Old Coot

This game is reminisent of last year's Superbowl. TB blitzed the daylights out of Mahomes. Same here. The difference? KC was down two starting tackles.

How many other QBs call their own plays? This is not a loaded question; it's purely informational.

This is a difficult question but rests I think on the OL & that's not real repairable at this point in the season -- maybe better O line coaching? Teams take away our long ball and force us to beat them underneath but that requires us to "matriculate" the ball downfield. To do that the team needs consistently to excute and it doesn't do that. It all starts with the OL: penalties, inability consistently to run the ball (which is mostly the fault of the OL -- RBs can't run through holes that aren't there). Inability to run the ball means the DL can focus on rushing the passer which leads to occasional breakdowns in pass protection and that causes our drives to fall short. Lastly I raise a question about Josh's ball placement on his short passes to the flat. He tends to throw behind the receiver who then must turn his back to the D to make the reception. This gives the D more time to recover & limit the yardage. Are QBs taught to throw behind the receiver on these plays or is this just Josh?

I agree that our D played well against the run except on two occasions: 1. The 62 yard TD run 2. The Pats 14 play drive at the end of the 3d quarter. This not only gave them 3 points (at the beginning of the 4th quarter) but denied our offense a chance to play with the wind at the end of the quarter. Both of these lapses were crucial (though not the only significant cause) of our loss.

Bills might need to change their system in which Josh makes the Oline calls to go no huddle. In the Kelly no-huddle Kent Hull the center made the Oline calls.

Belichick will have his team ready to play and will likely use some pressure to rattle Josh. We better show up for this game. Our execution will need to be almost flawless

Last year the O was successful because it got many explosive plays. This year teams are playing us with 2 deep safeties to limit explosive plays. By taking away the deep and some intermediate throws Bills are forced to reply on short passes and the occasional run to work downfield. That can take 10-12 plays to score. To do that you need to execute consistently and the Bills are not close to doing that. On many plays there is poor execution from the OL to the WRs dropping balls forcing a punt.

Time to put a cork in this one, put it on the shelf & forget about it. It's on to New Orleans

I thought Warner's analysis of each play was good. BUT he's looking at an overhead all-22 view & likely takes more than 3 secs to devise his analysis. It's very different on field. That said I think Josh does hold on to the ball too long. I've wondered why other teams often get 5 yards on a safety valve pass to the flat while we get only 1-2 yards. It may be that Josh holds the ball too long, lofts the ball too high or doesn't place the ball well. On a related note, do the Bills run many timed passing routes? WR takes a predetermined no. of steps, turns and the balls right there. If not, why not?

I think that what Josh may mean is that it's his job to select the best play from the 2-3 choices dialed in from the sideline between each play.

I tend to agree with what has been said about about the backside LG & LT. The OL can't allow penetration on the backside. The outside zone is designed to get the DL moving laterally one way. The RB starts in that direction & then cuts back away from the DL movement. In the clip the Jags Rt DT is lined up in a 3 technique (outside LG's shoulder) and penetrates almost untouched. The LG should have chipped him to enable Dawkins to get a piece of the DT and drive him to the left of the screen so Singletary could cut back screen right. A good example of poor OL play on our part. As for Singletary, he doesn't have anywhere to run on this play.

Cover 1 does a very good job of analyzing why our offense was held scoreless for almost 3 quarters. The primary reason was the OL performance. On too many plays they weren't able to handle the rush. That rush was well designed: show 5-6 guys on the D line & then have one not rush while another rushed from the opposite side. The OL also had problems with stunts & bull rushes up the middle. When Josh had a clean pocket or was able to escape the pocket he was able to complete throws. The problem with an offense that steadily moves down the field is that you need to be able to make plays consistently. The Bills' OL wasn't able to do that Once the defense gets into the QB's head bad things happen. Even the GOAT Brady gets rattled if you get in his face. We better prepare for what the Jags did on D because we'll be seeing a lot of it as the season progresses. Oh well. On to the Jets. Let's hope this loss sobers up the offense

Last year when out power running game didn't work Dabol went with a Zone blocking scheme that was more successful.

OBJ is indeed a "game changer" but not in the usual meaning of that phrase. His drama tears a team apart.

How about QB run-pass option. Josh reads the LB as he fakes a run. If the LB comes up he throws the slant behind the LB. If the LB plays pass Josh runs it

What is a slant route? signed, Brian Daboll

The next season we went 9-4-1 and lost to the Chiefs in the AFL Championship game. Had we won that game we would have played against Lombardi's Packers in the inaugural AFL-NFL Championship game (later renamed the Superbowl).

This is consistent with my view expressed in other threads that the called play was for Josh to take it off left tackle but on seeing the crashing outside LB decided to sneak it instead.

Question for someone more knowledgeable than me. How do you defense play action passes when the offense has a devastating runner like Henry? It seemed that after Henry's 75 yard TD run and particularly in the second half the play action passes were effective. Our 3 LBs either took a step forward or hesitated and that enabled the Titan receivers to get behind them for significant gains.

The D did not play well enough to win. After Henry ripped off that 75 yard TD run & especially in the 2d half the D had trouble against the play action pass. Our three LBs took a step forward or hesitated & that allowed the Titan receivers to get open behind them for good gains. We needed some D calls designed to defense the play action.

Those overhead shots and the discussion of blocking are helpful. I don't think the play was a QB sneak. The left side of the OL blocking down doesn't make sense for a sneak. It's just jamming up the gaps, especially when its 3 defenders against two OL. Plus you are asking Dawkins to do an inside seal off of the DE when the DE is already lined up inside Dawkins. Here's what I speculate happened. The play is designed for Josh to go off tackle. At the snap Josh is moving and looking left at the outside LB 58. The LB is crashing into the off tackle hole. At that point Josh concludes he can't go off tackle and just pushes ahead into the line. If a QB sneak had been the design the OL fires out & Josh imediately plunges into the left A gap. Josh wouldn't have hesitated nor been looking at 58 at the snap. Anyway, it's onto the Bye week.

Lookie, Lookie here comes Derrick?

I don't think the play was a designed QB sneak. I think it may have been a designed off Lt tackle run. Here's why I think that: First, on a QB sneak the QB lunges ahead immediately. Josh doesn't do that; he seems to dance to his left & then lunge. Second, the left side of the line all block down. That's bound to plug up the left A gap. Third, at the snap Josh is looking at the outside LB 58. On a QB sneak the QB immediately lunges into the line so that guy doesn't matter. Lastly, Sweeney's block on 58 is much too late and as a result there's no running lane off the tackle. It's true that Dawkins gets pushed back but if the play is designed to go outside of him he's done his job

I think that Dawkins did what he was supposed to do. The entire left side of the line is blocking down and Josh looks at the oncoming outside LB before deciding to go off guard left guard. I'll bet Sweeney is supposed to prevent the outside LB from crashing down, thus giving Josh a lane off left tackle.

If you look at the replay the first contact starts about the 5 yd line.