Andy Benoit: How Do the Bills Keep Pulling Off Upsets?

[blacklabel]

6 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

Man, I was so freaking excited when I saw that Beane had traded for KB!  and "disinterested" seems to be an appropriate word to describe his behavior on the field recently.

 

Hard to imagine a player with that much talent, that big a target, not shiving a git about doing his job. Where is "the culture" with this player? It's like he would rather be anywhere but "here" on gameday. I saw him attempting to block a much smaller DB with his arms and he actually got in the way of Chris Ivory's run.

 

Can the Bills hire Ex Steeler Hines Ward to instill some passion, teach him how to block, teach him how to go after that ball like DeAndre Hopkins? What a waste. 

 

Yeah, I was pretty psyched that they brought him in last season. They knew they could make a serious run for a wild card spot which is why they went out and got him.

 

Like I said (I think), a knock on him coming out of college was that old adage, "Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane." Big dude, should be out there physically dominating the smaller corners he goes up against and make contested catches but he hasn't been doing that. I don't know if he took a shot at some point that's made him a little gun-shy and is causing him to play with a lot of caution or what. Maybe his knee injury sticks in his head and messes with how he can play. He just looks so far removed from the dude who snagged 79 passes for 1008 yards and 9 TDs in his rookie season. And yeah, interesting that McBeane have called him a great locker room guy after he threw Cam under the bus on his way out of Carolina and hasn't really shown much accountability for his poor start this year.

[SCBills]

8 minutes ago, ctk232 said:

It's not as far off as you might think, in all honesty.

 

We don't have much of an edge rusher beyond Hughes - and while Hughes has been having an outstanding year thus far, we need Murphy to start showing up a bit more in that regard. Murphy's been solid, but far from another bookend pinning the edge.

 

I like our DT's - especially now with Jordan Phillips, what a presence he made yesterday. I hope this play continues because with Star being the quintessential one tech eating double teams, JPhillips is the penetration into the backfield style that can disrupt so many passing plays and assist Hughes on the edge. Let's hope this continues as the rotation in the middle is starting to take form, even if this is Kyle's last year.

 

LB's are young, talented, and hungry. Milano may never develop to be the premiere OLB/Will backer in the league, but the kid performs and plays his role well. Edmunds is already starting to show growth and understanding of the game, albeit not without mistakes, but nothing beyond typical and leaving us with hope for the backing corps of the future. Maybe adding in some depth here wouldn't hurt.

 

Taron's balled out all year but he's far from being called the DB2 next to Tre. He's also still learning and has tremendous upside, but he still finds himself in the wrong place at times in the coverage, and misses some assignments, but nothing detrimental compared to the draft pick used to get him. So far only positive progress has unfolded, but he's still far from being our top DB2. I like him in the nickel role for now.

 

When healthy, we have one of the strongest tandems in the league, but they haven't been enough to anchor the secondary when we've needed it at times. We all want the ideal which is a tandem that just dominates opposing QB's and becomes the twice yearly nightmare for Brady...but for now we have a strong tandem. Just haven't seen it become the dominant factor of our secondary just yet, but we're getting there.

 

I think McDermott had a tremendous roster of talent in Carolina to work with, and will have similar talent here as well. But he's one of the better defensive minds in the league at present, but I only wonder how much influence he does have over the Defense compared to Leslie.

 

Our defense is still a ways from being top in the league, but it's on the right track. We have played well when we've also been able to benefit from crazy turnover differentials, and the ball bouncing our way. That won't happen every game, and our offense won't always be able to stay on the field for now. Still needs time, but this Defense isn't anything to write home about just yet.

 

 

 

Over the last 3 games, this Defense is tied for #1 in the NFL.  

 

If thats not something to write home about, then I don’t know what is. 

 

Going to be hard for them to post shutouts every game if they continue to be on the field all the time, but I think a lot of teams would trade a level of their defense for a level of ours in a second, whether it’s DL, LB’s or Secondary. 

 

That’s not to say that I don’t think McDermott and his scheme makes certain players look a lot better, but in order to have a Top 10 Defense, you better have a legit scheme and coaching. 

 

Edited October 8, 2018 by SCBills

[zow2]

I’m sure the Bills players love reading how they are regarded as NFL’s least talented players.  There’s some motivation right there.  I bet they get pissed hearing that stuff.

[ctk232]

Quote

"Andre Holmes (whose failure to work back to the ball caused Allen’s only interception against Tennessee)—are also questionable."

 

This to me is the one piece of the article that speaks to a greater issue of our WR corps. Beyond just general performance, I've yet to see universally strong, and consistent, fundamentals from every single one of our WRs thus far (with an odd exception for Zay, who seems to be more consistent this year). While we all know the current corps is a problem of the offense that needs reworking, it's astonishing to me that the coaches don't seem to recognize the need for more fundamental play. 

 

Whether it's a byproduct of our offensive play calling and Daboll's route schemes or not, how many times have we seen our WRs sit on hook routes, or cutback routes, and never fully come back to the ball? How many times have we seen drops because they let the ball play them? Or when Allen scrambles, where are the receivers running parallel finding holes in the coverage? I get the need for a first down trumping the five yard run back to the pass at times, but receivers just aren't running efficient routes to get open. Part of this is timing on throws as well, but if you watch teams with consistent passing yds per game over 200, you notice a night and day between the route running of other receivers. It's beyond me that this is all on the players themselves, and not our coaches for working on these fundamentals day in and day out.

Edited October 8, 2018 by ctk232

[Drunken Pygmy Goat]

3 hours ago, oldmanfan said:

Good point.  DB made a very good play there.  But if Holmes takes one step towards the ball it's complete.

 

I mentioned that play yesterday as maybe not being all on Holmes, but the responses I kept getting were "he needed come back to the QB", IE, his fault. But IMO, it was kind of lazy to simply point to that and lay blame. It seemed like a regurgitated response, just because Archuletta said it. To me, the route seemed a bit long, and the reaction time between Holmes getting turned around and the ball getting there was very minimal. That, and it wasn't the most accurate ball placement from what I recall. The timing of the throw, based on the velocity, was off. Yes, Holmes could have broke back to the line sooner, and could have been more aggressive coming back to the ball, but to simply say that the result of the play was all on him doesn't seem totally accurate to me.

Edited October 8, 2018 by Drunken Pygmy Goat

[Nihilarian]

8 minutes ago, blacklabel said:

 

Yeah, I was pretty psyched that they brought him in last season. They knew they could make a serious run for a wild card spot which is why they went out and got him.

 

Like I said (I think), a knock on him coming out of college was that old adage, "Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane." Big dude, should be out there physically dominating the smaller corners he goes up against and make contested catches but he hasn't been doing that. I don't know if he took a shot at some point that's made him a little gun-shy and is causing him to play with a lot of caution or what. Maybe his knee injury sticks in his head and messes with how he can play. He just looks so far removed from the dude who snagged 79 passes for 1008 yards and 9 TDs in his rookie season. And yeah, interesting that McBeane have called him a great locker room guy after he threw Cam under the bus on his way out of Carolina and hasn't really shown much accountability for his poor start this year.

It really is crazy that KB and Mike Evans are so similar physically and yet so different on the field. His rookie season he was a monster... now is a cookie monster...

[mannc]

16 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

Funny how quickly we forget...nobody thought that when he drilled that 57 yard game winner in Detroit in Orton's first start...

Carpenter made some big kicks for the Bills, but he was in steep decline.  Remember when the Bills had to carry two kickers because he couldn’t kick off?

[ctk232]

18 minutes ago, SCBills said:

 

Over the last 3 games, this Defense is tied for #1 in the NFL.  

 

If thats not something to write home about, then I don’t know what is. 

 

Going to be hard for them to post shutouts every game if they continue to be on the field all the time, but I think a lot of teams would trade a level of their defense for a level of ours in a second, whether it’s DL, LB’s or Secondary. 

 

That’s not to say that I don’t think McDermott and his scheme makes certain players look a lot better, but in order to have a Top 10 Defense, you better have a legit scheme and coaching. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I agree - the past three games our Defense has performed among the top defenses in the league this year, and I do believe we have one of the better units in the league. But we are far from consistent - outside of the Minnesota and Tennessee games, we've looked like a bottom feeder defense. Consistency is the piece here and the reason for my pragmatism. 

 

We have a lot of young talent at present, and our identity takes shape when the defense can play with momentum from turnovers. But remove the turnover aspect from the game and who are we? We're the defense that showed up against Baltimore, SD, and GB. All I'm saying is don't write home just yet. Consistency > hot/cold turnover diff opportunity defenses. Ball can only bounce our way so many times, but it doesn't mean we can't like what we see either.

[mannc]

2 minutes ago, ctk232 said:

Don't get me wrong, I agree - the past three games our Defense has performed among the top defenses in the league this year, and I do believe we have one of the better units in the league. But we are far from consistent - outside of the Minnesota and Tennessee games, we've looked like a bottom feeder defense. Consistency is the piece here and the reason for my pragmatism. 

 

We have a lot of young talent at present, and our identity takes shape when the defense can play with momentum from turnovers. But remove the turnover aspect from the game and who are we? We're the defense that showed up against Baltimore, SD, and GB. All I'm saying is don't write home just yet. Consistency > hot/cold turnover diff opportunity defenses. Ball can only bounce our way so many times, but it doesn't mean we can't like what we see either.

The defense played pretty damn well vs GB.  With a historically inept offensive performance, they kept the game from getting completely out of hand.

[Big Turk]

24 minutes ago, mannc said:

Carpenter made some big kicks for the Bills, but he was in steep decline.  Remember when the Bills had to carry two kickers because he couldn’t kick off?

In his last season and a half maybe...but the first few years he was money. Statistically had his best 2 years as a kicker his first 2 years with the Bills...making 67 of 74 FGs, 90.5%.  Even his 3rd season he hit over 85% of his FG. The last year waa bad at 76% but Carpenter had one of the best 3 year runs at kicker the Bills ever had. Love it when people make up bullcrap to try and prove a point with no factual basis whatsoever.

Edited October 8, 2018 by matter2003

[BigDingus]

4 hours ago, Chuck Wagon said:

 

 

A quality kicker, a coach who can actually manage a game and a QB who doesn't actively lose you the game is the difference between a 10/11 win season and a 5/6 win season.

 

Throwing no TD, while throwing sub-100 yards (or like last week, throw sub 100 yards until the final quarter where it's pad the stats time), throwing INT's and taking sacks instead of throwing the ball away (not all his fault) IS actively losing a game. There is nothing about Allen's performance the past 2 weeks that can be considered good.

You can pick a couple plays, maybe 1 drive, but the entire game consists of dozens of plays & drives! Isolating a few out of an entire body of work does not mean he's somehow helping this team. The team is helping him, in spite of his problems.

[Drunken Pygmy Goat]

3 hours ago, Nihilarian said:

Hard to imagine a player with that much talent, that big a target, not shiving a git about doing his job. Where is "the culture" with this player? It's like he would rather be anywhere but "here" on gameday. I saw him attempting to block a much smaller DB with his arms and he actually got in the way of Chris Ivory's run.

 

Clever wordplay.

 

On a side note, I don't know what a "git" is, but I wouldn't want to shiv it either.

Edited October 8, 2018 by Drunken Pygmy Goat

[Chuck Wagon]

49 minutes ago, BigDingus said:

 

Throwing no TD, while throwing sub-100 yards (or like last week, throw sub 100 yards until the final quarter where it's pad the stats time), throwing INT's and taking sacks instead of throwing the ball away (not all his fault) IS actively losing a game. There is nothing about Allen's performance the past 2 weeks that can be considered good.

You can pick a couple plays, maybe 1 drive, but the entire game consists of dozens of plays & drives! Isolating a few out of an entire body of work does not mean he's somehow helping this team. The team is helping him, in spite of his problems.

 

 

I never said I considered us to be in the 5/6 to 10/11 potential win range.  My optimistic record before the season was 5-12.

[GoBills808]

Good coaching and good kicking, much like last year imo.

[Prickly Pete]

I don't know how anyone could have an accurate enough assessment of this team to declare any win an upset.

 

The have only played 2 home games, the first was the debut of a rookie QB. 

They were a playoff team just last season.

The season opener featured a QB that isn't up to NFL standards, and could easily be considered an aberration (the game I mean, and maybe the QB).

 

 

Yet somehow when they win it's considered shocking. 

 

I'm really looking forward to the last third of the season.

Edited October 8, 2018 by OJ Tom

[BADOLBILZ]

5 hours ago, Chuck Wagon said:

If you look at kicking around the league, Hauschka is a VERY underrated part of our success.  The Browns might be 5-0 and the Packers might be 4-1 with a kicker of his caliber.  

 

 

Rex might still be coaching here if he had had Hauschka instead of Carpenter.    

 

He wanted to play Jauron Ball too but didn't want to pay attention to detail.

 

 

[BringBackOrton]

5 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Rex might still be coaching here if he had had Hauschka instead of Carpenter.    

 

He wanted to play Jauron Ball too but didn't want to pay attention to detail.

 

 

3-4 explosive plays per game and ball control the rest of the way is a Super Bowl winning formula if you can pull it off.

[BADOLBILZ]

7 minutes ago, BringBackOrton said:

3-4 explosive plays per game and ball control the rest of the way is a Super Bowl winning formula if you can pull it off.

 

Not unless you have a phenomenal,  generational-type defense.

 

Those are rare and really hard to keep at that level for more than a season or two........and McD's permissive bend-don't-break defense is far from dominant.

 

Teams that play Marty-Ball or Jauron-Ball traditionally find out that predicating your team success so heavily on the anticipation of other teams making mistakes leads to an early playoff exit because the better ones just don't make many.    

 

It also remains to be seen if ANY defenses will be able to take away every blade of grass under the new tackling rules.

 

Seattle was an exception to the rule with their 4 year run of defensive dominance..........they wouldn't give up an inch on defense and they won the SB with the youngest team in the NFL but just 3 years later their window was closed because it's very hard to sustain competitiveness with a defense first mentality.

[26CornerBlitz]

Benoit will be on One Bills Live tomorrow to talk about the article he wrote. 

[Kelly the Dog]

3 hours ago, dave mcbride said:

To be fair to Holmes, it was a great play by Jackson. Defenders are capable of making great plays too. All in all, I'd say it was a good throw by Allen, a decent-enough effort by Holmes (he was where he was supposed to be and would have caught it if not for the defender), and an elite play by a very talented first-round corner in his second season. 

He doesntget his hand in there far or clean enough if Holmes catches it clean. Far worse, however, is that Holmes is a terrible WR. It took him forever to stop, plant and turn. Otherwise it's a perfect throw and easy catch. By being so slow out of his break he wasn't fully ready for the bullet. He still should have caught it. The defender made a good play because Holmes let him 2-3 different ways.