Shaw66

Well, I didn't see this, but I'm sure you're correct to some extent. It took me a while, but I've come to agree with the "lack of anticipation" crowd. I've seen it enough. BUT - he had a lot of throws where his anticipation was excellent. The one to Jones with defenders on either side of him - I don't think it was late - it was where and when it needed to be. The Jones TD to. The Thompson TD he threw it to the inside to allow Thompson to stay in bounds and curl around the defender. Although he can improve, I thought last night he looked like a competent professional quarterback. If he should have gotten the ball out on 2 out of 6 sacks, well, fine, there's something he can improve on. But he got the ball out just fine on a lot of plays last night, and he was throwing at guys who were open but well covered - he isn't waiting for guys to be wide open to throw. In short, I'm beginning to see real progress over his past two seasons. Well, Happy, that's their game. I just don't expect to see a pass happy offense from McDermott. He's too conservative for that. Plus, you need to recognize that through most of the third quarter the score was 10-7 and then 17-7. There was plenty of time left, and the Bills believe they can run the ball. So while I tend to feel the same way you do, I don't think it was crazy to keep trying to run. The offensive line wasn't pass protecting much better than it was run blocking.

One more thing: Junk that "heavy" formation with an extra offensive linemen. Six guys who can't get the job blocking are not better than five guys can't get the job done blocking.

The Rockpile Review by Shaw66 Good Gets Bad, Bad Gets Good Well, it didnt last long. The Bills got to 5-2, the press and fans presumed a win over the Jets and a 6-2 record at the halfway point of the 2017 season. The media love affair with the Bills turned out to be a one-night stand. Things are back to normal. The Patriots lead the division, the national press will love someone else, and the fans are depressed, want a new quarterback and wonder when all this will end. The Jets beat the Bills on Thursday night, 34-21, and the score didnt truly reflect the extent to which the Jets dominated Bill. It was a serious, impressive beat down. It also was the latest version of a lesson thats relearned by some team in the NFL every week: its really hard to win in this league. Why? Because every team (even a team that the press and the fans naively believed was tanking) has NFL-quality talent and can play at a high level. Based on the Bills performance at Met Life, the Bills off-season player-acquisition strategy would seem to be clear: draft and sign a lot of linemen, because the Bills showed Thursday where they are weak. They were pushed around all night on both sides of the ball. They were dominated. Much of what has been good about the Bills turned bad Thursday night, and some of what has been bad turned good. Good to Bad Turnovers. The Bills finally began to cough up the ball. All fumbles are avoidable, and the three the Bills had certainly were. The Matthews and OLeary fumbles were particularly damaging because they occurred in the middle of good-looking drives. They were drive killers. Taylors fumble, although no better, at least came toward the end of the game when the outcome was pretty clear. He was trying to make a play, and nearly succeeded. Still, he has to protect the ball if there was any hope, it ended when the Jets picked up the easy touchdown after he lost it. Takeaways. Worse yet, the Bills failed to take the ball away from the Jets. Leonard Johnson missed on one clear opportunity. But Ill say this; the lack of takeaways wasnt for lack of trying. I had great seats, on the 40, about three rows behind the Bills bench, and it was interesting how regularly the Bills were working to strip the ball. Some of that is visible on television or from farther away, but up close it was apparent how much emphasis the Bills put on takeaways. Practically every play, someone goes after the ball. Run game. Stuffed, completely. The revitalized Bills run game disappeared because the Bills were unable to control the line of scrimmage. The Jets took charge and stopped the run cold. Run defense. Same thing, in reverse. The Bills defensive front seven made some plays, but they were beaten badly often enough that the Jets got 10 first downs rushing on nearly 200 yards. Dareus would have helped but wouldnt have changed the outcome. Run and stop the run still works in the NFL, and the Jets did it. Tackling. The Bills had more missed tackles than were used to seeing this season. That helped the Jets pile up the yardage. Penalties. Looked like one of Rexs teams out there. False starts are maddening. Jerry Hughes reverted to his former self. Not good. The entire box score looks like a Bills box score from a couple of weeks ago, except the Jets have the Bills numbers and the Bills have the opponents numbers. Bad to Good It wasnt all bad. Zay Jones. Looked like a real NFL receiver. Confident, sharp cuts, sure hands, although he catches the ball with his body often. I didnt see the trip when he was injured, but I guessed the defenders play was suspect when the Jets didnt show any replays in the stadium. The receiving corps generally. I like Matthews. Hes a real professional. Works hard, runs his routes, sure hands. Matthews, Benjamin, Clay, Jones, Holmes and Thompson give the offense plenty to work with. Humber. Another real professional. He does his job, hes a sure tackler. I hope he returns. Sideline Views Its fun to see what goes on on the sideline. Like Shady taking a walk behind the bench just before the opening kickoff, taking a couple of hits of the smelling salts. Holmes came off the field after Thompsons touchdown, squatted near the punters net, head down, stayed there for 10-15 seconds. Then he walked ten yards back to the bench, put his hands on his knees and bent over the waist for another ten seconds. Looked like he was trying to clear his head. Sometime in the third quarter McDermott and Frazier had a long conversation about something. Hard to say, but it looked like McD explaining something he wanted to see done. Hauschka is ALWAYS preparing. One time he had the rubber band loop around his calves, and he was side-stepping, pushing against the resistance. Late in the fourth quarter he was still practicing his kicking stroke. Repetition, repetition, repetition. Glenn and Incognito are huge. Theyre all big men, but those two really stand out. Jets cheerleaders doing their version of the Rockettes line and leg kick was awesome. Michael Irvin walked by. Not my favorite. What I Liked Best At the risk of starting a firestorm, what I really liked in the Jets game was Tyrod Taylor. Well see what the second half of the season, but Im pretty much sold on him. Another night of excellent numbers. He was 29 for 40, 7.1 yards per attempt, 2 TDs. 109 passer rating. And before someone complains that he fattened his numbers in garbage time, he didnt. Through three quarters, he was 15-21 for a 7.8 average per attempt, with one touchdown. 110 passer rating. In the fourth quarter he just continued what hed been doing all game. And he made a bundle of excellent throws. Both TDs were delivered beautifully, one with zip to Jones and one with touch, deep, to Thompson. He had several excellent throws to receivers over the middle, including a couple to Jones, the fumble plays by Matthews and OLeary. Plus, hes in complete control. Never seems to be excited, runs the huddle efficiently. The sacks? It was hard to see from where I sat, but it looked to me like the sacks were on the oline. Taylor was in trouble quickly on those sacks, and he was in trouble from all sides. I didnt see missed receivers, and he often didnt even have a chance to throw the ball away. His running just complicates things for the defense. With his full complement of receivers likely to be on the field in 10 days, Im expecting the passing game to move to a higher level. Its good to have the mini-bye after that loss. Bills will have the opportunity to fix a few things on the lines and time to work Benjamin into the offense. GO BILLS!!! The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full days hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

Great comments. Only, don't put the Jets game in the win column, not yet. NO games are easy in the NFL. The Jets will be ready.

Great article. Thanks.

Do you know how long I've waited to see someone in the national media write an article like this about the Bills? Yes, you do, because you've been waiting that long too. It feels great. Amazing.

I'll be there.

Do I like it? Sure! I haven't tracked it all the way through, but I think this means the Bills traded Ronald Darby and EJ Manuel for Jordan Matthews, Kelvin Benjamin and a third round pick. What's not to like about that? (Someone had a thread that said Beane is already the third worst GM in Bills' history. Really?) I didn't think Benjamin was all that good coming out of college, but he proved me wrong. He's tough, he has pretty good hands, and he's reliable. I don't think he's a deep threat. I think he's like Eric Decker, and I've always liked Decker. I assume the starters are now Matthews and Benjamin, if not Thursday night at least next week. It means Jones and Thompson and Holmes are really fighting for playing time. Thompson has the edge because of his speed, but Jones probably is coming on as a reliable, all-round guy. It's a great acquisition for Taylor, if Taylor will throw to guys who look covered. With Matthews and Benjamnin he has two quality targets, big guys who fight well for the ball. And Clay makes three. Those are serious targets. The important thing is that Dennison and the coaches now have options, combinations that can be matchup nightmares. Teams that have small corners will be at a real disadvantage. What I like best about this, what makes me think it will make a real difference in the offense, is that McDermott and Beane know this guy. Beane participated in drafting and signing him. He watched him as a rookie, watched him through rehabbing his knee, watched him come back last year. McD saw it all too. They have a very clear idea of the kind of guys they want, and they wanted Benjamin. He must be a good fit.

Thanks to all of you for the nice comments. I appreciate it.

It wasn't the long drive. It was the 9-play drive in the middle of the 4th quarter, the drive that started with 10 minutes left. If Bills go 3 and out, Raiders have a shot. Instead, the Bills got two first downs and almost the third and ran five minutes off the clock. That drive ended the game. The throw to Matthews was the second third down conversion of the drive. That drive was a professional drive. The offense knew what they had to do and went out and did it. The throw to Matthews was one of the key plays in the drive.

Thanks, Meanie. Other people see things in written words that writers didn't necessarily intend. (One time I saw Bob Dylan quoted saying he wished people would stop asking him what some song meant, because he doesn't know.) I really like and appreciate your comments about the rain. I didn't intend the metaphor, but you're absolutely right about it. And I didn't know exactly why Holmes's toe-tapping impressed me. You nailed it. High-end, detailed professional competence has been missing on this team for a long time. And thinking about it, that's why I was so impressed with Taylor on Sunday. He seemed to be doing all of the little things, without fanfare. Thanks for the comments.

believe it. When your qb's passer rating is in the mid 90s and you're a conservative coach, you aren't desperate to replace him.

Peter King said McD drives the players nuts about giveaways.

Hartford's an hour from South Hadley.

Yes, the game seemed to turn on Milano's TD. But my friend who was with me for the Bucs game pointed out that that game actually turned pretty early. The Bills were in control early, but they didn't start putting up points for a while. I think that happened yesterday, too. I just think that offense is patient. It waits for things to click. But the defense had already taken over by the end of the first quarter. Long line in the john at halftime.

The Rockpile Review by Shaw66 A Day to Remember Tyrod Taylor took the final knee, and the fans who hadn't left cheered. There weren't many left. It had rained lightly but steadily for the first half, and the temperature had never gotten out of the 40s. Fans were cold and wet, and the excitement was over, so most had begun leaving New Era Field by the middle of the fourth quarter. I cant remember the last time I left a Bills game early. I want to see everything. I believe I owe it to the players to stand with them. So I stay. The Bills had soundly beaten the Oakland Raiders, 34-14. The Bills gave up a touchdown on the first possession of the game, and it was if the defense said to themselves, and to the Raiders, okay, enough of that. Oaklands not scoring again. And, as is usual with this team, the defense delivered. Except for a more or less meaningless fourth quarter drive where the Bills played keep-everything-in-front-of-you defense, the Raiders, the vaunted Raiders of a year ago, didnt score again. Fans were jubilant leaving the Stadium, and there was very little taunting of Raider fans. Thats because the Raider fans had begun leaving when the Bills put together a magnificent seven-minute 12-play drive that consumed the second half of the third quarter. The Raiders were down three touchdowns with 15 minutes to go, and the Raider fans had had enough. There werent a lot of Raider fans there to begin with, compared to Jets or Pats or Steeler games. The few who there made some noise when their team came out of the locker room and after the first score, but after that they were silenced. My cousin and I walked to the car, and all I could think was how great this is. This a real team. No idea how far theyre going, but its a real team, a team that isnt easy to beat because they wont beat themselves. The rain had begun again. We got in the car and I began the drive, first to Cheektowaga to drop him off, then to Hartford. I hoped the rain would stop before night set in. We were listening to WGR radio's post-game show. I usually don't listen to those guys Schopp and the Bulldog, because they're overly critical and often arrogant. I wanted to hear if they had changed their tune, and to their credit, they had. They were somewhat at a loss for words because, as they admitted, there was practically nothing to criticize. They didn't know exactly how to rave about the performance, but they did a good job. During the broadcast they read this list: Marcell Dareus, Aaron Williams, Stephon Gilmore, Cordy Glenn, EJ Manuel, Robert Woods, Sammy Watkins, Cyrus Kouandijo, Ron Darby, Shaq Lawson, Reggie Ragland. Thats the list of all the Bills first and second round draft picks from 2011 through 2016. They all were on the team last season. TWO are on the team today. Their point, and its a good one, is that included on that list are most of the players we thought of as core talent for the Bills, at one time or another. They're all gone, and they have not been replaced with household names. And yet, the Bills look like they're better now than they have been any time since the Bills started acquiring that talent. Its proof that Sean McDermott is the real deal. His TEAM wins, not his players. White and Wright are outperforming anything we saw from Gilmore and Darby. Matthews, pick one and Clay are getting as much done as Watkins, Woods and Clay. The Bills still stuff the run without Dareus. I dropped my cousin and got on I-90 East. Big backup at the Exit 50 toll booth, and its backed up traffic for 15 miles, out past Transit Road. Still raining. Schopp and the Bulldog kept coming back to their belief that the Bills cant expect to continue winning the takeover-giveaway stats, they cant expect their luck to continue. I thought about Sundays takeways. They werent luck; they were created. Leonard Johnson made the hit that forced the Milano pick six, Milano forced the fumbled punt, Brown tipped the pass that Hyde intercepted. And Raider desperation, caused by the Bills dominance, caused the last INT. Its been that way all season the Bills are forcing the play on defense and taking the ball away when they have a chance. Ive picked on Brown for the quality of his drops in pass defense. On Sunday he had a nice pass break on a ball down the middle, followed immediately by his tipped ball that caused an interception. His drops were deeper on Sunday, and he was making plays. On Oaklands last, desperation, play of the first half, he lined up 30 yards behind the line scrimmage, flanked by the two safeties, in the classic Tampa two deep drop. Hes learning. And the Bills are not turning it over because McDermott, apparently daily and maybe even hourly, is demanding that they not turn it over. Thats not luck. I made a quick pit stop. Still raining. The service area was overrun with Bills fans heading east. A lot of happiness in that building. I thought about Taylors performance. It was one of his best. He made just about every play he was asked to make. He misfired on a couple of deeper balls, but he misfired on the safe side of the field no turnovers, baby. He delivered the ball beautifully time and again. The two throws to Holmes were gorgeous. He drilled the throw on Tates big reception. His throw to Matthews on the phantom offensive interference call was pretty. He hung in the pocket and found the right receiver, or he bailed from the pocket just in time to avoid the sack. Once he scrambled to safety, he set up and found the open man. And the scrambles were things of beauty, repeatedly escaping to freedom from defenders trying desperately to contain him. Did he check down a lot? You bet he did, just as he was supposed to do, about a half dozen times. A few throw aways. 20-27. Take it any day, or at least any day the running game is working. The rain didnt stop. I was listening to the Seahawks and Texans. A slugfest, with big play after big play. The Bills rarely allow big plays. They give up yards, but they dont get beat. TreDavious White was changing sides on Sunday, following Amari Cooper most everywhere he went. In single coverage. Oakland couldnt beat him. Who lead the Bills in tackles on Sunday? Trae Elston. Whos Trae Elston? I know one thing: he wasnt drafted in the first two rounds. At least Matt Milano was drafted. Matt Who? Matt Milano, the guy with two takeaways and one fumble caused in the last two weeks. The rain kept coming, but at least beyond Syracuse the traffic thinned out. Passing trucks was tough, with all that spray clouding my vision of the road. I thought about the crowd. I think theres a big difference between the upper deck crowd and the lower. I think theres noise down there that we dont hear in the cheap seats. There was plenty of noise on Sunday, not so much in the first half, but definitely in the second half. Sometimes it would take a while to get started, but on a lot of plays it got pretty loud before the snap. Sometime early in the second half I noticed that more or less everyone in the lower bowl was standing. Not upstairs. I looked later in the half still standing. I think the people in the lower bowl stood for the entire second half. And they made noise. That was impressive. For the second week in a row, McDermott mentioned the crowd in his press conference. Im going to Met Life on Thursday night. I hope I see a lot of blue in the crowd. Lets rock the place like Atlanta. This team deserves it. I got past Albany and was heading east toward the Berkshires. I was listening to the Lions and the Steelers. Go Lions! Then Caldwell went for it on fourth and goal from the one stuffed! Field goal would have given them the lead, but Caldwells manhood was at risk, because the Lions hadnt scored any touchdowns. Steelers get a touchdown, and now the Lions are down 8. They get to fourth and goal again, and this time Caldwell takes the field goals. Then, late in the game, fourth and goal once more, but because he didnt take the field goal earlier, he had to go for the TD. STUFFED. Game over. I think its very simple: take what the game is giving you. If the game is giving you a field goal, take it, say thank you, and move on to the next play. Dont fail to take what the game gives you. I think McDermott plays that way. The offensive mantra certainly is take what the defense gives you. The defense is bend, dont break the defense accepts the fact that its going to give up yards. In that sense, the game gives you a lot of yards Bills are 22nd in defensive yards per game. But by sticking to the plan, the Bills are second in points per game allowed, and thats what counts. I might have kicked the field goal at fourth and goal from the one. That was the conservative thing to do. However, the Bills had a couple of things going for them: one was the energy of the crowd, the other was that theyd already achieved the primary goal: eat seven minutes off the clock. Even if the Bills didnt get the TD, the Raiders were going to have trouble scoring twice and stopping the Bills to win the game. We dont see McDermott gamble much. Going for it was a small gamble, and it more or less ended the game. McDermotts other gamble was the first-half challenge of the spot on fourth down. It was a simple 50-50 bet: if the replay shows something, we get the ball. If its inclusive, we dont. Toss the coin and see how it comes out. Possession is worth a coin toss. I made the last pit stop around 11 pm at the Blandford service area, in the hills in Massachusetts. The wind was blowing and the rain was pelting everything. The mens room was empty except for one kid wearing Raiders gear. I know how it feels to drive through five hours of crap after your team has gotten stomped. Ive done it for years. I didnt feel sorry for him. The Dodgers and Astros were 7-7, then 8-8. Incredible game. Incredible heart in those players; no one quit. Thats what I love about this version of the Bills. They dont quit. They hang together. They take whatever happens, like Jacksonvilles go-ahead touchdown last week, and then they go back to work. The Raiders spanked them early, no problem. Clamp down and wait for the opportunity. Put together a nice drive hit Jones, pop McCoy a couple of times, then scramble and drop the ball into Holmes for the score. Holmes, by the way, seems to live with his toes inside the sideline. Then the Johnson hit and the Bills get a free one. The Bills heart was on display in the fourth quarter. They went ahead by three scores, but the Raiders came right back with a touchdown of their own. Eleven minutes left, Raiders down 13, theres still time for them to make some noise. They need a three and out, but the Bills wouldnt give it to them. The offensive line and McCoy took control. The Bills ran only nine plays, but that killed five minutes and the Raiders were toast. Shadys long touchdown on the next possession was meaningless, but Shady deserved it for another day being the Man in the offense. I was home at midnight, in time to see the last hour of one of the best World Series games of all time. Great day! GO BILLS!!! The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full days hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

My thoughts and prayers are with Logan, his wife and family. There is nothing worse than this. The entire Bills family mourns.

What limits his ceiling? Pro Football Outsiders, which I think assesses play pretty accurately, has Taylor around 18, not 7. Although 18 may be low, I don't see Taylor any higher than 10 or 12, and maybe not even that.

I didn't see that. It's good to know that his throw was on target, and the throw to Shady just barely missed. I'm not in love with Taylor's accuracy - it isn't pinpoint, but I think it's about NFL average. I keep saying it - there's a lot to like about Taylor.

Two comments about this. First, I noticed the same thing about the d line, but I think you misunderstand why it's done that way. The d line works as a team, they make moves off each other. Substituting one guy tends to disrupt the coordination and teamwork. So in essence there's a first unit and a second unit. Substitution is done by unit. I don't think Rex did it that way - he subbed in players. But different coaches have different philosophies. McD knows what he's doing. Second, you can complain all you want about things Tyrod did wrong, but when his passer rating is over 95, it means he's doing more things right than most of the starters in the league. Hard to argue with that kind of performance.

There's a lot here I'm not sure is right. I don't think it's right to say the LBs and safeties struggled in coverage. I think they played the defense they were taught, and the Bucs schemed to attack weaknesses in the defense. I just can't believe that the defenders all of a sudden got five yards worse in their coverage. Pass rush is, I think, okay. Clearly not great, but most teams don't get a lot of quick pressure with a four-man rush. They're disruptive once in a while, which is okay. And their blitzing is pretty effective in creating the additional pressure they need. I'm also not sure Marcel is a problem. I watched a couple of times, and he's getting double teamed. That means he's doing his job - he's not going to beat double teams in the middle of the line and pressure the QB. I think Marcel is McD's personal project, and I'm hoping McD has him on the right track.

Yeah, but the Bucs can say it was THEIR mistakes that kept the game close. If they didn't turn it over so often, they would have had the lead. But you make a good point. You have to be doing a lot right to make the mistakes the Bills made and still win.

true. I think they will get better.

Sure. The QB is always going to make some less than perfect choices. He probably should have run on the throw to Shady. It's not easy. But he made enough good choices to win. For the most part is exactly the point.

I didn't want to talk about Brown because I did that a few weeks ago and I don't want to just beat on the guy. But ... His drops are often too shallow. He's slow to react to the flow, so he often seems to be three steps behind the play. When balls get completed over the middle, it often looks to me like Brown should have been in the vicinity of the ball and he isn't. I think it's a combination of lack of quickness and poor anticipation. McDermott thrived in Carolina with Keuchly in that spot, and I'm guessing the Bills will go after an upgrade at MLB in the off-season. I think letting Gilmore go and then trading Sammy is evidence that McD believes that the most important players play close to the ball. He wants to spend cap dollars on the middle, not the wings.