Philbin was right to run out the clock at the end of the half.....

[Sunny Fish]

and get into the locker room, regroup and make some adjustments
- our line was getting beat badly at that point
- Its not popular decision but it was the right one and they moved the ball at start the second half.

- All you arm chair QBs would be complaining either way if things went wrong- if Tannehill is sacked, throws a pick or is stripped of the ball, or its 3 quick incomplete passes and forced to punt, bills get the ball back an score you guys would be complaining about that coaching strategy
- Also I don't believe Lazor's read option on 4th and short was a bad call. QB had some open field,bills SS just made a great play- again if that worked people would be talkin about the great call on 4th down

Wrong Bro. You gotta have nuts to coach in this game.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

While I can see a case for both sides here, I will never ever understand why coaches punt late in the game to avoid a worse defeat when you still have an outside chance to pull something off. Atlanta, down by 14 with 4 minutes left punted from their own 25 on 4th and 7. You have nothing to lose by going for that. This really drives me crazy.

I don't understand why any team would ever punt in the 4th quarter while down by 2 touchdowns. Yet I see it every single week. I mean, alright, if it's 4th and 20 and there are 14 minutes left, you punt it. But 4th and 5?

I guess it's just my personality. I believe in taking risks, even questionable risks, when the odds say that doing what you're doing isn't going to work.

 

[CalDolFan10x14]

No, you have 4 timeouts (including the two minute warning) and you're down by 2 possessions at the end of the half, at least try to get in FG range! Philbin was in the wrong there. Fear of failure is one of the worst traits a head coach can have. I'd rather see some kind of effort to put points on the board...if we fail, hey, at least we tried. I haven't been as hard on Philbin as some, but that lack of fight at the end of the first half is not acceptable in my opinion.

Not only does it make one question his leadership, but it sends the message he doesn't have confidence in his team. If you keep sending that message, eventually the team is going to lose confidence in it's head coach. As a leader, if you don't have any confidence in your guys to get it done you shouldn't be in that position in the first place. You go down fighting or don't be a fighter at all I say. Hopefully Philbin learns from this as the season goes on because he can't send these kinds of messages to his team.

 

[rickd13]

It is ridiculous that they didn't attempt to score before the half with 2:20 left and all three of their timeouts trailing 9-0. Someone made a brilliant point in another thread. He said, how is the possession before the half any more risky than any other possession you will have during the game. If the Dolphins would have turned it over before the half and gave up a touchdown it would not have been any more catastrophic doing the same thing on the first possession to open the second half. You also have the benefit of having all three of your timeouts and the two minute warning to get exactly the right play called for the situation. You rarely have those advantages on any other possession in a game. You definitely have to maximize your possessions especially when you are losing on the road. If the head coach does not have enough confidence in his QB to move into scoring position in that situation then he should replace the QB. I don't believe that Tannehill should be replaced at this time, but if his coach doesn't trust him there, than he should get someone in there that he does trust. It was a brutal coaching decision. If you were going to play that scared, why not take a knee after getting a first down? Why risk fumbling? I would have rather seen the team get on the plane and go home than to end the half the way they did. At least they could have avoided the risk of injury to any more of their players that way.

 

[ForksPhin]

It was probably one of those 50/50 coin flip deals with about 3 points of value up for grabs for either team. I wouldn't be surprised if you worked out the math that it was closer to being worth 3 points for the Bills and 2 points for us though. I'm sure thats what Philbins instincts were, that it was negative expected value for our team at that time.

Marrone is the one that should have went for the jugular and started using his timeouts to get the ball back. It would have been really interesting to see what we would have done in response.

---------- Post added at 06:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:25 PM ----------



I can't remember a team having 25 yards of total offense with a net of 7 passing yards in a half before...

The Bills only had one timeout remaining....which means there was even less of chance that they could drive and score if the Phins had punted. Philbin sucks.

 

[gregorygrant83]

If you watch most teams, when they're starting at their own 12 yard line they tend to start the drive conservatively. A team with a Brees, Manning or Brady might be more aggressive. But most teams start drives from inside their own 15 by running the ball.

 

[GreenMts]

The game turned on bad special teams play. The k/o returned psychologically killed the team in that game. The Landry fumble ... just piles on.

I wasn't happy with the conservative approach at the end of the half. I also didn't care for the clock management. BUT I understand the approach and I don't think how that one drive was handled cost us the game. In fact, I can appreciate the argument that getting into the locker room and regrouping isn't a bad strategy.

Unlike a some, I'm not my way or the highway about things.

 

[Markcalius]

Game was in reach until that kickoff return. That broke our back

I would have liked to see Philbin make use of that last possession in the first half, but you're right. Even with the way Philbin played it we were right back in the game in the beginning of the second half. If we had played as much defense in the second half as we did in the first and then convert a couple of key plays, we would have gone up in that game.

 

[Fins1971]

Miami had a second down play with 19 seconds left on the 29 yard line and a third down play on the 35 with 13 seconds left. You throw an incomplete pass there and you're looking at punting, when you already gave up a blocked punt.

But they ran miller and picked up the 1st down at the 41 with 8 seconds left. Had they called timeout immediately they might have had 2 low risk plays left in their bag.

In 2011 the New York giants eliminated the 15-1 Packers from the playoffs with similar circumstances. At their own 40 with only 15 seconds the Giants scored in 2 plays and opened a 2 score lead at half time. It propelled them to a World Championship. Philbin was on the losing side of this and missed the importance of what this can do for your team.

Another point to add. We may actually need to do this late in the season or playoffs to stave off elimination. This was a perfect training opportunity with very low risk that we passed up.

You will never win a world championship with this philosophy. JMO

 

[gregorygrant83]

Even after the kick return Miami responded with a touchdown to make it 16-10 so I don't think it broke the Dolphins back or spirit. The bottom line, and people don't like to hear it, the better team on Sunday won the game. The Bills made more plays when they needed them than the Dolphins did. Buffalo outplayed Miami and deserved the win, I hope the Dolphins return the favor when we meet again.

 

[roy_miami]

Even after the kick return Miami responded with a touchdown to make it 16-10 so I don't think it broke the Dolphins back or spirit. The bottom line, and people don't like to hear it, the better team on Sunday won the game. The Bills made more plays when they needed them than the Dolphins did. Buffalo outplayed Miami and deserved the win, I hope the Dolphins return the favor when we meet again.

After that TD for a brief moment I started to feel the same way when the Patriots turnaround happened. If you think about it its pretty unreal we even had an opportunity at the win after posting just 40 or 50 yards of offense in the first half.

But I agree, its entirely possible they have a more talented team across the board, including at the most important position of them all. Watkins is way better than anything we have at receiver. Their running backs are better. O-line might be better. D-line is better. Their LBs are better when healthy. We might have the edge at DB.

People seem to be under the impression that its the same ole Bills but they have quietly been putting together a really nice roster. We're just lucky they traded away Stevie Johnson for some reason.

 

[finfan54]

gonna tell ya'll something...do you think its any coincidence that the pre-game celebration of Wilson, Kelly, and Pagula was intended fully for us?

every year we are the buffalo bills superbowl. if your not there live to see it,you will never understand.

philbin played it right but he could have taken a shot.

we lost this game in a team effort. plain and simple.

lick wounds, move onto winning again. we prob will not win many in buffalo any more.

 

[zach attach]

Here is the short answer. Do you want a coach who says to before halftime, lets play safe so Buffalo does not get the ball again, or do you want a coach who says lets go score some points.

Keep in mind that we faced the same Buffalo team last year. Nobody learned anything from that? AND we have more weapons this year right?

Tannehill is a 3rd year qb. If he cant drive down and get a score, THEN WHEN WILL HE???

 

[3rdandinches]

I liked the read option call on 4th down, if the receiver doesn't completely whiff on his block of the safety it would have a been a big gainer. Time on the clock means you go for points, period! You don't assume negative plays, you assume you will score! Very disappointed with that call.

Overall it was a huge emotional game for Buffalo, I hate the outcome but I could see it coming. KC is a whole different ball of wax, this is a game we must win at home and all will be right with the world again, lol.

 

[Zounds]

Keep in mind fellas that 3 incomplete passes on that last drive would give the Bills the ball back with about 1 minute and 45 seconds left with good field position. At that point we weren't completing any passes and it was the right call. We couldn't sustain any drives at that time, and the only reason we got a few rushing yards at the end of the half was because Buffalo was defending the big play pass.

---------- Post added at 10:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:26 PM ----------

I liked the read option call on 4th down, if the receiver doesn't completely whiff on his block of the safety it would have a been a big gainer.

Whats the likelihood of your WR making and great block on a fast moving safety? Thats not a high success rate for a play.