I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

[BillsImpossible]

Late 4th quarter, about 8 minutes to go and the Bills need two scores with a 4th and 1 at the 50 yard line of the Raiders.

Orton wanted to go for it. Coach said punt.

That was Marrone's biggest mistake all year. He had a chance to shift the momentum of the game, and didn't take it at the most opportune time.

No balls, just a conservative purse. When the Bills punted, we all knew the game was over.

Sure, put the game in to the hands of your defense that was getting jacked up by a rookie quarterback and couldn't stop the run.

It has dawned upon me that the Bills offense is going nowhere with Marrone as head coach, but I think Whaley is more responsible for the offensive mess than Marrone who has to play with the deck Whaley gives him.

If you get dealt a crap hand, you don't go all in and go for it, you play conservative, and Marrone played conservative all year long.

Whaley did not give Marrone the kind of help the Bills needed up front on offense this year.

The Bills needed help on the offensive line more than they needed Sammy Watkins.

How many times did many of us say, "The game is won and lost in the trenches?"

Competent quarterbacks with good protection make average wide receivers look great.

If EJ Manuel had a good right tackle and 2 good guards via better drafting and free agency, maybe he starts the whole season?

Good teams don't lose to 2-12 opponents in week 16.

The Bills 2014 offense was a complete failure.

The, "Let's give EJ Sammy Watkins Experiment," backfired in a big way.

Something big has to change at the end of the season.

Firing Hackett alone will not suffice, Bills fans will see right through that kind of BS.

[Cali512]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

I thought we were down by one score when that happened. bc it was befire the Raiders big drive with like 5 mins

[The Jokeman]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

Late 4th quarter, about 8 minutes to go and the Bills need two scores with a 4th and 1 at the 50 yard line of the Raiders.

Orton wanted to go for it. Coach said punt.

That was Marrone's biggest mistake all year. He had a chance to shift the momentum of the game, and didn't take it at the most opportune time.

No balls, just a conservative purse. When the Bills punted, we all knew the game was over.

Sure, put the game in to the hands of your defense that was getting jacked up by a rookie quarterback and couldn't stop the run.

It has dawned upon me that the Bills offense is going nowhere with Marrone as head coach, but I think Whaley is more responsible for the offensive mess than Marrone who has to play with the deck Whaley gives him.

If you get dealt a crap hand, you don't go all in and go for it, you play conservative, and Marrone played conservative all year long.

Whaley did not give Marrone the kind of help the Bills needed up front on offense this year.

The Bills needed help on the offensive line more than they needed Sammy Watkins.

How many times did many of us say, "The game is won and lost in the trenches?"

Competent quarterbacks with good protection make average wide receivers look great.

If EJ Manuel had a good right tackle and 2 good guards via better drafting and free agency, maybe he starts the whole season?

Good teams don't lose to 2-12 opponents in week 16.

The Bills 2014 offense was a complete failure.

The, "Let's give EJ Sammy Watkins Experiment," backfired in a big way.

Something big has to change at the end of the season.

Firing Hackett alone will not suffice, Bills fans will see right through that kind of BS.

The issue is at that point we were down 2 points, if we fail to get that first down than the Raiders only need to get about 10 more yards and Seabass would kick a FG and put is down 5. Instead we punted in hopes to pinning the Raiders back. In fact had we not give up the 3rd and 22 we would have gotten pretty good field position with 5 minutes left. That's assuming the Raiders punter doesn't boom one and/or Thigpen doesn't botch the return and hopefully Orton could sustain a long drive and either give us a TD and/or FG to give us the win. Marrone was playing the percentages and 9 out of 10 times the Raiders don't get 51 yards on a 3rd and 22.

The biggest failure this season was Mike Williams and/or that Robert Woods wasn't able to play in the slot this year and replace Stevie Johnson. It be interesting to see how things would have went had we never traded for Mike and/or traded Stevie away. As Stevie in the slot is definitely better than Hogan. Of course it might have meant we never would have traded for Bryce Brown and who knows how good/bad our running game would have been after the injuries to Freddie/CJ.

[EricStratton]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

It was 19-17 at the time

[Historian]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

Still,

if you're a team who is going to try to make a dent in the NFL playoffs, you go for it and ram the ball down their throats.

Punting was way too Jauron-like for me.

[Night Train]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

Punting was way too Jauron-like for me.

Spot on.

Jauron liked to play scared, then score late in games that were already lost. He would then talk about how they only lost by single digits.

To him, that was a "win " . That and his 2-9 Defense with 16 DB's on the roster.

Couldn't stand him and Marrone is approaching that with his lack of answers in close games. ex: " Where is Hughes, Coach ? " " Why can't you score in the Red Zone ? "
Answer - " Duh, I don't know .."

[Novacane]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

With our pussy OL we wouldn't of gotten it. I know it, you know it and Marone knew that. I have a hard time being upset about that one. D should of stopped a 3rd and 22!

[BOBM253]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

OK - the Bills could have called on Spiller up the middle who would have cut the play outside for a 4 yard loss or Orton could have thrown a 5 yard fade pass out of bounds or he could have tried a bomb to Watkins with a two yard overthrow. I dunno, I'm with Marrone, lets punt, hope the defense holds, get great field position and let Carpenter try for three. The offense wasn't doing anything that day let alone pick up a 4th and one. What offensive play would you call with any confidence?

[BOBM253]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

Still,

if you're a team who is going to try to make a dent in the NFL playoffs, you go for it and ram the ball down their throats.

Punting was way too Jauron-like for me.

\\

Ram it down their throats? When have the Bills ever done that to anybody except in practice maybe,,,,,,,

[better days]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

Late 4th quarter, about 8 minutes to go and the Bills need two scores with a 4th and 1 at the 50 yard line of the Raiders.

Orton wanted to go for it. Coach said punt.

That was Marrone's biggest mistake all year. He had a chance to shift the momentum of the game, and didn't take it at the most opportune time.

No balls, just a conservative purse. When the Bills punted, we all knew the game was over.

Sure, put the game in to the hands of your defense that was getting jacked up by a rookie quarterback and couldn't stop the run.

It has dawned upon me that the Bills offense is going nowhere with Marrone as head coach, but I think Whaley is more responsible for the offensive mess than Marrone who has to play with the deck Whaley gives him.

If you get dealt a crap hand, you don't go all in and go for it, you play conservative, and Marrone played conservative all year long.

Whaley did not give Marrone the kind of help the Bills needed up front on offense this year.

The Bills needed help on the offensive line more than they needed Sammy Watkins.

How many times did many of us say, "The game is won and lost in the trenches?"

Competent quarterbacks with good protection make average wide receivers look great.

If EJ Manuel had a good right tackle and 2 good guards via better drafting and free agency, maybe he starts the whole season?

Good teams don't lose to 2-12 opponents in week 16.

The Bills 2014 offense was a complete failure.

The, "Let's give EJ Sammy Watkins Experiment," backfired in a big way.

Something big has to change at the end of the season.

Firing Hackett alone will not suffice, Bills fans will see right through that kind of BS.

If you are delt a **** hand & play conservative, you won't lose your shirt, but you will LOSE.

No hope of winning any money at all.

Marrone was not dealt a straight flush by Whaley, but he was NOT dealt a **** hand either.

More like 3 of a kind is the hand Marrone was dealt.

A good card player can win with that hand.

[Historian]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

\\

Ram it down their throats? When have the Bills ever done that to anybody except in practice maybe,,,,,,,

The previous week.

[Albany,n.y.]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

With the Bills offense 32 out of 32 NFL coaches would have punted in the same spot. No team down less than a FG is going to go for it on 4th down at midfield unless they have spotted something in the films & have prepared for this moment based on the opponent's weakness that was spotted earlier in the week.
This mentality is about as dumb as calling for an onside kick on every kickoff.

[gebobs]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

With our pussy OL we wouldn't of gotten it. I know it, you know it and Marone knew that. I have a hard time being upset about that one. D should of stopped a 3rd and 22!

San Diego knows how to get one yard every time easy. Line two guys up wide on one side. Throw the ball to the outside receiver immediately after the snap while the inside guy lays down a block. So long as the receiver is not past the LOS (or maybe it's 1 yard past), it's completely legal and almost impossible difficult to defense. One yard easy peasy.

[coastal]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

You can't get it out of your mind?

Really?

google "Star Wars cartoon porn".

You're welcome.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Re: I Can't Get That 4th and 1 Punt Out of My Mind!

It was the correct call. My beef was on that 3rd down, they elected to max protect and wound up with a more diffcult throw for Orton - across the body to his left flank. Almost the same play as Oton's last throw of the Packers game.

There are so many thigs wrong with that play. #1 no running threat in the middle at all; it's 1 yard! and everyone already know it's not going to be a run. #2 Orton's at best throws to the middle, no crossing route, and other options.