THE ROCKPILE REVIEW – Why the Bills are Tough to Beat

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, Sweats said:

Let's be honest here, it would be nice to see the Bills come out every week and dominate every team in all 3 aspects......kind of like we did in our first 3 games this season, however, that is just not realistic whatsoever.

 

There will be a lot of games that are tight and some where we play from behind and some where we absolutely **** the bed, but the aspect that sets good teams apart from average teams is how they face adversity and how they climb out of the hole.

Ravens absolutely dominated us, and it was never even really close considering we had no answers for Henry (live and learn and hope we recalibrate if we run into them again) .......the Texans game was winnable and yet, we couldn't put it all together to give them a good run.

 

We don't have to come out each week and completely dominate teams (rarely happens week to week), what we need is solid game planning, stick with what's working and impose our will on the other team.

We've all seen teams that just kind of give up mentally and just concede that "today is not their day" (the Bills have done this themselves sometimes) ......imposing your will, breaking the other team down and making them honestly earn every yard.

 

Case in point.......former games against the Fins (not really last Sunday's game). We absolutely dominated every Fins game. We beat them in every aspect and just basically beat them down. We imposed our will, and you could see that the Fins just wanted to get out of there and go home. They wanted nothing to do with it......we "break" them every time we play them.

 

That, is imposing your will.......and that, is what we need to do week to week and that, is what will bring us a SB.

 

The first half of the season is about winning enough games to be nicely positioned to make the playoffs. The development of the team isn't complete yet, and the result is that there will be close games, ugly games, even a loss here and there that shouldn't happen.  As the second half of the season progresses, the team should be rounding into form, becoming the best team they can be. 

 

What's disturbing about the Chiefs is that they've been able to win all of their games, even the ugly games. But it really doesn't matter all that much, except for the playoff seeding. What matters is becoming high-performing team over the next two months. The Bills have a shot at that.  If they develop nicely, they'll win their share of the tough games coming up, they'll finish the season at 12-5 or better, and they'll be ready for a playoff run. If they don't develop, they'll lose three or for of the big games ahead of them, finish 10-7, and struggle for a game or two in the playoffs. 

[SoCal Deek]

Shaw, maybe it's already been said, but the stylistic shift appears to be caused by the evolution in defensive alignment...no? It seems like teams have adapted to the passing game by dropping more players into coverage (two deep safeties, nickel corners, and coverage LBs). The natural reaction has then been for Offenses to counter that by running the ball and/or settling for short, quick pass routes. I watch a lot of EPL 'soccer' and am always amazed at the minor tactical alignment shifts that Managers make depending on their opponent. It doesn't seem like it should make that much difference....but it clearly does. The same evolutionary pendulum is swinging in the NFL, just not on a game-by-game, or opponent-by-opponent basis.

[Dillenger4]

19 hours ago, Gregg said:

 

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.

I agree for the most part - but Indy has a good D line. They can create havoc. If Coleman is out it might make it hard for Josh to find open receivers. We will see.

[Lost]

21 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

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. 

 

I don't know what it is but something feels different.   Maybe it's just the lack of Diggs now but the motto back then was that "the short passing game was our run game."   I just don't feel nearly as confident in the Bills with this new era offense.  from 2020 through most of 2022, I always expected the Bills to convert 3rd downs,  having by far the largest 3rd down percentage in the league.   Most of the time however Josh was ripping off 5-10 yards a pass and converting on 2nd down.   This year I just don't have that confidence and am usually saying a prayer that they actually convert those 3rd downs.   The Bills have dropped from 1st in the league the 3 years prior to 17th in 3rd down conversion rate this year.   

 

The reason for the drop in my eyes is constantly running two tight end sets, or bringing in Alec Anderson as the 6th OL, or having Jalen Virgil on the field who's only purpose is to run a pre snap motion.   We might as well be playing 10vs11 in some of those scenarios.   I hate it.   And if you argue that all those extra run blockers and lighter boxes by the defenses have dramatically improved our run game I'm not sure it has other than we're just running more.   James Cook's yards per carry are 4.6 this year, last year it was 4.7, in 2022 it was 5.7.    

[JP51]

23 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

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.

As always agree with just about everything here... gutsy performance and I might say by both teams . Outside of losing the Phins have nothing to be ashamed of. In the end its a battle of wills... I would love to see the Bills come play lights out for 60 minutes.... but they just continue to do what they do.... and for the most part win. With the exception of the Ravens, they have out toughed everyone... some execution to clean up, new players... hopefully the round into a Championship form. 

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

hard to beat? well, we must be forgetting about the already crowned chiefs!

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, Lost said:

 

I don't know what it is but something feels different.   Maybe it's just the lack of Diggs now but the motto back then was that "the short passing game was our run game."   I just don't feel nearly as confident in the Bills with this new era offense.  from 2020 through most of 2022, I always expected the Bills to convert 3rd downs,  having by far the largest 3rd down percentage in the league.   Most of the time however Josh was ripping off 5-10 yards a pass and converting on 2nd down.   This year I just don't have that confidence and am usually saying a prayer that they actually convert those 3rd downs.   The Bills have dropped from 1st in the league the 3 years prior to 17th in 3rd down conversion rate this year.   

 

The reason for the drop in my eyes is constantly running two tight end sets, or bringing in Alec Anderson as the 6th OL, or having Jalen Virgil on the field who's only purpose is to run a pre snap motion.   We might as well be playing 10vs11 in some of those scenarios.   I hate it.   And if you argue that all those extra run blockers and lighter boxes by the defenses have dramatically improved our run game I'm not sure it has other than we're just running more.   James Cook's yards per carry are 4.6 this year, last year it was 4.7, in 2022 it was 5.7.    

I agree, the offense isn't overpowering. And I agree, I don't know what Anderson and Virgil add.  Either one takes a valuable skill player off the field and makes the offense less multiple. 

 

As to your first paragraph, again, referring to three years ago is pretty much irrelevant. Most teams are stopping that dynamic downfield offense. All the good teams are winning by going on extended drives, just like the Bills did Sunday and against the Seahawks before that. That seems to be the only way for offenses to succeed consistently in this era.