A few thoughts about the Titans game, in no particular order

[Call_Of_Ktulu]

Nice post, I pretty much agree with everything you posted. I would like to see Epenesa get more playing time. 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

23 minutes ago, Virgil said:

A series circuit is great when everyone is working together and puts on a great light show.  But when you're totally reliant upon in and one part goes down, the whole thing goes down. 

 

1 - Tuesday Night Game - Say what you want about COVID rescheduling and if the Titans deserve responsibility, both teams still had to go out any play the game today.  Both teams were missing key players.  Both teams had their normal rhythm thrown off.  But only one team decided to not show up tonight and I have no sympathy for millionaire athletes who don't show up.  Yes, that probably sets the tone for the rest of this.  While I do give credit to the Titans for having a good defensive game plan against us, we also have coaches who's job is to game plan and get their players up for the game.

 

2 - Mistakes - I was going to call out a few players with their own individual thoughts, but by the time we got to the 3rd quarter, I stopped tracking.  To say we weren't mentally in this game today would be the understatement of a lifetime.  If the false starts weren't enough, every receiver, besides Beasley, found a way to drop a pass.  Roberts took dropping a pass to a new level, and tried to make up for it with some ill-advised kick-off returns.  Neal lost his lane on the huge punt return.  The defense contributed with some really stupid late hits on 3rd down, poor tackling, and other mishaps I'll get to later.  Even Allen was a team player and threw his first real interception of the season, and boy was it a bad one.  For anyone watching the Bills in their first evening prime time game, it'd be very easy for you to think this was the same old Bills.

 

3 - Allen - While I credit the Titans for running a similar 3 deep coverage and making Allen beat them with small passes downfield, Allen also had quite a bit of time to throw.  The ridiculous amount of drops couldn't have helped his confidence, but that's not something that's really ever shaken him before.  However, come third quarter, you could see that Allen was rattled and making some throws we aren't used to this season.  Not a single throw was attempted more than 20 yards downfield and his interception really was that bad.  I get that Brown was out, who has really become Allen's security blanket, but that's not enough to excuse this offensive performance.

 

4 - Ten years the waves roll the ships home from the sea,

Thinkin' well how it may blow in all good company,

If I tell another what your own lips told to me,

Let me lay 'neath the roses, till my eyes no longer see.

 

5 - Rushing attack - While the Titans have made the play action a fundamental part of their offense, our play action is as believable as those tax refund scam callers.  We maybe ran 3 times with Allen under center.  Everything else was out of the pistol or shotgun.  Motor had no head start on the defense nor was called for any outside zone runs.  I'm really starting to get concerned with our rushing offense and I think it's more about Daboll than Motor, especially against a poorly ranked Titans rush defense.  We've got to have some form of rushing attack that opposing teams can respect, and not because Allen is scrambling. 

 

6 - Norman - Hailed as one of the defensive heroes last week, Norman was anything but this week.  On the first touchdown of the game, Norman didn't even seem to be aware he was in on the play as he made zero attempt on the ball.  I'm not sure if Angry Runs includes plays called back on penalty, but I'm sure Norman hopes not.  Norman played like a guy who had to settle for a one year deal and missed the first three games. Opposite of Tre and being able to play more zone, I'm sure Norman can be a helpful part of the team, but he wasn't ready for AJ Brown at all today. 

 

7 - Taron - I debated talking about multiple defensive backs, but Taron Johnson also got abused tonight  On a 3rd and long, he got absolutely abused on a route and the look on his face afterwards said it all.  He was badly beaten on a few plays and overall showed that DB has to be a priority in FA or in the draft.  There's no reason our defensive backs should overall be this bad without Tre, especially when the Titans were without their #2 and 3 receivers. 

 

8 - Defense - The best way to prevent Allen from showing his 4th quarter magic (that probably wasn't going to happen tonight), is to not let Allen see the field in the 4th quarter.  We not only allowed a rushing TD to Tannehill, but also a 20 yard rush later in the 4th quarter.  When we did send pressure, it was up the middle and had no affect on Tannehill's passes.  We made him look competent, and you know how hard that is to do.  Oliver non-existent again.  Yes, we also gave them great field position on a few plays, but our defense did nothing to make Tannehill uncomfortable.  We didn't generate a single turnover gave up 42 points to the Titans.  Yes, we got BLOWN OUT by the Titans.  Take away the short field for two of those touchdowns, there's still 21 points out there and our complete inability to get them off the field in the 4th.

 

9 - Edmunds - Unless he absolutely loses a game for us or turns it around, this is the last week I'm going to talk about Edmunds.  I don't know the extent of his injury, but Edmunds is not playing anywhere near up to his potential.  He had one good 3rd down break up pass, but that's about it today.  He fell off of multiple tackles and was terrible in coverage.  On one play in particular, Edmunds was covering the middle of the short field and had no offensive Titans anywhere near him besides Brown, whom he proceeds to make a catch within a few yards of him and doesn't react at all.  If I'm being to hard on the kid, let me know.  But when is the last time his name was mentioned in a positive or dominating way.

 

10 - McD/Espenesa - On 3rd and 7, Espenesa jumped Offside on a hard count by Tannehill.  While that was par for the course tonight, the reaction wasn't.  Unless I've missed it, I've never seen McD pull a player off the field for a mistake and it goes to overall show how bad tonight was.  If McClappy and captain positive himself had a moment like that on camera, then that's all you need to know.  I also found it interesting that McD called a timeout when down 35-16 instead of letting the game end.  I take that to mean he's trying to prove a point about not giving up and executing correctly going forward.  However, in giving up two more touchdowns afterwards, I don't think that message landed.  I would love to be a fly on the wall in that locker room and hope the beating is worthy of this performance.  The streak of not getting blown out is also over.

 

LVP - It's hard to pick one person in this pit of misery, but Roberts has to get it or me.  The fumble at the end of the game wasn't going to change anything, but add in the early interception, the poor return choices, and drops....Congrats Andre.  You earned it!

 

 

One of the unwritten rules is to not post one of these so close to the end of the game and let things simmer.  However, it's Tuesday, I'm tired, and this wasn't a game.  Also, ***** you Vrabel and Tannehill for the last touchdown pass.  That's a dick move and you know it.  Titans climbed up the list of hated teams with this game and entire mess. 

 

4-1 with the Chiefs coming up.  We need to get healthy quick.

 

Go Bills

well done. The only positive I’d add is that TD pass to yeldon was absurd.  
 

They simply need more play makers on offense. 

[dave mcbride]

4 minutes ago, billsfanmiamioh said:

I hate that loser.

Why? Seriously. He’s a good story - paired with Gase, he floundered, but we all know how bad Gase is now. In a better situation, he’s showing why he was drafted so high.

[Niagara Dude]

1 minute ago, BuffaloRebound said:

Bottom line is we weren’t ready to play.  Can’t say I blame them but it is what it is.  Josh wasn’t sharp, there were a lot of drops and a lot of penalties but we still moved the ball.  The defense is concerning and has been.  Hughes has to stop with the selfish inside rushes.  All the defensive ends need to have better contain.  Edmunds needs to play with more violence.  Can’t have a MLB who plays that soft.  Monday will show us what they’re made of. 

End of the day Allen did not play well but i thought he still was good enough to pull this out if the defence did something.  The defence was total trash including that 90 yard drive before the half.  Could not make any plays, they have sucked in all 5 games,  no more paying guys.  

[Freddie's Dead]

It became apparent to me that we have not come close to replacing Meatball or the Lorax.  They were the heart and soul of this D, and no one has their gravitas, save Poyer and Hyde.  We need that in the front 7.  For now, we need to get the Cookie back fast, or Kelce is gonna have a field day against us.

[billsfanmiamioh]

1 minute ago, dave mcbride said:

Why? Seriously. He’s a good story - paired with Gase, he floundered, but we all know how bad Gase is now. In a better situation, he’s showing why he was drafted so high.

Is he? We clearly sucked ass tonight And he of course had a very good game but he’s never impressed me. It obviously didn’t matter but he was acting awfully chesty before half when the game was far from over. 

[bills_fan]

Today was sloppy. They usually don't play sloppy football under McDermott. 3 turnovers, 10 penalties, 7 dropped passes...it's ugly. Been a long time since they played that sloppy. They better stop reading their press clippings. 
 

That said, I expect an elite level of focus for Kansas City on Monday. They will look like a whole different team. 

[Virgil]

5 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Tannehill since coming to TN has been one of the three best QBs in the NFL. He is way beyond “competent” at this point.

He’s an #######. 
 

That aside, he’s competent when everything goes his teams way and he isn’t asked to do much. They had 4 touchdown drives where they started within 40 yards of the endzone. 
 

He won playoff games without breaking 80 passing yards.  
 

If we didn’t gift them such great field position and kept it close, the real Tannehill would have eventually showed his true colors 

[dave mcbride]

Just now, billsfanmiamioh said:

Is he? We clearly sucked ass tonight And he of course had a very good game but he’s never impressed me. It obviously didn’t matter but he was acting awfully chesty before half when the game was far from over. 

 

1 minute ago, billsfanmiamioh said:

Is he? We clearly sucked ass tonight And he of course had a very good game but he’s never impressed me. It obviously didn’t matter but he was acting awfully chesty before half when the game was far from over. 

Look at his stats since arriving in TN. He literally led the NFL in passer rating last year. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/TannRy00.htm

[muppy]

20 minutes ago, dubs said:

Thanks to the mods for locking some of the compulsive, emotional, puke being started immediately after the game. Like stamping out cockroaches. 
 

(not this thread, not sure where to put that thanks though). 

emotions can run high after a loss like this and clearly noone wants or likes to see the Bills lose in such fashion.... but I mean really.come on people....especially if this isn't your first Bills rodeo.... to go all doom and gloom and say you're going to boycott watching them next week seriously? Im in the camp of putting this loss in perspective to realize we need all our starters back asap and hope we get some back next week

[flmike]

18 minutes ago, newcam2012 said:

Did not enjoy this game one bit. I couldn't help but have flashbacks to the crapoy Bills teams of the past. Allen regressed badly, defense was horrendous, what running game or pass rush?, and Oline sucked. A total disaster tonight. Hoping this makes us better. My biggest concern was how bad Allen was. He panicked, was inaccurate, stared down receivers, and didn't run at all. 

 

Wait, what? O line gave Allen hours to throw most of the time. They were fine tonight. 

[dave mcbride]

Just now, Virgil said:

He’s an #######. 
 

That aside, he’s competent when everything goes his teams way and he isn’t asked to do much. They had 4 touchdown drives where they started within 40 yards of the endzone. 
 

He won playoff games without breaking 80 passing yards.  
 

If we didn’t gift them such great field position and kept it close, the real Tannehill would have eventually showed his true colors 

Again, he literally led the league in passer rating last year. Some fans are waaaaay too attached to a narrative. Narratives can change.

[muppy]

8 minutes ago, Call_Of_Ktulu said:

Nice post, I pretty much agree with everything you posted. I would like to see Epenesa get more playing time. 

me too. He was drafted highly I want to see him play more also

[Captain_Quint]

McD pulled Kroft and Singletary today, too, after they messed up. 

 

Singletary missed a block and got Allen sacked, and then was held out the next series. 

 

Kroft was also pulled directly after a penalty too. 

[flmike]

1 minute ago, Virgil said:

He’s an #######. 
 

That aside, he’s competent when everything goes his teams way and he isn’t asked to do much. They had 4 touchdown drives where they started within 40 yards of the endzone. 
 

He won playoff games without breaking 80 passing yards.  
 

If we didn’t gift them such great field position and kept it close, the real Tannehill would have eventually showed his true colors 

When you have Henry you don't need to pass that much. Tannehill has been lights out this year. He hit everyone tonight.

[Johnnycage46]

1 minute ago, Muppy said:

emotions can run high after a loss like this and clearly noone wants or likes to see the Bills lose in such fashion.... but I mean really.come on people....especially if this isn't your first Bills rodeo.... to go all doom and gloom and say you're going to boycott watching them next week seriously? Im in the camp of putting this loss in perspective to realize we need all our starters back asap and hope we get some back next week

What about this year's D, even at full strength gives you confidence we can win another single game if our O isn't just absolutely lights out?

[Virgil]

1 minute ago, dave mcbride said:

Again, he literally led the league in passer rating last year. Some fans are waaaaay too attached to a narrative. Narratives can change.

Again, in his situation when asked to do little.  
 

It’s a fit thing, not a talent thing. 
 

You aren’t going to change my mind.  

[Agent 91]

33 minutes ago, Virgil said:

 

I'm not saying I started it in the 3rd quarter but......

How much editing did you do lol

[billsfanmiamioh]

1 minute ago, dave mcbride said:

 

Look at his stats since arriving in TN. He literally led the NFL in passer rating last year. https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/TannRy00.htm

He also has an ungodly freak for a RB and a very good defense. He isn’t the worst by any means but he’s been in the league a long time and I don’t believe he’s capable of leading a team to victory consistently without a lot of other support. We made him look like a bum many times with far lessor teams.

[Agent 91]

33 minutes ago, Virgil said:

 

I'm not saying I started it in the 3rd quarter but......

How much editing did you do lol

[muppy]

Just now, Johnnycage46 said:

What about this year's D, even at full strength gives you confidence we can win another single game if our O isn't just absolutely lights out?

for goodness sake if this is really your attitude not much I'd be able to say to change your mind. To each is own Im not going to waste my time.

[dave mcbride]

1 minute ago, Virgil said:

Again, in his situation when asked to do little.  
 

It’s a fit thing, not a talent thing. 
 

You aren’t going to change my mind.  

Apparently not. All I ask is that you consider questioning your narrative. The player who preceded him in the same offense was markedly worse.

[flmike]

Tough night. Sometimes those are needed. Josh seems like the type to get mad and then take it out on the next team. The D is in real trouble w/o Milano and Tre, though. 

[dave mcbride]

Just now, billsfanmiamioh said:

He also has an ungodly freak for a RB and a very good defense. He isn’t the worst by any means but he’s been in the league a long time and I don’t believe he’s capable of leading a team to victory consistently without a lot of other support. We made him look like a bum many times with far lessor teams.

Again, look at the performance of the player who preceded him on that team at the same position. 

[Agent 91]

The only thing that burned me was that this was on national TV. I hate being in the public eye. Paper tiger speech is gonna bother me until we win again

[Jerome007]

12 minutes ago, CodeMonkey said:

The Bills Titans game tonight seals the deal for me.  Practice in the NFL means exactly squat.  The Bills have been practicing like normal.  The Titans have practiced like twice in the last 2 weeks, Had zoom meetings. And they kick the living crap out of and totally outplay the Bills in every way tonight.  Plus no preseason for everyone and yet they all played well week 1.  Practice means nothing at that level.

I'd like to disagree, and preparation is critical, but yeah, all the observations are spot on. From week 1 the offenses league wide were sharp, Titans seem better prepared, etc.

[dubs]

Just now, Agent 91 said:

The only thing that burned me was that this was on national TV. I hate being in the public eye. Paper tiger speech is gonna bother me until we win again

funny, I literally don’t care at all what anyone else thinks about this team. All I care about is W/L and where they end up when the season is over. Chuckleheads on TV, Radio, fan boards, and power rankings don’t mean anything at all. 

[billsfanmiamioh]

Just now, dave mcbride said:

Again, look at the performance of the player who preceded him on that team at the same position. 

So because the other guy sucked he’s all of a sudden some hidden gem? Sorry I’m just not buying it. He played great tonight after he was constantly put in great situations. He’s not a guy who is going to consistently lead his team to victory when things aren’t going well. 

[Johnnycage46]

1 minute ago, Muppy said:

for goodness sake if this is really your attitude not much I'd be able to say to change your mind. To each is own Im not going to waste my time.

I mean, you brought it up, so I questioned it.  No big deal.  Was just wondering where your confidence came from.  Our D has given up 17, 28, 32, 23, and 42 this year...28.4 per game.  Our our has put up 27, 31, 35, 30, and 16....27.8....this is the 2002 Bills again.  

[Agent 91]

4 minutes ago, dubs said:

funny, I literally don’t care at all what anyone else thinks about this team. All I care about is W/L and where they end up when the season is over. Chuckleheads on TV, Radio, fan boards, and power rankings don’t mean anything at all. 

Teach me the way man. I just like to be solid. I'm worried this was a blueprint game

[Johnnycage46]

1 minute ago, Agent 91 said:

Teach me the way man. I just like to be solid. I'm worried this was a blueprint game

Truth.

[dubs]

1 minute ago, Agent 91 said:

Teach me the way man. I just like to be solid. I'm worried this was a blueprint game

ha. Ok. 
 

1) delete the following: facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and any other social media app.
2) Don’t watch ESPN anymore.

3) Meditate. 
 

hah!

Edited October 14, 2020 by dubs

[HappyDays]

38 minutes ago, Virgil said:

5 - Rushing attack

 

I'm confused as to why we ran the ball so much tonight. It was a weird reversal of what's worked for us this year. We had way too many 3rd downs and eventually you're going to run out of luck on those. Especially that drive that took forever to start the 4th quarter, what was the game plan there? Don't we have a downfield passing offense?

 

I really am not worried about Allen or the offense, I think it was just a bad night for them. I like Gabe Davis but he's still a rookie and he can't get open as consistently as Brown can. Brown's injury combined with uncharacteristic drops and the terrible interception just snowballed into a bad performance. That doesn't concern me as much as the defense who have looked exactly the same all year long.

[Virgil]

6 minutes ago, dave mcbride said:

Apparently not. All I ask is that you consider questioning your narrative. The player who preceded him in the same offense was markedly worse.

Get back to me after our next win and I don’t want to punch him in the junk

1 minute ago, HappyDays said:

 

I'm confused as to why we ran the ball so much tonight. It was a weird reversal of what's worked for us this year. We had way too many 3rd downs and eventually you're going to run out of luck on those. Especially that drive that took forever to start the 4th quarter, what was the game plan there? Don't we have a downfield passing offense?

 

I really am not worried about Allen or the offense, I think it was just a bad night for them. I like Gabe Davis but he's still a rookie and he can't get open as consistently as Brown can. Brown's injury combined with uncharacteristic drops and the terrible interception just snowballed into a bad performance. That doesn't concern me as much as the defense who have looked exactly the same all year long.

That didn’t bother me.  It’s the lack of misdirection and mystery when we do.  
 

There’s zero creativity with our rushing attack 

[benderbender]

36 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Its a bad game. It happens.  Even the Super Bowl era teams got blown out at least once a year during meaningful regular season games.  Just forget about it and move on to the next one.  

Reminded me of the monday night massacre. It was like seeing a different team play.

[BuffaloRebound]

How come other teams can find street free agents at RB who come in and run hard and give their offense a boost?  Singletary is too small and too slow to not be looking for something better.  At worst maybe Singletary gets the message and starts running harder.  

[HappyDays]

2 minutes ago, Virgil said:

There’s zero creativity with our rushing attack 

 

I guess so, I just don't really care. McKenzie is where we get creative. Speaking of which there's another staple of our offense that we didn't see tonight. I don't know, it was a weird offensive game plan all around. We've been a pass heavy play action offense all year and suddenly we're running the ball and throwing short passes. Daboll and Allen and the receivers all had their worst games of the season. It happens. I would bet next week we will play really well against the Chiefs defense. But our defense is really scaring me. They have been bottom 10.

[Uncle Joe]

46 minutes ago, Virgil said:

 

9 - Edmunds - Unless he absolutely loses a game for us or turns it around, this is the last week I'm going to talk about Edmunds.  I don't know the extent of his injury, but Edmunds is not playing anywhere near up to his potential.  He had one good 3rd down break up pass, but that's about it today.  He fell off of multiple tackles and was terrible in coverage.  On one play in particular, Edmunds was covering the middle of the short field and had no offensive Titans anywhere near him besides Brown, whom he proceeds to make a catch within a few yards of him and doesn't react at all.  If I'm being to hard on the kid, let me know.  But when is the last time his name was mentioned in a positive or dominating way.

 

Go Bills

 I had the same thoughts on that play. For a MLB with long arms and coverage is supposed to be his strength, he looked lost.

[billsbackto81]

Allen probably could've gone toe to toe if the Defense had made a stop or two before it got out of hand and his receivers didn't drop so many passes.

Countless penalties, ZERO sacks, no pressure to speak of, horrible tackling and an overall lack of discipline. 

Also, this had to be Dabolls worse called game this season. Beasley not catching a pass until the 3rd quarter with Brown out is mind boggling. At full strength this defense is average,but depleted? Well you saw for yourself. There is no quality depth behind our starters. Plus defenses are starting to realize, HEY? They can't run the ball! Let's play deep zone and make Allen dink and dunk because we can stop their rush with just 4 linemen. 

[Roundybout]

Honestly, if we had stopped them anytime on that 90 yard drive, we had a shot. But nope.