Jim Kubiak analysis in The Buffalo News (paywall) - the Bills o-line was horrible

[BuffaloBill]

3 hours ago, HappyDays said:

Another thing that frustrates me about this article is it made me realize how stale our defense has become. Frazier's scheme has gotten figured out and easy to counter. Lou Anurumo's versatile scheme had us reeling all game long.

 

Playoff games are won in the trenches and in coaching. We were totally outmatched in both on offense and defense.

 

 

I hate to say it but your 4 sentences above ring very true to me.  You can say it was a one game issue, though in my opinion you’d be wrong.  The game in Cinci that was stopped due to Hamilin’s unfortunate ordeal, started out with Cinci looking better than the Bills.

 

I actually think it might have helped Buffalo to have played that full game and been beat.  Had this happened, they would have seen schematically how they do not match up well to Cinci. 

 

 

[dave mcbride]

17 minutes ago, FrenchConnection said:

The Bills lone TD drive was really long.

So was their drive to open up the second half.

[BigAl2526]

That's pretty much what I saw.  I'm not anything close to an expert, but the failure of the offensive line seemed to be pretty obvious.

[JMM]

Read Jim all year and he always does a good job. And he pegged it correctly,  the O line was a disgrace, Dorsey was not very good, and Josh lacked discipline again this year.

[peterpan]

I did not watch Beanes presser but my friend filled me in.  Sounds like Beane’s answer to the OL was essentially “we prioritize what we feel is important “. Which is another way of saying “we believe OL doesn’t matter”. I could not disagree more. 
 

Beane’s whole strategy and philosophy on the OL MUST CHANGE. 

[Casey D]

33 minutes ago, JMM said:

Read Jim all year and he always does a good job. And he pegged it correctly,  the O line was a disgrace, Dorsey was not very good, and Josh lacked discipline again this year.

Not all year.  But he made lots of bad decisions against the Bengals, and regressed from last year in playing smart and taking what was given him.  I thought the hot read he missed to Diggs was really bad, and helps explain some of Diggs' anger.  That could have been a big play, and Allen just missed it.

[peterpan]

1 hour ago, Success said:

Is it the talent - or coaching?

 

The Pats had Scarnecchia all those years, and there were times when he made lemonade out of lemons.  I really can't tell if our problems are talent, or scheme.

 

I go back and forth.  So much of football is coaching.   But we’ve also invested next to nothing on the OL and tons of picks and FA signings on the DL and it’s been the same result- they both need to get significantly better.

[Scott7975]

1 hour ago, Beck Water said:

Anyway, good convo, thanks.  What would be really cool would be to see, not a heat map of throws, but some kind of heat map of actual routes run.  It would probably take some doing to get it to not be unintelligible spaghetti, but I'd really like to see some objective data on what routes were really there.

 

No heat map of all the routes but you can see all the routes run that a receiver was targeted and kind of put your own mental image together.  Same place you find QB charts on nextgenstats.  They dont do every week for all receivers but you can get the gist.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

1 hour ago, FrenchConnection said:

The Bills lone TD drive was really long.

 

OK yeah guess that could explain it.  While Bengals just marched down the field.  LOL

[CincyBillsFan]

3 hours ago, dave mcbride said:

I think you're basically right, but there's also situational football and having an overall plan each game. Versus Cincy, having a more controlled offense would have probably resulted in more production. My biggest issues with the offense outside of talent (admittedly the number one issue) are the lack of a fully integrated run-pass identity in which the two approaches mesh together (like in a Shanahan system) and week-to-week situational variation. Daboll, coming out of NE, fully had his head around that even if not every week was a success. His approach to the passing game too had a recognizable identity -- featuring receivers with great separation / big window ability. It's why they prioritized Emmanuel Sanders, who was almost always among the league leaders in establishing the biggest throw windows for whichever QB he was playing for. Diggs is that guy too. Davis isn't. Beasley was a window god, and the Bills really missed him. Don't get me wrong, though - the Bills offense was quite productive overall and did a lot of good things. But it needs a lot of work both philosophically and with regard to personnel.  

The amazing ability of the Bengals, on a snow covered field, to get almost immediate pressure on Allen on half his drop backs prevented us from establishing any kind of rhythm.  The performance of our O line was bad on Sunday, real bad.

 

 

3 hours ago, FrenchConnection said:

Bengals and Eagles have QBs on rookie deals, and the Bengals have their three best offensive players as well as their starting LT on rookie deals. That really helps.

We have NEVER had offensive talent on the level of the Eagles and the Bengals.  The ONLY major move to acquire elite offensive skill players while Allen was on his rookie contract was trading for Diggs.  Who else in the 2018 - 2022 window did we bring in as an offensive FA or take in the first two rounds of the draft?

 

 

 

[starrymessenger]

2 hours ago, Casey D said:

Not all year.  But he made lots of bad decisions against the Bengals, and regressed from last year in playing smart and taking what was given him.  I thought the hot read he missed to Diggs was really bad, and helps explain some of Diggs' anger.  That could have been a big play, and Allen just missed it.

Daboll had Josh on a short leash in order to make the best use of his extraordinary physical ability. Take what the D is giving you to set up the game breaking shots. Dorsey only knows how to throw fuel on the fire. Josh is a 26 year old kid who trusts in his ability and whose competitive blood is up. He's the total package but he does need coaching/direction. Daboll was tough on Josh. Doesn't look to me like Dorsey can do that. 

[Ray Stonada]

“Anarumo overwhelmed Allen from the jump and got him to play the rest of the game uncomfortably. Allen started seeing ghosts in coverage and stopped playing with the same confidence he usually does.”

 

These lines from Football Outsiders rang true to me, and Kubiak says the same.

Hope Josh will focus this off-season on identifying the hot route at the snap, under all types of pressure, so he can defuse these blitzes instead of getting blown up. More Peyton Manning, less John Elway.

 

Only then do you drop the long bombs, after a drive or three of dinking it down the field to a touchdown. 
 

That’s what we did last year in the playoffs, and this year is a sure sign of coaching-based regression.

[dave mcbride]

7 hours ago, Ray Stonada said:

“Anarumo overwhelmed Allen from the jump and got him to play the rest of the game uncomfortably. Allen started seeing ghosts in coverage and stopped playing with the same confidence he usually does.”

 

These lines from Football Outsiders rang true to me, and Kubiak says the same.

Hope Josh will focus this off-season on identifying the hot route at the snap, under all types of pressure, so he can defuse these blitzes instead of getting blown up. More Peyton Manning, less John Elway.

 

Only then do you drop the long bombs, after a drive or three of dinking it down the field to a touchdown. 
 

That’s what we did last year in the playoffs, and this year is a sure sign of coaching-based regression.

The numbers show that Josh was pretty substandard vs the blitz this year, which shouldn’t be happening to an elite talent getting more experienced every year.

[Dr. Who]

35 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

The numbers show that Josh was pretty substandard vs the blitz this year, which shouldn’t be happening to an elite talent getting more experienced every year.

Any idea why? Here's a list that comes to mind. Maybe the elbow injury limited some throws, the oline was fair to mostly bad, Dorsey had first year growing pains, but none of that is sufficient to explain it. Josh seemed a more mature qb late last year.

[dave mcbride]

3 minutes ago, Dr. Who said:

Any idea why? Here's a list that comes to mind. Maybe the elbow injury limited some throws, the oline was fair to mostly bad, Dorsey had first year growing pains, but none of that is sufficient to explain it. Josh seemed a more mature qb late last year.

Honestly, I think Daboll reined him in a bit and had the force of personality to make him play with more discipline.

 

Allen actually said this in his season-ending press conference:

 

“I got to be better for him, and especially when he gives me some shot plays,” Allen said. “I turned the ball over too many times this year. Didn't really bite us all that much, only losing three games in the regular season. But there's opportunities where it could have. And just taking a deep dive into that and understanding defenses as well as I can and just trying to make the right play moving forward and allow this offense to continue being out in the field.”

 

Think about that. Allen had tons of shot plays this year and did pretty well in that area. Yet that’s what he’s talking about, not the slants and screens that failed too often. It’s the other stuff that’s the problem. 

Edited January 26, 2023 by dave mcbride