Bills O Line/Unforced Error Review - Week 10 - Vikings

[Bocephuz]

 

In the past i used to do lengthy in depth posts with gifs.. don't have time for that nowadays

 

I watched every passing snap to evaluate pass blocking performance as well as Josh Allen unforced errors committed (PASS BLOCKING ONLY EVALUATED.. did not evaluate running plays). 

 

Unforced error =  Allen has time to throw, wr is open and he misses throw.. or.. Allen makes poor unforced decision 

 

OLINEMAN BEATEN =  O lineman clearly loses his one on one matchup... or.. clearly misreads stunt/combo block

 

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OLINEMAN BEATEN STATS

DAWKINS - 3

SAFFOLD - 4

MORSE - 1

BATES - 0

BROWN - 5  

 

OL SUMMARY : In general the OL was well below average in pass protect against Min.

-Dawkins -  Had a generally rough day. He was beaten cleanly one on one to the outside with a speed rush twice. He also did a poor job picking up a twist stunt and was beaten to the inside. Dawkins has not played up remotely close to his past Pro Bowl form.

- SAFFOLD -  Saffold was beaten badly several times. He is vulnerable to the outside/in move and gave up several one on one pressures resulting in the pocket collapsing. He also did poorly picking up several stunts.

- MORSE - Morse played his usual steady game. He was beaten badly once (physically manhandled back into Josh' lap) and had a few close calls.. but generally was solid in pass protect against the Vikes

- BATES - Had a very clean day in pass pro. He may be the best O linemen they've had this year in Pass Pro. 

- BROWN -  Maybe he's not healthy...maybe he's rusty? Either way.. Brown had a very poor showing in pass protect.  He was cleanly beaten by the outside speed rush several times. He was also beaten on the Outside/In move. Its' arguable whether or not he is an upgrade over Quessenberry.. who had a very rough outing against the Jets. 

 

 

 

QB UNFORCED ERRORS:  Josh had 4 unforced errors by my count.  Based on my history of doing this kind of analysis with Tyrod and EJ.. when a qb has 5 or more unforced errors the chances of his team winning decrease materially. The line did Allen no favors today.. and he generally covered up for their mistakes by gaining positive rush yards or scrambling to make a play. 

- Josh INT 1 Red Zone -  Most of Allen's INTs come when he leaves the pocket and tries to improvise. In this case.. he was forced to leave the pocket when Spencer Brown was immediately beaten to the inside .. and Allen facing down a sack had to leak out to the right to buy time. That being said... Allen's throw to the sideline endzone was a poor choice and in that regard was an unforced error. 

- Josh INT 2 Red Zone / End of Game -  Protection was solid.. pump faked several times. Just made a late, poor under throw over the middle that was picked off. If he trusts his feet, hits his drop and lets it go high over the middle in time to Davis on the post he likely has a good shot at the game winner. Ultimately .. this was an unforced error as the protection was good. 

 

In general Allen got the ball out on time and in rhythm.. particularly in the first half. A normal QB would have taken 2 or 3 sacks based on the breakdowns of Dawkins/Saffold/Brown.. but in general he turned those plays into positives. However.. the more he has to roll out of the pocket and improvise.. the more the risk level goes up for an INT. Once he's outside of the pocket he's a wild card. In general he didn't bail out on phantom pressure as much as he did in the Jets game. 

 

Of course this is only one game and all qbs have peaks and valleys. Allen has demonstrated that he can be a decisive, accurate, rhythm thrower when given a clean pocket. The Bills may need to pivot more toward a quick game/west coast kind of passing game and forego the deep drops as this O Line has consistently shown it cannot hold up on a consistent level. 

[Brand J]

I thought Bates quietly turned around his season a couple games ago. I saw him matched up one on one a few times in pass pro and just stonewalled the DT.

[gobills404]

Not surprised Dawkins and Brown had sub-par outings against Z. Smith and Hunter, but who tf was Saffold getting whooped by? The only Vikings DTs that played significant time were Harry (who wasn’t a good pass rusher in Buffalo), James Lynch, and Khyiris Tonga (literally never heard of them).

[Bocephuz]

Bates has been worth every penny so far this year

 

[Bocephuz]

and BTW ... I failed to mention that 26 Singletary continues to do the dirty work in picking up blitzes. He's been rock steady. 

[LABILLBACKER]

19 minutes ago, Bocephuz said:

and BTW ... I failed to mention that 26 Singletary continues to do the dirty work in picking up blitzes. He's been rock steady. 

Devin's pass blocking has been exceptional.