Bills to play most of the team vs. Jets including Josh Allen

[buffalo2218]

I understand both arguments about playing/resting our starters. But it seems like whenever the Bills get any kind of time off, they tend to play so flat afterwards. Personally I wouldn’t mind if Allen played at least 1 quarter. But on defense, definitely no more than a couple of series 

[vincec]

If there’s a game to play then there’s only one way to play it: to win.

[Scott7975]

1 hour ago, Kirby Jackson said:

So the injury rate is the same at 7 days OR 14 days? I wonder what the injury rate is like at 7 AND 14 days? I don’t have the data in front of me but I’d have to think that people are more likely to get hurt playing 2 NFL games than 1?

I’m discounting it in this case because there is ZERO upside. Even if it was as little as moving from the 6 seed to the 5 seed I’d be fine with it. The Bills could play the best game in franchise history or the worst and be in the exact same place the following week. 
 

The flip side of the coin is the value of “rhythm” but the Bills have been good off of rest. McDermott hasn’t lost off of a bye. Maybe an extra week of health and prep is MORE important than rhythm? 
 

Our queen has spoken:

 

 

Seems like it.  I honestly don't know what to think of it yet.  I came across it and thought it was interesting and pertains somewhat to what we are discussing in this thread.  Thought I would share it.  That is data from the NFL and not some statistics site too.  Day 15 seems to spike up a bit.  My guess is people are more prone to injury after too much rest... and or... possibly players coming off injury are more susceptible to re-injury?  Not sure.  

[Putin]

.

[Hsker4life]

Not a fan of it. Better hope no one gets injured.

 

but...beat the Jests!

[row_33]

1 hour ago, vincec said:

If there’s a game to play then there’s only one way to play it: to win.

the scrubs will be playing for a roster spot next year, starting with this game

 

[Rocbillsfan1]

9 hours ago, Virgil said:

I think this is more that they will do their normal routine this week.  I don’t expect the starters to play more than a few series.  Even then, expect a lot of hand offs 

Then what’s the point? You only have so many active players in a week. This is just dumb. Play the backups and have more of those guys active in case of injuries. 

[Tesla03]

2 hours ago, Magox said:

Or option

 

C). Bills starters get in more of a rhythm for following week in the playoffs and sustain no injuries.

 

 

The choice you laid out didn’t include the rationale of why you play the starters.

 

With that said, personally I would rather have them not play the starters that much and rest them for the bye week.

 

what does "get in more of a rhythm" mean?

 

this isn't training camp lol. they have had all season to work on that, 1 game vs the jets isn't going to fix our issues on offense. 

 

rest the players during a free bye week and be done with it. 1 injury to an important player sunday and the fanbase will have a meltdown 

[row_33]

Who knows, we are just along for the ride, awaiting a horror show

 

 

[Tesla03]

1 hour ago, buffalo2218 said:

I understand both arguments about playing/resting our starters. But it seems like whenever the Bills get any kind of time off, they tend to play so flat afterwards. Personally I wouldn’t mind if Allen played at least 1 quarter. But on defense, definitely no more than a couple of series 

 

Mcdermott is 3-0 coming off a bye

[row_33]

2 minutes ago, Tesla03 said:

 

Mcdermott is 3-0 coming off a bye

 

They aren’t getting a bye to the Division round....

 

[Scott7975]

Here is something Bill Belichick has said about it...

 

Quote

"I think that's a conversation that you can have, and the fans can have, but it's not really part of our approach to the game," Belichick told Boston.com. "I don't think it's a good one to have. I don't really understand it either. You're going to pick out one guy that is important and say somebody else isn't? I don't think that's a good way to manage your football team."

 

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1462560-what-does-nfl-history-say-about-resting-starters-before-the-playoffs

 

Quote

For the first year in a while, we didn't have the "resting starters" conversation with Bill Belichick heading into Week 17.

It's a conversation that doesn't usually go too far.

Belichick generally rejects the concept of "starters," and is therefore confused by the notion of resting them.

"Look, I don’t really understand that question,” Belichick said in December 2016. "I don't even know how many starters we have. ... This isn’t like a preseason game where you have 75 guys on your roster. This is a regular-season game. So I don’t really understand that whole line of questioning."

 

[Fan in Chicago]

7 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

Here is something Bill Belichick has said about it...

 

 

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1462560-what-does-nfl-history-say-about-resting-starters-before-the-playoffs

 

 

Pfft . Does he mean to say that Brady, Edelman, Gilmore etc are clearly not the "starters" ? 

 

Sounds brainy on his part but really is BS. 

[buffalo2218]

13 minutes ago, Tesla03 said:

 

Mcdermott is 3-0 coming off a bye

He is? Didn’t we play Philly after the bye and lose horribly?

[row_33]

11 minutes ago, buffalo2218 said:

He is? Didn’t we play Philly after the bye and lose horribly?

don’t let facts get in the way of a dream

 

[Happy]

3 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

Yes and they've also simply not played well enough in the past 3 weeks to advance far in the playoffs.

 

The objective is not to win 1 game..........it's to win ALL of them.

 

Health is great to have and if you are peaking and your key players are older then it's a no brainer to rest them............but that is not the case on either count.........they need the work on both sides of the football.

 

I'd hate to see them get an injury that hurts their chances in the WC game............but THE LAST thing I want to see them do is come out flat and embarrass themselves with an uncompetitive effort in Houston when we knew full well that they weren't peaking going into week 17 and needed the work.     

 

Well said.  I agree that I don't want them to be embarrassed with a poor effort, long flight home, and done for the next 8 months.  It is better to risk an injury than having to shake off rust for three quarters again.  This team isn't in a position to rest players on any phase of the game.

[kota]

Well considering McD has gotten more wins and playoff appearance than anyone since Marv he can do what he wants.  I am sure he has done his due diligence.  If he plays and someone gets hurt he will get killed in the media.  If he rests people and they lay a huge egg in the Playoffs he will get killed in the media.  His only hope is that that no one gets hurt and they win.  

Professional athletes are creatures of habit.  This isn't a bye week i have no idea why people keep saying that.  You still have to play the game.  The entire team doesn't have off.  Chemistry is important and when you have people on difference schedules it can throw you off.  The best option  is to go about your business like any other week and play the game.  

Josh needs the experiences anyway so lets go.  Get that 11th win.  

 

[The Wiz]

I said it in another thread but think I can expand on it a little.  Give them 3-4 possessions to work on the things that need to be fixed (screens, slants, deep ball).  In some format it comes down to points scored up to 10 in those first 3-4. 

 

For example:

first drive - 0, second - 7, third - 3 = they are done 

first drive 7, second drive - 3 = done

but only a max of 4 possessions. 

 

Basically make they play late game ball early on so they are going for a win on each drive instead of playing safe for 2-3 quarters before letting things fly.  

58 minutes ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Pfft . Does he mean to say that Brady, Edelman, Gilmore etc are clearly not the "starters" ? 

 

Sounds brainy on his part but really is BS. 

Honestly, he's just not well spoken is all (or is trying not to be).  He's basically saying the same thing that McD says but sounds more like a curmudgeonon than anything else.

 

McD says "next man up, we have talent throughout this roster"

BB says "what do you mean starter???"

 

It's all about how you say it and BB has a history of these types of responses.

Edited December 25, 2019 by The Wiz

[NoSaint]

59 minutes ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Pfft . Does he mean to say that Brady, Edelman, Gilmore etc are clearly not the "starters" ? 

 

Sounds brainy on his part but really is BS. 

meh. I get it but you know guys 4 and 5 on the list may be frustrated - especially if a little dinged up. Or 6 and 7 if you do 5 and so on. 
 

I don’t agree, but it’s also not insane. Just need to know your team to make the call.

[row_33]

49 minutes ago, kota said:

Well considering McD has gotten more wins and playoff appearance than anyone since Marv he can do what he wants.  I am sure he has done his due diligence.  If he plays and someone gets hurt he will get killed in the media.  If he rests people and they lay a huge egg in the Playoffs he will get killed in the media.  His only hope is that that no one gets hurt and they win.  

Professional athletes are creatures of habit.  This isn't a bye week i have no idea why people keep saying that.  You still have to play the game.  The entire team doesn't have off.  Chemistry is important and when you have people on difference schedules it can throw you off.  The best option  is to go about your business like any other week and play the game.  

Josh needs the experiences anyway so lets go.  Get that 11th win.  

 

another pesky inconvenient fact is that Wade Phillips led them to 2 playoff appearances

 

what further fantasies can we dream up on here?

 

[Da webster guy]

Here are some facts:

 

Over the last five years, from 2014 through the 2018 season, teams returning from a bye week have a collective record of 84-76. That's 84 wins and 74 losses for a winning percentage of 54.5%.

 

This trend of teams returning from a bye week having a winning percentage slightly higher than .500 has remained consistent for several years. It supports the belief that teams with fresh legs have a small advantage over teams that didn't have the last week off.

 

We are 4-1 after bye weeks since 2014

 

Its a 16 game, grueling season, and we have 4 rookies that are a big part of our team in Ed, Motor, Knox and Cody.  Coaches say the rookie wall is a real thing, if they're right, then why not take a bye week here?  At least for the rooks.

 

Backup talent needs reps too.  Barkley, Duke, Spencer Long, Darryl, Perry at RB, Corey Thompson & Stanford at LB, Sweeney at TE--Lots of guys need reps and we need to see more of them in real game situations.  Evaluation AND in the event a man goes down they're that much more prepared.

 

Dropping a game to the Jets would raise us up in each round of the draft and slide them down in each round.  Also a plus.

 

So the coaching staff knows all this, which means if they play starters a lot Sunday they must feel like there are things we need to correct before playing Houston, and doing it in a real game is the best way.

 

My question to McD would be, if you insist on playing starters, why didn't you play any of them in the 4th preseason game?  Both precede huge games, but are also meaningless for a playoff bid.  Makes no sense.

 

My opinion is that resting every single player you possibly can is more advantageous.  

 

 

 

 

[ganesh]

13 hours ago, TroutDog said:

Ugh. I suspect I get McD’s thinking in the aspect of all games are important, particularly the next. I understand that but I also get the big picture and would much rather the guys who are critical or dinged-up had a week off. 

I am sure the guys dinged up will get their rest

[Dan Darragh]

4 hours ago, buffalo2218 said:

Didn’t we play Philly after the bye and lose horribly?

No, the Philly game was the week after the Miami game

[foreboding]

He's getting them tuned up for our super bowl run. 5 times a charm baby!!

[YoloinOhio]

4 hours ago, buffalo2218 said:

He is? Didn’t we play Philly after the bye and lose horribly?

No

[Dr.Sack]

If we have the Saturday Wild Card game is having 6 days rest going on the road a disadvantage over a 13 day rest?

[Richard Noggin]

13 hours ago, leh-nerd skin-erd said:

I worry about a stop sign blowing off in high winds and slicing me in half as I sit behind the Toyota Camry in front of me--

 

Oh, to dream...

[TheBrownBear]

I think Josh needs all the game reps he can get for his development, so I don't really have a problem playing him.  I do worry about potential injuries to our veteran wide outs or losing a guy like Tre.  Objectively, resting key players is the safer approach. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

8 hours ago, buffalo2218 said:

He is? Didn’t we play Philly after the bye and lose horribly?

 

We played the Dolphins and won 31-21. 

It was a win week that was worse than a loss, on this board

We showed some flaws to our run game that Philly exploited.

[HardyBoy]

What happens if Gregg figures something out on how to stop JA, puts it on tape and the Bills don't have enough time to figure out how to counter it before the wild card?

 

Williams isn't just a dirty coach, he's arguably a top 20 all time d coordinator. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

12 hours ago, DCbillsfan said:

McD was annoyed after the Pats game.  Defense gave up 450 yards.  If defense played well maybe they win.  A lot of missed tackles. 

 

It wasn't just defense.  The OL did not block well on key downs.  Allen started the game playing poorly and misfired at the end.

 

12 hours ago, DCbillsfan said:

McD trying to get the team playoff ready and clean up some stuff.  Is there some risk playing starters against Jets? Yes. 

 

McD has changed the culture at OBD and he's trying to build the expectation of competing in the playoffs every year or close to it.  They are a young team and McD is leading the way. 

 

There's the other side of the coin there too.  McDermott's team is built on "do your 1/11"

 

Now if a player is injured that's one thing

But otherwise, how do you say "everybody needs to do their 1/11 and every 1/11 is critically important" and then just go along and pick who rests? 

 

[Sharky7337]

40 minutes ago, HardyBoy said:

What happens if Gregg figures something out on how to stop JA, puts it on tape and the Bills don't have enough time to figure out how to counter it before the wild card?

 

Williams isn't just a dirty coach, he's arguably a top 20 all time d coordinator. 

Hate to break it to you but that's been out on tape a while lol

Edited December 25, 2019 by Sharky7337

[Buddo]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if come Sunday, there are a lot of guys given limited snaps. I think the method will be to have everyone practise as normal, but then make decisions based off of fitness etc. come the Sunday. Keeps actual preparation disruption to a minimum, and maintains routines.

 

The team really hasn't played especially well in the last few games, to warrant time off for good behaviour

 

Offensively they have barely done enough, and defensively there was regression in the Cheaters game to some poor tackling, in particular.

 

Both sides of the ball need to show they have put things right, before getting time off (or rested). 

 

There is no sense in playing guys who are dinged up, however.

[dubs]

I think this is a really bad decision. 
 

the defense is stout already and we simply cannot have critical injuries. 
 

Newsflash, the offense isn’t “working anything out” or “getting out any kinks” in a meaningless game against the Jets. They are what they are at this point and a key injury to John or Brown or the oline will make a very pedestrian offense that much worse. 
 

you start prepping for Houston now and sit as many people as possible on Sunday. There is no other correct alternative!

 

Merry Christmas all!!

Edited December 25, 2019 by dubs

[HardyBoy]

49 minutes ago, Sharky7337 said:

Hate to break it to you but that's been out on tape a while lol

 

Yeah, the way Allen reacts to an exotic pressure/coverage combo that he's never seen before is on tape already...ok?

[HardyBoy]

1 hour ago, Buddo said:

I wouldn't be at all surprised if come Sunday, there are a lot of guys given limited snaps. I think the method will be to have everyone practise as normal, but then make decisions based off of fitness etc. come the Sunday. Keeps actual preparation disruption to a minimum, and maintains routines.

 

The team really hasn't played especially well in the last few games, to warrant time off for good behaviour

 

Offensively they have barely done enough, and defensively there was regression in the Cheaters game to some poor tackling, in particular.

 

Both sides of the ball need to show they have put things right, before getting time off (or rested). 

 

There is no sense in playing guys who are dinged up, however.

 

Unless they are missing tackles because they aren't rested, which is a heck of a lot more likely than them suddenly forgetting how to tackle.  They don't have the roster spots to rest everyone, and the backups aren't game fit to play huge snaps.

 

You're really talking Barkely for Allen, Duke for Brown or Beasley, Sweeney for Knox and Yeldon for Singletary. The rest of the starters would have to be active because they don't have players that are game fit enough to cover the position for a full game without greatly increasing the risk of injury.

Edited December 25, 2019 by HardyBoy

[BillsFanSD]

3 minutes ago, HardyBoy said:

 

Unless they are missing tackles because they aren't rested, which is a heck of a lot more likely than them suddenly forgetting how to tackle.  They don't have the roster spots to rest everyone, and the backups aren't game fit to play huge snaps.

 

You're really talking Barkely for Allen, Duke for Brown or Beasley, Sweeney for Knox and Yeldon for Singletary. The rest of the starts would have to be active because they don't have players that are game fit enough to cover the position for a full game without greatly increasing the risk of injury.

Exactly.  Because the roster is so small, we're going to have to play quite a few regulars regardless.  I assume we'll sit guys like Morse who are a little banged up, and I would prefer that they sit Allen, Singletary, and Tre because of their importance next week, but you can't rest everybody.

 

I'm hoping that they're just going to give Allen a couple of series to stay in his regular routine while keeping him out of harms way.  Trust the process, I guess.

[Sharky7337]

20 minutes ago, HardyBoy said:

 

Yeah, the way Allen reacts to an exotic pressure/coverage combo that he's never seen before is on tape already...ok?

Because no one has been game planning to take him out of the game for like 2 years now...... you people crack me up

[Solomon Grundy]

14 hours ago, zow2 said:

Big deal.  Some of the important starters may Only play a series, a quarter or a half. They can get hurt in practice too.  The only ones I would sit for sure or play very sparingly are Tre, Singletary and possibly Milano. 

Definitely Tre!!

[Scott7975]

3 hours ago, HardyBoy said:

What happens if Gregg figures something out on how to stop JA, puts it on tape and the Bills don't have enough time to figure out how to counter it before the wild card?

 

Williams isn't just a dirty coach, he's arguably a top 20 all time d coordinator. 

Josh will probably only play like 2 series.  There really isn't anything that's going to be figured out that hasn't already been figured out.