Beck Water

61% of the snaps.

Outstanding post. There were some accuracy issues, but those have mostly resolved (assuming we have the elbow back). But when a throw is made matters as much as where. It's not just Allen skipping the "gimmees" to heave it deep, it's Allen taking the "gimmees" but only AFTER he's really had a good ol' look to see if he really can't find a deep shot. By that time two defenders are closing, and not only are possible YAC minimized, but the ball becomes a much harder throw and catch and sometimes becomes a catch where the receiver will have to take a lot of punishment.

LOL Allen in the post-game TNF interview. Tony Gonzales asks him about getting down "has there been any talk about maybe preserving that, and saying OK we need you in the long run?" Josh says "Oh, there's been a lot of talk about that"

Just FYI, I think people are looking at scored drop %, in which at one point Gabe was leading the league. (He's down to 9% now, from a high of 17%) Scored drops are a bit subjective and differ a bit between the services who are scoring them, but it's "a ball which a receiver should be able to catch with ordinary effort", which, in fact, does exclude throw aways or uncatchable balls. If it hits his hands, we want him to hang on to it, even if it's contested. He has made some great catches.

This is what one commentator described as a "that *****in' guy!" play where the DC slams his clipboard. The defense basically did everything right, and Josh Allen still made the play.

That's Josh Allen. You don't wanna bet on that.

4, 6, 10, 4 and 23 snaps in his 5 games. Beautiful 21 yd catch last night. Any chance you could offer a bit of an explanation for those of us in the back of the class?

I thought the ball was in Poyer's arm and stayed in his arm as he hit the ground. I didn't think the rule was that the ball couldn't shift or touch the ground at all, just that it couldn't come out of the receiver's grip. I thought the ball stayed in Poyer's grip. But, It Is What It Is. I'm more concerned about the zebras missing the DB who pinned little Dirty's arms long before the ball got there (both announcers were looking for a flag) and the DB who kicked Diggs in the helmet while he was on the ground right in front of them.

Should have been. There also should have been at least one, IMO more personal foul penalties on DB covering Diggs.

Take aged well. 🙄 Tell me about McKenzie's route running mistakes this year - what games, what routes? I'll go look. I can think of one. I can think of another where someone made a route running mistake (or, it was a crap route design that spaced the receivers too close) but based on how routes are usually structured I think it was Gabe. Based upon what evidence? Shakir had a promising game and 1/2 second half of Ravens and vs. Pittsburgh with McK out. But since then, he's had a steady 16 snaps per game. Looks like teams got a bit of film on him and figured him out. If he's preferable to have out there on a key 3rd down, he would surely have more than 3 catches on 7 targets in his 122 snaps during the last 7 games. I mean, the coaches get GPS data on speed and acceleration and separation from other players in addition to film. They see the players in practice. What is this whole "I would rather see player B instead of player A" based on? I will grant you this - I would rather see Hines or Cook taking handoffs in the backfield than McKenzie. My evidence is that McKenzie is smaller and slighter and I think they're both better able to protect the football and get YAC.

I actually think Beasley was sent packing exactly for reasons related to football (declining performance on field, speed, and injury factors). However to be fair, as Shady McCoy pointed out there is a performance vs nuisance ratio, where top performers get more tolerance for off-field shenanigans than lower performers, so it's probably fair that off-field stuff factored into it. But if his performance were still 2021 grade, I believe they would have kept him. McKenzie had a nice game, and unlike Detroit where a number of his catches were deep, his receptions yesterday were all short slot routes.

Why are you replying to your own post where you say you'd prefer Shakir to McKenzie and McKenzie can't play in the slot? I understand that. But PS players also have certain expectations placed on them, such as taking on "opponent look" roles for the scout team during practice and often playing ST if they are called up. Beasley wasn't into that, apparently, so when placed back on the PS instead of being signed after his 2nd game, he went home. Why folks think he'd like those roles any better here in B'lo has me bemused. Bea-mused?

After watching the game and looking at the snap counts, I'm pretty sure this is what happened. Elam is still "progressing" in learning to be a zone corner. I'm pretty sure the Bills were playing a lot of zone. Not only that, from the snap counts they were moving their corners around. Rhodes played 87% of the snaps, Tre White 61%, Dane Jackson 52%. The Bills didn't play the D I expected them to play. I thought they would play some base 4-3 - Nope, Not a single snap. Then, last time they played the Pats IIRC, they swapped Siran Neal in at times to give us a "heavy nickle". Nope. Not once. So I think "better matchup against passes to Rhamondre Stevenson and the run, better fit for the zone D we want to run for this game" is the answer. People love to get all mystery/conspiracy minded but I don't think that was it. I think it was a matchup decision based on wanting to play nickle and zone against a run-heavy offense with a lot of passes to the RB and wanting to throw a lot of different "looks" at Jones in a hostile environment. Elam needs to progress as a zone corner still and as a sure tackler of a tank like Stevenson.

I don't think that's right (on the snaps). McKenzie was on the field from the start. He had 3 receptions in the first half, on the Bills 2nd TD drive. But as for the being "over" the Hines "experiment", the problem isn't Hines - it's you (and other fans of similar viewpoint). Fans here had unrealistic expectations, as though Hines were some kind of budget CMC who should have had the coaches working overtime to carve out a prominent role in the game plan for him immediately. Yes, exactly, now you get it. Hines has shown he was a savvy acquisition for Moss and a 6th round pick, by taking over the PR and KR duties and making punts to us much calmer. Shakir was a big adventure, and with Crowder on IR the depth chart at PR was Shakir and then who? He's opened an aspect of the playbook, where Dorsey is now running 2 back sets with Hines and Cook. I'm sure that week by week, they'll improve play designs and figure out more ways to work him in. He's competition as the pass catching RB, and he's depth at RB and slot. You should not be "over" the trade, and Hines contributions will likely continue to grow, but you should ask yourself why you expected more from a guy who was the #4 RB and #5 WR on the Ponys list. If people were carrying on as though he were the second coming of Thurman Thomas and are now disappointed that he's making significant but not amazeballs contributions, that's really their problem, not a flaw in the trade.

"Six o'clock in the morning, you're the last to hear the warning You been tryin' to throw your arms around the world" -U2 Well, 6:20 actually, but I woke up at 5:20 feeling rested and peaceful. A few comments on the game: 1) the OL. I give Quessenberry credit for toughness, but can we all send "get well cards" and hold prayer circles for Dawkins ankle? 2) the Elbow. "It's BACK!" 3) most interesting part of the Fitzy pregame interview: Josh commenting on how the QB is an extension of the OC, and it's been taking time for him and Dorsey to see things the same way. (Fitzy asking Josh to sign the photo of that ...."interesting" tattoo of him was just so Fitz. For his cousin, of course) 4) playing time. 'fess up people, who knew that John Brown was on the field for 12 snaps? Khalil Shakir got 16 AND we saw a nice reception. 5) RB playing time. Cook and Hines are starting to cut into Singletary's snaps: 32:22:33 or 43%:31%:44%. For the math enabled, yes that sums to >100%, yes that means the Bills were running "pony" and 2 back sets again. 6) But Gilliam only saw 5 or 7% of the snaps. I really thought he was an effective player for us earlier in the season, and with the OL banged up perhaps we should see more of him? 6) Sweeney is a mixed bag. He had an amazing downfield double block. But then that hold on Judon which canceled that beaut of a TD throw 😬. 7) McKenzie 5 catches on 5 targets for 44 yds, all of them short routes. This is the production we want to see from slot. If McKenzie and Josh are finally building some trust and timing, that's huge 8 ) That series, 4 minutes left in the 1st half where I thought "oh no, the Mad Bomber is back" (incomplete to Davis, Allen stuffed after 2 yds, incomplete deep to Diggs). I"m not the only one who was cussing and yelling at the TV, admit it! 9) We were not playing the defense I thought we'd play. Xavier Rhodes got 87% of the snaps, Tre White 61%, Jackson 52%. Taron was on the field 100%, no LB other than Milano and Edmunds got snaps, nor did Siran Neal, meaning we were in base nickel all game. Count me as one of the guys who thought we'd play some 4-3 base, and we also did a "heavy nickel" with Siran Neal replacing Johnson last time we played NE which we didn't see today. But we must have been moving guys around with a bit of a wrinkle. At least, the snap counts surprised me. 10) Overall, I think the Bills successfully took the Hoodie by surprise. I think he was very focused on taking away those quick-strike "chunk" plays with deep throws to the WR and long Allen runs, and he was successful at that (I think he wanted to take away Diggs, and he was less successful at that, in part because of how the Bills used him). I do not think he anticipated the Bills coming out in heavy sets with 2 TE or 2 RB as much as we did, nor playing ball control, grind-it-out offense - even though we did show that against the Browns. Good job by the Bills coaching staff!

Is that who he was looking for? I didn't see him "bro hug" Jones, so I thought he might have been looking for McCorkle

To this: It's the difference a truly effective 4 man pass rush, plus a week of practice, makes. Dane Jackson was clean beat on a deep route at one point. But Jones was under duress, and overthrew his receiver by a mile (essentially throwaway deep) The Bills were (to my eyes, not necessarily reliable on broadcast) playing a lot of zone. I saw a lot of intricate handoffs. Jackson is a capable off-ball corner. Taron Johnson is also good in zone coverage and with the "string" of Milano-Edmunds-Johnson in place Po got robbed on that pick.

I agree with this description and hopefully the Bills will "seek clarity" on the ejection as I don't believe it was flagrant and perhaps that will save Damlin a rep and a fine.

That’s been going on all season for Knox and also Mckenzie

He better hit somebody or Diggs will hit him! 😃 Von Miller better put him back on that “Gunpowder and Gasoline” diet

I don’t think it’s just your opinion. I said in the game week thread Belicheck doesn’t say much but you can read between the lines on the Belestrator and what he says. I think Belicheck was very concerned about giving up the “chunk play”, the deep bombs and the long Josh Allen runs. And they were fairly successful at containing those things. I think Belicheck was not worried at all about the Bills run game and their short passing game to the slot or to the RBs. And I think he kept thinking “any play now they’ll get away from this and go back to Mad Bomber Mode. Surprise, Bill!

It could be as simple as feeling Rhodes would be a better tackler against Rhamondre Stevenson, who is A Lot

They probably feel like they’re OK after the game. They have immense amounts of adrenaline coursing through their bodies. A lot of the pain come from inflammation and swelling, and those processes haven’t gotten rocking yet. McDermott isn’t just brushing the press off when he tells them Monday he’ll know more on Wednesday

When Knox caught that TD at the back of the EZ, Diggs in the postgame said something to the effect of “mental health is real” and he was glad for Knox to get that. Which is why I think there’s something to the mental struggles idea. TBH, I felt better about Gabe in this game. Did he have one ball he should have caught and didn’t? Josh was a little rushed and overthrew him for the deep ball and either overthrew him or he was a little held on his route in the end zone. But that catch for the TD was unreal. Yes.