A Few Thoughts about the Steelers Game, in no particular order

[ColoradoBills]

Plenty of blame all around for losing the game.  The offense, coaching and punt team the obvious keys.

They need to regroup and regain their advantage in Miami.

Bills can't afford to "lay an egg" down there.

 

Maybe the whole team needs to stop reading all the praise they been getting and get back to work.

It's a L O N G season!

[Coach Tuesday]

1 minute ago, dave mcbride said:

Like I said, not interested in the Edmunds debate. Re: Allen, I feel like I'm watching the football version of Stanton, with Allen's missed bombs the equivalent of Stanton's no-arc 121 mph singles that result in no runs.

ESPN did a nice feature last year about Russell Wilson learning to throw the “moon ball” - it’s all about technique, if you put enough air under it the WR can adjust his positioning to make the catch.    Don’t understand why this is so hard for Josh to do given the strides he’s made on his other mechanics.

[dave mcbride]

1 minute ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

You can't win turnover differential with a ZERO in your column.

 

But good to see we have a turnover differential truther on the board...........takes wrong people too make for debate.

To be fair, they got a dominating strip sack and got a bad bounce (e.g., the randomness of fumbles, as you point out) and had a pick unjustly called back. I'm not one to blame the refs at all for the loss at all, but that was a really, really shaky call. I'm surprised it was called, to be honest. That said, the Bills fumbled four times (one a garbage-time sideline one by Singletary at the end) and turned it over on a blocked punt. Allen had a couple of passes that hit Steelers' players hands, but they were bullets that no DB was ever going to be capable of catching. 

[nedboy7]

4 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

You can't win turnover differential with a ZERO in your column.

 

But good to see we have a turnover differential truther on the board...........takes wrong people to make for debate.

I was wondering if someone was gonna try to blame that ***** show on offense on the D somehow. This is brilliant. 

[BADOLBILZ]

1 minute ago, Coach Tuesday said:

ESPN did a nice feature last year about Russell Wilson learning to throw the “moon ball” - it’s all about technique, if you put enough air under it the WR can adjust his positioning to make the catch.    Don’t understand why this is so hard for Josh to do given the strides he’s made on his other mechanics.

 

I assumed Allen was still working on this.

 

Instead he and Palmer just talked about improving on "in breaking" routes.........which are sure tightass throws when defenses are squatting on you and the field is congested with 7 pass defenders.

 

The guy has one of the very strongest arms the game has ever seen..........being good at the deep ball should be a HUGE priority.    

 

[SectionC3]

24 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Agreed, but that sorta confirms my point -- he has to be pinpoint, and every once in a while he will be because of the law of averages. But the approach is going to result in a very low completion percentage overall on bomb throws relative to other good NFL QBs. 

I don’t think you and I disagree.  I give him a little bit of the benefit of the doubt on the sanders miss because the flags behind Bob Kalsu’a name we’re close to stiff.   But otherwise … we have to hit some of these balls. 

[BADOLBILZ]

3 minutes ago, nedboy7 said:

I was wondering if someone was gonna try to blame that ***** show on offense on the D somehow. This is brilliant. 

 

 

Oh I blame the offense...........the discussion point was Edmunds lack of big plays thru 3+ seasons and why.

 

If you are going to respond,  read the posts that precede it or stay under your rock.

 

9 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

To be fair, they got a dominating strip sack and got a bad bounce (e.g., the randomness of fumbles, as you point out) and had a pick unjustly called back. I'm not one to blame the refs at all for the loss at all, but that was a really, really shaky call. I'm surprised it was called, to be honest. That said, the Bills fumbled four times (one a garbage-time sideline one by Singletary at the end) and turned it over on a blocked punt. Allen had a couple of passes that hit Steelers' players hands, but they were bullets that no DB was ever going to be capable of catching. 

 

 

Oh I don't care about that point so it doesn't matter that the Steelers created 4 or 5 turnover opportunities with their defense and ST's despite the Bills offense playing in favorable communicating situations for 4 quarters. 😉

[dave mcbride]

9 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Oh I blame the offense...........the discussion point was Edmunds lack of big plays thru 3+ seasons and why.

 

If you are going to respond,  read the posts that precede it or stay under your rock.

 

 

 

Oh I don't care about that point so it doesn't matter that the Steelers created 4 or 5 turnover opportunities with their defense and ST's despite the Bills offense playing in favorable communicating situations for 4 quarters. 😉

No, I don't care about the Edmunds debate.  I care about the defense overall. The Edmunds debate is just tiresome to me. I realize that a lot of people feel differently and are very passionate about it. I'm just not one of those people.

 

As for forcing turnovers, the Bills finished third in the league at forcing turnovers last year, so I'm not too worried. They may regress to the mean a little, but matchup zone is a fairly good scheme for forcing TOs, especially against young QBs. They're facing Tua, Jones, and Zack Wilson twice as well as Lawrence, Darnold, and Winston, so they'll get their share of TOs over the long haul. I'm not sold on Wentz being good at preventing TOs either. He's a strip-sack fumble sort of guy.

Edited September 13, 2021 by dave mcbride

[The Firebaugh Kid]

Great write up as usual. 

Certain situations were mismanaged, some bad calls,and a bad day on offense and still....Buffalo was outgaining Pittsburgh all day. The blocked punt was brutal.

Re: crowd noise....I've never heard the stadium that loud either. It appears as if the fans smacking the seats during the playoffs run has been adopted by many fans. What an atmosphere. When Allen was introduced it was absolutely insane. 

[Nihilarian]

52 minutes ago, Mango said:

 

The total miss and talent evaluation by this staff on Wyatt Teller is always a head scratcher. I just don't get how we could be so wrong, so immediately on the guy. Traded and immediately a stud. I have a lot of difficulty wrapping my head around it. 

It is a bit disturbing that the Bills got this one so wrong. That and they still have faith in the players on the roster that can't seem to get it done. The Bills need to hire someone who can actually evaluate talent at the OG position. 

[DrDawkinstein]

Great write up, @Virgil. Thanks as always.

 

I put this loss squarely and solely on the shoulders of our coaches. Mainly, Dabol and McD.

 

I really dont care about individual player performance this week because the coaches 100% set them up to fail.

 

You simply can NOT have "5-wide" as your base offense. Especially against a Defense like Pittsburgh.

 

Going 5-wide tells the D we are obviously passing. This allows two big things:

1. The DL to tee off at the snap, without having to worry about any reads, and just go straight after the QB. This puts a ton of additional pressure on the OLine, and we saw it result in the Holds that were called (and plenty more that weren't called). The OL was holding on for dear life most of the game. This isnt because they simply suck. It's because the DL had a green light to go 100% pass rush every play.
2.  the D to drop 7 into coverage, and into a soft zone. Clogging up every passing lane, and covering every opportunity. Giving Josh NOTHING to work with. He couldnt even "take what the D gives him" because they weren't giving him anything. No need when our plan is so obvious.

It was DISASTROUS right from the jump.

 

It was obvious that Dabol had a "first drive script" that was likely planned for starting at our own 25 after a touchback. Instead, McKenzie gifted us great field position and all the momentum... and the OC blew it by refusing to deviate from the plan. Coming out 5-wide all 3 plays and taking a Field Goal pretty much set the weak, disappointing tone for the rest of the day.

[Dan]

After a night and morning thinking about it, the Bills as a team just came out flat, unprepared, and completely out of sync.   The Steelers just played more physical from top to bottom and had the proper game plan. 
 

The Bills, however, just weren’t ready.  The OL was blown off the ball consistently.  Dawkins clearly is not in game shape.  Benching Moss for Breida made no sense, considering how they used him.  Davis should be seeing more snaps than Sanders, every week. And Allen... well ..he was just out of rhythm all day.  
 

So, historically, how do you get a QB (and and the offense) settled down and into a rhythm?  You call some quick passes, and run the ball.  Daboll refuses to let this team establish a running game. 
 

Defensively, they played without emotion or physicality.  But that is the trademark of our defense.  Be calm, keep the play in front of you and don’t give up the big play.  Problem is.. that almost guarantees some long drives and allows the other team to get into that offensive rhythm that can bite you. 
 

Lots of issues.  Some big, some small. But the coaches and players need to wake up and realize, the season is here.  Nothing will be given to them.  They need to put the best players on the field and stop out thinking themselves.   4th and 1 and they toss it backwards 7yds!  WTF. 

[Virgil]

3 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Great write up, @Virgil. Thanks as always.

 

I put this loss squarely and solely on the shoulders of our coaches. Mainly, Dabol and McD.

 

I really dont care about individual player performance this week because the coaches 100% set them up to fail.

 

You simply can NOT have "5-wide" as your base offense. Especially against a Defense like Pittsburgh.

 

Going 5-wide tells the D we are obviously passing. This allows two big things:

1. The DL to tee off at the snap, without having to worry about any reads, and just go straight after the QB. This puts a ton of additional pressure on the OLine, and we saw it result in the Holds that were called (and plenty more that weren't called). The OL was holding on for dear life most of the game. This isnt because they simply suck. It's because the DL had a green light to go 100% pass rush every play.
2.  the D to drop 7 into coverage, and into a soft zone. Clogging up every passing lane, and covering every opportunity. Giving Josh NOTHING to work with. He couldnt even "take what the D gives him" because they weren't giving him anything. No need when our plan is so obvious.

It was DISASTROUS right from the jump.

 

It was obvious that Dabol had a "first drive script" that was likely planned for starting at our own 25 after a touchback. Instead, McKenzie gifted us great field position and all the momentum... and the OC blew it by refusing to deviate from the plan. Coming out 5-wide all 3 plays and taking a Field Goal pretty much set the weak, disappointing tone for the rest of the day.

I agree with you on your first point, but not on the second.  There were openings in the zone all over the place, but Josh was either being too aggressive or locking in on a specific receiver.  
 

There were quite a few players where we had two receivers in an area and one linebacker covering both in a zone.  They could have picked that apart the entire second half. 

1 minute ago, Dan said:

After a night and morning thinking about it, the Bills as a team just came out flat, unprepared, and completely out of sync.   The Steelers just played more physical from top to bottom and had the proper game plan. 
 

The Bills, however, just weren’t ready.  The OL was blown off the ball consistently.  Dawkins clearly is not in game shape.  Benching Moss for Breida made no sense, considering how they used him.  Davis should be seeing more snaps than Sanders, every week. And Allen... well ..he was just out of rhythm all day.  
 

So, historically, how do you get a QB (and and the offense) settled down and into a rhythm?  You call some quick passes, and run the ball.  Daboll refuses to let this team establish a running game. 
 

Defensively, they played without emotion or physicality.  But that is the trademark of our defense.  Be calm, keep the play in front of you and don’t give up the big play.  Problem is.. that almost guarantees some long drives and allows the other team to get into that offensive rhythm that can bite you. 
 

Lots of issues.  Some big, some small. But the coaches and players need to wake up and realize, the season is here.  Nothing will be given to them.  They need to put the best players on the field and stop out thinking themselves.   4th and 1 and they toss it backwards 7yds!  WTF. 

I still can’t get over the Gabe Davis usage.  Sanders is a one year rental.  Stop trying to make him something on this offense we don’t need.  
 

We didn’t run a single mid range crossing route play to Davis, which was a highly effective play for us last season.  

[Dan]

5 minutes ago, Virgil said:

I agree with you on your first point, but not on the second.  There were openings in the zone all over the place, but Josh was either being too aggressive or locking in on a specific receiver.  
 

There were quite a few players where we had two receivers in an area and one linebacker covering both in a zone.  They could have picked that apart the entire second half. 

I still can’t get over the Gabe Davis usage.  Sanders is a one year rental.  Stop trying to make him something on this offense we don’t need.  
 

We didn’t run a single mid range crossing route play to Davis, which was a highly effective play for us last season.  

Exactly.  Sanders is, IMO, an insurance policy against an injury.  But to start the season... we need to go with the players that got us to the Championship game.  And that’s Davis and Moss... not Sanders and Breida.   Now as the season progresses and they learn the offense, I would expect their snaps to increase.  But not in week 1.  It was just Daboll out smarting everyone and it backfired. 

Edited September 13, 2021 by Dan

[Mark Vader]

1 hour ago, SectionC3 said:

Agreed.  He just doesn’t throw well with arc.  His best deep balls are crossers and stuff to the left.  Deep to the right is a weak spot for him. Diggs (Denver?) is the first one to the right that I recall him hitting in awhile. 

Diggs in the playoff game against Indianapolis would be more recent.

[dave mcbride]

16 minutes ago, Dan said:

Exactly.  Sanders is, IMO, an insurance policy against an injury.  But to start the season... we need to go with the players that got us to the Championship game.  And that’s Davis and Moss... not Sanders and Breida.   Now as the season progresses and they learn the offense, I would expect their snaps to increase.  But not in week 1.  It was just Daboll out smarting everyone and it backfired. 

Emmanuel Sanders is a top 25 receiver of the last decade who hasn't actually lost a step. He's an upgrade from Brown (tougher, better route runner) who consistently gets separation. Beane has been chasing him for years for a reason. The whole idea behind bringing him in was to put in place two "mirror" receivers (Diggs and Sanders) on opposite sides of the field who could run mirror images of each other while both separating (Diggs, Sanders, and Beasley were 1-2-3 in the league last year in gaining separation). That forces teams to defend both sides of the field and not weight their defense toward Diggs. Beasley, Knox, and Davis/McKenzie should be able to run free. Davis is a nice player, but his hands are inconsistent and he has separation issues. He'll get his targets, but he's not as dangerous a weapon as Sanders, who over his career has thrived in sophisticated passing attacks and knows the full route tree like the back of his hand (as does Diggs).  

 

Yeah, they lost yesterday, but not because of Sanders, who was the one guy on the team to beat the Steelers deep. Obviously, the o-line has to be better, but if it does start playing well, the passing attack should be harder to stop than even last year's. 

Edited September 13, 2021 by dave mcbride

[Virgil]

2 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Emmanuel Sanders is a top 25 receiver of the last decade who hasn't actually lost a step. He's an upgrade from Brown (tougher, better route runner) who consistently gets separation. Beane has been chasing him for years for a reason. The whole idea behind bringing him in was to put in place two "mirror" receivers (Diggs and Sanders) on opposite sides of the field who could run mirror images of each other while both separating (Diggs, Sanders, and Beasley were 1-2-3 in the league last year in gaining separation). That forces teams to defend both sides of the field and not weight their defense toward Diggs. Beasley, Knox, and Davis/McKenzie should be able to run free. Davis is a nice player, but his hands are inconsistent and he has separation issues. He'll get his targets, but he's not as dangerous a weapon as Sanders, who over his career has thrived in sophisticated passing attacks and knows the full route tree like the back of his hand (as does Diggs).  

 

Yeah, they lost yesterday, but not because of Sanders, who was the one guy on the team to beat the Steelers deep. Obviously, the o-line has to be better, but if it does start playing well, the passing attack should be harder to stop than even last year's. 

I’m not saying Sanders is bad, but Davis needs more time on the field.  

[dave mcbride]

3 minutes ago, Virgil said:

I’m not saying Sanders is bad, but Davis needs more time on the field.  

Sanders is a better player, I believe, but Davis will get his snaps. He played 38 percent yesterday. Specifically, given the scheme they faced yesterday (6-7 DBs and a ferocious 4-man pass rush, you need guys who can separate quickly in the short to medium range. Sanders is definitely better at that than Davis. My point is, factor in the opponent.  

Edited September 13, 2021 by dave mcbride

[MrSarcasm]

2 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

You can't win turnover differential with a ZERO in your column.

 

To win the turnover battle yesterday Buffalo would have needed 3 takeaways. That is asking for alot. 

 

You can't win the turnover differential with turnovers.  Fixed it for you

Edited September 13, 2021 by MrSarcasm

[Nihilarian]

24 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Sanders is a better player, I believe, but Davis will get his snaps. He played 38 percent yesterday. Specifically, given the scheme they faced yesterday (6-7 DBs and a ferocious 4-man pass rush, you need guys who can separate quickly in the short to medium range. Sanders is definitely better at that than Davis. My point is, factor in the opponent.  

Which is something that Brian Daboll has failed to do since last seasons Miami game. 

 

The Buffalo offense just hasn't been as innovative or explosive as it was prior to the playoffs in 2020. The Bills run the ball 38 times against the Patriots in their first meeting and the next week confound the Seahawks the next week by heaving it all over.

 

I don't mind the Bills passing 30-40 times a game if it is working...30 of 51 pass attempts for 270 yards and yet the Bills only scored 16 points all game against Pittsburgh. 

 

Bills WR Jake Kumerow saw only 3 snaps all game, at 6'4'' you would think he would make a perfect red zone target. 

 

The New England offense is supposed to make first downs over and over till the red zone and then punch it in. Forget the big play if it isn't working and just move the chains, get into a rhythm.

 

Putting the game entirely on the QB's doesn't always work and when that plan doesn't work. Have a game plan besides 51 pass attempts.