9/12/2021 Steelers @ Bills Post Game thread

[Hapless Bills Fan]

32 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

The empty backfield 5-wide dink and dunk ***** just has to go.    Daboll made it very easy on Keith Butler.   The threat of the run and the extra pass blocker are worth a lot more to a guy who likes to hold the ball like Josh Allen than running Devin Singletary out to the X receiver where he is not a pass receiving option that has to be taken seriously.   50 passes for 5 yards per attempt........sheesh........might as well just run the ball up the middle all day like Marrone year 1..........that's punchless offensive football.

 

I’m not a fan of the empty backfield.  But was it really dink-n-dunk that was the problem?  

30 completions for 270 yds is 9 yards per completion.  Seems to me the low YPA was a function of the unusually low (compared to last year) % of completions.

 

In his postgame presser, Allen said he was “too aggressive” and needed to take more “easy stuff” to have it work out better.  I can’t tell, watching from the network broadcast, but it wouldn’t surprise me if on many of those plays, there was a check down option available and Allen was extending the play looking for the Kill Shot.

 

[LABILLBACKER]

15 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

i feel Bad suggesting that Haack is the main problem. It was a jail Break today— but to My untrained eye, it seems like Haack takes longer than most. 

Most punters take 1 1/2 steps before punting. Haack took 2 1/2. Haack does take more time. Pitt did their homework. 

[Andy1]

Pitts D line > Bills O line. Plus Questionable play calls and punt team breakdown = loss. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

19 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

i feel Bad suggesting that Haack is the main problem. It was a jail Break today— but to My untrained eye, it seems like Haack takes longer than most. 

 

I appreciate you finding that article and the info that the stats don’t show the whole picture.  But the guy does have 307 punts for 44.7 yds/punt, and since he’s not a “boomer” who makes up for shanks with long punts, I guess I’ll hope for the best that it’s not that common of a problem.

 

I’m sure Bill Belichick is licking his chops though

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, vincec said:

And when they were wide open Allen overthrew the WR

Yeah that happened too. But still, the Steelers defense smothered us. It's probably why they tried that gadget play on 4th down. They didn't trust they could sneak it twice.

 

[Coach Tuesday]

Josh’s PC came as close as he’ll ever come to throwing others under the bus. Said he was “maybe feeling things around my feet” (o-line).  Asked about that 4th and 1 call and he said something like, “the coaches call the plays.”  Ouch.  Didn’t shy from his own bad play but I was surprised to hear both things out of his mouth.

[vincec]

1 minute ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Josh’s PC came as close as he’ll ever come to throwing others under the bus. Said he was “maybe feeling things around my feet” (o-line).  Asked about that 4th and 1 call and he said something like, “the coaches call the plays.”  Ouch.  Didn’t shy from his own bad play but I was surprised to hear both things out of his mouth.

Frustration. Nothing to worry about, IMO.

[MiltonWaddams]

54 minutes ago, Meatloaf63 said:

Didn’t know that having a discussion in a forum could solve a professional sports teams deficiencies, thanks for clearing that up👍 It’s all sunshine and candy going forward…

It’s not solving anybody’s deficiencies 

[WideNine]

I missed most of the 2nd half, as I had to go to an awards banquet for my daughter's team that was held at a park with 0 internet.

 

I was annoyed, but kept it in check for the fam's sake.

 

Sounds like it was a small mercy as my boy said the 4th quarter was brutal.

 

In the 1st half I felt like we had our chances. In the second I felt we had an INT that was reversed on a questionable that could of put us up a few scores and really put the screws on their offense.

 

Allen was not sharp and played too tight, but credit the Steelers defense for having a good game plan.

 

The sky is not falling, but they need to clean some things up and have a good bounce back performance.

 

 

 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

7 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Josh’s PC came as close as he’ll ever come to throwing others under the bus. Said he was “maybe feeling things around my feet” (o-line).  Asked about that 4th and 1 call and he said something like, “the coaches call the plays.”  Ouch.  Didn’t shy from his own bad play but I was surprised to hear both things out of his mouth.

that 4th down play is partially on Josh. He is a big boy now and should have recognized the D and audibled or called a TO.
 

There were like 4 defenders just sitting out there on the side waiting to blow up that play. That play only Works if the D is selling out on the sneak, but they weren’t because the distance was too long to credibly sneak it. 

[JaCrispy]

11 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Josh’s PC came as close as he’ll ever come to throwing others under the bus. Said he was “maybe feeling things around my feet” (o-line).  Asked about that 4th and 1 call and he said something like, “the coaches call the plays.”  Ouch.  Didn’t shy from his own bad play but I was surprised to hear both things out of his mouth.

Bickering Bills...

[Bruffalo]

Today was one of the worst performance's our offensive line has put up in years.  They looked atrocious.  The guards especially looked bad.  Yeah Pittsburgh has a great front 7, that doesn't excuse the domination. 

 

Allen definitely regressed under all that pressure.  His ball placement was bad.  His pocket presence (when there was a pocket) was bad. The deep ball was 2019 level.

 

I'm hoping this was the smack in the mouth they needed to figure things out. 

 

I predict they'll go 16-1 now.  Haha.

[eball]

Championships are often won and lost in week one. Carry on. 

[BADOLBILZ]

1 minute ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I’m not a fan of the empty backfield.  But was it really dink-n-dunk that was the problem?  

30 completions for 270 yds is 9 yards per completion.  Seems to me the low YPA was a function of the unusually low (compared to last year) % of completions.

 

In his postgame presser, Allen said he was “too aggressive” and needed to take more “easy stuff” to have it work out better.  I can’t tell, watching from the network broadcast, but it wouldn’t surprise me if on many of those plays, there was a check down option available and Allen was extending the play looking for the Kill Shot.

 

 

 

Despite being paved with explosive intentions........the 5 wide, empty-backfield course is by nature a dink and dunk approach to offensive football.

 

Allen took some deep shots........but they were mostly covered and he was harried.........because deep plays take time to develop and in empty backfield the DL can pin their ears back and just attack the QB.  

 

Even if he took more check downs..........that's more opportunities to get receivers blasted and have the ball dislodged or tipped into heavy traffic by a squatting back 7...........and, as we found out today, more opportunities for officials to re-discover the holding penalties they had shelved last season.  

 

Not the best way to put a lot of points on the board.   

 

 

[Meatloaf63]

3 minutes ago, eball said:

Championships are often won and lost in week one. Carry on. 

Probably not, but flaws certainly can be exposed…

[eball]

1 minute ago, Meatloaf63 said:

Probably not, but flaws certainly can be exposed…

Yes, and teams always play exactly as they did in week one in week sixteen. Carry on. 

[DCofNC]

2 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

You are incorrect, no really, you are, Dabol’s one failing is that he has no functioning idea how to integrate a run game into his offensive schemes, over the last three years he has shown this to be so. 
 

As an example;

 

Singletary had just picked up back to back first downs on run plays, of 12 & 15 yards iirc, and put us well into the red zone, then Dabs calls a run play for Allen when Singletary was so obviously the hot hand and very likely to score a TD during that series of downs. Singletary was running in contact traffic much better than Allen was during the game. 
 

A Pass only offense is an one dimensional offense and is relatively easy to defend against especially when your OC doesn’t know when to use his RBs, this game showed this to be so. 
 

Go Bills!!!

I don’t disagree that Daboll is a loser masked by great QBs, but that’s still not making Singletary a good back.

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

 

Now we get a little glimpse behind the curtain as to why no team hired Daboll last year. Even though many thought he'd be gobbled up immediately. He's an above average OC who does have obvious flaws. He has no clue what to do with running backs. Today's 4th down calls were hilarious. 

 

The reason Daboll got so much attention from national pundits last year is that a lot of outside observers think he took a bad QB in Allen and made him produce at an elite level. When I've always felt the exact opposite is the case. He has a maddening habit of refusing to make changes when things aren't working. If the other team is consistently getting pressure with 4, bring in extra blockers. Set up screens. Run play action to open up quick throwing windows. We saw none of that today. Every pass play was shotgun empty and Pittsburgh countered it with simple zone coverages and rushing 4. I don't mind that the offense struggled a bit early on, but by the 2nd half we should have figured it out and instead the offense got worse. That's on Daboll.

[SCBills]

Honestly, the thing that makes me annoyed is that so many fans here lamented our Guards and CB2 all offseason. 
 

We drafted a pass rusher in Round 2, who wasn’t even active.  
 

Today, our IOL was a disgrace and Levi was the only true weak link in a strong defensive performance.  
 

Also, we have multiple ST captains.  Our coach is obsessed with carrying multiple roster spots for special teams aces.  To have a punt block for a TD knowing all that is incredibly frustrating.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

4 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Despite being paved with explosive intentions........the 5 wide, empty-backfield course is by nature a dink and dunk approach to offensive football.

 

Allen took some deep shots........but they were mostly covered and he was harried.........because deep plays take time to develop and in empty backfield the DL can pin their ears back and just attack the QB.  

 

Even if he took more check downs..........that's more opportunities to get receivers blasted and have the ball dislodged or tipped into heavy traffic by a squatting back 7...........and, as we found out today, more opportunities for officials to re-discover the holding penalties they had shelved last season.  

 

Not the best way to put a lot of points on the board.   

 

“Paved with explosive intentions” - I like that turn of phrase.    I see your point about the deep shots that take time to develop, but I think Daboll’s use of it is more to force the D to show their hand with regard to coverage and have Allen hit those quick 5-15 yd routes OR take off and run himself (which he did with some success today)

 

Of course, it only works out that way if the OL can protect “hat on a hat”, and if they don’t, yes, the QB is harried.

 

Do you know how many plays we ran from the empty backfield?  I have the impression it was “a lot”.  But I had that impression last year, and it turned out to be 15% or something like that - which was still one of the highest in the league, but not my perception.