You're facing the Buffalo Bills in the 2020 playoffs...what's your game plan?

[eball]

It struck me recently that teams facing the Bills have a pretty huge dilemma.  Since their bye week the Bills have had the best offense in the league, a top ten defense, and top five special teams unit.

 

A -- what's your plan to come into Orchard Park and walk out with a W?

B -- even if the team executes your plan, do you still need something "crazy" to happen?

 

Discuss.

[TPS]

As I posted in the prediction thread, I think Reich pulls a Parcells-Belichick from the Bills first Super Bowl.  Ball control to keep Bills O off the field. INdy has the run game to do that.  The Bills O needs to start hot and score early to force them out of it. 

[Halloween Land]

Better hope Josh Allen has the "runs" that day.....

Edited January 6, 2021 by Halloween Land

[berg1029]

I would imagine that aside from the chiefs, the plan for other teams would be to slow the game down.  The Chiefs and maybe the Packers are probably the only team that can really "keep up" with the Bills offensively. 

 

I would play the Bills similar to how the Bills played the Chiefs earlier in the year.  Drop a bunch into coverage and force them to run the ball/slowly march the ball down the field.  Offensively, playing efficiently would be key because you know the Bills are going to score.  But if you minimize the number of possessions each team has then you can hope that the Bills happen to just not have success on their fewer drives. 

Edited January 6, 2021 by berg1029

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

3 minutes ago, TPS said:

As I posted in the prediction thread, I think Reich pulls a Parcells-Belichick from the Bills first Super Bowl.  Ball control to keep Bills O off the field. INdy has the run game to do that.  The Bills O needs to start hot and score early to force them out of it. 

Agreed.

 

1) on offense, run the ball, and drain the clock.  
 

2) on defense, I would do what the Patriots did in their first game against us. Basically, play the whole game in a Dime defense, and force the Bills to beat you by running the ball with Singletary or Moss.

[teef]

i'd just start wildly flailing my arms around, hoping to land a punch.

[Buffalo Boy]

LOSE😜

5 minutes ago, berg1029 said:

I would imagine that aside from the chiefs, the plan for other teams would be to slow the game down.  The Chiefs and maybe the Packers are probably the only team that can really "keep up" with the Bills offensively. 

 

I would play the Bills similar to how the Bills played the Chiefs earlier in the year.  Drop a bunch into coverage and force them to run the ball/slowly march the ball down the field.  Offensively, playing efficiently would be key because you know the Bills are going to score.  But if you minimize the number of possessions each team has then you can hope that the Bills happen to just not have success on their fewer drives. 

    I don’t disagree with this but....

    Josh and all his receivers have feasted off the “ Short passing game” all year. Every week they have started drives deep in their own territory and methodically moved it down the field playing their own version of “ Ball control”.

     The only way to beat the Bills is for the D line to consistently pressure Josh in less than two seconds with four or less rushers. We haven’t seen this yet.

[Steve O]

Prepare 2 speeches: "It was a great season, let's build from here" for the team, "Today notwithstanding, there were a lot of positives this year" for the press.

[loyal2dagame]

9 minutes ago, TPS said:

As I posted in the prediction thread, I think Reich pulls a Parcells-Belichick from the Bills first Super Bowl.  Ball control to keep Bills O off the field. INdy has the run game to do that.  The Bills O needs to start hot and score early to force them out of it. 

Funny thing is that the bills have been winning time of possession (ranked 3rd in nfl) even with the red hot passing game. If the defense continues their solid play,  indy is toast. 

[wjag]

Leave the punter home.  Add another skill player to the roster in lieu of.

[QB Bills]

What you should do is what Indy is going to do. Zone defense with extra DBs as they don't really have the skill at that position to cover man to man. Josh will see a lot of cover 2 I'm guessing. The Colts are praying that Buckner will be able to generate pressure without blitz help. 

 

Offensively, they're going to run and keep running and hope that the Bills start stacking the box at which point Rivers will try to complete those quick passes to RBs in the flat or to whoever Levi Wallace or Josh Norman is covering. 

[Matt_In_NH]

Speed up Josh Allen....when I say speed him up, I mean affect him, make him throw it before he wants.  Just having him scramble to buy time does not count, sack him, make him throw it as you are hitting him, etc.  The Rams and Steelers both had some success with this.  Other than that, big plays in turnovers and special teams can always be an equalizer.

[thenorthremembers]

The thing about running the ball and draining the clock only works if you score.    The Bills dont need a lot of time to score points, so all you're doing is putting yourself at a disadvantage.   That said, I dont think the Colts need to be a different team, and I wouldnt try to get in a boat race with the Bills.  

 

I would play my game, and try to punch the ball out anytime I got near Josh.   The Colts need to cause turnovers to beat the Bills.     If you get Josh flustered it can go down hill in a hurry.

[HOUSE]

The 2020 playoffs are over so I guess I plan nothing

 

 

 

..

Edited January 6, 2021 by HOUSE

[Ramza86]

Pretty much what the Titans did to us offensively, move the ball with lots of runs and play action passing.

[Big Turk]

2 hours ago, TPS said:

As I posted in the prediction thread, I think Reich pulls a Parcells-Belichick from the Bills first Super Bowl.  Ball control to keep Bills O off the field. INdy has the run game to do that.  The Bills O needs to start hot and score early to force them out of it. 

 

Indy's D is good but it isn't great. Especially not against the pass.  Their strength is Run D. Bills don't really care about running, they just sprinkle it in enough to keep teams honest many times.

 

They will try and play zone, but so did SF, Denver and New England.  3 teams with some of the best defensive minds in football got obliterated by Allen when they attempted to do it. It also led to some of the best views of how frustrated they get with Allen...Saleh simply had a look of helplessness on his face and a blank stare.  Fangio threw up his arms in frustration and cursed. Belichick got so mad he assaulted a phone.

 

Miami with Flores and Boyer, Rams with Staley, 3 of the brightest young defensive minds in football attempted to play man and got obliterated.

 

At his point, there really is no answer.  Their best plan of attack would be for Buckner to wreck the offensive gameplan by being in Allen's face all day, similar to what Cam Heyward did with the Steelers for most of the 1st half.  At the end of the half, the Bills started moving the ball as they adjusted to what the Steelers were doing and then in the second half they made Heyward a non factor and obliterated their D.

 

If the Bills control Buckner, they should win the game easily.  I believe they should be able to do so because they have already done good enough against Donald and Heyward in previous games.  Buckner is in Heyward's class but not in Donald's(that isn't saying much since nobody in the history of the NFL really has been).

 

Bills have also destroyed much better defenses than the Colts.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Big Turk

[That's No Moon]

Offensively, I run the ball straight at Oliver and Edmunds and then take advantage of Edmunds with play action.

 

On defense I play zone coverages most of the time to keep everything in front of me and to prevent Allen from using his legs for easy chunk plays.  I try to entice Buffalo to run the ball as well via my personnel and alignments. I'd keep 6, 7, DBs on the field at all times.  Getting Buffalo to run makes them play away from their strength and also helps me shorten the game and limit possessions.

[BuffaloBillies]

Send out Poindexter to kick long FGs on 1st down no matter where they are on the field.

Score 15 points on 5/15 FGs and hope that's enough.

[FastFreddy22]

This is a great question.. its tough to answer if i have the colts Im trying to get pressure with my front four and moving Buckner around on the dline, mixing zone and man as often as possible to try and confuse allen and do not get beat deep...play like the bills d and keep it all in front. Allen is a matchup nightmare.  On offense try to establish long posessions run the ball screens and slants with the occasional keep them honest deep attempt...Tough game to coach against the Bills.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

36 minutes ago, That's No Moon said:

On defense I play zone coverages most of the time to keep everything in front of me and to prevent Allen from using his legs for easy chunk plays.  I try to entice Buffalo to run the ball as well via my personnel and alignments. I'd keep 6, 7, DBs on the field at all times.  Getting Buffalo to run makes them play away from their strength and also helps me shorten the game and limit possessions.

 
I said the same thing above— but the reality is that it’s not going to work. Even against 6 and 7 DB sets playing zone coverage, the Bills have been carving up teams through the air. The Colts weakness is their pass defense.  They could probably put 11 DB’s out there and it wouldn’t matter.