WideNine

I do think that is what OCs are thinking that is why I said as much. I think our serviceable guys are fine against QB's named Mullens, but we will see this week. I think Milano gives us some coverage options that will help. I don't think my take was a "sky is falling" that you make it out to be, just pragmatic. These guys are not very good in coverage and they are the ones teams target when they want to march down the field.

Norman is scrappy, but it is hard to not always see him in my mind getting de-cleated by Henry on that run. Honestly, Wallace would not have even stuck his finger in the way of Henry on that run so I have to give him some props for foolish bravery.

I would like to see some analysis of their personnel packages used. I know they stuck with 4 down linemen for most of the game and I like what we got from Johnson and Epenesa from the edges. Poyer and Hyde are fixtures on the backside and Tre usually on their best receiver. That leaves two DB roles where they can sub a Milano in for Taron as a heavy nickel and still have Klein and Edmunds on the field. I think Taron was on the field the same number of times as Poyer and Hyde so that means that Milano was probably subbing in and out with Klein. I think they have more flexibility now scheme-wise with Milano mostly back and Klein and Edmunds coming on and playing better. It will be interesting to see how they handle an increased role for Milano (providing he stays healthy) - who he subs in for and if they leave all three linebackers Milano, Edmunds, and Klein on the field on some downs with that coverage flexibility that Milano provides. Taron is getting a lot of snaps and has been playing better so I figure Wallace is the biggest ? going into the game with the Steelers. The Bills have absolutely gone away from using Trent Murphy so the writing is on the wall there - the youth movement is on and they are expecting Epenesa and Johnson to carry the load moving forward. Not sure he sees the field again unless there is an injury that really hurts the rotation. We will see.

Truth - so you are saying no one confuses him with that "other" #85....

If I were an OC I would just be telling Ben to look for the guys covered by Wallace and by Taron Johnson. Frazier needs to seriously consider either replacing one or both of those guys either throughout the game or at least in more situations. I always felt Milano could play the heavy nickel/slot role that Taron is often asked to play and do it a bit better. Not sure you lose much in the way of physicality at the LOS either and he is better in coverage, but not sure how far back Milano is to being healthy... last week he played like he is getting closer. I would like to see more of Dane Jackson... kid seems to have a nose for the ball and is a bit more physical than Wallace. He'll make some mistakes, but tired of these lapses where Wallace plays too far off and soft.

Yeah there a few variables missing here like the elements rain and/or wind blowing the uprights flat, or game plans against teams with good secondaries that can be shredded running the ball, and as you alluded to - probably not much of a sample size.

Also Lee Smith is not really known as "hands" Smith. In that play design he is likely more a decoy to draw coverage away. Sometimes teams do not fall for the decoy. Allen usually spreads the ball around pretty well, he gets to more of his reads at this early stage of his development than many vet QBs out there. He has also hit Lee on some red zone TDs adding rare stats to Lee's player bio. Not too concerned.

I take it you are pretty high on Moss. Hope you are right. I always want to see these kids do well and I have seen flashes from him.

I disagree and its ok if you stick to your take. I think the kid was a star at Utah, but this is the big league where you don't fumble on your 5 yard line. Sitting him won't hurt him or the team and may help keep him humble and hungry to improve securing those handoffs and work on his game. We may have been able to use him on short yardage, but Dabs seems to prefer zone runs wide or passing in the red zone. Not sure we missed him. Knowing McDermott, Moss will get plenty of opportunities to redeem himself. Look how long they have worked on Wallace and how patient they were with Zay.

Texas AG Paxton sues swing states for basically having "unconstitutional" elections. Same repackaging of the argument against mail-in ballots that has failed at every state level 1st for failing the test of missing appropriate opportunities and formats for arguing against and prohibiting the practice, 2nd for failing to show systemic fraud that proves disenfranchisement of eligible voters. My take is that since Paxton is corrupt and feeling the heat under FBI investigation, Trump either dangled a pardon in front of him or he sought him out for one offering his legal services in exchange. https://www.texastribune.org/2020/12/08/texas-ken-paxton-election-georgia/

I don't want us to play against Henry period. Man - it is like watching a tank that can blow by a Lamborghini

This. The Steelers play tough defense and do enough in each game to usually win. They remind me more of the current Bills in the sense they are usually well-prepared and well-coached. I think this game will be a nail-biter, and Josh being able to escape to his comfortable right side of the field and extend plays will be less of a thing. AFC East teams already cheat to take away that side of the field - NE was the first to use that strategy. I expect it to be a much closer game. I think Pittsburgh leads the league in QB, sacks, hits, and pressures. I also know that they have been racking up the turnovers too. We need to be able to run the ball to take some of the pressure off of Allen.

This. Also, I look at GB with its strong-armed QB and they play outdoors and I think it is an advantage, playing at Arrowhead does not seem to impede Mahomes putting up gaudy numbers...often when warm weather dome QBs and teams play in the elements they struggle so there is some home field advantages. The only benefit is you can trick out a dome and host other events even in bad weather, a city is also able to try to host a Superbowl if you erect a dome that is attractive enough for such an event. Obviously, there is a lot more to this and it starts going down the road of balancing investors with public investment, logistics, and how such an endeavor fits in an overall strategy of attracting businesses, favorable taxation policies, and revitalization efforts and those belong on another board.

His hypothesis seems to be that Josh didn't get better the Bills coaching staff did, which is moronic or perhaps he just is not articulating his observations well. Cowherd looks like he has been on a alcoholic bender over his Covid isolation. Coaching around Allen has stayed consistent. I would get behind a statement that any rookie QB with the potential to improve to a franchise level of play better realizes that potential when they land on a stable team with good coaches that know how to leverage their innate abilities (and surround them with the right talent to help realize that potential). Somewhere lost in his calculation is that QBs have to put in the work, have to be "coachable", and have to show that they are taking that coaching and successfully applying it to their performance on the field. The potential was there, but Allen was not accurate early on (in the NFL sense of touch, anticipation, throwing receivers open, and mechanics) - he held the ball too long, locked onto receivers, did not throw with anticipation, rifled late passes off the mark, resorted to bailing and running for his life, could not read defenses. All these things he shouldered and worked his tail off to improve and he did improve them dramatically. Saying it was just coaching really devalues the effort it took for Allen to get to where he is now. A really bad oversimplification of how QBs can be successfully groomed in the right system.

Seriously? Dominant OL and the Bills do not belong in the same sentence. A few pieces away from being in that conversation. Drag the bottom of the league in rushing stats, been improving a bit with Feliciano back. If we put any QB behind them that cannot run for his life or quickly flick the ball 30 yards on a rope, you may as well warm up the ICU and be ready to roll him off the field. Ridiculous take.

Agree. And having more balance with your left and right side may open up some run options behind that right side too. The Bills do have to figure something out regarding backside pursuit on their zone running plays. The blocking in front of our running plays looks good, but the offensive line opposite the play side of the run are not sealing off the defensive players running plays down from behind. That, coupled with an annoying habit of our running backs looking for cutback lanes that are usually not there has stalled too many runs. Our RBs need to follow their blocks even if it only leads to just a few positive yards, it beats a TFL. However, if the Bills can figure out how to seal off that backside pursuit on zone runs, then maybe our RBs will have more cutback options. Unfortunately, that falls primarily on Knox unless they have Smith in there which gives the play away. Knox has absolutely sucked at blocking. They need to take him out of the receiver group and work him a hell of a lot more with our tackles on leverage and blocking techniques in space. The other concept would be to ditch more of the zone runs sideline to sideline for off-tackle runs and draws which take less time to develop. I liked the balance of pass to run this game... just enough run to keep linebackers on the field which created mismatches in the shallow zones for our WRs to exploit.

I think being a head coach is more about having an exceptional ability to attract, motivate, and organize a capable staff and be an administrator of the culture and "process" that you want your team to embrace. There is this mistaken belief in our culture that folks always have to climb to another rung on the ladder to be successful - how many times do companies take people who are perfect in their roles, love what they are doing, and promote them to something where they are not a good fit and do not enjoy the work, and subsequently fail miserably? Daboll is more like the mad scientist or researcher that loves to draw up plays and see them realized on the field. I think that is where his passion lies and having to go into a rebuilding program as an HC with administrative heavy-lifting would not be a good fit. I also think that his offenses are so complex that they take a few years to get a team to the point where they are executing it at a high level. It is not something that is going to turn a struggling team around quickly... An apt analogy of this is how he struggled being on the sideline with all the face-to-face and personal interactions, yet when shielded from those and sitting in the booth where there was a bit of distance, where he could move his chess pieces around, where he could analyze their offense and relay plays back down to the field, he excelled. That is Daboll in a nutshell. Now I could see him accepting a role as an assistant HC and Offensive Coordinator role which would shield him from a lot of the direct visibility and day to day team admin stuff yet still be a promotion and command a bit more coin and pad the resume. Either way, I doubt that a new OC will have a playbook that Allen would not easily command after the complexity of formations and offensive plays that Daboll has had him master over his first few seasons in the NFL. I think he sticks around for another year at a minimum, but we will see. It is a testament to the culture that McBeane has created that staff members are getting this kind of attention.

I like that combo if they can all stay healthy. Winters does get bull-rushed quite a bit and there is a need for more stout pass-pro and run blocking on the right side of the line.

Good. I read some posts on another boards saying he would fumble at bad moments in college, but could not find a lot to back that up. Terrible spot to cough it up.

Saw that too and loved it. Glad Beane went out and got him and glad he is a Buffalo Bill. He and Beasley have been doing the heavy lifting and a lot of the dirty work blocking downfield and making grabs knowing they are going to take shots, if we can get Smoke back healthy this offense opens up even more.

What's the deal with Moss and the fumble-itis? Wondering if losing the handle was an issue when he was at Utah...if it was, Beane has to focus on finding a back that does not put it on the ground. We seem to have that skill covered in our RB group.

A vodka cranberry - the wife told me cranberrys are good for the prostate.... TMI?

Special Teams practice to end the game.

Breath deep folks... this is what it feels like to control the 2nd half of a game on National TV. Our Bills are getting it done.

I know he has that in him... he gets the consistency down we will have a solid tandem of kickers