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THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - What Is It With This Team?


Shaw66

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“What Is It With This Team?”

 

I had business in Florida last week and missed a chance to see the Bills and the Jets in the Meadowlands.  Given how the season’s been going for the two teams, Fort Lauderdale seemed like the better option.  Who’s not picking the beach over Matt Barkley?

 

Sunday turned out to be a good day to be in New Jersey.  I had to settle for lunch at Slackers in Fort Lauderdale, watching the Bills go up 24-0 before heading to the airport.  (Slackers, by the way, is a great place to watch games – TVs everywhere, typical pub food.  It’s a Packers bar, and there’s great memorabilia all over.)

 

What is it with the Bills?  How can they be so bad one week, and so good the next?  Yes, Sunday it was the Jets, and the Jets look to be genuinely awful.  Last Sunday, the Bills didn’t deserve to be on the field with the Bears, and the week before that they could do nothing against the Patriots.  Maybe there’s just THAT much difference between the good and the bad teams.

 

But that can’t be it, can’t be all of it.   The Bills were flatter than flat at home against the Bears, and they were world beaters a week later on the road.  It’s the same kind of emotional ups and downs this team displayed last season.  Is it a characteristic of Sean McDermott teams?

 

What else was different this week?   Matt Barkley.  Prior to Sunday, Barkley had started six games in the NFL, and he had a career passer rating of 63.7.  Sunday he was 15-25 and two touchdowns for a passer rating over 117.   He had the game of his career.   When have we last seen a Buffalo QB so effective? 

 

So what changed for Matt Barkley?  Was it Brian Daboll?  McDermott?  Or was it glue on Robert Foster’s hands when in earlier games Foster’s hands were slathered in 10W-30?   Zay Jones continued emergence?  Or was it just the Jets?

 

How does everything change in a week?  Holes for McCoy.  Time for the quarterback to throw.   Receivers open.  Penalties under control.  Special teams making plays. 

 

Had to be the Jets.   Had to be the Jets are just that bad, or they’re tanking. 

 

Still, the Bills played well-executed NFL football on Sunday, something they seemed incapable of a month ago.  They showed, as they have for the past few weeks, that they have an offensive line to build on, instead of one to dismantle totally.   They showed the solid, disciplined defense we’ve seen most of the season.

 

Let the quarterback controversy begin.  Allen will be ready to go after the bye, but did Barkley just win the job?  Does Barkley get to start until he returns to the form he showed in previous seasons?   Is there a QB competition in the offing for training camp next season?  I’d think the Bills would be, should be, all in on Allen.  But can the Bills really turn their backs on the quarterbacking Barkley showed on Sunday?

 

It’s an unusual season, to be sure.  Wins over two pretty good, playoff-contending teams, a near win on the road against a third, a blowout win over a bad Jets team, and a few other glimpses of some good football, combined with several absolutely horrible showings and record-setting offensive futility.  A different QB every week.   

 

Logic says the Bills should be all about losing this season, positioning themselves for the best possible rookie talent in the 2019 draft.  But winning is so much more fun than losing.  The Dolphins twice, the Jets again, the Jags and the Lions.  The Patriots are the only winning team left on the Bills’ schedule.  Bizarre as it sounds, the NFL’s laughingstock could end the season 8-8.  Or 3-13. 

 

A week off, and then the roller coaster ride resumes.

 

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full day’s hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

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I wouldn't read too much into one game, especially one against a bad team. In all likelihood, the Bills are still not a good football team on most Sundays, and Matt Barkley is probably not going to clock a 3-digit QB rating every week. There will be a regression to the mean, but there are also enough games left for another big win or two. Remember, it's exceedingly rare for even the worst teams to finish 0-16. 

 

Just another example of "On any given Sunday..."

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Just now, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

 I really think there's likely more to it than that, though it would appear Barkley > Anderson >> Peterman

....yeah, one being the players confidence soars knowing there's someone under center who can play.

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1 minute ago, I am the egg man said:

....yeah, one being the players confidence soars knowing there's someone under center who can play.

 

There's that.

I think Daboll "dumbed down" the offense and limited it to what Barkley had time to master, and everyone played faster for that

It's possible the OL changes helped

And then there's taking a TE who's been "phoning it in" off the field and putting in a couple young, hungry, fast guys out to showcase themselves and demonstrate they belong

(diluted the effect of a WR who's been "phoning it in")

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I would also say it shows how raw Allen is. If he played yesterday the Bills probably still win but I doubt he plays anywhere near as good as Barkley. If the Bills are really trying to win like they say they are Allen sits til they lose another game. 

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I'll put on the flame suit and say it.  We had a QB totally capable of putting up Barkley's numbers vs the Jets.  Everyone all but walked him to the door and kicked him out.  Admittedly I was all for drafting Allen (or a 1st round worthy QB) to see if we couldn't develop something better.  Barkley will at best pull a Fitz ( Bucs version) and play a few good games and then flame out.  It is nice, all that said, to see one game with QB play that doesn't flat out lose the game for you.  If Barkley has a better grip on this offense and a veteran enough presence maybe he can right the ship a little and give Allen a voice.  We can hope.

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It's all about the Quarterback.

 

Over the course of this season, some fans have convinced themselves that Brandon Bean/Sean McDermott somehow assembled the worst overall offensive team in the history of the NFL, and literally nobody on that side of the ball was worthy of playing in the pros.  But yesterday, we saw that with "decent" QB play, the rest of the offense CAN move the ball, CAN score points and CAN look generally competent.

 

Don't get me wrong.  The Jets are really bad.  And that was a big factor.

 

But the most important thing to remember about this season is that:

1.  Nathan Peterman has played HISTORICALLY bad.

2.  Derek Anderson wasn't good 10 years ago, and only signed up to be a mentor.  He had no intention of playing.

3.  Josh Allen is an extremely raw rookie, who needs time to grasp the game.

 

I've been arguing with people who think it IMPOSSIBLE for this team to be competitive by the middle/end of next season.  But yesterday was a clear illustration that IF we can get Josh Allen playing on a similar level to what we got from Matt Barkley, this team can absolutely be in playoff talks for 2019.

 

 

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Quote

 

What I was struck by were the WRs, TEs, and OT getting some separation and completing catches (KB notwithstanding).  They didn't seem to make those catches in previous weeks.  Where they better thrown balls from Barkley?   

After KBs drop in the endzone I didn't see him get thrown at again until later.  I remember the ball was popped up with Jet's defenders diving for it...and there was KB just standing there watching it happen.  No fight, no care.  Am I remember that play correctly?  I also don't remember seeing him on the field much after that play.  I missed a portion of the 4th quarter, so if someone could fill me in.  He don't seem to care, so I'm happy to see him on the bench I guess.  

 

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24 minutes ago, mjt328 said:

Don't get me wrong.  The Jets are really bad.  And that was a big factor.

 

The thing is, the Jets really haven't been in the "really bad" pot on defense, depending upon how you define "really bad" I suppose.

Until yesterday's 41 point debacle, they were kind of bottom-third 'meh' on points given up. 

We were considerably below them. 

After yesterday, we're 25th to their 26th.

 

There are 5 teams who have given up more points

 

I rather wonder if we were a "trap game" for them, as we were for the Vikes - who would surely like a "do over"

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I think the main difference was simply competent QB play. And maybe the addition of Teller & Foster. Other than that, it was the same coaches, same players.

 

What Barkley did was get the ball to the primary receiver, and in such a way that they got separation and YAC. Take that first long pass. Peterman & Allen would usually be holding the ball too long then dumping it off to the third option. Or in Allen's case, taking off running.

 

What we saw with Barkley was execution of the plays as Daboll intended and when that happens, the O hums. And, BTW, the Jets D is not awful. The O output wasn't because they stink, but because the Bills have decent players who were able to show that simply because they got competent QB play for the first time this year.

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Yes, as a lot of people are saying, the Bills got better QB play than they've seen, but I don't think that's all of it.  

 

Take one example - receivers getting separation.   The Bills have no - zero - receivers who can consistently get separation.   Watch Amari Cooper last night, an exquisite combination of speed, strength and downright hard work changing direction - he gets separation.   There are 10-15 guys in the league who do that, and the Bills don't have one of them.   They get separation on scheme - catch the in tight man-to-man with single coverage on Foster, and he can get a step going deep.  So can Ray-Ray McCloud, so why haven't we seen him get deep like Foster yesterday?  What happened to Zay Jones?  Open all over the field yesterday.  

 

Yes, Barkley did a nice job knowing where the open man was going to be and an equally nice job delivering the ball, but we just weren't seeing guys open like that in prior weeks.   

 

And what about the pass protection?  It's been getting better, week by week, for a month now.   Apparently Teller got more playing time yesterday, and people liked what they saw.  But it wasn't one guy.  Across the line yesterday, guys were holding their ground, staying with their man, keeping the defense off Barkley. 

 

I think this team responded again to adversity in much the same way they did last season, came out with a renewed commitment, and we saw it on the field.   The important question is why is it necessary to renew commitment?   Is it, as some suggest, just an emotional response to being led by a QB who actually knows what he's doing?   It's nice to think so, but they responded last season with no change at QB.   

 

We have to see them play like this against someone other than the Jets.   

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4 hours ago, stowellez said:

What I was struck by were the WRs, TEs, and OT getting some separation and completing catches (KB notwithstanding).  They didn't seem to make those catches in previous weeks.  Where they better thrown balls from Barkley?   

After KBs drop in the endzone I didn't see him get thrown at again until later.  I remember the ball was popped up with Jet's defenders diving for it...and there was KB just standing there watching it happen.  No fight, no care.  Am I remember that play correctly?  I also don't remember seeing him on the field much after that play.  I missed a portion of the 4th quarter, so if someone could fill me in.  He don't seem to care, so I'm happy to see him on the bench I guess.  

 

 

Dedicated film-watchers have been telling us for several weeks that Zay Jones was getting consistent separation.  You just can't tell when the QB isn't getting the ball to him.

 

Robert Foster was burning people back in the preseason.  But he was having serious problems tracking the ball in the air, which is why he ended up on the practice squad for the first half of the season.

 

Kelvin Benjamin has never been able to get separation.  His value has always been in using size to win jump-balls.  For some reason, it just seems like he can't come down with those contested passes anymore.  Which pretty much makes him worthless.

 

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18 minutes ago, WhoTom said:

 

Like the Vikings?

 

 

I meant see them play someone other than the Jets NOW.   The Vikings is ancient history, and it's almost certainly aberratrional.   Until yesterday, I don't think anyone would have said the Bills would have been competitive with the Vikings in a rematch.  But that way yesterday.  Today, I don't know what to think about this team.

2 minutes ago, mjt328 said:

 

 

Kelvin Benjamin has never been able to get separation.  His value has always been in using size to win jump-balls.  For some reason, it just seems like he can't come down with those contested passes anymore.  Which pretty much makes him worthless.

 

I tend to agree about Benjamin, but I think the Bills need to be patient with him.  

 

I thought early in the season he was afraid to get hit.   He seems to have gotten over that.   Now it's almost as though he has to relearn holding on to the ball when he does get hit.   Last week's drop in the end zone was forgivable - he got creamed by multiple players.   Sunday's drop was nearly inexcusable.  Catch it, hold on to it.  

 

Still, in recent weeks he's had some success getting separation AND catching the ball, so I wonder whether we're watching him slowly turn into a better receiver.  I'd keep playing him to see what he does week after week; make the decision about him after the season ends.  

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