Bills sleepwalking

[Simon]

4 minutes ago, WhiskyBreath said:

The website is savoring the win.  No mention of our upcoming opponent.  I guess we can take things for granted.....

 

Yeah, no mention at all.

Except for that 10 page thread pinned to the very top of the page.

 

Maybe you should have a seat and stop starting multiple mindless new threads with zero interesting, original or sensible content.

[Gugny]

2 minutes ago, FireChans said:

The Patriots and Chiefs dynasties have both had their share of struggles/vulnerabilities in the regular season, and turned back into juggernauts for their SB runs. It happened last year lol.

When that has happened, it was abundantly clear that it wasn’t due to them laying up. 
 

Neither of those teams had leadership that would encourage that. 
 

Lol. 

[JustHewIt]

Our Defensive philosophy has always been to come out vanilla, bend and try to not break, and adjust. This is nothing new.

 

Our offense has a relatively new coordinator and tons of new faces.

 

We're 5-2, have a strong running game, just added Amari Cooper, have blown out three teams, Josh hasnt thrown a pick and has a passer rating over 100, and are 2-0 in the division on the road.  I understand the lack of patience with McDermott, but things do look a bit different this year. Can we show a bit of grace?

[Bruffalo]

17 minutes ago, CSBill said:

 

Speaking of the Fish, I saw a stat yesterday I could not believe (especially with their "Offensive genius" Head Coach): They have scored a grand total of 70 points in six games. 70 !!! How bad is it that the Patriots and Giants are next, tied at 99?

 

Even with one less game, that is ridiculous 😱 and hilarious 🤣
 

People were so quick to tell me I was wrong when I said the extension was premature and a poor decision by the Dolphins. 

Edited 7 hours ago by Bruffalo

[eball]

16 minutes ago, Gugny said:

If it’s by design, then there is a serious problem.

 

It’s not intentional.  It’s human nature.  And yes, the Pats*** frequently sleepwalked through the early regular season.

 

[dgrochester55]

I noticed this in the Titans and Cardinals games, a listless start followed by a very strong finish. A glass half full way of looking at it is that the team is making the right adjustments and then blowing them out of the water. This is a contrast to the past where Buffalo would start strong against weak teams and let them hang around too long or almost catch up. To me, that is a sign of improved coaching making the right adjustments in the game. We have been begging for this for years. With the glaring exception of the Texans game, McDermott has done a better job of in game management so far.

 

 

[BruceVilanch]

If you listen to Josh Allen mic'd up either he or another player makes a reference to needing to play both halfs the same way they played the 2nd half, so the players clearly understand the slow start. I think over the next few weeks we'll see better starts with Cooper getting up to speed.

[Gregg]

23 minutes ago, CSBill said:

 

Speaking of the Fish, I saw a stat yesterday I could not believe (especially with their "Offensive genius" Head Coach): They have scored a grand total of 70 points in six games. 70 !!! How bad is it that the Patriots and Giants are next, tied at 99?

 

Even with one less game, that is ridiculous 😱 and hilarious 🤣
 

 

 

[Kaenon]

3 hours ago, WhiskyBreath said:

The Bills are getting into the habit of sleepwalking through games.  They often seem to lack the desire to compete and win.  But, when they do, they play as one of the best teams in the league.  The coaches seem generally ineffective in getting them pumped up.

Must be that the pre-game DJ is spinning some whack music to start things off.

[strive_for_five_guy]

58 minutes ago, WhiskyBreath said:

The website is savoring the win.  No mention of our upcoming opponent.  I guess we can take things for granted.....

Wait, there’s another game ahead?

[The Jokeman]

2 hours ago, WhiskyBreath said:

Good points, GunnerBill, especially with the key injuries; for example, Milano out for most of the last 2 seasons.  But, by sleepwalking, I mean under-performing.  They play well below their potential and that is exactly what happened in the loss to the Texans when they were asleep for all of the first half.  That said, I do like that the coaches seem to make the correct adjustments at half time.

 

I would like to see a few more screen plays, though, especially when the opponents over-commit to rushing Josh.  Last week, they did counter that with short, quick passes to our speedsters like Khalil.

I think we started to see a screen game against the Titans when Shakir kept getting passes around the LOS and then was using his RAC ability to get downfield. 

[Beck Water]

1 hour ago, Gugny said:

When I think of great teams/dynasties, this mindset/behavior isn’t part of my memories. 
 

Most recently, the Patriots and Chiefs. 
 

This isn’t the NBA, where 3/4 of the regular season doesn’t mean anything. Or MLB, where you have 162 regular season games. 
 

I hope (and tend to think) that Gunner Bill’s 2nd bullet is the primary reason we’re seeing slow starts and inconsistent play. 
 

If it’s by design, then there is a serious problem. 

 

It's not by design.  

[EasternOHBillsFan]

I have noticed as my wife has that the Bills wait until halftime to make crucial defensive adjustments in most of the games. Also, with the limited abilities of the WRs we have started so far because of injuries and not having a true #1 WR, Josh has had to figure out with help from coaches how to best break through how the opposing defense was slowing them down. With the booming trend for Keon and the acquisition of Coop, the limitations we once had SHOULD melt away and we will get better and better. I am not worried at all as we get healthier.

[FireChans]

1 hour ago, Gugny said:

When that has happened, it was abundantly clear that it wasn’t due to them laying up. 
 

Neither of those teams had leadership that would encourage that. 
 

Lol. 

Yeah I don’t agree. Kelce in particular was clearing holding back his second gear in regular season because he’s 100 years old and can’t play at that level for 20 games.

[WhiskyBreath]

2 minutes ago, FireChans said:

Yeah I don’t agree. Kelce in particular was clearing holding back his second gear in regular season because he’s 100 years old and can’t play at that level for 20 games.

 

Kelce only gets fired up when the babe is watching.

[nucci]

3 hours ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

Why do I feel you've been drinking?

 

or should start

[T.E.]

3 hours ago, WhiskyBreath said:

The Bills are getting into the habit of sleepwalking through games.  They often seem to lack the desire to compete and win.  But, when they do, they play as one of the best teams in the league.  The coaches seem generally ineffective in getting them pumped up.

This is 100% true, despite all the homers getting mad at you for bringing it up, and it's been going on for years. They start out flat most games and definitely have an issue with underestimating opponents they view to be inferior.

 

Fans can look though the rose-colored glasses all they want, but the fact remains that we've played two teams who currently have a winning record, fell down by three scores to each early, and lost both games. The slow starts just can't happen against other top squads. This week will be a good test.

[Captain Hindsight]

1 hour ago, FireChans said:

The Patriots and Chiefs dynasties have both had their share of struggles/vulnerabilities in the regular season, and turned back into juggernauts for their SB runs. It happened last year lol.

The Chiefs lost on Christmas day to Aiden OConnell in KC. They finished as the 3 seed and to win road games in Buffalo and Baltimore to get to the SB. But we are worried about a 24 point win in October? Spare me

[Kincaid Kool-Aid]

To the OP's point, the NFL.com power rankings this week actually nailed this "sleepwalking" point as well with a pretty good analogy (in bold). The "boxer" analogy seems to apply to the entire team, including Josh sometimes in particular. I know I've heard the broadcast crew during games on more than one occasion over the years say something to the effect of Josh sometimes seems to need a good hit or two on him to get the juices flowing.

 

Amari Cooper woke up after halftime in his Bills debut and clearly added a dimension to the offense that hadn't been there. That was a highly encouraging development, and it theoretically should get better with time. The veteran's presence in the lineup also appeared to give rookie Keon Coleman a little boost in his best showing to date, with four catches for 125 yards. The entire offense was incredibly sleepy early in the game, which has been an issue before, so it can't be blamed on getting Cooper up to speed. Buffalo got going eventually, and the defense also rallied after a shaky start that saw the home team fall into a 10-0 hole against lowly Tennessee. The end product: A 34-10 win. You'd like to see the Bills give a more complete 60 minutes week in and week out against seemingly lesser foes, but that's not really how they're built. They're sort of the boxer who needs to take a few shots before the match really starts. That worked against the Titans and Cardinals, but it didn't work against Houston and Baltimore. Translation: The Bills need to get this out of their system before the playoffs.

[Dat]

So is this your way of saying they need the Jills back and you want to be head chearleader?