The coaching yesterday....

[OpIv37]

was still messed up. First, the gadget plays. They're not being as heavily criticized because they worked mostly (the flea flicker was for a short gain instead of the intended bomb but at least it went for positive yardage). For those of you suffering from alcohol-induced short term memory loss, I'm talking about: the flea flicker, the onside kick, the reverse KO return and the fake reverse KO return.

The difference was the manner in which the plays were used. Last season, the gadget plays were a change of pace to try to catch the other team asleep at the wheel, and more often than not, it worked. Early this year, same thing (with the exception of that triple option play- that was just pathetic). Yesterday, it was almost as if Mularkey said "**** it- the normal stuff isn't working- I'm just gonna pull something out of my ass and see what happens". It's lucky for him that ST is the only unit on our team that can execute.

Now, Holcomb's interception. Yes, it was the QB's fault. BUT WHY THE HELL WERE WE THROWING ON 2nd and 2? This is the same thing with Losman's INT against Miami- he was throwing on 1st and goal from the 4. Yes, these are execution mistakes and the coach can't make the players execute, but the coach never should have been forcing the QB's to execute in that situation.

Next, defense- bump and run, anyone? We were constantly giving their WR's a 7 yard cushion- WHY? Nate's been getting eaten alive on the short stuff- someone needs to tell him to play closer and NOT bite on every single fake. Again, certainly there were some execution, but the coaches put the players in a position that made execution more difficult.

Finally, the touchdown over Jabari Greer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Greer a SAFETY? He was put in at CB for McGee because McGee was winded after the long KO return- WHY? Don't we have another corner? and if you're going to put him in, why aren't the safeties cheating to that side (maybe because Clements couldn't stop Johnson without safety help so they had to watch the other side?).

In Mularkey's defense, he did appear to make some adjustments and his gambles mostly paid off. But this game was still wrought by coaching errors and I still think his ass deserves to be FIRED.

[Captain Obvious]

Jabari Greer is a CB.

[Michael82]

Jabari Greer is the nickel back and a Cornerback. You are thinking of Rashad Baker, who's a safety.

[Dr. Lecter]

I love how people ***** no matter the outcome of the game. They say, "yeah well, the play worked, but they were lucky." Is it so difficult to give credit where it is due?

The reverse KO caused to Bengals to be very tight in their coverage and likely helped on McGee's run back.

And throwing on 2nd and 2 is common. It is a good down to do so and to ***** about that call is missing the big picture. It is good to throw on that down since you will be left with 3rd and 2 if the play does not work, unless the QB makes a **** throw like Holcomb did. If a team runs every time on 2nd and 2, defenses will be ready for it. Most teams do like to throw in that situtation.

As for the onsides kick, great call. The Bengals were not ready at all and it was executed perfectly.

The Bills beat one of the best teams in the AFC and beat them on the road.

Can everybody be happy for one day?????????????

[Dr. Lecter]

Or should Op be nicknamed Wys Jr.????

[Akhippo]

I actually like the playcalling for THIS game. It told the players that they were going after this game with everything they had. Instead of run run pass punt.
I also like that they were throwing to the flats for 2-3 yards. All teams do it, and it works. They should have worked on getting the tight ends more involved though.
The D still needs shoring up. Hopefully draft talent can help next year.
Special teams stepped up and showed how good they really are. Except for lindell. Please send us a kicker for Christmas.

[Michael82]

I love how people ***** no matter the outcome of the game. They say, "yeah well, the play worked, but they were lucky." Is it so difficult to give credit where it is due?

The reverse KO caused to Bengals to be very tight in their coverage and likely helped on McGee's run back.

And throwing on 2nd and 2 is common. It is a good down to do so and to ***** about that call is missing the big picture. It is good to throw on that down since you will be left with 3rd and 2 if the play does not work, unless the QB makes a **** throw like Holcomb did. If a team runs every time on 2nd and 2, defenses will be ready for it. Most teams do like to throw in that situtation.

As for the onsides kick, great call. The Bengals were not ready at all and it was executed perfectly.

The Bills beat one of the best teams in the AFC and beat them on the road.

Can everybody be happy for one day?????????????
Says the guy that was demanding changes last week after the Broncos embarrassed us at our house. :::

Seriously, I'm happy we finally won a game, but I'm worried that this game will bring false hopes and now the changes that we desperately needed won't happen. :ill:

[Michael82]

. Except for lindell. Please send us a kicker for Christmas.

He missed one kick yesterday and it was not a gimme. He also made a clutch game winning kick. That was a pressure kick. :up:

[Dr. Lecter]

Says the guy that was demanding changes last week after the Broncos embarrassed us at our house. :::

Seriously, I'm happy we finally won a game, but I'm worried that this game will bring false hopes and now the changes that we desperately needed won't happen. :ill:

I am indifferent on MM. If he goes, fine. If he stays, I am OK with it. ALways have been.

TD is another story. At the end of the year, he is gone. I think he already knows it too.

[FlyingDutchman]

Im gonna have to agree with Doc. Second and short is a time in which your whole playbook is open, it is a good time to take a shot at big plays. As far as the gadget plays, I think it was just a situation in which there is little to lose so why not just take a chance and see if a play can be made. Had they backfired MM woulda just looked like the ass that he has looked like all year. Execution of plays sure does make or break a coach.

[Throne Logic]

I stated a while ago that I want Bobby April as our new HC. Yesterday just has me rooting louder. Special Teams pretty much won that game for us.

Overall, in-game decisions were better, primarily because we didn't give up on the run after the first series. I still don't like gadget plays, but they were definitely smarter about when they called them.

Defense is still not good. Playing the CB's up to 8 yards off the LOS was horrid. I lost count of the short passes Cinci completed in these cushions before the CB's could react. Nuts.

Overall, the team gave a very good effort. That's Kudos to MM. I thought he might have lost this team complete - apparently not completely.

Kudos to the arial attack, too. Holcomb, Moulds, Evans, and even Reed and Parrish put in real nice efforts throughout the game. The O-Line was OK on pass blocking, but the had some serious mental lapses from time to time.

Willis may not have had much to run behind, but he still didn't look all that great. He was serviceable. His average was nice. It was even nicer that they handed the ball to him 20+ times. But he was tripped up or bottled up in a number of situations where he should have been able to break off better runs.

I, too, am pretty much just happy (if a bit surprised) to see this team earn a quality win, especially on the road.

[helmetguy]

The difference in the "gadget" plays betwwen yesterday and earlier in the season, as far as I could tell, was the timing. Earlier in the season, it appeared it was a matter of "Well, we have it in the playbook, so why not?" Yesterday, it looked like there was a set upplay earlier in the game that made these "gadgets" more of a wrinkle in a play rather than trickery for the sake of trickery.

As far as the overall approach to the game. I thought the team played as though there was nothing to lose, rather than playing not to lose.

[Devin]

Well I was happy actually running the ball near the goal line. Even if unsuccessful.

[onceproudbillsfan]

You people that liked the playcalling must like being 5-10 with beating one decent team. You think the playcalling was good! The defense and special teams or should I say Mcgee pulled this one out, not MMs play calling. We get a lead and this moron just wants to keep throwing the ball. The second and two pass was stupid because we just passed on first and ten to get to that second and two. This man is not using Willis like he should. 23 carries, thats pisspore! Willis should be gettin the ball at least 30 times a game. He gets stronger as the game goes on. Like I have been sayin we need to become a team that puts time of possesion first and foremost especially with a defence that is gettin old. We need to run the ball more. Most of Willis's carries came in the redzone when the defence knew we were goin to run. The formation is so easy to see when we are goin to run. Sure give Mularkey another year and it could and probably will get even worse than this year.

[Meathead]

http://www.bway.net/~hunger/whine/wh-baby.gif

[Historian]

I am indifferent on MM. If he goes, fine. If he stays, I am OK with it. ALways have been.

TD is another story. At the end of the year, he is gone. I think he already knows it too.

I agree.

I'm ambivalent on MM too. If he stays, he will need to clean up his act though.

[SeatownBillsFan21]

kevin thomas would be nice to have?

[OpIv37]

I love how people ***** no matter the outcome of the game. They say, "yeah well, the play worked, but they were lucky." Is it so difficult to give credit where it is due?

The reverse KO caused to Bengals to be very tight in their coverage and likely helped on McGee's run back.

And throwing on 2nd and 2 is common. It is a good down to do so and to ***** about that call is missing the big picture. It is good to throw on that down since you will be left with 3rd and 2 if the play does not work, unless the QB makes a **** throw like Holcomb did. If a team runs every time on 2nd and 2, defenses will be ready for it. Most teams do like to throw in that situtation.

As for the onsides kick, great call. The Bengals were not ready at all and it was executed perfectly.

The Bills beat one of the best teams in the AFC and beat them on the road.

Can everybody be happy for one day?????????????

if we hadn't recovered the onside kick, would you say it was a great call? Somehow I doubt it.

on 2nd and 2, a run is a higher percentage play than a pass. Don't gamble when you're winning. This is another case of Mularkey outsmarting himself- "I know! It's so stupid to pass in this situation that they'll never expect me to do it! It will be the perfect way to fool them!".

Of course I'm happy that we won, but we're still 5-10. I don't want one good game to excuse Mularkey from the 13 or so bad ones. He made some mistakes here too and needs to be accountable for the last two seasons, not the last two days.

[Dr. Lecter]

If you hold him accountable for the last two seasons, then he gets credit for what he did last year, which was really good (especially for a rookie HC).

And I still like the onsides kick call. Teams should run it once or twice a year if they notice the coverage units are backing up too quickly.

[OpIv37]

If you hold him accountable for the last two seasons, then he gets credit for what he did last year, which was really good (especially for a rookie HC).

And I still like the onsides kick call. Teams should run it once or twice a year if they notice the coverage units are backing up too quickly.

at one point last year we were 1-5 and most of the teams we beat in the big run at the end were sub-par. Last year was definitely more fun than this year (especially since we weren't eliminated with 6 games left) but don't oversell it- last year was fairly mediocre as well.

[Michael82]

at one point last year we were 1-5 and most of the teams we beat in the big run at the end were sub-par. Last year was definitely more fun than this year (especially since we weren't eliminated with 6 games left) but don't oversell it- last year was fairly mediocre as well.
fairly mediocre???! Come on man. :shakeno: