THE ROCKPILE REVIEW – Why the Bills are Tough to Beat

[Shaw66]

The Bills beat the Dolphins in Orchard Park today, 30-27. It was a great win.

 

I watched the game in my home in Connecticut, and I watched Detroit-Green Bay and Indianapolis-Minnesota.

 

NFL football has changed; it has flipped from a game dictated by the offense into a game that is dictated by the defense. All over the league, what I’m seeing is hard-nosed, tough defense. Offenses can succeed against those defenses only by picking at the defense, finding the things the defense gives, and then executing, play after play. If you don’t find the opening, and you don’t execute, you aren’t scoring. (On Josh’s interception against the Dolphins, he found the opening, Coleman didn’t execute.)

 

The defenses are so quick and so smart, they may give up yards, but they don’t give up many big plays. Yes, there are exceptions (Detroit is gashing everyone), but defenses have the upper hand.

 

In many NFL games now, two teams are matched up with both teams playing that kind of defense. The result is much of the game is played within ten yards of the line of scrimmage. It’s like an orchestrated 11-on-11 wrestling match in a defined space. In that kind of game, toughness wins, because toughness is what gets the offense an extra yard, toughness is what makes the stop on fourth and one. Toughness wins wrestling matches.

 

Texans-Jets looked like that kind of game, until the old Aaron Rodgers showed up. Two tough teams with quickness all over their defenses, fighting it out. Scoring in a game like that is a real accomplishment. Lions-Packers looked like that, too, and Colts-Vikings. And Dolphins-Bills.

 

It’s old-fashioned football, hard-nosed football, play after play. Winning football grinds it out, play after play, on offense , on defense, on special teams. Yes, it isn’t three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust football – there’s a lot of throwing and a lot of movement, but like many games in the ‘50s and ‘60s, it’s a game where one side imposes its will on the other, imposes it physically and mentally.

 

And that is why the Bills are tough to beat. The league has reverted to the game the Bills like to play: old-fashioned, in-your-face football.

 

The Bills aren’t exactly blowing teams out with explosive offense; they’re grinding teams down with relentless offense. The Bills just methodically beat their opponents. Long drives, regularly finding the opportunity on each play and taking it. They convert third downs and the occasional fourth down. They overcome penalties. They’re tough in the red zone. And they do all of it more effectively than their opponent.

 

They do it by being tough, by fighting through every moment on the field. And that is exactly the kind of football that Sean McDermott wants to play. They do it with the intensity of wrestlers. It’s a team in McDermott’s image.

 

The Dolphins game is the latest example. That was just an outstanding performance.

 

The Dolphins are about as good a 2-6 team as you’re going to see in this league. When Tua is healthy and throwing in rhythm, he’s a tough opponent. He has receivers, running backs, and a creative coach, and that offense is a handful. And the defense is tough.

 

The Dolphins were up against it with the Bills. They needed a win to have any realistic chance of saving their season. They are a good team, motivated and focused, and they came to Buffalo well prepared. The Bills wouldn’t let them win.

 

The Bills offense was relentless. Allen was in control; he seemed always to know where to go with the ball. He ran well, once for an important first down, once for a touchdown that was called back on the second of two apparent phantom holding calls. His throwing was off, but he found and hit receivers well enough to win. On Davis’s touchdown, he knew at the snap where the ball needed to go. Davis took every yard the defense gave him.

 

The defense had trouble stopping the Dolphins all day. The Dolphins scored on every possession except for a punt in the first quarter and a fumble in the third. They did it by being tough and relentless in much the same way the Bills played. They took advantage of openings in the Bills defense all day, with few explosive plays but with good yardage on a lot of plays. Tua was 25 for 28, because he was able to throw on schedule and without any serious pressure from the Bills.

 

Each team had three touchdowns; the Bills had one more possession than the Dolphins and kicked one more field goal. Why did the Bills have one more possession? Because the Dolphins won the coin toss and deferred. That resulted in the Bills having one more possession in the first half, and that last possession yielded a field goal.

 

(The Bills actually were better than the score would indicate. Coleman’s failure to catch Allen’s throw in the red zone cost the Bills seven points, and the two phantom holding calls cost the Bills four. Miami would have been in a deeper hole if those plays had gone the way they should have.)

 

In the second half, the Bills did what they seem to do in most games: overcome a slow start and take control of the game. Each team had four possessions – the Bills got three touchdowns and a field goal and the Dolphins got only two touchdowns and a field goal. Why? Because Taron Johnson forced a fumble on the Dolphins first possession of the half and Kair Elam recovered. That flipped the script on the Dolphins – the presumed second-half advantage of having the first possession vanished, the Bills scored their first touchdown, and from that point the Bills controlled the outcome. If it had been a wrestling match, the takeaway would have been called a reversal.

 

In the end, it came down Tyler Bass’s 61-yard field goal, an improbable finish considering Bass’s recent history of shaky performances. Allen was far from his best on the game-winning drive, but it’s a team game, and he got enough to get the Bills into range, sort of. They surely wanted another 15 yards to make the kick a little less dramatic but if you’re tough, you take what you get and make the most of it. That’s what Bass did, and that’s what the Bills did.

 

It was a great tough-it-out win, the kind of win the Bills are built for. It’s throwback football, and that’s the kind of guy McDermott is. The question, as always, is “how far can the Bills go with that approach?” There are plenty of tough teams in the league, and some of them have better talent. We will find out in the next few weeks, as the Bills face the Chiefs, the 49ers, and the Lions.

 

In the meantime, it’s on to Indianapolis. The Colts will play the Bills tough.

 

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 every-day 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.

Edited 10 hours ago by Shaw66

[Sweats]

I'm not going to lie, i'm "old school" so i like gritty, hard-nosed, hard fought grid iron battles.

It reminds me of the old days when teams just beat up on each other and the team that had the most fortitude, patience and who could impose their will, most often times won.

That's what i'm seeing from this team.....a team that can impose their will. The first half of games are concerning for the most part, as it seems like they are usually just kind of seeing what the opposition is trying to do and in the second half, they just straight up play ball, dominate and impose their will.....kind of like, "oh yeah, well we saw what you're bringing to the table and here's a little something we bring to the party"....almost like a back and forth chess match.

 

I love it.

[Lost]

Sorry but I prefer the explosive Daboll style offense we ran 2021 and 2022 as opposed all these heavy run first packages we're doing now.    The kind that spread the field out and often ran three WR sets and extinguished the Patriots 47-17 in zero degree weather in January.   We have a generational QB and I want the ball in his hands more often than not.  

 

 Also, I didn't really see anything tough or hard nosed about our defense yesterday.  

 

We're managing to rack up wins against sub 500 teams, but I still don't see anything we're doing that's gonna dominate in January against other elite teams.  

[Shaw66]

3 minutes ago, Sweats said:

I'm not going to lie, i'm "old school" so i like gritty, hard-nosed, hard fought grid iron battles.

It reminds me of the old days when teams just beat up on each other and the team that had the most fortitude, patience and who could impose their will, most often times won.

That's what i'm seeing from this team.....a team that can impose their will. The first half of games are concerning for the most part, as it seems like they are usually just kind of seeing what the opposition is trying to do and in the second half, they just straight up play ball, dominate and impose their will.....kind of like, "oh yeah, well we saw what you're bringing to the table and here's a little something we bring to the party"....almost like a back and forth chess match.

 

I love it.

I gotta say that when I write these, I have a healthy understanding that I may be completely off base, and I had that concern writing this one. It's comforting to learn that someone else sees it the same way. 

 

In the old days, in the '50s and '60s, a lot of games were struggles from the beginning to the end. It was desperate warfare in the trenches, and every yard was gained by snatching the smallest advantage from the opponent and taking advantage. The desperate warfare never changed, of course - these always have been really tough men fighting every second, but rule and strategy changes made it easier, for a while, to gain yards more easily. 

 

The change has been coming for a few years, but this season it really seems things have flipped. You can still get an occasional explosive play - like Davis's touchdown - but you get it by doing all the little things that let you take advantage of an instantaneous edge you have somewhere, not by just drawing up a deep post or corner and beating your man. 

 

One thing that I think has happened to cause this change is that the league has finally reverted to calling pass interference the way it should be called - contact is okay, so long as it isn't contact that substantially impairs the receiver's ability to make a play.  Incidental contact comes from two great athletes trying to make a play and shouldn't be called.  This season, it isn't being called. Three years ago, on the play where Poyer hit him, Keon would have gotten a pass interference call on the other defender. Not any more, and I think that play was called correctly. 

7 minutes ago, Lost said:

Sorry but I prefer the explosive Daboll style offense we ran 2021 and 2022 as opposed all these heavy run first packages we're doing now.    The kind that spread the field out and often ran three WR sets and extinguished the Patriots 47-17 in zero degree weather in January.   We have a generational QB and I want the ball in his hands more often than not.  

 

 

The whole point is that the explosive Daboll style offense doesn't work any more. KC ran that style too, but they can't any more.  And Detroit is winning by playing the new style too; the difference with Detroit is that they have two exceptional running backs and two exceptional receivers, all of whom can play this grind-it-out style and turn decent gains into big gains. 

[US Egg]

Just one question, should Mack Hollins spotting the ball result in a 10 second runoff? 

[uninja]

24 minutes ago, Lost said:

Sorry but I prefer the explosive Daboll style offense we ran 2021 and 2022 as opposed all these heavy run first packages we're doing now.    The kind that spread the field out and often ran three WR sets and extinguished the Patriots 47-17 in zero degree weather in January.   We have a generational QB and I want the ball in his hands more often than not.  

 

 Also, I didn't really see anything tough or hard nosed about our defense yesterday.  

 

We're managing to rack up wins against sub 500 teams, but I still don't see anything we're doing that's gonna dominate in January against other elite teams.  

Teams are smart and adapt. They’re playing light boxes and 2 deep shells. You’re not gonna be able to chuck it all over the yard. 

[Dillenger4]

The way I see it is our O and D don't have enough talent. We have good players but no elite players. And it shows. The PHINS are NOT a good team. They are NOT tough. The OP loved seeing two pretty good teams play each other in a divisional battle - a division at the lower end of the NFL.

Bills can be good but don't fool yourselves yet. Indy and KC will be very tough games! These are the 2 that start the gauntlet. Let's see who is tough.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Appreciate and respect the OP but what game was he watching? Hard nosed defense? Miami ran all over the Bills most of the game. Taron made a magnificent play. Bills D took advantage of a bobbled snap. Otherwise they rarely stopped the Dolphins. The defense gave up two fourth quarter leads again. Honestly it was a dumb decision by Miami to not go for two that probably would have won the game. 

Josh was amazing most of the game and he bailed out McD and the defense again. Even with that it took a dumb penalty by Poyer to put them in position to win. If Bills are forced to punt, Miami wins that game even before OT. 

[Avisan]

1 hour ago, US Egg said:

Just one question, should Mack Hollins spotting the ball result in a 10 second runoff? 

No.  Refs almost always adjust the spot but Hollins appeared to have genuinely spotted the ball correctly, so no need.

[Gregg]

26 minutes ago, Dillenger4 said:

The way I see it is our O and D don't have enough talent. We have good players but no elite players. And it shows. The PHINS are NOT a good team. They are NOT tough. The OP loved seeing two pretty good teams play each other in a divisional battle - a division at the lower end of the NFL.

Bills can be good but don't fool yourselves yet. Indy and KC will be very tough games! These are the 2 that start the gauntlet. Let's see who is tough.

 

KC, SF, DET will be tough games, but Indy shouldn't be. I am not saying the Bills can't lose to the Colts as upsets happen all the time. But this a game the Bills should win.

[LABILLBACKER]

2 hours ago, Sweats said:

I'm not going to lie, i'm "old school" so i like gritty, hard-nosed, hard fought grid iron battles.

It reminds me of the old days when teams just beat up on each other and the team that had the most fortitude, patience and who could impose their will, most often times won.

That's what i'm seeing from this team.....a team that can impose their will. The first half of games are concerning for the most part, as it seems like they are usually just kind of seeing what the opposition is trying to do and in the second half, they just straight up play ball, dominate and impose their will.....kind of like, "oh yeah, well we saw what you're bringing to the table and here's a little something we bring to the party"....almost like a back and forth chess match.

 

I love it.

I'm concerned that we can't just flip a switch every 2nd half and get away with it.  The penalties and our below avg run defense will rear it's ugly head again.  I don't know if I'd call our team tough but they're more of a finesse opportunistic team.  

[Nihilarian]

2 hours ago, Lost said:

Sorry but I prefer the explosive Daboll style offense we ran 2021 and 2022 as opposed all these heavy run first packages we're doing now.    The kind that spread the field out and often ran three WR sets and extinguished the Patriots 47-17 in zero degree weather in January.   We have a generational QB and I want the ball in his hands more often than not.  

 

 Also, I didn't really see anything tough or hard nosed about our defense yesterday.  

 

We're managing to rack up wins against sub 500 teams, but I still don't see anything we're doing that's gonna dominate in January against other elite teams.  

Not for me. I love this style of offense, as it takes so much heat off of Josh Allen, and he doesn't need to put on the cape as often. The 2024 Buffalo Bills are a very, very balanced offense, and they pick and choose what they want to do against an opponent. One-dimensional offenses can be shut down and Buffalo is no longer that team. 

 

Daboll had his issues when Josh had difficulty throwing it. Daboll just kept calling pass plays, resulting in 40+ pass attempts in some games. Meanwhile, Allen was under great duress during these games, getting hit and taking sacks. As the OP noted defenses have caught up with that bombs-away offense as it usually only works against weak teams nowadays. 

 

Buffalo OC Joe Brady is the best OC this franchise has seen since the Jim Ringo/Ted Marchibroda days of the late 80's, and early 90's. Plus, foul weather doesn't have the same effect on a team that can run the ball well or pass it equally well. This offense is so good that lately, the multiple penalties during drives don't stop or even stall them for very long. 

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Appreciate and respect the OP but what game was he watching? Hard nosed defense? Miami ran all over the Bills most of the game. Taron made a magnificent play. Bills D took advantage of a bobbled snap. Otherwise they rarely stopped the Dolphins. The defense gave up two fourth quarter leads again. Honestly it was a dumb decision by Miami to not go for two that probably would have won the game. 

Josh was amazing most of the game and he bailed out McD and the defense again. Even with that it took a dumb penalty by Poyer to put them in position to win. If Bills are forced to punt, Miami wins that game even before OT. 

You're confusing toughness with excellence.  Bills are tough. They haven't been excellent, at least not consisterly.  

[BillsVet]

3 hours ago, Lost said:

Sorry but I prefer the explosive Daboll style offense we ran 2021 and 2022 as opposed all these heavy run first packages we're doing now.    The kind that spread the field out and often ran three WR sets and extinguished the Patriots 47-17 in zero degree weather in January.   We have a generational QB and I want the ball in his hands more often than not.  

 

 Also, I didn't really see anything tough or hard nosed about our defense yesterday.  

 

We're managing to rack up wins against sub 500 teams, but I still don't see anything we're doing that's gonna dominate in January against other elite teams.  

 

Yeah.  No one is demanding they throw 50x/game, but to feature an offense which can routinely out-score their opponent when/if the defense breaks down.  Because if the entire defense needs to be healthy, the likelihood of that is lower as the season plays out.  

 

The stretch versus KC, versus SF, then at the Rams, and at Detroit will tell the real story about the 2024 Bills.  Because right now, 7-2 is nice, but with a strength of schedule the 4th easiest in the NFL and strength of victories sitting at .333 so far, it's not a complete reflection of how good they are.  Because the real games are about to start and either they've improved over the ugly Baltimore and Houston losses or they're a similar team.  In which case, their playoff experience is likely to end before the SB.    

[Ethan in Cleveland]

29 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

You're confusing toughness with excellence.  Bills are tough. They haven't been excellent, at least not consisterly.  

I will give you this. Winning football in the second half is a sign of mental toughness. That seems to be something they are getting better at. Winning close games is also good experience to learn from. Young players playing in tight games is also good experience.  

[RoyBatty is alive]

3 hours ago, US Egg said:

Just one question, should Mack Hollins spotting the ball result in a 10 second runoff? 

He has done that in other games and on one play vs Phins the Refs did slightly move the ball but I thought it was heads up on his part, noy sure if he was coached that way but it saved us a lot of time.

 

Keep an eye on this, I think the NFL is going to have to address this, just like the did a few years ago when the Cowboys couldn't get the last layoff game snapped in time.

2 hours ago, Ethan in Cleveland said:

Appreciate and respect the OP but what game was he watching? Hard nosed defense? Miami ran all over the Bills most of the game. Taron made a magnificent play. Bills D took advantage of a bobbled snap. Otherwise they rarely stopped the Dolphins. The defense gave up two fourth quarter leads again. Honestly it was a dumb decision by Miami to not go for two that probably would have won the game. 

Josh was amazing most of the game and he bailed out McD and the defense again. Even with that it took a dumb penalty by Poyer to put them in position to win. If Bills are forced to punt, Miami wins that game even before OT. 

Going for two would have won them the game?  Illogical.

 

First they have top make it.  Second, it would give them a 1 point lead and we still cam out and got a field goal so we would have won any, had they gone for 2 or not.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

1 hour ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

He has done that in other games and on one play vs Phins the Refs did slightly move the ball but I thought it was heads up on his part, noy sure if he was coached that way but it saved us a lot of time.

 

Keep an eye on this, I think the NFL is going to have to address this, just like the did a few years ago when the Cowboys couldn't get the last layoff game snapped in time.

Going for two would have won them the game?  Illogical.

 

First they have top make it.  Second, it would give them a 1 point lead and we still cam out and got a field goal so we would have won any, had they gone for 2 or not.

It's obviously not a sure win. 

A made FG by Buffalo is a loss either way.

If they make the 2 pt conversion then a missed FG means a win not just OT. 

 

I think the best argument for kicking the XP is then it makes Buffalo decide how aggressive to be - play for win or for OT.