sven233

Bucs using the gameplan I was wanting to use against the Chiefs on both sides of the ball so far. Bracketing Kelce and Hill on offense and using a bunch of misdirection and eye-candy to scheme people open on offense. You can't play a soft zone against them and expect to stop them. They are too good outside of structure to stay with Kelce and Hill for 6-7 seconds. You have to literally double those guys ever play....mirror their every move and hope your line can get pressure quick enough. Make someone else on that offense beat you. Against their defense, knowing they like to play man and hold WRs on every play, you have to use your scheme to try and beat them. The refs virtually never call the holding on their DBs so you have to do something else. Give them a bunch of things to look at. Design plays to go to specific guys. Sure, that limits options sometimes and some will work and some won't. Both of these offensive head coaches are masters at scheming certain players open and it is showing so far to be effective.

I've done a good job of staying away from a lot of the buildup to this game, particularly from all these talking head clowns, over the last couple weeks. It only took me seeing a few minutes of pregame today to really feel just how frustrated......almost mad...... I am that we aren't playing in this game tonight. We had a great season, but man....I really wanted us to not only be in this game tonight, but win it. Both of these teams, and the hype/fawning over that the teams and individual players in this game have gotten, makes me sick. Not sure there are 2 more unlikable teams right now. We're winning this thing next year. Go Bills!

Ive done a good job of staying away from a lot of the buildup to this game, particularly from all these talking head clowns, over the last couple weeks. It only took me seeing a few minutes of pregame today to really feel just how frustrated......almost mad...... I am that we aren't playing in this game tonight. We had a great season, but man....I really wanted us to not only be in this game tonight, but win it.

There's a lot to be said about this game. So many frustrating aspects. But to me, it starts with coaching. 1. The moment they declared Gabe Davis ACTIVE, he better be 100% ready to go. All season this offense was at it's best with 4 WRs on the field beating man coverage all over. Tonight, he barely played and, all of a sudden, it's trying to get the TE and RB involved with the offense. And that was one of my biggest complaints about this game. It wasn't about losing. It was about changing what was successful for us all year and losing with an offensive game plan that was nothing like what it was all season. Not only was Davis hurt, but Brown was never the same since his injury early on in the year. It looks like he lost at least a step, if not more. But, that's the thing......we had healthy, proven guys, on this roster that could have played and added speed to a WR corps that looks like it desperately needed it. 2. What in the world were they trying to do on defense? Going into this game they had 2 guys to take away, Kelce and Hill. Yes, I know they are great, but for them to be WIDE OPEN all night was embarrassing. I have no idea what they were trying to do with Kelce, but why one of our awesome safeties and Milano weren't doubling him every play I will never understand. I can live with getting beat, but I am not letting Kelce catch a gazillion balls to do it. And, of course, our lack of pass rush was exposed again tonight. Haven't been able to get after the QB with our front 4 all season and tonight was no different. Anyway, the inability to even slow Kelce and Hill down a little bit with the secondary and LBs we have is not good at all. Another defensive coaching shortcoming. 3. The lack of guts McDermott showed in this game was puzzling. He went for it on the first drive at midfield and I thought we were in great shape with an aggressive game plan. Then, for whatever reason, McDermott goes into a shell and wimps out for the rest of the game. Every one of us knew going into this game that it would probably take 30+ points to win this game and that it was going to take an aggressive approach on 4th downs to get there. Well, everyone realized that except for McDermott. He did the right thing virtually all season long and, all of a sudden, coached scarred when it mattered most. Really confusing and frustrating. 4. I know you want to have some sort of a running game. But it has been obvious all year that Singletary is not it. The lack of speed and explosion from that position is a glaring need this off season. But again, like it has been most of the year, a wasted down when our RBs take a hand off. That drop by Singletary was a game changer. He had so much room ahead of him. It was actually the perfect call at the right time. They had everything they wanted on that play and the lack of talent and explosion at the RB position was on full display there. Now, I know that we all got on Daboll's case for calling too many runs for Allen against the Colts, and rightfully so. But tonight, Allen was BY FAR our best ball carrier and feasted every time he ran. There were openings all night for Allen to take off and he actually should have carried the ball more. There are obviously a lot more talking points about this game. While Allen was not great by any means, I actually don't think he was as bad as it may have seemed at times. We'll have to wait for the All-22 film, but from what I saw, he wasn't getting much help from his WRs. Seemed like they were all covered tightly, if not illegally at times, most of the night. They bracketed Diggs the entire game (take note Bills defensive staff) and as I mentioned above, Brown, if this is what he is now, is no longer a good enough number 2. His speed is what made him special. If he's lost a step like it looks like he has, we need to get better there. And, I covered Davis earlier. No excuse to activate him tonight. He couldn't run. All that said, though, a great season. A fun season. A very disappointing and frustrating ending. There's a lot to build on here, though. Going to be a long off season, and there is a lot of work to do. But for the first time in a long time, not that I didn't think we had a chance going into tonight, I think we're going to begin the season as a legit Super Bowl contender next year And I am calling it now......as good as Allen was this season and for all the improvement he made, he will be BETTER, maybe even by a lot, next season. His mental game improved tremendously this season and you just know he will look at all of these Playoff games....EVERY PLAY and learn about these defensive overages even more and will be better next year. No doubt in my mind. Now, it's onto the off season. Reload and come back ready to roll. GO BILLS.

If Gabe Davis wasn't healthy enough to play, he shouldn't have been active. Our offense all year was 4 WRs. Now you activate a guy that doesn't play because he's hurt. The players haven't been good, but the coaching decisions have been even worse.

Bills just don't have enough up front on defense. No game changing pass rush. Not going to beat good QBs if they have 5 seconds or more to throw. And, whatever their game plan was for Kelce is not working. How you don't double him every play I will never understand.

Oh, there has definitely been less. There were games this year that over 60% of the time they were using some sort of motion, jet action, orbit motion, and all types of eye candy. So far in the Playoffs, there has been virtually none of it. You may see something here and there, but it has not been used nearly as much as it was most of the year. And you know what? I think it has partially been by design. I think these coaches have been trying to "play the long game" so to speak for quite a while now. I think seeing Allen using those designed runs against the Colts is a perfect example of it. After the first few games of the year, that virtually went away until the Colts game. There are definitely some elements to this offense that they used at points during this year that were very successful that they haven't used so far in the Playoffs. I think there is a definite chance you see some of that eye candy and motion return against the Chiefs and, if we are blessed enough to win this game, in the Super Bowl. GO BILLS!

Biggest difference in what Brady did is that the Pats* were funneling money to his businesses for years outside of football. So, he would take less to help with the cap, but make no mistake about it, he was getting his. Just another way the Pats* have been cheating for years.

OK.... Here's the thing..... Obviously this is just my opinion, but whatever. First, I don't think there is any way he doesn't play in this game. He'll be out there and that's the way we should all want it. The thing is, unless we have a crystal ball that says definiivtely that we will definitely lose if he plays and win if he doesn't, we should all want him to play. Since that crystal ball doesn't exist, we should want him to play. Not because we would have a better chance at winning (obviously if he plays it hurts our chances for sure), but because of what the narrative would be, not only after the game, but potentially the rest of time. Let's face it, all we would hear about forever if we were to win this game if he doesn't play, and who knows....even the Super Bowl after that, is how we only won because Mahomes didn't play. Screw that. If we somehow manage to win our first Super Bowl, I don't want any clouds hanging over it. I want to win it because we beat the best and don't leave any doubt or "yeah, you won, BUT....." crap. We already have the whole "but you are 0-4 in the Super Bowl" crap to deal with, we don't need another "well, if Mahomes would have played......." crappy narrative out there as well. As it is, all of a sudden we are the afterthought in this game already. The whole week will be about Mahomes......Is he playing or isn't he. We're underdogs, and it will be like most every week where everyone will be talking about how great our opponent is and how we will be exposed and yadda yadda yadda. I get it. And that's fine. Whatever the talking heads want to say is fine. The only thing that matters is what happens on Sunday. I'll be the first to admit I don't feel great about the match-up. While there have been a series of reasons for it, our offense has not been clicking in the Playoffs the way it was for the last month and a half of the season. I just think the Chiefs are a little better than we are. They are the defending champs for a reason. I don't htink the gap is that big, though, and there is a chance we can definitely win this game. But, if we are to win it, I want to go through their best. I don't need another "well, you only won because...." thing. If we want to win the Super Bowl, you have to beat the very best the league has to offer. If we are blessed enough to finally do that, I don't want there to be any doubt about it.

I'm not saying we're going to win it all, but what I will say is that we will not see a better defense than what we have seen the last 2 weeks the rest of the way. We could lose next week. We could lose in the Super Bowl. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day. But, the Bills won't see a better defense than what we have seen the last 2 weeks. Time to get this offense back in gear and get back to dominating defenses. Humble and hungry. #BillsMafia #GoBills #SuperBowlChampionshipCaliber

Half way there. Got to get 2 more. One game at a time, though. Didn't play a great game tonight, but right now it's survive and advance. Enjoy this. Get back to work and correct the mistakes. Come back and play the best football we have all season next week. Everything we want is in front of us. Humble and hungry. #BillsMafia #GoBills #SuperBowlChampionshipCaliber

NFL Update @MySportsUpdate · 18s Lamar Jackson is going to the locker room.

Yup. I like his offense for the most part, but trying to get him to stray from the game plan when it isn't working is frustrating. He's stubborn and believes that what he schemed up all week will work eventually. Sometimes, he's right. But more often than not, he needs to be a little more flexible. Hoping he and Allen can work together to find a way to get a TD for us early in the half. Heck, just picking up some 3rd downs may help take some pressure off the offense. They are playing a bit tight. They need to loosen up a bit.

Worst half of the year by far for Josh and the offense. Wind is definitely not helping, but Josh is just missing some throws. Time to regroup, figure some things out and right the ship in the 2nd half. I don't mind throwing it all the time, though. But, it's time to get creative and get McKenzie the ball and start scheming some guys open rather than just trying to diagnose the defense post snap. Keep at it. Hit a couple of big ones early and then hope the defense can duplicate their best half of the year in the 2nd half.

Man, if our offense was clicking, this game may be over already. We are just letting them hang around and it is going to bite us.

Allen has his C game so far tonight. Not going to get it done. That said, I would have gone for it there.

"It's a great day to be great." Time for talk is over. Just one thing left to do...... WIN. #BillsMafia #GoBills #SuperBowlChampionshipCaliber

I have laid out both of my offensive and defensive game plans in other threads, but there is one thing I didn't put enough emphasis on. I want us to hit Jackson on virtually every play. If they are going to mess around with RPOs, faking hand offs, misdirection, whatever........ I want whoever is in charge of Jackson to hit him no matter whether he ends up with the ball or not. He decides to pull it, HIT HIM. He hands it off at the last second, HIT HIM. Put him on the ground as much as possible. I want him thinking about how no matter what decision he makes, how he is going to feel it. I don't want him to feel like he can just take as ling as he wants to to make a decision and not be punished for it. You want to be a runner? You want to delay the hand off until the last second? Guess what.....you're going to feel it either way. And let me tell you, getting hit and having to pick yourself off the ground in this weather is just a bit different.

They have been doing it all year. They elevate guys as "insurance" for something, but once everyone gets through warmups healthy, they don't activate guys. Not new. They do it all the time. Personally, I'd like to see more of him because the sample size was so small, but they see him every day. Guess we'll find out tomorrow.

I laid out my defensive game plan in another thread, but have not said much about our offense. That's because I am generally confident that Allen, with what he's seen this year, won't see anything that he hasn't seen before. There are only so many things you can do defensively and while Allen has improved in just about every area this year, I believe the area he has improved the most is mentally. I think he sees the game completely now. I think more often than not he know what the defense is trying to do on plays and has the answers as to how to beat them. That doesn't mean he wins very rep or every series, but I think Allen's has come so far on the mental side of the game this year that he will end up winning more reps than he loses during the game. That brings me to the offensive game plan itself. While I think we will keep on doing what has worked for us more often than not, there are some things I would like to see as a change-up. I'm not saying we are going to see this tomorrow, but I would love to see the Bills utilize some more 5 WR sets. Whether they just use McKenzie or if they think Stills can handle a few packages by now, I would love to see some 5 WR looks. We have used 4 WRs as much as any team in the league this year, but have only used 5 WR sets on like 4 or 5 plays all year. You want to throw in a wrinkle, this week may be a good week to do it. You want to take away some of that pass rush? Spread the field and make them cover 5 WRs. They have a good group of CBs, but they are not 5 deep. What would happen if they have to take some of their studs off the field that they planned on using because they have to put another CB or 2 out there? I'd take their 5th best CB on the field rather than a top DL or LB. Our 5th WR, whoever they would use would definitely be better than their 5th DB. I am a firm believer in dictating how the game is going to go and doing something that nobody else can do. We have an embarrassment of riches at WR and a QB that loves to throw it to them. The beautiful thing is that we can do this without sacrificing the threat to run the ball. Allen may be the QB, but he is also our biggest running threat. If you are using a 5 WR design, you will be forcing the defense to cover all of them. The second that they make a mistake and forget about Allen, he can take off for chunks of yardage. You want to spy him? Fine.......Who is covering the 5th WR? Like I said, this isn't a personnel grouping that we have utilized much all year. It's only been out there a few times. And while I think we will stick to what has been working, this is just something I would do just to take advantage of where we are the deepest and would in turn force the defense into playing a way they probably haven't had to all year. And that is what the Playoffs are about....match ups and taking away what teams do well. I think using a 5 WR package on several snaps may be able to accomplish just that since we have only shown in 4 or 5 times all year. No tape on it and how we would use it. Just a thought.

The more I look at this game and watch Jackson, there are definitely things we can take advantage of if we do the right things. I'm not sure if it is his throwing motion, or his mechanics, or something else, but there are times if you can get in his face and force him to throw, especially while moving, that he will throw the ball a little high fairly often. If our coverage is tight on the back end, I think we may be able to force a couple of turnovers Saturday. The more I think about this game, here is a basic idea of what I do on defense. My goal is to contain Jackson early and give our offense a few chances to jump out to an early lead. That said, I am utilizing some faster, quicker players to shadow Jackson and mixing up who that may be on every play. I am confident Tre will take away whoever he is covering in this game. I think Milano and Edmunds can do a good enough job on Andrews and the other TEs they may have and I think you can play one high safety most of the time and be just fine. I know that TEs killed us last week, but there is no doubt in my mid that Rivers us a better, more accurate thrower than Jackson is. Rivers was pinpoint on a ton of throws last week. Very rarely do I see Jackson beating teams by throwing darts to the perfect spots. He may know where to go with the ball, but he is not as pinpoint as other QBs with his throws. That alone will help us slow down the TEs better this week than last. With our safeties being interchangeable, and with a really good tackling CB in Johnson, I am bringing a lot of guys into the box completely disguising who will be acting as the "spy" on any given play. It could be Hyde, Poyer, Johnson, Edmunds, or Milano on any given play, but I am using a mix of them and their sole job is to contain Jackson to areas on the field where there is a lot of "trash" he would have to navigate through to take off. I want him having to think about where he may have an opening to escape rather than actually see it. If you can slow him down mentally, you will in turn slow him down a bit physically. As for our d-line, I am have out DTs get up field as fast as possible and while I want the ends rushing, I want them using more of a cautious rush. If they don't beat their guy right away, I almost want them to slow down, and even fall back a little to slip into possible run lanes and be in position to attack Jackson if he decides to take off. I would rather take my chances giving Jackson 4 seconds to throw the ball than a chance to hit a big run because we were overly aggressive up field. If we can find a way to contain him early, I am hoping the additions on offense we made this year are good enough to change the entire dynamic of the game we played last year. Last year, we couldn't score. The Ravens knew this and were never forced out of their normal offense. They were able to stick with what they normally do the entire game and they eventually hit 1 big play that won them the game. This year, I am hoping if the defense can slow Jackson and that offense enough early, the offense can take advantage and maybe get up a score or even 2. If that happens, and Jackson is forced to throw it more often, while he will have his success here and there, I think we can force him into some mistakes. I can't get myself to a point that I think we are going to roll in this game, or definitely even win it, but I feel better about playing them this year than I did last year and that's mainly because of our offense. I think we have an offense that can force the issue a little bit and while I don't think our defense is nearly as good as it was last year, I think if the offense can put pressure on the Ravens offense to have to keep up, I think that will make up for some of the shortfalls our defense may have. There are many ways to approach this game. I outlined a couple things above I would look to do, but I do believe there are ways to contain the Ravens and force them to be something that they rather not be. Go Bills!

Line started at -3 and is now down to -1. Media is really pushing the Ravens hard and have cooled on the Bills significantly since we didn't blow out the Colts. Wouldn't be surprised if this ends up a pick or we are even underdogs by game time. The team should see this as a total lack of respect and use it as fuel to go out and look to make a statement. Look, this is going to be a very tough game. But, I am tired of the fear that seems to be popping up all over (and has been there for weeks by some) over playing the Ravens. I'm not saying we are going to win. Heck, we might get blown out for all I know. But, to go into this game thinking that the Ravens are this unbeatable team is a little out there. They have issues just like we do and every other team does. The team that wins this game will be the one who finds the best way to exploit their opponent's issues. I really believe these teams are very close and neither one outclasses the other. But, I truly believe that is we play our best football of the season to date, we will win this game. I respect every team we are going to face, but we are good enough not to have to fear anyone. That doesn't make us unbeatable by any means. We can lose any given game. But we are just as good as any team out there and can win every time we step on the field as well. We're trying to win the Super Bowl. That road was never going to be easy, especially trying to do it in the AFC Playoffs. We win........we will have earned every bit of it. Go Bills.

I know he is a decorated coach. Won some big games for sure. But I am so glad he is not our coach. His decisions would drive me insane. Very rarely does the right thing at the right time.

Tomlin is definitely punting this, right? I mean he punted from the Browns 38 down 28. Tough call, though. I think I would go, but with their offense, I'm not sure.

Pretty sure there may have been a false start on the right side of the line on that TD. Would have had to go back and see it again. Whatever, though.... Still over.