Did Lombardi nail it Re: Fitz and offence

[MARCELL DAREUS POWER]

to remind how bad it was at qb and offense generally....

 

Edited August 28, 2012 by MARCELL DAREUS POWER

[#34fan]

Lombardi on the NFL Network before the Steelers game indicated that NFL coaches caught on to the fact Fitz and the Bills preferred quick passes, often slants, in their pass game and that they have adjusted.

 

I've notice recently how man quick slants to SJ have been batted down.

 

Add to this the fact Stevie is a fantastic route runner but isn't a burner and has fair to good hands and the question becomes is the Bills offence extremely limited.

 

Is the season going to hang on the ability of Fitz to find raw rookie Graham deep?

 

Fitz to Graham deep?

 

You think that's ever gonna be "a thing"?

 

Don't you guys get that FITZ DOESNT CHANGE! -He still has the same effed up throwing motion that leads to INT's and batted balls. He can't let it go. -Just like that stupid beard!

 

Lee came in here and GAVE UP trying to show Fitz the correct way to throw a football. Instead he opted to focus on footwork. -Which IMO wasn't the problem. Now we've added poor Tavaris Jackson to this circus of incompetence, and failure.

 

Fitz managed to save his buddy Thigpen from the axe. -Temporarily. But he won't be able to save himself or his enabling HC.

What a nightmare. The offseason spending spree was all for nothing.

[Kelly the Dog]

My impression is that Gailey designed the Bills offense around the fact the OL stunk at first, and couldnt hold their blocks for more than 2-3 seconds. It necessitated a quick passing game. He also had a very smart QB who could make quick pre-snap and sometimes post snap decisions. He had his best WR as a possession guy with a knack for getting open downfield but no real speed, and his line wasn't able to hold guys out that long on a consistent basis. He also had a very efficient slot reciever in David Nelson, and a decent middle of the field TE in Chandler. He spread the field and used Fitz's smarts to choose where he was going to throw before the 2 seconds he had to throw were up.

 

He also had a terrific RB in Fred Jackson who was excellent, perhaps the best in the league, at slipping through seams and picking small holes. If other teams had to play nickel and dime defenses every play because we threw 2/3 of the time, our running game would be very effective, and the OL could block for those kinds of runs.

 

It worked perfectly for several games. And we even withstood the first two injuries to our OL, which were Bell and Urbik IIRC. Hairston and Rinehart performed admirably, and we didnt lose much. The third injury killed us, and we no longer had even those 2-3 seconds to throw. At the same time, Jones went down and we didnt have a #2 WR to replace him. Nelson proved to be ineffective on the outside.

 

At the same time, 5 games or so into the season, Williams and Merriman both went down for the season. What was an opportunistic defense became a disaster, and couldn't stop anyone. Gailey knew we couldnt stop anyone and if we were going to win, he had to keep up this spread offense. And Fitz had less time, fewer guys open, and safeties as Lombardi suggested, creeping up to stop the short passing game. It wasnt that they figured us out, it was that we couldnt protect Fitz, we couldnt get open, we couldnt stretch the field, and we had to go 80 yards every single series for the most part because we couldnt stop anybody. And had about two less series on offense per game because of it.

 

Our OL became a shambles, our D became a shambles, and we lost all our confidence, on both sides of the ball.

 

If we are healthy, and we are playing efficiently, which hasn't been the case yet, the teams bunching up the safeties and taking away the slants will get burnt. That remains to be seen.

 

I'm predicting, but would not bet on it, our offense is going to look more like the first half of last year than the second half. With a huge part of it being that we won't have to go 80 yards most series.

[thewildrabbit]

The Giants offense only scored 22 more points than the Bills in 2011.

 

The Bills offense was 14th in points scored. They scored more than many playoff teams.

I know you want to, but you can't compare the team that won the SB to a 6-10 team. Like I pointed out, the Giants have a better receiver corps! They also have a better QB, better O line (with pro bowlers on it) better scheme, better play caller, better HC, better defense, better everything.

 

and clearly scoring doesn't equate to wins does it?

 

 

 

For the 2nd half of last season the Bills would get behind in points on the scoreboard as little as 3 points, and then go into an all out catch up passing mode. This would put constant pressure on the QB always facing nickel and dime defensive packages designed to stop the pass. The QB was always under duress from all that passing which led to many interceptions at the end of the year. Gailey was so hell bent on passing the ball that even when the running game was working well he would abandon the run and just keep calling 4-5 WR shotgun passing plays with only one decent WR. That plan of passing attack fooled nobody

.

The Bills went 2-8 after the week 7 bye.

 

 

Who cares if Gailey can get a QB to light it up, it doesn't matter if he can't get them to win games.

[NastyNateSoldiers]

Plan and Simple, we need to scrap this wide open crappy pistol offense and start pounding the ball 35-40 times a gm. Chan has to find away to use Freddy and Spiller at the same time. We need to be innovators not copycats. The problem is Chan has this fear of injury complex and we will never get anywhere with that attitude. Coaches should know to adjust at a monents notice. That's what separates the Belicheats from the Gaileys.

Bill Belicheat knew he had two monster TE's on his team and he reinvented his offense around those 2 Young studs with NO fear about injurys to either or one of those two guys, cause he knows how to adjust. Chan on the other hand can possibly pt together a 2 rb system that can take advantage of mismatches on the field. But when asked if he was planning on doing this, this yr he said no because if one of them gets hurt we will have to scrap that offense. That's just a loser mentality. It also proves to me that he can't adjust

[machine gun kelly]

Kelly the Dog is right. Yes, we want to open it up and go deep, and yes we should pound the ball at least 30-35 times per game with Freddy and CJ. This will depend on this mammouth line getting a push on D Lines like the 49ers. I really believe we will look much better in week 1 against the Jets when we have game planned and schemed for them, and then bring on the Chiefs.

 

Also, as stated before the Defense is where we needed to improve so much more then the offensive problems. We gave up 6000+ yard last year. If our D Line against a much better O Line in the Steelers (the analysts projected with newer additions in last two years the steelers would have an excellent o line) continues to push way back and we didn't even have Anderson out there, we are going to improve. Yes, our guys got gassed before the half, but they can get better rotatiosn in there so all of them don't come out at once.

 

Bottom line is the sky is not falling, and we are not necessarily going to be terrible. Just wait before you blast the team. We could come out and win the first three off the bat, and then our first huge test in the Patriots. I was so encouraged to see how bad the o line looks for the patriots. so does the jets o line. If this holds true, we could get a nice start to the season. That o line for the cheatriots made the Bucs d line look like the Giants.

 

Go Bills!

[Buffaloed in Pa]

If defenses are jumping routes, a simple pump fake and throw over the top should loosen things up. Although, I wonder how much of last season's fizzle had to do with defensive adjustments. Hopefully, Chan and Fitz can execute a game plan to counter act these defenses.

Pump fake? Fitz didn`t have enough time in 3 step drop. Fitz took a beating in the Pitt game. This line just doesn`t pass block good.

[benderbender]

Fitz will answer every question we as fans have about him this season.

Is there a meet and greet?

[Nanker]

I'm more concerned about C J fizzling. LeBeau had his troops well prepared and they blitzed a lot. But without question this year's squad has a lot to prove. That said, I think we're better off than the Jests and Dolphags.

[Nuncha]

If defenses are jumping routes, a simple pump fake and throw over the top should loosen things up. Although, I wonder how much of last season's fizzle had to do with defensive adjustments. Hopefully, Chan and Fitz can execute a game plan to counter act these defenses.

 

Fizzle? Fitz had cracked ribs. lol

[Hapless Bills Fan]

The Bills pose no real threat in their offensive passing scheme because they only have one top receiver in Stevie Johnson. Chan Gailey thinks he is slick running all those 5 WR sets, and yet he is fooling only himself because defenses know to key on Johnson.

 

So it is said

 

And yet it is written that Fitzpatrick did pass for three thousand eight hundred and thirty two yards in the year of our Lord two thousand and eleven.

And it is also written that in the same year, Stevie Johnson did catch one thousand and four yards of that passing

Lo, two thousand eight hundred and twenty eight yards of Fitzpatrick's passing, or almost 3 of his 4 passes (73%), were caught by someone who doth not have the name "Johnson" on the back of his jersey

 

And lo, some might say, this suggesteth that despite the dearth of star wide receivers upon the team of the Bills of Buffalo, to cover receivers named "Johnson" may not sufficeth to render their game of passing all ineffective in the eyes of the Chan.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Hopeful

[BuffaloWings]

I'd say the Bills still have Chandler and Nelson who can work up the seams. And they still have Fred and CJ to catch balls out of the backfield. So no, i don't think it all depends on SJ and deep balls to Graham.

 

This.

 

The Bills have talented players. Just because we have one good WR (Stevie) doesn't mean that the passing game is going to suffer. Jackson, Spiller, and now Graham can add things to the passing game. Spiller has lined up wide before and can essentially be a 3rd WR. Yeah, he's not a typical WR, but he can perform the duties well enough.

 

The offense (IMO) should really be based around Freddie. Let the opposing defenses focus on him and have Spiller, Chandler, Jones, Stevie, and Graham work on winning their battles. Once that happens, the offense will open up more.

[Booger]

If you want to know the real reason behind the struggles of the Bills then this sums it up perfectly. I found this on Rotoworld and it breaks down exactly what the issue is and why the Bills looked terrible the 2nd half of last season and early this pre-season. It is not because of injury, it is not the WR's (heck, we could have the best set of WR's in the league for all we know), not Gailey, etc, etc. It is our LIMITATION at QB. Notice I did not say "Bad" QB....it is that he is rather limited. As I have stated many times before, Fitz is the best backup QB in the league. If you don't agree with me or the other minority of vans on here that try to "tell it like it is" then maybe this will help convince....

 

Ryan Fitzpatrick has completed just 21-of-43 passes (48.8 percent) for 208 yards (4.8 YPA), one touchdown, and no interceptions through three preseason games.

He's also taken six sacks, although five came in the opener against the Redskins. Fitzpatrick was much better in preseason last year, only to start hot and fade as the real games progressed. NFL Net's Mike Lombardi has suggested defenses have caught onto the Bills' offensive scheme, realizing they can't throw vertically and struggle to hold protection for long stretches. Fitzpatrick's arm-strength limitations mean the former probably isn't going to change.

[Dorkington]

We get it. Fitz sucks.

 

So what do we do about it?

[Doc]

This is my biggest concern with this team and I think it also has to do with why a lot of us were hoping for a WR early in the draft. Personally, I thought the difference between Michael Floyd and our second WR (call it Donald Jones) was a lot greater than the difference between Gilmore and Drayton Florence. However, I'm afraid that philosophical rigidity and an unwavering commitment to the horizontal passing game played a part in the Bills waiting on WR at the draft. Sure, they tried to bring in Meacham, but when that didn't work out, they didn't do much else to get better at WR. My fear is that the coaching staff does not see the need for a big bodied, physical, vertical passing threat in this offense.

 

I'm really worried that Chan thinks that he can scheme around the talent deficiencies at WR and find quicker route runners to fit his scheme. But, I think that scheme only works to an extent. In the NFL there's too much talent for a single scheme to dominate for a long period of time as all teams will adjust. You have to have good players that can create mismatches.

 

Right now, I see a very one-dimensional passing game, and I don't see the talent on the roster to adjust.

Floyd isn't starting for Arizona, and that's not because of their talent at WR. In fact, outside of Blackmon, I can't think of another rookie WR who is starting.

[Mike in Syracuse]

This is yet another shining example of what passes for sports journalism now.

 

It's really great that opposing defenses know what the Bills like to do. That's just great, but there's a big difference between knowing what they're going to try and do and actually stopping it.

 

For example, every team in the league knows EXACTLY what Tom Brady and the New England offense is going to try to do. Stopping them is an entirely different matter. Everyone knows the Ravens are going to try to run the ball...stopping them....not so easy.

[Dorkington]

Lee came in here and GAVE UP trying to show Fitz the correct way to throw a football. Instead he opted to focus on footwork. -Which IMO wasn't the problem. Now we've added poor Tavaris Jackson to this circus of incompetence, and failure.

 

If you think footwork has nothing to do with "the correct way" to throw a football, then you're truly ignorant.

[KD in CA]

Awesome, another 'Fitz is the problem' thread. We hadn't had one of those for at least 20 minutes.

[Booger]

We get it. Fitz sucks.

 

So what do we do about it?

 

I would be watching the wavier wire very closely. I would also look to trade for someone now. Yes, a 2nd backup QB. I would look for someone younger with starter potential. The next Matt Flynn type. I honestly would look at Washington and see if they would take a 2nd round pick for Cousins at this point. Scrap all that Brad Smith BS and let Spiller run the Wild Cat as Brad Smith is not going to throw anyway out of it so there is no way a team is going to be "tricked".

 

Awesome, another 'Fitz is the problem' thread. We hadn't had one of those for at least 20 minutes.

 

Get used to them because the season is going to start in less than 2 weeks and they look TERRIBLE. Does Fitz's "windup" when he throws remind anyone else of Tebow's?".....oh wait, Tebow was "the answer" right?

Edited August 28, 2012 by Booger

[Dorkington]

I would be watching the wavier wire very closely. I would also look to trade for someone now. Yes, a 2nd backup QB. I would look for someone younger with starter potential.

 

So, basically what we've been doing. Yet every thread here is about how every QB we have, had, and will have sucks.