Coach Tuesday

This. The Bills have NOTHING to lose in this game and everything to gain - they've already clinched, they should play loose and have fun and punch them in the nose.

But also, how in the world does Spain hold on that play? And how does Milano tackle a guy by his facemask/helmet on that other play??

This is a really interesting bellwether game for both franchises. The Patriots' offense is reeling right now - they looked terrible against Cincinnati. Edelman is hobbled and teams have been doubling him and White and forcing Brady to find other reads, and he has struggled to do that. Their running game is underperforming. If the Bills' special teams can get their act together (I'm skeptical) and Allen can play faster but less amped (a real challenge for him), the Bills have a serious chance of giving the Patriots the gut punch the entire league has been waiting for. The Patriots usually get hot this time of year - but that's not how their season is going and a loss at home to the Bills could really affect their confidence heading into the playoffs. For once.

(He said in his best Chris Collinsworth voice...)

Anyone else think Collinsworth is still walking around his house muttering to his dog that they should throw the ball to Washington?

This is the difference between these coaching staffs.

Let’s see what Gore plays they have in store!

Protecting the lead on the road is absolutely the right strategy - some of you folks have lost your minds. Especially after Allen just turned it over deep in their own zone.

He’s 100% correct - I don’t see what the big deal is.

Collinsworth is right about that INT

The league is a joke.

He does that every year! Do not tackle like that - ugh.

This is not a playoff-caliber group of pass catchers.

Screen pass install: 2020

Gore over Yeldon is a major mistake in roster management for this game, IMO. Hopefully it doesn’t matter. Man are they stubborn about Gore, just like they were with Tolbert. McD sure has an odd vision of what offense should be.

They disguise the rush very well but they don’t bring an extra rusher with too much frequency. They do get plenty of sacks...

That, and you need to spread out the defenders. If they try to go heavy with the max protect and bunch formations like they did last week, we'll likely see much of the same results.

https://www.footballoutsiders.com/film-room/2019/film-room-steelers-defense Based on this analysis - Gore needs to be deactivated this week, Yeldon should take his place. They allow running backs to slip into the flat and dare you to throw it to them - they're fine with giving up a 4-5 yard swing pass. We need to stay patient and take advantage of that, and Yeldon offers far more upside as a receiver out of the backfield. I repeat: there is ZERO REASON Gore should be active this week, he adds nothing to the gameplan against that kind of defense.

Take a look at Erik Turner's column today in The Athletic. I'm far less concerned about the deep ball than I am with JA's tendency to see ghosts and bail from the pocket before he needs to. The Ravens got in his head early in the game and it threw off his clock and caused him to overthink. I didn't realize this at the time but on the Knox drop, he had Beasley wide open right in front of his face for an easy first down and instead threw it back across his body to Knox. JA needs to keep working on his processing speed and understanding the goal of each play relative to the down-and-distance and game situation. Daboll also needs to go empty backfield more, as explained in Turner's article - they went max protect to help shore up the protection and it resulted in disaster. The deep balls are a plus but not a must.

Except for you.

This hurt my self of steam.

For most of the year he's been missing Gronk, his left tackle, and now his center. They have no speed on the outside. And his arm may be in decline as well. Mike Lombardi's take Yes, quarterback Tom Brady does not look like himself. Yes, he is throwing the lowest yards per attempt (6.6) since the 2002 season, and yes, the offense is struggling to do anything effectively. When a team cannot make plays down the field in the passing game, it becomes harder and harder to score, especially later in the season. Yes, it’s easy to say that they lack explosive players, but the issues run much deeper than that. The lack of big plays and points (88 overall for a 17.6 average) over the last five weeks is not a result of Brady’s age. Their struggles on offense are a result of losing extremely talented players, injuries to critical players, not having adequate replacements, and being too young at certain positions. Plus, their opponents have a better understanding of how to attack the Patriots. Obviously, the most significant loss, as well as the hardest to replace, is former tight end Rob Gronkowski. Gronk’s presence on the field helped in two areas that are currently slowing down the offense: The first is how they handle blitz pressure and the second is the strong side run game. Gronk was not the same in 2018 as he was during the 2014-16 seasons. He was still a force in the run game, sealing the end of the line and handling defensive linemen, but his speed, quickness, and explosiveness down the field in the passing game were not the same. Yet, even as his overall skills were declining, he was still a matchup nightmare. Whenever a team thought about sending pressure, they still had to rationalize dealing with someone who could cover Gronk one-on-one, and so many coordinators thought twice before sending pressure as a result. Gronk isolated away from the offensive formation, apart from the three-receiver set, alone with a smaller defensive back, or a slow linebacker, and Brady could throw the ball before the blitz. Now, with only Julian Edelman on the field as a significant threat, Brady does not have a security blanket to help offset pressure. And in the NFL, once you cannot handle pressure effectively, more pressure comes. Brady’s inability to handle pressure is similar to what occurs in the NBA when a low post player gets doubled as soon as the ball enters the post. The post player recognizes the double, then fires the ball to the open player standing near the three-point line. When that player is a reliable, consistent shooter, the doubles become less and less common. They still occur, just with less frequency. When that player is not a great shooter, or able to knock down the three, then teams double harder, more quickly and more often. Brady sees more blitzes than ever before because the offense lacks the players to make teams suffer when blitzing. Once a team proves they cannot handle something, they should expect more of that something to come their way. The run game, which last year was the strength of the Patriots, has become a weakness. Without Gronk, there is no tight end on the roster who can control the end of the line, or who can get movement off the ball against bigger defensive ends. The edge never gets sealed, which means the back never has a clear path to the strong side. Losing fullback James Develin also hinders the run game, in part because the Pats’ best runner, Sony Michel, is a “point of entry” back. That means he needs a lead blocker to clear out the hole and get him into the point of entry without having to shuffle or stutter. And while losing Gronk hurts, losing David Andrews, their starting center, is a killer. Andrews was the rock of the line; he made everyone around him better. His replacement, Ted Karras, was injured during the loss to the Texans, and journeyman James Ferentz started against the Chiefs. Ferentz is too small to handle big tackles. On Sunday, the Chiefs put their best lineman, Chris Jones over him, and all hell broke loose on Brady. No wonder Jones was so confident during the game when he was trash-talking Brady.

Part of the issue (also a good thing) is that they still don’t know/haven’t decided where his ceiling is - once they do, they can settle on what kind of complimentary pieces the offense needs in order to be successful. Two years in a row they’re asking Allen to win games by himself. At some point they need to put in a competent structure. They’ve admitted they didn’t know John Brown would be this good - so what does that tell you about their strategy coming into the year? Gore is washed. They blew a second round pick on a guard. They still don’t have a tight end and Baltimore has a handful. It’s time for Beane to get his sh- together when it comes to building an offense.

New England is just a crap region full of semi-inbred jerks and idiots. It’s Florida of the North.

Seems to me that the offensive gameplan coming in was to make the Ravens pay for blitzing by hitting an early deep shot or two. If I'm right, Daboll screwed up big time. Betting on your weakness to overcome the other side's strength is a fool's errand.