ESPN...Teams targeting tired Bills D

[K-9]

...Of course, we could've just looked at the gamebooks and had real, true facts to deal with. The Bills are more than 10 minutes behind on average in ToP.

Time of Possession 24:47 35:12

http://www.nfl.com/t...istics?team=BUF

 

Which kind of brings us full circle. They have low TOP because they just don't convert 3rd downs and retain possession rather than not running more time between plays. That is strictly execution, not pace.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

Jeeeze guys. While all this clamoring to scrap the offense is happening, has anyone noticed the bills were within one score of every opponent thus far.

 

That might demand some tweaks, but it is hardly screaming for an overhaul...

 

Like it or not this is the future of the NFL. Fast paced high octane offenses with athletic players at every position.

 

Sign of a young team, but also encouraging. As Dave McBride pointed out, they've played three extremely good front 7s.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

Well, I'd say it's fairly obvious that it's a contributing factor. It's not the only factor, but an extra 6 minutes on the field is going to tire big guys out. Obviously they can help themselves out by getting off the field on third downs but that doesn't negate the position the offense puts them in.

 

Why do people need a single "right" answer? It's a combination off all of it.

 

I don't need a single right answer because I agree it's a combination of things. Of course the fast pace is a contributing factor, but I don't even consider it a huge factor. The Giants hold the ball a whopping 1:03 more per game and their pace might be considered glacial. Philly has even less possession time than the Bills, but they still convert 10% more of their 3rd downs.

 

It's mostly about execution, regardless.

 

GO BILLS!!!

Edited September 27, 2013 by K-9

[NoSaint]

Using the same 3rd down conversion percentage, I would invite anybody with the time or inclination to calculate just how much extra rest time the offense would have saved for our defense by taking the maximum time allowed between snaps.

 

Rogers wasn't undressed in the secondary because he was tired.

 

Our LBs didn't take improper pursuit angles or over pursue because they were tired.

 

It's a question of execution.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

Over 3 hours (not 60 mins of game clock) we are talking about 5 mins of time I'm guessing

[first_and_ten]

People say it's mostly about execution, but I think the offensive game plan also plays a major role along with the play calling. Hackett doesn't seem to know how to attack an opponent's weeknesses. Who is watching the Bills and can't see that they seem to run only a handfull of plays. It's predictable and boring. Hackett is bad.

Edited September 27, 2013 by first_and_ten

[NoSaint]

People say it's mostly about execution, but I think the offensive game plan also plays a major role along with the play calling. Hackett doesn't seem to know how to attack an opponent's weeknesses. Who is watching the Bills and can't see that they seem to run only a handfull of plays. It's predictable and boring. Hackett is bad.

 

people said the same about a certain nfc powerhouse with a rookie qb and restricted play calling last year, but thats been covered several times here.

 

we will see whether hackets bad, or we are just early in the developmental stages right now.

[maddenboy]

I was nothing more than a JV football coach in high school so I don't claim to know all the ins and outs of the game but it seemed like the Bills were getting blitzed right up the middle the entire game by the Jets. I would have loved to have seen a middle bubble screen to take advantage of their rush from time to time just to keep the Jets on their heels a bit.

 

I disagree. I re-watched the game on NFL rewind.

 

I focused on Colin Brown. And I noticed something. They never blitzed to his side.

 

The DT never made a move. It was all bull rush from the snap. No swim moves, no stunts, no nothin. Just straight bull rush. About midway through the 4th quarter I actually saw the first Tackle-End stunt to his side. They were smart enuf to know that tricks werent necessary.

[Kellyto83TD]

There is a better way to fix it - make first downs. No matter how much they slow down, if the cannot stay on the filed, it is not going to help. Pace is not the problem - execution is. If they cannot fix that, it does not matter how long they do or do not take to snap the ball.

The Better way is to huddle up with the rookie QB and his new guys, let the OL get set and know their assignments, let EJ read the field pre snap etc.

 

This K gun BS isn't going to work

[Gugny]

I think using the no huddle exclusively enabled Manuel to engineer the game winning drive against Carolina. However, I think it should be used situationally, rather than exclusively. It's counter-productive right now. If they continue to run it, it just shows (to me) that the coaching staff is stubborn. I hope they do the right thing.

[Nitro]

Hackett wants the offense to run before it can walk. Once the offense gets its act together and execute the plays correctly, then you can increase the tempo. The fast pace won't work until then,

[Koufax]

One bad game by a rookie QB plus a mangled secondary leading to a one score loss, and we are blaming the scheme.

 

I don't know if I really love the hurry up. It was fun when Kelly was running it, and would have been more fun if we forced a punt anytime in that 10 minute super bowl drive. But I think it is intriguing. It blows up on you a little more when the offense struggles, and I would expect it will also take some time for our defense to adjust to being on the field more as a result.

 

But I don't think the evidence against it based on defensive performance through three games, or the idea we should have milked the clock against New England, etc holds much water. We need to execute better on both sides of the ball, not throw out our scheme as a failure three games in. Right now I'm hoping to get to 2-2 and start a drive towards the playoffs, but I also know that if EJ were polished enough to string together 16 solid rookie season games, he probably would have gone #1 overall, and we are going to deal with some growing pains. I'm very eager to see where the current coaching staff and current schemes lead us, and think that pulling the plug after three weeks is completely silly.

[thebandit27]

Hackett wants the offense to run before it can walk. Once the offense gets its act together and execute the plays correctly, then you can increase the tempo. The fast pace won't work until then,

 

I'm not being snarky here, I'm genuinely curious...why do you believe that the tempo of the offense has anything to do with their inability to execute thus far?

[Sisyphean Bills]

What a crok of BS.

 

Is that your response to my post? My post was a response to K-9's demand for someone to do his homework for him. I freely admit the numbers aren't "facts", but that's sort of the game with answering an ambiguous question.

 

PS: I don't have a dog in this fight. For instance, has it been shown ToP differential is directly correlated to how "tired a defense" happens to be as measured by some (well defined) standard and while controlling all other variables? I doubt it.

[Cash]

So, you're not willing to do the work, either, I see. Can't say as I blame you.

 

While I enjoyed the dissertation on what a fact is, I think you missed my larger point.

 

My apologies if I didn't make that clear enough.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

A dissertation is 4 sentences now? Sign me up for that PhD program. If you'd bother to read beyond the joke portion, you'd have seen that I did address your larger point. At least, I think I did. It's hard to verify whether I addressed it or not when you declare that I didn't get it, but also don't say what it actually was. Just so I'm not guilty of the same, I'll re-state my real point #2: It's not that the people you're arguing with are right, it's that your specific argument against them doesn't hold water.

 

Is that your response to my post? My post was a response to K-9's demand for someone to do his homework for him. I freely admit the numbers aren't "facts", but that's sort of the game with answering an ambiguous question.

 

PS: I don't have a dog in this fight. For instance, has it been shown ToP differential is directly correlated to how "tired a defense" happens to be as measured by some (well defined) standard and while controlling all other variables? I doubt it.

 

I doubt it as well. Certainly during the Super Bowl years, our fast-paced offense put the D on the field a ton, and that was blamed at the time for a lot of the D's struggles. (Note that that offense executed very well and converted all kinds of 3rd downs, and still brutally lost the TOP battle almost every game.) But once we hired Wade Phillips and signed Ted Washington and Bryce Paup, the D was excellent. Still on the field more than the other defense, which helped inflate the yards allowed stats, but consistently getting stops. Maybe it would've been even better if the offense played slower? I don't know. I do know that the quality of players & coaching was the main reason for the improvement.

 

I'm not going to call for the coaching staff to slow down the offense or scrap the no-huddle or anything, because that's their prerogative, especially in their first year on the job in what looks like a heavy rebuilding year. This year is all about figuring out what works and what we've got that's worth building on. (Still depressing when we lose, though.) I do think it's pretty likely, especially in light of the 2nd-half rushing numbers, that the D is getting worn down from being on the field so much. I don't really think that slowing down the O will have enough impact to change anything, but I'll admit that it's plausible. Mostly around the idea that taking more time at the line of scrimmage would give EJ a better chance to read the D and lead to more offensive success. I don't know if that would really happen, but again, it's plausible.

 

I will say that I like the idea of a no-huddle/hurry-up attack, but I do have some beef with the specific one we seem to have implemented. For example, we never seem to vary our tempo. A good D can adjust to any tempo as long as it's always the same. I'd like to see a little more variation, especially in terms of how long we take between lining up and snapping. But also slow down the pace of getting to the line once in a while -- try to lull the D into making heavy substitutions. If you find a personnel mismatch (they're in the dime against your 2TE set, e.g.), THEN you step back on the gas and run hyper-quick plays to prevent the D from substituting. Of course, the second you commit a penalty, the D has plenty of time to substitute, so you need to play with a lot more discipline than the Bills have shown so far.

[MDH]

I don't need a single right answer because I agree it's a combination of things. Of course the fast pace is a contributing factor, but I don't even consider it a huge factor. The Giants hold the ball a whopping 1:03 more per game and their pace might be considered glacial. Philly has even less possession time than the Bills, but they still convert 10% more of their 3rd downs.

 

It's mostly about execution, regardless.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

Of course much of it is about execution.

 

However, I don't think the hurry up helps the execution. I believe Manuel would be better served having a few moments to collect himself between plays and think about what he needs to be looking for pre-snap, on the next play. He'd benefit from the extra time at the LoS. The O-line could benefit from the extra time as well. A little more time to make the line calls couldn't hurt.

 

Once everybody has the O down and the game has become slower for Manuel, by all means go balls out fast. But until then the execution is going to suffer and nobody is going to be at their best.

 

Not fact, just my opinion.

 

At the very least they need to stop the idiocy of going as fast as they can no matter what the game situation calls for. It's hurt them in two games now.

[Thirty Year Fan]

+1

+2

[Georgia Bill]

Someone needs to tell Hackett that the old K-Gun's effectiveness wasn't primarily due to the tempo. It was effective because the offense was packed with Hall of Famer's and Pro Bowler's.

And they executed. No offense works if they are not executing. The uptempo has nothing to do with this.

Hmmm. Maybe they executed because they were packed with Hall of Famers and Pro Bowlers. Lack of talent is probably our biggest issue. No quick fixes are in sight.

[CardinalScotts]

so your not as fresh in the 4th quarter as you are in the 1st quarter ? hmmm that's why people read ESPN for great insight like that-

 

someone tell the Texans, Chargers, , Redskins, Giants, Bears, Packers, Vikings, Falcons, 49ers, Cardinals and Rams to name a few to slow down your giving up more points than we are. I think it's because your tired

Edited September 28, 2013 by CardinalScotts

[YoloinOhio]

so your not as fresh in the 4th quarter as you are in the 1st quarter ? hmmm that's why people read ESPN for great insight like that-

 

someone tell the Texans, Chargers, , Redskins, Giants, Bears, Packers, Vikings, Falcons, 49ers, Cardinals and Rams to name a few to slow down your giving up more points than we are. I think it's because your tired

lol

[Nitro]

I'm not being snarky here, I'm genuinely curious...why do you believe that the tempo of the offense has anything to do with their inability to execute thus far?

Good question. I have coached in the past, High School, and players learn by repetition. You do it a thousand times it becomes second nature. Football players are not conditioned to play for long periods at a fast tempo. One of the first things to go is technique. It is like learning to drive a race car. Just because you can drive a car on the street means you can handle 200 mph. You work up in increments until your mind and body are in sync and can handle the speed. I give this offense 5 or 6 games and the mental and techniques mistakes will abate. In theory it works. Chip Kelly proved it in college after developing it and the players over time. An offensive play is an art of movement. All parts have to move in coordinated effort to be successful. Right now they are not executing it as conceived.

[Not the real Gale Gilbert]

Dumb headline. Teams have no choice but to "target" the defense their facing.

[RussellDopeland]

ESPN sucks. Might as well get your NFL insight from bleacher report or TMZ