Don't Blame Bass

[KellyToTasker]

Should’ve been in four down mode, not going for the TD. 
 

That said, Bass has been shaky all year. Zero confidence in him during “gotta have it” kicks. And that was BEFORE the playoffs. 
 

After the playoffs, barring some undisclosed injury that impacted, I don’t see him making the much needed kicks. 

[peterpan]

8 hours ago, Matt_In_NH said:

You should check out the dead cap situation. 

So 7.2 dead cap and how much does a 7th round rookie count against the cap?

 

that’s surely better than a kicker who misses it every other time

[Mr. WEO]

Are we back to blaming Bojo?

[KDIGGZ]

12 minutes ago, stlbills13 said:

I blame Bass among quite a few others. But he definitely needs blame. And a lot of it. 

 

16 minutes ago, Donuts and Doritos said:

Unless Sam Martin didn't turn the laces out, I'm blaming Bass.

 

23 minutes ago, Pete said:

He had one job- to make kicks. Other kickers hit 59 yard FGs in heavy rains and winds to tie us at expiration.  Bass struggled on PATs.  He has  been shaky the 3 games.  But playoff is not the time to switch kickers.

 

Bass has yips, and lives in Choke City.  Next man up

And if he made it we would still lose so what's the point? Either way Bass is a bad kicker and needs to be replaced, we know this. If he somehow makes it then it would be a tie game with a min and half left and Mahomes would have easily matched down the field for the game winning FG because they actually have a good kicker like every other good team in the league. We got the bargain basement kicker and then gave him a big contract for being slightly above average the past couple of years. That's on Beane. But knowing how bad he is, they shouldn't have been playing for the tie.

 

First and foremost was keeping the clock moving. After the 2 min warning it was imperative that we keep marching down the field while leaving them no time to answer back. Taking impossible shots into the end zone from 30 yards out was never the answer because Mahomes would have had plenty of time and our defense couldn't stop him all night. I'd blame almost everyone on the team before I got to Bass. We lost that game before he even stepped onto the field.

Edited January 22 by KDIGGZ

[BillsfaninCT]

who in their right mind with a high school football acumen decides the TD at 1:50 is the path to win the game?  absolutely NOBODY.  NOBODY, you're forfeiting the game lol.  they all knew the chances of the D stopping the chiefs was a lower win percentage than getting 1st downs and running the clock, so after a great game plan and pretty good execution of that all game, now we looking right past the wide open diggs on 2nd down, then the 2 wide open guys in the same spot on 3rd down?  i mean this is a 180 degree flip of execution.  Josh said nah, i'm going for the TD knowing full well that's not the path forward but all game long he's doing the opposite?

 

yo, I'll take WWE for 200 Alex.

 

the highest percentage path to winning that game is 1st downs and at worst kick a 25yd field goal.  they did exactly what the NFL wanted, found defeat in the most obvious moment of clear victory lol.  nobody getting fired.

[26TrapDraw]

To be honest . The End of that Game was all on Josh. Was the reason we ran the ball the whole game because Josh is hurt and his passing timing is “off” maybe so because those passes at the end were garbage. There where so many people that made mistakes as well  Cooks drop Diggs multiple drops when there were so many players not doing their job you won’t win a ball game. Not Bass fault. It was the whole offense that couldn’t get it done down the stretch. If we limped into that game with Baltimore next week they may have hung 50 on us. 

[KDIGGZ]

1 minute ago, BillsfaninCT said:

who in their right mind with a high school football acumen decides the TD at 1:50 is the path to win the game?  absolutely NOBODY.  NOBODY, you're forfeiting the game lol.  they all knew the chances of the D stopping the chiefs was a lower win percentage than getting 1st downs and running the clock, so after a great game plan and pretty good execution of that all game, now we looking right past the wide open diggs on 2nd down, then the 2 wide open guys in the same spot on 3rd down?  i mean this is a 180 degree flip of execution.  Josh said nah, i'm going for the TD knowing full well that's not the path forward but all game long he's doing the opposite?

 

yo, I'll take WWE for 200 Alex.

 

the highest percentage path to winning that game is 1st downs and at worst kick a 25yd field goal.  they did exactly what the NFL wanted, found defeat in the most obvious moment of clear victory lol.  nobody getting fired.

And this is the point that a lot of these people in the replies can't wrap their heads around. We lost when they started taking end zone shots instead of taking the easy plays and keeping the clock moving, or maybe that's just Josh going off script. Bass had nothing to do with that and would have had nothing to do with Mahomes having plenty of time to march down the field for the game winning FG. Ours would have only tied the game. It's a failure all around in the biggest moment. Again.

[Kmart128]

8 hours ago, bills6969 said:

Agree.  We needed to score a TD there.  I kinda put that on Allen.  He was trying to go for the TD on 2nd and 3rd down when he had under routes open they would’ve given us first downs

To be fair Shakir was wide open on that 2nd down play. Just he had the linemen pushed into him. I do think at that point tho Allen just needed to get the first down on 3rd. Making KC use their timeouts was just as important

[zow2]

Bass can't miss that kick, but yeah KC was going to get into Butker's range for a walk off and he was not going to miss.

 

Failing on 2nd and 3rd down and not getting a TD late was the ballgame.  The Bass kicked was going to prolong it for another couple mins.

 

It was a pretty even game last night.  Could've gone either way.  I did not think Buffalo was the better team.  It was even at best,

[KDIGGZ]

1 minute ago, 26TrapDraw said:

To be honest . The End of that Game was all on Josh. Was the reason we ran the ball the whole game because Josh is hurt and his passing timing is “off” maybe so because those passes at the end were garbage. There where so many people that made mistakes as well  Cooks drop Diggs multiple drops when there were so many players not doing their job you won’t win a ball game. Not Bass fault. It was the whole offense that couldn’t get it done down the stretch. If we limped into that game with Baltimore next week they may have hung 50 on us. 

Yep, the end zone shots were low percentage throws that were nearly impossible to make and even so it would have been terrible strategy to leave the best QB in the league that much time to answer back. Why put your defense, that's being held together with duct tape at that point, back out there? That's either terrible play calling or it's on Josh. I'm leaner towards the latter

[BillsfaninCT]

2 minutes ago, KDIGGZ said:

Yep, the end zone shots were low percentage throws that were nearly impossible to make and even so it would have been terrible strategy to leave the best QB in the league that much time to answer back. Why put your defense, that's being held together with duct tape at that point, back out there? That's either terrible play calling or it's on Josh. I'm leaner towards the latter

makes no sense to blame Josh, that would mean he all of a sudden forgot that running the clock out won the game and from the previous 6 games, the entire 58 mins of the game he forgot on the last 2, I don't believe that.  He looked right at diggs and then threw it into the turf, "being knocked off the spot" is nonsense, go rewind the DVR lol.  even if you buy that, the next play he has 2 guys and we still in amnesia mode?  i'll take WWE for 200 alex.

Edited January 22 by BillsfaninCT

[KDIGGZ]

4 minutes ago, Kmart128 said:

To be fair Shakir was wide open on that 2nd down play. Just he had the linemen pushed into him. I do think at that point tho Allen just needed to get the first down on 3rd. Making KC use their timeouts was just as important

And that's why it's a low percentage throw. Everything has to go perfect for it to happen. Good blocking, time to throw, an accurate throw 30+ yards away (good luck, almost nobody can make that throw), a receiver that can run the perfect route and get open, the receiver making a tough catch in traffic, etc. Very low percentage play. The right thing was run everyone deep and hit Diggs underneath for 10 yards and keep the clock moving.

[BillsfaninCT]

1 minute ago, KDIGGZ said:

And that's why it's a low percentage throw. Everything has to go perfect for it to happen. Good blocking, time to throw, an accurate throw 30+ yards away (good luck, almost nobody can make that throw), a receiver that can run the perfect route and get open, the receiver making a tough catch in traffic, etc. Very low percentage play. The right thing was run everyone deep and hit Diggs underneath for 10 yards and keep the clock moving.

and Josh looked right at Diggs, well the ward says i gotta lose this game lol, and he did.  congrats adam.

[Donuts and Doritos]

15 minutes ago, KDIGGZ said:

 

 

And if he made it we would still lose so what's the point? Either way Bass is a bad kicker and needs to be replaced, we know this. If he somehow makes it then it would be a tie game with a min and half left and Mahomes would have easily matched down the field for the game winning FG because they actually have a good kicker like every other good team in the league. We got the bargain basement kicker and then gave him a big contract for being slightly above average the past couple of years. That's on Beane. But knowing how bad he is, they shouldn't have been playing for the tie.

 

First and foremost was keeping the clock moving. After the 2 min warning it was imperative that we keep marching down the field while leaving them no time to answer back. Taking impossible shots into the end zone from 30 yards out was never the answer because Mahomes would have had plenty of time and our defense couldn't stop him all night. I'd blame almost everyone on the team before I got to Bass. We lost that game before he even stepped onto the field.

BS speculation, none of us know what would have happened if he made it (we could have gotten a pick 6, Josh could have scored a TD & D held, Aliens could have come down and abducted Mahomes). But we don't know bc he missed the kick.

 

He gets paid a lot of $ to kick. It was 44 yds, not that hard. Make the damn kick. He didn't & the game ended. That is his fault.

[KDIGGZ]

3 minutes ago, Donuts and Doritos said:

BS speculation, none of us know what would have happened if he made it (we could have gotten a pick 6, Josh could have scored a TD & D held, Aliens could have come down and abducted Mahomes). But we don't know bc he missed the kick.

 

He gets paid a lot of $ to kick. It was 44 yds, not that hard. Make the damn kick. He didn't & the game ended. That is his fault.

Yes I think your aliens theory was more likely than our defense who didn't stop Mahomes all night stopping him. They actually have a good kicker who doesn't shank 27 yard FG's lol

[stlbills13]

1 hour ago, KellyToTasker said:

Should’ve been in four down mode, not going for the TD. 
 

That said, Bass has been shaky all year. Zero confidence in him during “gotta have it” kicks. And that was BEFORE the playoffs. 
 

After the playoffs, barring some undisclosed injury that impacted, I don’t see him making the much needed kicks. 

 

Like I've said in other threads. These were the last 3 plays once we got it down to the 28 yard line

 

1st down - Cook 1 yard run

*2 minute warning*

2nd down - incomplete to Shakir

3rd down - incomplete to nobody really

 

Not running the ball with Allen on any of those 3 plays was a mistake. You could have made for a shorter field goal while also taking time off the clock or forcing KC to use timeouts. You could have picked up a first down and drained the clock further. You could have made it a manageable 4th down. Whether it's Brady not calling a designed run or Allen just not taking off, I just don't understand not letting your best player make a play using his legs which the Chiefs hadn't stopped all game.

[WNYFAN1]

Core problem with this team is too much cap space being eaten up by players that aren't producing.

 

Examples:

 

Diggs

Knox

Miller

 

Now that the QB contract has really kicked in, you can't get away without cap efficiency. Bills are the opposite of cap-efficient.

[Donuts and Doritos]

51 minutes ago, KDIGGZ said:

Yes I think your aliens theory was more likely than our defense who didn't stop Mahomes all night stopping him. They actually have a good kicker who doesn't shank 27 yard FG's lol

 

He was 1 of 4 in the playoffs, that's 25%. He was 28th in the NFL this year only making 82.8% of his kicks (see below). He was not a good kicker this year.

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/stats/player/kicking/nfl/regular/all/?sortcol=fg%&sortdir=descending

[Bill from NYC]

10 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

Nobody should be blaming our bad kicker for being bad. Blame the coaches for putting him in that position knowing that he is bad. He was statistically one of the worst kickers in the entire league this year. The result was inevitable.

 

There's absolutely no reason why the offense went off their game plan instead of slowly and methodically continuing to march down the field and run the clock. For some reason they started launching impossible throws down field rather than picking up 7-8 yards every play with Kincaid.

 

Even if Bass makes the kick (we knew he wouldn't) then the Chiefs have the ball with over a min left. You don't think Mahomes is going to get his guys in FG range when we didn't stop them at all the entire night? Again, don't blame Bass. This isn't his fault. We would have lost either way.

Thanks for a well presented, sensible, and very funny post. 

 

Bravo!!!  

[Kmart128]

1 hour ago, KDIGGZ said:

And that's why it's a low percentage throw. Everything has to go perfect for it to happen. Good blocking, time to throw, an accurate throw 30+ yards away (good luck, almost nobody can make that throw), a receiver that can run the perfect route and get open, the receiver making a tough catch in traffic, etc. Very low percentage play. The right thing was run everyone deep and hit Diggs underneath for 10 yards and keep the clock moving.

What traffic are you talking about. The middle of the field between the Safeties was empty. Its a pretty high percentage throw when the middle of the field is that wide open. 

 

Shakir was likely the first read. If your first read is that wide open why even look at your other reads. And say he did take the underneath route and it gets deflected by a dlinemen like Jones (KC is top 2 in bats) then we would all be asking why didnt Josh Allen take the wide open throw to Shakir where the ball couldnt be deflected by a Dlinemen

[Big Turk]

1 hour ago, peterpan said:

Wait- this can’t be true.  Our kicker has a 7.4 mil dead cap? Are you kidding me!?  
 

no wonder we are in cap hell.  

 

We just signed him to an extension

[KDIGGZ]

4 minutes ago, Kmart128 said:

What traffic are you talking about. The middle of the field between the Safeties was empty. Its a pretty high percentage throw when the middle of the field is that wide open. 

 

Shakir was likely the first read. If your first read is that wide open why even look at your other reads. And say he did take the underneath route and it gets deflected by a dlinemen like Jones (KC is top 2 in bats) then we would all be asking why didnt Josh Allen take the wide open throw to Shakir where the ball couldnt be deflected by a Dlinemen

Nobody would ask that because we don't want a TD there we want a TD 1 min+ later

[The Jokeman]

10 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

Did you even read what I said or are you just mad? Even if he makes it you think Mahomes and their GOOD kicker isn't going to get a FG? We would have lost either way

We don't know what could have happened if Bass made the kick, that's the point. I'm sorry in this day and age kickers shouldn't be able to make 45 yard kicks, all he has to do is kick straight not move it to the right like he did. 

[Matt_In_NH]

1 hour ago, peterpan said:

So 7.2 dead cap and how much does a 7th round rookie count against the cap?

 

that’s surely better than a kicker who misses it every other time

You want to pay 7.38M for a kicker not on the team and then another 1M for a rookie who is an unknown?   

[KellyToTasker]

27 minutes ago, stlbills13 said:

 

Like I've said in other threads. These were the last 3 plays once we got it down to the 28 yard line

 

1st down - Cook 1 yard run

*2 minute warning*

2nd down - incomplete to Shakir

3rd down - incomplete to nobody really

 

Not running the ball with Allen on any of those 3 plays was a mistake. You could have made for a shorter field goal while also taking time off the clock or forcing KC to use timeouts. You could have picked up a first down and drained the clock further. You could have made it a manageable 4th down. Whether it's Brady not calling a designed run or Allen just not taking off, I just don't understand not letting your best player make a play using his legs which the Chiefs hadn't stopped all game.

I agree with you. Bass still sucked this season. 

[Kmart128]

1 minute ago, KDIGGZ said:

Nobody would ask that because we don't want a TD there we want a TD 1 min+ later

Trust me if there was a deflection and an INT everyone would be saying wow Josh Allen missed a surefire TD that would have taken the lead. 

[zow2]

Unpopular take but I'm not cutting Bass unless Beane has some trick up his sleeve.  He will end up going somewhere and being successful.  We will be disappointed by a string of recycled kickers who consistently fail.

[May Day 10]

I dont blame Bass for the loss, but he has been a problem all season.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

He’s got to make that kick. Simple as that. But I’ll never blame a kicker in that situation. Only if it’s a last second kick to win or tie the game.

 

In this scenario we only kicked because the offense failed. KC still had nearly 2 minutes to win the game after the kick. This was a failure of the offense. But Bass has to make that kick, can’t excuse it.

[Niagara Dude]

10 hours ago, KDIGGZ said:

Nobody should be blaming our bad kicker for being bad. Blame the coaches for putting him in that position knowing that he is bad. He was statistically one of the worst kickers in the entire league this year. The result was inevitable.

 

There's absolutely no reason why the offense went off their game plan instead of slowly and methodically continuing to march down the field and run the clock. For some reason they started launching impossible throws down field rather than picking up 7-8 yards every play with Kincaid.

 

Even if Bass makes the kick (we knew he wouldn't) then the Chiefs have the ball with over a min left. You don't think Mahomes is going to get his guys in FG range when we didn't stop them at all the entire night? Again, don't blame Bass. This isn't his fault. We would have lost either way.

Even if Bass makes that FG,  it would just have set the stage for Mahomes to go down the field for game winning FG and then national media just go gaga about him.  The play was 7 points or bust or you kick with little or no time left to force OT

Edited January 22 by Niagara Dude

[Coach Tuesday]

Anyone else positive Bass would’ve missed the XP if they scored the TD there?

[CapeBreton]

4 minutes ago, Niagara Dude said:

Even if Bass make that FG,  it would just have set the stage for Mahomes to go down the field for game winning FG and then national media just go gaga about him.  The play was 7 points or bust or you kick with little or no time left to force OT

 

Yup, I don't blame Bass, he has been bad and never should have been in that situation, we needed a TD there. 

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

10 hours ago, Einstein said:

Even bad kickers should be able to hit a 44 yarder.

 

That being said, i’m entirely done with Brady wasting an entire down in key situations by running the ball into a stacked box. DONE with that.

That’s becoming a Buffalo staple, running the ball on 1st down into a stacked box. I was screaming at the TV, their is no way you do that with Josh Allen on the 30.

 

[nucci]

10 hours ago, Einstein said:

Even bad kickers should be able to hit a 44 yarder.

 

That being said, i’m entirely done with Brady wasting an entire down in key situations by running the ball into a stacked box. DONE with that.

we threw 16 passes behind the LOS. Should have done some play action after running so well

[damj]

The offense had 3 drives to score. Bass's miss was only drive that got into scoring position.

 

The offense is partially to blame.

 

Under Joe Brady, the passing game has been a ball control passing game and we can't dial up the big plays in the passing game anymore

[Brian Higgins hair]

It’s pretty tough to understand why Bass has fallen off, but he has. Tell me there was someone here comfortable before that kick. 
I am sure there is a reason why, and I’m wondering how his mechanics became so shaky. 

[Wayne Arnold]

7 hours ago, Big Turk said:

 

Not going to happen.  The Bills are not in a position to take 7.5 million in dead cap hits and then have to pay another player to take his place.  Stop thinking Madden franchise mode is real.  It's not.  Please come back to reality where the Bills are already $40 million over the cap and will have to work some magic to get under it and sign some key players.  Adding more holes and dead cap isn't in the cards.

 

I don't play video games. I just know when a kicker's skills have depreciated.

 

That happens to kickers all the time. Justin Tucker and Adam Vinatieri are the rarity. Shame on Beane for giving a kicker a contract like that.

[JohnBonhamRocks]

Can I blame Bass for missing the FG at least?

[SoonerBillsFan]

Bass has to go, he is a liability now.

[Bob Jones]

11 hours ago, Returntoglory said:

Screw that. He's paid TO MAKE FIELD GOALS!

 

Cut his weak ass!

Sort of like how the receivers are paid to CATCH THE BALL?! LOL

 

Or how the defensive linemen are paid to put pressure on and/or sack the QB and stop the run?

 

Or how JA17 is paid to read the defense and make a good throw to the best available option?

 

Or how Sam Martin is paid to punt it farther than 40 yards?

 

Or how McD is paid to conduct good clock management, and good use of available personnel?