-
Posts
6,857 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Gallery
Profiles
Forums
Events
Everything posted by Nihilarian
-
Yardbarker review of Josh Allen 2019 season
Nihilarian replied to CorkScrewHill's topic in The Stadium Wall Archives
It wasn't just having Peterman and Allen as the ONLY Buffalo Bills QB's going into the 2018 season opener as that Buffalo Bills offensive line was literally godawful to ask two inexperienced QB's to start behind. That 2018 offensive line was graded at 26th and the only player who looked half way decent was Wyatt Teller who started in the last half of the 2018 season allowing the fewest pressures during that time. Teller was traded to the Browns because while he was decent at pass blocking he was a poor run blocker. Let's also recall McD hiring an ex-WR coach coach to be the new QB coach in 2018. He was then replaced by an actual QB coach in Ken Dorsey who is the current Buffalo QB coach. So, looking back at that 2018 season those two inexperienced QB's started the season with (1) no viable QB coach, (2) no veteran QB on the roster to teach them the ropes, (3) an absolutely horrid offensive line. (4) A WR corps who consisted of the top two targets in WR Zay Jones had 102 targets, caught 56 balls for a 54.9% catch percentage. WR Kelvin Benjamin who was traded for by giving up a 3rd round pick had 62 targets, caught 23 balls for a 37.1% catch percentage. In my view the ONLY reason the 2018 Buffalo Bills went 6-10 was because QB Josh Allen emerged as an unbelievable talent in running when the O line broke down...which was quite often! To put that talent into perspective, starting Bills RB LeSean McCoy had 161 rush attempts for 561 yards, 3 TD's. Josh Allen 89 rush attempts for 631 yards, 8 TD's. Allen was so good at running the ball that the new Bills OC decided to install designed QB run plays to help make his offense work...and the reality was the Buffalo Bills offense stunk, 30th in points, 30th in yards. As it was the 2018 Buffalo Bills passing offense was 31st in passing yards, 32nd in passing TDs. Bills OC Brian Daboll took credit for that rookie QB's incredible running/escape-ability! Fast forward to 2019 and the Buffalo offense was still ranked 23rd in points, 24th in yards, 26th in passing yards, 24th in passing TDs. This after replacing almost the entire starting offensive line save LT Dion Dawkins, the starting WR corps with new WR's Cole Beasley, John Brown. This season QB Josh Allen had even more rushing attempts 109, for 510 yards and 9 rushing TD's. Lastly, I would expect this regime to upgrade the Bills offensive line even more in the draft as they showed little improvement over that 2018 line against the better teams played, Eagles, Patriots, Ravens. Those Bills line players, line coach should have worn bags over their heads after that Ravens game in allowing 6 sacks on Allen and a Ravens defense that upped their normal 50% blitz package to over 65% against the Bills. That Ravens D allowed Buffalo a measly 3.1 yards per play. Josh Allen had 39 pass attempts in that Ravens game and 22 incompletions. Against those pass attempts the Ravens sent four or fewer pass rushers on just 5 of those 22 QB unsuccessful drop backs- a near 80% blitz rate. The Bills had no answer for it. The buck stops with the Bills OC it finding ways to make things work. Clearly the Bills should have worked the run game more often with Devin Singletary in which he was averaging 5.2 yards per carry. Gore had 4 carries for 6 yards a 1.5 YPC avg. (This game should have been a clue that Gore was done) Talking about needing improvement, that game also showed that the Bills need an upgrade at WR too. Because both Beasley and Brown were covered like blankets in that game and showed very little separation. (Same old routes, routine? The players or the coaches?) As others have pointed out, I had honestly hoped that Bills OC Brian Daboll would have been replaced by someone who has shown the ability to have success as an NFL offensive coordinator. In his six seasons as an NFL coordinator the man has never had an offense better 23rd in passing yards. Bills fans want to make the case for continuity and yet if something isn't working very well, why keep doing it? Like asking Allen to throw 39 times into a heavy blitz when the run game was working with Singletary. JMHO. -
Yardbarker review of Josh Allen 2019 season
Nihilarian replied to CorkScrewHill's topic in The Stadium Wall Archives
The reality is that if those run plays for TD's by the QB were designed that way, it might be somewhat fine. The thing is, you don't want the franchise QB running the ball unless there is no other option. Go back and re watch the games only to see that the Bills RB's were usually stuffed in the red zone. For the 2019 season Devin Singletary had 23 looks in the red zone and ended up with only two rushing TD's! Frank Gore had 26 red zone looks and ended up with two rushing TD's! This tells me that the Bills run game is not fine...and in fact was bad considering some of the crappy teams they played in 2019. The Bills O line needs upgrades. Apparently you missed my point about the Bills RB's perspective vs other teams RB's. In 2019 Green Bay went 13-3 mostly because instead of relying on Aaron Rodgers arm like they did in 2018 when they went 6-9-1, a season in which no GB RB had 1000 yards rushing. Last season the Packers doubled up on Aaron Jones carries to the tune of 236 attempts for 1084 yards, 16 rushing TD's. The GB stout run game took a lot of pressure off of Rodgers to carry the team on his arm and it helped immensely. From what I saw in 2019 for the Buffalo Bills is that Singletary wasn't used nearly enough as he averaged a 5.1 yard per carry a rush during the regular season. Frank Gore was over used in the first half of the season and he faded big time in the second half. That Texan's playoff game Gore had 8 carries for 22 yards, a 2.8 YPC avg, which is pathetic! He shouldn't have even been in the game IMO. In that same game Singletary had 13 rushes for a 4.5 YPC avg and he should have seen the ball far more than 13 rushes. Meanwhile, Josh Allen had 46 passing attempts when the Bills should have been pounding the rock to play keep away. -
Yardbarker review of Josh Allen 2019 season
Nihilarian replied to CorkScrewHill's topic in The Stadium Wall Archives
I'll bark that the Bills talent level was not above average in 2019. The O line graded slightly better over the 2018 mess and was still in the 20's. The receiver corps was smaller and yet other teams with smurfs did well because those receivers actually got separation. Against the Ravens, Patriots they just couldn't get separation. The 2019 Buffalo Bills played quite a few weak/bad teams. Jets 2x, Dolphins 2x, Bengals, Giants, Redskins, Broncos, Steelers with Duck Hodges at QB. That's nine bad teams and they only scored more than 20 points in six games. Against the better teams the Bills didn't do all that well, Ravens, Patriots 2x, Eagles and it was in these games that the Bills had no answer for the blitz and were literally dominated on both side of the ball against the 9-7 NFC EAST winning Eagles. The 2020 Buffalo Bills schedule looks to be much more difficult. This regime had better upgrade both lines, the pass rush, the receiver corps and make use of the RBs much more often. Last season Singletary was vastly underutilized quite often and when the Bills ran the ball more they usually won. The 2019 Buffalo run game was bolstered by the QB who had 510 yards rushing and 9 TDs. Both Gore and Singletary only had two rushing TDs each which is really kinda sad. To put this in perspective the better RBs had 8-16. Even LeSean McCoy with 101 rush attempts had 4 rushing TDs. The reality is that the Bills had better learn how to score with the run game in the red zone in 2020. -
WTH? CBS with worst mock yet.. Off the EDGE
Nihilarian replied to 1st Ammendment NoMas's topic in The Stadium Wall Archives
The Buffalo HC is a defensive minded guy and he tends to think that way. Last season the Bills lost DT Kyle Williams and replaced him with DT Ed Oliver. This season they lose LBer #57 and locker room leader Lorax. I can see them drafting a LBer in the first round. Lorax will be missed as both a LBer who saw 495 snaps, 47.78% and as a special teamer who saw 56.76 snaps. However, CPS sports lists the guy as the 38th best prospect and the 5th best edge player in the draft. If this is the case they might be better off selecting a WR with that #1 and trading up into the second to get this edge rusher. Kinda way to early to be thinking who the Bills are looking at right now though. -
I get that everyone wants to put the QB under a microscope to watch every bad play he made...Instead lets look at the offensive line. How about we go back and look at that Eagles game to see that the Bills offensive line play wasn't very good and almost every position on that Bills O line was dominated by an Eagle player. I can recall hearing that center Mitch Morse was getting owned in this game. I also see that this years Bills line while improved over that very bad 2018 line it was still graded in the 20's for 2019. This Bills offensive line still needs upgrades and Dion Dawkins had the best grade. There were far, far to many penalties this season as they were 26th worst in NFL penalties with 146 total flags For some reason in that Eagles game the Bills OC decided that Gore should get most of the initial carries and he played the entire first half while Singletary had no carries, Gore 7 carries 20 yards in the first half. Gore finished the game 9 rushes for 34 yards, 1 TD. 3.8 YPC Singletary finished the game 3 rushes for 19 yards, 1 TD 6.3 YPC. Allen had 12 passes, 7 runs in that first half. The Bills O line wasn't very good against the Patriots 2x, Ravens and Eagles. Only four rushing TD's for the Bills RB's all season. This needs to change for Allen to keep improving.
-
The dumbest of dumb...real head scratcher. Trading away pro bowl LT Jason Peters to the Eagles and attempted to replace him with a 7th round pick in Demetress Bell or was it Deme' tress or was it Demetrius, I can't remember? This was in 2009, and last time I looked Jason Peters was still locking down that LT position for the Eagles in 2019. 10 years man, 10 years! Now, the story on this was that Peters was a walk on TE that Bills O line coach Jim McNally coached up and converted to become one of the very best left tackles in the league. Just to give an idea how good a coach McNally was, he coached the Bengals line 1980-1994 and HoFer all pro/pro bowler LT Anthony Munoz. Anyway, when Marv Levy had a smart idea to attempt to run that deep passing scheme of the St Louis Rams "greatest show on turf" in Buffalo with new ex Ram OC Steve Fairchild as the new Bills OC. After that first season they saw that the Bills offensive line even with an all pro at LT simply wasn't good enough with LG Mike Gandy, C Melvin Fowler, RG Chris Villarrial, RT Terrance Pennington as four of those five players stunk! Now how Levy went about building that offensive line was all wrong as he should have done it with the draft. As all bad teams with bad coaches, bad scouting departments they make bad decisions and this Bills regime was no different. Levy brought in high priced free agents LG Derrick Dockery and RT Langston Walker and Brad Butler was the RG. Now Butler wasn't all that bad but Walker and Dockery weren't worth the money and Jason Peters took notice of this and he asked for more money. As I recall the Bills paid Dockery an absurd amount and all that did was piss of the pro bowler LT. Well, trading away Peters did give the Bills the picks to draft C Eric Wood with a #1 pick and LG Andy Levitre with a #2 pick. The problem was while had upgraded the middle of the line they had a lousy ends in LT in Bell and RT in Kirk Chambers. Enter new Bills GM Buddy Nix in 2010, who promptly states that, "You're going to think i'm nuts, but we're not that far away". Meaning he thought the Bills had a pretty good roster. That 2010 Bills team went 4-12. Nix went on to sign Cornell Green as a free agent RT who lasted a whole five games before being benched and released. Showing that Nix didn't know offensive line player talent at all. He did manage to find off the street players to band-aid the line with RG Kraig Urbik and RT Erik Pears. This new Bills regime in Beane/McD did make the mistake of drafting a QB and starting him behind a poor line in 2018. They did attempt to upgrade the line in both free agency and the draft in 2019. However, we all saw that line wasn't nearly good enough this past season in games against the Ravens, Patriots, Eagles and hopefully the Bills continue to upgrade the line for 2020. The Bills also had problems punching the ball into the end zone with their run game by the RBs. And yes, Nathan Peterman as the 2018 starting QB was also a huge head scratcher. Who in their right mind thought that this kid would be a viable starter behind that craptastic 2018 offensive line?
-
Brian Daboll ...high level coaching? The guy calls plays at times like he has Tom Brady at QB, and even then this season he would have lasting less than one game under Belichick. You don't see Josh McDaniel's putting Brady under the gun like Daboll does with Allen. Meaning if Brady is having a bad game the Patriots work that run game like no other team...usually. Well, that last sentence is not totally true as that first game against the Patriots in week four, Tom Brady went 18 of 39 for 150 yards 0 TDs, 1 INT. A 45.9 QB rating! This against that #3 overall Buffalo Bills defense. OMG, how very un-Brady like! OMG... how every Josh Allen like! This simply shows that putting the game on the QB shoulders against a top defense gives even the GOAT fits. This season Brady had a limited receiver corps in WR Julian Edelman, RB James White to throw to too. Daboll did this same thing against a few teams, the Patriots with their #1 defense 2x, The Ravens with their #4 defense and even against teams with bad defenses like the Browns and Texans. The Bills lost because they asked the QB to carry the game by throwing while almost ignoring utilizing their best weapon other than Allen in RB Devin Singletary. Let's not forget that Josh Allen led the team in rushing TD's with 9. Gore had 2 TD's, Singletary also had only 2 rushing TD's. Think about that for a min and ask why is that with that supposed improved offensive line. Green bay with Aaron Rodgers has been asking Rodgers to carry the team with his arm the last few seasons up until 2019. 2017, 7-9. 2018 6-9-1. This with arguably one of the very best QB's in the league. In 2019 Green Bay under a new HC ran the ball more often with RB Aaron Jones 1084 rushing yards 16 rushing TDs, 3 receiving TD's. This took a lot of the game off Rodgers shoulders and the Packers went 13-3 in 2019. Simply saying that Allen's completion percentage could have been so much better had the play calling stayed more consistent all season. Like it was against the Cowboys 34 rushes vs 25 passes. the Steelers 38 rushes vs 25 passes. Against Denver and at that time #4 defense against the run 47 rushes vs 25 passes. Just like the Bills did against the Texans in that WC game, with a 16 point lead the Bills blew that lead by asking the QB to keep throwing instead of pounding the rock to play keep away. The Bills weren't the only ones to do that as the 49ers seemed to do the exact same thing in the SB against the Chiefs. With a lead the 49ers asked Jimmy G to keep throwing when the teams forte was the run game. The result, a loss.
-
The one thing that Bills fans that were around when Polian was fired know is that ole Bill had a very fiery temper to go along with his red hair. And even at that point in time Ralph Wilson (75) was considered a cantankerous, frugal owner. The two were always fighting about something. Polian needed to go to war with Wilson over spending money on players, improvements for the stadium, better field, big screen etc. Polian happened to get into an argument with Wilson's daughter who worked for the team, Linda Bogdan, She was vice president and assistant director of college and pro scouting. (she had scouted and recommended that the Bills draft WR Jerry Butler .) Anyway, Polian was heard calling her a very unpleasant name which ultimately prompted his firing. I can also recall something about Polian's brother working security for the team and there was a rumor in Minnesota before the SB that somehow the Redskins had gotten hold of a Buffalo Bills playbook because of him. Polian was fired Feb 4th 1993. So, take your pick. On another note. When Chuck Knox was hired by Ralph Wilson he brought with him his player personnel director from the Rams in Norm Pollom. He was the one that recommended that the team hire a young upstart scout/pro personnel director by the name of Bill Polian to become the new Buffalo Bills pro personnel director in 1984. He didn't become GM until 1986. Anyway, it was Pollom who stayed with Buffalo after Knox left to eventually help draft Bills HoFers Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith and Andre Reed in the fourth round, Daryl Talley too. More of Pollom's players for the Los Angles Rams were HoFers Tom Mack, Jack Youngblood, Jackie Slater, as well as Lawrence McCutcheon and Dennis Harrah. How Jim Kelly eventually got to Buffalo was a strange story. After the fall of the USFL, at that time the Raiders owner all Davis thought he could pull off another Daryle Lamonica type trade to bring Kelly to the Raiders. (Rumor has it that Davis paid for Kelly to go to London in an all expenses paid trip with some Raiderettes.) This was on Bill Polian who convinced the Bills owner that bringing in Kelly would revive the team money wise, season ticket wise. Ralph Wilson did something he had never done previously as he made QB Jim Kelly the highest paid QB in the league to get him to play for the Buffalo Bills. It did indeed sell season tickets as Bills fans went nuts over Kelly.
-
@CA OC Bills Fan You are right as recalled it incorrectly. I do remember Wade was fired over not firing his special teams coach. Just got the wrong one. As for letting Chuck Knox walk away. It wasn't a head scratcher to me simply because of how frugal Wilson was at that time. He initially made Knox one of the top highest paid head coaches when he hired him. Now that the man had not only turned the team around he also gave new pride for the city of Buffalo. Remember the "talking proud" campaign which started in 1980? The Buffalo Bills were a big part of that success. Anyway, Knox felt he deserved a raise and the Bills coming off the 1982 strike shortened season at 4-5, Wilson said he felt differently. Want a real head scratcher? How about hiring ex Buffalo Bills QB and current Bills QB coach Kay Stephenson to be the head coach after letting Knox walk. Ray Prochaska was Knox's offensive coordinator under Knox and he left Buffalo to go to Seattle with Knox.
-
Most of this is correct. However, here's the thing. Ralph might have spent a few bucks to hire Tom Donahoe and promoted him to team president while Wilson left that job to supposedly retire. Ralph Wilson was so very "hands on" as an owner that he simply couldn't step away for very long IMO. To give you an idea of how hands on this owner was, he was in the draft room advising selections on who to draft over the years. Hence all the RB's and DB's and few QB's and O linemen. Wilson was also noted to be on the phone from Detroit with HC Dick Jauron a few hours a day during the season. Buffalo had difficulty in finding a decent head coach because most knew how cantankerous and frugal he was. Even then when Buddy Nix wanted to hire Marty Schottenheimer as HC before he hired Chan Gailey, Wilson said no. Ralph Wilson was very frugal with the Buffalo Bills because he wasn't a billionaire like some are today and he came very close to being forced to sell part or all of "his" team on several occasions . His team needed to make a profit each and every season as this forced his hands with a lot of issues. On the contrary of being a "hot candidate", Donahoe was the "director of football operations" for the Pittsburgh Steelers and subsequently fired by the Steelers after he lost a power struggle with then HC Bill Cowher. Now, most owners who hire an outside team president to run their team usually will rehire a new president instead of taking over control of the team again, not this owner. As for Marv, Levy returned to the Buffalo Bills in thinking that he would be their head coach again. Only after he was hired and settled in Ralph Wilson made it clear that his new duties were to be GM only. Levy made the choice for hiring Dick Jauron and helped him pick his staff. They hired the St Louis Rams OC in Steve Fairchild who didn't call the plays for the Rams as HC Mike Martz did that job. The Tampa two defense was a hot commodity at that time in the league and about the only reasoning I can think of as to why Levy chose Jauron as HC. He made it clear it came down to Jauron and ex Packer HC Mike Sherman for the Bills HCing job. Levy mentioned in the media that Sherman "knocked his socks off" in his interview. Puzzling outcome to be sure. When it came to the draft, Levy knew he was in over his head as a talent evaluator so he went with a consensus of himself, Jauron and the scouting staff. It looked like Jauron made the calls after all, Aaron Maybin... There are reasons as to why the Bills drafted OG Andy Levitre and OC Eric Wood as Jauron watched in horror as the Bills O line attempted to triple team Jets NT Kris Jenkins and he still got to the QB. As for Donte Whitner, the Bills were desperate for a safety as Levy had just gotten rid of a player who he deemed as low in character in SS Lawyer Milloy. They drafted for a need and with nobody in the FO knowing what they were doing they also traded up to draft DT John McCargo. For some unknown reason Levy stated he thought McCargo was a big reason as to why Mario Williams was so good at NC state. As bad as the decision to hire ex Bills HC Marv Levy was I think it was far a worse decision to replace him with pseudo GM Russ Brandon and even worse was when Brandon took over as team president. 2000-2017...woof On another note, Ralph Wilson fired Wade Phillips because Wade refused to fire special teams coach who had allowed the music city miracle play. Wilson also never paid Phillips what he was the remainder due on his contract either.
-
#8 in receiving in 2019 16 games played. 79 receptions, 119 targets for 1189 yards, 8 TDs, 245 yards after catch 0 fumbles, 52 first downs In his five seasons in the NFL has four 1000 yard seasons... #21 in receiving in 2019 John Brown 15 games played, 72 receptions 115 targets for 1060 yards, 6 TDs, 217 yards after catch, 53 first downs AJ Green was last relevant in 2017 where he was 12th in receiving, 16 games played 75 receptions, 145 targets, 1078 yards, 8 TDs, 309 yards after catch, 56 first downs. 2018 played in 9 games. missed all of 2019.
-
Bills over/ under wins set at 8.5
Nihilarian replied to BillsMafi$'s topic in The Stadium Wall Archives
Odds makers might just have it right this year. The Patriots will make acquisitions on offense for Brady to make him happy. Any top WR or TE free agent Like WRs Amari Cooper, AJ Green, TEs Austin Hooper, Hunter Henry. The NY Jets should be improved with continuity from the same coaches, draft, free agency. The Dolphins should be improved with three first round picks and perhaps QB Phillip Rivers? He did move from S Cal to Fla...They might also be drafting a rookie QB. I don't see any cakewalks this season as each and every team will be looking at Buffalo as a playoff team to beat. The Bills barely beat some bad teams last year they only scored more then 20 points in six out of ten games. That won't fly this season as they face more quality opponents. No more Duck Hodges, Brandon Allen, Dwayne Haskins, Marcus Mariota at QB. Its also not just about QB Josh Allen improving at passing either. With a power run game and that number three overall defense the 2019 Buffalo Bills should have destroyed the bad teams with scrubs QB's. Oh yea, what power run game? Motor was vastly underutilized for whatever reason. With QB Josh Allen's 510 yards rushing, 9 TDs the Bills should have been a whole lot better than 18th in rushing TD's. Think about that, Josh Allen had 9 rushing TD's...Gore had 2, Singletary had 2, THAT's IT, WTH! So basically 4 rushing TD's from both the Buffalo RB's all season long...Yeldon hardly saw the field and DiMarco had only 3 rush attempts all season as did Sinorise Perry. To put that in context GB RB Aaron Jones had 16 rushing TD's and a big reason as to why Green Bay did so much better in 2019 on offense. Tenn RB Derrick Henry had 16 rushing TD's. Carolina RB Christian McCaffray 15, Minn RB Dalvin Cook had 13. Todd Gurley who was injured had 12 rushing TD's. Elliot had 12, Ingram had 10. So, don't tell me that Brian Daboll's offense didn't put carrying the game on Josh Allen shoulders far more than he should have. That jackass of an OC should be building an offense to support Allen and not making "him" the offense! P.S. 49ers QB Jimmy Garoppolo, a six year vet playing under one of the brightest offensive minds in the league in Niners HC Kyle Shanahan. Jimmy studied that offense with Mike Shanahan all off season. Jimmy G threw for 3978 yards 27 TD's, 13 INTs with a 67% completion percentage in 2019. Even He looked like crap with the game placed all on his shoulders when the 49ers had the lead in the second half of that super bowl. Texans playoff game come to mind? Just sayin! -
McShay - Bills pass on WR and take RB Swift in 1st.
Nihilarian replied to PIZ's topic in The Stadium Wall Archives
Why is everyone forgetting about Christian Wade? Talk about explosive....if that kid can learn the game the Bills won't need to draft or sign anyone. And yes, upgrade the offensive line. Let's hope that this regime understands the importance of having an all pro offensive guard like they had with Incognito...only without the head case. Ford might just be that guy at RG so the upgrade is needed at RT. LG too if Spain isn't resigned. -
I also blame Daboll, but not for the same reason. After reading what "Hapless Bills fan" has stated about what he knows, the offense is more of a collaborative effort as McD does have some say as to how the offense is run. That said, I think the play calling during games is more on Daboll, and still that has issues as does Allen have actual power to change the play at the line or run an RPO on his own. I'm thinking no...although this is very debatable. I kinda wish that Daboll did have total freedom and therefore he would have to shoulder all the blame or acclaim. Bills fans talking about the games the team lost last season Patriots, Eagles, Browns, Ravens, Patriots, Jets. Against the Jets in that last game the Bills rested starters so that one doesn't count. The Eagles game was the only game in which the Bills were really dominated on both lines offensively and defensively and lost 31-16 by a wide margin. It's my contention that those other four games could have been wins had the Bills run the ball more and passed less in those games. Daboll is putting way to much of the game on Josh Allen's shoulders to win games against the better defenses in the NFL. Allen is simply not ready at this point. The Titans showed the Bills how to beat the Patriots. Build a dominate offensive line and find a way to make that run game work in any situation. (You also don't need a Derrick Henry type RB to get the job done either.) If this super bowl looked like the Bills in any aspect its that the 49ers moved away from what got them to that game in the first place. Against the Packers in the NFC championship game Garoppolo threw only 8 freaking times and they ran it 42 times. Against Minnesota in the first playoff game the 49ers threw it 19 times and ran it 47 times. In the super bowl against the Chiefs the 49ers went into a Buffalo Bills mode by asking their QB to carry the game with his arm and he simply couldn't do it. Instead of running more and passing less like did in the previous two playoff games, they went 22 runs vs 31 passes. (The Bills did win some games with Josh Allen carrying the offense with some fourth quarter comeback wins. Although those wins weren't against the better defenses) OTOH, Mahomes carried the game with his arm and won MVP.
-
Browns hiring Alex Van Pelt as OC
Nihilarian replied to YoloinOhio's topic in The Stadium Wall Archives
Its working for Nate Hackett in Green Bay as their HC calls the plays. I didn't mind AVP in Buffalo as QB coach as he simply wasn't ready to be the OC just yet. Good for him as he has good talent on that team. -
I agree. Now, think about what Patrick Mahomes would look like without TE Travis Kelce, WR Tyreek Hill, AND Not having Andy Reid setup the game plans and call the offensive plays. I highly doubt he would look anywhere near as good as he does. I even doubt he could carry the team with his arm without those people supporting him. Give those three men to Josh Allen and allow him to sit for a season and watch, learn under Reid and you might have a different view of Allen. Name any star QB that could carry his team with his arm and take away the other offensive stars on the team and see what happens. What did Brady look like this season without Gronk! Shoot, Matt Ryan had 11 games with over 300 yards passing with a completion percentage of 66.2. Ryan threw for 4466 yards in 2019, #1 in pass attempts, #3 in passing yards and the Falcons went 7-9. His WR Julio Jones played in 15 games. He clearly can't carry his team with his arm. Aaron Rodgers couldn't carry his team with his arm in 2017-2018 either. This list is endless when you don't have a balanced team. That last paragraph might mean that when Daboll called a balanced game Josh Allen really shined like in that Dallas game. 19 of 24 for 231, 2 TDs with a 120.7 rate. Mostly when Daboll had the run game working properly it took away the pressure to carry the game on his own (his arm, hero ball). As for that last sentence, excellent point. However, I would call it more than just "strange" play calling when your team has a 16 point lead and instead of finding a way to pound the ball to play keep away. You keep asking the playoff inexperienced QB to keep throwing it 46 times. It is also more than strange that the Bills had five attempts in or near the Texans red zone and came away with four FGs, one TD. This against the worst red zone defense in the league. Blame the QB for the ineffectual run game? Blame the QB for the ineffectual red zone offense? Josh Allen also ran nine times for 92 yards in that game. If Josh Allen has the ability to change the play every down or call an RPO when he feels the need then this OC is forcing way too much responsibility on that young, inexperienced QB. Either way, the buck stops with the OC for any offensive failure.
-
Eli Manning: Will He Get Into Canton?
Nihilarian replied to Gugny's topic in The Stadium Wall Archives
While he played on some great teams he also played on some bad ones at the end. Just goes to show that you can have an elite QB and is he doesn't have the supporting cast around him it's just so hard to win. Just ask Matt Ryan the last two years. Or Aaron Rodgers 2017, 2018. -
Shout out to a couple Buffalo representatives in SB 54
Nihilarian replied to YoloinOhio's topic in The Stadium Wall Archives
he gets a ring if they win... -
The only thing i can think of is that in 2018 the Bills led the NFL with the most deep passing attempts...this with one of the leagues worst offensive lines. Which gave Allen very little time in the pocket to complete those deep passes. Hence all the QB running. That, along with Allen's completion percentage which wasn't so great from all those deep passing attempts. The deep pass has a very low chance for completion even among the better QB's. So, in my view McD went to Daboll and wanted to change all this. The Bills brought in Cole Beasley to help with the short passing game which would intern help with the completion percentage. Now Robert Foster was injured at the start of the season and no idea when he was fully healthy. Then looking at how long it took this OC to get Duke Williams involved in the offense, who knows. The one thing I know for certain is the only way to get better at something is repetition, practice. The way the Bills offense failed at the deep pass this season tells me they simply didn't practice it enough. You would think that with the upgrades to the O line and the strongest arm in the league that they would work that deep passing game over and over this year. A lot didn't make much sense this season...particularly when the run game is working so well and they go pass happy. All in all this made Allen look much worse IMO.
-
Running Backs A Dime a Dozen & Is It a Passing League ?
Nihilarian replied to T master's topic in The Stadium Wall Archives
I agree. If you at how things went this post season. The Vikings beating the Saints by running 40 rushing attempts which won the time of possession 36:56 to 27:24. The beat one of the very best passers in the league in Drew Brees who had a receiver who had 149 receptions for 1725 yards, 9 TD's this season. Sort of unreal when you think about it. Then the Vikings go to SF and that D line of theirs stuffs the Minnesota run game holding a top ten RB in Dalvin Cook to 9 carries for 18 yards, sacking Kirk Cousins 6 times. Meanwhile, in the divisional round that 49er offense runs right over that Vikings defense 47 carries for 186 yards. Two dominant running teams duke it out and the Niners pounded the Vikings. The Tennessee Titans go to New England and beat the Goat along with their #1 defense by having RB Derrick Henry, 34 rushes for 182 yards,1 TD. The Titans go to KC and get whooped by that Chiefs passing game. Tennessee had the 22nd or so defense so they really weren't a match for the Chiefs. Now the 2019 Buffalo Bills who are force feeding their young, inexperienced QB into learning to be a better passer by throwing him into the teeth of a defense when their run game could have actually helped win games... The Bills have RB Christian Wade waiting in the wings for this season. Now they need to beef up the D line and O line and find that #1 "go to" WR. I'm thinking that O line might be the bigger priority the way the Eagles, Ravens manhandled them. I kind doubt they would have had much success against San Fran this year. -
Running Backs A Dime a Dozen & Is It a Passing League ?
Nihilarian replied to T master's topic in The Stadium Wall Archives
m A lot of teams have been running the ball with great success this season. Baltimore #1, San Fran #2, Tennessee #3, Seattle #4, Dallas, #5, Minnesota #6 Indy #7, Buffalo #8, Houston #9. The reason as to why the Ravens were #1 is because QB Lamar Jackson had 1206 rushing yards at a 6.9 YPC avg. Ravens RB Mark Ingram had 1018 rushing yards at 5.0 YPC. San Fran was #2 had three RBs and none were 1000 yard rushers. You know what kills a great pass rush on the QB? Running the ball right at them!