wjag

Bills 9 Baltimore 31 I've watched Baltimore all season. There is no current league answer for Jackson/Ingram/Edwards. I don't think people appreciate how good the Baltimore Defense is since it is all LJ, all the time these days. Baltimore does not follow conventional rules and we have a conventional rules coach. Whereas Baltimore will go for it on 4 and whatever anywhere on the field, Buffalo will send out the punter/placekicker. Baltimore is 15/20 on 4th down! and their opponents are 6/14!!! In the few times that Baltimore has been stopped on 4th down, their D has bailed them out. The Baltimore Offense goes on 10-15 play drives and eats clock. I fear the Buffalo hurry up offense and a non-gambling coach will keep giving the ball back to Baltimore until such time as the game requires him not to. I've seen this conservative behavior with Baltimore opponents week in and week out. The one hope: Last week against a truly stout offense the Baltimore defense got exposed on the edges. They'll surely expect Singletary to try and get there and game plan for it. Singletary needs 120 yards rushing and Allen needs 60 more. However, as long as this team insists on giving Frank Gore the ball in short yardage situations, they are an easy mark. How I could be wrong: Sean needs to throw out the rulebook here and go for it. He needs to use all four downs and he needs to step on their throat, if given a chance. He needs to fight fire with fire. Let's see how they like a running QB running 10-12 a game. If he loses, it's just one game he was not expected to win. If he wins, glory. If he wins, the Bills might just run the table with weakened Pitt and NE teams and a hapless Jets team left. I wish I was feeling it, but I am not. It's not stopping me from making the 8-hr trek to come watch it, but I have my expectations fully tempered.

If you watch Baltimore you quickly realize that LJ throws between the hash marks, unless forced out of the pocket. Defend the middle. They use three tight ends a lot and throw to the backs a lot. They are really not a deep threat team unless they send a TE down the middle. Keep Tre on Brown. San Francisco had a lot of success rushing to the edges rather than going up through the middle. The Ravens will have the same problem the Bills have. If you rush too deep, then JA will take off. So their four interior lineman will stay home leaving the edges open. Watching LJ run, he dekes more guys with his eyes than any QB I have seen. Watch his hips, not his eyes. Easier said than done. SF was okay letting him get his 100. Force them to wear their white uniforms. Finding the ball against their all black uniforms make the job even harder. Stopping their RBs on first down (again easier said than done) is critical. Baltimore will go on 4th and whatever more than any team in history. Harbaugh has bought into it. Without knowing if it is true or not, I would venture to say Baltimore is the least penalized team in the NFL. Conversely, Buffalo is good for 8-10 penalties a game. You simply can't extend Baltimore drives with stupid penalties.