Miami Dolphins

Thinking out of the Box: Would you rather be the Bills or the Dolphins?

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Featuring Chris & @BuffaloWins

This series is supported by FOCO. FOCO carries an impressive line of team-branded merchandise and collectibles. They create unique, limited edition bobbleheads of some of the biggest stars in sports and they complement those lines with cool apparel, home decor and more. Check out their full Bills line by following this link.

Many moons ago, there was a little site called Buffalo Wins. I’d contribute to their Bills and Sabres coverage from time to time when I wasn’t arguing on Twitter with Joe about whatever he was mad about that week. One of our most enjoyable content pieces was a barstool deliberation piece where we did the Jerry Sullivan, Rex Carr columns only with two real people as opposed to a make-believe strawman.

And while Joe’s site has been retired, we thought we might rekindle our old debate stage here on 2ITB. Our first topic? Which team would you rather be? The Bills or the Dolphins?

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Extra Point: Squishing the Fish

Chris OstranderLeave a comment

Winning affords teams a number of things. Namely, it absolves them of many of their mistakes made along the way. For one night, at least, the Bills can be absolved from some of their misguided decisions.

Buffalo managed to secure their first division win against Miami thanks to a sound defensive effort and another phenomenal return from Leodis McKelvin. C.J. Spiller had another productive evening on a night when neither offense was capable of building much momentum.

However, the one thing that stood out to many fans were the dubious playcalls made in specific situations by Chan Gailey. His third and short playcalling was particularly questionable on drive ending plays:

–          3rd and 1 from the BUF 33 – Tashard Choice wildcat run, no gain. Punt

–          3rd and 3 from the MIA 14 – Empty set, incomplete pass intended for Donald Jones. Bills FG

–          3rd and 1 from the MIA 16 – Empty set, incomplete pass intended for Scott Chandler. Bills FG

–          3rd and 3 from the MIA 17 – Fitzpatrick sacked. Bills FG

–          1st and goal from the MIA 4 – Three pass attempts, one defensive pass interference penalty and three incompletions. Bills FG from the MIA 1.

–          3rd and 1 from the BUF 44 – C.J. Spiller run for -1 yard.

The final play listed came in the fourth quarter when the Bills were milking the clock. Now, that was probably the right playcall and it just didn’t get the job done. But it is perplexing to think that Gailey would call six pass plays on short yardage situations in the red zone. Maybe the specter of Spiller’s goal-line fumble against New England still haunts the coach. Maybe Fred Jackson’s absence caused Gailey to go in a different direction. However, these are exactly the situations that fans and media have pointed to as shortcomings with Gailey’s attitude towards the run game. Continue reading →