He absolutely did the right thing there.
1)If he woulda kneeled down, it wouldn't have been enough time to run the clock out. It wouldna been 3 and out, letting brady back on.
2)They needed to try to get some yardage in order to either kick 3 pts or set the patriots offense far enough back.
3)Dude did the right thing in returning it......... The WRONG thing occurred in reaching out for the extra yard while being tackled.
But in returning the ball, he most certainly did the right thing in playing the team they were playing against.
1) Had he knelt down, there would have been far less time on the clock, and/or timeouts on the board for NE to use, and that would be added pressure for NE to drive down the field no matter their field position.
The kick returners job is not only to return kicks. It's his decision to make as to whether it's BENEFICIAL TO THE TEAM AND THE OUTCOME of the game to kneel or to return the ball.
2) So they need extra yardage to make sure NE gets the ball far enough into NE territory so they can't drive back down the field with the time left on the board? OK, then riddle me this:
Why did the returner not just run out of the end zone slower, and PROTECT THE LIVING FUCK OUT OF THE BALL?!?!? Instead, he loses the ball, game, and looks to be the biggest idiot of all time hence this thread!
3) Only point I can agree with you on, somewhat. Do I think he "should have" run the ball out? No. But given that he did so, I think as I said in my (2) point above, he should have protected the ball and made sure that there would be zero chance of him fumbling. He took a few more seconds off the clock by "trying to make a play" as you quoted....but why do you need to make a play when you've almost got the game locked down?! That's a Terrel Owens like move...thinking about your stats and career rather than what is best for the team. Now they have a loss on their hands that could result in them not making the playoffs. Niners vs Cards last year, Cards win...had the Niners won, it could very well have been them in the Bowl. Use that situation for the Bills and this fumble
could lead to a very similar scenario.
... They would be calling him the best returner in the league if he ran that to the 50 or scored a touchdown. He fumbles and they all jump on him. BS.
What are the odds of him returning a kick for a touchdown? Against the team he was playing, how often do they have kicks returned against them and/or how do they rate in special teams play? Things to take into consideration when deciding to return a kick or not. Do they NEED that TD?
Bottom line, IMO, it was not the decision to run the ball out that cost them the game. It was the lack of protecting the ball! That was a bush league move. THAT would have been the right call even if he was protecting it while he knelt down!!!