6 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

Let me seize the opportunity to clarify something for now and future reference. I am a UL fan. The school was great for my kids. I am a fan of the school and all connected to it. I am a Teddy fan and I am a Lamar fan.

I don't have any bias against Lamar. I am a critical person and have high standards. I am willing to criticize even my favorites. Some may say I am too critical but I hold people to the standards I believe they are capable of.

It is semantics but bad throw may sound too strong. I am saying it wasn't an easy catch and I expect a better throw from a HOF QB like Lamar. Lamar is not blameless on that drop.

We can agree to disagree.

Exactly where should the ball have been?

2 minutes ago, TheDeuce said:

Exactly where should the ball have been?

Chest high, in front of him so he could catch it in stride, hands in proper catching position in front of him. Lamar was also late in throwing the ball.

Versus where it was thrown = back hip behind him forcing him to try and catch the ball in slick conditions, slowing down, falling down with palms up due to low throw.

1 minute ago, Voice of Reason said:

Chest high, in front of him so he could catch it in stride, hands in proper catching position in front of him. Lamar was also late in throwing the ball.

Versus where it was thrown = back hip behind him forcing him to try and catch the ball in slick conditions, slowing down, falling down with palms up due to low throw.

In front of him, like closer to the defense? Yeah, this is a pointless discussion. 

You're right, agree to disagree. 

Just now, TheDeuce said:

In front of him, like closer to the defense? Yeah, this is a pointless discussion. 

You're right, agree to disagree. 

Which way was Andrews running? Toward the sideline. So in front of him is in the direction he was running, toward the sideline where there was no defender, completely wide open.

1 minute ago, Voice of Reason said:

Which way was Andrews running? Toward the sideline. So in front of him is in the direction he was running, toward the sideline where there was no defender, completely wide open.

You can yell at the clouds as long as you want my guy. It wasn't a bad throw. 

I'm done talking to the wall on this. 

Back to the game, it is a shame Baltimore couldn't get it done because I would much rather see them against the Chiefs than Buffalo. I know Buffalo beat the Chiefs but I think Baltimore is more capable of beating the Chiefs. Lamar is so elusive that I think he would have burned Spagnuolo's blitz schemes either with scramble runs or passes. Yes, Allen has that capability also but not like Lamar.

1 hour ago, TheDeuce said:

The ball was at his waist, at worst, and in the middle of his body. You’re reaching. 

 

The ball was between the bellybutton and the right hip.  
 

In the words of the color man.  Shocking.  You make that catch 999 times out of 1,000.  

You’re not going to convince me Baltimore wasn’t the best team in the NFL. That was a “hold on for dear life” victory for the Bills. But, the name of the game is not beating yourself at this time of the year. Lamar and company will continue to grow from this. Loved his comments post-game.

Three teams committed turnovers this past weekend. They all lost. The exception was Houston, but they gave up eight sacks and were a disaster on special teams. Again, it’s the little things.

And what while we're largely perseverating on the missed conversion, there's no guarantee that Buffalo wouldn't win in regulation or OT.  As someone mentioned before, it was the earlier Andrews fumble that was more costly.

Okay here are the actual stats of what I think right now is the 3 of the 4 best quarterbacks in the NFL for their careers up to this point in the regular season as compared to the playoffs.

Jackson: QB Rating-Regular Season 102.0; Playoffs 84.6/ Playoffs- 8 games (3-5) 10 TD's 7 Interceptions 4 fumbles.

Allen: QB Rating-Regular Season 93.4; Playoffs 101.5/ Playoffs-12 games (7-5) 23 TD's 4 Interceptions 2 fumbles.

Mahomes: QB Rating-Regular Season 102.1; Playoffs 105.6/ Playoffs-19 games (16-3) 42 TD's Interceptions 8 fumbles 1.

Since all 3 have played different number of playoff games their averages are:

Jackson: 1.2 TD's per game; 1.375 turnovers per game.

Allen: 1.92 TD's per game; .5 turnovers per game.

Mahomes: 2.21 TD's per game; .47 turnovers per game.

* Both Allen and Mahomes stats across the board (QB Rating, Yards per game, higher ave. of TD's and ave. fewer turnovers) than during the regular season. In contrast Jackson's (QB Rating, TD ave. and Turnover ave.) are worst in the playoffs than the regular season. His yards passing per game is higher by 6 yards in the playoffs as compared to regular season.

3 hours ago, bugatti said:

Three teams committed turnovers this past weekend. They all lost. The exception was Houston, but they gave up eight sacks and were a disaster on special teams. Again, it’s the little things.

The most important stat in football and even more so in the NFL. Win the turnover battle and you win the game more than 75% of the time in the NFL. Jimmy Johnson said "Turnover differential is the number one factor in winning games."

Here is another discussion you all can run me into the ground on, because I know I am in the minority. Factor not being talked about enough in the loss - Harbaugh chasing points. As a general rule, I don't think a team should chase points before the fourth quarter, and even early in the fourth quarter I would have to consider the situation. But that's me and I know you all will likely disagree.

With about a minute and a half left in the THIRD quarter, down by 2 points Harbaugh went for 2 points after a TD. I absolutely would not have gone for 2 there. If he had kicked the extra point, the 2 point try to Andrews would not have even happened - unless Harbaugh wanted to go for the win. 

For me the question is this - do I think my team is going to score again? With more than a quarter left to play, there would have been zero doubt in my mind that Baltimore was going to score again. If so, why chase points? Why not kick the extra point? Too much football left to play and too much confidence that my team, the Ravens, was going to score at least once more, maybe twice more.

There you go - have at it.

19 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Here is another discussion you all can run me into the ground on, because I know I am in the minority. Factor not being talked about enough in the loss - Harbaugh chasing points. As a general rule, I don't think a team should chase points before the fourth quarter, and even early in the fourth quarter I would have to consider the situation. But that's me and I know you all will likely disagree.

With about a minute and a half left in the THIRD quarter, down by 2 points Harbaugh went for 2 points after a TD. I absolutely would not have gone for 2 there. If he had kicked the extra point, the 2 point try to Andrews would not have even happened - unless Harbaugh wanted to go for the win. 

For me the question is this - do I think my team is going to score again? With more than a quarter left to play, there would have been zero doubt in my mind that Baltimore was going to score again. If so, why chase points? Why not kick the extra point? Too much football left to play and too much confidence that my team, the Ravens, was going to score at least once more, maybe twice more.

There you go - have at it.

I understand your thought process,  I would agree going for one makes more sense at least early in the game. Late in the game (and I would consider this late as you might only get 2 more possessions at that stage of the game), I think going for two is the right play. By going for two in this situation your giving yourself a better chance win the game. If you get the two, and your defense does the job, you're no worse than a tie game and in overtime even if you don't score again. If you miss the two, and the defense does their job, you can still win with a field goal. If you've made the two, even if you miss the field goal, you STILL have a shot in overtime.  If you instead kick it, you're still down one.  Then you HAVE to get at least a field goal or the game is over. There's no other option. Plus there's roughly a 10% chance you'll miss the extra point anyway and be in no better shape than going for two and failing. Going for two late in the game gives you a greater margin of error and thus a better chance of winning. 

Another way to look at it to look at the possible outcomes while considering you only have one or two possessions:

1. Go for Two and making it is a positive outcome vs going for one and making it.

2. Go for two and missing is the same as going for one and missing.

3. Go for two and making it is a positive outcome vs going for one and missing.

4. Going for one and making it is negative outcome vs going for two and making it.

5. Going for one and making it is an overall negative outcome (you're still behind) vs going for two and missing. 

Basically, there is no situation/scenario where going for 1 is the better option at a point in the game where you might only get another possession or two. Being tied late in the game is a way better situation to be in than being down a point, because a tie at the end means you still have overtime and a chance to win. Being down one, means you've lost and the game is over. The earlier in the game you are, the more the math tilts towards kicking as you've got more possible possessions ahead of you.

The other thing to remember and keep in mind, is what if your Defense DOESN'T do the job? Everytime you score, your opponent gets the ball the back with a chance to score. Getting the game tied gives you more options at the end, should your opponent score again. Your opponent would certainly kick if they scored a TD after you tie the game, which gives you the choice to kick it for the tie or go for two to win if you match their TD. Whatever you choose, if you're successful, you're either winning the game, or at worst playing overtime.  By going for one you have no choice..you have to go for two just to tie. There is no option that gives you a chance to win on your last possession.