A Few Thoughts About the Ravens Game, in no particular order

[B Fan in LA]

 

This game exposed Beane ad McDermott for what they are………not very good at what they do.

 

I think neither of them expected this debacle of a game, and that’s what’s telling.

 

After all the wheeling and dealing, they had their team set, and their coaches in place with the

right game plan. I think they were feeling pretty good about the season……….

 

Their plan:

Peterman would start all the games this year and do an adequate job.

The rebuilt OLine would “gel” with the addition of Bodine and Newhouse.

Kelvin Benjamin would break out and be the next Randy Moss.

Zay Jones would finally get his feet under him and make some quality catches.

 

The defense would bend, but not break.

The DLine would “gel” with the addition of Lotulelei and Murphy.

The LB’s would be improved with Edmunds and Julian Stanford.

The D Secondary would continue their impressive shut down/take away ability.

 

Special teams would be adequate.

 

IMAGINE THIER SURPRISE WHEN IT ALL BLEW UP IN THEIR FACES !!!

These guys didn’t have a clue going into this game how bad this team really is.

 

In summation, they didn’t make this team better, they made it WORSE !!

Now they have to make some very difficult decisions, in order to keep THEIR jobs.

 

[Virgil]

14 hours ago, Rico said:

My thoughts are that I live about 15 miles north of M&T Stadium in Baltimore County, and I am so glad that I stayed home & didn't go to the game. I'm also glad that I didn't watch it in a sports bar either, surrounded by Ravens fans. Work will be brutal tomorrow; I will be blaming everything on Peterman.

 

Where about?  I’m middle River 

[Jay_Fixit]

Kelvin Benjamin is not very good.

 

He’s slow and has bad hands. A lethal combination of brutality.

[blacklabel]

OP outlined some good points, here's my response in no particular order.

 

Offense - Yikes. No identity, no rhythm. I don't know what Juan Castillo and Terry Robiskie are teaching their respective position groups but it's not working. Constant breakdowns in protection and receivers getting zero separation. And if they did get separation they were dropping the ball. McCoy was nearly invisible, Clay was completely invisible, forget no catches, didn't even have a target! I know Daboll wants to run this "multiple" style offense but maybe they need to re-evaluate that and focus on what they do well, make that the core of their identity and add different wrinkles as they go. 

 

QBs - Peterman just doesn't have it. I thought he looked good in pre-season but that was before defenses gave him real, NFL looks and once that happened, he imploded. Unless the play goes exactly as designed and is perfectly on time, Peterman struggles mightily. And there is just no zip on his throws at all. That one interception he just floated it right to the guy. I know his pocket was crap most of the time but there were plays where he did have time and either no one was open or he didn't trust himself to sling one into a tight window. Allen was better, not by much, but at least he was really trying to push the ball downfield. Having defenders in your face 1.5 seconds after the snap is gonna make any QB look amateur but at this point, I don't think you can hand the keys back to Peterman. I know Allen has work to do but if this game is any indication of what to expect for the rest of the season, then what's the point of keeping Allen on the bench? May as well let him take his lumps and gain experience. And if I'm McDermott, I'd be real careful about giving Peterman another chance. After his regular season performances, how can he face his locker room and honestly tell them that Nate gives the team the best chance to win? If he does that he runs the risk of having some players start checking out on him. And that's bad for the locker room because that sh*t can creep up quick and take over the whole attitude of the team. I do recall when Allen went in, a sideline reporter stated that it seemed like the Bills sideline came to life a little bit. Perhaps they feel Allen is just the better option regardless of the work he needs.

 

Defense - They also looked lost and confused for most of the game. Left huge chunks over the middle wide open, missed tackles, etc. I believe they have more talent than what they showed. I also believe it's time for Fraiser and McDermott to get a little creative in dialing up pressure because rushing four rarely gets it done. Thought Tremaine Edmunds had a nice game and also looked like one of few players to show some emotion. He was visibly irritated toward the end of the game, you could tell he wanted to win and was PO'ed at how poorly they played. Matt Milano also looked decent, seemed to be around the ball most plays and had the fumble recovery caused by Edmunds. Poyer and Hyde, man, I don't even recall hearing their names. Tre seemed like he picked up where he left off. Phillip Gaines can take a seat.

 

Special Teams - I know Schmidt wasn't getting it done but to cut a veteran, experienced punter and sign a DII kid who never kicked in an NFL game a week before the regular season was a head-scratching decision. Wouldn't be surprised if they called up Schmidt this week and brought him on during Tuesday tryouts. The new kid looked disheveled and uneasy. That botched punt was hideous. I feel the reason the punter position has been a mess is because I believe they wanted to give the job to Cory Carter, but once he got hurt they scrambled, tried Jon Ryan and then decided to pick up Bojorojoqoroquez or however the hell you spell it. 

 

Coaching - Well, there's not a whole lot to work with but the team just seemed flat. I dunno what McDermott's message was during the week and before the game but whatever it was, it didn't seem to land. There was no spark, no energy, no rallying around players like they did last season. Most of them seemed pretty indifferent about being there. 

 

All we can hope for is that a game like this lights a fire under their rumps and they put in the work to bounce back next week. 

Edited September 10, 2018 by blacklabel

[BuffaloHokie13]

I applaud you for pulling it together enough to compose this. Thanks Virgil.

Edited September 10, 2018 by BuffaloHokie13

[B Fan in LA]

25 minutes ago, blacklabel said:

All we can hope for is that a game like this lights a fire under their rumps and they put in the work to bounce back next week. 

 

We can only hope............

[outsidethebox]

16 hours ago, Jerry Jabber said:

I’d say that was the second worst Bills game I’ve ever seen, with the first being the 56-10 blowout at home against the Patriots in 2007. 

 

Peterman is just like Trent Edwards, looked good in preseason, but terrible in the regular season. 

 

There’s a lot of blame to go around: having more than $50M in Dead cap space, losing three offensive linemen and not finding suitable replacements, WR’s who could not gain separation, DB’s that gotten beaten worse than a redheaded stepchild, almost a nonexistent pass rush. 

 

So, what brilliant words of wisdom are we going to hear from our beloved coach…Trust the process?! Being 1/11th? Earn the right to win? 

 

Every year, I spend a good amount of money on the NFL Sunday Ticket, but I’m giving the Bills another week and if they get blown out like this again vs The Chargers, then I’m canceling my subscription and saving a lot of money.

 

One thing is for sure, if the Bills are going to miss the playoffs, I’d rather they bomb out the entire season, trade players to gain better assets and be able to draft at the top of the draft. Otherwise, whenever the Bills play against the Patriots, the games will be the worst in franchise history…guaranteed!!! 47-3 will seem close compared to what the Patriots will do to the Bills.

Who would want any of our players beside Allen and Edwards and white?

[B Fan in LA]

14 minutes ago, westside said:

Who would want any of our players beside Allen and Edwards and white?

 

Well, Oakland just picked up AJ McCarron.............

 

I still believe it's not just the players who are responsible for this disaster.

If you traded this team for the Patriots team, right now, Belichick would coach them to 8-8.

McDermott's coaching staff would turn the Patriots into losers in about 2 weeks.........

 

[Rico]

1 hour ago, Virgil said:

 

Where about?  I’m middle River 

Parkville.

[26CornerBlitz]

17 hours ago, Virgil said:

Writing the first thoughts of the season shouldn't feel like this and I apologize for the quality, not to say that they are usually high quality anyways.  First off, I was at the game where it was raining and I couldn't really use my phone to take notes, so most of this is from memory.  Second, it was hard to keep myself at the game until the end and if Allen didn't come in, I probably would have left in the 3rd.  I've never left a game before the last 4 minutes, and that includes today, so I say that as an example of just how bad today was.  With that, here we go.

 

1 - Baltimore Fans - If I go to a game, I like to comment on the atmosphere.  The Bills fans absolutely represented today and we were out early.  Walking by the main Ravens lot, I was shocked at how empty it was at 10am.  Rain or not, even the local bars were fairly empty.  When I did make my way to the busier areas, I saw just as many Bills tailgates as I did Ravens.  It was surprising to see but reminded me how great a fan base we have and how we deserve better. Waiting in line to get into the stadium and at our seats, the Ravens fans were pretty tame and I never felt unwelcome.  Even a few fans said how impressed they were with the Bills fan presence.  

 

2 - Offensive Line - As for the team, I figured I'd start with the only pleasant surprise of the game.  I was expecting the QB's to have zero time to throw as the Ravens usually played with one safety deep and stacked the box.  For the most part, Peterman and Allen had enough time to throw and the offensive line wasn't the reason for the poor passing game.  Now, they didn't create big holes for the running game, but that didn't seem to be in the gameplan early anyways (more on that later).  Overall, they were fine.

 

3 - Defensive Line - I understand that one of the main keys to a strong defense is being able to get pressure with your front 4 and we just spent a ton of money in FA on our line, but I still don't know what I saw today from them.  First off, why was Yarburough out there so much.  In the first few drives, he was out there for the majority of the snaps and opposite of Lawson no less.  Where was Murphy and Hughes as our bookends getting pressure because Star and Kyle are eating up the middle?  I know that Murphy was on a snap count, but we put very little pressure on Flacco and even let him slide around inside and out of the pocket easily.  You just can't give Flacco that kind of time.  If that's what almost 20 mil in upgrades gets us, then we might want to hold onto our receipt.

 

4 - “Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!” 

 

5 - Benjamin - I didn't have a personal opinion when we traded for KB and don't feel like we've seen enough of him to know what we have.  We know he's playing for a new deal in a period where WR's are getting paid well.  He showed flashes again the Panthers and then we didn't showcase him after that.  With that being said, today was not a good day for him.  I don't know if he's just slow or didn't care today, but he looked like he could care less about being on that field.  He didn't look back for the ball on a few plays.  His fight for the ball was lackluster at best and he dropped Allen's would be first NFL touchdown.  Overall, I didn't like what I saw from him at all today against a Raven's team that was missing their top DB.  He should have been featured and helped Peterman in his start but was instead more disappointment

 

6 - Peterman - Peterman now has a full 4 quarters of stats to his resume and it isn't pretty.  He had throws that were behind receivers, executed plays where he forced it to his first read, even though the play was clearly blown up, and made some beautiful passes directly to Ravens receivers.  Oh yeah, and he didn't execute a single first down in the first half; something only down twice before in the NFL (Peterman loves making history like that).  I was all for Peterman starting this game.  I'll admit that.  He looked good in the Panthers game and with the 3rd stringers.  But we all said that we needed to wait and see what he'd look like again against a real NFL defense. Well, we saw it.  I want to preach patience and remember that it's only his second year and only has prepped as a starter for a few weeks.  But overall, he's historically bad when he's in there.  We can say it's Daboll, the rain, or even the WR's, but I have to believe that anyone else gets at least a first down in the half.  It's nothing personal, but you simply can't be that bad.  

 

7 - Special Teams - The failed recovery of the muffed punt summed up the entire game for me.  We couldn't even fall on a ball correctly.  The first missed field goal was well short and I don't know if it was tipped or not.  We almost had one returned to the house on us and then we fumbled a snap.  It takes a team effort to lose this badly and all 3 facets of the team contributed.

 

8 - Overall Defense - I'm more upset with the play of our defense than anything else.  This was supposed to be our strength and we weren't going up against world beaters.  I didn't expect a big win, but I didn't expect to give up more than 20 points.  Not only was there little pressure, but had so many breakdowns in coverage that you'd forget we had an entire preseason to prepare for this game.  We weren't ready and our scheme was highly ineffective.  The middle of the field was left open again with a soft zone, we got thrown all over in a rainy contest, and we dropped some sure interceptions, maybe even pick 6's.  You can't even say that the defense gave up because the offense wasn't supporting them either.  We were down 14 immediately after some poor penalties and breakdowns in coverage.   Just a pathetic display.

 

9 - Daboll - I'm going to be upfront here and say that I wasn't happy with the hiring of Daboll.  I don't see what he's done to earn the jobs he's had.  His offenses have ranked near the bottom of whatever league he was in, but somehow it respected by the big name coaches.  With that being said, I feel like I can summarize his play calling by pointing out that he was sending his 2nd and 3rd string TE's deep on plays and actually took shots at them.  Let me repeat again that we didn't get a first down in the first half.  Our first one came in the 3rd on a busted play.  The Ravens stacked the box and dared us to beat them.  As a Bills fan, I want to be wrong about him.  As someone who looks at his track record and what I saw today, I'm not optimistic.  I'm looking forward to the All-22 to see if it's more QB than scheme, but Peterman was as much Daboll's choice as he was McDermott's.

 

10 - McDermott - As a head coach, you are the voice of the team and expected to support your players.  I know it frustrates the media when he gives bland answers and refers to the tape.  On the flip side, he's also the window to the team for the fans who pay to see the team.  His lack of comments and overall stoic demeanor about a historic loss in a season opener was bothersome to me.  I'm NOT saying his job is in jeopardy, even though I know people will copy and paste just this next piece, but a performance like this is what can get a coach or GM fired.  At the end of the day, McDermott had an entire off-season to prepare, draft, and sign players to create a final product on the field.  He made the choice to start Peterman and mentally align the players.  He failed in every single component of the game.  When we were beaten by the Pats 56-10, it was to a superior team and that game was at least 21-7 at one point.  We didn't look like we had any right to be on the same field as the Ravens, who were without their staring DB, TE, and missed the playoffs last year.  To me, this is the worst loss in the history of the franchise on that merit alone.  If I told you that our offensive line would be about average in the game and still told you the end result, would you believe me?  We had 3 blowouts last season and he was able to pull the team together and this was a road game.   Even for those thinking this would be a rebuilding year, we didn't get spanked this hard during our 3-13 season.

 

Next week we have the Chargers and I don't even know what to expect anymore.  Hopefully we can get some momentum from the crowd and some decent weather.  Allen has to start going forward or I think McDermott risks losing the team.  He's now butchered naming a starting QB twice in two seasons.  Rebuilding or not, you have to find victories in defeat to build on.  There weren't any today.

 

Go Bills!

 

16 hours ago, Virgil said:

You put way too much effort into this. 

 

1 - Go into dresser and grab undershirt 

2 - Rip undershirt in half 

3 - pick up stick on the ground 

4 - place cloth on stick

5 - Waive white flag before coin toss

6 - enjoy your Sunday 

 

Mmm Hmm. 

[Rico]

15 hours ago, bopper2 said:

I thought I was watching Alabama vs. Northeast Bogalusa A&T.

I thought I was watching last year’s Chargers game. The difference is there was no TT to come in for the second half and at least put some points on the board. I know there were a lot of reasons for dumping him, but I would much rather still have him until Josh is ready than Peterson and another high-motor, lunch-pail DT.

 

Speaking of Josh, let him play. Find a new backup QB or 2 first though.

[Spiderweb]

17 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

To be clear, I'm not saying the O-line was good.  I'm saying it was better than the dumpster fire I expected and couldn't be blamed for the terrible passing game. 

The play of our two Guards was truly offensive. McBean has stripped the Bills of the scant talent it had and what we saw yesterday was the result. Other teams manage to turn around mediocre franchises pretty quickly. The Bills take mediocre to putrid. Yesterday was total humiliation.

[Bob in STL]

you lost me on #2.

 

The offensive line play was deplorable from the get go. 

[Lurker]

IMO, this loss is on Beane and the roster he assembled.    This might be the worst OL in team history and the WR group's not far behind.    Those deficiencies would doom any NFL QB not named Brady or Rogers...let alone a tandem of Peterman and Allen.    

 

The $50 million in dead cap is surely limiting their ability to plug holes.    But much of that was self-inflicted.    Batting 0.000 in free agency is another black mark on Beane and his front office talent evaluators.      

 

 Bottom line--this is going to be a season-long problem and no amount of dumpster diving or roster tweaking is going to cover up for garbage in = garbage out...