sven233

As I mentioned in a previous thread, while I don't want to go back to a full blown hurry up offense, playing with more tempo could help this offense. Get to the line, identify the personnel on the field, and have more time to identify what the defense is trying to do. It also keeps the guys on offense more focused and on their toes. Sometimes, if you are taking too much time in between plays, you can start dragging a bit....get into some lulls. Just playing with some sense of urgency might help keep guys focused and into a rhythm. Who knows.....maybe it won't work, but it can't get worse than the last few weeks without scoring in the first half. I wanted them to go to a more of an up tempo offense in the 2nd halves the last few weeks to try and jump start things, but they haven't. It's worth trying.

Henry is a good player. Is he a player we need that will turn this offense around? No. But, if for some reason we were to bring him in, he would have a spot and could help us. We do see our share of lighter boxes because teams worry about defending the pass. While Cook is a good back, he is not going to punish guys up the middle. Not to mention, his pass protection has been atrocious. Henry, just by being on the field as an option, discourages teams from taking that extra defender out of the box which could open some things up in the intermediate areas. I just wish Henry was a better pass catcher, though. But the cap hit would be minimal and we can never have enough good players. Maybe try to get Henry and D-Hop in a package deal.

Except the numbers say the read should be on the right side. There are more defenders covering the receivers to the top of the screen than there is to the bottom. That is a pre-snap read and he needs to get to Knox as his first or second read on this play.

We'll lose a little bit in the blocking department for sure, but I think there is a good chance the the combination for Kincaid at TE1 and Morris at TE2 might be an upgrade in the passing game. Guess we know why they were working out TEs last week. Just wish our RT wasn't such a disaster and didn't need constant help on every passing play. He's such a weak link on the line and it hinders the offense when you constantly have to have guys stay in or chip block all the time just so he doesn't get Allen killed.

I have no idea if he has anything left at this point, but he should have been called in for a workout already. This team needs a one-tech badly. Jones was a dominant force up front for us and allowed other guys to do their things. This is a different defense when he isn't there and it is not for the better. We need someone in that spot because Jordan Phillips and Tim Settle are not going to cut it there.

Make no mistake about it......Josh is definitely part of the problem. But so are the coaches, so is the offensive line, and so are the WRs and TEs. Allen misses reads and misses throws. You can see it when you watch the All-22. But you know what? Every QB in the league and in every game does the same thing. What separates the average ones from the great ones like Allen are the plays that he makes that other can't that make up for some of those other missed opportunities. And when you are under pressure nearly 50% of dropbacks, even the ones you aren't pressured on can feel like it's only a matter of time. And that's on the line and scheme. Go back to the run earlier in the season against the Raiders, Washington, and Dolphins. In those games he was barely touched and hardly hurried. And what happened in those games? They put up a ton of points. Now, take a look at the last 3. The pressure percentage in each of those games skyrocketed and he's been running for his life a lot of those games. Part of this is on the guys up front getting beat and part of it is on coaching. Finally, as we all know, a lot of this falls on coaching. Coaches are responsible for putting players in the best possible positions to succeed. Right now, on offense particularly, they are not doing that. Perfect example is last week on 2nd and goal needing a foot. Instead of doing the tush push which is basically unstoppable, they decided it would be better to go shotgun and give the RB the ball 6 YARDS away from the goal line instead of sneaking it for a foot, which the had 3 CHANCES TO FINISH! That is dumb and not putting your players in the best positions to succeed. Yesterday, though, after being called out on it relentlessly all week, they went to the tush push in every scenario that called for it and it worked every time they needed to use it. So, hopefully they learned their lesson there. But too many other times, they continue to not put their players in a position to get the best out of them. They tell Allen not to run. They don't call designed runs for him anymore. What has made Allen the player he is today? It's the fact that he's a unicorn because he can beat you on any play for 40 yards by throwing or running! Now they are cutting him off at the knees and telling him he can only throw. So, what happens? Defenses now know they don't have to fear him taking off and killing them with his legs and they can treat him like a 1 dimensional player. That is not putting your players in the best positions to succeed. The stats and the eye test both show that this offense can still be explosive when running play action from under center. Heck, the stats show we run the ball better from under center. Yet, what happens? We're still in shotgun 70% of the time! Again. this is not putting your players in the best positions to succeed. And don't get me started with how they have, or haven't been, using Kincaid up until yesterday. There is virtually no motion or eye candy in this offense to draw the defenses attention. No creativity at all. Everything is static and run out of the same formations over and over again. This is not putting your players in the best position to succeed. So, is Josh to blame? Of course he is at times. He's not perfect. But he's also not been given the opportunities to be in the best position to succeed either. There is a lot going wrong on offense right now, and it starts with the coaches and their decision to purposely make him one dimensional and take away half of what makes him almost an unstoppable player.

I bet you see a lot of money come in on the Bucs at that number. I wouldn't touch that spread at all. I might want to hammer the under whatever that is, though.

There were not a lot of bright spots in the game yesterday, but Kincaid was certainly one of them. We've all been waiting for the game where he breaks out and finally becomes the weapon we know he can be. His game against the Pats* was fantastic on first watch, but was even better when looking at the All-22 film. And you know what? As good as he was yesterday, he was so close to being even more dominant if Allen would have seen him earlier on a couple of routes. I have been asking to see him featured more in this offense because I know what he is capable of watching his college film. But, up until this game, for whatever reason, his route tree has bee kind of limited and they haven't been letting him do the things that can make him a true weapon in this offense. Everything he was running until yesterday seemed to be outside the numbers as more of an outlet than anything else. Sure, you would see the occasional stick route in the middle of the field, but nothing on the move. Yesterday, while he still had those routes, we finally got to see a little more. While he isn't running right up the seams and taking the top off defenses yet, hopefully this is a sign that may be coming at some point because he really can stretch the field vertically. But in this game, we did see some variety. He worked some over routes, stick routes, and some Texas routes and he made himself not only a viable outlet for Allen, but a true #2 weapon for Allen for the first time this season. You could make the argument that he was maybe our best weapon on offense yesterday and there is certainly a lot to build on. And, as I said above, as good of a game as he had yesterday, it was so close to being even better if Allen would have found him in the structure of the plays a couple more times. He is the best TE on this team and, going forward, I hope the coaching staff finally realizes what they have in him because he is the one player on offense that could legitimately develop into that consistent second weapon we need on offense. Outside of Diggs, I truly believe he is our second best overall route runner and may have the best hands on the team. And, on top of that, over half of his yardage yesterday came after the catch which hardly anyone on this team has the ability to do. There is so much untapped potential here and here's hoping yesterday opened the coaching staff's eyes and makes them realize he needs to be featured even more in this offense. Him continuing to get the ball at a higher rate will eventually help this offense become more efficient. The guys at Cover 1 do a great job with these featured breakdowns, so be sure to check out the film. It is a really good watch and will leave you wanting more focus on Kincaid going forward.

The Bills are in prime time for the next several weeks. If we keep getting embarrassed on a national stage, something has to be done in the organization.

The nice thing about needing a center is that usually you can get the best one in the draft with a 2nd round pick. Same usually goes with guard. There are always the rare exception where the really good ones go higher, but you can usually get dominant interior guys in the 2nd round.

The thing is, every single time he has gotten banged up, it has been in the pocket or behind the LOS. He has never gotten hurt while running. He may be banged up now, but should be back to normal in a couple weeks. This offense will not get better until you either let him start being himself again or you completely overhaul it and make it an under center offense that uses play action a lot. You have to get the defense to respect the run, especially Allen's ability to take off at any time. Right now, they have no reason to do so and that is why the same offense that used to be one of the most dynamic in the league is now easy to defend.

In last weeks media sessions, Dorsey was questioned about the decision to go shotgun on 2nd and inches when the tush push....as many times as it was going to be needed, was the obvious common sense thing to do. This week, he figured that out and used common sense in all of those situations. Now, it's time for the media to start building up steam on the designed Allen runs. It's a glaring omission from the offense and it is hold the team back when teams don't have to respect the fact that Allen taking off for 40 yards any at any time is no longer an option. You can't run the same offense you have always run and take away the part that made the offense successful. Having the media push this and getting Allen back to carrying the ball at least 5 times a game would be the best thing for this offense. I guarantee you that if you burn a couple teams with Allen's legs again, other passing concepts will all of a sudden be much better.

Our offense used to look just as explosive.....just in a different way. Unfortunately, the coaching staff has removed the key component that was responsible for being explosive.....Allen's legs. Teams know that he is not running anymore and they are not respecting that part of his game anymore. That allows them to play better coverage on the back end when they know they don't have to worry about Allen taking off any any given play. Makes playing defense so much easier. If you don't want to run Allen, fine.....but you have to design a new offense to cover that lack of an option up. You can't run the same offense as you have since Allen has gotten here and then take away the part that made the scheme so dangerous in the first place. I guarantee if you get Allen back to having 5-6 designed runs a game and let him scramble again when needed and burn a couple teams with it, the rest of the offense will all of a sudden start looking better again.

Taking away the designed runs and telling him to not scramble is actively hurting this team in a lot of ways and it's one of the main reasons why the offense is not functioning. The thing is, they are trying to run the same offense as they have in years past without half, or more, of what made this offense great. This team has been a shotgun based offense for several years now, and that's ok, providing you are still doing the same things you have always done out of that formation. Over the past few years, you were able to keep defenses on their heels because on every play, they had no idea if it was going to be a run, pass, or Allen keeper. They had to respect every option and defend every part of the field. However, now that team know that there will never be a designed Allen run, and very often knowing that he will be throwing the ball away instead of scrambling, has neutered this offense. Teams have to fear or respect for Allens running ability and they adjust their defense accordingly. THey can play more press. THey can play more man with their eyes on the WRs instead of having to worry about Allen ripping off a 40 yard run because they know it is not in the offense anymore. Bottom line is you can't expect to run the same offense and get the same results you used to when you take away the biggest weapon you have in Allen's unpredictability with his legs. Right now, he may as well be Mac Jones with a better arm because that is how defenses are treating him. I guarantee you that if you ran the same offense you are right now, but throw in at least 2-3 designed Allen runs a quarter or even a half, more things would open up because defenses would be forced to watch out for Allen's legs. They is why we are having success with PA from under center.....teams don't know whether it is a run or pass and Allen can freeze the LBs for that extra second or so and find open guys. In shotgun, there is no mystery. They can see whether the back has the ball immediately and they know Allen is never going to just run with it making everything more predictable. I get it....we want Allen to stay safe and play another decade+. But we can't worry about that right now when we are trying to win a Super Bowl. It's time to go balls to the wall and do everything we can to win. We have a unicorn at QB. Every play that we line up for, a defense should never know what is coming at them. Every play should look like a run, pass, or the threat of an Allen designed run. If not, defenses are going to continue not to respect the scheme and are just going to know what you are running before you run it. That's not ideal. It's time to let Allen free and I guarantee you other things will open up because of it.

Out...... The fact is, this team relies a lot on the men in the middle. Jones and Oliver have been dominant this season freeing up the edge guys to do their thing. With them not there getting the interior pressure they were creating, defenses can move their double teams elsewhere.

The guy is 34 coming off an ACL with no camp or preseason. Getting back to running and cutting itself is one thing, but getting back into football shape is completely different. I wouldn't expect his snap count to increase dramatically on a short week here, but my guess is that after the simi-bye this Thursday is that his snap count starts to rise. He hasn't shown a ton of pass rush moves with the snaps he's had.....mostly rushing wide. But he's still ramping up. Also, it is so hard to get into any type of flow when you are only playing certain snaps periodically. Von has always been a rusher where he uses a few rushes in a row to set up other moves. If he's not playing consistently, he can't do that. Bottom line, it's early for him yet. It is still going to take a bit of time to get in football shape and get the body used to the punishment it takes. We all want him to be the Von we know he can be and I get having patience is hard.

I don't need the K-Gun offense. That is a hard offense to run in today's NFL. But, what I do want is an offense that plays with pace. I would love to run a modified hurry up where we get to the line immediately and have more time to see what personnel the defense has on the field and control the tempo of the game. It would also help the offense to stay focused and maybe get into a rhythm. No, I don't need the K-Gun, but an offense with a sense of urgency and pace would be a welcome change.

The thing is, he can be this, if not even more, every game. He is a great route runner and gets open a lot. The thing is, they have him running 2 routes......outs to the sideline to be an outlet when needed and the occasional stick route. Where are the seam routes? Where are the deep in breaking routes to the middle of the field. Where are the slant routes? All of these he ran amazingly in college. His film is littered with him making plays in the intermediate areas in the middle of the field but you never see him there. Heck, he ran a few of these routes in the preseason and we haven't seen it much, if at all in the regular season. He was really nice today. Maybe our best weapon on offense. But there is so much more there that Dorsey is leaving on the table.

On a positive note, now we only have to wait 4 days to get upset about everything all over again!!!!

A trade for a meaningful player is so hard to do mid season. Yes.....Davis is invisible and we need to find someone besides Diggs that can get open. But we also need someone at one-tech that can be stout against the run and help ease the loss of Jones. A starting CB would be great as well. We have so many holes right now. But there are guys on this team, namely Kincaid, that can develop into a weapon with just a little bit of creativity. But instead, he's constantly running shallow out routes and the occasional stick route and that is the extent of his usage. Trading for more offensive players will probably feel like banging your head against the wall because there is absolutely no creativity on offense.

I'm going to try to find a silver lining here. It isn't going to be easy, though. Look.....here's the thing. I hate this loss. I hate every loss. But after all those starters went down on defense, it was very obvious the #1 seed was out the window. It was always going to be about running the gauntlet in the Playoffs. This year, there is no dominant team in the AFC. Throw a handful of teams in a hat and any one of them can beat any other team on any day. So, this is about playing your best football in January and February. Right now, we are playing our worst football not only of this season, but some of the worst football we have played in years. The thing is, as bad as it is, there is no doubt in my mind that at the end of the season, we will still be good enough to make the Playoffs. And when that happens, what happened this week, last week, the week before, etc......whatever it is, makes no difference. Winning the division, while nice, doesn't mean a whole lot. Yes, we lose a home game. I get that. But potentially having to play in a warm weather city, a dome, or whatever, isn't the worst thing for this team that isn't built to run and stop the run in potentially bad weather. This has been a bit of a tangent for sure. But the point is simple. GET THIS CRAP FIGURED OUT NOW. Do it before it is too late. Find a way to get in the tournament and play your best football and, if you win, all of this gets forgotten. But man, there is so much work to do.

It isn't happening, but I'd be OK with this coaching staff being let go and moving on. This team has talent on it and it is being wasted.

Glad we used a TO there to let them score.

It was bound to catch up with us at some point. Can't play bad teams at their level. Got burned today.

Defense folded under pressure