Rubes

Almost like saying you flipped a coin 10 times and it came up heads all ten times, so the next flip it's bound to be tails just to balance things out, right? Wrong.

They were definitely looking for something all right........

Wow...so no more overloads?

Classic!!

Dude, I can tell you this right now: as a guy who went to Cornell, I am saddened to see that Wells college is going co-ed. I had a couple of extremely memorable nights at that place. Without being too sexist, there is really nothing like an all-girls school. Mmmm.

I sincerely doubt it, because Seymour would have popped Drew just as easily as Brewski. And I think it would take more than a chip by Travis to take him out of the play, especially when it's Drew running the ball. Regardless, I still can't tell where the screw up was. Was it Henry, who ran left instead of take on the blitzer? Was it Villarial, who pulled to the right, going nowhere? Was it Price, who didn't even breathe on Seymour much less delay his progress into the backfield? Was it Drew, who might have thought the play was a bad idea in the face of that defensive front? Who knows. I just happen to think that thinking Travis clipping Bruschi is all it might have taken to allow Drew to bootleg for a first down is right up there with all of the other Drew-related head-in-the-sand stuff.

Mularkey said it in his post-game press conference.

Oh my, DC, that was quite possibly the greatest thing I have ever seen on this board. In fact, this thread might be the greatest ever.

I don't know about you, but I had enough of watching them try to run left during the Jax game. A guy can beat his head against a brick wall only so many times....

Sorry guys...I respect the opinions and all, but I just can't say I'm with it. I mean, this is Bledsoe we're talking about here. Manning, Bono, Krieg, whoever...these guys may be slow but they just aren't in Drew's league here. Drew can't get out of his own way for crying out loud. Maybe...MAYBE...if it was 4th and 1 and there was a chance he might be able to dive for the first, or trip over his own feet and fall forward for the 1st...but 3 yards? The other thing to consider, of course, is not just if the defense is expecting it (which they weren't, and for good reason), but what do we think the defense is going to do on the play? Anybody think the Pats weren't planning on sending a few guys on a blitz on that play? Anyone? What's the best way to mess with this offense? Send a bunch of guys and confuse the hell out of them. The Pats were sending guys, left and right. A naked bootleg could, COULD work if the QB is really good at selling the fake and getting outside. But this is Drew, who is neither fast nor good at selling fakes, and this is the Pats, who have extremely good, extremely fast outside LBs who could run ten yards into the backfield, turn around, and snag Drew before he could even smell the first down marker. There may be a time for this team to consider a naked bootleg (I'll only believe it when I see it), but 4th down and 3 with a blitz-happy defense may not have been the best time. And I'm not even going to start into the whole argument about this team being well-prepared enough to even run a play like that against the world champs.

I don't know, but we would find that out if we played Atlanta this year.

...what was their first reaction when they heard that Buffalo chose to try a naked bootleg with Drew Bledsoe on 4th and 3 with the game (season?) on the line, what do you think the responses would be? I see it as: 10 immediately busted out in a chuckle 3 immediately busted out in a chuckle with projection of food out of the mouth 1 immediately busted out in a chuckle with projection of liquid out of the nose 6 winced with pain in a show of commiseration as they harkened back to their own first prodigious blunder 4 rolled their eyes and shook their heads, wondering how it is that this person has the same job title as them 4 expressed enough disbelief to ask to have the question stated again 2 expressed enough disbelief to question the accuracy of the question's content 1 shrugged his shoulders and thought it was an interesting idea* * until he thought about the question for a second and finally realized he wasn't paying attention

That's the real problem with this team. The blitz. Here's the thing about the blitz. You live by the blitz, you die by the blitz. At least, that's supposed to be how it is. That's how it is with most other teams. The Bills? They die by the blitz and they die by the blitz. On defense, we are absolutely crippled by a lack of an effective pass rush. If we don't get pressure on the opposing QB, they are going to pick us apart. We need pressure on opposing QBs. Unfortunately, they only way we can get pressure on QBs is by blitzing. That may mean zone blitzing (which is not really blitzing per se), but in most cases it's a true blitz, when we're bringing an extra guy. Trouble is, if the opposing team is good at recognizing the blitz, reacting to the blitz, and finding the weakness in the defense that's blitzing, you're gonna get walked on. Granted, there are times when well-timed blitzes do work well, but in general if ya gotta blitz often it's going to come back and haunt you. We blitz a lot. It's starting to haunt us. On offense, we are absolutely crippled by an inability to recognize, react to, and take advantage of blitzes. That whole process requires the entire offense to be on the same page. The line has to see it coming to know how to block. The backs need to see it to know which way to go (duh). The receivers need to see it to break off their routes (if it's a pass of course) and find the opening. The QB needs to know all of this that's about to happen. Whether for us this is a breakdown in one of these or all, I don't know. But I suspect that a good offense, one that does handle blitzes well, needs to be extremely well prepared, well trained, and ready for it. That seems to be the thing that is missing from this team. Teams blitz the crap out of this offense not because Drew is susceptible to it, but because they know the entire offense is susceptible to it. I doubt we will ever see real improvement in this team until (a) the offense finally learns what a blitz is, and what to do about it, and {b} we find a some defensive linemen that can figure out how to get to the opposing QB without an extra buddy or two to help them. It's all about the blitz.

I think this is a pretty decent idea. The only thing is if this coaching staff feels Prioleau or Baker is more capable of stepping in at Coy's position. Hell, they benched Coy in favor of those other guys, so we may see more of this. Personally, I think McGee is capable of stepping in as the #2 guy, it's the #3 guy I'm a little worried about. Thomas could be capable, but I just don't know.

Well, the NY media may be overlooking the Bills, but I wouldn't bet that the Jets are.

Wow, that was kinda scary Ouch

The OL did look very good in the first half. Drew had time to throw and Henry was running the ball fairly well. The problem did occur in the second half. Whether that was an adjustment by the Pats defense, or the injuries, or both, I don't know. But if it really was the injuries, then I ask you: isn't that a problem with the OL? After all, injuries are a part of the business. If we can't plug in the backups and keep Drew upright, that's a problem.

Sorry, man. There is, alas, no cure for stupidity. Pure, unbridled stupidity. Sorry to have to be the one to break the news to you! There's always a lobotomy....

I do recall seeing Sam Aiken in for a play or two, and we were in a two WR set. What in the world does that mean?

True, but you may have noticed that the Pats brought the exact same blitz time and time again, play after play in that fourth quarter, and it still took us a couple of tries before we realized it was just going to keep coming, and then the passes to Moulds started appearing. And yet, we still couldn't get a first down out of it. I really think this team, from the center and the offensive line, to the running backs, to the wide receivers, to the QB, still just cannot recognize, react to, and take advantage of the blitz. We blitzed the Pats the entire game. We got a little pressure on Brady in the first half, but in the end he and the Pats just made us pay for it. They know how to recognize blitzes, pick them up, and respond by hitting the open man. They are extremely well prepared. We, on the other hand, continue to lack the ability to do this, and the result is that we end up looking like fools on 4th down and the game on the line.

Well, one of the things I did notice in that game is that, in the first half, Bledsoe actually did have decent protection and TIME to throw the ball. That's why we got to see the big pass plays. I'm not sure what happened in the second half (injuries and adjustments are my guess), but it was an entirely different story. As for the Bledsoe "looking pretty good at the end of the game making the correct quick read when the Pats were blitzing heavily every down"...funny but I had the exact opposite reaction. The Pats blitzed Rodney harrison the exact same way down after down and it still took us a few tries before we could actually see it and react appropriately...and we still didn't get a first down. I really think that the problem isn't that Bledsoe is susceptible to the blitz, it's this entire offense that is susceptible to the blitz. Blitzing can kill a defense if the offense can recognize it, react to it, and take advantage of the openings it leaves. This offense simply cannot recognize, react to, or take advantage of any blitzing defense. It requires a well-prepared group of guys that are all on the same page. Right now we are neither well prepared nor on the same page, which is why a team like New England wins in crunch time, while we just get crunched.

No kidding! Right now I'm wishing that was the only thing I saw.

Woo hoo!!!

Oh, my bad I guess. I thought that's what this was for.

I still can't figure this one out. So the call is a QB bootleg to the left. Leaving the utter hilarity of the call aside for a moment, I noticed four things: 1. The right guard (Villarial), who was situated right over the blitzing Bruschi, pulled immediately to the right. 2. The center (Tucker) blocked down to the left. 3. The right tackle (Williams) just kind of did his usual thing with the defensive end in front of him, whatever that usually is. 4. Henry immediately ran to the left. Now, one thing I am not sure of is if Henry ran to the left in order to block someone, because one of the Buff News stories today (Gaughan?) mentioned that someone was coming in on the left of Bledsoe, who would have disrupted the play anyway. I certainly would have expected Henry to take the blitzing gentleman directly in front of him, but maybe that's just me. The other thing I'm not sure of is why Villarial was pulling out to the RIGHT. What is that all about? Was this designed, or a screw up on someone's part? So this is a play that is, by design, leaving a gaping hole between the center and right tackle, a hole which must have appeared dangerous to anyone lining up before the snap, since there was a linebacker ready to sprint his ass right into that hole. And this is on a designed QB bootleg which, undoubtedly, is going to take an eternity to run given the primary ball carrier. So who blew it? Who knows. Probably Henry, but I'm getting the impression that there were at least three or four guys out there who really didn't know what the play was supposed to be. I put this one completely on the coaches. After all, when you take a timeout to think things over, and the game is clearly on the line, and you not only come up with an incredibly boneheaded play call, but one that clearly shows the lack of preparation and discipline on the part of the players, then I blame the guys who were calling the shots. Does anyone here doubt that if Bledsoe were still the Pats QB, that Belichick would have even considered calling that play? And if he did somehow have a stroke right before the play and told his team to run it, that they would have been completely unprepared to run it or execute it? Or to recognize that a big ol' blitz was coming that was gonna wreak havoc on it? I don't.