How would you FIX the Bills?

[dave mcbride]

2 hours ago, Success said:

Ultimately, the Bills don't have the personnel on the 2021 team that they need to make the adjustments that they really need to make.  They need better O-linemen, and they need a better starting RB.  Every RB we have is a #2 or #3.

 

They need more creativity to overcome those 2 glaring flaws if they want to contend THIS season.  We use McKenzie like this sometimes, but the wideouts need to get involved in the running game more.  Throw in more reverses & misdirections.  It's gimmicky, but they even need more trick plays.

 

This is chess.  Teams have 'figured the Bills out' and play the same cover 2 that they do against TB and KC now.  The Bills have to adjust to that and figure out how to make teams pay for that.  They have the personnel to find that answer.

 

They have to put it together w/ duct tape & glue until the cavalry can arrive in the form of offseason acquisitions.

I hate to bring this up given the epic threads about him, but Ertz would have been really helpful to this team ...

[Sugar High JA17]

Allen better restructure that mega deal in order to try and band aid this roster next year!

[streetkings01]

[Patrick Duffy]

8 hours ago, PatsFanNH said:

Ok if you were the HC Right now what would YOU do to fix the issues you see with the team?
 

 Now As an outsider the one thing I’d change is running more and not being such a one deme soon also offense. Yes you have great WR and a great QB, but when your QB runs for almost as many yards as your RB and is not named Lamar Jackson IMO that’s wrong.  You need keep teams honest so things like PA work. 

Well as for "right now" I'm not sure there is much you can do. But would have tried to do something to help the interior OL before trade deadline along with exploring what possibilities if any I could do to upgrade RB. I think I'd start there myself...

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

8 hours ago, Pete said:

add 2 stud G, and a stud RB.  Seems like a nobrainer to me

 

I'd tweak that slightly, sign top FA guard, and draft a G/C  Draft a RB higher, or good FA with some good history.  Probably easier to draft as cheaper and they have short careers anyway.

 

 

8 hours ago, dave mcbride said:

Convince Allen that he needs to take what is given to him when facing good defensive fronts and to not lose patience and force deeper throws. 

 

Easier said than done!

[zow2]

Quite honestly, the best teams have players on the roster where the game plan can be flexible week to week. If you want to pound it and be physical, make sure we have those players. If we need to pass let’s make sure we’re covered there. We have the QB and receivers.  This club lacks the running game and attitude.  D was improving, I thought they were going to be a nasty physical unit but even they are starting to seem finesse.  

[Marv's Neighbor]

9 hours ago, maddenboy said:

you cannot bench the starting qb mid-game.

 

But you can bench somebody else.  Then the leader in your qb will get the message that he is costing other people jobs.

NOBODY is above being benched!

[GreggTX]

1. OL 2 serious upgrades.

2. Run support.DT, edge rusher

3. CB2

[Billever76]

12 hours ago, BarleyNY said:

The biggest issues have to be addressed in the off-season.  The Bills went all-in on the 2020 team philosophy that worked well overall last season, but that’s been derailed by injury and better schemes employed against us.

They need some real semblance of a running game, but the horses are not there for it.  Our OL is not a good run blocking unit and our backs are pretty pedestrian (though behind a good OL who knows?).  That’s not getting fixed anytime soon.  One off-season might not be enough at this point.

 

At this point for 2021 they might have to just have to run Allen more.  Some designed runs, RO plays and RPOs would be welcome.  Allen will take some hits, but he’s taking hits dropping back 50 times a game anyway.  And it just might get the run game moving.

 

Allen has to settle in against the defenses he is seeing and use better touch.  And the line has to be more consistent giving him time.  I wish I had access to All-22 on my Game Pass sub.  I might try it on my laptop to see if it is there.  To me it just looks like teams adjusted to our offensive scheme and we don’t have the right talent to adjust.

 

On defense the massive investment on that side of the ball - especially the DL - has yielded good results.  The bang for the buck isn’t there and that needs cleaned up.  We are really going to miss Hughes next season.  Rousseau has been better than I thought though.  He and Epenesa look like they will be two solid DEs moving forward.  But a real difference maker isn’t there on the DL, despite the investment.  One has to develop from what we have because we can’t pay one in FA.  So that leaves scheme.  I’ve been really disappointed in that against run heavy teams.  Tauron Johnson is a very good player and he plays the run well for a Nickel, but if a team is ahead and running a ton, put a 3rd LB on the field.  Also we don’t have the secondary depth to lose Tauron because he had to tackle a RB all day.

 

Scheming up pressures is obviously necessary too.  But it’s not happening like it should.  The plan was obviously to load the DL, rotate them and get pressure with 4.  But that’s not working.  That’s on McD.  This is his defensive scheme and the personnel are to his preference.  For what has been invested, the defense should be competitive against quality teams, not just ones lining up the likes of Jacoby Brissett, Taylor Heinicke, Davis Mills, Tua Tagovailoa and Mike White.  Mahomes is the only quality QB we’ve beaten this season.  That’s the whole list.  And we have lost to some not great ones.  (Note: Obviously the defense gets a pass on the Jax game.)

 

The good news is that we play against Trevor Siemian on Thursday - and his OL is not great.  The bad news is that we play NE and TB after that.  

I dont agree...this offense has changed dramatically from last season to this amd its not because of just the lines....daboll has not even attempted allot of our bread and butter plays from last year...motion is almost gone,no quick slants or timing out patterns...no crossers...no moving pockets etc....we have lost our identity and that has to do with changes our coaching has implemented

[BuffaloButt]

Run creative, misdirection and trick plays to keep the defense always guessing.  Run delayed draws and QB draws especially on 3rd downs to get the first down with high percentage plays to keep the sticks moving and control TOP.  Let's go Daboll...

 

Go Bills!!!!

[BarleyNY]

9 hours ago, Billever76 said:

I dont agree...this offense has changed dramatically from last season to this amd its not because of just the lines....daboll has not even attempted allot of our bread and butter plays from last year...motion is almost gone,no quick slants or timing out patterns...no crossers...no moving pockets etc....we have lost our identity and that has to do with changes our coaching has implemented

Is it the play selection or is it the defenses and execution by the offense?  Honestly I think it’s all of the above.  Defenses are taking away the intermediate routes and keeping Allen from scrambling.  Our pass pro isn’t holding up as well as it did last season and Allen isn’t doing a great job getting the ball out quickly and hitting the smaller windows he is seeing this year.  And yes, Daboll needs to expand the current playbook.  For example, I would love to see more RO and RPO plays run.  
 

The point in the article that talked about the defenses being run against us this year versus last year is pretty important.  Quick slants and crossing patterns work a lot differently against man coverage than they do against Cover 2.  If 4 rush and the 2 safeties are deep that leaves a shell of 5 players underneath (initially at least).  The windows for quick slants and crossing patterns are much tighter. 

 

Use of a spy (which is something I said I would employ against Allen last year) is being used a lot too.  That player can drop into the shallow passing lanes over the middle before stepping up to shadow or delay blitz.  It has been effective against us.

 

Early in his career Allen was a lot better at picking apart zone coverage than he was at passing against man.  So I think this is a fixable situation.  He’s going to have to be patient and be willing to work the ball down the field methodically though.  And he’s probably going to have to run the ball like he did before this season.  We don’t have the players on the line or at RB to run like the Colts do.  Bring on the RO and RPOs. 

[BBills_88]

The Bills will catch starting December 6th, They are going to Stay hot until the Mid February..

 

Lets Go Buffalo!!!!! 

[MAJBobby]

Get an OG, C, OG next offseason to start.  

[FilthyBeast]

As far as in season there isn't much this team can do because of how badly they botched the offseason.

 

But some of the obvious have probably already been mentioned:

 

1) Play Breida more, make Moss inactive rest of year.

2) Play Bates somewhere on the oline and make sure Ford never sees the field again as a Bill.

3) More Davis, less Sanders.

4) No more McKenzie at return man or in offense for that matter.

5) Bench/release Vernon Butler, more Obada/Basham.

6) Pretty much same with Addison, would just give Epensa as many snaps as possible to know if he's a viable piece going forward.

7) Blitz like crazy on defense, enough of the zone nickel crap and trying to get pressure with the front four. Take chances at this point because there aren't many more garbage QB's left to play.

8( won't happen but I would fire Bobby Johnson, Eric washington and/or other assistants immediately to send message.

[McBean]

Trade deadline is over. Our “awesome” GM thought we were good enough to win a super bowl with this soft roster.

 

It’s over. Nothing we can do at this point but to get ran over by physical teams like this past Sunday and score 6 points against the worst franchise in the NFL.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 hour ago, FilthyBeast said:

As far as in season there isn't much this team can do because of how badly they botched the offseason.

 

But some of the obvious have probably already been mentioned:

 

1) Play Breida more, make Moss inactive rest of year.

2) Play Bates somewhere on the oline and make sure Ford never sees the field again as a Bill.

3) More Davis, less Sanders.

4) No more McKenzie at return man or in offense for that matter.

5) Bench/release Vernon Butler, more Obada/Basham.

6) Pretty much same with Addison, would just give Epensa as many snaps as possible to know if he's a viable piece going forward.

7) Blitz like crazy on defense, enough of the zone nickel crap and trying to get pressure with the front four. Take chances at this point because there aren't many more garbage QB's left to play.

8( won't happen but I would fire Bobby Johnson, Eric washington and/or other assistants immediately to send message.

 

1 - He seems to have some juice to front-side those outside zone runs we run so much so we aren't constantly getting hammered from the backside.  

2 - We have no idea if he's any good - the line is cobbled together at the moment and it shows.  I'm good with trying stuff out though, if it doesn't work its not like Ford isn't around.  

3 - Agree, especially if we're going to try and run the ball more effectively.  I like sanders - but at this point with bease banged up i'd like to see him splitting some time with bease.  

4 - I'd actually argue that he should be used more on offense.  The jet action creates issues for gap integrity, and hes shifty.  

5 - guys invisible so i'm good with anyone else taking his snaps.

6 - He's not that bad, I'd like to see Hughes getting some more snaps at his original position on that side though.

7 - disagree, dont get away from what you do well just because of a bad day at the office.  

8 - No need to fire people mid-season unless there's an active issue.  You can move other coaches into the room if you want additional input.  

20 hours ago, Sheneneh Jenkins said:

Well as for "right now" I'm not sure there is much you can do. But would have tried to do something to help the interior OL before trade deadline along with exploring what possibilities if any I could do to upgrade RB. I think I'd start there myself...

 

I would argue tempo as the big thing that they can change.  Obviously you can't always run no huddle, incompletion basically kills it - but after a 1st down to hurry to the line with a 2nd play and get the defense guessing?  This is how you can get them on their heels, get them confused, get them caught etc.  If the next play is a plus play, keep rolling them and force them to abandon their plan.  

Edited November 23, 2021 by dneveu

[Talley56]

On 11/22/2021 at 5:53 PM, streetkings01 said:

Yeap:

 

 

Oh wait...

[JoshAllin]

I keep hearing about 2 high shell in some threads being the bills weakness. Which I suppose involves Allen needing to dink and dunk more which he refuses to. If they had this fixed they could easily be 8-2 at least so fixing the bills could be as simple adjusting properly to these afc south defenses

[Patrick Duffy]

8 minutes ago, motorj said:

I keep hearing about 2 high shell in some threads being the bills weakness. Which I suppose involves Allen needing to dink and dunk more which he refuses to. If they had this fixed they could easily be 8-2 at least so fixing the bills could be as simple adjusting properly to these afc south defenses

Also would get the ball out faster which would help alot since Oline is struggling so bad. He just doesn't get enough time with this change up on the OL often at all when holding the ball waiting on deeper plays to develop. 

[UConn James]

Honestly, I think delivering several big bags of cash 💰 to the ref’s union office might help.

 

Like… seriously.