Steps taken to solve last year's problems

[Kwai San]

3 hours ago, Draconator said:

I have read through the main points of this thread.

 

In conclusion, at 6:30 am, I am going into the freezer for Fireball.

 

EXCELLENT Choice sir!!

[Florida Bills Fanatic]

4 hours ago, ganesh said:

We lost the AFC Championship game because:

* Their OL man handled our DL giving all the time for Mahomes to get to the receivers 

* Their DL man handled our OL making Josh run around for his life, taking bad sacks. 

* Our OL provided no help to the running game to shorten the game and take the pressure of Josh

* Our DL provided no help in keeping the QB (a hurt one) under check. 

 

I think the Bills saw the issue and shored up both the lines.   Their theory - Improving the lines will help fix their weakness in the Run game and getting after the QB

Good points!  Additionally, Beasley and Diggs were both hurt and struggled to get open.  This forced Allen to hold the ball which led to some sacks.  Hyde didn't have a great game.

[ProcessTruster]

Covid really thinned out this years draft.   Next year will be so rich that starters will come from UDFA pool next year.  Not concerned at all.  Bills very fortunate to go into this last draft with a roster already set.  

[GreggTX]

I am very concerned about our CB's. If anything happens to White, we will be very weak at the CB positions.

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

10 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

 This is a troll job, right?

I don't understand. What is wrong with the post?

[BADOLBILZ]

10 hours ago, Arm of Harm said:

 

There have been cases where Beane has overpaid players, with the defensive line being an excellent example of that. Trent Murphy and Addison come to mind as some guys who didn't necessarily earn what the Bills have paid them. Jerry Hughes is also making more money than he probably could on the open market, but at least he's been more productive than those other two. From a cap management standpoint is Beane a major upgrade over Whaley? Absolutely! Can you find overpaid players on just about any team? No question. I think in a case like the Bills, the overpaid players stick out a little more for two reasons. 1) Beane had come close to maxing out the cap, presumably in hopes of a Super Bowl run while Allen was still on his rookie contract. 2) While the Corona-related salary cap reduction was equal for all teams, those teams harmed the most were the ones closest to the cap, such as the Bills.

 

 

 

Yeah, just the bill for the Kelvin Benjamin, Eric Wood(DNP), Star Lotulelei, Trent Murphy and Tyler Kroft deals was in excess of $100M in cap hits.

 

Bad players, non-players, low impact players........almost entirely wasted money that could have been available cap space in free agency this offseason.

 

That's why you don't throw good money at bad.......even when you seem to have an abundance of it.

 

 

 

[colin]

i remember reading over some post, on some carolina thing that linked to a philly site, talking about mcd D.  basically, his blue print is he looks for steady smart players in the back 7, with more sort of freak talent closer to the ball, and more emphasis on skills as you move out further.

 

the lynch pin of the whole thing is the DL.  every place he's been he's had success, and in ever instance it came from rotating in like 7-10 deep DL players who can follow his schemes to create pressure in a disciplined manor and mess up the run game enough for his back 7 to be heat seeking missiles. 

 

we had that in 19, and mcd had that everywhere else he went.  with the big spending last year (on duds, sadly) and the draft picks this year, and the attempt to sign watt all tell me he is simply not happy w what is DL looked like last season.  we all dump on edmunds, but i remember watching the cover 1 breakdown of the afc chip game, and there were 3rd down plays and big run gainers where the interior DL just straight up took the wrong gap making the near impossible job of our MLB totally impossible.

 

as for coverage, i think a young guy on the roster is gonna be cb2, and there rest is solid if lacking depth.

 

on O, it's safe to say that our brain trust thinks tackles and C are important, with C being a big step back from OT, and Gs are kinda just guys.  we are returning one of the better pass blocking OT tandums in the nfl, and threw 2 draft picks on athletic freak project OTs.  

 

i just hope w everyone returning hopefully one of our TEs and RBs wake up and see the opportunity of just stealing yards form NFL D's who are hell bent on stopping the pass in front of them.  at some point, one of these young guys just has to step up and make themselves indefensible.   that quick RB we signed could make himself a hero by ripping off some strong runs while staring down a 6 man box.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

14 hours ago, Arm of Harm said:

The Bills had a historic season last year, making it to the AFC Championship Game for the first time in decades. While the team was very good overall, there was still room for improvement.

 

Problem: The OL did not run block well during the regular season. During the postseason it neither run blocked nor pass protected well. The decline during the postseason was caused in large part because some guys were playing hurt. To me that says either a) the backups were hurt also, or b) the coaches thought an injured starter would be better than a healthy backup.

 

Solution: The Bills worked to improve the depth of their OL, using 3rd and 5th round picks on offensive tackles. They also signed Lamp, and took an OG in the 7th. These steps should hopefully improve the depth on the OL, making it less likely they'll be forced to play injured starters. If the light bulb comes on for Lamp, he could challenge for a starting position.

 

Evaluation: the Bills have addressed their depth on the OL, but it's not clear how much they've done to address their problems with run blocking.

 

Problem: Defenses didn't respect the running game.

 

Solution: the Bills brought in Breida to be a home run threat.

 

Evaluation: The problems with the running game were caused in large part by play design, blocking schemes, or the offensive linemen themselves, more so than the RBs. Breida's presence should help, but adding him needs to be part of a larger solution.

 

Problem: lack of pass rush. To the best of my knowledge none of the Bills defensive linemen had 5 or more sacks last season. As usual Jerry Hughes did much better achieving pressures than sacks.

 

Solution: The Bills signed Obada (5.5 sacks last season), a young international player who may not yet have reached his ceiling. They used their first and second round picks on defensive linemen. Star is coming back, and Harrison Phillips will should be healthy, so in theory you'll have guys to play the 1 tech.

 

Evaluation: At least on paper, the Bills have done a rock solid job of upgrading their pass rush.

 

Problem: Lack of pass coverage, especially in the KC playoff game. One of the problems in that game was Edmunds getting fooled too often. Tre White also did not play well that game.

 

Solution: The Bills did not necessarily add any new starters to their linebacker corps or defensive secondary. Maybe the solution lies in more effectively using the players they already have? If Edmunds has great physical tools but gets fooled too easily, maybe the defensive scheme could be modified to simplify his role. 

 

Evaluation: TBD

 

Overall

 

This team has seemingly taken a step forward this year, especially on the defensive line/pass rush. Some of the team's problems are with coaching/scheme, especially the problems involving running plays and pass coverage. It will be interesting to see what solutions the coaching staff will come up with.

 

I agree with the problem areas you mention, however,

 

Depth on the O line doesn't help much unless someone gets injured as the starters pretty much play every snap.

 

Is Breida going to be active on game day?  Last couple of years only went with two RB's active plus Jones for ST.  I do wonder if they will keep all three active this year, but that means shorting another position group somewhere to create another slot.

 

Pass rush could be better with Star back as not asking others to play out of position, plus two top draft picks and Epinesa has a year under his belt and signing of Obada.  But they all can't play on Sunday, and still two rookies.

 

I think the moves they made will help in 2022, this year short term, not so sure how much.   There likely will be a number of good players either being cut or traded during camp in particular on both lines.  With that being said, they are still a top team and won't take much improvement to go all the way, so who knows.

[Einstein's Dog]

I think as the OP mentions, most improvement is in small increments and is longer term in nature.

 

I think the OP left out the problem area of TE.  For a good team the TE room was weak.  Only small changes have been made there - Hollister is better than L Smith and Knox should progress some.  I think adding Ertz would be the single biggest year over year improvement the Bills could make.  I'm still hoping for that to happen.

[LABILLBACKER]

The most important thing is we improved both sides of the trenches. McD loves constantly rotating D-lineman, why not do that to a lesser degree at OL. Sorry but the RB'S get a solid 50% of the blame. Albeit not big, but there were holes missed last year especially by Singletary. Hopefully we're able to spend more on FA's next season. And draft targets will probably include cb, lb & 1T. 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

I think the team being able to go father than last year hinges on Josh Allen’s improvement as a passer.

 

It’s all the same players back.

 

Small helps may be Gabe Davis taking more reps, getting Star L back into the rotation, AJ Epenesa second year, and Sanders staying healthy verses John Brown last year. 

Another year of complete continuity. 

[Boxcar]

7 hours ago, ganesh said:

We lost the AFC Championship game because:

* Their OL man handled our DL giving all the time for Mahomes to get to the receivers 

* Their DL man handled our OL making Josh run around for his life, taking bad sacks. 

* Our OL provided no help to the running game to shorten the game and take the pressure of Josh

* Our DL provided no help in keeping the QB (a hurt one) under check. 

 

I think the Bills saw the issue and shored up both the lines.   Their theory - Improving the lines will help fix their weakness in the Run game and getting after the QB

Josh was also taking forever to throw the ball because none of his WRs could get open because all of them were injured.

[Royale with Cheese]

From what I understand, pressure wasn't the issue.  Finishing was.....hopefully we've got two new finishers

[Billl]

6 hours ago, ganesh said:

We lost the AFC Championship game because:

* Their OL man handled our DL giving all the time for Mahomes to get to the receivers 

* Their DL man handled our OL making Josh run around for his life, taking bad sacks. 

* Our OL provided no help to the running game to shorten the game and take the pressure of Josh

* Our DL provided no help in keeping the QB (a hurt one) under check. 

 

I think the Bills saw the issue and shored up both the lines.   Their theory - Improving the lines will help fix their weakness in the Run game and getting after the QB

This board is overlooking one of the (IMO) most important factors in that game.  Kansas City’s defense knew exactly what was coming, and Josh had no idea how to stop it.  Every time he audibled, Anthony Hitchens would reset the defense and essentially point out the play.  
 

Buffalo’s offense is pretty simple.  I don’t know if that’s a Daboll thing or if he’s simplified it for Josh (more likely) but Spagnuolo seemingly had the perfect defense called every time, and Hitchens had the perfect counter to every adjustment the Bills made.  
 

I don’t think it’s a hot take to say that Josh plays better when he doesn’t overthink things and just plays.  My suspicion is that Daboll is well aware of this and decided to tailor the offense to Allen’s style.  It was effective, but simplified offenses can be predictable.  I think what we saw in the AFCCG was that predictably catching up to them.  I would expect to see a few new wrinkles added this season, and it will be up to Josh to keep up.

[Jobot]

The third weakness, pass coverage, can be significantly masked with a bolstering pass rush.

[BADOLBILZ]

36 minutes ago, Billl said:

This board is overlooking one of the (IMO) most important factors in that game.  Kansas City’s defense knew exactly what was coming, and Josh had no idea how to stop it.  Every time he audibled, Anthony Hitchens would reset the defense and essentially point out the play.  
 

Buffalo’s offense is pretty simple.  I don’t know if that’s a Daboll thing or if he’s simplified it for Josh (more likely) but Spagnuolo seemingly had the perfect defense called every time, and Hitchens had the perfect counter to every adjustment the Bills made.  
 

I don’t think it’s a hot take to say that Josh plays better when he doesn’t overthink things and just plays.  My suspicion is that Daboll is well aware of this and decided to tailor the offense to Allen’s style.  It was effective, but simplified offenses can be predictable.  I think what we saw in the AFCCG was that predictably catching up to them.  I would expect to see a few new wrinkles added this season, and it will be up to Josh to keep up.

 

 

It's not a simple offense at all.    That's a bad football take.   Putting Allen in a Patriots-style offense was a big risk versus a simpler scheme like San Fran/Green Bay style or the the Titans power/play action offenses but it's paid dividends.

 

The Chiefs knew what was coming,  but the reality is that the Bills were really the only team they had to be concerned with in the AFC.   They had clearly spent a great deal of time studying the Bills tendencies while they cruised to home field advantage and had the bye.     They had a great gameplan and the Bills team that had never been that far before was running on fumes.  

 

Mahomes and company crapped themselves in their first title game as well.........they should have beaten that Patriots team by 3 TD's.......and that was a home game.   It happens.   But look at the Chiefs other two games during these playoffs........against underdogs in their prior playoff matchups.........the Chiefs weren't as prepared to face those teams and it showed.  

[mjt328]

2 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

Yeah, just the bill for the Kelvin Benjamin, Eric Wood(DNP), Star Lotulelei, Trent Murphy and Tyler Kroft deals was in excess of $100M in cap hits.

 

Bad players, non-players, low impact players........almost entirely wasted money that could have been available cap space in free agency this offseason.

 

That's why you don't throw good money at bad.......even when you seem to have an abundance of it.

 

You keep saying this.  But such is the nature of free agency.  Paying excessive amounts for average veteran production.

In 7 months, most of the guys who just signed massive contracts will be in the exact same boat.

 

The 2017-2018 Buffalo Bills weren't exactly an attractive destination for free agents.... unless we were willing to overpay for their services OR they had a history with this coaching staff and really wanted to play for Sean McDermott again.  This is a major reason that our rebuild featured a ton of ex-Panthers, who ultimately didn't live up to lofty contracts.  Our other choice was to just stockpile cap space, and leave massive holes on the roster.

 

What also keeps getting forgotten when it comes to guys like Lotulelei, Murphy, Gore and Addison is that Beane/McDermott were NOT just looking for long-term talent upgrades.  That's what Doug Whaley tried to do, and failed.  The Buffalo Bills needed to develop a winning culture in the locker room, and across the entire organization.  They needed solid veteran leadership to fill the gaps, until the younger guys were ready to step-up.  Tre White, Dion Dawkins and Matt Milano were fantastic draft picks.  But four years ago, they weren't ready to lead this franchise's turnaround.  Like it or not, the signings everyone likes to call trash were probably more valuable than anyone gives them credit for.

 

Do you honestly think the Patriots will get sufficient value/production from the contracts they handed out this offseason to guys like Jonnu Smith, Hunter Henry, Kendrick Bourne or Nelson Agholor?  Not a chance.  But they couldn't just fill the roster with rookies, and hope to reclaim the AFC East.  Belichick understands the importance of veteran leaders on offense, especially now with a rookie quarterback.  Without those huge contracts, players wouldn't be clamoring to sign with New England, and they would be left with nothing.

 

At this point, it should be pretty clear that Beane is going by the Green Bay/Pittsburgh model.  Now that our roster's foundation is established, the priority will go towards re-signing our own talent.  Free agency will be mostly used for bargain-shopping.

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by mjt328

[Billl]

1 minute ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

It's not a simple offense at all.    That's a bad football take.   Putting Allen in a Patriots-style offense was a big risk versus a simpler scheme like San Fran/Green Bay style or the the Titans power/play action offenses but it's paid dividends.

 

The Chiefs knew what was coming,  but the reality is that the Bills were really the only team they had to be concerned with in the AFC.   They had clearly spent a great deal of time studying the Bills tendencies while they cruised to home field advantage and had the bye.     They had a great gameplan and the Bills team that had never been that far before was running on fumes.  

 

Mahomes and company crapped themselves in their first title game as well.........they should have beaten that Patriots team by 3 TD's.......and that was a home game.   It happens.   But look at the Chiefs other two games during these playoffs........against underdogs in their prior playoff matchups.........the Chiefs weren't as prepared to face those teams and it showed.  

Mahomes crapped himself to the tune of 300 yards, 3 TDs, and no turnovers for a 117 QB rating against the Patriots.  Now I’ll grant you that he was confused by the NE defense in the first half, but he adjusted and put up 31 points in the second half.  It’s hard to beat a team by 3 TDs when that team scores 37 points.
 

Allen couldn’t get anything going at all until mop up time after it was 38-15 in the 4th quarter.  Buffalo didn’t make any offensive adjustments because there weren’t any built into the offense.  
 

I remember being on the other end of that during the Marty Schottenheimer days.  The KC offense was incredibly basic, and come playoff time, Denver was literally calling out our audibles pre-snap and pointing to where the ball was going before we even snapped the ball.  Had our offense been more innovative, we could have taken advantage of their aggressiveness with option routes and such, but Elvis Grbac wasn’t capable of running a complex offense, and Paul Hackett wasn’t exactly Bill Walsh.

 

Daboll runs a system based on a complex offense, but he’s simplified it substantially.  You don’t see a lot of option routes.  There aren’t a dozen different ways he disguises screen passes.  He does mix up the formations a decent amount, but there aren’t a ton of shifts that confuse the defense.  It’s a very vanilla version of what Brady was running in NE.  It still works well because Josh has physical gifts that Brady doesn’t have, but when it’s not working, it’s not like you can just make a bunch of halftime adjustments the way Payton and Brees could or Reid and Mahomes can.  I think you’ll see that develop a bit as Josh continues to learn the position.  He’s still growing as a QB, and right now he still looks like an athlete playing QB at times.  As the game continues to slow down for him, I think he’ll look more like a QB who happens to also be a gifted athlete.  If that happens, he’s going to wear a gold jacket some day.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

2 hours ago, Billl said:

This board is overlooking one of the (IMO) most important factors in that game.  Kansas City’s defense knew exactly what was coming, and Josh had no idea how to stop it.  Every time he audibled, Anthony Hitchens would reset the defense and essentially point out the play.  
 

Buffalo’s offense is pretty simple.  I don’t know if that’s a Daboll thing or if he’s simplified it for Josh (more likely) but Spagnuolo seemingly had the perfect defense called every time, and Hitchens had the perfect counter to every adjustment the Bills made.  

 

Interesting that several veteran players, including John Brown and Diggs, as well as our FO (Beane etc) have referenced how complicated the Bills offense is.

 

There may be some other explanations than "the Bills offense is pretty simple and Daboll dumbed it down for Josh"

 

 

[ngbills]

8 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Arm -

 

Nice summary.   I have a couple of reactions.   One is that the solutions are long-term, not short-term.   The Bills probably will get some help from the new people they've added, but the real impact of those people in the problem areas is likely not to be seen for a couple of seasons.  The edge rushers probably will see the field in 2021 but like Epenesa, they will be expected to be large contributors in 2022.  Anything more than that is a bonus.  Same with the three offensive linemen - not likely to be impact players in year on.  

I would agree with this. And it can be viewed as being negative or being positive. On one you can say they did not do enough to get better NOW. But on the other is that we are already in position to sustain what started last year and this offseason helps that be 3+ years out as well.