MYTH Busted: "The Defense couldn't stop the Run"

[Alphadawg7]

Just now, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Okay so were good with our rushing defense then. Thanks for the brilliant overly aggressive analysis.

 

Overly aggressive?  I wasn't being aggressive at all.  Just saying this notion we couldn't stop the run last night needs to stop.  Our Defense didnt cost us this game.  

 

Self inflicted mistakes, poor Redzone play calling, and Dabolls inability to adjust again are our biggest issues.  

[DrDawkinstein]

2 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

 

Did the 69 yard run count or what?

 

Did you miss where Alpha says "We gave up one TD on the day"?

 

No one is discounting that play. Stop saying we are. It isnt a real argument.

[ngbills]

D played well enough to win. Some drives you wish they stopped them but they gave the O great field position multiple times. 

[Dopey]

1 hour ago, DabillsDaBillsDaBills said:

46 carries for 222 yards

3 pass attempts

 

In terms of offensive play calls this was one of the most lop-sided games in NFL history. They had 30+ straight running plays. I knew they were going to run the ball, my mom knew they were going to run the ball, all 70k+ people in the stadium knew they were going to run the ball, but apparently the Bills DEF and coaches were surprised by it. The Patriots having any sort of running success in that scenario should be an embarrassment to the defense and coaches. 

Coach mentioned they knew what NE would run, so you and your mom aren't smarter than they are. Neither are the "fans" blaming the defense. Contrary to some here, NE is a damn good team. they're going to bust one here and there. The D gave our offense plenty of chances to score in prime territory, but key players on offense let the team down. Hello Diggs, Knox, Breida and Josh. Bass missed a very makeable FG too. Too many offensive miscues on too many scoring chances. You and your mom should watch a replay of the game and count how many times the offense didn't take advantage of the field position given to them. I guess the only way the defense is blameless, is a shut out. OK, sure.

[dpberr]

The Bills knew what was coming and couldn't turn off the faucet and keep it off.  That's my criticism of Leslie Frazier last night.  The Patriots really won this game with ball control.  

 

You shouldn't allow the opposition to win TOP when 99% of the plays were barely disguised run plays by an ok, but not all-pro, Patriots backfield.  They knew the answers to the test.  There's no Derrick Henry back there.  

 

You only started seeing some dynamic adjustments when it was too late.  Milano and Co. should have been shooting a guy into the gap on every play long before the 4th quarter. 

 

Patriots TOP 32:01

Bills TOP: 27:59

[Alphadawg7]

1 minute ago, BillsFanSD said:

I can point to 222 reasons for why this is mistaken.

 

So suddenly 222 yards of offense in a game is bad?  What would you be saying if they passed for 222 yards?  Probably not much.  Defense gave up 2 drives over 5 plays all game and 1 TD.  They had a strong outing.

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

1 minute ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

Overly aggressive?  I wasn't being aggressive at all.  Just saying this notion we couldn't stop the run last night needs to stop.  Our Defense didnt cost us this game.  

 

Self inflicted mistakes, poor Redzone play calling, and Dabolls inability to adjust again are our biggest issues.  

Nobody said it cost us the game. But, people are saying it wasn't good enough, to allow a 64 yard td run (even McD) and something like 8-9 chunk runs of over 10 yards.

[MasterStrategist]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Patriots had 9 real possessions all game (not counting the last to kill the clock).

 

They punted 6 out of 9 possessions.

 

4 of those punts were 3 and outs. The other 2 possessions were 4 plays and 5 plays. The only long drive they had resulted in a mere Field Goal.

 

What more could the Defense have done?

 

Punt (3 plays)

Punt (3 plays)

TD (3 plays)

FG (9 plays)

Punt (3 plays)

Punt (4 plays)

Punt (5 plays)

FG (14 plays)

Punt (3 plays)

Great post! Agree, can't imagine many can be blaming the defense for their effort.  14 points allowed is solid no matter the weather.

 

Lack of execution/finishing offensive drives has occurred way too many games this season.  We crossed the 50, 7x against Jacksonville to only come away with 6 points. 

 

Frustrating when we've shown glimpses and certainly have the potential, hopefully they can hone in and correct the issues down the strecth

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

1 minute ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

So suddenly 222 yards of offense in a game is bad?  What would you be saying if they passed for 222 yards?  Probably not much.  Defense gave up 2 drives over 5 plays all game and 1 TD.  They had a strong outing.

That's hardly apples to apples 222 yards rushing is more like 400 yards passing.

[BRH]

44 minutes ago, Fred Slacks said:

I also want to go back and watch the game to see how bad NE was holding.  It seemed like it was happening a lot.  They maybe called NE 2 times all night on it.  Like I distinctly recall 2 plays where our DE/DT was in the backfield and it looked like they were getting held.  Right in front of the play.  something it seems like the referee would see.  I know some of those calls are a wash but I screamed from my couch so it must be true lol.

 

There was definitely a call on OUR offensive line when Van Noy threw up his hands (well after the RB had passed his level) and did a great acting job to get the call on Brown (I think).

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

The run defense didn't cost us the game, but in played a role.

[Alphadawg7]

Just now, dpberr said:

The Bills knew what was coming and couldn't turn off the faucet and keep it off.  That's my criticism of Leslie Frazier last night.  The Patriots really won this game with ball control.  

 

You shouldn't allow the opposition to win TOP when 99% of the plays were barely disguised run plays by an ok, but not all-pro, Patriots backfield.  They knew the answers to the test.  There's no Derrick Henry back there.  

 

You only started seeing some dynamic adjustments when it was too late.  Milano and Co. should have been shooting a guy into the gap on every play long before the 4th quarter. 

 

Patriots TOP 32:01

Bills TOP: 27:59

 

TOP difference was more because our lack of execution, those stats dont tell the story and are a misleading stat for last nights game.  They run the ball every play, clocks keeps ticking TOP keeps climbing DESPITE actual production.  They punted 6 times and 5 or fewer plays on 7 of their 9 drives.  We were throwing a lot and clock stops on incompletions which makes the TOP looks worse than it was for our defense.  

 

End of the day, offensive gameplan and execution, penalties. drops were the culprit here.   

[DrDawkinstein]

1 minute ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

That's hardly apples to apples 222 yards rushing is more like 400 yards passing.

 

Yards and yards. A passing yard is 3 feet. A rushing yard is 3 feet.

1 minute ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

TOP difference was more because our lack of execution, those stats dont tell the story and are a misleading stat for last nights game.  They run the ball every play, clocks keeps ticking TOP keeps climbing DESPITE actual production.  They punted 6 times and 5 or fewer plays on 7 of their 9 drives.  We were throwing a lot and clock stops on incompletions which makes the TOP looks worse than it was for our defense.  

 

End of the day, offensive gameplan and execution, penalties. drops were the culprit here.   

 

Dawson Knox alone, with his drops and drive-killing penalty, is more at fault for this loss than our entire Defense and all the rushing yards.

[JohnBonhamRocks]

Just now, DrDawkinstein said:

 

I never said to not count that run. I'll fully count it. One.

 

The defense had ONE bad play.

NE*’s first FG drive started by a 10-yard run up the middle, followed by a 12-yard pass, and also included 6-yard and 16-yard runs up the middle.

 

NE*’s final 1st half drive started with a 17-yard run up the middle.

NE*’s 2nd play of the 2nd half was a 7-yard run up the middle.

NE*’s 2nd FG drive started with runs of 22, 11, and 6 yards, and included another 3-play stretch of runs of 10, 5, and 5 yards.

 

Thats 13 bad plays.

15 if you also count the 5-yards on 2 consecutive QB sneaks on that second FG drive.

[eSJayDee]

I'm kinda torn on this cuz the circumstances seldom (practically never) occur.  Ordinarily, yielding over 200 yds rushing is a bad effort.  But, they did only yield 14 pts, didn't substantially lose TOP, and had good 3rd down results.  They did yield numerous 10+ yard runs, but considering they faced 46 rushes, is the 10 or whatever that bad a %age?  IDK.

That said, it was apparent early on that pass defense was irrelevant.  They weren't going to throw.  Knowing this, yielding almost 5 yds per carry (if you discount much of the yardage on the long TD run) is probably pretty poor, but again, since this situation virtually never occurs, one doesn't really have a comparison.

[DrDawkinstein]

2 minutes ago, JohnBonhamRocks said:

NE*’s first FG drive started by a 10-yard run up the middle, followed by a 12-yard pass, and also included 6-yard and 16-yard runs up the middle.

 

NE*’s final 1st half drive started with a 17-yard run up the middle.

NE*’s 2nd play of the 2nd half was a 7-yard run up the middle.

NE*’s 2nd FG drive started with runs of 22, 11, and 6 yards, and included another 3-play stretch of runs of 10, 5, and 5 yards.

 

Thats 13 bad plays.

15 if you also count the 5-yards on 2 consecutive QB sneaks on that second FG drive.

 

Not if they dont ultimately result in points, so I dont count a number of those plays as "bad". We still make a stop and force a punt, it's like they never happened. IMO. But I appreciate you keeping it  to mostly scoring drives.

Edited December 7, 2021 by DrDawkinstein

[Alphadawg7]

3 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Nobody said it cost us the game. But, people are saying it wasn't good enough, to allow a 64 yard td run (even McD) and something like 8-9 chunk runs of over 10 yards.

 

They why did 7 of their 9 drives end in 5 plays or less?  Why did they punt 6 out of 9 drives?  

 

Its the NFL, you WONT stop a team on every play, every drive.  The guys on the other side of the ball are paid to make plays too.  

 

So to see people in here claiming we cant stop the run when we stopped the run most the night outside a small handful of runs is what the issue is here.  

 

Defense gave up less than 240 yards...1 TD...forced 6 punts in 9 drives, etc etc....thats a good defensive effort that should be enough to win most games.  

[JohnBonhamRocks]

19 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

I never said to not count that run. I'll fully count it. One.

 

The defense had ONE bad play.

 

 

Bills started at about the 40 yard line all night. They had at least 3 possessions to try to score and tie or take the lead. They failed. That isnt on the Defense.

 

 

How did they not stop it when they held them to punts and 2 FGs for most of the night? If any NFL team keeps doing one thing over and over, they'll amass some yardage and success. The Pats are paid professionals too.

The Bills paid professionals should have caught onto the only-run offense and been able to stop it. Look at my other recent post. At least 13-15 bad plays on defense. 

[DrDawkinstein]

Just now, JohnBonhamRocks said:

The Bills paid professionals should have caught onto the only-run offense and been able to stop it. Look at my other recent post. At least 13-15 bad plays on defense. 

 

And yet only 1 TD and a couple of FGs.

 

If someone asked you before the season, "Would you accept limiting the Jags to 9 points, and the Pats to 14 points?" wouldn't you take that and our chances to win those games?

[JohnBonhamRocks]

1 minute ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Not if they dont ultimately result in points, so I dont count a number of those plays as "bad". We still make a stop and force a punt, it's like they never happened. IMO. But I appreciate you keeping it  to mostly scoring drives.

Thing is it’s not just whether or not they score. More time of possession for them. Better field position for them. Less opportunities for Allen & Co. 

 

Again, even less excusable given the obvious nature of NE*’s offensive game-plan.