Hapless Bills Fan

Is the Reindeer ready to play? ‘Cuz at this rate Big Ben isn’t gonna make it to halftime

1) need an OL for those deep routes to develop 2) need a run game to stop defenses choking down on the pass and making a “meh” OL worse

Playing without gap integrity

1) they lost several defenders including their nose tackle Alualu, right after we played them 2) In our infinite wisdom, we felt that we had no reason to run the ball and came out in spread offense passing - 45% 4 and 5 wide 3) we were their Superbowl

Why doesn’t Juju play? Cook holds the ball like a loaf of bread when he runs

WTF with all the misses by the kickers?

Yep Well, same for NE We want the Vikes, right?

WTF with the missed field goals? Is there a high wind in that dome or something?

Woulda been nice if Allen got that but I guess he hasn’t played long enough. Unlike Cam Jones. Or something.

Fact: we ran 25 times and passed 30 times vs NE. That's 3.96 ypa and 43% of our yards on 45% of our plays, which says the running game was as productive as any play on that day. Cover1 has a nice breakdown of the TD throw to Davis and explains how it was set up by the run - we sold it to NE as a run play and that opened it up. That's the point that McDermott keeps trying to make - not that we have to "run more" than we ran against NE, but that we simply can't pass on 40 of our 53 offensive play attempts as we did vs. the Colts (11 to the backs) or worse, on 14 of 61 attempts (9 to the backs) as we did vs. the Jaguars. He would like the OL to be more physical, hold their blocks better and open more holes in the run game, and pass protect better. He would like the run plays to be more effective - a few more 10 or 8 or 5 or even 3 yd runs and a few less 1 or -1 yd runs. We aren't going to try to "run more" against TB, but if we come out and try to play a spread offense and sling it all over the field and pass 50 times, we're going to lose, because the Bucs are going to say "no need to worry about you running, eh? fine, we'll get tricksy on how we play the pass" I disagree. Both TB and NE have a very stout DL and front 7, and sound run defense as well as excellent stats on pressuring the QB.

Who are we supposed to root for in this? On paper, I guess the Vikings are the better team. On turf.....?

Good question. It seemed like there were at least 2 players who left the game temporarily with "cramps", the announcers said something about several players getting IVs at halftime, and in his Monday interview Daboll talked about how much the players put into it and seeing them packed in ice and getting IVs on the way home for muscle cramps. I'm going to guess 2-6, of which only 1 or 2 missed snaps when it counted.

That's certainly a part of our losses: 4 fumbles (1 lost) and blocked punt against Pitts; stupid pre-and post-snap penalties, 2 INT and a fumble against Jax; penalties, 3 picks, and a fumble against the Colts; fumble and a couple of key penalties against the Pats. And yet, in 4 of those 5 losses, all that crap was not too deep to be overcome by crisp execution. We were "in it with a chance to win it" to the end, we simply didn't play well enough to clinch the deal. So yes, we beat ourselves, Patriots game included, but the reason is it's not all "stupid undisciplined things". Yes, they contributed.

My understanding is when it's 80 degrees, it's hard to play football in that weather. I hope they have the heat cranked up in the fieldhouse.

I'm actually worried that will be too warm for our guys and they'll dehydrate. When it's 80 degrees air temperature, what is it down on the field?

Not liking Lotulelei going from "limited" to "DNP" - although, Weds practice was said to be light Sweeney, it makes me grind my teeth because he's our only TE other than Knox, but I had high hopes for the kid and they're kind of gone. Before someone asks: If Klein is vaccinated, he can come off the Covid list as soon as he can muster 48 hrs with no symptoms and 2 negative tests 24 hrs apart. If he is unvaccinated, he's gone at least until next Weds or Thurs (10 days from Sunday or Monday) and will miss the Bucs game.

Well, first of all, sure, you're right, the tone and the history of the questioner have an impact (and it wasn't just on Hyde, Poyer reacted also). But I struggle to believe that Sullivan had any kind of benign motivation in asking that question. I think he wanted clicks and controversy and he got 'em.

He thought he would get controversy, and something to write about in the Niagara Gazette. But it's not a "tough" question IMO. It's OK to ask McDermott - he has oversight over everything, the offense the defense the special teams. For Poyer and Hyde, it's a "Have you Stopped Beating Your Wife Yet?" question - a question where both "Yes" and "No" can be made to look bad. If they say "No" it looks finger-pointy at the offense and/or at the front 7 on D who have primary run-stop responsibility, or focused on the fact that in general, giving up only 14 points should be enough for a win -vs- the fact that giving up 222 yds of rush offense (158 without the long run) is not good. If they say "Yes" it could also be seen as finger-pointing the rest of the D, or as dissing themselves and their teammates as professionals who just held one of the best offenses in the NFL to 14 points (8 following a turnover) and 1 TD. It's also a bad question because it's a Y/N question. The only insight he can get from it is controversy Compare and contrast with Harrison Phillips and Hyde being asked about whether the runs they give up stem from the same or different causes. That's a tough question, and got some interesting answers. On the other hand, Poyer and Hyde handled it poorly. They could have side-stepped it and say "the word I'd use right now is *pissed*, we just lost a close hard fought game in which we gave up only 14 points and it sucks"

That last doesn't mean a thing. Dante Scarnecchia was an OL coach essentially his entire 49 year NFL career. He was the Pats OL coach from 1999 to 2016 (he nominally retired in 2013 but continued to coach Pats OLmen on technique). He was an amazing OL coach who managed to mold together scraps and baling wire and a couple of good players into a very good OL. Sometimes people do something for a long time because they're good at it. But we have a problem here on OL, and I'm not sure how it's fixable. The line seems worse than last season or the season before, with largely the same players and the adds (Spencer Brown, Williams) having seemed like additions at the time. There are possibilities: 1) Johnson is a good coach, and is teaching proper technique and there are appropriate schemes. The players aren't executing as well for some reason a) too much is being asked of them - ambiguity of the RPOs, Josh Allen holding the ball too long waiting for a player to come open b) mentally/physically Dawkins, Boettger and perhaps Williams are being impacted (Covid? It can have long term mental effects - and OL requires mental sharpness) 2) Johnson is a good coach, and is teaching proper technique, but the schemes are not as appropriate to the players' abilities. Cover1 has pointed out that in 2019, with a more effective run game, we were predominantly a gap run team with a lot of pin and pull blocking and guys getting out in space, and we're now a zone run team. a) When it comes down to "man whupping man", our players get beat too often b) We are using a lot of RPOs - and RPOs create ambiguity. They are run blocking with an asterisk. Furthermore, we predominantly pass out of RPOs - 80% of the time - so the OL needs to be especially mindful of that. 3) Johnson is a poor coach, and has either "lost the room" or is not enforcing proper technique, thus leading to guys not developing or regressing, getting pwned, false starts, and holding penalties I feel that something is wrong, but I don't know what. I know, I know, we need better OLmen .... but the fact is, we did better with pretty much the same OLmen in 2019 This is true. If Moss hit the hole more explosively (either side of Morse) he gets 2 or 3 yds and it's 2nd and goal from the 3 or 4.

I think Rico is basically wrong Cover 1 makes a pretty strong case that what Moss should have done was stick close to Morse but to his L. I didn't believe this but after looking at people's blocking angles and what's going on, I understand their point. I'm not sure it would have gotten him more, but it wouldn't have gotten him less, and if he were quick enough Morse had better leverage. But I think Morse might have been beaten to either side. Judon was going to be able to come off Brown and get Moss even quicker if he cut to the outside.

Could you provide a link to the Cover 1 film breakdown? Look, you have to understand that the choice was: -Taron Johnson in nickle -Tyrel Dodson, in base Johnson overall is arguably a better player than Dodson, and Dodson had just had a communication breakdown that contributed to the long run (see link above from Dan Orlovsky) If it was a choice between Johnson and Klein, I would go with you that Klein should have been out there, but Klein had his ass on the Covid list. And IMO we missed him.

T You may find this breakdown helpful. It shows some of the subtleties the different defenders look for. Hyde reacted to how Dodson was looking on the TD run. Or, you may not.

I can tell pretty easily by what cities are in what color. For example, just looking at the map for CBS early, -KC and Las Vegas are red, so that's the Red game overrunning the country -Cleveland and Baltimore are both blue, so that's the Blue game Ditto for Green and Yellow Of course, having the link is helpful too, as I forget what it is from week to week Agree that Rams at Zona could be good, and it's on ABC too!

Actually, it's quite easy to argue with this, and people have laid out the arguments multiple times in multiple threads. The point isn't to make the Bills a ground-and-pound "archaic crap" run-first team. The point is that from a defensive perspective, any time there's a perceived gap in the offense, defenses take advantage. That's how the Bills have shut down or pretty well limited the Ravens, who are an excellent running team. We understand what they can't or won't do in the passing game, so we don't bother to defend that and instead we hone in on containing Jackson and stopping the run. When we're playing a more balanced team, like the Titans who run first, but who also have an effective play-action passing game and a QB willing and able to get key yards with his feet, it's much harder to shut them down. Urban Meyer sketched out on a cocktail napkin, before the Jags game, what the Bills offense has become, and how to shut them down. We're a spread offense, no run threat. This freed him up to put two safeties deep and blanket the middle of the field with DBs but still bring pressure, because they could overload one or the other side of the line with no worries at all about "gap integrity". This is analogous to how Pittsburgh played us, except Pittsburgh at the time had a very stout DL and LB and the thinking was every team can't do that. After the Jags game it became clear "Oh Yes They Can" We either fix this, or it's going to be a nice long offseason to work on it.

I'm responding to the contention in the thread title and the OP - that the Bills are gonna get to the playoffs and "Amp Up" I don't believe it. For one thing, behavior gets to be a habit.