10/18/21 Gameday Bills @ Titans Postgame thread

[Turf Toejam 34]

Before we send this dead horse off to the glue factory, had a couple of things to add---we were in Nashville for the game (shout out to section 309!---sat two rows behind Josh's family--super chill people, and all fans were very respectful of their personal space and privacy).    

 

Finally got to watch the tape of the game, with a few notes:

 

1.  The crowd seemed plenty loud on TV (for both teams), so the commentator's line about "the mafia takeover hasn't happened" was total BS.   Granted, the upper bowl was 80% Red/Blue, but the lower bowl was the varying shades of blue for the Titans.     

2.  Game was very entertaining to watch, and played out like the slugfest that most thought it would be.   Reflecting on it later, having a playoff game in Buffalo might be key to flipping the outcome---I don't have a tremendous amount of faith in Tannenhill's skill set in Orchard Park.

3.   LB play was poor overall.   Milano didn't seem to be all the way back.   Edmund gets consistently put out of position in the passing game trying to follow the QB's eyes.   Both consistently got washed out of position by playing too close to the line (especially as the Titans racked up the scoring drives).   

4.   As mentioned by many others, defense in the running game (and really also the passing game) had a very hard time getting off of blocks.     We had enjoyed so much success against Henry the last few times we had played, makes me wonder what was different to cause such a marked turnaround.

5.  The officiating was puzzling.   If that was a hold by Manny on Knox's TD, how could that NOT be a hold on Poyer during Henry's TD.   The "eye in the sky" seems to be satisfied with second guessing ball spots and possession calls, but keeping track of critical penalties during scoring plays does not seem to matter. 

6.  Josh seems to have changed his long ball strategy, and now will consistently underthrow his receivers to either trust them to make a play on the ball, or else draw a PI penalty.    It seems to have been an improvement but I don't know if this is a great direction in the long-run. 

7.  Moss must have totally mis-read the tipped ball because he totally didn't help Josh out there on the interception.   Maybe it was nerves but he's gotta make a better play there.     

8.   At this point in the season, there is no respect for the Bills running game in the red zone unless it involves Josh.   Maybe this is play design, maybe our OL just flat out can't get it done, but it always reminds me of how the 90's Bills ran with consistent results in the red zone.   

9.   We didn't run it very often, but I would have liked to have seen a few more chip plays/max protect schemes in the second half when the Titans were really short on CB's.    Josh better start to dump off to Sweeney/Moss/Singletary when they are open---passing Sweeney up and throwing into double coverage was not smart football.  

 

Lastly, while I didn't agree with going for it when I was at the game, I understand the decision now.   Maybe I just didn't want the game to end.   Maybe I had stupid faith that our defense could dig deep and come up with a stop.   But after watching it on tape, the Bills repeated a playcall that didn't work for them on a previous 3rd down.   In that instance, Josh tried to slide left past Simmons (who made almost a similar amount of penetration), but there were other Titans there to close out the outside path.

 

Although we all like to think of Josh as a rising young player, we have to face the fact that he is now in his fourth season in the NFL.     While we can all call this another learning experience for Josh, I wish we would have come up with something more effective than a sneak that hadn't worked earlier.     Maybe the "fake sneak" then pass would have worked---who knows?   All I know if that Simmons made the play, and we did not.   

 

Onto Miami............TT34

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

So there's this

 

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2021/10/21/22737668/should-derrick-henrys-touchdown-have-been-called-back-analysis-penalty-holding-bills-titans