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

[HappyDays]

John Brown needs to be upgraded big time. The Chiefs were smart to use man coverage and double Diggs. We already proved last year Brown can't separate in man coverage and Beasley was hobbled in this game so that left us with no options.

[1st Ammendment NoMas]

It's not that this article confirms anything we didn't already know and discuss here the past three years or more.  

 

The defense the Chief's play can be beat with a TE and a big WR who can make contested catches in the middle of the field. The same way that Kelce dominated and opened up the field for Hill. We all know we need a stud TE and have been crying about it for years.  TE's beat us on D and limit us on O. Why the Bills have not put a priority on the position and stopping one with a stud LB/S is a big ???  

 

I think Kumerow and Stills could have helped stretch this D and opened up some lanes for Diggs/ I wish they would have seen some action. Davis and Beasley were hobbled, but we did nothing to compensate or add speed. Even McKittrick in his Skittles suit could have done some damage but not one jet sweep or screen, other than the one Dingleberry dropped.

 

The Chiefs also do not have a game breaking stud at RB.  CEH may be someday, but not this moment and he was hurt. Bell was one long ago and the Williams twins are JAGS.  A stud TE helps the run game too and opens up the pass. This should be high on our list.   We really missed Moss punishing those 6 DB's and forcing them to make business decisions. Moss could have worn down that secondary and forced them to respect getting gashed for 5-6 yds a carry and wearing themselves out having to support the run.  Singletary/Yeldon are just not that type of back.  Williams might have helped and it's too bad we didn't get to see if he had the juice to take advantage of the overly compensated secondary.

 

It would be great to also pick up some lightning to go with Moss's thunder. We don't have that. 2 RB sets with Moss and a fast Kamara-like RB would be a nightmare to defend and make Brown expendable. Add a true #1 TE and watch out.   

 

We all suspected that Morse is not well or fully recovered but for this game we put our 5 best OL on the field. Time to find a new C that is a mauler in the run game or resign Feliciano and move him to C and get a mauler at RG or LG and let Ford Boettger fight it out. Resign Williams at RT.

 

The only surprise to some here is that Oliver is grading out well. The lack of a true 1tech has limited his big plays.  We know that Butler and Jefferson were misses. Harry hasn't stepped up and Zimmer flashed here and there.  Star after sitting a year, may or may not be the answer. But we need to bring in a true force in the interior DL that is 325lbs+ and a true pass rusher at DT or OLB.

 

I do not think we are as far away from the Chiefs as the public is saying. A few minor fixes and keep the core together. 

In order of need.   #1 DE #2 DT #3 LB #4 C #5RB1.  

 

Cut/Lose

Murphy, Morse, Jefferson, Norman, Winters, Kroft, Brown, Yeldon, Addison, Butler ,Milano (Williams or Nsekhe)

 

ReSign

Feliciano

Williams or Nsehke

 

Sign:

David Andrews (C) NE

Trey Hendrickson (DE) NO or Kerry Hyder (DE) SF

Bud Dupree (OLB) Pitt or Shaq Barrett (OLB) TB, or possibly Leonard Floyd (OLB) LAR or Matt Judon (OLB) Balt.

Mike Hilton (CB ) Pitt

Blake Bortles (QB2)

Rob Gronkowski (TE) TB - Make a run at Gronk to come home and win a SB for Buffalo. We have the talent to finally lure him back. He's only 32.

 

Draft

Rd #1 (30) Najee Harris or Etienne (RB) or Gary Rosseau or Quincy Roche (EDGE) or Zaven Collins if we can't sign one of the OLB's above.

Rd #2  (62) Walker Little (RT) if he's healthy or Alex Leatherwood (T)

RD#3 (93) If we don't take an RB in Rd 1, go after Trey Sermon or the hometown BUFF Patterson. If we take RB @30 then Pat Freiermuth, TE, Penn State if he drops

 

This team could take the AFC if they stay healthy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ray Stonada]

John Brown played pretty darn well in 2019, without Diggs to draw coverage. 

 

Buscaglia observes what some already suspected: Knox is a real problem. Not just that he doesn't make many positive plays, but that he makes a LOT of negative plays, blocking AND receiving (in the Texans playoff game he almost got Josh killed).  He isn't improving either.

 

Get rid of Knox or get a TE above him on the depth chart.

[947]

18 minutes ago, Ray Stonada said:

John Brown played pretty darn well in 2019, without Diggs to draw coverage.

Brown was really effective early this season as well, prior to the injury. People seem to forget those games when he was fully healthy.

[Rubes]

This discussion really gets at the heart of the problem against the Chiefs: it was the O-line's performance (including TEs) that did us in.

 

The Chiefs dared us to run the ball with their 4-1-6 alignment, but the problem was that their 4 + 1 were much better than our 5 OL + 1 TE. Every one of our OL struggled against their defensive front, including our OTs, and Knox was already a below-average blocker. It's one of the reasons you saw more Lee Smith in the second half, but even he couldn't help. No matter what we tried, their front five were constantly wreaking havoc.

 

Folks keeps saying Daboll should have run the ball more against that formation, but he couldn't. The horses up front were constantly getting blown up or missing assignments. It was true with the running game, and it was true in the passing game as well, which is why Allen looked like he was running for his life every drop back.

 

The Chiefs have excellent players in their front four, but no professional football team with aspirations of a championship should ever be beaten like that in the trenches. Our linemen generally played reasonably well all year, but against the Chiefs (both times) they most definitely did not. I like the 5 guys we have right now, but the truth is that they're not good enough. Can coaching/scheme do that, or does it come down to talent? Beane needs to take a good, hard look at who we have and who needs to be upgraded, and that includes Morse and Feliciano, as much as I like them. Just replacing Boettger with Ford is not going to put them over the top.

 

Personally, I think we need to improve at C and both OG positions. Ford will provide one upgrade (hopefully). If they think Feliciano is better at C than Morse, then do it and find a new RG. Otherwise, it could mean finding replacements for both. Tough decisions ahead for Beane.

 

[JohnNord]

Reading the write up, made me think of the Week 6 matchup with KC.  The Bills were in Dime and dared KC to run the ball, which they did.  

 

It seems that the tables were turned this week but the difference is that the Bills couldn’t run the ball. That and the fact that the KC defensive backs were extra physical, taking advantage of lax postseason rules.  
 

If anything McDermott’s “speed and physicality” comments seem to indicate the need to add to a roster that can beat KC:  OL/DL/CB/TE

 

 

54 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

John Brown needs to be upgraded big time. The Chiefs were smart to use man coverage and double Diggs. We already proved last year Brown can't separate in man coverage and Beasley was hobbled in this game so that left us with no options.

He has a $9 million cap hit so he likely will be gone.  I hate to see this too because he had such a great year in 2019

[JohnNord]

3 minutes ago, Rubes said:

This discussion really gets at the heart of the problem against the Chiefs: it was the O-line's performance (including TEs) that did us in.

 

The Chiefs dared us to run the ball with their 4-1-6 alignment, but the problem was that their 4 + 1 were much better than our 5 OL + 1 TE. Every one of our OL struggled against their defensive front, including our OTs, and Knox was already a below-average blocker. It's one of the reasons you saw more Lee Smith in the second half, but even he couldn't help. No matter what we tried, their front five were constantly wreaking havoc.

 

Folks keeps saying Daboll should have run the ball more against that formation, but he couldn't. The horses up front were constantly getting blown up or missing assignments. It was true with the running game, and it was true in the passing game as well, which is why Allen looked like he was running for his life every drop back.

 

The Chiefs have excellent players in their front four, but no professional football team with aspirations of a championship should ever be beaten like that in the trenches. Our linemen generally played reasonably well all year, but against the Chiefs (both times) they most definitely did not. I like the 5 guys we have right now, but the truth is that they're not good enough. Can coaching/scheme do that, or does it come down to talent? Beane needs to take a good, hard look at who we have and who needs to be upgraded, and that includes Morse and Feliciano, as much as I like them. Just replacing Boettger with Ford is not going to put them over the top.

 

Personally, I think we need to improve at C and both OG positions. Ford will provide one upgrade (hopefully). If they think Feliciano is better at C than Morse, then do it and find a new RG. Otherwise, it could mean finding replacements for both. Tough decisions ahead for Beane.

 

I would definitely agree that the lack of running efficiently is due to personnel on the Offensive Line.  
 

There are few dominoes that will need to fall:

 

1. Do you bring back Daryl Williams.  If he’s resigned, the Bills have a RT that can play in a power running scheme.  If not, see #2

2. Where does Cody Ford play?  My guess is guard but if Williams is gone they may try to run him at tackle as a replacement which is the wrong spot IMO.  If they do keep him at guard who steps into RT?

3. What happens to Mitch Morse?

4. Is John Feliciano worth resigning?

[Ray Stonada]

10 minutes ago, 947 said:

Brown was really effective early this season as well, prior to the injury. People seem to forget those games when he was fully healthy.

 

100%. We no NOT need to upgrade at WR, a stacked unit. We obvious problems at TE, OG, DT, and RB.

[Nextmanup]

7 hours 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. 

Ed Oliver is a talented guy, but he is undersized at this level.

 

He is never going to be able to overcome that, either, because his raw frame is not big enough.

 

I personally would never go for "small but fast and talented" guys on the interior of the D line in the modern game of football.

 

There are too many 350+ pound fat asses that you have to move out of the way or fend off from moving YOU out of the way, and raw mass is important in that.

 

There's a reason the yokozuna in Sumo is always the 530 pound Samoan, and not the super talented 280 pound Japanese guy.

 

 

[Rubes]

1 hour ago, JohnNord said:

I would definitely agree that the lack of running efficiently is due to personnel on the Offensive Line.  
 

There are few dominoes that will need to fall:

 

1. Do you bring back Daryl Williams.  If he’s resigned, the Bills have a RT that can play in a power running scheme.  If not, see #2

2. Where does Cody Ford play?  My guess is guard but if Williams is gone they may try to run him at tackle as a replacement which is the wrong spot IMO.  If they do keep him at guard who steps into RT?

3. What happens to Mitch Morse?

4. Is John Feliciano worth resigning?

 

All excellent questions. Williams, Morse, and Feliciano are all good players. But are they good enough? And who do you get to replace them? My guess is you keep two of those three at most.

 

[WideNine]

11 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.

 

Yep.

 

One of the reasons I thought we would have been better served sitting a gimpy Davis and starting Kroft. 

 

That way they could use Knox strictly in a receiver role against smaller DBs and Kroft (who is a much better blocker) would help both in the running game and as another outlet receiving option.

 

Joe is spot on.

 

 

 

[Coach Tuesday]

5 minutes ago, WideNine said:

 

Yep.

 

One of the reasons I thought we would have been better served sitting a gimpy Davis and starting Kroft. 

 

That way they could use Knox strictly in a receiver role against smaller DBs and Kroft (who is a much better blocker) would help both in the running game and as another outlet receiving option.

 

Joe is spot on.

 

 

 

Tyler Kroft was not going to move the needle in that game.

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, Nextmanup said:

Ed Oliver is a talented guy, but he is undersized at this level.

 

He is never going to be able to overcome that, either, because his raw frame is not big enough.

 

I personally would never go for "small but fast and talented" guys on the interior of the D line in the modern game of football.

 

There are too many 350+ pound fat asses that you have to move out of the way or fend off from moving YOU out of the way, and raw mass is important in that.

 

There's a reason the yokozuna in Sumo is always the 530 pound Samoan, and not the super talented 280 pound Japanese guy.

 

 

 

Disagree. Ed is "bigger" than Donald, the same as DeForest Buckner and right in the bracket that Geno Atkins has played at too. He is not too small when you have elite quickness. 

[Solomon Grundy]

2 hours ago, Ray Stonada said:

John Brown played pretty darn well in 2019, without Diggs to draw coverage. 

 

Buscaglia observes what some already suspected: Knox is a real problem. Not just that he doesn't make many positive plays, but that he makes a LOT of negative plays, blocking AND receiving (in the Texans playoff game he almost got Josh killed).  He isn't improving either.

 

Get rid of Knox or get a TE above him on the depth chart.

I agree with your assessment of Knox. My problem with Smoke is it seems he has problems with physical DBs.

[Big Turk]

6 hours ago, Turf Toejam 34 said:

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

 

He showed a lot of athleticism when he was used in the passing game. It just didn't happen too often...they had Metcalf and AJ Brown as WRs and they got the majority of the passes.

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, Ray Stonada said:

John Brown played pretty darn well in 2019

 

I think he was overrated in 2019 and Allen was underrated. He runs pretty good comeback routes and is decently fast but that's about it. His success in 2019 was more about Allen playing well. I know he was injured this year but even after recovering it looks like he's lost a step.

[Big Blitz]

The other reason for the need to have a run game that isn't the worst in the league outside of the Jets, you have to recognize in game when Josh might be off or having a hard time with D that fully commits personnel wise and effort wise to take the passing game away.  

 

The running game alleviates that and can give your QB a bit of time to figure it out as the D suddenly has to worry about the run game.  

 

Aaron Jones was that for Rodgers this year at times.  Same Jamaal Williams.  

 

Jones rushed for 1100 yards and had 9 TDs.  47 catches and 355 more yards thru the air.  He missed 2 games.  Williams rushed for 500 plus yards.  320 carries between the two.  

 

Moss and Singletary combined for 1100 yards and 6 TDs on the ground.  270 carries between them.  Singletary had TWO carries of more them 18 yards.  No defense gave a rats behind about our run game.  That makes game planning so much easier and our performances against elite Ds that much more impressive.

 

 

 

The takeaway here of course is that Josh Allen is the freaking MVP.  

Edited January 30, 2021 by Big Blitz

[Reader]

Were we bad at running in the 19-20 season as well or did for some reason our ability to run the ball decline? Aside from the losses of Spain and Ford (which I wouldn't expect to be that impactful) I am not sure as to what changed, especially with additions like Williams, Diggs and Davis.

[Yobogoya!]

4 hours ago, Simon said:

 

Before the Bills second possession:

Attack the front, Daboll

 

Very disappointing that the Chiefs gave the Bills exactly what they needed to keep Mahomes off the field and keep the game close, but he refused to take advantage of it. Right on the edge of qualifying as Dabollish. 

 

Couldn’t agree more. Daboll has games where he looks brilliant, and then he has games like this where it just seems like he’s trying to force something that’s not working and its really just painful to watch. 

 

But it also begs the question, is Daboll just being stubborn or is it that he knows his lineman can’t run block worth a damn? Maybe its both... 

[spartacus]

4 minutes ago, Yobogoya! said:

 

Couldn’t agree more. Daboll has games where he looks brilliant, and then he has games like this where it just seems like he’s trying to force something that’s not working and its really just painful to watch. 

 

But it also begs the question, is Daboll just being stubborn or is it that he knows his lineman can’t run block worth a damn? Maybe its both... 

stop telegraphing running plays by personel and formation and run out of spread formations and multiple WR sets