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WhitewalkerInPhilly

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Because the more esteemed writers on the board have better things to do you’re stuck with this schmuck! It’s slightly delayed and on a short week, let’s double up the Ripoff Report!

 

  • First off, I have a PSA. A great many out of town fans have expressed discontent with how the NFL has been handling Sunday Ticket and I am one of them. $480 to watch 1 and 4 PM games when not on local networks is a bigger ripoff than this article series. However, with my personal life going crazy with a second child arriving just before season start, I decided to get NFL+ Premium, mostly expecting to watch games I missed. However, I learned that it also comes with RedZone and allows me to listen to the radio broadcast that gets cut on the official streams during the broadcast. Set up with the Buffalo Bills Radio Network, Chris Brown and Eric Wood were much more interesting and informative than most broadcasts. For example, Wood pointed out how the cards were using 13 personnel and why and the adjustments that Babich made during halftime (more on that later).Not listening to Collingsworth will be worth the price alone, and other than getting spoiled slightly in advance by RedZone it meant that I got to watch the critical plays close to live. Plus, the subscription lasts a year meaning I can watch games in the doldrums instead of 18 Sundays a year.
  • In the week before the Cardinals game I expressed nervousness. Yes, the Bills were the superior team and the Cardinals were flying across the country for a home opener. But the starters had spent so little time together in preseason would everything mesh. Well, that fear looked to be justified. You could definitely see that all of the cylinders weren’t firing in time. That the team managed to win anyway is a testament to the talent on the roster, especially Josh Allen.
  • I mean, how I can start anywhere without Allen. I know I love to rag on “the media” for diminishing him and the “overrated” comments sting but…I mean, come on. I am hearing talking heads spout about a fumble on a blindside hit while ignoring that Allen has FOUR TIMES as many touchdowns week one to the same number of turnovers as Mahomes and Lamar. More than Stroud. And the scary thing is, I don’t think that was Josh at his best.
  • We have been hearing Everybody Eats as the mantra and, at least for Week One, the Bills lived up to it. NINE players had receptions and that is a statement in and of itself. But to get more granular
  • The throw to Mack Hollins was perfect. I do not think that ball can be better thrown or placed. That is all.
  • As much as I would have loved Coleman to have a massive TD game, what I saw was pretty darn impressive. He was the best rookie WR on the field, and the other option was the #4 overall pick. Now, there is a big difference in the QB getting him the ball and the secondary coverage, but despite the splash that Worthy made, Coleman had the 2nd most receiving yards of any rookie WR. NOT counted on those numbers were two EGREGIOUS penalties that he drew and unlike Worthy, these weren’t manufactured touches, it was just beating his man. But speaking of manufactured touches…
  • Shakir needs more of them. That little tunnel screen shows what happens when you purposefully make him part of the attack if he isn’t getting open on his own. Jesus, he looks like a Madden player with those jukes. He was shrugging off Defensive Lineman hits before rolling over a guy to sneak in a TD. 
  • A quiet day for Kincaid, but some of the All 22 breakdowns I’ve seen show why: he is the new Diggs, the focal point that teams make a point to take away. Only unlike Diggs, he’s on a rookie contract. Jokes aside, the strength of the Cardinals D is their LB and Safety play, so it was a bad matchup, but as much as Josh’s other weapons are unsexy picks, so far it seems to be working.
  • For some reason, Jeremy White is unhappy with the amount of running the ball that the Bills did and for the life of me I don’t get it. I might understand if it didn’t work or if the Cardinals had a reputation as a stout run defense team but the forecase on the Cards was a strength in LB and S play and a weaker DL and the Bills racked up 130 rushing yards. That’s…kind of what you do, and if committing to the heavier sets means that you forcing their LBs to play against the run that’s how you make life easier for Allen’s receivers. Cooks hasn’t lost a beat and Ray Davis looks like an excellent change of pace back.
  • Now for the Defense. Oh, the Defense.I think it goes without saying that what we all saw in the first half was subpar. It is not excusable but at the same time it is not inexplicable. There are more things to glean from it than “Bills Defense Bad”. Every defensive scheme has a weakness. That is a reality. 3-4 relies more on gap coverage more than penetration. Press Man is good for disrupting speedy players and timing routes, but leaves you susceptible to big gains if you ever get beat. This is mostly preaching to the choir but McDermott’s scheme in his tenure with the Bills has mainly been a 4-2-5 nickel based Zone Defense, using speedy players and disguised coverage to disrupt and limit passing plays. It is designed to counter the pass crazy spread offenses that dominated the league in recent history and overall it’s (statistically) worked well but it comes with weaknesses Bills fans have become familiar with: the lighter bodies make it weaker vs the run. As much as you disguise a zone coverage, there is always a place on the field that is uncovered and that is often in the middle of the field. As such, the Bills often have given big days to RBs and TEs. Cover One did a film breakdown in advance and pointed out that the Cardinals have built themselves into what is slowly emerging as the pendulum swinging back: NFL defenses have moved to Cover 2 shells with lighter bodies, like the Bills. The Niners, Lions, and Rams (among others) are moving back to run heavy, condensed formations and it’s the direction Brady has been moving as well. The Cardinals take this to an extreme, rolling our 3 TE formations. Milano and Bernard are maybe two of the best coverage linebackers in the league when healthy, but even then the Cardinals are designed to beat up defenses like the Bills. Now, this is not a free pass. If we as fans knew this, Babich and McDermott had to know it too. Looking now, I think they were hoping that running out TJ would have made up the difference but even before his injury the Cardinals seemed to have a counter for everything. 
  • That said, I have to give credit to Babich and McDermott. At halftime they acknowledged that what they were doing wasn’t working and changed things up. In the first half, Babich tried to contain Murray in the pocket and hoped coverage would hold. When it didn’t, he started blitzing more aggressively and the D-line focused on trying to make contact instead of contain. Murray got his scrambles, but hits kept piling up which threw off his timing and led to sacks and turnovers. The defense didn’t suddenly start playing harder in the second half as much as they positioned their efforts better. Do you want to give the coaches grief for not being better prepared? Go ahead. But many coaches would rather bury their heads in the hand than change.
  • Speaking of TJ, Rapp is a liability and should not be on this team. I understand that we are in dire straights at the position but the injuries he racks up are a problem.
  • Groot is going to get All Of the Money. If he keeps have multiple sack games, vaya con dios!
  • God help me, I actually like the dynamic kickoff rules. Yes they are gimmicky but I can’t deny that kickoffs actually had an effect on the game and is better than the “kick the ball through the endzone” challenge that kickoffs had become. There is actual strategy to wind direction and squibbing it and how to pin a team.
  • Moving onto the Dolphins, yes they are a better team than the Cardinals but I am not as worried. For one, they looked awfully shaky vs the Jaguars in the brief snippets I saw. I don’t know how much of their victory was them being good and how much was the Jaguars collapsing as they are wont to do.
  • On the same vein as the Cardinals offense being the natural enemy of the Bills defense is that McDermott’s scheme is what is supposed to stop the shallow crosser motion heavy offense McDaniel brought with him. I don’t think it’s an accident that the Bills are 3-1 against him, with the lone loss coming in a heatstroke filled highly fluky game that was an Isaiah McKenzie-getting-out-of-bounds away from a likely Bills victory. 
  • I am keeping a close eye on Achane and Mostert’s injury status. If they are severely banged up, even if they play it would help the Bills stay in Dime to counter Hill and Waddle.
  • I won’t say the Bills victory is inevitable. They can very much lose on Thursday. I am just surprised that the odds are so in the Dolphins favor but I appreciate the underdog.

 

See you all on Thursday. Go Bills!

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Rochesterfan Veteran

Rochesterfan

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7 hours ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

 

  • For some reason, Jeremy White is unhappy with the amount of running the ball that the Bills did and for the life of me I don’t get it. I might understand if it didn’t work or if the Cardinals had a reputation as a stout run defense team but the forecase on the Cards was a strength in LB and S play and a weaker DL and the Bills racked up 130 rushing yards. That’s…kind of what you do, and if committing to the heavier sets means that you forcing their LBs to play against the run that’s how you make life easier for Allen’s receivers. Cooks hasn’t lost a beat and Ray Davis looks like an excellent change of pace back.

 

7 hours ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:
  • God help me, I actually like the dynamic kickoff rules. Yes they are gimmicky but I can’t deny that kickoffs actually had an effect on the game and is better than the “kick the ball through the endzone” challenge that kickoffs had become. There is actual strategy to wind direction and squibbing it and how to pin a team.


 

 

Thank you for a nice write up.  
 

First - I will say in regards to the running game and I have not seen it mentioned really - I believe the weather played a lot with gameplan and play calls.  The Bills - especially in the first half - spent the majority of the time going into the wind.  The wind caused issues with deeper and outside throws - therefore you saw more running and short passes and more focus around the line of scrimmage.

 

I will be very interested as the games move along to see how the JA passing chart expands, but I think they had an Arizona team they felt they could run on and a wind that impacted throws down the field and to the sidelines.

 

 

Second - and maybe it will change, but I can’t stand the kickoff rules.  Really other than the Bills game nearly every kick was still a touchback and the only kicks that weren’t - were caused by the wind.  Yes those 4 kicks ( 2 returns and 2 penalties) had an impact, but I would prefer they just get rid of it and move on.

 

We will see as it will be a bigger impact all year on the Bills than the majority of the teams, but I also think that is unfair - it is not an even impact on teams due strictly to weather.

 

 

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machine gun kelly All Pro

machine gun kelly

Posted
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18 hours ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

Because the more esteemed writers on the board have better things to do you’re stuck with this schmuck! It’s slightly delayed and on a short week, let’s double up the Ripoff Report!

 

  • First off, I have a PSA. A great many out of town fans have expressed discontent with how the NFL has been handling Sunday Ticket and I am one of them. $480 to watch 1 and 4 PM games when not on local networks is a bigger ripoff than this article series. However, with my personal life going crazy with a second child arriving just before season start, I decided to get NFL+ Premium, mostly expecting to watch games I missed. However, I learned that it also comes with RedZone and allows me to listen to the radio broadcast that gets cut on the official streams during the broadcast. Set up with the Buffalo Bills Radio Network, Chris Brown and Eric Wood were much more interesting and informative than most broadcasts. For example, Wood pointed out how the cards were using 13 personnel and why and the adjustments that Babich made during halftime (more on that later).Not listening to Collingsworth will be worth the price alone, and other than getting spoiled slightly in advance by RedZone it meant that I got to watch the critical plays close to live. Plus, the subscription lasts a year meaning I can watch games in the doldrums instead of 18 Sundays a year.
  • In the week before the Cardinals game I expressed nervousness. Yes, the Bills were the superior team and the Cardinals were flying across the country for a home opener. But the starters had spent so little time together in preseason would everything mesh. Well, that fear looked to be justified. You could definitely see that all of the cylinders weren’t firing in time. That the team managed to win anyway is a testament to the talent on the roster, especially Josh Allen.
  • I mean, how I can start anywhere without Allen. I know I love to rag on “the media” for diminishing him and the “overrated” comments sting but…I mean, come on. I am hearing talking heads spout about a fumble on a blindside hit while ignoring that Allen has FOUR TIMES as many touchdowns week one to the same number of turnovers as Mahomes and Lamar. More than Stroud. And the scary thing is, I don’t think that was Josh at his best.
  • We have been hearing Everybody Eats as the mantra and, at least for Week One, the Bills lived up to it. NINE players had receptions and that is a statement in and of itself. But to get more granular
  • The throw to Mack Hollins was perfect. I do not think that ball can be better thrown or placed. That is all.
  • As much as I would have loved Coleman to have a massive TD game, what I saw was pretty darn impressive. He was the best rookie WR on the field, and the other option was the #4 overall pick. Now, there is a big difference in the QB getting him the ball and the secondary coverage, but despite the splash that Worthy made, Coleman had the 2nd most receiving yards of any rookie WR. NOT counted on those numbers were two EGREGIOUS penalties that he drew and unlike Worthy, these weren’t manufactured touches, it was just beating his man. But speaking of manufactured touches…
  • Shakir needs more of them. That little tunnel screen shows what happens when you purposefully make him part of the attack if he isn’t getting open on his own. Jesus, he looks like a Madden player with those jukes. He was shrugging off Defensive Lineman hits before rolling over a guy to sneak in a TD. 
  • A quiet day for Kincaid, but some of the All 22 breakdowns I’ve seen show why: he is the new Diggs, the focal point that teams make a point to take away. Only unlike Diggs, he’s on a rookie contract. Jokes aside, the strength of the Cardinals D is their LB and Safety play, so it was a bad matchup, but as much as Josh’s other weapons are unsexy picks, so far it seems to be working.
  • For some reason, Jeremy White is unhappy with the amount of running the ball that the Bills did and for the life of me I don’t get it. I might understand if it didn’t work or if the Cardinals had a reputation as a stout run defense team but the forecase on the Cards was a strength in LB and S play and a weaker DL and the Bills racked up 130 rushing yards. That’s…kind of what you do, and if committing to the heavier sets means that you forcing their LBs to play against the run that’s how you make life easier for Allen’s receivers. Cooks hasn’t lost a beat and Ray Davis looks like an excellent change of pace back.
  • Now for the Defense. Oh, the Defense.I think it goes without saying that what we all saw in the first half was subpar. It is not excusable but at the same time it is not inexplicable. There are more things to glean from it than “Bills Defense Bad”. Every defensive scheme has a weakness. That is a reality. 3-4 relies more on gap coverage more than penetration. Press Man is good for disrupting speedy players and timing routes, but leaves you susceptible to big gains if you ever get beat. This is mostly preaching to the choir but McDermott’s scheme in his tenure with the Bills has mainly been a 4-2-5 nickel based Zone Defense, using speedy players and disguised coverage to disrupt and limit passing plays. It is designed to counter the pass crazy spread offenses that dominated the league in recent history and overall it’s (statistically) worked well but it comes with weaknesses Bills fans have become familiar with: the lighter bodies make it weaker vs the run. As much as you disguise a zone coverage, there is always a place on the field that is uncovered and that is often in the middle of the field. As such, the Bills often have given big days to RBs and TEs. Cover One did a film breakdown in advance and pointed out that the Cardinals have built themselves into what is slowly emerging as the pendulum swinging back: NFL defenses have moved to Cover 2 shells with lighter bodies, like the Bills. The Niners, Lions, and Rams (among others) are moving back to run heavy, condensed formations and it’s the direction Brady has been moving as well. The Cardinals take this to an extreme, rolling our 3 TE formations. Milano and Bernard are maybe two of the best coverage linebackers in the league when healthy, but even then the Cardinals are designed to beat up defenses like the Bills. Now, this is not a free pass. If we as fans knew this, Babich and McDermott had to know it too. Looking now, I think they were hoping that running out TJ would have made up the difference but even before his injury the Cardinals seemed to have a counter for everything. 
  • That said, I have to give credit to Babich and McDermott. At halftime they acknowledged that what they were doing wasn’t working and changed things up. In the first half, Babich tried to contain Murray in the pocket and hoped coverage would hold. When it didn’t, he started blitzing more aggressively and the D-line focused on trying to make contact instead of contain. Murray got his scrambles, but hits kept piling up which threw off his timing and led to sacks and turnovers. The defense didn’t suddenly start playing harder in the second half as much as they positioned their efforts better. Do you want to give the coaches grief for not being better prepared? Go ahead. But many coaches would rather bury their heads in the hand than change.
  • Speaking of TJ, Rapp is a liability and should not be on this team. I understand that we are in dire straights at the position but the injuries he racks up are a problem.
  • Groot is going to get All Of the Money. If he keeps have multiple sack games, vaya con dios!
  • God help me, I actually like the dynamic kickoff rules. Yes they are gimmicky but I can’t deny that kickoffs actually had an effect on the game and is better than the “kick the ball through the endzone” challenge that kickoffs had become. There is actual strategy to wind direction and squibbing it and how to pin a team.
  • Moving onto the Dolphins, yes they are a better team than the Cardinals but I am not as worried. For one, they looked awfully shaky vs the Jaguars in the brief snippets I saw. I don’t know how much of their victory was them being good and how much was the Jaguars collapsing as they are wont to do.
  • On the same vein as the Cardinals offense being the natural enemy of the Bills defense is that McDermott’s scheme is what is supposed to stop the shallow crosser motion heavy offense McDaniel brought with him. I don’t think it’s an accident that the Bills are 3-1 against him, with the lone loss coming in a heatstroke filled highly fluky game that was an Isaiah McKenzie-getting-out-of-bounds away from a likely Bills victory. 
  • I am keeping a close eye on Achane and Mostert’s injury status. If they are severely banged up, even if they play it would help the Bills stay in Dime to counter Hill and Waddle.
  • I won’t say the Bills victory is inevitable. They can very much lose on Thursday. I am just surprised that the odds are so in the Dolphins favor but I appreciate the underdog.

 

See you all on Thursday. Go Bills!


Whitewater, have you heard the phrase “say more with less”.  Just kidding bud.

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