A Few Thoughts About the Panthers Game

[boyst]

[Virgil]

What am I missing here?

[NewEra]

Great recap Virgil, I appreciate the level head and agree with all your points.

 

 

That was a zone option play and he was never going to look in that direction. How about DiMarco catches the ball and we move the chains? Plays don't always go perfectly in football. You have to take what you can get. Once again too many missed opportunities today. That drop by DiMarco and 2 more by Zay Jones. In a tight game with a lot of 3rd downs due to unbalanced 1st down play calling, those drops matter.

 

I have no clue if receivers were running open or not, the All-22 will be very interesting.

It was a zone option play and he was never going to look in that direction? He was 5 yards away wide open. Wiiiiiiide open. Tyrod may never look at that read. Very good QBs would've hit him. He saw that 2 defenders were in his face. Dimarco was covered. QB should hit the hot route when he saw both of them rush

[Not at the table Karlos]

Complaining about Dareus for the 2nd week in a row after a great day the the Bills' D? Not getting the point.

especially while he's injured.

 

 

Good write up. Poyer is awesome. Kind of looks like steph curry with his helmet on.

Edited September 18, 2017 by Not at the table Karlos

[BeginnersMind]

I'm alarmed at the offense's regression in a year. Same line, RB, and QB. The WRs are not as good but is Dennison putting the O in a position to make plays?

 

Carolina was stacking 8 in the box and the offense had no ability to get 7 yard in routes or anything on the sideline in the passing game. Tyrod's strength is not a 3 step drop and throw. I understand that's not his style but it needs to happen.

 

Shady said he was to blame yesterday but I can't imagine how. He had nowhere to run. No matter where he picked to run, there were more Panthers coming towards him than Bills to block.

It was a zone option play and he was never going to look in that direction? He was 5 yards away wide open. Wiiiiiiide open. Tyrod may never look at that read. Very good QBs would've hit him. He saw that 2 defenders were in his face. Dimarco was covered. QB should hit the hot route when he saw both of them rush

 

A better throw and it's an easy TD. I don't have a bead on Jones enough to know if that's a catch he'll usually make, but yesterday he didn't make the tough catch.

 

You know who makes that catch? Robert Woods.

Edited September 18, 2017 by BeginnersMind

[HappyDays]

A better throw and it's an easy TD. I don't have a bead on Jones enough to know if that's a catch he'll usually make, but yesterday he didn't make the tough catch.

 

You know who makes that catch? Robert Woods.

I know it's fun to pretend every Bills player who leaves the team is elite. But yesterday on a single drive for the Rams, Woods took 2 penalties (unnecessary roughness and OPI - 25 yards total) and then dropped a sure TD pass.

[BuffaloMatt]

Enjoyed the read. Good take. Where can I send my $2.99? Thanks again. Go Bills.

[HappyDays]

It was a zone option play and he was never going to look in that direction? He was 5 yards away wide open. Wiiiiiiide open. Tyrod may never look at that read. Very good QBs would've hit him. He saw that 2 defenders were in his face. Dimarco was covered. QB should hit the hot route when he saw both of them rush

https://mobile.twitter.com/cover_1_/status/909618954624258048

 

Watch the 2nd view starting at 0:19.

 

At which point should Tyrod have thrown the ball to O'Leary? When his body was turned running in the complete opposite direction with several Panthers sitting underneath? That would have been a pick. O'Leary wasn't in the play because it was a zone option read like I said. Tyrod thought for a second he had it with his legs, but Coleman closed so he throws it to DiMarco... who drops it.

 

And there's a better question - why does DiMarco not catch a ball that hits him cleanly in the hands? The defender didn't touch him or get his hands on the ball. This is the second 3rd down drop of the game. Do you really think when the coaches look at this play in the film room, they will come away blaming Tyrod? Wow.

[pkwwjd]

I'm heartbroken by this loss but encouraged on several fronts. McDermott, although he had some issues with clock management, I think he had a plan behind the TOs. I love his demeanor and how he has brought discipline and a better attitude to this team.

I may get crucified, but Tyrod was not as bad as we thought. Yes he needs to throw the ball downfield more but there were several plays where he held the ball and I couldn't find a single WR open. I still think he's the best option for us.

Defense was awesome. Difference between a good defense and a great defense is great defenses get takeaways. We didn't today. We need to capitalize on those because our offense needs more opportunities cause it's not reliable or consistent.

Zay had a rough game but I think the future is bright for him. I think Dennison needs to generate a more downfield offense to match our teams strengths instead of all these 5 yard outs.

I will say though, which is most important, this team is getting better and heading in the right direction. Stay positive

It was interesting to hear the commentators belittle McD for waiting until Carolina lined up before calling TO at the end of the game, but when Carolina did that on the Bills' last drive, it was a smart play by the coach. McD made the smart play.

[SoTier]

 

1 - Dareus had an ankle injury, which is why he was out for a bit

 

2 - It's hard to have play action when the defense has absolutely no respect for your rushing attack

 

Or your downfield passing game.

[BeginnersMind]

I know it's fun to pretend every Bills player who leaves the team is elite. But yesterday on a single drive for the Rams, Woods took 2 penalties (unnecessary roughness and OPI - 25 yards total) and then dropped a sure TD pass.

I'm not a believer that Woods is anything more than a solid number 3 WR but he was pretty good at hauling in TT's errant throws.

 

Too early and too few chances to judge Jones.

Edited September 18, 2017 by BeginnersMind

[bobobonators]

Great thread Virgil. What concerned me most about the offense yesterday was the following:

 

1. The Panthers DL got penetration on almost every play. We lost the LOS battle badly on the offensive side yesterday.

 

2. We didnt have an in-game adjustment for Carolina's defensive game plan. I would have liked to see more misdirection plays and QB rollouts. We used very little of the run option that has been unstoppable for over a year. The one play i recall us using it yesterday Tyrod held it and effectively ran for 6/7 yds. We needed more of that yesterday to simply move the chains more, if anything. But we didnt.

 

3. When it was clear that we werent going to be able to run the ball we should have started going into more spread formations on 1st down and 2nd down earlier in the game instead of waiting until the end of the game.

 

4. The defense was a monster yesterday. Not a bad thing to say about that unit. The best game Hughes has had in a long time in my opinion. We need Hughes to continue having games like that.

[simool]

Great thread.... Again.

 

Nail on the head with the reduction of penalties, improved discipline, and the fight in this team. I definitely enjoy watching them. We obviously made a huge leap in coaching. The rest will come in time. Hell I have been a die-hard for 30+ years, what is a few more years.

[Heitz]

 

Overall End Result - We beat the spread, showed great defense, and have concerns on offense. A lot of good teams are 1-1 right now. I think we have a good test next week at home against Denver and I expect a similar game to today. Please keep reacting about our second game of the season like it's the end of days. It makes it easier to tell who I should ignore. Lastly, no new posts during games. Let's try that again next week.

 

18 and 1, here we come. Go Bills

 

Thanks for the sane take Virgil.

 

I'm with you on the End Result - I know that Carolina didn't have a great record last year, but they're still a top team in this league. If we can somehow figure out how to manufacture some points, this team could be fun to watch as the year goes on...

 

[Mrbojanglezs]

Hard to have bad throws when you throw it 8 yards max. I could do that accurately

[mannc]

 

1 - McDermott - I am overall very happy with McDermott through two games. The discipline of this team so far in regards to penalties, getting plays in, and just overall fight has been a big turnaround from Rex. However, he made some head scratching clock decisions today that I don't quite understand. At the end of the first half, he let an unnecessary 17 seconds come off the clock before taking a time out before the Panthers punted the ball back to us. He used the second one after 3rd down and we ended up not making any attempt to move the ball once we received it. I don't understand the point of using the Time Outs unless he was hoping for the Panthers to make a mistake. At the end of the game, I think everyone can pick a moment where they think we should have used a time out. However, Zay makes that catch, we need that last timeout at the 4 yard line to get another play in. End Result - You could take a lot of different sides on his calls, but I don't see where the outcome of the game was decided because of it.

 

 

Although it's fair to question McDermott's clock management, it wasn't clearly wrong, far too much is being made of it, and it definitely did not cost us the game.

 

On the other hand, "Riverboat Ron" Rivera almost gifted the Bills another game by kicking the 19 yard FG to give the Panthers a 6-point lead with more than two minutes left on the clock. What's amazing is that this is the exact same mistake Rivera made to hand the Bills a victory in the EJ comeback game, the last time these teams played. Apparently, Rivera did not learn his lesson, and this one almost cost the Panthers another game. There are so many reasons to go for the touchdown there that I don't even know where to start. First of all, there is around a 50% chance of converting and if you score the TD, the game is over. Even if you don't convert, the Bills have the ball on their own 1-yard line and have to go 75 yards in two minutes and then attempt a longish FG (with a shaky kicker) just to send the game to OT. On the other hand, if you kick the FG, the Bills still have to go 75 yards and have to get a TD, but if they succeed, your team loses. Although the Panthers of course hung on, Rivera's boneheaded decision significantly decreased the Panthers' chances of winning. To me, that sort of brain-dead coaching decision is much worse (and inexcusable) than poor clock management.

Edited September 18, 2017 by mannc

[BeginnersMind]

I wanted the timeout but as it was, they Bills would have needed the last one if Jones hauls in that catch or if a receiver catches the ball in bounds, to give them more chances at the end zone. It was not clearly the wrong call.