What happened to the OLine and the run game?

[PBF81]

3.7 YPC by Cook in the five games other than Dallas.  

 

Again, it's quite possible and even very likely that Brady's offense now has enough video of it for opposing DCs to effectively plan against it.  

 

@ Miami and then the playoffs if they happen will reveal more.  It's not difficult to see this not ending well, this entire "complimentary football" crap.  

 

We have Allen and yet we like stubborn children refuse to build around him and provide him with top weapons.  Instead we focus on the running game and relegate Allen to being a game manager in at least some sense.  

 

SMFH. 

 

 

[Beast]

I don’t understand why we can’t have the same output against every team in the league.

 

Don’t give me that matchup argument stuff either. 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 minute ago, Charles Romes said:

Teams who used to be afraid of Allen beating them deep are now crowding the line and daring him to beat them deep knowing he is now so turnover conscious. 

I don’t really see Josh doing anything to limit turnovers lol I think teams are having success taking our receivers away in single coverage now so it is a lot easier to collapse the interior of the pocket sending extra guys up the middle and the DEs can keep contain on the outside.  Nowhere for Josh to run,no one with any separation, tough to run the ball on for a team with bulk in their front 7.  Miami is structured much differently so I don’t think they’ll be able to pull that off nearly as well.

they have all these pass rush specialists that are kind of wasted against us because they don’t seem to be able to keep contain or cover in the middle of the field.  

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

1 hour ago, Charles Romes said:

Teams who used to be afraid of Allen beating them deep are now crowding the line and daring him to beat them deep knowing he is now so turnover conscious. 

Defense seem to have figured out how to make Allen throw it into a turn over. he’s been baited 4 or 5 times this season on the smash hole shot as just one example. and the other being a robber safety jumping the route when he rolls right and throws back inside. 

 

 the reluctance on the deep ball imo has more to do with not being able to hit it this season or seeing cover two high safeties. 
 

it’s all off. Has been most of the season. 

[DaggersEOD]

1 hour ago, John from Riverside said:

We’ve beaten teams with good defensive lines all year
 

were simply better than Dallas

The Patriots is a divisional game is divisional games are usually tight because they know each other really well

The chargers game was weird. The team was probably jetlagged, and we were facing new coaches with new tendencies.

Agreed on the Chargers game. I had that pegged as a huge trap game. New coaches, players embarrassed the week prior, coast to coast travel. Seeing how our peers faired that weekend, I was VERY happy with the results. 
 

I just find, that in general, we’re geared to beat the small fast D (new gen type) and generally have a harder time with the ball control heavy (old gen type) Ds.

 

Not saying we cannot be successful against the old school D (record proves it) but it seems to mess with our rhythm and timing.

[theRalph]

The 127 vs NE was the most the Pats have given up all season. They get paid too.

  

[Charles Romes]

12 minutes ago, DaggersEOD said:

Agreed on the Chargers game. I had that pegged as a huge trap game. New coaches, players embarrassed the week prior, coast to coast travel. Seeing how our peers faired that weekend, I was VERY happy with the results. 
 

I just find, that in general, we’re geared to beat the small fast D (new gen type) and generally have a harder time with the ball control heavy (old gen type) Ds.

 

Not saying we cannot be successful against the old school D (record proves it) but it seems to mess with our rhythm and timing.

that and the chargers are a veteran max-contract type of team

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 hour ago, Augie said:

 

My son is 30 and went back to the Doc a couple years ago due to a stinger he had in High School. It’s a stretched nerve, and nothing to take lightly. Please be smart with our franchise QB!  

Wow I’m sorry to hear that… it a reinjury or has he had numbness for that long?  

[CaptnCoke11]

Allen goes from torching Patriots defense for a few years to looking like 2018 Josh Allen 

[Dan]

56 minutes ago, theRalph said:

The 127 vs NE was the most the Pats have given up all season. They get paid too.

  

Thats an interesting point.   I’ll assume it’s true, which means the Bills did run effectively against them.  
 

Our offense as a whole, however, I think is still very predictable. They only have a few run formations, and the wide receiver routes are very similar to that under Dorsey. I think, defensive backs all too often are able to jump routes based on Josh’s tendencies, and the tendencies of the offense, overall until we get a truly different offensive coordinator that knows how to scheme and adjust, I think we’re going to continue to see disjointed game plans.  Brady is good but by no means should he be the default OC next season. 

[Augie]

56 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Wow I’m sorry to hear that… it a reinjury or has he had numbness for that long?  

 

There were certain exercises at the gym that made him uncomfortable. He finished his senior season with it, but it was never quite right. He doesn’t have the hand numbness that initially came with the hit, but there was enough weakness and discomfort to send him to a sports Doc a decade later.  

 

I guess it’s a bit like his leg with the surgically repaired ACL. Most of the time he’s not aware of it, but certain things, like letting the leg hang from a bar stool with the foot unsupported, will set it off and remind him of the injury. And this is just from being a good high school player! Imagine a few college seasons and then a few years in the NFL. I’m not at all surprised by reports of how difficult life can be when they get older. 

[Coldfronts]

3 hours ago, Pokebball said:

Miami doesn't have anywhere near the Dline that NE and LA have. I suspect our run game and Oline will look much better Sunday night. We've got to let Allen run!

Allen is too banged up to let run

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

1 hour ago, theRalph said:

The 127 vs NE was the most the Pats have given up all season. They get paid too.

  

Thanks, this is the point I wanted to circle to.

 

To answer the OPs question: Yes, the front 7 of the Patriots is much better at stopping the run than the Patriots.

 

For one, the Patriots now know the pain or turning out a strong D while being hamstrung by a QB. They lost a trio of terrible games where the defense held the opposition to 10 or fewer points. They have the single best rushing YPC D in the league this year.

 

Two, the way the Cowboys are built defensively is based on the idea that they are going to be a top #5 offense every year. They are set up to run up leads, and then send in elite pass rushers and play light boxes to neutralize the pass game. No one is supposed to be crazy enough to load up 6 OL, 1 TE, 2 RB formations and smash them in the face. The defense stopping Dak early snowballed and Quinn never adjusted. 

 

Getting those crazy run yards on Dallas is not something I expect we are going to see again anytime soon because few teams (especially in the AFC playoffs) run schemes so light. But saying that the O-line fell apart because of Sunday just doesn't make sense to me. 

 

 

[GunnerBill]

3 hours ago, Dubie54 said:

It's well known that Dallas is a different team on the road, but it's amazing to me that we can gouge them for 266 on the ground with the O Line looking better than they have all year, and then go 105 and 127 respectively against the Charges and Pats. I didn't watch the Pats game but listened to about half of it and it seems that there was constant pressure in the backfield and many plays were getting blown up early.

 

Is the Pats line really that much better than Dallas? It's concerning that we can't keep a consistent run game offense going and we are definitely going to need that if we expect to make through the playoffs.

 

 

 

The Pats Dline is the best part of their team. 

 

I thought we ran it well enough. Not too many negative runs even it was a day of 3s and 4s rather than the 7s and 8s we have been used to recently.

54 minutes ago, Dan said:

Thats an interesting point.   I’ll assume it’s true, which means the Bills did run effectively against them.  
 

Our offense as a whole, however, I think is still very predictable. They only have a few run formations, and the wide receiver routes are very similar to that under Dorsey. I think, defensive backs all too often are able to jump routes based on Josh’s tendencies, and the tendencies of the offense, overall until we get a truly different offensive coordinator that knows how to scheme and adjust, I think we’re going to continue to see disjointed game plans.  Brady is good but by no means should he be the default OC next season. 

 

There is some truth to this but I wouldn't be too harsh on Brady for that. You can't install loads of new plays and new formations mid season as an interim OC. He has focused on trying to package route combos slightly better and adding some eye candy pre-snap to give us advantageous looks. That is about as much as you can achieve taking over in season.

[TPS]

5 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

The Pats Dline is the best part of their team. 

 

I thought we ran it well enough. Not too many negative runs even it was a day of 3s and 4s rather than the 7s and 8s we have been used to recently.

They are the best D-line against the run with a 3.2 ypc average. The Bills averaged 3.6 (excluding K Allen’s kneel downs) which is a good day against the #1 run D. 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

You know every time the Bills offense underwhelms we pull the “that’s the best defense we’ve faced all year” line.

 

They played poorly, and will only face Playoff caliber teams the rest of the way. 

[Pokebball]

4 hours ago, SWATeam said:

Who are these Dline standouts on LA?

Who said they were standouts?

[RunTheBall]

3 hours ago, Over 29 years of fanhood said:

Defense seem to have figured out how to make Allen throw it into a turn over. he’s been baited 4 or 5 times this season on the smash hole shot as just one example. and the other being a robber safety jumping the route when he rolls right and throws back inside. 

 

 the reluctance on the deep ball imo has more to do with not being able to hit it this season or seeing cover two high safeties. 
 

it’s all off. Has been most of the season. 

 

What games did Josh throw an interception rolling to his right and throwing back over the middle? Serious question, he’s usually money on those and I don’t remember.

 

The only one I can remember was a deep shot down the left sideline from the right that he threw on the run instead of stopping and planting. That wasn’t inside either.

 

Edited January 2 by RunTheBall

[TPS]

10 minutes ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

You know every time the Bills offense underwhelms we pull the “that’s the best defense we’ve faced all year” line.

 

They played poorly, and will only face Playoff caliber teams the rest of the way. 

I thought Allen stunk it up in the first half, which is why the offense in general didn’t perform well. However, I think the criticism of the run game is off base. They had slightly more yards than their average, and almost 50 yards more than what the Pats D gives up on average.
The OP expressed concern about the run game, which was not the reason for their sputtering offense against the Pats. Allen has to play better. 
 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

26 minutes ago, RunTheBall said:

 

What games did Josh throw an interception rolling to his right and throwing back over the middle? Serious question, he’s usually money on those and I don’t remember.

 

The only one I can remember was a deep shot down the left sideline from the right that he threw on the run instead of stopping and planting. That wasn’t inside either.

 

Chimarri Connor Chiefs was most recent. I think there were two others in the prior few weeks.