theogt
Surrealist
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POSTED 2:45 p.m. EDT; UPDATED 3:12 p.m. EDT, October 9, 2007
BILLS ONLY HAVE THEMSELVES TO BLAME
After Dallas completed a stirring comeback win against the Buffalo Bills on Monday night, ESPN's Tony Kornheiser asked what else the Bills could have done to win the game (or words to that effect).
Well, they could have done plenty.
For starters, an offensive touchdown at some point in the game would have been a nice touch. As it stood, the Bills' offense accounted for three points. The defense and the specials teams scored 21.
More importantly, settling for three points after running another 40 seconds or so off of the clock with less than seven minutes to play would have represented a huge advantage for the home team.
We're referring to the point at which the Bills had the ball on the Dallas 11, facing third and eight. Instead of running between the tackles and setting up a chip-shot three-pointer, rookie Trent Edwards was asked to pass the ball. He threw an ill-advised pass that was tipped, picked off, and returned deep into Buffalo territory.
The gaffe was quickly forgotten because Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo quickly threw his fifth interception of the evening. But after the Bills punted the ball back to the Cowboys, there was more than enough time for Dallas not only to mount what should have been the game-tying drive, but also to recover an onside kick and drive into field-goal range for the 53-yard boomer that snatched victory from the jaws of not victory. (We always screw that one up.)
The Edwards interception came on a play that began with six minutes and 21 seconds on the clock (our friends at NFL.com have the full play-by-play). If Buffalo had instead called a run that had finished short of the orange Festivus pole, the play would have finished at 6:18. Allowing five seconds for the ball to be set and the play-clock to commence, the Bills could have snapped the ball for the field goal try at roughly 5:34, and the play would have ended with 5:30 left.
Assuming that the kick had sailed between the yellow Festivus poles, the Bills would have been up by 11 points, and Dallas would have had to manage two scoring drives to tie the game.
Though they had, in the end, enough time to drive down the field twice, the failed two-point conversion would have forced Dallas to go for a touchdown at the end of the game.
We're not saying that it would have been impossible for the Cowboys to have won the game, but it would have been considerably more difficult.
Also, we're still amazed by the failure of the Bills to put defensive backs in the faces of the receivers on the last snap that the Dallas offense took with seven seconds on the clock. Instead, the defense pulled back to guard against a deep pass, allowing a quick eight-yard out to Patrick Crayton that moved the Nick Folk kick from a near-record 61 yards to 53.
So the Bills have only themselves to blame for this one. When Dick Jauron (who unfortunately didn't pull a Dennis Green in his post-game presser) bemoaned the fact that the team didn't make one more play, the play to which he primarily should have been referring is the one that was called when the Bills could have iced the game with less than six minutes to play.
