First Half wasn't as awful as everyone is saying

[Buffalo Boy]

14 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

The Bears D is the best in the NFL.  

 

The Jets have no secondary, and looked like the Bears D in the first half.  

 

Plenty of O around the NFL yesterday.  Ravens dropped 59, Tenn scored 43 on a good D, LA put up 30, PHL and Washington featured almost no D, DAL droped 35, even ARI and DET put up 27 each.  

 

 

The Jets D Line was supposed to be a real test.

A bunch of bad teams allowed better teams to beat them. 

When evenly matched teams meet with good defenses and work in progress offenses , at the beginning of the season, low scoring affairs are often the outcome.

Im guessing Packers fans haven’t mailed in the season with their O producing 7 less points than us with their HOF QB.

[billsfan1959]

33 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Um, what's your point?  If they win, does that prove they're a good team?  Even if they win on the road by 1 point after 4 TO?

 

I mean, they don't have to prove it to me but it's quite well documented what happens the overwhelming majority of the time when a team has a -4 TO ratio: they lose.  So if they want to be a good football team, they need to clean up a bunch of stuff, can we agree on that?

 

Good point. However, because they made a number of mistakes doesn't mean they are a bad team, either. It appeared to me that they did a fine job of cleaning up a bunch of stuff in the second half. Could it be that what we saw in the second half is the team that they are?

[Patrick Duffy]

I agree with the OP. And it was frustrating seeing some posters already calling for Barkley. They were moving the ball basically all game and yes Josh made a couple bad decisions, but all in all the kid is a gamer. All those TO's were not his fault, a couple yes, but it happens. If some can't see that and want Barkley in halfway through the 1st game of the season, then some may need to pay a bit more attention to things.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Patrick_Duffy

[Hapless Bills Fan]

4 minutes ago, billsfan1959 said:

Good point. However, because they made a number of mistakes doesn't mean they are a bad team, either. It appeared to me that they did a fine job of cleaning up a bunch of stuff in the second half. Could it be that what we saw in the second half is the team that they are?

 

I'm kind of thinking this season, both teams are gonna be the team that they are.  We're going to see some good stuff shot down by miscues, and some good good stuff.

It will be two steps forward and half a step back all season.

 

IMO.  I hope to be wrong.  I'd like it if you were right.

[JoshAllenHasBigHands]

8 minutes ago, SlimShady'sGhost said:

 

That  ^ 

 

There was no balance in the first 3 QRTS 

 

The Bills opened with 7 straight pass plays and 4 Josh Allen scrambles.  

 

Allen ran the offense. This is the NFL. They are given multiple plays in the huddle, and then Allen makes the decisions.  Those passes were the decisions Allen made. 

 

They were smart too. First, Allen moved the ball at will. Second, the Jets were daring him to pass, giving him those pass-friendly looks.  

 

[Mango]

46 minutes ago, mjt328 said:

 

This mentality is what drives me crazy. You can't have it both ways.

 

We didn't get a MORAL WIN yesterday.

We got a real win.  Meaning 1-0 in the standings.

 

I'm not going to discount the details.  Mistakes and turnovers are something that needs to be cleaned up. 

But as I pointed out, the game wasn't just about dumb errors.  Our offense blocked well, passed well, and when it really counted... ran well too.

 

If you are going to say that 9 times out of 10, we lose a game with 4 turnovers and 0 points into the 4th quarter.... then fine.

But 9 times out of 10, we aren't going to turn the ball over 4 times.  And we aren't going to march up and down the field all day without scoring ANY points.

 

 

 

I hope so. Just a heads up, last year we turned the ball over 4+ times in 2 games,  3 times in 5 games, and 3 more games with 2 turn overs last year. We were held under 14 pts 9 times last year as well. 

 

There were definitely some good flashes yesterday. But also a lot of things that stir some fear, because ultimately, the result was a lot of the same. A lot of turnovers and not getting points on the board. 

[eball]

12 minutes ago, Ralonzo said:

the 4th quarter was domination

 

It just moved a little bit.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

4 minutes ago, Patrick_Duffy said:

I agree with the OP. And it was frustrating seeing some posters already calling for Barkley. They were moving the ball basically all game and yes Josh made a couple bad decisions, but all in all the kid is a gamer. All those TO's were not his fault, a couple yes, but it happens. If some can't see that and want Barkley in halfway through the 1st game of the season, then some may need to pay a bit more attention to things.

 

I don't entirely agree with the OP, but his point that the O was moving the ball is right on.

 

And yes, watching the bad takes "Allen sucks, hasn't learned a thing from last year" and "Put Barkley in, this kid is playing awful" was frustrating.

[JoshAllenHasBigHands]

6 minutes ago, billsfan1959 said:

Good point. However, because they made a number of mistakes doesn't mean they are a bad team, either. It appeared to me that they did a fine job of cleaning up a bunch of stuff in the second half. Could it be that what we saw in the second half is the team that they are?

 

The only difference from first half to second half is Allen didn't turn the ball over. The "team" didn't clean a bunch of stuff up.  Allen just stopped bouncing balls off of people. 

[ddaryl]

I actually still see more positives in the 1st half than negatives. We were moving the football.

 

A bad bounce on a low pass for an INT is just a bad bounce. its going to happen.

 

Allen's Fumble was his fault for sure but easily correctable. No worries,.

 

The bad snap from our C who has not practiced much all TC and preseason, and is obviously rusty. Not worried

 

 

If they reduce 2 of the self inflicted turnover's its a much different ball game where the Jets are playing catch up

 

Seeing a Buffalo team keep it together and win with a 4th quarter comeback should not be under estimated. That's the trait of a good football team

[PromoTheRobot]

20 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

There is such a thing as a middle road, you know?

 

Not anymore.

[Mikey152]

18 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

The defender was camped in front of the WR.  I don't think anyone believes  that was a "just missed" TD.    It was another "bad" throw by Allen.  This isn't Rodgers, Brees, etc. who you can say, "oh, random misplaced throw."   The 2 point conversion was a pinpoint throw by Darnold, not sure how that was luck.  That was a 5 year ago Big Ben type of play by Darnold.  

 

The Bills were a HOT MESS in the 1st half.  There is no way to sugarcoat it with "well, we almost didn't turn the ball over."  

 

The halftime adjustments were fantastic, but the 1st half was really, really bad. Including the play-call of handing it off in the endzone against the Jets D.  That should e a QB sneak to get it out of the danger zone there.  

 

 

We clearly were not watching the same football game...

 

John Brown was standing still wide open by the pylon, but it was a long throw by Allen and he threw it on the run without setting his feet, which game the safety time to get over and make a play on the ball.  It was accurate and his receiver was open...he just didn't have enough velocity on it to beat the safety.

 

As for the Darnold pass, Bell was covered...hell, he was slowly walking backwards while Darnold was scrambling for his life.  Darnold heaved one up to the back corner and the Bills defender, who was right in front of Bell, completely whiffed on the PD.

 

As for sugarcoating...We didn't turn the ball over on that play and it wasn't in the first half, so I'm not sure what you're even talking about.  It's you that's reaching with the "should have been a pick"...that's pretty much the definition of hypocrisy.

[Dr. K]

Let me go on record as saying I LIKED the fact that the Bills came out throwing the ball. It worked--the Jets were not prepared for that. The Bills moved the ball well and but for a couple of fluke interceptions and a strip sack and bad snap would have been in the lead, by a shutout, at the half. 

 

The old Bills would have tried to "establish the run" against a loaded front, got stuffed, put Allen in 3rd-and-long situations, and ended up with a lot of three-and-outs and punts. I am tremendously encouraged by Dabol's playcalling and Allen's ability to carry out this game plan. I expect that it will be different for every game--they won't come out firing fifteen passes in a row every game. This was done to cross up the Jets defense, and it did. 

[Ralonzo]

2 hours ago, billsfan1959 said:

I had no problem with the game plan. Maybe, just maybe, they were not so much fortunate to overcome everything that happened, as they were just the better team, played how they are capable of playing in the second half, and won the game because of it?

The first few drives were the Carolina preseason game, and by and large, it worked against an NFL game-planned defense just as well as it did against vanilla.

 

3 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

I am as happy as anyone to have a W but the likelihood of getting one when you lode the turnover battle, especially a -4, is exceptionally slim.

For the last ? time it was -3 ? turnovers, look at the boxscore and stop reading idiotic tweets and repeating it like fact people

 

2 hours ago, SlimShady'sGhost said:

If you never touch the ball ... how can you fumble it?????  

 

the "fumble" s/b on Mitch Morse

Statman Crothers decided it's Allen's fumble which costs fantasy points ?

 

3 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

I appreciate the well detailed post

we are just not good enough yet to consistently overcome multiple turnovers

You mean except just having done it? Seems an odd argument to make.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Ralonzo
requested change of terminology

[ganesh]

2 hours ago, zevo said:

Lots of criticism...I though Allen looked fairly sharp...he took some gambles because that’s what he does...overall I came away pretty damn impressed.

Also, we were unlucky with the turnovers.

 

The first INT falls into Mosley's hands and walks in without being touched. 

The second INT was due to a batted ball falling into the defenders hands.  The Bills defense batted Sam Darnold's throws several times and yet nothing went anywhere near a Bills player. 

The 2nd fumble was due to a poor snap at an inopportune moment in the game

[Mikey152]

8 minutes ago, Dr. K said:

Let me go on record as saying I LIKED the fact that the Bills came out throwing the ball. It worked--the Jets were not prepared for that. The Bills moved the ball well and but for a couple of fluke interceptions and a strip sack and bad snap would have been in the lead, by a shutout, at the half. 

 

The old Bills would have tried to "establish the run" against a loaded front, got stuffed, put Allen in 3rd-and-long situations, and ended up with a lot of three-and-outs and punts. I am tremendously encouraged by Dabol's playcalling and Allen's ability to carry out this game plan. I expect that it will be different for every game--they won't come out firing fifteen passes in a row every game. This was done to cross up the Jets defense, and it did. 

 

To me, that's the real takeaway from the first half...outside of the turnovers, the Bills offense actually looked sort of...efficient.  Even without a running game.  Quick, accurate passes to open receivers...changing the plays at the line...pretty much the exact thing every critic of Josh Allen said he couldn't do. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

17 minutes ago, Mikey152 said:

John Brown was standing still wide open by the pylon, but it was a long throw by Allen and he threw it on the run without setting his feet, which game the safety time to get over and make a play on the ball.  It was accurate and his receiver was open...he just didn't have enough velocity on it to beat the safety.

 

Um, you're giving an excellent breakdown of why it was a bad throw by Allen.  A late throw to a WR who looks open, but that gives the safety time to get over and make the play, is a canonical "bad throw" in the NFL.  Allen must get it into his QB DNA that he does not have the velocity to beat NFL safeties on that throw, especially when he's on the run without time to set his feet.

[Pokebball]

2 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

Face it, four turnovers in a game much less a half of a game = terrible.  I am as happy as anyone to have a W but the likelihood of getting one when you lode the turnover battle, especially a -4, is exceptionally slim.  If this game were to repeat the turnover situation 15 more times the Bills are vying for the first pick in the next draft.

I don't think we'll see three fluky TOs in another game, much less 15 more games.

[Fan in San Diego]

I was happy with how the Bills played. There were a few bad breaks, the Beasley pop up, the bad snap with Morse, the strip sack, if this OL had played more together in the offseason two of those things wouldn't happen. Good performance by the O. Great performance by the D. Good game.

 

 

[Ralonzo]

2 hours ago, Joe in Winslow said:

I'm guessing you were a box score jockey yesterday?

 

90% of the media and 105% of twitter are box score babies. All I was asking this season from the O was, hey, let's just replace one or two 3-and-outs per game with a sustained drive, points optional. That one thing with this defense lets you win games. That was yesterday. I'm satisfied.

 

2 hours ago, Joe in Winslow said:

He looked literally NOTHING like peterman in the first half.

 

CBS flashed that "Peterman 5 1st half turnovers, Allen 4 1st half turnovers so far" graphic and I knew the intellectually lazy stumblebums (looking at you, Jason La Cancera) would be running with the idiotic tweets.

 

2 hours ago, Joe in Winslow said:

That take is pure, hot trash.

 

 

Mmm... trash...

Edited September 9, 2019 by Ralonzo
requested change of terminology