Straight Hucklebuck

I can’t imagine any team left in the field watching this thinking wow we can’t beat this team.

I am shocked that nobody can jog with a 283 pound Kelce as he jogs down the field. I just don’t know how it’s possible.

It’s 2025 Kelce has love handles and a gut. Yet teams still give him a free release off the line and let him run a 5.6 40 into the secondary. I’ll never understand how you can’t say “who has 87?” before the snap.

Trips to the left and Stroud took that snap like he had all day - get that ball out to the left faster.

776 yards, 9-1 TD Int Ratio, 67% completion percentage. The Bengals don’t have the Bills running backs, or Kahlil Shakir, but It was Ja’Marr Chase that cooks Baltimore and the Bills don’t have anyone like that.

I agree with you on Roquan. He’s stubby and isn’t a coverage linebacker. Backs and Tight Ends should be able to put all three Baltimore inside linebackers in the spin cycle. On Coleman - yeah I don’t see much of a mismatch for the Bills. The routes are leggy, it’s slow, they’re too deep. WGR had the stat - something to the effect of he’s been targeted on go-routes 19 times and he’s only caught 5 of them. As I have said before it also puts pressure on Allen to place the ball perfectly so that he can minimize turnover risk. Cooper (if healthy and mentally right) needs to be on the field - his usage has been weird all year. It’s put up or shut-up time going forward for him. So far this year it’s almost always been enough on offense - maybe they can run on the Ravens, use quick hitters and make their big plays through RAC and scramble drills. Just wondering on the outside if it’s enough.

My view on this is simple - this is where we have wanted the Bills for 5-years. 100% healthy going into the Playoffs. The team as a whole has managed to achieve that goal. I just can’t imagine McDermott sees a Ravens team that is starting to run 6-lineman and Ricard and two Tight Ends and concludes a basic Nickel is going to work. I agree with Simms - they’re going to have to take some chances in this game. The Bills knew Von was going to be suspended in Week 4, so he only played 9-snaps. He was at 50% last week. You have to believe he plays more.

I wonder if the Bills would try some 4 and 5 wide in this game. I’m thinking about Coleman and how scattershot he’s been. The Bills have been steadfast in playing him over 60% of snaps. They have to watch the film and think his routes are so long/deep and there is no separation. He’s harder to cover going across the field, but that’s true for a lot of people. Cooper at 39%, Samuel at 39% - I have to believe the Bills cut back Coleman some and mix those two in more - unless Coleman runs deep collector routes? In the first game we just didn’t really see a pass game (yes no Cooper, yes Shakir with the ankle early on).

Schopp and Bulldog just had Jeremy Conn on from Baltimore. And I guess it should come as no surprise that he couldn’t come up with anything unique to say. Couldn’t provide any meaningful analysis other than the Ravens have really good players.

Bills win: This game didn’t matter, Bills have shown they can’t beat Mahomes. Ravens win: Lamar is the true MVP and will win the Super Bowl.

So league year starts when can Beane get on the phone and trade for Maxx Crosby?

Was that him in the far background throwing a ball back and forth?

The defense has been scrutinized a ton in this matchup - I mean @HoofHearted is probably the most knowledgeable person on this site to offer suggestions for how schematically the Bills can slow down the Ravens rushing attack. Can the Bills play some 5-2, how much will the Bills play base 4-3, can Douglas keep up with anyone in man coverage, will the Bills play 1-high Safety and keep Taron Johnson on the field, how much can the Bills crowd the line of scrimmage. As this game gets closer I find myself thinking about the Bills offense. Joe Brady/Aaron Kromer has optimized the efficiency of the players in this offense. The Bills finished first in points/drive with an offense that in my opinion didn't add a whole lot of quality this offseason/season. I mean Mack Hollins is a great blocker with size. He's more tenacious than Gabe Davis, Curtis Samuel was used in a gadget role for 85% of the season, Cooper has been a part time player for the Bills. Allen has squeezed explosive passing plays from Cook, Johnson and Davis. All season WGR pined for more Dalton Kincaid, but after the knee injury and his return, maybe an acceptance that he's not going to be the focal point of the offense (and in my opinion its clear he's not the physical mismatch to carry that much usage) and Knox is a nice Tight End for 1-2 catches a game That leaves Shakir - the most dependable WR on the Bills (4-6 for 40-60 yards) and Keon Coleman. When you watch these games, Coleman is the new Gabe Davis. He's a black hole. He can't separate. He played 61% of snaps last week against Denver. Samuel played 39%. With how little Cooper and Coleman are giving the Bills right now intermediate and deep, the only other lever here to beat people on the outside is Samuel. So, I was wrong about the Bills offense this year - 30.9 ppg. By Game 3 you could see Brady has answers. And maybe Sunday will be another game where Allen throws for 238 yards, the leading WR has 56 yards and the Bills win. But in these big games, I just find myself wanting more investment in skill talent.

Thanks for this clip - a true football mind breaks down formations in a professional manner. And the 6-lineman, Ricard and two 250-pound lineman alignments.

Question to Bills fans or football fans in general - does anyone get anything useful out of ESPN football analysts besides Orlovsky or Cosell? Does Mina Kimes say anything about the Bills that fans don’t already know?

Nice guy, but beyond that I can’t believe a team would make him a Head Coach in 2025.

Von is playing 33% of snaps on the season. Last week was 50% - highest of the year. Von sounds like a mercenary in his interviews. Before the Rams game it was all about how much he loved the Rams organization, loved LA, how he was back and forth committing to Buffalo in FA. And that's reasonable - I think most NFL players would enjoy LA more than Buffalo, NY. I listened to his interview with Rich Eisen from yesterday and its how much he loves the Broncos, we're talking about retirement, and of course he talked about winning one for Josh. Getting his 6th sack and hitting his contract escalator, the ACL, the suspension, him coming out and saying he shouldn't have even been playing last year. I mean its put up time for Von. Rousseau is pumping in 70%-80% snaps counts. He needs to be out there.

That’s how that team thinks. Listen to Roquan Smith. That’s not some rogue media member. He’s credentialed and he’s in the room. The Ravens want him there and Harbaugh laughed, so that’s who that team is. They’re no different than the Joe Mixon Bengals.

Whatever, they played two elite teams this year and lost both games. At Chiefs lost, and don’t give me the by a toe, that would have tied the game or they would have had to go for two. Then the Eagles. Ran head on into the Eagles 3-elite corners and Lamar couldn’t get it done. They scored a late TD at 24-12 to make the score closer so don’t give the Tucker missed two FGs garbage.

Yeah it’s more fake humility from them. They’re a very good team … but let me mention for the 3rd time about making them one dimensional and how it’s going to be a long night for them. Kromer/Brady better figure out better protection schemes than those highlights there. But he’s a loudmouth and that’s not surprising coming from that team.

Look at the two people in that video and say you’re shocked. That’s two Miami people.

The Bengals Playoff week was DOA. Going into that Monday Night game I had a bad feeling all week, actually a couple of weeks before that game I could feel it coming. I just knew that defense could not stop Chase and Higgins. And we were going to get curb stomped in that game. And Cincinnati was just a loudmouth, brag team. When I heard Leslie Frazier say that they already had game planned for the Monday Night Game and they were planning on using that plan again I knew we were cooked. Playing that passive 2-high Tampa Shell against Joe Burrow, it’s like yeah right that’s going to work - again. So this game is not that feeling of dread. Anxiety yes, stakes yes, but there is something different here - the Bills are 100% healthy on defense and I expect going into this game maybe down Ray Davis. To me, that’s a situation where the Bills have done everything they can to win this game. They’re home, they’re healthy, they’ve played the Ravens once before and hopefully learned what not to do. If they can’t win then it’s another sign to Beane that this roster is at its ceiling. That’s 4-Divisional losses in a row and hopefully it’s a sign to Beane that he has to work harder in the Draft and FA to get high-end talent here. The Bills have been up against the cap for 2-seasons now, but if the Bills want elite results, they need elite management. He’s got to more difference makers on both sides of the ball and fight the temptation to call the offense done despite #2 scoring offense this season.

Yes, last year they fell apart. They had worked all season to get back to 100% health besides the Milano injury. In that game Dodson, Douglas, Rapp, Gabe Davis all injured. Against the Steelers the Bills lost Benford, Bernard and Spector I think. So by the time the Chiefs game - No Bernard, no Rapp, no Spector, no Benford, no Gabe Davis. Dodson in a shoulder harness and Douglas with a torn MCL.

Miller played 9-snaps as the Bills almost positively knew his suspension was coming.

Chris Simms on the Bills philosophy in the first game: "We don't know what to stop, so let's just play conservative" - simple schemes, limited pre-snap movement, linebackers 5-6 yards off the line of scrimmage, safety plays too far back. Did nothing at the line of scrimmage to cause confusion. Trying to play safe and prevent the big play did nothing but allow the big plays to happen. 2nd-Half the Bills got more aggressive and had "success" slowing the Ravens down. Too little, too late. Spent a lot of time on the Derrick Henry 87-yard TD run. "Bend don't Break might have been cool with Lamar the first two years of his career" - Lamar is too good in the pocket and make decisions. Going forward: It would be a win for the Bills defense to hold the Ravens to 30. Going to have to crowd the LOS - run blitz, will leave some voids, crowd the line, then drop zones. Not going to be able to sit back in soft zone all day - pick spots on when to play man coverage. Might see some three DTs, with Von Miller and Greg Rousseau on the edge. On offense the Bills "can push around that Ravens front" just got behind the first game and abandoned the run. Now work to get Baltimore into man to man - their corners can still be beaten - they're not "great" man to man corners. Everything for them has been trounce the run and keep safety over top. If you can run, Kyle Hamilton comes down into the box to stop Cook and Allen. Bills were conservative offensively as well - everything was quick short passes - need to throw the ball down the field early - otherwise Ravens come downhill to stop Allen and Cook.