Run Defense - Interesting Stats/Observations

[mjt328]

Thought I would share some interesting stats/observations regarding our Run Defense, since so many people now believe the sky is falling.

 

1.  In the first half, Eagles running backs had 31 yards on 11 carries (2.81 ypc).

2.  Outside of the 65-yard-run, Eagles running backs had 6 yards on 4 carries in the third quarter (1.50 ypc).

3.  Carson Wentz scrambling and a Nelson Agholor end-around accounted for 42 yards.

 

Outside of the big run and some QB scrambles, the run defense played very well until the 4th Quarter.  In total, we are talking 15 carries for 37 yards.  And the main reason Miles Sanders broke off that big run, was because Micah Hyde was concerned about Wentz scrambling and hesitated flying at the ball carrier.

 

I'm not saying this to excuse a poor performance by the Defense.  Not at all.  

It was definitely a bad game, and one of the primary reasons we lost on Sunday (the offense cannot be excused either).

I just want to put things into perspective, for those who believe the Defense was totally exposed or that Sean McDermott failed to make the necessary adjustments.

 

This was the first truly BAD game we've seen from the Bills Defense since the middle of last year.  Other teams have tried to run up the middle over the last 13-14 games, and haven't done close to what the Eagles accomplished on Sunday.  And most of this damage was done over the course of two drives in the 4th Quarter.  By that point, it was too late to make significant scheme changes.  It's also possible the Defense was just gassed and worn-down, considering this was the same stretch where our offense couldn't do ANYTHING.  

 

 

[Brand J]

All this talk about the run defense, I just want an offense that can hold its own in the passing game era. That’s all I want for Christmas.

[GG]

Thanks for putting the numbers out for what was obvious after watching the replay.   This one is on the coaching staff.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

25 minutes ago, mjt328 said:

Thought I would share some interesting stats/observations regarding our Run Defense, since so many people now believe the sky is falling.

 

1.  In the first half, Eagles running backs had 31 yards on 11 carries (2.81 ypc).

2.  Outside of the 65-yard-run, Eagles running backs had 6 yards on 4 carries in the third quarter (1.50 ypc).

3.  Carson Wentz scrambling and a Nelson Agholor end-around accounted for 42 yards.

 

Outside of the big run and some QB scrambles, the run defense played very well until the 4th Quarter.  In total, we are talking 15 carries for 37 yards.  And the main reason Miles Sanders broke off that big run, was because Micah Hyde was concerned about Wentz scrambling and hesitated flying at the ball carrier.

 

I'm not saying this to excuse a poor performance by the Defense.  Not at all.  

It was definitely a bad game, and one of the primary reasons we lost on Sunday (the offense cannot be excused either).

I just want to put things into perspective, for those who believe the Defense was totally exposed or that Sean McDermott failed to make the necessary adjustments.

 

This was the first truly BAD game we've seen from the Bills Defense since the middle of last year.  Other teams have tried to run up the middle over the last 13-14 games, and haven't done close to what the Eagles accomplished on Sunday.  And most of this damage was done over the course of two drives in the 4th Quarter.  By that point, it was too late to make significant scheme changes.  It's also possible the Defense was just gassed and worn-down, considering this was the same stretch where our offense couldn't do ANYTHING.  

 

 

 

And when you look at what was accomplished in the pass game?  Screens did most of the damage, and they caught us in man coverage on the bigger screen plays.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

10 minutes ago, GG said:

Thanks for putting the numbers out for what was obvious after watching the replay.   This one is on the coaching staff.

 

I thought the OP's contention is that it was NOT on the coaching staff?  Now I'm so confused.

 

 

 

 

[GG]

1 minute ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I thought the OP's contention is that it was NOT on the coaching staff?  Now I'm so confused.

 

 

 

 

 

If that's the case, I misunderstood.  Pederson took full advantage of Bills' overpursuit.  You can see them drawing up the blueprint in the first half, where those plays didn't click yet.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

36 minutes ago, mjt328 said:

Thought I would share some interesting stats/observations regarding our Run Defense, since so many people now believe the sky is falling.

 

1.  In the first half, Eagles running backs had 31 yards on 11 carries (2.81 ypc).

2.  Outside of the 65-yard-run, Eagles running backs had 6 yards on 4 carries in the third quarter (1.50 ypc).

3.  Carson Wentz scrambling and a Nelson Agholor end-around accounted for 42 yards.

 

Outside of the big run and some QB scrambles, the run defense played very well until the 4th Quarter.  In total, we are talking 15 carries for 37 yards.  And the main reason Miles Sanders broke off that big run, was because Micah Hyde was concerned about Wentz scrambling and hesitated flying at the ball carrier.

 

I'm not saying this to excuse a poor performance by the Defense.  Not at all.  

It was definitely a bad game, and one of the primary reasons we lost on Sunday (the offense cannot be excused either).

I just want to put things into perspective, for those who believe the Defense was totally exposed or that Sean McDermott failed to make the necessary adjustments.

 

This was the first truly BAD game we've seen from the Bills Defense since the middle of last year.  Other teams have tried to run up the middle over the last 13-14 games, and haven't done close to what the Eagles accomplished on Sunday.  And most of this damage was done over the course of two drives in the 4th Quarter.  By that point, it was too late to make significant scheme changes.  It's also possible the Defense was just gassed and worn-down, considering this was the same stretch where our offense couldn't do ANYTHING. 

 

When the opposing players are pointing out after the game that they successively gashed us on variations of the same play over and over and we couldn't stop them, I can't absolve the coaching staff and the scheme.  It's on them to figure out what's going on, call a time out if they need to and make some changes.

 

And yes, if someone can execute the same play over and over and it can't be stopped within the context of the game, that is exposed.  It's there on film.  If you can do this, you can gash them.  Proven until we stop it.

 

Exposed doesn't mean the D played the whole game like crap, because they didn't.  I'm well aware of the frustrating fact that we stopped or stuffed play after play to put them in 3rd and long, only to let them out of it.   But you can't except runs by Carson Wentz and Agholar and the 65 yard run and then use it to say the run D didn't have a bad game and didn't have a weakness exposed, because they did, and they did.

 

PS various people looking at film put the big run on Milano as well as Hyde.  Do I mistake, or did you call out Poyer in another thread?

[row_33]

"Outside of the big run and some QB scrambles, the run defense played very well until the 4th Quarter.  "

 

 

Apart from letting in those 7 runs in the 2nd inning, the pitching staff was real good today in the 8-0 loss.

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 minutes ago, GG said:

If that's the case, I misunderstood.  Pederson took full advantage of Bills' overpursuit.  You can see them drawing up the blueprint in the first half, where those plays didn't click yet.

 

That's how I interpreted his statement "I just want to put things into perspective, for those who believe the Defense was totally exposed or that Sean McDermott failed to make the necessary adjustments."

 

[JoshAllenHasBigHands]

1 minute ago, row_33 said:

"Outside of the big run and some QB scrambles, the run defense played very well until the 4th Quarter.  "

 

 

Apart from letting in those 7 runs in the 2nd inning, the pitching staff was real good today in the 8-0 loss.

 

 

I think its fair to acknowledge that giving up 5 yards every time the ball is handed off is legitimately a much bigger problem than giving up two big runs and some QB scrambles a game. 

[SoCal Deek]

Exactly!  Anytime you give up a single 65 yard run it’s going to throw all of the rest of the stats out the window. 

[GG]

Just now, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

That's how I interpreted his statement "I just want to put things into perspective, for those who believe the Defense was totally exposed or that Sean McDermott failed to make the necessary adjustments."

 

 

On second read, the post doesn't make sense to me.  It was a bad defensive outing, but defense nor the coaching staff shouldn't shoulder all the blame?

 

I'd put this one more on the coaches.

[row_33]

3 minutes ago, JoshAllenHasBigHands said:

 

I think its fair to acknowledge that giving up 5 yards every time the ball is handed off is legitimately a much bigger problem than giving up two big runs and some QB scrambles a game. 

 

those 60+ yard jailbreak runs with total righteous pancaking of lofty Bills men on D are deal breakers for the game, sometimes careers

 

i'm a Jays fan, so i'm used to the postgame telephone talkshow with the slob screaming at fans that apart from that 7-run second inning the pitching staff was great today... 

 

 

3 minutes ago, GG said:

 

On second read, the post doesn't make sense to me.  It was a bad defensive outing, but defense nor the coaching staff shouldn't shoulder all the blame?

 

I'd put this one more on the coaches.

 

they played bad and it wasn't good enough to win this time, it sure was good enough 3 times this year so far

 

live and learn and regroup and come out and kick the crap out of Washington

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

11 minutes ago, JoshAllenHasBigHands said:

I think its fair to acknowledge that giving up 5 yards every time the ball is handed off is legitimately a much bigger problem than giving up two big runs and some QB scrambles a game. 

 

Um, No?  Both lead to losses.  Typically in a football game, one can look at a handful of plays and say "these really influenced the outcome".

The JA fumble down near the redzone was one.  The FG miss on our subsequent drive was another as it would have largely neutralized that impact.

The jailbreak 65 yd run for a TD right after half was a 3rd. 

Not a single play, but the TD drive on the next defensive series featuring giving up 38 and 15 yd plays and resulting in a TD was also key.

 

[JoshAllenHasBigHands]

6 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Um, No?  Both lead to losses.  Typically in a football game, one can look at a handful of plays and say "these really influenced the outcome".

The JA fumble down near the redzone was one.  The FG miss on our subsequent drive was another as it would have largely neutralized that impact.

The jailbreak 65 yd run for a TD right after half was a 3rd. 

Not a single play, but the TD drive on the next defensive series featuring giving up 38 and 15 yd plays and resulting in a TD was also key.

 

 

You are right. Both CAN lead to losses. 

 

What you are missing is that 5 yards on every run WILL lead to losses.  That means every drive has no third downs and ends in touchdowns. 

 

One big play with a 2.0 y/c average equals one LIKELY touchdown, but the remaining drives are stalling out. Its super bad. It can result in a loss. But it is not nearly as bad as every drive ending in a touchdown, as I outline above.

[Buffalo Junction]

8 minutes ago, JoshAllenHasBigHands said:

 

You are right. Both CAN lead to losses. 

 

What you are missing is that 5 yards on every run WILL lead to losses.  That means every drive has no third downs and ends in touchdowns. 

 

One big play with a 2.0 y/c average equals one LIKELY touchdown, but the remaining drives are stalling out. Its super bad. It can result in a loss. But it is not nearly as bad as every drive ending in a touchdown, as I outline above.

I might agree, but there’s two problems...

 

1) The defense was poor on 3rd and long. They had trouble getting off the field. The Eagles figured out some effective ways to beat 3rd down defense. Couple that with a few big plays and it results in a loss. 
 

2) This defense operates on a small margin of error. The offense simply isn’t good enough to over come a poor defensive outing. That margin seems to be one big play or timely scoring drive. 
 

When you combine both of those issues you get games like Sunday where this team cannot steal momentum back... It’s concerning. Fortunately every team left on our schedule isn’t going to be capable of exploiting this. However, Dallas, NE and Baltimore have the talent and coaching to exploit these issues. The Bills are a good team with some weaknesses. If Allen makes a second half performance jump like he did last year then some of those weaknesses won’t be as great. Outside of that occurring we’re gonna have to weather the occasional storm until we get a few more game changers to create big plays. 

[JoshAllenHasBigHands]

1 minute ago, Buffalo Junction said:

I might agree, but there’s two problems...

 

1) The defense was poor on 3rd and long. They had trouble getting off the field. The Eagles figured out some effective ways to beat 3rd down defense. Couple that with a few big plays and it results in a loss. 
 

2) This defense operates on a small margin of error. The offense simply isn’t good enough to over come a poor defensive outing. That margin seems to be one big play or timely scoring drive. 
 

When you combine both of those issues you get games like Sunday where this team cannot steal momentum back... It’s concerning. Fortunately every team left on our schedule isn’t going to be capable of exploiting this. However, Dallas, NE and Baltimore have the talent and coaching to exploit these issues. The Bills are a good team with some weaknesses. If Allen makes a second half performance jump like he did last year then some of those weaknesses won’t be as great. Outside of that occurring we’re gonna have to weather the occasional storm until we get a few more game changers to create big plays. 

 

I know its a problem, my point was a little more nuanced than that.  In any event, your second point is the real problem. the margin for error is razor thin, and that needs to get fixed. In a hurry. 

[Buffalo Junction]

1 minute ago, JoshAllenHasBigHands said:

 

I know its a problem, my point was a little more nuanced than that.  In any event, your second point is the real problem. the margin for error is razor thin, and that needs to get fixed. In a hurry. 

I’m not sure it’s more nuanced. We have a good defense with no holes. We don’t have any real game changing talent in the front 7 which is why the defense can be exploited by good offenses and we’re not getting turnovers unless a QB is dumb enough to throw towards Tre. Swap out Lawson/Murphy for Mack/Garret and this is an elite defense. As it stands, the biggest hopes for improvement on D are that Milano was rusty or slow coming off injury, we can nab a good replacement for Peko off the waiver wire, and/ the Eagles just exploited Edmunds inexperience and his recognition/calls improve. Changing the defensive scheme will likely just create a problem somewhere else. 
 

As for the margin of error... Unless a light goes on for Allen or Daboll I don’t see it improving this year barring Foster suddenly getting hot again. Beane patched all the holes on this roster. We’re beating the bottom half of the league because they cannot exploit a weakness with one or two excellent players. Unfortunately the better teams have enough game changing talent to exploit this. Is what it is. We’re going to have a nice run this year because of schedule strength and there’s always the possibility that they play over their talent in a wildcard game. I hope that next season Allen improving and adding a few top talents pushes this team into perennial playoff contention. Allen’s growth aside this team will be there with a few upgrades. 

[SoCal Deek]

I’ve posted it elsewhere. The game was lost when the Bills went three and out from the 40 yard line to start the 4th Quarter consuming just 22 seconds and putting a tired defense back on the field. Horrible play calling by Daboll. No situational awareness!

[JoshAllenHasBigHands]

3 minutes ago, Buffalo Junction said:

I’m not sure it’s more nuanced. We have a good defense with no holes. We don’t have any real game changing talent in the front 7 which is why the defense can be exploited by good offenses and we’re not getting turnovers unless a QB is dumb enough to throw towards Tre. Swap out Lawson/Murphy for Mack/Garret and this is an elite defense. As it stands, the biggest hopes for improvement on D are that Milano was rusty or slow coming off injury, we can nab a good replacement for Peko off the waiver wire, and/ the Eagles just exploited Edmunds inexperience and his recognition/calls improve. Changing the defensive scheme will likely just create a problem somewhere else. 
 

As for the margin of error... Unless a light goes on for Allen or Daboll I don’t see it improving this year barring Foster suddenly getting hot again. Beane patched all the holes on this roster. We’re beating the bottom half of the league because they cannot exploit a weakness with one or two excellent players. Unfortunately the better teams have enough game changing talent to exploit this. Is what it is. We’re going to have a nice run this year because of schedule strength and there’s always the possibility that they play over their talent in a wildcard game. I hope that next season Allen improving and adding a few top talents pushes this team into perennial playoff contention. Allen’s growth aside this team will be there with a few upgrades. 

 

My original point was that literally giving up 5 yards on every rush play (not just on average) is worse than giving up a 60 yard rush play and 2.0 ypc on the remaining rushes. I acknowledge that both are bad. I am only saying one is worse than the other. 

[Socal-805]

 

 

Eagles O-line is one of the best in the league, and their game plan obviously was to run the ball all over the Bills, and pass JUST enough, which they did very successfully

on a very windy day.

 

Eagles are not a cupcake team like most of the other opponents to date: wait for the Dallas game.  Expect MUCH of the same with a terrific O-line and Z. Elliot running wild.

 

 

 

[iinii]

18 minutes ago, Buffalo Junction said:

I’m not sure it’s more nuanced. We have a good defense with no holes. We don’t have any real game changing talent in the front 7 which is why the defense can be exploited by good offenses and we’re not getting turnovers unless a QB is dumb enough to throw towards Tre. Swap out Lawson/Murphy for Mack/Garret and this is an elite defense. As it stands, the biggest hopes for improvement on D are that Milano was rusty or slow coming off injury, we can nab a good replacement for Peko off the waiver wire, and/ the Eagles just exploited Edmunds inexperience and his recognition/calls improve. Changing the defensive scheme will likely just create a problem somewhere else. 
 

As for the margin of error... Unless a light goes on for Allen or Daboll I don’t see it improving this year barring Foster suddenly getting hot again. Beane patched all the holes on this roster. We’re beating the bottom half of the league because they cannot exploit a weakness with one or two excellent players. Unfortunately the better teams have enough game changing talent to exploit this. Is what it is. We’re going to have a nice run this year because of schedule strength and there’s always the possibility that they play over their talent in a wildcard game. I hope that next season Allen improving and adding a few top talents pushes this team into perennial playoff contention. Allen’s growth aside this team will be there with a few upgrades. 

Patched all the holes? 31-13 says the tire is still leaking. 

[Buffalo Junction]

10 minutes ago, JoshAllenHasBigHands said:

 

My original point was that literally giving up 5 yards on every rush play (not just on average) is worse than giving up a 60 yard rush play and 2.0 ypc on the remaining rushes. I acknowledge that both are bad. I am only saying one is worse than the other. 

I don’t think one is worse than the other. Particularly when a couple big run plays come with defensive breakdowns on “3rd & long”. It makes 3rd & 1 vs 3rd & 8 irrelevant. Either way the defense doesn’t get off the field. Both are demoralizing and signify the existence of a problem with scheme/talent. 

[Buffalo Junction]

Just now, iinii said:

Patched all the holes? 31-13 says the tire is still leaking. 

We’re not starting any players that couldn’t start on other teams (WR #2 aside). They’re very average at most positions though, and that means those players will lose some matchups to dominant players. The eagles aren’t devoid of talent. They have some poor players on the field due to injury, but plenty of probowler level talents on the field to exploit matchups against average talent....

 

So yes. The holes are patched. That doesn’t mean the boat isn’t sitting low in the water and susceptible to capsizing in rough water. 

[JoshAllenHasBigHands]

4 minutes ago, Buffalo Junction said:

I don’t think one is worse than the other. Particularly when a couple big run plays come with defensive breakdowns on “3rd & long”. It makes 3rd & 1 vs 3rd & 8 irrelevant. Either way the defense doesn’t get off the field. Both are demoralizing and signify the existence of a problem with scheme/talent. 

 

If the Eagles run for five yards on every carry, that means two things. First, it means that the offense never gets to third down because they get the tenth yard on the second run. It also means that they are scoring at will.  It hurts you on every drive. 

 

If the Eagles run for 2.0 ypc, it means they have to deal with multiple 3rd and longs.  Even if the Eagles convert at a high clip, it still means the defense is getting off the field on some occasions.  That 65 yard run hurts for one drive, and that's it. 

 

One is worse than the other. 

[US Egg]

2 hours ago, JayBaller10 said:

All this talk about the run defense, I just want an offense that can hold its own in the passing game era. That’s all I want for Christmas.

Ask for something better.

[Buffalo Junction]

8 minutes ago, JoshAllenHasBigHands said:

 

If the Eagles run for five yards on every carry, that means two things. First, it means that the offense never gets to third down because they get the tenth yard on the second run. It also means that they are scoring at will.  It hurts you on every drive. 

 

If the Eagles run for 2.0 ypc, it means they have to deal with multiple 3rd and longs.  Even if the Eagles convert at a high clip, it still means the defense is getting off the field on some occasions.  That 65 yard run hurts for one drive, and that's it. 

 

One is worse than the other. 

Perhaps in a vacuum. However, there will never be a game where a team gets 5, and only 5, yards on every run play unless they only run the ball once. It’s always an average. You’re ignoring the possibility that they’re averaging 5 yards a carry because they can’t complete a single pass successfully and could end up behind the sticks anyways. Most good teams can rely on 5 yard runs against the Chiefs... However, they still pass because they have to keep up with that offense. Isolating a metric isn’t the full story. Why the defense can’t get off the field doesn’t matter much because eventually they’ll get tired and the 4 minute offense will ice the game. 
 

The simple truth is that the Eagles exploited a defensive weakness and won because of it. The only thing that matters is if that weakness can be fixed. We shall see. 

[iinii]

25 minutes ago, Buffalo Junction said:

We’re not starting any players that couldn’t start on other teams (WR #2 aside). They’re very average at most positions though, and that means those players will lose some matchups to dominant players. The eagles aren’t devoid of talent. They have some poor players on the field due to injury, but plenty of probowler level talents on the field to exploit matchups against average talent....

 

So yes. The holes are patched. That doesn’t mean the boat isn’t sitting low in the water and susceptible to capsizing in rough water. 

You know what they say about average; it means half are better. How many offensive lineman would the Eagles trade you straight up for? As you pointed out wide receivers, so same with the Chefs or Saints in that department. Just to name a few.

[yungmack]

The best way to eliminate the damage done by the run game is to take away that run game, and the best way to take away the run game is to get a quick lead and keep adding to it. In other words, until the Bills O can figure out how to score early in the game and to be a threat on every possession, the D is going to have the ball run down its throat.

[row_33]

just keep playing crappy teams that don't know how to hold a lead in the 4th

 

 

[colin]

2 hours ago, Buffalo Junction said:

I might agree, but there’s two problems...

 

1) The defense was poor on 3rd and long. They had trouble getting off the field. The Eagles figured out some effective ways to beat 3rd down defense. Couple that with a few big plays and it results in a loss. 
 

2) This defense operates on a small margin of error. The offense simply isn’t good enough to over come a poor defensive outing. That margin seems to be one big play or timely scoring drive. 
 

When you combine both of those issues you get games like Sunday where this team cannot steal momentum back... It’s concerning. Fortunately every team left on our schedule isn’t going to be capable of exploiting this. However, Dallas, NE and Baltimore have the talent and coaching to exploit these issues. The Bills are a good team with some weaknesses. If Allen makes a second half performance jump like he did last year then some of those weaknesses won’t be as great. Outside of that occurring we’re gonna have to weather the occasional storm until we get a few more game changers to create big plays. 

 

 

brah, point 2 is a good one.

 

the bills seem very low risk on pass D, not blitzing too much, not trying to get too exotic on coverages, but in order to keep that pass d advantage, we seem to roll the dice some on run D.  we don't stack up the box as much as the teams we face (altho that has a lot to do w our passing game), and we seem to require the lb's to make a quick read and shoot the gap, sunday showed us what happens when we don't do that.

 

i understand that bad games are gonna happen, but i just feel frustrated that our coaches and players just aren't as smart as the pats, who always seem to have an adjustment or new wrinkle based on who they are playing and conditions.  i feel like we woulda been in the exact same formations if our game was in 65 degree sunny no wind conditions, and that's just not smart.

[row_33]

so many options to choose from on the blame

 

thanks D

 

 

[TN Bills Fan]

Stats aside.  Star and especially Edmunds were move around and pushed around all day long.   Oliver wasn't quite as bad.  It looked like the Eagles looked for Edmunds and either ran at him or threw at him constantly.  If you are able, watch the game again and look for that.  Edmunds has some mass to put on before next year.  Star has to go.

[Mickey]

Hmmm...so if we don't count all their best running plays and only count their worst ones, we can conclude that our run defense was awesome.

 

And yes, Captain Queeg proved, through geometric logic, that a duplicate key to the ward room icebox had to exist.

 

  

[C.Biscuit97]

4 hours ago, JayBaller10 said:

All this talk about the run defense, I just want an offense that can hold its own in the passing game era. That’s all I want for Christmas.

You’re a Bills fan.  Just enjoy 150 - 200 passing games because that’s all we deserve!

[dave mcbride]

4 hours ago, row_33 said:

"Outside of the big run and some QB scrambles, the run defense played very well until the 4th Quarter.  "

 

 

Apart from letting in those 7 runs in the 2nd inning, the pitching staff was real good today in the 8-0 loss.

 

"Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?"

[billspro]

The running game is just not a reliable way to win. We will probably have one other team rush well against us this year, it happens.

[Buffalo Junction]

2 hours ago, iinii said:

You know what they say about average; it means half are better. How many offensive lineman would the Eagles trade you straight up for? As you pointed out wide receivers, so same with the Chefs or Saints in that department. Just to name a few.

So your point is that average players are an exploitable hole at any position on a football team? IMO a hole is a player that is overmatched by any legitimate talent.... Kind of like when we trotted out Cedric Thornton at DT. 
 

For the record, I would love to have four probowl Olinemen like the eagles, especially if paired with all of KCs playmakers. The NFL isn’t Madden though, so the cap reality of the NFL dictates that top salaries require saving money elsewhere. It’s why some of these “stacked” teams have absolute trash for depth at key positions or try to get by with poor starters.... Just look at the Chiefs defense if you want an example. 

[C.Biscuit97]

1 hour ago, billspro said:

The running game is just not a reliable way to win. We will probably have one other team rush well against us this year, it happens.

But stats show us that teams that run more win more often! - football guy 

[2003Contenders]

All in all, it was just a bad game and a bad match-up for the Bills.

 

1. The Eagles were coming off an embarrassing loss to the Cowboys. So they were highly motivated.

 

2. Despite their record, the Eagles are still a pretty good team and are well-coached. They are just a year-removed from being Super Bowl champs.

 

3. The windy conditions made it difficult for either team to pass. (Both QBs wound up with about 170 yards passing.)

 

4. The Bills'  defense held up pretty well in the first half. They held the Eagles to 3 points inside of the 2:00 warning when Josh Allen fumbled and set the Philly offense up in good position. Soon the Eagles went from a 3-7 deficit to a 11-7 lead.

 

5. After a well-done drive to place the Bills in the position to try a long field goal at the end of the half, which was no good, the Eagles got the ball first in the 2nd half. That is when the 65-yard run occurred, and suddenly it was 17-7.

 

6. The offense answered back with a TD drive of their own to make the score a respectable 17-13, which seemed OK at the time given Allen and the offense's success in the 4th quarter.

 

7. The Eagles did a nice job with long sustained drives in the 3rd and 4th quarters, including some key 3rd down conversions thanks to Wentz's legs. Meanwhile, the Bills offense got too pass-happy in the windy conditions, which led to some 3-and-out situations. The defense wore down in the 4th as a result.

 

In the gamut of a season, you are going to have a few games a year when something like this happens. The Kelly-era Bills even had 2-3 games like this every year. So I am not freaking too much. We have 2 losses. One of them was against the Patriots, which was only by 6 points in a game win which Allen turned the ball over repeatedly. (The Pats have blown out all of their other 7 opponents).  Let's see how they bounce back this week.

 

Now, if the Redskins also manage to pile up 200+ rushing yards and shut down our offense, then I'll start worrying some. ?