A Few Thoughts About the Dolphins Game, in no particular order

[newcam2012]

1 minute ago, DocLawless said:

Also not to mention that every weapon he has on offense was in and out all game with heat issues, but he kept running around, giving it his all every play and never came out once, or lessened his effort

No one in their right mind would ever question Allen's heart and effort. The end result is what really counts. He fell short as did the team. 

[Simon]

20 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

These people have been hiding in the grass like spiders

 

That is an insult to spiders everywhere.

[newcam2012]

6 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

Not to mention that on that last drive both Davis & Diggs dropped perfectly thrown balls.  Of course Diggs was fighting heat exhaustion and cramping which makes Allen's late game performance all the more impressive. The funny thing is that I don't blame Diggs or Davis as I know they're both great players and perfection does not exist in the NFL.  Nor do I blame Milano's dropped pick six, Davis for his dropped TD, Frazier for his boneheaded decision to only rush 3 guys on 3rd & 22 or the ST's for missing a chip shot FG. All those folks are good to great players that are going to make mistakes.   So why would any thinking fan blame Allen for a bad throw?

 

 

 

 

Your point illustrates it was a team loss. Allen is the unquestioned leader of the team. His effort, heart, and desire to win is second to none. However, he did fall short on leading the team to victory. Allen would be the first one to admit this. That's what leaders do. 

Edited September 26, 2022 by newcam2012

[DocLawless]

2 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

No one in their right mind would ever question Allen's heart and effort. The end result is what really counts. He fell short as did the team. 

Seems as though some would question his talent and whether he is worth his contract though. Which also requires being out of your mind. I agree, team came up short. Just don't agree that the loss is on Allen as was declared in virgils thoughts. 

[CincyBillsFan]

5 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Your point illustrates it was a team loss. Allen is the unquestioned leader of the team. His effort, heart, and desire to win is second to none. However, he did fall short on leading the team to victory. Allen would be the first one to admit this. That's what leaders do. 

Sorry but some of the posts are pretty damn critical of Allen calling him out for the missed pass.  I'll judge whether Allen fell short at the end of the season not after one weird ass game where we were playing at times without half our starters.  BTW, did Allen fall short leading the Bills last season after his terrible game against Jacksonville? My answer would be hell no.  I'll judge Allen by the totality of the season.

 

Today Allen played great by any rational standard.  Yes we lost the game and Allen played a role in that but his overall performance today was pretty amazing considering the circumstances.

 

 

[Slack_in_MA]

Team loss. Lot of season left. Moving on. Go Bills.

[WideNine]

5 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

That's bull####.

 

He was punch drunk.  

 

 

 

That back spasm business is weak... he was clearly disoriented and it was not much of a hit when he did hit the ground.

 

Have to wonder what his prior concussion history is like if that knocked him silly.

 

 

 

[Virgil]

1 hour ago, DocLawless said:

Agreed, but I do like Virgils write-ups usually. However, I think he is not only being unfair towards JA in this post, he is also seemingly insulting/mocking him. Not a fan of todays write up or comments by him. Oh well, cant like em all.

Wait, how is referring to his salary mocking him?  I’m honestly curious, because I only know one thing that’s used to imply 

[newcam2012]

I hear you but I disagree to a certain extent. Fans will always evaluate players after games especially the QBs. No one is saying Allen sucks. No one is saying we shouldn't evaluate a QB on a season of work. What some are saying is Allen didn't get the job done today, his passes were slightly off, he was very fortunate not to be picked off several times, in the second half he never looked comfortable, and his terrible pass at the end of the game likely cost the Bills the win. It was shades of the old Bills regime and a young Allen. By that I mean, running for his life, getting rattled, never getting into  a comfort zone or rhythm, making some really poor passes and decisions, and trying to do too much. Fortunately, there are logical reasons for the above. Injuries, injuries, and injuries. So there is no need to panic or get too down so long as the Bills can get healthy. With that said, this version of the Bills is something that I hope dissipates quickly. Today was ugly and that included Allen when it really counted. It is what it is. I'm not even thinking about Baltimore. The road to the playoffs has suddenly gotton much more difficult due to injuries. Imho, this was really the only way to beat teams could beat the Bills. Until the Bills get relatively healthy (hopefully they will) i think most games will be dogfights. 

[cle23]

6 hours ago, IronyAbounds said:

You want one thing the NFL could do differently? How about not scheduling the Bills at Miami in September and Miami at Buffalo in December. Just idiotic that they'd schedule these games at times where the weather is very likely to play a factor. Just stupid.

 

But weather does play a factor in football. That's been the case forever.  And the way it should be. 

 

You can't schedule games around whether or not the weather may affect one team more than another. 

[DocLawless]

52 minutes ago, Virgil said:

Wait, how is referring to his salary mocking him?  I’m honestly curious, because I only know one thing that’s used to imply 

In the context of what you were saying, "42 million dollar man" came off as a cheap shot of saying he's not worth the money he's making, to me. If I am reading into it wrong, I apologize. 

[Virgil]

4 minutes ago, DocLawless said:

In the context of what you were saying, "42 million dollar man" came off as a cheap shot of saying he's not worth the money he's making, to me. If I am reading into it wrong, I apologize. 

Interesting.  I would never have thought of it, nor heard someone, take it that way.

 

Saying he’s a 42 million dollar man means he has a higher expectation. Yo deliver.  Once you get paid, the expectations rise.  I expect my top 5? money qb to make that throw at the end when no one is around and the receiver is open.   No matter what happened until that moment, good or bad, he has to make that throw.  
 

If you’re in a rookie deal, you’re still in evaluated mode.  If you’re making sub 35 mil, then that’s what you get sometimes.  Top money, don’t be the one who made the bad play to help lose.  
 

Nothing personal about it.  That’s basic job expectations based upon salary. 

[DrPJax]

Usually you have great write ups and I appreciate them.  This one seems a Little  angry given the situation.😀.  The Bills have been injury free for years , it’s finally averaging out this year.    . We will really miss hyde but at least we should hopefully get most guys back when you want to peak late in the season. 
 

Just wanted to address the medical stuff a little since you addressed safety.   
 
Tua could certainly clear a standardized , computer based  concussion protocol.  It has to be administered and cleared by an INDEPENDENT neurologist for him to return. That’s the rule , so team docs can’t clear him.  Florio also explains this tonight on NBC.   IT USED TO be just the team doc asking questions of orientation and memory and they asked the same questions all the time so players got around the test by memorizing the answers. That’s not the case now. I suppose the fins could have cheated and bypassed an independent doc clearing him , but that’s not supposed to happen.  So I have no issue medically if protocol was followed and he passed.  He looked great on third and 22!  If they bypassed the protocol that’s on the fins and not the NFL. 
 

I don’t think you appreciate the extreme heat and heat associated illness we were seeing today.  We ran 90 offensive plays. While in a way that’s good , it also was inefficient in that heat.  John Fina has said a ten play drive is an absolute killer and that why he,advises playing in the preseason so guys get a taste of that exhaustion.   We had many longer drives than that so the heat was taking a heavy toll.  That’s why so many lineman got sick and were replaced.  Its why Diggs could never recover.  I don’t care how much you hydrate before the game , there is no way to prevent heat associated illness in this situation. The only prevention for heat illness is hydration , cooling , and acclimating over several  DAYS to that type of heat.  Our bodies can not adapt that quickly and just showing up a day before won’t work. That’s why the fins had fewer issues as they have been acclimating physiologically over weeks and they still struggled despite limited possessions. Once you start having symptoms like cramping , you are way behind and it just progresses and it showed on the field.  
 

That’s why the line was getting no push as you mentioned. They were battling heat illness symptoms like lethargy , nausea , mental slowness in processing , cramps and then it can get  worse if not treated correctly.   Bates’ looked very Ill to me. The only effective treatment is cooling , fluids and you have to get out of the heat. Wicking material is a huge help but I didn’t see guys changing jerseys and I would think the NFL uses the best materials but I haven’t researched that.   This is just as a bad or worse than playing In the blizzard conditions.  So running 90 plays actually worked against us and long drives in this heat were  counter productive.  It’s obvious as we still lost with the fins running only 39 plays , but they were more efficient and effective. 
 

Josh did make some unusual errors, as did many offensive players. He had no time and Morse being out was huge.  They are relying too much on Josh and the lack of a running game can’t keep being ignored.  It’s killing us in short yardage and red zone in close games ,  but obviously not an issue in blowout wins.  Josh touches the ball on every play , so 90 plays in that heat was bound to cause some issues later in the game. You start to lose concentration or have motor issues and you aren’t aware of it as others may notice your performance dropping before you do , it can be subtle and  is insidious. . Guys were looking very sluggish on those last two drives and Diggs was having to sit and Gabe looked fatigued with no separation and had an unusual drop.  It’s even possible Josh was showing effects with that missed mckenzie pass as his throwing mechanics were off and that’s not like him the past year.  He has been very accurate so either the pressure or physiology affected him. 
 

All I would say is you have to temper expectations in this type of climate coupled  with all the prior and game time injuries ( Bedford , Kumerow and more ).     It’s hard to be too upset with a two point loss while playing with so many guys who never get many reps.  This was really an extreme situation similar to the New England first game last year.  I can understand making mistakes normally not seen.  This may carry over to the Ravens   game as heat illness is slow to recover from and happens more easily on subsequent exposure. Going to be a tough stretch. 
 
 

I agree it’s hard to accept  Bass missing a gimme.  He certainly had no heat issues or excuses. The mistakes snowballed.  . I thought crowder was good , made no errors , and made good decisions.  They got lucky with a fantastic punt after the butt punt !  At least we had no blocking in the back etc penalties.  My issues are the persistent running game failures; playing a soft d on 3 rd and 22 ( other teams dcs pressure the qb so long routes can’t develop yet Frazier choses to rush 3); rotating the backs so much that none really ever gets in any groove and you end up with 3 mediocre guys and finally quit doing shotgun snaps inside the 5 !  This is a throw away type result as no other game today was played in anything close to these conditions and it had a definite impact  on performance and outcome.  

Just some thoughts as i feel your pain and my main concern is the injury issue is uncontrollable.   We can’t expect great results playing backups to backups in the defensive backfield.  Our RT situation also looks concerning.   Hope you have a better week, and hope we get some healthy guys back. 

[mannc]

1 hour ago, cle23 said:

 

 

You can't schedule games around whether or not the weather may affect  one team more than another.  

That’s not what we’re talking about.  The Bills play the Dolphins twice.  There is no reason this game (as opposed to the week 18 game) had to be in Miami in September at 1:00. Why schedule games in extreme weather when it can easily be avoided?

[die hard bills fan]

This game reminds me of the New England wind game last year.  The weather really played a role and helped the other team...Miami is acclimated to playing in hot weather. That, along with all the injuries makes me want to think the game was an outlier and not reflective of how good we are. 

As far as Josh is concerned he was our offense.   He may not have had his best game but no one did.  He probably played the most minutes of anyone.

Think the 112 degrees didn't affect him?

[JerseyBills]

8 hours ago, Virgil said:

Well, if you're going to post angry, go big or go home.  If you are on team "we were injured," feel free to stop reading now.  This game was embarrassing in all aspects of the game, and even beyond to the NFL. 

 

1 - Everyone else - This whole week has been about the players we don't have on the field, yet it was the guys who stayed healthy that made some of the biggest impacts on the game.  In a game of "what if's", there were countless plays you could point to that could have sent this game in a different direction.  Milano with an inexcusable dropped pick 6, Josh with at least 4 passes that should have been easily intercepted, multiple lost yardage plays due to bad snaps, Brown getting just abused at RT until he also leaves the game sick, Bass with an short FG miss that could have been the game winner, and again Allen missing a wide open McKenzie for a touchdown. 

 

2 - Inevitable - If there were one thing that kept me up at night going into this game, it was fear of miscommunication and gap integrity between the safeties and corners.  In a game where the Bills did a great job of limiting Tua, Waddle, and Hill, they folded when it counted the most giving up an inexcusable 3rd and 22 to the Bills goal line.  Without that play, of all of them, the Dolphins stat line is pedestrian and pull off a miracle defensive performance.

 

3 - Safety - I don't know enough about all of the medical protocols or options for teams in a game like this, but you really have to question the NFL after this game.  How Tua was able to clear concussion protocol so quickly makes absolutely no sense.  I haven't seen a QB stagger off the field like that since Joe Montana with the Chiefs against the Bills in the playoffs.  I don't care how well he passed tests in the locker room, there's no way he should have been allowed to play.  To be clear, this has nothing to do with the Bills losing and I don't think Tua beat us on any level.  Between that, the amount of play stoppages for dehydration and cramping, and the amount of players who left the game early, something needs to be done differently.

 

4 - Come and take a walk on the wild side
Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane ("Louder!", "Alright")
So choose your last words, this is the last time
'Cause you and I—we were born to die

 

5 - Allen - You are either a stat person or you aren't, and for this game, I don't care about Josh's stats.  He lost this game for us on offense and I think he would tell you the same thing.  Josh's accuracy on crossing routes was poor, throwing multiple passes behind the receivers.  He threw at least 4 passes that easily should have been picked off, plus the miss to a wide open McKenzie last goal line drive.  While he overcame it, the PF call to lose 15 yards was inexcusable.  Josh was clearly rattled in the second half and started to press too much.  Maybe it was the heat, frustration of some terrible snaps, or playing with only 3 active receivers at times, but Josh needs to be better than this.

 

6 - Play calling - I have to hand it to the Dolphins as they had a very good game plan for our offense and did enough to keep the Bills offense at bay.  Again, you can look at stats all you want, but Diggs was relatively shut down in this game after the first quarter.  Howard left the game for a while and Diggs still couldn't do anything.  Davis was also quiet as we heard Gilly's name more than his.  As for the Bills, they continue to collapse on short yardage plays, can't run to save their life, and flirted with turnovers a lot.  Nothing ever felt fluid for the Bills on offense or defense, in a game that's almost impossible to describe to someone who didn't watch it.

 

7 - Motor - I understand that Moss had a big run in this game.  But beyond that, Motor was the only back doing anything on the field and it's been this way through three games.  Additionally, the running plays on the RPO or out of the shotgun were some of the slowest developing plays I've ever seen.  You would think the offense was running on quicksand and showed no push or burst up front.  And before you point to the loss of the entire right side of our line, this was before those injuries and were runs to the left side.  I know we are a passing team, but this is inexcusable.

 

8 - McKenzie - If there were one shining light on offense, it might have been that we finally saw a McKenzie jet sweep in this game.  McKenzie used his speed on quite a few plays to pick up nice chunks of yards, to the point that makes you wonder why he hasn't been used more up until now.  His 20+ yard catch was a beautiful touch pass by Josh, but an equally great catch by McK.  I also want to know why McK wasn't returned the free kick after the safety.  Was that because it was still a punt, in theory?

 

9 - Special teams - Between the Bass missed FG, being pinned inside our 20 a few times, and Crowder not even getting back to the 25 after the safety, the special teams was another group who found a way to not show up in this game.  Absolutely horrendous job by unit that was healthy coming into the game.

 

10 - Bye Week - I'll be honest, I don't know what to expect through the next 3 weeks.  You can find some solace in how the defense held Waddle and Hill down, but I'm not one willing to crown the Dolphins as a top tier team yet.  Going into Baltimore next week is going to be brutal, and then we still have the Chiefs after that.  I know that it's early, and thankfully we get to play the Dolphins again.  But we may very well need the tie breakers for the Ravens and Chiefs, so it sucks to have these games coming up when we aren't even 50% healthy.  Out of everything, I just hate having a season be defined by injuries, and that's exactly what this season is shaping up to be.

 

For those looking for more about the game, my apologies.  I'm not going to cool down from this game for a long time.  I can handle a loss and was expecting one.  But to lose like this is just pathetic to me.  The Dolphins were better prepared, had more energy, and played harder.  Lose, but don't get beat in those three phases.  That's on McD.

 

 

Great post.

I don't agree with every point but very well said and articulated. You make a solid argument for each opinion. 

 

I will say this much, Motor is really good and needs to be our bell cow. 15+ carries a game, with Cook n Moss sprinkled in.

 

62 passes is inexcusable. 

We have to have a threat of the run from our backs. HAVE TO!

Brutal loss, we literally handed them the game with multiple miscues

Edited September 26, 2022 by JerseyBills

[Nihilarian]

4 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

So what would you rather they do when the run game is going nowhere? 

 

They are not ignoring the run because they don't want to run. They are ignoring the run because it is going nowhere.

So, what happens when the passing game is going nowhere? Do they stop passing because it was going nowhere?

 

Or would an OC usually try and find a way to make things work?

[GunnerBill]

Just now, Nihilarian said:

So, what happens when the passing game is going nowhere? Do they stop passing because it was going nowhere?

 

Or would an OC usually try and find a way to make things work?

 

Of course you try and make it work but this is a 3 or 4 year issue with the offensive line across two coordinators and two line coaches and the common denominatornis an under investment in the offensive line. They found a bit of something at the end of last year in the run game with less zone blocking and more gap scheme but they seem to have gone back to zone blocking for the start of this year. 

 

But ultimately it is talent that is ths problem. Not enough talented blockers. 

[IronyAbounds]

1 hour ago, cle23 said:

 

But weather does play a factor in football. That's been the case forever.  And the way it should be. 

 

You can't schedule games around whether or not the weather may affect one team more than another. 

Normally, but when you're talking about teams in the same division and they have to play twice, it doesn't make sense to play the games at the time of year where weather is more likely to factor into the game.

[John from Riverside]

Not one of your best Virgil