Why We Will Struggle in the Playoffs

[Rocbillsfan1]

Lol at people blaming the defense as the number 1 problem. You are playing the goat in his home where he is 42-1 with Edelman in the starting lineup. Have some freaking balls and bring your a game. McDermott played scared and gave the patriots 3 points by not challenging the 4th and 1 play in the first half. Just a dumb reason to not lose one of three timeouts they still had. Also not having the balls to go for it on 4th and 1 in the second half when the offense kept going 3 and out and not trying to sling the ball around more. Terrible gameplan, and terrible offensive philosophy all around. They need to let Allen lose and stop trying to protect him so much. Daboll has some terrible play calls at bad timing inside of the red zone in the first quarter and at the end of the game. It would have been nice to blitz Brady more but what killed the bills was not being able to sustain any sort of offense when they had the lead. Everyone knows the best defense at times is a good offense and the offense took the their foot off the gas and left the defense out to dry. Anyone notice the time differential? The defense was gassed by the end of that game. You want to win in NE then you need to put your big boy pants on and score more than 17 points. End of story. We aren’t trying to squeak out wins against Pitts and a third string qb. Come on people. 

Edited December 23, 2019 by Rocbillsfan1

[whorlnut]

11 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

Your QB had a 50% completion percentage and threw for his usual ~ 200 yards.  And got sacked 4 times for negative 32.

 

QBR of 69.8.  Left 2 TDs on the field b/c he struggles with accuracy.  

 

But it was poor tackling that cost us the game, huh? 
 

The denial this fanbase is in regarding Josh Allen's competence is straight up bizarre.

 

 

The hate that Allen gets from the other side is ridiculous. It goes both ways champ. 

10 hours ago, Nick the Greek said:

And a couple bad sacks on the last drive by Allen. 

Yeah great job by the o-line...

[CLTbills]

Because it's the playoffs and every team is good? Every team struggles in the playoffs. Playoff games aren't won by 21 points, almost ever. Every game is tough. Every game is close.

 

We'll struggle in the playoffs because every team struggles against tougher competition.

[Nextmanup]

2 hours ago, whorlnut said:

The hate that Allen gets from the other side is ridiculous. It goes both ways champ. 

Yeah great job by the o-line...

Hate?  

 

The "other side" gives numbers, data, and logic.

 

The Allen apologists give us "He'll get there some day, he has moxie!" and other similar crap.

 

It's all faith-based nonsense. 

 

Regarding Kelly the Dog's continued theme that the offense would be better on the whole if Josh had the leash taken off--I agree with that to a certain point and have mentioned so all over this board.

 

We should be running a unique offense that asks Allen to run the ball way more than normal for a QB, similar to what Baltimore is doing with Jackson.  They have acknowledged the unique talents of their QB and built an offense around him that takes advantage of them.

The Bills have absolutely NOT done that, but my position has always been that McD and staff are fairly mediocre.  Competent, but mediocre.

 

I agree in that the ONLY thing Allen does that is dangerous is run the ball, preferably on ad lib runs resulting from broken plays.

 

But Kelly the Dog consistently leaves one important part out!  There is a reason the coaching staff put a leash on Allen.

 

When Allen is free to do his best, he often also makes his worst mistakes.  It's when he panics, throws up wounded duck INTs, and that type of thing.  Has he progressed beyond that even within the context of this season through learning?  Maybe.

 

The leash has been on a for a long time.  It would he interesting to take it off and see what Allen looks like with almost a full season of added experience under his belt.

 

But to Kelly the Dog specifically: think about it.  McDermott is an incredibly cautious, conservative human and coach.  Of course he is going to put a leash on Allen!  He believes that a wild, out of control Allen will not produce sustainable, predictable, reliable points on the board, and I tend to agree with him in that regard.

 

They are forcing Allen down the "pocket passer" path b/c that is what works in this league on a consistent basis.

 

Still, I agree that Allen could be much better used and that this coaching staff leaves performance sitting in Allen's fuel tank every game.

 

 

 

 

[JaCrispy]

On 12/21/2019 at 7:52 PM, whorlnut said:

Offensive struggles?  Please. This game was lost by poor tackling from our precious defense and horrendous conservative coaching once we got the lead. 

How about all of the above?

[ILBillsfan]

20 hours ago, Dr.Sack said:

Four reasons to think the Bills will struggle in the playoffs.
 

They will play a road game. Even bandwagon teams sellout and the crowd noise becomes a huge factor. Add in a dome & the noise is amplified. The Bills haven’t been world beaters in the 1st Qtr so the crowd being taken out early is less likely to happen.

 

McD is content playing a 3-10 game. In Jacksonville McD rarely dialed up the bomb. Rather asking Tyrod to check down & not turn over the ball. Conservative play calling rarely works out in the playoffs. Taking risks is necessary. Think Sean Payton onside kick to open 2nd half of the Super Bowl, Pederson’s use of the Foles QB home run pass. 

 

McD won’t go for it on 4th down. Another concern McD will likely need to extend drives & give his defense a rest. Does McD have the ‘faith’ in Allen to convert 4th & 1 on our side of the field?

 

Josh Allen is wildly inaccurate. Rarely do QBs win playoff games completing 50% of their passes or less. For example Allen hit 50% of passes vs New England while Brady was around 70%. This level of inaccuracy leads to more punts & allows a ball control offense running up a 39 to 21 minutes time of possession advantage. 

 

Singletary can generate yards after contact but Daboll is sending him into 7/8 man fronts routinely on 1st down not mixing in the PA pass. Conservative play calling and predictability is not going to win playoff games. Rarely does a team win on the road playing vanilla offense unless they simply dominate at the line of scrimmage.

 Iv’e seen quite a few 4th down plays this years where they have went for it  last week vs Pittsburgh they had 4th and 6 and go it.  Wildly inaccurate such an over statement that is typical.  The  bills are 14th in time of possession this year for the offense so there goes that.  Only 6 playoff teams are better so may want to rethink your theory there.  

 

I'll only slightly give you the conservative play calling.  I think they are selective in when to be aggressive and when to be conservative.  not going ot argue with the 10-5 record and the 5th seed when I had them at 9-7 and not sniffing the playoffs as did most of the national media and football experts.

 

Enjoy the ride

20 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

Your QB had a 50% completion percentage and threw for his usual ~ 200 yards.  And got sacked 4 times for negative 32.

 

QBR of 69.8.  Left 2 TDs on the field b/c he struggles with accuracy.  

 

But it was poor tackling that cost us the game, huh? 
 

The denial this fanbase is in regarding Josh Allen's competence is straight up bizarre.

 

 

do you realize QBT+R means he is better than 69.8 of the QB's...average WB meaning in the 16 range is 50 hence a QBR of 50 better than 50%

 

The Bills led 17-13 to start the 4th quarter.  

 

this was a team loss could josh be better absolutely but I'm ok with it.  The Defense was an ugly shell of itself giving up over 400 yards of offense and had just an equal share of blame on this.  hold the pats to a FG on the last drive and we win 20-19 vs that ugly tackle attempt on Berkhead on third down.

Edited December 23, 2019 by ILBillsfan

[ILBillsfan]

13 hours ago, par73 said:

The D has generally been good, but is clearly still susceptible to the run. Against Houston, Hyde is not exactly scary; and with Tennessee, Henry is hurting. My main concern is an offense that can't muster 20 points.

prob should go look at playoff football for the most part teams play a tighter style game in the playoffs and they are more low scoring than you think.  The Bills score just over 20pts per game and its been successful 66% of the time on the year.

 

Yep I want more but I could care less as long as the Bills win.

[Mango]

14 hours ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

And Josh is more accurate in the Hurry Up.

 

 

 

At the risk of sounding pedantic, we don’t really run the hurry up with often. We do run the no huddle a bit, but we will generally run the play clock down. I’ve noticed he seems to play better from it. It sort of paired with Daboll going to the booth. I have a feeling Daboll has been calling the coverages from the booth when we do run no huddle. 

[From Roc to Ky bills fan]

On 12/21/2019 at 7:52 PM, whorlnut said:

Offensive struggles?  Please. This game was lost by poor tackling from our precious defense and horrendous conservative coaching once we got the lead. 

Once again as soon as we took the lead there was no blitz package for the defense, run or passing. It's awfully painful to watch prevent and sticks schem

[reddogblitz]

6 hours ago, billsfan_34 said:

Yeldon must he fumbling a lot in practice to not get playing time or something else we do not know about. Anyways- heading into the playoffs with a weak running back stable is not where you want to be.

 

"Stable"?  We only have one RB we can actually give the football to.  The Yeldon thing is puzzling.  If he's a fumbler why did they sign him?  If he's not a process guy, why did they sign him?

[billsfan_34]

3 minutes ago, reddogblitz said:

 

"Stable"?  We only have one RB we can actually give the football to.  The Yeldon thing is puzzling.  If he's a fumbler why did they sign him?  If he's not a process guy, why did they sign him?

Exactly! We should have never released Shady! Yes he lost a step but still better than what we have. They are paying Yeldon not to dress its baffling.

[LABILLBACKER]

1. Poor offense 

2. Conservative coaching

We have a good enough team to beat Houston,  but after that forgetaboutit.....next year hopefully we find a RB1 & WR1....

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

On 12/21/2019 at 8:53 PM, Kelly the Dog said:

Josh is a playmaker. Period. It's obvious and consistent. Trying to make him a game manager puts restraints on him. I think we're a better, more dangerous team, and possible great team if the shackles are taken off 

 

 

....dead on 'Dog......kid has amazing physical attributes, over the top enthusiasm (TEAM and not ME), and an adrenaline pump+.....those will be refined as he matures, but to make him a Game Manager?.....isn't that what Belichick is doing with Brady NOW and I believe Tom is a "few years older (COUGH)" than Josh..."play fearless" YET "coach fearful"?.....um ok....

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

First post ever wooo.  Just for some context...Josh has faced 3 of the NFLs top 5 defenses in a row two of which being on the road in prime time situations...one of which being the second meeting against arguably the best coach of all time.  and 5 top 10ish defenses in the last 5 games.  Both sides of the Josh Allen debate have valid points for sure but its very possible that they head  down to Houston and light up the scoreboard and do enough to beat Baltimore.  I cant think of a team that's better prepared for playoff football right now.  Sure he hasn't been perfect but hes done enough to get the Bills to the playoffs which is an entirely new season.  Josh has definitely shown the clutch gene and maybe he hits on more of these big plays in the playoffs.  This is honestly a team I could see playing in the AFC championship these are exciting times boys and girls.  Let's hold off on all these josh allen isnt a franchise qb talk until after January haha

[warrior9]

On 12/22/2019 at 8:15 AM, Magox said:

Step by step.  This year it’s clear that they purposely have put him in the game manager sort of role.  The idea is to let the defense hold teams down, have a strong ground game and limit Allen’s mistakes.   I get that isn’t where Allen will thrive in this league but that was and is the plan for this year.

 

Next year when Allen shows even more growth in camp and preseason Daboll will loosen the shackles even more.   I am very confident of that.

This.

 

McDermott is this process guy and they have a plan. We haven't had a "Franchise QB" get us into the play-offs in over 20 years. We have one that did it in his 2nd year as a raw QB that was playing for a community college 4 years ago. He'll keep growing and developing and be fine.

[Buffalo Barbarian]

1 hour ago, Mango said:

 

At the risk of sounding pedantic, we don’t really run the hurry up with often. We do run the no huddle a bit, but we will generally run the play clock down. I’ve noticed he seems to play better from it. It sort of paired with Daboll going to the booth. I have a feeling Daboll has been calling the coverages from the booth when we do run no huddle. 

 

in the three game winning streak before the ravens we ran it a lot. Tried it with the ravens and got sacked a lot so they switched back to slow ball and barely beat the Steelers and continued to use it against the patriots and lost. We did run it some against the patriots when we got behind and then we got ahead and reverted back to slow ball , trying to grind out the clock and it cost us the game.