But, boy did he really try to toss a pick yesterday! It was right into the hands of the defender. Cassel lucked out on that one.

It was the smart call. Didn't like the play they called for it but especially with the wind it wasn't a gimme FG.

Yesterday's game was painful to watch. I've said before that I'll never bitch about a coach with balls, but at this point I can't tell if Haley's more like Custer or Wile E. Coyote. Time to get back on your meds, Todd. Jesus. And Weis.... well, I haven't made my contempt for this overrated turd a secret, and it continues to grow week by week. I think we could run 400 yards and this assclown will still call a pass play on a critical 3rd and short. ****. And Cassel? No need to go there at this point. And the secondary is still a work in progress, surrendering far too many first downs on 3rd and long.

I'm trying to look on this mess as simply getting caught looking ahead to Oakland next week. Really, I am. We lost one game (Houston) that we should have won, and now we've won a game that we abso-****ing-lutely should have lost, which I guess makes us even. A win is a win. A win is a win. A win is a win. A win is a win....

But the coaching needs to improve. Dramatically. Our worst enemies right now are prowling our own sideline and sitting in our own booth.

Here's what the Buffalo News is saying:

Bills Can't Escape the Jaws of Defeat
by Mark Gaughan - Buffalo News

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bi...icle237532.ece

KANSAS CITY -- The script was completely different from any other game the Buffalo Bills have played this season.

The ending -- well, you know the story.

The Bills were left to lament how they repeatedly let victory slip through their fingers after their 13-10 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

"It hurts," Bills coach Chan Gailey said. "You can't explain it. It makes you sick in your gut. I feel bad for our guys, because they're trying, they're playing hard. We're just not getting it done. I've got to teach us to get over the hump."

"I'm kind of at a loss for words," receiver Stevie Johnson said. "It seemed like we put together a good game as a team. We had opportunities but we couldn't come out with a win. Here we go again."

"It seems like almost every week, it's like, man if we could have made just one play," said guard Eric Wood. "If we could have made this play or that play, we'd have won that game."

The Bills fell to 0-7 for the first time since 1984. It's the first time in their history they have lost back-to-back overtime games.

Last week's 37-34 loss at Baltimore was a big-play fiesta, with eight touchdowns scored. This one was about methodical offense, with just two touchdowns.

The Chiefs were the better team on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Kansas City outrushed Buffalo, 274-137, and outgained the Bills overall, 414-328. The Bills called 56 passes and 28 runs.

The Bills still could have won if any one of the following plays went differently:

* Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw an interception at the Kansas City 27-yard line with 25 seconds left in regulation. The Bills needed only about 10 more yards to get in good position for a field goal.

* Fitzpatrick overthrew an open C.J. Spiller in the end zone with 8:11 left in overtime.

* Bills kicker Rian Lindell missed a 53-yard field-goal try with 7:19 left in overtime. Lindell had made the 53-yard try just moments before, but Kansas City had called timeout to stop the clock just before the ball was snapped.

The Bills' offense, which rolled up 514 yards last week in Baltimore, managed just 58 yards in the first half against the Chiefs. But the Bills found a rhythm in the third quarter, taking the second-half kickoff and holding the ball for 15 plays en route to a Lindell field goal that pulled them within 7-3.

"We adjusted at halftime," Fitzpatrick said. "We knew coming in they were a bend-but-don't-break type of defense, and they did a good job today in terms of that. It seemed the whole first half we were stuck in our end. They weren't going to allow us to get any big plays. On third down they played a lot more zone than man [to man]."

The Bills held the ball for 19:01 of the second 30 minutes.

"That was how we went into the ball game, understanding that we were going to have to dink and dunk our way down the field and treat 4-yard and 5-yard passes as run game because they're very physical tight end to tight end," Gailey said.

A 15-play, 83-yard march tied the game. Fitzpatrick hit 8 of 10 passes on the drive and capped it with a 4-yard scoring pass to Johnson on fourth and goal. It was a slant pass, and Johnson dove over the goal line just before he could be tackled.

"That's something we worked on probably one time throughout the week, but Coach [Gailey] called it," Johnson said. "He said, they'll play off, you'll come under and you'll have to bull rush in there. It was exactly how Coach said it. It was just execution."

The Bills had the ball back just 49 seconds later thanks to a good defensive stand (and questionable play-calling by the Chiefs). Fitzpatrick had the Bills at the Chiefs' 41 when his throw for Lee Evans sailed way over the receiver's head and was picked off by the Chiefs' Eric Berry. Fitzpatrick said it slipped.

"I catch the gun snap and pretty much as I catch it, throw it to Lee real quick," Fitzpatrick said. "It just squirted out."

Midway through overtime, Fitzpatrick moved the Bills from their own 10 to the Chiefs' 37. The Bills caught the Chiefs in a blitz with Spiller down the right sideline, but the pass sailed over his head.

"We got C.J. manned up with the linebacker on the outside and missed him in the end zone," Fitzpatrick said. "It was a good matchup. I let the ball go. I thought it was going to be perfect, and it just ended up being long."

"I don't know how many times in a row we've hit that in practice," Gailey said. "We didn't hit it today. It hurts."

The Bills called two more passes but only got to the 34, which put Lindell in a long-range position.

"We had a run called on one of them but we checked out of it because of the defense they gave us, which we've been doing and been fairly successful at," Gailey said of the two plays before the kick. "In hindsight, yeah, I wish we'd have run it a couple times there, but you make calls in games you wish you had back."

Kansas City's winning drive started with 1:13 left and went 53 yards to the Buffalo 16. Ryan Succop's 35-yard kick as time expired improved the Chiefs to 5-2.

"I thought we had it for sure," said linebacker Paul Posluszny. "I thought it was our game for sure. We fought hard. I felt we made the plays we needed to make at times. But we need to learn to win."

We dodged a shit ton of bullets yesterday...

That's the shit with Cassel. Dude was a ****ing worthless bum ALL ****ING GAME and then put together a beautiful drive with his back to the wall. That drive is precisely what he needs to do every drive. Weis gave him ample opportunity to make plays in the game and he stalled drives. I don't understand how he can be so horrible all game and then put together a drive like that.
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Give any NFL starting QB six or seven cracks at it, and eventually they'll all put together some kind of coherent drive.

It was a very catchable ball. After the game somebody said the defender hooked one of Bowe's arms, and it should have been a DPI. Anybody notice that?

No, I thought Bowe was open, but the pass was underthrown, Bowe had to adjust to the ball, DB hit Bowe about the same time the ball got there (maybe a tiny bit early but not enough for DPI) and pinned Bowe's arm so he couldn't grab the ball. It was a good defensive play. No TD because (as usual) Cassel couldn't hit a receiver in stride.

In general, I'd say: don't sweat this game. The Bills have now gone on the road and played ridiculously tough against the Dolphins, Patriots, Ravens, and Chiefs (taking the last two to OT). Those teams are 6-1, 5-2, 5-2, and 4-3; taking out the Bills game, they're still a cumulative 16-8. The Bills may be 0-7 but could easily be 3-4 or 4-3.

Look on the bright side: your D held its own, your running game dominated, and even Cassel couldn't **** it up in the end (although he tried his best).

(EDIT: Fins game was in Buffalo. Still, they only lost 15-10.)

Yes, the arm was hooked, but no, I don't think it should have been DPI (it was very close though). I think it was an outstanding play by the defender. The way I saw it, he effectively took one of Bowe's arms away just as the ball hit Bowe's hands. Maybe someone will produce a replay and we can double check it.

I'll agree that Cassel didn't throw the perfect pass to hit Bowe's outstretched arms in stride, but I think he was close enough on that play to call it a success on his part foiled by a really good defensive play.* It's not like Bowe had to stop to wait for it like his TD last week.


_______________
* (IMO, of course)

Why would you take out Lewis? He's been playing really well so far.

Do NOT want McGraw starting...

If Haley would have kicked a FG in the first half, perhaps Succop would have been more used to aiming in that wind, and he wouldn't have missed his first attempt :shrug:

Maybe.
If they take that three the game probably doesn't go to OT.

But if you try that kick in the 2nd quarter, it's kicking at the West End Zone.
The winning OT kick was in the East End Zone. Winds swirl different -usually its worse- on the east side, because the wind goes up a tunnel in the southeast corner of the playing surface.

Succop hit the game winner on the tougher end to kick. Kudos to him.

OK, if that was the tougher end to kick, when Buffalo won the toss for OT, why in the heck did we choose to go in that direction?

Well, I thought about that too. I think it's because the east end is where Succop was kicking all his warm up FGs during halftime. I think since that's the side he warmed up on, he may have wanted to kick that direction. Or, maybe the coaches didn't even think about it. Who knows? Plus, you can't tell when the wind is going to gust. The kick he missed got pushed like crazy. The winning kick went left too, but I don't think it went left as severely as the first kick. Just one of those things. Also, he was closer on the second kick than the first.

I played Soccer in my younger days. When I kicked a corner, I always threw a little grass up to check the wind direction. I always adjusted my kick direction to the wind. No coach told me to do it. I can't see why Succop or other kickers don't think this way. He looked surprised when the wind took the ball to the left. He should have kicked as if he was aiming to hit the right post.

Actually, Arenas was doing the grass in the wind thing all day for judging punts.

The wind at head level isn't as important as the wind at 40 ft in the air. You can't throw grass high enough to test those winds. I'm sure Succop doesn't need any advice from you or anyone else here on how to judge the wind.

Not totally true. If it's not a swirling type of wind it all goes in the same direction. I scored more than a few direct goals from the corner spot using that strategy. I really did.

Now you could have argued that the wind at Arrowhead was gusting and swirling. Your argument would have had more credibility.

I didn't have to argue that the winds were swirling because everyone (but you, apparently) already knew that. If you didn't get it from the CBS broadcast, you could have read it in gblowfish's post earlier in this thread:

Duh.

That may be the tougher end to kick in terms of a worse amount of wind, but isn't the wind on that end actually easier for a right footed kicker, because it hooks left. If they were going the other direction at the end of the game, he'd have had to kick at the left upright and hope for the wind to break it back to the right. Is that right? (I don't know for certain, I'm not nor have ever been a kicker...)

Ask Frankie. He's a kicking expert.

I played soccer for years and years. But I'm not going to even pretend that translates into kicking an oblong ball through an upright 40 yards away in 50 mile an hour winds.

I played kick ball in grade school and I used to toss fistfuls of dirt and gravel into the air before it was my turn to kick. No, not because I was measuring the wind, just because it was fun.

The shape factors in some areas of techniques of kicking. Putting the ball is a very basic consideration regardless of shape.

A basic idea does not an expert make. As such I never claimed to be one. But I played Soccer for years and coached it a few years more. Experienced, yes. Expert, is something you want to say just to be cute.

Wrong. Wind 40 feet up is most definitely different. Particularly INSIDE a structure. Crawl on your roof on any day when there is a little breeze and tell me it is different.

And you don't need grass, you can just turn and feel the wind on your face.
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Or just look at the streamer thingies on the goal posts...that's what they are there for.

And speaking as someone who has spent a great deal of his life working on ladders and roofs, I can attest that the wind can be different even 10-15 feet off of the ground.

If I read Haley's presser remarks yesterday correctly, what you said here is pretty much spot on. I also think we have to thank the wind a little bit on Buffalo's miss going the other direction. Even though it was an ugly kick, it looked like it was going to sneak just inside the right upright, and at the last possible moment, the wind pushed it hard right into the upright. The previous kick that Haley called the TO on though, the wind did not seem to have any effect on at all. Tough conditions for a kicker Sundy all the way around.

In strength, not really in direction, if it's a directional wind as oppesed to a swirling type.

I did not say he should do the grass test. I said I did it. I was talking about having an understanding of how wind affects balls in the air. NFL kickers have the benefit of the flags at the top of goal posts. They do not need to throw grass up or to try to feel the wind on their face.

Tell us more about this mysterious thing you call wind, Frankie!

Trolling doesn't become you, pat. Especially when it's not in the DC forum.