Hapless Bills Fan
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Posts posted by Hapless Bills Fan
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Except he doesn't just stand there. He moves in the pocket, often extending plays.
I think one of the valid points is that the Pats typically had a guy hanging back waiting for Taylor to try to extend a play by scrambling out of the pocket, so that resulted in a sack where if he'd stepped up and made small evasive movements a la Rodgers, he could sometimes have found a guy or at least thrown it away. He has the arm strength to throw the ball away from almost anywhere, it's not like he needs to get near the sideline a la Fitz.
It's not one or the other...people are simply pointing out areas where he can improve.
His ability to extend plays is a huge asset...just like every other asset, he needs to learn how to use it most effectively. That's all.
Yes, this
But several times he also escaped and found an open receiver. People want perfection. Why not settle for success?
Err, because we lost? Losing is not success?
Excellent article. I was suspicious of the charges it was all the olines fault. This confirms it wasn't
BTW...Sammy speaks poor English
It wasn't "all the Olines fault" but where did you find these "charges"?
There are plays where it was the Oline's fault. There are plays where protection and coverage were both good, and Taylor should have thrown it away before taking a coverage sack. And there were plays where Taylor left something out there.
It's also IMO not the O-lines fault if the Pats stack the box and Roman dials up a run play regardless.
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Happy to facilitate the discussion and I welcome people pointing out their unique perception of certain plays.
While there may have been a few borderline o line breakdowns i categorized as sufficient protection I think PFF's 50% pressure characterization appears to be very high
I don't think it's a "unique perception" on my part? Watch the play in slomo. Totally unblocked Chandler Jones not.eq.to "no pressure" and it's very clear Cog had no one to block on that play. Protection error, not a throw at Mulligans shoestrings for no reason.
I don't have the time to do my own all-22 of the whole game, which is why I hesitated to bring this up - hate to critique something I'm not willing or able to put the time/effort into myself - but I did most of the first half and I would say unless things changed dramatically in the 3rd Q PFF is probably right at 50%.
This isn't to absolve Taylor. There were 30 pass plays plus arguably some of his 5 runs, and he made some good throws under pressure. So he failed to exploit plays that he could have, where a pocket existed and he could have stepped into it. He also had protection for long enough to make a throw sometimes when there was pressure.
What I wonder at is to what extent Roman is scripting the start of the game, and to what extent Taylor has the freedom to change plays. The "gee, they stacked the box against us so let's run" play that preceeded the Mulligan shoestring throw is a screaming example and there are others.
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OMG
Please stop. He is what he is. By this point in his career with the amount of opportunities he has been given we know what he is.
I am glad the Jets are starting him. He will be decent and he will be good but he will for sure be god awful and and throw horrible picks are crucial periods in the game.
The interesting thing is last year, "Pickspatrick" was well under control with a TD/INT ratio of 2.1 (17 TD, 8 INTs, 2.6% INTs). But when you look under the hood, it's not an even balanced performance season-wide. He had early games where he threw a stupid number of INTs (v. Giants: 3. v. us, 2) IMO O'Brien got on his case for bad decision making, with the result that he started thinking too much and his completion percentage plummeted, leading to benching. He came off the bench and threw a stupid # of TDS (6 v. TEN) and finished the year strong, high completion percentage and no INTs. Every QB has hot and cold games, but evidently benching inspires Fitz?
Be that as it may, I don't think he changed into a different QB with O'Brien, I think the run-first, limit-mistakes system suited his skills and we will see his INT percentage soar again under Gailey. I think he's a cool guy and I'd like to be wrong, but there is that "is what he is" history. Maybe he'll overcome it...but I won't bet the rent.
Yeah, right. No team would ever give a guy like that a, say, 6 year, $59 million contract with a $10 million signing bonus!
EDIT: the real question, and it's a serious one -- would the Bills have been better off just letting that Fitz contract play out instead of eating a good part of it, then drafting EJ, then bringing in Orton, Cassel, Tyrod ...
Some pundit called it. Something like "Fitzpatrick is remarkable for being dumped at QB by team after team which then fail to replace him with someone better." Fitz is tough as nails and smart, and yes, I think you could make a good argument that the Bills could have reno'd his contract on somewhat better terms than they offered, kept him, and been better off with EJ behind him for 2 years than bringing in Kolb (don't forget Kolb), Lewis (don't forget Lewis), TJax, Orton, Cassel etc.- with all the signing bonuses, bath mats, concussions etc we quite arguably spent more money for less play (assuming he would have reno'd to something similar to what we paid Kolb).
Taylor, I think the jury is out. He intrigues me, but anyone expecting him to be SuperQB right out of the box is in for a rough ride, and game-planning to use him effectively is going to be key.
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he did not win 9 games, he won 5... and how was it a worse team?
6. He won 6.
The Houston D was awesome last year and Arian Foster is a damn offense all by himself. Time after time I think that guy is stuffed, and he gains 5 yards. Agree "not proven" they're a worse team than Jets.
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he got his job back because Mallett got hurt after 1 1/2 games
*raises eyebrow* Well, Mallet's torn pec was a reason, but keep in mind Mallet played the entire game after having torn it in warmup, and TJax played through a similar injury all season once. Mallet didn't have a torn pec this past Sunday, did he now? My money says O'Brien regrets his decision to fill the Texans backfield with ex-Pat QBs by the end of the year, but we'll see, we'll see.
Chan is a great coordinator, i think time will show he is even better than our well regarded Roman.
I think Chan understands how to use Fitz better than they did in Tenn or Houston. He plays really well with the lead, and tends to be a liability when he needs to come from behind.
Hmmm, well, I always thought Chan was game-planning as though he had Aaron Rodgers out there slinging the rock for him.
Fitz did have a career year for completion percentage, YPA and low INTs last year in Houston. He didn't rack up the passing yardage in their Arian-Foster-First O, but hard to argue Chan got more out of him.
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I've looked at this every which way, and I am convinced that the pass to Sammy with 1:15 left in the game that was too high was actually meant for Robert Woods. Anyone else catch this?
Tim-
I thought TT was quoted as saying he intended it for Sammy. It was a tough catch.
I think it goes both ways. QBs need to help out the receivers with good ball placement and not leading them into big hits. But WRs need to bail out their QB on occasion when the pass isn't perfect. Like I said before, Watkins is supposed to be a top receiver in this league. The Bills moved up in the draft and got him. How far he has yet to show that in most games. On that particular play, you would like to see your difference maker make a difference. It's the same with the high priced guys on the D-line. You expect those guys to come through when the game is on the line and for the most part, they failed this week. TT, Watkins, The D-line, the coaches, the whole team needs to do better.
That pass was a bit beyond "not perfect". It was both high and behind. If it was just high, Watkins could possibly have gotten it. If it was just behind, ditto. Both at once, C'mon Man.
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I said it in the preseason, I'm concerned Rex's style of coaching on defense doesn't fit what we have here.
I wasn't impressed with the pass rush against Indy despite the lopsided victory, and against the Patriots, there was no pass rush whatsoever.
If the defense looks bad again against Miami fans are going to turn quickly on Rex and it will be all on him considering we've brought every starter back(aside from Searcy). Perhaps this team is missing the leadership of Brandon Spikes or Pepper Johnson?
I have no idea, but again, im not impressed with the defense and they need to show the fans something on Sunday.
I could be wrong, but I think the complexity of Rex's schemes worked against us on Sunday. Between the Patriot's no-huddle and the crowd noise, I think the Bills D struggled to make substitutions and communicate the play. In fact I believe I heard something in a couple D player interviews to that effect, that if they can get set they can play anyone.
So that is a coaching thing - you know the crowd will be loud, you know the Pats like to run a no-huddle and make it challenging to substitute, you know that pressuring Brady depends on coverage long enough for the pressure to arrive - the game plan must account for these things.
I'll take this...
@SalSports: Bills NFL offensive ranks:
Pts/gm 4th (29.5)
Yards/gm 15th (345.5)
Yards/play 8th (5.76)
Rush yds/gm 3rd (153.5)
Rush yds/play 2nd (4.87)
Meh, I'd rather take the W
As an aside I get a kick out of people saying that he's a first read only QB. That was not the case at all. But he does need to trust his protection a bit more and learn to step up a bit to buy a split second, because he had WRs open. Pats* DBs shouldn't scare many people at all. But I don't know how many teams can keep up a shooting match with Pats *
I was thinking about that watching GB vs Seattle. Rodgers, who is maybe 1" taller than Taylor, kind of put on a clinic how to step up in the pocket, evade pressure, and make the pass.
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http://www.wgr550.com/pages/21989749.php?contentType=4&contentId=17815292
And a few extras from Yards per Pass:
@YardsPerPass: http://t.co/6elFAWWVtX TTis so good outside the pocket... how many QB's in the league can make this play? http://t.co/3xLn5kmGZq
@YardsPerPass: Let's be honest... if this is Brady running there is no way that flag is EVER picked up http://t.co/1xlc7WwNuU
@YardsPerPass: TT doing his best Brady imitation here... quick throw, take the easy throw from the off CB. Harvin breaks it gets 20 http://t.co/Xdj8F7PyHy
@YardsPerPass: Same play from EZ... great pickup by Shady, TT stands in there and fires.
That's how you win from the pocket http://t.co/rWePOfZK7f
@YardsPerPass: This is all TT needs to do in the pocket
#NetflixAndChill http://t.co/pBjjqrN36H
@YardsPerPass: TT's 2nd INT was just prayer at the end of the half... nobody open under 10 sec left on clock... nothing to see here
@YardsPerPass: Clay TD: TT is soooo good outside the pocket... Developing that pocket sense is key to being great QB
Good finds, Yolo.
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Unforced errors.. bad throws/ How did the O Line do?/ What mistakes are on the O-Line.. what ones are not?
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q1-7:47 - UNFORCED ERROR - Taylor is unpressured but throws ball at Mulligan's shoestrings
q1-7:04 - SACK - good coverage, not really anyone's fault
I really appreciate the effort that goes into this, and thank you for posting it.
I just want to point out the difference in perception:
Example, if you look carefully again at the q1 7:47 play, it appears to me there is a mix-up in blocking assigmnents. Cog winds up with no one to block going "wait, who's my guy?" Clay crosses the formation as Taylor fakes a hand off to McCoy, hesitates as though he may stay in to block, then releases. I think he is the intended target. Chandler Jones breezes past Clay, totally unblocked and salivating for Taylor. Jones appears to be between Taylor and Clay. That is why Taylor throws at Mulligan's shoestrings ' You can see this more clearly if you look at the condensed game in slowmo.
I can not agree with you that unblocked Chandler Jones = Unpressured = Unforced Error
Example 2: if you look carefully again at the q1 7:02 play, it appears to me that it is a busted play. McCoy appears to have been intended as the outlet, but he appears to trip getting through the line, perhaps due to the protection breaking down and the planned hole being shut. Incognito goes to his knees and McCoy squirts out of the line and falls to the ground, untouched by defender. Taylor doesn't like what he sees downfield (as you say, good coverage), looks for McCoy, WHUPS, no McCoy, he's still on the ground and so is one of our linemen so Taylor heads for the other sideline. By that time Ninkovitch fakes Henderson out with a step to the inside, then cuts around him unblocked as Henderson turns to help Miller, who is getting whupped.
I can not agree with you no one's fault, the play appears designed to have an outlet if everyone downfield was covered and the outlet got stuffed. And while Henderson and Miller held their blocks long enough for the 3-count a normal play should take, Henderson did get faked out by Ninkovitch pretty badly.
I believe I read that PFF estimated Taylor was under pressure 50% of the time. So again, there would appear to be a difference in perception. Does that mean Taylor left plays on the field and could have been more aggressive, yes it does. And again, thank you for this post and all the time you put into it - I really hate to raise these points because of that.
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I guess I'm not all that down in the dumps about the one bad game (yes it was a really BAD game) because I think the team is truly of playoff caliber, assuming Coach R. gets the house in order and disciplined...and the run game is my primary reason for my optimism. I am an advocate of the "ground and pound" theory and suspect our O-line is more geared to the run game than the pass game. (After Sunday I guess most of you are saying "Ya THINK???")
The run game opens up the pass game and keeps the Brady's where they belong...off the field. The run game should be the basis of our offense going forward.
I'm more concerned about the defense and am not sure what can be done. game discipline for sure, but 40 points is hard to take. It may be the defense is not up to its hype. The next few games will tell.
Except that if your opponent stacks 8 men in the box and dares you to pass, you have to come up with an effective counter- strategy
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@SethWalderNYDN: Bowles said Ryan Fitzpatrick is the QB right now, regardless of Geno is healthy or not.
Ah, the sweet innocence of a new head coach admiring Ryan Fitzpatrick after the 2nd win of the season. Chan might sit down with Bowles and say a word.
doubt that. Houston was a similar team in an easier division and he couldn't do it - benched mid season
For a whole 2 games, after which he got his job back until he broke his leg
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Tyrod Taylor has to spot Percy Harvin (37-yard line) on this play. Had time in the pocket, safety was 15 yards away.
OK, Joe, that's true, but where do you want him to throw it? If he throws it where neither defender on the line can get a mitt on it, he'll be throwing it behind Harvin. Will Harvin go back for it? If he throws it in front of Harvin and Harvin misses, it will sail right to the safety. I don't want to get tagged as a "Taylor apologist", and it's possible that what happened is Taylor hesistated and he should have pulled the trigger sooner, when Harvin was two yards to the right and could have run into the ball. If that's the case, the problem isn't Taylor "not seeing" Harvin, it's Taylor not trusting what he sees and reacting quickly enough or not having enough "timing" with Harvin.
I really don't like these cherrypicked film shots that pundits use to second-guess players. I do agree with Joe that it appears there should have been a play there - time to throw, and an open receiver
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I haven't read the thread, so forgive me if my take is stale, but I still feel good about Taylor.
For the middle quarters he looked lost. It took me back to games 3 and 4 last year. He couldn't feel the pass rush, couldn't read the defense, was afraid to throw down the field, and just looked overwhelmed.
But the way he fought back in the late 3rd and through the 4th is encouraging. I expect growing pains from a guy in his second start. It's how he responds that tells the story.
The types of mistakes make a difference too. 2 of those INTs we're off the hands of a receiver. They were too high and I still put them on the QB, but the point is they weren't the kind of head scratching mistakes you can't correct. A guy who throws 3 TDs and runs for another is showing the upside on the field to make me believe he can be the guy.
Time will tell, and he certainly has a way to go to get where we need him to be, but I'm still on the bandwagon for now.
I generally agree with this. The other point about 2 of those INTs is they were thrown in very short time at the end of the half (while trying to score before half) and at the very end of the game. Obviously INTs are never good, but with :16s in the half in one case and 1:15s in the game in the other, they resulted in kneel-downs. The first INT on the throw to Clay, I thought was very bad judgement throwing a jump ball into double coverage with a DB trailing. Yes it was 3rd down and we were trying to make things happen, but "live to fight another day", don't give the Pats great field position. It would be OK to take that risk if we were down on the NE 30 perhaps, long for a field goal you can look at a deep pass as the equivalent of a punt in some ways, if you make it great, if you don't you were going to punt on the next play (as long as you tackle anyone who intercepts promptly)
Not to take away or disagree that Taylor needs to improve, but I think it's also worth looking at the *@!# play calling. After the first drive, the Pats were clearly stacking the box. I can see 11 guys on the first down play - so obviously we dial up...a run? The defense adjusts, the offensive play calling needs to adjust, and depending upon how much freedom he has that may be 0% on Taylor.
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Watching the MNF game last night and it is clear to me that the Jets D is for real. To me, our offense looks better, but that defense looked awfully good. Hoping the Bills can bounce back this weekend, but if they fall to 0-2 in the division, it will be a difficult hole to dig out of because it will be a tough task beating the Jets. If we lose this weekend and we also lose to the Jets, it could be another long season. I think our team is greatly improved, but Sunday showed me there is a long way to go, while the Jets, Pats and Fins all look pretty good. Thoughts?
It's one of those things. We were all happy we beat the Colts, a team the prognosticators had in the Superbowl or at least contending again for the AFC East. We thumped them pretty well, and so did the Jets. So now the question is, are the Jets great or maybe the Colts are just not a very good team?
I think our team is greatly improved on paper but 1) so far Ryan's D shows regression vs Schwartz last year. He was handed the keys to an elite group of players, so if we lay an egg, he's the hen.
2) so far we haven't shown the ability to utilize our improved offensive players yet, and the OL kind of looks like cat sh** to me. Roman needs to build his rep as a OC who can utilize a stout run and a QB who is not a great pocket passer. I am under-impressed by Rex's press conferences calling for Taylor to step up in the pocket more. If you want a pocket passer, don't chose a short guy with wheels as your QB.
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I think Rex expected his $300 million DL to win battles up front.
Instead they got dominated and were a non factor.
Our $108 million DT says there was just nothing they could do. Aww shucks..No biggee.. That OL was just too darn good.
You can not pressure Brady successfully without jamming the receivers on the line and covering them like blankets. If you try to blitz or even pressure without that, he will dissect you with short slants all day while his guys dial up the YAC.
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I missed him from the day it was announced he would not be retained.
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So, if anyone asked which stats belong to Fitz and which to Andrew Luck what would you say?
22/34 (64.7%) 244 yds 2 TD 1 INT
21/37 (56.7%) 250 yds 1 TD 3 INT
I don't like this loss as a fan, because maybe it means the Colts are a bad team this year and we play the Jets twice. And the Jets dined on tenderized pony-meat
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Way too many times Taylor was too late and too high with his throws. Starting QB's in the NFL can't perform like this. If this doesn't improve, he will not be starting in this league; unless those behind are no better.
I don't want to pick on you, in particular, but I'm getting a little frustrated with the level of knowledgeable football analysis (or lack thereof) here. I really can't perform the actual "review" 'cuz I just learned coaches' film doesn't come out on GamePass until Weds (BOOOO!). But here's an example of what I can see when I slow down the condensed game.
Bills 2nd series.
1st down: McCoy in the backfield, handoff pitched to him, similar play went for big yards on the 1st series. This time Pats are ready, McCoy gets stuffed on the 1st down run, lucky to make it close to the LOS. In fact that's a hard fought run to make it back within 1 yd.
2nd down&11: Pass to Mulligan, 1 yd. First assessment: Play-action fake to McCoy followed by bad throw by Tyler, for little yardage. Mulligan had to come back and drop to one knee for the ball and struggled to haul it in, fought hard to get the 1 yd he got. Closer look: not so fast, something is seriously AFU with the blocking. At the snap, Clay crosses the formation and turns upfield during the fake to McCoy, running RIGHT BY CHANDLER JONES, who then continues totally unblocked to the QB. Taylor sees Mulligan and avoids the sack by throwing to him. Clay, who was probably the intended target, is likely hidden by the unblocked and hard charging Chandler Jones. Meanwhile 'Cog is saying "hey, what, huh? Where's my guy?" (Not saying that's his fault here). I can't tell you whose, but it's clearly a blocking assignment miscue, and the bad Taylor throw is really not on Taylor. Did he have someone downfield that he missed? I can't tell you that without the Coach's Film, but he had neither a running lane nor much time to look before he would have gotten pancaked by Jones.
3rd down and 9: Designed pass play. The Pats send 5. McCoy stays in to block, has no one to block, and tries to cut through the line as an outlet. Trips on Cog, falls in a heap, taking Cog down with him. Meanwhile, Taylor goes through his drop and bounces nicely in place saying "one potato two potato three potato" and looking for his receiver. At this point, Ninkovitch fakes inside convincingly and Henderson turns from blocking Ninkovitch to help Miller, who's been pushed off balance by (?Pats LBs - Rufus Johnson?) and would clearly get run over if Ninkovitch broke inside, I can only see 4 of our 5 linemen (I think'Cog is the one McCoy tripped on and is still down). Ninkovitch jukes back outside and charges by Henderson with Taylor in his sights. Taylor can not step up into the pocket because with 'Cog on the ground and Glenn beaten and desperately holding onto his guy's collar from behind there ain't no pocket Aware the play is busted, Taylor looks for McCoy, who is crumpled on the turf still. Taylor eludes Ninkovitch and looks downfield, doesn't like what he sees. By then any running lanes he has are clogged with Ninkovitch, Johnson, and 3 other defenders. If he tries to run, he'll get slaughtered well shy of first down so he scampers out of bound for a "sack" of -6 yards. He throws it away as he goes and the refs ruled he had stepped OOB before throwing REX THEN TRIED TO CHALLENGE AN UNCHALLENGEABLE PLAY. WtF?
Until I see coaches' film, I can't tell you if Taylor had a play and wouldn't pull the trigger, but it looked like a coverage sack combined with a very quick breakdown in protection to me, starting when McCoy tripped over 'Cog and Wood trying to cut through a hole that wasn't there.
My point is, what at first looked like 3 bad playcalls to me, upon further review looked more reasonable as calls. The first play was a stuffed run that may have been a breakdown in line play. The second should have been a pass to Clay, protection was AFU, and Taylor threw it away to Mulligan to avoid losing yards. The third was an attempt at a long pass with a checkdown option to McCoy who would have a good chance for a first down. Again, something was AFU with the pass protection.
Without coaches' film, I have no idea how all you brilliant football minds are so confident that Taylor is just an indecisive little deer who left lots of open guys downfield. If you're at the game watching downfield to see who's open, how are you assessing the protection and whether Taylor has time to throw when the guy is open? And if you've got coaches film available to you, I'd be a heck of a lot more impressed by an actual REVIEW using it than a bunch of stuff about how"terrible" and "indecisive" Taylor was and how "many times" TT could have "taken off for 20 yds" instead of taking sacks or all the open receivers downfield he failed to utilize. What I see is we got our heads spun around and our asses whipped on the OL in pass protection 2 plays in a row, and possibly in run blocking on the 1st play, got too aggravated with the Gamepass limitations to look carefully.
I have a hunch if I look through the 2nd and 3rd Q I'd see a lot more of the same.
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The QB wasn't the biggest problem from what I saw. Yea he did play poorly quite a bit yesterday, and did some good things too.
I'm far more concerned about the defense that looked so good most of last year, and allowing a new franchise record for passing with 466 yards from Brady. The Bills defense is currently ranked 30th in the NFL right now.
Yep, This.
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Pareto Analysis is a simple technique for prioritizing problem-solving work so that the first piece of work you do resolved the greatest number of problems. It's based on thePareto Principle (also known as the 80/20 Rule) – the idea that 80 percent of problems may be caused by as few as 20 percent of causes.
A. Do some on here really believe that changing QBs or focusing on TT as the cause of 80% of the teams problems is the right course of action.
or
B. Have a different agenda other than being a bills fan, like being right in your own little mind.
IMO having a better game plan on both sides of the ball would help alot more!
Ha! Nailed it. Tyrod Taylor didn't give up a new Bills record, 466 yds passing on our D. He did throw a bad INT to Clay that resulted in good field position at the Bills 30 (that's on him) and led to a TD putting the Pats up 21-7 after we gave up 2 passes for 21 yds, and 2 runs for 7.
It would be great if we had our actual OL coach in practices and on the field for us, but he had to be an undisciplined moron. I wonder where the young guys get their leadership from.
Now isn't this a zinger. Too true, too true!
Per PFF, Tyrod Taylor was under pressure on 50 percent of dropbacks against the Patriots. Tom Brady was pressured 16.4 percent of the time.
He wasn't under pressure. He just held onto the ball too long like a deer in the headlights for no good reason. I read that here.
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Tyrod only got hot because it was garbage time. The Pats got so comfortable and felt so non-threatened by Taylor that they allowed him to the opportunity to scare them at the end and he took advantage. It was still garbage time though.
So how exactly do you define "Garbage Time"?
If Taylor had completed a throw to Sammy instead of an INT and we'd scored, you'd be calling it a "brilliant comeback". That's My Point.
"Garbage time" is really not a useful concept because it's largely defined in hindsight.
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BLASPHEMER! IDOLATOR! FOR THIS YOU SHALL DRINK BITTER WATERS!
ROTFL! +1
rodgers isn't very tall. I think he is 6'1, right?
Per Wiki, 6'2" but I think they were using the same +1" yardstick that measured Taylor as 6'1".
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Agreed, the perspective is refreshing. Everyone, myself included, needs to remind themselves that no one plays perfectly. All players have bad days; all teams have bad games. Overly criticizing Tyrod or Rex or Dareus or any of them after one performance is ignoring that simple fact.
That's not to mean we shouldn't talk about what went wrong. But, we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water. Whatever this game plan was... Throw it out. Burn the trash can. Bury it in a field under a full moon. It stunk and needs to never be seen again. The really bad thing is just about any fan on this forum could tell you that dropping Hughes into coverage and not blitzing Brady is a bad plan. Or that play 7-10yds off the LOS against the dink and dunk master is not a good idea. I just don't understand how coaches over think this stuff and blow it so badly.
Offensively, they're going to have to open it up a bit. I saw it in the Colts game and yesterday it was in full display. Crowd the box and force Tyrod to throw long.
Indeed, all players and teams have bad days and games. Two points:
1. I really need to carve time to watch the all-22, but it really should NOT be a choice between running vs "crowd the box and force Taylor to throw long". Long throws are by their nature low percentage throws, and unless you have an elite QB, that doesn't work. If the D is stacking the box and preventing the run while bringing the heat, the solution is to have several hot outlets that are short to medium high percentage throws. What I don't know yet is if Roman was doing that and Taylor just didn't see it or was confused by what the coverage was, or if they were inappropriate for him (across the middle of the field and hidden by a surging DL) or if they were just not there.
2. (see above) we really can't afford to throw out, burn or bury this game plan until we study the h*ll out of it and figure out what to do better because it WILL be a blueprint for other teams and we must counter it.
Again, haven't watched the all-22 yet but IMO there's a lot to be learned from the GB-TeamformerlyknownasSeasnakes game. Rodgers put on a clinic on how to evade pressure and zing off those short passes. Aside: according to Wiki, Rodgers only has 1" on Taylor. Anyone think that's real?
Interesting! The Pats were SO on their game yesterday on offense I am leaving off the asterisk. For today. Their offense was jaw dropping.
Thou Shalt Not Omit the Asterisk.
I kind of thought our D was jaw dropping, but for different reasons.
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1985 Chicago Bears - Week 3 gave up 411 passing yards to the Minnesota Vikings.
2000 Baltimore Ravens - Week 17 gave up 473 passing yards to the New York Jets. They were playing all starters as they were still trying to win division.
2002 Tampa Bay Bucs - Week 9 gave up 173 rushing yards to the Minnesota Vikings.
2013 Seattle Seahawks - Week 4 gave up 325 yards passing and 151 yards rushing to the Texans team led by Matt Schaub.
The point is, even the best defenses get beat up sometimes and none of those teams had Brady/Belichick. A lot of you really need to chill, this is only week 2. Can't we wait until at least October before throwing in the towel?
Good post. I'll add this: http://forums.twobil...band/?p=3692136
Watkins: Tyrod Taylor must gain trust in the OL
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
Thanks for the warning, LOL!
The thing that bothers me about this coverage is the cherry-picking. When I read the headline I was thinking "Watkins should STFU on the finger pointing".
Then I read what Watkins was actually quoted saying in the article, and it's extremely measured and reasonable:
"We're new guys," he said. "We haven't made plays with him. The more we make plays, the more he'll get comfortable with us. The more the line blocks, he'll get more comfortable with staying in the pocket. That's the thing -- with playing these games, you get to realize how much it's a big difference when you haven't played with a guy for so long. So you can't point fingers at him and saying, 'Oh, he missed these throws.' Well, some guys mess up on routes or depth."
Watkins seems to be making the point that the Bills QB and WR are a developing team, that they need to continue to work to be on the same page with routes and timing, and be patient with each other, NOT point fingers.
Then Rodak distills what Watkins actually said into this:
"Rex Ryan echoed the same theme as Watkins -- that Taylor needs to stay in the pocket -- in his Monday news conference."
But that's really not a very accurate capture of what Watkins said, based on what Rodak himself quoted.