Straight Hucklebuck

Where to begin on this. Frank Gore made some sense? I guess if you love 3.0-3.5 yards per carry and no ability as a pass catcher. We all read the ESPN piece. He works hard, he’s a locker room mentor, but every time he touched the ball, it was a wasted down. Speaking of 3.0-3.5 ypc, you’re stumping for Freeman, and then citing lack of explosion from Yeldon? Freeman has nothing left. He is beyond slow at this point. Wayne Gallman was more productive. And again, he has tons of injury history. This is like the Duke Williams thread last week. He may be a great guy, but no way does he need to ever see the field. Yeldon? He’s got some size, and he can catch out of the backfield. Yeldon > Williams > Wade > Freeman

On on top of this Yeldon can actually help you running and catching the ball. McDermott soured on him early because he fumbled, and wants slow plodding bruisers, but he’s been productive in limited chances. Last year we wasted 1/2 a backfield on Frank Gore who was beyond finished, and doubled down by wasting 8 touches on him in the Texans game. Freeman is shot, he’s older than Yeldon as it is.

He’s past done. It’s been one injury after another since 2017 and whatever athleticism he had is gone. Yeldon should have been active last year in Houston instead of Gore, and he should be called up now.

I completely disagree. He’s battled concussions, COVID, ankle problems, he has nothing left.

I’d play Yeldon. With what little chances he gets, he’s looked good and playing Gore over him last year helped cost the Bills the Texans game.

As long as Freeman does not see the field over Yeldon. Freeman has no burst left. He’s done. Has been for 3 years.

Their secondary is atrociously bad, they have no impact linebackers either, maybe Takitaki. Part of that is no Delpit, no Greedy Williams, but Denzel Ward, as good as he is, is small. And Harrison has been in and out of the lineup all season. It's not scheme for the Browns, they don't have any horses in their back 7.

And the other thing on the run game is, since Mike Tolbert, this Coaching staff has been obsessed with slow plodder 3 yards and a cloud of dust RBs. Chris Ivory was this, Frank Gore was this, and Zach Moss is this. No explosion at all, not wiggle at all. They wasted 8-plays in Houston last year on 22 yards from Frank Gore, when it’s not debatable that Yeldon would have been far more productive on 8-touches. Singletary made plays in that game, and he’s stuck in a CJ Spiller-esque time share. If you’re going to run it, show some confidence and just line up and run it. Singletary has been underutilized his first two years, and is a better playmaker than Moss. Yeldon has been effective in limited snaps as a runner and receiver and the staff can’t stand him. They want slow, pounding running backs. And that’s why this team has to ditch the run and become their best selves in 4-wide with a back or 5-wide sets abandon the run and throw.

Funny how many fans said all of these same things after the game and were chastised for being too negative. If the Colts are a great team, what does that make the Ravens who beat the Colts handily. We know the Bills can’t stop the run. They’ve been able to get leads and the other team abandons. The Bills had no pass rush whatsoever Saturday. None. We’ve been thin at linebacker all season. The Bills at their best are not balanced. They run about 30% of the time and pass the rest. Saturday, we couldn’t just crank up the running game with Allen, Moss and Singletary. Every time we try to get to the edge we lose yards, yet we keep trying it. Are we just the Steelers with a better QB?

Well McKenzie did have 0 touches against the Colts.

100% agree with this. If the Defensive Ends crash down, or get pushed wide, Lamar just shoots to the outside, or runs into the vacated gap. We had zero pass rush as it was on Saturday. I wasn't advocating the Bills try a 3-down, 3-backer approach, just reading how anybody has had any success (albeit limited) against the Ravens. Looking around for analysis of film, it looks like Jackson has carved man and zone coverage, and really only struggles at times floating deep balls outside the numbers. I agree with others, the Bills don't have a great answer for Tight Ends (Andrews) historically. I think our defense mostly gets caved in against the Ravens rushing attack. Our best shot is to be in 4-wide with Singletary in the backfield, or 5-wide empty and have Allen gun all day. I maintain Allen is the best in 10-20 yard routes where he can line up and fire bullets with no arc. The Baltimore corners are grabby, they hold, and there is contact all the way down the field. They know the refs are not going to call pass interference every play, so we need multiple options.

Read 3 articles that said that Titans had the most success slowing down the Ravens by rushing 3 down lineman, having 3 more linebackers play off the line allowing them space to watch the beginning of the play and then shoot gaps, clogging the middle on throws, and worrying less about guessing correctly on the RPO's, and making Lamar throw to the edges. I keep thinking we have Tre White, and do you put him on Brown all-day? Because it's Brown in my opinion that makes plays when Lamar escapes on broken plays. Doesn't this lead us really to playing all 11 people closer to the line and taking the chance that the Ravens are not going to hit deep throws that much?

I've thought about it. On Saturday it looked like multiple issues. There were times when Mo-Allie Cox boxed out the safety, times where Milano just stopped running and let his Tight End go, and other times where the Indy Tight Ends just ran past our defenders easily. We looked lost across the middle of the field. You had Pittman running across the formation, Doyle had a huge game running down the seam, Hilton had limited impact on the outside, but his big catch was down the middle. So was it a case of playing our 2-deep shell too deep to prevent the big play?

Well the 2nd half of the Colts game, who else noticed him lined up in press across from Hilton. Now at that point, Rivers was obsessed with the middle of the field, and despite no pass, never even looked Hilton's way.

Norman allows a catch 70% of the time he is targeted?

Mahomes is going to eat that secondary alive.

I think guys like Cowherd have gone a little overboard ranking the Chiefs 4th in power rankings. Yes they struggled in Atlanta, but when they had to have it, they went right down the field. The Bills and Chiefs have a near equivalent defense in yards, rush, pass, sacks and points. And the Chiefs don’t have or employ a dominant run game. But it’s Mahomes, Hill and Kelce with Reid calling plays. Can you stop them? And so far we’re 3 seasons in, and the answer is no you can’t.

However, Lamar creates issues outside the pocket with broken plays, and if the secondary gets out of position, Brown has the speed to get loose. I don’t know if the Bills respond by putting White on Brown, and leaving Wallace to deal with Snead. Play a 6-1 front to deal with the run, with a two deep shell with press corners? We can say the Ravens don’t have this, they don’t have that, but Lamar creates all sorts of coverage problems when creates. I think the Bills need to load up with 4 wide and just pass. If Henry went for (40) total yards on 18 carries, the ramming with Singletary is not going to work.

Bottom line is, I think this comes down to our offense verses their offense. Let’s face it, our defense is probably going to be caved in against the run. So it’s our secondary that has to have White shadow Hollywood Brown and somehow blanket Andrews. But really for us, this is line up in 4-wide and just gun all day. The Ravens are 6th against the run, and we are in the 20’s. How do the Chiefs beat the Ravens every time. Study that game tape and copy.

Bills need to put White on Hollywood Brown, and somehow devise a plan for Mark Andrews.

Better study that Kyler Murray tape and find ways to better defend a running QB because you know the Ravens are going to be looking at that game tape. We’re going to need all (4) WRs to contribute this week, that means you John Brown.

I agree with this, well said. Bills looked human. The drive at the end of the first half was executed brilliantly and was the game changer. Davis really saved that first half for the Bills. Allen was consistently good. Our defense didn’t help in the 4th allowing scores so quickly. Colts ripped off chunk plays.

Dude if you want to make the case the Colts were great, that’s fine. I don’t agree and don’t have to agree with you. The reason why I bring up franchise history is, if the Bills lost yesterday would it not feel like one of our best teams ever flamed out too early? We wouldn’t have lost to an all-time Colts team. We lost to a team that scabbed together Phillip Rivers at Quarterback and threw to a bunch of Tight Ends and Running Backs. We didn’t lose and I’m happy Allen, Diggs, Beasley, Gabe Davis and Bass showed up. Positive is, when this team goes 4-wide and decides to throw, good things happen.

We beat the Jets both times by an average of 9 points, whereas the Colts represent the Jags lone win.

You talk about how uniformed the analysis is, Rivers had 24 TDs this season, 11 Ints and 4,000 yards. A typical Rivers season. TY Hilton was their best WR with 762 yards at 31 years old. Their defense allowed 22.6 ppg, 10th in the league. The Bills were a whole 0.8 ppg more allowed. A solid team? Sure. Who thought they were capable of a deep Playoff run? Gabe Davis showed up yesterday and saved that game in the first half. Diggs/Beasley in the second half as we got nothing from John Brown.