"Pittsburgh Confused Josh Allen" - Chris Simms

[Solomon Grundy]

9 hours ago, IronMaidenBills said:

This is my biggest problem with Daboll. He isn’t flexible because he doesn’t want to be flexible. It’s his game plan and he alone knows all. Pure arrogance. 

No arm involved 😎

[Coach Tuesday]

1 hour ago, colin said:

a point i see in this: Simms points out correctly that we are running an offense based heavily on the old NE O.  does anyone remember brady getting huge credit for beating up on teams after they ran the ball effectively and then passed out of heavy formations to wide open guys?  or when they would spread, hit the quick hitter on first down a few times, and then mix in draws and just grind the d up?

 

 

dabo gets into insane ruts where he comes in with no balance at all, and it takes earth and heaven to move him off of his stubborn perch.  was it against KC or something we ran the ball like 1 time w an rb in the first half?  his choice to line up empty (4 and 5 wide, he just can't let a drive go without going empty) vs what is prolly the best 4 man rush in the nfl after it hasn't been working just shows he has an idea coming into the game, and it has nothing with taking advantage of the D on the pitch.

 

the 4th and 1 call was a great example of not doing anything to help your players out.  if we convert that we have a really good shot at winning the game, and that's with bad play all over the place otherwise.

 

i was wrong to stop bad mouthing him last year!

 

Completely agree - he seems to have a Mike Martz side to his personality where he cannot separate the tactics from the strategy - I'd bet serious money against him succeeding as a head coach.

[CincyBillsFan]

17 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Yeah the people who think that the failure was all about the pressure put on Allen are incorrect..........the Steelers accurately predicted how they could confuse Josh Allen.   

 

@HappyDays was arguing with me about it yesterday wrt a play where the safety totally abandoned Sanders and Allen never looked......he locked on the receivers they expected him to.   The pressure was significant but as Cynthia Frelund on the Bills preseason broadcast mentioned recently.......Josh typically destroys teams when they pressure him.........the Steelers really had Daboll and Allen pegged.

There is a difference between pressure from only the front 3 or 4 and pressure from blitzing.  Allen handles the blitz well but IMO NO QB can consistently handle frequent heavy pressure from only the 3 or 4 D linemen.  See Mahomes at last years Super Bowl.

 

Again we are overthinking this.  Better play from our Oline combined with not playing anyone else this season beyond maybe Washington (and their 2ndary & LB's aren't as good as the Steelers) with a Dline as good as Pittsburgh's should go a long way towards solving this issue.

 

 

 

 

[oldmanfan]

Pittsburgh played a helluva game on defense.  Tip your hat to them.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

9 hours ago, IronMaidenBills said:

This is my biggest problem with Daboll. He isn’t flexible because he doesn’t want to be flexible. It’s his game plan and he alone knows all. Pure arrogance. 

Arrogance is ok when it’s working.  There is a lot of flexibility from week to week. It does seem like they lack the personnel versatility to flip from run heavy to pass heavy or Vice versa mid game. 

[marky]

Drop 7. Rush 4. Holding on #73 free 10 yards.

[BADOLBILZ]

8 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

There is a difference between pressure from only the front 3 or 4 and pressure from blitzing.  Allen handles the blitz well but IMO NO QB can consistently handle frequent heavy pressure from only the 3 or 4 D linemen.  See Mahomes at last years Super Bowl.

 

Again we are overthinking this.  Better play from our Oline combined with not playing anyone else this season beyond maybe Washington (and their 2ndary & LB's aren't as good as the Steelers) with a Dline as good as Pittsburgh's should go a long way towards solving this issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Better play in A NUMBER of areas wins that game..............not just the OL.

 

As I said that game was one of the greatest homefield advantages I've ever seen at that stadium...........it took A LOT of failure on the Bills end to wind up losing that game.

[JohnBonhamRocks]

2 hours ago, Buffalo Timmy said:

My largest issue with the game was how often we went 4-5 wide and no short routes. I have no issue with the 5 wife's even with the great pass rush but we need a short crossing route on every play. I watched two plays where the recievers all went at least 9 yards down field before cutting. 

Freudian slip?

 

Anyways, agreed to your point. And more specifically, why could PIT run quick screens successfully at least 4-5 times I can recall, but I do not recall BUF trying that? 

 

To me that combined with failure to tweak the blocking scheme that was getting blown up regularly (why not keep another blocker home to help sometimes?) we’re Daboll’s worst failures from the day.

[Logic]

I believe what Chris Simms said is correct.

I also believe -- to echo what someone said on Twitter yesterday -- that any time an opposing defense can rush four, drop seven, and get to the quarterback as easily as the Steelers did, that quarterback is going to have a bad game 99% of the time.

 

[dave mcbride]

1 hour ago, Not at the table Karlos said:

I read something a while back that Daboll wanted tua to play all year because he had to scale back the playbook for hurts. Saban finally let the change happen in championship game and Daboll opened it up. 

I read the same thing, and also that Daboll was behind the substitution in the championship game.

[Stank_Nasty]

Just read an interesting stat highlighting just how startling the amount of 4 man pressure they were getting..... just the 6th game since 2009 that a team blitzed less than 3% of the snaps yet generated more than 30% pressure rate. And for as amazing as that stat is, just a blocked punt was the difference in this game.

 

Theres nothing earth shattering there. The "recipe" on how to stop elite qb's has been out for over 20 years now. Get there with 4 and drop 7. Luckily for us theres about 3 teams in the league that actually have the ingredients to pull that off. Just unfortunate we had to meet one of them week 1.

[TH3]

10 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Apologies if this already posted somewhere else

 

Chris Simms Unbuttoned on Pittsburgh

 

 

Huh...I thought they over ran our O line and blanketed our recievers.....and all this time it was on JA!

[SCBills]

15 minutes ago, Stank_Nasty said:

Just read an interesting stat highlighting just how startling the amount of 4 man pressure they were getting..... just the 6th game since 2009 that a team blitzed less than 3% of the snaps yet generated more than 30% pressure rate. And for as amazing as that stat is, just a blocked punt was the difference in this game.

 

Theres nothing earth shattering there. The "recipe" on how to stop elite qb's has been out for over 20 years now. Get there with 4 and drop 7. Luckily for us theres about 3 teams in the league that actually have the ingredients to pull that off. Just unfortunate we had to meet one of them week 1.

 

It's Thursday and I still can't read a post like this and not get annoyed that we re-signed Feliciano and didn't attempt to upgrade the interior offensive line.  

 

I expect the OL to improve, but that stat is absolutely ridiculous.  

 

Yes, only a handful of teams with those ingredients, but 2 of them are in the AFC and the other is on our schedule / also the favorite to appear in the Super Bowl from the NFC.

[Thurman#1]

1 hour ago, oldmanfan said:

Pittsburgh played a helluva game on defense.  Tip your hat to them.

 

 

This.

 

Blame goes to nearly everyone on the offensive side, including Allen, Daboll and the OL as the largest parts, but Simms' point here is that Pittsburgh crossing us up and really using smart anticipatory strategy was a big part of it.

 

QBs have to get confused along the way. It is part of the process. Seeing new things, getting confused and beaten, looking at it on film and figuring out what they did and how to counter ... this is what turns guys into Peyton Mannings and Tom Bradys, in terms of veteran smarts. It's part of the process, but it's a painful part of the process.

 

We'll see other teams trying to ape this strategy. Most of those teams won't have a defensive front four like the Steelers do, so they won't do it as well, but it will be tougher unless/until we figure out how to successfully counter.

[GunnerBill]

8 minutes ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

This.

 

Blame goes to nearly everyone on the offensive side, including Allen, Daboll and the OL as the largest parts, but Simms' point here is that Pittsburgh crossing us up and really using smart anticipatory strategy was a big part of it.

 

QBs have to get confused along the way. It is part of the process. Seeing new things, getting confused and beaten, looking at it on film and figuring out what they did and how to counter ... this is what turns guys into Peyton Mannings and Tom Bradys, in terms of veteran smarts. It's part of the process, but it's a painful part of the process.

 

We'll see other teams trying to ape this strategy. Most of those teams won't have a defensive front four like the Steelers do, so they won't do it as well, but it will be tougher unless/until we figure out how to successfully counter.

 

Most teams are not as talented or well coached up front at Pittsburgh. Definitely true. Remember when KC confused Brady in the "on to Cincinnati" game? It happens even to the best sometimes. The Bills just have to come out and play better, coach better, and Quarterback better this week. 

35 minutes ago, Stank_Nasty said:

Just read an interesting stat highlighting just how startling the amount of 4 man pressure they were getting..... just the 6th game since 2009 that a team blitzed less than 3% of the snaps yet generated more than 30% pressure rate. And for as amazing as that stat is, just a blocked punt was the difference in this game.

 

Theres nothing earth shattering there. The "recipe" on how to stop elite qb's has been out for over 20 years now. Get there with 4 and drop 7. Luckily for us theres about 3 teams in the league that actually have the ingredients to pull that off. Just unfortunate we had to meet one of them week 1.

 

Backs up what I have said all week. This wasn't just a below par day for an offensive line. This was a downright disaster from start to finish. When you block that badly being productive on offense is hard whatever you call and whoever you have under center. 

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by GunnerBill

[Thurman#1]

7 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Most teams are not as talented or well coached up front at Pittsburgh. Definitely true. Remember when KC confused Brady in the "on to Cincinnati" game? It happens even to the best sometimes. The Bills just have to come out and play better, coach better, and Quarterback better this week. 

 

 

Yup. 

 

Folks may have seen this, but it's a thoughtful breakdown of the Steelers DL vs. the Bills OL, with video breakdowns. He even had video of Bobby Johnson at a coaching clinic he attended.

 

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by Thurman#1

[BuffaloMatt]

It was 10-0 at half. Should have been fourteen. Coming away with three on first drive sucked, but somewhat forgivable as it was the first drive of year. Penalties and execution did them in. Easy to blame play calling but that didn't lose the game. 

[starrymessenger]

As usual Simms breakdown is very instructive. I get that Steeler's disguised their coverage to confuse Allen but don't defences disguise their coverages routinely in an effort to confuse or deceive the QB and hasn't Allen shown that he is capable of making post snap reads? Sounds like Simms is saying that Pittsburg's understanding of the NE O is so deep that finding the open receiver was especially difficult involving additional levels of complexity, presenting Allen with something of a shell game. While all QBs miss open receivers at times, and I haven't gone back to check the tape, but I don't myself recall Allen passing up lots of open receivers underneath. I though Steelers coverage was pretty much good at all levels. Kudos to them.

Maybe Brady could counter with a good ground game. Not sure we are able to do that effectively. 

Josh Allen is still of course a young, inexperienced QB but he's smart. He will be a better QB by the end of the year than he is now. 

[Paup 1995MVP]

11 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

They're perfectly capable of pounding the rock with Singletary. Moss is better, but Singletary runs through the middle productively all the time. Hell, he did it in this game. The problem wasn't who they sat, it was the plays they called, and that the Steelers had a terrific game plan to handle our passing game. And that our OL couldn't handle the Steelers 4-man rush.

 

Of course they didn't start the game with 15 runs. We've been successful passing. We were successful passing against the Steelers. 

 

The game AFTER someone does what PIttsburgh did is the game you consider running more and crossing things up.

Here is an idea.  If we want to cross some teams up, start using a 2 TE set more, and pass from it w Knox and Sweeney.  In the NFL you have to mix things up.  Our offense has not dominated against good teams going back to last season.  Start sending 2 TE's down the seams w Beasley going underneath and Diggs doing a deep cross, and our RB drifting out into the flat.  Dolphins won't know what hit them.  

[FilthyBeast]

10 hours ago, JerseyBills said:

Josh refused to take the underneath routes every time! They were there. He didn't take what the defense gave him....

Forced it down field instead 

 

Which is why this is a major red flag in year number 4 after signing a record contract.

 

People keep blaming the oline, playcalling, etc which was no doubt part of the problem...but Allen made many bad mistakes and missed a lot of passes that franchise QB's simply make including the wide open downfield throw to Sanders.

 

Just really hope his head is clear and he comes out looking like 2020 Allen in Miami or I fear what things will look like especially from the fanbase on forums like this.