Cover1 Breakdown of Bills OL vs. Steelers. "Breakdown" is the Apt Word

[Big Blitz]

Cam Heyward

Melvin Ingram

TJ Watt 

 

When are we going to see better then this?

 

 

We're not.  Washington looks like trash and honestly Tampa's pass rush doesn't concern me too much.  They are not the Steelers - they are impossible to run on but that plays to our strength and that secondary looked horrendous vs Dak.   

 

I think we still go 12-5 no problem and win the division.  Long way to go folks.   

 

 

 

That being said......the Bills better have a break glass in case of emergency plan if the interior OL looks bad vs Miami.  We dumped Spain quick.  Not saying that could be a solution with these guys no way....just that we have made significant in season adjustments.  

[billsherd]

7 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

As noted elsewhere, they are doing this without all-22 Film

Still worth watching IMO.

 

Initial takedown:

1) JFC, Dawkins got Pwned.  Just Ugly.

2) It may be unfair to finger-point Feliciano.  I can't say he was great, but Turner points out that protection calls all day by and large slid the line right, to let Ford help Williams with TJ Watt.  This basically left Feliciano 1:1 with Heyward and Dawkins on an island.

 

Dawkins looks nothing like the Franchise LT we paid in this film.  It's Ugly.

If a full off-season of training and no injury was supposed to result in an improved Feliciano, the early returns are not positive.

 

That said, why the Bills failed to say, "OK, this isn't working, let's get you guys some help" I can not guess

 

3) Except that as Turner points out, every single guy on the line looked bad at times so 🤷‍♂️

 

 

Happ needs his all22😄. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

6 minutes ago, billsherd said:

Happ needs his all22😄. 

 

Truth

[Big Blitz]

46 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Maybe… or maybe the Bills offensive line just isn’t that good… Dawkins was a disaster and I expect him to improve, but what you see is what you get with Feliciano and Morse…. Feliciano is a good depth guy but really a fringe starting Guard in the league. 

 

 

 

The coaching and play calling absolutely hung these guys out to dry.  

 

The failure to realize it in game and make the right adjustments is a bigger concern to me then how they played in game 1.  

 

 

So I'm not going to panic right now about the line.  But they have to show well this week because you don't want to be in panic mode about them with Washington's front 4 coming in.  You won't throw Brown out there vs Young or Sweat 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

10 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

As noted elsewhere, they are doing this without all-22 Film

Still worth watching IMO.

 

Initial takedown:

1) JFC, Dawkins got Pwned.  Just Ugly.

2) It may be unfair to finger-point Feliciano.  I can't say he was great, but Turner points out that protection calls all day by and large slid the line right, to let Ford help Williams with TJ Watt.  This basically left Feliciano 1:1 with Heyward and Dawkins on an island.

 

Dawkins looks nothing like the Franchise LT we paid in this film.  It's Ugly.

If a full off-season of training and no injury was supposed to result in an improved Feliciano, the early returns are not positive.

 

That said, why the Bills failed to say, "OK, this isn't working, let's get you guys some help" I can not guess

 

3) Except that as Turner points out, every single guy on the line looked bad at times so 🤷‍♂️

 

 

 

OK, I distrust going just off a Cover1 piece because when you break down a dozen or so out of 70+ plays you can some times create a false impression.

 

So I spent some time with game film looking at the line, and I must say that Feliciano had a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.  Now I grant you that Heyward is a terror, and to be fair Jon did have some plays where he was good enough to buy time, but by and large Heyward made him look awful.

 

One other thing.  Breida should never, ever be kept in to block again.  There's a 3rd down play where not only does he NOT block anyone, he actually actively gets in the way of Feliciano trying to go help Morse.  Yuck-o.

 

 

[MJS]

I think we just have an average oline. They are going to get beat sometimes, and when average olines face elite defensive lines, they can look bad.

 

It's a position that we need to continue to upgrade over time.

 

It's a good thing Josh can avoid pressure and extent plays.

[CSBill]

5 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

OK, I distrust going just off a Cover1 piece because when you break down a dozen or so out of 70+ plays you can some times create a false impression.

 

So I spent some time with game film looking at the line, and I must say that Feliciano had a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.  Now I grant you that Heyward is a terror, and to be fair Jon did have some plays where he was good enough to buy time, but by and large Heyward made him look awful.

 

One other thing.  Breida should never, ever be kept in to block again.  There's a 3rd down play where not only does he NOT block anyone, he actually actively gets in the way of Feliciano trying to go help Morse.  Yuck-o.

 

 

 

Agree on the Breida observation. I'm not sure what the Bills see in him, I have not seen it in preseason or this game. If he has speed, we certainly did not design anything to take advantage of that on his few runs; and even if he can block, he is so small he is going to get run over. Maybe I'm being impatient, but I do hope the Breida experiment is over and Moss is back on the active roster this week. As I said, I have not seen one thing to say, "oh, that's why he's out there."

[gotme365]

I know it won’t happen but I’d like to give Spence Brown a shot at Tackle and move Dawkins inside to guard 

[GunnerBill]

17 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

As noted elsewhere, they are doing this without all-22 Film

Still worth watching IMO.

 

Initial takedown:

1) JFC, Dawkins got Pwned.  Just Ugly.

2) It may be unfair to finger-point Feliciano.  I can't say he was great, but Turner points out that protection calls all day by and large slid the line right, to let Ford help Williams with TJ Watt.  This basically left Feliciano 1:1 with Heyward and Dawkins on an island.

 

Dawkins looks nothing like the Franchise LT we paid in this film.  It's Ugly.

If a full off-season of training and no injury was supposed to result in an improved Feliciano, the early returns are not positive.

 

That said, why the Bills failed to say, "OK, this isn't working, let's get you guys some help" I can not guess

 

3) Except that as Turner points out, every single guy on the line looked bad at times so 🤷‍♂️

 

 

 

Matches what I saw. I intended to write up my notes from last week's all22 before coming on holiday but then the bloody Prime Minister went and reshuffled on Wednesday and it made my Thursday and Friday work days very long. 

 

[TheyCallMeAndy]

I feel the long term gameplan for the OL is Spencer Brown development into a good RT, allowing the Bills to slide D. Williams to RG. If Spencer Brown turns into a very good or elite LT, then Dawkins slides to G or moves to RT.

[RoyBatty is alive]

19 hours ago, billybrew1 said:

JA thrashed the Stealers in the third and forth quarters last game.  He stood brave around a crumbling OL and made play after play. This time he was nervous and off and the Stealers did not blitz. So, a lot of big differences.....

Did I write there were no differences, obviously there were but the net result, absent the two big places were not, as I wrote radically different. 

 

[JerseyBills]

Dawkins is most troubling. I don't remember him looking that bad last year.  Hoping the covid situation which landed him in the hospital for a few days didn't have anything to do with it.

 

I think Spencer Brown is going to be a beast, maybe we move on from Williams next year,  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, JerseyBills said:

Dawkins is most troubling. I don't remember him looking that bad last year.  Hoping the covid situation which landed him in the hospital for a few days didn't have anything to do with it.

 

I think Spencer Brown is going to be a beast, maybe we move on from Williams next year,  

 

Sean McDermott said "no" but Dawkins in his presser this week said it was still bothering him.

https://www.wivb.com/sports/bills-lt-dion-dawkins-still-fighting-through-lasting-effects-of-his-battle-with-covid-19/

 

 

Quote

“Up and down, you know like my body went through a drastic tragedy I would say. Every part of my body was battling so from being down at my lowest point and trying to be at my highest point in three weeks I mean I try my best. Being a pro your clock just has to be faster but you know I’m grinding at it every day. I’m not fully, fully, fully, fully, fully me but I’m still me,” Dawkins said after practice on Friday.

 

Quote

“But it’s the conditioning part of it but that’s not an excuse but it’s just saying that it’ll be an entire season thing to just keep growing and just keep chopping away at my downfall which will be on the up rise.”

 

Quote

Part of the struggle, at least for Dawkins could have been still working through some of these Covid side effects but he says he’s not sure exactly how close his body is to being 100%.

 

“I have no idea. I wish that it was like pouring water and you could just see the cup go up but it isn’t. Some days I feel amazing and then some days I don’t. When I say it’s an up and down battle, just every day it feels different. But it’s not drastically worse or anything like that but it’s just an up and down battle,” Dawkins explained.

 

Quote

“That’s how I feel on the field at times. Like that play felt harder than the previous play or the play after and this play felt great but I don’t know. I wish I could just open up my body and see but I can’t,” Dawkins said.

 

“I’m not drastically tired but I feel like we still got a way to keep pushing and I’m not perfectly there. I’m there, I’m just not perfectly there.”

 

[Apocalypse Nuts]

15 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

OK, I distrust going just off a Cover1 piece because when you break down a dozen or so out of 70+ plays you can some times create a false impression.

 

So I spent some time with game film looking at the line, and I must say that Feliciano had a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.  Now I grant you that Heyward is a terror, and to be fair Jon did have some plays where he was good enough to buy time, but by and large Heyward made him look awful.

 

One other thing.  Breida should never, ever be kept in to block again.  There's a 3rd down play where not only does he NOT block anyone, he actually actively gets in the way of Feliciano trying to go help Morse.  Yuck-o.

 

 

I like Feliciano but they need to upgrade his spot soon.  He's a brawler but not a good guard.  Seems like he has awful days like he did last Sunday whenever they play top rated defenses.  So when we really need it, he tanks.  Maybe he was better at center.  I don't know.  Just seems like whenever that line is having  bad day, he's in the middle of that bad day getting worked over.

 

That being said, it was only one game against what might be the best defense in the league by the end of the year.  They are unbelievable up front and so strong across the board.  Let's wait a few games before we make too many judgements. 

[3rdand12]

17 hours ago, Big Blitz said:

 

 

 

The coaching and play calling absolutely hung these guys out to dry.  

 

The failure to realize it in game and make the right adjustments is a bigger concern to me then how they played in game 1.  

 

 

So I'm not going to panic right now about the line.  But they have to show well this week because you don't want to be in panic mode about them with Washington's front 4 coming in.  You won't throw Brown out there vs Young or Sweat 

This

all day

[Shaw66]

Great video and great discussion.  In some ways I look at it and think that Steelers have a very good front four, and one that allows it to force one-on-ones wherever they want to attack.  They had a good defense last season, and they look like it's carried over.  

 

I think the Bills ask their guys to be able to win, or hold their own, against whatever the defense may do.   That style may work reasonably well against average NFL defenses, but it has a tendency for the o line to be mismatched against teams who come at the Bills with superior athletes.  McDermott's response to that is "my team will learn to win against the superior athletes, too."  In the meantime, as someone said, what are we doing from week to week to actually win the game. 

[JerseyBills]

3 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Sean McDermott said "no" but Dawkins in his presser this week said it was still bothering him.

https://www.wivb.com/sports/bills-lt-dion-dawkins-still-fighting-through-lasting-effects-of-his-battle-with-covid-19/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, that is concerning for sure.   

I hope he can fully bounce back soon , if he continues to play like last week,  I'd rest him and let Brown start until Dawkins is better... 

[Da webster guy]

Asking an Oline to pass block Ingram and Watt 50+ times when they know you're throwing it every play is a joke.

Daboll is asking the line and Josh to do too much to compensate for his lack of faith in using our running backs.  

 

We've been flat for 3 straight games now on offense going back to Balt game.  Hope we can turn it around in Miami.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Whooopsie.  "Be careful what you ask for"

 

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/2021/09/bills-jon-feliciano-not-spiraling-after-tough-day-vs-cam-heyward-youre-gonna-get-got-sometimes.html

 

Quote

Feliciano hasn’t stopped since he went home after the game. He fired up the tape that night and watched it six times on loop.

Every snap wasn’t a loss against Cam Heyward, but Feliciano got the worse of the matchup. On Josh Allen’s fumble on a T.J. Watt sack, Heyward blew by the 29-year-old Buffalo Bills left guard to force the quarterback to evade the pocket. On one play in the third quarter, Heyward caught Feliciano off balance and pancaked him to the turf.

 

Feliciano showed up to the Bills facility at 7:30 a.m. Monday morning eager to wash the bad taste out of his mouth. He said he’s happy it happened early in the season and now there are 16 more games - 16 more opportunities to prove Sunday was just a bad day at the office.

“Sh** happens - especially with a great player like him,” Feliciano said. “He’s gonna be a Hall of Famer one day. That’s what you have to understand - he gets paid too. Although you never want that to happen, it’s gonna happen sometimes. That’s why I had to cut his ass one time when he knocked me down. I understand that I’ve got the best of a lot of people before, and you’re gonna get got sometimes. Good for Cam, and he’s just gonna make me work harder.”

 

Quote

Sunday was a humbling experience for the Bills offense, and Feliciano felt it a little more because he asked for the assignment. He told offensive coordinator Brian Daboll to let him go one-on-one with Heyward.

“We were one-on-one most of the time. I asked for that. I told Dabs - don’t worry about us, we’ll be all right,” Feliciano said.

 

Talk about letting your mouth write a check that your body can't cash

 

Good for Jon if this motivates him and he can work harder and get things right.

[JohnBonhamRocks]

Any worthwhile OGs that might be available before the trade deadline?