Bills too many times put themselves in bad situations

[Big Turk]

I think something I am seeing that separates the good teams from the average and bad teams is they don't put themselves in needless bad situations. Far too often the Bills find themselves in bad situations that there is absolutely no reason they should be in if they would just be more focused, pay attention to detail and be better prepared in understanding in game situations as they occur. These are simple little plays that good teams make and average and bad teams don't that cause drives to stall, directly result in turnovers and help lose games over the entirety of the four quarters.

 

What am I talking about? Well here are 3 examples. Two from the last two Bills games, and one from the Browns game Monday night.

 

Against New England, 2nd and 10. Taylor completes a pass to Hogan right in front of the sticks. Hogan turns and has 3 defenders near him. The smart play understanding the situation is to simply lean forward and get tackled, but ensure you pick up the first down. This is what Edelman or Amendola from New England would do. what does Hogan do? Dances around trying to juke the players even though there is NO chance he is going to get free from 3 defenders and ends up getting tackled about a half yard short of the first down. This puts the Bills in a 3rd and 1 instead of 1st and 10. Ball is just past midfield around the New England 47 or 48 yard line. What happens next? Karlos Williams gets stuffed for a 2 yard loss and the Bills punt. Never should have happened. Hogan put the Bills in a position they never had to be in if he would have just done the simple, smart thing.

 

Flash forward to the Kansas City game. 2nd and 7, Taylor finds a WIDE OPEN Robert Woods in the middle of the field with literally no Chief player even in the screen as the ball is throw perfectly to him. Woods however seems to lack focus and takes his eye off the ball, perhaps thinking he can make a big play but he tries to run before he catches it. Simple play. Catch the ball, easy first down. Stop trying to do too much and just DO YOUR JOB. Catch a simple pass...don't try and make a 15 yard pass play for an easy first down into a 70 yard TD. Rex challenges the catch(ridiculous as it didn't even look like a catch on TV), loses, and then the next play in an obvious passing situation, Henderson does the "Ole!" on Tamba Hali, Taylor gets sacked and stripped, Chiefs recover. The point is...this play should have never occurred. All Woods had to do is make the simple catch, focus on doing his job properly and not trying to be a hero. Just make the play that is there, don't try and make a play that isn't.

 

Browns Monday Night game...final play. The Baltimore player jumps offsides! What would New England do? Have their O-Line man simply get up out of his stance. Easy 5 yard penalty. Moves the ball 5 yards closer. This comes down to proper coaching and awareness. This is the type of thing that separates well coached teams from poorly coached teams. What does Cleveland do? Nothing! They stay set, snap the ball and the kick gets blocked, returned for a TD and they lose the game. But the play never needed to happen! If the Browns player just did what he was supposed to do when a defensive players jumps offsides, the ball moves 5 yards closer, the kicker likely isn't at the edge of his range and likely kicks the ball with a higher trajectory.

 

Most times its not giving up the flashy plays that get you beat. It's not doing the simple little, easy routine things that get you beat. And a lot of times it isn't even about what happens on that particular play...many times its putting the team in a bad situation that never had to happen in the first place that leads to negative things happening on the following plays. Its what teams like the Bills and Browns and the other average/bad teams do during the course of games that good teams like New England and Cincinnati typically don't or at least do far less...they make the easy plays that are there to be made that keep their teams out of bad situations.

 

 

 

[Marty McFly]

Nice observations, I was yelling at the TV during these type of plays that allow us to get screwed by the refs. Good teams overcome bias and incompetent Refs by making these plays. LOL @ Awareness, reminds me of Madden stats and how important they are in the video game. We need to Upgrade Rex's awareness in that case cuz he cost us the Chiefs game with the blown challenges and dog **** DEF gameplan and 2nd half adjustments.

I think something I am seeing that separates the good teams from the average and bad teams is they don't put themselves in needless bad situations. Far too often the Bills find themselves in bad situations that there is absolutely no reason they should be in if they would just be more focused, pay attention to detail and be better prepared in understanding in game situations as they occur. These are simple little plays that good teams make and average and bad teams don't that cause drives to stall, directly result in turnovers and help lose games over the entirety of the four quarters.

 

What am I talking about? Well here are 3 examples. Two from the last two Bills games, and one from the Browns game Monday night.

 

Against New England, 2nd and 10. Taylor completes a pass to Hogan right in front of the sticks. Hogan turns and has 3 defenders near him. The smart play understanding the situation is to simply lean forward and get tackled, but ensure you pick up the first down. This is what Edelman or Amendola from New England would do. what does Hogan do? Dances around trying to juke the players even though there is NO chance he is going to get free from 3 defenders and ends up getting tackled about a half yard short of the first down. This puts the Bills in a 3rd and 1 instead of 1st and 10. Ball is just past midfield around the New England 47 or 48 yard line. What happens next? Karlos Williams gets stuffed for a 2 yard loss and the Bills punt. Never should have happened. Hogan put the Bills in a position they never had to be in if he would have just done the simple, smart thing.

 

Flash forward to the Kansas City game. 2nd and 7, Taylor finds a WIDE OPEN Robert Woods in the middle of the field with literally no Chief player even in the screen as the ball is throw perfectly to him. Woods however seems to lack focus and takes his eye off the ball, perhaps thinking he can make a big play but he tries to run before he catches it. Simple play. Catch the ball, easy first down. Stop trying to do too much and just DO YOUR JOB. Catch a simple pass...don't try and make a 15 yard pass play for an easy first down into a 70 yard TD. Rex challenges the catch(ridiculous as it didn't even look like a catch on TV), loses, and then the next play in an obvious passing situation, Henderson does the "Ole!" on Tamba Hali, Taylor gets sacked and stripped, Chiefs recover. The point is...this play should have never occurred. All Woods had to do is make the simple catch, focus on doing his job properly and not trying to be a hero. Just make the play that is there, don't try and make a play that isn't.

 

Browns Monday Night game...final play. The Baltimore player jumps offsides! What would New England do? Have their O-Line man simply get up out of his stance. Easy 5 yard penalty. Moves the ball 5 yards closer. This comes down to proper coaching and awareness. This is the type of thing that separates well coached teams from poorly coached teams. What does Cleveland do? Nothing! They stay set, snap the ball and the kick gets blocked, returned for a TD and they lose the game. But the play never needed to happen! If the Browns player just did what he was supposed to do when a defensive players jumps offsides, the ball moves 5 yards closer, the kicker likely isn't at the edge of his range and likely kicks the ball with a higher trajectory.

 

Most times its not giving up the flashy plays that get you beat. It's not doing the simple little, easy routine things that get you beat. And a lot of times it isn't even about what happens on that particular play...many times its putting the team in a bad situation that never had to happen in the first place that leads to negative things happening on the following plays. Its what teams like the Bills and Browns and the other average/bad teams do during the course of games that good teams like New England and Cincinnati typically don't or at least do far less...they make the easy plays that are there to be made that keep their teams out of bad situations.