Mac on Monday Night

[JarOfMayo51]

I'd love to whip out the exact same gameplan against the Colts, just to keep the tradition of embarrassing their pathetic franchise

 

[Marko]

I heard an announcer say that in warmups Hoyer threw the ball and it went 60 yards and blew into the Oats sideline and bounced into the stands. LoL

 

[Ivan]

Hey all. First off let me say obviously I'm happy we won. The game plan that Bill and the staff came up with worked and we got the W. So when I ask this don't come back at me with a BS "Well, it worked!" take. I know it worked, that's not the point. The point is I feel this game was in doubt way too close too its end.

That said, what do you think of the way Mac was (or rather, wasn't) used on Monday night in Buffalo? I'm not a fan of it. Now don't get me wrong I'm not saying he should have been slinging it all over the place, and I understand the strategy of not taking risk when we have the lead, but the Bills were one play away from winning this game and I don't think it needed to be that close. The biggest issue for me with him not throwing at all is that it allowed Buffalo to T up on our runners and make moving the ball on the ground much more difficult than it needed to be. It's a credit to our O-Line, Harry's blocking (We won't mention that other thing he did) and our backs that we were able to move the ball, but it would have been nice to see it mixed up just a little bit to keep the defense honest and stop us from being one dimensional.

The risk vs. reward thing can be mitigated. You could have had Mac throw all his passes low, toward the receiver's feet so that only they could have made the catch. You could have done short passes, passes behind the LOS and only when we had the wind at our backs. We also could have done other things to mix it up like use some wildcat formation It just really irks me that Bill didn't trust Mac enough to let him do those things. And if it's an experience thing why not put Hoyer in there? I thought that Mac was making progress this season and that Bill trusted him and this just seemed to bring it to a screeching halt. Do we all think if we had Brady still he would have been used the same way?

Anyway, we've got the bye week so we need something to argue about. So I thought I'd give us this.

Why throw it when you can run it right down their throats? All that mattered to me was the win, especially since it was in Buffalo. Now the Bills have to beat Tampa Bay next week to keep from going 2 down in the east.

 

[Ivan]

What a stud, completing a full *two-thirds* of his passes in those conditions

One of the data sites created a pass dispersion chart for Jones throws.

 

[archstanton543]

You play to win the game but I have always felt BB protect his players. It is why Ghost was not allowed to attempt a long FG in the SB as a rookie. If he did not have to put Mac in that situation he was not going to do it. I also feel he trusts who he trusts. In 2009, he did not trusts the defense to stop Indy. In 2021, his faith is in the D.

He didn't play to win against Philly by letting Butler rot on the bench when his secondary was getting shredded.

 

[Lagaffe_07]

We were in the lead all game long and we were getting production on the ground. There was no need to throw it. BB always plays the percentages and that's just what he did there. If the situation had called for it, they would have thrown it 50 times.

Do you think that with the same circumstances they would have thrown only 3 passes with Brady? In my mind, their gameplan was to throw a little but I think the pass to Smith may have scared them.

With all Mac has been doing this I can’t think that Bill went this game with a gameplan saying Mac will not throw the ball today. I think the early game circumstances has made them rethink their approach and made them run the ball exclusively.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Stats are for losers.

NE 14 - BUF 10

Yep. No style points in the NFL, just wins and losses. People looking for stats and style points remind me of Colts fans in the Manning era.

 

[yukon cornelius]

Do you think that with the same circumstances they would have thrown only 3 passes with Brady? In my mind, their gameplan was to throw a little but I think the pass to Smith may have scared them.

same game circumstances in 2001, you would have seen similar IF the patriots coaching staff had enough resolve to stick to it, yes

 

[sb1]

He didn't play to win against Philly by letting Butler rot on the bench when his secondary was getting shredded.

Because Butler hurt Patricia's feelings or something. Will always SMH at that one.

 

[Pats1971]

Eh. I mean, I dont know the inner workings, Maybe Mac does not throw well in wind, and they thought Buffalo would feast on that. Who knows. Yeah the game was down to the wire and it was eeked out, but it really doesnt matter in the end. I am not sure it was a great gameplan, but it might have been the gameplan they had to use.

 

[Pats1971]

same game circumstances in 2001, you would have seen similar IF the patriots coaching staff had enough resolve to stick to it, yes

I am not sure that is true, because that never happened. Its not like it never got windy in foxboro before.

 

[Pats1971]

Not an expert (or remotely close) on Xs and Os, so perhaps someone could answer this. How much would Mac (or any QB) be involved in a run focussed game? Is the QB making adjustments based on the defence etc to give his runner the best chance of making yards?

Yeah dont think he made much adjustment. lol It was Mac hand off left handoff right. The bills were in 9 man fronts begging the pats to pass.

 

[nabwong]

He didn't play to win against Philly by letting Butler rot on the bench when his secondary was getting shredded.

That might be true but BB is also always thinking about long term. He may not have won the battle, but he is winning the war. He’s a big fan of Sun Tzu.

 

[Snooky97]

Would I of liked to seen more throws? Yes. That wind was horrible though and why bother to throw when we can run the ball against a 10 man box. Now if we were down at any point in the game I imagine we would of thrown the ball a lot more and if not for the nkeal muffed punt this game isn’t even close. He shouldn’t of even been out there for the punt but that’s a discussion for another time.

Josh Allen has one of if not the best arm in the league and he had to really put everything into his throws and mac just doesn’t have the same arm strength so why bother to put him in that position. All in all a good game and good win

 

[yukon cornelius]

I am not sure that is true, because that never happened. Its not like it never got windy in foxboro before.

they heavily protected tom in the early years.....my gut is, given similar circumstances, you'd have gotten similar result.....last night was a perfect storm of circumstances (pun intended) that allowed for record low pass attempts.....but one thing to consider, this coaching staff has matured greatly in 20 years....the fact that they had the stones/resolve to stick to that gameplan last night was impressive

 

[archstanton543]

That might be true but BB is also always thinking about long term. He may not have won the battle, but he is winning the war. He’s a big fan of Sun Tzu.

It was the last game of the year win or lose. There is no "long term" when you're in the championship game.

 

[Pats1971]

they heavily protected tom in the early years.....my gut is, given similar circumstances, you'd have gotten similar result.....last night was a perfect storm of circumstances (pun intended) that allowed for record low pass attempts.....but one thing to consider, this coaching staff has matured greatly in 20 years....the fact that they had the stones/resolve to stick to that gameplan last night was impressive

Umm how did they protect him exactly? Again you are guessing on something that never happened based on nothing. lol. Oh they would have because ummm...yeah...There was never a game they had brady go out there hand off 50 times. I am not even sure why Brady is even brought up here. Brady and Mac are different QB's, people need to be ok with that and stop acting like they are and do the same things.

 

[nabwong]

It was the last game of the year win or lose. There is no "long term" when you're in the championship game.

It’s not about the game. It’s sending a message to your team.

 

[Kasmir]

they heavily protected tom in the early years.....my gut is, given similar circumstances, you'd have gotten similar result.....last night was a perfect storm of circumstances (pun intended) that allowed for record low pass attempts.....but one thing to consider, this coaching staff has matured greatly in 20 years....the fact that they had the stones/resolve to stick to that gameplan last night was impressive

I think BB made it clear in his press conferences that it was *not* the game plan to never pass, but rather it was how they responded to the game situation and conditions. They decided they didn't need to take risks passing in the windy conditions because they were winning running the ball effectively and shutting down Buffalo's offense. Of course they would have passed if they had fallen behind and they had plans how to do so.

 

[jdlboot14]

This was my consideration as well during the game. I knew Mac wouldn't throw much, but against the 9-man boxes during the entire 2nd half, I can't believe they wouldn't try a few more short/outside/screen passes. I mean, you lulled them into the 32-straight runs, every 10 or so runs a short pass could have produced a lot. Not just on 3rd and long to Bolden! Like, on 2nd and 5 - catch them off guard. That wind was not like a tornado. Mac can throw 10 yards in that. It was a little too safe. And didn't allow Mac to get even a taste of the conditions, which will serve him well going into the final 2 games in Foxboro and the playoffs - if they end up going to KC or BAL.