9/12/2021 Steelers @ Bills Post Game thread

[thenorthremembers]

7 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

Agree.  I picked two specific plays.  A game like this is a play or two here and there.  I think Levi played OK, the TD in the corner he got his hand on and deflected but their WR made a great play.  And the PI wasn’t deserved.

 

Would have liked to see them run more.

I hear ya.  The penalties were tough sledding.  I hate when we draw Hussey because I know there will be a lot called that are ticky tack.   Odd how they waited to run Singletary later in the game.  Would hope for them to run earlier in the game to slow down the pass rush and setup the pass, or at the very least use the screen game to keep the defense honest.  Seems like Daboll is happy to live and die on Allen's arm.

Edited September 13, 2021 by thenorthremembers

[Hapless Bills Fan]

5 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Haack also seems to take an extra step Back there, or is just slow. Didn’t help that the Steelers broke up the middle, but he had to speed up. We blocked one of his punts last year, and I think the pats blocked two of his in a different game. 

 

Pro-football-reference says that Matt Haack has had 1 punt blocked in his 4 year career, in 2018 by NE

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HaacMa00.htm

 

I’m not sure what your source is on thinking we blocked a punt on him ever or that the Pats blocked two

[thenorthremembers]

3 minutes ago, DCbillsfan said:

Matt Haack had a punt blocked today and one in 2018.  

To this day I dont know how they watched Haack punt in Miami last year and think, "thats the guy we need!"   Terrible move.

[BADOLBILZ]

38 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

I don't think Daboll did call a decent game but I agree he is a bit of a scapegoat for some. When your line blocks like that there really are not many plays on your call sheet that look like good options. For example, everyone says run more screens... you need mobile linemen for well executed screens. By the time Cody Ford has got into position to set a screen up Josh would be on his back on the turf. 

 

The empty backfield 5-wide dink and dunk ***** just has to go.    Daboll made it very easy on Keith Butler.   The threat of the run and the extra pass blocker are worth a lot more to a guy who likes to hold the ball like Josh Allen than running Devin Singletary out to the X receiver where he is not a pass receiving option that has to be taken seriously.   50 passes for 5 yards per attempt........sheesh........might as well just run the ball up the middle all day like Marrone year 1..........that's punchless offensive football.

[RunTheBall]

Eh, it’s the first game. Certainly sucks to lose but there is a lot of football to play.

 

Our offensive line absolutely sucked. That was the biggest determinant of the game, they consistently got pressure with 4 guys rushing.

 

One thing that really concerns me is the absolute lack of running game with Dabol. I thought it was pretty clear we couldn’t be as one dimensional this season as last. I don’t care what the stats say how many times we ran, it was mostly with designed Josh runs and we never got into any sort of a rhythm. When you go 5 wide for 6-10 straight plays then line up in a heavy set who the hell doesn’t see a run coming?? We should’ve been running much more out of 1 and 2 back sets. They were ready for Josh’s designed runs and Daboll gave up way too early until it was too late and Singletary had a good drive. Teams are going to play nickel and dime on us all game until we prove we can run the ball against those fronts.

 

Outcoached and outplayed, but it’s game 1 and there is a lot of football left to play. Can’t play the Jets opening day every year.

[HOUSE]

We are doomed 😬

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

4 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Pro-football-reference says that Matt Haack has had 1 punt blocked in his 4 year career, in 2018 by NE

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HaacMa00.htm

 

I’m not sure what your source is on thinking we blocked a punt on him ever or that the Pats blocked two

I think the stats may not show any blocked punt that technically travels forward. 

This article recounts a game when the pats “blocked” two of his punts, but went forward. (I thought the same

happened last year against us, but I may instead be remembering his shank). 
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/20181213/why-miami-dolphins-had-two-punts-blocked-by-patriots%3ftemplate=ampart

 

 

 

[billsfan714]

KC is another level than the rest of the AFC.    Of the rest Browns match up best.    Bills offense is weak at TE and RB.  DL continues to underwhelm, nobody elite on entire unit.

[Joe Ferguson]

[Norcalbillsfan]

13 minutes ago, PayDaBill$ said:

Observations:

 

No, it’s not the end of the world. Pitt especially when heathy is a tough opener

51 pass attempts is too one dimensional. PERIOD! You need to keep them honest.

 

OC / Gameplan was meh!

 

JA draw has been run to death,  especially against Pitts D. We ran that to death

 

Pitt has a legit top 5 defense 

Blocked punt changed the game 

I am not sure what our aversion  is to utilizing the TE position more 

 

There are a crap load of competitive teams in the AFC it’s a long season

 

Rebound big next week

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as an offensive game plan, everyone has a plan until you get hit in the face. The bills got hit in the face when the steelers front 4 could not be stopped. Watt could have had 8 sacks if Allen wasn't an athlete.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

8 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

I think the stats may not show any blocked punt that technically travels forward. 

This article recounts a game when the pats “blocked” two of his punts, but went forward. (I thought the same

happened last year against us, but I may instead be remembering his shank). 
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/20181213/why-miami-dolphins-had-two-punts-blocked-by-patriots%3ftemplate=ampart

 

Thanks, that makes sense.

 

Hopefully they get it fixed, because we simply can’t have that kind of costly mistake on ST

[Bob in STL]

3 hours ago, Big Blitz said:

Cameron Heyward absolutely wrecked our interior line.  

 

Our OTs can hold their own vs the best.  We've seen it.

 

We have seen our interior oline vs great DTs get man handled.  

It should not be hard to draft a stud OG, but no one wants to spend a 1 or a 2 to get one.  Ford is not looking like the answer.  Morse is not a power center.  Feliciano and Boettger are serviceable but better as backups. 

[SCBills]

3 minutes ago, Norcalbillsfan said:

As far as an offensive game plan, everyone has a plan until you get hit in the face. The bills got hit in the face when the steelers front 4 could not be stopped. Watt could have had 8 sacks if Allen wasn't an athlete.

Titans 2020

Chiefs 2020 x2

Steelers 2021

 

All games where we got punched in the face. 
 

Problem is, our answer seems to be, just go what we do … but do it better….
 

See:  Steelers 2020, where we ran the same sets but plugged up Hayward’s penetration and got the ball to Diggs over and over. 

[Bob in STL]

22 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Haack also seems to take an extra step Back there, or is just slow. Didn’t help that the Steelers broke up the middle, but he had to speed up. We blocked one of his punts last year, and I think the pats blocked two of his in a different game. 

I didn’t know this.  I was surprised to see him in preseason.    I thought we had a good punter.  One problem with changing punters is you effect the PK. 

[78thealltimegreat]

1 hour ago, Nitro said:

It is IMO.  

Not even in a Pittsburgh Steeler fantasy league is that torching.. the Bills gave the game to these guys with poor coaching and execution 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

6 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Thanks, that makes sense.

 

Hopefully they get it fixed, because we simply can’t have that kind of costly mistake on ST

i feel Bad suggesting that Haack is the main problem. It was a jail Break today— but to My untrained eye, it seems like Haack takes longer than most. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

34 minutes ago, Comebackkid said:

i dont understand what he means by sloopy??>..  😃

 

That seemed straightforward to me - he meant sloppy and typo’d “sloopy”

 

HTH

[Putin]

12 minutes ago, 78thealltimegreat said:

Not even in a Pittsburgh Steeler fantasy league is that torching.. the Bills gave the game to these guys with poor coaching and execution 

Hard to argue with that ^^^

[Hapless Bills Fan]

32 minutes ago, Meatloaf63 said:

Do you think they were exhausted? I have to admit I did not pay much attention to the rotation. Or could they not keep up the intensity they showed in the first half.. Cleveland certainly faded in the second half today…

 

I dunno if it was mental let up or physical fatigue.

 

What Collinsworth said about the physical difficulties of the first game, as a former player, made sense to me

 

If it was physical, though, then it has to be said Tomlin had his guys more ready to go.

[Mat68]

I think the team, the coaches, everyone needed a loss.  I fully expect a good showing in MIA.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

32 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

The empty backfield 5-wide dink and dunk ***** just has to go.    Daboll made it very easy on Keith Butler.   The threat of the run and the extra pass blocker are worth a lot more to a guy who likes to hold the ball like Josh Allen than running Devin Singletary out to the X receiver where he is not a pass receiving option that has to be taken seriously.   50 passes for 5 yards per attempt........sheesh........might as well just run the ball up the middle all day like Marrone year 1..........that's punchless offensive football.

 

I’m not a fan of the empty backfield.  But was it really dink-n-dunk that was the problem?  

30 completions for 270 yds is 9 yards per completion.  Seems to me the low YPA was a function of the unusually low (compared to last year) % of completions.

 

In his postgame presser, Allen said he was “too aggressive” and needed to take more “easy stuff” to have it work out better.  I can’t tell, watching from the network broadcast, but it wouldn’t surprise me if on many of those plays, there was a check down option available and Allen was extending the play looking for the Kill Shot.

 

[LABILLBACKER]

15 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

i feel Bad suggesting that Haack is the main problem. It was a jail Break today— but to My untrained eye, it seems like Haack takes longer than most. 

Most punters take 1 1/2 steps before punting. Haack took 2 1/2. Haack does take more time. Pitt did their homework. 

[Andy1]

Pitts D line > Bills O line. Plus Questionable play calls and punt team breakdown = loss. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

19 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

i feel Bad suggesting that Haack is the main problem. It was a jail Break today— but to My untrained eye, it seems like Haack takes longer than most. 

 

I appreciate you finding that article and the info that the stats don’t show the whole picture.  But the guy does have 307 punts for 44.7 yds/punt, and since he’s not a “boomer” who makes up for shanks with long punts, I guess I’ll hope for the best that it’s not that common of a problem.

 

I’m sure Bill Belichick is licking his chops though

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, vincec said:

And when they were wide open Allen overthrew the WR

Yeah that happened too. But still, the Steelers defense smothered us. It's probably why they tried that gadget play on 4th down. They didn't trust they could sneak it twice.

 

[Coach Tuesday]

Josh’s PC came as close as he’ll ever come to throwing others under the bus. Said he was “maybe feeling things around my feet” (o-line).  Asked about that 4th and 1 call and he said something like, “the coaches call the plays.”  Ouch.  Didn’t shy from his own bad play but I was surprised to hear both things out of his mouth.

[vincec]

1 minute ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Josh’s PC came as close as he’ll ever come to throwing others under the bus. Said he was “maybe feeling things around my feet” (o-line).  Asked about that 4th and 1 call and he said something like, “the coaches call the plays.”  Ouch.  Didn’t shy from his own bad play but I was surprised to hear both things out of his mouth.

Frustration. Nothing to worry about, IMO.

[MiltonWaddams]

54 minutes ago, Meatloaf63 said:

Didn’t know that having a discussion in a forum could solve a professional sports teams deficiencies, thanks for clearing that up👍 It’s all sunshine and candy going forward…

It’s not solving anybody’s deficiencies 

[WideNine]

I missed most of the 2nd half, as I had to go to an awards banquet for my daughter's team that was held at a park with 0 internet.

 

I was annoyed, but kept it in check for the fam's sake.

 

Sounds like it was a small mercy as my boy said the 4th quarter was brutal.

 

In the 1st half I felt like we had our chances. In the second I felt we had an INT that was reversed on a questionable that could of put us up a few scores and really put the screws on their offense.

 

Allen was not sharp and played too tight, but credit the Steelers defense for having a good game plan.

 

The sky is not falling, but they need to clean some things up and have a good bounce back performance.

 

 

 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

7 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Josh’s PC came as close as he’ll ever come to throwing others under the bus. Said he was “maybe feeling things around my feet” (o-line).  Asked about that 4th and 1 call and he said something like, “the coaches call the plays.”  Ouch.  Didn’t shy from his own bad play but I was surprised to hear both things out of his mouth.

that 4th down play is partially on Josh. He is a big boy now and should have recognized the D and audibled or called a TO.
 

There were like 4 defenders just sitting out there on the side waiting to blow up that play. That play only Works if the D is selling out on the sneak, but they weren’t because the distance was too long to credibly sneak it. 

[JaCrispy]

11 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Josh’s PC came as close as he’ll ever come to throwing others under the bus. Said he was “maybe feeling things around my feet” (o-line).  Asked about that 4th and 1 call and he said something like, “the coaches call the plays.”  Ouch.  Didn’t shy from his own bad play but I was surprised to hear both things out of his mouth.

Bickering Bills...

[Bruffalo]

Today was one of the worst performance's our offensive line has put up in years.  They looked atrocious.  The guards especially looked bad.  Yeah Pittsburgh has a great front 7, that doesn't excuse the domination. 

 

Allen definitely regressed under all that pressure.  His ball placement was bad.  His pocket presence (when there was a pocket) was bad. The deep ball was 2019 level.

 

I'm hoping this was the smack in the mouth they needed to figure things out. 

 

I predict they'll go 16-1 now.  Haha.

[eball]

Championships are often won and lost in week one. Carry on. 

[BADOLBILZ]

1 minute ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I’m not a fan of the empty backfield.  But was it really dink-n-dunk that was the problem?  

30 completions for 270 yds is 9 yards per completion.  Seems to me the low YPA was a function of the unusually low (compared to last year) % of completions.

 

In his postgame presser, Allen said he was “too aggressive” and needed to take more “easy stuff” to have it work out better.  I can’t tell, watching from the network broadcast, but it wouldn’t surprise me if on many of those plays, there was a check down option available and Allen was extending the play looking for the Kill Shot.

 

 

 

Despite being paved with explosive intentions........the 5 wide, empty-backfield course is by nature a dink and dunk approach to offensive football.

 

Allen took some deep shots........but they were mostly covered and he was harried.........because deep plays take time to develop and in empty backfield the DL can pin their ears back and just attack the QB.  

 

Even if he took more check downs..........that's more opportunities to get receivers blasted and have the ball dislodged or tipped into heavy traffic by a squatting back 7...........and, as we found out today, more opportunities for officials to re-discover the holding penalties they had shelved last season.  

 

Not the best way to put a lot of points on the board.   

 

 

[Meatloaf63]

3 minutes ago, eball said:

Championships are often won and lost in week one. Carry on. 

Probably not, but flaws certainly can be exposed…

[eball]

1 minute ago, Meatloaf63 said:

Probably not, but flaws certainly can be exposed…

Yes, and teams always play exactly as they did in week one in week sixteen. Carry on. 

[DCofNC]

2 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

You are incorrect, no really, you are, Dabol’s one failing is that he has no functioning idea how to integrate a run game into his offensive schemes, over the last three years he has shown this to be so. 
 

As an example;

 

Singletary had just picked up back to back first downs on run plays, of 12 & 15 yards iirc, and put us well into the red zone, then Dabs calls a run play for Allen when Singletary was so obviously the hot hand and very likely to score a TD during that series of downs. Singletary was running in contact traffic much better than Allen was during the game. 
 

A Pass only offense is an one dimensional offense and is relatively easy to defend against especially when your OC doesn’t know when to use his RBs, this game showed this to be so. 
 

Go Bills!!!

I don’t disagree that Daboll is a loser masked by great QBs, but that’s still not making Singletary a good back.

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

 

Now we get a little glimpse behind the curtain as to why no team hired Daboll last year. Even though many thought he'd be gobbled up immediately. He's an above average OC who does have obvious flaws. He has no clue what to do with running backs. Today's 4th down calls were hilarious. 

 

The reason Daboll got so much attention from national pundits last year is that a lot of outside observers think he took a bad QB in Allen and made him produce at an elite level. When I've always felt the exact opposite is the case. He has a maddening habit of refusing to make changes when things aren't working. If the other team is consistently getting pressure with 4, bring in extra blockers. Set up screens. Run play action to open up quick throwing windows. We saw none of that today. Every pass play was shotgun empty and Pittsburgh countered it with simple zone coverages and rushing 4. I don't mind that the offense struggled a bit early on, but by the 2nd half we should have figured it out and instead the offense got worse. That's on Daboll.

[SCBills]

Honestly, the thing that makes me annoyed is that so many fans here lamented our Guards and CB2 all offseason. 
 

We drafted a pass rusher in Round 2, who wasn’t even active.  
 

Today, our IOL was a disgrace and Levi was the only true weak link in a strong defensive performance.  
 

Also, we have multiple ST captains.  Our coach is obsessed with carrying multiple roster spots for special teams aces.  To have a punt block for a TD knowing all that is incredibly frustrating.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

4 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Despite being paved with explosive intentions........the 5 wide, empty-backfield course is by nature a dink and dunk approach to offensive football.

 

Allen took some deep shots........but they were mostly covered and he was harried.........because deep plays take time to develop and in empty backfield the DL can pin their ears back and just attack the QB.  

 

Even if he took more check downs..........that's more opportunities to get receivers blasted and have the ball dislodged or tipped into heavy traffic by a squatting back 7...........and, as we found out today, more opportunities for officials to re-discover the holding penalties they had shelved last season.  

 

Not the best way to put a lot of points on the board.   

 

“Paved with explosive intentions” - I like that turn of phrase.    I see your point about the deep shots that take time to develop, but I think Daboll’s use of it is more to force the D to show their hand with regard to coverage and have Allen hit those quick 5-15 yd routes OR take off and run himself (which he did with some success today)

 

Of course, it only works out that way if the OL can protect “hat on a hat”, and if they don’t, yes, the QB is harried.

 

Do you know how many plays we ran from the empty backfield?  I have the impression it was “a lot”.  But I had that impression last year, and it turned out to be 15% or something like that - which was still one of the highest in the league, but not my perception.