Drunken Pygmy Goat

This is true. Even some of the known guys have come to the Bills and performed better than expected. Alexander is one. Brown last year. This year it's the secondary. As for the "no names", those guys mentioned in the OP have done a good job of making plays when called upon. It tells you that our coaches are doing a good job of putting guys in a position to be successful, and that an injury or two won't cripple this team. The schemes work, just need to execute.

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2017/10/19/16496144/penalties-2017-buffalo-bills-run-game-lesean-mccoy-mike-tolbert-patrick-dimarco-tyrod-mcdermott Good breakdown of how the Bills offense has been held back by untimely penalties on offense this year, especially in the run game, and in comparison to Rex's penalty-happy team last year. *Excerpt* IMO, Dennison's scheme isn't the problem, at least not as much as it's made out to be. Execution is. Plays have been there to be made.

Exactly what I've been saying for several weeks. Execution has held the offense back, especially in the run game. Scheme wouldn't look so bad to some folks if those plays weren't being left on the field or negated by penalty. Same thing with the zone read option. What I don't necessarily agree with is the ability of the linemen. They pulled across the line frequently last year at all positions.

4th seems about right. #1 in PPG Created a lot of turnovers Good against the run Decent in sacks/pressure Thanks for chiming in, Rex...

That's exactly what I said yesterday, that the Bills should have incorporated over the bye week. Good to hear, now let's see it. Except that's probably a recipe for disaster with our WR group. Although it has worked in the past. Week 3 @ Miami in 2015 was about as good of an example I can think of. That opening drive was masterful.

Who said that BN is supposed to be a free site? I know it used to be, but it's a newspaper. They're simply adapting to the times. How many people subscribe to actual newspapers every week? I'm sure it was probably twice as many people 10-15 years ago.

Partially true, but not the reason . You can't have a crap defense, and be top ten because of one opponent. The Bills count as 16-20% of those teams' rankings. And part of the reason why the Bills offense struggled at times is due to playing those defenses. Being weak at WR and blocking up front obviously doesn't help. And Taylor can do better. False I don't think Taylor will "light it up" either, at least not passing. But the Bills should be able to run on those teams. Play-action should be there. I don't expect "light it up" numbers from Taylor, and no one should. What I do expect is for him and the passing attack to capitalize and execute when called upon....efficiency!!!

The Bills season, and likely his position on the roster, probably depends on it (barring some incredible run late in the year. This team, with the current state of the roster, cannot depend on just the defense to win games. I've been saying for weeks now that execution has been the number one issue, especially on offense. If they can do a better job up front, and get the run game back on track, then the Bills should be contending for a spot in the postseason. If I were Taylor and the players on offense, I would have used this bye week to propose the coaches to install more of the concepts on offense that worked last year, especially more pulling linemen and more option runs. I get that Dennison's plan is to set up play-action, and needs to stick to the run in order to do so, but it hasn't been very creative, IMO. Lineman may have been pulling more frequently in recent games, but still not near as frequent. And again, option runs may help, since they've been very effective with Taylor and McCoy. I haven't noticed many draws, either. But even if those aren't incorporated so much, the offensive line needs to do a better job blocking, especially in the run game. One missed block seems incredibly critical in this scheme, as defenses know how and where to attack it. Better execution there would be huge for this offense IMO. Less dropped passes would be nice, too. And as for Taylor, he's playing very well at times, but it seems his poor performances outweigh those games. It's time for him to be the QB that many thought he could become at this stage of his career. He has a defense now that can be leaned on, but as the old saying goes, defense wins championships...but they don't always get you to the championship game.

What's a "Sully"?

Don't bother mentioning the plays that were made that were negated by bogus penalties, or the loss of Clay... And why even bother mentioning last year? Or years past? That 4-2 team last year had a piss poor defense (and coaching staff), which was the main reason for the final record. Using past performance to predict future performance is foolish, especially with a new staff and schemes in place. But misery loves company...you're in the right place.

This is actually a good point. Addition by subtraction.

Oh...it's THAT guy???? It doesn't take a HighFootballIQ to be concerned about the Bills OP reminds me of this guy:

I'm not as concerned...here's why: If you want to look at the numbers to form conclusions, take into consideration their opponent so far. The Bucs have averaged 419 yards per game over their last 3, which would rank them #1 in YPG. But their opponents were the Giants, Patriots*, and Cardinals, none of which possess a top 20 defense in YPG (Cards are 21st, but the Giants, and especially the Pats*, are terrible defensively). Against the Bears and Vikings, both teams with good defenses, the Bucs offense averaged 326.5 YPG, which would rank #18th overall. The Bills defense gives up about 322 YPG, but they're very "bend, don't break". PPG is what matters, and the Bills are tops. The Bucs are not good at running the football, whereas the Bills D is top 10 against the run. Tampa does rank #2 in passing, but again, their average was inflated drastically over the last 3 games against poor/terrible defenses. On paper, this should be a very close game. I see the Bucs finishing with around 345-350 total yards, and the Bills around 335-340 total yards (hopefully Matthews plays, and the WRs step up). Where the Bills have a nice advantage is defending the red zone. The Bucs defense allows TDs in the red zone nearly twice as much as the Bills. Unless the Bills have a rough day with turnover differential and crucial penalties, this should be the key on Sunday. 23-19 Bills

Bills would be in 1st place right now (I believe) had they won last week. And yeah, Taylor didn't play well, but why put the loss on him only? The offensive line was offensive, and the WRs are poor. And poor officiating effected the final score as much as the plays left on the field did.

Yep. Early season woes are still plaguing many teams. Right about now is when teams really start to gel. The *Pats have started slow in several seasons, only to put together nice win streak after September. The Bills, well, usually do the opposite after a good start. We'll see some teams separate themselves over the next 6 weeks, but the league wants parity, and many teams will find themselves lumped in with the "floating around .500" group. It happens every year.

I was just going to say the same thing. Expectations should be that of a 3-2 team: still in good position, but need to win games that you're supposed to, and steal one or two along the way. In other words, we can still "expect" playoffs, or at least a run at it, until proven otherwise.

The competition level may be equal, but the quality of games will be piss poor. Imagine a league ten times worse in quality on the field than the CFL (I like watching CFL, but it's pretty sloppy at times). Also, it's not like everyone will stop their kids from playing football. Many, if not most may, but I'm sure some won't, and their child could be the next coming of Bruce Smith. He would absolutely dominate in a league with lesser competition.

IMO, it's still a bit too early in the season to hang your hat on those rankings, for several of those teams, anyways. I'm sure a few will linger around the same ranking. And playing against Buffalo obviously factors into those rankings. 20%???

You can bet that this won't continue, at least not at the current ratio. What matters more is what the offense does when they are gifted an extra possession, and what the defense does if/when the Bills start turning over the ball more.

The Bills have been a terrible first half offense, especially in the opening frame. The 3 points they scored in the first quarter in Cincinnati were the first and only 3 first quarter points all year. A nice, long TD opening drive next Sunday would be great. Execution has been the major problem. They have left way too many plays on the field this year, or had nice gains called back. Dennison may not have a very creative run game, but he hasn't been the main problem. If anything, perhaps he sticks to the plan too much. But for the play-action to be most effective, he has to keep the defense honest, so I get it. As others have stated, they should add some of what worked last year to the playbook. More pulling guards and center...it's easier to run when you have numbers on one side of the field, and hat on hat execution isn't as crucial. More option runs with Taylor and McCoy.

For sure, the Bills have benefitted on calls/no calls in the previous games, but Sunday's officiating was probably a bit weak. There were a couple penalties that were questioned by the announcers in the broadcast booth. The officials in Atlanta "let the players play" near the end of the game, whereas the officials in Cincinnati did not. When you consider the timing, and the magnitude of those penalties, and how they directly impacted the final score for both teams, you can say that the game was probably poorly officiated, especially for Buffalo. I'm not "whining" about the refs, or necessarily blaming them for the loss, although the data in the article is there. I know how this league works, and if anything, consistency from one group of officials to the next is the issue there. What I gathered from the article was that Dennison is probably getting too much blame for the loss. He may not be all that creative with his run calls, but the players on the field are much more to blame. Aside from just the damning penalties on Sunday, execution on offense has been the main thing holding this offense back. If they can execute more consistently, this offense is more than good enough to make a playoff run. It's obviously not an offense that's meant to put up huge numbers in the passing game, but the numbers would look much, much better if the players hadn't failed to execute so often this season. The WR group is terrible, and there have been too many drops on easy catches, Taylor has missed open players or not thrown to them, and McCoy is having the worst year of his career (and he doesn't look like he's slowing down). It really starts with the offensive line. One missed block on a run seems to be much more crucial in this scheme, and it happens far too often. Pass blocking has been good at times, but hasn't been consistent. If the play up front doesn't improve, this team will not make the playoffs. That's a good point. Some of the new, younger guys have been getting flagged. Injuries have pushed them into the lineup, though. At least they're getting some valuable on-field experience, and hopefully learn from their mistakes. I think it's funny...all week, everyone downplayed win last Sunday because the Falcons lost Jones and Sanu (most were saying that they "were without", as if they didn't play at all), but no one talks about how the Bills lost Clay very early. He's been a top TE this year, and is probably as crucial to the Bills offense as Jones is to Atlanta, maybe more when you consider the depth and current WR group.

They really did a good job of describing the impact that those penalties had on the game. And there were 3 or 4 against the Bills that were phantom or ticky-tack. There's no denying that the offense hasn't been good. Runs are getting blown up (and where's the option?), and the Bills have a poor WR group. As poor as they've been as a unit, they've been good enough. They just haven't executed, consistently, very much this year. A missed throw from Tyrod here, a drop by a WR on a nice throw there. And against the Bengals, not only were those issues, as well as the Bills losing Clay, and Green torching the rookie. But even still, the Bills were in the game. Penalties were a truly deciding factor this time. It's hard to believe that a football team can win the turnover battle by 3 and lose the game, but it's happened to the Bills before. The officials certainly played a major role.

Execution on offense has been the main issue with the Bills so far this season, and while they've done a much better job of avoiding penalties, the fouls they committed on Sunday had a tremendous effect on the outcome of the game. https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2017/10/10/16449092/buffalo-bills-cincinnati-bengals-penalty-recap-jerry-hughes-logan-thomas-greg-mabin-dion-dawkins

Double negative? That's not praise...

I'm lucky enough to have a woman that loves South Park. She "gets it". Their utilization (and dissection) of current event topics is top notch. The Alexa episode was pretty good, but last week's episode was one of the funniest I've seen in a while.