Captain Caveman Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 As the game played out last night, and also thinking about the Ravens game, I think one of our biggest challenges on both sides of the ball was failing to adjust to how officials call holding and pass interference. In both of the last two games our WRs have had a very hard time getting open and you can see defenders literally draped all over them, with very few penalties called. I noticed the same in most of the other playoff games this year as well. There are ways for an offense to combat this but it didn't really happen last night. On the other side of the ball, our defenders are still playing a soft zone, and getting beat accordingly. With all of the playoff experience our coaches have I'm surprised they haven't prepared / adjusted for this - hopefully they'll have a better handle on it next year. 6 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Turk Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 Funny the one time we tried it, Tre gets 2 flags thrown on him for it... 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiderweb Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 1 hour ago, Big Turk said: Funny the one time we tried it, Tre gets 2 flags thrown on him for it... Sadly, Tre's interference was so blatant it has to be called. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YattaOkasan Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 1 hour ago, Spiderweb said: Sadly, Tre's interference was so blatant it has to be called. Then they should offset it with the facemask Kelce was grabbing on the stem of that route. All of their holding was much worse. This did not lose us the game but was very frustrating. I will also say Chris Jones threw a punch. That should be reviewable. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Vader Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 We should ask what the Packers think about playoff officiating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfan89 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 This is critical and hopefully three more playoff games worth of experience will get this team the ability to make that adjustment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motorin' Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 1 minute ago, YattaOkasan said: Then they should offset it with the facemask Kelce was grabbing on the stem of that route. All of their holding was much worse. This did not lose us the game but was very frustrating. I will also say Chris Jones threw a punch. That should be reviewable. I can't believe Mitch Morse just stood there and threw his hands up in the air. First of all, you have to stand up for your teammate who just got punched. Even more importantly, you gotta make them review it. Morse should have grabbed Jones face mask and tried to rip his helmet off his head. They can't not call that, and they can't not review it then. Even if it means throwing a second punch, you're not as valuable as Chris Jones. Got to take advantage of getting him out of the game there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 2 hours ago, Spiderweb said: Sadly, Tre's interference was so blatant it has to be called. He was rarely close enough to commit a penalty 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobbRiddicksTDLeap Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 This is a great point. This is also one of those lessons that can only be learned on the field. And you either adjust to it, or you don’t. There isn’t enough veteran depth with playoff experience to share and let the guys know what to expect. Seeing Diggs on the field after the game, shows he gets it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsbackto81 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 (edited) 18 minutes ago, YattaOkasan said: Then they should offset it with the facemask Kelce was grabbing on the stem of that route. All of their holding was much worse. This did not lose us the game but was very frustrating. I will also say Chris Jones threw a punch. That should be reviewable. If I was Mongo I would've fell to the turf and stayed there until the trainers came out. Make them review what caused the player to fall and address it then. Sure it's a petty move but the game may have been different without Jones out there. Edited January 25, 2021 by billsbackto81 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsherd Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 All three games WRs had a hard time getting open. Colts game Allen ran sideline to sideline and made some amazing throws and WRs made toe dragging catches. Against Ravens and Chiefs WRs were covered. Hopefully we adjust going forward or else NFL is copycat League other teams will start doing the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
folz Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 I don't think that I imagined this, but didn't the announcers say at one point that the refs went over to the KC sideline to tell them, in essence, to relax a bit or they would have to start throwing flags on them? Does every team get this courtesy from the refs? I mean, why not make your point by actually calling the penalties you see? Why not call the facemask on Josh's first big sack, or the Jones punch (I think they didn't want to have to eject a star player early in the game---no way none of them saw it, it was so out in the open), or the PI on the pass to Knox near the goal line, etc.. And the Bills even had to plead for a couple of others that were soooo obvious, but where it looked like the refs were going to swallow their flags. Did you notice that the head ref actually looked pretty pissed off when he called the one roughing the passer call for Josh. Like he was pissed at the Chiefs for not backing off after being told to (maybe I'm reading into that too much---but watch it back, he looks mad). It's a good point by the OP. The refs let a ton of things go in the playoffs, especially conference Championships. Remember the "Legion of Boom?" They were allowed to hold and hit receivers all game long. No doubt, KC is the better team right now and deserved the win. But last night I was saying to myself that the Bills just didn't match the Chiefs intensity. But that didn't feel quite right. I don't think that the Bills came out flat or unmotivated. I think it is like the OP said, the Chiefs knew the intensity level of this type of game and what you can get away with, as far as the refs go, and they pushed it to that level, and it looked like the Bills didn't even know that they could get that down and dirty without being called for it. I assume if the Bills did play the same, they still would have been called for it more than the Chiefs, but like it has been...you can kind of make the refs swallow their whistles by doing it all game long and daring them to call tons of penalties in a game watched by millions of people. The NFL doesn't want a flag fest, so you can get away with a lot more in a playoff game if you do it consistently throughout the game. Force the refs to make you pull back. Chalk it up to good experience for the Bills for next year. I doubt they let another team bully them in a playoff game going forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Caveman Posted January 25, 2021 Author Share Posted January 25, 2021 My biggest concern is that this coaching staff has a ton of these championship games under their belt, and this wasn't a lesson we should have needed to learn last night. It makes me wonder why we didn't proactively adjust, expecting the officiating to be a bit looser in the playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nextmanup Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 First off, anyone watching the game on TV last night has no idea what the receivers were doing, except on a play or 2 when they showed an all-22 viewing angle. Secondly, Beasley, Brown, and probably Diggs too were playing hurt/dinged up. That's why they couldn't get that last little bit of separation as normal. Or at least a part of the reason why. I do agree the refs had a loose approach to penalty calling in both championship games, but I don't see it as a failure of the coaching staff that we didn't "adjust" to it somehow. The coaching staff needed to adjust to what KC was doing! Not the refs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thenorthremembers Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 (edited) If we didnt have three gimpy wideouts on the field this wouldnt have mattered. Would also help if any of our starting wideouts were over 200 pounds. Essentially what you had a majority of the playoffs was Stefon Diggs, two hobbled wideouts sub 180 lbs in Brown and Beasley, and a injured rookie who you wouldnt know was on the field if he wasnt dropping touchdowns. They have to get bigger at wideout next year, and they have to sit players who cant run. Edited January 25, 2021 by thenorthremembers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaw66 Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 5 hours ago, Captain Caveman said: As the game played out last night, and also thinking about the Ravens game, I think one of our biggest challenges on both sides of the ball was failing to adjust to how officials call holding and pass interference. In both of the last two games our WRs have had a very hard time getting open and you can see defenders literally draped all over them, with very few penalties called. I noticed the same in most of the other playoff games this year as well. There are ways for an offense to combat this but it didn't really happen last night. On the other side of the ball, our defenders are still playing a soft zone, and getting beat accordingly. With all of the playoff experience our coaches have I'm surprised they haven't prepared / adjusted for this - hopefully they'll have a better handle on it next year. This is right on the money. The game changes in the playoffs in large part because the officiating changes. Players have to be prepared for it and adapt to it. The Bills fell down badly in that regard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyBatty is alive Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 I as a casual fan have known about playoff officiating after the Bills loss to the Redskins in the Super Bowl, they were mugging us all night long and no flags...then Andre Reed losses his cool over it and HE gets the flag. If the Bills didnt know and/or take it into consideration playoff officiating it would be a major shock to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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