Buscaglia's Bills-Chiefs All-22 Takeaways include Oliver playing well and the Interior OL being overpowered

[Thurman#1]

For those of you who get the Athletic, it's here:

 

https://theathletic.com/2354616/2021/01/29/buffalo-bills-kansas-city-chiefs-all-22/

 

 

Joe wonders if the fallout of this game will affect their offseason moves. That seems a very reasonable thought to me.

 

I read the article and came here expecting there'd already be a thread on it. I searched "Buscaglia" but couldn't find one. If I missed it, I apologize.

 

 

Otherwise, here are a few excerpts:

 

 

Joe:  "For much of the game, the Chiefs were daring the Bills to run the ball on them. As the Bills rarely complied or went with heavy personnel, the Chiefs settled into using four defensive linemen, one linebacker and six defensive backs throughout the game, complete with successfully disguising coverages and blitzes before the snap to confuse Josh Allen. None of it would have been possible without the Chiefs defensive line, particularly the tackles, dominating the Bills offensive line the way they did."

 

Ouch. He includes Feliciano in the group of guys who struggled, though many will struggle against Jones. Thoughout the season Joe has graded Feliciano well, but not here, and Morse and Boettger also had problems. 

 

6 DBs consistently? I hadn't noticed that, and haven't gone back to look again at the game. It'll be another few weeks before I can stand to look at it, I would guess. But being able to use 6 DBs consistently is going to make it hard on any QB.

 

 

 

Joe:  "The last part of their struggles is the most important both to the undoing of the matchup and moving forward. The Bills weren’t able to run the ball with their preferred power scheme consistently at all during the season. Without that trio winning their matchup against a lighter defensive set, it clogged up the rushing lanes. It prevented either Devin Singletary or T.J. Yeldon from taking pressure off Josh Allen, which then allowed the Chiefs to get creative with their blitz calls, knowing that the Bills were more than likely to pass on every down."

 

This makes you wonder whether we might see major changes in the interior this offseason. Morse hasn't appeared himself since the concussion, and might well return to his usual form before next year, but it's hard to be sure of that at his age.

 

 

 

Joe:  "There wasn’t a lot that went well for the Bills, but second-year defensive tackle Ed Oliver was excellent versus a banged-up Chiefs offensive line. The Chiefs successfully moved the pocket, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes is, at times, a magician with how he’s able to escape pass rush contain to rip apart a zone defense. However, in one-on-one battles and run-defending opportunities, Oliver stood out on multiple plays. He showed excellent hand usage and quickness to dip under the offensive line assignments and helped force stops because of his victories."

 

It's always seemed that way to me on tape after he recovered from his early season injuries.

 

 

 

Joe:  "As the offensive line and running backs both deserve blame for the rushing attack’s inefficiency, tight end Dawson Knox was a major disappointment as a blocker as well. Knox lost his blocking assignment on several handoffs that directly led to the demise of a running play. It isn’t only a one-week occurrence either.  ... His output as a receiver has slightly increased, but he’s nowhere near where the Bills would like him to be at this point in his career. His routes also aren’t crisp enough to deceive defenders, and the majority of his receptions rely either on scheme working him open or physicality to win a contested catch."

 

This is a real concern. I keep hoping for a breakthrough, but so far we have only seen flashes and they've been few and far between. He's going to have to take a major leap up to have a long-term future here. I hope he does, but maybe the Bills should take a look at TE, perhaps even on the first couple of days of the draft.

 

 

It's a great article with a lot more to it. Highly recommended.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Thurman#1

[machine gun kelly]

Thanks Thurmon.  Not a subscriber so can’t read it, but appreciate you’re snipits.  I’ve been on the pulpit since last year when we missed going after Hooper, or we just did it unsuccessfully.  He’s not Kelce, but he is a lot better than what we have now.  I’m fine with dropping a couple of our TE’s and go after Hunter Henry.  Of all the position groups, TE is much more affordable than Edge Rusher, CB, never a RB as they wear out too fast.  Even with O Line, look how much Morse cost.
 

The other reason is several TE’s need a couple of years to develop so why draft one, when you have a finished product.  Remember Kelce wasn’t explosive his first couple of years out of the draft.  There are exceptions, but having only three TE’s such as Henry, Knox, and take you’re pick (guessing Sweeney as he’s cheap and only depth).  It’s not like we will morph into a Ravens team and run 13 personnel all the time.  It’s crazy, but I can see us going after a fast RB in the draft, a CB, and an Edge Rusher.  With the rest if they let Milano go, and I hope they don’t, the a LB.

 

I wouldn’t expect much more than a Henry and just other guys for their depth as they purge some underperformers.

[GunnerBill]

Oliver was comfortably our best dlineman. That was obvious just from the TV angle. The flashes from Ed are of a guy with real outstanding talent. A guy who can be in that Chris Jones conversation as the second most disruptive interior lineman in the league after you know who. It is just consistency. Down in down out and game in game out. Brandon Beane said as much when he spoke to the media on Wednesday. If we can get that out of Ed he will be a difference maker. 

[RobbRiddick]

I was surprised Josh didn't run more. I haven't watched a replay of the game but I read somewhere he had a lot of lanes open but didn't take off. Not sure how accurate that is

[machine gun kelly]

38 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Oliver was comfortably our best dlineman. That was obvious just from the TV angle. The flashes from Ed are of a guy with real outstanding talent. A guy who can be in that Chris Jones conversation as the second most disruptive interior lineman in the league after you know who. It is just consistency. Down in down out and game in game out. Brandon Beane said as much when he spoke to the media on Wednesday. If we can get that out of Ed he will be a difference maker. 

Agreed, not to risk his burst, but Id like to see 15 lbs. of muscle added so he can match up with some of the road grader guards.  A young elite athlete can put in around 10-15 lbs., of coached properly.  Anything more and you’re talking about enhancements (I was a competitive power lifter at The national level for 14 years til I blew out my knee, but that was 100 years ago)

[Thurman#1]

2 hours ago, machine gun kelly said:

Thanks Thurmon.  Not a subscriber so can’t read it, but appreciate you’re snipits.  I’ve been on the pulpit since last year when we missed going after Hooper, or we just did it unsuccessfully.  He’s not Kelce, but he is a lot better than what we have now.  I’m fine with dropping a couple of our TE’s and go after Hunter Henry.  Of all the position groups, TE is much more affordable than Edge Rusher, CB, never a RB as they wear out too fast.  Even with O Line, look how much Morse cost.
 

The other reason is several TE’s need a couple of years to develop so why draft one, when you have a finished product.  Remember Kelce wasn’t explosive his first couple of years out of the draft.  There are exceptions, but having only three TE’s such as Henry, Knox, and take you’re pick (guessing Sweeney as he’s cheap and only depth).  It’s not like we will morph into a Ravens team and run 13 personnel all the time.  It’s crazy, but I can see us going after a fast RB in the draft, a CB, and an Edge Rusher.  With the rest if they let Milano go, and I hope they don’t, the a LB.

 

I wouldn’t expect much more than a Henry and just other guys for their depth as they purge some underperformers.

 

 

While I would absolutely love Hunter Henry, the odds on that happening with our current cap situation are very very not good.

 

We'll see, I guess, but IMO we will either draft somebody or wait a year. Or both.

[machine gun kelly]

You might be right.  The easiest way to tell is who Beane extends.  The only way we take a shot at a guy like this is if the owners find a way to keep the cap at $200 mil.  If that happens and I’m not suggesting it will as I don’t know, but if you cut some dead weight there would be $ to add.  It’s just hot air at this point (by me).

[Frat-Train]

Nope!  I have seen it written here EXPLICITLY that Ed Oliver is a bust and his Jersey and all relative player memorabilia should be blessed by an Amazonian shaman and burned in an ancient burial ground, to remove the ju ju of such a horrendous pick...  

 

 

I seent it....

[RunTheBall]

I hope this puts to end all the talk about not needing any semblance of a running game. I can remember so many threads full of clowns saying “We don’t need to run the ball at all” “Daboll sucks he called 3 run plays in a quarter”. Well, you guys got your wish and we got absolutely destroyed because of the imbalance. You were proven 100% wrong so save your crap takes next season.

 

Knox is a huge disappointment. I was really hoping he just needed some time and reps but he sucks and it’s time to move on. He consistently whiffs on assignments and still has concentration issues catching the ball. I’m not saying cut him outright since he’s on a rookie contract but we need someone to come in and start so we can attack the middle of the field.

 

Brown is gone unless Beane thinks his poor production is 100% injury related

 

Edmunds will get more time and they will pick up his 5th year option.

 

[loveorhatembillsfan4life]

Thank you. In one of our first two games either against Indy or Baltimore I was able to catch a replay and I got a look at Knox running his route. It looked pretty bad enough for me  to question it in a post and I was hoping someone would take a look for him on film review. 

 

It’s not good because he if he’s not demanding respect out there then if affects both our passing game and running game. Right now we send Diggs and Smoke deep and the others run crossing routes which take time to develop. We need a tight end end who can draw linebackers away from our run game as a pass threat.  Sounds like his blocking was poor too.

 

Next year will be an important  year for him and what he can be.  I imagine we have to roll with him once more due to the cap. But his game has to get better quick. 

[Gugny]

I don't know how I can take anything he wrote seriously.

 

Everyone knows that Ed Oliver is a bust and that we have no running game because our RBs are terrible.

[Coach Tuesday]

Also this from Football Outsiders.

 

Morse, Boettiger and Mongo were absolutely terrible, and Williams and Knox had several complete whiffs.

[Big Turk]

4 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

For those of you who get the Athletic, it's here:

 

https://theathletic.com/2354616/2021/01/29/buffalo-bills-kansas-city-chiefs-all-22/

 

 

Joe wonders if the fallout of this game will affect their offseason moves. That seems a very reasonable thought to me.

 

I read the article and came here expecting there'd already be a thread on it. I searched "Buscaglia" but couldn't find one. If I missed it, I apologize.

 

 

Otherwise, here are a few excerpts:

 

 

Joe:  "For much of the game, the Chiefs were daring the Bills to run the ball on them. As the Bills rarely complied or went with heavy personnel, the Chiefs settled into using four defensive linemen, one linebacker and six defensive backs throughout the game, complete with successfully disguising coverages and blitzes before the snap to confuse Josh Allen. None of it would have been possible without the Chiefs defensive line, particularly the tackles, dominating the Bills offensive line the way they did."

 

Ouch. He includes Feliciano in the group of guys who struggled, though many will struggle against Jones. Thoughout the season Joe has graded Feliciano well, but not here, and Morse and Boettger also had problems. 

 

6 DBs consistently? I hadn't noticed that, and haven't gone back to look again at the game. It'll be another few weeks before I can stand to look at it, I would guess. But being able to use 6 DBs consistently is going to make it hard on any QB.

 

 

 

Joe:  "The last part of their struggles is the most important both to the undoing of the matchup and moving forward. The Bills weren’t able to run the ball with their preferred power scheme consistently at all during the season. Without that trio winning their matchup against a lighter defensive set, it clogged up the rushing lanes. It prevented either Devin Singletary or T.J. Yeldon from taking pressure off Josh Allen, which then allowed the Chiefs to get creative with their blitz calls, knowing that the Bills were more than likely to pass on every down."

 

This makes you wonder whether we might see major changes in the interior this offseason. Morse hasn't appeared himself since the concussion, and might well return to his usual form before next year, but it's hard to be sure of that at his age.

 

 

 

Joe:  "There wasn’t a lot that went well for the Bills, but second-year defensive tackle Ed Oliver was excellent versus a banged-up Chiefs offensive line. The Chiefs successfully moved the pocket, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes is, at times, a magician with how he’s able to escape pass rush contain to rip apart a zone defense. However, in one-on-one battles and run-defending opportunities, Oliver stood out on multiple plays. He showed excellent hand usage and quickness to dip under the offensive line assignments and helped force stops because of his victories."

 

It's always seemed that way to me on tape after he recovered from his early season injuries.

 

 

 

Joe:  "As the offensive line and running backs both deserve blame for the rushing attack’s inefficiency, tight end Dawson Knox was a major disappointment as a blocker as well. Knox lost his blocking assignment on several handoffs that directly led to the demise of a running play. It isn’t only a one-week occurrence either.  ... His output as a receiver has slightly increased, but he’s nowhere near where the Bills would like him to be at this point in his career. His routes also aren’t crisp enough to deceive defenders, and the majority of his receptions rely either on scheme working him open or physicality to win a contested catch."

 

This is a real concern. I keep hoping for a breakthrough, but so far we have only seen flashes and they've been few and far between. He's going to have to take a major leap up to have a long-term future here. I hope he does, but maybe the Bills should take a look at TE, perhaps even on the first couple of days of the draft.

 

 

It's a great article with a lot more to it. Highly recommended.

 

Knox was raw in the same mold as Allen was. He was used mostly as a blocker in college. Obviously he has not developed the same way Allen has.

[Philly McButterpants]

1 hour ago, RunTheBall said:

 

 

Edmunds will get more time and they will pick up his 5th year option.

 

 

I'll take that wager - he was less than useless in all three playoff games.  they could bring in a street free agent to play at his level.  

[The Firebaugh Kid]

30 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Also this from Football Outsiders.

 

Morse, Boettiger and Mongo were absolutely terrible, and Williams and Knox had several complete whiffs.

Ouch. Looks like more competition at OL will be on its way. 

Knox is average at best. No shocker there.

Oliver will be amazing if Star returns or we lock up another 1 tech.  

I'm all aboard the Najee Harris train. His skill set is the perfect counter punch to this type of defense. 

[dlonce]

12 minutes ago, Philly McButterpants said:

 

I'll take that wager - he was less than useless in all three playoff games.  they could bring in a street free agent to play at his level.  

It’s hard for a team that moved up in the first round to pick him to admit their mistake. He’s not leaving.

The mistake is the implied thought he might be the next Kuechly.

He’s playing out of position, that’s obvious. They have done him no favor. 

[TN Bills Fan]

Morse is overrated.  Move him and his salary out.  Bates might be an answer.  Boettger is a nice backup.  Ford is your left guard. Williams is your right tackle.  Keep Feliciano at guard/center and draft a guard or center,  

[Turf Toejam 34]

32 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

Knox was raw in the same mold as Allen was. He was used mostly as a blocker in college. Obviously he has not developed the same way Allen has.

If he was mostly a blocker in college, this experience doesn't seem to translate to his play in the NFL.   

[Doc]

The Bills need to find themselves a stud 1-tech.

[Doc]

 

And Winters and Ford did better against the Chefs' DTs.