Gameday Bills vs Pats* Postgame Thread

[RiotAct]

9 minutes ago, AbsoluteMeatHead said:

The Patriots defensive line jumped but no call from the refs. Crucial, crucial non call that NE would get 100% of the time but what to expect when the ref is blowing Belichick with a smile on the sideline while he's unloading on him.  I absolutely hate refs.  Some people might appreciate the difficulty of their jobs but I hope they all die in fiery plane crash to be completely honest with you.  Fk the NFL.  It's rigged.  

 

Dude…

[Mynamemike]

Last night hurt.  Did anyone else notice how on a couple plays we were moving our running backs up to damn near the LOS to help with the pass rush that was coming thru basically Instantly from the snap up the middle?  I want us to be aggressive like the chiefs were last offseason and go spend big on the interior of the line.  We can’t go into next year with the same group.  

[nucci]

Just now, Mynamemike said:

Last night hurt.  Did anyone else notice how on a couple plays we were moving our running backs up to damn near the LOS to help with the pass rush that was coming thru basically Instantly from the snap up the middle?  I want us to be aggressive like the chiefs were last offseason and go spend big on the interior of the line.  We can’t go into next year with the same group.  

they can't pick up a blitz

[Mynamemike]

1 minute ago, nucci said:

they can't pick up a blitz

It wasn’t even them blitzing it was just their interior lineman blowing right past the interior lineman. 

[Barnaby Wilde]

7 minutes ago, RiotAct said:

Dude…

What?  I'm right here.  What did I say that all of us wish we could say if, well, you know, they had no class?

[TC in St. Louis]

The Pats were afraid to throw the ball.  Bill knew that could lead to turnovers, so he kept plugging into the line and killing the clock.  Some may say that's brilliant.  I say it's fear.  Fear of loss.  Turns out, he was right.

[nucci]

4 minutes ago, Mynamemike said:

It wasn’t even them blitzing it was just their interior lineman blowing right past the interior lineman. 

right but every time they blitzed they drilled Allen

[stevewin]

Interesting analysis from Joe B on The Athletic about what appears to be a disconnect between Daboll and McD

 

Quote

Twelve games into their season, McDermott found himself using a common refrain. Be more physical, win at the line of scrimmage, and yet, the Bills were again left wanting more from their running game. When asked if he felt offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was doing a good enough job, McDermott didn’t give his usual line of “We all need to be better and that starts with me.” Instead, his message was clear and his comments were subtly the biggest indicator to this point of his frustration with the offensive game plan, and by proxy, Daboll.

 

“Well I didn’t think, honestly, we took advantage of opportunities tonight. I really didn’t. The ball is at the 40-yard line. We’re 1-for-4 in the red zone. We’ve got to figure that part of it out.”

 

That was the most direct answer about Daboll, but McDermott provided subtle hints before that point. McDermott pushed back when asked if he wondered about his team’s lack of physicality not being a fit for how to win games this time of year.

“That has not been my message from day one, I can promise you that. If you were in the team meetings in training camp, you would know what style of offense I want,” he said. “That identity needs to embody toughness.”

 

About the red zone woes, McDermott said, “Just no rhythm. No rhythm, really, down there.” And then simplifying it all, with an allusion to the last time there was some frustration with the offensive game plan years ago, the coach said, “You’ve got to score more points. That’s the name of the game. Score more points.”

 

It all adds up. There is something amiss between McDermott and Daboll — a potentially growing disconnect between how the head coach wants his team’s offense to play and the way the offensive play caller operates on game days. But it’s not just as simple as conforming to what McDermott wants. The Bills are not equipped to be a physical run-oriented team. That much is clear.

Makes you wonder how much of the stupid 2 yd runs up the middle Daboll kept calling were just attempts to placate McD - "Here's a 'physical' run up the middle - this is what you wanted"

 

Regardless, think everyone agrees there could be more imaginative ways to run the ball.  Also agree with the last statement above that regardless of how McD wants to play physically offensively - the team just isn't built that way currently

[Cheektowaga Chad]

There is definitely a dis connect on the offensive side of things

 

Last season jet sweeps reverses slants over the middle

 

None of that this season

[BuffaloBaumer]

Once again, Patriots coaching had a gameplan that steered away from their weaknesses. All run and no pass. And here are the Bills coaches too stupid to understand that we should have done the opposite. Coaching ruined this season and there are no 2 ways about it. 

[Do The Reich Thing]

Who had the Jacksonville Jaguars breaking the Bills this year on their bingo card? 

 

The season has been spiraling since then

[Golden*Wheels]

1 hour ago, CincyBillsFan said:

Well building a run game is a lot cheaper.  And imagine the Bils with a viable run threat last night AND with a QB who showed he could throw effectively in a gale.  If Allen was a Patriot last night they beat us 34 - 7 as the play action pass would have resulted in multiple walk in TD's and Allen, unlike Jones, could have made the throws.

 

 

It is but one is a foregone conclusion (the new stadium has to happen I guess, though I am fine with "Highmark") and the other? I'm not so sure. This is the run game/line we have after several years of the same GM, coach, and OC. I am encouraged they are trying Breida etc (shows they clearly know they are lacking there) but this IS their built run game. And it stinks.

 

We seemed a pass happy high flying team in 2020 to me, which I had 0 problem with in today's NFL. I don't mind if we lean into that. I doubt the NFL suddenly starts making it easier for the pass defense any time soon. They like scoring. Get the dome.

 

[TheBrownBear]

Wow.  Lots of psychotic posts in this thread, but you know what, I can sort of see it based on how frustrated I felt last night.  

 

I didn't read through the entire thread so I'm sure I'm repeating some of what has been said before, but I didn't know where else to complain this morning, so here goes.  A couple of things that keep repeating themselves that I hate about the current team (especially in light of what we witnessed last night):

 

- Why does Daboll almost always call some horrible vanilla run on 1st down inside of the redzone?  These plays have never netted us more than 2 yards that I can recall (outside of a single game where Moss was able to muscle his way to a couple of TDs).  It's like he thinks "I have to show the threat of the run to open up a pass, so I'll just get it out of the way on first down."  The problem is that teams know that there is no real threat that the Bills will run the ball in with a RB, so they just play their base D and happily let the Bills waste one of their 3 (or 4) downs in the redzone on a 1.5 yard gain.  To see this occur over and over and over again is enough to drive a fan insane.  I understand the need for balance, and going empty backfield every time in the redzone will just cause the opponent to flood every passing lane, but when you don't have the horses to make it work in a traditional running scheme, then you have to get creative.  We don't.  Which brings me to...

 

- Why do we seemingly never use misdirection/jet sweeps/creative running plays?  I feel like these were used fairly regularly last year and now they've all but disappeared from the playbook in exchange for an endless string of relatively unproductive RPOs.  Either Daboll sucks or this really is the best use of our personnel (which means our talent sucks).  I had given Daboll a pretty long leash when it came to criticism, but I'm finally on board with those who think he's a problem in our struggles.  Last night really crystalized it for me.  Josh seemingly had to will the team down the field for every yard.  I don't recall a single play where I was like, "wow, that was nicely schemed" to get someone open or free in space.

 

- Finally, the running Josh up to the line to bark like crazy trying to get the D to jump needs to end already.  It seemingly never works and if anything it ends up backfiring with penalties on us, or situations where Josh thinks he has a free play and basically wastes a down.  Even when we snap it and run an actual play it seems to throw our offenses rhythm off.  I'm done with it for now.

[Barnaby Wilde]

Moss has to go.  He's gotta go.  Give me something.  Anything but not that.  He's gotta pack up his **** and split.

Edited December 7, 2021 by AbsoluteMeatHead

[Brianmoorman4jesus]

I can’t see this team making the playoffs. To many AFC losses already and you know this Sunday s going to be a beat down.  There are too many teams right there and that loss last night probably sunk us. I really think we miss the playoffs now and that’s as inexcusable as it is sickening 

[Meatloaf63]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Haven't we done this exchange before? 

 

The problem with "shorter quicker passing plays" when teams don't respect our run game is that they've been either blowing up our OL with 4, or stunting to do it and leaving half the field open for a run while flooding the middle with 7 to take away that shorter quicker stuff.  I have "slow eyes" and need all-22 to really comb apart what a D is doing, but to my eyes, what I see is both.

 

Daboll and McDermott thought adding Sanders to pair with Beasley was the answer to always have everyone open, but it's not working out.  They thought our OL was "good enough" and that 1 decent TE sufficed.  They were wrong.

Remember the series where Allen throws short to the right two plays in a row, both we’re almost intercepted? If Diggs does a stop and go he scores a touchdown.. But Dabolls play design is a failure and we got to punt…

7 minutes ago, Brianmoorman4jesus said:

I can’t see this team making the playoffs. To many AFC losses already and you know this Sunday s going to be a beat down.  There are too many teams right there and that loss last night probably sunk us. I really think we miss the playoffs now and that’s as inexcusable as it is sickening 

Jacksonville sunk us, pure stupidity there. We can loose to Tampa and win out the rest. No way New England doesn’t lose two if the rest of their games.

Edited December 7, 2021 by Meatloaf63

[ngbills]

54 minutes ago, stevewin said:

Interesting analysis from Joe B on The Athletic about what appears to be a disconnect between Daboll and McD

 

Makes you wonder how much of the stupid 2 yd runs up the middle Daboll kept calling were just attempts to placate McD - "Here's a 'physical' run up the middle - this is what you wanted"

 

Regardless, think everyone agrees there could be more imaginative ways to run the ball.  Also agree with the last statement above that regardless of how McD wants to play physically offensively - the team just isn't built that way currently

Disgruntled employee. Fine, you want it you got it. 

[Meatloaf63]

3 hours ago, Greg S said:

Looking at the rest of the schedule I see 10-7 unless they can win at TB or at NE. They "should" win the 3 home games unless the pull another Jacksonville.

 

at TB - loss

CAR - win

at NE - loss

ATL - win

NYJ - win

 

Will 10-7 be good enough for a WC. Who knows.

No reason to lose to the Cheaters if the weather doesn’t suck and our coach grows a pair…

[MPT]

11 hours ago, finn said:

I get that. It's not so much that he's not a good kicker, more that he's not a great kicker. Great kickers make these kicks. That's my point. I thought we might have one of the real rare ones. 

 

He made the first one. It barely went in because he adjusted for the wind and the wind just died at that moment. I'm sure he adjusted for the wind on the second one too, but that time the wind blew the ball further horizontally than the goal posts are wide. Nothing you can do about that.

[ngbills]

4 minutes ago, Meatloaf63 said:

No reason to lose to the Cheaters if the weather doesn’t suck and our coach grows a pair…

Oh that’s all? How long does recovery from a lobotomy take?