THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - What Is It With This Team?

[Buffaloflash]

4 hours ago, RememberTheRockpile said:

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

And yet,the Bills rank #1 in overall Defense!

[SoTier]

I think the Bills' three wins as well as their close loss to the Texans are not really evidence of some kind "split personality" but rather simply proof that the Bills are so poor on offense that they can only be competitive with teams that "don't show up" to play or that have equally poor offenses because of injuries to their starting QBs.

1. The  Bills rolled into Minnesota after two devastating losses to Baltimore and the Chargers while the Vikes were coming off a win over the Niners and a tie with the Packers in GB.  The Vikes were playing the Rams in LA the week after they faced the Bills.  This was a classic "trap game" for the Vikings, and they fell into it in spectacularly.
2. In the games against both Tennessee and Houston, the Bills faced two good teams that were significantly hampered on offense by injuries to their QBs.  Mariota was still suffering the effects of an elbow injury that left him with lack of feeling in his hand for several weeks.  That DeShaun Watson even played the Bills games was a testament to his toughness because he could barely breathe without pain due to a partially collapsed lung suffered the week before.  In fact, the next week, Watson traveled by bus to Jacksonville rather than chance flying.
3. Despite having lost three games in a row, the Jests, like the Vikes, came into the Bills game overconfident.  They were starting the well-regarded backup QB Josh McCown rather than turn-over machine rookie QB Sam Darnold while the Bills failed to score even 10 points in any of their previous three blowout losses under Nate Peterman and Derek Anderson.  Now the Bills were starting a street FA QB Matt Barkley ... and the Jests thought that all they had to do to win was show up.

All of the Bills other six losses were by 11 points or more with the Bills being largely uncompetitive throughout the game, primarily because of their poor offense.  I don't think that changes going forward even if Josh Allen returns to action.   Before his injury, Allen looked depressingly like JP Losman back in early 2005 when he absolutely didn't know what he was doing.  Hopefully, sitting and watching for a bit gave Allen some time to grasp some of the nuances of the game that he's sorely in need of.

[Shaw66]

7 hours ago, SoTier said:

I think the Bills' three wins as well as their close loss to the Texans are not really evidence of some kind "split personality" but rather simply proof that the Bills are so poor on offense that they can only be competitive with teams that "don't show up" to play or that have equally poor offenses because of injuries to their starting QBs.

1. The  Bills rolled into Minnesota after two devastating losses to Baltimore and the Chargers while the Vikes were coming off a win over the Niners and a tie with the Packers in GB.  The Vikes were playing the Rams in LA the week after they faced the Bills.  This was a classic "trap game" for the Vikings, and they fell into it in spectacularly.
2. In the games against both Tennessee and Houston, the Bills faced two good teams that were significantly hampered on offense by injuries to their QBs.  Mariota was still suffering the effects of an elbow injury that left him with lack of feeling in his hand for several weeks.  That DeShaun Watson even played the Bills games was a testament to his toughness because he could barely breathe without pain due to a partially collapsed lung suffered the week before.  In fact, the next week, Watson traveled by bus to Jacksonville rather than chance flying.
3. Despite having lost three games in a row, the Jests, like the Vikes, came into the Bills game overconfident.  They were starting the well-regarded backup QB Josh McCown rather than turn-over machine rookie QB Sam Darnold while the Bills failed to score even 10 points in any of their previous three blowout losses under Nate Peterman and Derek Anderson.  Now the Bills were starting a street FA QB Matt Barkley ... and the Jests thought that all they had to do to win was show up.

All of the Bills other six losses were by 11 points or more with the Bills being largely uncompetitive throughout the game, primarily because of their poor offense.  I don't think that changes going forward even if Josh Allen returns to action.   Before his injury, Allen looked depressingly like JP Losman back in early 2005 when he absolutely didn't know what he was doing.  Hopefully, sitting and watching for a bit gave Allen some time to grasp some of the nuances of the game that he's sorely in need of.

I think this is too simplistic.   It may be right, but I doubt it.  

 

I don't think, for example, that the Bills were some kind of trap game for the Jets.  There's no way they're taking the Bills lightly because they have too many of their own struggles.  

 

I also think that we're seeing better offensive line play.  The oline was part of the explanation for why the Bills were so bad early, but I think the oline actually is improving.  

 

If you're right, the Bills will win about two more games.  And that's certainly possible.  We'll see.  

[sleeby]

17 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

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

Being down 31-3 at halftime to the 2018 bills needs to be called something if not tanking.  The jets never showed up. Perhaps bowles has lost the locker room, I dunno - but that was not an NFL team that cared about the results we played on Sunday.

Edited November 13, 2018 by sleeby

[Shaw66]

3 hours ago, sleeby said:

Being down 31-3 at halftime to the 2018 bills needs to be called something if not tanking.  The jets never showed up. Perhaps bowles has lost the locker room, I dunno - but that was not an NFL team that cared about the results we played on Sunday.

That is the only explanation that makes at least some sense. 

 

But it's much more satisfying to think that the Bills were doing some things right.  

 

[SoCal Deek]

18 hours ago, Buffalo Barbarian said:

 

 

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.

 

 

Wait a minute. Turnovers don’t change the number of possessions unless they directly result in a score, like a pick six, or a Safety, and even than I’m not sure. If the ball keeps alternating between teams the only reason one team would have more would be because the game ended...right?

[Buffalo Barbarian]

5 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

Wait a minute. Turnovers don’t change the number of possessions unless they directly result in a score, like a pick six, or a Safety, and even than I’m not sure. If the ball keeps alternating between teams the only reason one team would have more would be because the game ended...right?

 

 You are not actually erasing possessions but every time you give up a turnover that drive can not score so it's like never having it . Also they don't need to score to make it an extra possesion, because they do in fact have extra possession because they just took yours, which is why it's likes subtracting from one and giving to the other. Think of it like an onside kick, if you make you get another possession, when you get a turnover you get another possession. Fuzzy math aside turnovers make it hard to win especially when you have an offense like ours.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by Buffalo Barbarian

[stuvian]

I know we're supposed to hate the Jets and all but I am very surprised at the extent to which Bowles has lost the team. That wasn't always the case

[frostbitmic]

Defense - I believe it was the 2nd quarter before the Jets got a first down.

Matt Barkley - The long ball to Foster on the 1st play forced the Jets to defend deep.

Wyatt Teller - He appeared to be much better than Vlad Ducasse, he won the starting job IMO.

Robert Foster - How does a guy who couldn't track or catch a ball learn how to do both after two months on the PS. I was shocked.

[SoCal Deek]

Shaw...what is it with this team? This is what a tear down and rebuild looks like. They have players coming in and out of the starting lineup from week to week including the most important roster spot, quarterback, where they’ve amazingly started their FOURTH guy in ten weeks! Why does the team look different from week to week? Because they are.

[GreggTX]

On 11/12/2018 at 3:38 PM, mjt328 said:

 

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.

 

Good observations. Foster actually did a great job tracking the ball on Sunday -- especially that one he came back for. I hope that becomes a habit for him.

[RochesterRob]

  For the people saying "It's just the Jets" our players still had to go out and make plays which was not being done on offense for the most part prior to this past Sunday.  This past Sunday we had guys who were following assignments on the OL, RB's seeing the field, and WR's who caught the ball.  We could have just as easily had OL lose their one on one battles, RB's stopped in the backfield, and WR's run incorrect patterns and have passes clang off their hands.  Our offense earned all its production last Sunday.  At least from where I sit and the guys who slacked will gone sooner or later.

[BuffaloHokie13]

1 hour ago, frostbitmic said:

Defense - I believe it was the 2nd quarter before the Jets got a first down.

Matt Barkley - The long ball to Foster on the 1st play forced the Jets to defend deep.

Wyatt Teller - He appeared to be much better than Vlad Ducasse, he won the starting job IMO.

Robert Foster - How does a guy who couldn't track or catch a ball learn how to do both after two months on the PS. I was shocked.

Pretty sure their offense finished the 1st Quarter with 1 yard of offense.

[Shaw66]

29 minutes ago, RochesterRob said:

  For the people saying "It's just the Jets" our players still had to go out and make plays which was not being done on offense for the most part prior to this past Sunday.  This past Sunday we had guys who were following assignments on the OL, RB's seeing the field, and WR's who caught the ball.  We could have just as easily had OL lose their one on one battles, RB's stopped in the backfield, and WR's run incorrect patterns and have passes clang off their hands.  Our offense earned all its production last Sunday.  At least from where I sit and the guys who slacked will gone sooner or later.

This is what I've been thinking - the offense executed.   However, it's possible that the execution by the Bills' offense was only possible because the Jets were SO bad.   I've concluded that for an amateur, there's no good way to tell.  I'm waiting for the next game.  Even then, it'll be tough, because Allen be quarterbacking, not Barkley.  If the offense stalls, we won't be able to tell if it's because of Allen or because of the better defense. 

[RochesterRob]

6 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

This is what I've been thinking - the offense executed.   However, it's possible that the execution by the Bills' offense was only possible because the Jets were SO bad.   I've concluded that for an amateur, there's no good way to tell.  I'm waiting for the next game.  Even then, it'll be tough, because Allen be quarterbacking, not Barkley.  If the offense stalls, we won't be able to tell if it's because of Allen or because of the better defense. 

  I watched the entire game and I would say it was 70 percent Bills effort and 30 percent Jets indifference.  On passing plays quite a bit of the time Barkely looked rushed.