An Offensive Coaching decision that really put the Bills behind in the First Half....

[Governor]

5 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

So I guess our coaches had no desire to go after the 1 seed. They strategized to tap out.

I think they’ve been using a safety first strategy the last 3 weeks so yes I don’t think the 1 seed is top priority. Our WR and TE would be out there if it was.

[chaccof]

The offense did almost all they could to win this game.  The defense did all they could to lose the game and guess what, it worked.  Detroit might get 500 yards on the ground next week.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

9 hours ago, Doc Brown said:

I think there were a few plays in the second half too where he could've ran the ball for an easy first down but chose to launch it down the field.  He knows he can always slide too so I think he was just big play hunting.  

 

All I can say is losing sucks.

Some of the late ones like that were really smart plays where he didn’t want to chance getting tackled inbounds.  Early ones I think were your classic ‘why take hits with the playoffs locked up’. If he knew the way the bills defense would play the rest of the game I’m sure he would’ve run more 

7 minutes ago, chaccof said:

The offense did almost all they could to win this game.  The defense did all they could to lose the game and guess what, it worked.  Detroit might get 500 yards on the ground next week.

I still don’t think Detroit is capable of what LA did yesterday on offense…a lot of it was Stafford being laser accurate and wrs making ridiculous plays.  That’s not really goff’s game. 
 

The talk after this game has been weird to me..every time we lose it’s ’the Bills played vanilla soft zone, x team will run all over us next week’ but that didn’t seem like the case to me at all in this one.  
LA really didn’t run the ball as well as it seemed 

Edited December 9 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

2 hours ago, Sweats said:

We seem to have the best production from Cook when he is running to the outside edges, but why we continue to run him up the gut for 1 yard is beyond belief.

 

Our D was a sieve all day long. We kept Kupp in check and let Nacua run all over the field and sit in the soft zones and did nothing to address it.

 

Zero pressure on Stafford, even behind one of the most suspect Olines in the NFL.

 

..........disgusting

 

We tried manning nacua and they'd motion him across the formation which all but exposes you since he's a free releaser with blockers.  They tried pressure looks but they had answers with rub routes.  It didn't help that stafford was hitting incredible boundary throws, and nacua and kupp made some great catches - nacuas toe tap and kupp catching a 3rd down TD with his leg?  In the same game?  I mean come ON!   

 

The run game made it look easy for them in the first half - in the 2nd half i felt like the rams earned the win with some key plays.  I felt like ingram penalty was a bit ticky tack if by the book (and somehow the exact same infraction against cooper is... not a penalty), the 4th and 5 rock into your stance was a weird swallow your whistle moment, and kupp probably held on the last TD. 

 

Can't get too mad, the team battled - the offense kept them in it and the defense played a lot better in the 4th quarter even if the results don't show it.  

15 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Some of the late ones like that were really smart plays where he didn’t want to chance getting tackled inbounds.  Early ones I think were your classic ‘why take hits with the playoffs locked up’. If he knew the way the bills defense would play the rest of the game I’m sure he would’ve run more 

I still don’t think Detroit is capable of what LA did yesterday on offense…a lot of it was Stafford being laser accurate and wrs making ridiculous plays.  That’s not really goff’s game. 
 

The talk after this game has been weird to me..every time we lose it’s ’the Bills played vanilla soft zone, x team will run all over us next week’ but that didn’t seem like the case to me at all in this one.  
LA really didn’t run the ball as well as it seemed 

 

They ran it a lot, but most of the yards came in the first.  And yes - Stafford played really well.  Like well enough to understand why a healthy stafford was the trade piece, and goff was the throw in.  

[Nuncha]

9 hours ago, Special K said:

As dreadful as the Defense was in this game, did anyone else notice that in the first half that aside from a few QB sneaks Josh did not scramble or run the ball at all in the first half. In fact, there were a few plays where he could have easily run for 10+ yards and he threw an errant pass or threw the ball away. I am not blaming JA for this, it seemed like a concerted decision by the coaching staff to keep him from running.....and the offense looked stale and out of whack because of it.

 

In the second half when the Bills were behind by 17 points, it looked like the coaching staff took the shackles off Josh, and he started running....picking up huge chunks of yards, in fact......then all of a sudden the passing game came to life and the Bills began to move the ball at will and almost pulled off an improbable comeback.

 

Were the coaches trying to play it safe since the Bills already have the Division locked up, and didn't want to risk injury?? If so, I hope they learned their lesson that the Offense will not run smoothly if the opposing D doesn't have to account for the threat of Josh running.....it opens up everything else.

 

The contrast of the first and second halves is clear proof of that, IMO.

 

Thoughts??

I noticed this as well, and I kept telling everyone watching with me that Josh has got to run in order for us to get back in the game.  

[djp14150]

So offense is the reason we lost……

[Beck Water]

10 hours ago, Big Turk said:

That 4th down punt near midfield on 4th and 2 right before the half drive me nuts.

 

Same

1 hour ago, djp14150 said:

So offense is the reason we lost……

 

No.

 

But it may be that defense "is what it is", in which case, "can the offense be even better?" is a fair question

 

Remember, one stop was the difference in the game.

[26TrapDraw]

11 hours ago, NickelCity said:

 

That was a tough one. I don't think I would have had the stones to go for it, especially getting the ball back after half. 

get that but when did a conservative decision from Mcdermott  EVER work out for this team?

[Boatdrinks]

58 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

 

Same

 

No.

 

But it may be that defense "is what it is", in which case, "can the offense be even better?" is a fair question

 

Remember, one stop was the difference in the game.

The defense is what it is. That’s been known all season long- actually for several seasons. The offense can be better- having Coleman and Kincaid back gives them more options. Cooper is becoming more involved. They’re not going to score in the 40’s weekly. The defense will have to perform closer to their season average for the Bills to win in the playoffs. A game like yesterday’s , while winnable because we have Josh Allen, will not be a favorable situation in the postseason. 

[MrEpsYtown]

11 hours ago, Big Turk said:

That 4th down punt near midfield on 4th and 2 right before the half drive me nuts.

 

I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago. Against the Chiefs McDermott finally showed some cajones and trusted his team and played to win. I loved that and I thought he had ade a permanent change. I said something like if this is the new McDermott then the rest of the NFL is in trouble. For whatever reason, in this game he played not to lose and squirreled up again, shades of Dick Jauron. I'm definitely disappointed. He always says "gotta look at the tape and learn from this" but this is who he is. Not good enough. He clearly goes with his conservative instincts and that will never change. He likely needs to get fired and get another chance with another franchise to turn things around and actually change.  

[Freddie's Dead]

Didn't even TRY 4th and puss....

[Einstein]

2 hours ago, chaccof said:

The offense did almost all they could to win this game.  The defense did all they could to lose the game and guess what, it worked.  Detroit might get 500 yards on the ground next week.

I actually think the Rams game is going to be the tougher game of the two.

[starrymessenger]

6 hours ago, Sweats said:

We seem to have the best production from Cook when he is running to the outside edges, but why we continue to run him up the gut for 1 yard is beyond belief.

 

Our D was a sieve all day long. We kept Kupp in check and let Nacua run all over the field and sit in the soft zones and did nothing to address it.

 

Zero pressure on Stafford, even behind one of the most suspect Olines in the NFL.

 

..........disgusting

They came out flatter than Taylor Swift.

[JoshAllin]

The offense always starts off weird. Then they run the tables at the end as shown by the 42 point performance. 

[Goin Breakdown]

That game shows me we can blow the top off of teams but we don't in the name of a balanced running game. It proves that someone (I don't know who) is keeping Josh in check until, ohh no we're getting a beatdown. Better call Superman. Show up to games playing THAT kind of urgent ball from the start. Or go ahead run up the gut for a yard or two. This team messes around way too much to start games this year. Do that and the good teams will get you in a position where you need to play perfect AND hope you're not in a tight spot for coaching to mess it up for you. Not to mention putting any faith in the refs to get this right when it's on the line. 

[blacklabel]

14 hours ago, Big Turk said:

That 4th down punt near midfield on 4th and 2 right before the half drive me nuts.

 

Yeah that was one I didn't like either but the hesitation came from them not wanting to give the Rams a short field when they hadn't stopped them on defense at all at that point. 

 

Shtuff happens. 

[ProcessTruster]

14 hours ago, Special K said:

As dreadful as the Defense was in this game, did anyone else notice that in the first half that aside from a few QB sneaks Josh did not scramble or run the ball at all in the first half. In fact, there were a few plays where he could have easily run for 10+ yards and he threw an errant pass or threw the ball away. I am not blaming JA for this, it seemed like a concerted decision by the coaching staff to keep him from running.....and the offense looked stale and out of whack because of it.

 

In the second half when the Bills were behind by 17 points, it looked like the coaching staff took the shackles off Josh, and he started running....picking up huge chunks of yards, in fact......then all of a sudden the passing game came to life and the Bills began to move the ball at will and almost pulled off an improbable comeback.

 

Were the coaches trying to play it safe since the Bills already have the Division locked up, and didn't want to risk injury?? If so, I hope they learned their lesson that the Offense will not run smoothly if the opposing D doesn't have to account for the threat of Josh running.....it opens up everything else.

 

The contrast of the first and second halves is clear proof of that, IMO.

 

Thoughts??

the 2018-20 days of superman Josh are over.  the guy is going to get killed if he's running 10 - 15 times per game.   We need QB Josh for the entire season, not some Lamar Jackson loose cannon.   somehow, 42 points worked for me

[chaccof]

3 hours ago, Einstein said:

I actually think the Rams game is going to be the tougher game of the two.

Because?  

[Einstein]

1 hour ago, chaccof said:

Because?  

 

Because the Rams executed at a level that is near impossible to duplicate. They played at peak performance for 58 minutes. That’s not normal. To expect the Lions to do the same is … hard.

[Special K]

3 hours ago, ProcessTruster said:

the 2018-20 days of superman Josh are over.  the guy is going to get killed if he's running 10 - 15 times per game.   We need QB Josh for the entire season, not some Lamar Jackson loose cannon.   somehow, 42 points worked for me

 

I don't want Josh running all the time like Lamar, but he wasn't running it at all in the first half......if I noticed it sitting on my couch, how long do you think it took the Rams Defensive coaches to notice??

 

Josh doesn't need to run it all the time, but has to do it at least once or twice a quarter to keep the opposing Defense honest.....the threat of him running is what forces the Defense to account for it, then the passing game really opens up.....the second half was a perfect example of that.