Division Round Football this weekend

[+ purplekow]

Usually when the playoffs come, I lose interest unless my team is in it or I otherwise have a rooting interest.  This weekend was so cold and miserable, that I watched all four games.  All four were exciting and came down to the last play of the game.  

The final game Buffalo at KC was particular intense at the end but was marred by a foolish strategic error by Buffalo which allowed KC to comes back and tie the game.  After Buffalo came down to take the lead, there were 13 seconds left on the clock.  The kickoff into the end zone allowed KC to take the ball at the 25 and with three time outs, those 13 seconds are enough for three plays.  Buffalo played a very weak prevent defense which ultimately allowed KC to go more than 50 yards to kick the tying field goal.  KC won the coin toss and took the opening drive for a TD and deprived Buffalo of a chance of an offensive drive in OT.

With 13 seconds left, Buffalo could have either kicked the ball on the ground starting the clock and using up a significant portion of the remaining 13 seconds or they could have kicked the ball so as to force KC to handle the ball or down it in worse field position.  

In either case, Buffalo coaches will have to live with this bad decision and the loss in  what will long be considered one of the most dramatic playoff game ever.  

[BuffaloKyle]

Yeah I was so upset last night. I'm just so sad for Josh Allen. He played the best two games by a QB in NFL playoff history and is going home. Most of the players are all coming back, we just might lose both coordinators. But I saw a ton of analysts saying before the entire weekend that the winner of last night's game was gonna win the Super Bowl and to have seen what else transpired with Green Bay, Tampa Bay, & Tennessee getting eliminated I definitely see the Chiefs winning it all now and it easily could have been my team if they had held on and not allowed that 13 second drive. 😔

[BuffaloKyle]

6 hours ago, purplekow said:

With 13 seconds left, Buffalo could have either kicked the ball on the ground starting the clock and using up a significant portion of the remaining 13 seconds or they could have kicked the ball so as to force KC to handle the ball or down it in worse field position.  

Here's a discussion on that. I'm more with Dan Orlovsky I think Kansas City would have downed it right when the returner would have touched it and KC would have started at the 15 or 20 with 11 or 12 sec instead of the 25 with 13. Rex says 3 or 4 sec would have come off but only if they had returned it which I don't think they would have.

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=33138234

[+ purplekow]

That is assuming that the handled the ball cleanly. And 2 seconds out of 13 is a significant amount. And 10 yards added to a field goal is quite a bit.  With the plan used, there was no chance of time running off the clock.  

[BuffaloKyle]

29 minutes ago, purplekow said:

That is assuming that the handled the ball cleanly. And 2 seconds out of 13 is a significant amount. And 10 yards added to a field goal is quite a bit.  With the plan used, there was no chance of time running off the clock.  

Or he could have returned it to the house too! You never know. I will say teams don't squib kick much at all anymore. They used to a lot. And Buffalo I remember did do a squib in the preseason this year and the kicker didn't kick it right and it ended up only going about 30 yards so I don't know if that played any role at all in the coach's head. I think he just kicked it deep to guarantee they wouldn't be starting any closer than their 25 yard line. Which again you shouldn't allow that many yards in two plays. 

Edited January 24, 2022 by BuffaloKyle