Miyagi-Do Karate

Some of yesterday was Josh pressing to put on a show for the fans. I think some of that was also due to knowing Atlanta wasn’t good on the back end and the line gave him a ton of time. So, he was going to go for it— even though he had a lot of easier shorter throws open. I suspect if we were going against a D that really feared or respected, he would have played smarter, if that makes sense.

I think his knee must have really been bothering him earlier this year, when he was bombing with Houston. Glad to see him bounce back. the ship sailed here when they drafted and kept Stevenson. No room on the roster for McK, Stevenson, and Roberts.

ugh. I hate those 4:30 games.

Agreed on both points. On the first, that really should have been illegal contact by the Falcons— it’s the exact definition of illegal contact. Defender hit/bumped Beasley Right as he was entering the window where josh thought he would be. And you are right re the second throw. Sanchez can’t fathom it because he could Never make that throw in a million years. I don’t fault any QB on a tipped ball interception— those are just fluke plays. I went back and re-watched it, and the defender hit Beasley. It was like a bump and slight grab that slowed him down. May not look like a lot, but I think it was the direct cause of the interception.

Agree completely. When I went back and watched some of the routes, Beasley, for example, was limited— his quick cuts on the option routes in the snow just didn’t work. Same with Diggs. Falcons were mostly playing man, and our guys weren’t getting a ton of separation.

Mostly in the second half and after he threw his picks, I noticed he had guys open underneath— and he would instead just take off and scramble for a few yards. I don’t know if that was him being gun shy, or just knowing we beat these guys today if we just move the chains and get out of our own way.

Oh, you’re right on the Knox call. I didn’t realize Allen was outside of the pocket on that one. My bad, Land— haha.

Sort of a weird game by him. Passed really well at times (including on 3rd down). But I did notice that he basically ignored all the underneath stuff. Knox would go out for little 5-yard routes, would be wide open, and JA just wouldn’t throw the ball. i think he was looking for the bigger plays all day.

Another awful officiating game from Land Clark and crew. Not as bad as the Jax game, but a lot of errors today. 1) called an Offside on the Bills, when there was a clear hitch and false start on Atl. This continues the theme of this crew just not seeing false starts. 2) Picking up there flag on a late hit slide on Josh Allen. That was inexplicable and no explanation was given. 3) On second and goal on the second TD drive, Dawson Knox gets just knocked over by his defender as he is running a route. No call. (The same thing happened on 4th down and goal to Diggs, -and Beasley had to plead for the flag, which was thrown like 3 seconds after the play). 4) Numerous missed illegal downfield linemen calls. The Falcons ran a lot of delayed screens, and I re-watched them— you had lineman sometimes 7-8 yards downfield with the ball still in Ryan’s hand. Happened multiple times, and only called once. 5) pretty weak roughing call on Oliver, but I guess that happens every week. These are all from my Bills point of view, but I am sure there were lots of bad or missed calls the other way too. I have seen enough of this crew. Really a bottom feeder group of the NFL. Most college games Are called much better.

I have re-watched the 4th and 1 josh Allen conversion today a few times. It was the read option to McKenzie where Josh pulled it back. I know Josh felt like he needed to convert that himself. But if he hands that ball off to MCK, McK scores a TD. A really well designed play. Not to nitpick— but that was a clever play call, and would like to see that run again down the road but with Josh trusting McK on that.

Relatedly, the oline really played very well. Got a lot of push.

agreed. I mean, we scored 30 points and converted 7/12 on third downs (plus 1/1 on 4th), mostly on his throwing. i think, if I had any complaint, it would be that he decided to run more later and be more risk averse passing the ball after the picks. He seemed to not want to force anything. Would have liked to have seen him continue to throw, and not get scared off my the picks. That said, I am not sure what the coverage was like out there either.

less worried about that fumble and more about Stevenson running into his own blockers and taking brutal hits on just about every return. Really bad game by him.

Am I the only one who thought Josh played a great game? Two tipped ball picks are what they are. The overthrow pick was not good. But he was also throwing some darts, and converting a lot of 3rd and longs. Weirdly enough, even with a bad passer rating, he was throwing the ball well, IMO.

well, they got Trubisky last time and he was at home with COVID!

Ugh— not this clown again. They missed like 5 false starts and kept calling penalties on the wrong team.

correct me if I am wrong, but the Bills have struggled against the run in a few games this year against gap heavy run offenses with elite line play. i believe the Falcons run more of an athletic outside zone running game, which is something the Bills’ defense is really designed to slow down. i don’t see Atlanta having anywhere near the success running as teams like the colts and pats have had against us (I don’t count the titans game, because outside of 1 long run, the run D was okay).

very astute observation. Given that Zach Moss is a former Ute, I believe this also means that Moss will be a critical cog in said SB run. I am seeing 120 yards and 2 TD’s this Sunday.

Team doctor: “Any symptoms?” Wentz: “(hacking cough) umm, no?” Team doctor: “you’re off the list. Go beat those raiders!”

I agree that he made himself a target with his comments. But then he did go low profile and he recently said that the only reason he didn’t play last week was because of the “rules.” That “rules” comment got him featured articles calling him a selfish guy and basically an idiot— and yet, he was right. They changed the rules. I think it would have been better for all these players to be vaccinated. But a lot of guys weren’t (or faked that they were) and yet Cole really got the brunt of the media focus.

i can’t believe the media crucified Cole Beasley, and Wentz and many other unvaccinated players will get a free pass and not a bad word mentioned about them.

Agreed. The prior recruiting success breeds more success too, so it is impossible for these other schools to break into the elite group. i think the one game changer could be this NIL money now. I think you might see some more clever programs really put together big marketing plans for these recruits, where it will be more financially lucrative for some stud from Georgia to instead go and play in a better “market.”

“Guys, if you don’t recruit, there’s no coach out there who can out-coach recruiting,” Smart said in his postgame press conference. “I don’t care who you are. The best coach to ever play the game better be a good recruiter because no coaching is going to out-coach players. Anyone will tell you our defense is good because we’ve got good players. Spending time on the phone, spending time with people at your house, spending time with people on your campus, I’m not with my family when I’m doing that. My family sacrifices so that I can go and spend time with other people’s families so that we can have good players. That’s 25% evaluation, 50% recruiting, and the other 25% is coaching. If you don’t recruit, guys, you’ve got no chance.” https://247sports.com/Article/Georgia-Kirby-Smart-explains-recruiting-will-always-beat-out-coaching-174192418/Amp/

That is fair. There are coaches around the country who do a good job of coaching up and developing players. It’s more Noticeable with the programs without the twenty 5-star recruits.

i mean, even Kirby Smart himself has said that college coaching is basically recruiting. And I haven’t yet heard anyone persuasively defend him ripping into his QB yesterday publicly and like a toddler when he had a TO he could have used and he called 2 running plays. That’s the kind of stuff that really bothers me about these big-time coaches. It’s not just Smart. Swinney does this same stuff all the time. That’s not development or coaching or teaching or accountability. It’s the opposite.