slid for about 8 yards. 

[OldTimer1960]

11 minutes ago, KHAN said:

LOL

 

Giving a team no time is always > giving a team time.

You understand that a fg -even that short - isn’t a 100%.  Bad snaps, kicker slipping or a fg block can all happen.  Imagine how dumb that looks if any of those things had occurred.  Answering that “they made the kick” misses the point.  
 

If you have a good playoff caliber defense, you should not be afraid of defending with a 7 point lead for 34 seconds - especially when the opponent has no timeouts.  Yes, Miami has some outstanding and fast WRs, but come on…

Edited December 18, 2022 by OldTimer1960

[Chicken Boo]

1 hour ago, ArtVandalay said:

Regardless of your thoughts whether he should have scored the TD, it was an absolutely bonehead play to go down short of the first. 

 

It was a 2nd down run and there were 20 something seconds left on the clock.  The first down didn't really matter there.

 

Bass is pretty money.  There's no reason he shouldn't make that short of a kick unless it's blocked.  

[stevestojan]

26 minutes ago, FrenchConnection said:

I think a lot of people complaining about this had financial reasons to want that TD.

Nope. I just thought back to all the weird ways we’ve lost games and thought of a fumble, a missed kicked, or my mind went to the worst - a blocked kick returned for a score to end it. 
 

Not scoring a gimme TD with 30 seconds left in the snow concerns me that those brutal beats are also in McDs head - he just imagined an even worse scenario: we score to go up 7 with 30 seconds and the Dolphins score a TD and take it to OT and win. 

In the end, it worked. But having any hesitancy that you’re defense can’t stop a TD from ***** Tua in snow with 30 seconds is a bit concerning. 

 

 

[Spiderweb]

1 hour ago, JTown said:

I don't get it.  Yes it worked in our favor this time however,  with the field conditions deteriorating.   The field goal was NOT a given.   What would we be feeling like today if Bass slipped,  missed or the FG was blocked.  IMO,  I would have liked to see Singletary score and defend the 34 seconds in those weather conditions. 

The point here is clearly being missed. It forced Miami to burn their final time out. Thus allowing Allen to take an knee and run the clock down to 2 seconds before the kick. Fear of "13 secs" rearing it's ugly head may have been in play as well.

[Boatdrinks]

1 hour ago, billsbackto81 said:

It worked but I thought it was the wrong play. That decision was all about Tyreek Hill taking up real estate in McD's head. This was not Mahomes in Arrowhead in favorable conditions. It's Tua in Buffalo on snow. If you can't stop that from scoring a TD with less than a minute and no timeouts then we'll you're not a championship team. 

 

Of course it's JMHO, glad it worked out.

Couldn’t disagree more. A championship team doesn’t worry about executing a short field goal. That is expected. Hill is the fastest player on the field, and the conditions would have been more of a factor trying to cover him. He could score from anywhere on the field in just seconds. Choosing to kick the FG over covering Hill was a no- brainer. If they’d kicked off to the Dolphins you would probably have been livid at McD as Hill blazed down the sideline. Easiest decision ever from where they were on the field. 

[chongli]

13 minutes ago, KHAN said:

Here's the thing.

 

At first  he was critical of the Bills for not taking the points. Called it "arrogant".

 

Then he criticized Motor for not at least getting the first down. He was corrected by the play by play guy that with only one time out left for Miami that point was totally wrong.

 

He then (and this is the best part) said that it would been better for Miami to pull Motor in to the end zone so they would at least have some time left to try to score. This totally contradicts his first criticism of the Bills.  That's a lot of fail in a very short period of time.

 

 

Survey Says: Mr. Butt Fumble sucks at QB and announcing.

 

So he did a complete reversal from saying the Bils should have scored to saying no, but the Dolphins should have dragged him in, lol!

[KHAN]

4 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

You understand that a fig -even that short - isn’t a 100%.  Bad snaps, kicker slipping or a fog block can all happen.  Imagine how dumb that looks if any of those things had occurred.  Answering that “they made the kick” misses the point.  
 

If you have a good playoff caliber defense, you should not be afraid of defending with a 7 point lead for 34 seconds - especially when the opponent has no timeouts.  Yes, Miami has some outstanding and fast WRs, but come on…

Bass is 98.2% on extra points. This field goal was 10 yards shorter than that.

 

So yes, I agree that there was a less than 2% chance that that would fail. You win.

 

 

[buffblue]

It was 100% the right play. The opportunity to run the clock down to zero and kick a very high percentage GW field goal was much more preferrable to giving Miami the ball back. Even in the unlikely event of a miss, the game would still go to OT 

[OldTimer1960]

1 minute ago, KHAN said:

Bass is 98.2% on extra points. This field goal was 10 yards shorter than that.

 

So yes, I agree that there was a less than 2% chance that that would fail. You win.

 

 

So, what should probability that Miami can score a TD with no timeouts and 34 seconds be?

[North Buffalo]

I was a little shocked but agree with the decision... you control the ball the clock and the game.. possession is 9/10th of winning.

[Breakout Squad]

1 hour ago, JTown said:

I don't get it.  Yes it worked in our favor this time however,  with the field conditions deteriorating.   The field goal was NOT a given.   What would we be feeling like today if Bass slipped,  missed or the FG was blocked.  IMO,  I would have liked to see Singletary score and defend the 34 seconds in those weather conditions. 

The FG was absolutely the right decision. 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

20 minutes ago, KHAN said:

Here's the thing.

 

At first  he was critical of the Bills for not taking the points. Called it "arrogant".

 

Then he criticized Motor for not at least getting the first down. He was corrected by the play by play guy that with only one time out left for Miami that point was totally wrong.

 

He then (and this is the best part) said that it would been better for Miami to pull Motor in to the end zone so they would at least have some time left to try to score. This totally contradicts his first criticism of the Bills.  That's a lot of fail in a very short period of time.

 

 

Survey Says: Mr. Butt Fumble sucks at QB and announcing.

Sanchez is stupid. He has no business calling games. 

[Boatdrinks]

22 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

That has worked 2x this year, but what it says to me is that the staff doesn’t trust the defense to be able to hold a lead for 34 seconds.  That’s a pretty harsh indictment of the defense without Miller.

The game is about winning, not defensive bravado. The percentages favored a kick in that situation so that was the strategy chosen. Why tempt fate with Tyreek Hill ? 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

4 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

So, what should probability that Miami can score a TD with no timeouts and 34 seconds be?

I would argue far grater than 2%. Maybe only 5 or 10% chance but still way higher than Bass missing. Miami already had a TD on broken coverage once. Plus a FG miss at worst leaves OT. If Miami had scored a TD they could play for win with 2pt conversion.  

Absolutely right decision to play for and kick game winning FG.

[KHAN]

3 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

So, what should probability that Miami can score a TD with no timeouts and 34 seconds be?

 

 

The point is that when the option they chose (that worked perfectly) has such a high probability of success, arguing vehemently for the other choice doesn't make sense.

[Joe Ferguson forever]

absolutely the right thing to do.  He was going to get hit and could have fumbled as well.

[OldTimer1960]

1 minute ago, Boatdrinks said:

The game is about winning, not defensive bravado. The percentages favored a kick in that situation so that was the strategy chosen. Why tempt fate with Tyreek Hill ? 

I’m not talking about defensive bravado.  Singletary could have scored easily and given them a 7 point lead which should be insurmountable at that point with Miami having no timeouts.

1 minute ago, KHAN said:

 

 

The point is that when the option they chose (that worked perfectly) has such a high probability of success, arguing vehemently for the other choice doesn't make sense.

My point was that the strategy shows that they don’t trust their defense.  It was the right strategy if they don’t trust the d.

[Solomon Grundy]

1 hour ago, ArtVandalay said:

Regardless of your thoughts whether he should have scored the TD, it was an absolutely bonehead play to go down short of the first. 

Dolphins had NO TOs. They couldn't stop the clock. I saw no problem there

[OldTimer1960]

4 minutes ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

I would argue far grater than 2%. Maybe only 5 or 10% chance but still way higher than Bass missing. Miami already had a TD on broken coverage once. Plus a FG miss at worst leaves OT. If Miami had scored a TD they could play for win with 2pt conversion.  

Absolutely right decision to play for and kick game winning FG.

That is exactly my point, they don’t trust the defense.

[KHAN]

3 minutes ago, OldTimer1960 said:

I’m not talking about defensive bravado.  Singletary could have scored easily and given them a 7 point lead which should be insurmountable at that point with Miami having no timeouts.

My point was that the strategy shows that they don’t trust their defense.  It was the right strategy if they don’t trust the d.

I understand your point.  I'll just move along now. Merry Christmas.

[Breakout Squad]

13 minutes ago, buffblue said:

It was 100% the right play. The opportunity to run the clock down to zero and kick a very high percentage GW field goal was much more preferrable to giving Miami the ball back. Even in the unlikely event of a miss, the game would still go to OT 

A-men. Thank you. 

[Boatdrinks]

Just now, OldTimer1960 said:

I’m not talking about defensive bravado.  Singletary could have scored easily and given them a 7 point lead which should be insurmountable at that point with Miami having no timeouts.

Timeouts become less relevant with Hill on the field. He can outrun anyone playing defense in the league. Especially in conditions that were worsening. The kick was the obvious play as it would take place within seconds. Who knows how much worse the weather would have been after the commercial timeouts following a TD? One defender slips and Hill scores. You’re overthinking this. 

[Rochesterfan]

28 minutes ago, KHAN said:

Here's the thing.

 

At first  he was critical of the Bills for not taking the points. Called it "arrogant".

 

Then he criticized Motor for not at least getting the first down. He was corrected by the play by play guy that with only one time out left for Miami that point was totally wrong.

 

He then (and this is the best part) said that it would been better for Miami to pull Motor in to the end zone so they would at least have some time left to try to score. This totally contradicts his first criticism of the Bills.  That's a lot of fail in a very short period of time.

 

 

Survey Says: Mr. Butt Fumble sucks at QB and announcing.

 

Totally agree Sanchez covered the gambit and sounded like an idiot.  
 

He finally got it right at the end - the Dolphins should have tried to drag him to the end zone and tried knocking the ball out.

 

The Ravens did both and almost were rewarded with a Singletary fumble, but the Dolphins are not nearly as well coached.

 

 

[BuffaloBill]

The only tricky tacky thing is that he could have gotten the first down.  It was absolutely the right call.  The fins have way too much speed on offense to give them any chance at a final play in regulation.

[Joe Ferguson forever]

also, whether you agree with the decision or not or not, the execution of McD's orders was perfect