A Few Thoughts about the Dolphins Game, in no particular order

[GunnerBill]

Just now, HappyDays said:

 

Yes I saw Joe Marino break this down in his all-22 video for subscribers. He pointed out on the following drive Shakir ran basically the same route on 2nd and long and that time Allen saw him right away and got it to him (with an extra 15 yards gifted to us by Poyer). Allen probably saw the miss on his tablet on the sideline and made it a point to come back to it.

 

Yea, every QB just fails to see the odd one every week. But was a nice design Josh just didn't see it. As you say that will have been a "how the ***** did I not see that?" moment when he looked at the ipad. 

 

On the receivers overall the two guys who are getting the most separation are Shakir and Hollins. Without doubt. Hollins is a sneak good route runner. He isn't Stefon Diggs but he is precise in his footwork and his breaks. Impressed with him tbh. Shakir does a lot of underneath and middle if the field stuff obviously but is good at finding spaces which I remember as a rookie he struggled with. He would run past the open zone a ton. Not now, he has it buttoned down. Coleman is not getting much separation. Admittedly running the tougher routes outside but at the moment I think they are going to have to rely on him winning 1v1 contested catches. 

[stuvian]

The Dolphins looked defeated from the first snap. I was expecting an AFCE slugfest but we were the only ones slugging. I can't remember the last time they played us that soft.

[Simon]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

The All22 is now out and I wanted to go back and look at the design and whether Bills receivers were getting open / being schemed open at the same frequency as Sunday.

 

Thank you for doing this.

It's the kind of high quality stuff that deserves it's own thread so more folks see it, imo. 👍

[FLFan]

21 hours ago, Rocky Landing said:

The Dolphins D-line definitely took a big hit with the losses of Wilkins, and Chubb. But no one in the media seems to talk about their loss of Van Ginkle. He was a difference maker for them. Huge loss.

The Dolphins were already mediocre on Defense  and they have taken some big hits.  Wilkins was their best player and Van Ginkel also made many plays for them.  All they have now is Ramsay’s reputation and Poyer’s golden years.  They are not a very good team IMO, even with Tua.  

[FLFan]

14 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

 

 

I have to disagree. 1) I don't want pass rushers hunting Josh for no real good reason 2) I don't want incompletions stopping the clock 3) I don't want to unveil any passing plays if not necessary

 

 

 

I totally agree.  I was absolutely fine with the Bills going into “boring mode” .  Miami was clearly not going to mount a comeback with Thompson.  There was no reason to risk Josh or the receivers, and no reason to put any more of their Offense on tape for the rest of the league.  I felt like the Bills could have scored at will if they wanted to and certainly could have run up the score, but to what end?  

[Alphadawg7]

 

[GASabresIUFan]

14 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

I have to disagree. 1) I don't want pass rushers hunting Josh for no real good reason 2) I don't want incompletions stopping the clock 3) I don't want to unveil any passing plays if not necessary

There are many “passing” plays that are essentially long handoffs.  Running down their throats is great, but it’s a lot easier if they have to respect the pass and therefore can’t put 8-9 in the box.

[Sierra Foothills]

12 hours ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

Was the Allen throw to Ty Johnson on 3rd and 12 to set up first and goal at the one, one of Allen's top 5 throws of his career? That was an unbelievable across the body throw. 

 

Agreed. The secondary is playing absolutely lights out and the D-line is playing as well as advertised. If these two units can continue to play at a high level it will cover up our weakness at LB with the injuries. 

 

The laser to Shakir (Poyer personal foul play) was equally as awesome IMO.

 

[Dillenger4]

23 hours ago, Virgil said:

You'd think writing about a 31-10 win, on the road, on short rest, against a divisional opponent would be an easy thing to do.  However, if you watched the game, you'd know it was a snoozefest in the second half, where both coaches were just trying to get off the field in one piece.  With that being said, I'll do my best.

 

1 - Cook - World, Meet James Cook.  James Cook, meet the world.  I mean, what can you say about Cook besides Wow.  On a night where you weren't sure if the Bills offense was going to be in rhythm or capitalize on the Dolphins turnovers, Cook put those thoughts to rest quickly.  If you were waiting for the next Cook drop or turnover, you'll have to wait another week more because he showed the potential tonight to be a top 5 RB in the league.  Cook showed great blocking, speed, hands, and reminded everyone in the most poster-ized way, why we don't need Jordan Poyer on this team.  His long run for our last offensive touchdown turned into a track meet vs Poyer and you all know the outcome.  If before this game, teams didn't think they had to game plan for Cook, they sure do now.

 

2 - Safeties - As promised, I don't look up stats if I can help it, so give me a break.  While Tua left the game early, Waddle and Hill were held to under 65 frustrating combined yards, and it was a thing of beauty to see them meltdown on the sidelines.  McDaniel's play calling definitely drew the irk of the fans, but let's just give Rapp and Hamlin the benefit of the doubt to them taking away any deep shots.  On the one deep shot I do remember, Hill was blanket covered and almost resulted in an interception.  This is a backfield that I was very worried about going into this game, and they were brilliant.

 

3 - Oliver - If last week was the Groot show, this week was the Oliver show.  This isn't to say that Von and Groot didn't play well, because they absolutely did.  Von got his second sack in as many games and Groot chased Tua down from behind on a great stop.  However, Oliver literally was throwing offensive lineman around like they were nothing.  He single handedly stuffed a 3rd down FB run and had a 4th down sack in the type of way that makes an offense change where they run the ball.  I know the Dolphins had some offensive line injury concerns, but still...I hope to see Oliver's Lasso dance every week this season.

 

4 - "I hope that either all of us or none of us are judged by the actions of our weakest moments, but rather by the strength we show when and if we're ever given a second chance."

 

5 - Ingram - Is there a better story on this team than how this kid is playing?  And that says a lot, because a lot of players are having their first big moments.  His first interception was great awareness and hands.  His second interception, which I think everyone thought was a throw-away, resulted in a game sealing pick six.  There's two types of people in this world:  Those who knew Ingram would lead the team with 3 interceptions through week two, and dirty ***** liars.  The fact that he earned a post game interview and his humbleness during it, just makes me love all the success he is having.

 

6 - Tackles for a loss - I can't even remember half of the plays at this point, but can you remember a game where more Bills players just destroyed their blocked and made amazing shoe lace tackles in the backfield?  I know Douglas had a great highlight play, but I think we had 10 tackles for a loss in this game alone.  These guys were fired up and ready.

 

7 - Lewis - Okay, maybe I owe him an apology.  If you asked me who the biggest liability on defense was this season, I would have said Lewis first and then Hamlin second.  I'm so incredibly happy to be wrong through two games.  Cam has really stepped up so far and, while I want TJ back immediately, really has made that loss not feel so bad.  Cam had some create plays in coverage and open field tackles.  

 

8 - Selfless - I wanted to talk about Shakir here, as he looks to be our completion leader this season, but how do I ignore the selfless play off all our pass catchers.  I know it's early in the season and things can change, but every time I see the sideline, all the receivers are smiling, dapping each other up, and seem to be really bonding as a team.  I think it's only a matter of time until Josh hits MVS deep, and then the opposing defenses are just plain *****.  Seriously, with how our offensive line is blocking, Cook is running, and we are distributing the ball; if we start hitting the deep shots...watch out.  I mean, just in this recap alone, I'm not even going to list Josh and we won by 21!  Besides the injury to TB, this was the best possible scenario for this team on a short week.  

 

9 - Tua - I have to take a moment out of respect for Tua's injury.  I don't want to kick a man while he's down, but I have to put that injury on him.  You know that Hamlin doesn't want to be on the other side of that hit, if you can even call it a hit.  Tua had the first down, could have slid, but still went head first into Hamlin.  Watching him T-Rex after that hit was horrifying and I hated to see it.  Everything you hear about Tua is that he's a good dude, and I never want to win due to an injury.  I really hope the league (and I think they will), makes Tua take his time away from the game and re-evaluate his career.  If he didn't learn how to slide after the 2022 season, then maybe this isn't the right sport for him.  He already has his money to retire and maybe that's what is best for him.  

 

10 - McD - This Bills team scared me on defense coming into the season and I didn't feel great after week 1.  But in going back and looking at the stats in the second half against the Cardinals and then seeing the absolute clinic we put up during this game, I have to give the man credit.  We bent a few times, but really didn't break.  I don't think anyone saw us only giving up 10 points through almost 3 quarters.  I don't think anyone saw the Hill/Waddle temper tantrum on the sidelines coming.  Credit to Babich as well, as he is calling the plays, but McD has had this team ready to go now for the last 6 quarters, seems to have the right coordinators on both sides of the ball, and it's going to be a very interesting season.

 

Misc - I really hope we spend some money to bring in a veteran LB this week.  It's great that TB is only out for about a month and Milano will be back eventually, but with the injuries this season and last, we are already skating on thin ice.  We need more insurance there and would hate to see things get derailed again due to injuries.  We have the Jags, Raven, and Texans all coming up and we need to be at our very possible best.  

 

Go Bills!

I came here for Pearl Jam and Grateful Dead. wtf

[Virgil]

3 hours ago, Dillenger4 said:

I came here for Pearl Jam and Grateful Dead. wtf

 

I've only ever repeated Grateful Dead for a season once, and that was for Bill from NYC.  

 

This season, for as many of these as I do, will be quotes from that show.  Which, I find quite fitting actually

[Scott7975]

7 hours ago, stuvian said:

The Dolphins looked defeated from the first snap. I was expecting an AFCE slugfest but we were the only ones slugging. I can't remember the last time they played us that soft.

 

I dont know why people keep expecting this slugfest.  Miami has a worse roster than last year. We are 11-2 or something against Miami.  Only like 3 of them were slugfests.  People keep hyping Miami every year and every year all they do is beat up on weak teams.

 

 

Edited Sunday at 12:42 AM by Scott7975

[GoBills808]

9 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

... but Josh was looking to his right the whole time and made the one "superman" play of the day. 

 

 

 

good write up, disagree w this

 

we take for granted some of the throws he makes

for example this was flat footed w two guys in his face to opposite field outside numbers

1 of 1 type throw

 

[GunnerBill]

6 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

good write up, disagree w this

 

we take for granted some of the throws he makes

for example this was flat footed w two guys in his face to opposite field outside numbers

1 of 1 type throw

 

 

Yea that was the falling back ball out the Shakir one 2nd half, right? I didn't get to that one yesterday in detail but think it is fair to say that was a throw very few humans can make.