A Few Thoughts about the Patriots* Game, in no particular order

[Dr.Sack]

To be fair to McD how often do teams play 4-3 base defense when they are facing a run heavy set consisting of 6 OL, 2 TEs, 1 FB & RB? 

[BobbyC81]

Here’s a positive:  that may have been the best game Harrison Phillips has played. 

[No_Matter_What]

6 hours ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Red Zone Offense.  When people get over the Patriots one-sided play-calling, this game and the season comes down to a failure of the red zone offense.  

Absolutely this. We can talk about not stopping the run or being soft team all day long, but the fact is that if we only executed one more extra TD in RZ in each game we would be 10-2 at worst at this point, more likely 11-1. And we had plenty of chances in the RZ.

 

 

[PatsFanNH]

6 hours ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

Bills win out they win the division regardless of what the Pats do. Bills still own the tie-breaker. We have Miami to thank for that.

Well the same goes for the Pats. Both teams hold their destiny in their own hands. The difference is the rematch is in NE and the Bills also have TB to play and NE had Indy.

[BeastMaster]

7 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

 You think the Bills "didn't show up" tonight?

 

What game are you watching?

 

We were outmuscled in the run game, but our team is not built to stop a heavy running game.

 

 

When your team has a glaring weakness that is a fatal flaw...teams will and have been killing them with it.

[thewookie1]

The game just sucked all around; our team is incapable of stopping run-heavy offenses and can neither run effectively or efficiently. 

 

I'll give Diggs a mulligan for his drop; when you watch the replay, the ball seems to hit a gust just as he's at the 5 or so and it falls unusually. Seeing as a player can't literally watch the ball into his hands while also running full speed and trying to stay inbounds I can certainly guess what happened. When the ball is coming his way, a receiver makes multiple glances at the ball and his surroundings. Diggs likely glanced up, determined its trajectory and at some point between two glances the ball lost all of its forward velocity thus instead of reaching his hands it dropped aggressively and hit his arm. Just look at his face, he's completely baffled as to how the ball ended up where it did.

 

Stone handed Knox returned and either his season start was a mirage or his recently injured hand didn't take to the weather real well. (After all, Allen had to put serious juice on the ball and it was cold)

 

Our RBs should be ashamed of their performances; on one of the RZ drives Singletary had the outside open with only 1 guy to beat and instead he ran it into a pile of guys for 1 yard. Peyton Manning even commented on it.

 

Someone please tell Allen to stop bothering with offside free-plays; the refs have no interest in helping us. Otherwise he had a solid game. You could tell on a few throws, like the one on the final red zone drive, that the ball wasn't behaving very well with throws going on an angle or laterally. A back shoulder throw that you have to throw on a rope, at a diagonal, into a gust of wind is going to curve to the right. (Just like Bass's missed FG) But unlike a FG kicker, Allen has little hope in trying to bend a ball on a curve while trying to lead a receiver.  

[finn]

7 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

 You think the Bills "didn't show up" tonight?

 

What game are you watching?

 

We were outmuscled in the run game, but our team is not built to stop a heavy running game.

 

 

This is a good point. The Bills D played its heart out, but Beane and McDermott built them to stop the 2020 Chiefs, not the 1958 Giants. A true one-technique tackle would have been nice to have out there tonight instead. 

[finn]

47 minutes ago, PatsFanNH said:

Well the same goes for the Pats. Both teams hold their destiny in their own hands. The difference is the rematch is in NE and the Bills also have TB to play and NE had Indy.

Wait, which is it? If the Bills win out, they win the division, right?

[finn]

5 hours ago, Budkin said:

He's not a great coach.

I think this is right. Give him credit for building a positive culture. But he's not great, just like Marv Levy wasn't great. Of course, you don't need a great coach to win (see Bruce Arians), but it sure helps. McDermott's teams are undisciplined and sloppy with the ball. To be fair, he's built a nice defense that can shut down any offense that agrees to throw the ball and abandon the run. It's like having a pedestrian QB: McDermott won't win games for you like Belichick will. All you can ask is that he not lose games. 

[CSBill]

Thanks Virgil, I'll add a few comments . . .

1. The Breida experiment should be over now. Only one back on this team deserves more opportunities, he is not great, but he runs hard: Singletary.
2. The long run gave me nightmarish flashbacks to the Titans game; in both, take away those huge misplays and we have a serious opportunity to win the game.
3. How can your best runner only have one designed carry in such a big game with these conditions, is it time to hold Daboll accountable? I have not been on the "Daboll must go" train, but I'm considering buying a ticket.
4. The Challenge in the 3rd quarter may have been the dumbest decision of the NFL year, all teams, all games--and it cost us in the end. When was the last time you saw a ball spot overturned, especially when it was just a pile of humanity. Dumb, dumb, dumb!
5. The Red Zone play (and play calling) is brutal to watch, I had no confidence in either of those 4th quarter drives we would score a TD.

A few positives  . . .

1. The season is not lost, need to pull out a win in TB or NE, and take care of business against the lesser foes (Jets, Atlanta, Carolina) on the schedule.
2. Josh proved his toughness, he was the one consistent positive in this game. He did his part, his OC, the receivers with the drops, and the brutal online play let him down.
3. Gabe Davis needs to be the full time starter ... Relegate Sanders! He brings nothing over Davis or Beasley; rather, he robs them of opportunities. He does nothing better than those two.
4. Harry Phillips played well.
5. I love how Hyde and Poyer reacted in the press conference. Show some fire, get mad, have some pride, quit letting people beat you up!

Alright, I got it off my chest. On to Tampa Bay!

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by CSBill

[TheCockSportif]

I'm not one to be that "fire everyone" guy... until now.  The Bills, even with early season success, have seemed "off" to me in a way that they didn't last season.  Was it coaching?  QB contact distraction?  Personal choices?  Roster holes / overpaid and underperforming players?  Mental / physical errors on the field?  Ultimately I think that McD has lost control of this team.  They could win 10 games this season, and yet they're still not good enough.  And that's on coaching.  The really good teams in this league don't have these kinds of regression.

 

 

[PatsFanNH]

15 minutes ago, finn said:

Wait, which is it? If the Bills win out, they win the division, right?

Pats win out they win they win the division as well.. matter fact Pats can lose two as long as they beat Buffalo in NE. But both teams hold their own destiny.

[SoCal Deek]

I’ll offer up another point here. We all watch the Bills games with our hearts every week and don’t pay the same amount of attention to just how close most NFL games are in the final seconds. We’ve lost three of our five games now with the ball in our hands in the red zone with a chance to win at the end. If you put a top QB out there on that last play last night, he hits Beasley for the winning TD nine out of ten times. Done! 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

2 hours ago, PatsFanNH said:

Well the same goes for the Pats. Both teams hold their destiny in their own hands. The difference is the rematch is in NE and the Bills also have TB to play and NE had Indy.

 

Agreed. But going into the game I felt a split with the road teams winning being the most likely outcome in the series this year between NE and Buffalo. So not at all surprised or overly concerned yet. The Tampa game does present a problem though. But should the Bills escape with a W in that one I'll feel they are much more in control despite the trip to New England.

Edited December 7, 2021 by Sammy Watkins' Rib

[PatsFanNH]

3 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

 

Agreed. But going into the game I felt a split with the road teams winning being the most likely outcome in the series this year between NE and Buffalo. So not at all surprised or overly concerned yet. The Tampa game does present a problem though. But should the Bills escape with a W in that one I'll feel they are much more in control despite the trip to New England.

I felt the Bills had that one locked up till Tre White went down. I wouldn’t be shocked after last night if the Bills got a heavy dose of Fournette followed by PA to Gronk. 
 

The Bills should be able score on them, their secondary is wicked banged up!

 

[ALLEN1QB]

Instead of screaming at the referees all night mcClapper should have been screaming at his coordinators to get their head out of their ass

[NewEra]

Point 1 = the 2021 Bills in a nutshell.  Bingo.

 

2-  he should’ve had 3 TDs.  He hit diggs in the forearm with a 50 yard dime.

 

5-  both of our LBers are on the team for one reason.  Because they are better in coverage than against the run.  Passing and stopping the pass is what this regime has made its focus.

 

7-  the game in a nutshell-  we had the opportunities to win….but we failed

8 hours ago, Jerboski said:

Mentally soft team 

 

physically soft team 

 

way too much reliance on one player to carry them 

 

still can’t stop a physical running team 

 

Poyer and Hyde stop crying and doing something about it on the field 

 

They have been.  They have been for 4 years.   Bad mouthing them is misdirected nonsense

[Dopey]

Virgil, I love your posts after games, but...

This. Game. Is. On. The. Offensive. Players.

Too close of a game to dismiss the lack of plays made when presented. We paid Diggs to make that catch. Knox needs a refresher at TE University. Brieda has to hold onto the ball. That was a first down play at the NE 30 yd line. 

We stood toe to toe with the best coach out there. Like it or not, the game was in our hands at the end. And that definitely wasn't because the offense performed.  

This game should not have come down to the end, if the offense does just a little to help. Instead they did enough to screw up the game. 

The defense is fine. One long run over that many rush attempts. Again, the offense did it's part in putting the defense in a bad spot. Not only did Brieda fumble, but we had awesome field position a few times early on and squandered it. How does Allen just give up on a play IN THE REDZONE, just because he assumed an Offside was going to be called!?! HE GAVE UP ON THAT PLAY. Inexcusable. But it's Josh and some on this board are so " Josh can do no wrong" that you can smell his jockstrap.

The offense should be embarrassed by this performance. And I mean the players. They had they're chances but self destructed. Daboll,McBeane and Frazier were not the problem tonight. It's on the offense. The answer given to Sully about the defense should tell us they were not happy with the other side of the ball tonight. Rightfully so.

[Weatherman]

9 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

100% they didn't show up.  The receivers didn't show up with their drops and the linebackers didn't show up at the next level

Agree Virgil, but the main culprit for this loss is Matt Breida.  His awful fumble resulted in a 11-15 point swing plus that effectively ended his night and we had to rely on Moss and Motor who are both Canadian League quality players at this point.

[dorquemada]

3 hours ago, PatsFanNH said:

Well the same goes for the Pats. Both teams hold their destiny in their own hands. The difference is the rematch is in NE and the Bills also have TB to play and NE had Indy.

 

The bills will be 7-7 at the rematch.  We'll probably have a good game, maybe even win the rematch but it wont matter.  This team is built for 9-8 or 8-9, right back into middle income purgatory