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Off the sabres topic but This is all22 film review it's fascinating. A long read but really worth it - very telling. It's an athletic article which I subscribe too. Seems to indicate a pooch kick was called (the right call) and Bass was never given the instructions - total coaching miscommunication breakdown. Players deserved better - coaches choked.
As the week has gone on, the emotions of a dramatic Bills playoff exit have started to subside, and the only thing most fans want are answers. How did those final 13 seconds of regulation slip away with the Chiefs managing a last-second field goal in a game that should have been a Bills victory?
Even days removed, the team has been tight-lipped about what went wrong. Head coach Sean McDermott cited “execution” as the reason the Bills let the Chiefs regain life at the end of the game, but that was the extent of it. Before the Bills head to the offseason and try to put those moments behind them, first we’ll take a look at the game and clues from those three fateful plays.
Each week using the coaches’ film, The Athletic grades every individual Bills player based on how they performed. You can find the full explanation for the grades at the end.
What was revealed from one of the most memorable games in franchise history? Here are some takeaways from the coaches’ film of the Bills’ final game.
1. The ’13 seconds’ meltdown and what the film shows
We’re still less than a week since the debacle at the end of regulation, but because the team didn’t provide direct answers to what specifically went wrong, we’re left to dig for clues. Head coach Sean McDermott gave a hint in his season-ending news conference, but that was the extent of it. That’s where the film comes in, and given McDermott’s hint, the kickoff with 13 seconds remaining was the natural place to begin.
When kicker Tyler Bass booted the ball, the right side of the Bills’ kickoff coverage unit immediately began sprinting to their left. Given those first steps, it was clear the call was to direct the ball to the left side. From there, after the coverage unit realized the ball had traveled through the end zone, there were a couple of unusual reactions from core special teams players.
(NFL Game Pass)
The first was from safety Jaquan Johnson, who as the outer-most coverage player primarily hangs back a bit if the returner gets through the first line of defense. In the middle of his run, Johnson immediately put his arms out as if to signal confusion for why the kickoff went through the end zone. He wasn’t the only one.
(NFL Game Pass)
Cornerback Siran Neal, who has played almost every core-four special teams snap this season, had the same reaction as Johnson only a few steps later. Neal looked like he was trying to figure out what had happened.
(NFL Game Pass)
Then one second later, Johnson and Neal both had their arms out in confusion, with Johnson looking toward Bass and Neal looking toward the sideline. Given these reactions, this must be part of the “execution” McDermott was referring to on Tuesday.
A touchback made little sense, given the situation. They wanted to take time off the clock without Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce on the field. According to both Football Outsider’s DVOA metrics and Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings, they also boasted the third-best kickoff coverage unit this season.
The Bills have a kicker they trust to leave the ball short in clutch situations on kickoffs and have utilized it all season. With all the visual clues of the kickoff, it all points to them calling for an angled kick that landed just shy the goal line. It either would have made the returner waste time by fielding the ball, sacrifice field position with a fair catch, or make a quick run out of bounds to accomplish both. We still don’t know if it was an operator error by Bass, or if coaches didn’t correctly communicate the call to him, but all signs point to the Bills wanting something other than a touchback.
In my opinion, that was the most significant misstep of the three plays, because any different outcome would have dramatically altered the Chiefs’ approach when the offense took the field. Had the Chiefs either started from the 10 yard line or been left with only eight seconds of clock, they likely would have been trying desperation heaves with the prevent defense being far more acceptable.
The two defensive plays that set up the field goal attempt were flawed given the game situation. The Bills lined up in a prevent defense on the first play with defenders in a row 15 yards off the line of scrimmage. I don’t mind the idea of a prevent on that first play in general, but the Chiefs were going to have to pass quickly if they wanted to get to a field goal situation.
The biggest flaw was in sending four pass rushers when the Bills would have had only a second or two at most to get home. The likelihood for a sack or an influenced pass was very low. If the Bills had just rushed two, given a first line of defense with those extra two defenders in the in-between to supplement the 15-yard prevent line, it would have altered how the Chiefs played the first snap. On to the second play.
(NFL Game Pass)
Given how the Bills lined up on the second snap (image above), they looked like they were hellbent on stopping Hill at all costs and were frightened of him ending the game right then and there. The cost here was leaving Kelce wide open.
Once again, the Bills went with four pass rushers despite a likely quick throw. Defensive end Jerry Hughes actually won his rep clean against right tackle Andrew Wylie and was one step from sacking Mahomes on the play. However, the Bills could have subbed in A.J. Klein and Siran Neal for two pass rushers and had two players who can play in space and tackle well and thus fill the open field they left for Kelce. Heck, even if they rushed three and put Neal one-on-one with Kelce, which they did on two different defensive snaps during the game, it would have made the Chiefs’ lives way more difficult. Everything that could have gone wrong in that three-play sequence did, and it’s the reason why the Bills aren’t playing anymore.
2. Allen’s escapability and incredible vision took over the game
Those last three plays of regulation will be what everyone in Buffalo remembers that game for, but the brilliance of Josh Allen in the second half needs to be right next to it. The way that Allen dominated both playoff games and then the fourth quarter when faced with a deficit is the most impressive thing a Bills player has done in the 13 years I’ve been covering the franchise. Once the Chiefs went up by nine points, Allen’s response with a 75-yard bomb to Gabriel Davis was phenomenal. The play was also constructed beautifully, both by route setup and how the Bills set it up earlier in the game.
(NFL Game Pass)
The formation had fullback Reggie Gilliam running to the flat, which Allen threw to twice before. It also had Devin Singletary running a route to the middle of the field, and Allen had been dumping down the ball a lot in the first half. Both players took the linebackers’ attention underneath, opening up the intermediate middle. At the same time, the Chiefs bracketed Stefon Diggs with safety Daniel Sorensen over the top to the point that Sorensen’s back was completely turned to the rest of the play. Free safety Juan Thornhill immediately had a lot on his plate, with Dawson Knox about to run past the zone-defending linebacker.
(NFL Game Pass)
On the next stage, Knox broke toward the intermediate middle and took Thornhill’s total attention. Meanwhile, at the top of the image, Davis zoomed past the cornerback who thought he had safety help over the top.
(NFL Game Pass)
Once Thornhill saw Allen rear back to throw, he knew the quarterback was trying to throw it over the top. Thornhill actually did a good job of responding to being a bit too far up to take away Knox, but he would have needed an underthrown pass to get back into the play. At this point, Thornhill is two yards back of Davis, but Davis is in a full sprint while Thornhill is just beginning to turn and run.
(NFL Game Pass)
Allen didn’t underthrow the pass, and Davis caught the pass in stride despite Thornhill’s last-second leap. Allen worked the Chiefs into this moment and then executed with a throw that traveled more than 55 yards in the air.
Making Allen’s second half more impressive, he had to do it all with right tackle Spencer Brown having one of the worst halves of his season. Chiefs pass rusher Melvin Ingram tormented him throughout the reps and established constant quick pressures on Allen, and the quarterback side-stepped every advance. He escaped so often and did so much with so little that it’s hard to remember the rookie right tackle struggling without going back and watching it. The only word to describe Allen’s efforts is “remarkable.” If that’s the version of Allen that the Bills get next season, regardless of supporting cast, there’s no limit to what this team can do.
3. The threat of Diggs opened up Davis’ final touchdown, too
Everyone remembers Davis as the touchdown magnet and how he completely crossed up cornerback Mike Hughes to make the defender fall in coverage on the 4th-and-13 scoring play. It was the type of crossover that would have made an entire NBA arena jump up and vocally react. Davis was awesome, but both the deep touchdown and his final touchdown likely wouldn’t have been that open without Diggs on the field. Let’s take a look at the touchdown with 13 seconds to go.
(NFL Game Pass)
Davis is lined up in the slot pre-snap, which is already causing confusion with the Chiefs’ defenders. The Chiefs’ fifth-best cornerback, DeAndre Baker, was in the game for Hughes. He was trying to iron out coverage with L’Jarius Sneed right to the time of the snap.
(NFL Game Pass)
As the ball reached Allen’s hands, Sneed was still in motion to line up over Davis and immediately surrendered inside leverage. From this point forward is where Diggs helped take over the rep.
(NFL Game Pass)
With two receivers to his right, Thornhill stayed with them, knowing he had safety help on the other side. The only problem is that the Chiefs were down to their fourth safety, and Armani Watts bracketed Diggs and made sure the Bills’ top receiver wasn’t beating them. As he did that, it helped open up the middle of the field, where Davis’ route was already heading.
(NFL Game Pass)
The safeties were split, and Davis used his shoulder to gain separation to the deep middle. Allen delivered the perfect strike in stride for a touchdown, and the Bills temporarily took the lead. You can even see Thornhill’s frustration with his arms out that the Bills pried open their defense. And Diggs deserves a lot of the credit for doing just that.
4. What happened to Diggs the rest of the time?
Diggs had a quiet game in the box score, catching only three targets for seven yards and adding an improvisational two-point conversion in the fourth quarter. He was a better decoy than a target, but what was the reason for so little production? The Chiefs did do a fair bit of double covering Diggs during the game, but it wasn’t every snap. In those instances, Allen usually looked elsewhere. There were also some plays when Diggs broke open, but Allen’s eyes were taken elsewhere or wanted to get the ball out quickly.
The somewhat unexpected part of the Diggs matchup is that when the Chiefs weren’t bracketing him with help over the top, he wasn’t winning on as many of his routes against man coverage as usual. The Chiefs cornerbacks did a nice job sticking with him on most of his short-to-intermediate routes, which inevitably forced Allen to look elsewhere on some plays. It was just a frustrating day in general for Diggs and his statistical impact, but his on-field presence helped his teammates have big games.
5. Except for Hughes and Oliver, the defensive line was a disappointment
The Bills knew the only way to defend Mahomes was by rushing four and depending on their usually superb coverage to limit how many points the Chiefs could put up. It worked in Week 5, but the Chiefs got the better of the matchup in the playoffs. One of the most significant reasons is that the defensive line was not winning its one-on-ones and gave Mahomes way too much time in the pocket. For all of the attention the Bills gave that line over the past two offseasons, it wasn’t close to good enough against the Chiefs. The offensive line won the matchup almost across the board.
Mario Addison was nursing a shoulder injury from the previous week, and even with a lot of time before the throw, he was unable to generate heat off the edge in his 36 snaps. Greg Rousseau flashed with a pair of good reps early in the game but couldn’t get off his blocks the entire second half. A.J. Epenesa did his best work in the running game but failed to generate a pressure as an edge rusher. Boogie Basham was also a big disappointment for how easily his opponent controlled him one-on-one. Efe Obada didn’t provide the type of impact the Bills had been hoping for in obvious passing situations on the interior. There were two exceptions to the rule, however.
On what could be his final game as a member of the Bills, Hughes was the team’s best pass rusher off the edge and applied pressure far more often than his teammates. His instant win nearly ended the game with a sack on Kelce’s 25-yard play to set up the tying field goal.
Defensive tackle Ed Oliver was the most impressive Bills defender in the game, but the Chiefs knew it. The Chiefs seldomly allowed him a one-on-one matchup, which limited his total impact. However, Oliver still battled through double teams and wound up with five total pressures. It was a great performance to end his breakout third season, but he needed help from his defensive line teammates on Sunday to bring down Mahomes. The lack of pressure elsewhere was a major contributor to why the Bills lost this game. |
