HoofHearted

Bills fans: run the ball! Also Bills fans: why are we running the ball! This place is great on game day 🤣

They started to - played some 4 toward the end of that drive and got out of their roll 3 coverages.

This thread is fun lol

This idea that we are built defensively to just beat the Chiefs is a fallacy - we are built to stop modern offenses. There's two ways to build a defense - be bigger than everyone or be faster than everyone. We've built our defense to be faster and more athletic than everyone. You see the Buccaneers following this same philosophy and don't hear anyone saying anything about them being only built to beat the Chiefs.

Unfortunately you can't just jump into whatever fronts and coverages you want week to week. Alignments, keys, techniques, fits, rules, etc. all change when you change the base front.

Doesn't matter what defensive personnel grouping we put out there if guys can't fit their gaps correctly. If we continue to get reached or get washed we're gonna get gashed regardless. This idea that there's not play action possible out of shotgun is absurd to me. Plus you completely remove the RPO game if you play solely under center - which has been the major way we've had any type of success in the redzone this year.

No, he took a good path. Gunner did a good job running off the Jammer. Matakevich just let his man go essentially unblocked.

Didn't look to me like he ever committed to the block. Looked like a miscommunication as he worked almost immediately up to the second level. I also agree. I understand there's an element of surprise to the fake punt, but why take your best player off the field in a crucial situation. I'd feel more confident in the offense being able to gain 2-3 yards than my punt team.

100% - a bunch of non-football guys grading players without knowing play calls or assignments. Brilliant! Slow feet don't eat. Our OL is so unathletic. This definitely compounds the issue, but we are very unathletic up front.

Typically SPT Coordinator will come up with the scheme (with approval from the head coach). Head Coach will just determine when/if he wants it run in a game.

Incorrect, they overloaded that side. Would have been a sure tackle for loss. That's what I questioned as well.

Nothing on film suggests they picked up that Breida was in the game (slow getting lined up, no one communicating or pointing, no one on the second level in a stance even). Regardless, it's not about fooling the defense with the personnel you put on the field. They could very well have known a fake was coming - they'd still have to stop it. It's a defensive play just like any other on 1st-3rd down. Every player has their assignment and executes it the same whether it's a punt or fake. The design of the fake was a solid one for the look they got from the Bucs.

If Matakevich holds his block for just 1 more second that dudes not even there to make the shoestring tackle.

Saw a lot of people bashing the play design of the fake punt on here so I thought I'd break it down so everyone could see what the coaching staff saw. Coaches designed the fake so that we could get numbers to the offensive left side of the play. The backside (Center, Right Guard, and Right Tackle) are essentially blocking Power here (Center and Right Tackle block down while Right Guard pulls to wrap on the opposite side). To the playside they are zone over-take blocking which essentially means the Left Tackle and Left Guard are going to combo the Tackle until the Left Guard can overtake him and then the Left Tackle will work up to a 2nd level defender (the Sam in this case). The slot to the playside (Gilliam) is responsible for overtaking the End (get outside leverage and pin him back inside). Gilliam does a poor job of reaching the End and never does get outside leverage of him, but with a chip from the pulling Right Guard (Dodson) the play could have still been successful. What ultimately blew the play up was Matakevich and Giles-Harris actually do a really good job with their zone over-take. Matakevich has great positioning on the Tackle but then just lets him go and works to the second level (either there was a miscommunication on the combo or the timing of the play was off). Either way Matakevich has to stay on that block longer as the Tackle was ultimately the one who made the tackle on the play. Overall the play design was sound vs what the Buccaneers were showing. If executed properly, we had numbers on the left side and should have easily been able to pick up the first down and likely a lot more.

This first play was a set up for the same look we showed later and threw it to Gabe Davis over the backers head.

The Punt Fake actually looked really good if Matakevich held his block a second longer. We had numbers on the edge.

You can disagree all you want - what you are saying isn't within the scope of the defense (or any defense). Defensive players have run fits and they must all fit correctly to get stops. He fit correctly. It hit inside and the person who was supposed to fit inside of him missed the tackle. That's all there is to it. Without a hat in every gap you get gashed.

Yeah they ran a lot of G Lead and Outside Zone against us from condensed sets forcing our corners to set an edge. For the most part we handled it well, the long run being the exception. It is my friend.

On those sideline throws you’re taught as a QB to throw to the inside hip of the receiver which forces them to turn back to the ball slowing down their momentum so they don’t run out of bounds and allowing them to get some yac. This is just a general rule obviously - certain coverages and field position will change where you want to place the ball. As far as the play to Diggs I think they had the right mindset. Throw to your best receiver who’s singled up. Only so many routes you can run that close to the endzone - fade, slant, whip, or cross. If they thought the fade gave them the best chance then I’d tend to agree with them. They’re around those guys way more than we are.

Well that’s easy - because he’s 6’5” and takes on blockers standing straight up. Loses the leverage battle and isn’t very active with his hands to either shock and shed or hand fight so they can’t get their hands on him in the first place.

Incorrect, sir. Read this. It talks about if he fit tighter as you suggested. Gap integrity is the fundamental building block that run defense is built around. Every man has a responsibility and when they don’t do it the whole thing collapses. The ball hit in Taron Johnson’s gap - he missed the tackle - they scored.

Read this. If the crosser came in front of him he’d have it man to man. Since it went behind Johnson should have carried it all the way.

Yeah, he's essentially saying the same thing I am. Typically in 1 RAT Coverage you're going to pass off the shallow crossers to whoever the RAT is. The shallow cross must be working IN FRONT of the RAT for this to be done though so that he can step up and impede the path of the receiver to slow him down in order to allow him to continue carrying. If it's behind the RAT then the DB should carry that across the field.

Personally, yeah. It's a pass driven league and it's moving even more and more in that direction every year. There's obviously got to be a balance, right? You saw us start to gash the Bucs in the second half with our run game and it was all because they were penetrating up front which created lanes and angles for us to run through. I think this defensive scheme does a really good job overall of being gap sound regardless of what we're doing which both helps and hinders us at times. You'll never see us run these exotic blitzes that other teams run because they technically aren't gap sound and would get completely gashed if a team tried to run on us while running one, but at the same time those exotic blitzes are often better at overloading a side and getting a guy free or at the very least forcing 1v1 matchups up front. We are very vanilla in what we do up front which makes it easier for teams to pick up in pass pro, but what we do also creates 1v1's for most of our guys (who should be far more athletic than the guys they line up across from). Ultimately very few teams are going to be patient enough to run for 4 yards a pop all the way down the field.

I had a breakdown of this play here. A few posts below that is the X's and O's drawn up. Basically it came down to a total collapse of the entire defense. Everyone was wrong.