THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - What Is It With This Team?

[oldmanfan]

I think some of it is the ups and downs of life in the NFL.  Jets are way down; hard for them to play well under their set of circumstances.  Some of it was having a QB that operated the game plan well, although I don't expect that same Barkley every week, if he continues to start.  

 

Some of it was the development and progression of the young guys on the team.  It takes time for younger guys to figure it out.  Some of that wait time is shorter; for example Tiller came in after watching and learning for a little more than half a season and looked quite good.  Milano is a force on D, took him a season or so to get it.  Lawson it took several years; he was a force yesterday.  Zay is starting to get it.  When you have young guys like that it's great to see what happens when the lights get turned on, but often the light fades at times and you get clunky performances.   Longer you play, hopefully the longer the light stays on. 

 

And the last part is coaching and management.  Beane and his boys keep scouring the waiver wise, and they pick up this kid Isacc whomever and he looked pretty good.  Foster obviously showed up, and that after spending some time on the practice squad figuring things out.  Doesn't mean they'll do this every game of course, but you have to give credit to Beane and his staff, and McD and his, for recognizing they needed more speed on the offensive side, and taking the steps necessary to answer that issue.  Hopefully that becomes a longer term answer.  And of course bringing Barkley on board, although again could of course be a one hit wonder, this hit being a grand slam.  You have to give McD credit as well for going on the road and getting his team geared up to play the game they played.  Reports are that Jets ownership was apoplectic as to how our team look so fired up and the Jets looked moribund. 

 

One of my favorite sayings, not only about the NFL but life in general (especially in our country today) is people only see black and white in a world of grays.  The last two weeks, it was all black: fire this guy, fire that guy, this guy stinks, the owner is incompetent, they have no idea how to manage the QB spot, and so on.  Today it's all white: thinking about whether Barkley is our long term answer, maybe we make the playoffs, and so on.  In reality it is a world of grays.  They played well as a team yesterday, time for enjoyment of course but not cause for dreams of a resurgent QB, or playoffs, much like the struggles for a couple weeks did not mean the team is hopeless and everyone should be cut or fired.

 

A nice shade of grey yesterday.  Very light gray, with patches of white.  A very enjoyable landscape.  Let's hope that pattern holds for a while. 

[Shaw66]

22 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

I think some of it is the ups and downs of life in the NFL.  Jets are way down; hard for them to play well under their set of circumstances.  Some of it was having a QB that operated the game plan well, although I don't expect that same Barkley every week, if he continues to start.  

 

Some of it was the development and progression of the young guys on the team.  It takes time for younger guys to figure it out.  Some of that wait time is shorter; for example Tiller came in after watching and learning for a little more than half a season and looked quite good.  Milano is a force on D, took him a season or so to get it.  Lawson it took several years; he was a force yesterday.  Zay is starting to get it.  When you have young guys like that it's great to see what happens when the lights get turned on, but often the light fades at times and you get clunky performances.   Longer you play, hopefully the longer the light stays on. 

 

And the last part is coaching and management.  Beane and his boys keep scouring the waiver wise, and they pick up this kid Isacc whomever and he looked pretty good.  Foster obviously showed up, and that after spending some time on the practice squad figuring things out.  Doesn't mean they'll do this every game of course, but you have to give credit to Beane and his staff, and McD and his, for recognizing they needed more speed on the offensive side, and taking the steps necessary to answer that issue.  Hopefully that becomes a longer term answer.  And of course bringing Barkley on board, although again could of course be a one hit wonder, this hit being a grand slam.  You have to give McD credit as well for going on the road and getting his team geared up to play the game they played.  Reports are that Jets ownership was apoplectic as to how our team look so fired up and the Jets looked moribund. 

 

One of my favorite sayings, not only about the NFL but life in general (especially in our country today) is people only see black and white in a world of grays.  The last two weeks, it was all black: fire this guy, fire that guy, this guy stinks, the owner is incompetent, they have no idea how to manage the QB spot, and so on.  Today it's all white: thinking about whether Barkley is our long term answer, maybe we make the playoffs, and so on.  In reality it is a world of grays.  They played well as a team yesterday, time for enjoyment of course but not cause for dreams of a resurgent QB, or playoffs, much like the struggles for a couple weeks did not mean the team is hopeless and everyone should be cut or fired.

 

A nice shade of grey yesterday.  Very light gray, with patches of white.  A very enjoyable landscape.  Let's hope that pattern holds for a while. 

Thanks for writing this.   It's nice to think that's what's going on, guys just making progress, understanding more, playing better.   You point out several good examples.   Milano, Lawson.  Didn't name Taron Johnson, Edmunds.   Jones.  And, frankly, McDermott - HC is a different job for DC, and there's a learning curve there, just like for players.  

 

What has me so puzzled is that if this steady improvement, at different paces, but improvement, is going on, then one would expect some averaging effect going on, with the team gradually improving.   Some guy makes a leap this week, another guy makes a leap last week - collectively there should be a generally improving team - a hiccup here or there, but generally improvement.   That isn't what we've been seeing.   Bills crush the Vikings and Jets, and in between there are some really ugly losses and some close wins and losses.   And last season was the same.   It's an unusual pattern.   Maybe it just was the Jets yesterday, but the Bills looked like they could beat all but the top five teams.   

 

It isn't the picture of a steadily improving team.   

 

Frankly, what I was most please with yesterday was the pass route schemes.   The Bills finally were running schemes that were giving the Bills favorable matchups somewhere.  The receivers were getting open naturally - if you run the route correctly, you get open.   And Barkley recognized where the open man was.   Those schemes may have been workng in the beginning of the season but the QB didn't have time.   Then, as the QB got time, the Bills may not have had the right QB pulling the trigger.   Yesterday, it all seemed to work.   

[Dr. Who]

2 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Thanks for writing this.   It's nice to think that's what's going on, guys just making progress, understanding more, playing better.   You point out several good examples.   Milano, Lawson.  Didn't name Taron Johnson, Edmunds.   Jones.  And, frankly, McDermott - HC is a different job for DC, and there's a learning curve there, just like for players.  

 

What has me so puzzled is that if this steady improvement, at different paces, but improvement, is going on, then one would expect some averaging effect going on, with the team gradually improving.   Some guy makes a leap this week, another guy makes a leap last week - collectively there should be a generally improving team - a hiccup here or there, but generally improvement.   That isn't what we've been seeing.   Bills crush the Vikings and Jets, and in between there are some really ugly losses and some close wins and losses.   And last season was the same.   It's an unusual pattern.   Maybe it just was the Jets yesterday, but the Bills looked like they could beat all but the top five teams.   

 

It isn't the picture of a steadily improving team.   

 

Frankly, what I was most please with yesterday was the pass route schemes.   The Bills finally were running schemes that were giving the Bills favorable matchups somewhere.  The receivers were getting open naturally - if you run the route correctly, you get open.   And Barkley recognized where the open man was.   Those schemes may have been workng in the beginning of the season but the QB didn't have time.   Then, as the QB got time, the Bills may not have had the right QB pulling the trigger.   Yesterday, it all seemed to work.   

It is a very schizophrenic season. Hard to feel secure in one's judgments. I do think some of the progression noted by oldmanfan is legitimate.

[Shaw66]

Just now, Dr. Who said:

It is a very schizophrenic season. Hard to feel secure in one's judgments. I do think some of the progression noted by oldmanfan is legitimate.

Yeah, I agree with what he was saying too.

 

You know what made me feel best about where we are right now?   Not saying it's proof of anything, just sayin it made me feel good?   Someone posted or some friend sent me a link to something from Cleveland that said the Browns are likely to have some problems finding a head coach because the Haslams consistently ignore the football people in the organization.   The football people said draft Bridgewater, the Haslams said we're taking Manziel.   Then the football people said McDermott was by far the best HC candidate, the Haslams said hire Hue Jackson.   

 

It just felt good to hear that knowledgeable football people (albeit the Browns people) thought McDermott was the clear choice.   I've been losing confidence in McDermott as the season has progressed, and I needed something to tell me to calm down, trust the process, let the guy build the team the way he plans to build the team.   There are plenty of small signs that he's doing that, but there seem to be too few wins to go with the signs.   Yesterday was a complete change in how they appeared to be playing.  It was a surprise to me and to many.   I'd like to think it wasn't a surprise to McDermott.  

 

I'd love to see them go 4-2 down the stretch.

[Lurker]

7 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

“What Is It With This Team?”

 

Competent QB play makes a world of difference.   

 

Just like competent goaltending in hockey.    The Sabres finally have it and it's not surprising that they're doing better this year.

 

When the rest of the team see the guy at the most important position on the field/ice making plays, it lifts all boats.  You feel comfortable taking more chances and relying on your teammates, rather than trying to do too much (or too little). 

 

I thought the Bills fed off of the confidence they drew from Barkley not sucking, like I'm sure the rest of the world expected as well.   That first series was a shot of adrenaline that just set the whole thing in motion (somewhat similar to the Vikings game).

 

I also think getting good play from Teller added a big dose of confidence to the OL play...

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by Lurker

[Jrb1979]

10 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Yeah, I agree with what he was saying too.

 

You know what made me feel best about where we are right now?   Not saying it's proof of anything, just sayin it made me feel good?   Someone posted or some friend sent me a link to something from Cleveland that said the Browns are likely to have some problems finding a head coach because the Haslams consistently ignore the football people in the organization.   The football people said draft Bridgewater, the Haslams said we're taking Manziel.   Then the football people said McDermott was by far the best HC candidate, the Haslams said hire Hue Jackson.   

 

It just felt good to hear that knowledgeable football people (albeit the Browns people) thought McDermott was the clear choice.   I've been losing confidence in McDermott as the season has progressed, and I needed something to tell me to calm down, trust the process, let the guy build the team the way he plans to build the team.   There are plenty of small signs that he's doing that, but there seem to be too few wins to go with the signs.   Yesterday was a complete change in how they appeared to be playing.  It was a surprise to me and to many.   I'd like to think it wasn't a surprise to McDermott.  

 

I'd love to see them go 4-2 down the stretch.

Its hard to trust the process at this point and it all comes down to there evaluation of QBs. The fact it took them this long to realize what most people know in that Peterman doesn't belong on a NFL roster makes me question their ability to know good offensive talent. 

[Dr. Who]

15 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Yeah, I agree with what he was saying too.

 

You know what made me feel best about where we are right now?   Not saying it's proof of anything, just sayin it made me feel good?   Someone posted or some friend sent me a link to something from Cleveland that said the Browns are likely to have some problems finding a head coach because the Haslams consistently ignore the football people in the organization.   The football people said draft Bridgewater, the Haslams said we're taking Manziel.   Then the football people said McDermott was by far the best HC candidate, the Haslams said hire Hue Jackson.   

 

It just felt good to hear that knowledgeable football people (albeit the Browns people) thought McDermott was the clear choice.   I've been losing confidence in McDermott as the season has progressed, and I needed something to tell me to calm down, trust the process, let the guy build the team the way he plans to build the team.   There are plenty of small signs that he's doing that, but there seem to be too few wins to go with the signs.   Yesterday was a complete change in how they appeared to be playing.  It was a surprise to me and to many.   I'd like to think it wasn't a surprise to McDermott.  

 

I'd love to see them go 4-2 down the stretch.

I think most feel confidence that McDermott knows how to build a defense. I like that the team doesn't quit. Early in the season, they seemed to sleepwalk through the first half, so you wondered if he could get them motivated for a whole game. The ineptitude on offense has been the main concern. The qb situation was mismanaged and the deficiencies on oline and at wr seemingly ignored. Granted, one cannot fix an entire roster in one offseason and Wood and Ritchie were partly unexpected (the contract offered to Incognito, however, indicates they were prepared to go without him.) Regardless, a game like yesterday gives one hope that Daboll can design an effective offense given sufficient talent. I am encouraged by Teller. If at least one side of the oline is solid, you can concentrate on upgrading 60% of the line. I think a superior center and RT should be a priority.

 

4-2 down the stretch with Allen flashing enough progression to solidify hopes he will eventually be a franchise qb, that's what one hopes for. Given the relatively weak competition (outside of the Patriots, who are not quite themselves this year,) I think it's possible.

Edited November 12, 2018 by Dr. Who

[keepthefaith]

58 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

 

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

 

 

 

Regarding Benjamin, I have to disagree.  He's a free agent at the end of the year and even if the light bulb goes off due to his agent ripping him a new one about his lack of effort and production and he does better the last 6 weeks, there is no guarantee that he'll continue to produce for whoever his next team is especially after getting a new contract.  As for him the rest of the season, he's simply a rental.  Deploy him in whatever role he can do some good, no more and no less. 

 

There is a reason the Panthers gave him up for a relatively low price and we're all seeing that now except for some flashes last year and even fewer this year.  Sure the QB situation will be used as an excuse but he's not making much from the targets he's getting and he's getting plenty.  He's the worst kind.

 

                       Can               Can't

 

Will

 

Won't                                     X

 

[Shaw66]

18 minutes ago, keepthefaith said:

 

Regarding Benjamin, I have to disagree.  He's a free agent at the end of the year and even if the light bulb goes off due to his agent ripping him a new one about his lack of effort and production and he does better the last 6 weeks, there is no guarantee that he'll continue to produce for whoever his next team is especially after getting a new contract.  As for him the rest of the season, he's simply a rental.  Deploy him in whatever role he can do some good, no more and no less. 

 

There is a reason the Panthers gave him up for a relatively low price and we're all seeing that now except for some flashes last year and even fewer this year.  Sure the QB situation will be used as an excuse but he's not making much from the targets he's getting and he's getting plenty.  He's the worst kind.

 

                       Can               Can't

 

Will

 

Won't                                     X

 

I think the fact that he's a rental is exactly why you play him a lot and push him to excel.   You have the guy for six more weeks; it's like an extended tryout.   Worst thing you can do is sit the guy or play him lightly, have him sign a one-year deal somewhere else and then blossom into the guy everyone thought they saw was a rookie.   Much better to get everything out of him you can to give you as much information about him as you can, then decide what to do.  

 

If you don't play him, you sour the relationship and he's definitely gone.   If you do play him, he appreciates it and you have a chance to re-sign him.  

 

Until you, as the coach, get to the conclusion that you just don't want him.  Then you give the tryout to someone else.  

[Buffalo Bills Fan]

It's almost the QB. Driven QB league these days. If no good QB teams will be horrible. 

 

When having a good QB build rest of team. First all starts with him. They can hide horrible coaches. To me Packers coach not all that good but it's the QB hide lots of flaws per say. 

[Buddo]

Tbh, the Jest simply didn't know what hit them, from the Foster big gain and Shady's TD run.

 

I think you can point to a number of other 'factors' in how the game became the blowout it was, as well, but unlike our D, the Jest seemed to be wondering wth was going on, from those first two plays.

 

Other factors would be that they thought they were going to win, against a comparatively poor team, and came out overconfident. See the first two plays again.

 

Barkley was much more of an unknown to them, and they didn't have usable tape on him. Similarly with Foster, and also the little quick guy, who has also only recently been added.

Daboll did a good job of getting those guys involved, and keeping the Jest D off balance, and on the back foot, because of it.

 

STs actually played well again. As in for the first time in a few weeks. The fake punt was well executed, and as McD or someone else on the staff explained, they had had Thomas as their up guy a few times recently, so while he was expected to be there, (by the Jest) he wasn't expected to be taking the direct snap. A nice play they had kept up their sleeve until Sunday, but had also had some forward planning to help it work.

 

Competent, and positive, QB play shouldn't be ignored, at all, but tbh, did anyone expect anything much from Barkley in that respect - I'd lay good odds the Jest didn't.

 

The Bills D can actually be pretty darn good - especially if the offense is finally giving them the expected breathers. Aside from some lax run D for a series or two, they pretty much had the upper hand all game - even when they went into 'prevent' mode occasionally.

 

The O-Line actually had about their best game. There was only the one change, with Teller coming in, but we saw no turnstiles. Maybe the difference that Teller makes, is the thing that turns them into a unit, rather than just the sum of their parts.

 

One last observation, although I'm sure there are other things I've omitted, is that for all of the different factors I believe contributed to the Bills blowout againist the Jest, at the end of the day, the coaching staff deserves credit for making the most of them, especially Daboll, and the young guys (and Barkley) for their execution.

[LABILLBACKER]

I would have absolutely no problem watching an open competition with Allen & Barkley next year.  Sure Josh will win out in the end but him getting pushed by Barkley will do him good. Not to mention Peterman will finally be gone or put on the PS.

Use this remaining season as a full audition for players like Barkley, Teller, McKenzie etc....

[Maine-iac]

1 hour ago, LABILLBACKER said:

I would have absolutely no problem watching an open competition with Allen & Barkley next year.  Sure Josh will win out in the end but him getting pushed by Barkley will do him good. Not to mention Peterman will finally be gone or put on the PS.

Use this remaining season as a full audition for players like Barkley, Teller, McKenzie etc....

I sincerely hope that if they are serious about doing anything other than year 3 of a rebuild ( like winning for example) they have some much better names in camp than Barley and Allen.  Allen may be the future but if they really are serious about winning they will have to have a much better contingency plan next year.

[Shaw66]

29 minutes ago, Maine-iac said:

I sincerely hope that if they are serious about doing anything other than year 3 of a rebuild ( like winning for example) they have some much better names in camp than Barley and Allen.  Allen may be the future but if they really are serious about winning they will have to have a much better contingency plan next year.

I don't see that.  Bills aren't going to spend another first round pick on a QB.   You can have only one potential franchise guy on the team at a time, or you've wasted your resources.  Allen is that guy. 

 

Similarly, if there's a really good free agent QB, like better than Fitzpatrick, the Bills aren't going to be willing to write the check that would be necessary to get him.  

 

So you're left with signing a second journeyman.  Bills probably don't even want to do that, because the guy will cost $10 million a year or more.   Plus, that guy isn't going to be interested in the Bills if he's coming into a competition with a presumptive franchise guy and another journeyman.  

 

What you ARE likely to see, if anything, is a late-round or undrafted free agent rookie.  

 

You may not like it, but that's almost certainly what you'll see.  

[sleeby]

The jets tanked.  People are giving way too much credit to Barkley for one game - a game unlike the others in his career. Sure, maybe he has the stuff - but one game vs a jets team who didn't even show up means next to nothing.   Fans are so fanatical; I'm the one that's got that figured out.  

[Shaw66]

1 hour ago, sleeby said:

The jets tanked.  People are giving way too much credit to Barkley for one game - a game unlike the others in his career. Sure, maybe he has the stuff - but one game vs a jets team who didn't even show up means next to nothing.   Fans are so fanatical; I'm the one that's got that figured out.  

I don't know if they tanked, but you're right about Barkley.  It was one game.  

[buffalo2218]

35 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

I don't know if they tanked, but you're right about Barkley.  It was one game.  

True that it was one game, but for a guy that had zero OTA and training camp participation, it was quite impressive that he ran the offense the way he did. I’m not really sure benching him in favor of Allen is the way to go at this point

[RememberTheRockpile]

12 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

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

On points given up per game given up Miami is 12th (25.6) , Jets 13th (25.4), and the Bills are 14th (25.1). 

[Nihilarian]

It really is very simple to figure out the 2018 Buffalo Bills as they are two animals.

 

One animal, if given the lead and they hold it becomes a completely dominate team on offense and defense. In their three wins they rushed for way more yards then they threw the ball.

 

WIN Vikings, 38 rushes for 128 yards, 2 TDs VS 15 of 22 yards passing for 156 yards, 1 TD. 

 

WIN Tenn, 43 rushes for 144 yards, 1 TD. VS 10 of 20 yards passing for 82 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT.

 

WIN NY Jets, 46 rushes for 212 yards, 2 TDs VS 16 of 26 for 247 yards passing, 2 TDs.

 

Against the Jets, their defense had no tape on Barkley because he hasn't played in an NFL since 2016. The Bills came out blasting with a 47 yard bomb to Foster and followed it up with a 28 yard TD run by Shady McCoy. This set the stage for the game because now the Jets defense was forced to respect the Bills deep passing game and they couldn't stack against the run for fear of getting beat deep again. Which they did later in the game on a third and long for 43 yards to Foster again. 

 

OTOH, The other animal happens when the Bills don't have the lead and are down by as little as 3 points in which they were to the NE Patriots in the 1st quarter, down by 3 pts in the 2nd quarter, down by 3 points in the 3rd quarter and the game plan looked completely different as the Bills forget about running the ball and go pass happy with 19 rushes VS 41 passes. I picked the Patriots game just to show that when the team doesn't have the lead by any amount of points the game plan is different. 

 

In each loss with no run game the Bills QB is under greater duress as is the O line. The sacks go up. The Penalties go up.

 

This scenario has happened in each and every loss and the Bills are currently 3-7 so in 7 losing games the offensive game plan is throw, throw, throw and this is particularly damning considering the team went into the start of the season with Peterman, Allen which are two very inexperienced QBs who can't read a pre snap defense or set protections.  

 

The only game that the Bills played somewhat smart was against was the Texans and even then they didn't run McCoy enough and Allen got hurt...Peterman came in and threw 2 INTs and a pick six. 

 

[Buffalo Barbarian]

17 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

“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.

 

it's the turnovers.

 

Look at the games we won and lost, turnovers where a huge factor.

 

What many don't fully see is , it's not just a turnover it is one more possession added for them and one subtracted for you. Let's say each team has 12 possessions but then give 3 turnovers to the other team . Now the one team has 15 possessions and the other gets 9. That is astronomically hard to overcome.