A Few Thoughts about the Ravens Game, in no particular order

[Virgil]

This should be a fun one to read the reactions as emotions are typically high after a loss.  There were quite a few holding out for a potential one seed throughout the playoffs.  There was the media talking how we still don't have our big win over a quality team (now that the Cowboys got crushed again).  Then there are just the fans who's season lives and dies by every loss.  For me, I honestly wasn't expecting a lot out of today's game.  I wanted a win, being that I live in Baltimore, but I also know this was our toughest game and wasn't going to crush our season with a loss.  Also, we were going up against a team that very few have kept it close against since starting 2-2.  Either way, I'm sure there's going to be a lot of different perceptions about why we lost this game and who is to blame.  Judging by the other threads post-game, I expect some lovely responses.

 

1 - Allen - I have to start here because this was arguably his worst game of the season.  However, many other players had some bad moments that also could have cost us this game.  But this is our starting quarterback, so he will take most of the heat; fair or not.  Allen was downright awful in the first half.  While Baltimore's defense got pressure at times and even caused a fumble, Allen still had plenty of throws with time and to guys who were open.  On the first three drives, he had a player open 20+ yards down field and missed him by almost 5+ yards each time.  On two of them, I got the impression that Allen was assuming the receiver was going to break a different way.  Regardless, two of them could have gone for touchdowns.  If he hit even one of them, it's a very different game.  In the second half, Allen had at least two plays where he held onto the ball for 5+ seconds and took a sack.  one of them knocked us out of Field Goal range today.  But like I said earlier, others contributed to his bad game with key drops.  Knox dropped a pass because he was already looking downfield, but we still got 3.  Singletary dropped one because he got excited about the open field ahead of him if he could beat one guy.  Beasley technically dropped a deep pass, that yes a millionaire receiver should catch, but was still not easy.  Overall, Allen hits just 10% more of his passes and we are either tied at the end or winning.  He played bad against a good defense and I think even he will tell you that.  but again, we had the ball with a chance to tie by the end.

 

2 - Defensive front 4 - I can't tell you how impressed I am with how well our front 4 contained Lamar.  Jackson had some solid runs, but none were from him breaking contain on passing plays.  Shaq had another great game tracking him down and even Oliver held contain well on a few plays.  I don't blame the Ingram plays on these guys much as I don't believe their job was to do more than hold their ground, take the tackles that came their way, and absolutely make sure Jackson didn't escape for a big run; something that no other team has been able to do.  Great job by that unit.

 

3 - Defensive Mistakes - Watching the Ravens a few times this season, they do a great job of capitalizing on defenses that over-commit to a play or don't hold their gaps.  Today, the Bills did an overall solid job of limiting those mistakes.  There were a few plays were Edmunds and Milano assumed the play to the inside, but they weren't burned badly on those plays.  The only huge mistake was on the long TD pass to their TE.  Poyer was left to cover two different players and he picked the wrong one.  He also seemed to be covering the shallow crossing route, and seemed caught off guard when the TE went deep.  You take that play out of this game and Jackson doesn't break 100 yards passing as we are kicking a field goal to win at the end.  I'm not dumping on Poyer at all as I don't know if he was supposed to have more support, but that was are only major mistake of the game and you could argue the true difference maker.  I'm more annoyed that it made Lamar's day look a lot better than it was.

 

4 - “We end in tears. That’s because we invested so much in each other,” Dawkins told his players. “I love you guys. It’s been amazing coaching this group, and for us, we got a lot of good memories, we accomplished a lot of amazing things this year.”

 

5 - Singletary - I'm sure that many are going to complain that Motor wasn't used more in this game on the first 3 drives, but I'm not one of them.  While the Ravens run defense has been suspect, the NFL is game of chess and points.  We came out throwing and had the right plays called on those first 3 drives, Allen just missed his throws.  Allen and Daboll will both tell you that they'll take those opportunities 10 out of 10 times.  After that last drive, we went with what works and Singletary had a strong game.  Motor had his longest run of the season and really showed some explosion.  His two drops hurt in the catching game, but he was easily our best weapon on the field today.  The key 3rd down play where we has tackled for a loss was a complete whiff block by Ford, simply inexcusable. 

 

6 - Special Teams - The punting game was rough today but I can't completely blame Bojo.  There were at least two bad snaps that Bojo did a good job fielding, but he still could have gotten off better punts.  Whether the wind was at his back or not, he wasn't hitting the ball clean and gave up decent field position a few times.  Roberts also made some poor choices to return a few kickoffs out of the endzone and tackled well shy of the 25.  The lone bright spot was Hausch Money as he was back today.  All of his kicks were solid and no-doubters.  That was a much needed pick me up after his last few games and hopefully he's knocked the kinks out.

 

7 - Judon - If there's only player who I really respected out there for the Ravens, it was the play of Judon.  He absolutely blew some plays up against us.  On the sack-fumble, we tried to let Knox block him 1 on 1 and you know how that went.  He was solid in both coverage and blitzes.  If Shaq Thompson got that contract, I'm afraid to see what he will get.  Judon was the best player on the field for them and a game changer at times.  I'm a little surprised we didn't account for him more.  Others may have gotten pressure, but that was more scheme that winning a matchup.

 

8 - Refs/Replay - Man, I hate going to this well after a loss but today was bad and I genuinely think the NFL is trying to protect them.  Outside of our last drive, there were multiple plays that prevented points for the Bills and helped the Ravens score.  On the missed 12 man in the huddle call, I've never seen McD so angry since he's been here.  If that is called, Jackson may not be throwing that touchdown from 5 yards further back.  The missed offensive PI call against Foster was terrible and the replay process is such a joke in that category that McD didn't even try to challenge.  Even if we don't get another yard, we are in field goal range.  As for my NFL comment, it's maddening to me that they didn't show any of the personal foul calls on replay.  If this has been an all season thing, I apologize, but I can't remember them not showing us the infractions.  I have no idea what Hughes did nor what the Ravens did at the end of the game.  I'm sure Hughes reacted to the defensive holding penalty called against our Star (seriously btw, a DT?!), but I don't know.  Hughes deserved to be pissed because he had his typical game of being held the entire time but not called for it.  Nor were many of the holds downfield on their 10+ yard runs.

 

9 - Smoke - This is now two games in a row where we really didn't hear Brown's name.  Granted, the first missed deep ball was to him, but he still didn't show up afterwards.  I look forward to the All-22 replay to see what happened to him, but it's alarming how much he's disappeared.  If you want to blame Daboll for not getting him open, you may have an argument, but I really don't know what's going on here.  In a game where too many players are making drops and Allen is shaky, Brown needs to be found to get the ball moving and confidence growing.  I hope this is something that gets addressed going forward.

 

10 - Frazier - The Ravens were held below almost all of their season averages in this game.  Lamar threw his first interception in forever and was sacked quite a few times.  We only gave up one large play, which if you remove that from the stat line, would've made the Bills offense the better on the field.  He had some great timed blitzes today and was so effective in his pressure scheme that the Ravens were forced to result to multiple screen passes.  I noticed on a few plays that Frazier had the entire linebacker unit shift to strong or weak side pre-snap which seemed to really do a number on Lamar.  Just a great scheme.  If there's a play book for how to bottle up the Ravens defense, I think Frazier wrote the first chapter today.

 

Random Play Thoughts:

• Any play were Allen immediately slid to one side of the field after the snap didn't work at all.  Each play was brutal
• Brown's last play felt strange that he didn't cut harder on the slot, creating more separation between him and Peters
• Singletary swing pass after 5 straight runs on the fourth drive.  Trying to mix it up, but then goes right back to him

 

Offense aside for the first half, I think we played the best team in the league incredibly well.  We were in position to tie the game at the end and I think the score reflected the game well.  Great game and still a Bills win next week, and Titans win this week, from clinching a playoff birth.  9-4 with a dominating defense.  And hey, with how we play at home, maybe it's best we are going on the road.

 

Go Bills!

[stevestojan]

11) Tennessee holds onto to this lead, we win next week, and we’re in. 

 

Edit: 12) I now realize you mentioned that.

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by stevestojan

[Rc2catch]

I can’t even read it today lol.. I’ll check on it tomorrow when everyone is cooled off 

[Gray Beard]

Brown hasn’t done much in the past two games....

Is he in a slump?

Is he getting tighter coverage?

Has Josh moved to Beasley as his “go to” guy?

Something else?

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

17 minutes ago, stevestojan said:

11) Tennessee holds onto to this lead, we win next week, and we’re in. 

 

Edit: 12) I now realize you mentioned that.

 

Are you sure? Even if the Bills win next week, it could still end up:

 

Texans: 10-6

Titans: 10-6

Bills: 10-6

Steelers: 10-6

 

Either Texans or Titans win the South, leaving a three-way tie for the Wild Cards. Do we make it in that scenario?

[Nihilarian]

Buffalo with 39 pass attempts vs 23 rush attempts is the opposite of what has worked with the Bills offense the last three weeks in which they ran more then they threw it, against Dallas, against Denver, against Miami.

 

While I acknowledge that Allen missed some throws...but then his deep passing completion percentage has been one of the worst in the NFL this year.  So, why ask the kid to throw deep at all. 

 

The Bills came out running and gave up on it far too soon. Is there a written law somewhere that says you MUST pass the ball on 3rd and 4? At this time of the season it looks like Gore's tank is empty and Singletary's tank is full. Motor with a 5.2 YPC avg and 17 rushes, 6 receptions wasn't utilized nearly enough to start the game.

 

Six sacks on Allen and the Bills O line had no adjustment on those blitzes by the Ravens. The way to neutralize the opponents pass rush is to run more, wear them out so in the fourth they are gassed. 

 

This game loss is on Brian Daboll in my view. Just like against the Browns 41 pass attempts with 20 rush attempts Daboll loses sight of what the offense does best in running to set up the pass. 

 

I'm really hoping that Daboll gets hired as a HC for some team after the season is over. 

[CSBill]

The difference in the game, two big plays:

1. The non PI call, and for the life of me I do not know why McD did not throw out the red flag. TO are overrated, that took at least three points off the board. But, as Fouts ranted, Foster got mugged, a red flag should not have been needed. There were two official there, I cannot see how they didn't call it.
2. The long TD pass. The only passes the LJ can make are over the middle and to TEs. Why was he running so open? Take away that play and the game is tied.

Ugh.

Edited December 9, 2019 by CSBill

[JaCrispy]

Just like to add that the Bills two minute offense continues to remain tragically inept...1st and 10 on the 18 with two minutes to go and the bills only manage 2 yards is beyond egregious...if we can somehow figure that out, along with the deep ball miscues, I think we could finally become an elite team...

Edited December 9, 2019 by JaCrispy

[Virgil]

3 minutes ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

Are you sure? Even if the Bills win next week, it could still end up:

 

Texans: 10-6

Titans: 10-6

Bills: 10-6

Steelers: 10-6

 

Either Texans or Titans win the South, leaving a three-way tie for the Wild Cards. Do we make it in that scenario?

 

Yes, it’s a fact.  We win next week and we are in.  We can also help the Pats need to play a wildcard game and need a win in week 17.  That feels good 

[Nextmanup]

3 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

Buffalo with 39 pass attempts vs 23 rush attempts is the opposite of what has worked with the Bills offense the last three weeks in which they ran more then they threw it, against Dallas, against Denver, against Miami.

 

While I acknowledge that Allen missed some throws...but then his deep passing completion percentage has been one of the worst in the NFL this year.  So, why ask the kid to throw deep at all. 

 

The Bills came out running and gave up on it far too soon. Is there a written law somewhere that says you MUST pass the ball on 3rd and 4? At this time of the season it looks like Gore's tank is empty and Singletary's tank is full. Motor with a 5.2 YPC avg and 17 rushes, 6 receptions wasn't utilized nearly enough to start the game.

 

Six sacks on Allen and the Bills O line had no adjustment on those blitzes by the Ravens. The way to neutralize the opponents pass rush is to run more, wear them out so in the fourth they are gassed. 

 

This game loss is on Brian Daboll in my view. Just like against the Browns 41 pass attempts with 20 rush attempts Daboll loses sight of what the offense does best in running to set up the pass. 

 

I'm really hoping that Daboll gets hired as a HC for some team after the season is over. 

If you can't ask your QB to throw passes 30 yards down field, you need  to find a new QB.

 

 

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

Shite happened 

 

they had a chance to tie the game and fell short 

 

 

[Mark Vader]

30 minutes ago, Virgil said:

 

Yes, it’s a fact.  We win next week and we are in.  We can also help the Pats need to play a wildcard game and need a win in week 17.  That feels good 

@Virgil

You have nothing to comment about how atrocious our pass blocking was today?

 

The Ravens blitzed constantly and we could not stop it.

 

As bad a game Allen had, the O-Line was equally as bad. I'm amazed that we still had  a chance to tie the game.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Mark Vader

[Special K]

16 minutes ago, Giuseppe Tognarelli said:

Are you sure? Even if the Bills win next week, it could still end up:

 

Texans: 10-6

Titans: 10-6

Bills: 10-6

Steelers: 10-6

 

Either Texans or Titans win the South, leaving a three-way tie for the Wild Cards. Do we make it in that scenario?

If the Bills beat the Steelers they would have the tiebreak over them in that scenario, I believe.

 

Plus the Bills would likely beat the Jets as well and end up 11-5.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Special K

[Buddo]

Refs were crap again, but not exclusively against us. The last drive we had, the Ravens might have cause for complaints. The PI was a slam dunk though.

 

I blame this loss on the offense as a whole, and I’m including Daboll in this. Too often, when there was a play to be made, something went pear shaped. The drops, the awful missed blocks, and some poor play calling.

 

While Allen did have a poor game, he got sacked a lot. Pressure came from all over the place, and we never seemed to adjust to it. TBH, I think they would have been better served by slowing things down today, rather than trying to keep playing up tempo. 
 

I would also say in Allen’s defense, that there were times you could see he wanted to get rid of the football, but simply didn’t have the time to do so.

 

Offensively, I thought that we rarely got any momentum, and it was because of the variety of miss cues we had.

 

Defensively overall a good job, with the odd mistake. Still another solid showing.

 

A tough loss against a good team, and even with the offensive miss cues, we were still in it with just over a minute to go. 
 

I’m not too happy about it, but I’m not about to be especially concerned going forward.

 

We might not be quite ready to take the next steps this year, but we showed we aren’t that far away.

[Giuseppe Tognarelli]

2 minutes ago, Special K said:

If the Bills beat the Steelers they would have the tiebreak over them in that scenario, I believe.

 

Plus the Bills would likely beat the Jets as well and end up 11-5.

Individual tiebreakers go out the window when there's a 3-way

[SoTier]

10 minutes ago, SlimShady'sGhost said:

Shite happened 

 

they had a chance to tie the game and fell short 

 

 

 

The Ravens are a better team, especially on offense, but the Bills acquitted themselves well.  Fans can't ask for more than that; the Ravens are certainly the best team in the AFC and one of the best in the NFL.  The Bills need a big, fast sure-handed WR and another RB plus improvement on the OL, which might come from either adding talent or younger players improving. 

[Solomon Grundy]

40 minutes ago, Rc2catch said:

I can’t even read it today lol.. I’ll check on it tomorrow when everyone is cooled off 

It'll be 30 pages long by then. Lol

[/dev/null]

Some other observations I made during the Bills game, as well as the late games

 

I'm sick of Michael Bloomberg commercials.  Seems like every break dude has a commercial.  Granted I already didn't like the guy, but if I were neutral I'd start to dislike him

I'm sick of Star Wars commercials

I'm sick of the Amazon "Everybody needs somebody" commercial

Ever notice the Bud Light Knight helmet looks like The Mandelorian?

[Solomon Grundy]

20 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

@Virgil

You have nothing to comment about how atrocious our pass blocking was today?

 

The Ravens blitzed constantly and we could not stop it.

 

As ba a game Allen had, the O-Line was equally as bad. I'm amazed that we still had  a chance to tie the game.

Or take advantage of the blitz.

[Virgil]

30 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

Buffalo with 39 pass attempts vs 23 rush attempts is the opposite of what has worked with the Bills offense the last three weeks in which they ran more then they threw it, against Dallas, against Denver, against Miami.

 

While I acknowledge that Allen missed some throws...but then his deep passing completion percentage has been one of the worst in the NFL this year.  So, why ask the kid to throw deep at all. 

 

The Bills came out running and gave up on it far too soon. Is there a written law somewhere that says you MUST pass the ball on 3rd and 4? At this time of the season it looks like Gore's tank is empty and Singletary's tank is full. Motor with a 5.2 YPC avg and 17 rushes, 6 receptions wasn't utilized nearly enough to start the game.

 

Six sacks on Allen and the Bills O line had no adjustment on those blitzes by the Ravens. The way to neutralize the opponents pass rush is to run more, wear them out so in the fourth they are gassed. 

 

This game loss is on Brian Daboll in my view. Just like against the Browns 41 pass attempts with 20 rush attempts Daboll loses sight of what the offense does best in running to set up the pass. 

 

I'm really hoping that Daboll gets hired as a HC for some team after the season is over. 

 

Daboll runs an offense similar to the rest of the league.  The passing plays were well called, but poorly executed.  If Allen is accurate on 3 of his passes and Knox, Singletary, Brown, and Beasley all pull in one of their throws, we are talking about Daboll the genius. 

 

Daboll made adjustments when he realized Allen didn't have it and we went back to the rushing game. 

 

Show me all the drives where we stalled because the play called was bad vs bad throws or drops.  I promise you there aren't that many.

 

Allen needs to hit on at least one of those deep throws or he needs to not be a starting quarterback.  He will tell you all day he needs to make those throws

 

16 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

@Virgil

You have nothing to comment about how atrocious our pass blocking was today?

 

The Ravens blitzed constantly and we could not stop it.

 

As ba a game Allen had, the O-Line was equally as bad. I'm amazed that we still had  a chance to tie the game.

 

The Ravens have a good defense and two of the sacks came from Allen holding onto the ball for an eternity.  They sent a lot of zero blitzes that I can't fault the offensive line for breaking down against.  Allen has to see it and get it out quick.  Allen had just as many plays where he had a lot of time to throw and the running game was sound.  I think the offensive line did okay for the team they played, minus a few plays here or there (Knox and Ford whiffs)

 

 

[Cheektowaga Chad]

Under rated play by Baltimore was the intentional offside. The bills were scoring on that play with the personnel the ravens had on the field 

 

Could have been a huge play but we still ended up scoring so it didnt matter

[Rc2catch]

7 minutes ago, the skycap said:

It'll be 30 pages long by then. Lol

That’s the best time. I don’t like losing but I absolutely love reading all these people crying to cut and fire everyone and what the team needs

[Mark Vader]

2 minutes ago, Virgil said:

 

Daboll runs an offense similar to the rest of the league.  The passing plays were well called, but poorly executed.  If Allen is accurate on 3 of his passes and Knox, Singletary, Brown, and Beasley all pull in one of their throws, we are talking about Daboll the genius. 

 

Daboll made adjustments when he realized Allen didn't have it and we went back to the rushing game. 

 

Show me all the drives where we stalled because the play called was bad vs bad throws or drops.  I promise you there aren't that many.

 

Allen needs to hit on at least one of those deep throws or he needs to not be a starting quarterback.  He will tell you all day he needs to make those throws

 

 

The Ravens have a good defense and two of the sacks came from Allen holding onto the ball for an eternity.  They sent a lot of zero blitzes that I can't fault the offensive line for breaking down against.  Allen has to see it and get it out quick.  Allen had just as many plays where he had a lot of time to throw and the running game was sound.  I think the offensive line did okay for the team they played, minus a few plays here or there (Knox and Ford whiffs)

 

 

Wow!

 

I guess we saw a different game then. Too many times defenders got through untouched.

 

I don't care how good the Ravens defense is, that kind of play by the O-Line is inexcusable.

 

Yes, Allen did hold onto the ball too long a few times, but I cannot put this all on him.

[Tcali]

46 minutes ago, JaCrispy said:

Just like to add that the Bills two minute offense continues to remain tragically inept...1st and 10 on the 18 with two minutes to go and the bills only manage 2 yards is beyond egregious...if we can somehow figure that out, along with the deep ball miscues, I think we could finally become an elite team...

and the first and goal from the 1/2 yd line was tragically screwed up. just do the damn sneak---not a slow developing run off tackle...and then throws.we were lucky to get the points

[Nihilarian]

37 minutes ago, Nextmanup said:

If you can't ask your QB to throw passes 30 yards down field, you need  to find a new QB.

 

 

It was windy, I didn't see Lamar Jackson having his great game as usual. Did you see Jackson completing 30 yard passes downfield?  Besides most QB's with a strong arm tend to overpower early throws. I can't tell you how many times I've seen QBs do this same thing...even Brady does this.

 

My point was what worked for the offense in the last three game was to get that run game going and the QB with short quick throws to get him settled in and gaining confidence.

 

Singletary finished the game with a 5.2 yard per carry average. How do you not run him more?  Beasley and Singletary should have been targeted with shorter passes in the beginning of the game.

 

From my view the Bills OC went away from what worked the previous three weeks. 

[Virgil]

3 minutes ago, Nihilarian said:

It was windy, I didn't see Lamar Jackson having his great game as usual. Did you see Jackson completing 30 yard passes downfield?  Besides most QB's with a strong arm tend to overpower early throws. I can't tell you how many times I've seen QBs do this same thing...even Brady does this.

 

My point was what worked for the offense in the last three game was to get that run game going and the QB with short quick throws to get him settled in and gaining confidence.

 

Singletary finished the game with a 5.2 yard per carry average. How do you not run him more?  Beasley and Singletary should have been targeted with shorter passes in the beginning of the game.

 

From my view the Bills OC went away from what worked the previous three weeks. 

I can’t stand Lamar so it’s hard to admit this.  His deep balls downfield at least hit his players in the hand.  
 

The TE who was wide open was a completion.  
 

So yes, his throws were better 

16 minutes ago, Mark Vader said:

Wow!

 

I guess we saw a different game then. Too many times defenders got through untouched.

 

I don't care how good the Ravens defense is, that kind of play by the O-Line is inexcusable.

 

Yes, Allen did hold onto the ball too long a few times, but I cannot put this all on him.

I just can’t say they are even in the top 3 for reasons we lost today.  I’m not saying they were great.  They were as expected for me 

[Mark Vader]

2 minutes ago, Virgil said:

I can’t stand Lamar so it’s hard to admit this.  His deep balls downfield at least hit his players in the hand.  
 

The TE who was wide open was a completion.  
 

So yes, his throws were better 

I just can’t say they are even in the top 3 for reasons we lost today.  I’m not saying they were great.  They were as expected for me 

So then our O-Line really sucks?

[NoSaint]

1 hour ago, Gray Beard said:

Brown hasn’t done much in the past two games....

Is he in a slump?

Is he getting tighter coverage?

Has Josh moved to Beasley as his “go to” guy?

Something else?

He’s always had an up and down nature. It was my worry with him. When riding the crest of the wave he’s among the better out there, but is he that guy 16 (or day i say 20) weeks? 
 

curious to see how he rebounds or if he’s in a rut 

[Easterner]

Anybody know who the main culprit on the O Line was today, or was it more than 1. 

[Sundancer]

With all the pressure, how about an RB screen or 2? 

 

Allen did not have a great game but I'd be curious to review Dawkins' play. Lots of blind side pressure today. Also a fair amount up the middle. Josh was getting rushed a lot. 

[Virgil]

1 minute ago, Sundancer said:

With all the pressure, how about an RB screen or 2? 

 

Allen did not have a great game but I'd be curious to review Dawkins' play. Lots of blind side pressure today. Also a fair amount up the middle. Josh was getting rushed a lot. 

We tried a few quick passes to the outside and got blown up immediately

[Just in Atlanta]

Allen was battered and bruised all game. Looked like Balt was bringing the house every play and still had our receivers locked. Allen looked like he was in pain early on. 

 

With the exception of the deep ball--which we all can plainly see is overthrown every time--Allen had a good game, IMO, given the situation. 

 

I didn't see many open receivers. Lots of drops. We lack a top flight receiver. 

 

I just trust this defense. That secondary is stellar. 

 

Baltimore is a damn good team and we hung around and could've beaten them.

 

Get that deep ball rolling, and stop dropping balls, and we can win a playoff game or two. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[killshot]

Everytime Allan was under center I was telling my wife this will not work . We need to stay in shotgun formation . I think the whole game we had one positive run play from under center . It is very clear that Allan does much better from shotgun . Even our running backs do better from there . 

[Ethan in Cleveland]

1. Oline played a bad game

2. Daboll needs to coach up Allen on blitz reads and give him a few more options

3. Frazier should watch some tape of Ravens D and blitz more. I have no issue with his game plan today. But against a rookie next week and a statuesque Brady, they need to keep bringing the blitz.

4. I don't agree with three WR set as the primary offensive grouping. I've posted before, we should be in two TE, two WR, single back most of the game. 

5. Need to use Beasley earlier and more often

 

With all that said, I think Bills win out but still end up the 5 seed and have a rematch with Tennessee.

31 minutes ago, Easterner said:

Anybody know who the main culprit on the O Line was today, or was it more than 1. 

It was a systemic failure. They beat us up the middle and around the edges. Morse is just average. Ford is probably better at guard. The rest are average journeymen and it shows against superior defensive lines.

[Sundancer]

23 minutes ago, Virgil said:

We tried a few quick passes to the outside and got blown up immediately

 

WR screens in the NFL don't work well. Most teams are too fast to the ball. RB screens run well slow down the pass rush. 

 

The bomb to Foster that was a 50-50 ball was frustrating to me. Forget the PI, Iif Foster goes for that ball with his hands up instead of trying to catch it in his gut, he will get the call or the ball. The team lacks a guy who can high point challenge for a ball. Frustrating. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by Sundancer

[Coach Tuesday]

48 minutes ago, Easterner said:

Anybody know who the main culprit on the O Line was today, or was it more than 1. 

Mitch Morse, the NFL’s highest-paid center.  He was a travesty today.  I’m questioning that signing.  Feliciano should man the pivot IMO.

[Reks Ryan]

54 minutes ago, Virgil said:

I can’t stand Lamar so it’s hard to admit this.  His deep balls downfield at least hit his players in the hand.  
 

The TE who was wide open was a completion.  
 

So yes, his throws were better 

I just can’t say they are even in the top 3 for reasons we lost today.  I’m not saying they were great.  They were as expected for me 

Virgil good write up and I agree w most of your points.

 

However, the Bills inability to find a solution for the pressure and blitzes was definitely the biggest reason for the L today.  Whether you

want to blame, O-line, Allen, Daboll or WRs, they had no answer at the end of the game. Allen was getting sacked or throwing up prayers.

 

Yes they were in position to tie the game, but the entire last drive was penalty yards.  The O could not hold off the rush to make a play in the passing game

 

 

[whatdrought]

Good post @Virgil! I thought you were gonna be full negative Nancy, but this is a lot of fair takes.

 

Here's my pushback on Allen's first half (and it is in no way absolving him of blame):

 

Is there not a tangible difference how our offense plays when we're running quick slants, crossers, and come backs that get Allen confidence and move the ball, versus what we saw in the first half that was primarily a vertical passing attack that relied on deep outs and posts? To me there is a clear difference between the two and I can't understand why we don't start with the quicker stuff, especially when the Oline is getting whipped. All that to say... Allen looked much better when we switched to our faster offense in the second half. Isn't that on Daboll, at least partly, for not starting that way? (also consider that Allen's handle on his deep ball is much better when he's got the confidence built from positive plays). Allen left a lot on the field no doubt, but my question is- whose to blame between the disparity in these two offensive approaches? Allen, or Daboll? Why can't we do what has consistently worked throughout the year? 

[Boatdrinks]

42 minutes ago, Sundancer said:

With all the pressure, how about an RB screen or 2? 

 

Allen did not have a great game but I'd be curious to review Dawkins' play. Lots of blind side pressure today. Also a fair amount up the middle. Josh was getting rushed a lot. 

It would be nice, but the Bills are absolutely awful at setting up/ selling the screen. Gets blown up routinely

[Virgil]

3 minutes ago, whatdrought said:

Good post @Virgil! I thought you were gonna be full negative Nancy, but this is a lot of fair takes.

 

Here's my pushback on Allen's first half (and it is in no way absolving him of blame):

 

Is there not a tangible difference how our offense plays when we're running quick slants, crossers, and come backs that get Allen confidence and move the ball, versus what we saw in the first half that was primarily a vertical passing attack that relied on deep outs and posts? To me there is a clear difference between the two and I can't understand why we don't start with the quicker stuff, especially when the Oline is getting whipped. All that to say... Allen looked much better when we switched to our faster offense in the second half. Isn't that on Daboll, at least partly, for not starting that way? (also consider that Allen's handle on his deep ball is much better when he's got the confidence built from positive plays). Allen left a lot on the field no doubt, but my question is- whose to blame between the disparity in these two offensive approaches? Allen, or Daboll? Why can't we do what has consistently worked throughout the year? 

I agree with you.  But when are are going to be able to start games without having to build up our starting quarterbacks confidence.  
 

He should have been ready to roll after his last three games.  I think that’s why I am so disappointed in how he came out of the gate.