WideNine

He tried that on the first sneak they stuffed. The Titans had a DT crash the gap left of Morse, but defensive players following up on the outside to be sure he could not bounce outside. He got stuffed. They had our sneak play well-defended.

I did not catch the full game, but from what I saw the inability to cover Brown was a major factor in the second half. I know that Henry broke a big one, but they often tightened up and contained him for a series only to give up the pass conversion. Oddly, it seemed like deja vu from the offensive strategy they had last year. The defense got them into multiple 3rd down situations and a few 4th down situations, but Leslie often followed that up with a conservative zone coverage that left the middle of the field open consistently at the sticks with Wallace often trailing the receiver - Tanny seemed to look his way a lot. Coaching-wise, I would have preferred to see some more aggressive moves to man coverage on 3rd down with perhaps some more pressure and blitzes in Tanny's face up the middle and more arms up to knock passes down. It's always a gamble can Wallace cover Brown 1 on 1 long enough for a blitz to get to Tanny? What they were doing in coverage was not working. After a loss you think about missing pieces and a legit CB2 that can play lock down man opposite White and some beef on the inside of our lines to move bodies a bit better would not hurt. I thought Allen had plenty of time to get rid of the ball, so I am not super down on our OL - have to work to avoid the overreaction to a loss. I thought that the Titans OL and DL were doing a lot of Shenanigans that should have drawn a flag for drawing our guys Offside. A lot of head jerking and jumping off the line thinly disguised as motion and defensive players jumping forward encroaching on their line shifts... Hughes seems to be less and less a factor in games and he seems to often take himself out of the play at DE by desperately taking an inside move against his blocker and just ends up losing contain on the edge when he does it. I was a bit frustrated watching him, but he has been a good player for us for a long time so he gets a pass. I am glad OBD has invested in a youth movement on our defensive front it will pay off as those guys get more playing time. Don't know if I like the last few calls - Allen had Beas in the back of the end zone on his roll out to the left, but I saw the bull lower his horns and we know how our Josh can get and he was determined to single-mindedly run through a wall himself to get the 1st. He comes through more often than not with those, and he is getting better when he takes off at looking to see if he can loft passes over the approaching defense to uncovered receivers and RBs behind them. He will continue to grow, and his threat to drive to the sticks creates those opportunities behind the defense. Daboll needs to re-think his QB sneak as teams are stacking/blitzing/stunting the gaps to the left of the center where Josh always goes. Time to draw up a sneak to the right of the center. I did like the razzle-dazzle that setup the pass to Allen from Knox. Titans are always a tough match-up for us and this game was balanced on the knife's edge, but honestly tired of losing to these clowns. And we have to have that taste in our mouths for weeks now. We could have gone for the sure 3 and if we lost the toss we would have had to trot our tired defense that the Titans just ran through like wet tissue paper on their last possession. McD decided to trust that our OL and Allen could move the ball a bit over a foot. Titan coaches had that QB sneak well defended (twice - so it was not like that play was clicking for us... ). Our coaching staff are going to have to do some self-scouting on why they decided to go back to the well on that sneak play. The Titans were selling out to stop the sneak so our coaching staff need to come up with some better options out of that set that penalize teams that are willing to sell out to stop it. Sucks to say good game, but we did not embarrass ourselves and had 2-3 legit shots to win it with the clock winding down. One could say we were a weak holding call away from probably winning that game.

I do feel like that sneak to the left is getting a bit played out. Titans had 4 defenders shoulder to shoulder on that side and the right side was just a few sliding towards the left. In a game of strategy you cannot be predictable.

I am not sure as I think he extended the ball, but his elbow hit the ground first. It is where the ball was when that happened. This team is the one that always has our number till we figure out a better defense against them. We had plenty of chances and should have had it sealed but had a TD called back on a weak hold. It happens. Will make this team stronger in the end.

Feliciano - oof

Dawkins came into that scrum like a big bullet.

That was a ticky tacky call on a great run back. Josh found the dump passes that Tanny has been using all night - those go for 1st downs too. We need to milk this clock and stick it the end zone.

Not that I am down on Hughes, but hate it when he spins inside as an end and takes himself completely out of a play losing contain.

Actually agree that he has to hit those shorter routes when they are dropping into zone. If anything our defense needs the offense to have a long sustained drive with points at the end of it.

Josh should have scrambled on that one had a lot of green in front of him.

Just got back and caught the last defensive series - anyone want to stop Brown? Thought we would be up by a few more, but see how the Titans are dragging out possessions and bleeding the clock.

That is my usual MO. My son started following the Bills with his buds at his school when they drafted Allen. When he is visiting over his college breaks we watch the games together and I post here. Unlike the rest of my family he gets it - no off topic chit-chat and dumb questions during the game. I get a bit intense.

I've seen the agenda - hopelessly detailed with the launch of their new season. I do have the game pass with replay - hope my Bills get revenge so I will want to watch it. Will miss the banter here on the wall. Oh well, better to just suck it up and accept that if anything it will likely run way over schedule - expecting an extra kick to the sprinkler that is how my Irish luck rolls.

I am so pissed... the wife convinced me that we needed to find ways to give back to the community. I know it is the right thing to do, so I volunteered to serve on the board of a local sports team that my daughter is on. She has special needs and they are good folk that treat her kindly. Just caught up with my emails and they want to meet tonight - right at kickoff of course. So here I am contemplating ways I could blow off the first meeting I was invited to. I know I wont though - damn it! I REALLY wanted to catch this game since the beat-down last year - I am so cursed. TBD best be sending out all the positive karma they can muster - years of following the Bills has made me strangely superstitious, but I take comfort in the fact that McD preaches putting in the work, focus, preparation, and sticking to a winning process rather than a strategy of hope and superstition. Go Bills!!

Tennessee is a bit of a throwback offense, but when you have a talent like Henry back there that teams have to respect why wouldn’t you build your offense around the run and play-action. Getting him down low before he picks up steam is a no-brainer, but he will break a few. Runs hopefully rather than any of our guys in the secondary:) I suspect we will trust our DL, but there will be a LB and S in the box more often than not. Taron covering the slot will be quick to come up in run support. I think our best defense will be a steady dose of scoring offense. If we get more than 2 scores up on them by the second half they will have to move from Henry and take more deep shots as it burns less clock. That's when we will truly have to trust our front four to play disciplined as that is when they will throw in draw plays and delayed handoffs to Henry to keep us honest. Tough matchup to see how far we have come as a complete defense.

Lofty company Allen is keeping considering he was such a raw project coming in just 3 years ago.... talk about putting in the work and that growth mind-set McD preaches. Stafford and Wilson have quite a few years of experience under their belts.

With the way Pittsburgh was crowding the line at the snap trying to confuse Allen, those trick plays behind the LOS were going in the wrong direction. For the most part Dabs has been calling some really good games that keep the chains moving, defense fresh, RBs involved in run and passing game, Allen involved as a threat to run, and the deep ball there if they creep up or things break down. I think some folks want style points, but complimentary football where your team is putting up over 30 points a game and breaking the will of teams they face by the end of the 3rd quarter is the kind of football that wins championships.

I don't think we will be as soft in the middle which should force Henry wide on more runs. That, and our ends should be able to bring more pressure. Just thinking of the best way to get Tanny to hold onto the ball longer.

The Titans pounded the run at us last year forcing Edmunds and our safeties to play in the box, then hit crosses right behind them. Wonder if we could use 3 LBs. Milano and Klein near the LOS with Edmunds playing a deeper middle S role like a 3 deep zone? Just thinking how to counter what they did to us last year.

Simply put, Star is a big reason our defense has turned the corner this year. He is doing the dirty work and fans can finally appreciate what he brings to the team when he is in the line-up especially after witnessing the soft middle of our defense last season. Been watching him more closely this year and kind of in awe of what he has done against the doubles with his quickness, positioning, anchoring, and leverage. He has been a disruptive force.

Can't pick one player on a team that really plays complimentary football, just hard as so many players have been unselfish on this team and stepped up when needed. Its a good problem to have.

You're right, but the rub vs pick is a fine line and has some judgement involved whether it is a legit route and not OPI. Contact certainly is a big part of whether it gets called. But whether the offensive player is running a real route or one designed to pick a defender is still a tough call. Usually as long as the offensive player does not face up on the defender and TRY to make contact they are picking or are looking back at the QB it's viewed as a rub and it does not get called...also just about anything goes within 1 yd of the LOS. Was watching the Tampa game where Gronk got "Gronked", but earlier that game he ran a short post where he slowed waaay down dragging his feet and impeded the defender and it was called. Gronk's been doing that for a while, he did not contact the defender nor did he face him, so go figure. Judgement call by the ref that dragging his feet and running in slow motion was not a real route?

Yeah, does not come without risks - we had Gronk completely wipe out DBs covering Edelman (which is why he was so often open on those crossers underneath), and no flag and lots of yards. So obvious or not it is a risk to have your coverage guy not try to avoid the traffic cone. Better perhaps to use a Steelers Palms/2-Read coverage kind of technique rather than a defender assigned to a specific player...

I think in this league it is still a pick, they just don't call it unless it is noticeable. Best thing is for the coaches to call attention to it to the refs and the next time have White run right into him and flail about and fall on the ground like a soccer player if you want to draw the flag.

Yeah he said if he could get inside the chest plate of a DL he could hold them all day. Although that is something you are taught in pop Warner, I am pretty sure any DL player would rag doll him and toss him aside. Delusional glory days rambling of a retiree.