Alpha's All-22 review pre-season game 2

[Alphadawg7]

Offense - 

• Quarterbacks - Is it even worth wasting time writing something?  Mitch sucks...and if you thought he sucked watching the game, the All-22 is going to just make you more disgusted.  Mitch has no vision, he had opportunities all over the field all game where he either didn't see or didn't see that they were coming open.  I was irritated during the live game and I was even more frustrated seeing it in deeper detail.  He was holding the ball too long a lot, locking on to guys, seemingly looking at guys coming open and frustratingly not throwing them the ball, and just made a lot of poor throws and decisions.  
  • 3 plays - A 1st down opportunity, a TD opportunity, and a turnover highlight just how bad he was.  I already mentioned them in another thread, but now seeing it on All-22 I am going to cover them again as it just confirmed what I had previously said.
    • 1st Down Opp - Mitch has Coleman run a great route and get separation for an easy catch and YAC and looks to be right in Mitch's vision...doesn't see him.  Hollins runs a curl and is standing wide open a couple yards shy of the first down marker where a quick throw would give him a chance to turn and get the first.  Mitch just holds the ball for literally no reason...and despite staring at Hollins, doesn't throw it and keeps holding it until he finally fires it late which Hollins makes the now contested catch but well short of a first down.  
    • TD Opp - Regardless of anyones position on whether Keon should have or shouldn't have caught that pass, it was a beautiful route that was wasted by a lame duck wobbly throw well out in front and putting Keon in danger.  There is no excuse for this poor of a pass this short on a simple slant.  As far as Keon goes, it wasn't a very catchable ball.  His arms are fully extended but it still hits his finger tips only and the ball is off axis wobbly, making that a very low percentage reception in general and the only reason he got his finger tips on it was his length, it wouldn't have even touched the hands of some of our other WR's.
    • Interception - This was worse on the All-22 than even live.  What is frustrating, as once again, he has a WR coming open early for a YAC opportunity in Hollins right over the middle, right where Mitch's eyes are...doesn't seem to even see him again.  And once again he holds the ball forever and then panic throws to Morris who is not remotely open, there was nothing at all to entice a reasonable QB to make this throw, then the throw was worse than the decision. 
• Receivers - Not going to spend a lot of time here with no Allen because Mitch was so bad.  However, couple of notes:
  • Coleman made some nice plays this game, but the obvious most talked about one is the TD attempt.  I don't care what anyone says, 2 things are clear as day on the All-22:
    • 1 - It was an excellent route and again got separation, which he did on several pass plays this game where Mitch just didn't look his way.  That was a TD route with a well placed ball.  Keon has excellent hands, even if you think it was a "drop", I think we can all agree that his hands are of no ones concern.  The question has been can he win routes and give a good target to the QB, and he did that again like he did on his 3rd target in the Bears game where Mitch threw a horrible ball and wasted the rep making the ball nearly uncatchable.  
    • 2 - The ball was off his finger tips, and it was rotating as a wobbly duck.  I don't know how many people here have played football and caught passes, but that is a low percentage situation.  The vast majority of the fault for this incompletion lies with Mitch.  
  • Overall group of the top end guys - Our guys at the top end of our depth chart continue to show well on film and winning routes, but Mitch has just shown very poor vision these first 2 games, but our guys were getting open and separation.  
  • Guys fighting for a spot - Nothing positive to take away here, its a concern.  MVS sucks, and now may have an injury, although seems like he escaped a long term neck injury as tests came back negative.  I think its possible we see Beane make a move here for the back end of the depth chart if MVS is out long enough to put week 1 in question.  
• Running Backs - Wow, what a turn around.  I wrote in my week 1 All-22 review that I was NOT worried about the OL because the pass pro was good and the run game issues were all correctable and just looked like guys not yet in sync and having timing issues.  Then they come out this week and showed a nice turn around and give our backs a chance out there to make some runs.  
  • Cook had a nice bounce back, but he was overshadowed by Ray Davis.  He was my RB3 in the draft and I loved the pick, and this kid just continues to impress.  He is going to play a lot more than I think people thought when we drafted him.  I love how he hits the hole, he has excellent acceleration so he his playing decisive and hitting the hole both quickly and with aggression.  And he is already our best pass catcher out of the backfield IMHO.  
  • Evans and Gore - Both of these guys impressed.  Very good game by them, but I don't know if there is a path to the roster if we keep Cook, Davis, and Ty...be interesting to see if we keep 4...we did it in the past, but one of them was always Taiwan who was kept as a ST ace rather than a RB.
• Offensive Line - Great bounce back game.  I will say though O'Cyrus did not have his best game, but still not worried overall about him after his play last year, but hope we see him start to get the rust off next week as he has not had a good first 2 pre-season games.  

 

Defense -

• I am running out of time this morning, so going to summarize the D has a whole and then talk about a few guys that deserve more discussion.  Overall this was a very strong showing by the defense especially coming into the game without Milano and then no Bernard either.  Some good games by several players, but the stars of the show were our rookies:
  • Dorian - Only guy on my list that isn't a rookie, but he has the biggest spot light on him coming into the game.  Dorian has flashed potential, but there have been concerns about him improving in coverage.  And while there is still work to do there, overall, his pretty good in coverage and only noted one bad play in pass coverage.  Overall, he had a good game, and good to see him step up in the wake of Milano injury and keep building on his development.  
  • Anderseen - What can I say that hasn't already been said?  I was more impressed with him on the All-22 than I was in the game.  What impressed me the most was his intstincts and ability to shed blocks to get to the ball.  Its one game, but this kid played his tail off like he was an early draft pick.  Its not often when I come away excited to see a UDFA rookie play again next week.  
  • Solomon - He continues to impress me, and I was even more impressed this week than I was last week.  Its hard to get to high on guys in preseason, like even Anderseen above, but his ability to rush and also defend the run has been great to see and if he keeps it up, I think he is trending to being a regular in the DE rotation.    
  • Hardy - I said in shout box, live in game thread, and the post game thread...Hardy is making this team as a CORNERBACK.  Will he also return kicks, quite possibly, but he isn't going to be kept just on return ability, and if Hamler or someone else gets named returner, he will still make this roster.  He was all over the field yesterday and his ability on the outside has been surprisingly good.  And he was out there against their starting outside WR's and holding his own despite his NCB size.  He has become one of my favorite surprises of camp, especially since cornerback depth has been a major concern of mine entering camp.

 

Overall, I thought the All-22 was actually a lot of positives with few negatives.  HOWEVER...the few negatives are big and vastly on the QB's...we have a backup QB problem right now.  Mitch looks lost and plays like someone who has lost his confidence.  And he wasn't a good enough QB to begin with to be able to play through some shaken confidence.  If Allen goes down for a long period of time, the season is over no matter the backup QB most likely.  But I am more concerned about Allen leaving a game early and still needing to win that game...or maybe missing a game or two...because in a very TOUGH AFC, 1 game can be the difference of making or missing the playoffs.  And nothing Mitch has done in camp or these first 2 pre-season games gives me any confidence he can come into a game or start a game and feel like we are going to win.

 

 

Edited August 19 by Alphadawg7

[BigAl2526]

I think everybody understands this team is dead meat if Josh Allen goes down with a long term injury.

[SoonerBillsFan]

6 minutes ago, BigAl2526 said:

I think everybody understands this team is dead meat if Josh Allen goes down with a long term injury.

The upside is a top 3 draft pick. 🤮

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Isn't anyone a little concerned that the same two guys keep making bad roster decisions. 

How do you watch game tape from Pittsburgh last year and bring this guy back???

[The Frankish Reich]

4 minutes ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Isn't anyone a little concerned that the same two guys keep making bad roster decisions. 

How do you watch game tape from Pittsburgh last year and bring this guy back???

And it's not like he did anything on the Bills that would give them encouragement beyond decent preseason performances 3 years ago.

But still: I'm kind of shocked at how a guy who looked like he was a competent QB for the Bears at age 24 would suck this bad at 29. I have to assume it's just a complete collapse of confidence since he seems physically the same.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

2 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

And it's not like he did anything on the Bills that would give them encouragement beyond decent preseason performances 3 years ago.

But still: I'm kind of shocked at how a guy who looked like he was a competent QB for the Bears at age 24 would suck this bad at 29. I have to assume it's just a complete collapse of confidence since he seems physically the same.

Multiple possibilities.  

1. He doesn't care. He's getting paid and McD and Allen basically gifted him several million dollars 

2. He's injured and we don't know

3. He's a drunk or some other substance abuse

4. Brady and the QB coach suck and under their tutelage he is regressing

5. He has always been bad and a combination of 1 or more of the above has just made him worse

[mannc]

10 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

And it's not like he did anything on the Bills that would give them encouragement beyond decent preseason performances 3 years ago.

But still: I'm kind of shocked at how a guy who looked like he was a competent QB for the Bears at age 24 would suck this bad at 29. I have to assume it's just a complete collapse of confidence since he seems physically the same.

Carson Wentz Disease...

[The Frankish Reich]

2 minutes ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Multiple possibilities.  

1. He doesn't care. He's getting paid and McD and Allen basically gifted him several million dollars 

2. He's injured and we don't know

3. He's a drunk or some other substance abuse

4. Brady and the QB coach suck and under their tutelage he is regressing

5. He has always been bad and a combination of 1 or more of the above has just made him worse

Looking at pro football reference, his top "similarity score" QBs/career:

 

Bobby Douglass, Gary Danielson, David Carr, Mark Sanchez, Tom Flores, Bob Berry, Jay Fiedler, Pat Haden, Bubby Brister, Marcus Mariota.

 

Some before my time, but Sanchez and Mariota kind of fit the bill. Guys who gave the illusion of being competent early on, but were very quickly exposed as defensive coordinators got some tape.

1 minute ago, mannc said:

Carson Wentz Disease...

Another good comp. Thanks.

[Alphadawg7]

It will be interesting to see if the Bills are linked to any potential moves this week with how bad Mitch has been and with MVS dinged up (and also sucking) after Claypool was already cut due to injury as well.

[Shaw66]

Dawg -

 

Just the other day I posted that I think the Trubisky panic is overblown.  Then I saw your report, and it made me think twice. 

 

Putting aside his injury, whatever that is, I've been wondering what it is that could have happened to him.  I mean, the guy has a lot of starts in the NFL and has played passably, overall.  He's shown he's not a guy who you're going to want as your starter, but he should be a guy who's a reliable backup.  Now, apparently, he looks horrible.  

 

Do you think it's possible that Brady's offense requires more recognition and quick decision making than he can handle?  It's new to Allen, too, but Allen (1) is more talented, and (2) had a half season under Brady to learn some of what Brady wants.  

 

I still think Trubisky is a good guy to have, and I think he just needs some time to learn his job in this offense.  Unfortunately, the time that he was allotted to learn it - training camp and preseason, now seems to have ended for him.  He can look at film and participate in the QB room, but it sounds like he needs some time actually doing it. 

 

Or has the guy simply changed fundamentally and no longer has it?

[Pasaluki]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

Dawg -

 

Just the other day I posted that I think the Trubisky panic is overblown.  Then I saw your report, and it made me think twice. 

 

Putting aside his injury, whatever that is, I've been wondering what it is that could have happened to him.  I mean, the guy has a lot of starts in the NFL and has played passably, overall.  He's shown he's not a guy who you're going to want as your starter, but he should be a guy who's a reliable backup.  Now, apparently, he looks horrible.  

 

Do you think it's possible that Brady's offense requires more recognition and quick decision making than he can handle?  It's new to Allen, too, but Allen (1) is more talented, and (2) had a half season under Brady to learn some of what Brady wants.  

 

I still think Trubisky is a good guy to have, and I think he just needs some time to learn his job in this offense.  Unfortunately, the time that he was allotted to learn it - training camp and preseason, now seems to have ended for him.  He can look at film and participate in the QB room, but it sounds like he needs some time actually doing it. 

 

Or has the guy simply changed fundamentally and no longer has it?

 

Honestly Trubisky is the definition of a 1 read qb. His processing is slow and if that 1 read doesn't get open he will miss all of the other wide open players.  He still has an arm and can run around a bit. Ultimately the backup QB is doesn't matter because Allen is impossible to replace. I don't see how even now someone like Dinucci is an upgrade or gives them a better chance to win than Trubs. 

[Shaw66]

12 minutes ago, Pasaluki said:

 

Honestly Trubisky is the definition of a 1 read qb. His processing is slow and if that 1 read doesn't get open he will miss all of the other wide open players.  He still has an arm and can run around a bit. Ultimately the backup QB is doesn't matter because Allen is impossible to replace. I don't see how even now someone like Dinucci is an upgrade or gives them a better chance to win than Trubs. 

Thanks.  Maybe that's the right way to think of Trubisky, and that's why he isn't the right guy to be a backup.   A good backup, in my mind, is someone who can run all the same stuff as the starter, but just not as well.  He's not good enough for any team to want him as a starter, but he's good enough to execute the game plan if called on.  

 

I thought Trubisky was better than what you describe. 

[Alphadawg7]

2 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Dawg -

 

Just the other day I posted that I think the Trubisky panic is overblown.  Then I saw your report, and it made me think twice. 

 

Putting aside his injury, whatever that is, I've been wondering what it is that could have happened to him.  I mean, the guy has a lot of starts in the NFL and has played passably, overall.  He's shown he's not a guy who you're going to want as your starter, but he should be a guy who's a reliable backup.  Now, apparently, he looks horrible.  

 

Do you think it's possible that Brady's offense requires more recognition and quick decision making than he can handle?  It's new to Allen, too, but Allen (1) is more talented, and (2) had a half season under Brady to learn some of what Brady wants.  

 

I still think Trubisky is a good guy to have, and I think he just needs some time to learn his job in this offense.  Unfortunately, the time that he was allotted to learn it - training camp and preseason, now seems to have ended for him.  He can look at film and participate in the QB room, but it sounds like he needs some time actually doing it. 

 

Or has the guy simply changed fundamentally and no longer has it?

I feel like he looks like a guy who has had his confidence shaken, which is why I think he’s holding the ball so long.  Could be he’s been hurt or still learning the offense, but honestly he just looks like he isn’t processing what he’s seeing fast enough to me.

[EmotionallyUnstable]

1 hour ago, Alphadawg7 said:

I feel like he looks like a guy who has had his confidence shaken, which is why I think he’s holding the ball so long.  Could be he’s been hurt or still learning the offense, but honestly he just looks like he isn’t processing what he’s seeing fast enough to me.

You’d think at this point in his career, he’d just let it rip. No point in playing tentative now 

[MasterStrategist]

@Alphadawg7 great read, thanks for taking the time to review the All 22.

 

Few things I noticed:

1. WRs: blocking was very very good.  Coleman, Shavers, Hollins all had excellent blocks/technique.  It's clear we have a strong emphasis on replacing Gabes role here

 

2. DBs: Agree on Hardy.  I was very excited when we drafted him, another local Pitt kid (HS ball).  They've mixed him and Ingram, between slot and outside, both have looked quite good in both spots.  Speaking of Ingram, he's the definition of what McDs influence can do with excellent secondary coaching.  I'm feeling good about our depth at CB, knowing full well that we've been hit with injuries there in the past.

 

3. TE: hopefully Morris is back before Week 1, as this is leaning toward a keep 4 posiiton group (5 if we count Gilliam), as Davidson looks like a weapon that Brady will find ways to utilize and most elusive behind Kincaid.  Especially with Samuel injuryand unknown when he returns, running more 12 personell could be justified

[Goin Breakdown]

9 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said:

And it's not like he did anything on the Bills that would give them encouragement beyond decent preseason performances 3 years ago.

But still: I'm kind of shocked at how a guy who looked like he was a competent QB for the Bears at age 24 would suck this bad at 29. I have to assume it's just a complete collapse of confidence since he seems physically the same.

It's assumed that he's a good guy and gets along with Josh. If that's the case, then I'm down for being QB2. I've got some good character references if needed. 

[Simon]

3 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

Could be he’s been hurt or still learning the offense,

 

There is no excuse; he's looked like that for years now.

I think he's mentally shot and has been for a long time.

[The Frankish Reich]

46 minutes ago, Goin Breakdown said:

It's assumed that he's a good guy and gets along with Josh. If that's the case, then I'm down for being QB2. I've got some good character references if needed. 

But how's your golf game?

[Alphadawg7]

1 hour ago, Simon said:

 

There is no excuse; he's looked like that for years now.

I think he's mentally shot and has been for a long time.

Oh I agree, was more leaving the door open for something else

[Pasaluki]

6 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Thanks.  Maybe that's the right way to think of Trubisky, and that's why he isn't the right guy to be a backup.   A good backup, in my mind, is someone who can run all the same stuff as the starter, but just not as well.  He's not good enough for any team to want him as a starter, but he's good enough to execute the game plan if called on.  

 

I thought Trubisky was better than what you describe. 

 

He wasn't that bad as a backup for the Bills a few years ago but his stint in Pittsburgh didn't seem to do him much good. He's always had this slow processing issue though since his Chicago days. Ultimately any backup will fail by the metric of running the same stuff as the starters because part of the Bills specific gameplan is dependent on having this utterly unique one of a kind athlete. Trubisky isn't the worst backup in the sense that he has a better than average arm and above average mobility. He has greatly underperformed so far this season though ultimately backups remain backups because they have significant flaws in their game. It's better to have a great quarterback and a terrible one as backup than two mediocre ones like many teams have. Any loss of Allen to the extent that it would even be possible to survive would entail a heavy running grind it out game.