Hapless Bills Fan

It's for sure that part of the problem is McDermott/Frazier's strong committment to a DL rotation. It means they are committed to paying 8-9 starter-quality guys, which may mean they have the same expenditure as committing to 2 high quality guys and 2 studs. It may also be a factor for studs like TJ Watt, Miles Garrett, and Nick Bosa who play close to 80% of the snaps - a guy who only plays 45-50% of the snaps like Addison is never going to rack up the same numbers (note, not saying Addison = Bosa), which may be a reason some of the top DL studs might not want to come here

Not only that, but we were #6 in the league in rush yards while being 13th in rushing attempts. Allen's pocket time is listed as 8th at 2.4 sec 24th for pressure % Hard to tell with Allen because he extends plays so often and so long, but while I wouldn't give our OL kudos, I wouldn't say we lacked one either, especially toward the end of the season. There were some games where our OL was a sieve, I feel that did have to do with who was playing and where

I dunno about "least threatening", but it's fair to say we don't have anyone on our DL that evokes fear in the hearts of opposing OCs

The problem is, that's still true after the Bills -had the highest spending on DL in 2019, 2020 -2nd highest spending on DL in 2021 (to the Chiefs) -spent 2 1st round and 2 2nd round picks on DL in the last 3 drafts -signed $76.5M worth of FA contracts on DL in 2020 It's an enormous investment of resources on DL for minimal ROI

I thought Lil Dirty was about to kiss Gabe's feet for getting all the Fish questions right and sparing him the heat

It's a point. The Bengals had 43 seconds left at that point and could have got the yardage they needed for a FG and OT with a fresh set of downs

I can't figure out the clock stoppage rules at all. Here's the NFL Rulebook if anyone wants to try to sort them https://operations.nfl.com/the-rules/2021-nfl-rulebook/#rule-4.-game-timing I don't see anything about refusing to stop the clock if the player is considered to "give up yardage to get out of bounds"

In general, thoughtful response and good post, but I'm going to hone in on this point: I don't think this is correct, on several points. I don't think there's any post season/regular season rational and methodical decision to not call PI or to call it differently in the postseason. I think it just varies from crew to crew. Example: in last year's Superbowl, it seemed pretty clear that the Chiefs DBs were being called for DPI that went uncalled in the AFCCG. Likewise, I seem to remember that GB got flagged for some critical DPIs in the NFCCG. As for "flags all game long", I think the coaches and players make a study of the tendencies of specific referees, and then the top players adjust how they play based on how the refs are calling the game. Of course the key point we both seem to agree on, is "just call the game consistently" Certainly appears to be lined up in the neutral zone! My inner voice wonders if there might have been OPI involved,as on the Higgens play that sent Ramsey to the ground

I'm not "people", but speaking for myself, I think the point isn't that one specific type of penalty was "green lit" - it was that overall, the attitude from the refs on defensive holding and offensive or defensive DPI was pretty clearly "let 'em play, we're gonna keep the flags in our pockets". I think that the officials changed how they were calling the game because for the first 58:13 of the game, they called 3 penalties: a delay of game, a false start, and an unnecessary roughness (after a sack, things getting chippy on the lines). No DH, no DPI , no OH though all were pretty clearly occurring. Then in the last 1:47 of the game, they called a DH, a DPI, an UR on a DB, and an offensive holding. That appears to be a change in how/what the officials were calling - unless you believe that none of the above in fact occurred earlier in the game.

I really wanted the Bills to make a push for Trey Hendrickson myself. But most of this is an assessment based on flawed criteria of what "ran circles" mean, comparing teams at different stages of a rebuild and with different cap space. The Bengals had a ton of cap space, and they were big buyers in FA because they needed huge upgrades on defense, whereas the Bills have had a top-notch secondary. And again, while I liked Trey Hendrickson and wanted the Bills to make a push for him, The Bengals made him the 8th highest paid DE in football - which I think is very fair for his 2020 stats and play overall, but not like "whoo, Bargain!" and it was based on 1 year of that kind of performance, huge jump off 2019.

Exactly. And even if you're not able to, if you persist in trying, the defense has to respect that and keep doing what they're doing that stuffs it, instead of teeing off. The Rams ran on 35% of their plays from scrimmage in the Superbowl. And their run plays sucked - less than 2 ypc. But the fact that they tried and kept trying, meant the Bengals had to defend and keep defending it, and couldn't just tee off on Stafford.

I don't think Burrow is a statue out there at all, but I think he's a bit less developed in his abilities to read coverage and react appropriately than his press clippings suggest. He benefits from having one of the best skill player corps in the league now with Chase, Higgins, Boyd, Uzomah, and Mixon. I would need to watch all-22 to tell if they aren't developing a short passing game for him, or if he's just less developed in his decision making than the press clippings. From what I've seen, a number (not all!) of his sacks are decision-making.

I don't know how refs are taught. But while I couldn't see it from the initial broadcast angle, a replay closer to the refs onfield view showed Ramsey's head pivot in an unnatural fashion. If I were training refs in a league that's supposedly trying to prevent head and neck injuries, that's something I'd train for them to watch. I agree, Ramsey might not have made a play on the ball, but he very likely would have made a tackle. I also felt the holding call was legit, from the replay - LB's arm wrapped around Kupp - not a Phantom Call at all IMO, and the knowledgeable folks I was watching saw it the same way as a legit holding call (again, from a replay with an angle closer to what the refs see on field). But, we all agreed it was a call of the sort that was passing un-penalized earlier in the game. Otherwise, I not only agree that it's completely backwards, but it's unfair to the players. The players use the early part of the game to figure out what the particular ref crew in question will allow or call (inconsistency between crews is another issue). So it's a real "bait and switch" to start calling penalties in the final 2 minutes that passed uncalled earlier in the game. It's a very bad look for the "integrity of the game" to have most of the called penalties in the game occur on the goal line in the final 2 minutes and result in extra tries at the go-ahead score.

Agree completely that mental and physical fatigue/wear and tear showed at the end. I realize this will never happen, but I'm a proponent of shortening, not lengthening, the season. Remember when the season was 14 games long? I know you do. Two reasons: 1) I think it's a "bait and switch" for teams and ticketholders of teams with open air stadia to keep extending the season into the depths of seasonal winter 2) I think the wear-and-tear of a longer season degrades the quality of the playoff games and superbowl Also not a fan of the extra playoff team and only 1 bye. I think the initial round of playoffs was low-quality. Like I said, I understand it will never happen because $$$$, but if we're throwing down what we'd like to see happen, that's where I am

I disagree with the sketchiness of the holding call on Kupp. But the rest of your point stands. If it's OK to grab a DB's face mask and yank his head around and hold earlier in the game, don't change what you're allowing or calling in the red zone in the last 2 minutes. They weren't phantom calls - they were legit - but there were equally non-phantom calls that weren't penalized earlier in the game IMHO.

This is actually a great summation IMHO. I'll add to this, having looked up the box score. There are 6 called penalties in the boxscore - 2 against the Rams, and 4 against the Bengals. In the play-by-play, I count 7 Rams: 1 - Delay of game - 1Q 2 - False start - 2Q 3 - Offensive holding - (Red zone, Rams final TD Drive, offsetting) Bengals: 1 - Unnecessary Roughness (offense, after a sack) - early in 4Q 2 - Defensive Holding (Red zone, Rams final TD Drive 3 - Unnecessary Roughness (Red zone, Rams final TD Drive, offsetting) 4 - Defensive Pass Interference (Red zone, Rams final TD Drive) Now, I think these were all legitimate penalties. But there were equal or greater legitimate penalties that were going uncalled all game - the uncalled face mask on Ramsey by Higgins which clearly impacted the play, for example. It's distasteful to me that the refs kept their laundry in their pockets until the end, when it clearly impacted the result of the game. They adopted a "let 'em play" mantra - until they didn't.

Many people who know something about playing QB credit Matt Ryan with elite play, especially earlier in his career when he had receivers and an OL

I like Rick, but I don't think Bates was the magic bullet. He came into the 2nd NWE game at RG and swapped to LG after Boettger was injured, then started the last 2 games. This is eye test stuff, but I thought the Bills OL started playing better in the NO game, solidified in 2nd half of TB game. I think part of it was 1) more commitment to run the ball 2) return to more pin-and-pull run blocking vs. the zone schemes that just weren't working 3) more designed runs to Allen 4) benching Sweeney and making more use of a 5th OLman in 2 TE sets and/or 2 back sets with Gilliam Hoping Cover1 will do a piece on it. People here get all ruffled up about "evil McDermott mustn't force us to become a run first team" but that's not the point at all. If a defense doesn't have to respect the run game and defend it, they can tee off on the passing game in all sorts of nasty and creative ways that are difficult-to-impossible for the OL to block. McDermott is a DC at heart, he understands this. It's all about creating a reasonable degree of uncertainty in the minds of the defense/DC as to whether a play call will be run or pass. The Rams were having no luck at all running the ball in the Superb Owl, but they kept at it because if you stop, the defense yells "sic 'em!"

By what criteria? 2nd for sacks given up, 6th for rush yards per game and Y/A doesn't sound like "worst in the league". I'm not trying to argue they're top-10 or top-5 - Allen gets out of trouble on his own a lot - but I'd like to know by what criteria they're "one of the worst"

That one was good. Liked the Doritos one too

It's all just a misunderstanding. Nothing to see here, Move Along. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33283843/nfl-running-back-adrian-peterson-arrested-connection-officials-said-was-domestic-violence-incident

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I thought he made some excellent deep throws.

I think so?

I dunno about that but the media was getting a bit full of him. “Joe Cool Iii” indeed