AKC

The Panther game was a showcase of Josh hitting those pitches, he’s got the scoop and delivery skills of a great shortstop. I agree Brady continuing to build his edge attack more on play options from that it will be a big plus over the bubble/swing passes that aren’t a strength and have gotten stoned too many times this season.

That probably indicates we run play action as often out of shotgun as we do under center. The big question is how much is our run game diminished when it starts from shotgun? Cook shows statistical improvement of over a yard per carry under center. Josh is a better passer from shotgun. Its complicated for the coaches gameplanning because the prevailing wisdom has to be to do everything to maximize your best weapon and play to the MVPs strength. At the same time that may not be the most important strength on a game to game basis if you feel forcing another team to submit to our running game is the better strategy?

It brings up the question of play action effectiveness. At least the raw stat says the Frogman looks to have excelled on PA dropbacks.

And Hunt's 3.9 YPC avg didn't change from under center to shotgun.

Listening to Josh post Panthers seems to reinforce what it looks like on the field- Josh prefers to pass from shotgun but our running O is better under center. Josh talked about his drops from under center and his lack of trust of his feet being the major problem for him Sunday. Statistically in 25 Josh has a PR of 109.7 from shotgun and that drops to 89.3 under center. On the other hand James Cook is gaining over 5 YPC under center while dropping below 4 from shotgun. Curiously EPA stats suggest in the Panthers game the opposite was true- they have us more effective running from shotgun and more effective passing from under center. I have to presume the successful pitches from shotgun with long gains skew that in favor of shotgun, while the season long stats tell the story differently.

Statmuse has us in shotgun 33+ times a game this season, most in the league according to their data. We do also lead the league in plays/game so it is possible for both things to be true.

It is indeed difficult to lean on play action when you are leading the league in shotgun snaps.

Are you suggesting the Bengal's strategy is not as wise as Beane's 🤫

Absolutely the overall key to their D performance was their Dline dominance and they were really only playing man on 3rd downs. When they did press up they were effective in muddying everything for Mahomes on 3rd down where they were only 3 for 11 converting.

I think the past Super Bowl got plenty of attention with our coaching staff. Mahomes has thrived on our off coverage but the Eagles disrupted him with soft press coverage. Their DBs press at the LOS and can electively jam their assignment, impede their release without contact or drop out of the press. Hairston was drafted with that in mind. Babich wants to do it but Tre looks like the Achilles. I noticed 3 of the 3rd/4th down must have plays for the Fish targeted and succeeded by going at Tre. I haven’t watched the All 22s but it would surprise me if that number isn’t higher. Tre is currently over performing against the run but he can’t play Babich’s LOS coverage which is more athleticism/less cerebrality. IMO Tre is just a bad fit for what Babich wants to do and the sooner we get a superior athlete at CB2 the better our playoff hopes become.

We played plenty of press in the Fish game. On their 4th and 4 we had Tre White pressing Waddle. Not only did Waddle get off the line untouched, he basically broke Tre’s ankles. 3 yards into his route Tre was 3 yards behind him.

The game last night provided plenty of evidence that we need to get talent up to move Tre to the bench. It’s not even his declining athletic skills as much as it is our scheme is asking more of our corners in man, and while it’s never been his strength it is at this time an obvious weakness. Between Max and Strong we need someone to emerge and begin getting reps from White.

You could frame that as more a lack of instinct than lack of athleticism. I always thought the glue in our Hyde/Poyer back end was instinct.

Yeah, Marcus saw the goal line in 3 dimensions while defenders were working just 2. He was the same player in college and he was incredible to watch when his team was within a couple yards. A great RB and even better goal line expert- and a great guy to Bills fans that lived near him in Brentwood!

It was a shame his agent missed the call from Kraft when they were looking for a new Stay Puft spokesman.

Great point. As that last 15 seconds ticked down all I could think of was a kicker who had been in our gear for a few days- what could possibly go wrong here?

I'd guess they continue to use it expecting it to begin to click with Josh to bring that ball up to take advantage of Coleman's wild jumping ability. They have to feel Josh will get it and then they start to get a lot different defensive looks on Coleman, and not just on the goal line. There were a couple passes Josh hit Coleman high in the 4th- the first pass of the quarter and then again a great and effortless leap for Coleman on the opening play of the drive before the Ravens fumble that left 3 Raven DBs flat footed and out of the play. The Bills are clearly developing Coleman to become a reliable target and his possibly elite skill is getting in the air on a catch. I'm not positing that it's the right thing to do on those conversions, but I just don't think it's going to go away at this point.

Keep taking that Ginka! From the game prior to ours: https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2023/12/10/micah-parsons-illness-week-14-philadelphia-eagles/79624100007/

IIRC Parsons was questionable for that game due to some carriage issue, maybe a hip? Our strategy was completely correct but that game he looked to me to be struggling with his own issues and not just the way we went at him.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/09/28/USC-football-player-shot-on-practice-field/1848717652800/

You are right that it's no coincidence both of our new DEs are good against the run and pass. It's easy for Offenses to keep D personnel on the filed when they want to and your chance of becoming a chess-master at DC is much improved if your edge pieces can sack and stuff. These guys both help out a lot in broadening the D playcalls when they are on the field, able to step out from our more contain philosophy to more attacking at the most advantageous spots in the game.

He was top 10 in total snaps for DEs in 17, 19 and 21. Lots of those games he was dying for air at the end because of the Charger's awful use of him. He always pursued even when winded. With contemporary rehab and the limits we should be able to provide him on his 2025 snaps counts we may be able to make our own luck with him and have him just hitting his stride in November. The draft should give us some younger horses to take up some slack while he gets in condition. Having watched a lot of Charger games over his career it's fair to presume his being gassed by being overplayed left him vulnerable to more injuries. He has every reason to come pick up 10 sacks in a D that is very likely to keep him fresh this season.

Or it 's another indicator that the top of our draft will include a big DT they realize we have to have to keep up with changes in the opposition's offensive philosophies. We spent the past seasons building a D to beat KC only to see evolution of the game make it obsolete as a base. Time to adjust the D to 2025.

Hollins was worth a lot more to the Pats than he was to us and as you point out they have the bank to play. He outperformed expectations regularly and was a bigger asset than anyone guessed, but Meathead is a product of the “oppinfo” regime he played in and needs to figure out how to get a win against us every year if he wants to succeed in this coaching turn. Of course he was willing to overpay for a guy who clearly absorbed the Brady O last year, and in addition Vrabel absolutely admires Mac’s enthusiasm on the field as do most Bills fans.

It looks like his long term ongoing neck problems kept him from finishing two games, with one episode resulting in a game stoppage and him immobile for a few minutes before he was taken off the field.