uninja

This was a solid breakdown, my biggest takeaway from watching this and other breakdowns as well as watching game film is pressure. Allen has been under pressure at a higher rate than most QBs this year so far. He's not handling it as well as he did last year, for reasons not clear to me.

I almost wonder if the slow wind up/triple step is coached as part of the punt team unit. To give the coverage team time to get downfield and setup blocks, close lanes and prevent big returns. A big knock on Bojorquez is that he would unleash bombs but frequently outkick the coverage which gave returners a lot of room to run. I don't recall the slow wind up being a knock on Haack in MIA. It is troubling that it's so slow and it looks like he's basically just getting the kick off every time but I wonder if this is a "feature" and not a "bug".

That line I think says everything. Allen wants to go for the kill every down/series. He needs to be patient and just take what's there.

I swear our punts look like they're happening in slow motion.

We're a board of Bills fans, most of them deeply scarred and broken by 2 decades of futility and irrelevance, sprinkled in with just enough hope only to have the rug pulled out from under us when we drop our guard. I'm surprised at how civil the discourse here is for the most part.

Watching them drop Rousseau into coverage was interesting, he's got the speed and length to do it and for DCs to potentially have to worry about that is another interesting wrinkle. Zimmer just has an insane motor, there was multiple plays where a RB or WR would break free for a gain and Zimmer would be the first one there chasing the guy down. For a DT that's pretty bonkers.

Alualu out for the year with a broken ankle, TJ Watt left the Raiders game with a groin injury.

I swear there's some kind of tell our offense has now that there's a year of game tape on them to dissect. Feels like most plays the dl knows how the protection is going to slide before the snap and defenses seem to be able to play coverage well enough to at least force Allen to his 3rd read and beyond. Not sure if we just played some great defenses and/or secondaries, or something else.

I’ve been really vibin’ on Matt Millen. Good play by play, commentary etc.

Love the max effort by Knox to force another fumble. Didn’t work but that’s what you want to see.

Sushi, some blistered shisihto peppers and some bills themed beers from Resurgence and Hamburg Brewing.

We would have said the same thing about the 2019 game, Allen threw a pick, Singletary fumbled the ball a couple of times (lost one I think) and we got stoned at the goal line after the Tre White pick. Barely walked out of there with a win. If Big Ben would have played that game I don’t think we do tbh. Could say the same thing about the 2020 game. Knox fumbled and gave Pittsburgh great field position. We were doing nothing in that first half. They scored off that fumble and we looked lost. Except we did what they did to us and after the pick 6 had a hot couple of scoring drives in the second half and put the game out of reach. If we’d lost any of those games we would be saying the same things we are now, except we’re not because we won.

Its also game 1, of a 17 game season. I recall NE also having numerous shaky starts to various seasons as September was used as an extended preseason and everyone would be saying the sky is falling, Brady is washed up, NE looks like trash bla bla bla and then boom, they're hoisting the Lombardi in Feb...again. I'ma chill, get my eats and drinks sorted for Sunday and hope the Bills squish the fish.

I think its a blueprint for now, but if Allen as proved anything it's that he self scouts really well. When he was a rookie he was awful under pressure and against the blitz. Fast forward to late 2019 and 2020, Allen became one of the best QBs under pressure, blitzing him was always a mistake and he was awesome against man coverage. Now defenses are playing a more zone based concept against our offense and it works as long as you have a line that can generate consistent pressure with just 4 and your backend holds up (which is much easier said than done, not a ton of defenses are that well built to pull it off). The team preaches relentless improvement, and I'm sure McDermott, Allen and Daboll are reviewing the tape and looking at offensive concepts that can better mitigate that style of defensive play.

Just no, the Steeler's play us tough and its been that way for the last 3 years. We came out with a W twice, and this time we didn't. Football is a game of inches, and against the Steeler's that's especially true.

Thank you, feel like everyone here talking doom and gloom (guilty of that a little myself) forgets that the last two times we played Pittsburgh it was a dogfight pretty much the whole game. We played a tight game again, except this time the chips fell the other way.

I see we're just yelling names now, I have one too: Zach Ertz! Did I do it right?

Yeah, but really great teams are able to overcome a bad QB day, issues with the gameplan or add a wrinkle to force a defense to adjust. Pittsburgh kept playing the same D all game, daring us to prove we could beat it and we just refused to try anything different. The chunk plays were not there, the line wasn't holding long enough to let routes develop and the coverage too deep to provide enough soft spots in the zone to led Allen drop in passes. However those short passes to Beasley between the numbers were always there for an easy 4-6 yards. I don't know why we didn't just play small ball to force the coverage closer to the LOS and maybe force them into more man concepts to open up deeper shots.

Truth, we needed otherwordly Josh against the Colts and the game against Bmore was weird because of the weather. Against KC we got totally exposed. The gameplan against Josh and our offense isn't complicated. Play contain with front 4, flood the zones and let your defensive backs make a play or rush 4 and hope your backend holds up while one of your rushers gets home for a sack/hurry/pressure. If you can do either of those two things you can throw our offense out of rhythm. We saw it plain as day in KC and it was evident against Pittsburgh as well.

The ending of this game was bonkers lol. Zay Jones for the game winning TD hahaha.

I could GAF if the Bills undeservedly squeaked into the playoffs and then subsequently won each of their games on the back of ticky tack calls and lucky bounces. If they won the super bowl 19-18 on a last second prayer field goal or insane trick play or whatever I would still not GAF. I win is a win is a win. The only thing most people would remember is that the Bills won, and not how they won.

Don't you threaten us with a good time

I just don't get it, you have a team rushing 4 and getting home against a bad line and spreading their backend defenders out clogging the WRs routes. Its basically a bright flashing neon sign saying "RUN THE BALL", "THROW A SCREEN", "FAST PASS TO HOT ROUTE". Josh needed a couple of series of plays where they play small ball and force defenders into the box and near the LOS to expect the short pass or run play. They did none of that, you can't keep hoping for 3-4 seconds of a clean pocket to hit an open guy if your line is playing like ***** and their front 4 is getting in Allen's grill every play. Hand off, get the ball out quickly. Force defenders forward, which will open the deep lanes. Also Moss being a healthy scratch yesterday was Daboll just trying to outsmart himself. Their line and front 7 is ferocious and you bench your best pass pro RB? Wtf.

I just don't get the insistence on 4-5 wide all game. Teams with a good backfield are just going to play contain with their front 4 and flood the zone with their CBs, safeties and lbs. Teams with good lines are just going to pin their ears back and pass rush knowing the play is gonna be a pass, hoping the back can hold up long enough to get someone home and sack Allen. We need a balanced attack, or at least the semblance/illusion of a balanced attack. The Steeler's played a great game defensively and basically dared us to run the ball or throw a screen away from the line and we did none of those things. You're not going to get those slow developing 20-25 chunk plays if the other team's line knows its gonna be a pass and is just going to rush the passer every down.