Bills vs Ravens Divisional Round

[YattaOkasan]

18 minutes ago, strive_for_five_guy said:

Agree, this team is happy to run so long as the other team can’t stop it.  Baltimore is very tough against the run, arguably better than Denver at it.  I’d be surprised if we’re able to be as successful running next week, but Brady will no doubt plan for that too.  The Ravens have some solid players in their secondary (Hamilton is a great safety), but don’t have Patrick Surtain.  I’d expect we need to open up the passing game more next week than we needed to against Denver, but we’ll see.

Agree Bal rush Def > Den rush Def but Den pass def >> Bal pass def.  I think we will work the run in but i expect a big cooper day.  Love that Bal lined Stephens up against Pickens without help.  Give me that match up all day

[freddyjj]

On 1/12/2025 at 11:40 PM, IronyAbounds said:

Ergo, the Bills have a tough road to hoe.

Kudos on the use of ergo.  As a farmer's son, i feel the need to point out the correct phrase is "row to hoe".  BTDT.

Edited 23 hours ago by freddyjj

[Boatdrinks]

10 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

This is going to come up a lot if they lose and I’m not saying the sentiment is incorrect, or that they shouldn’t,  but I feel 100% confident that the pegulas will not move on from McD if they lose to Baltimore. So it’s not even worth all the debate. JMO 

Oh I’m not saying they will at all, just that it will probably be discussed internally before reaching that conclusion and I’m not certain there are great options available at the moment. Others would probably disagree and say there are great options lol. 

14 minutes ago, paulmm3 said:

Carl Cheffers and crew will be calling the game. That's fine. Feels like they're saving Shawn Hochuli for his bff Kansas City AFC championship game assignment but we'll take it week by week.

Cheffers not terrible - we’ll have to live with it either way. Still holding out hope we can bypass Hochuli all the way to the Super Bowl! 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

9 minutes ago, YattaOkasan said:

Agree Bal rush Def > Den rush Def but Den pass def >> Bal pass def.  I think we will work the run in but i expect a big cooper day.  Love that Bal lined Stephens up against Pickens without help.  Give me that match up all day

If Baltimore can hold up in man they’ll win if not they’ll lose.  That’s the whole game for me 

[Scott7975]

Big time game this week between the Ravens and Bills. Initial thoughts on why this matchup may be a different result…

- Milano, Bernard and Taron Johnson back for this matchup. Von Miller playing at a different level now.

- Bills WILL run base defense this time.

- WRs in a much better spot on offense. Shakir healthy, Samuel healthy, Cooper addition, Coleman development.

- Run game is has an identity.

- At Highmark this time. Last time was first tough road atmosphere of season and many of the new players on both sides of the ball.

- Bills second time seeing Todd Monken’s offense.

- Going to be COLD. #BillsMafia

Edited Monday at 06:15 PM by Scott7975

[YattaOkasan]

4 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

If Baltimore can hold up in man they’ll win if not they’ll lose.  That’s the whole game for me 

I think thats fair.  And is what they did last time.  They threw bodies into the middle and their outside players held up.  Really stymied us.  Thats why I think Cooper is so important.  Wasnt expecting much against Den considering their weakness is at LB, but BAL seems to have an outside CB weakness (humphrey obviously amazing but i expect him to work on shakir) that I expect us to exploit.  

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

20 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

***** the ravens. 

I'm conflicted because during the drought? During the drought, I looked at a team that built with consistency, and were a constant pain in Brady's side even taking a SB with a strong D and run game. It was what I dreamt the Bills could be.

 

However, the Lamar truthers are ****ing insufferable and and go to hell. They're trying to say it's racist to point out that the argument that if it's about numbers Josh should have won about last year and that we just want consistency in the argument

[Toledo Bill]

1 hour ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

I just used the dime thing as an example. I have no idea what McD is scheming up. 
 

But I do think they are going to have to be fast enough on the edge to stop those Lamar read options. 

I have faith in Groot and none in Espenesa holding the edge

[paulmm3]

17 minutes ago, Boatdrinks said:

 Cheffers not terrible - we’ll have to live with it either way. Still holding out hope we can bypass Hochuli all the way to the Super Bowl! 

 

The league really should not allow Shawn Hochuli to officiate any game the Bills are in. There is clear and obvious bias there.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

Just now, Toledo Bill said:

I have faith in Groot and none in Espenesa holding the edge

Vons low snap count during the regular season seems like a load management thing…feels like the bills did a lot of that this year let’s hope it pays off.  I don’t think epenesa will see the field much 

[Toledo Bill]

7 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Vons low snap count during the regular season seems like a load management thing…feels like the bills did a lot of that this year let’s hope it pays off.  I don’t think epenesa will see the field much 

Smoot may have earned some more time. He might be a big help.

[Beck Water]

https://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/ravens-praise-steelers-divisional-playoffs-bills-late-for-work

 

Quote

"I will freely admit it's hard to imagine any team beating the Ravens when they look the way they've looked on both sides of the ball over the past month," ESPN’s Dan Graziano wrote

 

Quote

ESPN’s Dan Graziano: "This Baltimore offense can beat teams a bunch of different ways, and the way it chose Saturday was "physical humiliation." Its second touchdown drive of the game covered 85 yards in 13 plays, all of which were runs. At one point the Ravens direct-snapped it to tight end Mark Andrews and he just ran for three yards. It might have been the most disrespectful drive in NFL postseason history."

 

Quote

NFL.com’s Nick Shook: "One drive explained this game and the direction in which these two franchises are headed: Baltimore's 13-play, 85-yard scoring march in the second quarter in which the Ravens exclusively ran the ball on every one of their baker's dozen of plays. That drive pushed the Ravens' lead to 14-0, but might as well have made it 100-0 because of the fashion in which the Ravens imposed their will on the Steelers. Pittsburgh made it interesting in the second half, but most everyone knew how this one would end once Derrick Henry ran over a couple of Steelers on his way to the end zone."

 

Quote

The Baltimore Sun’s Childs Walker: "The halftime statistics took your breath away: 308 yards for the Ravens, 59 for the Steelers; 19 first downs for Baltimore, two for Pittsburgh; 164 rushing yards for the Ravens, more than anyone but them had amassed in a full game against the Steelers this season. The scoreboard said 21-0, but that did not capture the totality of the beating they inflicted on an opponent long viewed as living in their heads like some black-and-gold phantasm."

 

Quote

The Baltimore Sun’s Tim Schwartz: "The Steelers looked like they were planning their vacations in the first half while the Ravens simply ran them over with ease. If Jackson can stay upright and healthy — he did have a heating wrap on the sideline and appeared to get kneed in the back in the first half — he should continue to run the ball when the defense allows him. It's nearly impossible to stop when the other option is Henry."

 

Quote

The Baltimore Sun’s Brian Wacker: "The Ravens bullied the Steelers from the start. Behind their league-leading ground game, Baltimore controlled the tempo, the clock and the game. The Ravens also broke the Steelers' spirits with the way Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry overpowered them."

 

Welp, Then.

My personal "take" is that the Steelers spirits were broken long before they took the field against the Ravens.  4 straight losses to playoff teams, especially featuring 3 games in what? 11 days? will do that when your team lose faith that their QB can play well enough to lead them to victory against the league's better teams (Eagles, Ravens, Chiefs, Bengals)

 

--------------

Giants, Steelers (see above) Texans, Browns

[pennstate10]

13 minutes ago, Toledo Bill said:

I have faith in Groot and none in Espenesa holding the edge

Playing read option isn’t simply “holding the edge”. It’s all about assignment football and eye discipline. 
if the DE assignment is to take the RB, that is what he should do. If his assignment is to take the QB, that’s what he should do. 
 

the good thing about playing against a read option is that discipline gets better with experience. So I think there is reason to think that Bills will defend the Racens run game better this time. Also having Milano and TJ back will be important. 
 

I worry most about our safeties, none are great tacklers or have great catch up speed. 

[Scott7975]

 

[Warcodered]

2 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

And missed multiple kicks last time they came to Buffalo in the playoffs 

To be fair that game kicking the ball was a roll of the dice wind was nuts.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

18 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

https://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/ravens-praise-steelers-divisional-playoffs-bills-late-for-work

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welp, Then.

My personal "take" is that the Steelers spirits were broken long before they took the field against the Ravens.  4 straight losses to playoff teams, especially featuring 3 games in what? 11 days? will do that when your team lose faith that their QB can play well enough to lead them to victory against the league's better teams (Eagles, Ravens, Chiefs, Bengals)

 

--------------

Giants, Steelers (see above) Texans, Browns

Probably isn’t super rational but this is pretty much exactly what the lead up to the last ravens bills playoff game was like so it’s comforting in a way 😂

 

 

[stevewin]

Someone made a comment in one of the threads that if Balt runs all the RPO stuff that they did against the Steelers - then take your shot at Lamar every single time - it is a free hit.  So many time the Steeler just had a guy go after Henry at the mesh point and left Lamar untouched.  Make him pay (and hurt) even if he does hand it off - it would have to take his effectiveness away over the course of the game taking hit after hit

Edited Monday at 11:55 PM by stevewin

[fergie's ire]

17 minutes ago, stevewin said:

Someone made a comment in one of the threads that if Balt runs all the RPO stuff that they did against the Steelers - then take your shot at Lamar every single time - it is a free hit.  So many time the Steeler just had a guy go after Henry and left Lamar untouched.  Make him pay (and hurt) - it would have to take his effectiveness away over the course of the game taking hit after hit

If you can...the problem is that it's hard to hit him.  I saw a Steelers player on the edge breaking down into defensive position when he had Lamar in the backfield.  He played it safe rather than going for the hit so he could make sure to be ready for a juke and not miss him.  Lamar juked and he totally missed him.

[ColoradoBills]

1 hour ago, Scott7975 said:

 

The only chance the Texans have is if KC comes out rusty from not playing for 21 days and the Texans can take advantage and build up a big lead. I doubt they can take advantage though. They are so over rated.

 

I agree.  It could happen.  

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

1 hour ago, Toledo Bill said:

I have faith in Groot and none in Espenesa holding the edge

agree.
 

AJE has sort of vanished.