A Few Thoughts About the Colt Playoff Game, in no particular order

[Big Turk]

I don't really fully agree with #2. The Bills held Taylor and the ground game in check until we were up 14 in the 4th.  He was averaging under 3 YPC. Himes was the more dangerous runner today and he gashed us twice in the 4th on consecutive drives with Taylor gashing us once for 20 as well.

 

Rivers was more of the issue as he kept converting 3rd downs with short passes and the Bills couldn't get to him. A few times the Bills caused him to fade away while throwing as they were running at him and that is one reason he missed Pittman in the endzone, barely overthrowing him but the Colts did a nice job of keeping him clean.

3 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said:

Milano was one of the few defenders to consistently make plays.  Edmunds was awful again.  

 

The Bills are soft in the front 7 and it has been evident most of the season.  Their best hope is to simply score early and often to force the opponent into abandoning the run game.  

 

What game were you watching? Edmunds had a few nice pass breakups and was huge in controlling ground game for the first 3 quarters.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

3 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

I don't really fully agree with #2. The Bills held Taylor and the ground game in check until we were up 14 in the 4th.  He was averaging under 3 YPC. Himes was the more dangerous runner today and he gashed us twice in the 4th on consecutive drives with Taylor gashing us once for 20 as well.

 

Rivers was more of the issue as he kept converting 3rd downs with short passes and the Bills couldn't get to him. A few times the Bills caused him to fade away while throwing as they were running at him and that is one reason he missed Pittman in the endzone, barely overthrowing him but the Colts did a nice job of keeping him clean.

 

What game were you watching? Edmunds had a few nice pass breakups and was huge in controlling ground game for the first 3 quarters.

He had one pass break up on the last drive. The other you are thinking of looked like a pass break up but was a drop by the TE.  He and Oliver whiffed on the 4th and 1 when they had the RB stopped in the backfield on the final drive.  Edmunds did little in the run game game defense.  Go back and watch the tape he was getting blown off the ball regularly.  

[Big Turk]

Also for the Bills to beat a very good Colts team when they played their A game and executed their gameplan almost to perfection and we didn't was a really good thing to see.

[newcam2012]

5 hours ago, Virgil said:

There's a lot of boxes a team needs to check to be considered legitimate after 25 years of futility.  The Bills checked every single box this season and had but one more to go.  A box that held back many great QB's; the elusive first playoff win.  This was the type of game that made me wonder why I enjoy watching the Bills play.  I'll be completely honest, I couldn't sleep last night and felt sick after the final whistle.  The amount of stress and anxiety built up inside of me led to consecutive naps after this game and I'm only now just coming back down to earth.  With that being said...

 

1 - Respect - The highest form of respect one team can give an opposing team is to create a game plan that's completely tailored to slowing them down.  Yes, teams do some form of this every week, but this game was different.  The Bills will adjust their defense to the opposing offense based off of strengths, but still play their style of football.  In this game, the Colts play an infuriating style of offense with only one goal in mind; to keep the Bills off the field.  Never in my football watching history have I seen a team run the playclock down to 1 (arguably 0) on so many plays.  Honestly, it really infuriated me at times and felt cowardly.  I understand strategy, but this was a bit over the top.  The Colts dragged out every single series to the best of their ability with both the clock and using all 3 downs.  The other sign of respect was Frank going for it on 4th down within the 5 and attempting the 2 point conversion.  All of these thing made one thing perfectly clear, the Colts believed the Bills could explode on offense at any moment, and there was nothing would be able to do to stop it.

 

2 - All Coming Together - You'll watch movies where the main character goes on a series of missions that each teach him a specific lesson.  Then, once reaching the climax of the film, all of those lessons taught him enough to beat the final boss.  This game felt like the final boss, where we were able to use all of our previous experiences to get the win.  The Bills didn't collapse after the Allen fumble or the incorrect non-fumble call at the end.  They survived a Hail Mary pass with authority.  They didn't let multiple 3 and outs slow them down on offense.  No matter what diversity was thrown at this team, the Bills stayed true to who they were.  They never got discouraged or lost hope.  They did what every elite team does, they stayed the course and pulled out the win.

 

3 - Trenches - One of the biggest game-deciding match-ups going into this game was both our offensive and defensive lines battling.  In both areas, the Colts won big and the main reason why the Colts were able to execute their game plan.  We got zero pressure on Rivers all game and they were able to pull off some solid runs.  Their biggest runs came out of the shotgun off the left tackle as we got gashed for 20+ yards on multiple plays.  On the flip side, the Colts were able to make Josh move in the pocket a few times as well as deliver some big hits.  Most importantly, and to where I think Daboll is taking some unnecessary heat, was in our rushing attack.  On multiple short yardage downs, the Bills couldn't get a first down rushing against 4-5 in the box.  Most offensive coordinators and players expect to gain a few yards in that scenario, but the Colts shut the Bills down repeatedly and created multiple three and outs.  My only gripe with the play call was rushing to the left side of our line, where the Colts are arguable the strongest on their defensive line. 

 

4 - Maybe you like to give a kiss so sweet

Only for one night you belong to me

Maybe you go away and drive a car

But the taste of wine is worse than none at all

 

5 - Bass - If it weren't the last few minutes of the game, did anyone else want to see Bass get a chance at the field goal from the 40?  Seriously, how far has this kid come to where he's just splitting the uprights from over 50 in a playoff game.  All 9 of Bass' points today were huge and had room to spare.  He's an absolute weapon and the performance between kickers today was the difference makers

 

6 - Receivers - This had to be one of Diggs' quietest 100 yard games all season, but that deep touchdown was beautiful.  Beasley came up big a few times, but looked to have re-aggravated his leg injury.  Based off the way he was limping off the field, I wouldn't be surprised if he missed next weeks game.  I'm a little disappointed that McKenzie wasn't on the field more, even if just to flash the option of the jet sweep, and Smoke was non-existent out there.  The real receiving hero though, Davis!  Gabe had multiple deep sideline catches where his footwork was masterful.  For a rookie, this kid has been the play maker we didn't know we needed. Davis has made the most of his opportunities on this field and Josh keeps getting rewarded for putting his trust in him. 

 

7 - Linebackers - Edmunds may have had his best game of the season today.  He was quick to the hole, made some solid tackles, and broke to coverage quicker than I've seen him in a while.  On the 4th and short run in the 4th quarter, he may have been able to shut that down better, but if so, that was his only blemish for the day.  I'm glad to see him picking up his game at the right time.  Milano had an up and down game, and his blown coverage led to a touchdown.  To my untrained eye, it seems like he lost contain on a few of the big runs, but I could be wrong.  As for Klein, I have no idea where he was today.  In a game where we gave up a lot of 3rd and short plays, I was hoping for more.

 

8 - Taron - Levi Wallace should send TJ a thank you card for taking the mantle of whipping boy today.  Johnson was picked on early and often in this game and gave up a touchdown after getting picked off by his own guy over the middle.  It seemed like Johnson was on the wrong end of the very limited passes Rivers through to receivers and didn't get better as the game went on.  Hopefully it was just a bad day for him, as we may be facing a deeper receiving team coming up soon.

 

9 - Allen - It would have been easy to get frustrated by the early drops by Diggs and Brown, or the runningbacks complete inability to make anything happen against a light box.  And honestly, I got a little worried early when you could see it on Allen's face on the sideline.  Josh though, reminded all of us of just how that ice flows through his veins.  Allen was never over hyped and didn't let the offenses lack of rhythm hold him back.  He took advantage of the 3 deep coverage and empty boxes to lead the team in rushing.  He dropped an absolute dime to Diggs for the deep touchdown.   His sideline throws on scrambles are almost automatic for him at this point.  He broke the 300 mark again and ended with an impressive overall stat line.  The question I have; was the Knox touchdown scripted or improvised? 

 

10 - Stats - If you couldn't watch the game and I told you after that the Bills had consistently terrible starting field position, got dominated in time of possession, destroyed in 3rd down conversion percentage, and overall total yardage; what would you think was the outcome of the game?  If there's one thing we've learned this year, is that stats are nice but they don't lead to wins.  The Bills seemed to start every drive inside their own 10 yards line, couldn't get off the field on 3rd down, and punted more than they have since the first half against the Steelers.  However, when it mattered, the offense, defense, and special teams all showed up.  When they weren't going three and out, the offense showed just how potent they could be.  The defense clamped down when it needed to, and honestly showed great energy on the final drive when it would have been completely justifiable if they were winded.  The point is, this team was resilient all game and were ahead on the scoreboard at the end of every single quarter.  The Bills found a new way to win, and that should terrify every other team in the league.

 

 

Overall, the Bills pulled off their first playoff win in 25 years and had fans in the stands to enjoy it with them.  For those worried about the blueprint to stop the Bills being put on display today, don't.  The Colts presented a very unique challenge to the Bills that most teams won't be able to replicate.  If anything, I'm impressed with how the Bills responded to adversity and still walked away with the win.  Great job to Allen and Davis to keep the offense alive.  Great job by the defense in buckling down when it mattered most.  And thank you to McD for getting us here. 

 

Go Bills!!!!

Great post!!!!!!

[DrPJax]

7 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Did you miss the TD to Doyle wide open? Milano passed him off to nobody 

Rewatched the game thoroughly. Milano passed off the guy expecting white to be there deep. White jumped a guy( resulting doubling a guy cutting toward our  Safeties )  cutting to the middle leaving his deep zone responsibility wide open.  So someone was wrong. I kind of expect white was based on milanos reaction as he expected deep help.  Doubt milano would be crossing that shallow and pulling up to cover a shallow area unless he expected some coverage.  So some miscommunication happened. Bigger issue was we were confused all day by double tight end sets , and don’t get me started on motions and crossing underneath linebacker patterns causing total confusion in this defensive scheme. We will lose to either KC , Baltimore , or the Titans , and Tampa bay if we keep the scheme Frazier stuck to today. Worst defensive performance since the back to back losses to KC/TITANS.  
 

We were lucky to get out alive. Colts left Ten easy points out there with Rivers just barely missing 11 who was open on 4 th and goal , and their kicker missed an easy fg off the uprights.  What happened to the pressure d we ran against Denver and the fins and when Klein was having multiple sacks resulting in being defensive POW honors?  Zero sacks and minimal pressure against a known immobile QB is disturbing and will likely get us beaten against any team other than the Steelers.    I hope Frazier wakes up as this was obviously a schemed D today and the results were terrible. We lost TOP as we could not get off the field and this reminded me of how Houston came back from a 16 point deficit to win. This was not the team that rolled in riding a hot streak on both O and D. It looked like the team earlier in the year lacking experience from no off season, and there was no evidence of the team that came in winning games by double figures. Happy for the win , but we just hung on as it came to another  Hail Mary and this type of performance will not beat higher than 7 th seeded teams 

 

Last thing, I am not sure who the OP was watching saying Edmunds played a great game. He defensed two passes, but numerous other plays he was dreadful. Again some of the issue is scheme related. He is consistently lining up 7 yards away from the LOS.  On the snap he then regularly,on all but certain run downs ( 1 st downs ), drops back behind the yardage needed for a first down. It creates a huge gap for balls to be thrown underneath to Tight ends , backs coming out , and crossing routes. Rarely does he make hits well short of the first down marker. He is waiting for guys to come to him and they break his arm tackles or push him back after getting needed yardage. Also I saw him get caught up by guys hitting him at the second level , tight ends pushed him yards off plays. Watch the runs to the boundaries. Guys get hands on him and he rarely disengages. When he is up in the a gap he is not strong enough to push or disengage lineman. He reaches to stop running backs and they break his arm tackles way too frequently for a supposed pro bowl MLB!  I may post in a separate thread about today’s d performance but Edmunds is not an IMPACTFUL MLB.  The main lb making plays was Milano and he saves the D in this Frazier scheme. 
 

Loved the outcome as I didn’t sleep last night either in.anticipation. I have to say I was surprised to see how we were dominated for large stretches of this game. We got bailed out by Frank not going for an automatic 3 from inside our 5 on 4 th down , and by a missed fg. Just those two things would have provided a margin of victory. Let’s hope we are BETTER prepared  for the next game and go back to what got us here,, a pressure scheme on D and more inventive playcalling from DABOLL. 

[Xwnyer]

8 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Did you miss the TD to Doyle wide open? Milano passed him off to nobody 

I think he thought he had safety help and he was dropping into the zone.

[BobbyC81]

7 hours ago, PrimeTime101 said:

I think our LBS didn't play great football yet they were solid with a mistake or 2.

our line needs sacks... When does the Dline shred blocks for tackles and sacks? at some point the Buck stops on the Line..

Sacks aren’t as important as getting constant pressure so the QB knows they are there and forces him to get rid of it quicker.  They accomplished that a few teams, including that one end zone misfired pass.

 

Great summary by Virgil as usual.  One addition: Josh made a bonehead play that lost 23 yards and almost possession of the ball but he did not have a meltdown or play hero ball trying to make up for it.  They got a few yards on 2nd and 3rd down and then kicked it away.

[Bill from NYC]

Great revue!!! I am thinking that most of us didn't quite know how good the Colts are. This makes the win even better. 

 

There is no limit as to how good Josh can be. He is already GREAT, and so is the team!

 

You know things are getting better when we can even catch a break. How great was it when their kicker (who is excellent) missed that easy field goal? Things like this seemed to never happen for 20 or so years. The team is heading in the right direction and it's all good!

 

Keep up the good work Bro!!!!!

Edited January 10, 2021 by Bill from NYC

[Virgil]

37 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

Great revue!!! I am thinking that most of us didn't quite know how good the Colts are. This makes the win even better. 

 

There is no limit as to how good Josh can be. He is already GREAT, and so is the team!

 

You know things are getting better when we can even catch a break. How great was it when their kicker (who is excellent) missed that easy field goal? Things like this seemed to never happen for 20 or so years. The team is heading in the right direction and it's all good!

 

Keep up the good work Bro!!!!!

I think you should write the next one.  It’s been 25 years since you’ve had the chance to write about a divisional round game. 
 

I think it would be great

[Orlando Tim]

I have not rewatched the game but I think the entire difference in game is Josh is that much better than everyone else on field yesterday. I doubt Reich goes for td in first half against a team with someone less than Josh and his first TD is an only Josh kind of moment.

[fergie's ire]

6 hours ago, Big Turk said:

Also for the Bills to beat a very good Colts team when they played their A game and executed their gameplan almost to perfection and we didn't was a really good thing to see.

Agreed.  I think many people overlooked the Colts and seemed to think they were a week team (even though they were 11-5 and beat the Packers).  The Colts can be really tough, played a great game, and it was a huge hurdle cleared for the Bills to beat them.  I believe Josh is now the first QB in his class to win a playoff game.  That relieves a ton of pressure....just ask Lamar Jackson.

[CSBill]

Thank you, Virgil. A great read, as always.

 

You captured well my emotions (and my wife) after the game, so emotionally spent that it clearly effected us physically. We all probably put too much into this. But heck, that's why it is so fun, we are all dopamine seeking addicts. That's what makes the high so high, and, the lows so low. This one ends with a great high, and we all paid the price for it.

 

Having said that, I rarely disagree with your takes, but there is a big one for me today: Linebacker play??? Not sure what the game plan was for them, but I thought collectively it was one of the worse performances by Milano and Edmonds all season. Give the Colts credit, as madding as it was (and I really really agree with you on that point), it worked--just not enough. That may have had a bunch to do with M & E's poor play. But it seemed to me, especially in the passing game, they were eating us alive with the middle of the field underneath stuff and TE crossing routes, and that is what Linebackers are responsible for in pass coverage. Just my opinion. Hopefully that can be corrected quickly, if not, teams will try to exploit it.

 

Regardless, I'll take the win and move on--that's what you do in the play-offs.

 

GO BILLS!!!!

[MILFHUNTER#518]

11 hours ago, TFBillsfan said:

Looked like that was on Tre White.

I think this was Tre's overall worst game. Superbly disappointing performance 

[flmike]

11 hours ago, CNYfan said:

 

 

I was very frustrated that we could never get home to Rivers and he kept shot putting those lopsided ducks to the tight ends for first downs.

 

The Colts meanwhile had constant pressure on Josh.

 

 

Very few lines can hold for as long as Josh holds the ball. His next step in progression is deciding when the deep ball is not there much more quickly. 

[MILFHUNTER#518]

29 minutes ago, Virgil said:

I think you should write the next one.  It’s been 25 years since you’ve had the chance to write about a divisional round game. 
 

I think it would be great

Oh and P.S., as always a great write up. Your posts are my first stop post game Virgil!🤘

[ganesh]

2 minutes ago, MILFHUNTER#518 said:

I think this was Tre's overall worst game. Superbly disappointing performance 

he made one mistake and that was his worst game ? 

 

Tre actually made several great plays including on that 3rd and 10 on the final drive.   Tre was actually everywhere.

[Bill from NYC]

32 minutes ago, Virgil said:

I think you should write the next one.  It’s been 25 years since you’ve had the chance to write about a divisional round game. 
 

I think it would be great

Nah, you are doing to well at it, and I appreciate what you do. You make it look easy but it just isn't. 

[CSBill]

11 hours ago, CNYfan said:

I think that I prefer 39Levi to 29Norman.   Couldn't figure why 29Norman was getting so many snaps

I

 

Agree!

 

I thought Wallace was hurt, but then he was in on that last drive (which by the way, the Defense played much better on compared to the rest of the 4th quarter .... hmmm ????). All things considered, I feel Levi W is a better option than Josh N, but for some reason, Norman got a lot of playing time in this game.

[MILFHUNTER#518]

2 minutes ago, ganesh said:

he made one mistake and that was his worst game ? 

 

Tre actually made several great plays including on that 3rd and 10 on the final drive.   Tre was actually everywhere.

Naw, he had some good plays end of 3rd and into the 4th, but the whole game he looked indecisive and slow, like he was second guessing his assignments or something. Even my wife at one point exclaimed after a blown coverage "I thought you said this Tre White kid was one of the best in the league"

[Virgil]

6 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

Nah, you are doing to well at it, and I appreciate what you do. You make it look easy but it just isn't. 

It’s definitely not easy, I get why you both loved it and then took a break. 
 

And thank you 

14 minutes ago, CSBill said:

Thank you, Virgil. A great read, as always.

 

You captured well my emotions (and my wife) after the game, so emotionally spent that it clearly effected us physically. We all probably put too much into this. But heck, that's why it is so fun, we are all dopamine seeking addicts. That's what makes the high so high, and, the lows so low. This one ends with a great high, and we all paid the price for it.

 

Having said that, I rarely disagree with your takes, but there is a big one for me today: Linebacker play??? Not sure what the game plan was for them, but I thought collectively it was one of the worse performances by Milano and Edmonds all season. Give the Colts credit, as madding as it was (and I really really agree with you on that point), it worked--just not enough. That may have had a bunch to do with M & E's poor play. But it seemed to me, especially in the passing game, they were eating us alive with the middle of the field underneath stuff and TE crossing routes, and that is what Linebackers are responsible for in pass coverage. Just my opinion. Hopefully that can be corrected quickly, if not, teams will try to exploit it.

 

Regardless, I'll take the win and move on--that's what you do in the play-offs.

 

GO BILLS!!!!

I could be wrong, but were our defensive backs covering the TE’s more often than not?   
 

And until the 4th quarter, we did a solid job against the run. 
 

I could be wrong on both, but I usually make notes on big plays of who made the miss and it was rarely the LB’s in coverage. 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Virgil