THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - Get the Job Done, Keep Learning

[Shaw66]

2 hours ago, Koko78 said:

 

The question isn't how desperate the Cheatriots are to bring him out of retirement; the question is how desperate Gronk is to want to come back.

 

He may not be interested in taking any more beatings.

Plus he isn't likely to be in anything like football condition.  As you say, he took a lot of abuse, and he'd certainly get it again.  He can't be in any kind of shape to take that punishment after a couple of workouts.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Nice writeup, Shaw.  I thought you had one of the more measured and realistic takes after the Browns game and this is even better.

 

I have one question:

 

Since Tre'davious White is a key player in our secondary, while Tremaine Edmunds is a key player in our front 7....

 

Does that mean the Bills defense is "Tre to Tre"?

 

I'm here all week.  Tip your waitress.

[Rocky Landing]

Josh Allen has been incrementally improving all season. While he hasn't been spectacular, he also hasn't done anything that would indicate he has reached his ceiling, or can't be the franchise player we all hope he will become. He still looks like an average QB who could become great. He has flashes of greatness-- like that wire to Brown for a TD. We have lamented the lack of Allen's long ball, but that throw went 31 yards through the air with about a 3 degree arc, and could not have been placed better. It was also a perfect read of a cover 2, with a nice glance away from the play with a pump fake. In other words, he read the defense.

 

I do still think we are missing a true playmaker-- someone who can really fight for the ball, and make something out of nothing. Maybe Knox can become that. Maybe we don't find that player until next year. But, it would be easy to miss the playoffs this season. I believe it's going to be a tight race for the wild card spot-- the only type of playoff spot that we have been able to hope for the last 20 years. But, if we keep on this trajectory (and Brady* stays on his), next season we will be rooting for division title.

[Shaw66]

57 minutes ago, Rocky Landing said:

Josh Allen has been incrementally improving all season. While he hasn't been spectacular, he also hasn't done anything that would indicate he has reached his ceiling, or can't be the franchise player we all hope he will become. He still looks like an average QB who could become great. He has flashes of greatness-- like that wire to Brown for a TD. We have lamented the lack of Allen's long ball, but that throw went 31 yards through the air with about a 3 degree arc, and could not have been placed better. It was also a perfect read of a cover 2, with a nice glance away from the play with a pump fake. In other words, he read the defense.

 

I do still think we are missing a true playmaker-- someone who can really fight for the ball, and make something out of nothing. Maybe Knox can become that. Maybe we don't find that player until next year. But, it would be easy to miss the playoffs this season. I believe it's going to be a tight race for the wild card spot-- the only type of playoff spot that we have been able to hope for the last 20 years. But, if we keep on this trajectory (and Brady* stays on his), next season we will be rooting for division title.

This is really on the money.  TD to Brown WAS beautiful.  

 

I wouldn't say incrementally.  I'd say sporadically.  I'd take the guy we saw last Sunday every week.  But we never know what we're  going to get.  And I agree about a playmaker.  Singletary isn't explosive enough. And none of the receivers is spectacular.  It's the same problem the Pats have, except they have the QB.  

[Jrb1979]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

This is really on the money.  TD to Brown WAS beautiful.  

 

I wouldn't say incrementally.  I'd say sporadically.  I'd take the guy we saw last Sunday every week.  But we never know what we're  going to get.  And I agree about a playmaker.  Singletary isn't explosive enough. And none of the receivers is spectacular.  It's the same problem the Pats have, except they have the QB.  

He has looked good at times this season but that's mostly been against teams with bad defenses. These upcoming games will tell a bigger story on how much of a jump he's made this season. 

[Shaw66]

22 minutes ago, Jrb1979 said:

He has looked good at times this season but that's mostly been against teams with bad defenses. These upcoming games will tell a bigger story on how much of a jump he's made this season. 

Yes, the upcoming games will be good tests.   But even if he struggles, he will have shown that he gets how to do it.   The next test will be learning how to do it against really good defenses.  Be nice if he's pretty much already there.  We'll see.  Denver's actually the first test. 

[cd1]

3 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Nice writeup, Shaw.  I thought you had one of the more measured and realistic takes after the Browns game and this is even better.

 

I have one question:

 

Since Tre'davious White is a key player in our secondary, while Tremaine Edmunds is a key player in our front 7....

 

Does that mean the Bills defense is "Tre to Tre"?

 

I'm here all week.  Tip your waitress.

 

"Tre to Tre" Tre-mendous!!

[Big Turk]

I like that Allen hasn't thrown an INT since the Tennessee game...

[Shaw66]

3 hours ago, matter2003 said:

I like that Allen hasn't thrown an INT since the Tennessee game...

I think that's one lesson he's learned.   Not that he'll never throw another, and for that matter, he'll probably still make some dumb throws.  But I think he's seeing the field well enough now, and he knows that INTs are killers, so he just isn't throwing the ball into tough spots so much any more.  

[Big Turk]

18 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I think that's one lesson he's learned.   Not that he'll never throw another, and for that matter, he'll probably still make some dumb throws.  But I think he's seeing the field well enough now, and he knows that INTs are killers, so he just isn't throwing the ball into tough spots so much any more.  

 

Yep...i like the way he played in Miami...not so much the previous 3 games...he was being overly careful of not making a dumb throw and it was costing him because he wasn't letting it rip. Almost like the coaches sat him down and scared him shitless of making dumb throws for INTs.

 

Miami i think was a good mix of taking chances but not going overboard and making a careless throw trying to make something out of nothing.

 

He needs to be aggressive but not too aggressive. But he also can't be coached or think he has to be too careful because that takes away from his ability to be a playmaker.

Edited November 20, 2019 by matter2003

[Shaw66]

10 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

 

Yep...i like the way he played in Miami...not so much the previous 3 games...he was being overly careful of not making a dumb throw and it was costing him because he wasn't letting it rip. Almost like the coaches sat him down and scared him shitless of making dumb throws for INTs.

 

Miami i think was a good mix of taking chances but not going overboard and making a careless throw trying to make something out of nothing.

 

He needs to be aggressive but not too aggressive. But he also can't be coached or think he has to be too careful because that takes away from his ability to be a playmaker.

It really is about learning and maturation.  

 

Over the years I keep saying the same things over and over, because they are true.  I heard one retired QB say that he had to start for three or four years before he really understood what he was looking at post-snap in the defensive backfield.  That means with a young QB you have to recognize that he's going to throw some INTs that look like stupid throws but they're really just a reflection of the fact that the QB doesn't understand yet what he's looking at.   

 

The classic young-QB INT is the throw over middle when he doesn't see the linebacker moving deeper and laterally into the underneath coverage.   Young QBs regular don't see that guy, throw what looks like a gimme completion over the middle, and it turns into an interception that the fans think was a totally stupid throw.   What was he thinking?  Well, that guy isn't there in college, so the QB's never learned to look for him.  After he throws a few of those INTs, he learns.  

 

That process is taking place on every play, with looks all over the field.  And the defenses are evolving, too, so just because the QB adapts to a particular defense doesn't mean that next season he's out of the woods.   

 

And that doesn't even bring into consideration the blitz packages that the QB has to learn to read pre-snap and post-snap and then make the right throw.   

 

It's a long, complicated process.  Along the way, the coaches don't want to kill the QB's aggressiveness, but, somehow they have to dial it back.  Imagine a QB wearing a blindfold.  His aggressiveness needs to be dialed all the way back, because he can't see anything.  Well, a rookie QB is peaking out from under the blindfold - there's a lot that he doesn't see.  Even in his second year, he's not seeing everything.   Sometimes the coach has to let the QB be aggressive and recognize that some bad things are going to happen because of it.  

 

It isn't easy.  

[stuvian]

I have to give Daboll credit for coaching up Allen and finding ways to exploit teams that don't respect Brown as a short or red zone threat. Let's hope we see more of Dawson Knox. If the Fins game is indicative Allen has found a new plateau. If he doesn't get AFC player of the week, I'd like to know who did.

[EasternOHBillsFan]

On 11/19/2019 at 12:31 PM, Koko78 said:

 

The question isn't how desperate the Cheatriots are to bring him out of retirement; the question is how desperate Gronk is to want to come back.

 

He may not be interested in taking any more beatings.

 

It's going to very VERY interesting... Witten came back, so who knows? I agree with everything you have said.

[notwoz]

Thanks for another high-quality, sober analysis of the game ... and the Bills.