CosmicBills Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Scouts Edge Summary: "Palmer's injury is reason for concern and Kitna will understandably be rusty if he has to start but that's not why Cinci loses this game. Buffalo will win the battle of time of possession, dictate the tempo of the game and keep the Bengals off balance by regularly handing the ball of to McGahee. Bledsoe will take advantage of the single-coverage opportunities McGahee creates and find his playmakers downfield. As a result, the Bills should be able to build a lead that forces Cinci to abandon its running game in an effort ot come back. Gray will throw a number of different looks and bring pressure from all over once the Bengals become a one-dimensional passing attack. This should result in plenty of stalled drives and/or turnovers regardless of who lines up under center" Sounds good to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB27 Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 I hope their right! I do think we should be able to move the ball effectively against their D. I am more worried about a poor performance by our D, and a few mistakes on Offense that cost us the game. If we play mistake free football, then I think it will be an easy win for us. I just don't think we can do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicBills Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 I hope their right! I do think we should be able to move the ball effectively against their D. I am more worried about a poor performance by our D, and a few mistakes on Offense that cost us the game. If we play mistake free football, then I think it will be an easy win for us. I just don't think we can do that. 164644[/snapback] Scouts Edge has been pretty dead on with the Bills all year...let's hope the trend continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuckincincy Posted December 17, 2004 Share Posted December 17, 2004 Scouts Edge Summary: "Palmer's injury is reason for concern and Kitna will understandably be rusty if he has to start but that's not why Cinci loses this game. Buffalo will win the battle of time of possession, dictate the tempo of the game and keep the Bengals off balance by regularly handing the ball of to McGahee. Bledsoe will take advantage of the single-coverage opportunities McGahee creates and find his playmakers downfield. As a result, the Bills should be able to build a lead that forces Cinci to abandon its running game in an effort ot come back. Gray will throw a number of different looks and bring pressure from all over once the Bengals become a one-dimensional passing attack. This should result in plenty of stalled drives and/or turnovers regardless of who lines up under center" Sounds good to me! 164640[/snapback] Running is key. The B'gals run defense is a bit better than the stats say - they have allowed a number of long-gainers which skews the numbers. But grind away. They likely will have 2 rookies in the defensive backfield, and after watching them this season, rookies or not, the B'gals db's aren't double-coverage aces. Neutralizing their LB's is important - Simmmons, Hardy, and rookie Landon Johnson (their 3rd starter at that position this season) cover a lot of ground. They are vulnerable against 20 - 25 yard wr posts or streaks which pulls the db's, downfield, so time to hit a TE. Ceveland's Steve Heiden torched them. Unfortunately, the Bill's TE corps is depleted. I'd like to see the Bills run a 3-wide, a streaker for the straight lime or post/curl and one over the 15 yard flat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicBills Posted December 17, 2004 Author Share Posted December 17, 2004 Here's the full report from Scouting Edge: WHEN THE BILLS HAVE THE BALL Rushing Willis has rushed for over 100 yards in 6 games and Buffalo has won all six times. That's not good news for the Bengals considering the run D has been among the worst in the league and teh Bills should give McGahee 20-plus carries. Staying committed to the run will take pressure off Drew Bledsoe on the road and set up the play action packages. It should also allow Buffalo to control the clock and keep its outstanding Defense well-rested. Although it's unknown if Henry will be able to return from an ankle injury that has forced him to miss the past two games, Shaud Williams ran hard last week. OC Tom Clements can still keep Willis fresh by giving Shaud five to ten carries in relief if Henry cannot play. The Bengals will likely counter by walking rookie SS Madieu Williams up to the line of scrimmage to help limit McGahee's production. However, it's important to recognize that these 8 man fronts could also backfire. Williams lacks ideal size and has problems shedding blocks quickly. If he gets caught up in traffic, McGahee could hit the second level at full speed and he shows a second gear in the open field. As a result, it's critical that the Bengals front 7 fill the correct gaps and its secondary tackle well when DC Leslie Frazier loads up against the run. Passing The problem with stacking the line to slow McGahee down is it's the lesser of two evils and not a solution. With Williams committed to stopping the run, he won't be able to give the corners safety help over the top. This is critical because WRs Moulds and Evans are capable of taking advantage of any single-coverage opportunities they get working against DBs Troy James and rookie Keiwan Ratliff. They have the speed to get behind James, who has lost a step with age, and the route-running skills to set the raw Ratliff up with some double moves. Look for Frazier to mask this weakness in two ways. The first is to frequently play James and Ratliff off the line. While this will give Moulds and Evans space to get open underneath and put pressure on the corners to tackle well, it should help take away the big play in the verticle passing game. The second way Frazier will try to help his DBs is to blitz early and often in the hopes that he can force Drew to release the ball before his WRs can get open downfield. Frazier will test the Bills' protection schemes by bringing pressure from different areas of the field and running some zone blitzes. If Buffalo fails to communicate and make necessary adjustments, the pass rush should get to the immobile Bledsoe substantially imrpoving the Bengals' chances of getting a turn over. WHEN THE BENGALS HAVE THE BALL Rushing With Palmer ailing and cincinnati's injury depleted defense vulnerable to wearing down late in games, offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski should also show a strong commitment to the running game. However, that will be far easier said than done. Buffalo's run D is one of the best in the league and its front 7 has been outstanding. DTs Williams and Adams have enough quickness to beat most interior linemen to the point of attack and they are close-to-impossible to move once in position. LBs Spikes, Fletcher and Posey are extremely active and they swarm to the ball. In addition, SS Milloy is a powerful open field tackler that excels in run support and is capable of preventing RB Johnson from breaking any long runs. The key for the Bengals will be continuing to hand the ball off to Johnson even if the ground game struggles early. If Cincy becomes a one-dimensional passing attack, an opportunistic Bills' D will get plenty of chances to generate a turnover and it has the playmakers to take advantage. One of the ways Bratkowski can help Johnson and keep Buffalo's talented Front 7 off balance is running reverses and reverse-action. The LBs will either hesitate while they read the play making it easier for blockers to reach them or get caught out of position reacting to the initial action of the play. Passing: Palmer left in the 3rd quarter of last week's game with a sprained knee and while an MRI revealed no structural damage he is questionable. Head coach Lewis says Palmer's status depends on his tolerance for pain and how the knee responds to treatment. However, don't expect Cincy to scale the playbook back or change the gameplan should Kitna start in Palmer's place. Kitna, who started all 16 games last year, has more expierence in this scheme than Palmer and, more importantly, he too has the confidence of his teammates. Cincy will have its work cut out for it when it drops back to pass regardless of who gets the start under center. Troy Vincent, who missed nine games with a knee injury, has moved from CB to FS and he made an immediate impact in his first start last week. The expierence the Bills now have at safety and the ability of the front 7 to stop the run without Milloy regularly lining up in the box gives Gray several options. He can switch covereages and blitz liberally because he doesn't have to worry about his safties making a mistake as much. In addition, Vincent's ability to cover the slot WR will free up Milloy to blitz more frequently. Milloy anticipates snap counts well and shows good closing speed to the QB. Pretty thorough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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