Logic

Shaw, I see that your retirement from writing the Rockpile Review is going about as well as Tom Brady's retirement from football! 😅 Only kidding, of course. Always happy to read what you have to say. I'm surprised to hear that the Ravens' stadium wasn't absolutely rockin' yesterday. It certainly didn't sound very loud on TV. Kind of strange, considering all the factors you mention. Huh. My main takeaways from the game were threefold: Opposing defenses have gone back to the old tactic of blitzing Josh Allen and playing tight man coverage on the Bills' receivers. Unless and until they show they can beat it with consistency, this will continue. Luckily, Dorsey dialed up some good answers yesterday -- particularly the empty set screen to Singletary at the two minute mark of the 4th quarter that got them into really safe field goal range. I'm optimistic the Bills offense will pass this test -- again. The second half defense has been elite this season. Just seven points allowed in the second half through four games, and against four really good offensive opponents, to boot. Elite. The lack of plan for Cook is bizarre to me. I agree that he hasn't been making the most of his opportunities, and maybe hasn't been earning himself any more, but...he's supposed to be this homerun pass catching threat. Where are the go routes against linebackers split out wide like we saw at Georgia? Where are the screens, the Texas routes, the swing passes against linebackers in man coverage? Maybe he needs to take better advantage of his snaps, but I'd also like to see the coaches do a better job of trying to take advantage of his unique skillset. Happy Monday and GO BILLS!

Leslie Frazier is certainly the Eric Bienemy of Leslie Fraziers.

It's definitely becoming a theme.

I'm more concerned with the coaching staff's apparent complete lack of plan for his usage than I am for him as a player. For all the talk of wanting to acquire a pass-catching threat at running back, they sure don't seem to be designing any plays for him or putting any special effort into getting him involved in the passing game. He seems to just be subbed in for the other running backs at random times and expected to run the same exact plays. I figured they'd have a few bubble screens, Texas routes, go routes on the outside against linebackers....SOMETHING! Their lack of plan for him reminds me of when we drafted CJ Spiller and then let him sit in the garage and collect dust like a divorced man's Ferrari. To start with, I'd love to see the Moss experiment end -- and yes, I was one of his biggest supporters and biggest believers that he'd have a great year, and yes I'm ready to take the L. Singletary should be the unquestioned starter and Cook should be the change of pace, third down, and primary receiving back. If they want a third back active on gamedays, let it be Duke Johnson.

The Bills defense has allowed only seven points in the second half through four games this season. Let me say that again: The Bills defense, through four games of professional football, has only allowed SEVEN points in the second half. That is truly incredible. No one can say "yeah, but who have they played?!" either. They've gone up against offensive genius Sean McVay, Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp. They've gone up against All-World running back Derrick Henry and the reigning AFC 1-seed. They've gone up against Mike McDaniel, Tyreek Hill, and Jaylen Waddle. They've gone up against MVP candidate Lamar Jackson. Seven points. Truly incredible job by Leslie Frazier's defense, ESPECIALLY when you consider that they've been missing All-Pros Tre'Davious White and Micah Hyde, Ed Oliver, Jordan Phillips, as well as their current top two corners in Dane Jackson and Christian Benford for long stretches of playing time. The only thing I can reasonably do at this point is to honor this incredible effort the way my head coach would:

No. A few reasons: 1.) The offense is still learning what it is and what it wants to be. People quickly forget that we have a first time offensive coordinator at the helm. For all the talk of carry-over from Brian Daboll's offense, I've seen a whole bunch of new stuff from Dorsey. It may be the same terminology as the past few seasons, but it's not entirely the same offense. As they continue to grow into it and Dorsey continues to get better as a playcaller, I expect evolution from the offense. It's already happening, in fact. After lacking answers to cover zero blitzes against the Dolphins last week, Dorsey called an empty set screen to Singletary who was aligned out wide at the two minute mark of the 4th quarter against the Ravens. The play went for a big gain and essentially sealed the victory for Buffalo. I had not seen this playcall before, and it worked wonders as a cover zero blitz beater. Speaking of cover zero... 2.) Teams are starting to blitz the hell out of Josh Allen and play press-man coverage again. This used to be the way to beat Josh Allen. Once he showed that he could repeatedly torch this approach, defenses started doing all of the two-high, "you won't beat us deep" stuff. From the playoffs last season through the first two games of this season, however, Josh absolutely destroyed that type of defense. Opposing defensive coordinators -- at least the last two weeks -- have said "screw it. Nothing really stops this guy anyway, let's blitz him and hope we create enough negative plays to swing the game". This happened in the Dolphins game. The Bills mostly moved the ball very well against these looks, but one of the only times a heavy pressure got home, Melvin Ingram stripped the ball and the Phins recovered it deep in Bills territory. This leads us to... 3.) Until our offense shows that it can consistently beat these heavy pressure and tight man coverage looks again, teams will keep doing it. Opposing defenses will want to continue to test our offensive line and test our rookie play caller. So long as our offensive line can remain healthy and continue to gel, and so long as our rookie play caller continues to come up with answers to what the opposition is throwing at him -- as he did this week against the Ravens -- I have faith that the Bills offense will be just fine.

But again...if they want to be salty, they should be salty that their team couldn't score a single second half point or stop the Bills from scoring 20 unanswered. Blaming the refs is for losers.

These things all even out. How about the no-calls on "hit to a defenseless receiver" in back-to-back weeks against the Bills -- to Dawson Knox last week and McKenzie this week. Both should've been worth 15 yards. Blaming a loss on the refs is chump *****. Maybe Ravens fans should be upset that their team couldn't score a single second half point or that they gave up 20 unanswered to the Bills.

I just hope that for all the flak McDermott gets about clock management and game management, people give him his due for today's end-of-game sequence. I would have preferred they called the timeout with a little more time left on the clock on third down just in case the snap didn't get off cleanly or something, but other than that, absolutely masterful job at clock management. Gotta think today's win will do wonders for this team's confidence. Soon, they'll have big Ed and Tre back, and then it's clobberin' time. GO BILLS!

I wonder what all the indignant, righteous Dolphins fans who've spent the past few days calling this a witch hunt and saying everything was done by the book are thinking right about now.

That one.

The Bills offense is currently ranked 3rd in points per game. Somehow, they seem to be doing okay. Counter question for you: How's the defensive line -- which you relentlessly knocked Beane for investing money and draft picks into -- looking?

Now is not the ***** time, man. Read the room.