4th and 6

[Jamone]

Does McDermott not know math? He is u questionably the worst situational football coach in the league. Down 17 on 4th and 6 with however many minutes left he goes for a low probability conversation. Should have taken the points made it a 2 score game. With the weather conditions you go for the onside kick and have a much higher chance of recovering. They should hire a coach whose only duty is to decide whether to challenge or not, take timeouts and decide on 4th down conversions vs points. Then McDermott can just stand on the sideline and clap. He clearly doesn’t light a fire under any coordinator it’s sickening… rant over. ✌️ 

[Lost]

I think the biggest mistake of the game was not taking the opening kickoff before field conditions worsened.   Had the Bills got the ball and marched down the field first and scored it might have boosted the morale of the team enough to make the game more competitive.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Lost

[Houston's #1 Bills Fan]

Also, the 3rd and 2 and we're going for the long bomb!?!?!! Didn't we learn ANYTHING from last weeks game??????

[Billsfan1972]

6 minutes ago, Houston's #1 Bills Fan said:

Also, the 3rd and 2 and we're going for the long bomb!?!?!! Didn't we learn ANYTHING from last weeks game??????

And Gabe dropped another one.  But yes get the first down, like Burrow did all game.  YAC....

[Mango]

1 minute ago, Billsfan1972 said:

And Gabe dropped another one.  But yes get the first down, like Burrow did all game.  YAC....

Gabe gets targeted a lot on low percentage throws. He has a lower catch percentage because of it. 
 

That should have been a catch. But he also deserves some more slack than he gets. 

[Thrivefourfive]

Absolutely get the points, when you need the points to mathematically win the game in a situation. He didn’t. Who’s adding up all his mistakes to President to brass for season ending evaluation? Please don’t tell me they just let the HC, GM propagandize their performances to the owners..?

[Wyobills89]

50 seconds left before half and we don't use a single time out, if we could of scored and made it 17-10 17-14 before half we could of maybe done something. Just at a loss, not our day sucks. Lots of things always seem wrong after a loss. Always seem to struggle in the elements. 

[Nextmanup]

12 minutes ago, Lost said:

I think the biggest mistake of the game was not taking the opening kickoff before field conditions worsened.   Had the Bills got the ball and marched down the field first and scored it might have boosted the morale of the team enough to make the game more competitive.

Honestly, these 2 teams were so mismatched today, I don't think something like that would have altered the outcome of the game.  

2 minutes ago, Mango said:

Gabe gets targeted a lot on low percentage throws. He has a lower catch percentage because of it. 
 

That should have been a catch. But he also deserves some more slack than he gets. 

He also just flat out drops balls that hit him in the hands.

 

 

[SirAndrew]

11 minutes ago, Lost said:

I think the biggest mistake of the game was not taking the opening kickoff before field conditions worsened.   Had the Bills got the ball and marched down the field first and scored it might have boosted the morale of the team enough to make the game more competitive.

I don’t fully blame McD, because deferring the coin toss is the call in today’s analytics driven league. I do agree that it wouldn’t have been a bad move. There’s times when offensive driven teams should take the ball first. Gaining momentum with a first drive score can be huge in these games, but it doesn’t seem to be valued. 

[bobobonators]

I would’ve gone for it end of 2nd quarter instead of punting it away. We lost all momentum. It would’ve been a gamble for sure - but we needed to score points this game bc we weren’t stopping Cincy on defense. 
 

Not putting up any points to make it a one score game at half really killed any possible momentum imo. 

Edited January 23, 2023 by bobobonators

[Yobogoya!]

13 minutes ago, Houston's #1 Bills Fan said:

Also, the 3rd and 2 and we're going for the long bomb!?!?!! Didn't we learn ANYTHING from last weeks game??????

We talk about learning from our mistakes a lot for a team that doesn’t ever seem to change anything throughout the year. 

[Dr.Sack]

The Bills entire game drive results

 

1st half: Punt, Punt, TD, Punt. 
2nd half: FG, Punt, Downs, Pick.

 

drive 1 Punt (pass 10’ beyond Diggs)

drive 2 Punt (pass to Singletary short right)

drive 3 TD (Allen rush TD) 

drive 4 Punt (pass 15’ over Diggs sideline)

drive 5  FG (pass to Knox off target) 

drive 6 Punt (pass to Davis drop)

drive 7 Downs (pass to Davis in endzone)

drive 8 Pick (deep pass to Beas picked) 

Edited January 23, 2023 by Dr.Sack
Downs vs Punt

[ChrisWatson#21]

Shoulda canned McDermott and kept Dabol. 

[Big Turk]

26 minutes ago, Houston's #1 Bills Fan said:

Also, the 3rd and 2 and we're going for the long bomb!?!?!! Didn't we learn ANYTHING from last weeks game??????

 

That our receivers drop the ball too much when Allen hits them in the hands perfectly?

 

Perfect throw, it needed to be caught.

[CoudyBills]

9 minutes ago, Dr.Sack said:

The Bills entire game drive results

 

1st half: Punt, Punt, TD, Punt. 
2nd half: FG, Punt, Downs, Pick.

 

drive 1 Punt (pass 10’ beyond Diggs)

drive 2 Punt (pass to Singletary short right)

drive 3 TD (Allen rush TD) 

drive 4 Punt (pass 15’ over Diggs sideline)

drive 5  FG (pass to Knox off target) 

drive 6 Punt (pass to Davis drop)

drive 7 Punt (pass to Davis in endzone)

drive 8 Pick (deep pass to Beas picked) 

The antithesis of last year's perfect game

[Epstein's Mother]

27 minutes ago, Jamone said:

Does McDermott not know math? He is u questionably the worst situational football coach in the league. Down 17 on 4th and 6 with however many minutes left he goes for a low probability conversation. Should have taken the points made it a 2 score game. With the weather conditions you go for the onside kick and have a much higher chance of recovering. They should hire a coach whose only duty is to decide whether to challenge or not, take timeouts and decide on 4th down conversions vs points. Then McDermott can just stand on the sideline and clap. He clearly doesn’t light a fire under any coordinator it’s sickening… rant over. ✌️ 

 

The Bengals at that point in the game had possessed the ball 7 times and the Bills had forced exactly one punt.  On the other possessions they had scored 3 touchdowns, 2 field goals and one Hail Mary to end the half.  The simple fact is the only thing that was going to make a possible difference at that point in the game was scoring a touchdown.  McD knew his defense had not been able to stop Cincy all day and they probably weren't going to magically come up with a solution.

[QLBillsFan]

I think when he punted on 4th and 2 down 24-10 before the Bengals killed clock and got a fg was when it was over. I’d take JA on 4th and 2 vs this D to get a three and out. Who cares at that point if they score another TD. Game was essentially over by not going for it. 

1 hour ago, Wyobills89 said:

50 seconds left before half and we don't use a single time out, if we could of scored and made it 17-10 17-14 before half we could of maybe done something. Just at a loss, not our day sucks. Lots of things always seem wrong after a loss. Always seem to struggle in the elements. 

Yes a draw and use TO’s. But with motor only as Cook seemed to be on skates… 

[Motorin']

4th and 6 from the 16 and all of the recievers run to the endzone.

 

It wasn't 4th and goal... What kind of play call was that? 

[The Frankish Reich]

5 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

4th and 6 from the 16 and all of the recievers run to the endzone.

 

It wasn't 4th and goal... What kind of play call was that? 

A Dorsey kind of play call.

[GolfandBills]

18 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

4th and 6 from the 16 and all of the recievers run to the endzone.

 

It wasn't 4th and goal... What kind of play call was that? 

It’s just run around and hopefully Allen doesn’t get killed and makes a play 

[Cursed]

I think there are certain teams that use data analytics to their benefit when making calls like this.  Then, there are certain teams that have all state wrestlers as head coaches that don't want to hear that data *****.

[ILBillsfan]

2 hours ago, Lost said:

I think the biggest mistake of the game was not taking the opening kickoff before field conditions worsened.   Had the Bills got the ball and marched down the field first and scored it might have boosted the morale of the team enough to make the game more competitive.

Never you always defer there are just too many advantages of it......

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

2 hours ago, Wyobills89 said:

50 seconds left before half and we don't use a single time out, if we could of scored and made it 17-10 17-14 before half we could of maybe done something. Just at a loss, not our day sucks. Lots of things always seem wrong after a loss. Always seem to struggle in the elements. 

 

The Bills ended the half with all 3 TO's left.  The last last drive started with 1:49 left, the first play was pass to Knox in the middle so clock kept running, next play was snapped with 1:19 left.  Could they have taken a TO on that play sure, but normally teams won't take a TO with that much time left so made sense.  After that for the rest of the drive, every play ended with either the Bills player pushed out of bounds to stop the clock or an incomplete which also stopped the clock.

 

And if you're saying the Bills should have called TO when Bengals had ball to try and get ball back one more time there really wasn't any plays on that drive either as either Bengals called TO or player also went OB to stop clock.  The only play was at 1st and 10 from Bills 47 with about 16 seconds left but taking a TO there would only have helped the Bengals.

 

While I agree throughout McD's tenure their use of TO's has been suspect there wasn't any need today unless you think it makes sense to call TO when the clock is already stopped.

[Wyobills89]

I was at work trying to watch so I did miss some of the plays. Guess I was just thinking after we got that penalty maybe would of been a good time to TO. I do wish we would of went for it on 4th there but I get being down only 10 and wanting to minimize risk. Just needed someone to make a play and didn't get one. Good game plan from the Bengals. 

[JohninMinn.]

No individual plays matter when both of our lines were being manhandled. I did not expect to see such a mismatch. Total 😲 

[Houston's #1 Bills Fan]

5 hours ago, Big Turk said:

 

That our receivers drop the ball too much when Allen hits them in the hands perfectly?

 

Perfect throw, it needed to be caught.

I recognize that he should have caught it, but it's a low percentage play on 3rd down when we are trailing and only needed 2 yards to keep going AND not give the ball back to them!

[John from Riverside]

I didn’t understand it myself. Today was not McDermott’s finest moment.

 

He has been aggressive in the past to get this all fence going today he punted away to rely on a defense that had not shown it could stop the Bengals offense all day. I’m not sure that we should have enough kicked any of the field goals.

[SydneyBillsFan]

6 hours ago, Lost said:

I think the biggest mistake of the game was not taking the opening kickoff before field conditions worsened.   Had the Bills got the ball and marched down the field first and scored it might have boosted the morale of the team enough to make the game more competitive.

 

...and the fans at the stadium who, quite frankly, were as p*ss poor as the team and coaching staff.

[Matt_In_NH]

Jamone knows

[BananaB]

This game was over when we came out and ran twice after being down 14. Thought they handcuffed Allen early with conservative play. on third down teams are taking the chance sending a lot of guys and Bills have no answer for it. D was pathetic. Not much more you need to say about their play. 

[The Jokeman]

11 hours ago, ChrisWatson#21 said:

Shoulda canned McDermott and kept Dabol. 

Because Daboll's great offense in New York produced 7 points against the Eagles this weekend. 

[LABILLBACKER]

11 hours ago, Thrivefourfive said:

Absolutely get the points, when you need the points to mathematically win the game in a situation. He didn’t. Who’s adding up all his mistakes to President to brass for season ending evaluation? Please don’t tell me they just let the HC, GM propagandize their performances to the owners..?

After blowing a 16-0 lead in Houston I started doubting McDermott.  Then after 13 seconds I wanted him gone. Yesterday just validates all of Sean's flaws. His amazing character only can take this team so far. 

[NoSaint]

12 hours ago, Jamone said:

Does McDermott not know math? He is u questionably the worst situational football coach in the league. Down 17 on 4th and 6 with however many minutes left he goes for a low probability conversation. Should have taken the points made it a 2 score game. With the weather conditions you go for the onside kick and have a much higher chance of recovering. They should hire a coach whose only duty is to decide whether to challenge or not, take timeouts and decide on 4th down conversions vs points. Then McDermott can just stand on the sideline and clap. He clearly doesn’t light a fire under any coordinator it’s sickening… rant over. ✌️ 

so 6 yards is a longshot but you kick onside 

[JerseyBills]

11 hours ago, ChrisWatson#21 said:

Shoulda canned McDermott and kept Dabol. 

Was thinking this earlier in the year too. Dabol gets fired up, in players and coaches faces, got as far as us with a way less talented team. Would have been interesting to see him coach the 22 Bills. 

We dearly missed his creativity on O despite what the stats said

[colin]

15 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

After blowing a 16-0 lead in Houston I started doubting McDermott.  Then after 13 seconds I wanted him gone. Yesterday just validates all of Sean's flaws. His amazing character only can take this team so far. 

 

i had my suspicions but didn't really agree w you at the time, but ya i think we have an issue.

 

that issue is scheme/roster arrogance/inability to adapt.  we do one thing only, any good coach and team that has some differentiation in their strategy will just say "oh, lets block them up like this and run mixon up the gut for 10 a clip" and we just sit there and clap about it.

 

as bad as the O was, and it sucked, as unprepared as we were for the snow, and we went skating, and as deadly as the cincy passing game is it was the up the gut move the chains bully the line backers plays that guaranteed us the loss.

 

im sick of any team with a couple quality big 10 interior linemen and a physical back eating our lunch.  this has happened literally every single year that mccoach has been here.