A Few Thoughts about the Jets Game, in no particular order

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

8 hours ago, Virgil said:

For the first time in years, I watched a Bills game without taking notes and I'll be honest, my retention of the game went straight out the window.  I had to wait and re-watch the game on Youtube, which was actually pretty cool to see without all the clock stoppages between plays.  It's interesting the things you pick up a second time, but more so, you lose all real feel for the flow for the game.  Fortunately, that part I remembered.

 

1 - Adjustments - I believe there were three plays in a row where Josh's target ran a different route.  The announcers mentioned that both Josh and the receiver are both expected to recognize the coverage and adjust their route accordingly.  It's just another detail of the game that most of us probably don't think about and just how much of a science all of this is.  In either case, I've never seen that happen on back to back plays so badly.  Regardless, I hope they are able to get this corrected in film study.

 

2 - The Cheerleaders - One thing I've felt that's been missing all season is the on-filed hype train led my certain players.  When we had Lawson and Phillips, they absolutely fed off each other on the field.  Mongo, good or not, was also a catalyst for the offensive line.  While a few weeks back, we saw their energy lead to penalties and loss of control, Oliver and Brown seem to really be getting their respected lines playing a lot better.  The relationship between Oliver and Harrison is very apparent and they are clicking at just the right time.  With the slightly off passing game, having a rushing attack and front 4 pass rush attack gel going into the playoffs is a huge boon for us.  Think about the year the Colts finally won the big game, because the defense and rushing attack finally needed to be respected.

 

3 - Diggs - I really need to understand if Diggs is always this open and we choose to not utilize him like we did in this game, or did the Jets just play a defense that let him do whatever he wanted?  I'm sure the target bonus was part of the reason Josh was trying to take care of Diggs, but it was almost alarming how easy it was to feed him the ball.  This was the Diggs of last season who made the defense adjust their strategy altogether. 

 

4 - I admit it, what's to say?
I'll relive it, without pain
Hm, back-street lover on the side of the road
I gotta bomb in my temple that is gonna explode
I got a sixteen gauge buried under my clothes, I play

 

5 - Motor - When I looked up the stats post game, it's crazy to see how close Motor is to eclipsing 100 yards.  While not spectacular or breaking off huge runs, Motor is getting the tough yards in clear rushing situations and really opening up the passing game for Josh.  Had he been the undisputed starter all season, I think we are looking at a 1200 yard season for him, which is unheard of in this Daboll offense.  Moss did a good job in his limited spot duty, but I hope to see this trend continue and make opposing defenses have to account for Motor.

 

6 - Pass Rush - While Wilson's inability to scramble forward was a big help, the Bills front 4 just terrorized the Jets on 3rd and long, leading to numerous negative plays.  If I'm not mistake, the Jets finished with negative yards in the second half.  C'mon, that's crazy!  This defense keeps spiking at the right moments and does an amazing job in the bend, but don't break concept, and this is with limited blitzing and the DE's dropping back in contain on some plays.  Again, a great job of this unit gelling at the right time.

 

7 - The Big Play - When I think of some of our losses this season, I think about the big play by the opposing teams that wind up being the difference maker in the overall score.  We had big runs against us in the Pats, Titans, Colts, and Bucs game.  The only moment in this game where the Jets made the score look interesting was on a mis-tackle pass that broke big for a touchdown.  It feels like these plays happen against us more than anyone else, but I also don't watch a lot of other games.  I'm not sure what the fix is, but I'm really hoping our season doesn't end on one of these.

 

8 - Haack - We all know that quarterback is one of the toughest positions in all of sports.  Did you know that a punter who can hold a snap and make punts is the second hardest player to find?  What the crap was that in this game?!?  I will grant Haack that the punt snaps were slightly off to his left, but c'mon man.  When you get a standing ovation from the crowd for punting the ball through the end zone, you know there's a problem.  I'm honestly surprised McD hasn't brought anyone else in this week.

 

9 - Passing game - I don't know if the Bills are trying new plays on offense and tuning up for the post season, or what's going on, but the overall flow of the passing game continues to be off.  The rushing attack and defense really won this game for us and it's hard to not be a little concerns going forward.  Josh was rocketing balls downfield again and did deliver a beautiful deep ball to Knox.  The deep crossing passes were back, but the receivers couldn't get both feet in bounds.  Gabe made some unusual drops, but overall, there were a lot of balls hitting the ground.  I will give credit to the Jets blitzing a lot and the weather wasn't great, but these are both things we should expect to see moving forward.

 

10 - Frazier/Daboll - Am I the only one who's not a fan of this new interview process where assistants can interview during the playoffs?  I don't know what a typical day looks like in regards to prep for a game, but I assume it's a lot of hours.  I don't like the idea of there being the slightest distraction for either guy, as they both have interviews the day after the Pats game.  Maybe I'm paranoid and this isn't a thing, but I just know it would be on my mind if I were either of them.

 

Well, that's a season wrap everyone.  I can't promise these for the playoffs as I am trying to be more present when I'm watching the game.  I look forward to watching the game from the warmth of my own home with my daughter.  I would never dream of trying to take her into that stadium in with temperatures near zero.  But keep telling me how the weather hasn't affected ticket sales this season....

 

Go Bills!!!

great job.
 

Love the quip about Zach Wilson not being able to scramble forward— haha.  I think you saw what I saw, which is that anytime Wilson scrambled, he would like run 20 yards backwards. Very odd. 

[Virgil]

28 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

Virg ... I love you, man.

I love you more 

[LeGOATski]

Did someone say cheerleaders?

 

[298Woody]

6 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

great job.
 

Love the quip about Zach Wilson not being able to scramble forward— haha.  I think you saw what I saw, which is that anytime Wilson scrambled, he would like run 20 yards backwards. Very odd. 

My biggest take away from the game is why did we keep throwing passes into the wind taking no time off the clock and forcing punts into the wind? The dumbest play calling I have ever seen in my life. We are lucky to win that game with this type of decision making.

[Behindenemylines]

Enjoy time with your family watching the game.  Thanks for all the recaps!

 

GO BILLS

[SoCal Deek]

Great write up as always. Two points:

 

First, good luck with being ‘present’ during the playoffs. My wife would probably prefer it if I was a tad LESS present when the Bills are on. 😉

 

Second, I’m curious as to whether our coordinators are having virtual interviews these days. If so, the time distraction is of course way less of an issue. In my line of work we interview for new commissions all the time. Zoom is less personal but it’s greatly cut down on the time expended going to and from every opportunity.

[Gugny]

8 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

great job.
 

Love the quip about Zach Wilson not being able to scramble forward— haha.  I think you saw what I saw, which is that anytime Wilson scrambled, he would like run 20 yards backwards. Very odd. 

 

Oddly enough, many Bills fans fell in love with Lil' Doug Flutie for doing the same thing.

[JGMcD2]

16 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

I don't think Haack has (what I understand to be) the Yips because after his shanks of 28, 21, and 22 yds he punted 49, 53, and 43 yds (with a fumble and a 7 yd "just do something" punt sandwiched in there.  What I understand "the Yips" to be is that the player suddenly loses the ability to perform an athletic move that should be well-engrained "muscle memory" to the player, and can't get it back.  He had some good punts around his terrible, horrible, no good very bad day.

Speaking as someone who had the yips… those probably weren’t the yips. He came out at the half and was punting with ease during warmups too. 
 

If he does have the yips, I feel bad for him. It’s the most helpless feeling in the world… I’d never wish it upon my worst enemy. 

Edited January 14, 2022 by JGMcD2

[Virgil]

8 minutes ago, JGMcD2 said:

Speaking as someone who had the yips… those probably weren’t the yips. He came out at the half and was punting with ease during warmups too. 
 

If he does have the yips, I feel bad for him. It’s the most helpless feeling in the world… I’d never wish it upon my worst enemy. 

Oh I definitely wish it on the Pats and Brady on Sunday.  I wouldn’t mind if Mahomes got it too

[2003Contenders]

18 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Re: the passing attack, I really think Daboll treats inferior opponents as lab rats.  I wish he wouldn't but he does.  These games are science experiments for him.

 

Re: punting, Haack is also the holder and I'm sure they don't want to mess with Bass's head at this point in the season which is why I think they won't be making a change (unless Haack truly has The Yips).

 

I think you are exactly right about this -- and I think he designed some funky plays like the wildcat and pass from Diggs the last couple of weeks perhaps to add more for the opponents to review and prepare for. While the Bills were so much better than the Falcons and Jets, these displays did not hurt us in those games. However, it did come back to bite us against the Jags!

[Kwai San]

Thanks for the write up as always @Virgil hopefully you are quieter and more restrained during the watching of the games with your fams.  My wife will NOT watch games with me AND her fams.  Me and her alone as she can tolerate my comments....I would horrify her fams!

 

Go BILLS!!!!

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

22 hours ago, NewEra said:

Thanks again for all the time and effort you’ve put into your write ups. 4 more to go!

3- we need to see that Diggs on Saturday. I think we will.  Hopefully he josh takes a little off some of these passes, like Diggs has recently asked him to do. 

 

9- the passing game was scary 2 games in a row. Others have said that our pass plays this week we’re specific to keeping josh in the pocket, keeping him healthy and not showing any new wrinkles.  Even so, too many laser beams with almost no chance of being caught for my personal taste. 
 

10- I hate the interview process being conducted during the playoffs but I don’t see them every making any changes to it

 

You try not to put much on film in a meaningless game.  Run the same plays a bunch, and generally try and force your playoff opponent to try and guess a bit more.  

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

14 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

great job.
 

Love the quip about Zach Wilson not being able to scramble forward— haha.  I think you saw what I saw, which is that anytime Wilson scrambled, he would like run 20 yards backwards. Very odd. 

 

He's a rookie.  Mac Jones does the same thing sometimes.  You have that internal clock, and for whatever reason you naturally tend to drift in the pocket as it is easier to see the field - but you also set yourself up for failure.