Divisional Playoff round: Ravens at Bills on Saturday Night Football

[CincyBillsFan]

2 hours ago, SlimShady'sSpaceForce said:

 

Josh's lowest outputs this season (not games he sat out 1 and 2 QTR's)

 

KC - 122.  the end of a long (short) 2 week stretch where Josh was also nursing an injured shoulder.

NE - 154.  Week 8.  Weather and above mentioned injury

Chargers 157 Week 12. Can't recall why he was 18 of 24. 

 

the last 4 games his average is 323* passing yards per game 

375 SFO, 238 PIT, 359 DEN and 320* (3 quarters)

 

For the Chargers game we were running the ball well and Bosa was a wrecking ball on D. We had a 24 - 6 lead in the 3rd quarter and pretty much cruised the rest of the way.

 

We also had that weird stretch in the 4th quarter where we lost turnovers on 3 straight possessions.  I think it was also windy that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BearNorth]

Through yesterday, Bills are 4-2 vs common Ravens opponents, Ravens are 2-5 against those same teams..  Bills in the OP...

Vs. Non Common opponents, bills were massey rating of 20, Ravens were 26.5.  Dirty Birds fattened up against the likes of the NFC East and Cinci and Jax.

Edited January 11, 2021 by BearNorth

[CapeBreton]

 

[Big Turk]

41 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

Those were the only 300 yard passing games the Ravens gave up all year so they look like aberrations*.  Also, the Chiefs and Browns ran for over 100 yards in those games.  

 

The Rams and 49ers are also top passing defenses.  We gained more air yards on them than any team this season.  We were only the 7th highest in passing yards vs. Picksburgh.  

 

I don't know what any of this means but thought it was intersting.

 

*Stat from pro football reference for passing yards allowed includes sack yardage.  Interestingly enough, these numbers do not tie to the offensive totals per PFR.  If we look at Bills v Rams, they are credited with 274 yards passing defense but Allen has 311 passing yards when adjusted for sacks.  

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/ram/2020.htm

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AlleJo02.htm

 

Ravens D plays right into our hands...they blitz a ton, aren't very good at getting there and play man behind it.  If this happens they will get torched.  Allen did it all year to teams(think Miami, LA Rams, Seattle and Pittsburgh--once we blocked Heyward) and the Ravens will not be any different. Chiefs torched them under similar circumstances, Bills will torch them if this happens as well.

[BearNorth]

Just now, Big Turk said:

 

Ravens D plays right into our hands...they blitz a ton, aren't very good at getting there and play man behind it.  If this happens they will get torched.  Allen did it all year to teams(think Miami, LA Rams, Seattle and Pittsburgh--once we blocked Heyward) and the Ravens will not be any different. Chiefs torched them under similar circumstances, Bills will torch them if this happens as well.

Josh's TD throw to Diggs vs. Indy should give Dc's a big gulp...

[Big Turk]

1 minute ago, BearNorth said:

Josh's TD throw to Diggs vs. Indy should give Dc's a big gulp...

 

Watching him torch Miami twice should give them even more.  Can Baltimore really claim they have better corners than the Fins?  At best it might be a push. They play almost an identical style of defense.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Big Turk

[YoloinOhio]

 

 

 

[Juice_32]

1 minute ago, YoloinOhio said:

 

 

 

I mean no disrespect to Moss at all, but if I had to pick one starter to lose, it would be him. Get well soon buddy, can’t wait to see what you do next year.

[BearNorth]

Those sideline throws to Davis, and the fact that he overthrew a wide open Brown at least once.  Not sure Martindale will be getting much sleep.  Roman is a known quantity in the 716, suspect we have his playbook somewhere in the bunkers of OP.

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by BearNorth

[Big Turk]

7 minutes ago, Juice_32 said:

I mean no disrespect to Moss at all, but if I had to pick one starter to lose, it would be him. Get well soon buddy, can’t wait to see what you do next year.

 

Not me.  His blitz pickups are stellar. A big reason why blitzes often don't come close to getting there.  You want to trust Yeldon or Williams on 3rd and 7 blitz pickups? I sure as hell don't.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Big Turk

[SWATeam]

1 minute ago, Big Turk said:

 

Not me.  His blitz pickups are stellar. A big reason why blitzes often don't come close to getting there.  You want to trust Yeldon or Williams on 3rd and 7 pickups? I sure as hell don't.

Singletary excels at that also.  He stoned a guy on the Diggs TD.

[Big Turk]

1 minute ago, SWATeam said:

Singletary excels at that also.  He stoned a guy on the Diggs TD.

 

He does, but he is going to need a break at times and what happens if he goes down now?  Then we have nobody trusted to pick them up.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Big Turk

[wjag]

1 minute ago, Big Turk said:

 

Not me.  His blitz pickups are stellar. A big reason why blitzes often don't come close to getting there.  You want to trust Yeldon or Williams on 3rd and 7 pickups? I sure as hell don't.

 

Yeah this will be missed.  He was a wall back there for Josh.  The most underappreciated aspect of the passing game:  blitz pick ups by WR, TE and RBs.  All hands on deck with this team.  We are an important man down against a blitzing team.

[Pokebball]

10 minutes ago, Juice_32 said:

I mean no disrespect to Moss at all, but if I had to pick one starter to lose, it would be him. Get well soon buddy, can’t wait to see what you do next year.

So if you had to pick two starters to lose?  

[YoloinOhio]

 

[Big Turk]

4 minutes ago, Pokebball said:

So if you had to pick two starters to lose?  

 

Wallace and Knox

[Slippery Rubber Mats]

10 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

He does, but he is going to need a break at times and what happens if he goes down now?  Then we have nobody trusted to pick them up.

 

Why not Yeldon? I don't recall his pass blocking being notably bad.

[Figster]

 

 

 

[CSBill]

14 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

Not me.  His blitz pickups are stellar. A big reason why blitzes often don't come close to getting there.  You want to trust Yeldon or Williams on 3rd and 7 blitz pickups? I sure as hell don't.

 

Singletary is also pretty good at the blitz pickups, I suspect we will see a lot of him on Saturday. And honestly, weather it is him or Moss, I think both do better when they get more reps and don't split them. I'm not worried about it.

[spartacus]

4 hours ago, Jerry Jabber said:

Hopefully Robert’s rebounds as he was bad against the Colts and the Bills had terrible starting positions for most of the game. 

average drive start in first half was the 8

 

main reason the offense was not opened up

[YoloinOhio]

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

10 minutes ago, CSBill said:

 

Singletary is also pretty good at the blitz pickups, I suspect we will see a lot of him on Saturday. And honestly, weather it is him or Moss, I think both do better when they get more reps and don't split them. I'm not worried about it.

 

I could be wrong.  But I feel like Motor behaves as though he gets nailed a few times then needs a breather.  That's not intended as a knock on him; he's a smaller, slighter guy and RBs take an unreal amount of punishment.

[wjag]

1 minute ago, spartacus said:

average drive start in first half was the 8

 

main reason the offense was not opened up

 

Yep..  That was the worst they have had it all season.  Punts would just die inside the 10.  Roberts gets nailed on the 10 after their TD.  Have to go on a 96 yard drive to flip the field and the momentum.  I said in another thread, the Ravens have an exceptional kicking team.  This may just be the game within the game.

[TBBills]

15 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I could be wrong.  But I feel like Motor behaves as though he gets nailed a few times then needs a breather.  That's not intended as a knock on him; he's a smaller, slighter guy and RBs take an unreal amount of punishment.

*****, are you telling me he gets... Winded?

[Hapless Bills Fan]

7 minutes ago, TBBills said:

*****, are you telling me he gets... Winded?

 

Haha, No.

[BananaB]

3 hours ago, Iverwig said:

Stephen A as usual didn’t do his homework because Josh and the Bills have gone up against some good defenses and teams with great pass defenses this year. I could be mistaken but I thought I saw the Bills strength of schedule was the hardest of the AFC playoff teams. If it’s not the Cowboys or the NBA Smith doesn’t know much but hopefully Josh and the team see this take. 

 
He also said we never played anyone decent the last 5 weeks of the season, guess he didn’t look at the last few games the Ravens played. 

[MasterStrategist]

Yeldon was specifically signed for this reason...

 

He is a solid 3rd down back, great size/hands/pass blocking for a RB.  It will be interesting tho with short yardage running...this might be the week we finally dress 4 RBs.  Not sure who wouldn't dress tho...unless they think Taiwan is replaceable on Teams with another gunner

[Steptide]

6 years ago today, the bills hired Rex rayan 🙄

[Pokebball]

42 minutes ago, BananaB said:

 
He also said we never played anyone decent the last 5 weeks of the season, guess he didn’t look at the last few games the Ravens played. 

He tried to make a couple of points in his rebuttal which were just completely and totally inaccurate.  As they say, he's got the right to his own opinion but he doesn't have a right to his own facts.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Pokebball

[YattaOkasan]

2 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I don't believe they were using a spy.

 

 

Shaq was big.  Very good at setting the edge.  Lorenzo Alexander was HUGE.  Played 70% of the snaps.  Edmunds and Milano were also on the field for 100% of the game, so we actually played something that looked more like base 3-4 for much of the game (but with different roles) - I *think* this is what Zo called "Buffalo" or "heavy Nickle"

 

Star and Murphy also played a lot. 
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201912080buf.htm

 

The big catch and run was very probably a rare miscommunication between Hyde and Poyer.

I wouldnt call that a Buffalo Nickel but I agree it would be effective against LJ.  Buffalo Nickel is usally subbing a LB for a Big Safety in the front 7 (reg nickel is Taron Johnson at CB).  

 

I think the TE TD was Poyer peeking in the back field and then getting just a bit mixed up as the routes crossed on the release.  It was just that little bit that caused him to be a step behind.  

 

I agree Zo and Star will be missed.  I think Epenesa can replace what Murphy did.  

[YoloinOhio]

 

 

 

[Herc11]

9 minutes ago, Steptide said:

6 years ago today, the bills hired Rex rayan 🙄

*tap* *tap* *tap*... is this thing on? 🙄

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Just now, YattaOkasan said:

I wouldnt call that a Buffalo Nickel but I agree it would be effective against LJ.  Buffalo Nickel is usally subbing a LB for a Big Safety in the front 7 (reg nickel is Taron Johnson at CB). 

 

Um...I was talking about playing Edmunds, Milano, and Zo (Zo was subbing for the CB)...so you're telling me "you wouldn't call that a Buffalo Nickel but a Buffalo Nickel is subbing an LB for a Big Safety" which is, I thought, what I said?  I'm confused.

 

I think the TE TD was Reich exploiting the edges of our zones successfully.

[YoloinOhio]

 

 

 

[WideNine]

1 hour ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Read 3 articles that said that Titans had the most success slowing down the Ravens by rushing 3 down lineman, having 3 more linebackers play off the line allowing them space to watch the beginning of the play and then shoot gaps, clogging the middle on throws, and worrying less about guessing correctly on the RPO's, and making Lamar throw to the edges.  

 

I keep thinking we have Tre White, and do you put him on Brown all-day? Because it's Brown in my opinion that makes plays when Lamar escapes on broken plays. 

 

Doesn't this lead us really to playing all 11 people closer to the line and taking the chance that the Ravens are not going to hit deep throws that much?

 

I can't see us stopping a stiff wind with 3 down linemen.

 

The Ravens will just straight up run on us; just about any blocking concept would be successful - Stretch Zone, ISO, Trap, Pulling, or Duo and we would watch helpless while their running back is 12 yards down the field before the first defender gets a hand on him.

 

That may work for the Titans with their personnel - the Bills do not have the kind of players to pull that off. Nope, I think we will play zone and a bunch of guys in the box, be disciplined to prioritize contain on the edges not the rush - with maybe some run blitzes to disrupt their timing and blocks being setup. This is not going to be easy for this particular defense, but we knew going in that we have a good, but not great defense that has often been carried by the offense this season.

 

It will be important for our DE's to just focus on not getting too deep on their rush and not taking any inside moves that give up the edge. Their primary job will be to funnel runs back inside and not let anything leak outside. This defense will be susceptible to screens so I expect a few of them to be successful against us.

 

Our chances of winning hinges on our offense being able to move the ball and score and hope we get a few 3 and outs to force the Ravens into a more one-dimensional offense and get Lamar to press. I am not counting on our defense just flat-out stuffing these guys - I would be perfectly happy if they prove me wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by WideNine

[YattaOkasan]

5 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Um...I was talking about playing Edmunds, Milano, and Zo (Zo was subbing for the CB)...so you're telling me "you wouldn't call that a Buffalo Nickel but a Buffalo Nickel is subbing an LB for a Big Safety" which is, I thought, what I said?  I'm confused.

 

I think the TE TD was Reich exploiting the edges of our zones successfully.

Edmunds, Milano, and Zo w/ 4 lineman would just be a 4-3 base?  Take one of them off (or a DL and have Zo in a 3 point stance) and replace with a big safety (marlowe or neal), thats Big Nickel.  I thought you said 3-4 was big nickel.  

 

I think I am confused on what TD you are referring to.  I remember the  long one to a TE last year in the Ravens game as being Poyer peeking at the QB.  The one to Doyle Saturday was Tre White missing an assignment, but again I'm not sure which one youre talking about now.  

[YoloinOhio]

 

[Blank Stare]

I don’t love Moss being out. Obviously. However, I think relying on one guy as the primary guy may be better to get someone in a groove. Not suggesting he’s going to run for 200 yards, or even have a chance to, but Devin played well in the Texans playoff game last year as the primary guy. Sprinkle in Williams or Yeldon and I think we’ll be fine. We are a passing team anyway. 

[YoloinOhio]

 

[MasterStrategist]

10 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Um...I was talking about playing Edmunds, Milano, and Zo (Zo was subbing for the CB)...so you're telling me "you wouldn't call that a Buffalo Nickel but a Buffalo Nickel is subbing an LB for a Big Safety" which is, I thought, what I said?  I'm confused.

 

I think the TE TD was Reich exploiting the edges of our zones successfully.

I dont recall Zo subbing at all for Taron or any other CB against Bmore last season.

 

I think we played him at DE a bit more than usual that game, but also he played at a 3-technique on passing 3rd down situations...I'd have to go rewatch