Joe B’s All 22 Review: Allen and Edmunds Struggle Big Time vs NE

[Phil The Thrill]

https://theathletic.com/1480466/2019/12/25/bills-all-22-review-the-very-loud-conundrum-that-is-the-josh-allen-evaluation/?source=shared-article
 

Joe Buscaglia is done evaluating the film from the Bills All 22.  Its largely what you would expect - the Bills fought tough but couldn’t come through.

 

Josh Allen struggled and regressed versus the NE defense.  While he made the 2 big throws, he also missed many other golden opportunities that could have helped the team.  He missed several shots at finding an open WR and overthrew other passes.  Ironically he says that the game in NE is perfect evidence for the conundrum of Josh Allen.  If you want to find evidence of his inaccuracy, it’s there.  If you want to find evidence of his big play ability, it’s there.  

 

Tremaine Edmunds played terrible early on and NE took him out of the game with a lead blocker.  He couldn’t get off blocks WGR the game began and this is why NE has so much running successes.  He did better toward the end but the front 4 did him no favors
 

Surprisingly, he said that Jordan Phillips has a bad game and did not show up.  This led Joe to question whether the Bills should break to bank to resign him.  
 

He also said that Dawson Knox is on the brink of breakout our given his ability to separate and win 50/50 balls.  

Edited December 25, 2019 by Phil The Thrill

[SoCal Deek]

Pretty much spot on. 

[Bob in STL]

Yes and if was that easy Joe would be a coach in the NFL and not a reporter. 

[SCBills]

Getting to the point where we should be targeting Knox like San Fran does Kittle and Philly does Ertz.
 

He’s got to get over the focus issues that lead to drops, but he has the speed, physicality and route running ability to get open with ease, along with consistently making contested catches.  
 

He’s the one massive mismatch we have on offense.  That, and Josh Allen’s dual threat ability, which I suspect we may see more of in the Playoffs.  

[Tesla03]

11 minutes ago, SCBills said:

Getting to the point where we should be targeting Knox like San Fran does Kittle and Philly does Ertz.
 

He’s got to get over the focus issues that lead to drops, but he has the speed, physicality and route running ability to get open with ease, along with consistently making contested catches.  
 

He’s the one massive mismatch we have on offense.  That, and Josh Allen’s dual threat ability, which I suspect we may see more of in the Playoffs.  

 

we target him a good amount. he has at least 1 bad drop per game and Allen can't get the ball to him accurately. 

[Phil The Thrill]

31 minutes ago, Bob in STL said:

Yes and if was that easy Joe would be a coach in the NFL and not a reporter. 

He’s not saying that he could do better, Joe is just pointing out that Josh and Edmunds has bad games.  Do you disagree?

16 minutes ago, SCBills said:

Getting to the point where we should be targeting Knox like San Fran does Kittle and Philly does Ertz.
 

He’s got to get over the focus issues that lead to drops, but he has the speed, physicality and route running ability to get open with ease, along with consistently making contested catches.  
 

He’s the one massive mismatch we have on offense.  That, and Josh Allen’s dual threat ability, which I suspect we may see more of in the Playoffs.  

I think that’s something that Josh has to work on with him in the offseason.  He definitely needs more targets but also has to deliver

[Coach Tuesday]

41 minutes ago, Bob in STL said:

Yes and if was that easy Joe would be a coach in the NFL and not a reporter. 

 

Come on.

[GunnerBill]

Yea for all the criticism of Milano on here after the game for a couple of missed tackles in the 4th quarter, Edmunds was exposed much more significantly. It is the 3rd time that the Pats have done him that way in 4 meetings. He played a really good game against them week 4 and I think it is no coincidence it was just after Devlin the fullback went down injured and they hadn't quite found their adjustment yet. Now they have that linebacker on the field as a lead blocker pretty much every snap. 

[bigK14094]

Ahhhh Knox catches some big ones, and drops a lot of others.  What are the stats on his drops?  I don't know, but, I don't consider him to have good hands after watching all season.  We still need a receiving TE....maybe Croom can come back next year and be that guy.

2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

Yea for all the criticism of Milano on here after the game for a couple of missed tackles in the 4th quarter, Edmunds was exposed much more significantly. It is the 3rd time that the Pats have done him that way in 4 meetings. He played a really good game against them week 4 and I think it is no coincidence it was just after Devlin the fullback went down injured and they hadn't quite found their adjustment yet. Now they have that linebacker on the field as a lead blocker pretty much every snap. 

Edmunds still doesn't look like a MLB to me after two years.  This has to be a worry for Bean and McD......Edmunds is not a run plugger.  He is a rangy fast large person, but, not good at the run when directed at him.  Hence the Bills vunerability to the up the gut run this year.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

2 minutes ago, bigK14094 said:

Ahhhh Knox catches some big ones, and drops a lot of others.  What are the stats on his drops?  I don't know, but, I don't consider him to have good hands after watching all season.  We still need a receiving TE....maybe Croom can come back next year and be that guy.

it’s strange. He has made several spectacular catches. It’s rare for a guy with bad hands to then make the circus catches he has also made.

[Motorin']

2 minutes ago, JR in Pittsburgh said:

it’s strange. He has made several spectacular catches. It’s rare for a guy with bad hands to then make the circus catches he has also made.

Which leads me to believe it's a mental ) concentration thing rather than a "bad hands" thing. Guys with bad hands don't make those catches. 

[Scott7975]

3 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

Which leads me to believe it's a mental ) concentration thing rather than a "bad hands" thing. Guys with bad hands don't make those catches. 

 

I also believe its mental.  At least some of his drops have come from him turning his head to look upfield before he actually caught the ball.  That is just a focus thing to me.

[GunnerBill]

13 minutes ago, bigK14094 said:

 

Edmunds still doesn't look like a MLB to me after two years.  This has to be a worry for Bean and McD......Edmunds is not a run plugger.  He is a rangy fast large person, but, not good at the run when directed at him.  Hence the Bills vunerability to the up the gut run this year.

 

This is true but his size and the range in the middle of the field is a massive part of our pass defense. It allows their safeties to play with more freedom because Edmunds can take away passing lanes that other teams have to bring safeties up to defend. 

 

I see the argument for moving Edmunds outside but in a pass first league I am increasingly of the view that you have to live with his occasional run game issues for the benefit of what he does in the pass game. And you have to get better play from your 1 tech to compensate. That means more from Star. 

[Motorin']

14 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

 

I also believe its mental.  At least some of his drops have come from him turning his head to look upfield before he actually caught the ball.  That is just a focus thing to me.

If I'm Dawson Knox, I'm spending the off season with one of those ball machines, taking 1000 reps a day. He has the potential to be special.

[Buffalo Junction]

1 hour ago, Phil The Thrill said:

He also said that Dawson Knox is on the brink of breakout our given his ability to separate and win 50/50 balls.  

I find this incredibly encouraging. If Knox reigns in the drops he could develop into a top TE which would mean we can go speed over size (but not quite smurf) in the WR group and it’ll help Allen’s development tremendously. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

39 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

 

Come on.

 

I don't know what these words mean in this context.

[Coach Tuesday]

14 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

This is true but his size and the range in the middle of the field is a massive part of our pass defense. It allows their safeties to play with more freedom because Edmunds can take away passing lanes that other teams have to bring safeties up to defend. 

 

I see the argument for moving Edmunds outside but in a pass first league I am increasingly of the view that you have to live with his occasional run game issues for the benefit of what he does in the pass game. And you have to get better play from your 1 tech to compensate. That means more from Star. 

Edmunds tends to play poorly against power run schemes which feature a fullback (or converted linebacker) who “takes the fight” to him.  He struggles with getting his pads low and engaging the lead blocker with violence.  It does seem fixable and he has definitely improved as the year has gone on.  He improved during the game on Saturday.  My bigger beef was with Star and Phillips - those dudes should give back their game checks from last week.

[Buffalo Junction]

13 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

This is true but his size and the range in the middle of the field is a massive part of our pass defense. It allows their safeties to play with more freedom because Edmunds can take away passing lanes that other teams have to bring safeties up to defend. 

 

I see the argument for moving Edmunds outside but in a pass first league I am increasingly of the view that you have to live with his occasional run game issues for the benefit of what he does in the pass game. And you have to get better play from your 1 tech to compensate. That means more from Star. 

^^^THIS^^^
 

With where the league is Edmunds ability to shrink zones can disrupt the passing game and lead to picks. His lapses in the run D can be mitigated by better D line play and the offense scoring to provide early leads. Teams that often go into halftime with a 7 point lead rarely have bad statistical run defense. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 minutes ago, Buffalo Junction said:

I find this incredibly encouraging. If Knox reigns in the drops he could develop into a top TE which would mean we can go speed over size (but not quite smurf) in the WR group and it’ll help Allen’s development tremendously. 

 

I mean, "if"?  "If" Allen reins in 3-4 bad throws per game he could develop into a top QB?

 

 

1 minute ago, Buffalo Junction said:

^^^THIS^^^
 

With where the league is Edmunds ability to shrink zones can disrupt the passing game and lead to picks. His lapses in the run D can be mitigated by better D line play and the offense scoring to provide early leads. Teams that often go into halftime with a 7 point lead rarely have bad statistical run defense. 

 

Also continued work on technique.  Edmunds has improved vs the run IMO.

[Coach Tuesday]

Just now, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I don't know what these words mean in this context.

It means - critiquing Joe B’s analysis because he’s not coaching football is cheap and adds nothing to this discussion.  At least the guy is breaking down film and offering real football insight.  I’m sure its fairly subjective but he makes some really good points and I am tired of the cheap reactions to any critical writer.