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Hindsight haunts Bills
Lots of what-ifs center on play-calling
By Mark Gaughan NEWS SPORTS REPORTER
Updated: 10/10/07 6:54 AM
The what-ifs were haunting the Buffalo Bills a day after their incomprehensible loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
“It’s a shock to us we lost that football game,” safety Donte Whitner said. “We had so many opportunities to win.”
“You replay everything and ask yourself what you could have done differently and you do second-guess yourself a lot,” Bills coach Dick Jauron said.
The second-guessing centered on a handful of plays from the 25-24 defeat and the tightrope that Jauron walked between playing conservatively and playing aggressively. The fallout:
• The Bills should have played tighter coverage on the final Dallas pass completion, which set up the winning field goal.
• They had an assignment mistake that allowed Dallas to recover its onside kickoff.
• Jauron basically defended the decisions to have Rian Lindell try a 54-yard field goal and the call to pass on a third-and-8 play that Dallas intercepted.
Dallas’ final pass completion was an 8-yarder from Tony Romo to Patrick Crayton to the Buffalo 35. The play began with seven seconds left, and Crayton got out of bounds with 2 seconds left. Crayton was lined up in the slot on the right, and Bills nickel cornerback Kiwaukee Thomas was well off the line of scrimmage opposite him in zone coverage, rather than playing closer to the line and defending the sideline. It was an easy completion.
“We were playing Cover 2,” cornerback Terrence McGee said of the Bills’ two-deep zone. “In that, you basically don’t want to give up the deeper route. [Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell] kind of touched on that in meetings. He wished he would have had a man coverage. That probably would have helped us out. That’s the way it goes.”
On the onside kick, tight end Michael Gaines missed his block on the front line of the Bills’ return team, and that allowed Dallas’ Sam Hurd to get the first touch on the ball and help Dallas recover.
“The front three block the three [Cowboys], so the man who got his hands on the ball was supposed to be blocked earlier,” Jauron said. “Two of the guys attacked and unfortunately Michael Gaines stayed at the line. That’s the man that touched the ball.
Robert [Royal] was coming to get the ball. Unfortunately Michael hasn’t been with us as long as Ryan [Neufeld] or George [Wilson], and he didn’t move forward. It was another one of those things.”
The field-goal try by Lindell missed, in part because of a high snap. It came on a fourth-and-3 play from the Dallas 36 with 41 seconds left in the half. It was a bit of a bold move because it set up Dallas with good field position and led to a 47- yard Cowboys field goal.
Jauron said he did not think going for the first down was nearly as good a decision as trying the field goal.
“It was well within his range,” Jauron said of Lindell. “It wasn’t a thought. We knew he could make it. He just didn’t. It was right at his mark. That, to me, was no decision at all. I think Rian is a terrific kicker, and he’s going to make more of those than he misses, and we wanted the points.”
The decision to have Trent Edwards pass on third and 8 from the Dallas 11 with 6:21 left in the game also was a bold move. Dallas intercepted. A field goal would have put the Bills up by 11.
Did he think playing safer made more sense a day later?
“Not necessarily,” Jauron said. “Our quarterback hadn’t thrown an interception. He had been pretty accurate to that point. We didn’t go in there thinking, ‘He’s going to throw an interception.’ Just like if we had called a run we wouldn’t think he’s going to fumble the ball so we better not run it, we better throw it. . . . Sometimes you do what you think they think you won’t. You’re always playing that game.”
The missed opportunities overshadowed what in many ways was a beautifully executed game by the Bills. The defense forced six turnovers and held Terrell Owens to two catches for 25 yards. Dallas managed just 76 rushing yards and 3.5 yards a carry.
The Bills varied their front-seven alignments, often putting the three linebackers up near the gaps in the defensive line.
“We wanted to show them a different look by getting in their gaps just to try to screw up their blocking schemes,” linebacker John DiGiorgio said. “We felt it would help screw up the double teams and help our defensive linemen get penetration into the backfield. It worked out great. Chicago did it some against Dallas, and that’s something we looked at because we run the same defense Chicago runs.”
“Instead of sitting at 3-2, we’re sitting at 1-4,” said Whitner, referring to the two last-second defeats. “It leaves a bitter taste in our mouths but we have to learn from this, grow from this. Hopefully, eventually down the line, instead of losing the close games we’ll win the close games because we know how to win.”
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/billsnfl/story/181100.html
Lots of what-ifs center on play-calling
By Mark Gaughan NEWS SPORTS REPORTER
Updated: 10/10/07 6:54 AM
The what-ifs were haunting the Buffalo Bills a day after their incomprehensible loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
“It’s a shock to us we lost that football game,” safety Donte Whitner said. “We had so many opportunities to win.”
“You replay everything and ask yourself what you could have done differently and you do second-guess yourself a lot,” Bills coach Dick Jauron said.
The second-guessing centered on a handful of plays from the 25-24 defeat and the tightrope that Jauron walked between playing conservatively and playing aggressively. The fallout:
• The Bills should have played tighter coverage on the final Dallas pass completion, which set up the winning field goal.
• They had an assignment mistake that allowed Dallas to recover its onside kickoff.
• Jauron basically defended the decisions to have Rian Lindell try a 54-yard field goal and the call to pass on a third-and-8 play that Dallas intercepted.
Dallas’ final pass completion was an 8-yarder from Tony Romo to Patrick Crayton to the Buffalo 35. The play began with seven seconds left, and Crayton got out of bounds with 2 seconds left. Crayton was lined up in the slot on the right, and Bills nickel cornerback Kiwaukee Thomas was well off the line of scrimmage opposite him in zone coverage, rather than playing closer to the line and defending the sideline. It was an easy completion.
“We were playing Cover 2,” cornerback Terrence McGee said of the Bills’ two-deep zone. “In that, you basically don’t want to give up the deeper route. [Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell] kind of touched on that in meetings. He wished he would have had a man coverage. That probably would have helped us out. That’s the way it goes.”
On the onside kick, tight end Michael Gaines missed his block on the front line of the Bills’ return team, and that allowed Dallas’ Sam Hurd to get the first touch on the ball and help Dallas recover.
“The front three block the three [Cowboys], so the man who got his hands on the ball was supposed to be blocked earlier,” Jauron said. “Two of the guys attacked and unfortunately Michael Gaines stayed at the line. That’s the man that touched the ball.
Robert [Royal] was coming to get the ball. Unfortunately Michael hasn’t been with us as long as Ryan [Neufeld] or George [Wilson], and he didn’t move forward. It was another one of those things.”
The field-goal try by Lindell missed, in part because of a high snap. It came on a fourth-and-3 play from the Dallas 36 with 41 seconds left in the half. It was a bit of a bold move because it set up Dallas with good field position and led to a 47- yard Cowboys field goal.
Jauron said he did not think going for the first down was nearly as good a decision as trying the field goal.
“It was well within his range,” Jauron said of Lindell. “It wasn’t a thought. We knew he could make it. He just didn’t. It was right at his mark. That, to me, was no decision at all. I think Rian is a terrific kicker, and he’s going to make more of those than he misses, and we wanted the points.”
The decision to have Trent Edwards pass on third and 8 from the Dallas 11 with 6:21 left in the game also was a bold move. Dallas intercepted. A field goal would have put the Bills up by 11.
Did he think playing safer made more sense a day later?
“Not necessarily,” Jauron said. “Our quarterback hadn’t thrown an interception. He had been pretty accurate to that point. We didn’t go in there thinking, ‘He’s going to throw an interception.’ Just like if we had called a run we wouldn’t think he’s going to fumble the ball so we better not run it, we better throw it. . . . Sometimes you do what you think they think you won’t. You’re always playing that game.”
The missed opportunities overshadowed what in many ways was a beautifully executed game by the Bills. The defense forced six turnovers and held Terrell Owens to two catches for 25 yards. Dallas managed just 76 rushing yards and 3.5 yards a carry.
The Bills varied their front-seven alignments, often putting the three linebackers up near the gaps in the defensive line.
“We wanted to show them a different look by getting in their gaps just to try to screw up their blocking schemes,” linebacker John DiGiorgio said. “We felt it would help screw up the double teams and help our defensive linemen get penetration into the backfield. It worked out great. Chicago did it some against Dallas, and that’s something we looked at because we run the same defense Chicago runs.”
“Instead of sitting at 3-2, we’re sitting at 1-4,” said Whitner, referring to the two last-second defeats. “It leaves a bitter taste in our mouths but we have to learn from this, grow from this. Hopefully, eventually down the line, instead of losing the close games we’ll win the close games because we know how to win.”
http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/billsnfl/story/181100.html
