Re-watching Old Games-- Bills @ Ravens, Sept 9th, 2018

[Rocky Landing]

Game Pass has to be my favorite streaming service. Really worth the money, IMO. Anyway, I’ve been re-watching condensed versions of old games lately. It's the best way to get through this long gap in the off-season. Today, just out of curiosity, I re-watched the 2018 season opener at Baltimore, where the Ravens placed a 47-3 shellacking on the Bills in Josh Allen’s first NFL game.

 

I laughed. I (would have) cried (were it not the beginning of a glorious era). And, I thought I would like to post a few of my observations of that game in, uh… no particular order…

 

Tremaine Edmunds. (Why not start off with Tremaine Edmunds?) It was his first game of his career as well, and ya know what? For a raw, 19-year-old (!) rookie in his first start, he looked pretty damn good! He got a sack, had decent lines to the ball, and damned near got two interceptions. In fact, had it not been raining, I believe he would have hauled in at least one of those.

 

Matt Milano. In the first of only a few instances where Milano did something noteworthy, the commentator referred to him as “the undersized Matt Milano…” That made me laugh.

 

TOP and the Defense. One might think that a defense that allows another team to pin 47 points on them would be an unmitigated disaster. And they were bad, but they weren’t as bad as all that. I lost track of all the three-and-outs by the Bills offense in the first half, but suffice to say— there were a lot of them. Poor Bojo punted ten times. And for the defense, it’s hard to stay fresh when you don’t get more than a few minutes rest between drives. By the end of the game (a full third of which the Ravens played as garbage time, and the Bills, themselves, were actively running out the clock) the Ravens had the ball for over ten minutes longer than the Bills.

 

Offense. What a crapshow. It’s not like there wasn’t some talent on that field, but you can really see the effects of a losing culture in a performance like that.

 

Shady McCoy. By 2018, he had already lost a step, IMO. But, he still had great vision.

 

Kelvin Benjimin. 🤮

 

The O-line. 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

 

Nathan Peterman. I remember very clearly being one of the posters on TBD who went into the season pounding the table that Peterman shouldn’t be in the league, much less starting in the season opener. He was straight-up terrible. But here’s the thing about Late Nate: He’s still in the league!!! He’s currently employed by the Chicago Bears! HOW??? WHY???

 

Josh Allen. I’m not just being a homer when I say this (the color commentator even made this point within a few plays of Allen taking the field) but when Josh Allen took over at QB, the entire energy of the offense changed. Even though there was zero chance of a comeback by that time, they just appeared willing to make plays, and put themselves out there. Josh did a bunch of Josh things— scrambling for a couple first downs, taking some hits, etc. He certainly had a fair share of rookie issues, and was sacked twice. But you know wasn’t an issue? Accuracy. In fact, especially considering the wind and rain,  Allen threw some ropes.

 

It was interesting watching this game in retrospect to where we are now. You can see the potential in Josh Allen. You can see the poisoned culture that McDermott was working to change— the lack of effort, the lack of focus, the lack of inspiration. And a few minutes into the third quarter when Allen takes the field, you can see the tide change in Buffalo.

Edited July 5, 2022 by Rocky Landing

[WotAGuy]

6 minutes ago, Rocky Landing said:

Game Pass has to be my favorite streaming service. Really worth the money, IMO. Anyway, I’ve been re-watching condensed versions of old games lately. It's the best way to get through this long gap in the off-season. Today, just out of curiosity, I re-watched the 2018 season opener at Baltimore, where the Ravens placed a 47-3 shellacking on the Bills in Josh Allen’s first NFL game.

 

I laughed. I (would have) cried (were it not the beginning of a glorious era). And, I thought I would like to post a few of my observations of that game in, uh… no particular order…

 

Tremaine Edmunds. (Why not start off with Tremaine Edmunds?) It was his first game of his career as well, and ya know what? For a raw, 19-year-old (!) rookie in his first start, he looked pretty damn good! He got a sack, had decent lines to the ball, and damned near got two interceptions. In fact, had it not been raining, I believe he would have hauled in at least one of those.

 

Matt Milano. In the first of only a few instances where Milano did something noteworthy, the commentator referred to him as “the undersized Matt Milano…” That made me laugh.

 

TOS and the Defense. One might think that a defense that allows another team to pin 47 points on them would be an unmitigated disaster. And they were bad, but they weren’t as bad as all that. I lost track of all the three-and-outs by the Bills offense in the first half, but suffice to say— there were a lot of them. Poor Bojo punted ten times. And for the defense, it’s hard to stay fresh when you don’t get more than a few minutes rest between drives. By the end of the game (a full third of which the Ravens played as garbage time, and the Bills, themselves, were actively running out the clock) the Ravens had the ball for over ten minutes longer than the Bills.

 

Offense. What a crapshow. It’s not like there wasn’t some talent on that field, but you can really see the effects of a losing culture in a performance like that.

 

Shady McCoy. By 2018, he had already lost a step, IMO. But, he still had great vision.

 

Kelvin Benjimin. 🤮

 

The O-line. 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

 

Nathan Peterman. I remember very clearly being one of the posters on TBD who went into the season pounding the table that Peterman shouldn’t be in the league, much less starting in the season opener. He was straight-up terrible. But here’s the thing about Late Nate: He’s still in the league!!! He’s currently employed by the Chicago Bears! HOW??? WHY???

 

Josh Allen. I’m not just being a homer when I say this (the color commentator even made this point within a few plays of Allen taking the field) but when Josh Allen took over at QB, the entire energy of the offense changed. Even though there was zero chance of a comeback by that time, they just appeared willing to make plays, and put themselves out there. Josh did a bunch of Josh things— scrambling for a couple first downs, taking some hits, etc. He certainly had a fair share of rookie issues, and was sacked twice. But you know wasn’t an issue? Accuracy. In fact, especially considering the wind and rain,  Allen threw some ropes.

 

It was interesting watching this game in retrospect to where we are now. You can see the potential in Josh Allen. You can see the poisoned culture that McDermott was working to change— the lack of effort, the lack of focus, the lack of inspiration. And a few minutes into the third quarter when Allen takes the field, you can see the tide change in Buffalo.

I admire your ability to put yourself through that. You put more effort into that game than the Bills did. 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Losing culture?  They made the playoffs the year before.  

[Putin]

Where’s the game ??? I came here for the game !!! 

[Albany,n.y.]

I was at that game. I got drenched even though I had a rain pancho. I had one of the NFL approved plastic bags and all my stuff still got wet.  I still have a rain damaged program from the game.  I wanted Josh starting instead of the QB I called "Nathan Marangi" to start and when Josh came in I went nuts because I finally had something to cheer about.  

[Rhode Island Red]

I, too, watched an old game tonight… the Turkey Day win over Dallas 2019.  This was the game where Josh well and truly showed the league/world what he was all about, taking control at the end of the second half with his stunning 4th and 1 recovery of the fumbled snap and then beast mode gaining the first down.  He had had enough of the back and forth BS, and went on to ice the game by the end of the third. A bookend to the Ravens game, in that the victory at Dallas was the ‘end of the beginning’ for Josh.  Everything after that is just a steady upward march.   I’m pretty sure I had more fun watching this one than you did w/ the Ravens, but it really is interesting to put those two games as bookends for Josh Level 1….

or maybe I’m just blathering, either way, watching old games is the only way to survive this period, FFS…

[Rocky Landing]

2 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said:

Losing culture?  They made the playoffs the year before.  

The losing culture that McDermott walked into-- ya know, the 17 year playoff drought. That didn't immediately end in McD's first season when they backed into a wildcard spot. It took a bit of work. Just my opinion.

 

40 minutes ago, Rhode Island Red said:

I, too, watched an old game tonight… the Turkey Day win over Dallas 2019.  This was the game where Josh well and truly showed the league/world what he was all about, taking control at the end of the second half with his stunning 4th and 1 recovery of the fumbled snap and then beast mode gaining the first down.  He had had enough of the back and forth BS, and went on to ice the game by the end of the third. A bookend to the Ravens game, in that the victory at Dallas was the ‘end of the beginning’ for Josh.  Everything after that is just a steady upward march.   I’m pretty sure I had more fun watching this one than you did w/ the Ravens, but it really is interesting to put those two games as bookends for Josh Level 1….

or maybe I’m just blathering, either way, watching old games is the only way to survive this period, FFS…

Hell yeah, that was a great game!

 

 

Edited July 5, 2022 by Rocky Landing

[Buftex]

I've re-watched the first 6 games of the 2011 season...

[RobbRiddick]

3 hours ago, Buftex said:

I've re-watched the first 6 games of the 2011 season...

 

"Thank you for your service."

 

[corta765]

10 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said:

Losing culture?  They made the playoffs the year before.  

 

Yea probably my only gripe of his post which was good is this. They made the playoff and it was a known rebuilding/reset the deck yea we werent thinking playoffs. If anything people were crediting the Coach/GM for making the playoffs AND trading up to get a franchise QB prospect as that is super tough to pull.

[Ned Flanders]

9 hours ago, Albany,n.y. said:

I was at that game. I got drenched even though I had a rain pancho. 

The all-day rain was all I remember from this game as well.  It was the worst weather game I've ever been to.

[Captain Hindsight]

I recently rewatched the Vikings game from 2018. Josh was a monster that day

[machine gun kelly]

I choose not to rewatch a game and have my Bills get destroyed.

 

It doesn’t really matter as we’ve dramatically improved over the last four years.

[RiotAct]

10 hours ago, corta765 said:

 

Yea probably my only gripe of his post which was good is this. They made the playoff and it was a known rebuilding/reset the deck yea we werent thinking playoffs. If anything people were crediting the Coach/GM for making the playoffs AND trading up to get a franchise QB prospect as that is super tough to pull.

they WERE still in the process of washing off the stink of the Rex Ryan regime though, to be fair to the OP.

[cage]

On 7/4/2022 at 11:06 PM, Albany,n.y. said:

I was at that game. I got drenched even though I had a rain pancho. I had one of the NFL approved plastic bags and all my stuff still got wet.  I still have a rain damaged program from the game.  I wanted Josh starting instead of the QB I called "Nathan Marangi" to start and when Josh came in I went nuts because I finally had something to cheer about.  

 

I was at that game as well!  It was my wife's b-day present for me.  She held out and was a trooper through a miserable rainy day, so she forever gets credit for that!  I agree that the energy picked up when Allen entered the game.  He held his own in an unexpected appearance as described by OP.  Great journey from there on......

[Doc]

12 hours ago, RiotAct said:

they WERE still in the process of washing off the stink of the Rex Ryan regime though, to be fair to the OP.

 

The stink was gone when they killed the drought.  You knew it was a new era in Buffalo.  The next step was getting their franchise QB and they did that in 2018.

[LabattBlue]

If by chance you rewatch SB25, don’t post how it ended. 

[CouldBe]

I've watched this game several times now. Mostly the second half. The main reason is JA's first appearance as a Bill.

It felt like a ray of sunshine on dark rainy day.

It's interesting to pinpoint the exact play Peterman lost his job with the Bills.

Also this was the game when the clock started ticking on Joe Flaco's career in Baltimore.

[FilthyBeast]

If not for ending the drought a year earlier, this 2018 season would have painted a more dismal picture for the franchise with no guarantees things would have turned around again the following year.

 

But it's still mind boggling that Peterman was ever named the starter here and it does give insight in why I still think McDermott has a lot of flaws as a HC because no matter how good you look in practice, what matters is results during live action and it seems we are still hesitant to play certain players because they are either not showing much in practice and/or being outplayed by marginal players like Peterman who show better in a practice setting.

[Doc]

3 hours ago, FilthyBeast said:

If not for ending the drought a year earlier, this 2018 season would have painted a more dismal picture for the franchise with no guarantees things would have turned around again the following year.

 

But it's still mind boggling that Peterman was ever named the starter here and it does give insight in why I still think McDermott has a lot of flaws as a HC because no matter how good you look in practice, what matters is results during live action and it seems we are still hesitant to play certain players because they are either not showing much in practice and/or being outplayed by marginal players like Peterman who show better in a practice setting.

 

...until the following year, when they made the playoffs.  They were in no danger of being replaced after just 2 years.