A Few Thoughts About the Jets Game, in no particular order

[corta765]

12 hours ago, Virgil said:

7 - Offense - This is a tough one for me as I can't quite put a pin on what the issues are with the offense.  Yes, Allen had another 300 yard passing game, but we were also in Jets territory at least 9 times and didn't score a touchdown (I want to see a replay of the one called back).  Our red zone offense has been a point of pride this season and it was non-existent today.  I liked the few Allen called runs to keep the defense honest.  I didn't like how little Diggs was targeted early in the game, although I saw a stat of how much Josh was spreading it around.  Yes, defenses have been playing to stop the deep ball, but we've struggled to adjust through 3 games at this point and the schedule isn't getting any easier.  Today wasn't about Josh being off, but just the offense missing something.

 

Few things that have hurt the offense the last three weeks. 

 

1. Turnovers- Titans game we turn the ball over opening drive immediately putting us behind, yesterday we have an opportunity to tie or go up and fumble.

 

2. Playing from Behind- Down 7-0 to the Titans, 3-0 and then 10-7 to KC, and yesterday 10-0. This offense weeks 1-4 came out firing and was not down early they dictated the play. Once they were behind the last 3 weeks it felt like they backed off the accelerator out of fear of turnovers. Like most teams the Bills offense does better when they are leading or at least tied.

 

3. Costly Penalties- Lets see we lost a TD to Davis due to illegal formation, after an 11 yard lost on first down Winters took 5 yards to make it 2nd and 26 on the Jets side of the ball, and 1st and goal on the 7 Botteger takes a 10 yard holding penalty and the Bills fumble later on. In general the last three weeks the team itself has played very undisciplined and the penalties in the redzone absolutely hurt.

 

4. Redzone Play Calling has been Conservative- After Allen through the 50/50 ball to Davis that was almost picked I felt the Bills offense got unnecessarily conservative or just dumb at points in the Jets redzone. On the drive that resulted in a missed FG to keep it 12-10 the 2nd down play was a screen to Singletary that got blown up. 3rd and 2 was an RPO with everyone in a jumbo set at the line that got stopped. The entire game Beasley and Kroft are working the middle and the moment we hit the RZ we stop. No play action either which may have bought time for Josh to mess with the Jets secondary. The Titans game they were not uber conservative, but the last two weeks I feel like they have not attacked the way they did before. I am not talking about big deep plays but passing north instead of the many east/west plays theyve ran. Perhaps its because KC it was game plan to run clock or yesterday the Jets just werent a major threat but I hate how vanilla we got.

[Shaw66]

12 hours ago, Virgil said:

1 - Bass - Let's start with the man who was 100% of our offense.  I'm sure there's going to be a lot of different opinions on him today as many will pick apart the misses.  I was overall impressed with him and there were two things that stood out to me, besides his obviously powerful leg.  My biggest concern with Bass going into this game was that he seemed to just boom the ball off his foot and didn't show a lot of overall control.  Today, you saw the spin and draw that most kickers have, which gave me more confidence.  The best part of his game today was his second miss.  He didn't look lost or beaten down, but instead immediately took ownership and you could tell it didn't phase him.  He didn't take the miss as a sign of not deserving of being on the field, but was instead just a miss.  We knew this season was going to have it's ups and downs with Bass, so this was a good progression game and ultimately did what we needed today.  I would have called this the "Special Teams" though, but we didn't punt.  Although, Roberts did continue to have some nice returns.

 

Nice write-up, Virg.  I was interested to see your take on Bass.  I think it helped bring me back to reality a bit.   The truth is that 6 out of 8 is okay, not the disaster it felt like to me.  He IS a rookie and almost any rookie has to settle into his role in a much bigger - in the sense of high stakes - game than he saw in college.  He could have melted down yesterday, and he didn't.  He wasn't exactly the epitome of cool - truth is he could easily have gone 8 for 8, but for a rookie, it was an encouraging out. 

 

The thing that troubles me a lot about Bass is that many of his kicks hook left, and hook pretty sharply.  I find watching the best kickers, they've cured the hook.  They kick straight, pretty much all the time.  If they miss, they miss because it started out right and stayed right, or started left and stayed left.  The ball moves a bit, sure, but it doesn't move like many of Bass's hooks.  

 

Sometimes Bass looks like an amateur golfer who's in love with those long drives he can pound out there.  Big swing and awesome distance, but sometimes that big swing delivers these huge duck hooks that send the ball onto the next fairway.  Length is great, but accuracy wins.

 

Watching yesterday, I had the sense that later in the game, his last kick and maybe his second last kick, he took something off the kick, and it flew straight.  He may just have to learn to focus on driving the ball through his target, rather than focusing on pounding the ball as hard as he can.  He has the leg to carry the ball, so taking something off may be the answer.   

 

I heard story about Sandy Koufax.   When he was in the minors with the Dodgers, he had an incredible fastball and an incredible curve ball, but he was horribly wild.  He walked a lot of hitters, and he threw some fat, hanging curve balls that got crushed.  The Dodgers apparently were approaching giving up on him.  One day in the middle of an ugly inning, the pitching coach went to the mound and said "Sandy, will you please, just for a few pitches, stop throwing the ball so hard.  Just relax.  Don't try to throw the very best fastball or the very best curve ball.  Just relax and throw it."  Somehow, Koufax got the message that day, and he became unhittable.    

 

The other example I'll give is Josh Allen.  Allen has an arm like Bass's leg.  Allen already has gotten good at taking something off.  He's not trying to throw the biggest fastball on every throw.  He's taking advantage of his arm strength to reduce his throwing motion, and as he reduces his throwing motion, his accuracy increases.  I think Bass has to do the same thing, and his outing yesterday gave me some hope. 

[sullim4]

BBFS is creeping back into my soul again.  It is really hard for me to be happy with this win given the thorough beat downs of the last two weeks at the hands of the Chiefs and Titans and the haplessness of the Jets.  They seemed to be in the upper echelon of the league, only to demonstrate that they simply aren't there yet.

 

A win against the Patriots* would go a long way towards curing that feeling.  This is a game that McDermott should be able to win and it's against a team that has had our number for the last 20 years.  A win here makes the path towards winning the division much easier.

 

If it's a loss, well, we're staring down the barrel of 5-5 with games against the Seahawks and Cardinals.  It's not a given but a loss to NE* makes wins look a lot less likely there.

[Rocbillsfan1]

Biggest takeaway is daboll still isn’t a good offensive coordinator. You’ve now had 3 games with 1 being the jets where you were forced to change your offensive strategy and we just cannot figure it out. The reason why the 90s bills teams were so good because not only did they have kelly and great wrs but they had a solid line and Thurman Thomas. Josh cannot continue to be the bills leading rb if this team wants to be a serious contender. If teams are going to play 2 or 3 deep plus you are missing brown then you need to be able to run the ball. And no the run pass option read scheme has not been very effective as an overall scheme to use to get the rbs going. Get josh under center and learn how to run the ball. Get some draws and counters going and start using play action. 

[Saxum]

14 hours ago, Virgil said:

8 - Safeties - Poyer is still one of the more under-rated safeties in the game.  His ability to play anywhere on the field and then, once he sees where the ball is going, go after it like a heat-seeking missile is impressive.  He's going to be a big factor next week against the Pats and I believe he will bring it.  Hyde was solid in coverage today, but I really want to talk about his PF.  Man, if there was ever an NFL play!  I get protecting the defenseless receiver, so the penalty didn't bother me too much.  I would argue that the receiver lowered his head at the time of hit, and his injury was less about the head shot and more about getting absolutely blasted by a strong NFL defender.  These guys don't get enough credit in my opinion and was happy to see the energy they brought to the defense today. 

 

Sometimes when players get new contracts they seem to lose some of the fire with the wallet in their pants slowing them down.  Poyer got his first free agent contract which was very good deal for Bills who had someone who was in Browns organization see him as an unpolished gem.  Bills renewed his contract which was the right thing to do since he was playing very well and none of the fire has gone out.

 

Hyde was a player I liked from Green Bay and was one of the few free agents I advocated.  Hyde can play any DB position well but safety is where he is a diamond.  He is very athletic which makes him dangerous to QBs.

 

Together they are perfect combination and they seem to read each other's minds like a QB and WR (Fritz and Stevie is a good example) which makes them as a pair far more effective than 2 individuals.

[Virgil]

2 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Nice write-up, Virg.  I was interested to see your take on Bass.  I think it helped bring me back to reality a bit.   The truth is that 6 out of 8 is okay, not the disaster it felt like to me.  He IS a rookie and almost any rookie has to settle into his role in a much bigger - in the sense of high stakes - game than he saw in college.  He could have melted down yesterday, and he didn't.  He wasn't exactly the epitome of cool - truth is he could easily have gone 8 for 8, but for a rookie, it was an encouraging out. 

 

The thing that troubles me a lot about Bass is that many of his kicks hook left, and hook pretty sharply.  I find watching the best kickers, they've cured the hook.  They kick straight, pretty much all the time.  If they miss, they miss because it started out right and stayed right, or started left and stayed left.  The ball moves a bit, sure, but it doesn't move like many of Bass's hooks.  

 

Sometimes Bass looks like an amateur golfer who's in love with those long drives he can pound out there.  Big swing and awesome distance, but sometimes that big swing delivers these huge duck hooks that send the ball onto the next fairway.  Length is great, but accuracy wins.

 

Watching yesterday, I had the sense that later in the game, his last kick and maybe his second last kick, he took something off the kick, and it flew straight.  He may just have to learn to focus on driving the ball through his target, rather than focusing on pounding the ball as hard as he can.  He has the leg to carry the ball, so taking something off may be the answer.   

 

I heard story about Sandy Koufax.   When he was in the minors with the Dodgers, he had an incredible fastball and an incredible curve ball, but he was horribly wild.  He walked a lot of hitters, and he threw some fat, hanging curve balls that got crushed.  The Dodgers apparently were approaching giving up on him.  One day in the middle of an ugly inning, the pitching coach went to the mound and said "Sandy, will you please, just for a few pitches, stop throwing the ball so hard.  Just relax.  Don't try to throw the very best fastball or the very best curve ball.  Just relax and throw it."  Somehow, Koufax got the message that day, and he became unhittable.    

 

The other example I'll give is Josh Allen.  Allen has an arm like Bass's leg.  Allen already has gotten good at taking something off.  He's not trying to throw the biggest fastball on every throw.  He's taking advantage of his arm strength to reduce his throwing motion, and as he reduces his throwing motion, his accuracy increases.  I think Bass has to do the same thing, and his outing yesterday gave me some hope. 

 

I was listening to the radio today and they brought up an excellent point.  If he went 3-4 in consecutive games, we would consider those good games.  So why isn't 6-8?

 

I liked that perspective

[Gugny]

Just now, Virgil said:

 

I was listening to the radio today and they brought up an excellent point.  If he went 3-4 in consecutive games, we would consider those good games.  So why isn't 6-8?

 

I liked that perspective

 

Starting next week, would you mind taking the time to put these in a particular order, please?

[Virgil]

5 hours ago, Gugny said:

 

Starting next week, would you mind taking the time to put these in a particular order, please?

 

Only for you, handsome

Edited October 26, 2020 by Virgil

[BillsfaninSB]

1 hour ago, Virgil said:

 

I was listening to the radio today and they brought up an excellent point.  If he went 3-4 in consecutive games, we would consider those good games.  So why isn't 6-8?

 

I liked that perspective

Exactly.  Beat the Pats and the Bills are back on schedule.   I know that is looking at things in a vacuum but can only focus on the game in front of them. 

[LABILLBACKER]

16 hours ago, DrPJax said:

Just wondering , how many games have there been where the winning team NEVER  PUNTED, NEVER SCORED A TD ?  Pretty unusual I would think. Tried to find some records but could not find this as a specific category.  I did see an article in 2014 where the Buffalo Bills lead the NFL in wins without scoring a td at a total of 12 , but again that was in 2014.  Could  not find how many times we also concurrently never punted in those games.  Just seems like without scoring a td, the offense is likely not clicking, and you would see punts during that game. 
  We are part of the record in 1992 where neither team punted  ( against San Fran ), but I could not find the stats for winning without scoring a TD in a game while also never punting.   Seems like a pretty unusual combination.   Most fgs attempted by a single team in a game is 9 I believe. So maybe we witnessed a historic performance by the Bills?  If anyone finds out more about that performance ( 0:tds, 0 punts while winning) , would be interesting to know !  

If Josh doesn't fumble we probably attempt 9 fgs. 

[Saxum]

2 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

Only for your handsome

 

your handsome what?

[fansince88]

@Virgil, Great post as always. I would love to find out Jon Feliciano was comming back soon. Perhaps we could see a big change in our running game to in turn fix the passing game. We shall see.

[Shaw66]

3 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

I was listening to the radio today and they brought up an excellent point.  If he went 3-4 in consecutive games, we would consider those good games.  So why isn't 6-8?

 

I liked that perspective

That's an interesting perspective.  But the other perspective is that if you're kicker goes .750 on the season, you're not happy.   Interesting how one's perspective changes the perception of the performance. 

 

Plus, I'd say when you watch that 3-for-4 game, you still would have been unhappy about the miss.  

[Saxum]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

That's an interesting perspective.  But the other perspective is that if you're kicker goes .750 on the season, you're not happy.   Interesting how one's perspective changes the perception of the performance. 

 

Considering issue with laces you could say blaming the WR for not catching balls due to QB throwing ball while being tackled.  Punter has to take some of blame and ST coach as well.

[BillzFreak]

I was happy we won yesterday despite not playing our best, for some reason I like to come on here and celebrate a victory with my fellow bills fans but then I read the posts and feel like we have no shot of ever winning again lol. Man the buzzkill on this board is strong.

[BillsFan692]

85% is about league average on the field goals right? so 6/8 is still under average not sure how he looks on the year yet.

Personally superbowl game on the line Bass scares me to death.

Edited October 26, 2020 by BillsFan692

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

But I want touchdowns!!!!

 

[Bills Fan of St Augustine]

The Jets managed a laughable four total yards and two first downs in the second half.

[HappyDays]

11 hours ago, Rocbillsfan1 said:

Biggest takeaway is daboll still isn’t a good offensive coordinator. You’ve now had 3 games with 1 being the jets where you were forced to change your offensive strategy and we just cannot figure it out. The reason why the 90s bills teams were so good because not only did they have kelly and great wrs but they had a solid line and Thurman Thomas. Josh cannot continue to be the bills leading rb if this team wants to be a serious contender. If teams are going to play 2 or 3 deep plus you are missing brown then you need to be able to run the ball. And no the run pass option read scheme has not been very effective as an overall scheme to use to get the rbs going. Get josh under center and learn how to run the ball. Get some draws and counters going and start using play action. 

 

I will say with the QB playing solid and two of the best route runners in the league catching the ball it is kind of inexcusable to walk away with zero TDs against one of the worst defenses in the league. I'll give Daboll credit for the TD to Davis, the penalty wasn't his fault. The would-be Kroft TD wasn't scheme related it was just a busted coverage. That isn't good enough with this offensive cast going against the Jets. Allen should be one of the best QBs in the league past the opponent's 30. It feels like if Diggs and Beasley are covered the offense is hopeless. Daboll has to be more creative.