Some All 22 observations on the Texans game that I’ve yet to see elsewhere

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

Nerded out and rewatched the game.  Saw a bunch of key moments that hadn't already been noted I think. 

 

mods feel free to kill if it’s redundant. Tried to be objective. 

 

1) first half score was so close to being 21-0 or at least 17:  

- we saw brown miss that sideline ball, to me it looked like would’ve set them up on the 2, but right before that play, there was a false start, whistle, josh spiked the ball in the dirt, then two Texans hit him and knocked him to the ground. No call. Blatant PF at least offsetting the false start or maybe it was a shift, which I could not see anywhere 

2) Devin Singletary was the best offensive player by far. His vision, slipperiness, agility... he might be in the conversation this time next year as one of the best in the league. He also made clutch third down plays and really tough catches. Add an off-season of pro football everything... excited! A great screen offense would really maximize him. 
 

3) #22 Conley was holding and clutching brown at the top of his routes all game long. When the refs put the whistle away, you can not rely on ‘smurfs’ to separate. In general lots of uncalled clutching and grabbing on him, Beasley McKenzie and evening knox. 

 

4) speaking of Brown, his body control around the boundary was not very good at all. Several times losing catches to the sideline. Dukes was actually very good at the same and Duke also stood as getting consistent separation. Interested to see where this goes. 
 

5) that OT heave to Dimarco, that the leotard guy chastised him for...  turns out the Texans rushed two guys and dropped 8, and kept a spy. The two guys deep downfield were him and lee Smith. Singletary was well short of the line to gain, and the other guys were bracketed. They subbed in that package for that play then lined up 5 wide with that!!! brutal call.  I guess Daboll outsmarted himself

 

6)Josh losing his mind taking those two awful sacks was discussed thoroughly, but on the third down play, Texans rushed 3 guys, bills had 7 man protection and they stunted at lee smith who didn’t know who to block so impeded neither and Singletary wiffed too while all 5 linemen blocked watt or air. No chance for the QB. 
 

7) Dawson Knox Looks like a Timid blocker. He and Morse missed the LB in OT on that Josh sweep.  There were several running plays I noticed if it wasn’t a DB, he wasn’t hitting the block hard enough to to make a difference of just whiffing all together. 

 

8.) McKenzie Looked to almost caused an INT, his come back route was to the sideline instead of attacking the ball, the corner actually played it better. He’s seemingly a jet sweep specialist and otherwise window dressing. Need a big upgrade here 

 

9) I am a huge TreD fan, But Hopkins owned his A$$. Beat him deep singled up, beat him on key third downs, smoked him on a two point conversion. After the forced fumble, TreD vanished and Hopkins took him back to goalie school... 
 

10) this may be redundant but it bears repeating- Gore is done. DONE. He just drops his pads and runs into walls. Time to complete the youth movement at RB. 
 

11) there was one play where josh had Brown on a deep post, 4 to 5 steps, no safety.  Seemed like he saw but then checked down to Devin for 4 yards Even though the pro held up. I feel like he took those shots last year. 
 

12) Poyer had a rough day also.  I counted him as the goat(lowercase, not acronym) on Both TDs and a two point conversion beat to the corner or simply steamrolled. 
 

13) all in all it was red zone performance that made the difference. Texans got to 19 in 3 scores. It took the Bills 5 scoring drives to get there, and then OT of course is a coin toss....  but yeah 3rd and 18, And all the other stuff too. Oh well lots to learn from I guess. 

 

14) where are the hot WRs on blitzes ? 
 

15) saw several instances of Allen throwing guys open. That one laser to Duke that was called back due to a Kroft hold or Duke catching that EZ ball would’ve put him right around 400 yards of total offense generated on the day. Not bad for a first playoff game. He’s gonna be just fine.   

 

 

fun season all and all. ... now Beane go get some shiny new toys to add to this team Also ...   have Lorax sit down with Frank and explain how you know when it’s time.... 
 

Go Bills! 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Over 29 years of fanhood

[ILBillsfan]

was wondering when the play occurred that Josh got drilled after the whistle thought that should of been a penalty as well

 

 

[Reed83HOF]

Poyer did seem to have a rough game

[buffaloboyinATL]

7 minutes ago, Reed83HOF said:

Poyer did seem to have a rough game

Don’t tell Mrs Poyer. That won’t help her Jordan is underpaid narrative. 

[Utah John]

All players miss plays, and all players have games where they don't play as well as they do in others.  Poyer has been excellent and he deserves to be paid.

[Bleedbuffaloblue]

Agree that Hopkins got the better of Tre in the second half, but still not a ton of yards and no TD’s in nearly three quarters of play after halftime. Hopkins is one of the top two or three WR’s in the league without question so no real shame there IMO.

At  least Tre didn’t get twisted around and smoked for a long TD like Brown did to that supposed best CB in the league in NE a couple weeks ago!?

[CSBill]

All-in-all, it was just a collective terrible 2nd half of football. .... as 29 Years points out, there seemed to be several plays that would have made a difference. To me, the biggest one was the missed block in OT (well, the last 3 minutes of regulation are mind numbing in so many ways). The play was there, it would have put us in very make-able field goal range. Ugh .... what is it that other team says, "just do your job," I just can't see how three guys let him run between them untouched.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

6 hours ago, buffaloboyinATL said:

Don’t tell Mrs Poyer. That won’t help her Jordan is underpaid narrative. 

Hyde is the one you pay to Keep.  look at both of Poyer and Hyde’s careers prior to buffalo. No reason they can’t find a fringe/back up in the wrong system again and get a free agent steal. 
 

 

[ganesh]

59 minutes ago, CSBill said:

All-in-all, it was just a collective terrible 2nd half of football. .... as 29 Years points out, there seemed to be several plays that would have made a difference. To me, the biggest one was the missed block in OT (well, the last 3 minutes of regulation are mind numbing in so many ways). The play was there, it would have put us in very make-able field goal range. Ugh .... what is it that other team says, "just do your job," I just can't see how three guys let him run between them untouched.

We were a young Football team very short on experience.  The Texans have been at the end of this side of the barrel for the last few years..so they knew how to overcome their own mistakes...that was the real difference.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

14 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Agreed. Inexperience across the board did them in..... that includes McDermott with that inexplicable 4th and 27 decision. 

what is the right call there ? Punt it? 
 

at any rate the defense got the ball back and they tied the game. It was inconsequential 

[Rc2catch]

All valid points. I do take issue with all this smurf talk though. Duke was peppered in targets as our “big receiver” but the board is becoming fixated on this smurf thing. 
Kansas City is running with shorter receivers in the same fashion. Watkins is what like 6’ 6’1? He’s the biggest receiver. They do their damage with the small speedy guys. I guess we can count kelce but we also use Knox. 
Tyreek Hill is obviously a freak athlete and smoke isn’t on the same level but they are proving this theory that small guys can’t get open.
The rams don’t use big guys. Kupp is 6’2 ish but woods and cooks are shorter guys. 
Have to stop putting blame on the size of the personnel and chalk it up to execution and scheme. 
The biggest factor I have noticed in Mahomes vs Allen and the shorter receivers  is Mahomes best success on deep balls is generally a really really long curl route. A lot of his long touchdowns are 35 yard bombs that are almost a punt and his receiver comes back to the ball, makes a move and is off to the races. I have not watched a lot of deep balls in stride. 

[billsfan1959]

7 hours ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

4) speaking of Brown, his body control around the boundary was not very good at all. Several times losing catches to the sideline. 

 

Brown had a couple of awful sideline awareness plays

 

 

 

[ILBillsfan]

1 hour ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Hyde is the one you pay to Keep.  look at both of Poyer and Hyde’s careers prior to buffalo. No reason they can’t find a fringe/back up in the wrong system again and get a free agent steal. 
 

 

I agree, that being said Hyde has missed some key tackles including the one where they got the yardage for the winning FG but his play has been more steady than Poyer

 

.  Poyer has definitely been a bit more of a liability this year and I'm not sure I toss him a large amount of $$$  Watson ran him over a few blown coverage assignments that was not the first time this year a back went out alone on a bootleg and Poyer was sucked in leaving that are of the filed wide open this year. 

[billsfan1959]

9 hours ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

15) saw several instances of Allen throwing guys open. That one laser to Duke that was called back due to a Kroft hold or Duke catching that EZ ball would’ve put him right around 400 yards of total offense generated on the day. Not bad for a first playoff game. He’s gonna be just fine.  

 

The throw to Brown at the 2 yd line (20 Yds) in the 2nd Qtr

The throw to Williams in the endzone (22 Yds) right before the half

The throw to Williams (11 Yds) that got called back on a penalty in the 3rd Qtr

The throw to Brown on the sideline (17 Yds) in the 4th Qtr

The throw to Williams on the sideline in the 4th qtr (20 yds)

 

All of them were perfect thows from Allen. All of them could, and should, have been caught (two actually were caught by Brown but idiotic sideline awareness negated them, and one Williams was caught but called back on a penalty)That's probably two touchdowns instead of two field goals. That's more drives being extended. That's 90 more passing yards for Allen  to go with his 264 passing yards, 92 yards rushing, and 16 receiving yards. That's a possible 462 yards of total offense for Allen. That would have put Allen's completion percentage at 62%.

 

Allen may have had a few WTF moments in this game; however, had he had a little more help, there would be an entirely different narrative going  on right now.

Edited January 7, 2020 by billsfan1959

[Todd Allan]

I love the in depth analysis that goes on here, folks. You guys rock. (No sarcasm intended.)

[K-9]

56 minutes ago, billsfan1959 said:

 

Brown had a couple of awful sideline awareness plays

 

 

 

Terrible plays by Brown. Just not NFL caliber. Especially on the first pass. Josh has little margin for error as it is so it’s really frustrating when he can’t get just a little help out there. 

[Mr. WEO]

38 minutes ago, ILBillsfan said:

I agree, that being said Hyde has missed some key tackles including the one where they got the yardage for the winning FG but his play has been more steady than Poyer

 

.  Poyer has definitely been a bit more of a liability this year and I'm not sure I toss him a large amount of $$$  Watson ran him over a few blown coverage assignments that was not the first time this year a back went out alone on a bootleg and Poyer was sucked in leaving that are of the filed wide open this year. 

 

 

I agree.  Poyer is the one who can be replaced for less.  He makes a few big plays a year.  The rest he is late to arrive.  Burned on both TDs Saturday.  That's what he is.

 

Josh had some great throws.  But had two bad ones that were miraculously dropped INTs (plus a 3rd he through right at JJ Watt).  One an easy pick 6, the second one (by same DB) would have ended the game in regulation.  Then there was that really bad decision to lateral as he was being tackled after a 20 yard run to the 50 yard line with over a minute to get into FG range.  Really bad choice. 

[Sundancer]

13 minutes ago, K-9 said:

Terrible plays by Brown. Just not NFL caliber. Especially on the first pass. Josh has little margin for error as it is so it’s really frustrating when he can’t get just a little help out there. 

 

100%. I actually thought the second one was worse. NFL receivers can't run out of bounds before the ball is thrown. Brown is a good player who didn't have his best game. 

 

I don't remember a lot of bad throws by Josh but I do remember some bad plays like the lateral, both fumbles, and the first of the two back-to-back sacks...the second he had no prayer--and of course the one near pick 6 was his only really bad throw.

 

He had some smart throwaways. McKenzie fell down when he turned to drive to the ball on the other near INT. The two in the video above were perfect. The TD ball to Williams was hard but should have been caught. 

 

Josh was not the reason we lost. He was also not the reason we won but I don't go into next year with a big concern at QB. Get him some more weapons. Fix RT. Get a backup RB. 

 

9 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

the second one (by same DB) would have ended the game in regulation.

 

McKenzie slipped out of his turn. Not Josh's fault. 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Sundancer

[Mr. WEO]

10 minutes ago, Sundancer said:

 

100%. I actually thought the second one was worse. NFL receivers can't run out of bounds before the ball is thrown. Brown is a good player who didn't have his best game. 

 

I don't remember a lot of bad throws by Josh (I do remember some bad plays!) besides the one near pick 6.

 

He had some smart throwaways. McKenzie fell down when he turned to drive to the ball on the other near INT, The two in the video above were perfect. The TD ball to Williams was hard but should have been caught. 

 

Josh was not the reason we lost. He was also not the reason we won but I don't go into next year with any concern at QB. 

 

 

McKenzie slipped out of his turn. Not Josh's fault. 

 

Watch it again..Josh left it short (the ball hits Roby at the 23 and McKenzie falls at the 20) and low.  The only one who had any chance to catch that ball was Roby, who jumped the route because he saw it coming all the way--and even he had to dive to the ground to attempt the INT.  He dropped it (again).

Edited January 7, 2020 by Mr. WEO

[Sundancer]

1 minute ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

Watch it again..Josh left it short and low.  The only one who had any chance to catch that ball was Roby, who jumped the route because he saw it coming all the way--and even he had to dive to the ground to attempt the INT.  He dropped it (again).

 

McKEnzie fell as he started his comeback. That was clearly the route. He would have been in the play (maybe not making the catch given that he's not a great WR), but Roby only had a clear shot because McKenzie had fallen.