Beck Water

Evidently a couple of the Buffalo Bills Beat reporters have a weekly riddle game. Christian Benford wins

It was said last week that the interviews would take place by Videoconference on Tuesday (14 Jan). So they have taken place. Seriously? I thought that the interviews were only allowed to take place on Tuesday, where did you hear this?

Limited today. Game designation "Questionable" I think, though, if he's in a non-contact other than a QB he's "limited" by definition so we'll see

Cool of Poyer to seek him out

Do you now. No, I wouldn't call Turner a genius but he does know ball most of the time.

If you google Erik Turner Cover 1, this is the top hit. https://www.cover1.net/about-cover-1/ He's pretty well known in the Bills fan community and certainly on this bulletin board. The point of limiting the average ypc is, it's an average. Henry is gonna get his. But if breaks a couple of long runs that skew the average and the average is 4 ypc, it means he's being stuffed enough of the time to get his team off the field.

Coming onto a Bills fan board and getting a guys name wrong twice ending in "whatever" then saying "I never knew ....was such a football genius" makes you look tuff and genyus (not) Let me help you out with what the rest of us know and Google could tell you. Erik Turner is a former college player and HS coach/scout who started a Bills-centered media company called "Cover 1" with the goal of "making the X's and O's of football more accessible to fans". Part of his goal was to help continue to grow his own knowledge of the game. He's also really gotten into analytics of recent years. We have a couple of guys posting here (not often enough) who are better X's and O's guys and better evaluators of play, but in general, Turner knows something and his stuff is worth watching.

It's not disrespectful to say that, but it's more in keeping with a discussion board if you put a little more into it like, why that's your belief. I'm not saying I think it's likely, but I think, meaning no disrespect, that Hamlin can totally get trucked by Henry especially as the game wears on. If it comes down to Henry is killing us and Flowers isn't playing, I think it's possible.

I don't think you take Damar out for Dorian. Not meaning to dunk on Dorian but I think he is still "progressing" in learning his role as an off-ball LB and asking him to learn to be a safety would be a "Bridge too Far". As I commented in another thread, against NE in the 2nd game a couple years back, the Bills started taking out a CB (Dane Jackson) and substituting Siran Neal in a kind of variant of a "dime" defense. Jackson was 5 11 and 180 lbs, Neal was 6 ft 206 lbs and could bring the wood. He was also said by a fast WR to be "the fastest guy on the Bills roster". Neal was the backup nickel as well as the dime back, and they had him playing on the boundary some in training camp, so they could bring him in for more "Umph" in the backfield without losing too much in pass coverage. And it worked. I'm not sure if the Bills 1) have a guy on the roster right now who can fill that role though, or 2) if it's a need with this lineup. Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford are both 6'1", 6'2" 210 lb ish CBs. As long as they bring it and don't make "career decisions" we should be OK. It's possible we see Bishop instead of Hamlin.

This sounds like the time the Mice had a meeting to decide how to defend against the Cat. They decided the answer was to put a bell on the Cat. Then the littlest mouse asked the key question: "Which of Us Will Bell the Cat?" Does Reed honestly think teams don't try to hit Josh Allen on every play, whether or not he runs? And while I do think refs give Josh somewhat less protection than other QBs, getting hit after he gives himself up could just add 15 to the end of the run.

This is just my opinion, but I thought the Steelers as a team had checked out on the season after the Eagles and Ravens games. Fundamentally, I think the offense lost faith that Russ Wilson could play QB at a high enough level to win against the league's top teams or to have a chance when it's close at the end of the game. I give props to Tomlin and Teryl Austin for preparing them and bringing them out ready to go then having them give it a brief fight in the 2nd half, but they looked defeated to me after the first Ravens drive.

Does anyone (who knows anything) think they need a scheme overhaul? I think the questions are: 1) Johnson is one of the best nickel corners in the league. If we pull him off the field and put in a 3rd backer, what are we giving up in pass defense? 2) We would pull Johnson for Dorian Williams, who has had problems at times diagnosing his assignment in the run game. Will Dorian chose the right gap and maintain discipline? 3) All of our LB are relatively small. On paper, Matt Milano is 2 inches shorter and 25 lbs lighter than Henry. Bernard 1 inch and 23 lbs. Williams 17 lbs lighter. That means tackling him all game will wear them down. Are they "up to" it?

Davis was yesterday, by virtue of being out there at football practice and by observer accounts doing a lot, at least in Stage 4 of concussion protocol. Now he could have taken a step back. But if he didn't, he can be in concussion protocol and cleared to play on Saturday or even to my understanding Sunday.

This is outstanding. You can see why Belichick teams were well coached and bought in. We start out with the former LB - is that Chris Long? expounding "take care of Henry first". Then Belichick shows exactly what happens when teams try that. Belichick doesn't need to argue with him. He cues up the film, and lets the film speak for itself.

Don't they all? If MinA Kimes is exhibit A for this, Kyle Brandt is exhibit B

I mean, that's kind of where it is with most of the analysts on all the networks, right? Orlovsky, Cosell, Chris Simms sometimes - they know something. The rest of them are just paid to yap.

Good analysis. There's a couple things on offense. One is, Samuel was just coming back from being off a week and we didn't have Cooper on the roster yet. Then, Shakir sprained his ankle in the 1st Q and tried to play through it until the 3rd Q. We had absolutely no one the Ravens were scared of downfield and no one with the velvet hands that Shakir brings over the middle. So they just flooded the middle of the field with defenders. I don't know about the OL blocking. They're the same guys. I don't know if they hadn't gelled yet or if they'll just prove to be outmatched by the Ravens again. Guess we'll see on Sunday.

So no, the Bills aren't going to install a totally different defense in one week. But they do use wrinkles. I was looking back a couple years - in 2021, the Bills played the Patriots twice 3 weeks apart. The first time, Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson just ran all over us for 222 yds and won (it was a weather game) The second time, we still gave up some rush yards but we contained it enough to win handily. In the first game, we played about 53% base D with Tyrel Dodson as the 3rd LB. In the second game we played about 30% base D with AJ Klein (still had some juice in '21) as the 3rd LB. But, we also took out one of our CBs, Dane Jackson, about 20% of the time and replaced him with Siran Neal who was more of a "Thumper" in the run game. I wish I could remember if we were playing base AND replacing Jackson with Neal, but I don't remember. They've also done some wrinkles - did it a little bit against Denver I believe - where we play 3 DE and 1 DT, or even 3 DE and 2 DT

"I Wish It Were Colder", Ravens edition It's 33 degrees in Baltimore today

I came here to share that. If Ray Davis "worked a ton" during the media viewing portion then he is indeed now in Phase 4....very good news.

Marvelous, we're going to listen to play-by-play from a guy who says "Baltimore looks unbeatable to me. They really at times look absolutely unbeatable." Does it come across to anyone else as though Harbaugh doesn't really believe this? ""These Divisional [Playoff] games are really hard to win because you're playing the best teams," Head Coach John Harbaugh said. "[The Bills are] just a super talented, well-coached type of a team. On that stage, in their place – it's going to be cold; it's going to be blustery [and] all that."" ? Who says "type of a team" when they're honestly giving props to a specific team with specific talented players? "and all that" - sounds like he feels the weather will be their biggest challenge and eh, It's Weather, We can do Weather.

It's not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. And chances are, you'll learn years after the fact about things that happened and choices your kid made that could have easily had things go to ***** if they chose differently or things went differently after they made some choice. Like the song "It's quiet uptown" in Hamilton, "dealing with the unimaginable" Agreed.

It's a valid point on the similarities in defensive scheme - I hadn't thought about Anthony Weaver's background with the Poebirds. Good catch. Regarding offense in the Miami game: Cooper was out for that game, and Samuel was 1 game back from being out for a game and played limited snaps. I know they haven't contributed much in the way of receptions and yards, but the Bills offense seems to work better when they're on the field. Cooper gives them a genuine outside receiving threat, for example. Teams can't just squat on the run. Even so, with 325 yds, 24 1st downs, 50% 3rd down conversions, and almost 50% TOP it's not as though Miami just throttled the Bills offense. And a handful of plays can swing it - if Coleman holds on to that damn ball that hit his hands down near the goal line or even just bats it down instead of it being picked, the game is 10-3 Bills instead of 10-3 Dolphins - which points out the real problem - our D let the Dolphins drive 97 yds and 8 minutes 21 seconds for a TD instead of Doing Their Job and getting a stop. Regarding the Ravens game, Cooper was not a gleam in Beane's eyeball at that point; I still maintain that game was a major factor in Beane saying "OK, we need more at receiver to compete this year." But I think the real problem on offense in the Ravens game was defense. Offense punts on the opening drive - it happens. Defense immediately gives up an 87 yd TD. OK, offense gets the ball, drives the length of the field, stalls out due to 2 OH penalties, settles for a FG, 7-3 Ravens. Defense immediately gives up a 4 minute drive ending in a TD, helped out by an UR penalty on Smoot. The Ravens scored TDs on their first 3 possessions, without any turnovers by the offense that put them in a poor position. That puts the offense in a deep hole they never did climb out of. Yes, it's a tough matchup. I mean, it's the playoffs. Want easy matchups, earn the 1 seed.

I still die when I think about 2022, where Milano said in preseason he was trying to become more vocal. One of the reporters asked him how you become more vocal. Milano looked at him deadpan and said "You Talk More".