Old Coot

Wall Street Journal had an interesting article on the use of condensed formations which it attributed to Mike Shanahan when he coached the Broncos. His son Kyle Shanahan uses them extensively with the 49ers. I have noticed that the Bills occasionally used condensed formations last year. A condensed formation is the opposite of a spread formation. Instead of spreading the O across the field, the WRs are in close to the line and even the OL line splits may be reduced. The condensed formations are said to have two advantages: 1. The open up the middle for passing. How so? The D needs to be concerned about all the open space toward the sidelines which the WRs and RBs have to operate and that opens up the middle to in breaking routes. 2. A spread formation likely signls pass but the condensed formation could be run or pass. I noticed that the Bills last year seemed to have more success running up the middle from a condensed formation. What are your thoughts?

Carl Weathers died at age 76. Though he was famous for his character in the Rocky series, Apollo Creed, he played in the NFL around 1970. He was an undrafted LB and played for the Oakland Raiders.

I agree. When he started out his deep throws were also flat. Then he seemed to have worked to get some height on his throws. Perhaps he has regressed. Time to work with the QB whisperer

I mostly agree with your post. That said, however, safety (especially in McD's defenses) is a more cerebral position so it's best not to start rookies there unless then have exceptional football IQ.

We did not connect on may of the deep shots we took this year. Josh seemed to overthrow his receivers plus occasional drops. It's execution, man. These guys are elete pro athletes. They should be better than this. Josh needs to practice dropping deep balls into trash cans with a guy waving his hands in Josh's face.

who can forget Don Beebe chasing down Leon Lett to turn a Dallas TD into a touchback! One of the finest plays in Bills' history: Beebe reflects on that play:

I did not intend to say that you were paranoid. My message was intended as a joke. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Those with paranoia should move to NYC so their fears will be justified.

A couple of video studies by the tHinking Football guys. The firts shows why Kelce always seems to be open. The second shows how the Chiefs' 1-4 receiver split can beat the split field coverage D in the video I posted to start this thread.

This utube video does a good job of showing how D's are making life difficult for opposing passing O's. It's a bit technical but I think the average fam can follow it. Toward the end of it counter strageies by O's are discussed. Enjoy:

In my day this is wahat passed for a power ballad:

Tear down the goalposts! Oh wait, you can't do that anymore.

The difficulty with basing the WR # 1 on performance is that if you don't have a WR # 2 you don't have a # 1 Wr. Why? The #1 gets double covered. How many of you remember the Bills' drought years; I'm thinking of Eric Moulds. A great receiver but he was usually x2 covered.

Booth Lustig was the Bills' kicker in 1966 and missed a game winning field goal, resulting in a tie. Later a car load of Bills fans saw Lustig walking along the sidewalk. They exited the car and beat him up for missing the kick. That's long before there was a Bills' mafia. None of this is to condone threats against players for poor play or mistakes. I consider the crowd's treatment of Scott Norwood at City Hall following "Wide Right" to be a high point of fans' sportmanship.

It's only a matter of time before there's a sports scandal involving players bribed to throw a game.

This stat is a bit misleading for the older QBs who played part of their careers before the Superbowl era. Bart Starr actually won 5 NFL championships: Three before the Superbowl era. Unitas won three NFL championships: two before the Superbowl era

Well said, my man. I think you are onto something. I always look forward to your Rockpile reviews. They are well thought out and nicely written. They single-handedly substantially improve the quality of submissions to this forum (and I include my own submissions here). The Bills are like the seasons of the year. In spring we have the new expectations for a successful year. By summer the season is well underway and may be bright and sunny or grey and rainy. Fall is crunch time. That earthy fall smell in the air reminds one of the gridiron (at least for those of us who played on grass fields). Then the winter of our discontent sets in -- another year without a Lombardi. But then we know that a harsh winter (even a harsh Buffalo winter) will be followed by another spring of great expectations. Sometimes you just gotta do the Walk of Life:

Well said, my man. I think you are onto something. I always look forward to your Rockpile reviews. They are well thought out and nicely written. They single-handedly substantially improve the quality of submissions to this forum (and I include my own submissions here). The Bills are like the seasons of the year. In spring we have the new expectations for a successful year. By summer the season is well underway and may be bright and sunny or grey and rainy. Fall is crunch time. That earthy fall smell in the air reminds one of the gridiron (at least for those of us who played on grass fields). Then the winter of our discontent sets in -- another year without a Lombardi. But then we know that a harsh winter (even a harsh Buffalo winter) will be followed by another spring of great expectations.

Lack of passion for the Bills could be the product of at least two things: 1. Age: many of us become less judgmental as we become senior citizens. 2. With the extensice injuries to the D I saw the Bills as :Dead Man Walking" The deeper you go into the playoffs the better the opponent gets both in terms of talent and coaching. It was only a matter of time before some astute OC tore our paper-thin D to shreds. Our only hope was that our O could run up the score but that, too, becomes harder as the opponents get better. This Bills' season was ruined by the injuries on D. Wither goest this team? I don't know but I do know it will look very different next year, especially the D. Josh humongous contract kicks in so we may be limited in what we can do in free agency.

Thanks. My knowledge of Rugby League football is a bit dated. My relies are die-hard Rabbitohs fans.

Is that the Balmain Tigers?

That high crown is why the Bills switched from white to red helmets; that and the fact that Joe Ferguson was color-blind. Because of the crown Joe often could see only the helmet of the player.

My gut doesn't know what to think. One the one hand the Chiefs' O hasn't been clicking. On the other hand, our injuries on D. Kelsey hasn't been great since he started dating TS. My guess is that he's being drained of his precious bodily fluids.

Another possibility is that Josh starts to initiate a slide but then changes his mind and continues forward

I think the refs rules it was an electric slide so no foul.