Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

[BertSquirtgum]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

At the time of the throw. Jones and Johnson were just about break and both would have been wide open. Spiller was wide open. I don't care if Graham ran the wrong route. Fitzputrid made a terrible decision throwing the ball there. He is useless when it matters and basically useless period if he can't do it at critical times.

[BADTHINGSMAN]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

That's to say Stevie catches the ball and not drops it like he did vs the Steelers.

[Oaf]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

Fitz already said he committed to throwing it to Graham presnap. It sounds myopic, but taking a sack/hit while going to other reads would have ended the game. It is what is.

[BertSquirtgum]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

Fitz already said he committed to throwing it to Graham presnap. It sounds myopic, but taking a sack/hit while going to other reads would have ended the game. It is what is.

No it wouldn't. It was second down with 28 seconds left.

[Syderick]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

Here's a good screen shot:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/A7mnvS1CQAEQix1.jpg:large

[kingJofNYC]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

At 3:16 in this video you can see that Stevie beats both shallow guys and the safety way too far out of position in order to defend him. Bills win if Fitz makes an accurate throw to him.

This screen capture (pretty bad quality) comes with the ball still in Fitzpatricks hand. Stevie wide open in the blue circle. Other two red circles are open players as well, CJ and I think DJ. So Fitz had 3 open receivers and two covered receivers, one being Chandler and the other Graham. He makes the worst possible decision and throws it to the covered rookie. Every other option would have been better. That's what we are dealing with. And I've made a lot of excuses for Fitz, but he freaked out and choked.

The ball is no longer in Fitz's hands in that terrible screen shot, it's basically being intercepted at that point because TJ is behind the DB. That little brown dot is the ball. No one was that open. His two best shots were TJ if the route was ran correctly and CJ. Probably could have thrown it up to Steve but it would've been a tight throw.

Syd1364's pic is the best that's out there and Fitz has just released the ball.

[BertSquirtgum]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

The ball is no longer in Fitz's hands in that terrible screen shot, it's basically being intercepted at that point because TJ is behind the DB. That little brown dot is the ball. No one was that open. His two best shots were TJ if the route was ran correctly and CJ. Probably could have thrown it up to Steve but it would've been a tight throw.

Syd1364's pic is the best that's out there and Fitz has just released the ball.

Call your eye doctor and set up an appointment.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

Steve was not wide open on that play. Fitz might have been able to fit it in on the outside and Steve might have pulled it down, but the safety doesn't leave Johnson until Fitz throws to Graham.

[BertSquirtgum]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

The safety was no where near Johnson.

[Skooby]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

Steve was not wide open on that play. Fitz might have been able to fit it in on the outside and Steve might have pulled it down, but the safety doesn't leave Johnson until Fitz throws to Graham.

In NFL terms, he was wide open.

[Mr. Pink]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

Fitz throws to Stevie Johnson in the corner of the end zone and that safety has ZERO chance at getting there to make any kind of play.

Fitz throws to CJ and he likes splits the linebackers but has 2 DBs he clearly has to beat to the endzone...and maybe 3 seeing one of the two players near Stevie would peel off as soon as the checkdown is made.

The right throw is back corner to Stevie. It's either a TD or incomplete. Well unless it's horribly underthrown then it could be picked.

[Buffalogic]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

The ball is no longer in Fitz's hands in that terrible screen shot, it's basically being intercepted at that point because TJ is behind the DB. That little brown dot is the ball. No one was that open. His two best shots were TJ if the route was ran correctly and CJ. Probably could have thrown it up to Steve but it would've been a tight throw.

Syd1364's pic is the best that's out there and Fitz has just released the ball.

Are you serious? If Fitzpatrick had any sort of anticipation or glanced at his best receiver once when the game was on the line then he could have let the ball go when stevie was at the 10 and had an easy and almost indefensable touchdown. And yes Stevie is wide open, especially in a situation where you are on the opponents 25 with only 28 seconds left in the fourth quarter to win the game. It doesn't get better than that unless their whole defense gets struck by lightening and dies.

Anyone who apologizes for fitz on that play is just outrageous.

[kishoph]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

Is there a snapshot of the same perspective, a few clicks prior to Fitz releasing the ball? I'd like to see the position of the players when he was looking off the safety by TJ.

Here's one where Fitz is looking off the LB, you can see both the LB and CB bite towards Spiller, leaving Stevie against a flatfooted CB. You can also see that McCourty is squatting on the goalline, which would of forced Graham to cut it up around the 2 or 3 yard line, which if you see how high the ball is when it's over the goal line (which I have done by freezing the video) shows that it would of been well over Grahams head, had he cut the route underneath. It may have been a bad route, but it was a bad throw that would of not been complete even if Graham chose to go underneath (IMO).

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

The safety was no where near Johnson.

In NFL terms, he was wide open.

Fitz throws to Stevie Johnson in the corner of the end zone and that safety has ZERO chance at getting there to make any kind of play.

http://wgr550.com/WHITE---Eye-in-the-Sky---The-Blame-Game/14777096

Yes, CJ is open. This picture is more to show that Stevie Johnson is not. The safety at the top of the screen has that side of the field pretty well covered in this Patriots Cover 2 (that drops the MLB back into the middle as a third safety essentially). Spiller is open short. TJ Graham crosses the 5 yard line and Fitzpatrick makes the decision to make this throw.



It is at THIS moment that the ball leaves Fitzpatrick's hand. Graham is still looking downfield as he continues his route. Stevie Johnson has cleared the CB covering him but the safety to the top of the screen seems to have that back corner well covered. It's only when he starts to track the ball and move out of that spot that Johnson appears to have a shot at the back corner. The ball is on its way to Graham...but he doesn't break.

You guys seeing that gaping hole in the corner are looking after the throw, after the safety reads the throw and breaks on the ball. That safety was keying on Johnson and the sideline throw the whole way. Indeed, look at the video before the play and you can see him creeping outside before the snap. If Fitz throws to Johnson, he has a narrow target to hit along the sideline to complete it. A more accurate QB than Fitz could hit it. But Johnson was not wide open.

The right throw is back corner to Stevie. It's either a TD or incomplete. Well unless it's horribly underthrown then it could be picked.

If he keeps the throw outside, there is minimal chance of an INT but it's also a difficult catch where Steve would have to turn all the way around. It's not a bad throw, but I think Spiller + Spike was the best option there.

[kingJofNYC]

Re: Spiller was wide open on the last play for the Bills offense

Great write up. For the umpteenth time, CJ and TJ were the main options.

Are you serious? If Fitzpatrick had any sort of anticipation or glanced at his best receiver once when the game was on the line then he could have let the ball go when stevie was at the 10 and had an easy and almost indefensable touchdown. And yes Stevie is wide open, especially in a situation where you are on the opponents 25 with only 28 seconds left in the fourth quarter to win the game. It doesn't get better than that unless their whole defense gets struck by lightening and dies.

Anyone who apologizes for fitz on that play is just outrageous.

What did I say in my original post that was ridiculous? You posted an image and said Fitz still had the ball in his hand, which he clearly didn't, the ball was actually in the air but you could barely make it out. As you can now see, with the above images, your initial description was dead wrong.

Im not excusing Fitz, he sucks, but I'm also not going to exaggerate things just to make the situation look worse.