SectionC3

Good call on the FB. Roberts was impressive.

Who were his QBs in those stops? that aside, your points are that daboll doesn’t call enough screens, and that Kroft is underused. Maybe those points favor daboll - he plays to strengths (Knox over kroft) and doesn’t call plays we don’t run well (screens).

If you think we were creative on D you’re wrong. We were very basic. Offense was pretty dull, too, save for the Dawkins trickery and the brown reverse, which played off of the brown pass in game 1. Realistically that game would have had no bearing on our playoff seeding. So what’s the best way to accomplish the objective in January? By holding the cards until the playoffs start.

agreed. The objective is to win the super bowl. I felt differently going into the NE game - my thought was why not throw the kitchen sink at them and try to slay the dragon. But in hindsight McDermott played it right. I think we’ll see more of the same this week. Offense should work on whatever it feels it needs to tighten up and then get Allen/brown/singletary/Dawkins/Morse out of there. D should mothball tre white, edmunds, and maybe Milano and Hyde and show absolutely nothing. It’s on to Houston.

Kroft got hurt and Knox took his spot. The series you’re referring to in Pittsburgh was all about the HB pass by Gore. The draw on third down was designed to avoid a sack and preserve the FG. setup plays are part of NFL offenses. Look at Pittsburgh’s TD against us. Connor run followed by same look/play fake/throw back to Connor. It’s a way of life against good defenses, and the fact that it didn’t work on one series against Pittsburgh doesn’t mean Daboll is a bad coordinator.

come on. The touchdown to kroft in Pittsburgh was a gorgeous play design. Knox has played pretty well and has pro bowl potential if he can improve his hands. and the screen game? We have big guards. Maybe some middle screens would be in order. But fact is we don’t block screens well (see Spain’s stupid holding penalty against Baltimore) so there’s not a ton of sense in running them.

Morse is very athletic and is one of the few centers who can effectively pull. We should be a better sweep team. I think Spain’s lack of mobility has a little part in that. singletary is a 1 in my view (provided he improves ball security). I wouldn’t mind a 2 with a little juice. Of course, if we got melvin Gordon or Derrick Henry at the right price, I’d be cool with that, too. AJ Green is the one FA I would consider paying huge money. The locker room dynamic is extremely important here and I’d worry about giving a newcomer one of the top paychecks. If they go that route, the signee has to have a sterling resume. Green can pull it off.

yup. Look at what KC did to Edelman. Doubled him and took him away. If we see NE again, what travels with Harry, Edelman gets the double, and we hope that Milano and the safeties handle the run better.

Dion Dawkins caught a touchdown. And they played off of the brown throw in the last NE game with the brown reverse. So offense wasn’t entirely vanilla. defensively, however, I agree with the premise the McDermott held his cards. The Texans and anyone else we might get in the playoffs will see a much more aggressive approach.

thank you. Spot on. It’s the give and take of employing the guards that we have. As far as the quoted comment about the Philly special goes, I submit that a guy who throws it twice w a WR this year, dedicates two entire goal line seuqences to trick plays this year, and throws to a tackle with no time on the clock at the end of the half yesterday should not have his courage questioned. I think we need a bigger x receiver. Brown is best as a y (at least in my view). I consider Beasley to be our WR2, and the spot other than brown/Beasley has been a black hole lately. McKenzie really aggravated me by failing to line up properly yesterday. If you’re not going to help the team, at the very least you can’t hurt it with presnap errors.

The throw wasn't back shoulder, nor should it have been. It was on the last set of downs, meaning that we didn't score on the drive. The route was open and it should have been a touchdown.

None of them had significant offensive snaps besides McKenzie, who lined up wrong twice in the fourth quarter. If foster looks like he can handle mckenzies role this week it’s time to scratch 19 for someone who might actually be able to line up properly.

Yes. And start game planning for Houston. I’ll add that i also would use the game to see if I ever need to dress McKenzie again. He’s not good enough to get away with not knowing where to line up.

I’ll middle this discussion. Allen HAS to hit Knox there. But we also have to throw the ball more on first down to win games like this one. Normally I think the daboll criticisms are very unfair, but I didn’t like our approach today. Also, for what it’s worth, I though we were way too conservative on D and overall didn’t play so well tonight. by contrast, NE was basically perfect. And they had to be to beat us. I have a LOT of hope for the playoffs and for the future.

He does but it’s hard to block screens when your guards are buoy like ours and they have an aptitude for stupid holding penalites (at least in Spain’s case). It was. Watch how Spain blocked for it. Daboll confirmed as much. First play was the setup for it.

Pitch to singletary in a fake sneak. It’s coming. and I agree we will see the kitchen sink today on offense / special teams. Literally nothing to lose and everything to gain by stealing this game.

actually there was one fairly unique thing about the jills back in the day - for playoff games the bills would have the cheerleaders wear tux jackets with the tails. It was a nice touch.

the genesis/Phil Collins song “feel it in the air tonight” was a big thing back in the day, too. That song was a staple of warmups until maybe five years ago or so. the one thing that’s new to the stadium that I really like is giving the mic to an alumni to lead the stadium in the “shout” refrain before the game. Great new tradition.

One of the unfortunate effects of whacking down down a fifth of Jack in the parking lot before coming into the stadium. I have never had a drink at or outside of the stadium in two decades of attending games as an adult, so maybe I’m out of touch with this part of Bills fandom. But the whole “using the sink as a p*ss trough” thing seems to have become far less prevalent lately. this one was a cool tradition. Haven’t heard that commercial in ages.

Going for it on 4th and 6 was not conservative. I think we play really, really good complimentary football and the offensive output (namely, scoring) is a little lower than it could be because of that approach. But it’s winning games. And a lot of them. We have a QB who can bring a team from behind and an offense that can grind a clock down. Sometimes that holitistic approach is characterized as conservatism, but I think they’re different things. agree on peterman, appreciated McCoy but don’t miss him a bit.

It was all about the HB option pass. The draw on 3rd was an attempt to be safe (no sack) and maybe catch them napping. BTW, for as much as that goal line sequence didn’t work out so well, the play call on the Kraft TD was brilliant. 3WR left hold one safety, Singletary angle route holds LB, Allen’s eyes hold other safety, Kroft wins and and Allen makes an easy, safe throw in a tight spot with probable pressure. Just brilliant.

Harrison mostly plays star’s position, so probably not many sacks there. gotta bring back Lawson. He’s our best DE. He can have Murphy’s money and then some. Would like to have Phillips back, but he is a bit redundant with Oliver. lots of guys are going to get paid, and deservedly so. I’d rather sink the big cap space into guys who have been here than bring in FA with big bucks. Much better for chemistry reasons, and the ones who put the work in deserve the reward.

he was throwing the second one. The first run was the setup.

we did have the Hyde return. But the point is well taken. Increasing the turnover margin would be a helpful thing as the games get more important.

I’ll add that belichick had what for him was a lengthy statement on the matter. It struck me as unusual given that the recording allegedly is independent of the patriots and unrelated to the patriots next football game. It tells me that the patriots are aware of the gravity of the situation, as is belichick, and they want to get in front of it.