MAJBobby's Good, Bad and Ugly vs. LA Rams

[MAJBobby]

Disclaimer this is from my eye so I know not everyone will agree with what I saw, I have watched the game a couple times so this is what I get out of it. So without further delay here it is, hope you all enjoy the breakdown.

Offense

As an overall offense it was inconsistent, which does tie into the play of the QB as well. However they did enough to win, and happy we are back on the positive side of .500. I am going to use the overall part to talk about the OC. So the gameplan was obvious feature Shady and really for good reason which I will get to with the OL. However there is a trend developing here with the lack of adjustments after defense adjusts. I know Lynn is growing into the role and hope that we start seeing some better adjustments particularly in the 2nd half, I really don't like coming out of halftime to go 3 and out.

OL

I do have to start this section with Rams were missing 3 of their starting DL before the game, and have undersized LBers SO i would expect a good game from our OL. I did see a good game from them for the most part. Obviously with missing 3 of the 4 DL Bills offensive gameplan was to feature Shady and the run game and it worked to the tune of 27 carries 193 yards 7.1 avg and 1 TD. Now Aaron Donald was disruptive at times, but he is one of if not the best interior DL in the game right now, but for the most part the OL did well against him. Either way I am happy with the play so far this season, they have really gelled and are playing good football. Second half it was harder for them, but that also goes to what I was saying above about lack of adjustments. There is a new trend I am seeing as well, is teams are bringing their pressure packages to the Right, I think that has some to do with testing Miller and Mills as much as it is teams not wanting Taylor to escape the pocket to the right giving him the easy run pass option. When he moves left as a righty it will be harder for him to square those shoulders and deliver accurate (like any RH QB so not a dig on Taylor).

Grade: A-

WR/TE

It was SO nice to see Clay Running and catching routes and actually a featured part of the passing game instead of blocking all the time. However, there are some bads, the Drops were not good and killed some drives, it was nice to see Hunter in the game a bit and his Corner route was really well ran and was open right away, Taylor found him late after moving around a bit, but he did what you want from a WR when the QB breaks pocket kept himself alive for the TD. This group also did some very good work blocking in the open field, McCoys big runs don't happen with poor downfield blocking.

Grade: B

RBs

No issue with this group except I still see no reason for Bush to be on this team. It is so nice seeing Shady healthy, he is looking like the back that we all thought we were getting. Really was the best player in the offense Sunday. Also another play that will likely get overlooked was Feltons nice run and key conversion on 3rd and short on the 1st TD drive. Only thing I wish I could have saw from Shady is not to run into Felton on the big run and score, but all good, would have liked him to get 6 somewhere in the game. There were a couple missed Pass Protection misses from the group but nothing to complain about for the most part. Overall great production and clearly was the best unit and player on the field.

Grade: A+

QB

For those that don't like a critique of the QB because of the win skip over this paragraph. So I will start with the good, He was good enough to win. Also, he tossed a seam route, I could not believe i saw it. It was a little late and off target, but at least he finally threw it and found Clay for a nice gain. Then the TD Pass to Hunter was nice as well, Hunter was clearly not the first read on that route, because Taylor never looked that way initially, but once he broke pocket to the left instead of running he squared his shoulder to the line and delivered a nice ball to Hunter. Obviously his legs are a weapon and there is not really another QB in the league that could pick up that 3rd and 19 on the 1st drive. Also on the last drive needed a play found Goodwin in the endzone when we needed a big play. Did hang in the pocket alot and was happy about that instead of bailing at first sign of pressure.

Now for the bad, Taylor is so inconsistent and went to sleep essentially for a long stretch of this game, yes we won, but it will cost us in the future like it has in the past (Chiefs). These long stretches of bad play is not a sustainable model for success. It is tied to once the defense is on to him he just cannot get past that. And because of his inconsistency the offense is inconsistent. Thats why you see four 3 and Outs, and two other drives that have 5 and 6 plays. Not to mention 19 total passing yards in the 2nd half when much of the game was still in question. His play really has to improve. Still late on throws, flat footing throws, not throwing WRs open etc.

Grade: C

Defense

So this was not the shut down defense we have saw in the last two weeks instead was a bend but dont break type of defense. Really the Rams were able to move the ball at will all game, right up until the Redzone and then the Bills stiffened up. Still this team is getting home with their Pressure with 4 sacks, and also still can get TO with the FR, and 2 Picks. But be no means was this a good display, though they did make plays when they needed to and for the most part kept Rams out of the Endzone.

DL

This was a weird week for them, they got pressure and were able to control Gurley, but the where gashed a couple times. I think they were tossed a little loop with Dareus missing, I really think the gameplan was really around him so being a late out I think hurt their play a bit. All and all even with getting gashed at times they did only 102 rushing yards for a 3.5 AVG and a TD.

Grade: B+

LB

This was Zach and Prestons worst game of the year I think, they were out of position at times, missed tackles and seemed slow to diagnose the play. However, Alexander picked up the slack this was his best game by far as a Bill. That is something I like about this team this year is they seem to pick eachother up. But not to much to complain about after at the end of the day the run games only allows 3.5 YPC, they also got and caused a Turnover with Gurley. But I do have to say this is the first game this year that the communication issues popped up, with two many man on the field, looking around alot presnap. Its like some of what the Rams were doing confused them a bit. That will be something to keep an eye on, right now I think it was just a one time thing because it wasnt an issue in the first 4 weeks, but was an issue all year, so hopefully it is just a 1 game thing.

Grade: B+

DB:

As a unit they are going to grade out higher because of the Pick 6 and the second pick at the end of the game. However this was a a bad game for both Darby and Gilmore. Both these too (more Gilmore) seemed slow breaking on the route, now that might have been because they were worried about the Double Move from Austin, so it would be hard to tell that for sure, but they did seem slow to the ball. Also can we please stop playing Gilmore in off coverage, he is not good at it, and I think it is because he gets into his own head instead of just playing. I absolutely hate both CBs when they are in off coverage, but Gilmore is way worse at it than Darby is. Robey of course needs to be mentioned for his perfect jump on the out and the Pick 6, I really just wish he could be more consistent because he will put a game up like this, and then put up a stinker.

Grade: B+

STs

Carp it seems like every week I am writing about a Missed FG or Missed XP. I get it this one was blocked but it came out so low, like you would expect from a kicker trying to drive a long FG into the wind. I am not sure if there was wind or not and why he would have driven it low like he did, I think he mis-hit it. But So glad we got rid of Gay and are now using Carp on KOs as well, the rule change helps there, but obviously our coverage unit is doing work, and they have been so good that we are not missing Easley as gunner and seriously early in the season but I think I can move on from him in the offseason with the way this coverage unit has looked both in the punt coverage and the Kick Coverage.

Speaking of Coverage is there something Alexander cant do. He is the starting OLB and also one of the Better Cover guys we have as well. And to think he was an OL, DL, LBer he just keeps re-inventing himself. He is the type of guy Hoody Loves, a Football Player.

Schmidt had another great game 6 Punts, 4 inside the 20 and a 46.0 yard average. Not a dig at him but going to put it here, I see we went full Dicky J and Moron mode and punted from LA 39 yard line. But great we pinned them back well guess what they drove down no issue for the FG anyway. Can we STOP Punting from inside the bad guys 40.

Grade: A-

There it is my write-up on this game

[Freddie's Dead]

WR/TE is C at best. Drops were huge. I give LB's an A or A- (Lorax factor). Otherwise good write-up.

[abc]

I really liked this write-up.

I agree with Freddie's Dead that WR's are more like C/C+. Woods drop, Goodwin & Powell not coming down with balls in competition with DB's. Call it C+.

 

Agree on ST's. Have to mention the great adherence to coverage responsibilities on the fake punt (big positive) but also had the block in the back on the kickoff in 2nd half (smaller negative).

Tate could have fair caught a couple of those punts rather than taking the hit right away.

[MAJBobby]

I really liked this write-up.

I agree with Freddie's Dead that WR's are more like C/C+. Woods drop, Goodwin & Powell not coming down with balls in competition with DB's. Call it C+.

 

Agree on ST's. Have to mention the great adherence to coverage responsibilities on the fake punt (big positive) but also had the block in the back on the kickoff in 2nd half (smaller negative).

Tate could have fair caught a couple of those punts rather than taking the hit right away.

 

Yeah true I did go with the B because of the work they did in blocking, and though woods had a drop he also made a great catch to that + cancels the -. Plus he would have had a Big TD if Taylor hit him when he was Wide open off the line on that go route. But could really see a C grade here from someone else and wont have an issue with it

Edited October 10, 2016 by MAJBobby