9/12/2021 Steelers @ Bills Post Game thread

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

Also, I believe the lone TD was out of a 4wr set?? Just guessing because Davis was on the field. If so we would need to break down the productivity of each formational set. We’re the bills more or less productive out of 11 vs 01 vs 10 etc. 

 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

5 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

Edit: meant to quote Badolbillz here.

 

way to early to say. Did we run 4  and 5 receiver sets yesterday at significantly higher rate then we did last year? Are those numbers out yet? I still recall a lot of 11 personnel yesterday. We at least need the actual personnel play counts to make a decision. And even then it’s one game against what is typically a great defense likely again this year.

Allen also threw into tripple  coverage in the intermediate to deep range too often yesterday it seemed. 

 

Yes, we did run 4 and 5 WR sets at significantly higher rate than last year.

 

Last year 4 WR set: 15% per Sharp Football Stats.  5 WR sets 1%.

Yesterday 4 WR set 33% and 5 WR sets 11.5%, per Joe B/Athletic, which as Joe B points out is 45.5% of the plays.  And a lot of the 4 WR sets were functionally 5 WR sets because they split Singletary out wide.

[34-78-83]

1 hour ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

Yeah Buffalo dominated them statistically but by the same token the Bills defense got a MAJOR assist from the crowd.    It was deafening at times.  On a neutral field the Steelers have much more success moving the football, IMO.    It was a terrible waste of a huge homefield advantage.

That was the big bummer for us yesterday! What a return to action it was for us fans in a full stadium, and the noise levels reminded my family and I of the 90's levels in there. It was amazing (and our seats are at the 300 level where sound can kind of bleed off at lower levels) for the entire game. My voice is shot 😉

[Hapless Bills Fan]

7 minutes ago, Sammy Watkins' Rib said:

Also, I believe the lone TD was out of a 4wr set?? Just guessing because Davis was on the field. If so we would need to break down the productivity of each formational set. We’re the bills more or less productive out of 11 vs 01 vs 10 etc. 

 

 

Again, Joe B did this.  I put the chart up in another thread, search on me as an author and “sets” or something as a search term

BadOlBills also gave part of Joe B’s data in text form

Spoiler, the 3 WR sets were vastly more productive than the 4 WR sets, and the 5 WR sets were overall negative yards.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

Just now, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Again, Joe B did this.  I put the chart up in another thread, search on me as an author and “sets” or something as a search term

thanks I will get to it eventually. 

[nucci]

47 minutes ago, BananaB said:

Jesus

Yes?

 

 

[Bangarang]

1 hour ago, SCBills said:

 

Kick Williams inside, play Brown at RT.

 

Dawkins - Ford - Feliciano/Morse - Williams - Brown

 

Feliciano/Morse is backup C.  Bates, backup G/T.  Doyle swing tackle.  Hope Anderson develops into something at G, quickly.  

 

We obviously won't overreact to one game against a great DL and shuffle the line, but this is now two games in a row if we count the Chiefs AFCCG. 

 

If we witness another game this year where the OL is dominated like they were Sunday, something has to change, because we can't be sabotaging our entire season, and the franchise future (Allen) because Beane has a blind spot at IOL. 

 

What you suggest isn’t a solution. It’s a change for the sake of making a change. 

[SCBills]

I seem to remember a debate before the game about our WR's vs other WR groups and why are we not in the conversation for best trio...

 

Well, the Steelers trio all made big time plays in the 2nd half.. 

 

-Claypool drawing PI and making a contested catch on White.  

 

-Johnson making a circus TD catch on Wallace.

 

-Juju making the contested catch to put them in FG range up 7.  

 

Tell me one time that our WR's bailed Allen out...

 

-I can think of a few times they didn't...Sanders seam route immediately comes to mind. 

 

 

3 minutes ago, Bangarang said:

What you suggest isn’t a solution. It’s a change for the sake of making a change. 

 

That depends...

 

Can Williams upgrade at RG?  He's played it before.  He's now healthy.

 

Can Brown hold down the starting RT position?  He's shown serious potential.  Steelers started a 4th Round Rookie at LT.  

 

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by SCBills

[Bangarang]

3 minutes ago, SCBills said:

That depends...

 

Can Williams upgrade at RG?  He's played it before.  He's now healthy.

 

Can Brown hold down the starting RT position?  He's shown serious potential.  Steelers started a 4th Round Rookie at LT.  

Williams has clearly been a better RT than G. 
 

I think you’re making RT much weaker to maybe marginally upgrade the interior. 
 

It’s a hard no from me. 

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

3 hours ago, BillsEnthusiast said:

 

None of the linemen were good but Feliciano was especially atrocious. 

He struggles in pass pro against good DTs. Same as last year with Steelers, chiefs and Rams. He’s a run blocker… 

[Reader]

3 hours ago, BillsEnthusiast said:

 

None of the linemen were good but Feliciano was especially atrocious. 

 

60-70 is average for PFF.

 

Scary that Dawkins was one of the three better lineman, if we trust PFF.

[PolishDave]

I thought the Bills defense played respectably for the most part.  There is still a lot of room for improvement.   

 

I think Big Ben is very nearly done in the NFL and will put up a couple real “stinker” games this year.

 

Allen left 14 points on the field because he badly missed 2 deep throws.   You have to execute better when the opponent gives you gift opportunities to make game winning plays.   The Steelers presented the Bills with opportunities to win the game.   Bills didn’t execute.

 

Allen never got into his “zone” or “flow state” that he did so well last year when he picked apart defenses remarkably well.    I credit the Steelers coaching and defensive playing for not allowing him to get comfortable.    Steelers made Allen indecisive at times and also pressured him to make bad decisions at times.   4th and 8 pass to Davis into double coverage?

 

Really questionable coaching /play calling/decisions made on 4th downs.

 

Daboll/McDermott did not adjust well in the second half to the Steeler’s d-line penetration. – Should have had some kind of answer for it.    Maybe that means changing to 3 receiver sets and bringing in extra blockers.    Maybe try running the ball more often?   Maybe they could have tried exploiting the deep penetration by getting the ball to Singletary or the tight end in the holes created by that deep penetration?  Some fast completions may have done wonders for slowing down the Steeler’s pass rush and getting Josh Allen into his groove.   Also may have lessened the pressure on the OL and perhaps prevented some of the “holding out of sheer despair” that Dawkins was doing.

 

I would like to see more draw plays, shovel passes and tight end/half back screen passes if a future opponent gets that kind of dominant penetration.

Flea flickers might actually work if you have an established running game that the defense has to respect.

 

I felt like the Bills offensive line got away with more holds in the first half than they even got penalized for.   Need to rewatch the game to see for sure.   But I’m pretty sure.

 

In order to beat decent teams in the NFL you have to play decent on offense, defense AND special teams.   One gaff on special teams can be a game killer in a close game; as we just witnessed. 

 

I expect a big step forward into week 2.   I think the offense clicks much better and Allen finds his groove.   

[Hapless Bills Fan]

43 minutes ago, Reader said:

 

60-70 is average for PFF.

 

Scary that Dawkins was one of the three better lineman, if we trust PFF.

 

I don't trust PFF line blocking grades, ever since Eric Wood did a piece where he discussed some details with examples.

Wish I could find it.  One example was a play where a guy was Incognito's assignment.  Cog completely whiffed, Wood got a piece of him going by.

 

The Bills won, so Wood described how he and 'Cog were laughing after the game "as you do if you win" about how PFF would tag Wood with the mistake.

And they did.

 

Dawkins or Morse could have been whiffing guys they were supposed to block and having it rung up to Feliciano by PFF.  I'm not saying they did, but I'm not saying they didn't, either.

[HappyDays]

14 minutes ago, PolishDave said:

4th and 8 pass to Davis into double coverage?

 

Dawkins was instantly beat by Melvin Ingram and Allen had to get rid of the ball early. Also the pass hit Davis right in his hands. There are plays Allen would like back yesterday. That wasn't one of them. It was actually a really high level play from pre-snap all the way to the end, but the refs missed the Steelers jump Offside and the pass protection and intended receiver made mistakes.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

19 minutes ago, PolishDave said:

Allen never got into his “zone” or “flow state” that he did so well last year when he picked apart defenses remarkably well.    I credit the Steelers coaching and defensive playing for not allowing him to get comfortable.    Steelers made Allen indecisive at times and also pressured him to make bad decisions at times.   4th and 8 pass to Davis into double coverage?

 

Really questionable coaching /play calling/decisions made on 4th downs.

 

It's been pointed out elsewhere that Allen almost certainly noted the Steelers Offside on that 4th down play, and thought he had a free play.  Allen's judgement is usually sound there.  But the Zebras didn't agree with him.  You could see him making his case after the play.

 

The questionable decision making IMO was more around the go for it/don't go for it decisions.  And that 4th and 1 call, given the rest of the game that had unfolded, was a ridiculous play call.  If you don't want Allen to do it hand it off to Gillislee.

[DuckyBoys]

dawking got destroyed the entire game   Our game plan seems to be Josh make all the plays   At no point did I see any adjustment to what the steelers were doing  Allens maturity still needes to work  Still pressing instead of takinga new set of downs Badly missed a easy deep ball  Daboll did not help  Need complementary football  Set Josh up for sucess with some help  Bright spot singeltary flashed  Maybe well see some run support  Drafting seems to be ho hum  Finally seeing some from Oliver  Ford is bad   Cant seem to lock down the second corner  Been a few years in the same mire    OL needs work  Beane needs a hit in the draft  Cant live on tre milano and josh forever     Are we going to be resigning all this mediocrity>

[HappyDays]

Good perspective:

 

 

[Reader]

37 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

Good perspective:

 

 

 

I think one of the things that is so frustrating, though, is that in 2020 we made 2nd half adjustments that worked such as giving Allen some extra blockers.

[boater]

What really roasts my goat... That jerk Pittsburgh sports writer who called the for Pitt because "the Bills are dishevelled due to COVID." That dude probably thinks he's so clever. Probably strutting like #### of the walk today.

[HappyDays]

19 minutes ago, Reader said:

 

I think one of the things that is so frustrating, though, is that in 2020 we made 2nd half adjustments that worked such as giving Allen some extra blockers.

 

I agree. I said at the end of the 1st half that Allen had settled in and I was fairly confident that we were going to win the game at that point. And I thought Allen was just fine in the 2nd half. What killed us was Daboll refusing to make adjustments to cover for our bad pass protection, along with some very questionable play calls. I come away from this game thinking the offense is exactly where it was last year and the defense is somewhat improved. It's just frustrating because I feel like this offense can be even better than last year if Daboll is willing to make adjustments.