colin

look man, im not proud to say it, but if reich demands that beane wear high heels and full clown make up and act as his personal rickshaw driver year round, then i see those as reasonable demands and we must comply.

im a huge fan of frank reich, but after beating the pats i hope the colts go into a total tailspin, he gets fired, and we sign him as our OC.

how our plays are called and who we have on the field just don't line up. signing sanders and guys like obedah (SP), drafting basham and the OT back up we got in the 4th, and keeping all of houghs, addison, whoever so they can sit on the bench 85% of plays did nothing to make our team better. if we got a real OG, a big WR or a quality TE, not to mention some kind of NFL RB (i'd keep motor but moss and brieda are just not good) a lot of these trips would have been more fruitful. as it stands, since we got what we got, it's pretty clear daboll just doesn't have the touch or understanding he needs, and our OL coaching needs to be removed. maybe im putting too much of the blame on the coaches on O, but i think the evidence is pretty clear they suck much more than they are good, and sometimes you just need a clean break.

you make a good point, but i have babbled endlessly about how our D (at great great expense cap wise and with a huge amount of coaching advantage vs our O) structurally combined w our actual players, just has a problem. we are built to take away the big play, but allow big plays while not forcing the O out of their comfort zone. based on what we have, i don't think edmunds gives us enough since he doesn't make enough impact plays, but does make mistakes. for example, if he were exactly who he is, but could really get off or punish blockers, he mighta disrupted the blocker levering the whole play inside and at a worse angle, making the tackle more likely.

i think we still have a schematic/structural issue on our D (O as well, but it's way worse on O and the talent sucks at too many positions). we seem to always defend everything pretty well, instead of dictating what we want to take away. now, i can understand why that can lead to a great D, it did in carolina for mcclaps. they problem is a single mistake by one or two players leads to a big play, and the way we are built we get ground up w short passes or runs. if you look at our 3 losses to the really good teams this year, it's all the same 1 Tenn: a plain old run play lead to a couple guys being a beat late or out of position, break away TD. 2 NE: while we got trucked on lots of run plays for like 10-20 yards, we made lots of negative plays too, but the one 3rd and 5 lead to NE's only offensive TD, lost us the game 3 TB: while we stank early on, and did great to come back, that one break away TD run (first score of the game) was the same old crap. DL gets blocked or out of position, guards get up on the LBs, one or two guys get there late or fill in wrong, and bang, break away Run TD. as a bonus, we also allowed a break away 3rd and 2 passing TD. it was a short pass, but the structure is the same as a run, guy gets the ball near the line of scrimmage, edmunds and others make just enough mistakes to not make the tackle, and we let up a giant TD. our style of d, and our specific d, works great when the secondary is erasing windows, the DL is disrupting, and the LBs run free and make plays. our problem is we aren't getting the turnovers we need to get the d off the field, because we are weak to dink and dunk. the main structural advantage of the d is stopping the big play, and statistically we are about the best at that, but the opponents know they don't have to take crazy risks, just get the guards up the pitch or hit the right short pass and they will get that long TD they need. given our HC was a DC, our DC was a HC, and we spend more money on the D than anyone else (particularly D line) AND have dumped like all our fricken picks onto the DL in the past 3 years, we can conclude there is a big problem top down on D for us. milano makes mistakes, but he makes them going 1000mph towards something that he thinks is an opportunity. he also makes big impact plays and erases routes at least some of the time. edmunds erases routes by being big long tall and fast, but he gets moved by the qb or the Pass catcher just way too easily (the one first down by gronk, edmunds was in his hip pocket, and it was an easy set up for gronk to go inside, brady saw it the whole way too) and he is out of position while like floating or thinking, and most of all above everything, he just can't get off of blocks. he does make great plays to the edge in space, frankly that's what has him drafted high and getting paid next season. for our D tho, the mistakes cost us way more than the bonus plays contribute, because they aren't ints and sacks, but are just really good open field tackles. great to have those, but if the opponents know they can run their basic bread and butter and beat you via attrition, you are letting them play at a lower level of difficulty, and that alone is the difference between us winning and losing those 3 games against really good competition. we need an upgrade in our front 7, shocking giving what we pay, but ditching a couple old trash DL and signing like one real pass rusher and signing or drafting a real plug in the gut can get us there IMO. edmunds should not be long term signed, but he should be released only if the cap makes sense and we have an upgrade ready.

no, i don't think you can give him that much credit. part of his calling plays is to call what is best vs the d, and what his players on the field are likely to be able to execute. also, away from dialing up plays, there needs to be a smart system in place in practice where you are putting money in the bank all year to get really good at some bread and butter stuff, and during the week you have to practice the plays you are gonna feature. he's simply not shown that at all. every football fan w a good head for the game i know comment that the bills just sort of line up in shotgun, and wr's run around and allen avoids the rush and finds them. the constant jail breaks are a huge issue, but we don't seem to be able to call draws and screens and quick passes out of jumbo or max protect. we see our players make mistakes the odd time we attempt these, but to me that's on coaching. two seasons w the nearly exact same cast on a pro team means you need to have some man, blitz, and zone beaters that you can go to. dabol is just playing madden out there. his 2020 season was an aberation because diggs and allen and bease are monsters and covered up for his poor ability. proof of this is how fast we've fallen apart, and literally every single offensive performance he coached prior to 2020.

you're not wrong, but imo he like randomly walked into some stuff that was working when josh got hot in the 2nd half. in the first half, and a couple other drives, nothing he called set anything up, nor was set up by any prior calls.

the play that sticks out the most to me: in the first half, where we ran either zero or 1 rb runs so far, we pull some goofy play action from under center (normally, i think this is about our best formation, but with either side of zero attempts to run, it isn't set up), the line parts in the middle (by design) and the MLB who was really close to the line just runs free. breida comes in late and to high to block him, and josh gets creamed. i am CERTAIN daboll has read the analysis which shows that it doesn't really matter how well you are running for play action to work, i.e. over all play action plays around the league if teams rush for good YPC or not good YPC, you get a gain from play action. what is missed here is in a game where you are down bad, and are simply not running the ball, the LBs will be much more likely to just blitz immediately rather than be playing back but not deep enough. so we get a big hit on josh, a loss of yards and a down, and risk a turnover to gain what? a shot at an 8 yard pick up? even in our best games on O (and this was clearly one of our better ones this season) we kinda just throw stuff against the wall and look to see what sticks. no wonder we get so many half azzed routes and goofy blocks, do any of our players have confidence in what the coaches are setting the team up to do on O?

This really was some home cooking. Game on the line and they let diggs get horribly mugged, marginal (frankly opi) in ot w Evans and it's flagged up quick. We have hole like swiss cheese, but the way games get called is just too obvious to always be mess ups by the refs

I've given him a lot of rope, and now he's hung himself with it completely. He's just north of replacement level, like so much of our roster besides allen

This staff and team don't deserve Allen. He's our only frickin player

So, our ol can't block a stunt to save their lives, can't run block, and we let Spain and teller walk. How are these coaches still employed?

I know TB is a great team, but it feels like we are behind the sticks on every drove, o or d. We need Allen heroics to get a fg. TB just runs dink and dunk and walks up and down the field.

you know, this makes me think: what's dabol's blocking philosophy? we ran spain and teller out of there, who have done better than anything we have going on right now. does what he wants to do in the passing game (wr's all over the joint, josh playing super man) fit w the blocking scheme on O? i think daboll is just not in anyway a complete OC. he doesn't have cohesive ideas on what to do, even within his own play design and practice schedule. greg roman runs really simple passing schemes, but his running and blocking always puts the O in advantage situations. reid is a mad genius, but his teams always know what they want to do blocking wise. I remember kevin gilbride getting some heat for very simple blocking schemes, and he frustrated just about every team he was on (save the 2 chip winning giant team), but they got good results running and passing. i really think our O has gotten stats from some great wr and qb play, which has covered up for just a poorly designed and coached scheme. dabol's history prior to 2020, and the past 6 games bear that out, and is far and away the bulk of his career.

ya, i said going into this season it will play out, and for a while it looked like he was gonna grab that brass ring, but frankly, i think he's solid overall, just not great.

i was thinking panthers was after NE. so ya, i suppose we can drop two games vs good teams and crush a can and mathematically be eligible for the playoffs, and then get beat by NE, but i really think our team is emotional and streaky and we need to prove to ourselves we can stomp w the best and beat TB to get the Mo to take it further. ya, as i mentioned in the other post, i was wrongly assuming it was TB followed by NE, not the panthers. again, i think it is possible we get our mojo back beating NE, but the way we have played for the past two months, i think we really need the ship righted correctly and now to get the juice flowing

pittz losing, and possibly cinci takes some sharks from the tank behind us, obv baltimore and tenn ahead of us could lose too, but i doubt it. I still think our best shot at the playoffs is winning the division, we'd have to beat tampa and NE in NE to do that, because i don't see us making it 3 losses in a row and bouncing back to mop up the softer teams. As far as i am concerned, these next two weeks are the start of our playoffs.

that's insane, guy was so young. does anyone know how a car accident that doesn't put you in traction for a long time does this? i presume it is brain related, but perhaps neck/spine damage can cause this? i bet some people are gonna talk about cte and such, but it seems like there are so many complications from different kinds of trauma and injuries that didn't get spoken about before. rip.

he erases some mistakes by the line (perhaps they aren't mistakes, perhaps they d the run up aggressive up front and have him fill in) and he absolutely erases guys in the middle of the field in the passing game, that's why he's made probowls and got drafted high while 19 years old. the issue for me is he simply makes errors, out of position, doesn't get off blocks, gets manipulated. i honestly think better opponent coaches (like reid and billicheat) target him to get him in the wrong spot, since he's a bit of a lynchpin to our D. it's all so tiresome

i know mathematically a loss in tb is not as important as any of the afc games, ne in particular, for our playoff chances, but in terms of momentum and confidence, i think we are on a precipice right now, and you need something to just supercharge the bills swagger. i suppose there could be some kind of exciting close loss where the bills play better where they get their mojo back, but i really think walking into TB and smacking them, followed by going to NE and beating them turns the team from self sabotaging into a deadly monster of a team. so, based on all that, i think we either beat TB and make a hard push at a chip, or lose there and just fade down the stretch. i think if we miss the playoffs, even at 10-7, at the very least some assistant coaches get walking papers.

i think we need to win 4 games to get into the playoffs. while tb is the strongest team (perhaps save the pats) we have left, and are out of conference, i think it will be hard for the team to lose two huge prime time games in a row and come back and win 4 straight, so i think for us to make the playoffs, we like 75% have to win this game in tampa. ironically, winning this game in tampa and the NE game gives us a very solid shot at the division. so, while backing into the playoffs is mathematically quite possible, i kinda feel like we turn it around now and hard, or we are fudged.

i think we have a very good roster, but our allocations/where we got lucky just aren't balanced. rookie RT is perhaps our best o lineman, which is saying a lot because he didn't play for a year and is raw. the rest of the line has issues, and it seemed like we had solid back ups before, but now w guys like ford totally regressing, we can't afford an injury. our DL is stacked, tons of picks and the most money in the nfl in it. the issue is our two highest paid guys, houghs and addison, are old as dirt and not impact players. our top DT, Star, got sick at a bad time. aside from that, we have a ton of picks and money invested in part time players. i get the reason for the rotation, but we have so much depth at the same positions and no one seems to be breaking out, so you have high picks and big salaries on the bench by design. those picks and salaries could have been put to better use on starters at our thinner positions. we get outstanding db play, really think our coaches might be the best there, but our depth is a touch thin as we may see w tre being hurt. TE, RB, they just need upgrades, just a dearth of ability there. LB im actually good w. WR we are kinda monster, but again depending on our formation, guys are on the bench a lot. davis i think is our future, doesn't get enough burn, sanders is old and like replacement level for us (davis or diggs fill in for him and have the same impact or greater), bease looks hurt, and we benched our speedy gadget guy. i really hope we can improve by re allocating money on non starters (DL rotation, klien and mattawitch who are OK but get way too much to ride the pine, sanders) and sign like 2 high impact players and draft to fill in the rest. shorter version: we have way too much draft and cap capital sitting in depth.

im not sure which lb was making a mental vs physical mistake, but AJ ran himself inside, behind the initial block, making it easy for the wr to trap him. i think even just fighting to his right might have gummed up the play (having the fb run into a pile of guys) enough to make a big impact, let alone beating his blocks. even smaller speed DEs like the bosa's and such show enough fight in the run game to make that much harder for the O. i don't think it's a physical issue w aj, he just made a mistake. platooning our DL kinda gets them not taking so many snaps. keeps them fresh, but it might hurt them getting learning reps and getting a feel for what the O is doing.

i'd put him in, how much worse can he be?

of course a great ol is better than a great rb, but that's 5 guys vs 1, and the cheapest of those 5 great OL likely get the same or more than the 1 RB. in terms of min maxing, what is the least cost and change that would result in the greatest improvement in our O (besides coaching anyhow) the biggest impacts as i see them are OG, RB, TE, big WR. solid OG might be our biggest instant improvement, but that says more about how awful the trash we line up out there are when we don't have our best guys in as much as how much the new OG himself will add. of the rest, RBs are the one position who can be generally counted on to perform at a high level as a rookie, and don't cost as much to keep. slightly better RB (call it close to NFL average) on monday woulda won us the game. taking away the horrible brieda fumble, and bouncing it outside on 1st and goal would have been enough in that disaster of a game. I think it's clear we need OG and RB (and TE and WR if we can swing it) but we don't have any other OGs on the roster who can step up as far as i can see, so im for jamming williams in there to see what happens, cuz what we got now ain't getting it done.