Dolphins @ Bills - Wildcard Round (01/15/‘23)

When your defense gives up 24 points in a half, they definitely get the lions share of the blame. They went into conservative mode on offense in the 2nd half because normally a NFL defense shouldn’t allow that.

 

The defense was amazing in the first half and awful in the second half. The offense was never anything more than ok.

The coach deserves to get most of the blame but they didn't get conservative. They ran the ball 8 times in the second half. Herbert was given every opportunity to put the game away.

 

That's such a terrible excuse lol. Herbert dinking and dunking all night and only scoring 3 points in the second half is why they lost.

 

FIFY. Herbert didn’t play good but it is a team sport and the entire team failed. You can’t have a OL that gives up that much pressure, have a defense completely lose a 20 point lead and then attempt to blame one player.

 

I agree but usually quarterbacks who aren't media darlings get a lot more blame. Most QBs would be getting torn to shreds.

The offense never really did anything to win that game and if it wasn't for the Lawrence mistakes the Chargers would have been blown out.

 

"As an offense, we need to move the ball better, through the air, on the ground," Herbert said. "We just have to be able to move the chains. We didn't do that enough. We didn't score in the red zone enough. Only put up three points in the second half. So as an offense, that's on us."

At least he's not making excuses for himself.

 

I told my friend before the game that i think its jagurs.. without mike williams… ekler is more of a pass catching hback.. doesnt provide a threat rushing.. but losing a 27 point lead is still crazy.. i imagine Sean Payton to Chargers is happening..

 

I seriously can't believe you're trying to defend Herbert. Their defense had 5 takeaways and was primarily responsible for the 27-0 lead shortly before halftime. You're telling me that a QB who had ample opportunities in more than half a game to defend a 27-0 lead didn't "choke" by failing to do so?

Oh, and there is NO question this board would light up with "Tua choked" had Tua performed exactly like Herbert yesterday.. and that would be justified because that was choking right there.

As far as the OL, he's played well with far worse OL play. Herbert played like an average QB yesterday. Did nothing great, nothing bad, didn't help the team at all. And when you don't help the team win in the playoffs, you're not the right QB.

Like I said, the question right now isn't whether Herbert was the better choice. Marginally, yes, but only marginally. Point is, Herbert shouldn't have been taken either. If Hurts does well, the best choice was Hurts not Herbert given that Burrow was unavailable.

 

Yeah, I don’t buy into the media narrative. To me, a QB is like the president, they get too much blame or credit. Most fans don’t understand the game and want a simple answer to what happened and why. While they play the starring role and have a bigger impact than anyone else, there’s too many moving parts to just blame one person.

With Miami, you could blame Tua for all of our failures over the last 5-6 weeks but we also don’t have a good Ol(especially when Armstead is out), don’t run the ball consistently, have horrible special teams and we have a bottom tier defense.

 

I’m not defending Herbert. I said he didn’t play well. I’m just pointing out that in a TEAM sport where the defense gave up 24 points in the 2nd half and the OL gave up 3 sacks and 10 hits, you can’t pin the blame on one person.

 

I didn't pin the blame on one person. I said Herbert choked. And in this game defense wasn't at fault with +5 turnover differential.

 

I'm not rooting for Herbert to fail at all. I don't dislike him, he's not a division rival, but he will forever be linked to Tua and I feel as though this debate will rage on for years as long as both continue to play.

 

The worst defense in the league gives up 27 points a game. LAC gave up 24 points in a half.

 

Normally those stats would put a good deal of the blame on defense. But 5+ turnover differential totally negates that. Each turnover is statistically worth close to 4 points. That's like giving the offense 20 points statistically to work with. So no, it's more like the defense was responsible for giving up 10 points or so overall, statistically. Defense helped increase win% not decrease it. Blame for the loss is squarely on the offense here, and that's mostly Herbert and also OL.

 

When your defense can’t stop the opposing offense for an entire half, they share the blame too.

 

Have to look at win probability over an entire game, not just one half. If you throw 3 TDs in the first half and throw 3 pick 6's in the 2nd, then overall your contribution is zero. Same here. Can't just focus on the 2nd half ignoring the first. Overall the defense improved win probability. Blame is on offense.

 

Staley going to get punted. They had 8 run to 25 pass plays in the 2nd half. It couldn't have been any easier to close out this game.

 

I'm late to this discussion but I don't blame the loss on Herbert. He did enough to win. Blame goes to the coaches and credit goes to Pederson and Lawrence. The only issue I have is that there won't be a narrative about Herbert - right or wrong - like there tends to be about most other noteworthy QBs in his situation.

 

Interesting how bad Buffalo is against WRs. Much worse than the Jets. Obviously passing to WRs our strength. If weather doesn't come into play, I expect Skylar to have a better day pass wise than last week.

 

And football is a 4 quarter game, playing great for 2 quarters and then squandering a 20 point lead in the other 2 quarters means your defense did not play a complete game. Sure the offense deserves some of the blame for only scoring 4 points in the 2nd half but you’re also less likely to take risks when you’re up 20 points. Any nfl defense should be expected to hold a 20 point lead at half. They failed, like the offense and Herbert, it’s a total team failure.

 

I just hope he doesn't play like he's scared to make a play. Don't get me wrong: I don't want him taking chances, just to not be afraid of the plays that present themselves.

 

I'm too lazy to go back and find it but last night after two quarters of football people on this very board were labeling Trevor Lawrence the biggest bust in history. Today Herbert is a choker. Funny how things can turn so quickly.

 

Warm up those hamstrings fellas!

 

Point is.. while the defense failed in the 2nd half, overall they increased win probability. So the lion's share of the blame is on offense (and coaching of course).

 

Expect to see some wacky formations and plays today.

 

Us against the World today....Lets do this!

 

Romo is talking like this game is a tossup.

 

Let’s go Lolphins!

 

Miami is currently +14 underdog. Just want to point out there have been a few playoff upsets that big. Jets were +19.5 against the Colts in SB 3, Patriots +14 against the Rams in the SB, and Jags +14 against the Broncos in 1996 playoffs. So it's been done before.

Go Dolphins!!!

 

Here comes the 3 hour bills love fest

 

Got the German broadcast today, let’s see if they‘re as biased…

 

Sigh... penalty on the first play of the game. and so it begins...

I suspect this one will be over by halftime.

 

There's Boyers great gameplan again. Howard 8 yards off Diggs... quick slant no LB in sight. Nice work Josh.

 

This is going to be a bloodbath.

 

Halftime is generous, I’ll give it a quarter

 

Phillips just got tackled coming around the edge. Gets up screaming for a flag.. No flag.

NFL ref's gonna ref.

 

Or maybe not!

 

We stopped them, nice!

 

I’m impressed we made a stop. That’s better than I thought we’d do all day.

 

Gotta catch that Waddle…