Bleeding Bills Blue

Both backs had horrible missed blocks on 3rd down sacks. You know what the protection call is - you should know where help is needed.

The grounding WAS a bad call and was the wrong call. But you can't throw a flag, announce it to the stadium, and march them back - then correct yourself. It's done at that point and there isn't anything to challenge. Mark it down and complain about it after the season. The early holds on bishop and knox were straight up bad calls too when they looked at the replays. Per the rules of the time i guess that was a blindside block, now you see people box out with their backs to avoid that.

Well the Bengals tend to operate on a tight budget of cash beyond just - cap space. They struggle to pay out these huge signing bonuses because that hits the bottom line at the end of the year. The reason they're bad isn't even cap constraints though - they just are really bad at drafting. 2021-2025 - Outside of Ja'Marr Chase its really challenging to find an impact player on either side of the ball.

He also seems to have a solid knack as a spy - and running QBs have absolutely killed us for years.

End of the day - It's a lazy habit. It will re-occur because, you aren't usually thinking about what your "tells" are. You're (rightfully) focused on who you're supposed to block, whether you're on the LOS or not, route leverage and route combinations and how things all fit together on the play. Like when they say the pitcher's tipping his pitches in an interview. Or IS HE?!!!!!

I don't think their schedule is inherently difficult - but 5 division games, New England, and GB on the road isn't particularly good. Even Minnesota this weeks not really a cupcake. Almost no margin for error.

I had more of an issue with not getting a playcall in and having to use the last timeout before 4th down. I don't blame them for using the timeout, a delay of game makes the FG further, and in buffalo weather that isn't a good thing. However, having to rush onto the field and kick at the 1 against a team known for blocking kicks isn't ideal.

The Run pass splits in the 2nd half were pretty tilted, especially on 1st down. Every non-scoring drive had a 3rd and long on it. My thoughts - We run the ball a LOT on first down, and when it works we are rolling. When it doesn't... well thats when all these separation things come into play. On 3rd and 7 or longer Allen is 18/29 for 233 yards - 2 TDs and 1 Interception. Also sacked 7x for -53 yards and another 4 carries for 39 yards. Net yards - 219 Total plays - 40 Total conversions - 11 Net yard average - 5.475 I know these will always be lower percentage, and i know penalties have hit us a ton this year on offense setting up these behind the sticks moments - but the easiest way out of it is to occasionally put the ball in the air on first down, in a play action look.

To be fair... F**K them, and i wouldn't want their trash players.

I believe this gives them the space to know what they can or can't fit under the cap. I wouldn't want to be doing it at the 11th hour while trying to nail down terms.

Thats really any level of strength training though.

Its more the 17.5M base salary this year that really kills any chance of this being a thing.

Not to mention - vastly different hail mary defense and it worked really well.

They are not paying big contracts to Carter Davis Campbell Smith Hunt Mitchell Dejean Blankenship Mukuba Kinda...? Theres usually a big bonus up front, then they stagger "option" bonuses which stack void years every year. So your 5 year deal is spread over 10. The challenge comes if you aren't on the roster in year 6 - then all the staggered money you paid out hits the cap at once.

They've hit on a couple drafts here in a row too so the defense is very young. The thing with the "option" year format the eagles use though is that when you want to dump a player, there's usually an excess of dead money associated with doing so. So you kinda have to keep extending the same group, or pay the piper. The other option they have with tiny base salaries is trades, which when you draft so well can definitely help replenish the roster with young talent.