A Few Thoughts About the *Pats game, in no particular order

[Virgil]

5 minutes ago, iinii said:

Coach Dungy just said “Jones was just trying to make a tackle.” It wasn’t spearing a defenseless runner. Josh was running down field like a tight end and should expect to get lit up. I got one word for the young man, SLIDE!

You can’t slide while you are being wrapped up by another defender.  
 

 

[billsredneck1]

20 minutes ago, Kelly the Dog said:

You cannot possibly blame the defense at all in this game. They were insanely good. 

yes they were due to individual talent and effort, but rushing 3 and 4 on critical passing plays is asinine. the pats brought it on every play from every direction and until we have a dc that's willing to do that, the result will always be the same. they do it to us every single time. they made rivers look like nathan in the playoffs. when will we ever wake up and do the same to them?

[DCbillsfan]

I saw both home games, Bengals and Pats.  I'm a Josh Allen fan but I'm discouraged by his decision making and his lack of protecting the ball.  The Bills are 3 - 1.  On to Tennessee.

[WhoTom]

1 minute ago, Joe in Winslow said:

 

Tyrod wouldn't have even attempted the pass that Josh completed to Knox in this game.

 

You know this.

 

 

 

I do, indeed, know that. But there are other ways in which TT might have won this battle of the defenses.

 

Ideally, I'd like a QB who's 90% Josh Allen and 10% Tyrod Taylor. I think he wins this game and makes the three previous wins blowouts.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

1 minute ago, WhoTom said:

Ideally, I'd like a QB who's 90% Josh Allen and 10% Tyrod Taylor. I think he wins this game and makes the three previous wins blowouts.

 

Wait, are we talking about your hypothetical hybrid here, or Tuhrod?

[transient]

2 hours ago, TroutDog said:

The positive for me today? We held strong with the world champions, even with our turnovers!  Once we get Josh settled down, this will turn into a W in the future and a changing of the guard on the AFCE. 

 

I get this, but the counterpoint is how many times have you thought this same thing after a close Patriots*** loss.  They HAVE to start winning this game, or it's just more of the same, and it really should have started today.

[WhoTom]

3 minutes ago, Joe in Winslow said:

 

Wait, are we talking about your hypothetical hybrid here, or Tuhrod?

 

HH.

 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Just now, WhoTom said:

 

HH.

 

 

Ok, had me worried there for a moment.

 

[WideNine]

2 hours ago, Kelly the Dog said:

I think the first few years of Josh's career you have to look at him differently than any other QB. He's going to make mistakes. He had a bad game today for sure. He made numerous mistakes. But stats are worthless when evaluating him. He needs to make plays and win games right now, not have no turnovers or QB ratings. I would have loved to see him in the game in the last four minutes. 

 

I felt his discipline had been slipping the past few games, but he was able to do things in the end to recover. Not sure he was learning from that.

 

Like last year when he was knocked out of the lineup and came back more focused to improve, I am wondering if it takes getting really smacked in the mouth for Allen to respond and grow.

 

We will see.

[Hebert19]

2 hours ago, Virgil said:

Talk about an emotional day.  You could see it on the field, on TSW, on social media.  This game felt like a mini-series with plot twists, theme changes, and was just an overall rollercoaster. 
 

To be clear, there is absolutely no way I can cover everything that happened in this game and I’m just going to cover the big things that stood out to me.  
 

1 - Allen - Allen played against a great defense today who has shut down opposing teams so far.  With that, Allen had a really bad game.  This is a game of defense, field position, and points were at a premium.  I don’t care what the completion percentage was or total yardage in this game.  I care about not hurting the team and taking care of the football.   Allen turned the ball over 4 times and was wildly inaccurate to me on deep throws, which he also took too often.   He under threw Zay that could’ve been a touchdown.  He also was off on the shorter passes outside of the scoring drive.   
 

Worst of all, I don’t know what it’s going to take to get him to stop throwing off his back foot into traffic.  Of all teams, not against the Pats man.  Granted, one of them should have been overturned, but he still overall hurt the team more than he helped.  
 

Again, I don’t care if he had more 3 and outs and they punted.  It’s the short field position that gave them a TD and field goal.  You just can’t make these mistakes and it seems to be getting worse.  Also, add in the sack that knocked us back 5 yards with the ensuing missed FG, and it’s another play that hurts us. 
 

2 - Gore - Great game by him today, eclipsing the 100 and breaking 15k yards for his career.  He definitely showed up today, showing great field vision and power.  I would have liked to have seen him utilized more. 
 

3 - Lee Smith - I know you can’t write a guy off based off one game, but 4 penalties in a defensive battle just isn’t okay. Between that and some dropped passes this season, I really hope to see Knox take more of his snaps.  Speaking of Knox, he came up big twice and I look forward to seeing more from him.  
 

4 - “I know if I am going to have any life anymore it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch because that is what living is. The six inches in front of your face.”

 

5 - Overall defense - Another game where the stat box doesn’t tell the whole story.  If I told you we didn’t get a sack on Brady, you might think we got picked apart.  Quite the opposite.  Outside of the deep pass down the sideline to White, where we inexplicably only rushed 3, our defense was amazing.  I mean, absolutely amazing.  These guys never let up and Brady looked pedestrian.  The INT by Hyde was a beautiful play and they made this a game for us. It’s frustrating that we couldn’t reward them with a win, but you have to be inspired by how they played.  
 

6 - The Hit - I’m sorry, but personal fouls need to trump other penalties.  There’s just no way that hit shouldn’t be counteracted by a holding call.   On the stat sheet, the play never happened and it took out Allen.  In real speed, it’s hard to know true targeting. However, Allen was already wrapped up and he still took the shot.  Just add it to the list of reasons to hate those guys

 

7 - Daboll - This is hard for me because I’m not an Xs and Os guy.  It seems like the Pats ran the same defense they ran all season and what they did against us last year.  With that, it seems like we were completely unprepared for them today.  It’s not just getting shut down, it’s the way we were shut down.  We looked confused.  Also, where was McKenzie in this game and all the stretch/sweeps we’ve been running?  Then, we score via hurry up and then abandon it on the next drive.   The trick play was nice, and I don’t blame Yeldon there as it wasn’t an easy catch.  Overall, Daboll needs to be better in this game 

 

8 - Special Teams - Haven’t talked about these guys in a while.  That blocked punt for an INT proved to be the ball game.  That TD was the difference maker in points and probably changes future decisions.  The gunner came in free, which can’t happen.  Hausch’s miss also changed future decisions, even though it should’ve been 5 yards closer.  
 

Again, in a defensive battle like this, you need consistency, not a loss of 10 points. 

 

9 -  What If - There are so many things to talk about here.  Should they have taken the points on the short field goals vs going for it?  I say yes, besides the Allen TD. Allen on the field makes one yard seem like a given.  With Barkley, it’s different.  You never know what’s going to happen next based upon a decision, but in a defensive battle, I think you alway take the points.  We left 6 on the board that was the final difference maker, but then Allen did score.  Who knows. 
 

10 - McD - We lost 16-10 to a great team at home and could have won it on our last drive.  That’s the end result and that’s what you grade off of.  The challenges by McD hurt as we didn’t have any timeouts at the end.  Challenging offensive PI was tough for me and I think he needs to take his chances on more than 50/50 calls.  I get perspective, but neither were clear calls. 
 

While we didn’t win, you have to love how crap we make Brady look in these games.  I know there’s no morale victories and this sucks.  But these aren’t the same losses as the past decade.  If we have a turnover free offense, we win this game to me. 
 

Bonus:

-What happened to Ty on the last offensive play?   He left the edge unguarded 

-Let’s see how the league handles the hit on Allen

-How was that not intentional grounding by Brady?

 

 

Big day guys.  We beat the spread.  We gave up 3 points in the last 3 quarters. We didn’t blow up like in the past after a terrible first quarter.  Allen may be out next week and his continued poor choices have to make you hesitate.  But still 3-1 in a wide open season. 
 

Go Bills!

Never mind intentional grounding how about the non facemask call on allen.  Wtf?

[Coach Tuesday]

52 minutes ago, billsredneck1 said:

i'm still butt hurt so i'll keep it short.  defensively, the pats did exactly what i/everbody else, knew they were gonna do and we were too stupid  to do it to them. we needed to play the defense against them that they played against us for the f...ing umpteenth time in a row.

 

josh allen is making fitz look like a hall of famer. what the hell is between his ears? especially on 3rd down and in fg range? i for one will be relieved to see barkley for a game or two before we end up at 500 in the next couple of weeks. there's just no excuse for the sacks.   however, they were doing to us what frazier can't seem to comprehend that , that's what we should have been doing against them. if it weren't for individual talent and effort on our defense, a fire frazier bill board should be up on the 90.

 

mcd and his time outs/ challenges.....don't get me started.

 

lee smith on the field as much as he was.(self explanatory)... pathetic. we're having smith in the passing game and not going 4/5 wide?  bring back chan. the offensive lineup was conservatively stupid and starting ford at rt must have been ralph from above wanting to see a high pick start. my God do these guys not have film from previous weeks?

 

we got out coached and gave a game away that we should have been able to win.  this was a jauronesque coaching effort with a team that could have/ should have won this game.

 

mcd= f

dabol= f

frazier= doesn't even rate

 

if this crap keeps up we're on our way to 6-10 and if mcd can't teach his goomba leslie how to bring it...like 20th century style , then they can both go. ok, i vented i'm out.

Your issue is with.... Frazier?  

[Ralonzo]

1 minute ago, ScottLaw said:

Everything written there is true.

 

Allen has a ***** ton of physical talent but it doesn't mean jack squat if he can't get through his reads quickly, make the right decisions(or not absolutely god awful ones), and throw accurate footballs. 

 

*****, Garden Minshew looks better than him at this point.

 

Did you miss last week when Allen was "the next great QB on the rise"? Now he's Jamarcus Jr. Next time he wins he's back to Elway Lite.

 

Clickbait is no way to get your info son

[CSBill]

2 hours ago, Bill from NYC said:

This was a tough game to write about.

 

Essentially, our young, inexperienced, talented QB had a horrible game and then got hurt against the best team in football. There were a couple of bright and not so bright spots along the way, but the above is what happened.

 

No need for fans to panic imo.

 

This!

 

[Virgil]

26 minutes ago, billsredneck1 said:

yes they were due to individual talent and effort, but rushing 3 and 4 on critical passing plays is asinine. the pats brought it on every play from every direction and until we have a dc that's willing to do that, the result will always be the same. they do it to us every single time. they made rivers look like nathan in the playoffs. when will we ever wake up and do the same to them?

Jane, you ignorant slut. 
 

We gave up 10 points, and that’s from turnovers and bad field position.  They punted 9 times and that was one of Brady’s worst stat lines in his career.  

 

Sorry they couldn’t do more for you 

[Bakin]

The two best defences in the league beat each other to bits. 

Was a great game. 

Why the hell was Josh holding the ball FOREVER???

Take off or throw the ball away. 

I think this annoyed the crap out of me more than anything today. 

 

Ah well, so we go 15-1. 

[DuckyBoys]

This was a tough one to watch  Anyone else feel like the game took 4 hours?  Felt like walking in quicksand  Way I see it Josh Allen is either going to be a superstar or going to be the should have been.  If Daboll can somehow coach some situational football sense into him we'll be set.  I just dont know if you can fix horrible decision making.  Josh needs to watch tape on jameis winstons career and see where he could be headed  I'd make him watch a loop tape of all of the brutal pick 6's Winston has made Bucs fans endure.  Frustrating day for sure

[Kelly the Dog]

5 minutes ago, Virgil said:

Jane, you ignorant slut. 
 

We gave up 10 points, and that’s from turnovers and bad field position.  They punted 9 times and that was one of Brady’s worst stat lines in his career.  

 

Sorry they couldn’t do more for you 

It's insane. That was one of the best defensive performances I've seen in years. 

[dave mcbride]

2 hours ago, Kelly the Dog said:

I think the first few years of Josh's career you have to look at him differently than any other QB. He's going to make mistakes. He had a bad game today for sure. He made numerous mistakes. But stats are worthless when evaluating him. He needs to make plays and win games right now, not have no turnovers or QB ratings. I would have loved to see him in the game in the last four minutes. 

The thing is, the running stuff is what makes him good, but it was also always the thing that was going to get him killed. He plays recklessly when running, and it was just a matter of time before a hit like today happened. It won’t be the last.

Edited September 30, 2019 by dave mcbride

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

2 hours ago, Kelly the Dog said:

I think the first few years of Josh's career you have to look at him differently than any other QB. He's going to make mistakes. He had a bad game today for sure. He made numerous mistakes. But stats are worthless when evaluating him. He needs to make plays and win games right now, not have no turnovers or QB ratings. I would have loved to see him in the game in the last four minutes. 

 

Well said. 

 

Let’s not forget that Belichick has some ridiculous record against young QBs (I think it’s like 18-2 against QBs in their 1st or 2nd years). JA will learn from this and get better. He has shown constant growth. 

[LABILLBACKER]

2 hours ago, sherpa said:

Lots of stuff during this game, but the overwhelmingly obvious thing is that Zay Jones is a horrible receiver.

Simply impossible for him to get any separation, wins zero contested balls and makes zero catches unless the ball is in his wheelhouse.

Incapable of breaking up an int, which should be in any wideouts skill set.

 

If he was an NBA player he would have zero rebounds in his career.

I feel the same way about him as I did about Kelvin Benjamin his last few games as a Bill.

Can't wait until he is gone.

Cut your loses and do the Duke for Zay switch....its time