PFF: The Unstoppable Run Schemes of the Buffalo Bills

[Buffalo Bills Fan]

If Roman knew how to do passing game. His running plays designs and stuff by far number 1 in league and not even close. Roman passing designs sucked.

[Chandler#81]

If Roman knew how to do passing game. His running plays designs and stuff by far number 1 in league and not even close. Roman passing designs sucked.

You were drunk when you posted this, right?

[NewEraBills]

An except:

 

 

 

 

The run game was damn good. Doesn't mean the pass game or defense was any good.

The sad thing is even with the passing game being average, if we had any defense whatsoever, we win against the Seahawks, the Dolphins x2, Jets on 9/15. But nope we watched again and again that defense become the #1 team at giving up big plays over and over again. It was sad

You were drunk when you posted this, right?

Actually Roman's run game concepts are by far in the last 5 years the most difficult for defenses to deal with. From the 49ers to here with us, his run game concepts have been elite.

[JM2009]

The sad thing is even with the passing game being average, if we had any defense whatsoever, we win against the Seahawks, the Dolphins x2, Jets on 9/15. But nope we watched again and again that defense become the #1 team at giving up big plays over and over again. It was sad

Actually Roman's run game concepts are by far in the last 5 years the most difficult for defenses to deal with. From the 49ers to here with us, his run game concepts have been elite.

The defense was the main problem in 2016 and it kept the Bills out of the playoffs.

[Big Turk]

 

I was about to start a new thread linking this very same article but big C beat me to it.

 

While most fans worry about the passing game, I don't. I think we pretty much know what it'll look like this year (and it won't look like Drew Brees throwing for 5,000 yards).

 

What I worry about instead is the run game. It was so effective last year - most yards, most yards per play before contact, most yards per play - that it's hard to imagine it being so productive again.

 

I hope Rico is studying what worked last year for us, besides bringing in his own stuff.

 

Supposedly he was running with a hurt foot.

 

But I agree, JW did not look impressive in '16.

especially when he kept fumbling in mop-up duty

[MooseTooth]

Top 10 in offensive touchdowns.

 

I agree we need a better passing game, but not to the extent Bills fans think.

 

The defense(thanks to awful coaching) was the biggest reason this team has been stuck in mediocrity the past two years.

Agreed. We were 10th in point per game which is more than many of the playoff teams in 2016. Our problems cannot be solved just by THROWING THE GODDAMN BALL MORE as a few of you seem to think. We need a sound, zone defense to succeed IMO.

[machine gun kelly]

I read we were 7th in scoring last year. Yes, we need to pass more, and I believe Denison will put us in a position to make that happen. McDermitt turned around every defense he coached. That's what has to improve this year.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

If Roman knew how to do passing game. His running plays designs and stuff by far number 1 in league and not even close. Roman passing designs sucked.

...so then why does he end up as Ravens' TE Coach and Assistant HC?......

[dayman]

Tyrod is amazing...if he can throw a little more on time he would be a top 5 guy

[3rdand12]

...so then why does he end up as Ravens' TE Coach and Assistant HC?......

Likely includes "other Duties "

I have a lot of respect for Roman. And Kromer actually.

I think Greg with A. Lynn as HC would have done okay in Buffalo.

Not a knock on the new staff by any means though!

Agreed. We were 10th in point per game which is more than many of the playoff teams in 2016. Our problems cannot be solved just by THROWING THE GODDAMN BALL MORE as a few of you seem to think. We need a sound, zone defense to succeed IMO.

execution of scheme.

This is why I feel the Bills will be improved on both sides of the ball this season.

[John from Riverside]

The sad thing is even with the passing game being average, if we had any defense whatsoever, we win against the Seahawks, the Dolphins x2, Jets on 9/15. But nope we watched again and again that defense become the #1 team at giving up big plays over and over again. It was sad

Actually Roman's run game concepts are by far in the last 5 years the most difficult for defenses to deal with. From the 49ers to here with us, his run game concepts have been elite.

This is true

 

However his passing concepts were not.....and this was talked about on the niner''s board when we actually hired him.

 

Run game - He is great

Passing game - below average

"... How a team manages to accomplish these things (running or passing) is completely and totally irrelevant." ...

 

while i might agree with the gist of this, it is not totally irrelevant. if you have a team, much like the Bills last year, that is based upon the ground game and their passing game is not really up to snuf, then when they get behind and have to play catch up, it becomes very relevant. when teams are behind, they rely moreso on their passing game to quickly catch up. same applies if you are losing and there are only 2 minutes remaining in the game. at that point, it becomes imperative that your passing game can flourish.

I agree with fox on this....although I will also say that quality of targets also comes into play

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

Likely includes "other Duties "

I have a lot of respect for Roman. And Kromer actually.

I think Greg with A. Lynn as HC would have done okay in Buffalo.

Not a knock on the new staff by any means though!

execution of scheme.

This is why I feel the Bills will be improved on both sides of the ball this season.

...Roman was livid internally with the Cassel trade from what I know.....so I'm not sure nor will we ever know how much TT excited him.....Lynn had to pick up the pieces unfortunately, but nice to see him land a HC job....something about the new staff is passing the smell test so far (said that before and got 17 years of stench in my face for it)....

[3rdand12]

...Roman was livid internally with the Cassel trade from what I know.....so I'm not sure nor will we ever know how much TT excited him.....Lynn had to pick up the pieces unfortunately, but nice to see him land a HC job....something about the new staff is passing the smell test so far (said that before and got 17 years of stench in my face for it)....

I was aware of some discontent. I can imagine it was not that hard to let Roman go.

Just a what if ? from me.

No reason not to risk be hopeful about the current staff. Btw i am sure there will be Staff adjustments post season. first year staff still working the process.

But as a whole this first effort by Sean/Terry.Beane, smells like something good is cooking right now.

[NewEraBills]

I dont care about having the #1 Run game, its not how you get to the superbowl. You MUST be able to throw the damn ball and do it well. I would rather drop to 8th or 10th in rushing and greatly increase our passing numbers.

 

But it CAN be how you get there so long as you have a passing attack to compliment it and a stout defense.

[vincec]

I read we were 7th in scoring last year. Yes, we need to pass more, and I believe Denison will put us in a position to make that happen. McDermitt turned around every defense he coached. That's what has to improve this year.

I don't think the Bills need to pass more. They need to be able to pass when passing is necessary to win the game. That was the problem last season. All was well when they were dominating with the running game and had the lead, but trailing late in games spelled doom.

 

They could also use a few more big plays from the passing game, but honestly I think that part would have been fine if they had Sammy all season.

[GunnerBill]

...so then why does he end up as Ravens' TE Coach and Assistant HC?......

He is basically in charge of the run game and he will, no doubt, improve it.

[BarleyNY]

Thurman, I respect you as one of the more intelligent posters on this board but I have to disagree to an extent.

 

Let's say the Bills score 100 offensive TDs this year. But only 37 of the 100 TDs came through the air. Would you still be disappointed in the passing game?

 

The percent of TDs that come through the air is meaningless.

 

Think about this: teams today generally pass more than they run. So today's defenses (schemes, rosters, lineups) are more designed to stop the pass than the run. In fact, defenses are in nickel and dime packages about 60% of the time.

 

The ancient Chinese strategist, Sun Tzu, said it's best to 'attack where there is no defense.' So if defenses are trying to stop the pass, maybe the smart thing to do right now is run. It's certainly the smart thing to do when your RB is better than your QB.

 

In the end, why do we care how we get our points as long as we score more than our opponent?

 

Last year, we were in the top 10 in scoring but our D was weak. We need to get better at D. But you're right - we're unlikely to be as effective on the ground this year as we were last year. So - to stay in the top 10 in scoring - we're going to have to develop a better passing game. And I think we will - screw the pundits.

A whole lot is getting made of the Bills being top 10 in scoring offense so I'd like to explore that a little more. They were tied with Pittsburgh (generally considered an excellent offensive team) for 10th at 24.9 ppg. That's top 11 and very respectable. One more FG a game and we'd have been top 3, just ahead of NE. One FG less a game and we'd have been 20th overall, a little below average. So that's the range we are in. A little improvement would vault us into the top of the league, but a little drop off would send us back to average.

 

We were also tied for 16th in defensive scoring at 23.6 ppg, exactly average. Improve by a FG a game and we'd move up to 12th. Give up an extra FG a game and we'd be at 29th! Yikes!

 

Looking back on the O and D run and pass rankings (see my previous post) it tells us a lot about the Bills. We were an elite rushing team with excellent pass defense, but terrible run defense and poor passing game.

 

The first thing that sticks out to me is that, wow, we can't fall off at all on defense. That'd be catastrophic. An improvement is obviously needed and I do expect it based solely on us running a competent scheme this season. But it'll take a big improvement (3.6 ppg) to get into the top 5. We were there before Wrex, so maybe we can get back - or at least close. As many have noted, the scoring defense needs to improve. Statistically that looks like it's all run defense, but one could argue that other teams ran on us a lot because they were ahead late in the game. Regardless, our run defense sucked.

 

The second thing, as I noted before, is that the pass game has to improve. Our run game is so far ahead of everyone else that we really can't improve it. 8 of the other top 11 ranked offenses made the post season. There are times that we will need to pass to win and we haven't been able to do that. That has to change too.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

I was aware of some discontent. I can imagine it was not that hard to let Roman go.

Just a what if ? from me.

No reason not to risk be hopeful about the current staff. Btw i am sure there will be Staff adjustments post season. first year staff still working the process.

But as a whole this first effort by Sean/Terry.Beane, smells like something good is cooking right now.

...surf 'n turf works for me......... ...good 'ol Wrecks was woodchuck and carp................

[3rdand12]

...surf 'n turf works for me......... ...good 'ol Wrecks was woodchuck and carp................

all depends on how it's served.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

all depends on how it's served.

...my idea is with drawn butter and sauteed mushrooms....Wrecks comes with Toe Jam.............