The Mighty O’Ba Sports Report: Super Bowl LVIII: It Is a Rap!
By Pat Freeman, The Mighty O’Ba
NFL Championship Week has come and gone again, and this year’s champion has been crowned. The one thing I noticed about the buzz in Las Vegas was what happened to the Buffalo Bills?
The hometown team came into the playoffs as the hottest franchise in the league, but were once again bounced in the divisional round at home by the Kansas City Chiefs. One of the problems that has haunted head Coach Sean McDermott during his tenure in Buffalo has been his in-game decision making. For example, two critical plays during the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that reflect this are the fake punt, and the kick by Tyler Bass. Let us look at these two plays that I think led to the hometown team watching the big game rather than playing in it.
The fake punt – If this play works, then of course we are applauding the coach. But it did not, so we must give a critical analysis of it. The special team’s coordinator Matthew Smiley did a poor job of putting in this play and Kansas City was tipped off that the Bills were going to run a fake punt to Damar Hamlin, of all people, which resulted in giving the ball back to Kansas City. Subsequently, a goal line fumble saved the Bills from further embarrassment, and still had a chance to win the game.
Coach McDermott just could not stop Patrick Mahomes and felt he needed to steal a possession from him to win the game. The problem was the choice of personnel and a poorly constructed play by his special team coach.
The second in game decision that has me the most worried was the kick by Tyler Bass, which went the taboo word in Western New York – wide right. I know that many of the faithful blamed Tyler Bass for this miss, but the blame rests at the feet of Coach McDermott; the reason being in post-game, Coach McDermott stated that in pre-game warmups “Bass’s kicks were pulling to the right.” The previous play should have placed the ball at the left hashmark, but McDermott went for the endzone, and the game tying kick was done from the right hash mark. The result was the dreaded word western New York (wide right).
The Super Bowl marks the end of the NFL season and this year’s Champion is the Kansas City Chiefs, led by one of the greatest quarterbacks to lace them up, Patrick Mahomes, who has three championships to go along with three MVP awards.