Murdox

I think Fitzmagic says it well in the video someone posted above. The Falcons saw something on tape they thought they could exploit and they blitzed Josh on 56% of plays (the most since 2021). I assume a good part of that is that the Falcons did not fear our receivers with Kincaid and Samuel out, and once Palmer went down it became a moot point. Our speed at receiver and TE was gone. So, it was a good choice to take some risk and be aggressive blitzing Josh. On the flip side, Josh and the Bills O was not ready for the Falcons game plan, but that is not at all completely on Josh. Brady needs to come up with a plan and be ready for a more aggressive blitzing scheme and be well prepared with the hot reads. On at least one play I think Josh wanted to throw to an open Cook when he was under pressure but Cook wasn't looking back. I don't know if he was the hot read on that play, but if he was he made a mistake. Brady has to stop coasting on the Allen athleticism.

Thanks to our 2 losses against teams where we were favored, NE is in a strong position and controls the division at this point. Yes, it's early in the season, but their schedule has to be one of the easiest in the NFL. I think people are overestimating the Bucs, but I do agree that KC will be tough given their recent momentum. But, first things first. We need to show the team is out of the funk and beat Carolina. Last night's game against the Falcons reminded me a lot of that game in Europe that we lost to the Jags a year or two ago. We just looked completely flat at the beginning - like our players were operating in a lower drive setting than the Falcons players. We have historically proven we can recover from bad losses, but the injuries this year are really taking a toll. We have no depth at receiver, and we need to somehow find a way to scheme a defense that can get pressure on opposing QBs. Year-after-year we are constantly reminded by everyone, including the Bills' brass, that we need to get pressure on QBs in this modern pass-happy era. And, year-after-year, I am generally disappointed as our pass rush remains woefully inconsistent and generally ineffective against good teams.

He just simply doesn't get separation consistently at all. On many of the plays against the Falcons I saw our receivers just blanketed by the Falcons defense. Josh missed a few passes under pressure and didn't have a good game, but our depth at receiver isn't good.

All I heard from the announcers all night is how our pass protection was terrible most of the night and our receivers got little separation once Palmer went down. That seemed correct. Something needs to change. The D - terrible in the first half - turned it around in the second.

Yes, this is the worst half I've seen the Bills play in a while. They just seem flat and the talent isn't there.

Well, one silver lining is if the Pats win the division due to their easy schedule the rest of the way, at least we won't be the ones with the tough schedule next year for once.

Meh, he had like no time on that one. And earlier Cook failed to look back when Allen wanted to get him the ball.

Yeah, this team looks to be in trouble. We are hitting a bad patch in the season.

Yeah, the only two games on the Pats schedule where they may not be favorites - as of today - would be the Bills and maybe the Bucs. Really easy schedule, and I could see them hanging with the Bills until the end.

Well then, I saw that quite a bit. It worked.

I can only say what I just saw, and I'm looking now? Maybe it's a question of definition? I am seeing a one safety back alignment on numerous plays - mostly on first and/or second down. That's not to say the safety doesn't retreat sometimes back after the snap. it really is like we are looking at different games entirely. So odd.

Watching it again, it was clear to me that Vrabel was going to frequently bring a safety up into the box as a pseudo-spy on Allen. So often the Pats' defense lined up with that one safety deep. Reminded me of the old Bears 46 defense. I blame a lot of that on our offensive gameplan and our lack of talent/speed at receiver. Vrabel played the odds and dared us to come up with something deep. He's watched the tape as well and seen how Josh tends to live with the short-intermediate passes in this offensive scheme so far this season. A lot of our passing yards seem to come after the catch. Putting another body in the box is a great way to stop both our run game AND Allen.

I'm looking more at the pressure. Allen felt more pressure and had messier pockets with linemen routinely getting pushed back in his lanes. Vrabel had clearly looked at the tape and Allen's tendencies and he wanted to make him uncomfortable. It wasn't about the sacks as it was about getting in Allen's head to make him feel rushed. Pressure on the ends with the tackles sliding into gaps where Allen often likes to step up and run. Occasional stunts, secondary blitzes, etc. They did a good job. And our receivers don't scare folks. On the flip side, we got to Maye a few times, but he had very clean pockets for much of the night that allowed him to complete fairly easy passes. This was based on my second watching of the game where I was specifically looking at how our line performed. it was kind of feast or famine for the Bills pass rush, where the Pats kept up a steady, physical presence on their DL.

From what I saw, Allen's mobility got better in the second half as he began to be more familiar with the defensive schemes being run by the Pats. The OL looked overmatched by the Pats DL for most of the game. It was the worst game period for our OL this year. I do believe that has something to do with Vrabel's somewhat complex schemes and the Bills coaching staff not adapting early. That said, we can have different views. Perhaps I'm a bit jaded because I see far too much "Josh Allen" this and that on these boards. And if people think Allen was the main cause of this loss, I disagree. The team needs to play better as a whole.

It's the flow of the game. You can't divorce a SINGLE play from the flow of the game and what the players have been seeing the whole game. I rewatched it this morning. The OL was routinely breaking down, including Dawkins, so it was natural for Josh to roll right here given the line was being pushed backwards on that side. I think he made the right choice, frankly. A few seconds later Dawkins was even FURTHER back and Josh would have naturally had to move to his right or risk the DL rolling off the block for a sack or QB pressure.

Good protection? It was ok, but Dawkins was pushed about 3-4 yards backwards - a pattern throughout the night - and Josh knew it had been breaking down all night so he felt the need to roll out to his right. In fact, immediately after Josh rolls out, Dawkins gets pushed a further 3 yards backwards. I feel most good QBs - epsecially mobile ones - would naturally roll right given the line collpasing more on that side. Not the best example of "good" protection, frankly, especially if you try and divorce it from the flow of the game and what Josh had been experiencing behind the line.

Sadly, Maye had a much easier defense to go against than Allen did.

I still can't agree with a blanket assessment that Maye outplayed Allen. The number of times Maye had a clean pocket versus Allen is far greater than you may realize, and I rewatched the game early this morning. The Pats got what I would call consistent pressure on Allen last night. The fact that Allen only got sacked once is a product of his abilities on the field. I'd go as far as to say it looked like Allen was playing against a varsity defense while Maye was playing against the JV defense. I am disheartened by our D, and it's rather vanilla schemes that seem far too easy to exploit, but maybe our talent on that side of the field is just average. Did Allen get a bit jumpy? Yes, but he started ranging around after feeling quite a bit of pressure due to the defensive scheming by Vrabel's staff. Notably, the Pats DL outplayed the Bills OL and shut down the run completely - often running complex blitzing schemes. They put the game on Allen's shoulders, which is likely going to be a theme going forward if opponents can pull it off. I'll put my opinion in simple terms - if Maye had faced the Pats defense last night he would have looked below average. A lot of credit to Vrabel's staff - he outclassed McDermott and crew in this one.

Meh, I understand the sentiments, but I don't think Maye outplayed Allen last night. The Pats defense had someone in Allen's face repeatedly. Allen's pocket was consistently messy. I was impressed with Vrabel's defensive scheming, which outclassed what our coaching staff can pull off. Interesting blitzes and schemes that kept the intensity up on Josh and stopped the Cook express in its tracks. Not to mention the Pats secondary, which stepped up even when Allen was giving himself a lot of time to throw such as on that last drive. The Shakir missed connection before the FG might have been defensive pass interference, but they kep tight coverage on guys the whole time Allen was running around creating time. On the flip-side, I see the Bills D once against struggling for most of the game to get any meaningful pressure on Maye. It's very inconsistent. And, I felt when watching the game that if we failed to get any pressure on Maye, our secondary was not up to the task - either because of individual failures or poor scheming. Several Pats drives ended because Maye missed guys.

Yes, the defense has been very, very poor today overall. Disappointing.

We just needed ONE mistake by the Ravens. Just one! And we got it. Then the Allen magic could take over the game.

The Ravens are the best team on paper in football at the moment, so I'm not going to say the sky is falling with any bad outcome. Injuries, fatique, etc., can all impact the Ravens later in the season, but I don't think anyone would say Beane's collection of talent is superior to the Ravens. That said, if we start losing to our AFC East rivals the sky will be falling. We still look good enough to win the division, but the defense needs to get better. EDIT: Well, that was amazing. AMAZING!

Well, I've been predicting the Ravens to be the SB winners this year, and they certainly look like the team to beat. So much talent on the team, and one of the best coaching staffs. But, you never know how injuries and fatique will affect a team later in the season. It is disappointing, however, to see our defense is terrible. We know we need to beat the Ravens, and our defense just isn't ready.

Agree. Kupp seems to have lost significant ability to separate from man coverage, which is exactly what we don't need more of. Deebo is a bit more interesting, but I'd like to think we could find someone better.

Spags outfoxed both Brady and Allen with the blitzes, but even then Kincaid had a reasonable chance to catch that incredible heave by Josh. I was surprised how much of a chance he gave Kincaid to catch it with that blitz coming.