9/12/2021 Steelers @ Bills Post Game thread

[Nuncha]

27 minutes ago, JaCrispy said:

Too one dimensional...Allen can’t be expected to do it all...we need a more balanced approach

^^^^ This.  I always think of the Dolphins during the Marino era....pass happy offense, rarely ran the ball, and one and done in the post season IF they got there.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

3 minutes ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

You guys act like we lost to the Jets. I've been telling people to not take the Steelers lightly, their defense is as good as it gets in the NFL and Roethlisberger is a smart veteran. Absolutely crazy for people to think the Bills were just going to come in and steam roll a 13-3 team w/ a huge chip on their shoulder.

 

Game could've went either way minus a stupid drop by Sanders and questionable call back on the White interception. Week 1 is ALWAYS crazy, I know the play calling was atrocious, but they can build from this. We'll see where their heads are really at next week. If they drop 2 in a row then I'll start panicking. I am no where near throwing away the season like some people here. Have a little faith. 

You are missing the big picture.  Its not about one game against a good team. Its about McD losing in the big games. It's a valid concern. 

[RyanC883]

Just now, vincec said:

Well who would you throw against? White?

 

I think the point is our other CBs are not good enough.  Glad we drafted 2 non-impactful DE's, one of whom was inactive.  

[SirAndrew]

2 minutes ago, FilthyBeast said:

Trying to be rational and not let the anger cloud posting, but some initial thoughts...

 

1) While you can't necessarily blame the defense for todays loss, this was the pretty much the same defense we saw last year. Not a problem when Allen and the offense play well, but a big problem when they don't.

2) Levi Wallace is not that guy and yes myself and others who share this sentiment understand this is a fatal mistake by this front office and coaching staff and you really have to wonder what they see that we don't.

3) The entire offensive line was trash today and the guards are a big area of concern as feared. Feliciano is/was the most overrated player on this team and not sure why he thought losing 30 pounds would be a good thing. As for Cody Ford, yes this was one of Beane's worst pics here, if not the worst.

4) I really believe Allen is good, but let's be honest when you pay a guy a record contract you have to be able to hit a deep ball from time to time and simply have to be better. Also I hate to say this but he won't last the entire season if we insist on the QB draw crap especially against top defenses like Pitt.

His AFC championship game was a disaster, and I’ll never understand why so many don’t want to recognize how often he gets dominated. 

[Playoffs?]

7 minutes ago, BuffaninSarasota said:

 

are you serious right now?

 

GTFO with the COVID bs - it's getting really old

My point was… they seemed like a distracted team, rather than focused. Want to dispute that?

[vincec]

Just now, BillsEnthusiast said:

 

It shows that Levi can't be trusted in 1 on 1s. 

Agree. He is not a man v man corner back. Needs to be in zone most of the time.

[RyanC883]

Just now, Ethan in Portland said:

You are missing the big picture.  Its not about one game against a good team. Its about McD losing in the big games. It's a valid concern. 

 

bingo.  We are beginning to look like the Marvin Lewis Bengals.  

[Success]

Just now, Doc Brown said:

Steelers defense just bullied us.  Great game plan and execution on their part.

 

We really let them do that, though.

 

It's true what they say about opportunities early. We had a chance to put that team down by several scores, but we let them hang around.  The game probably should have been over at halftime.

 

[Roundybout]

Just now, RyanC883 said:

 

I think the point is our other CBs are not good enough.  Glad we drafted 2 non-impactful DE's, one of whom was inactive.  

 

Non-impactful? I saw 50 in the backfield nearly every play. Dude's a beast. 

[TheFunPolice]

It felt like the offense lacked imagination.

 

Every play looked the same

[Coach Tuesday]

2 minutes ago, All_Pro_Bills said:

1. Expected a close game and that's what it was until the blocked punt gave the Steelers a two score lead.

2. Not going to argue whether they were good calls by the officials or not and there weren't an excessive number of penalties against the Bills but almost every one of them seemed to  be key to helping keep the game close early and putting the Steelers in the lead in the 2nd half.  Multiple holding calls killing Bills drives, defensive calls keeping Steelers in the game.  

3. More or less no measurable improvement to the pass rush from last season and doubly bad given the Steelers line had 4 new starters.

4. Offensive play calling never adapted to address a consistent Steeler pass rush that pressured Allen on most throws.  Maybe too much empty set?

5. The blocked punt.  Questionable off-season decision to replace last season's punter with a guy with an extremely deliberate and slow punting form.  

6. Steelers made half time adjustments and the Bills didn't respond.

7. Its an opening day loss but is this something to get worried about this early? For me, no.

 

Agree with all of this except the pass rush, I thought it was way better.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 minute ago, SirAndrew said:

You’re correct, and I don’t want to chicken little, but it’s more about the Steelers dominating the second half. The Steelers aren’t that type of good, and I wouldn’t consider them a legitimate contender. The season just begun, and all of our goals are still in sight, but this was the Bills team we saw against the Chiefs and Titans last season. This loss has as much to do with things we need to fix, as it does the greatness of the Steelers imo. 

Why would you not consider them a legitimate contender though 🤣 I keep reading this and I have no idea why.  They have a bunch of talented receivers a good prospect at rb and probably the best defense in football with one of the best coaching staffs in the nfl.  If their oline is decent they are going to be very scary 

[Pabstblueribbon]

We got too cocky bros ☹️

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Just now, Watkins90 said:

Did anyone just see what Cincy did on fourth down and inches under two minutes to go in the game. Play action pass to the TE. Those should have been the types of plays we were calling today. 

Yup. Did you also see Spain playing guard for them.  What happened to that guy in Buffalo? He would start over any of our current guards. 

[SCBills]

1 minute ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

You guys act like we lost to the Jets. I've been telling people to not take the Steelers lightly, their defense is as good as it gets in the NFL and Roethlisberger is a smart veteran. Absolutely crazy for people to think the Bills were just going to come in and steam roll a 13-3 team w/ a huge chip on their shoulder.

 

Game could've went either way minus a stupid drop by Sanders and questionable call back on the White interception. Week 1 is ALWAYS crazy, I know the play calling was atrocious, but they can build from this. We'll see where their heads are really at next week. If they drop 2 in a row then I'll start panicking. I am no where near throwing away the season like some people here. Have a little faith. 

Im sure we’d be losing our minds, no matter how we lost, but there’s some justifiable “it’s how we lost” in this thread.  
 

We drafted a 2nd round pass rusher who’s inactive, and re-signed a guy on the OL that many of us didn’t think was worth re-signing.  Ok, coaches think that’s the move, fine… well, our OL was dominated all game, and Daboll looked like he got body snatched by Johnny 5-wide.  Maybe we should’ve used that 2nd Round Pick on IOL, like many Bills fans were clamoring. 
 

We gave up a blocked punt on a team that has multiple special team captains. 
 

Defense, meh.  Allen, meh. 
 

Coaching and the OL… TRASH
 

 

[Roundybout]

Just now, Coach Tuesday said:

Agree with all of this except the pass rush, I thought it was way better.

 

Pass rush was terrific. 

[ganesh]

Did anyone see Sweeney play today.   They could have kept him inactive instead of Moss.

[ColoradoBills]

1 minute ago, RyanC883 said:

 

bingo.  We are beginning to look like the Marvin Lewis Bengals.  

 

LOL.  You need a timeout.

[klos63]

1 minute ago, vincec said:

They all got handles. Morse too. They were not put in a situation to succeed. 

I agree they all got handled. Not sure what you mean by not being in a situation to succeed. Great field position to start the game, had a lead most of the game... they just got dominated.

[TheFunPolice]

Meanwhile Cleveland player punches a KC coach in the face on the sideline and KC gets the penalty

[billrooter]

7 minutes ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

You guys act like we lost to the Jets. I've been telling people to not take the Steelers lightly, their defense is as good as it gets in the NFL and Roethlisberger is a smart veteran. Absolutely crazy for people to think the Bills were just going to come in and steam roll a 13-3 team w/ a huge chip on their shoulder.

 

Game could've went either way minus a stupid drop by Sanders and questionable call back on the White interception. Week 1 is ALWAYS crazy, I know the play calling was atrocious, but they can build from this. We'll see where their heads are really at next week. If they drop 2 in a row then I'll start panicking. I am no where near throwing away the season like some people here. Have a little faith. 

  You are right but Pittsburgh was 11-5.

[dpberr]

Let's hope next week is a rebound.

 

Still no defensive pressure.

 

Offensive strategy was lacking the screens, motion and gadgetry that gets players open. The motion and misdirection is the secret sauce.

[Meatloaf63]

4 minutes ago, BTB said:

Wah wah wah!  Every loss is the same fan reaction.  Ref suck!   You know who sucked? The players and coaches. 

I love people who watch a game clueless of what’s actually happening on the field and then acting like they are the superior fan, when their take is as bad as possible. It’s entertaining to see fools flapping their gums with no understanding of the game.

[Malazan]

It doesn't get easier next week. Miami also can pressure with 4 and hang a bunch of people in coverage. 

[Success]

They bought the hype. They thought they'd show up and it would be handed to them.

 

The ultimate wake-up call. Anyone who thought we were automatically in the AFCCG now realizes it's gonna be a grind.  And you have to work.

 

[major]

Skipped postgame interviews. Did it look/sound like this?

[Mango]

28 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

Missed deep TD to Sanders.

 

Blocked punt TD.

 

Weak penalty overturned an interception.

 

Dumb 4th down call.

 

Sanders dropped seam pass.

 

Those are the 5 plays that decided the game. Hopefully the team takes it as a wake up call.

So a lot of people around me in the stands thought that Sanders drop was at fault for the blocked punt.

 

Two things:

 

1. Sanders should have caught that seem pass that resulted in a pint the next down. 
 

2. I think a lot went wrong on that punt that resulted in a block. The previous play was totally irreverent. 
 

extra point: totally unrelated but very unpopular in my section. Levi Wallace HAS to turn his head around. The WR slowed up and looked for the ball. Wallace didn’t do anything particularly egregious other than play the WR and ran right into. Which is fine….if he’s try to make a play on the football. 

[Sherlock Holmes]

4 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

Chubs nails it.  I'll add the non-holding call on the deep pass to Diggs.  If Tre White was holding on the INT, that was definitely holding by the Squeelers on Stef.

 

The missed TD to Sanders was reminiscent of Foster's unwillingness to lay out for balls.  Totally gutless.  With the seam drop and the false start in the 4th, I am not impressed at all with "Colonel" Sanders.  

 

Haack hocked a loogie on that punt.  WTF IS WITH THE "THREE STEP TECHNIQUE FROM YOUR OWN 10 YARD LINE????  Two step punt there, idiot, I don't care how bad the OLE' blocking was up front, the ball should have been long gone.

 

AND WTF WAS THAT 4TH DOWN bull####???  A lateral to Breida?  We're supposed to be the team playing guts ball, and we go finesse when we need the 1st down.

 

My other areas of concern:

 

Motor with two fumbles, the last one OB to keep the clock running in the 4th QTR.

 

O-line.  Jesus.  Unable to run or pass block.  Josh running for his life all day.

 

Sugar Rush Josh.  Started looking like Houston playoff game a bit, but he got no help from the rest of the team.  

 

All of a sudden our defensive backfield looks suspect.  Hyde with a ridiculous US call (c'mon man, you're a seasoned vet, fallin' for that bull####....). Levi Wallace snakebit, and Taron Johnson issues later in the game.  

 

Playcalls with 1st and goal from the 8:  Josh draw for 2 yards, Motor run for 2 yards, Motor swing pass for -1 yards.  Just brutal.  You gotta go to the EZ at least once.

 

Zero pressure on Rapelisberger most of the game, against the Squeelers remade O-line (where's all the pregame prognosticators that we would pwn the Squeelers OL?).

 

I gotta stop now, I'm 130/110 BP....

That's low blood pressure after that game...

[Roundybout]

1 minute ago, dpberr said:

Let's hope next week is a rebound.

 

Still no defensive pressure.

 

Offensive strategy was lacking the screens, motion and gadgetry that gets players open. The motion and misdirection is the secret sauce.

 

I don't get this take. I thought we were MUCH better this week. Holding them to sub-300 yards of offense is no easy feat. 

[dakrider]

Steelers looked like crap for 2/3 of this game but the Bills just didn't take advantage of that at all. 

Some of the worse offensive play calling I've ever seen. Absolutely atrocious.

Allen obviously had a bad day, several high passes and several passes into tight coverage that had very little chance. A couple plays he was staring at his receiver right after the snap.  Losing teams settle for field goals after a first and goal.

Receivers didn't help much.  Running game was non existent thru most the game - This is still a Bills weakness. 

Blocked Punt - no excuse for that.
Way to many penalties on offense and defense.

Refs did suck but that wasn't why Bills lost.

Steelers O and D lines outplayed the Bills lines.

One of the things I was worried about was the Bills run defense and that was about the only thing they did pretty well.

[vincec]

1 minute ago, klos63 said:

I agree they all got handled. Not sure what you mean by not being in a situation to succeed. Great field position to start the game, had a lead most of the game... they just got dominated.

I mean that the Steelers have a great DL and they didn't really have a game plan to handle them besides hoping for the best with multiple unfavorable 1v1 matchups.

[LABILLBACKER]

9 minutes ago, RobbRiddick said:

The best success we had was with the shorter passes but I think after the long plays we had last season Josh and Daboll were getting impatient and kept trying to force the stuff that wasn't there. Should have taken what the defense gave them instead of forcing passes into double coverage downfield

It's like Josh's ego after the big signing wouldn't allow him to settle for check downs which the Steelers were giving us all day. Deep routes weren't there today. Hero ball must stop. Our QB and OC must get smarter.

[billieve420]

1 minute ago, TheFunPolice said:

Meanwhile Cleveland player punches a KC coach in the face on the sideline and KC gets the penalty

Shoved the coach who initially tried pushing him away and Harrison had his foot caught up with other player. Deserved to get ejected but that coach should be fined as well.

[Green Lightning]

That was largely on Daboll to me. If something is not working do something else. We were out coached out played, out toughed and our star receivers could not get open. Our CB 2 is a penalty waiting to happen. CB depth is glaring. Disappointing on so many fronts. 

[wvbillsfan]

Allen is going to have to learn to calm down. 
Oline will get better. Our tackles struggled and we didn’t help them. Stayed 4 and 5 wide and didn’t get the ball out quickly enough. 
 

One game. Long season let’s go to next week. Man I missed football

[Saint Doug]

16 minutes ago, Brennan Huff said:

We’re not as good as we thought we were 

No, just not as humble as we thought. They played like a group of individuals, not a team. We already knew they were an arrogant bunch going in. Someone better tell them preseason is over and it’s time to work. 

[vincec]

2 minutes ago, jeremy2020 said:

It doesn't get easier next week. Miami also can pressure with 4 and hang a bunch of people in coverage. 

I don't think Miami's DL is as good as Pittsburgh's. Maybe no one's is.

[Drifter]

Browns related. But wow how can you toss out Harrison he was only  trying to keep his balance. BS call.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

3 minutes ago, billrooter said:

  You are right but Pittsburgh was 11-5.

12-4 and they nearly beat Cleveland while resting starters at the end of the season.  Steelers are going to roll through the afc north with all the injuries Baltimore has.

Edited September 12, 2021 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Juice_32]

5 minutes ago, That's No Moon said:

Bingo my rear, the offensive line got steamrolled all day long and the quarterback couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. Add a horrid gameplan, a lack of halftime adjustment to that horrible plan, and baffling decisions in game. 

 

Chalking this up to a handful of single plays let's a whole lot of people who did a real crappy job off the hook. They weren't ready to play football today in all three phases.

I don’t disagree, my point is even with all those things being the case…a few plays go different and we win.

 

The Bills are a good team, so is Pitt, worry long term if you want. I choose not to.