DCbillsfan

The Bills have been their own toughest opponent pretty much all year. Cut down on the mistakes and there you go. First place. Keep it going.

Yeah Allen could be right there with Mac and Cheese Wiz Jones! What a joke!

The Bills have been sleepwalking since last year's AFC Championship game. They can't do the two basic things in football. They can't run the damn ball and they can't stop the run. The difference this year is opposing teams have changed up their defensive coverages and the Bills receivers aren't getting open as frequently. The counter to this is to run the damn ball. They try to run but they suck at it. If they could run better, it would open up the passing game more. As far as stopping the run, the Bills are relying too much on Lotulelei, a guy who opted out last season, who got Covid this year, and as many have pointed out is not all that great to begin with. The Bills need a stud DT. Plain and simple. The rest of the league caught up to the Bills in one off season. They re-signed guys like Feliciano and Williams who are average OL guys at best. Then they double dipped drafting two DEs in rounds 1 and 2. Basham being in street clothes most games. Basham was a luxury pick that the Bills could not afford to take. He may have been BPA but when you already have 10 DL guys on your roster and you have the above run game issues it doesn't add up to draft Basham. What Bills fan wouldn't have liked a 2nd round pick of either an IOL, TE or dare I say RB? Any of these picks could have helped this year's offense. FWIW, I'm not bashing Basham just the Bills selection of him.

I believe the game comes down to what Bills team shows up. If they avoid stupid penalties and protect the ball they should win. The Pats are well coached and don't beat themselves. They are also pretty good at causing turnovers.

Watching Breida these past few games, I tend to agree. Allen needs more help back there.

The 2.9 ypc is not great but Breida gives the Bills a boost in the red zone that was lacking. It gives Allen another option down there and it gives the opposing defense something else to defend.

Good analysis Freddie. I'll rewatch game with Ford in mind. Bills fans had high expectations for Ford since the Bills traded up to get him in 2nd round and Beane said he was an OT. I'll admit I'm not a big fan of the OL in general but watching Breida hit the holes on some of those run plays makes me think the Bills need a better RB.

Certainly can't defend taking Ford. Bills saw him as an OT while other teams saw him as a guard. I'm too lazy to look up Epenesa ranking but I'll take your word for it. BPA is usually the way to go but the Bills were jammed with DL guys when they took Basham. Now he's in street clothes most games. Someone posted a few weeks back there are 10 OL guys drafted after Basham who are playing significant snaps. One of which is the Steelers starting center Kendrick Green.

I don't like this phrase anymore. It reminds me of Boogie Basham

I went to the game and left at halftime. I was so disgusted. Still am.

Very sobering yet accurate imo

Soft D line and they've used so many draft picks on the D line. Nuts

I'll be shocked if Doyle plays. He doesn't look anywhere near ready to play.

Of all the teams with rookie QBs, Mac Jones went to the best team and the best coaching staff. He went to the best possible situation. A far better situation than Allen had as a rookie QB. So, Jones has looked pretty good so far in his rookie year. His strengths seem to be accuracy and decision making. I'm curious to see him play the Bills. McD's defense tends to confuse young QBs and provide a blue print on how to beat them. Mike White being the latest victim but it goes back a few years. I believe Sam Darnold is the lone loss for McD versus rookie QBs. That's the game Andre Roberts had at least two big kick returns against the Bills.

I'm guessing you listened to McD's presser yesterday, what changes/corrections do you believe he is referring to?

I believe McD wants more offensive formations that keep the defense off balance and give the Oline a better chance at blocking their guy. Perhaps an increase in plays with Allen under center to use play action more and try to get the LBs to hesitate some. They only had 9 run plays with the RBs last game. This number will go up but I agree with you. The Bills strength is passing the ball and they need to throw it more times than not.

I find McD's admission about the lack of a run game since last season encouraging and frustrating. Encouraging because it will become a point of emphasis to fix and I believe the run will improve. How much - who knows? Frustrating because he and Beane recognized the issue and yet didn't do much to address the oline.

I see your point regarding drafting best available vs. drafting for need. Picking Boogie seems too much of a good thing I.e. 6 DEs. It's basically a red shirt season for him and more of a future pick as opposed to a current season need. Ford is just bad and it would be nice to insert a young and upcoming OL guy into the mix this season but no - he ain't on the roster. Regarding more athletic, bigger and stronger guys - I believe the Bills got that with Spencer Brown. At 6'8 he certainly checks the bigger box. Time will tell but he certainly looks more comfortable at RT than Ford ever did. The Morse FA signing seemed to me more of a desperation signing. The Bills needed a guy who could step in right away and play center. The center position was a huge liability before signing him and he was the best available. He's not a mauler type though and I believe Beane will want to go that route in the near future. Here's hoping to some serious investment in young OL guys this off season. I'm thinking via draft but with Beane you never know. He should be able to upgrade a few OL roster spots without too much trouble.

Oh no you can't pin it on me. I'm distraught enough as it is.

Look forward to your next writeup Virgil. On a different note, I have yet to watch the Bills Jags game. I had out of town visitors this weekend who are not football fans. I heard that they lost and came to TBD to read comments. I got so depressed hearing about the details. I'll watch it some point this week. The last game I missed was before Directv was invented.

This plus I would add Allen is looking for the big play a little too much. He seems to be pressing a little instead of taking the higher percentage throws and just keep moving the chains.

I think Bills will win this week but Jets cover the spread. More times than not, division games are close not blowouts. Really need Brown back.

If Brown can play this week, I think they'll go Dawkins, Boettger, Morse, Williams, and Brown. Despite all of their oline woes, Bates doesn't get on the field. Whether it's the emergency oline fill in due to injury thing or is it even possible he's worse than Ford. Dunno

I agree they do seem unfocused and unprepared however I do think some of it is the oline. They are just not that good. It goes back to last year's playoff games and other teams have caught on. Bills haven't figured out how to counter it yet.

One of the big changes is defenses are not blitzing Allen as much. The Bills Oline is so weak that the defense can pressure Allen with just 4 guys and drop 7 in coverage. The extra guy in coverage allows them to mix up coverages mainly zone defenses which is confusing Allen. Playcalling is suspect at times and so is game planning. Plus Allen seems to be impatient at times and forcing throws. The defenses have caught up to the Bills offense and the Bills haven't figured it out yet.