HardyBoy

You guys need to read Belichik’s comment on how the kicking game evolved over time and start anticipating the next potential advance. Again, you would scheme this in a way that the qb would be running away from any rushers sideways if the ball is going to the punter. Honestly, punting on 4th and 1 from the other team’s 41 is just a really bad play. I get pinning them deep and hoping your crowd can help lead to a turnover, or you get great field position, but how about you just get a yard and there is your turnover for all practical matters, and you have great field position. That’s literally what I said when I was saying it could be like a ruby play (I am well aware of the sarcasm)! Maybe not long 4th and inches, but on 4th and 5 on the 40, if the play isn’t there then you punt it, but the punter is a specialist for just that situation, and a former qb and could also throw it in instead of punting.

Not if you go for it a bunch and the punter is a decoy. He’s one step punting it out of the end zone if he gets it basically. Almost like a ruby play. They run it on the jet sweep and lateral to the punter to punt it down. Basically an option play with the punter as a part of it. Keep Allen out of it completely if you want. Or teach a qb that couldn’t quite make it to punt and carry them as a dedicated special team player for 4th downs inside the 45.

I mean obviously they would scheme it in a way that Allen isn’t at risk of getting hit, I’m not suggesting he stays in to block a punt rush. I guess what I’m thinking is you’re basically running a regular offensive play with Haak in as an option in case the play isn’t there scheme wise.

On punts inside the 50, where Allen plays the guy between the snapper and the punter. Then put McKenzie in one gunner spot Kumero at the other and run a jet sweep. If the play is there, they snap it to Josh, if not Haak does a pooch punt and pins them inside the 20, or bashes it through the end zone. Are there motion rules if you kick a punt that are different from regular plays?

Looked like the timing was off for the offense. It’s week one, the win counts the same, but it literally tells you nothing. They should all be non-conference games in week one IMO. This might be the best the Steelers are and this is nowhere near the Bills’ ceiling. They will get the offensive timing and the options routes locked down and they will look a lot better.

Bills defense also seemed to figure it out at the end of the season and in the playoffs. I think the lack of a running game to ice multiple possession leads, allowing the other team to get the ball back to score meaningless points when you’re in a prevent defense doesn’t help. Also, bills d had trouble getting off the field because they had trouble getting teams behind the chains early in the game. Allowed teams to stay balanced longer, shortening the game and keeping the ball out of JAs hands. Most teams just couldn’t take score enough other than the chiefs and titans. I’m not sure if I’m agreeing or disagreeing with you! honestly though I’m not sure there is a right answer here, a lot of variables. At the same time, calling the Tenn game a blowout isn’t exactly fair for pt diff purposes. I know the score is the score, but iirc wasn’t that game close in the fourth quarter?

Best advice is don’t get all riled up about every play, it’s super annoying to watch football with people who get all out of shape about a 5 yard run on 2nd and 4 in the 1st quarter. Think of it this way. Anytime the other team comes up to the line, audibles and gets a decent run, instead of getting annoyed, view it as a likely win for the defense. They were probably looking to burn them over the top and the defense figured out the game plan and forced them to audible. Basically the defense won the chess match and conceded a decent run over a chunk play. Even if I’m not right with that way of thinking, people listen, stop getting all angry about inconsequential plays, people are scared to tell you, but you’re super annoying to watch sports with. The nfl comes down to like 6 plays a game, that 7 yard run in the second quarter to cross the 50 is not one of those plays, it really doesn’t matter much at all. Every time your defense does not give up one of those six plays on a given snap is another opportunity for them to be the unit that makes one of those plays on the next snap.

@buffalo716 can you drill into the scheme that was consistently putting Edmunds in the soft spot of the zone and teams started exploiting it into an essentially no win situation last year for Edmunds? Think it was their cover three base shell, but can’t remember exactly. Maybe show how they adjusted the second half of the season? Think it’s important for people to understand some more of the nuance behind Edmunds performance early in the year and that it wasn’t just his injury or really even his ability to read a play in a lot of situations, just the scheme the bills were playing and offenses figuring out a way to exploit it.

Isn’t it kind of a synergy of the orchestrated zone blitzing they did in Pittsburg and Philly for a long time (basically everything designed to get one specific guy to come free, and the others just getting players to move and free up a weakness for that one guy to come free) and what Rex Ryan was doing with the Jets, having guys walking all around super late (instead of just the safeties) and causing a ton of confusion. But less aggressive and realizing it always comes down to a handful of plays, so wait for the other offense to get confused and throw you a few of those plays over the course of the entire game, instead of trying to force it to happen and getting burned. Otherwise, if it’s not one of the game defining plays, rally to the ball, keep them in front of you and make a solid tackle without giving up YAC or something over the top.

With the robber look, having the safety basically coming down into the box, especially with how late and unexpectedly the bills safety’s shift (which was not as significant last year without crowd noise because easy to call an audible even with two seconds on the play clock), gotta think that it basically allows Edmunds or Milano to sell out on the pass and have the safety come in and fill that gap if it is a run. Like it’s not just that the lb is not blitzing, but he is potentially cycling back to the safety’s robber position and having the safety rotate down and the entire defense pivots kind of. lol, that is actually more of a question, I am not a football player, but I try and pay attention to smart people talking about it and have played soccer, lax and bball and understand defensive principles. Basically synergizing what I’ve heard smart people say in parts, along with my conceptual understanding of defense in other sports. Am I right, or at least rightish?!

First level should be a participation trophy no?

Totally appreciate that perspective and you very well might be right. They had the third pick in the draft this year and could have had arguably the first QB on their board still depending on what they value. Instead they traded down and got a bunch of picks, but then spent a bunch trading back up. That trade up to get Waddle honestly felt a ton like the Watkins pick when a bunch of other really good receivers were still on the board. The fact that they made that pick in advance of the draft almost makes me think they all agreed to trade the 3rd pick, Ross changed his mind because he got sad they weren’t going to get a top player, and made them trade back up going against their initial long agreed upon plan. Just speculating, but after hearing he wanted to go after Watson, that chain of events with Ross forcing them to go back up into the top 10 kind of makes the most sense.

Totally agree and he doesn’t take himself too seriously either. Can’t leave the owners off that list though. Can you imagine if Beane was in Miami and said we need to do a full tear down? That was presented to Ross by several GMs and he said no. They finally sort of did it two years ago, but then spent a ton of money in free agency the next year instead of building in the draft and using free agency to sign undervalued flexible pieces that would succeed in your scheme on short term deals. Not to hijack the thread or your post, but what they did with Tua is the opposite of how the Bills went 100% all in behind Allen on day 1 and never waivered. It’s just super refreshing that they are able to build something so strong while also driving a growth mindset and team based approach…very rare in that sport as well.

any word on your sleuthing? I’m f5ing like a mad man over here!

Johnson isn’t going to get in Rousseau’s ear right before the biggest play of the season and tell him what counter to use that he was helping GR set up all game. Addison’s experience and what sounds like his ability and definitely his willingness to convey that experience to others is a huge asset and adds to his value. They just invested a huge amount of assets in young DEs. Five years from now when they are all hopefully playing on their second contracts, I would have to imagine they will all credit the mentorship that Addison offered this season as key reasons they learned to do it the right way, and they will subsequently pass that along to the next batch of DE prospects one day. These guys have never had to go through the game planning other teams will be doing to exploit their weaknesses, they need a calm guiding voice in the locker room that have had success and also have gone through the ups and downs of a season. Hughs and Addison have and they both play differently and can offer different advice to each player.

It’s more I think they will design plays that fit the skill set of whoever is in there and I don’t think the 6th receiver on this team will be used as a decoy. Also, Kumero isn’t even a wide receiver in their minds potentially. He could be a special teams specialist who also plays receiver well enough to get a set of plays game planned around him. A lot easier to set up some film for a defender to get super confident on a route and set him up for a counter in a super key spot with a guy playing 6 snaps a game vs 50 a game or whatever. I don’t know that Kumero isn’t a high ceiling guy either. His route running reminds me a bit of Stevie Johnson maybe. What I mean by that is he uses positioning extremely well to get in a box out position on his defender. The suddenness with which he attacks his cuts allows him to use his arms and his hip to initiate sneaky contact and basically boxes out his defender so he is a lot more open then it looks initially and he’s fast so he is open enough to catch and fall on the break, but also can separate if the route has another window in the next level. Stevenson for sure has a bunch of upside, as does Hodgins, but I think they will figure out ways to make sure both are on the initial roster to avoid going through waivers and then figure out a way to keep them. They don’t have the luxury at receiver to make decisions for this year only. Neither Sanders, Beasley or McKenzie are going to play out Allen’s contract, but those guys, and potentially even Kumero do, and shouldn’t be crazy expensive to resign.

He would come in a sub for whoever he backs up for a certain number of snaps a game. He’d be the primary receiver on plays where he is in the game and the play call calls for that receiver to be the primary option. I don’t think they would call different plays because he was in the game, so he’ll get his shot. Gotta remember the other players are not at the same position and they aren’t going to not let his routes be primary when he subs in ever, otherwise they would know he’s basically in as a decoy while Diggs or Davis catch a breather in their outside receiver position. That said they’ll play different formations to get those guys breathers too, so probably will be more of a matchup thing when he gets in, but he will play and he won’t be hidden as a non option/last option every play.

I mean this is a troll thread…it has to be a troll thread. You guys have no idea what they were working on in the kicking game, they might have asked him to do stuff to test the gunners. Nobody has any clue, it’s preseason.

Agree, but the IR and practice squad rules the last two years make it a lot easier to keep players available, but let them actually recoup more from injuries. Beane and McD love to give rookies a break early or middle of the season and then have them peaking again when they start figuring out the mental part the last quarter of the season. They seem to have workloads pretty well organized across a season where players get chunks where they are less critical in the game plans as a way to manage snaps and workloads in a way I have not seen an nfl team do in the past (doesn’t mean it never happened).

My guess is they have looked at the data (though not sure there is really a large enough sample size) and they are acting accordingly, possibly even player by player. Could explain why Oliver was playing for example.

You should check out the Beane interview on the Pat Mcafee show. He said something similar there too, and was super interesting. He talked about golfing with Allen in that interview as well.

Yeah, his delivery is hilarious and him and the dude he writes the stuff with are hilarious. I know there are some people on here that don’t like Dan Le Batard, but that radio show really was the first to go as a parody of sports radio, though I’d listen to Dan Patrick as an argument, but I’d say he dabbled in it. Irony is that the Le Batard Show probably does the best actual sports talk those times when they do actually dive into it, which they do during football season, between the parody. I think people need to be ready for how much praise Dan in particular is going to be giving Josh Allen and the Bills in general. After JA signed the contract he said that his opinion of Josh Allen as a prospect was literally the most wrong he’s ever been. This is a guy who genuinely predicted the lions would be a playoff team the year they finished 0-16. I so so so cannot wait for JA to go on that show, and Beane too hopefully, assuming they didn’t burn the bridge too much with the negativity. Le Batard also gave Pat Mcafee a platform when he was just breaking in and I’m sure behind the scenes helped get him some connections and he helped Chris Simms in a big way when we was trying to break in.

He was the guy who took over the interim head coach role when Philbin was fired in Miami. Played as a TE in the league I believe. He’s basically the personification of the meat head football guy, exaggerated 100x. He’s a real life parody, but at the same time might resonate with some, we’ll see. There were definitely people at the time that wanted to have him be the guy. Instead I think they went with Gase. Campbell reminds me a bit of Rex Ryan in terms of style in a way, but back when Rex gave a lot of effort. Not my preference, but I could see it working culture wise with the right group of players. His pressers are sound bite heaven though.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/rush_yds_career.htm This is decently crazy. There have been just over 200 players who have ever rushed for at least 4,000 career yards in the nfl. Edge James ran for over 10k yards in 10 seasons, which is pretty wild looking at that chart. He did that as part of arguably the leagues best passing offense ever.

I think you’re undervaluing Curtis Martin. He individually destroyed the bills in at least a few games over the course of his career. Man the AFC East was loaded at RB for a while in the late 90s through mid 2000s…Curtis Martin, Ricky Williams in his prime, Antwone Smith for a brief time, Travis Henry was pretty solid.