THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - Welcome to the NFL

[WhoTom]

If the Bills are going to go 2-2 to open the season. I don't see any way to win in Atlanta.

 

Agreed. After what they did to the Packers last night, its gonna be an ugly Sunday for the Bills in Georgia.

[WhoTom]

Wait a minutes, please. We're not bending at all. The Panthers ran 66 plays on offense to our 51. They had a 17+ (that's SEVENTEEN!!!) minute advantage in TOP. If you think giving up 255 yards and 9 points is 'bending and not breaking' instead of straight f@#$ing balling I think you need to be watching a different sport.

 

They let the Panthers eat up chunks of clock and get near/into the red zone four or five times, but held them to 3 FGs. That's pretty much the definition of "bend but don't break." Straight f@#$ing balling is what their D did to us. Granted, our offense made their D look better than it is, but statistically, their D was straight f@#$ing balling.

 

Semantics. "Bend but don't break" is not an insult - they did their job.

[SoCal Deek]

Shaw

 

With regards to the 'get back to the huddle attitude' I couldn't agree more. I was a bit concerned with Jordan Matthews on a number of plays. He's spooning the ball and pointing at first downs. I'm hoping the Coach has a talk with him. Similarly...they can't dump Dareus fast enough for me. He's an attitude liability.

[Shaw66]

Shaw

 

With regards to the 'get back to the huddle attitude' I couldn't agree more. I was a bit concerned with Jordan Matthews on a number of plays. He's spooning the ball and pointing at first downs. I'm hoping the Coach has a talk with him. Similarly...they can't dump Dareus fast enough for me. He's an attitude liability.

I've noticed Matthews. Don't be so quick to pull the trigger on him or Dareus. Talent counts, and I'm happy to give McD time to rein them in.

[HappyDays]

 

They let the Panthers eat up chunks of clock and get near/into the red zone four or five times, but held them to 3 FGs. That's pretty much the definition of "bend but don't break." Straight f@#$ing balling is what their D did to us. Granted, our offense made their D look better than it is, but statistically, their D was straight f@#$ing balling.

 

Semantics. "Bend but don't break" is not an insult - they did their job.

Exactly. I didn't mean it as a bad thing. We completely stopped their run game, they were only able to move the chains with Cam Newton doing Cam Newton things on 3rd downs. Zero complaints about the defense after this performance. For all the talk about Rex's defenses getting gassed, under McDermott's defense we are not having that problem. Elite defenses keep performing well no matter what the offense does and that's what we saw yesterday. Very pleased and optimistic with the defense moving forward. No confusion, substitutions are handled quickly and on a good schedule, players swarming to the ball.

[Rubes]

Really nice post, thanks Shaw. I agree with most of what you said, and it's nice that you placed it into a broader context that isn't doom-and-gloom.

 

Oh, and I agree with the posters that say this is not a bend-but-don't-break defense. You can't stop every single drive. The Bills only allowed one lengthy drive in the second half.

[SoCal Deek]

I've noticed Matthews. Don't be so quick to pull the trigger on him or Dareus. Talent counts, and I'm happy to give McD time to rein them in.

Nobody could be accused of being too quick when it comes to Dareus. He has been given more than enough. I couldn't believe it when they listed Marcel as questionable to return...while Greg Olsen (who carried his shoe to the Locker Room) was listed as 'probable'. Dareus of course returned, but for the second game in a row, was a non-factor.

[RoyBatty is alive]

Shaw

 

With regards to the 'get back to the huddle attitude' I couldn't agree more. I was a bit concerned with Jordan Matthews on a number of plays. He's spooning the ball and pointing at first downs. I'm hoping the Coach has a talk with him. Similarly...they can't dump Dareus fast enough for me. He's an attitude liability.

For me, I love Matthew's enthusiasm and positive outlook, we need more of that in this franchise.

[GoBills808]

 

They let the Panthers eat up chunks of clock and get near/into the red zone four or five times, but held them to 3 FGs. That's pretty much the definition of "bend but don't break." Straight f@#$ing balling is what their D did to us. Granted, our offense made their D look better than it is, but statistically, their D was straight f@#$ing balling.

 

Semantics. "Bend but don't break" is not an insult - they did their job.

Our offense is inept, so stopping it is no great accomplishment. Theirs is NFL caliber, and the defense held them to 255 total yards and three field goals. That's the difference.

 

But oh...we 'let them into the red zone four or five times'. God forbid. They were on the field more than an entire quarter longer than the offense. To say they 'did their job' and 'bent but didn't break' is to really miss what a remarkable performance they put in, especially in light of how the secondary features a rookie CB andnew safety and basically rookie at DE.

[SoCal Deek]

For me, I love Matthew's enthusiasm and positive outlook, we need more of that in this franchise.

Don't get me wrong, Matthew's should be a great addition...but I don't think Coach wants him spinning the ball after every first down. (A minor course correction.)

[GETTOTHE50]

Tyrod didn't throw deep all game until maybe the final pass of the game.

 

I was hoping they would try it when they got the ball back after cam looked to be seriously injured.

 

The air in the stadium was sucked out when cam was on the ground for that period.

 

Hitting on a deep pass right after would have completely demoralized the crowd and the panthers.

[transplantbillsfan]

Nice post, Shaw.

 

As usual.

 

 

I know everyone thinks the sky is falling, but do people realize how seriously good the Panthers front 7 is? The Panthers have an Elite D... especially the front 7. I'm still kind of scratching my head a little at our offensive gameplan. You're playing an Elite front 7 so you stick with the run game? I get that Shady is one of the best backs in the NFL, but the run and pass game should be called to work together to open each other up, better. From what I recall in the first half, almost every designed pass was a short pass. That pass to the left sideline to Clay that gained like 2 yards was infuriating.

 

Then, we get into the 2nd half and the passing game opens up a little. And we get to the final drive and we look like an NFL offense. I know folks will say something about the Panthers letting us get that yardage because of a prevent defense, and maybe there's a little something to that, except for the fact that they weren't exactly defending the sidelines very well. It honestly felt like we were going to score a TD on that drive.

 

Then we get a late flag on a questionable, at best, OPI against Holmes. I thought it was a bad call, but whatever. We still had a great play called on a 4th and 11 and almost came away with the win. That last pass could have been placed a little better for sure. But Taylor threw the ball pretty much where it needed to be since there was a CB lurking beneath Jones ready to intercept the pass if Taylor threw it shorter and to the sideline to lead the rook. Plus, Jones stumbled a bit. He still could have caught that ball. He probably would have been short of the end zone because he would have fallen, but we would have had one more play.

 

We needed more offensive production earlier in the game. That was on every player on offense and on Dennison. I think this was the lowest of the low we see from our offense all season. We can't get much lower than what we saw yesterday, so I think that's pretty reasonable.

 

 

On the flip side, GOD I hope that resembles our Defense for the rest of this season! If our D can be a top 10 or a top 5 D, the sky isn't falling on this team and I still think hope springs at least a couple more months for playoffs.

 

 

Man... I'm excited about our secondary. I think White, Gaines, Hyde and Poyer (what a find that guy was!!!) are a pretty solid secondary to contribute behind a pretty excellent front 7.

 

Even though our Offense was boring and atrocious yesterday, our D was legitimately fun to watch.

[VirginiaMike]

Nice write up. I would like to be optimistic, but have concerns that the offense my never get on track. The game against the Jets is not a good indication. Carolina has a good defense, but not all world. This game with Denver could be ugly for the Bills offense. They looked very tough this past week. I want to be optimistic, but need to see some progress with the offense.

Go Bills!

[Figster]

Heartbreaking loss,

 

thanks for the thorough review Shaw,

 

much appreciated

[Shaw66]

Nobody could be accused of being too quick when it comes to Dareus. He has been given more than enough. I couldn't believe it when they listed Marcel as questionable to return...while Greg Olsen (who carried his shoe to the Locker Room) was listed as 'probable'. Dareus of course returned, but for the second game in a row, was a non-factor.

McDermott said everyone starts with a clean slate. He doesn't care about the history.

 

I'm with him. If I were a head coach, I'd do everything I could to get a player of Dareus's caliber to stick with my program.

 

And I don't see how you can call Dareus a non-factor on a day when the Bills more or less completely stopped a good running game and collapsed the pocket around Newton all day long. Just because you don't see Dareus doesn't mean he wasn't a factor.

[WhoTom]

Our offense is inept, so stopping it is no great accomplishment. Theirs is NFL caliber, and the defense held them to 255 total yards and three field goals. That's the difference.

 

But oh...we 'let them into the red zone four or five times'. God forbid. They were on the field more than an entire quarter longer than the offense. To say they 'did their job' and 'bent but didn't break' is to really miss what a remarkable performance they put in, especially in light of how the secondary features a rookie CB andnew safety and basically rookie at DE.

 

1. I already acknowledged - and you quoted it - that our offense made their D look great.

 

2. Also in that quote I said, "Bend but don't break is not an insult - they did their job.

 

Bend but don't break means give up a couple of field goals but not a TD. That's what they did. I'm freakin' happy - overjoyed - at the defensive performance. They did exactly what was asked of them. They bent, but didn't break.

 

I see 9 points as bending, where a perfect game is a shutout. But that's not an insult. Giving up 9 points should be enough to win against any team. The defense played good enough to win. They played better than good enough to win. They deserved to win. I'm not complaining at all about the defense.

[GoBills808]

 

1. I already acknowledged - and you quoted it - that our offense made their D look great.

 

2. Also in that quote I said, "Bend but don't break is not an insult - they did their job.

 

Bend but don't break means give up a couple of field goals but not a TD. That's what they did. I'm freakin' happy - overjoyed - at the defensive performance. They did exactly what was asked of them. They bent, but didn't break.

 

I see 9 points as bending, where a perfect game is a shutout. But that's not an insult. Giving up 9 points should be enough to win against any team. The defense played good enough to win. They played better than good enough to win. They deserved to win. I'm not complaining at all about the defense.

This is crazy. So if one of those field goals had been a TD and they'd given up 13 points instead of 9, that would have been breaking? I stand by what I said before: they didn't bend, or break, or whatever. They played defense about as well as you can ask.

[LABILLBACKER]

I've noticed Matthews. Don't be so quick to pull the trigger on him or Dareus. Talent counts, and I'm happy to give McD time to rein them in.

I can live without all the Matthews antics. Not a Dareus fan but he did play slightly better than that Jets debacle. Looks like his ankle is messed up.

[Shaw66]

Tyrod didn't throw deep all game until maybe the final pass of the game.

 

I was hoping they would try it when they got the ball back after cam looked to be seriously injured.

 

The air in the stadium was sucked out when cam was on the ground for that period.

 

Hitting on a deep pass right after would have completely demoralized the crowd and the panthers.

I don't understand the offense. Seems to me there has to be some way to get the ball more consistently to the wideouts. Doesn't even have to be deep. Just get it to them. They did on the final drive.

 

There can be only two reasons why it isn't happening: (1) The plays aren't in the offense or aren't being called or (2) Tyrod isn't throwing to them. I don't know what the problem is, but the Bills are going nowhere if it doesn't get fixed.

[GoBills808]

I don't understand the offense. Seems to me there has to be some way to get the ball more consistently to the wideouts. Doesn't even have to be deep. Just get it to them. They did on the final drive.

 

There can be only two reasons why it isn't happening: (1) The plays aren't in the offense or aren't being called or (2) Tyrod isn't throwing to them. I don't know what the problem is, but the Bills are going nowhere if it doesn't get fixed.

This being Taylor's third OC in as many seasons, and the Bills still being at or near the bottom of the league in passing attempts, I'm going to guess it's not a coincidence.