4 plays yesterday made the game close.

[Forward_Lateral]

The Bills dominated the Dolphins, for the 2nd time out of 3 games, on the score sheet, but ended up winning a nail biter this time. To me, there was 4 big plays that gave Miami life, and made the game much closer than it should've been.

1.) The kickoff out of bounds. No idea how that even happens, when every other kick sails through the endzone. Were they trying to get cute? Did Bass crap his pants? Buffalo was steamrolling Miami at this point, and this gave them the ball at the 40, and led to their first 3 points.

2.) The Shakir Drop. He catches that, they likely go up 24-3 and the game is over. Instead it lead to a long punt return, which led to another Miami FG.

3.) Allen's 2 picks. The first one, I'm not sure who to blame. It looked like Brown was running a go route, then he, for some reason broke out, then back, then stopped. The second one bounced off of Beasley's chest. The first led to a FG, the latter to a game tying TD (I think?).

4.) The strip sack TD. No idea what Singletary was doing here. He ran right by the blitzing safety. I'm 99% sure he was supposed to pick that guy up, but he didn't, and it led to 7 for the Fins.


To me, #1 and #4 are inexcusable. Those cannot happen. Ever. Drops happen, and it's not like Shakir dropped an easy throw. He still should've caught it, however. INTs happen, and honestly, why is John Brown out there for that and not Diggs or Davis? I don't get the fascination with Brown. He should be there for emergencies only.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

I read somewhere that Miami used a very different strategy yesterday - they did a lot of single high safety, which led to the many downfield throws from the Bills. Miami wanted to take out the ~20 yard passing area where Allen is money; they were banking on their D-line get to Allen, which they did.

I'd say Allen was a bit off on the long ball yesterday. Right off the bat, the long ball to Diggs was a bit too long. There were drops. Let's be honest, if the Bills hitting the long ball consistently, the Dolphins would back out the coverage in no time.

You have to say it's an interesting strategy being that this is the 3rd time Miami played the Bills this season. Not sure Cinci has the Dolphins CBs to do what they did.

[Forward_Lateral]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

I read somewhere that Miami used a very different strategy yesterday - they did a lot of single high safety, which led to the many downfield throws from the Bills. Miami wanted to take out the ~20 yard passing area where Allen is money; they were banking on their D-line get to Allen, which they did.

I'd say Allen was a bit off on the long ball yesterday. Right off the bat, the long ball to Diggs was a bit too long. There were drops. Let's be honest, if the Bills hitting the long ball consistently, the Dolphins would back out the coverage in no time.

You have to say it's an interesting strategy being that this is the 3rd time Miami played the Bills this season. Not sure Cinci has the Dolphins CBs to do what they did.

This has zero to do with what I posted.

[imbondz]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

I’d have to re-watch it but I didn’t think Allen was that off on the long balls. Maybe 1 or 2 but most were catchable balls.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

At the end of the video above, I know some in my household was yelling why Josh chucked it down field two plays in a row, instead of checking down, grinding the clock etc. The truth is Davis was open. A completion may have allowed us to score fairly quickly again.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

Yup.

There's always key plays that change the game.

We picked Thompson off twice, and we scored TD's after each.

This was about self-inflicted wounds. We were just barely good enough to overcome committing more than Miami did.

Plus:

Several drives went nowhere because the O-line couldn't protect and/or Josh had no check down option. There were three Bills' drives during the game that went for 2 yards, -2 yards and -3 yards. It was a bad offensive game plan that had no answers vs cover zero other than to launch it. It hit just barely enough because we were playing against a very mediocre offense that couldn't score unless they had a short field, thanks to a solid defensive game plan. That won't be enough vs the Bengals.

McDermott called not one, but two panic TO's that ended up helping Miami. That was maybe the most frustrating part of this game. This coaching staff has built a great team culture but on game day, they are very mediocre. Mike McDaniel is a rookie HC and is already an equally good, if not a better game day coach than McDermott.

[Kenny]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

The Bills dominated the Dolphins, for the 2nd time out of 3 games, on the score sheet, but ended up winning a nail biter this time. To me, there was 4 big plays that gave Miami life, and made the game much closer than it should've been.

1.) The kickoff out of bounds. No idea how that even happens, when every other kick sails through the endzone. Were they trying to get cute? Did Bass crap his pants? Buffalo was steamrolling Miami at this point, and this gave them the ball at the 40, and led to their first 3 points.

2.) The Shakir Drop. He catches that, they likely go up 24-3 and the game is over. Instead it lead to a long punt return, which led to another Miami FG.

3.) Allen's 2 picks. The first one, I'm not sure who to blame. It looked like Brown was running a go route, then he, for some reason broke out, then back, then stopped. The second one bounced off of Beasley's chest. The first led to a FG, the latter to a game tying TD (I think?).

4.) The strip sack TD. No idea what Singletary was doing here. He ran right by the blitzing safety. I'm 99% sure he was supposed to pick that guy up, but he didn't, and it led to 7 for the Fins.


To me, #1 and #4 are inexcusable. Those cannot happen. Ever. Drops happen, and it's not like Shakir dropped an easy throw. He still should've caught it, however. INTs happen, and honestly, why is John Brown out there for that and not Diggs or Davis? I don't get the fascination with Brown. He should be there for emergencies only.

For #2, and I think Romo said the same thing, but might have been the sun? Waddle dropped a bunch of passes on that side of the field too.

For #3, I dont blame Allen on the Brown pick. It was one on one, and I think Brown just messed up. ON the Beasley pick, I'm leaning towards blaming Allen and the refs. There were 3 guys all around Beasley, and one of them was draped on his back. Very risky throw.

For #4, that's on Allen... not just for the obvious fumble, but for not doing a proper pre-read and getting it out to the RB quickly.

That said, the 3 turnovers led to 17? points for miami?

[Forward_Lateral]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

Yup.

There's always key plays that change the game.

We picked Thompson off twice, and we scored TD's after each.

This was about self-inflicted wounds. We were just barely good enough to overcome committing more than Miami did.

Plus:

Several drives went nowhere because the O-line couldn't protect and/or Josh had no check down option. There were three Bills' drives during the game that went for 2 yards, -2 yards and -3 yards. It was a bad offensive game plan that had no answers vs cover zero other than to launch it. It hit just barely enough because we were playing against a very mediocre offense that couldn't score unless they had a short field, thanks to a solid defensive game plan. That won't be enough vs the Bengals.

McDermott called not one, but two panic TO's that ended up helping Miami. That was maybe the most frustrating part of this game. This coaching staff has built a great team culture but on game day, they are very mediocre. Mike McDaniel is a rookie HC and is already an equally good, if not a better game day coach than McDermott.

McDaniel crapped the bed yesterday. They had to blow all of their timeouts because of his ineptitude getting the plays called. I wouldn't say he's a better game day coach. He sucked yesterday just as much as McDermott did.

[Forward_Lateral]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

So, he missed one deep throw.

I will agree, after watching that again, that it's Josh's fault on the fumble. He needs to learn that sometimes you have to concede that the D wins, and just protect the ball and go down. A sack is not the end of the world, like the video says, but a fumble TD is pretty close to the end of times.

The Shakir drop just hurt so bad. Watching it again, he was wide open and it was a perfect throw. That should be caught 100% of the time.

[Novacane]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

The D could have stepped up after the KO out of bounds. It shouldn't have happened but it was only 15 extra yards.

On the Beasley INT the DB got his arm in there so it wasn't Josh or Beasley. The D just made a play. Could have been called early contract.

The play that changed the game was Shakirs drop. If he holds that we likely take a 21 point lead and most of the other crap never happens.

[Forward_Lateral]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

The D could have stepped up after the KO out of bounds. It shouldn't have happened but it was only 15 extra yards.

On the Beasley INT the DB got his arm in there so it wasn't Josh or Beasley. The D just made a play. Could have been called early contract.

The play that changed the game was Shakirs drop. If he holds that we likely take a 21 point lead and most of the other crap never happens.

The punt return that followed the drop too. He catches that, there is no punt return, like someone stated in another thread.

The bigger gripes I have with the Defense are giving up 1st downs on 3rd and 19. Giving up a first down on 4th and 9, on a lob throw to the RB in the flat. That should be stopped every single time.

For as good as Milano played, he missed a few big tackles that should've been made easily.

[senseofdoom]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

...1.) The kickoff out of bounds. No idea how that even happens, when every other kick sails through the endzone. Were they trying to get cute? Did Bass crap his pants? Buffalo was steamrolling Miami at this point, and this gave them the ball at the 40, and led to their first 3 points.
...

I haven't seen a replay but I heard speculation that the wind blew the ball off the tee right as he kicked it.

[Ingtar33]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

ON the Beasley pick, I'm leaning towards blaming Allen and the refs. There were 3 guys all around Beasley, and one of them was draped on his back. Very risky throw.

For #4, that's on Allen... not just for the obvious fumble, but for not doing a proper pre-read and getting it out to the RB quickly.

no, the Beasley pick happened for 2 reasons, and i'm not even sure about no.1... the first reason is because Beasley was supposed to come back harder to the ball. the ball was batted because he didn't get another step forward. however no.2 was there was defensive pass interference/holding that prevented Beasley from coming back to the ball.

not sure if Beasley didn't fight through it hard thinking it was being flagged, or the hold/pi was harder then it looked on tape. either way that pick wasn't JA's fault. it was thrown on time and to the right place. just "playoff officials" i guess.


No.4 was on JA, he just didn't spot the blitz fast enough or expected motor to chip him. either way it's mostly on JA. because even if motor wasn't supposed to chip him, AND ja saw it, he lost the ball because he tried to fight through the sack. had he just tucked it no harm, we lose 6 or 7 yards and it's 2nd and 16 or 17. had to just eat the ball on that one.

[YardRat]

Re: 4 plays yesterday made the game close.

Milano missing a tackle on 3rd and 9(?) that ended up in a first down and kept a Miami scoring drive alive.

Nobody covering Hill on 3rd and 19 and getting a free first down (but we see that a lot from this defense).

The Beasley pick was a good defensive play, defender had his arm in there.

The fumble is on Josh, that is supposed to be his first read and he's supposed to dump it to Motor.

There were a few dropped balls by Miami receivers, plus McDaniels' piss poor time management in getting plays in that kept Buffalo in it too.