All_Pro_Bills

Also, the Eagles were said to have staged a 'fake' offensive walk through prior to the SB that consisted of plays and formations they were not planning on using. Their suspicion was they were being watched and this mis-information strategy would cause NE to waste time preparing for something they would see during the game. Seems to have worked.

Ravens fans shouldn't be mad. I thought their offensive line, minus the center, was lined up too far in the backfield on every passing play the entire game. In fact, their positioning pre-snap telegraphed to me almost every run/pass "guess" before the play. The plays it didn't predict could have been audibled out at the line. If the end receiver lined up that far back he'd be called for illegal formation for not being lined up on the line of scrimmage. I know teams cheat a little back for pass protection but not all four guys that far back. I'm no rules expert and maybe I got it wrong but go back and watch the tape and see what you think.

I think Brady retires after this season. He shows flashes of great play but mostly he's been inconsistent to average this year. On the broadcasts the announcers have been gracious and say it's a sub-standard receiving group but that's been the case in a lot of their seasons and he's worked with that well. Even his body language seems to say he's just not into the game anymore. Much like the undefeated champ boxer who fights one more fight too many another season would be a mistake. Nothing to prove at this point. I saw Rivers mentioned on the thread too. I think he's done based on what I've seen of him this season.

What I like about Romo's game analysis is that he provides accurate insights into what is going to happen on the next play rather than just breaking down the play before. And yesterday he provided some insights into the Patriots defense approach. Its really quite simple. Tendencies, formations, personnel, situations, down and distance. They study the hell out of the opponent. When certain players are in the game they react by calling specific defenses for that offensive personnel package. To "fool" NE's defense and gain the advantage your offense needs to be as personnel and formation neutral as possible. Your offense simply cannot be predictable. It's almost like you need to reinvent your offense for that one game. I think the Eagles did that in the Super Bowl but couldn't pull it off with Wentz yesterday. I also suspect that after seeing Roman's Baltimore offense, which to me is just a variation of what he ran with the Bills but with better personnel, NE will l be better prepared for the Ravens offense the next time around if they meet in the playoffs at some point.

I think you're spot on with the game plan but doesn't that point to a lack of "star power" with the OC and DC? And maybe the HC? If you had to build a team 5 strings deep and also choosing a head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator 5 deep how many Bills players and coaches would you pick? Not our HC, OC, or DC. As for players? On defense Tre White for sure, maybe Poyer or Hyde but I'd be pressed to pick anyone else. But on offensive? Nobody. Week to week I find the Bills offensive game plan to be unimaginative, completely transparent, and absolutely boring to watch when compared to what other teams are doing with their offenses. I expect I could take 5 or 10 frequent contributors to the board and devise a better game plan than Daboll comes up with week to week. I like Allen a lot and he's improved but that improvement just doesn't seem to translate into more production, yards and points. So looking at coaching does Daboll show he has the creativity and ability to put together an offense that matches the specific strengths of his players? I'm not seeing it. As for defense I'm seeing regression at all three levels especially the run defense. What has Frasier done to correct or adjust anything? Nothing I'm much. They did nothing to cover up Wallace's bad showing on Sunday and just stood their while the Browns marched down the field to take the lead. I'm dreading Thanksgiving as I expect the Cowboys to physically push the Bills defense down the field and run all over them. Our only Nationally televised game no less! Add this to how the Bills rarely show up to play in a big spot and this could be an embarrassing disaster. My advice, eat your turkey dinner early because you're going to lose your appetite later. Why not throw in Beane here too. The last two drafts have been good but how many of these guys do you project as pro bowl level player potential at this point? Hopefully a few. But he gets high marks for resolving the cap issues and sticking to his financial plan. But at the trade deadline he didn't pull the trigger on any moves citing the cost which to me shows he doesn't have any conviction the team has potential to make some noise in the playoffs. On another note, after watching last nights SF/SEA game I realized how superior the rosters of the top teams in the league are compared to the Bills. The 49ers have stacked a series of top 5 picks over the years and Seattle just seems to find a way to keep their roster stocked with good players. And NE? We all know about them. We're a top 5 defense? Does anyone really still believe that?

I blame the defense for giving up the late TD but not necessarily the players on the field. The Browns have a good set of skill players on offense and a QB that can be very effective and accurate when given adequate time to throw. Their weakness on the offensive side of the ball is the offensive line and when Mayfield is pressured he can be erratic and make mistakes in judgment and throwing bad passes. But rather than bring pressure on the QB on the Browns scoring drive the Bills DC/HC ran a relatively vanilla bend but don't break and hope for the opponent to make a mistake strategy. And it didn't work as Mayfield mostly worked the ball to Landry exploiting Wallace who was having a bad day at CB. This to me screams of a lack of situational awareness. Looking around the league at the top defensive squads I suspect most of them would rolled the dice and have brought the heat on Mayfield. Other than that the offense didn't run the ball enough and our PK missed two crucial kicks. In fact he's missed a FG to close the 1st half in each of the teams 3 losses.

Holding and false start calls every week. In the NE game his inability to comprehend the play call caused the delay of game near the goal line with Barkley in late. Also, our PK has missed a FG attempt at the end of the 1st half in all three loses. Plus the miss end of game today. Very concerning.

I remember all the NFL preview forecasting experts before the season that picked the Bills to win 5 or 6 games and that was based on the same schedule. These same critics are now citing a weak schedule as the reason the team is 6-2. If it was so weak why didn't they pick them to 10 or 11 games? Because they expected us to suck and they were dead wrong.

On Sunday, for whatever reasons, the Eagles managed their game plan and the weather better than the Bills. And I recent years "bad" weather conditions, whether snow, cold, or wind, have not provided the Bills with any kind of advantage. The snow game with the Colt is another recent example. Where was the advantage playing a dome team in snow and just squeaking out a win? In this era, teams are better prepared, cold weather gear has improved from better and more usable insulating materials like gloves and under-garments, and sideline heaters and heated benches remove much of the discomfort. It might have helped the teams of the 90's but they had more talent relative to most of their opponents in a non-salary cap era. My suspicion is ownership, the state, and county are going to propose and pursue a downtown retractable roof stadium focused on efforts to re-develop the downtown area and perhaps integrate as much as possible with Harbor Center. Maybe the Bills retain their training facilities in Orchard Park or they also move downtown? Many like the suburban stadium for its uniqueness, the atmosphere of the game, and tailgating. Some of that would be lost with a downtown stadium. But you have to remember that "Rich" stadium (I think it was the first NFL stadium that sold naming rights) was built at a time when businesses and residents were fleeing the inner cities because of social and economic deterioration. But today's younger generations don't share their parents or grand-parents abandoning of the inner city but rather have more of an affinity for the city rather than suburbs so the trend seems to be reversing. As time moves forward this trend will only get stronger.

My frustration: 1 Singletary not getting enough touches 2 Lee Smith getting too many penalties

Any DT's or DE's being shopped? That we need.

The Bills are a work in progress. They're still make too many physical and mental mistakes to run with the big boys of the league on a consistent basis. The Eagles played desperate tough football today. They handled the weather better than the Bills, made adjustments to their game plan, and executed well. The Bills for most of the day did none of that. Philly won the war in the trenches on both sides of the ball. The result leaves the Bills at 5-2 with an expected win next week to go 6-2 at the halfway point needing to split 4-4 to make it to 10-6 and an anticipated playoff spot. But there's no guarantee of that. That said it doesn't excuse the situation. Daboll's offensive game plan is both frustrating and unimaginative. Just based on formation I can guess with about 90% accuracy run or pass and I can only imagine how easy it is to "read" his offense for professionals. It seems like the defense is in the huddle. The Eagles had several players out on the defense but instead of spreading them out and making the subs play in space the Bills use multiple bunch formations that allow the defense to bring numbers to the point of attack more easily. The QB run with Allen right before the 2-minute warning was just dumb. For one, he wasn't going to get the 1st down and two he fumbled. This led to 8 points and a huge momentum shift. Still Allen brought the team down for a potential FG with 2 seconds left but Hauschka missed the FG attempt. Note in both our losses he missed a half ending FG. The defense got pushed around all day. On their final scoring drive the Eagles converted 3 3rd and 10 attempts. The "D' not so elite. Multiple times players over pursue, cannot shed blocks, or hold contain, or gaps. Maybe a DT or DE at the trade deadline? Lastly, what was this coaching staff doing during the bye? And if it wasn't for Tre White last week we'd be staring at 4-3.

The Bills have about 9 weeks before they play NE again. I'm not expert or NFL OC and its easier said than done. But just a couple things I'd consider doing: 1) Bring on a full-time person who's only job is to break down every NE defensive snap this season. Identify any tendencies by personnel package, formation, down and distance, etc. Figure out what they might do and develop a predictive model. Then scout their future games between now and then and "test" your data/model against what they really do? The bottom line, can you predict what they are going to do consistently play after play? 2) Design your game plan to be formation neutral. Keep it simple. Don't give the defense any pre-snap clues based on how you line up although this might limit some play options. 3) Design your game plan to be personnel neutral. Same reason as number 2. 4) Move the QB around on pass plays, move the pocket. The Chiefs do a great job with Mahomes doing this. He's mobile and can pull it off. So can Allen. If the rush isn't sure where the QB "spot" is then it might impact the kind of pressure they can bring. 5) Play smart. Don't panic. The QB needs to make the smart play. Throw the ball away, take a sack, don't throw an easy pick. Maybe easier said than done but this is critical. 6) Run a good amount of draws and sweeps, misdirection type plays. They are aggressive. Use that to your advantage.

I'm not sure if the Ref focused on watching the QB saw the block that flipped Milano into the QB's legs. Unfortunately, it was just something he had to call. I recall several years ago hearing one of the "old time" coaches (can't remember who) talking about protecting the QB. And his response was "if you want to protect the QB then block better".

It doesn't seem like a trade the Chargers would make but if I were Bills front office/coaches I would seriously think about it. Adding Gordon would certainly upgrade the RB position. My second thought on the trade terms was do you think the Patriots would make that trade for Gordon? Getting Gordon and a 5th for their 3rd RB and a 3rd for minimally about 1/2 season rental, or a comp pick if he goes free agency, or signing him to a longer term deal. I bet they would.

Need more speed at WR and RB. At this point more touches for Mckenzie and getting Singletary healthy. Also, finally get Kroft on the field after the bye (I hope). As defenses crowd the LOS more quick slants into areas vacated by blitzers.

The Bills upgraded the offensive skill position groups in free agency and the draft but they need to do more to deliver the knock out punch to NE's reign of terror. For starters we need a big, physical receiver (maybe two?) that can battle and box out defenders that play the tight and physical style the Patriots employ against the Bills year after year. I guess that's why a lot of posters are calling for Duke Williams to get a shot. That crazy catch Knox made on the sidelines on Sunday, no way any of our WR group battles and out-muscles the defender while still focusing on the ball to make that catch. Some real speed out of the backfield would be a nice add to in next year's draft. But if this team is serious about making the playoffs and a genuine run to the big game then it might be worth the cost to get a healthy AJ Green for a late round pick.

It would be better to have one of your players fake an injury and stay on the field for a couple minutes. You save the timeout and the challenge while getting a lot of time to sort things out. The downside is you lose the player for one play so pick somebody that has a good back up at the position.

This is one of those "Gray" areas that this team has a knack for exploiting. They probably have a full-time guy on staff that reads and reviews the rule book assigned the task of finding things they can use and get away with because the rule book doesn't explicitly say you can or cannot do something. In this case faking interference or making the defender think he's going to get interfered with but not physically doing it. While this might seem like bush-league level "cheating" it highlights the extreme measures the Patriots are willing to take to get any edge.

I watched the replay several times as I'm sure everybody else has too. It was an intentional helmet to helmet hit. Jones never raises his arms or attempt to lead with his shoulder or use his body in any way to engage Allen, or attempt to make any kind of legal tackle. He leads with his helmet into Allen's helmet and lunges toward the ball carrier. I don't see how it can be any more obvious.

It's good advice, avoiding a bad situation is much better than having to deal with the results and consequences of a play like yesterday. But the issues isn't about what decision a QB makes but rather the actions of defenders and the fair and equitable application of the rules by the officials and the league office. Many have tried to explain the hit in terms of intent or subtle changes in contact angles but I've heard it explained dozens of times every Sunday that the league rules insist that the defender is responsible for their actions. Apparently not yesterday in this particular game. In this instance the sliding scale of judgment applied by the NFL from week-to-week and game-to-game and team-to-team this hit on Allen was judged to NOT be sufficient to result in ejection from the game. I can't wait until another flagrant hit or two occurs next weekend and the league once again will be forced to explain their inconsistent and arbitrary enforcement of the rules.

I think the Bills defense played about as well as a defense could in the game. Holding NE to 11 1st downs, 150 yards passing, and 74 yards rushing. If the offense had its act together the Bills would have won this game. Unfortunately, as well as the defense played the offense and special teams didn't hold up their end. The blocked punt was inexcusable. Before the snap I said out loud "they're going to block the kick". There was simply a lack of recognition from the Bills. The defender over the left side gunner moved into the formation to rush the kicker. This was obvious to anyone watching. Obvious to anyone except the people that mattered, the gunner, the punt team, and the coaching staff. There were three things they could have done to eliminate the play. 1) It being obvious he was unblocked the gunner could have recognized the defender moved inside and was unaccounted for and moved inside to block the free rusher. 2) the punt team recognizing the gunner was uncovered could have audibled and had the punter throw a pass to the open gunner with only the punt returner some 40 to 50 yards downfield between him and the goal line (not saying I'd do it but it was there). 3) the coaches on the sidelines could have recognized there was a free rusher and called timeout to reset the punt formation. Any one of these would have prevented the block and 7 points. Add in the missed FG before the half (compounded by Allen taking a sack to make it a longer kick). Assuming everything played out the way it did subtract out 7 points for NE and add 3 for Buffalo and at halftime we're at 6-6. Then there was the turnovers and poor game plan strategy by the offensive coaching group. If the offense can clean up and the defense holds up this team can has a chance to beat every team on their schedule. Optimistically, maybe we hit the Thanksgiving game at Dallas at 8-3?

Frankly, I had more confidence when Barkley came into the game as he was less likely to force anything. The pick he threw was the result of the RT blocking down and allowing the DE a free shot at the QB instead of a bad decision. Barkley had almost as many passing yards, 127 to 153 as Allen in 12 fewer attempts. To me that just screams experience and comprehension of what the defense is doing. Allen needs to clean up his mental mistakes. The interceptions were unacceptable and poor decisions along with taking too many sacks rather than just throwing the ball away or looking for the check down. Sure he makes some great plays at times when improvising but he needs to develop his game to be consistent. That said the coaching staff produced a very poor game plan for Allen to execute. The Patriots defense did exactly what I and each and every one of us knew they were going to run. 8 or 9 in the box with heavy pressure. I've been watching NE defenses do this to the Bills offense for 15 years and am still waiting for a coaching staff to develop and execute something different. And the fact that they didn't much of anything different like quick screens to the sidelines or sweeps to the parameter to name a couple is discouraging. During the week I was hoping for a heavy dose of double TE with Knox and Sweeney to counter stacking the box and didn't get much of that at all. For Allen and the offense to succeed against the top defenses the game plan needs to be a little more creative.

This version of the Bills is just learning how to win and for this NE squad winning comes naturally. It's just part of their culture. At this point the Bills are playing with house money as not one of the "experts" forecast them to start 3-0. If I was setting the tone for the game I'd let them know right away that its going to be a 60 minute street fight. Take some chances on both sides of the ball. Maybe take a hard 15 yarder early on Brady to send a message. Not to hurt him but just to let them know that regardless of the final score this time, and every time from now on, its going to be different playing the Bills and coming into our home isn't going to be something you look forward to anymore.

I too think this team is headed in the right direction as the Bills finally have a management team and coaching staff that has a strategy and a plan that they are executing. Whether or not that and adding talent is enough to beat NE this week is questionable. Another poster elsewhere said the Pats will probably single up Gilmore on Brown and over/under cover with 2 defenders on Beasley, move defenders into the box and dare Allen to beat them from the pocket. This seems logical. I expect the Bills will come out in a "heavy" 2 TE, 2 WR, 1 RB formation as their base offense, see how NE adjusts and exploit any match up advantages the Bills offense can identify. Basically do to them what they do to us. The big improvement this season is we actually have the personnel to run this and pull it off. It's up to Allen to make the reads and execute. He can do it but needs to be as consistent as he possibly can be this week and eliminate any lapses in judgment.