NFL Executive Comments on the Flaw of Bills Roster Construction & Game Play

[Hapless Bills Fan]

4 minutes ago, Cheektowaga Chad said:

In the second half the bills were successful at running because how much they threw in the first half

 

Its all about coaching and play calling. A coach needs to be able to set his players up for success. 

 

This is baloney, sorry. 

 

For one thing, in the 2nd half we had 7 runs to RB (4 to Motor, 3 to Breida) for 64 yds, including a long run for 29 yds which is almost half those yards.  It's not getting "stuffed" but it's hardly a wildly successful run game.

 

 

[LABILLBACKER]

They got too obsessed with stopping Mahomes that they leveraged improving an already weak OL to chase some skinny DE's. We knew whole heartedly last season our OL/RB's were insufficient. Yet Beane decided to run it back. Now they'll probably over correct and pick 7 Olineman?  

[nedboy7]

Who cares.  Here comes the flag. 

[Dablitzkrieg]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

 

House goes to a grocery store: "The People at Wegmans hide behind their snobbish cash registers hoping for extra holiday cash"

House goes to a gas station: "The People at Exxon hide behind their snobbish cash registers hoping for extra holiday cash"

House needs a plumber: "The People at Planit Plumbing hide behind their snobbish invoices hoping for extra holiday cash"

 

Yeah, Bro, everyone in your life ought to comp you.  Grow Up.  They're selling a product.  Buy it or don't buy it, but people deserve to be paid for their work.  And if that was supposed to be a joke, add Humor next time.

 

 

Geez, you really took that personally.  The Athletic suck BTW, imo 

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

3 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

It's not just a matter of "how much" they throw vs run, it's a matter of "is there a credible run threat, such that the defense feels some need to defend the run on every snap?"  Because if there isn't, then they can just pin their ears back and go after the passer.

 

No one facing Tampa with Fournette in the backfield thinks they can just ignore him as a run threat.

 

And just a reminder that fournette was mostly pretty terrible in his time with jax too.  Fix the LINE!!!

[Bangarang]

It all comes back to the OL being our biggest problem 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

2 hours ago, No Place To Hyde said:

The narrative that the Bills can't run is slightly overblown. They can...they just almost refuse to do so.

 

Singletary has been good with opportunities. Not just yesterday, but most of the season. Coaches have just insisted that our RB position needs to be a rotation.

 

Most teams that have a RBBC approach will get their RBs involved early and if someone shows they have the "hot hand" will feed them for the rest of the game. Not Buffalo. Games where we do see Singletary do well early they switch him out for Breida or Moss or Allen called runs or they will just turn to the pass. That's a flaw in coaching philosophy. Be it McD or Daboll that wants it that way it needs to end.

 

So I was looking at the plays called in the first half.

 

First series: 3 passes to Devin Singletary (one incomplete), sack, pass to Singletary

Second series: short passes to Diggs, Beasley, Davis (inc), punctuated by sack and JA run for 14 yds

Third series: 3 deep complete passes punctuated by short pass to Davis, 2 Allen scrambles, incomplete pass on 3rd down

Fourth series: 4 short passes punctuated by a sack

Fifth series: pass, sack, INT

Sixth series: JA run, deep incomplete to Diggs, incomplete pass, DOG, incomplete to Diggs

 

Leaving aside the "should we have gone for it?" question, we're pretty clearly using the short passing game to the RB as part of the run game.

Which makes a lot of sense, given that our back doesn't have the speed to get to the outside and we don't have the blockers to run between the tackles against a stout DL.  Part of the problem is that Singletary really isn't a great receiving RB (he catches OK but doesn't get very much YAC - though that may not be his fault - he actually has NEGATIVE YBC as a receiver and gets respectable YAC given that fact).

 

Part of the problem is we had negative plays on every drive.  Sack, Sack, QB run for a loss, sack, INT, DOG.  That makes it tough to integrate a run threat other than Josh, especially when it may not go for much positive yardage unless it's Josh. 

[uticaclub]

2 hours ago, Steptide said:

Oh ya, throwing that much is not sustainable, yet the bucs, who won the superbowl, throw it just as much or more. Please 

Leonard Fournette

[Hapless Bills Fan]

25 minutes ago, dneveu said:

And just a reminder that fournette was mostly pretty terrible in his time with jax too.  Fix the LINE!!!

 

13 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

It all comes back to the OL being our biggest problem 

 

This.  If we're using short passes to the RB as a substitute for the run game, it's because we need an OL that can open some holes in the run game.  If we're getting negative plays on every drive (mostly sacks), it's because we need a better OL

 

3 minutes ago, uticaclub said:

Leonard Fournette

 

Fun fact: Fournette has 77 targets for 421 yds.  That's 35% of his yards from scrimmage.

[Cheektowaga Chad]

41 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

This is baloney, sorry. 

 

For one thing, in the 2nd half we had 7 runs to RB (4 to Motor, 3 to Breida) for 64 yds, including a long run for 29 yds which is almost half those yards.  It's not getting "stuffed" but it's hardly a wildly successful run game.

 

 

I hate when people say "well if you take this one run away" he would have only had x yards

 

Never said wildly successful. Said it was successful. 7 for 64 is success. Even 6 for 35 is successful (nearly 6 yards per carry)

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

4 minutes ago, Cheektowaga Chad said:

I hate when people say "well if you take this one run away" he would have only had x yards

 

Never said wildly successful. Said it was successful. 7 for 64 is success. Even 6 for 35 is successful (nearly 6 yards per carry)

 

I only factor it in if you had like 20 carries for 110 and one was like 80 yards.  Still counts the same but if you average sub like 3 on the other carries i think the argument carries some weight.  

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

20 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

So I was looking at the plays called in the first half.

 

First series: 3 passes to Devin Singletary (one incomplete), sack, pass to Singletary

Second series: short passes to Diggs, Beasley, Davis (inc), punctuated by sack and JA run for 14 yds

Third series: 3 deep complete passes punctuated by short pass to Davis, 2 Allen scrambles, incomplete pass on 3rd down

Fourth series: 4 short passes punctuated by a sack

Fifth series: pass, sack, INT

Sixth series: JA run, deep incomplete to Diggs, incomplete pass, DOG, incomplete to Diggs

 

Leaving aside the "should we have gone for it?" question, we're pretty clearly using the short passing game to the RB as part of the run game.

Which makes a lot of sense, given that our back doesn't have the speed to get to the outside and we don't have the blockers to run between the tackles against a stout DL.  Part of the problem is that Singletary really isn't a great receiving RB (he catches OK but doesn't get very much YAC - though that may not be his fault - he actually has NEGATIVE YBC as a receiver and gets respectable YAC given that fact).

 

Part of the problem is we had negative plays on every drive.  Sack, Sack, QB run for a loss, sack, INT, DOG.  That makes it tough to integrate a run threat other than Josh, especially when it may not go for much positive yardage unless it's Josh. 

Yes, this is 100% correct, I thought the same thing yesterday. Opponents defense now play us and a few others in the league, bargaining that they can give up  some short yardage, but eventually we won't be able execute 12,13,14 plays without screwing up. And, it has worked so far. Our Red Zone performance has been dreadful as well. 

[In Summary]

1 hour ago, TheFunPolice said:

Singletary was the guy who "could make you miss in a phone booth" as a rookie and used to make nice plays his rookie year when he was used more. Then they drafted Moss for that "one foot and a cloud of dust" factor and Singletary has been an afterthought ever since. 

 

Yesterday he made some plays on offense. Now, I'm not saying he is a feature back or that he is a gamebreaker. But we know he CAN make plays because we've seen it here, in this offense, for this team. 

 

When you get 3 touches a game you're not going to get into any type of rhythm. 

Singletary definitely has a role on this team, even if it's not as a starter.

[Gugny]

3 hours ago, JohnNord said:

Whether it’s McDermott, Beane, or Daboll, there were serious flaws in the offense this team put on the field 

 

All of the above.

[racketmaster]

2 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

RB is not our biggest issue.  Could they be upgraded, sure, and have no problem with that.  But Daboll, the OL, and our run blocking scheme is a way bigger reason as to why our run game is lacking.  

It may not be our biggest issue because we have problems at mlb, depth in secondary, run stuffing dlineman, average oline at best, no credible deep threat or depth at te. But we are in desperate need of an rb that can get the tough dirty yards at the very least. Moss is most capable at that but has been worse than last year and he was not particularly good in 2020 to begin with. The best we have to offer is a scat back in Singletary and a pass catching back in Breida and neither can run in situations that call for a back getting the tough inside yards in short yardage situations or to close games. 
 

And what makes rb the biggest need is that the lack of a power back puts us in situations where we have to rely on our franchise qb to fill that role putting his immediate health and long term career at risk. That alone makes it the biggest need. 

Edited December 13, 2021 by racketmaster

[theRalph]

When the Bills learn how to select offensive and defensive linemen, things will improve. If anything has been demonstrated in the NFL, it is this: Teams are successful with mediocre backs when they have studs on the O line. McBean needs to determine what a good NFL linemen looks like. 

 

That Feliciano didn't see the field yesterday (Boettger was in that spot) AND Cody Ford was inactive is utterly damning of their OL selection process. ***** figure it out! 

[Cheektowaga Chad]

18 minutes ago, dneveu said:

 

I only factor it in if you had like 20 carries for 110 and one was like 80 yards.  Still counts the same but if you average sub like 3 on the other carries i think the argument carries some weight.  

I get the idea and agree it carries weight in a debate.

 

Think of all the "thunder and lightning" back fields of the past

 

If you're a run oriented/physical team. The run game is all about just pounding away, and sticking with it. So maybe you only average 3 yards on say 20 carries but because you continued to run that 21st carry the defense broke down and wore out and the run goes 80

 

[bigduke6]

Daboll isnt a moron,  he hasnt done what hes done in football by being dumb.    hes trying to cover up our problems (o line),  just like every other coach in the league does.    everybody can see we cant run when we need to,  and we can barely run when we dont need to.    not at a point in the season where u can just wish something into existence.  the oline isnt going to magically turn into a good run blocking unit,   so McD and Daboll are doing what they think gives them their best chance to win.....

 

if u run just for the sake of "balance",  and the running game is trash,  then all your doing is wasting plays,  first downs,  and possessions.   u cant afford to waste anything.

 

im sure both of them desperately want a better balance,   gonna have to wait till next season for that.

Edited December 13, 2021 by bigduke6

[JohnNord]

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

Yes, this is 100% correct, I thought the same thing yesterday. Opponents defense now play us and a few others in the league, bargaining that they can give up  some short yardage, but eventually we won't be able execute 12,13,14 plays without screwing up. And, it has worked so far. Our Red Zone performance has been dreadful as well. 

The other problem is that for as many throws that Josh can make, he’s never really excelled at the touch passes that lead the RB’s out of the backfield.  He doesn’t have the pinpoint accuracy that QB’s who make a living with those type of passes have.  
 

I noticed yesterday that a few short passes near the LOS were slightly off target, forcing the back/receivers to come back for the ball.  It seems small but that extra second can be the difference between 2 yard gain and a 6/7 yard gain.  

4 minutes ago, bigduke6 said:

Daboll isnt a moron,  he hasnt done what hes done in football by being dumb.    hes trying to cover up our problems (o line),  just like every other coach in the league does.    everybody can see we cant run when we need to,  and we can barely run when we dont need to.    not at a point in the season where u can just wish something into existence.  the oline isnt going to magically turn into a good run blocking unit,   so McD and Daboll are doing what they think gives them their best chance to win.....

 

if u run just for the sake of "balance",  and the running game is trash,  then all your doing is wasting plays,  and first downs,  and possessions.   u cant afford to waste anything.

 

im sure both of them desperately want a better balance,   gonna have to wait till next season for that.

I think the second half was what McDermott means by balance.  It was mostly passing but a few QB runs and RB’s runs off tackle opened things up for the passing game.

 

The idea is not to run for balance just to do it.  It’s to make it easier on their passing game 

14 minutes ago, theRalph said:

When the Bills learn how to select offensive and defensive linemen, things will improve. If anything has been demonstrated in the NFL, it is this: Teams are successful with mediocre backs when they have studs on the O line. McBean needs to determine what a good NFL linemen looks like. 

 

That Feliciano didn't see the field yesterday (Boettger was in that spot) AND Cody Ford was inactive is utterly damning of their OL selection process. ***** figure it out! 

Yes to an extent…at the same time a raw 3rd round rookie draft pick has been the best option to start at RT.  

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

1 minute ago, JohnNord said:

The other problem is that for as many throws that Josh can make, he’s never really excelled at the touch passes that lead the RB’s out of the backfield.  He doesn’t have the pinpoint accuracy that QB’s who make a living with those type of passes have.  
 

I noticed yesterday that a few short passes near the LOS were slightly off target, forcing the back/receivers to come back for the ball.  It seems small but that extra second can be the difference between 2 yard gain and a 6/7 yard gain.  

Defenses are attacking us differently this year. And, it's impacting everything we do on offense. You mention passes off target, I can't say I've noticed him being less than accurate than last year. But, I've noticed the defense having more defenders on the perimeter and in coverage. 

Checking the advanced stats at PFR, last year year teams Blitzed us 244 times, so far this year 102 and they're still getting as good if not slightly better pressure on Allen (126 this year, 137 all of last year). The Pressure % is higher as well.