Tua ruled out vs Buffalo, Skylar Thompson expected to start

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

22 hours ago, zow2 said:

Nobody is afraid of Skylar but hopefully Leslie and the D leave no stone unturned here and take the game more seriously than some fans.

afterall, this is the same unit that gave up 34 completions, 65%, 327 yards in Kenny Pickett’s first start…and outright lost to Zach Wilson which is an embarrassment based on his other games this season.

Come on. The Steelers game was completely out of reach at that point and Buffalo was allowing short completions to run out the clock. They scored 3 points lol 

[jletha]

1 hour ago, Doc said:

Has Bridgewater practiced yet?

He was limited.

[John from Riverside]

I was a little shocked that they give in. They gave any information about QBs at all. If I was Miami, I would keep that under the hat, until they absolutely had to.

[UKBillFan]

1 minute ago, John from Riverside said:

I was a little shocked that they give in. They gave any information about QBs at all. If I was Miami, I would keep that under the hat, until they absolutely had to.

 

Guess the practice report would result in questions being asked anyway.

[jletha]

2 hours ago, ArdmoreRyno said:

 

You're right, I keep forgetting it was against the Titans. 

The first game was unique in that it was Hyde's first game out, Poyer was out, and Jackson was out.

[Doc]

13 minutes ago, jletha said:

The first game was unique in that it was Hyde's first game out, Poyer was out, and Jackson was out.

 

Morse, Oliver and Phillips as well.  And, again, after the Bills played on Monday night.

[jletha]

1 minute ago, Doc said:

 

Morse, Oliver and Phillips as well.  And, again, after the Bills played on Monday night.

yes also this. I only mentioned the secondary because it was more about Hill and Waddle.

[RoyBatty is alive]

20 minutes ago, John from Riverside said:

I was a little shocked that they give in. They gave any information about QBs at all. If I was Miami, I would keep that under the hat, until they absolutely had to.

That doesnt work in today's NFL.  You saw what the point spread has done, HCs have to follow very strict rules and regs on that or you are looking at serious fines/violations.

[zow2]

39 minutes ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

Come on. The Steelers game was completely out of reach at that point and Buffalo was allowing short completions to run out the clock. They scored 3 points lol 

 

One of their very first drives the Steelers went down the field like a hot knife through butter.  lol, you cmon.

 

To the Bills credit, as they've done in several games this season the D got driven on quite a bit and bailed themselves out with forced turnovers and 4th down stops.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

2 hours ago, H2o said:

Their chances are about the same with Bridgewater and Thompson. I was giving them 50/50 odds if Tua started. We played two, really tough games against each other this year. With the other two, I have it 80/20 favoring the Bills. Our offense would have to implode for them to win, specifically Josh would have to play his worst game in a long time. I just don't see it. 

50/50 is quite generous imo.  I don’t think they can really stop us when our offensive line isn’t an absolute tire fire and we we were down multiple offensive line starters against them both meetings.  First matchup we would’ve absolutely destroyed them if our injury situation was more normal. Second matchup was closer than it should’ve been due to an absurd roughing the punter which I doubt would happen again 
 

their defensive scheme has been blitz heavy and man to man focused which is the opposite of how you’d want to play us but maybe they have something special cooked up 

Edited January 12, 2023 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Chicharito]

We have disrupt this kid early. Bump the receivers off the line to mess up quick timing plays. Force them into the run and let our line do the work. 

 

[Nextmanup]

30 minutes ago, Chicharito said:

We have disrupt this kid early. Bump the receivers off the line to mess up quick timing plays. Force them into the run and let our line do the work. 

 

Or else what? He'll carve our defense up like Christmas goose?

 

😳

[Beck Water]

7 hours ago, Doc said:

Has Bridgewater practiced yet?

 

He’s listed as limited participation yesterday and today. 

Media said he didn’t throw while they were watching but that could easily be a smokescreen.

 

https://www.buffalobills.com/team/injury-report/

 

5 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

50/50 is quite generous imo.  I don’t think they can really stop us when our offensive line isn’t an absolute tire fire and we we were down multiple offensive line starters against them both meetings.  First matchup we would’ve absolutely destroyed them if our injury situation was more normal. Second matchup was closer than it should’ve been due to an absurd roughing the punter which I doubt would happen again 
 

their defensive scheme has been blitz heavy and man to man focused which is the opposite of how you’d want to play us but maybe they have something special cooked up 

 

I could be wrong, but I think they played a lot of zone against us in both previous games this season.

 

At least in the first game, they were also pretty creative about disguising their coverage

Edited January 12, 2023 by Beck Water

[mannc]

6 hours ago, jletha said:

He was limited.

Bridgewater is always limited

[DCofNC]

I think you will see the Bills stack the box, take away the short to intermediate routes and dare them to let him throw it over their heads.  Miami is hoping we play the stupid soft zone and let Waddle, Hill, Gesecki all have uncontested 6 yard catches. If we do, they will eventually break a couple tackles and take it to the house on a slant.  Leslie needs to make them beat us, not just let the rookie have a bunch of easy completions to the most dangerous group of skill position players in the league.

[Beck Water]

7 hours ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

That doesnt work in today's NFL.  You saw what the point spread has done, HCs have to follow very strict rules and regs on that or you are looking at serious fines/violations.

 

Which of those strict rules and regulations force the HC to declare a player, including a QB, “out” on Wednesday before a game?

[ColoradoBills]

21 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Which of those strict rules and regulations force the HC to declare a player, including a QB, “out” on Wednesday before a game?

 

I believe everyone was specifically talking about the concussion protocol that he would have to go through and hasn't even started.

[Low Positive]

7 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

I believe everyone was specifically talking about the concussion protocol that he would have to go through and hasn't even started.

Exactly. The rumor is that he is in Stage 3. Stage 4 is non-contact football activity and Stage 5 is a full contact practice. When he wasn’t cleared to move to Stage 4 on Wednesday, there is no way to clear the protocol because the final full-contact practice for a Sunday game is on Thursday.

[Doc]

2 hours ago, FrenchConnection said:

Exactly. The rumor is that he is in Stage 3. Stage 4 is non-contact football activity and Stage 5 is a full contact practice. When he wasn’t cleared to move to Stage 4 on Wednesday, there is no way to clear the protocol because the final full-contact practice for a Sunday game is on Thursday.

 

That's what I thought.  I asked this in the ShoutBox earlier.

[DrPJax]

3 hours ago, DCofNC said:

I think you will see the Bills stack the box, take away the short to intermediate routes and dare them to let him throw it over their heads.  Miami is hoping we play the stupid soft zone and let Waddle, Hill, Gesecki all have uncontested 6 yard catches. If we do, they will eventually break a couple tackles and take it to the house on a slant.  Leslie needs to make them beat us, not just let the rookie have a bunch of easy completions to the most dangerous group of skill position players in the league.

Really great points.  Watching the second game now on NFL network.  We were down 29-21 at one point until it started to snow. But the thing that was striking was all the mistakes the secondary made.  
 

One play Edmunds is gesturing to poyer to get deep and poyer stood there as Waddell ran right past him and Tua just dropped it in to a WIDE open Waddell for an easy 6. 
On another play , Tre tried to jam Hill , missed completely with hand check / fighting and Hill ran easily past Tre. To top it off , Hamlin again took a terrible angle helping Tre ( not piling on Hamlin when he is down , happy he will be fine obviously, but man he took terrible angles or just got beaten on many plays this year in coverage) and Hill was wide open for an easy pass any NFL  qb should be able to hit. 
There were several other passes the Fins receivers  took short balls or won with 50/50 balls and got great yac as our defensive backfield  did not look good. The run game wasn’t overwhelming and with Mostert with a fractured thumb , I don’t think they will be able to run at all in this game, so defending those slants and not missing tackles is crucial in this first playoff game.  Elam actually looked ok with good anticipation the second game and we prob need his speed out there. 
 
     If we play that soft D like you described , even a third string qb can hit short passes  , wide open receivers and these guys have shown they can burn this defensive backfield taking short balls and going the distance.   We had issues both times we played the fins and the only difference will be Tua not being there. We blew coverages , lost one on ones , got beat for contested balls so if they are not careful the fins could hang around again until the 4 th and then the Bills could feel the pressure and Josh might feel like he has to be super Josh and we have seen that result in poor choices at times.    I am hoping Frazier plays tighter press coverage to mess up their timing , yet keeps two safeties deep if the corners miss jamming at the line.  
 

     The other thing I wouldn’t do is leave a single  safety alone and bring one up closer to the line.  We miss  too many tackles and we have not shown we can have one guy deep like we could with hyde playing  and make up ground or take good angles to help the corners.  They have to keep things in front of them and not give up huge yardage or scoring  plays like they have in both prior games. .  I think Frazier and the d is the key to this first game and these guys have dangerous weapons who can and have beat our coverages. I think Elam should be in with his speed this game and they can’t get caught in formations where Tre has no help.

      I just hope they don’t play down to the fins as they have  a good d ,  can hang around, esp if Josh try’s to do too much and fumbles  or turns  the ball over in the red zone. Most fans are predicting a blowout, but it’s a divisional opponent for a third game, and this is not the same old fins as they have a clever coach that is .500 against Mcd.  Tackling that speed and having to defend with at least one inexperienced safety against this Fins team is not an easy blowout imo. We should win, but so far in the prior two games we have made bad coverage mistakes.  Hopefully the coaching staff steps it up for playoff time and has these guys prepped well.  They have some confidence coming to Buffalo as they were up by 8 late in the game here; hopefully our O starts fast and doesn’t allow them to stay close.