sven233

Yup. I like his offense for the most part, but trying to get him to stray from the game plan when it isn't working is frustrating. He's stubborn and believes that what he schemed up all week will work eventually. Sometimes, he's right. But more often than not, he needs to be a little more flexible. Hoping he and Allen can work together to find a way to get a TD for us early in the half. Heck, just picking up some 3rd downs may help take some pressure off the offense. They are playing a bit tight. They need to loosen up a bit.

Worst half of the year by far for Josh and the offense. Wind is definitely not helping, but Josh is just missing some throws. Time to regroup, figure some things out and right the ship in the 2nd half. I don't mind throwing it all the time, though. But, it's time to get creative and get McKenzie the ball and start scheming some guys open rather than just trying to diagnose the defense post snap. Keep at it. Hit a couple of big ones early and then hope the defense can duplicate their best half of the year in the 2nd half.

Man, if our offense was clicking, this game may be over already. We are just letting them hang around and it is going to bite us.

Allen has his C game so far tonight. Not going to get it done. That said, I would have gone for it there.

"It's a great day to be great." Time for talk is over. Just one thing left to do...... WIN. #BillsMafia #GoBills #SuperBowlChampionshipCaliber

I have laid out both of my offensive and defensive game plans in other threads, but there is one thing I didn't put enough emphasis on. I want us to hit Jackson on virtually every play. If they are going to mess around with RPOs, faking hand offs, misdirection, whatever........ I want whoever is in charge of Jackson to hit him no matter whether he ends up with the ball or not. He decides to pull it, HIT HIM. He hands it off at the last second, HIT HIM. Put him on the ground as much as possible. I want him thinking about how no matter what decision he makes, how he is going to feel it. I don't want him to feel like he can just take as ling as he wants to to make a decision and not be punished for it. You want to be a runner? You want to delay the hand off until the last second? Guess what.....you're going to feel it either way. And let me tell you, getting hit and having to pick yourself off the ground in this weather is just a bit different.

They have been doing it all year. They elevate guys as "insurance" for something, but once everyone gets through warmups healthy, they don't activate guys. Not new. They do it all the time. Personally, I'd like to see more of him because the sample size was so small, but they see him every day. Guess we'll find out tomorrow.

I laid out my defensive game plan in another thread, but have not said much about our offense. That's because I am generally confident that Allen, with what he's seen this year, won't see anything that he hasn't seen before. There are only so many things you can do defensively and while Allen has improved in just about every area this year, I believe the area he has improved the most is mentally. I think he sees the game completely now. I think more often than not he know what the defense is trying to do on plays and has the answers as to how to beat them. That doesn't mean he wins very rep or every series, but I think Allen's has come so far on the mental side of the game this year that he will end up winning more reps than he loses during the game. That brings me to the offensive game plan itself. While I think we will keep on doing what has worked for us more often than not, there are some things I would like to see as a change-up. I'm not saying we are going to see this tomorrow, but I would love to see the Bills utilize some more 5 WR sets. Whether they just use McKenzie or if they think Stills can handle a few packages by now, I would love to see some 5 WR looks. We have used 4 WRs as much as any team in the league this year, but have only used 5 WR sets on like 4 or 5 plays all year. You want to throw in a wrinkle, this week may be a good week to do it. You want to take away some of that pass rush? Spread the field and make them cover 5 WRs. They have a good group of CBs, but they are not 5 deep. What would happen if they have to take some of their studs off the field that they planned on using because they have to put another CB or 2 out there? I'd take their 5th best CB on the field rather than a top DL or LB. Our 5th WR, whoever they would use would definitely be better than their 5th DB. I am a firm believer in dictating how the game is going to go and doing something that nobody else can do. We have an embarrassment of riches at WR and a QB that loves to throw it to them. The beautiful thing is that we can do this without sacrificing the threat to run the ball. Allen may be the QB, but he is also our biggest running threat. If you are using a 5 WR design, you will be forcing the defense to cover all of them. The second that they make a mistake and forget about Allen, he can take off for chunks of yardage. You want to spy him? Fine.......Who is covering the 5th WR? Like I said, this isn't a personnel grouping that we have utilized much all year. It's only been out there a few times. And while I think we will stick to what has been working, this is just something I would do just to take advantage of where we are the deepest and would in turn force the defense into playing a way they probably haven't had to all year. And that is what the Playoffs are about....match ups and taking away what teams do well. I think using a 5 WR package on several snaps may be able to accomplish just that since we have only shown in 4 or 5 times all year. No tape on it and how we would use it. Just a thought.

The more I look at this game and watch Jackson, there are definitely things we can take advantage of if we do the right things. I'm not sure if it is his throwing motion, or his mechanics, or something else, but there are times if you can get in his face and force him to throw, especially while moving, that he will throw the ball a little high fairly often. If our coverage is tight on the back end, I think we may be able to force a couple of turnovers Saturday. The more I think about this game, here is a basic idea of what I do on defense. My goal is to contain Jackson early and give our offense a few chances to jump out to an early lead. That said, I am utilizing some faster, quicker players to shadow Jackson and mixing up who that may be on every play. I am confident Tre will take away whoever he is covering in this game. I think Milano and Edmunds can do a good enough job on Andrews and the other TEs they may have and I think you can play one high safety most of the time and be just fine. I know that TEs killed us last week, but there is no doubt in my mid that Rivers us a better, more accurate thrower than Jackson is. Rivers was pinpoint on a ton of throws last week. Very rarely do I see Jackson beating teams by throwing darts to the perfect spots. He may know where to go with the ball, but he is not as pinpoint as other QBs with his throws. That alone will help us slow down the TEs better this week than last. With our safeties being interchangeable, and with a really good tackling CB in Johnson, I am bringing a lot of guys into the box completely disguising who will be acting as the "spy" on any given play. It could be Hyde, Poyer, Johnson, Edmunds, or Milano on any given play, but I am using a mix of them and their sole job is to contain Jackson to areas on the field where there is a lot of "trash" he would have to navigate through to take off. I want him having to think about where he may have an opening to escape rather than actually see it. If you can slow him down mentally, you will in turn slow him down a bit physically. As for our d-line, I am have out DTs get up field as fast as possible and while I want the ends rushing, I want them using more of a cautious rush. If they don't beat their guy right away, I almost want them to slow down, and even fall back a little to slip into possible run lanes and be in position to attack Jackson if he decides to take off. I would rather take my chances giving Jackson 4 seconds to throw the ball than a chance to hit a big run because we were overly aggressive up field. If we can find a way to contain him early, I am hoping the additions on offense we made this year are good enough to change the entire dynamic of the game we played last year. Last year, we couldn't score. The Ravens knew this and were never forced out of their normal offense. They were able to stick with what they normally do the entire game and they eventually hit 1 big play that won them the game. This year, I am hoping if the defense can slow Jackson and that offense enough early, the offense can take advantage and maybe get up a score or even 2. If that happens, and Jackson is forced to throw it more often, while he will have his success here and there, I think we can force him into some mistakes. I can't get myself to a point that I think we are going to roll in this game, or definitely even win it, but I feel better about playing them this year than I did last year and that's mainly because of our offense. I think we have an offense that can force the issue a little bit and while I don't think our defense is nearly as good as it was last year, I think if the offense can put pressure on the Ravens offense to have to keep up, I think that will make up for some of the shortfalls our defense may have. There are many ways to approach this game. I outlined a couple things above I would look to do, but I do believe there are ways to contain the Ravens and force them to be something that they rather not be. Go Bills!

Line started at -3 and is now down to -1. Media is really pushing the Ravens hard and have cooled on the Bills significantly since we didn't blow out the Colts. Wouldn't be surprised if this ends up a pick or we are even underdogs by game time. The team should see this as a total lack of respect and use it as fuel to go out and look to make a statement. Look, this is going to be a very tough game. But, I am tired of the fear that seems to be popping up all over (and has been there for weeks by some) over playing the Ravens. I'm not saying we are going to win. Heck, we might get blown out for all I know. But, to go into this game thinking that the Ravens are this unbeatable team is a little out there. They have issues just like we do and every other team does. The team that wins this game will be the one who finds the best way to exploit their opponent's issues. I really believe these teams are very close and neither one outclasses the other. But, I truly believe that is we play our best football of the season to date, we will win this game. I respect every team we are going to face, but we are good enough not to have to fear anyone. That doesn't make us unbeatable by any means. We can lose any given game. But we are just as good as any team out there and can win every time we step on the field as well. We're trying to win the Super Bowl. That road was never going to be easy, especially trying to do it in the AFC Playoffs. We win........we will have earned every bit of it. Go Bills.

I know he is a decorated coach. Won some big games for sure. But I am so glad he is not our coach. His decisions would drive me insane. Very rarely does the right thing at the right time.

Tomlin is definitely punting this, right? I mean he punted from the Browns 38 down 28. Tough call, though. I think I would go, but with their offense, I'm not sure.

Pretty sure there may have been a false start on the right side of the line on that TD. Would have had to go back and see it again. Whatever, though.... Still over.

That would definitely live up to your screen name. Literally would favor the Ravens. We need a crisp, clear, non-windy day. If Daboll pulls his head out of his butt this week, and lets Allen throw the ball all over the field like we have been doing for 2 months in beating teams up badly, we want a beautiful evening.

OK. Time to start breaking down some Ravens tape. The Steelers decided they wanted no part of a rematch with the Bills. Don't blame them, though. #BillsMafia #GoBills #SuperBowlChampionshipCaliber

How in the world did this Steelers team start 11-0?

Are they going to have the Bills offense step in for them?

I really wanted this to be a good game. Wanted to close the weekend relaxing and watching a good football game and the Steelers look like a team that lost all of their players to COVID this afternoon with no notice. Awful.

OK.....time to start digging in on the Ravens.

HA! Yeah. Look, I get wanting to run the ball. And we definitely should run the ball a handful of times per game. But as long as you do it once in a great while, play action works and we are at our best when we are using play action, motion, jet action, and a whole bunch of eye-candy and letting Allen throw lasers all over the place. Yesterday seemed like they wanted to win by doing the exact opposite of what we have been doing in blowing teams out the last couple months. It was just a terrible game plan all around yesterday, but luckily we got away with it.

Thought is was the amount of downs we wasted by trying to run the ball when we know we can't.

I'm not big into hoping for certain teams......unless it was to play Tua and the Dolphins. It may sound dumb and a little superstitious, but that whole "be careful what you wish for" thing can really come back and but you sometime. So, for me, it has been whatever happens, happens. Whoever we end up having to play is who it is. No preference. We're trying to win the Super Bowl. There is no easy way to do that. We're going to have to beat very good teams to do it. I may feel this way because i honestly believe we are good enough to beat anyone. Not that we are unbeatable by any means, but if we play our best football, I think we can beat any team. My biggest fear is a COVID outbreak to the wrong players or us getting in our own way. We saw yesterday that this coaching staff still can come up with ways to slow our own team down. We were blowing out teams for weeks using a ton of play action, motion, jet sweep action, eye-candy, etc. All of a sudden, that stuff wass nowhere to be found and we decided we need to run the ball WAY more than we should have. Not really sure what the heck this staff was thinking. Every running play we had, you could just hear the Clots thanking us because they knew that the only way they could win was to take the air out of the ball and make it a running game. We all knew they were going to try to do it, but why we did it to ourselves I will never understand. Josh completed 74% of his passes, even with multiple drops by our best receivers and was throwing the ball to every area on the field. And, for whatever reason, they just decided to waste multiple downs trying to get a couple yards on a run play. Just when I thought this staff finally had it figured out that the best way to win games is to let Josh Allen throw the ball all over the field, picking his 2-3 spots to take off, and just let Allen be the MVP we know he is, they changed everything that had been successful for us the last 2 months. They better have learned that that stuff isn't going to work for this team. We are going as far as Allen can take us. So, use the play action, the motion, all the eye-candy, and let Allen throw laser beams all over the field. If we lose because after winning 13 games during the season be being aggressive all of a sudden the coaches decide running the ball and balance is a better way to go, I just don't know what we'll do. I can live with losing to a team that actually plays better than we do. But if we do lose, we better go down swinging with what got us here in the first place and not some conservative game plan. So, who do we want to play? It doesn't matter. Just don't beat ourselves trying to overthink things.

If he felt like this, then he did the exact opposite of what he should have done. If you fell like your defense is playing well, you go for it every time. Heck, even if they're not, you go for it. I don't get voluntarily turning the ball over when you are on the opponents 40 and in. Unless it's like 4th and 20, or you don't have confidence in your kicker to hit a long one when it's 4th and 10 or more, there is no way any team should punt from that position on the field unless you are up multiple scores with 2 minutes or less in the game. I am just glad McDermott seems to have figured this out. Not sure there has been more than a couple times all year I have really been too upset with him for not going for it when I think he should have. Hopefully he stays on the aggressive side of things from here on out.

Just waiting on the phantom pass interference or roughing the passer. It's coming....

We lose, this one is on coaching, plain and simple.