Bocephuz

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The game ended for me on the bad call on Hogan... anything after that was irrelevant to me. If the refs don't make that egregious call on the Hogan catch there is no 4th and long play at the end of the game.

CK looked pretty solid in pass protect in the games he played in this year... much better than Henderson. Hard to believe this demotion is not due to his knee... and if this new guy is so good.. he should be starting as soon as he has a rudimentary understanding of the playbook as Henderson is a tire fire.

Yes... as we are not going to have a lot of money to spend in FA next year.. I'm thinking we need to seriously look for a starting RT in rounds 1-3 in the '16 draft.

Unforced errors.. bad throws/ How did the O Line do?/ What mistakes are on the O-Line.. what ones are not? I watched the NFL rewind all 22 and here is my unofficial count of how the O-Line did / How the QB did on every pass play ( I may have missed a snap or two here.. there also may be a few extra pass attempts that were cancelled due to penalites..but this should be 95% accurate) DISCLAIMER ( I am not a coach, I don't know the hot reads or route combinations called.. this is just my educated perception of what happened on each pass play) I also apologize for not posting this analysis for the Patriots game Thanksgiving week.. I was traveling.. _______ ______________________ TOTAL PASS PLAYS: 41 snaps ( a lot of throws for this team..the results weren’t bad and I think they purposely threw a lot as part of the game plan as opposed to past games where they threw out of desperation. Still.. If this Bills team has to throw more than 30 times per game .. recent history shows the result will be a L) LINE BREAKDOWNS: 6/41 snaps ( 15%) – right about average for the year.. SUFFICIENT PROTECTION: 35/41 snaps UNFORCED QB ERRORS: - 8/41 snaps ( 20%) Bottom Line: PASS PROTECT WAS GENERALLY SUFFICIENT – The o line gave TT time for the most part today.. evidenced by the amount of deep balls thrown and limited sacks. TT escaped a few unblocked guys and bailed the line out a few times. The Chiefs mixed it up with 4 man rushes and some blitzes and the O Line generally held up. HENDERSON WEAK POINT AGAIN – Henderson was the only O lineman who stuck out to me .. and not in a good way. He was beaten in several ways today. Bullrush..driven back into the Qb’s face in Q1. Holding – Q2, Speed Moves – Hali beat him twice.. Beating him to the outside in Q2 allowing a hit on TT.. and then destroying #66 in Q3 causing a TT fumble. He has been consistently poor in pass protection all year.. it’s a shame Kouandjio’s knee seems to be keeping him out. INCOGNITO RALLIES- Perhaps it was his shoulder, or maybe he just had a rough patch.. but Incognito’s play in the Jets game and the game before that was below his usual standard. He looked very solid against the Pats last week and again this week against the Chiefs in pass protect. URBIK – Urbik had another very solid week in pass protection… he has clearly been an upgrade over Miller in that category. MCCOY SHINES AGAIN- LeSean McCoy continues to demonstrate that he’s more than just a shifty ball carrying diva.. his willingness to give up his body and his smarts in identifying and picking up blitzers has been consistently solid. A great example is his giving up his body and picking up the outside blitz in Q1 .. allowing TT to make a completion to Hogan. TYROD TAKING CHANCES – It was obvious that Tyrod took many more chances with the ball today than in past performances. He tried to fit balls into double coverage multiple times with varying levels of success. His aggressive approach led to a few more unforced errors than usual but that seems to be the price to pay for hitting on the big plays (which he did in spades in the first half). One thing that stuck out to me were the number of back shoulder throws he attempted in this game. Looks like he and Sammy had been working on that in practice. He also tried one to Clay. Some of those back shoulder throws were on.. some of them were off. If he can continue to work on that throw and get some consistency with it then hopefully his confidence to throw into tight coverage and take chances will grow. Also.. there were multiple instances of him staying in the pocket.. taking a hit and delivering the ball. On the downside .. he very easily could have had 2 interceptions.. one on the carelessly thrown screen pass to McCoy in Q4 and another earlier in the game Q2 where he threw a deep ball to Sammy too short and too inside and the DB had his hands on it but dropped it. TT also had another frustrating delay of game penalty.. it seems like this has happened in almost every game. PLAYS OF NOTE Q1 – 13:39 – Bomb to Sammy – great protection Q1-12:08 - # 50 doesn’t bite on misdirection play – TT shows athleticism and avoids sack nevertheless Q1-12:02 – UNFORCED ERROR – back shoulder throw to Clay in endzone underthrown Q1-8:50 – Deep throw to Watkins on target – safety breaks it up Q1-8:05- Great blitz pickup by Shady – allows completion to Hogan Q1-5:19- UNFORCED ERROR – short hops hitch throw to Woods Q1-4:33- Clay beaten.. Henderson driven back into TT’s face.. TT still makes completion to Sammy and takes a hit Q1-4:08- False Start – Clay Q1-1:46- UNFORCED ERROR – TT has Clay open down the sideline – throw is off target too far out of bounds Q1-1:10- TD to Sammy – Glenn beaten to the inside allowing a hit on TT but he still delivers a good throw Q2-13:35- Holding on Henderson Q2-10:27- UNFORCED ERROR – TT throws deep left to Sammy – underthrown too far to the inside- almost picked off Q2-3:43 – UNFORCED ERROR – TT throws out route too high to Woods Q2-3:37- Henderson beaten to the outside allowing hit on TT just after he throws completion to Sammy Q2-2:35- Back shoulder TD throw to Sammy Q2-1:42- Woods drops hitch route Q3-10:01- another Woods drop Q3-9:50- Fumble - #91 destroys Henderson and hits TT from the blindside causing fumble Q3-6:55- UNFORCED ERROR – TT throws high on Sammy in route Q3-3:56- UNFORCED ERROR – Delay of game on TT Q4-10:18- UNFORCED ERROR – throw behind Hogan on crossing route Q4-10:13 – UNFORCED ERROR – carelessly thrown screen pass to McCoy almost picked off Q4-2:39 – SCREWED BY REFS – TT makes completion for 1st down to Hogan and the ref makes an unthinkable.. unexplainable call to ruin game SUMMARY – On one hand it was good to see the Bills come into this game with an aggressive passing game plan. On the other hand it was very much out of character. Granted- with a banged up defense and facing one of the better run defenses I can see why they chose this strategy. However.. they are built to play complimentary football.. solid D, good run game and take advantage of play action to make teams pay for selling out on the run. That really didn’t happen at all this game as evidenced by the 41 pass snaps. Good news is that the O line ( except Henderson.. ) held up very well in pass protect and this may have been a glimpse of where the offense can evolve to eventually. Bad news is they lost the game. Perhaps a little more run and ball control in 2nd half would've kept the Chiefs Offense off the field ( and our beat up defense) and the outcome would have been different. Or.. perhaps if the refs didn't screw us at the end of the game TT would have led an epic comeback. O Line Pass block grades GLENN B- INCOGNITO B+ WOOD B+ URBIK - B HENDERSON – C-

If there is a silver lining to this crushing loss on it may be that Tyrod's deep ball/timing seems to be back on track. I think there was legitimate concern that his ability to throw an accurate and well timed deep ball was slipping away after the Jets game and even more so after last week's Pats game. However.. it would be difficult to argue that he did not return to his previous deep ball form yesterday. As long as that part of his game is intact.. the Bills will always have a shot in any game they play. Yes.. I realize he has shortcomings in going through progressions, attacking the middle of the field etc...but the intent of this post is to focus on his ability to throw the deep ball and to address those who were writing him off after inaccuracies in the Jets and Pats games. Thoughts?

Advice for Rex - " Don't waste your breath to save your face when you have done your best, and if even more is asked of you.. fate will decide the rest" Also.. let's hope this team is "Built To Last" and not just "Built to Try" 5) There are times that you can beckon, There are times when you must call. You can shake a ton of reckoning, But you can't shake it all. There are times when I can help you out, And times that you must fall. There are times when you must live in doubt, And I can't help at all. Three blue stars / Rise on the hill. Say no more, now / Just be still. All these trials / Soon be past. Look for something / Built to last.

So I think there are two points to consider here.. 1 - He rarely throws deep down the middle of the field. ( could be caution, not going all the way through his progressions etc...) either way.. hopefully he becomes more comfortable and takes more shots in that area. 2 - Since he rarely throws deep down the middle of the field and the sample size is so low... is it reasonable to make a statement that he has poor accuracy on deep middle throws based off of one play in the Jets game that was arguably poorly thrown?

Yes.. I give him credit for that. I would think most professional journalists would think a few steps ahead before making that kind of statement in print.. contingency planning so to speak. Like .. ok.. if I go out on a limb here then how will I react if he is really bad for the next 2 games.... next 4 games... rest of the season etc.??? If your statement doesn't hold up for those conditions.. then don't make it. There are ways to hedge your opinions. Sullivan is too lazy to think strategically and hedge his phraseology and he would rather do a 180 and apologize after the fact than put in a few extra minutes of planning before writing his article. " An ounce of prevention prevents a gallon of blood."

ARTICLE PROMOTING IDEA OF SIGNING ORTON TO A LONG TERM EXTENSION - Nov 2, 2014 http://buckyandsully.buffalonews.com/2014/11/02/orton-has-time-on-his-side/ The Bills would be wise to approach his agent soon and explore the possibility of an extension. I could see him being the starter for two or three more years and serving as a mentor for his eventual successor. ARTICLE WRITTINEN 2 WEEKS LATER http://bills.buffalonews.com/2014/11/15/now-may-be-time-for-manuels-return/ That’s wishful thinking. I’d put Manuel back in now. I’ll admit, I was too quick to anoint Orton as a short-term answer. I should have waited to see if he could do what so many other Bills QBs had failed to do before him – win big games in the second half of a season. __ __ Umm.. yeah... problem is Jerry you are usually too quick in making these kind of statements. I do retract my previous accusation of him not acknowledging his previous statement however ( my apologies) Still doesn't change the fact that he lost all credibility with me after this series of articles. I realize he is the "opinion" guy and Dunne is the nuts and bolts guy.. but if you're going to voice an opinion don't bail on it after 2 weeks.

So your point is specific to his throws over the deep middle and the accurate deep sideline fly routes are irrelevant?

right on...

He's lost credibility with me so I don't read his articles. That is the whole point of my post. Maybe he made some good points about TT.. maybe he didn't... doesn't matter to me. I've read enough of his articles over the years to form an opinion that he typically writes uninformed, knee jerk opinion pieces containing absolute statements.. and then typically 2 or 3 weeks later he will write something that completely conflicts what he said a few weeks before.. and typically he doesn't even acknowledge his previous opinion. I was simply asking a question to others if he has lost credibility with them.

Ok.. let's agree to disagree on this particular play. So if I understand you correctly you are using that one example to illustrate that TT's long ball accuracy is poor?

Has nothing to do with today's article or TT.. his article could be about any player or subject and I would skip it. For example.. he wrote an article last year like week 6 or something.. saying the Bills should "absolutely" sign Kyle Orton to an extension. 3 or 4 weeks later after the Chiefs game he completely contradicted himself writing an article saying Orton was not the answer. He has zero credibility with me

Great point.. I read that headline.. thought to myself " This looks like a dumb Sully opinion article that will have very little fact based analysis to back it up" but I stupidly clicked on it anyway.. and sure enough it said " by Jerry Sullivan". I hate when I take the bait like that.. need to up my game.

http://media.giphy.com/media/Zrltxt2KJfyZq/giphy.gif Yeah .. TT sucks at throwing deep balls

I've re-watched that play multiple times and would respectfully disagree with your analysis. TT put the ball where it needed to be.. Sammy mistimed his jump.

Often times I see a BN headline and click on it.. and when I see the author is Jerry Sullivan I automatically close it out .. skip it.. and don't even bother to read it. Anyone else?

Great idea by Tyler Dunne... reach out and get great insight from an experienced guy who's actually been in the trenches and has been successful against the Patriots. Only think I think he's wrong about is TT's deep balls. From what I've seen the timing and accuracy has been great on almost every deep ball he's thrown.. I don't think he's waiting for guys to get open on the deep balls.

Right.. best case scenario is Drew Brees.. but he seems to be an anomaly .. so the likelihood of that outcome is low. I do think his playing style and size makes his injury risk high.. another reason why even as he appears to be the "answer" for the next few years.. we should still look to draft his replacement..as early as 2016.

That's hardcore Your points are well taken. The Flutie comparison is not exact.. Clearly TT has a better arm and can make more throws. I am also optimistic about TT improving his ability to go through his progressions and I don't think his development as a QB will be limited by his mental makeup. And to your point.. he really does a good job of keeping his eyes downfield. However.. like Flutie.. I think TT's lack of height will make it difficult for him to reach that "Top 5" level. Think about guys like Brady and Rivers and how they buy an extra second or so by doing a little side step in the pocket to avoid the rush and they always have throwing lanes because they are 6'4" - 6'5". TT will never have that advantage ( unless he does bone lengthening or wears lifts). All that being said..I do think you and I are on the same page at the end of the day. TT is most likely a good starter with limitations.

Based on all of the games I have watched so far.. TT appears to be a "capable" starting caliber NFL QB. He has consistently displayed 2 of the most important traits a QB needs to display.. accuracy and good decision making. His accuracy has not fluctuated at all through preseason or regular season. He has consistently put the ball in positions where his receivers can make a football move after the catch. In his last 2 games ( against talented defenses) by my count he has only committed 3 unforced errors. In the games where he has had INTs they have typically been when the team is behind and he is trying to push things. In other words.. I can't really recall an interception he has thrown early in a game that was just a "boneheaded" decision ( I may have missed one or two .. but I really can't think of any). The caveat to all of this is that his "ceiling" ( not to use a bad pun here) is limited due to his height.WGR is usually just a bunch of noise.. but someone on that station made the comparison to Doug Flutie.. and I think it's actually quite appropriate. Flutie at his best was a playoff caliber QB who could occasionally take the team on his back.. but most of time he just did a decent job of getting the ball to his playmakers and using his feet to make plays at appropriate times. He was never going to be able to sit back in the pocket and go through all of his progressions like talker QBs of his era ( Jim Kelly,Marino..etcc..) but he was very good at compensating for his weakness and finding passing lines on the run. With all that being said.. I would be very happy if the Bills sign TT to an extension and I think he will give the team a chance to be competitive for years to come. I would also add that we should still actively pursue a more traditional high round QB whose measurables would not give him limitations. EJ had a chance to be that guy.. but after watching and evaluating him for the past few years I am confident in saying that EJ is better suited to be a backup QB in the NFL.