Joe Marino All-22 review - "The coaches were duds"

[GunnerBill]

3 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

I think it’s more the roster construction and schematic philosophy suggest that they actually think playing ball control with good defense and special teams (when they have neither of those things) will finally get them over the hump in January.  Some of us have our doubts.

 

Yea I have my doubts too but I agree with @dave mcbride in that the Baltimore game isn't a reason to panic. It exposed some of the weaknesses we knew were there, sure. But I didn't think they had gone away at 3-0 and I don't think they are season sinking at 3-1 after a bad loss. I feel the same after 4 weeks as I did about the Bills coming in. They are a playoff team. They are not a championship team.

[dave mcbride]

6 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

Something to contemplate is that the Texans and Jets have a higher stat-rated defense in yards allowed. Somehow the Buffalo Bills turned into the Maimi Dolphins against the Ravens...

The Jets defense is absolutely for real. But they have serious, serious problems nonetheless because of the overall vibe, the badly designed offense, and Rodgers' increasing immobility. Denver blitzed the hell out of Rodgers and weren't worried about him throwing it deep -- something he doesn't really do anymore except on Offside freebies, for whatever reason (he certainly has the arm for it). I don't think he loves being hit, and he got hit hard 10 times vs. Denver.

[Coach Tuesday]

13 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Way too early to tell. So much of what happens in January comes down to injury situations. A healthier Bills team would have beaten KC last season, I believe. I know everyone has injuries, but one team will often have a worse injury situation than its opponent, and it's often determinative at that time of the season. If KC wasn't missing their starting two tackles in the SB vs Tampa Bay (players they lost LATE in a blowout win over the Bills in the AFC championship game), they may well have won that game.  

Maybe. But also maybe smaller defenses get more banged up…

[dave mcbride]

7 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Maybe. But also maybe smaller defenses get more banged up…

I think everyone is subject to injury in the NFL, big guys and little guys. O-linemen and d-linemen get hurt all the time.

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, HappyDays said:

 

Wow that is stark to see on the tape. And think of all the 2nd and shorts where we are just running up the middle or an even more mind boggling QB sneak... There has to be a better balance between being risk averse and being big play averse. I hope Brady is seeing this stuff on film and they take the leash off of Allen a bit. Congrats, you successfully got him to throw zero INTs through the month of September. Time to open it back up now.

I've said this for years beyond Dabol.  There needs to be a happy medium between "risky hero ball" Josh and "Brady checkdown" Josh.   With Joe's version obviously int's are minimized but so are big plays.  Joe has to find the middle ground.

Edited October 1 by LABILLBACKER

[Don Otreply]

I would agree the game plans were no bueno, on offense it looked nearly identical to what we ran against the Jags, but with less urgency, 

 

The D was/looked totally overmatched the game plan did not match the opponents known tendencies, it’s as if they thought Henry was not going to be an issue at all, 

 

Oh well, on offense, I suspect Allen will have some thoughts to share with his teammates, he seemed most unpleased with the “ intensity “ of his guys, jmo. 

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, HappyDays said:

 

Also I'm not convinced we have true complementary football going... I know the Chiefs from last year are the epitome of the "small ball" philosophy. They made it work. But they had a defense that can shut teams down in an ugly game while their offense figures it out, and they had an elite kicker that is almost automatic within 55 yards. We have neither. So we have a defense that realistically needs us to score 30 points against any decent opponent to have a chance, we have a kicker that can't be trusted at all, and we have an offense that has to execute 10 plays to perfection to have a successful TD drive. It is the definition of low margin for error football. So yeah when everything goes right against a soft opponent we are going to demolish them, but the moment any adversity hits and we're dragged into a real battle we aren't remotely built for that sort of game script. Which is worrying because that is playoff football in a nutshell.

So very true...we don't have an elite defense or kicker,  so our ability to stay in games while the offense figures it out is greatly jeopardized.  We had momentum and a shot to pull within 21-17 when Brady went braindead with that epic fail trick play. 

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

6 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I don't understand how putting more guys in the box when those guys are bad is going down swinging. They tried the going down swinging approach the first two drives of the 2nd half. They basically just told Williams and Spector, screw your normal responsibilities and crash the line every play. And they forced two three and outs before the turnover. The issue was as soon as Henry did break the line on 2nd down on the next drive running round the left end he was away for serious yardage because there was no 2nd level we'd emptied it out. Now if you want to argue they should have gone to that plan sooner, sure, I'll listen to it because that was a "we gotta try and stop them dictating" throw of the dice. But the just put more men in the box and bigger bodies.... I mean Morrow actually got a decent run stop grade from PFF - the best on the Bills - but he also got the worst coverage grade by a LONG stretch (27 fwiw) and he was in coverage for 5 of Justice Hill's 6 receptions. That is my point. We gave them a light box, they ran it. We tried going heavier they brutalised Morrow in the pass game (Hill was their leading receiver). You get to a point where you can't stop anything. 

 

I think Joe is great but I'd have gone the other way. I'd have stayed in nickel and accepted that they might run it down the field as much as they wanted and tried to rally and tackle and then stiffen in the redzone. What you might call the Frazier, 2020 Chiefs regular season, plan. Because with the personnel available we didn't have the personnel to stop them otherwise. Whichever way we went they had an answer.

McDermott is a former DC and had a week to prepare for this. Personnel or not they should have attempted to stop the run. First play was the typical 2 safeties deep, why do this? I know we always play this but you can’t obviously against this team, why would a supposed defensive guru not know this?

[GunnerBill]

12 minutes ago, BuffaloBillsGospel2014 said:

McDermott is a former DC and had a week to prepare for this. Personnel or not they should have attempted to stop the run. First play was the typical 2 safeties deep, why do this? I know we always play this but you can’t obviously against this team, why would a supposed defensive guru not know this?

 

See I just don't agree. I'd have started that way too. And I'd have stuck with it after the first play. The overreacted to one run IMO (which was well designed and really well executed) and it cost them the next two drives which were the Justice Hill show.

[The Jokeman]

44 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

I've said this for years beyond Dabol.  There needs to be a happy medium between "risky hero ball" Josh and "Brady checkdown" Josh.   With Joe's version obviously int's are minimized but so are big plays.  Joe has to find the middle ground.

We've had shots down field. Week 1 think MVS turned the wrong way, Week 4 Coleman dropped one. Personally outside of this week I have no complaints about our offense. This week was the exception not the rule.

[Royale with Cheese]

10 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

See I just don't agree. I'd have started that way too. And I'd have stuck with it after the first play. The overreacted to one run IMO (which was well designed and really well executed) and it cost them the next two drives which were the Justice Hill show.

 

Are you expecting any changes at safety this week?  Was there enough film this week to show we need to make changes?

[GunnerBill]

5 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

Are you expecting any changes at safety this week?  Was there enough film this week to show we need to make changes?

 

Well Rapp is likely out. I'd make two changes and give Edwards a shot with Bishop. But I think they will probably change one.

[K-9]

1 hour ago, dave mcbride said:

The Jets defense is absolutely for real. But they have serious, serious problems nonetheless because of the overall vibe, the badly designed offense, and Rodgers' increasing immobility. Denver blitzed the hell out of Rodgers and weren't worried about him throwing it deep -- something he doesn't really do anymore except on Offside freebies, for whatever reason (he certainly has the arm for it). I don't think he loves being hit, and he got hit hard 10 times vs. Denver.

Did he tweak a hammy Sunday or was it something else? Any local news on that?

[MJS]

1 hour ago, LABILLBACKER said:

I've said this for years beyond Dabol.  There needs to be a happy medium between "risky hero ball" Josh and "Brady checkdown" Josh.   With Joe's version obviously int's are minimized but so are big plays.  Joe has to find the middle ground.

Defenses are putting a cap on big plays now, not just with the Bills but all around the league. Things were different a few years ago with Daboll.

[Royale with Cheese]

13 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Well Rapp is likely out. I'd make two changes and give Edwards a shot with Bishop. But I think they will probably change one.

 

Bishop and Hamlin?  What is Hamlin showing McDermott and Babich that keeps him playing?

[GunnerBill]

13 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

Bishop and Hamlin?  What is Hamlin showing McDermott and Babich that keeps him playing?

 

I just don't think they will change two at the same time. I would. But that doesn't feel like their MO. They are more cautious.

[Big Blitz]

I’ll choose to think this is what the coaches decided on Sunday.  

 

 

Football is like this too.  
 

The Ravens will not see up and in fastballs in January.  
 

Also, I just love this clip.  
 

MLB Playoffs are here!!!

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

52 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

See I just don't agree. I'd have started that way too. And I'd have stuck with it after the first play. The overreacted to one run IMO (which was well designed and really well executed) and it cost them the next two drives which were the Justice Hill show.

He ran for 100+ after the 1st drive I didn’t see an over reaction.

[Fan in San Diego]

Maybe McDermott watched the analysis , they signed a big body today, Zion Logue.

 

 

[BillsVet]

2 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

Also I'm not convinced we have true complementary football going... I know the Chiefs from last year are the epitome of the "small ball" philosophy. They made it work. But they had a defense that can shut teams down in an ugly game while their offense figures it out, and they had an elite kicker that is almost automatic within 55 yards. We have neither. So we have a defense that realistically needs us to score 30 points against any decent opponent to have a chance, we have a kicker that can't be trusted at all, and we have an offense that has to execute 10 plays to perfection to have a successful TD drive. It is the definition of low margin for error football. So yeah when everything goes right against a soft opponent we are going to demolish them, but the moment any adversity hits and we're dragged into a real battle we aren't remotely built for that sort of game script. Which is worrying because that is playoff football in a nutshell.

 

Warren Sharp today called McD the purgatory HC.  He's just not going to get better in-game and adapt philosophically.