Hapless Bills Fan

that, I can not disagree with

I’m just guessing, but traditionally it would be Tom Brady

I’m depressed. Both these teams appear to have running games What is this thing you call “chew on the clock”?

https://www.upi.com/Sports_News/NFL/2021/12/13/NFL-Los-Angeles-Rams-Jalen-Ramsey-Tyler-Higbee-COVID-19/9811639439130/ Also TE Tyler Higbee. That's pretty big for them. I'm not sure how important the RT and the RB are to them: Birdie birds are missing their DB coach to the covid list: You can't think how enthused that makes me about watching this game <--- sarcasm

Other injury news: Sanders has a knee sprain, and is "week to week" per McD. Taiwan Jones has a knee injury, I haven't heard an update on him from McD: Also have not heard an update on Star and the toe Injury that kept him out of the Bucs game.

Klein will hopefully come off the Covid list Tues or Weds (depending on timing of test which put him on) That would be Just In Time, with Dodson going ON. Josh is "day to day" with a "foot sprain" per McDermott. Per league sources, it's a "Turf Toe" For those who don't know what a turf toe is, it can be very bad news. But apparently the "confirmation" is from Since Josh Allen *is* the Bills run game, and since his passing game involves the need for a lot of running and cutting just to buy himself the time and space to get a pass off....color me Not Happy with this report. He's not a pocket passer of whom the above may be more true.

Indeed. But isn't this a bit contradictory with what you say below: Why would we want to replace players on our OL who are "JAGs", at the cost of assuming $8M in dead money, in order to replace them with JAGs?

Fundamentally if we're counting on our rush game to be Josh Allen for the rest of the season, Don't.

You live on Pats and GB boards so that you know that they haven't been? 🤔 Fundamentally, Tom Brady has always had a more effective OL, an effective run game, and a passing game designed for the quick release. Even so, NE's neglect to replenish quality WR is one reason he decamped from NE. Aaron Rodgers has been "yelping for help" to the point of threatening to decamp from GB.

It's a valid point, but as Harbaugh says, "when Lamar runs, he's in control". He can go out of bounds or not...he can give himself up or not. The big hits the running QB takes are when he puts his head down and tries for extra yards. There's a point to be made that in the pocket, with the QB focused on standing in and throwing downfield, he basically has to subordinate protecting himself to executing as a passer, and he's more subject to guys picking him up and slamming him (KC game) or going at his knees/lower legs. I don't like the notion of the Bills purposefully saying "Josh Allen is our Run Game" as it seems to me another poster is suggesting, and as they did last night. I agree that it increases the possibility of him being hit.

While I agree with you that it's factually incorrect that we "ignored the OL this offseason", and also that our biggest identified need was "affecting the QB" on defense....can you agree that it was pretty clear we struggled to run the ball and a lot of that was on IOL last season? Likewise pass protection struggles at times? That being the case, can we agree that -drafting two OT in the 3rd and 5th round -bringing back the same IOL plus two low level FA G (Lamp and Douglas) ......is not a lot of weight on "address" at the point on IOL which was our biggest need? I have no quarrel with Rousseau as a pick, but did we really have to double down on DE in the 2nd round when a very good IOL was there? The whole thing reminds me of Allen's rookie season when we really had no OL, and Beane said before and during the season he was limited in what he could do by the cap. Then after the season, he acknowledged in a press conference that even so, he "could have done more" and that failing to do so was a "mistake".

It's not his first miss, either. Basically, he doesn't seem able to block or to understand how protections vary with defensive formations. In theory, we could work around him with 2 TE (or extra OL) or 2 RB formations. We need his speed. But I say that knowing I know just enough to be ignorant about how profoundly that would bolix our protection calls.

This. If we're using short passes to the RB as a substitute for the run game, it's because we need an OL that can open some holes in the run game. If we're getting negative plays on every drive (mostly sacks), it's because we need a better OL Fun fact: Fournette has 77 targets for 421 yds. That's 35% of his yards from scrimmage.

So I was looking at the plays called in the first half. First series: 3 passes to Devin Singletary (one incomplete), sack, pass to Singletary Second series: short passes to Diggs, Beasley, Davis (inc), punctuated by sack and JA run for 14 yds Third series: 3 deep complete passes punctuated by short pass to Davis, 2 Allen scrambles, incomplete pass on 3rd down Fourth series: 4 short passes punctuated by a sack Fifth series: pass, sack, INT Sixth series: JA run, deep incomplete to Diggs, incomplete pass, DOG, incomplete to Diggs Leaving aside the "should we have gone for it?" question, we're pretty clearly using the short passing game to the RB as part of the run game. Which makes a lot of sense, given that our back doesn't have the speed to get to the outside and we don't have the blockers to run between the tackles against a stout DL. Part of the problem is that Singletary really isn't a great receiving RB (he catches OK but doesn't get very much YAC - though that may not be his fault - he actually has NEGATIVE YBC as a receiver and gets respectable YAC given that fact). Part of the problem is we had negative plays on every drive. Sack, Sack, QB run for a loss, sack, INT, DOG. That makes it tough to integrate a run threat other than Josh, especially when it may not go for much positive yardage unless it's Josh.

This is baloney, sorry. For one thing, in the 2nd half we had 7 runs to RB (4 to Motor, 3 to Breida) for 64 yds, including a long run for 29 yds which is almost half those yards. It's not getting "stuffed" but it's hardly a wildly successful run game.

It's not just a matter of "how much" they throw vs run, it's a matter of "is there a credible run threat, such that the defense feels some need to defend the run on every snap?" Because if there isn't, then they can just pin their ears back and go after the passer. No one facing Tampa with Fournette in the backfield thinks they can just ignore him as a run threat.

This is great stuff. My old-ass Eyes wish you would chart your Xs and Os a bit bigger, but fantastic that you took the time to do it. Wish you'd post more. As far as the "step back" on tackling: Last year, when we would have a bad defensive game, McDermott would harp on fundamentals. I suspect that the difference between a clean tackle and a whiff is often literally inches or milliseconds. I speculate that with so many returning players, either the coaches haven't drilled on fundamentals as hard (these guys know what they're doing, right?) or the players have not been as driven (We're good, right?) or both. There's also a matter of have you watched enough film that your recognition is instantaneous, or do you have to think for a millisecond. It's pretty inexcusable to let Tampa march down the field and score on 4 successive drives in the first half, 3 of them TDs. McDermott said in a presser "you have to have a burning desire to be the Best, Every week" That has to be somewhat on coaching, but there's also a "cup and the platter clean only on the outside" aspect to it - if the coaches preach the same message, but the players are going "yeah, yeah", it's a player problem too - the coaches think they have players who have a "burning desire to be the best every week" but that fire has been banked and allowed to be embers.

I'm trying to find one of the reporter tweets about it, but this is not questionable. Post game, McDermott explained it was a "rub route" and the DB who was supposed to follow got scraped Romo said the same thing during the broadcast "that wasn't Edmunds assignment, he was helping out".

How is it ridiculous? How many overtime games have we had since then?

House goes to a grocery store: "The People at Wegmans hide behind their snobbish cash registers hoping for extra holiday cash" House goes to a gas station: "The People at Exxon hide behind their snobbish cash registers hoping for extra holiday cash" House needs a plumber: "The People at Planit Plumbing hide behind their snobbish invoices hoping for extra holiday cash" Yeah, Bro, everyone in your life ought to comp you. Grow Up. They're selling a product. Buy it or don't buy it, but people deserve to be paid for their work. And if that was supposed to be a joke, add Humor next time.

If it did, then a key piece was missing: the part about one HC calling the other before the game and getting his agreement to it.

You can go back further than the last series. It shouldn't come down to the last series. In the Titans game, we were down in the red zone 5 times and scored TD twice. A 3rd shot gets it done. Against NE, 4 times, 1 TD. A 2nd TD gets it done. It's our Achilles heel this season.

The first question that needs asked is: How many overtime games have we had with McDermott? The answer is 3. 2017 mid-season (W), 2019 (playoff - L), last night (L)

The refs for each game are available to the public. It’s not hard to find. For example, right now on NFL.com, for each week and each game, you can open a .pdf file which contains the names of all the officials. https://nflcdns.nfl.com/liveupdate/gamecenter/58708/TB_Gamebook.pdf It’s not a secret Can you tell us more about the review/grading process?

Agreed, @DrPJax provided we don’t break him. We made 0 attempts to run the ball with a running back in the first half. Zero. None. Check it out - scroll down to “First Half Summary”