WideNine

We are a much better defense than NE, with a much better DL IMO. NE is not terrible as they have a coach with a system, but I think we have more playmakers.

I love the way their guard just let the defender run right by him on that stretch play. Didn't even try to block him then looked around for someone to block... You can really see the drop-off ever since their legendary OL coach Scarnecchia retired.

There is nothing about Mac Jones that scares me as a QB we face this season other than he may kick one of our players in the sprinkler when he is on the ground.

It does not hurt having defensive backfields crapping their pants trying not to get burnt by Hill and Waddle. Those guys clear out and create a lot of space for themselves and others and the way they use motion makes it hard to jam them to disrupt timing. He is a good solid QB when healthy.

Saw that headlock he put on Max on one play too when he was able to get inside him. How penalties are called does depend a lot on the officiating crew. And you are right, they were not calling those on either team. I thought Brown did do a better job getting off his heels, closing, and using his hands and leverage better. Considering we turned the ball over four times vs the Jets and still took the game to OT... yeah, that was a very winnable game.

Except for that blown alignment that sprung Hall for that long gainer the run defense vs the Jets was not shabby. If you take that 80+ yard outlier out if the equation we were keeping them to around 3 yards a carry. Still good that they took those mistakes to heart and had a shutdown performance.

Yeah, site is so busy I thought my phone was glitching.

Motor was a good all around back, perhaps not an elite one. He was also really solid in picking up the extra man in pass pro. I was never an Edmunds fan as a player, not that I hated him, just thought he was replaceable and his numbers of tackles belied the whiffs and lack of game changing plays... ints or fumbles. With all the defensive snaps he took at MLB the lack of those was to me an indictment of his lack of instincts for the ball.

Bernard is looking like he can fill that Edmunds role. Showing a bit better instincts hitting gaps and tackling. Knock on wood he stays healthy as he has been a pleasant surprise in coverage and defending the run.

Play boring football and taking the underneath options and paste a team 38 to 10. Patience wins games too and will eventually force teams to rethink how they defend our runs and shorter passes. That could open things up more downfield, but will have to string enough of these together.

Yep,that is why you don't throw the baby out with the bath water. There are things Allen needs to correct, and there are things he does that are simply elite and singular. Balancing those things I imagine is definitely hard for OCs. Especially with how stubborn Allen can be about things he wants to do.

We may want to double him on 3rd and longs though. Can't shut him down completely, but you know where Jimmy is looking on those.

Not sure if it is blocking on the edges, just not getting anything going with those sweeps. The net on those has to be pretty low.

It is getting pretty predictable on the runs on 1st and 2nd down, no play action. Not seeing the changes I was hoping for. Watching the Raiders trot out their 300+ pound DL and they all jog to the sideline once they stuffed the early runs and are replaced by their pass rushers. Got to mix some pass on those early downs.

Like most things in life it is never black and white. Allen has had sketchy pass pro from his line long enough that the clock in his head is off and the happy feet and pocket management is off. Allen needs to get the ball out faster, more under center play action on schedule throws, not dismissing open options beneath the sticks, and taking off when it makes sense to do so, but get out of bounds or slide... Most fans still believe we need Allen behind center playing the way we know he can. We don't want to see him lowering his shoulder and taking vicious shots for a meaningless 2 yards. His receivers and coaches could do a better job cleaning up the sloppy route execution. Not just poorly run routes, but we had two veteran receivers who ended up running one play where their routes ended up right on top of each other. That was a WTF coaching moment for sure as no way the play was drawn up that way. So better execution and attention to detail in practices. When playing those coverage shells it is all about the details. If you are going to take shots near or past the sticks, the timing and routes need to be crisp because you are hitting windows that open and close quickly. Go Bills!

Not for some, but I love these breakdowns by Warner and he is absolutely right about how disciplined our receivers are running their routes, depth, being crisp in and out of their breaks and not rounding them. Diggs is by far the best, Gabe should be better and some of my concern with them using him more for underneath concepts is his route running. Kincaid is a rookie... gets a pass. Will be interesting to watch how this WR core is developed and performs with Chad Hall out and Adam Henry in as our receivers coach.

Now there's a blast from the past. Dickerson is classic and thanks for the memory. Always blew me away how a RB could run with his pad level so high, and he had those long strides. Took 4 steps and he was almost 20 yards downfield. Looked like he was jogging as he blew by guys.

The patterned behavior and habits are part of the equation I am sure. There probably is the muscle memory of "it breaks down, I run around and make a play" that is ingrained. Marino brought up another observation from last year's breakdown of the numbers, that Allen does better staying on schedule with the called play when he is under center and using play-action. Dorsey should lean into that more to help him create some better muscle memory.

To me it seems like they were just a bit off with the timing and leverage and so close to breaking some long ones. The more this O-line works together and can stay healthy they will clean that up and I am pretty excited about our run game. Cook will have to be more decisive on the runs between the tackles, but power gap runs are probably less natural for him than zone/stretch runs. He will get better. The pass pro from Brown is abysmal as I was expecting him to get beat with speed and he showed that he can get forklifted into Allen's lap too. Cyrus is playing really well for a rookie, we have not seen his best yet and that is going to be fun to watch.

We had a pretty good mix of zone and gap runs and Joe has a Locked On that broke those distributions down. Our line does a bit better with pin & pull gap blocking so good to see them working those in. Tough sledding against that front 4 of the Jets. Hard to not sprinkle in zone running plays with the speed of Cook getting outside and turning the corner. Perhaps we could have leaned into the runs a bit more, less as a strategy and more as damage control with the way Allen was playing. A lot of coachable tape from this game. We will see how the team responds.

Only nuance I would make here is that mental errors are excusable IF you learn from them and then demonstrate change that prove you are learning from them. Much as Allen said himself, same **** different day. A cycle of repeating the same mistakes at the same rate or more is inexcusable. He knows this and there should be some soul-searching. Took a lot of work for Josh to get to where he is at, but resting on laurels does not work for long in the NFL. To quote Tommy Boy, "You are either growing or you are dying, there ain't no third direction."

Exactly. And that has been the book on Allen for a while. Play quarters defense with 2-high safeties and he will get impatient and force the ball into double coverage and turn it over. The way to beat that look normally is to run the ball with enough success that they bring one safety down into the box, but the Jets have a solid run defense with just their front 4 and LBs. It relies on some man underneath, but again they have pretty solid corners on the boundaries. So patience with the runs and taking the underneath plays that isolate LBs and nickel backs on TEs and RBs releasing into the flat. It was going to be a slug fest and game of attrition and Allen needs to learn how to be ok with a game like that. Some games he will just need to be a game manager and play field position and not turn the ball over. Not every D is going to be as stout as the Jets, but most teams will still try to play us the same way. There were also some bad breaks, on one Allen scramble he happened to run right into a looping DL player on a stunt, but we had our bounces too... literally off the post. Allen needs to get back to the growth mindset that helped him when he came into the league. Evaluate honestly what he needs to change then take steps to go out and change it. I think what hurts most as a fan is how much I WANT him to succeed as a QB for his own sake and not just for the wins.

Our O-line and especially the right side getting forklifted into Allen's lap. That needs to improve for this team. I get the Jets ha e a good d-line, but sheesh.

The latter... he just politely told him, "nice throw"

Needed my sarcasm button... Folks getting their undees in a bunch. Milano is absolutely flying around out to tonight.