Drunken Pygmy Goat
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Posts posted by Drunken Pygmy Goat
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Basically, you're saying the Bills weren't very "Billsy"...
Other football terms I like:
Making foolish decisions in the draft: "Brownsing" (although that may be a fading term). Formerly known as "Billsing" in the 2000s
Acting like hot **** when you're not: "Jagoff"
Tanking: "Finning"
Cheating: "The Patriot Way"
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25 minutes ago, 1ZAYDAY1 said:
To be honest... I haven’t really been overly impressed yet.
I do see potential, but nothing has come together yet. Off and on in the first game, plus turnovers. A couple Josh got lucky were called back. 2nd game for a long stretch couldn’t do anything. Josh received a lot of pressure even on 3 step drops.
Im optimistic but I haven’t really seen a offensive game yet where I feel like this team has got something special.
Ok, but have you not noticed improvement over last season?
Granted, it's hard not to look better on offense when compared to last season, but I'm at least encouraged with what I've seen.
The Bills have shot themselves in the foot at times. Unfortunate and untimely turnovers in week 1, and that "long stretch" where they "couldn't do anything" consisted of drops and penalties. But for the most part, they've been efficient, and in control of games. And with a good defense, that is all you need.
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First, consider the source. USA Today, and outlets like Yahoo, are known for lazy reporting in the sports world. They cater to the average fan, who doesn't know any better.
One thing I will say is that, for about half of the 2-0 teams, we still don't know exactly what to expect from them throughout the season. We know that the Chiefs, **Pats, Cowboys, Rams are serious contenders (need to see more from Green Bay IMO).
Some people that aren't sold om the Bills simply point to the teams they beat as reason for why. The Giants may not be good this year, but most people had the Jets ranked higher than the Bills entering the season, and the had their starting QB when the Bills beat them. They're viewed as "morbid" now, since they lost Darnold for several weeks, and lost their backup for the season, but they'll probably turn it around a bit once they get healthy, even with a questionble coaching staff.
If the Bills win Sunday, their opponents will have a combined 0-9 record. But what about some other 2-0 teams? If (when) the **Pats win Sunday, their opponents will have a combined 0-9 record. Isn't part of the reason for those teams' opponents having that combined record due to losing to superior teams that are now 2-0?
The Rams beat a mostly Brees-less Saints team. The Seahawks nearly lost to the Bengals. The Cowboys beat the Giants and Redskins. Green Bay is two terrible decisions by two different QBs away from possibly one or two losses. San Fran beat TB and Cincy. Baltimore beat Miami and Arizona...
Again, lazy reporting. Regurgitaing narratives from other lazy obsevations.
That said, we really don't know how the Bills will look in 8-10 weeks. But the same can be said for many of the other 2-0 teams.
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I know it's still very early in the season...obviously the Bills offense so far is much better this year than it was last year.
I've been thinking about several factors, and I'm curious to see what others think, as to what has been the biggest factor. Here are my thoughts:
* Josh Allen in his 2nd season.
Most people say that QBs see a big or biggest "jump" in year 2. Even though Allen didn't play in 16 games last year, he entered year 2 as the entrenched starter. He also had an opportunity (due to injury) to take a step back and learn from the sidelines last year, after making a few starts, to study and learn from a couple of veteran QBs. Early in his career (including 2018 preseason), the game was a bit too fast for him, evidenced by his hesitation to throw on some plays. The TD pass to Croom in preseason week 1, and the Benjamin TD pass against the Chargers in week 2 of the regular season come to mind (he cocked his arm once before letting the ball go on each play), but that was expected.
Again, it's still early, and I'm sure he trusted his arm strength maybe a little too much, but there's been an obvious progression for Josh as far as the speed of the game goes. Film study, familiarity with scheme, and settling in and getting comfortable and confident probably has a lot to do with that. He's also improved in key areas that were perceived as weaknesses, particularly with his footwork. His hard work in the offseason is paying off.
* Added talent.
A. The WR group.
Clearly, John Brown and Cole Beasley have been good additions to this offense. This has bumped guys like Jones, McKenzie, and Foster down the depth chart. By adding them, perhaps the playbook has grown a bit from last year, having WRs that offer more than last year's squad. Adding McKenzie last year opened up some things in the playbook, but we're seeing some things in the passing game this year that weren't shown last season.
B. The offensive line.
With 4 new starters on the offensive line, including 1 rookie (who has been splitting playing time with another new lineman; not sure which one is considered the starter), I was expecting some serious growing pains along the line for the first several weeks of the season. Aside from an occasional missed block on the edge, the offensive line has been a strength for the Bills.
Paying big bucks for Morse looks like a great move, as he has been instrumental in the group's success so far. His instincts and pre-snap recognition have been extremely helpful for a 2nd year QB that struggled to recognize and adjust to pre-snap blitz looks at times last year (although mostly early in the year). Pass protection is better this year, and that starts with the center. Oh, and the guy can move. Having an "athletic" center has helped open up the playbook in the run game. The Bills have been pulling linemen quite a bit so far, and without Morse, I don't think that would be the case. Feliciano and Spain are adequate enough when pulling (Spain is a mammoth), and the 4 linemen (5 technically, Nsekhe/Ford) on both sides of Morse are strong enough to utilize pin and pull in either direction.
C. Tight Ends.
The Bills TEs have been playing at a high level in both the passing game and in the run game with key blocks. Lee Smith was a nice addition, known for his blocking but can catch, but how about the rookies Knox and Sweeney? They have been a pleasant surprise.
There's more I could dive into, and for some reason, my post was created before finishing without hitting the post button, so I'll edit quickly (sorry if you're reading the premature post before editing)...
IMO, the biggest factor is the offensive line, especially Mitch Morse. Without the improved play of the line, the other factors I mentioned may not look quite as good. The Bills threw the ball 18 times in a row to start the season and were effective moving the ball until turnovers thwarted drives. If the line wasn't as improved, life would be much more difficult for Allen. Having a respectable rushing attack also helps Allen and the passing attack to be more effective.
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1 hour ago, offyourocker said:
And I don't think they are just anybody either. They almost took it to the Seahawks week 1. They have a potent offense. And they must be in desperate to win mode
Seahwaks had no film of the Bengals under a new staff to study. The Bengals played them close, but so did the Steelers without Big Ben (also no film/prep for Rudolph though). In other words, Seattle is slightly overrated IMO, and last week's Bengals team was more of what I expected from them without Green.
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3 hours ago, Buffalo Timmy said:
I know pro schedules usually do not allow for big comparisons but I am looking at our schedule and it is lined up for at least 7 wins- Jets(2), Phins(2), Cinci, Washington and NYG. I will bet that few teams in history had more games where simply being average meant such a high chance of victory. Anything less than 10-6 at this point would be a huge disappointment. Also we only have 3 games where we should be real dogs.
TEN? CLE? PIT?
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9 hours ago, GunnerBill said:
Greg Roman is a top 10 OC in the league. He got fired here to save Rex and his lardy brother's arse....
Maybe
9 hours ago, dneveu said:His only issue is taking too long to get plays in. Was a problem in San Francisco as well as here. .
Mcvays got his guys to the line so he can see what the defense brings and we had tyrod scrambling and clapping his hands to try and get a snap off.
That, and his passing offense was sub-par, and was called out by players in San Fran. I believe the Bills had some weird idea of having Sanjay Lal as their "passing coordinator" or something like that.
Roman was/is, however, a great coordinator for the run game aspect of offense. The simple concept of pulling linemen across the formation has been a staple of his, creating a "numbers" game on outside runs. RBs with good vision and shiftiness fit well, which is a big part of why McCoy excelled under Roman.
This year, the Bills have been running similar concepts, pin and pull specifically, mostly with Singletary on the field. They are able to do so now with more talented and athletic offensive linemen, which is probably why we didn't see a whole lot of pulling last year (and maybe Castillo had something to do with that as well; not much pulling in 2017 either). Morse gets downfield pretty quickly, and Spain is just a bully.
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11 hours ago, Protocal69 said:
Last week Ravens ( Lamar Jackson ) threw a TD pass to a wide open the TE Andrews and I was like that play looked familiar so I pulled up the BILLS game against the Vikings where Croom scored the wide open TD. Just like I thought the same play out of a different formation with the same motion.
They say its a copy cat league but damn.
I was just telling a friend about this yesterday. I believe last year they also "stole" the jet sweep toss TD "pass" that we ran early in the season (and several times since, including the McKenzie TD "pass" on Sunday. I remember seeing a couple teams run that play last year and thinking to myself "Bills did it first!", even though I'm sure the Bills didn't innovate that play. I'm sure it's been run before.
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Well, this thread went well...
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I put zero stock into the historical context between these two teams in their matchups in recent years. This Bills team is much better built and coached than they were in recent matchups, and the Bengals are not as talented and well coaches as they were in those matchups. Marvin Lewis is gone, and say what you will about his postseason record, he was a pretty good coach, and the continuity they had with his long tenure there is gone. The Bengals still have a few good pieces, but there's a lot of newness there, which should lead to inconsistency early on in tbe process. They looked atrocious yesterday on both sides of the ball, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Bills worked in some wide 9 on defense if the Bengals need to play catch up late, to mimic some of what the 49ers had success with.
I never look at Bills games and think "easy win" (except for against Miami this year), but I'm actually more confident about a win this week than I was going into the Giants game. Green may not play, with a division matchup with Pittsburgh coming in week 4, and if he does, he won't be 100%.
I see Bills -7 by Sunday, but fail to cover. 26-20 Bills
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Yeldon will be just fine for us, and Marcus Murphy will probably get brought back...people need to chill on the Gordon stuff
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28 minutes ago, Just Jack said:
I did the work. Only took about 10 minutes all together.
?
I usually do my own research, but yesterday was a long day for me and I just wasn't interested, and figured someone may know the answer off the top.
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Also keep in mind that, with an easier first half of the season, if the Bills continue to stack Ws, they'll be much more confident going into that tougher back stretch of games.
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Happy Birthday! Worthy of the LAMP
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5 minutes ago, MJS said:
You say that after Wentz has a bad game, but what will you say after Allen has a bad game this year?
"We drafted the wrong Josh"???
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18 minutes ago, The Wiz said:
I believe there was a graphic at the beginning of the game about teams going 2-0 at the same away stadium to start the season. I think it was 3 teams that did it.
Not sure if that's what the stat was referring to or not though. It happened a few hours ago and my vision might have been in question at the time.
The back to back road wins in the same stadium issue happened 3 times before today, but I don't believe those 3 other cases were in weeks 1&2.
My question was have the Bills ever started 2-0 with both wins on the road, regardless of stadium?
10 minutes ago, Just Jack said:Seasons the Bills started on the road the first two games...
1963 0-2 against Chargers, Raiders
1998 0-2 against Chargers, Dolphins
2006 1-1 against Patriots* (L), Dolphins (W)
All other seasons at least one of the first two games was played at home.
Wow! I assumed that the Bills started the season with back to back road games more than 3 times before this season. Thanks
Edit: did you do the homework here, or did you see this posted somewhere online? If you did the work, kudos
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5 minutes ago, CLTbills said:
Nope, as was stated on the TV broadcast. First time they’ve ever been 2-0 with both wins being road wins.
EDIT: And secondly, I get that they all did it in New Jersey, but is there any other stadium/city that this is possible in?
Thanks, I missed that. I watched the game muted on my phone at my niece's birthday party (she's a teenager now and had a bunch of friends there, so my wife was lenient about it
)
I figured the LA Raiders and Rams in the 90s would have offered teams that opportunity.
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I'm too lazy to do the homework of checking 60 seasons worth of results...can anyone remember the Bills going 2-0 to start the season with both wins on the road?
Also, the Bills are the 4th team to win back to back road games in the same stadium. The other 3 teams all made the playoffs. And all 4 teams did it in New Jersey.
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Cincy at Seattle was flukey IMO. No film for the Hawks on Cincy under a new coach. Today was more of the Bengals I was expecting this year. Same thing for San Fran ftm
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Exactly what I thought to myself earlier, but I think that may move to 7 by Sunday to push more Cincy dollars.
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4 minutes ago, Kelly the Dog said:
McDermott really knows how to teach and coach DBs. Frazier and the position coaches get some credit but McD really knows his stuff. The bills get the most out of a lot of guys.
Yep. That was the main thing I was hanging my hat on when we hired McDermott. Josh Norman blew up in this scheme, then went to Washington and was exposed in a more man-to-man role.
And to think, we all wanted Mike McCoy at the time...I think we got the right Josh, and I think we got the right Mc
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Talk about someone else's trash being our treasure...
I know there were some rumblings from Pack fans about losing Hyde, but man, these guys really blew up together in this scheme. Both really good players, but hopefully they realize what playing in Buffalo under McD has done for their careers, and realize what's still in front of them here that hasn't come to fruition yet. They won't be cheap, but hopefully they want to see it through and give the Bills a bit of a break and stay.
I mentioned this defense in the same breath as the 2013 Seahawks yesterday. I know most people probably think that's crazy talk, but I truly believe this team has been built very similar, and defensively, the scheme and style are pretty close. It's not quite legion of boom, but getting pretty close IMO, and I'd hate to see it slip away over a few dollars just as it gets to that level.
The Bills have the money right now. They should be working on extensions before allowing them to hit the market. Get the guaranteed money for them out of the way now, so that there's enough money left in 2-3 years for guys like White, Allen, Edmunds, and other players that may blow up.
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Question: What do you think is the biggest factor in offensive improvement?
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
Yeah, I get that it's early. But I think the arrow is pointing in the right direction, and even though injuries will come in to play, I don't think the offense has plateaued. All we can go off of is what we've seen so far, and compared to last year, it's refreshing.
Also, I think Daboll has other tricks up his sleeve that he's saving, some of which, we'll see next Sunday. Our offense in many ways resembles what the **Pats have done over the years, and one thing I expect to see in that regard is evolution on offense.