Turk's Idiotic Excuse

[BuffaloRanger]

From Buffalo News:

Here was the explanation of offensive coordinator Turk Schonert on why the Bills ran three straight times instead of trying a pass before Rian Lindell’s missed 47-yard field goal try.

“We had just ran for 180 yards on them,” Schonert said. “They were tired. We thought we could pop one. The very first one had a chance on a cutback to go a long way. We bounced it outside. That one could have hit the end zone if we cut it back. We were running the ball well.

“We wanted them to use their timeouts. They had a lot of time left and all three timeouts. The guy just made a 56-yard field goal, so it’s not that they have to go a long ways to kick a field goal. We got in field goal range to win the game. Unfortunately we didn’t get the kick.”

Does everyone see the flawed logic here?

If Turk was so worried about giving the ball back to the Browns with timeouts left they could have made one more first down, ran the ball a few more times for "positioning"and took the clock down to just a few ticks left.

On 2nd and 3rd down the Browns had 9 guys in the box. It would have been the perfect time for a play action pass. But the Bills just smashed it into the wall.

Turk has a kicker that hadn't missed from inside the 40 in 2 years, but his priority was trying to get the Browns to use their timeouts???

Even if Lindell would have made the kick, does anyone doubt that with that much time left the Bills would have found a way to lose?!

I have completely lost faith in Turk. He fell in love with the offense he installed in the preseason. Teams have adjusted to it. But he refuses to change things up. Adding the wildcat is a bad joke. Why doesn't he roll Trent out more - like the Browns did successfully. Play action passes anyone??

The Browns had one of the worst pass defense's in the NFL. But apparently on MNF their zone was impossible to exploit. How did Turk not have plays installed to beat this zone? Why didn't he just review what the Broncos did to them the week before?

[Historian]

To be honest, the way Edwards is playing, I doubt I would have thrown either.

Maybe another screen, but that would be about it.

He played the percentages, and still lost.

[X-Era]

From Buffalo News:

Here was the explanation of offensive coordinator Turk Schonert on why the Bills ran three straight times instead of trying a pass before Rian Lindell’s missed 47-yard field goal try.

“We had just ran for 180 yards on them,” Schonert said. “They were tired. We thought we could pop one. The very first one had a chance on a cutback to go a long way. We bounced it outside. That one could have hit the end zone if we cut it back. We were running the ball well.

“We wanted them to use their timeouts. They had a lot of time left and all three timeouts. The guy just made a 56-yard field goal, so it’s not that they have to go a long ways to kick a field goal. We got in field goal range to win the game. Unfortunately we didn’t get the kick.”

Does everyone see the flawed logic here?

If Turk was so worried about giving the ball back to the Browns with timeouts left they could have made one more first down, ran the ball a few more times for "positioning"and took the clock down to just a few ticks left.

On 2nd and 3rd down the Browns had 9 guys in the box. It would have been the perfect time for a play action pass. But the Bills just smashed it into the wall.

Turk has a kicker that hadn't missed from inside the 40 in 2 years, but his priority was trying to get the Browns to use their timeouts???

Even if Lindell would have made the kick, does anyone doubt that with that much time left the Bills would have found a way to lose?!

I have completely lost faith in Turk. He fell in love with the offense he installed in the preseason. Teams have adjusted to it. But he refuses to change things up. Adding the wildcat is a bad joke. Why doesn't he roll Trent out more - like the Browns did successfully. Play action passes anyone??

The Browns had one of the worst pass defense's in the NFL. But apparently on MNF their zone was impossible to exploit. How did Turk not have plays installed to beat this zone? Why didn't he just review what the Broncos did to them the week before?

You point out the EXACT comment I made after that game. It was something like 2:30 minutes left and they were on like th 1 yard line. Why not kneel? At least once? That should be the game finishing drive.

[don137]

I am sick of lame duck play calling by our OC position. Turk said he was going to be different than Fairchild and other predecessors. Sorry, but Turk's play calling the last few weeks has shown he is no better then the rest.
It all comes from the top. Ralph will not pay for top coaches and you get what you pay for. Thus, the Bills will never have a great coaching staff with RW owning the team.

[Typ0]

it was the right call. The running game had been successful all game and we have a money kicker. You don't turn around and do the things you aren't doing well in that situation.

[Dozerdog]

It was a terrible call.

I'll buy the logic for the run on 1st down. But two more is just playing scared.

Even a swing pass like they had done all night long.

[trapezeus]

i agree i get the logic. the 180 yards had gone up, but that was time for the bootleg that they used earlier in the year to put the lights out punch.

in turks defense, he's got a QB who is dumping down quickly. I'm sure turk didn't call in 41 dump offs. and i get teh sense he isn't throwing his QB under the bus.

[madness]

it was the right call. The running game had been successful all game and we have a money kicker. You don't turn around and do the things you aren't doing well in that situation.

I agree even though I would have mixed in at least one play action pass in there. Dawson had to kick a 56 yarder because Cleveland went 3 and out on 3 straight passes. The wind helped Dawson more then his own offense did.

[Typ0]

and I would criticise them for the formations not the runs themselves. But then again...they went with formations that gave them the most blockers. They were trying to get more than a couple yards on a run by brute force after, finally, they had had a successful running attack all day. I feel like one week they get criticised about the run and then finally they are successful at it and people criticise them for running. I guess the coaches really can't win unless the put Ws on the board even if their game plans are horrible doing it.

[justasportsfan]

it was the right call. .
It was the righ call ....

If your qb is playing like crap

if you like playing not to lose.

if you don't know what screen pass is.

if you don't know what play acytion is

if your coaches don't know how to make their players perform.

[justasportsfan]

and I would criticise them for the formations not the runs themselves. But then again...they went with formations that gave them the most blockers. They were trying to get more than a couple yards on a run by brute force after, finally, they had had a successful running attack all day. I feel like one week they get criticised about the run and then finally they are successful at it and people criticise them for running. .
they were so surprised by their success against a crappy D that they forgot there's such a thing as play action.



I guess the coaches really can't win unless the put Ws on the board even if their game plans are horrible doing it.

it's all about the W's. I'd rather win ugly than lose nicely.

[gr8slayer]

This organization has become one big excuse.

[justasportsfan]

the worse excuse Dick made was that Trent was given a different look from what they practiced all week. It's not like the browns have the best D in the league. Saying one week is not enough is another pathetic excuse especially when Quinn made Trent look like a 2nd time starter.

Dick is suppose to be a defensive guru. You would think he would be able to tell trent how to attack any defensive looks thrown at him but then again, Dick looks offensively clueless anyways.

[TacklingDummy]

“We had just ran for 180 yards on them,” Schonert said. “They were tired. We thought we could pop one. The very first one had a chance on a cutback to go a long way. We bounced it outside. That one could have hit the end zone if we cut it back. We were running the ball well.



Shocking, Lynch missed another cutback.

[Crisis]

should've thrown it- trent made one of his only good throws of the night directly before that to royal, maybe he got his head out of his ass for that last drive.

[justasportsfan]

should've thrown it- trent made one of his only good throws of the night directly before that to royal, maybe he got his head out of his ass for that last drive.
the coaches didn't trust Trent by that time

[Crisis]

no, our coaching staff is just a bunch of pussies. settling for a game winning 47 yard field goal with about a minute left and one timeout is the most chicken **** thing i've ever seen.

if that's the patriots you know they're throwing a 10 yard out, then running after that.

you have a kicker that hasn't missed one under 40 in a million attempts, but you seem content to keep it at 47 or whatever distance it was?

what i dont understand from turk is how he thinks the runs would've actually worked considering cleveland called timeouts after every down, they were expecting us to do that. obviously they'd be prepared for the run...

and if you trust your QB enough to throw down the middle of the field the play before, you sure as hell should be able to trust him to get 10 more yards, especially considering the way lynch was extending plays all night.

[Mr. Pink]

It was the righ call ....

If your qb is playing like crap

if you like playing not to lose.

if you don't know what screen pass is.

if you don't know what play acytion is

if your coaches don't know how to make their players perform.

if you're playing the percentages to win.

180 yards on the ground.

Giving Cleveland 0 timeouts for when they get the ball back.

Giving Cleveland the least amount of time as possible.

A QB who's looked like garbage all game long.

It was the right call and sequence of plays, period.

So what happens 'IF" the Bills throw three straight incompletions? Cleveland has all 3 timeouts and a few more seconds of clock time with the ball.

Either way, they were in position to win, or at the very least, take the lead in the game. Norwood errr Lindell missed a clutch kick in a pressure situation.

[Mr. Pink]

For anyone in this thread that thinks that the three run calls were being a pussy or too conservative or wrong or dumb...whatever your pleasure on trying to make Dick look as bad as possible....

In SB XXV were the Bills coaching and calling plays scared too? After all Thurman Thomas had more rushing yards on that final drive than Jim Kelly had passing. If Kelly decided not to be a pansy and throw the ball more on that drive, maybe they have better field position to try the kick.

Were the Bills being "pussies" on that fateful day too?

[TacklingDummy]

Either way, they were in position to win, or at the very least, take the lead in the game. Norwood errr Lindell missed a clutch kick in a pressure situation.

Don't blame Lindell for the loss, I know if he makes the kick we most likely win, the Bills lost because of Trent.

[justasportsfan]

if you're playing the percentages to win.

180 yards on the ground.

Giving Cleveland 0 timeouts for when they get the ball back.

Giving Cleveland the least amount of time as possible.

A QB who's looked like garbage all game long.

It was the right call and sequence of plays, period.

So what happens 'IF" the Bills throw three straight incompletions? Cleveland has all 3 timeouts and a few more seconds of clock time with the ball.

Either way, they were in position to win, or at the very least, take the lead in the game. Norwood errr Lindell missed a clutch kick in a pressure situation.

in other words. it's the right call if you're playing not to lose and you don't have confidence in your ANNOINTED qb . Got it :up:

[Mr. Pink]

in other words. it's the right call if you're playing not to lose and you don't have confidence in your ANNOINTED qb . Got it :up:

No it's called playing the percentages and attempting to put your team in the best position possible to win the game.

[RockStar36]

I disagree with this completely. If they were calling the run because they didn't have confidence in Edwards to make another first down throw, he shouldn't have been in the game then. They were calling those runs because they were scared. It's funny how they haven't run the ball much all season and they finally did on Monday night. They were so scared they had no choice really.

[RockStar36]

Lindell has also won several games for the Bills. But in those games it's a good team win and Edwards led the team. Yet when Lindell misses the kick he is the difference makes. What flawed logic.

[Mr. Pink]

I disagree with this completely. If they were calling the run because they didn't have confidence in Edwards to make another first down throw, he shouldn't have been in the game then. They were calling those runs because they were scared. It's funny how they haven't run the ball much all season and they finally did on Monday night. They were so scared they had no choice really.

Lets see running game 180 yards for the game = working

Passing game was dumpoffs and negative plays = not working

When you try to win, you generally go with what works.

[RockStar36]

Lets see running game 180 yards for the game = working

Passing game was dumpoffs and negative plays = not working

When you try to win, you generally go with what works.

They were calling those run plays simply because they thought a 47 yard field goal was a piece of cake for Lindell. Typically when a coach wants to win they get their kicker as close as possible so that the odds of making the kick are greater. They had just passed it down the middle to Royal of all people. It's not like they couldn't have thrown the ball one more time.

Let's say Lindell makes that kick. The Browns still have close to a minute to come back down and nail another FG. Dawson has already proven he can make a 50+ yarder. The odds are in the Browns favor to win it again. BUT if the Bills pass it again and get one more first down, they burn out the time and have a much closer field goal for Lindell. It's pretty simple actually.

[justasportsfan]

No it's called playing the percentages and attempting to put your team in the best position possible to win the game.

so the best way to put your team in a posiion to win is play it safe and conservative by playing percentage. Eitherways it didn't work.

We played precentage all day which is why we're in this big mess to begin with. We played it safe the first 5 games which is why we barley beat teams we should've beaten.

The PAts know how to win playing conservative with a qb who last start prior to this season was in high school. Now that qb (Cassel) is learning how to play with more balls than Dicks annointed starter . In case you missed it, Cassel had his best rushing performance in his NFl career when we played the PAts.

[TacklingDummy]

They were calling those run plays simply because they thought a 47 yard field goal was a piece of cake for Lindell.

I think they were hoping that Lynch could get more than 5 yards on 3 carries. They were probably hoping to get it to atleast a 40 yard FG attempt. They should have gave the ball to Jackson on 1 of those 3 runs.

Why would they risk taking a sack on 3rd down and make it an even longer attempt?

[justasportsfan]

Lets see running game 180 yards for the game = working.
this would've been the best time to run play action which I doubt Turk has in his playbook.


Passing game was dumpoffs and negative plays = not working.a Dick Jauron offensive philosophy



When you try to win, you generally go with what works.

unfortunately TRYING is not enough. We need to start actually winning.

[Mr. Pink]

They were calling those run plays simply because they thought a 47 yard field goal was a piece of cake for Lindell. Typically when a coach wants to win they get their kicker as close as possible so that the odds of making the kick are greater. They had just passed it down the middle to Royal of all people. It's not like they couldn't have thrown the ball one more time.

Let's say Lindell makes that kick. The Browns still have close to a minute to come back down and nail another FG. Dawson has already proven he can make a 50+ yarder. The odds are in the Browns favor to win it again. BUT if the Bills pass it again and get one more first down, they burn out the time and have a much closer field goal for Lindell. It's pretty simple actually.

You've just run the ball for 180 yards against a very porous run defense. You already know/think you're in range for a FG, even with it being 49ish yards from where you start on the first, not sure exactly, but I know Lynch got a couple yards on the three plays. So knowing/thinking your kicker can already make the kick right from where Royal caught the ball, you call plays that have a. worked all day and b. minimize the opportunity for a loss of yards or turning the ball over.

Say they go back to pass on first down....Edwards gets sacked and loses 5-7 yards, you're then looking at a 54-56ish yard field goal if you don't go forward to try and win.

Say on one of those passes Wimbley comes off the edge and has his man beat so badly that Langston Walker grabs him and gets called for holding...now you're looking at a FG that not even Janikowski is making if you don't gain any more yards.

Say they go back to pass twice, incomplete both times and one run to make Cleveland waste a TO. You're now giving them a minute and two timeouts to get to around the 40.

Say Edwards is picked off, well your entire chance at winning the game is gone and there is no field goal opportunity.

As much as you and numerous other people in this thread won't admit to it, running the ball three times to give Cleveland less opportunity to win was the right decision. The result wasn't what was desired however which makes most of you go "oh Dicky was being a pussy again and cost us another game."

[justasportsfan]

I think they were hoping that Lynch could get more than 5 yards on 3 carries. They were probably hoping to get it to atleast a 40 yard FG attempt. They should have gave the ball to Jackson on 1 of those 3 runs.

Why would they risk taking a sack on 3rd down and make it an even longer attempt?


Our coaches play with hope. Sad really. Great teams don't hope. They shove their will on you.

They're probably hoping they chose the right game tape on the chiefs for this weekends game. If they chose to watch the wrong one, we're screwed.

[Mr. Pink]

this would've been the best time to run play action which I doubt Turk has in his playbook.
a Dick Jauron offensive philosophy



unfortunately TRYING is not enough. We need to start actually winning.

I agree on the TRYING is not enough principle, unfortunately Lynch and the o-line couldn't execute. Doesn't mean they were the wrong calls though and doesn't mean they weren't the best calls for the situation at hand.

[justasportsfan]

I agree on the TRYING is not enough principle, unfortunately Lynch and the o-line couldn't execute. . so we're back to lack of execution is the coaches fault. I agree.



Doesn't mean they were the wrong calls though and doesn't mean they weren't the best calls for the situation at hand.
it didn't work therefore facts say they were the wrong calls .

[RockStar36]

You've just run the ball for 180 yards against a very porous run defense. You already know/think you're in range for a FG, even with it being 49ish yards from where you start on the first, not sure exactly, but I know Lynch got a couple yards on the three plays. So knowing/thinking your kicker can already make the kick right from where Royal caught the ball, you call plays that have a. worked all day and b. minimize the opportunity for a loss of yards or turning the ball over.

Say they go back to pass on first down....Edwards gets sacked and loses 5-7 yards, you're then looking at a 54-56ish yard field goal if you don't go forward to try and win.

Say on one of those passes Wimbley comes off the edge and has his man beat so badly that Langston Walker grabs him and gets called for holding...now you're looking at a FG that not even Janikowski is making if you don't gain any more yards.

Say they go back to pass twice, incomplete both times and one run to make Cleveland waste a TO. You're now giving them a minute and two timeouts to get to around the 40.

Say Edwards is picked off, well your entire chance at winning the game is gone and there is no field goal opportunity.

As much as you and numerous other people in this thread won't admit to it, running the ball three times to give Cleveland less opportunity to win was the right decision. The result wasn't what was desired however which makes most of you go "oh Dicky was being a pussy again and cost us another game."

Dick has been the coach for three years now. If you haven't figured out that he is ultra conservative all the time and coaches scared, I don't know when you will figure that out. He does this type of crap in the pre-season when there is nothing to lose. He did this crap in Chicago. I don't know how you can possibly defend it this time. Oh wait, I got it. It benefited your OTHER team in the process.

[Kenny]

I am sick of lame duck play calling by our OC position. Turk said he was going to be different than Fairchild and other predecessors. Sorry, but Turk's play calling the last few weeks has shown he is no better then the rest.
It all comes from the top. Ralph will not pay for top coaches and you get what you pay for. Thus, the Bills will never have a great coaching staff with RW owning the team.

You only call the plays you think you can execute. The way Trent's been sucking, -what other choice was there?

[Mr. Pink]

Dick has been the coach for three years now. If you haven't figured out that he is ultra conservative all the time and coaches scared, I don't know when you will figure that out. He does this type of crap in the pre-season when there is nothing to lose. He did this crap in Chicago. I don't know how you can possibly defend it this time. Oh wait, I got it. It benefited your OTHER team in the process.

Has nothing to do with that...I can guarantee you that any team in the NFL would find out what their kicker was comfortable with prior to that series. Lindell probably told Dick prior to the series get me to around 45 yards. Seeing they were plenty close enough and the run game did basically whatever it wanted during the game they made the decision to run the ball 3 straight times to pick up a few more yards and make the other team use their timeouts.

Like I said, any team in the NFL would have done that when they got to a place where they and their kicker felt comfortable with being able to win.

Obviously Dick is conservative, but this isn't one of those times, seeing as I said, every team in the NFL would have done the same thing. Like I said, playing percentages.

And I'm sure if Lindell said, look, I'm not comfortable with the wind. Get me within 40 yards for the kick and I'm good...we would have seen different plays called in the situation.

[justasportsfan]

You only call the plays you think you can execute. The way Trent's been sucking, -what other choice was there?


JP

:couch:

[Typ0]

I really wish you people would get over JP. He's gone. History. A bust. There is no reason to keep bringing him up. We need TE to get out of his funk or he's done too. I'll tell you right now he's on the bubble and it's impossible to tell if he's going to be like JP, a bust, who will just disappear into second and third string oblivion or he's going to step it up and be a top knotch QB.

[RockStar36]

We'll have to agree to disagree. While the Bills were running those plays I was sitting in my living room *****ing to the others watching the game that it was completely stupid to be running it and that the field goal wasn't a gimme. I hated it before Lindell missed the kick. Even a little short pass with a chance to gain more yards would've been acceptable. I'm so sick of Jauron at this point he has entered the fatal Afinogenov/Royal territory.

[Mr. Pink]

We'll have to agree to disagree. While the Bills were running those plays I was sitting in my living room *****ing to the others watching the game that it was completely stupid to be running it and that the field goal wasn't a gimme. I hated it before Lindell missed the kick. Even a little short pass with a chance to gain more yards would've been acceptable. I'm so sick of Jauron at this point he has entered the fatal Afinogenov/Royal territory.

Unrelated to the thread question....

In your opinion is 4th and inches ALWAYS a go for it situation? It's not tough to pick up an inch with a simple QB sneak and should be executed 9 times out of 10 correctly...Yet NFL teams still punt anyways.

[RockStar36]

Unrelated to the thread question....

In your opinion is 4th and inches ALWAYS a go for it situation? It's not tough to pick up an inch with a simple QB sneak and should be executed 9 times out of 10 correctly...Yet NFL teams still punt anyways.

Depends on where the ball is. The majority of the time I'd say go for it.

[Typ0]

Unrelated to the thread question....

In your opinion is 4th and inches ALWAYS a go for it situation? It's not tough to pick up an inch with a simple QB sneak and should be executed 9 times out of 10 correctly...Yet NFL teams still punt anyways.


I think it's tougher than you think. It's probably easier to throw downfield in that situation but you have to have the guts to run a play that develops like that. The defense is likely going to stack the line trying to stop you. How many times do you see inches at the goal line for three plays and they still don't have the TD? Same situation here.

[RockStar36]

I think it's tougher than you think. It's probably easier to throw downfield in that situation but you have to have the guts to run a play that develops like that. The defense is likely going to stack the line trying to stop you. How many times do you see inches at the goal line for three plays and they still don't have the TD? Same situation here.

It's all about who wants it more. The odds are in the favor of the offense. Those teams that get stuffed on the goaline for three straight plays just don't have it in their heart to get that extra push.

[Mitchell55]

Im being serious when I say I actually respect him alot more now. When you 1st see the plays you think, they should throw it. But when you look at the clock and they had about a minute left with 2-3 timeouts, it makes you want to run it. Dawson did make a 56 yard kick and most kickers wouldve felt comfortable with the 47 yard kick so why not just run it. Also Schonart sayed there was a designed cutback play where lynch didnt cutback. We could be 6-4 easily because of shonart.

[RockStar36]

Im being serious when I say I actually respect him alot more now. When you 1st see the plays you think, they should throw it. But when you look at the clock and they had about a minute left with 2-3 timeouts, it makes you want to run it. Dawson did make a 56 yard kick and most kickers wouldve felt comfortable with the 47 yard kick so why not just run it. Also Schonart sayed there was a designed cutback play where lynch didnt cutback. We could be 6-4 easily because of shonart.

What? So it's all because Lynch didn't cutback on the play? Really?

[madness]

Im being serious when I say I actually respect him alot more now. When you 1st see the plays you think, they should throw it. But when you look at the clock and they had about a minute left with 2-3 timeouts, it makes you want to run it. Dawson did make a 56 yard kick and most kickers wouldve felt comfortable with the 47 yard kick so why not just run it. Also Schonart sayed there was a designed cutback play where lynch didnt cutback. We could be 6-4 easily because of shonart.


You see, that just pisses me off. I love Lych but the one thing I have a love/hate for is that he tries to go for the home run. He's young yet so I'm hoping he learns to pick his spots. Right now he's a jump shooter who has to learn to avoid taking the bad shot.

[raphael120]

Didn't you get the memo? We never play to shut teams out, we play to keep the other team in the game until the very end.

[madness]

You see, that just pisses me off. I love Lych but the one thing I have a love/hate for is that he tries to go for the home run. He's young yet so I'm hoping he learns to pick his spots. Right now he's a jump shooter who has to learn to avoid taking the bad shot.

WTF? pick a sport already. :dizzy:

[Nighthawk]

To be honest, the way Edwards is playing, I doubt I would have thrown either.

Maybe another screen, but that would be about it.

He played the percentages, and still lost.

This philosophy is SOOOO flawed! Yes, he was bad for most of the game, but the guy threw a perfect pass to Royal for 20 yards the play before the three runs! It sounds weird, but he was the reason they were in the position to kick the FG. Pulling back the reigns at that time in the game is a loser's mentality and we lost. You CANNOT coach scared and expect to be successful in this league, thus the reason Dickey is such a loser.

[Mitchell55]

Didn't you get the memo? We never play to shut teams out, we play to keep the other team in the game until the very end.




Well we tried to do the opposite by not letting them get the ball untill 35 seconds left, the only problem was we werent winning.:geek:

[acehole]

Translation:

They did not trust thier qb to make a play...or ...they had no confidence he would not throw a pick to take away a scoring chance.....


From Buffalo News:

Here was the explanation of offensive coordinator Turk Schonert on why the Bills ran three straight times instead of trying a pass before Rian Lindell’s missed 47-yard field goal try.

“We had just ran for 180 yards on them,” Schonert said. “They were tired. We thought we could pop one. The very first one had a chance on a cutback to go a long way. We bounced it outside. That one could have hit the end zone if we cut it back. We were running the ball well.

“We wanted them to use their timeouts. They had a lot of time left and all three timeouts. The guy just made a 56-yard field goal, so it’s not that they have to go a long ways to kick a field goal. We got in field goal range to win the game. Unfortunately we didn’t get the kick.”

Does everyone see the flawed logic here?

If Turk was so worried about giving the ball back to the Browns with timeouts left they could have made one more first down, ran the ball a few more times for "positioning"and took the clock down to just a few ticks left.

On 2nd and 3rd down the Browns had 9 guys in the box. It would have been the perfect time for a play action pass. But the Bills just smashed it into the wall.

Turk has a kicker that hadn't missed from inside the 40 in 2 years, but his priority was trying to get the Browns to use their timeouts???

Even if Lindell would have made the kick, does anyone doubt that with that much time left the Bills would have found a way to lose?!

I have completely lost faith in Turk. He fell in love with the offense he installed in the preseason. Teams have adjusted to it. But he refuses to change things up. Adding the wildcat is a bad joke. Why doesn't he roll Trent out more - like the Browns did successfully. Play action passes anyone??

The Browns had one of the worst pass defense's in the NFL. But apparently on MNF their zone was impossible to exploit. How did Turk not have plays installed to beat this zone? Why didn't he just review what the Broncos did to them the week before?

[BuffaloRanger]

You've just run the ball for 180 yards against a very porous run defense. You already know/think you're in range for a FG, even with it being 49ish yards from where you start on the first, not sure exactly, but I know Lynch got a couple yards on the three plays. So knowing/thinking your kicker can already make the kick right from where Royal caught the ball, you call plays that have a. worked all day and b. minimize the opportunity for a loss of yards or turning the ball over.

Say they go back to pass on first down....Edwards gets sacked and loses 5-7 yards, you're then looking at a 54-56ish yard field goal if you don't go forward to try and win.

Say on one of those passes Wimbley comes off the edge and has his man beat so badly that Langston Walker grabs him and gets called for holding...now you're looking at a FG that not even Janikowski is making if you don't gain any more yards.

Say they go back to pass twice, incomplete both times and one run to make Cleveland waste a TO. You're now giving them a minute and two timeouts to get to around the 40.

Say Edwards is picked off, well your entire chance at winning the game is gone and there is no field goal opportunity.

As much as you and numerous other people in this thread won't admit to it, running the ball three times to give Cleveland less opportunity to win was the right decision. The result wasn't what was desired however which makes most of you go "oh Dicky was being a pussy again and cost us another game."


I can play that game too.

Say Edwards completed a short pass to Lynch who breaks a tackle and runs for 14 yards.

Or say they throw a quick slant to Royal for 8 more yards.

Or even if Edwards did get sacked on 1st down, they'd still have two more downs to make up the yardage.

GOD HATES A COWARD!! Dick coached like a *****. Think of the successful coaches in the NFL. Would they have coached like that? Never. Dick is 7-9 in his last 4 seasons as a head coach (bears included) for a reason. He is below average. Period.

[Spiderweb]

No it's called playing the percentages and attempting to put your team in the best position possible to win the game.

The first running play, ok, I give them that one. But when the Browns looked totally committed to defending the run, a defense we would have been thrilled to attack in the first 4-5 games this year, we took a total "**** the bed" approach and ran not once more, but twice (against that same defend the run defense from the Browns).

In all my years of watching football, I can't recall a situation screaming for play action pass more than those final two runs by the Bills Monday night.

Christ, I can only begin to imagine what Kelly would have audibled (?) to in that situation. Something tells me though that he would have made one throw for an attempt at 6.......

What we saw Monday night, was chicken ***** at it worst.