A Few Thoughts about the Texans game, in no particular order

[Mark Vader]

40 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

I thought he was about a zero, neutral today. He didn't make a single play that I thought really helped us and he didn't make a single play that really hurt us. His biggest problem is he is definitely abandoning plays too early and looking to escape. The announcers were speculating that he is dropping his eyes to the rush - that may be true - and if it is that would be a worry because the one way I think it is possible to ruin a rookie QB is if he starts seeing pressure where there isn't and when he has time to throw. 

What really sucked was that he got hurt after he had thrown his best pass of the day.

 

You could see on the very next play that he was starting to feel it, but he had to accept the reality that he was hurt.

[unclepete]

1 hour ago, BillsEnthusiast said:

 

Agreed

 

Also why did more WRs seem to come open when Pete was throwing it? I don't remember those cross routes open like that like on that 3rd and 15

Peterman gets rid of the ball faster. Guys are open with Allen but he’s a lot slower to make a decision. 

[Bing Bong]

4 minutes ago, DC Tom said:

 

The negative is that it ceased being relevant five weeks ago.  I'm surprised you haven't yet changed it to "PetermanThrewALLThePicks."

So true. Peterman picks extrapolated to full 16 game seasons would be like a 100. Nobody even knows which 5 I'm talking about. 

 

PetermanThrowsPicks13%OfTheTime

PetermanIsStillInTheNFL

PetermanThrowsALotOfPicks

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

1 hour ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Not all the coaches - not Crossman or the receivers coach, those two were firable today.

 

...why is Crossman such a perennial holdover?......what did I miss?.................

[Gray Beard]

1 hour ago, qwksilver said:

Someone needs to straighten out all the illegal formation calls. Always happened at the wrong time. That's coaching as well.

I saw a few that didn’t get called. The guards are a few inches behind the center.  The tackles are a few inches behind the guards.  By the time you get to the receivers, it’s not clear who is on the line and who is behind the line. 

 

I’ve seen similar things on other teams, but for some reason the Bills seem to get called for it. 

[GunnerBill]

4 minutes ago, unclepete said:

Peterman gets rid of the ball faster. Guys are open with Allen but he’s a lot slower to make a decision. 

 

He gets rid of it alright.....

[DuckyBoys]

3 minutes ago, unclepete said:

Peterman gets rid of the ball faster. Guys are open with Allen but he’s a lot slower to make a decision. 

Peterman makes a pre snap read and throws it regardless of how the defense shifts after he makes that determination  Its how he's able to throw so many pick 6's in so few attemts

[Boatdrinks]

44 minutes ago, B Fan in LA said:

 

I'm not real happy about the O play calling.

First down is often used by other teams to throw a pass.

We don't ever do that. Why ?

 

As far as Allen dropping his eyes earlier to the rush, I think he maybe took a couple hits that hurt him

and decided to keep his eyes on his escape route.

He's gonna get smarter eventually from not wanting to take those hits, but right now he's got a little bit of "deer in the headlights" going on.

Passing on first down once in awhile would help, but playcalling in general won’t help this team much. Offensive play design might, but they’re stuck with Daboll for now. As for Allen watching the rush and not downfield, he was doing this well before he was injured. 

Edited October 14, 2018 by Boatdrinks

[Bing Bong]

2 minutes ago, DuckyBoys said:

Peterman makes a pre snap read and throws it regardless of how the defense shifts after he makes that determination  Its how he's able to throw so many pick 6's in so few attemts

He's almost impossibly stupid at the position

[fergie's ire]

I also question the coaching on the Texans final scoring drive.  It seems like all game,  even if we only rushed four, others were up faking the blitz, so they didn't know who to block.  On the final drive it looked like we sat back and just rushed four.  The ol' "they haven't been able to move the ball on our defense all game, so, with the game on the line, lets stop what we are doing" strategy.  Kills me every time.

[Virgil]

52 minutes ago, PetermanThrew5Picks said:

He needs a Hopkins! Does a ton for a quarterback to have an ounce of trust in SOMEONE to make a fantastic play for him.

I want to call Thad out of retirement! (or whatever he's doing)

 

Everyone wants a Hopkins 

[Another Fan]

On a positive note after that PI call with like 2 minutes left, I was impressed they held them to just the field goal.  Of course we all know what happened next but the defense today was real solid

[RobH063]

Every time I read one of your "In no particular order" threads, I can't help imagining you sitting at a little desk in a small wooden chair and wearing a Fedora hat. There's a cigarette hanging out of the corner of your mouth while you bang away on your manual typewriter. When your post is done, you rip the page out, take it to Office Max and have them scan it. Then off to the Library you go to take that digital file and upload it to TBD. Don't ask me why that crosses my mind but it does. LOL

Edited October 14, 2018 by RobH063

[Kelly the Dog]

6 minutes ago, RobH063 said:

Every time I read one of your "In no particular order" threads, I can't help imagining you sitting at a little desk in a small wooden chair and wearing a Fedora hat. There's a cigarette hanging out of the corner of your mouth while you bang away on your manual typewriter. When your post is done, you rip the page out, take it to Office Max and have them scan it. Then off to the Library you go to take that digital file and upload it to TBD. Don't ask me why that crosses my mind but it does. LOL

You forgot the one quarter filled bottle of Old Overholt on the desk. 

[JMF2006]

2 hours ago, BillsEnthusiast said:

 

Agreed

 

Also why did more WRs seem to come open when Pete was throwing it? I don't remember those cross routes open like that like on that 3rd and 15

 

They were playing zone.

[frostbitmic]

57 minutes ago, PetermanThrew5Picks said:

So true. Peterman picks extrapolated to full 16 game seasons would be like a 100. Nobody even knows which 5 I'm talking about. 

 

PetermanThrowsPicks13%OfTheTime

PetermanIsStillInTheNFL

PetermanThrowsALotOfPicks

Pick6man

[RobH063]

12 minutes ago, Kelly the Dog said:

19 minutes ago, RobH063 said:

Every time I read one of your "In no particular order" threads, I can't help imagining you sitting at a little desk in a small wooden chair and wearing a Fedora hat. There's a cigarette hanging out of the corner of your mouth while you bang away on your manual typewriter. When your post is done, you rip the page out, take it to Office Max and have them scan it. Then off to the Library you go to take that digital file and upload it to TBD. Don't ask me why that crosses my mind but it does. LOL

You forgot the one quarter filled bottle of Old Overholt on the desk. 

Yes I did! Thank you :)

[Virgil]

25 minutes ago, RobH063 said:

Every time I read one of your "In no particular order" threads, I can't help imagining you sitting at a little desk in a small wooden chair and wearing a Fedora hat. There's a cigarette hanging out of the corner of your mouth while you bang away on your manual typewriter. When your post is done, you rip the page out, take it to Office Max and have them scan it. Then off to the Library you go to take that digital file and upload it to TBD. Don't ask me why that crosses my mind but it does. LOL

 

I can see you in the corner of the room. It’s weird. Please stop

[billsfan_34]

Crossman and Daboll both stink

[Bing Bong]

4 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

Everyone wants a Hopkins 

Or an AB, AJ Green, Julio Jones, ODBJ, Michael Thomas, Steffon Diggs, Mike Evans, Tyreke Hill.. they're rare but they're out there.. would be great to have a dude that can make a game winning circus catch rather than just being happy Zay isn't dropping the ball.

[Kelly the Dog]

Just now, PetermanThrew5Picks said:

Or an AB, AJ Green, Julio Jones, ODBJ, Michael Thomas, Steffon Diggs, Mike Evans, Tyreke Hill.. they're rare but they're out there.. would be great to have a dude that can make a game winning circus catch rather than just being happy Zay isn't dropping the ball.

I want Joe Average. He'd be our second best receiver. 

[Bing Bong]

4 hours ago, frostbitmic said:

Pick6man

Maybe years later: Never4getPick6Pete

Just now, Kelly the Dog said:

I want Joe Average. He'd be our second best receiver. 

And MAYBE Joe average pulls an amazing toe tapping NFL caliber play to prove he can do elite reciever stuff a handful of times like I see random guys do every week.. ?

[jlgarsh]

6 hours ago, matter2003 said:

Can't disagree with any of this other than the ST coach...his unit puked all over itself all game long.

 

Bills D has turned into one of the best units in the NFL.

 

I mean the Texans came in averaging 440 yards of offense, Watson had 375+ yards passing in the last 3 games and if he did it again it would have broke an NFL record ror most consecurive games with 375+ yards passing. He didn't even come close.

 

Bills held Texans to fewer yards than the 223 the Titans had last week, Watson was under duress all afternoon, and should have probably gotten sacked 2 or 3 more times. That goalline stand after the DPI call in the endzone was a thing of beauty.  If this team even had the offense from last year they would likely be 5-1.

 

If the offense was top 25 they'd have a shot at the playoffs.  Since the 2nd half of the Chargers game, they've been strong.  Couldn't believe how well they played the whole game today, with the offense doing nothing.  When the D forces turnovers on the oppents side of the field, you need to get TDs consistently...

5 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Nobody rooted for this kid more than me and I really wanted to see him succeed but we have to be realistic here. He's absolutely horrible. If he's in Buffalo pads on Tuesday then he's got something on his organization dirty pictures, something?

 

Peterman must be in McDermott's bible study group.  Maybe they can't meet without a certain number of members, and he'll have to cancel if he can't replace him?  

[sullim4]

I will give McDermott credit - I railed against the defense after the first two games and called for his head if this continued over the course of a 16 game season.  Now they are playing like they did last year.  They are playoff caliber.  This is arguably Jerry Hughes at the best that he's been at with the Bills - he made the plays today without the boneheaded personal foul penalties.

 

My reaction to Peterman's performance was so conflicted.  On the one hand, I fully expected him to throw a pick six to lose the game.  On the other hand, I can't believe it's happened AGAIN.  I wish the kid well, but he needs to be let go on Monday.  A random UDFA has to be better than this, right?

 

I wasn't worried about Josh Allen until after this game.  It's not that I haven't seen improvement, it's that it appears he's regressed.  He lacks any sort of pocket presence, his footwork is all over the place, he takes a lot of bad sacks and makes poor throws, his accuracy is wildly inconsistent, etc.  I can't pick anything out of his game that seems to have improved.

 

I was 100% behind keeping him in there and letting him learn on the job.  But, he has to be learning on the job, and I'm not seeing that - he's not even staying the same, he seems to be getting worse.  I think he needs more time in the film room with someone who knows what they are doing, whether that's Daboll, Palmer, Anderson, whomever.  He needs to get the fundamentals down and a shot of confidence before they put him back out there.

 

I have wondered for some time if the Bills' whiffs on draft picks was due to poor scouting, or the lack of a competent coaching staff to develop these players.  As the years go by, I'm thinking it's more often the later rather than the former.  I am worried that Allen's support system is inadequate and that his talent is going to be wasted due to Daboll and company's incompetence.

Edited October 15, 2018 by sullim4

[B Fan in LA]

19 minutes ago, sullim4 said:

I wasn't worried about Josh Allen until after this game.  It's not that I haven't seen improvement, it's that it appears he's regressed.  He lacks any sort of pocket presence, his footwork is all over the place, he takes a lot of bad sacks and makes poor throws, his accuracy is wildly inconsistent, etc.  I can't pick anything out of his game that seems to have improved.

 

I have wondered for some time if the Bills' whiffs on draft picks was due to poor scouting, or the lack of a competent coaching staff to develop these players. 

I am worried that Allen's support system is inadequate and that his talent is going to be wasted due to Daboll and company's incompetence.

My sentiments................... exactly

[ganesh]

7 hours ago, Buffaloflash said:

You seem to hit most points very well,I'm still in shock in that our offense gave the opposing team all their points!

I will admit, that the redeeming factor of the Outstanding game our defense played, give me great hope that we will be on the path to competitiveness in the near future. 

Our Special Teams gave up 10 points in the 1st half.  Then the Nate Peterman Fiasco happened!

I don't want to give this coaching staff a pass. They blew the game in the end.   When you are tied with under 2 minutes to go, you put the game in the hands of your best player.....McCoy...not in the hands of your backup QB who has no velocity to throw those inside-out throws.  That was just insane.  At least you could have punted and gone to over time. 

 

The defense gave away that big drive in the end....they ahd a 3 rd and LOOOONG and they allowed Watson to complete it.

[BmarvB]

15 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Not all the coaches - not Crossman or the receivers coach, those two were firable today.

 

Agreed. Special teams were brutal today.  Wasn't the WR coach a former RB with the Raiders?

[Not at the table Karlos]

I blame coaching for calling a play with a route near the sideline with peterman in the game.   Has he completed one of those in his career or are they all picks?

[billsredneck1]

17 hours ago, Virgil said:

10 -  Coaching - Outside of the timeout used on 4th and short at the end of the game, I thought all the coaches did a great job.  I can' t find an area of play calling to blame for this loss.  We absolutely could have won this game and probably should have.  QB play killed us here, plain and simple.  This was a rough environment and these guys came to play.  We should probably be 3-3 right now, and that says a lot.

 

 

i have to disagree.  special teams sucked and why would you coach rayray to catch the ball at the one. me thinks let it go into the endzone..i am in no way a rayray fan.

he should be on the p.s. with a real receiver in that spot.

 

dabol's playcalling at times is head scratching. they get one run past watt and decide to run that same play 2 more times ( in a row ) and get stuffed.

i could be wrong here but the pick 6 play i believe was the second in a row called to kb.  why he does these things is mindboggling.

 

mcd...40 seconds left....mcturtle.

 

it's like mcd , frazier and the defense.....then theirs all those other guys. it just doesn't seem like one team on the same wavelength.

[Bob in STL]

16 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

 

 3 - Refs - The PI call was real. However, I can't remember a game under McDermott where we got hammered with ticky tack calls all game.  I was really worried that Tre would get rattled and loosen his coverage after the first quarter.  But the amount of calls, and more importantly the non-calls on the Bills were ridiculous.  I don't know if these guys aren't getting enough love at home, but this isn't the place to get attention.

 

 

 

10 -  Coaching - Outside of the timeout used on 4th and short at the end of the game, I thought all the coaches did a great job.  I can' t find an area of play calling to blame for this loss.  We absolutely could have won this game and probably should have.  QB play killed us here, plain and simple.  This was a rough environment and these guys came to play.  We should probably be 3-3 right now, and that says a lot.

 

 

Tough loss that has the Bills written all over it.  There were a ton of positives to come from this game, but still a lot of questions at quarterback.  I wish I could say that I see hope at the position and I recognize that we are only 6 games in, but it's tough right now.  Other than that, solid play by the rest of the team.

 

Go Bills!

 

3.  Refs - The refs set the tone early and often with holding calls on White.  They called both holding and PI on that game changing call in the end zone and since the ball was out of bounds and likely not catchable the correct call should have been holding.  That would be 5 yards from scrimmage and first down.  Instead they put the ball on the 1 and sealed our fate.   They missed a blatant PI on the Texans in the first half.   They called Bodine for a ticky tack holding on a QB run but let Hughes be held on numerous occasions. 

 

The holding and PI calls aside, ALL the other calls on the Bills were correct and point to a much bigger problem.  Multiple illegal formation calls in a game for several weeks now.  Multiple holding on the punt team and offsides on the kickoff team.  These thing are happening every week.  That is were I blame the coaches.  Which takes me to item #10.

 

10. Coaching - The defense coaches and game plan was brilliant.  The rest of the staff, including McD did a lousy job.  Look at the penalties, the atrocious special team, the predictable uninspired offense.  Special Teams and Offense set up or gave up all the points in this game.  Blocked punt, fumbled punt return, muffed kicks, penalties on coverage, horrible field position, erratic play, not at all solid.  The punter and kicker are saving the other 10 guys on the special teams.  There are breakdowns every week. 

 

As for the offense game plan and preparation ... I don't need to explain a thing.  How many games are we going to win averaging 12-13 points a week? 

[Reed83HOF]

15 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

I can see you in the corner of the room. It’s weird. Please stop

Are his pants around his ankles?

[nucci]

17 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

It’s hard for me to dump on Special Teams coaches when the talent simply fails. It wasn’t like there were bad calls. 

McCloud fumbled last week and then the opening kickoff yesterday. He should not have been out there for the 1st punt. That's coaching

[Dopey]

10 hours ago, ganesh said:

Our Special Teams gave up 10 points in the 1st half.  Then the Nate Peterman Fiasco happened!

I don't want to give this coaching staff a pass. They blew the game in the end.   When you are tied with under 2 minutes to go, you put the game in the hands of your best player.....McCoy...not in the hands of your backup QB who has no velocity to throw those inside-out throws.  That was just insane.  At least you could have punted and gone to over time. 

 

The defense gave away that big drive in the end....they ahd a 3 rd and LOOOONG and they allowed Watson to complete it.

If Ray Ray doesn't do Ray Ray things, we win that game.

[dave mcbride]

18 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

It’s hard for me to dump on Special Teams coaches when the talent simply fails. It wasn’t like there were bad calls. 

Exactly. Crossman isn't coaching players to fumble and fail to block. Leave him out of this. He's fine as a ST coach.

[Bob in STL]

12 hours ago, PetermanThrew5Picks said:

Or an AB, AJ Green, Julio Jones, ODBJ, Michael Thomas, Steffon Diggs, Mike Evans, Tyreke Hill.. they're rare but they're out there.. would be great to have a dude that can make a game winning circus catch rather than just being happy Zay isn't dropping the ball.

 

Look at that list.  They are not really rare, especially when we trade up and waste picks on Watkins only to let him go and see his classmates turn into game changers.

 

[Bob in STL]

18 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Exactly. Crossman isn't coaching players to fumble and fail to block. Leave him out of this. He's fine as a ST coach.

 

I'm not so sure about that.  It's true that talent has a lot to do with it and better teams have guys on their roster just for special teams.   But lets not confuse better skill (talent) with basic execution and preparation.  The penalties can be corrected and the ST coaching has to take accountability for the continuous stream of penalties such as offsides on kickoffs, holding gunners on punts, blocking players in the back that have no chance of making the tackle on returns.   These things are happening multiple times in a games and in just about every game.  Coaching is a big part of it. 

 

How about the lack of recognition on the punt rush that caved in the entire left side of the line?  Those are the same blockers on every punt.  Looks like we missed something or they saw something in the game film to take advantage of.  That is preparation and that is coaching, 

 

Maybe better talent that would prevent the muffs and fumbles and the need to hold.   We just do not have any kick return threats like we used to so that part of it does point to talent. 

 

Despite all this our FG kicker is nails and the rookie punter has blasted some deep punts with pretty good hang time.  The two kickers are doing fine. 

 

Crossman has to do better.  They all do. 

[dave mcbride]

8 minutes ago, Bob in STL said:

 

I'm not so sure about that.  It's true that talent has a lot to do with it and better teams have guys on their roster just for special teams.   But lets not confuse better skill (talent) with basic execution and preparation.  The penalties can be corrected and the ST coaching has to take accountability for the continuous stream of penalties such as offsides on kickoffs, holding gunners on punts, blocking players in the back that have no chance of making the tackle on returns.   These things are happening multiple times in a games and in just about every game.  Coaching is a big part of it. 

 

How about the lack of recognition on the punt rush that caved in the entire left side of the line?  Those are the same blockers on every punt.  Looks like we missed something or they saw something in the game film to take advantage of.  That is preparation and that is coaching, 

 

Maybe better talent that would prevent the muffs and fumbles and the need to hold.   We just do not have any kick return threats like we used to so that part of it does point to talent. 

 

Despite all this our FG kicker is nails and the rookie punter has blasted some deep punts with pretty good hang time.  The two kickers are doing fine. 

 

Crossman has to do better.  They all do. 

I can't remember a game in which the Bills had tons of penalties on ST (above the norm, I mean) before yesterday. And when was the last time a Bills punt was blocked? 

 

They were 10th in ST DVOA last season, btw. https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamst2017. They were 4th in 2014, 12th in 2015, and 22nd in 2016.  Over a four-year stretch through 2017, they've averaged 12th overall, and the median is 11. 

 

[Kelly the Dog]

The blocked punt was a whole world of problems. First it was a bad snap. If it was a clean snap it still may have been blocked because there were a few guys breaking in. Imo it wasn't Bojangles fault. 

[Coach Tuesday]

22 minutes ago, Kelly the Dog said:

The blocked punt was a whole world of problems. First it was a bad snap. If it was a clean snap it still may have been blocked because there were a few guys breaking in. Imo it wasn't Bojangles fault. 

 

LoRax got destroyed on the play.

[Bing Bong]

3 hours ago, Bob in STL said:

 

Look at that list.  They are not really rare, especially when we trade up and waste picks on Watkins only to let him go and see his classmates turn into game changers.

 

That's my point.