Archives for September 14, 2021

‘The problem vs. Pittsburgh was the Steelers’ front four beat the Bills’ front five in empty sets too often. Edge rushers T.J. Watt, Melvin Ingram and Alex Highsmith, along with defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, all played big.’

‘“We understand we’re a good football team and we’re a better football team than what we showed today,” Poyer said. “The best thing that we can do is learn from our mistakes today and continue to grow as a football team. We’ve got a lot of football left in the season. This is Week 1. I don’t want to go into it.’

‘“You see the start of a good relationship, I think,” coach Sean McDermott said of Sanders working with quarterback Josh Allen. “Until you play games, you’re never really sure what you have. Having their first game under their belts now, I think they’ll both learn from that and the communication between those two – they’re both veteran players. Obviously, Emmanuel a little bit older and that will help Josh and they’ll continue to grow together.”’

‘The most encouraging development for the defense was the stoutness against the run. This wasn’t the toughest run-defending challenge the Bills will face, due to the fact the Steelers have two rookie offensive line starters. Still, holding Pittsburgh to 75 yards and 3.6 a carry should have been the prescription for a victory.’

‘“I think anytime a play doesn’t work, you always want it back. But we’re trying to call plays that give us a chance here, and maybe spring a big one, and they did a good job,” offensive coordinator Brian Daboll said Monday. “We motioned 19 (Isaiah McKenzie) across, and he stayed, and they got us. We were trying to be aggressive there. And certainly, you’d like to have all those calls back that quite don’t work out the way you hoped, but we’re trying to be aggressive.”’

‘The beauty of the Steelers’ concept here was that before the blitz they lined up in a three-man front and rotated all three defensive lineman into different positions, moving Melvin Ingram from a down lineman position to a standup linebacker position. Then Ingram blitzed to the Steelers’ blitz side, overloading the pass protection to Allen’s right. Allen must have felt like they were in an all-out assault with four weak defenders in pursuit. This unique defensive look also made him think the Steelers were playing man-to-man defense behind the blitz. The Steelers did the opposite, dropping seven defenders into zone coverage, including linebacker Alex Highsmith, who subsequently lined up as the middle linebacker, then adjusted to the right defensive end position, and then dropped into coverage.’

‘However, representatives for both the Bills and the county did not say whether anyone attempted to enforce mask-wearing rules for the roughly 70,000 fans at Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.’

‘”We couldn’t think of a better way to do that than to get 1,000 people down here for the Bills into the streets, plus whatever business spills into the bars and restaurants. It really should be like a fun away-game destination,” Ring said.’

‘Neither incumbent Byron W. Brown nor challenger India B. Walton are pushing for any city site proposed over the past few years as the Bills make the case for a new stadium estimated to cost $1.4 billion. As recently as last week’s mayoral debate, the candidates mused over the benefits and advantages of a downtown facility, but neither is raising any serious opposition to the team’s preference for a new facility adjacent to the current Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park.’

‘The Bills, their coaching staff and the officials gave plenty of opportunities for criticism, but Davis was generally supportive of the controversial plays in the game when he had an opinion at all. He also was generally soft on criticizing Allen except for noting his “accuracy isn’t there” at times.’