THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - Cruisin'

[Shaw66]

23 minutes ago, Ayjent said:

I thought they really stuck with the run game against Denver, even when it seemed like only 1 in 3 designed run plays was successful to start the game.  That eventually changed as the carries mounted, but I think that they need to stick with it like they did on Sunday, as long as they are moving the chains.  Now how and from what formations they run is more of my issue, but I like what I saw on Sunday as opposed to earlier in the year.  I think they saw a weakness they could exploit with the Broncos run D and they committed to it.

 

I do like that Daboll is adaptive, but there is a fine line between doing what you do well and doing something to exploit a weakness  regardless of whether it is something you typically do (or can do).  Sometimes I feel like they try to adapt too much to the other team and that has gotten them into trouble.  Sometimes they get away from what is working because of what the defense is doing.  Sometimes you can still do what you want despite the opponent trying to stop it the best way they can.  I guess it is a philosophy of be adaptive because you need to be against the team that can stop you.   I'm kind of torn on how you play it, but I can see why they do what they do.  Maybe as Josh and the Offense get more cohesive and prolific you worry a little less about cat & mouse games and impose your will the way you want.

Now here's something that is a total guess on my part:  I'd guess that McD is copying the Belichick philosophy, which is that football is football.  What you need as the basis of your team is 53 guys who can block, tackle, catch, run and throw.  Effectively, over and over   Execute, execute, execute.   Now, once you have those guys, you can tell them "this week we're running, next week we're passing, the following week we're blitzing, and the week after that we're playing cover 2 the entire game."  Good football players in the Belichick model have excellent fundamentals and understand scheme.  I think that's what McD's goal is.  

 

And he's said about Allen, and I think it's true for the whole team, that they've given him (and all of them) the whole playbook.  So I wouldn't be surprised if Daboll is designing offense to exploit weakness every week, because that's the long-term objective.   That is, the long-term objective is "we can play any style."   So Daboll and McD are asking the team NOW to play any style.   Learn how to do it.   Next year Beane will find some guys who are better at it than the Bills are today, and the team will be better at playing any style.  The following year Beane will swap out some more players, constantly upgrading players, but always with the same objective.  

 

The objective is not to be good at something and force the other team to stop you at it.  The objective is to be good at everything and each week do what works best to win.  In fact, I saw Belichick in a press conference get really pissed when someone asked him what style the Patriots would like to play.   He looked at the guy like he was idiot and finally said "we want to play the style that wins."  

[Ayjent]

15 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Now here's something that is a total guess on my part:  I'd guess that McD is copying the Belichick philosophy, which is that football is football.  What you need as the basis of your team is 53 guys who can block, tackle, catch, run and throw.  Effectively, over and over   Execute, execute, execute.   Now, once you have those guys, you can tell them "this week we're running, next week we're passing, the following week we're blitzing, and the week after that we're playing cover 2 the entire game."  Good football players in the Belichick model have excellent fundamentals and understand scheme.  I think that's what McD's goal is.  

 

And he's said about Allen, and I think it's true for the whole team, that they've given him (and all of them) the whole playbook.  So I wouldn't be surprised if Daboll is designing offense to exploit weakness every week, because that's the long-term objective.   That is, the long-term objective is "we can play any style."   So Daboll and McD are asking the team NOW to play any style.   Learn how to do it.   Next year Beane will find some guys who are better at it than the Bills are today, and the team will be better at playing any style.  The following year Beane will swap out some more players, constantly upgrading players, but always with the same objective.  

 

The objective is not to be good at something and force the other team to stop you at it.  The objective is to be good at everything and each week do what works best to win.  In fact, I saw Belichick in a press conference get really pissed when someone asked him what style the Patriots would like to play.   He looked at the guy like he was idiot and finally said "we want to play the style that wins."  

Bruce Lee is smiling somewhere.  He always said to be like water and that he didn't believe in any particular style because they limited growth.

[CLTbills]

On 11/25/2019 at 1:00 PM, Figster said:

To me Shaw, it was the most well executed play in all 3 phases of game Buffalo has experienced so far this season in my humble opinion.

 

With the cold weather settling in, good time to get the motor running and hitting on all cylinders,

 

Next up, Jerry's Cowgirls on Thanksgiving!

 

Play fearless Buffalo!!

 

MERCY!!!

This was the biggest thing for me. Across the board, execution was as good as it has been. Clean up the penalties, and we'll really have something here.

[Shaw66]

41 minutes ago, Ayjent said:

Bruce Lee is smiling somewhere.  He always said to be like water and that he didn't believe in any particular style because they limited growth.

That's cool.  It makes sense.   Hard to accomplish, but it makes sense.  

 

Think about this:  Who has a defense designed to stop Lamar Jackson?  No one.   So who has the best chance of beating him? Someone whose defense can play any style, because that's the defense that can best play a unique style for one game.  And that is, uh, the Patriots.   And maybe the Bills.  

[Figster]

20 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

That's cool.  It makes sense.   Hard to accomplish, but it makes sense.  

 

Think about this:  Who has a defense designed to stop Lamar Jackson?  No one.   So who has the best chance of beating him? Someone whose defense can play any style, because that's the defense that can best play a unique style for one game.  And that is, uh, the Patriots.   And maybe the Bills.  

On the other side of the ball long sustained drives that end in points scored. While players like Jackson and Mahomes may differ somewhat in skill set the results are still a high powered Offense that is going to score points. Keeping them off the field helps keep the game more manageable IMO.

 

Running the football well to counter Lamar Jackson is key IMO.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Figster

[inthebuff]

On 11/26/2019 at 3:45 PM, Shaw66 said:

The objective is not to be good at something and force the other team to stop you at it.  The objective is to be good at everything and each week do what works best to win.  In fact, I saw Belichick in a press conference get really pissed when someone asked him what style the Patriots would like to play.   He looked at the guy like he was idiot and finally said "we want to play the style that wins."  

 

This is a great point and to be honest, I've never thought about it in that way.  My thought was play great defense, run the ball, and pass well enough to win would be the philosophy that most teams, especially in places like Buffalo, New England, Green Bay, would employ.  The philosophy to play any style of ball to win a la the Patriots style over the past two decades should be the model to follow.  When they won their first Super Bowls they were a great defensive team and Brady was more of a manager (like Dilfer), then in the middle they were an offensive juggernaut and the defense stopped people enough to win and now in the twilight of Brady's career, they're back to being a strong defensive club with TB12 managing the game on offense (much to his disliking).

 

Probably the reason most rebuilding teams do not do this is because they don't have the time.  It's a win-now league.  I suspect for the Bills it was a perfect storm situation.  We were mediocre for this whole millennium and with a bunch of coaches that we all know should not have been in charge of this or any team.  The time was right for McDermott and Beane to convince the Pegulas of the process that they were going to follow designed for long term success.  After the Rex Ryan debacle, they were also ready, as we the fans were.  Most of us (to quote the Sixers) "trust the process" that will hopefully bring long term success.   Yes, we didn't draft Mahomes or Watson and in the process ended up with White, Edmunds and Allen.