WideNine

Good luck with that.. https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-meh-added-to-oxford-english-dictionary-1.5374180 😁

With all the contact being made they could call it any time. Pretty subjective that way.

Hate to jinx us, but think we would not miss as many opportunities on offense and would have better answers for those middle crosses with Brown. You get the lead on the Titans you can force them to play a different game. Both teams are good, but TN seems to have an identity that the whole team buys into. KC lacks that this year... just IMO.

Up 14 - Steady dose of Henry.

A J Brown has really come on as Tanny's go to receiver on critical downs and red zone. Just about automatic if he sees him in man coverage. At 6.0 and 220-230 lbs he has some size and a mismatch with smaller dbs - can outmuscle them for position. If KC is going to send the extra men on the blitz rather than help in coverage the writing is on the Wall. If the Titans lead or stay close they are a bad matchup for any team with that running game.

Great points, different era and a different kind of runner.

Ralph was cheap.

The mods can combine them... I find it funny that we have one thread to capture post game comments and such yet 50 new ones popup after every game. No biggie.

Edmunds is pretty sound following his gap assignments on those frontside and backside G pulls, or shedding and filling on stretch runs. Almost a bit too aggressive and bites on the counters. Tough assignment for Edmunds with Henry in the mix - have to respect how he can break one to the house with just a bit of daylight and a missed tackle. Needed more help covering passes in the middle of the field in the second half. I think that TN was ripe for some robber concepts bringing an extra DB or safety to cover the middle that Edmunds was vacating... There will be a lot for McD to take away from this game.

I going to take a closer look at those plays in the second half. Just like our players I think it helps us become better students of the game when fans take the time to break down plays even if we get it wrong. I have seen Gs shoot for Star's knees, Oliver getting bear-hugged... Milano brushed aside by blockers, there are a lot of things that go on each snap often away from the play that help temper my snap frustration and judgement with our players. I did notice that earlier in the game TN would send their RB out into the flat to either side and then send their TE on a shallow crosser to the opposite side. Milano and Edmunds had coverage assignments to pick up those releasing receiving options on early passing downs - not sure if that changed later in the game, but could explain their absence covering the middle slot on some plays... but want to check it out when I have a bit of time.

Although new to the offense Sanders is solid, and has been a great addition.

Going to be a long 2 weeks, but thought perhaps we could pass the time taking a more forensic look at the game and what things we could do better in the red zone. I know fans get a bit grumpy during these kinds of breaks after our team loses, but feel free to critique or provide alternate analysis or better play options. I am just going to do one and see how it goes. If I get skewered, I will just wait out the days till our next game. A recurring theme throughout the game was Allen not looking for receivers short of the sticks when he is scrambling. He hits short passes that are designed to be quick hitters off play action and such, but he still has a penchant to look deep-to-shallow, rather than shallow-to-deep when scrambling facing a 2-deep zone. When faced with 2-deep zones he needs to retrain his mind and understand that just about every receiver the Bills have can take a short pass and turn it upfield to gain the 1st down needed. He needs to know where all those options are each time he takes off and be willing to use them. I think because he is able to overcome this so often with super-human efforts it tends to be overlooked as a weakness in his game. He is already a great QB, but if he gets this one thing down the sky is the limit. 1st Red Zone opportunity that did not work out. 2nd and 6 in the red zone and we bring out Moss - the Titans play run all the way with 8 in the box. Knox pulls to the left and badly misses his backside block, but it is not much of a factor as Moss hits his hole and is left facing two defenders with no blockers and still manages to gain 3 yards. Mongo gets a face full of hand that is pretty blatant, but no call - not a factor in the play and as long as they let that go both ways I am fine with the trench warfare. 3rd and 3 - 12 personnel 2x1 set with Knox on the line on the left along with Sanders and Diggs split out. Beasley is split out wide on the right. Allen initially looks to Beasley, but I don't think that was where the play intends to go. Play is a rub route with Knox releasing inside out and Sanders to provide the rub, but there were issues. Sanders drives his defender too deep and allows the defender covering Knox to easily stay with him. If Knox bends his route earlier rather than driving and breaking sharply out he could have created more space too with the rub traffic. Also I am not sure if this is by design, but Diggs slows down at the marker when I think it would have worked better if he drove to the back corner of the end zone. TN had no one behind these defenders and it would have cleared out the area or left Diggs alone if his defender comes up on Knox. I am not sure how to get image files smaller, but basically Josh is locked onto Knox, but with the tight coverage ends up holding onto the ball, scrambling, then "dirting" it to avoid a sack. Not a bad play, but with some tweaks and better execution this goes for at least a 1st or maybe a TD.

For as high as he was taken, he has not produced at that level. He works his tail off, but just don't see the disruptive force results you would expect this year with Star and Zimmer usually taking on the doubles.

It was a poor call IMO. I think it was the right decision to go for it, but did not like the sneak call considering our OL got stuffed on a prior sneak and they were losing the war in the trenches. There is a lot of factors for coaches to process in a short span of time with emotions running high and far easier for us to disect those decisions later. I like that McD said he trusts his players. Coaches need that connection and player loyalty, but at the same time he mentioned in his presser that part of his decision to go for it rather than tie it up was that his defense was not getting it done.... I agree - they weren't. So....trust only goes so far as coaches have to evaluate in-game performance and matchups week to week and I would not have been optimistic about our OL getting it done. Perhaps he thought that #17 could miracle something where blocking fell short... that I can get. In more positive news the Bills record streak of leading at the half remains intact. Borrowed this excerpt from a site: "The Bills (4-2) extended their NFL record of leading at halftime to 15 consecutive games. But their defense, which came in allowing a league-best 12.8 points a game, gave up a season high in points. Allen finished with 353 yards and three TDs. His third was a 1-yarder to Tommy Sweeney in the final minute of the third quarter, and Allen caught a pass from tight end Dawson Knox for the 2-point conversion and a 31-24 lead. With his 29-yard TD pass to a wide-open Cole Beasley just before halftime, Allen passed Aaron Rodgers with 108 combined TDs in his 49th start. Rodgers had 107 TDs for what had been the most by a quarterback in his first 50 starts since the NFL merger."

It seemed clear to me where the ball was when Allen's elbow hit the ground - was not a call I liked, but it was the right call. Like so many plays and decisions that fell just a tad short last night. At least the NFL and networks know that the Bills will usually give them one hell of an entertaining prime time game.

We lost to a good team that has the best back in football. We did not get to Tanny, yet he was getting rid of the ball pretty quickly too and seemed to have short routes with open receivers over the middle around the sticks for most of the game. Derrick broke a big one - it happened. If his monster 70 yarder did not, his stats would still have been very good but it would have been a more "normal" Henry game. We had TD's called back, and had 3 trips to the red zone end up as FGs. We had the game in hand at the end with 22 seconds on the clock and 2 yards and change to punch it in having subpar play from our OL and defense. Are there positions that could be upgraded, or areas where they could scheme and execute better - of course there are. With all the things we can find wrong with how our team played, it was still a very winnable game for us - we need to let that sink in. I cannot say that about last year's contest.

Thanks Virgil. Nice write-up right there with ya on how tired I am getting of us losing games to that squad. The new kid Spencer I can forgive the rookie bumps in the road. The other guys on the OL just needed to be better moving guys. I thought in the second half they fixed some of their protection issues and Allen often had time, but they were abysmal getting any push on short yardage. Damn.... going to be a long 2 weeks.

You hate to say they needed a loss, but it would have been easier for players to gloss over the areas of poor execution in this game had they managed to pull out a win at the end. I think it is just human nature to want to move on when things work out in the end even though you were screwing up and crapping the bed along the way. If last year's hail Murray is any indication, the pain and humility of this loss should keep them motivated and laser-focused on what improvements need to be made over their bye week. That goes for the coaching staff too, though some time away will be good for Dabs.

This. I was ok with how the middle of the dline played for the most part. Without more early scoring from the offense we could not "cheat" towards leaving the run to our front 4 on 3rd downs and playing the pass/doubling Brown. We were too susceptible to play action in the second half which is exactly the Titan's game with Henry. Us older fans with some grey in our hair remember how a KC team was built around their Nigerian Nightmare RB Christian Okoye. A bruising runner whose style reminds me of Henry. He and Bills MLB Shane Conlan had some epic collisions. The one drawback to building your team around one player though is the drop off when they get dinged. RBs take a lot of hits - realistically the Titan's offense (as it is built today) likely has a small window to win it all. Tennessee has no one on their bench that defenses will scheme for like Henry.

On the replays I watched it looked like Dawkins got blown up and decleated. The left side of the line have had better games. On those same replays it looks like Moss could have jogged to the sticks or maybe scored with Sweeny sealing the edge if the call had been for Allen to fake the sneak then pitch it to Moss on the end around. Tennessee completely sold out crashing the left side of the OL and there were opportunities to take advantage of that. Would-a, could-a, should-a...

Prayers to his family, and sorry for their loss. Tough to have to call a game with that on your mind - bye week comes at a good time for he and his family.

Yep. How Arizona beat up on them - they got up 3 scores on them early 24-6 by the end of the 1st half. Takes the ball out of Henry's hands and they cannot play that bleed the clock game on you.

Not sure, but assume they spotted it where they felt the initial DPI contact was made rather than the hugs he was giving in the EZ.

They are a very solid team, that Vrabel usually has ready to play who are not strangers to the post season. 2017 they lost the divisional playoffs to the Patriots 2019 they beat the Patriots, Ravens, then lost AFC Championship game to the Chiefs (35-24) 2020 they lost the wildcard against the Ravens (20-13)

I agree with you - especially after they have stuffed our other attempt at the sneak. You could tell they really practiced shutting that down. Would have preferred our chances with 11 or 12 personnel and some RPO action that would have spread things out a bit and forced them to decide whether to cover Allen or our RB, FB, or TE... I miss our direct snap to the running back play - with Allen's ability to fake taking the ball and running to a side, one would think he would take a few defenders with him and our RB would have some room. Just food for thought.