THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - Gotta Like the Start

[Shaw66]

The Rockpile Review – by Shaw66

 

One of the earmarks of  Sean McDermott teams is that they are extremely well prepared coming out of preseason.  His teams tend to play well early, because they are better prepared.  Of course, one of the problems with that system is that later in the season and into the playoffs, everyone else is well prepared, too.  In that environment, preparedness is necessary, but it isn’t a real difference maker.

 

What to do about the playoffs is a question for another day.  The question for today is “how did the Bills look today.”

 

The answer is, “Very good, indeed.”

 

There’s no question that much of the play in the NFL has looked a little bit like a preseason game.  Players and teams just didn’t seem prepared to play.  Announcers like to say that the players still need to “knock the rust off,” but it isn’t about getting in shape.  It’s about learning how to play the plays you’ve been given – offense, defense, and special teams. 

 

On Sunday at Highmark Stadium, when the game began the Bills fit the mold; they looked lackluster and a step late on defense.  On offense, they gave up a negative play and turnover.  The Cardinals took the lead, 17-3, with 2:40 remaining in the first half.  That is when McDermott and his Bills declared that preseason was over and reassumed its customary role as best-prepared team early in the season. 

 

On offense, it’s simple:  Prepare everyone to execute an offense that threatens the entire field.  That kind of offense, well executed by ten players, depends on having the quarterback read, react , and execute.  When it’s working as it should, the running backs are getting nice gains fairly consistently, and the quarterback has a high completion percentage. 

 

And that’s what we saw.  Cook had multiple runs where he attacked the seams the line created, putting up several 5-10+ yard bursts on first down.  Allen went 18 for 23.  Everything hummed, nice routes well executed by receivers, and Allen seemed always to know where to go. 

 

The only reason, the only reason, the game was close at the end was because the Bills gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown.  If that hadn’t happened, the Bills would have coasted to the final whistle.  Eight minutes left, give Arizona the ball, and even if they could manage a touchdown, it likely would have taken six or seven minutes, like their earlier scoring drives, and the Bills would have run out the clock from there.

 

So, why weren’t the Bills better prepared on the kickoff return?  Because there simply haven’t been enough kickoffs put on film across the NFL for coaches to figure out the all the details of defensive strategy on kickoffs.  In that environment, McDermott can’t be better prepared than anyone, because no one knows yet what’s most effective.  The only way to better prepared is to be one of the few coaches who happened to figure out the best ways to defend kickoffs.  By Tuesday, McDermott and Smiley will understand the weakness in their system, and it will be corrected.  That process will continue throughout the season, for all teams.

 

Was the defense extraordinary?  By no means, but just like the offense, once they got into the second half, their preparedness showed.  Punt, fumble, field goal on the first three Cardinal possessions in the second half.  They got gashed by Murray on his big scramble, but he’s like Lamar – you can have strategies for him, but sometimes he’s just going to get you.  Damien Williams was around the ball a lot, Bernard was all over in the first half, Groot was a force.  

 

I watched Miller.  As I suspected, the rumors of the end of his career were premature.  Clearly, Miller paces himself, because he wants to be a force in the fourth quarter, and that’s what we saw Sunday.  In the first half, Miller was workmanlike, and no one would think they were looking at a Hall of Famer.  But in the second half, Miller turned everything up a notch, and he became a handful for the Cardinals.  He had a couple of his classic bull rushes, and he just seemed to be collapsing his end of the line into Murray, without losing control of the edge. 

 

It's one game.  The season is about piling up wins, and this win is the beginning of the pile.  There are plenty of games to come, and soon opponents will be prepared for Joe Brady’s route trees and Josh Allen’s options; it won’t get easier.  But for this one game, well, for a little more than a half, the Bills were about as much as any Bills fan could hope. 

 

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full day’s hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

 

 

[BigAl2526]

I had another commitment and missed the first quarter and half of the second.  I think that was the stomach turning part of the game.  My operating theory is that the Bills played sloppy because of insufficient time on the field for starters during preseason.  That they sharpened up  (mostly) later in the game is good news and bodes well for the team going forward.  The still need to clean up the kickoff coverage and the offensive line needs to cut down on penalties, especially pre-snap penalties.  I feel pretty good overall though.

[Sierra Foothills]

It's tough to win in the NFL and the Bills get everyone's best shot.

 

It looked like the Cards had a nice offensive game plan and Kyler was playing lights out. I think they're a pretty good offensive football team.

 

The Bills faced a fair amount of adversity being down 17-3 but I never sensed panic and for them to turn it around with TD drives just before and just after halftime was clutch. "Mr. Overrated" was his usual brilliant self, of course. Because of him this is a golden era in Bills football and I'm forever appreciative.

 

Considering that the Bills have 4 new starters on offense and 4 new starters on defense there was a good chance that they would look disjointed today. But after they settled down they looked like a confident, veteran team, assignment sound and well-drilled in their systems. Both the offense and the defense seemed to make good adjustments. Among the many positive signs and good performances it was particularly heartening to see Von Miller being a force in the second half.

 

I give McDermott and company high marks for weathering the early storm, pulling it together and getting the win (and almost the blowout).

[HappyDays]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

The only reason, the only reason, the game was close at the end was because the Bills gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown.

 

You know Shaw, this is a fair point and does give a different perspective on the game. As frustrated as I was through much of it, the narrative ultimately should have been that the Bills sleepwalked against an inferior opponent for 25 minutes before turning it on and coming away with a two score victory. That looks a lot better than the current narrative which is that the Bills are lucky to have won by the skin of their teeth. Special teams TDs are one of those flukey things that can completely swing games and cause people to misinterpret the final result.

 

They say week 1 lies and I feel that this will probably be even more true for the Bills than for other teams. For one thing, I would wager that several of our starters on defense today will not be starters by the end of the season. We have essentially two new coordinators. It's going to take several games at least before the offense figures out who its best skill players are. Over the past few years the Bills have been well established even entering week 1 and it was a matter of just stacking wins using our proven formula. This year it will be about tinkering and learning what our best formula is over time and hopefully having all of the right ingredients in place by December.

[ganesh]

I thought Coleman was pretty composed and was there for Josh Allen when he needed him.   That long ball was brilliantly placed and coleman made a great catch.  Looking forward to their chemistry getting better in the Redzone.

[Peace Frog]

My biggest complaint from today's game was the missed tackles. If I had a dime for the missed tackles I counted today on D & ST, I'd have a bunch of dimes. Missed tackles and dropped passes are always the bane of this team. However, it was an entertaining game.

[stuvian]

this game feels like progress compared to this time last year when the Jets drubbed us. Then we lost to the lowly Pats. We didn't start playing regular season football until week 4. It only took one half of bad football to pull up our socks today. 

[amprov56]

6 hours ago, BigAl2526 said:

I had another commitment and missed the first quarter and half of the second.  I think that was the stomach turning part of the game.  My operating theory is that the Bills played sloppy because of insufficient time on the field for starters during preseason.  That they sharpened up  (mostly) later in the game is good news and bodes well for the team going forward.  The still need to clean up the kickoff coverage and the offensive line needs to cut down on penalties, especially pre-snap penalties.  I feel pretty good overall though.

Having NFL Ticket I jumped around during Bills commercial breaks, sloppy play across the league. My theory is you wont really know until the end of September early October due to soft training camps across the league.

[finn]

8 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

So, why weren’t the Bills better prepared on the kickoff return?  Because there simply haven’t been enough kickoffs put on film across the NFL for coaches to figure out the all the details of defensive strategy on kickoffs.  In that environment, McDermott can’t be better prepared than anyone, because no one knows yet what’s most effective.  The only way to better prepared is to be one of the few coaches who happened to figure out the best ways to defend kickoffs.  By Tuesday, McDermott and Smiley will understand the weakness in their system, and it will be corrected.  

Let's hope it starts with taking Elam, who might be the worst tackler on the team, off special teams. 

[CSBill]

6 hours ago, Peace Frog said:

My biggest complaint from today's game was the missed tackles

 

Agree!

[TheWei44]

Rough start but a lot of positives by the end of the game.  One thing is clear - We have a lot of receivers now with "good" hands (and Von is back).

[Dillenger4]

They showed me that we will come together to be one of the powerhouse O's in the NFL. It's the D that needs work. Hopefully we can get better as we grow. We need our safties and Taron back ASAP.

[Rockinon]

I think there were 10 players that caught a pass in this game. No receiver caught for more than 51-yards, but Allen completed 18 of his 23 pass attempts. Everyone is eating in this offense. It feels like they are just getting warmed up. The running game is clicking and Josh is looking good delivering strikes.

 

Defense really clamped down in the 3rd qtr. I honestly think the worry over the safety position are overblown. Big game for Greg Rousseau. He is not going to be denied double digit sacks this year. He's all ready got 3 and it's only game one.

 

It looks like the arrow is pointing up. Big test coming in Miami on Thursday. Let's go, Buffalo!

[Ethan in Cleveland]

How can u say McDermott has his team prepared?  It's usually just the opposite. 

The last two years they looked terrible against Jets and Steelers. 

The defense was terrible in the first half

The offense was fine the entire game except for the penalties.  If Allen doesn't fumble on first drive they probably match Arizona score for score in the first half. 

This team overemphasizes special teams and yet they give up the biggest play of the game. Gilliam is mostly on the roster for special teams and he is one of the guys who whiffed on the tackle. McD simply does not evolve.

 

The best part of yesterday was spreading the ball around. That is what we wanted to see and honestly need to see without a #1 WR. I think most of us want to see more Shakir and more Kincaid. They drew up a TD pass to Kincaid that didn't work on Allen's second TD run. The offense again relied on Allen to do too much but for game 1 I will take it.

 

As for the defense, Williams looks lost out there. Epenesa was a non factor. Didn't see much from the DTs but I was more focused on the DE play to be honest.  Miller showed improvement. Arizona challenged the short zones all game and it worked well.  Not sure if that is Miami's best approach but rest assured they will test our safeties this week. 

 

Bass did well in bad conditions but all were fairly short kicks. But so far so good.

[Mat68]

If Groot keeps that play up we are in great shape on defense.  Offense looked good all game.  Early the defense was shaky.  They righted the ship and had a good second half.   

[SoonerBillsFan]

11 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

The Rockpile Review – by Shaw66

 

One of the earmarks of  Sean McDermott teams is that they are extremely well prepared coming out of preseason.  His teams tend to play well early, because they are better prepared.  Of course, one of the problems with that system is that later in the season and into the playoffs, everyone else is well prepared, too.  In that environment, preparedness is necessary, but it isn’t a real difference maker.

 

What to do about the playoffs is a question for another day.  The question for today is “how did the Bills look today.”

 

The answer is, “Very good, indeed.”

 

There’s no question that much of the play in the NFL has looked a little bit like a preseason game.  Players and teams just didn’t seem prepared to play.  Announcers like to say that the players still need to “knock the rust off,” but it isn’t about getting in shape.  It’s about learning how to play the plays you’ve been given – offense, defense, and special teams. 

 

On Sunday at Highmark Stadium, when the game began the Bills fit the mold; they looked lackluster and a step late on defense.  On offense, they gave up a negative play and turnover.  The Cardinals took the lead, 17-3, with 2:40 remaining in the first half.  That is when McDermott and his Bills declared that preseason was over and reassumed its customary role as best-prepared team early in the season. 

 

On offense, it’s simple:  Prepare everyone to execute an offense that threatens the entire field.  That kind of offense, well executed by ten players, depends on having the quarterback read, react , and execute.  When it’s working as it should, the running backs are getting nice gains fairly consistently, and the quarterback has a high completion percentage. 

 

And that’s what we saw.  Cook had multiple runs where he attacked the seams the line created, putting up several 5-10+ yard bursts on first down.  Allen went 18 for 23.  Everything hummed, nice routes well executed by receivers, and Allen seemed always to know where to go. 

 

The only reason, the only reason, the game was close at the end was because the Bills gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown.  If that hadn’t happened, the Bills would have coasted to the final whistle.  Eight minutes left, give Arizona the ball, and even if they could manage a touchdown, it likely would have taken six or seven minutes, like their earlier scoring drives, and the Bills would have run out the clock from there.

 

So, why weren’t the Bills better prepared on the kickoff return?  Because there simply haven’t been enough kickoffs put on film across the NFL for coaches to figure out the all the details of defensive strategy on kickoffs.  In that environment, McDermott can’t be better prepared than anyone, because no one knows yet what’s most effective.  The only way to better prepared is to be one of the few coaches who happened to figure out the best ways to defend kickoffs.  By Tuesday, McDermott and Smiley will understand the weakness in their system, and it will be corrected.  That process will continue throughout the season, for all teams.

 

Was the defense extraordinary?  By no means, but just like the offense, once they got into the second half, their preparedness showed.  Punt, fumble, field goal on the first three Cardinal possessions in the second half.  They got gashed by Murray on his big scramble, but he’s like Lamar – you can have strategies for him, but sometimes he’s just going to get you.  Damien Williams was around the ball a lot, Bernard was all over in the first half, Groot was a force.  

 

I watched Miller.  As I suspected, the rumors of the end of his career were premature.  Clearly, Miller paces himself, because he wants to be a force in the fourth quarter, and that’s what we saw Sunday.  In the first half, Miller was workmanlike, and no one would think they were looking at a Hall of Famer.  But in the second half, Miller turned everything up a notch, and he became a handful for the Cardinals.  He had a couple of his classic bull rushes, and he just seemed to be collapsing his end of the line into Murray, without losing control of the edge. 

 

It's one game.  The season is about piling up wins, and this win is the beginning of the pile.  There are plenty of games to come, and soon opponents will be prepared for Joe Brady’s route trees and Josh Allen’s options; it won’t get easier.  But for this one game, well, for a little more than a half, the Bills were about as much as any Bills fan could hope. 

 

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full day’s hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

 

 

I look forward to your reviews sir.  And I agree, we needed to "wake up" and getting smacked in the face 17-3 did exactly that.

[NickelCity]

Liked what I saw from the offense. Hope it continues against better defenses. 

[Rockinon]

59 minutes ago, Mat68 said:

If Groot keeps that play up we are in great shape on defense.  Offense looked good all game.  Early the defense was shaky.  They righted the ship and had a good second half.   

The 2 sack performance against Pittsburgh and then this 3 sack performance........really looks like he's going to have a breakout season. 

[TFBillsfan]

3 hours ago, finn said:

Let's hope it starts with taking Elam, who might be the worst tackler on the team, off special teams. 

Ray Davis says hold my beer. The tackling on the return was brutal. It looked like Gilliam negated Elam from making the tackle and Ray Davis ran by the runner trying to give him a forearm bash. 
 

Going forward I hope we just kick the ball into the EZ on every kickoff! 

[Mat68]

7 minutes ago, TFBillsfan said:

Ray Davis says hold my beer. The tackling on the return was brutal. It looked like Gilliam negated Elam from making the tackle and Ray Davis ran by the runner trying to give him a forearm bash. 
 

Going forward I hope we just kick the ball into the EZ on every kickoff! 

Homes games with wind will be an adventure all year.  Some games the Ball wont carry going into that end.  Gotta have a better plan and better coverage.