Has Bills D turned the corner with Milano back to almost normal?

[Sierra Foothills]

5 hours ago, Big Turk said:

Last 2 games...against Jets, allowed 0 points with starters in and against Broncos allowed 7...

 

Jets had under 200 yards of offense, Broncos end up with 224 yards of offense(only 157 after the first drive)

 

This is boding very, VERY well heading into next week if Milano is in fact the lynchpin for this defensive turnaround, which watching live game action, it appears he is...dude was all over the field today...

 

Milano looked very close to the Milano of old. It was hugely encouraging.

 

4 hours ago, H2o said:

The Broncos had the 17th ranked rushing offense. Baltimore is #1. If we can just keep Henry under 100yds. In all 5 of their losses, he had less than 100yds. We can't let them run all over us. We also need to keep a spy on Lamar, similarly to the way we did with Nix today until the game was in hand. 

 

Having a healthy and confident Milano will go a long way to containing Lamar. Milano is the exact kind of player you want on the field against Lamar.

 

2 hours ago, Richard Noggin said:

That one drive in the 3rd quarter that saw Nix scrambling for yardage, their only promising drive all 2nd half, seemed to be EXCLUSIVELY the result of Bills pass rushers losing lane discipline and giving away escape routes. That kind of dumb aggression will get severely punished by Jackson and Co. Gotta stay smart and in your lane next week. 

 

Yeah I was highly annoyed when that started happening. If I recall correctly the Bills called a defensive time out and fixed that problem.

 

[Richard Noggin]

15 minutes ago, Sierra Foothills said:

 

Yeah I was highly annoyed when that started happening. If I recall correctly the Bills called a defensive time out and fixed that problem.

 

 

McD LOVES his defensive timeouts. Madly. There MUST be data on % of teams' timeouts called while on offense vs while on defense. 

 

Calling timeouts while on offense at a high frequency might indicate those teams are hurrying up at the ends of halves because they're trailing, maybe, but I'm sure over a long enough timeline the simple data will at least be worth a look. Then when broken down by down and distance, and game clock and script, I'll bet we see some compelling/competing tendencies. 

 

Or I'm dumb. Always a non-zero % possibility of that.

 

[NickelCity]

That timeout was a straight up basketball timeout. It worked, but it was a luxury due to our lead.

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

5 hours ago, Big Turk said:

Last 2 games...against Jets, allowed 0 points with starters in and against Broncos allowed 7...

 

Jets had under 200 yards of offense, Broncos end up with 224 yards of offense(only 157 after the first drive)

 

This is boding very, VERY well heading into next week if Milano is in fact the lynchpin for this defensive turnaround, which watching live game action, it appears he is...dude was all over the field today...

 

 

 

The true test will be against a team like Baltimore. I said it in the "predict the score" thread. I felt if we could get up on the broncos it would be very hard for a rookie QB to come from behind in hostile territory. The Ravens have done this all season long plus they do 2 things at an elite level that our defense has trouble defending which is stopping the run game and stopping screen plays.

Edited Monday at 05:32 AM by BuffaloBillsGospel2014

[Kelly to Allen]

In their playoff dress rehearsal against a real ( albeit past his prime Rodgers) and real wrs for the jets they were up 40-0

 

Against a Denver offense that was hot their past 7 weeks( albeit a rookie QB), it was 31-7. One miscommunication from rapp from what I can tell. 

 

All positive signs 

 

Defense is still fully healthy...

Edited Monday at 05:53 AM by Kelly to Allen

[Alphadawg7]

6 hours ago, Big Turk said:

Last 2 games...against Jets, allowed 0 points with starters in and against Broncos allowed 7...

 

Jets had under 200 yards of offense, Broncos end up with 224 yards of offense(only 157 after the first drive)

 

This is boding very, VERY well heading into next week if Milano is in fact the lynchpin for this defensive turnaround, which watching live game action, it appears he is...dude was all over the field today...

 

 

 

Im not gonna get too over hyped about middling offenses like the Jets and a rookie led Broncos in his first post season game on the road in Buffalo.

 

Im encouraged, but still concerned about a Ravens team who dominated us in the trenches on both sides of the ball in week 4, and that was when their defense still sucked too and not since being the #1 D since shifting Kyle Williams.  

 

We have to win in the trenches for us to beat Baltimore.

[BufBills83]

19 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

Im not gonna get too over hyped about middling offenses like the Jets and a rookie led Broncos in his first post season game on the road in Buffalo.

 

Im encouraged, but still concerned about a Ravens team who dominated us in the trenches on both sides of the ball in week 4, and that was when their defense still sucked too and not since being the #1 D since shifting Kyle Williams.  

 

We have to win in the trenches for us to beat Baltimore.

 

The Ravens defense is better than it was in week 4, but so is our offense.  I'm confident our offense can move the ball and score.  If we need to score 33-35 points we can.  The defense I'm not hugely confident in, but I do think it will do better than the first matchup because we are healthier and we're at home.  Ideally we get up early like we did against Detroit, 10-14 points, and then match scores the rest of the way.  At minimum, have the ball last down less than 7 with a chance to win at the end.

[Alphadawg7]

Just now, BufBills83 said:

 

The Ravens defense is better than it was in week 4, but so is our offense.  I'm confident our offense can move the ball and score.  If we need to score 33-35 points we can.  The defense I'm not hugely confident in, but I do think it will do better than the first matchup because we are healthier and we're at home.  Ideally we get up early like we did against Detroit, 10-14 points, and then match scores the rest of the way.  At minimum, have the ball last down less than 7 with a chance to win at the end.

 

Oh don't get me wrong, I feel better about our offense than our defense in this game.  And what we have seen from the D the past 2 weeks as Milano gets more and more into form is encouraging.  Just hard to get too hyped about that given the offenses we were playing were not too dangerous. 

 

I still think we can, and will, win this game...but admittedly, this is the one matchup that concerns me the most of anyone in either conference of the playoffs.  

 

IMHO - If we beat the Ravens, we will win the Super Bowl as I don't see us losing to KC (or Hou if they pull the upset) and we already beat the best team in the NFC.  

[Kelly to Allen]

1 hour ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

Im not gonna get too over hyped about middling offenses like the Jets and a rookie led Broncos in his first post season game on the road in Buffalo.

 

Im encouraged, but still concerned about a Ravens team who dominated us in the trenches on both sides of the ball in week 4, and that was when their defense still sucked too and not since being the #1 D since shifting Kyle Williams.  

 

We have to win in the trenches for us to beat Baltimore.

 

 

Obviously this is a long time ago but in 1991 KC ran all over buffalo in a early season game. Okoye had like 180 yds and KC won 33-6

 

Buffalo then won 37-14 in the playoffs 

 

Similar instance in 1990. Miami beat buffalo 30-7. Buffalo then won 44-34 in the playoffs.  my favorite Kelly game. 

 

Similar in 1993. KC and the raiders beat Buffalo in the regular season but lost to Buffalo in the playoffs. 

 

Point being don't put too much into an early season game where buffalo was banged up....it's not transitory especially in the playoffs 

Edited Monday at 07:27 AM by Kelly to Allen

[BufBills83]

36 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

Oh don't get me wrong, I feel better about our offense than our defense in this game.  And what we have seen from the D the past 2 weeks as Milano gets more and more into form is encouraging.  Just hard to get too hyped about that given the offenses we were playing were not too dangerous. 

 

I still think we can, and will, win this game...but admittedly, this is the one matchup that concerns me the most of anyone in either conference of the playoffs.  

 

IMHO - If we beat the Ravens, we will win the Super Bowl as I don't see us losing to KC (or Hou if they pull the upset) and we already beat the best team in the NFC.  

 

Yeah, its definitely not the best matchup for us, but to win a SB you have to beat at least a couple really good teams.  We can't just keep saying next year anymore.  This is year 5 of us being just about SB calibre or SB calibre.  This is the 3rd year in a row with a divisional game at home.  Going 0-3 would look pretty bad.  One of these years something has to give.  I do like that we have an aggressive mindset now and I'm sure we'll continue that onward.  Go for every 4th and 1, no matter where you are on the field - the sneak works like 95% of the time, its worth it.  Throw on obvious running downs even when you are up a couple scores so you can maintain momentum and eat clock.

[Big Turk]

8 hours ago, BuffaloBillsGospel2014 said:

 

The true test will be against a team like Baltimore. I said it in the "predict the score" thread. I felt if we could get up on the broncos it would be very hard for a rookie QB to come from behind in hostile territory. The Ravens have done this all season long plus they do 2 things at an elite level that our defense has trouble defending which is stopping the run game and stopping screen plays.

 

Yeah,we have to stop the run and force Lamar to beat us...

 

He usually is a replacement level player in the playoffs...some plays against him early on could cause him to start pressing and make mistakes, especially if we can jump out to a lead.

[colin]

to win vs baltimore, we need either playoff lamar to show up and make mistakes, and/or we need our oline to just physically dominate like they did vs denver.  i don't expect our DL will win the day, so we will at least need the OL too.  

[PoundingDog]

12 hours ago, Simon said:

 

If they just maintain gap integrity and force him to move laterally, they'll have accomplished half the goal.

Against almost all other backs, this is true. Henry is just a different animal. You hear the phrase that "you get to Henry before he gets started" so many times on how to stop him. I think that's what Tomlin and the steelers were thinking. They had done scouting and knew Ravens tend to run Henry on 1st downs. So the plan could well be crashing to Henry on early downs, then put Jackson defense (which the Steelers done better than anyone) on on 3rd downs. 

 

Well on the handoff to Henry, Jackson played perfect by pulling the ball to run himself on early downs and getting 7/8+ yards a pop. That derailed the Steelers entire plan. and made them look like "not planned or not trying".

 

Tomlin at half time said something like Lamar played at another level is pretty much an admission to that. Typically Lamar do not change plays that much at LOS. He'll scramble when things don't go as he expects to see. Not that game Saturday. Oh by the way his scrambling changed this year where he looks to pass more than he ever done in the past.

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

defense wins championships.

 

 

allowed 7 points. held them to 224 yds. 79 rushing, 145 passing.

 

1-0

 

on to baltimore.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

14 hours ago, notpolian said:

I was talking to my buddy during the game on the phone (as per tradition) and I said the one play early where Milano ran somebody down was the most encouraging thing I'd seen so far.  I'll rewatch later this week, but were they taking Milano off the field for obvious passing downs or something else?  I saw him come off but can't remember when.  He used to be a 3 down guy.

 

Baltimore is going to be really tough to stop, we need all the help we can get.

 

denver doesn't do much with tight ends or passing to backs, so it makes sense to roll with lewis on 3rd and longs imo.  

[Dillenger4]

Contain Lamar and DON'T let him get to the outside. Force him up the middle where we will be waiting or force the pass. Henry will wear down... it's the Lamar scrambles that kill you. CONTAIN. Our O will score...

Sean did this in our last playoff game vs Lame Mar.

[skibum]

Yeah, but we're talking about the Jets and the Broncos. Not the same animal as the Ravens. 

[Jauronimo]

13 hours ago, PoundingDog said:

Mike Tomlin agrees with you. So he told the d line to go all out for Henry. The result: Jackson beat you, over and over again. 
 

McDermott and Babich need to pour over the film and find keys the guys real quick. 

The Steelers didnt even try to keep contain.  Watt took the bait every chance he had and Jackson was able to roll out to the right for easy yards.  He did pay a price for it though.  

[97bills]

36 minutes ago, Dillenger4 said:

Contain Lamar and DON'T let him get to the outside. Force him up the middle where we will be waiting or force the pass. Henry will wear down... it's the Lamar scrambles that kill you. CONTAIN. Our O will score...

Sean did this in our last playoff game vs Lame Mar.

Everyone has been waiting on Henry to slow down, I don’t think it’s anytime soon. 

[PoundingDog]

45 minutes ago, Dillenger4 said:

Contain Lamar and DON'T let him get to the outside. Force him up the middle where we will be waiting or force the pass. Henry will wear down... it's the Lamar scrambles that kill you. CONTAIN. Our O will score...

Sean did this in our last playoff game vs Lame Mar.

The dilemma is if you are not aggressive trying to crash into Henry when he gets the ball and just play containment, Henry can get sizeable yards most of the time. This is why Lamar's variation made it so hard to the Steelers. Simply put, the Ravens put you in a bind on attacking Henry aggressively and containment of Lamar. As a defensive, you want to make the right choice most of the time, like 75%.