RunTheBall

Stroud is playing lights out. Holy crap did Carolina pick the wrong QB. F the Bungles and I’m glad Hendrickson is hurt - karma is a btch

Can’t believe Boyd dropped that. He’s got very sure hands. That’s like Diggs dropping a wide open pass

This right here. Josh is still carrying our team way too much.

2 horrible 3rd and short calls from Houston that would have won them the game had they converted either. Now THAT is some bad coaching right there.

That 3rd and 3 call was pure Dorsey in the Bengals game

Yikes and Stroud makes a HUGE rookie mistake. That’s horrible coaching there not to run the ball.

I don’t think anyone was giving us a 3rd for Gabe “3 route” Davis and we wouldn’t trade within the division to the Jets. That being said, it’s certainly easy in retrospect we probably should have traded him. The bigger issue is Beane didn’t bring in a viable #2 to slide Gabe to #3 where he belongs.

George Kittle with a huge uncalled push off on that long TD

And then Evans goes and drops a wide open touchdown. I’ll shut up and watch.

No way, really? Hahaha well, they ain’t wrong

One thing watching the Red Zone channel does is show how many WRs out there go out and make plays for their QBs. I know it’s a lot of highlights, but I’m just seeing guys left and right making tough catches. Maybe its my BBFS but it seems like unless Josh is hitting guys perfectly our guys rarely make a play for him.

That’s definitely true but I never cared about what the talking heads thought about the Bills. Most of the members of this board (definitely not all) have more informed opinions on the state of the Bills than national guys or even most of the thin skinned “content creators”.

That lasted about 2 weeks before the Bengals players started doing their usual “let’s manufacture some made up slight against us” stuff. Hey it worked, I just thought it was in poor taste.

We love Dalton/Boyd. Cinci is a poverty franchise with dirty players and garbage fans

Ravens looking like best team in the AFC right now. Great defense, great running game, Lamar playing well. They are going to be a force if they keep up this level of play.

I want some of what you guys are smoking. This defense is decimated. Epenesa is the only DE not nursing an injury. Floyd has been injured, Rousseau should have been put on IR with that foot, Von is still coming back. Lawson is meh. Jonathan sucks. Jones is out, Oliver has been playing well minus last week, Joseph looked good with 1 day of practice which makes Settle (sucks), Phillips (sucks), and Ford (sucks if he’s even active) look even worse. Our linebackers may be Williams (sucks but is a rook with potential) and Dodson (sucks period). DBs are probably Douglas (good trade) and Dane Jackson (great game last week) Rapp (meh so far but maybe has something) and Poyer (if he can play) or Hamlin (sucks but I’m glad he’s able to play) or Lewis (idk wtf this guy does). Denver can run the ball. If we can’t stop them without bringing a safety down in the box this game will be tight. Offense needs to carry the team and Denver can’t stop the run - if we can’t run against Denver the season is over. Their linebackers suck in coverage - Kincaid and Cook should feast but Dorsey doesn’t’ know how to run the ball or throw to Cook. Their CBs are meh. Surtain will be on Stef and he should still get smoked. Their #2 and slot DBs are not good. If Gabe can’t get separation he should be cut. Shakir should feast. If I were the OC I’d come out in heavy sets to start, smack them in the mouth with the run and play action, then transition to 11 personell when they get out of the 2 high and/or bring a safety down into the box.

Been saying this all year, McDorsey neutered Josh running and it killed this offense and his mojo. When you have a mustang, you have to let him run. That and a better running scheme than shotgun draws. I’d like to see them come out with a fullback and beat the hell out of Denver with some power. Then open it up a little but set the stage early that we are going to be physical. Denver sucks against the run. If we can’t run on this team we can’t run on anyone. Time for this team to get pissed and start bullying other teams on O instead of the other way around.

Allen is being asked to do too much, as usual, and it’s affecting him mentally. He looks burned out already and I think that’s because most of Dorsey’s plays are “Josh go make it happen”. I spoke to an ex OC who you’d all know and he mentioned that Andrew Luck once told him something very interesting. Andrew told him that when the game plan was such that 25 plays turned into him making something happen and was solely on him to do so, that he got mentally fried. That’s from one of the most intelligent/cerebral QBs to play the game. I think that’s where we are with Josh, I think he’s mentally burned out. The OC also said from his stand point it looks like the plays are selected out of a hat with no flow or continuity from one play to the other. Buffalo has no identity right now. Take it for what it’s worth. None of this is groundbreaking or anything we haven’t seen. I just thought it was interesting to have those opinions echoed by a guy who really knows his stuff.

Now that is something I had never considered - that looking vanilla is something you want it to look like to an armchair coach/GM like myself. Makes sense given there are multiply post snap reads/options that can be implemented on each play. Unfortunately, you are shifting my opinion to this is more of a player execution issue than a pure Dorsey issue (although I’m sure it’s a mix of both). Damn, I really like when I can hate on one guy for all our problems. Ahh well… hahah

All that matters is the W but if they emerge with some sort of offensive consistency I think that will give them some confidence moving forward. I disagree that they gain nothing because even with a squeaker win they buy some time to get right. I’m of the opinion that they are likely to miss the playoffs but I hope I’m wrong and want them to keep the window open as long as possible. If we lose this game I think it’s likely things spiral.

I don’t have a problem with Murray calling a meeting and don’t think it reflects on the team leadership. He’s a respected veteran and although I doubt it will really amount to anything, at least someone is doing something recognizing the season is on the brink. I think this Denver game is the inflection point of the McD led Bills. If we win, we have more time to right the ship. If we lose, I think the wheels blow off the bus and this is going to get ugly.

Thank you for the write up, this is fascinating stuff and really helps me understand what’s going on. For such a complex offense, it sure does look vanilla though. Maybe that’s why some guys can’t get on the field or are invisible when they do, they don’t have the head for it. Seems to me the burden is on the players to figure out the coverage pre snap, then adjust their routes post snap using 1-4 options depending on where they are when they hit their decision point, then be on the same page with Josh at that decision point. Yikes! Takes a lot of the burden off Dorsey to outsmart the DC. Instead, he has such a complex offense with man/zone beaters built in to most plays that he can say “Hey, if you guys just did these 5 things correctly pre and post snap the play would have been a success”. That’s a lot to ask on every play especially when the explosive plays are taken away and we have to march down the field.

We have a very complex offense that is easily predictable and looks vanilla. That’s a HUGE problem and it’s all Dorsey in terms of the scheme. Josh’s problem is that he refuses to take the open short stuff. If he did that early, he gets in a rhythm and then the deeper stuff will open up as the defense adjusts to take away what’s working. The problem is this offense doesn’t seem to scheme against an opponents weaknesses. Dorsey just says “this is who we are, stop us” and teams have been doing that pretty regularly over the past 5 games. There are other issues - the lack of running game, Gabe Davis sucking again, Harty not being used at all, etc. I think one of the biggest issues was the huge emphasis in the beginning of the year of Josh running less. That was asinine, the guy needs to run to be his best. He’s not as good as Mahomes/Burrow at pre and post snap reads. He needs the threat of the run to open things up more for him. Bottom line - It’s year 6 for Josh and he should have evolved by now to take what the defense gives him until it opens up what he wants to do (intermediate/deep shots). Why he refuses to do that idk because when he does, he’s nearly unstoppable.

I don’t agree with this at all. How can you say nothing positive can come out of this game? I have lowered my expectations considerably for this team. We aren’t a Super Bowl contender right now and are only in the hunt. If we win, we are still in the hunt and have more time to right the ship. If we lose? Season is essentially over. So even thought I expect them to likely miss the playoffs, I’d still like to be proven wrong. Possible positives - 1) we win 2) Josh shows he can play a turnover free game and hasn’t lost his ability to read defenses 3) McD uses some kind of magic or duct tape to field a serviceable defense 4) The offense shows some sort of identity that we can grow from going forward. This is an inflection point in the season. I think they will either start to put it all together and go on a run or more likely, the wheels are going to come off. Hope it’s the former but I expect the latter, mainly because I’m very down on the coaching, both McD and Dorsey.

As much as Gabe sucks, that pick was 100% on Josh. Horrible throw, even worse decision to throw it in the first place. He locked on that match up pre snap and never glanced at a wide open Cook and open Kincaid on the other side. Josh's ability to read the field and decision making have both regressed this year. Why that is, idk. He's capable of elite play.