WideNine

Sweet Like the dark mode.

When I was a young punk, I had this 50-something year old Italian manager who took care of himself and was really chill to work for. We worked our tails off for the man, but he also turned a blind eye to a ton of stupid things we did to entertain ourselves on the job. One day he got off the phone looking worn out and exhausted and he confided in me that his wife was divorcing him.... #2 or 3 apparently. He then told me, "Never get married son, it's easier to just find a woman you'll hate and buy her a house." Many years ago, but still funny when I think back 😅

I'm going with slow learners on Edmunds and Oliver. Oliver may blossom into an all pro with a real impact 1-tech next to him so he is not getting so many doubles. Edmunds....props for superior sideline to sideline range and coverage ability and yet still a bit slow diagnosing plays behind the LOS and taking the right gaps and angles to make clean tackles. Both are showing enough good things in our defensive system to be patient with them. That being said, I don't think they have shown enough to be paid top bank and that is going to be the real test for Beane evaluating his own picks objectively.

Nice props for some of our boys. Selfishly, I just want them to focus on the games in front of them. On NFL.com's pro bowl presser that third TD clip of Allen throwing has got to be the worst throw the NFL film guys could have grabbed...the ball had no spiral - was traveling through the air like a punt. Really? Out of all the incredible throws he has made this year, that's the throw they feature? https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-reveals-complete-afc-nfc-rosters-for-2021-pro-bowl

He did, and that crew sucked. Should have easily seen that he got the 1st with change with his forward progress. Their spot was piss poor and they should have seen that in their review, but they did not have the integrity to fix their own mistake. Then tack on the 3 TDs they called back on ticky tacky infractions and yeah...they were suck and the score should have been almost 60 for the Bills.

All true Shaw66, but another angle is the one that McDermott has been preaching around complimentary football. The Titans had a scheme to take advantage of the Bills both offensively and defensively. Run the ball against our porous run defense, maintain possession, limit opportunities for Allan and the offense, take the lead, and get Allen and the offense to press and play out of character. They then used layers of zone, cover 3, and went away from the blitz and cover 0 looks Allen was tearing up early in the season. It worked, Allen pressed because we were behind, the offense sputtered, and the more guys we committed to stopping Henry the more the subs and injured backer core was exposed defending passes over the middle. Teams quickly copied the Titans blueprint, game after game Allen saw 2 deep zones and just 4-5 man rushes. This forced him to hold onto the ball longer trying to find receivers breaking deep and exposed our offense to more incompletions and negative plays. Teams also focused on running on us just like the Titans... the Chiefs came in and we expected some kind of air raid offensive showdown between Allen and Mahomes, but Andy Reid is a smart coach - they ran and ran and ran. Their TOP in that game was ridiculous. On top of that our Special Teams seemed to find ways every week to let teams down punts near our goal line, or taking deep kickoffs out of the end zone to be snuffed out behind the 20, or our rookie kicker was missing kicks, our punter was shanking punts when we needed to flip the field... Things had to change, Bills coaches had to step up and do a better job game planning and preparing, finding the right players and putting them in positions to succeed. Allen, Daboll, and the QB room did a great job of self-scouting and gaining an understanding of what teams were doing to smother our offense. They started focusing on exploiting the matchups beneath the sticks, remembered they had that Beasley guy and that Diggs is not too shabby either at finding the soft spots in zone as well. Josh worked at being patient, better recognizing and exploiting zone coverages and calling the right protections. Ford was hurt, but other guys stepped up and we got Mongo back and our offensive line has been clicking better as a unit. With offensive production and moving the chains, our offense did not put our defense in as many bad positions. With more scoring and time of possession came a defense that was more rested, but they knew too that they were still letting their offense down by pissing away late leads and they still had to improve stopping the run. They have tried a lot of different combinations in that 1-tech DT spot and seem to have settled on rotating Jefferson and Butler with Oliver and Horrible Harry manning the 3-tech spot - usually... Leslie has them doing a lot of pre-snap shifting to make it harder for teams to coordinate iso and double-team blocks. Zimmer who came on for us for a while has been the odd man out. Leslie also figured out the best ways to use Klein and Edmunds gradually has gotten healthy and has been less timid about sticking his shoulder into tackling... still would like to see him shed blockers, keep the pad-level low, square-up and wrap up better, but not denying the improvement in his game. There were key new pieces in this defense and they were not playing as a unit, the loss of the leadership that the Lorax provided was keenly felt earlier in the year. It was clear that they were going to have to find their new chemistry and have others step up as leaders - I think they have. Murphy rode the pine and Frazier went to Epenesa and Johnson in the DE rotation. Milano has gotten healthy so we have that linebacker who can cover the middle and skate with those TEs and larger receivers working the shallow crossers. With all the changes the Bills began to see results. More push, more run stops, and more TFL, they were able to make more teams punt, fall behind, and become one-dimensional passing. With that we could dial up the pressure which has lead to multiple turnovers. I still think that our defense is still susceptible to a strong run game (would not want us facing Henry again), but if our offense can score they put pressure on teams to keep up on the scoreboard and that leads to our defense facing more pass attempts and they are less exposed to defending a run-heavy game play by the opposing team. Through all this our Special Teams brought their game up to a higher level, when we needed it we got that good return, that punt that flipped the field, that tackle on that kickoff that pinned our opponent, and our rookie kicker found his zone.

Nice. I am guilty of getting a bit lazy with the analytics using numbers for the season as a total...media pundits are just as bad. With sports, trends are so important because teams are not static and evolve or devolve over a season. The eye test told me our defense was better than their season aggregate and early performance. I think we noticed more play on the other side of the LOS. With that push there has been more TFLs and better play vs. the run. Nice to see the trend line that backs that up.

The Bills just need to focus on what they can control and block out the noise that comes with a little success - act like they belong here. If they buy into the hype and MVP noise and slip up I can guarantee the same folks heaping praise on them will lead the charge jumping off the bandwagon. They need to keep prepping for their next opponent and continue working on improving their execution within the game plans for those opponents. Nothing else matters, but the next opponent. It is that approach that got them where they are at and will carry them the furthest in the post season.

I know quoting your own post is bad form, but man my take on the Jets today did not age well 😂

It's hard not to look at this kid and just be blown away. Led his high school team to 41 straight victories, and at Clemson his record is something like 36 and 1. He's big, but can run 322 passing yards and 90 rushing in that last game against Notre Dame. I think folks are looking for holes and he is just not a prospect with glaring or obvious flaws. The Jets screwed up...maybe history proves otherwise, but there is a huge drop off from Lawrence to Fields as draft prospects.

Jets tank fail.

Saw another one that asked why no one in the Jets org saw the warning signs when they hired a coach with the eyes of a mass shooter? Ahhh man.... it just hit my funny bone.

Man you have to feel bit sorry for their fans. Bills fans know what futility feels like.

Might be some truth to that...most of the NFC is very beatable and I forget how bad they are when looking at defensive rankings. Not sure if any of them are playing in GB's league right now. I do believe the AFC is the stronger division.

Their boards ARE blowing up. Only the Jets could screw up a simple thing like losing.

Lawrence is probably one of the most NFL-ready QB's to come out in recent memory. Obviously Mahomes was tailor made for this league too, but he reminds me of the hype given to Manning or Luck coming out of college. He has all the size, mobility, arm strength. and accuracy you would want and has played in big games with ice in his veins. He could flame out in the wrong situation, or get hurt...nothing is guaranteed, but he is not a prospect any GM not set at the position should pass on. I usually don't buy too much into the hype, but glad if the kid plays somewhere other than AFC East. The Jets blowing that is like that fighter paid to take a dive, but has too much pride and knocks the other guy out. Too funny. Would be nice if we could own Belichick and the rest of the AFC East for a decade or two.

Was kind of moving on from the Ravens topic... Just that our o-line has elevated their play. I checked football outsiders offensive and defensive line DVOA db and they currently have the Bills ranked 4th just behind the Ravens. I take that with a grain of salt as they still struggle run blocking in short yardage situations, but their pass protection has been at a whole new level with Mongo and Morse manning the middle and with Ike playing better. Not easy either with a QB who loves to hold the ball move around and extend plays.

That has got to be a great family locker room environment. Yeah, I'd say Diggs made the right choice.

I think they are calling that parity these days, but there is some truth to the way the Bills try to consistently approach every opponent. Any team (maybe not the tanking Jets) can get hot, get a few lucky bounces, or just match up better against your personnel.

Muscle memory. They are right up there with the best.

The Bills o-line took some exception to how much they let Allen get pummeled by Bosa during that Chargers game. In a mic'ed up session after that play where he wrapped his leg around Allen and twisted him to the turf the whole offensive line was pissed and Bosa was jawing back pleading what do you expect me to do the guy is f'ing huge... Since that game something changed in that group. Just a switch was flipped and they have been a pass-pro machine even with Pittsburgh throwing blitz after blitz at them and having an all-pro end. I think they decided Josh is their man and they have to elevate their game and protect him better. That scare was a good thing. It brought that realization home about just how much he means to this team and its success. It was like getting the paddles out and yelling "clear".

Every team has players dinged or missing from the lineup. Never a reason to collapse and give up 400+ yards. Next man up and game plan around the missing parts. Not saying there is not a drop, but solid coaching and depth on good teams matter because players get hurt. On top of players getting hurt, this year we have the Covid factor too that has impacted most teams. Everyone is dealing with personnel issues. No excuse and we tend to live on past laurels, the Ravens are 5th or 6th this year in team defense behind the likes of Pittsburgh and Miami. Respect, but no fear.

Not really scared of the Ravens. The Browns absolutely torched their defense. Lamar is really good, but still has areas where he struggles with ball placement. The Bills have played a lot of very mobile QBs this year. Play the run, keep him in the pocket, and defend the middle of the field. Solid play from Edmunds would be key. Don't think the Bills should fear anyone. The teams I think would offer the biggest challenges for the Bills in the AFC would be: KC, like Allen Mahomes can extend plays and be accurate. They ran all over us last time, but our run defense has stepped up a bit. Titans: Just because Henry is a beast and our defense likely would have to "borrow" defenders to commit to stopping him. That leaves the secondary thin. They have a solid defense. Browns: Playing some pretty good ball, and have a decent running game. Did not see a lot from either their defense or the Ravens in that last game. I think normally they have had pretty good balance this year under their new coaching staff. I also think a healthy Miami would be tough, but Allen has played them tough and I don't think they are in his head. I do think the head-to-head matchups against his 2018 QB class alumni kicks those QB's into another gear. Will be fun to watch for years to come.

He was playing through a high ankle sprain. He needed the time away from the game for that to heal and strengthen, I don't think a healthy Brown is slow. Plus you are cherry-picking stats based on a single strong season at Baltimore 3 years ago - nonsense. His career averages over more years are fairly on par and do not show this alleged drop and his 20+ yard targets were significantly higher with the Bills last year than at any other point in his career AND as I mentioned this 3rd year in your progression he was trying to play through some injuries.

Yes he is, but of course we will still foolishly click on his takes just so we can watch that clown struggle to extract his head from his bung hole.