Bocephuz

The rot was/ is the old guard. Littman and Overdorf especially. They were Ralph's cronies and based on what I've read they've consistently undermined anyone who they've had differences with and clearly prioritized their ego/ job security over the greater good of the team.For whatever reason Ralph was loyal to these guys and they were never held acccountable while numerous coaches and GMs took the fall. Littman is gone thankfully.. Now Overdorf needs to go. And anyone that they hired that is still there needs to be purged as well. Plenty of bright young finance guys out there that can do their jobs who are young and hungry that don't have the lifer attitude

Ryan Mallett

Some of you may be familiar with my weekly OLine Pass Protection/ Qb Unforced error film review posts I've been putting up since week 4. Coaching..play calling issues aside.. Here is how I grade out each lineman in pass protect for 14. Glenn: B minus -nowhere near his 2013 level but more of an asset than a liability Richardson - D minus - physically strong, poor mobility and very poor awareness( ie stunts etc..) Urbik - C+ - provided some stability .. Few mental errors but physically is on the downside Wood - D - Wood either made a mental mistake or was manhandled at least once in every game I watched. Pears - C minus- tough spot.. Clearly out of position. Awful in first half of year.. Actually started to settle a bit in second half. Still more liability than asset. Henderson - C- commendable job for a rookie. A Handful of horrendous outings cloud his mostly passable work in most games 2 things occur to me Injuries - aside from Chris Williams.. The OL avoided major injuries.. So one can't really blame injury or lack of cohesion for the O Line Failure Rookies - shock that Richardson and Kouandjio were so ill prepared

Completely agree that addressing OLine issues should be priority one. Look no farther for evidence than the example of our pass rush making Rodgers and Manning look bad. Hopefully whoever is in charge next year has a clear vision for the type of linemen/style of play they want. My hope is that we go back to the power running game

A little persoective is needed.. Thank you Terry and Kim for the gift that keeps on giving

they effectively chipped with TE against cameron wake earlier in the year but I really haven't seen it since then. When the ball is snapped I always focus on Henderson on the TV and he has mostly been on an island. When Freddy chips he's usually picking up an inside rusher.. Not helping a tackle

It's the most inevitable time of the year.. no not XMas.. but the annual in season postseason elimination game has mercifully happened for the Bills and it's time to look forward. At least it was in week 16 this year ( past few years it's been like week 10) Below is my dream wish list ( regardless of whether or not they may be realistic opportunities) Also including a list of who the Bills should let go/ not re-sign. What's on your list? http://nfltraderumor...fl-free-agents/ FREE AGENTS OG - Mike Iupati OT - Brian Bulaga DE - Jerry Hughes QB - Ryan Mallett CUT/ DO NOT RESIGN RB - CJ Spiller ( luxury item.. not necessary) MLB - Brandon Spikes ( too expensive ..Kiko will be back.. Brown and Bradham have been outstanding) QB - Kyle Orton ( too expensive..)

yes.. Perhaps he could have figured that out.. But hard for him to objectively realize what's happening regarding 1on1 matchups with his linemen. It's one thing if he sees a blitz or stunt and adjusts.. But if he sees one on one ( which is where most of thr damage was done) what is he supposed to do? Hackett is the one sitting up in the booth watching it all. My gut tells me Hackett focuses too much on the other team's scheme and not enough on what his own guys are doing

yeah.. Chris Simms did a pretty good job except for his praise of Hackett desling with the yoing guys

I'll reserve final judgement until I can watch the All 22 film to confirm.. But to my eye Henderson was beaten at least 10 times today. In past games he was only beaten 2 or 3 times.

Glaring inexcusable error. At very least give him TE help.. At most put in Hairston. Clearly he hit the rookie wall .. And whether it was Mack or Tuck or whoever he was abused all day.. And Hackett did absolutely nothing to adjust. That more than anything cost us the game. I'm no Orton acolyte but he was under pressure all day today.. Hard to fault him too much

Good point.. I guess what I was trying to say is that Orton's attitude drives his performance. At this stage of his career the '"want to" desparate attitude is probably gone.His arm is better than Fitzy... But he doesn't have Fitzy's guts. His brain is better than EJ but he doesn't have EJ's mobility. As a classic pocket QB he has to be willing to throw guys open and take hits doing it and it's pretty clear he doesn't have the stomach for it anymore

Sad thing is is that Orton has it in him to be accurate and decisive. To my eye he came out slinging in his first few games because he was so pumped up to be playing again. Somewhere along the line he either 1.) regressed to the mean naturally 2.) got the aggressiveness coached out of him 3.) got complacent and got comfortable doing the bare minimum. Sadly his onfield persona tells me it's #3 and he's been revealed as a paid mercenary

NFL Rewind .. I believe cost is around $50 per season NFL Rewind .. I believe cost is around $50 per season I wish I could evaluate the run blocking effectively but it is very diificult. I've tried but my ratings tend to vary wildly from Pro Football Focus ratings which shakes my confidence. Much easier to evaluate pass protect. It's fairly easy to tell when OL misses a stunt or someone gets beat one on one in general yes.. Oline trending up.. Orton trending down.. Which is scary

Unforced errors.. bad throws/ How did the O Line do?/ What mistakes are on the O-Line.. what ones are not? I watched the NFL rewind all 22 and here is my unofficial count of how the O-Line did / How Kyle did on every pass play ( I may have missed a snap or two here.. but this should be 95% accurate) DISCLAIMER ( I am not a coach, I don't know the hot reads or route combinations called.. this is just my educated perception of what happened on each pass play) _______ ______________________ TOTAL PASS PLAYS - 36 snaps - a reasonable number (last week was 57 snaps … ) LINE BREAKDOWNS 5 out of 36 snaps – 14% … improvement over last week ( last week was 12 or 21% ) - defined as O-Line clearly messed up and Kyle did not have a moment to throw after hitting the last step of his drop. SUFFICIENT PROTECTION - 31 of 36 snaps – 86% .. improvement over last week (last week was 45 snaps or 79 % of pass plays) - defined as O-Line did sufficient job and Kyle hit the last step of his drop and had a moment to throw. UNFORCED KYLE ERRORS: - 9 snaps out of 31- 29%- worse than last week ( last week was 9 snaps or 20% of snaps where he had time) - unforced error defined as Kyle having time and having unforced accuracy issues/ or taking bad sacks. Bottom Line: Orton’s worst outing by far. Out of the 31 clean pockets he had.. he had far too many unforced overthrows/underthrows/ poor decisions to show for them. The O Line really struggled in the first quarter.. however.. they settled down and played much better the rest of the game. After q1 most of the pressure came from blitzes where they outnumbered our protection.. hard to fault the O Line for that. For the most part, Orton had very good protection and opportunities to throw to open receivers… he just flat out missed guys on too many occasions. There were a few poor decisions.. but mostly it was inaccuracy that got him week 15. __________ __________ PLAYS OF NOTE Q1 – Sammy slips on Hook Route Q1- Pears beaten .. Orton forced to check down Q1- Both sides of O Line beaten by stunts Q1 – SACK – Glenn cleanly beaten.. Q1 – Orton unnecessarily checks down to Freddy when he has time Q1 – Orton steps up to avoid rush.. has time.. but doesn’t see Sammy open at the sticks. Checks down instead Q2 – Orton makes nice jump ball sideline pass to Watkins Q2 – Nice out route completion to Woods Q2 – 3rd and goal- great coverage downfield.. forced to check down Q3 – Orton unforced poor throw to Sammy on out route Q3 – Orton throws too high to Woods on open slant route.. unforced Q3 – INT – underthrown.. forced ball to Sammy in double coverage Q3 – Orton throws behind Woods – unforced Q3 – Orton misses Sammy on out route in Red Zone – unforced Q3 – SACK – Orton panics.. has time to throw and guys open but doesn’t pull trigger Q4- SACK – Blitz .. Orton has no chance Q4 – Overthrows wide open Woods .. unforced Q4 - Overthrown to Watkins on go route… unforced. SUMMARY - Orton’s worst game by far. EJ Manuel had a similar outing against Houston where he was missing wide open receivers and he was benched shortly after that game. Orton’s performance against the Packers was just as bad as EJ’s in Houston to my eye. Upon further review.. the O-Line held up pretty well for most of the game and guys were generally open. Quite frankly this is inexcusable play for a starting QB in the NFL. If the O Line continues to give him sufficient protection in the Oakland game and Orton performs like that again Marrone will have a hard time keeping his credibility with the team if Orton is not benched.

I think we would definitely need to be careful about it and use it in a limited fashion. Just because he lines up in the backfield doesn't necessarily mean we hand it off to him every snap. I think the threat of it would certainly make defenses think twice.

Emotionless

I thought Mike McCarthy putting Randall Cobb in the backfield in the second half was a bold/effective move. I believe they handed off to him ( for a run up the middle) once, had him motion out for a screen pass .. and then motion out for a normal route. This is the kind of progressive thinking I would love to see from Hackett and co. Sammy Watkins seems like a perfect fit for this type of thing. He excels at YAC and is big enough to absorb the hits he would take from the backfield. The only thing that would make me pause is the potential for him fumbling. Obviously this would be a limited package. Maybe 3 or 4 snaps of him lining up in the backfield per half in this formation? What does everyone else think?

We need an identity on offense one way or another. When EJ was in we were most successful going I formation, 2 TEs with a Fullback and basing everything off of our power running game. We have now gone a complete 180... Frank Summers is not even active most weeks. Screen passes and the short game has basically supplanted our run game. I think Hackett is over enamored with having a vet QB and he totally revamped they system when he really didn't need to. The only thing he needed to change when Orton came is was getting rid of the read option stuff.

Indeed... Wood has been bad pretty much all year ( he's way overhyped). Urbik was solid for a while but has regressed. Pears has actually started to settle in. Mind you all I evaluate is pass protect. One can surmise by 1.) # of pass plays called 2.) poor production of run game that they aren't exactly killing it in the run game either. It was also interesting that most of the pressure was coming from up the gut... The tackles were by no means dominant but they held up fairly well considering who they were going up against.

This was supposed to be the second coming of the K-Gun offense..so if you're gonna do K-Gun do it the right way! I do agree it doesn't necessarily have to be hurry up.. just no huddle. WE have a vet QB and our OC seems overmatched so why not turn it over to Orton and see how he does calling plays and making adjustments at the line.

Unforced errors.. bad throws/ How did the O Line do?/ What mistakes are on the O-Line.. what ones are not? I watched the NFL rewind all 22 and here is my unofficial count of how the O-Line did / How Kyle did on every pass play ( I may have missed a snap or two here.. but this should be 95% accurate) DISCLAIMER ( I am not a coach, I don't know the hot reads or route combinations called.. this is just my educated perception of what happened on each pass play) _______ ______________________ TOTAL PASS PLAYS: 57 snaps ..or in other words.. an obscenely high amount - (last week was 32 snaps … ) LINE BREAKDOWNS 12 or 21% - last week was 2 snaps or 6% so O Line was much worse this week ( defined as - O-Line clearly messed up and Kyle did not have a moment to throw after hitting the last step of his drop..) SUFFICIENT PROTECTION - 45 snaps or 79 % of pass plays ( defined as O-Line did sufficient job and Kyle hit the last step of his drop and had a moment to throw). UNFORCED KYLE ERRORS: - 9 snaps or 20% - last week was 9 snaps or 28 % of pass plays where he had time ( unforced error defined as Kyle having time and having unforced accuracy issues/ or taking bad sacks) Bottom Line: Way too many pass attempts put Orton/O Line in tough position (Hackett). Orton was fairly solid between the 20's but the red zone area INTs were killers. Urbik and Woods both had multiple mistakes… rough days in general. The sacks were all legit O line breakdowns. WR's definitely had trouble getting separation.. particularly in 1st half. Credit to Denver dbs. On positive side Orton actually showed some nice escapabilty avoiding pressure, stepping up and hitting throws under duress. He also missed on several throws where he had plenty of time. Most notably he had trouble with hitting the sideline cover 2 hole throws. This game was very similar to the KC game for Orton. __________ __________ PLAYS OF NOTE Q1 - Unforced bad throw to Sammy deep left Q1 - Timing off in miss to Sammy on out route Q1 - 4th down - bad throw to Chandler… Woods was wide open over the middle Q1 Slide Down short of first down ; actually a good decision.. he would have gotten crushed by 53 short of first down if he went for it Q2 SACK Urbik beaten Q2 - SACK Wood pushed back into Orton Q3 - Great throw takes hit and delivers to Woods Q3; INT no-one open.. should have thrown it away or scrambled.. Q3 Great throw Glenn beaten but Orton steps up and hits Sammy deep left Q3 ; INT Orton forces in to first read ..stares down Q3 ; Great throw Orton avoids zero blitz and makes nice completion to Sammy Q4 SACK cb blitz.. great defensive call Q4 - Awesome Sammy catch Wood clueless..gets beaten.. Orton has to dump off quick Q4 Orton misses slant to Goodwin Q4 Orton doesn&t see wide open Hogan over the middle near goal line Q4 Henderson beat.. thrown away Q4 Urbik beaten again.. thrown away Q4 - Overthrows Goodwin left sideline between safety and cb Q4 Great throw - Orton avoids pressure throws on the money to Chandler Q4 - Overthrow to Watkins deep right.. nearly picked off SUMMARY - On second look Orton did a decent job avoiding pressure and made some nice throws on the move. Strangely.. ( and scarily) most of his bad throws were made when he had time and he was just plain off. His INTs were due to lasering in on his first read and trying to force it in where he shouldnt have been forcing it. WRs did have some trouble getting separation.. but a good QB won't try and force it anyway. Unlike previous games, he wasnt able to bail himself out of the hole he dug with miraculous late game throws. Orton isn;t good enough to overcome a multiple INT game. I think he probably played well enough to earn a start next week against Green Bay.. but if he has a similar performance next week I think its obviously EJ time. Also..Eric Wood has really looked bad the last few games and at this point it;s hard to blame it on the guards around him.

It's one thing to have a nice scripted offensive game plan to start the game ( which admittedly worked well in Q1) but once the opposing D makes the adjustment ( ie.. jamming receivers) the coaching staff needs to be able to effectively counter said adjustment. Seems to me focusing on running the ball to set up some sort of play action is a good way to loosen up the cb jamming effect. Hackett's M.O. is to throw the ball 40+ ( or in this game 50+) if the original gameplan goes awry. Clearly having Kyle Orton throw 40+ times in a game ( as he has done in the majority of his starts) is not a good gameplan. I have to think Orton himself knows this. I'd have to think that if Orton was calling the plays that he would rely on the run more if nothing else to make himself look better. Everyone knows that Orton is not an elite QB and I believe the fans, as well as Orton.. would be satisfied if he just played the game manager role. Again.. getting back to my original point that we fans were sold that this Hackett offense was supposed to be built on the K Gun principles. .. and the heart of the K-Gun is the QB Calling plays, and hurry up offense.. both of which we've seen very little or none of since Orton took over. EJ ( a much greener QB) ran the no huddle more than Orton runs it now. The K Gun contrary to popular belief was very balanced as well. Marrone/Hackett need to find an Offensive identity quickly before Russ gets impatient.

That may have been their thinking there.. however..that mentality is very passive. I seem to recall Russ Brandon saying that the team would have an "Aggressive, Attacking Mentality" going forward under new leadership. Calling a screen on 3rd and 11 to set yourself up to go for it on 4th down hardly fits that bill. The fake reverse thing would have been a good idea if they Broncos actually had some tape of Goodwin busting a long reverse at sometime in the past to scare them and make them pause. To my recollection Hackett called a double reverse fake screen pass twice and it failed miserably both times. The double reverse fake screen call is the definition of overthinking and unnecessarily mucking things up.

That is a possibility..it's hard to see that kind of thing on the TV broadcast view but I think I will take a look at it once the All 22 coaches film comes out.