Chris Simms Unbuttoned review of Steelers-Bills

[Buffalo Boy]

3 hours ago, Hebert19 said:

It was a great gameplan though.  It wasn't really just the front 7 which was what made it difficult to adjust.  They were in dime half the time and bringing DBs on the blitz and unfortunately we couldn't run thru it as they were plugging holes. 

 

Was a great plan. 

Was a good plan.... till it wasn’t 😜

[Saint Doug]

5 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

He makes IMO a number of great points.

 

Points out how we could have started in a big hole instead of 7-0 if a couple different bounces at the start of the game had gone the Steelers way, which I don't like to hear but he's right.

I don’t buy (and never do really) the “couple of different bounces” argument. The same could’ve be said for us. What if Diggs caught that ball in the end zone  or Knox didn’t have that freak turnover. The point is, good teams are good because of they manage to generate (and take advantage of) such bounces and bad teams make their own bad bounces. I don’t even believe the Hail Mary was a “bounce”. It was the best receiver in the NFL taking advantage of an ill-prepared defense. We earned that loss. 

[Kelly the Dog]

6 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

He makes IMO a number of great points.

 

Points out how we could have started in a big hole instead of 7-0 if a couple different bounces at the start of the game had gone the Steelers way, which I don't like to hear but he's right.

While I love Chris Simms and agree with almost everything he said, it was the Steelers that got as many of the bounces. The hit arm INT goes right to a Steeler (otherwise IMO that is a long TD to Beasley). The weird bounce. of Knox goes right to a Steeler. The Bills may have lucked out on a strip sack that wasn't challenged but the Steelers lucked out more on a strip sack that was a Bills TD when they apparently blew the ball dead on Big Ben. The bounces were even or benefitted the Steelers more than the Bills. 

[ganesh]

5 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

🤣🤣🤣 1:30 in.  Diggs gives Cam Sutton a push (within 5 yds LOS) and sends him sliding on his stomach 12 yds downfield while he makes the catch.

 

Our boy Stefon, he strong!

yeah loved it....so beautifully captured in the video....and then Diggs slides to that same spot 12 yards downfield 🙂

[HardyBoy]

My guess on the thought process was something along the lines of, let's try and jump on them with big plays early, get a quick two score lead and then go short passing to salt the game away.

 

The steelers aren't going to to up three scores on you quick (without defensive touchdowns), so go for the early haymaker, if you can land it great, if not you're worst within two scores when you transition to what their offense ended up being and you have to feel confident in scoring twice and stopping them twice to get the lead back, especially once you see your scheme against their running game is basically perfect.

[CincyBillsFan]

42 minutes ago, Kelly the Dog said:

While I love Chris Simms and agree with almost everything he said, it was the Steelers that got as many of the bounces. The hit arm INT goes right to a Steeler (otherwise IMO that is a long TD to Beasley). The weird bounce. of Knox goes right to a Steeler. The Bills may have lucked out on a strip sack that wasn't challenged but the Steelers lucked out more on a strip sack that was a Bills TD when they apparently blew the ball dead on Big Ben. The bounces were even or benefitted the Steelers more than the Bills. 

 

Don't forget how after the Knox fumble the Steelers fumbled it right back but even though the ball was surrounded by Bills they didn't get it.  The Steeler's scored a couple of plays later.

 

 

[Doc]

2 hours ago, Buffalo Boy said:

Was a good plan.... till it wasn’t they got punched in the mouth 😜

 

FIFY.

[Dr. K]

6 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

This, I think.  They handled TJ Watt and Cam Hayward pretty decently last year.  They knew the LB corps were depleted and Joe Haden was out.  They thought they could handle the Steelers DL and keep Josh clean.  As someone else said, the Stillers were playing a lot of dime and blitzing DBs which I don't think we expected, and Cam Heyward was just unblockable in the 1st half.

 

I would have liked to see a bit quicker adjustment, but with the pick and the fumbles they didn't have a lot of offensive plays. 

 

We complain sometimes if we "let the defense dictate our offense" instead of "playing our game", so I think we have to accept that "playing our game" sometimes means give it a try before we scrap it and try something else.

 

I also think we felt Beas would be open underneath. I haven't watched the film yet but I think we'll find they were mugging him, playing very physical, and bracketing him.  We could back them off with throws to the TE, well we threw to Knox and you know how that went (not to pillory Dawson, Cris Collinsworth said with sympathy "I had a pick on a catch like that myself").  So we had to change the play script to put Diggs underneath as well then we had openings.

 

To the point that's been made, this is where it's big to miss Brown, because the Steelers weren't too afraid of Knox and Davis.  They can double up Beasley and Diggs.

 

 

 

Yes, that's why I don't care about it when people are like "we were one play away from a loss if that team only....."

 

It usually cuts both ways, and if a play is earlier than the last play, it becomes a different ballgame from that play forward.

I was impressed with the pressure and physicality of the Steelers' defense in the first half. They punched the Bills in the mouth in that first quarter and the Bills struggled to string any plays together. But the Bills were already adjusting by the end of the second quarter with the drive for the field goal.  

 

Then after the half they seemed to have shaken off the Steelers' intensity, adjusted, and were counterpunching. 

The 7:11 drive to end the game was a thing of beauty, especially after they had to overcome a first and 20 at the beginning of the drive. The bootleg Daboll called for Josh to pick up the last first down (though he slid too early) was brilliant, I thought. 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Dr. K

[Warcodered]

 

Diggs for Jefferson straight up....what is Florio smoking?

Edited December 16, 2020 by Warcodered