HappyDays

This game was a perfect encapsulation of how small our margin for error is on offense with this group of weapons. Until now we have been making it work because we've had no drops, we've been converting 3rd downs at an elite clip, and Josh has had time in the pocket to get past his first read. Unfortunately we found out what happens when those statistically unsustainable metrics revert to the mean - the offense becomes a complete disaster. It only takes one drop or one protection breakdown to ruin a drive. That is the problem with playing small ball. Every single play needs to be executed well and you need to thread a lot of needles to sustain drives. And no it isn't just the Ravens game. People trying to chalk this up as one bad loss are missing the larger picture here. This game script is exactly what happened to us in the divisional round last year too. We sustained more drives against the Chiefs for sure, but ultimately our small ball offense was unable to keep up in what essentially had become a shootout. The Ravens game is a preview of playoff football. You don't get soft teams like the Dolphins and Jaguars past the wildcard. You get punch you in the mouth teams like the Ravens and Chiefs. Our offensive personnel is not up for the task, and frankly we don't have the Chiefs defense that can win games for you when the offense has an ugly day. The only possible solution is adding a real pass catching weapon before the trade deadline. Brady certainly needs to do a better job as well. Play calling was a big problem yesterday, he never adjusted, and we came in totally unprepared for Baltimore's blitz packages. But the problem starts with talent. We have an inherently limited offense that will get exposed by tough defenses.

Haha what?

So in your opinion, Mahomes wins the game tonight if he's our QB? Or what is the point of this post?

Disagree with this. The big play was all Josh Allen being a unicorn. Other than that he was having trouble separating because the Ravens wisely put a true CB on him. Shakir still is not a separator IMO. He's a YAC specialist that needs to get the ball in space. You can't run the passing offense through him. No pass rush because our guys couldn't win their matchups... Ed Oliver has been almost a non factor as a pass rusher this season. One big play against the Dolphins, invisible otherwise. Rousseau is maddening with his inconsistency from game to game. He should have had a big advantage going against a struggling rookie tonight and instead got swallowed up. Von is meant to be our closer, he is not going to have consistent impact through a game. Epenesa is a JAG. Rousseau and Oliver are supposed to be our guys up front and they didn't ever make Lamar uncomfortable tonight despite facing a middling OL.

Yeah the way the defense played after that, I can't just blame that one play call. We adjusted briefly on defense but the Ravens adjusted themselves soon after and I don't think there was ever any hope of us stopping them the number of times needed to get us back into the game.

Again it's not about the loss, even the blowout. We have some pretty stark vulnerabilities on offense that got exposed tonight. This was not just an off night. This was all of our flaws laid bare. All the concerns I had about our ability to be a championship caliber offense are right back at the forefront. And hey I don't think trading for Hopkins (or whatever other legit outside WR) solves every problem we have on offense, but it sure would help. I weirdly enough don't feel terrible about the defense even though they got punched in the mouth. All of their issues tonight seem fixable, especially when our injured players come back. The issues with our pass catches on the other hand I don't feel are fixable. The talent level in the room just isn't good enough.

We didn't need our WRs to lead the way in the first 3 games. This was their first big test and they failed. I still expect us to win the division. But we are going to face tough defenses with varied blitz packages and physical DBs in the playoffs. You probably have to beat 3 teams like that to win a Super Bowl. How can anyone come away from tonight's game feeling confident we have the horses for that?

The pass protection to me was a scheme issue. We couldn't pick up any blitzes. That is a coaching issue more than a talent issue IMO. WR separation on the other hand was a talent issue. Hollins is a great run blocker but he is totally useless in a game like tonight. MVS is useless in general. Coleman is a rookie and cannot be relied on. Even Shakir is not a realistic high volume funnel, he is just a very good role player. Kincaid is a contributor, not a focal point like I hoped he could be when we drafted him. We need someone that the passing offense can go through.

That's possible. I think eventually you have to throw the ball downfield in a shootout though. Hard to do that when every blitz is getting home. I mean really did we pick up a single one of them tonight? Josh was running for his life nonstop.

Nothing knee jerk about it. I've been saying the same thing for months. The knee jerk reactions were the ones that said 3 wins to start the season meant our pass catching weapons were good enough. Tonight isn't just about the defense getting steamrolled. The offense got steamrolled too. And unlike the defense we don't have replacements waiting in the injury tent. This is the offense we have for the entire season and it isn't good enough.

Especially because that Spagnuolo's specialty and we know we'll need answers to get past the Chiefs

In addition to the poor play calling, Brady has to be held accountable for our poor blitz pickups tonight. We were totally unprepared for everything the Ravens threw at us tonight.

You have to win some shootouts in this league. It became extremely obvious tonight we don't have the personnel to win shootouts. Not even close. Mack Hollins is great when the game script is perfect and we are able to use him as a blocker. When we're down two scores and need to move down the ball field quickly, Hollins is useless. Coleman is still improving but we can't rely on him either. Shakir got shut down by the Ravens putting a true CB on him. The pass catchers aren't good enough and any improvement would be welcome right now.

Losses are going to happen. It's the type of loss that bothers me. Super Bowl teams don't get steamrolled like this at any point. It's not just an off game. There are fundamental vulnerabilities that have been exposed.

Good news is blowout losses count the same is close losses.

It would be hard to play worse. But this ass whooping has exposed a lot of problems that playoff teams just can't have.

You could play that game on both sides. Lamar had a dumb fumble, Harbaugh gifted us a 4th down conversion. The score on the board is the score. No mirage here.

Whelp that feels like game

Why aren't we getting to the line with any urgency here?

Coleman is not going to separate consistently. Just give him a chance in 1v1 and he can make the catch.

It was fun for a few minutes there. And then Joe Brady decided he had had enough of us being in the game. I'm actually in shock at how bad that sequence was.

Straight up that is the worst play call I've ever seen from a Bills coach. Call it hindsight analysis, there is no need to do that when we have all the momentum.

That is really dumb work from Brady. He just took away all of our momentum

There we go rookie! Josh is dealing.

Their pass defense really is not good. We just can't separate.