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ROCKPILE REVIEW - Survive and Advance


Shaw66

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To me this felt like the official passing of the torch. Reich represented the last era of great Bills football. Solid head coach, solid team, vet QB. Like a gatekeeper. 
 

IMO this win felt like the last era giving this era a final test before giving them their blessing. The end of the Flutie curse and IMO the end of the bittersweet 4 SBs in a row. 
 

I’ve heard a lot of people being down on the Bills for how we won, but like the 1st Pats win, once you get over the hump, you KNOW you can do it again. 
 

Im looking forward to seeing a focused and determined Bills team next week, and the two games after that. 
 

GO BILLS!!!!

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It was absolutely ALL Allen! 
 

He had to overcome and surprisingly, you didn’t reference it- some boneheaded play calling by Daboll! 
 

And the other side of the ball was a disaster, aside from the Goal Line stand. NO pressure on creaky old, Joan Rivers and easily giving up scores after the Bills punched one in with Allen!

 

The D is a big concern going forward to the Super Bowl.

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It seemed that Reich knew (scouted?) that the Colts best chance of winning was to try and replicate the Giants' strategy against us in SB XXV (yes I am that old).  Score TDs when you had the ball and keep the Bills off the field - the Giants had the ball for 48 minutes and the Bills had it for 12.   We know the result.     Yesterday, the Colts lost the game (last second hail Mary), but they outgained the Bills 472 to 397, won the time of possession 34:17 to 25:43 through short passes (mostly to Tight Ends) and running the ball, had 27 first downs to our 22, were 9 of 17 on third down (we were 2 for 9) and 2 for 4 on 4th down.  They had 2 sacks to none for us, more return yards.  Our kicking game was outstanding.   Josh had a passer rating of 121.6 and played tremendously.  Our D?  Hmmmm...Rivers killed us when we blitzed and killed us when we didn't.   I am extremely happy we won.  

 

A close one, a nail biter, my heart is still thumping.  

 

Edited by inthebuff
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6 hours ago, HappyDays said:

In retrospect the Hail Murray was the turning point of the season. In past years that would mean it was the moment where a promising season fell apart. But under McDermott's leadership it lit a fire under us and we haven't lost a game since. How fitting that our first playoff win in 25 years ended on a hail mary stop. I think that heartbreaking loss was exactly what this team needed.

 

I was thinking of that too. Not only have we not lost a game since then, we haven't played a bad game since then ... until yesterday. It seems like the loss to the Cards was the wake-up call the team needed: don't just win, but dominate. Every game since, there was never a moment where I was seriously worried that we'd lose ... until yesterday.

 

After the Hail Murray, the Bills went on a seven-game domination streak. All we need now is a three-game winning streak. I'm feeling pretty good about that. (Yes, I realize the playoff teams are more competitive than the ones we played after the bye. I'm still feeling good.)

 

 

 

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11 hours ago, Billsfan1972 said:

As I said elsewhere the Bills are Off the Schneid and for once a playoff game went their way.

 

1999 Flutie Fumbles at the 3 yard line with :15 seconds left

2000 The Rob Johnson debacle I call if 9other call it "Music City Miracle" or "Homerun Throwback"

2017 3 friggin points & lose 10-3

2019 Blow 16-0 lead, multiple missed calls and oh Houston converting 3rd & 19 with a 7 yard pass over the middle....

 

Was not a fun game to watch as the Bills were just a little off and that is what I worried about after 5 dominant performances in a row (SF, Pitt, Den, NE & Mia).

 

Probably a good thing now that they won.....😜

 

Your list puts it all in perspective for us old timers. Take a win, no matter how you get there. But a little less drama would be welcomed 😁

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50 minutes ago, inthebuff said:

It seemed that Reich knew (scouted?) that the Colts best chance of winning was to try and replicate the Giants' strategy against us in SB XXV (yes I am that old).  Score TDs when you had the ball and keep the Bills off the field - the Giants had the ball for 48 minutes and the Bills had it for 12.   We know the result.     Yesterday, the Colts lost the game (last second hail Mary), but they outgained the Bills 472 to 397, won the time of possession 34:17 to 25:43 through short passes (mostly to Tight Ends) and running the ball, had 27 first downs to our 22, were 9 of 17 on third down (we were 2 for 9) and 2 for 4 on 4th down.  They had 2 sacks to none for us, more return yards.  Our kicking game was outstanding.   Josh had a passer rating of 121.6 and played tremendously.  Our D?  Hmmmm...Rivers killed us when we blitzed and killed us when we didn't.   I am extremely happy we won.  

 

A close one, a nail biter, my heart is still thumping.  

 

This is an excellent point.  THe comparison is exactly right.   Ball control was the key in both games to the opponents' strategy.  Very enlightening comparison. 

 

It reminds me of something I (we?) saw several weeks ago.  I don't remember if it was said about the Bills or some other team with a big offense.  Someone said that the job of the defense on a team like the Bills is to get the ball back to the offense as soon as possible, literally by any means possible. That means play aggressive defense, and take chances.  The worst think that can happen is that the opponents will score a touchdown, but that at least means that the offense gets the ball again, quickly, and that's the objective.  

 

Said more bluntly, there's an argument to be made that Josh Allen is the best football player on the planet, and if you keep the football in his hands you'll win.  (Lebron's coaches have always struggled with the fact that he loves passing - it's great to share the ball and all, but the coaches have always told Lebron to score more - passing puts the game in the hands of less talented players.  This is similar - let Josh play.)  

 

The best strategy to beat the Bills is to hold the ball for 40 minutes, like the Giants did.  

 

That means the best defensive strategy is to play high-risk, high-reward defense.  Stick 8 guys on the line of scrimmage and say to RIvers "we're coming.  We're not going to let you run the ball, and we're going to pound you in the pocket.  Pound you.  If your receiver can get a step on our guy in single coverage and you can hit him in stride as one of our defenders is planting you in the ground, good for you.  Send your defense back out onto the field and let's see how that goes."

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3 hours ago, hemma said:

"including a 37-yard flick-of-the-wrist bullet to Stefon Diggs"

 

That pass was amazing.  I must have replayed it 10x.

It made me think of Ripken turning a 4-6-3 double play.

Effortless control/power/accuracy.

Thanks for this.  I almost jumped out of my chair when I saw that play.  

 

I just wrote to a friend of mine about that throw.  I said Allen is throwing Bob Gibson fastballs with a fifth grade schoolgirl throwing motion. 

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17 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

The officials ruled the receiver down by contact, but it was clear that the receiver went down without contact. Poyer intentionally didn’t touch the receiver until he got up to head downfield, at which point Poyer made the tackle and stripped the ball.

 

Tyler Bass provided the margin of victory in the middle of the 4th quarter, when he drilled a clutch 54-yard field goal into the wind.  Drafting Bass to replace Stephen Hauschka is looking like a great move

 

 

Poyer:  Why do you/we think he intentionally let the receiver stay untouched, and is that coaching? 

(1) dont get a stupid personal foul and stop the clock, and/or

(2) let the clock keep burning and play it clean, and/or

(3) . . . maybe, just maybe, he'll try to get greedy and get back up while I'm standing right here, muahahaha

 

Bass:  Heard it said recently that the Bills drafted him as artillery.  We plan to go for it on 4th downs when we are closer in anyway, so we dont need pin-point accuracy from normal distance.  We need a field howitzer.   Which is what we saw Saturday.

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2 minutes ago, maddenboy said:

Poyer:  Why do you/we think he intentionally let the receiver stay untouched, and is that coaching? 

(1) dont get a stupid personal foul and stop the clock, and/or

(2) let the clock keep burning and play it clean, and/or

(3) . . . maybe, just maybe, he'll try to get greedy and get back up while I'm standing right here, muahahaha

 

Bass:  Heard it said recently that the Bills drafted him as artillery.  We plan to go for it on 4th downs when we are closer in anyway, so we dont need pin-point accuracy from normal distance.  We need a field howitzer.   Which is what we saw Saturday.

Thanks.  That's interesting.   I probably overstated it and implied that Poyer did it to get the opportunity to force the turnover.  Your explanation was probably the thought process.   Yes, it may be coaching, and that's a good point, but it's nevertheless evidence of really high-level football thinking, instantly assessing the situation and reacting in the right way.  And if it's coaching, it means the Bills are teaching, as I think they are, very high level football thinking.  

 

Thanks for pointing that out.  

 

As for Bass, I don't buy that.  You can't afford to have a low-percentage place-kicker.   He needs to be dead-on on the routine kicks.  If he isn't accurate, it doesn't matter how much leg you have.  Bills drafted him because they knew he had a big leg and had identified the characteristics they thought were key in terms of developing into a high-percentage kicker.   (By the way, that's EXACtlY what they did in the case of Josh Allen - big arm, and the character that they thought was key in terms of developing.)

 

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15 hours ago, HappyDays said:

In retrospect the Hail Murray was the turning point of the season.

Agree completely, as several players have stated publically.

 

For the record, I'm going to only refer to that last Rivers throw as...The Phail Mary.

 

Ba dum bump. Thanks, I'll be here all week folks.

 

 

15 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

Edited by Dukestreetking
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10 hours ago, Billsatlastin2018 said:

It was absolutely ALL Allen! 
 

He had to overcome and surprisingly, you didn’t reference it- some boneheaded play calling by Daboll! 
 

And the other side of the ball was a disaster, aside from the Goal Line stand. NO pressure on creaky old, Joan Rivers and easily giving up scores after the Bills punched one in with Allen!

 

The D is a big concern going forward to the Super Bowl.


I think that is the best oline we will go against. Hopefully we can get some more pressure and do a better job stopping the run going forward.

 

Overall Daboll was fine. He had two unacceptable series. You can’t call three designed runs in a row. This teams identify if a passing team and that is how we get first downs. Daboll threw two drives away. Hopefully he doesn’t do that again in the playoffs. 

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19 hours ago, Big Turk said:

The Colts run game was NOT gashing us all afternoon. Taylor was averaging under 3 YPC through 3 quarters. It wasn't until they put in Himes in the 4th quarter that we started getting gashed. Himes had 2 big runs and Taylor had 1 in the 4th quarter. 

 

Rivers was killing us with the short controlled passing game and picking up 3rd downs to move thr chains.

Taylor had runs of 10 and 8 on their first touchdown drive.  

 

Beyond that, it's not like it was garbage time when the big runs happened.  There was no garbage time.  The Colts have a QB who NEVER runs.  The running backs went for 163 yards on 30 carries.  No team in the league gave up, on average, 163 yards per game.  

 

The Titans have an average rushing defense.  They had three games this season when they gave up more than 163 yards.  Three.

 

Don't try to tell us the Colts did rip the Bills on the ground.  

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2 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Taylor had runs of 10 and 8 on their first touchdown drive.  

 

Beyond that, it's not like it was garbage time when the big runs happened.  There was no garbage time.  The Colts have a QB who NEVER runs.  The running backs went for 163 yards on 30 carries.  No team in the league gave up, on average, 163 yards per game.  

 

The Titans have an average rushing defense.  They had three games this season when they gave up more than 163 yards.  Three.

 

Don't try to tell us the Colts did rip the Bills on the ground.  

 

No but it seemed when the Bills took a 14 point lead they stopped focusing on stopping the run because they wrongly thought Indy was going to abandon it.

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16 hours ago, DaggersEOD said:

To me this felt like the official passing of the torch. Reich represented the last era of great Bills football. Solid head coach, solid team, vet QB. Like a gatekeeper. 
 

IMO this win felt like the last era giving this era a final test before giving them their blessing. The end of the Flutie curse and IMO the end of the bittersweet 4 SBs in a row. 
 

I’ve heard a lot of people being down on the Bills for how we won, but like the 1st Pats win, once you get over the hump, you KNOW you can do it again. 
 

Im looking forward to seeing a focused and determined Bills team next week, and the two games after that. 
 

GO BILLS!!!!

I have no doubt we will see Josh bring a Lombardi to Buffalo in the near future. 

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On 1/9/2021 at 11:45 PM, Big Turk said:

The Colts run game was NOT gashing us all afternoon. Taylor was averaging under 3 YPC through 3 quarters. It wasn't until they put in Himes in the 4th quarter that we started getting gashed. Himes had 2 big runs and Taylor had 1 in the 4th quarter. 

 

Rivers was killing us with the short controlled passing game and picking up 3rd downs to move thr chains.

 

Agree with this 110%.  They would run the ball for 2-4 yards and then Rivers would make the needed pass.  WHY Fraizer couldn't adjust tto that is unreal.  I won't even get into the interesting play calling by Daboll.  It was almost like watching the first Jets game again.....Josh run after Josh run.....it did prodcue a win so I can't complain too much.

 

As always @Shaw66 awesome recap.....THANKS!!!

 

Go BILLS!!!!!

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