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

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

9 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.  

 

Twice in the 4th quarter.  0 points.  

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

10 hours ago, Virgil said:

At this point, it's hard to not feel like a broken record when talking about the 2021 Bills.  They aren't physical enough in the trenches.  They have zero rushing attack.  The Bills can't beat anyone with a winning record.  As Bills fans, we try to make excuses and talk about any given Sunday, but after 12 games, it's time to start accepting that the Bills are not going to live up to the preseason expectations and they are no longer the Superbowl favorites we all hoped for.

 

1 - No Excuses - We've known all week what the weather was going to be like for this game and both teams had to play in it.  The weather did affect some kicks, but ultimately, it wasn't the hurricane we thought it would be.  Regardless, the Patriots came in and did exactly what we thought they would, and there was nothing we can do to stop it.  You don't get to pick the weather or where you play.  In the conference currently, the Ravens, Chiefs, Patriots, and Titans would all have home games.  Three of those four teams will be in brutal winter conditions.  With that being said, Beane and company built a team that isn't capable of winning low scoring, physical, weather affected games.  It's no longer an opinion, it's what the results tell us.  Our stadium isn't going to get magically get a dome next year and the those previously mentioned teams aren't going anywhere.  So what's next for the high powered offense that only seems to thrive in the right conditions?  That's a great question

 

2 - Allen - Josh is probably the only highlight of this game for me.  He did show off his arm through the weather and honestly placed most balls pretty well.  The offense didn't help him out much at all (I'll get to that later).  Josh threw for the only passing touchdown of the game on a dart to Gabe.  He should've had two, but the Pats defender held up Davis just enough on the second pass to throw off the timing (Nice no call refs) Josh had a few solid runs, but only one actually called by Daboll.  I can point the blame in a lot of places for this game, but Josh is clear for me.

 

3 - Drops - In a game where passes were at a premium, none of the receivers really came to play tonight.  Diggs had one good catch deep down the sideline that was a beautiful back shoulder catch.  However, he dropped a sure touchdown in the endzone that hit him in the hands, mainly because he lost track of the ball.  Knox had two big drops and got out-muscled in the endzone at the end of the game.  Sanders also had 3 drops while.  I'm not sure if you want to call Breida's fumble a drop, but it sure was ugly.  Why can't these units show up in big games is beyond me at this point.

 

4 - What you say when they give the guy the go-ahead?
What you gonna say? Olé!
What you say, what you say when your spitting up on your bed?
What you gonna say? Olé!
What you say, what you say when you've had enough of knuckleheads
What you gonna say? Olé!
What you say, now, what you say when you've seen enough bloodshed?
What you gonna say? Stop!

 

5 - Linebackers - Minus the last drive where Milano had back to back tackles for loss by shooting the gap, Edmunds and Milano were absolutely terrible in this game.  On the big run, Edmunds over-pursued the play (alongside Hyde) and he was getting engulfed by blockers all game.  Milano was also just pushed around off the ball.  For most of the game, we had 4 on the line and 4 LB/S about 5 yards off the ball, same as against the Colts and Titans (remember how that went?).  I can't wait to see the All-22 and the grades they hand out.  I'll put some of it on Frazier for not adjusting more, and you could argue they only scored 14.  But 14 in a game where the offense threw 3 total passes is completely unacceptable.

 

6 - Daboll - One Time.  Daboll called a designed run for Allen one time.  Take out the Motor run for 10+ at the end of the game and the Bills rushing attack averaged less than 3 yards a game.  In the same conditions where the Pats had over 200 yards in the 3rd quarter, the Bills weren't even close to being able to match it.  Watching our runningbacks go straight up the middle, while the Pats ran counters, cutbacks, and other zone style runs was an embarassment.  Daboll may be a great passing coordinator, but this is now multiple years in a row where he's shown zero ability to generate a rushing attack.  And, while I don't like putting him in harms way, to make zero attempt to utilize the best runner you have in Josh is pathetic.

 

7 - Redzone - I wish I could just place this all on Daboll, as the Bills had two redzone attempts at the end of the game result in zero points, but it was a team effort.  We had a false start on Knox, we had a no-call against Davis, we had Sweeney blocking Judon, and we had our kicker miss a FG, which made a future attempt at a FG a moot point.  The Bills could have won this game on multiple occasions, but it was all on display during those two redzone trips, as they have plagued us all season.  

 

8 - Defense - 3 pass attempts.  The Pats had 3 passing attempts, with two of them coming on the second to last drive.  Knowing that, they still rushed for over 200 yards and consistently got chunk plays against us.  We had the same scheme that's failed us twice before and still rolled it out there.  At this point, I don't even know what to say or do about it besides accept that we are a soft team who can't get home against the quarterback and only beats up on weaker opponents.  Seriously, 3 pass attempts and we still can't stop them.  

 

9 - McD - You have to start to wonder if the McD clapping process is starting to lose it's luster.  I'm not calling for McD or anything like that, but it's hard to deny how this team doesn't show up in big situations and continuously gets dominated by more physical teams.  As the head coach, get involved with the coordinators and demand changes.  I'm getting tired of seeing McD get fired up on the sidelines about the quick delay of game penalty or whatever else didn't go our way.  If he wants to get fired up, go off on a player for a penalty that kills a drive.  Lay into some guys after they allow a 50+ touchdown run.  Take over play calling again when you aren't seeing the results on the field.  Whatever it is, this team does not have the same swagger as it did last year and that's on McD.

 

10 - 20 vs 1 - The Pats were a joke last season and all signs pointed to a full rebuild.  As a Bills fan, many of us relished in the idea of the Pats fans having to endure a 20 year rebuild like the Bills went through.  1 year.  It took 1 year and a lot of money.  To be a full game and tiebreaker behind the Pats this late in the season, after giving up a home game to them, makes me want to throw up.  I agree that we didn't get to see much of Mac Jones in this game nor do we know how his career will go.  However, just to see them leading the division already after only one down year after all that we went through is ridiculous.  It honestly makes the drought feel worse to me because right now, I don't feel as comfortable as I did regarding us having to blow up parts of this team and having to fight the Pats again for the next 20 years. 

 

 

I typically try to wait a day to post these so that I can calm down a bit.  In this case, I feel the frustration is justified.  We don't have a team that can win tough, physical games and at this point, it's a systematic issue that isn't going to be fixed by moving around a few players or coordinators.  We need an entirely new offensive rushing system, which may require different players.  We need to abandon the rotating defensive line for tough, big, physical guys who can't be moved off the point of attack.  We need leaders on this team who are going to push every player though each game.  Right now, we are regular season heroes who will pray they will play dome teams who can't run the ball. 

Great post! Hard to argue with. And, I didn't like Hyde and Poyer basically saying we did our job well enough, after giving up 4.8YPC and 222 yards rushing when they knew they would run. You can't just throw out the long runs and say we did our job most of the time. Where's the accountability? Getting sick of JA standing up there and taking the hit. Even McD came unhinged in the press conference.

[LeGOATski]

10 hours ago, Virgil said:

9 - McD - You have to start to wonder if the McD clapping process is starting to lose it's luster.  I'm not calling for McD or anything like that, but it's hard to deny how this team doesn't show up in big situations and continuously gets dominated by more physical teams.  As the head coach, get involved with the coordinators and demand changes.  I'm getting tired of seeing McD get fired up on the sidelines about the quick delay of game penalty or whatever else didn't go our way.  If he wants to get fired up, go off on a player for a penalty that kills a drive.  Lay into some guys after they allow a 50+ touchdown run.  Take over play calling again when you aren't seeing the results on the field.  Whatever it is, this team does not have the same swagger as it did last year and that's on McD.

Nice write-up, as always. This game was really frustrating to watch, obviously. I thought they took way too long to open up the offense. They didn't make then necessary adjustments until late in the 3rd quarter.

 

To your point about McD, he does get into with players and coaches, but I think he's always had more of a mindset that you have to treat these guys as adults, not scold them like kids. If he's gonna yell at coaches, it's going to be behind closed doors.

 

We saw in this game McD talk to Milano during the entire break before the Bills' red zone stop at the start of the 4th quarter. That was when Milano made those two great stops where he shot through the line and stuffed Stevenson in the backfield. So that stop is all credit to McDermott directly coaching his defense.

 

I think he does what he needs to do in game, but I do agree that this team does not seem mentally ready for the big game. McD has to find a way to instill the right mentality.

 

I think there's a very good chance they have two new coordinators in 2022. I'm pretty tired of Daboll's one dimensional offense and the OL coaching.

[The Frankish Reich]

6 hours ago, Dr.Sack said:

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? 

That was what was driving me nuts. Watching Levi Wallace on the field with the Pats going against the wind, letting the whole world know that they had zero intention of throwing the ball.

[dorquemada]

1 minute ago, The Frankish Reich said:

That was what was driving me nuts. Watching Levi Wallace on the field with the Pats going against the wind, letting the whole world know that they had zero intention of throwing the ball.

 

It's reflective of probably the biggest problem the Bills face, besides a dearth of talent on the lines, competent RB play, and varsity level tight ends, is that their gameday decision making is just terrible. 

 

It seems as if they decided back in August what their gameplan would be, and havent veered from it since, especially not in-game.  How the coaching staff can be held in such high regard when this is clearly the case is a great example of a narrative taking on it's own life even when evidence flies in the face of it.  I noted elsewhere that I expect to continue to hear how statistically dominant the Bills D is, which is clearly true by some abstract analytics, but even more false by both the eye test and results.  Let's just promise eachother here that we'll stop claiming the Bills D is anything special

[The Frankish Reich]

10 hours ago, Virgil said:

The Pats were a joke last season and all signs pointed to a full rebuild.  As a Bills fan, many of us relished in the idea of the Pats fans having to endure a 20 year rebuild like the Bills went through.  1 year.  It took 1 year and a lot of money.  To be a full game and tiebreaker behind the Pats this late in the season, after giving up a home game to them, makes me want to throw up.

I don't know how much is on Beane vs. McD. They've been joined at the hip since coming here together, so I guess I just have to assume every decision is a joint decision. But here's what's bothering me: some GMs do a great rebuild job. That's what Beane did. But then they tend to overvalue their guys who helped them turn things around. And so they get complacent. Jon Feliciano ... nice find! Our O line got better with him in there. Bring him back. Dion Dawkins ... turned into a solidly above average LT! Pay the man to the tune of $58 million even though pretty much everyone agreed he's certainly not a top 10 LT.

 

The great GMs (Belichick with his GM hoodie on) are ruthless. There's no "this guy made us better, he's not elite, but we better lock him up because it's not easy to figure out how to replace him" going on. Remember this one?

 

https://www.espn.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4812167/patriots-stay-true-to-financial-discipline-in-absorbing-tough-loss-of-nate-solder

 

You're not gonna pay Tom Brady's blindside protector? Really?

No, you're not. Nor are you going to pay Malcolm Butler or Danny Amendola. You are going to go out and find UDFAs and guys off the waiver wire and mid round draft picks to ensure you don't let yourself creep right back into salary cap hell.

[muppy]

@Virgil Sir you are a poster of fortitude to be so  eloquent after the smackdown of our team and playoff high seed expectations after last nights game. It definitely feels like Loser Monday but as always the fanbase will recover...eventually..this one stings.

[Virgil]

39 minutes ago, Dopey said:

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.

I agree with you, that’s why only two points were about the defense and the rest was about the offense and coaching.  

[The Frankish Reich]

14 minutes ago, dorquemada said:

 

It seems as if they decided back in August what their gameplan would be, and havent veered from it since, especially not in-game.  How the coaching staff can be held in such high regard when this is clearly the case is a great example of a narrative taking on it's own life even when evidence flies in the face of it.  I noted elsewhere that I expect to continue to hear how statistically dominant the Bills D is, which is clearly true by some abstract analytics, but even more false by both the eye test and results.  Let's just promise eachother here that we'll stop claiming the Bills D is anything special

This is what the Pats did when teams finally committed to stop the GOAT and his precision passing game:

 

https://www.nfl.com/news/james-develin-is-the-most-important-back-in-super-bowl-liii-0ap3000001013097

 

And they did it in midseason. Suddenly they were run heavy, playing a FB on most downs, and winning that way.

 

We saw a glimpse of Daboll trying to do that after the Jags debacle, but he clearly didn't commit to it, and Beane/McD left him without the personnel to execute it properly (Gilliam was just a guy, and when he got hurt there was literally no one to turn to - same with TE and Sweeney)

[Virgil]

34 minutes ago, Weatherman said:

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.

Yes, the turnover hurt. But that didn’t make the defense allow that busted long touchdown. 
 

Also, why assume we would have scored when we were 1-4 in the red zone beyond that drive?

[Ga boy]

2 hours ago, CSBill said:

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 the game.
3. How can your best runner only have one designed carry in such a big game and 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!

I love your positives.  TB game will be over 50.  We look a lot like ATL and TB just beat em, but our D is better.  I think we beat them and run the table.  East champs again.  Go Bills!!!

[Bob in STL]

What a difference a year makes. This team talks too much.  Right now are an average AFC team.  Losses to Pitts, Titans, Colts and Pats*.   One win at KC.  They have  have a poor home record, with already 4 losses at home.  That spells mediocre. 

There is no reason to believe they are better than the Ravens, Bengals, Chargers, Cleveland or Vegas.  
 

Last year we were 4-1 in games decided by one score. You just knew someone would make a play and they usually did. 
 

This year we are 0-4 in games decided by one score.  You just don’t see anyone step up at crunch time.  No hero’s this year.  
 

They had Two red zone chances to end the game.  Possible points outcome (ignoring 2 point conversion) are 14, 10, 7, 6, 3 or 0. They had Zero because no one made a play.  How does it happen?   To be that poor it’s systemic ineptitude.  A combination of missed holes, missed blocks, missed throws, dropped balls, penalties, missed kicks, poor effort, and low percentage play calls.  
 

Coaching/play-calling looks suspect.  Execution is truly lacking.  Are they working hard enough and listening to the coaches?  

 

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Bob in STL

[Virgil]

1 minute ago, Bob in STL said:

What a difference a year makes. This team talks too much.  Right now are an average AFC team.  Losses to Pitts, Titans, Colts and Pats*.   One win at KC.  They have  have a poor home record, with already 4 losses at home.  That spells mediocre. 

There is no reason to believe they are better than the Ravens, Bengals, Chargers, Cleveland or Vegas.  
 

Last year we were 4-1 in games decided by one score. You just knew someone would make a play and they usually did. 
 

This year we are 0-4 in games decided by one score.  You just don’t see anyone step up at crunch time.  No hero’s this year.  
 

They had Two red zone chances to end the game.  Possible points outcome (ignoring 2 point conversion) are 14, 10, 7, 6, 3 or 0. They had Zero because no one made a play.  How does it happen?   To be that poor it’s systemic ineptitude.  A combination of missed holes, missed blocks, missed throws, dropped balls, penalties, poor effort, and low percentage play calls.  
 

Coaching/play-calling looks suspect.  Execution is truly lacking.  Are they working hard enough and listening to the coaches?  

 

 

This^
 

*we have 3 home losses btw

[Bob in STL]

1 minute ago, Virgil said:

This^
 

*we have 3 home losses btw

Yes.  I was thinking Jax was home since we had more fans there. 

[Jerboski]

1 hour ago, NewEra said:

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

 

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

They were asked a valid question and responded like babies 

 

so I’m perfectly fine with my post about them… don’t like the questions then be tougher on the field 

[Fred Slacks]

10 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.

 

 

I would also argue to those saying we were out coached….one big run. That does not make belicheck genius. He played just as scared as people o. Here make McDermott sound. That was all NE really broke. We couldn’t run which is very frustrating. Red zone mistakes I think were the two biggest.  
 

imagine if Diggs caught the deep throw. I’m a game where points were a premium that would have been massive. Massive. So many drops on really amazing throws. Kick me in the crotch. Josh actually looked amazing all things considered (except for the one pass to the right that was dangerously close to an INT). 
 

I’m really frustrated with the season so far but if there’s one thing I take from this game more than anything.  I hope we play an away game if we sneak into the playoffs. I know some fans thing it’s over for us but I don’t. I think we can and will beat NE in Foxborough. That team did not look like the best team in the AFC. Mac Jones is not the second coming of Brady. That talk will die down after this game. 
 

I will probably re-watch the game again tomorrow. I like to calm down before I watch it again. Sucks that it was so close for the taking. Freaking false start in the red zone. Knox was brutal yesterday with that and the drops. 

[Virgil]

16 minutes ago, Bob in STL said:

Yes.  I was thinking Jax was home since we had more fans there. 

Don’t remind me 

[NewEra]

9 minutes ago, Jerboski said:

They were asked a valid question and responded like babies 

 

so I’m perfectly fine with my post about them… don’t like the questions then be tougher on the field 

Minutes after losing a tightly contested battle vs our franchises most hated opponents, two of our leaders have their manhood questioned by the least respected dude in the room.  That’s what happens.  It’s ok for players to lose their cool sometimes. This is one of those times. Jerry is a schmuck 

[Ga boy]

9 minutes ago, Fred Slacks said:

I would also argue to those saying we were out coached….one big run. That does not make belicheck genius. He played just as scared as people o. Here make McDermott sound. That was all NE really broke. We couldn’t run which is very frustrating. Red zone mistakes I think were the two biggest.  
 

imagine if Diggs caught the deep throw. I’m a game where points were a premium that would have been massive. Massive. So many drops on really amazing throws. Kick me in the crotch. Josh actually looked amazing all things considered (except for the one pass to the right that was dangerously close to an INT). 
 

I’m really frustrated with the season so far but if there’s one thing I take from this game more than anything.  I hope we play an away game if we sneak into the playoffs. I know some fans thing it’s over for us but I don’t. I think we can and will beat NE in Foxborough. That team did not look like the best team in the AFC. Mac Jones is not the second coming of Brady. That talk will die down after this game. 
 

I will probably re-watch the game again tomorrow. I like to calm down before I watch it again. Sucks that it was so close for the taking. Freaking false start in the red zone. Knox was brutal yesterday with that and the drops. 

Did you see how ecstatic the GOAT coach was at the end??  Can't say ever seeing him emote so much (except the phone incident).  In this one, he knew that if we won, everyone would have roasted him for his strategy.  We'll hang 30 plus on them in 2nd game.  Go Bills!!!

[Just in Atlanta]

We held them to one touchdown —one—on one big play, with one player (Poyer) overcommitting.

 

This is a solid defense and the best secondary in the league. Yes, the linebackers didn’t have a stellar day but overall they did their job.

 

If we had scored another 14, or even seven, like we should’ve, none of this conversation would even be brought up.

 

it’s near impossible in this league to win when you only score 10 points