What I did and didn't like vs Steelers

[Mark Vader]

Liked.

Defense. Run was very good today. Pass was alright. Can't pin this loss on the defense.

Poyer & Hyde are fantastic.

Taron Johnson got picked on a bit, but did not give up any big plays and made tackles.

Matt Milano started slowly, but had a solid game.

Sacks were not a factor, but there was a good amount of pressure today.

Devin Singletary.

Cole Beasley.

Dawson Knox.

 

Disliked.

Brian Daboll. Bizarre play calling. All of those 1 yard screen passes never worked. We all know about the 4th & 1 play in the second half, so I won't beat that to death.

Why were there so many designed run plays for Josh Allen?

Matt Breida was sparsely used, and when he was in there, they would have him run up the middle most of the time. Why?

Offensive Line was terrible today. It wasn't just one player.

Josh Allen was so-so today. That touchdown drive, he looked in command. Other times he looked uncomfortable. Yes, he was under pressure a lot. Again those 1 yard screens looked out of place.

Disappointing Special Teams, except for Bass.

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

22 minutes ago, MWK said:

Feliciano is garbage. Been saying it forever. Supposed “toughness” doesnt get you anywhere when you can’t actually block.

He’s horrible.  having cool tats and a nickname like Mongo don’t make you a good OG. 

[JohnNord]

22 minutes ago, MWK said:

Feliciano is garbage. Been saying it forever. Supposed “toughness” doesnt get you anywhere when you can’t actually block.

The most odd thing is he reported to camp 20 pounds underweight.  This was something he did on his own.  You don’t exactly want to be surprised when your lineman shows up 20 pounds lighter

[sherpa]

I am over Singletary.

Constant drops, whether at the end of carries or pass receiving.

The guy had a couple fumbles today saved by a whistle or a sideline.

[FilthyBeast]

34 minutes ago, GreggTX said:

What I liked:

1. Run defense

2. Secondary play in 1st half

3. McKenzie's return work.

4. Devin Singletary

 

What I didn't like:

1. Levi Wallace. Need I say more?

2. The OL. I know Pittsburgh's front 7 is among the best, but our guys were getting beat too often. Ford continues to be a real liability.

3. Josh. No, I'm not saying he's garbage, but his accuracy and decision making were off today. Hopefully he'll bounce back quickly. Also, I blame the coaches as well as Josh for all the fumbles. He simply refuses to protect the ball even in heavy traffic. He looks so nonchalant about it. He can do much better there, but there's no reason I can think of that the coaches shouldn't be drilling this into his head. It's entirely mental. He's perfectly capable of squeezing the ball to his body and covering it up. He just doesn't do it.

4. Pass rush: It wasn't terrible, but the young DE's need to start contributing.

 

It's not time to panic by a long shot, but that was ugly. What's your list of good and bad?

 

Pretty much agree, would also add to the don't like:

 

1) Coaching, not McDermott or Dabolls best day

2) ST - when you invest so much in 'ST only players' you can't let a blocked punt happen in a crucial moment like it did. Thats would essentially ended the game IMO.

 

Regarding Wallace - I just don't see what this front office and coaching staff sees compared to us 'armchair GMs' who know this guy is trash and nothing more than a depth type of guy. Teams are going to continue to go at him all year and not much will change but it's probably too late to address unless we make an in season trade.

 

Regarding oline - I'm assuming this is the worst they'll look all year given the defense we played today. But it's crystal clear that both guard spots are an issue and I'll say Feliciano is still one of the most overrated Bills players of all time. He was probably the worst guy out there today hands down and I'm still trying to understand why an undersized guy thought losing 30 pounds was somehow going to make him better??

[sven233]

1 minute ago, JohnNord said:

Guard play was atrocious and outside of the Williams move or making a trade, I’m not too sure there is much we can do.  The Bills rotated Ford, Feliciano, and Boettger today and they were all equally ineffective.

 

Yup.  It's a talent issue for sure.  They aren't good enough there so it's about finding an answer.  Since there isn't a good idea out there on the streets, and a trade most likely difficult and unlikely right now, the Williams move may be the only card we will have to play because the players we have aren't talented enough at that position.

[BananaB]

Didn’t like listening to Charlie Davis’s drool fest of 18 year ver Ben Roethliberger. 

[TC in St. Louis]

Reid Ferguson whiffed on his block.  The guy ran in and could have caught the punt.  

[JerseyBills]

35 minutes ago, 716er said:

Very concerned the pass rush couldn’t beat up that revamped Steelers oline. One of the worst o-lines we could face all year 

I thought the pass rush was fine? 

Our O was terrible imo.  We held em to 55 yards in a half! 

7 minutes ago, sven233 said:

 

Yup.  It's a talent issue for sure.  They aren't good enough there so it's about finding an answer.  Since there isn't a good idea out there on the streets, and a trade most likely difficult and unlikely right now, the Williams move may be the only card we will have to play because the players we have aren't talented enough at that position.

I miss Wyatt Teller..

7 minutes ago, sven233 said:

 

Yup.  It's a talent issue for sure.  They aren't good enough there so it's about finding an answer.  Since there isn't a good idea out there on the streets, and a trade most likely difficult and unlikely right now, the Williams move may be the only card we will have to play because the players we have aren't talented enough at that position.

I miss Wyatt Teller..

[CSBill]

What I don't like? .... You know all the talk about keeping ST players over others because its so important? .... You know what, despite all the other things that went wrong, if we just execute a punt this game is still tied. And ever worse, that block came up the middle and it looked like two black and yellow guys could have got it. .... That is the most frustrating thing for me from this game. Just execute simple punt blocking and we probably don't lose this game.

8 minutes ago, TC in St. Louis said:

Reid Ferguson whiffed on his block.  The guy ran in and could have caught the punt.  

 

And, J Johnson, he was the one who should have slid over to get the guy looping around--he touched no one on the play.

[John from Riverside]

1 hour ago, JohnNord said:

Josh needs to get the ball out fast like that.  His receivers are much better

We also need to take a look at the playcalling to make sure there was actually an outlet to get the ball out fast was it there in this playcalling I’m not so sure

 

[Buffarukus]

GOOD

 

run d looks vastly improved.

 

oliver seems to be ready to break out this season. a really good game from him. 

 

defense as a whole stepped up. a penalty and blocked punt were the game changers. pass rush was no where where id like to see it with the philosophy we are using of heavy rotation and huge stable but it is very young and the first game. i saw alot of uncalled holds that were far more apparent then a few we were called on. ill give them a pass.

 

mckenzie seems like a solid returner and glad he actually will contribute on O not just a spot for return alone. bass is continuously reliable will be a great for years to come and i really see the advantage of haak accuracy over bojos power now.

 

bad

 

its looking like the fans concerns about the coaches failing to address any upgrades to the interior lines for run blocking or backs are valid.

 

once again we are choosing to be one dimensional pass all day offense do to the runs ineffectiveness. the entire O will rest in joshes hands to the point we will ask he also be our power back. if so COVER THE BALL WHILE RUSHING! if he has a bad game throwing there is no alternative to pick up yardage, control clock which will put alot of pressure on the D. defenses will play pass only. pin their ears back all game, which may make the line look worse then it is..not sure. not even sure why josh uses play action on alot of plays. it scares noone. with the entire D playing pass we still relied on josh for all our yardage. the book is out on this from last year so hopefully they rethink it will be as successful and gadget plays will not change our lack of running ability. the fact moss was a healthy scratch is strange to say the least.

 

more to say but those are the main points i saw.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2021 by Buffarukus

[The Frankish Reich]

2 hours ago, MWK said:

Feliciano is garbage. Been saying it forever. Supposed “toughness” doesnt get you anywhere when you can’t actually block.

Not garbage. But ... ideally you'd be able to use him as a backup flex G/C. He's pretty marginal as a starter in my opinion. I am well aware that you can't upgrade every position while keeping your newly expensive starters like Milano, but the fact is the weak spots last year are still the weak spots this year.

[Solomon Grundy]

2 hours ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

 

People put a lot of pressure on Allen to be the next Mahomes and rightfully so w/ that hefty contract. He definitely did not play upto it, but Daboll and Sanders did him no favors.

 

I feel like the defense did fine barring Wallace. The field position is what did them in. Wallace is for sure the weakest starter out of the unit. I'll admit I defended him against the people who said so during the off-season, but I'm beginning to think we should look at other options either on or off the roster If it continues. 

Sanders was wide open twice for TDs. 

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Dion is not back to full health IMO. He is still light and it is really hard to regain weight in season.

Wonder how much his conditioning played a factor? 

[Solomon Grundy]

2 hours ago, billsbackto81 said:

Dawkins looked really bad today. I thought he was hurt. Franchise LTs don't allow that type of pressure.

Been saying for 2 years now Wallace is a big liability. He's not a starting caliber CB and opposing teams know this. Spending money on Sanders instead of a quality CB is gonna hurt us.

Daboll didn't do him any justice. Slow the rush with screens/passes to RBs

[Not at the table Karlos]

2 hours ago, sven233 said:

Our G play was atrocious today.  While I am not ready to pull the trigger in this yet, if the awful play continues, I am slipping Williams inside to G and I'm letting Brown work at RT.  I think he is one of our best 5 lineman and should be on the field, but he's too tall to play inside.  I think Williams could do real well at RG and I would be banking on Brown's natural ability and athleticism to pick up the NFL speed sooner than later.

 

Again, I am not ready to do it yet, but if our guards continue to get manhandled up front, I will be ready to try this.

Panthers tried Williams at guard and he was pretty bad. 

[Solomon Grundy]

2 hours ago, IronMaidenBills said:

Allen is 1 more weapon from being unstoppable. If this team had Davonta Smith or JaMarr Chase I’m willing to bet we win despite playing as bad as we did. 

Has a weapon in Gabe. I kept questioning his absence from offense early in the game

[Starr Almighty]

2 hours ago, 716er said:

Very concerned the pass rush couldn’t beat up that revamped Steelers oline. One of the worst o-lines we could face all year 

I would agree if they weren't being held 90% of the time

[Solomon Grundy]

2 hours ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

I did not like singletary at all. Most of his yardage came on two runs where the clock was becoming a factor and Pittsburgh wasn’t defending it. We needed effective running long before that point. 

11 carries!! 

[BADOLBILZ]

2 hours ago, JohnNord said:

Guard play was atrocious and outside of the Williams move or making a trade, I’m not too sure there is much we can do.  The Bills rotated Ford, Feliciano, and Boettger today and they were all equally ineffective.

 

 

What they can do is run the ball enough or at least keep a back in to play action fake and/or block to both take the starch out of the pass rush and provide help when they spring a leak.

 

Empty sets all day make it more challenging to pass block.........days like this........against a team that's put up 50+ sacks 4 straight years.......the OL needs some assistance from their coordinator.

[McBean]

2 hours ago, GreggTX said:

What I liked:

1. Run defense

2. Secondary play in 1st half

3. McKenzie's return work.

4. Devin Singletary

 

What I didn't like:

1. Levi Wallace. Need I say more?

2. The OL. I know Pittsburgh's front 7 is among the best, but our guys were getting beat too often. Ford continues to be a real liability.

3. Josh. No, I'm not saying he's garbage, but his accuracy and decision making were off today. Hopefully he'll bounce back quickly. Also, I blame the coaches as well as Josh for all the fumbles. He simply refuses to protect the ball even in heavy traffic. He looks so nonchalant about it. He can do much better there, but there's no reason I can think of that the coaches shouldn't be drilling this into his head. It's entirely mental. He's perfectly capable of squeezing the ball to his body and covering it up. He just doesn't do it.

4. Pass rush: It wasn't terrible, but the young DE's need to start contributing.

 

It's not time to panic by a long shot, but that was ugly. What's your list of good and bad?

Pass rush non existent and yet we’ve spent all our picks on the defensive line, refusing to add speed/playmakers.

 

That’s what has pissed me off.

[PatsFanNH]

2 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Good:

 

1) Defense (including Wallace— thought he had an okay game outside of the PI call). 

 

Bad

 

1) Going empty all game. That allows those steeler rushers to pin their ears back.

 

2) designed Josh Allen runs— just stop.

Question…  are you concerned by running Allen it will lead to injuries? 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

3 minutes ago, PatsFanNH said:

Question…  are you concerned by running Allen it will lead to injuries? 

exactly. I don’t mind the scrambles when he had to. But the designed runs just look like an injury waiting to happen. 

[Success]

The things I was worried about, I'm still worried about.  The O-line, the secondary, and the running game.

 

Lots of positives, though. I'll focus on those.

 

Going forward, the Bills need to follow the Pats blueprint:  you get a franchise QB, you PROTECT HIM.

 

[Jester]

2 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

Good:

 

1) Defense (including Wallace— thought he had an okay game outside of the PI call). 

 

Bad

 

1) Going empty all game. That allows those steeler rushers to pin their ears back.

 

2) designed Josh Allen runs— just stop.

2). This. Drives me crazy. 

[Maine-iac]

The bad:  4th down.  We were probably 3 punts away from winning.  Two 4th downs we probably should have punted and one punt we didn't execute and gave up a TD.

 

I

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

2 hours ago, GreggTX said:

What I liked:

1. Run defense

2. Secondary play in 1st half

3. McKenzie's return work.

4. Devin Singletary

 

What I didn't like:

1. Levi Wallace. Need I say more?

2. The OL. I know Pittsburgh's front 7 is among the best, but our guys were getting beat too often. Ford continues to be a real liability.

3. Josh. No, I'm not saying he's garbage, but his accuracy and decision making were off today. Hopefully he'll bounce back quickly. Also, I blame the coaches as well as Josh for all the fumbles. He simply refuses to protect the ball even in heavy traffic. He looks so nonchalant about it. He can do much better there, but there's no reason I can think of that the coaches shouldn't be drilling this into his head. It's entirely mental. He's perfectly capable of squeezing the ball to his body and covering it up. He just doesn't do it.

4. Pass rush: It wasn't terrible, but the young DE's need to start contributing.

 

It's not time to panic by a long shot, but that was ugly. What's your list of good and bad?

 

Wonder how much #2 caused #3?  Did Allen have one eye on the blocking in front of him all day?  Do wonder if Dawkins is not recovered fully from Covid and just doesn't have 100% of his strength back?  Was it 4 holding calls?

 

Agree completely on Allen's lack of ball protection.  Last year he got away with it for the most part.

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

12 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Sanders was wide open twice for TDs. 

Wonder how much his conditioning played a factor? 

 

Well, he needs to catch the ones that DO hit him. QBs miss open receivers all of the time, even Brady. When it hits you directly in the hands, you need to catch it ESPECIALLY in a crucial drive late in the 4th quarter. What could've been a promising drive into Steeler territory down 3 points, turns into a blocked punt and a 10 point deficit!

 

Like I said before, who knows if he would've even caught it? Hate to say it, but I'm missing John Brown now. A dude who actually knows how to make clutch receptions. Sanders is on my **** list until he redeems himself.

 

I know it's a bit of an overreaction, but this game was the Bills for taking and everybody knows it. Could've been an ugly win, but a win nonetheless. Anyway, back to work. 👌

[Buffalo Junction]

10 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Daboll didn't do him any justice. Slow the rush with screens/passes to RBs

Unfortunately the best back on the roster at that (and pass blocking) wasn’t active today…. There were a whole lot of coaching decisions that just don’t “add up” in many ways. 

[BuffaloRebound]

1 minute ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

What they can do is run the ball enough or at least keep a back in to play action fake and/or block to both take the starch out of the pass rush and provide help when they spring a leak.

 

Empty sets all day make it more challenging to pass block.........days like this........against a team that's put up 50+ sacks 4 straight years.......the OL needs some assistance from their coordinator.

this.  Josh aint Mahomes and we don’t have a chain mover at Tight End like Kelce.  That’s 3 straight bad offensive games from this offense.  Good teams take away what you do best.  Daboll gotta start mixing it up.  

[Roundybout]

10 minutes ago, McBean said:

Pass rush non existent and yet we’ve spent all our picks on the defensive line, refusing to add speed/playmakers.

 

That’s what has pissed me off.

 

Trying to add speed has left us with TJ Grahams and Marquise Goodwins. Make smart picks, not some dude with glass hands who happens to run a 4.2 40. 

[McBean]

4 minutes ago, BillsEnthusiast said:

 

Trying to add speed has left us with TJ Grahams and Marquise Goodwins. Make smart picks, not some dude with glass hands who happens to run a 4.2 40. 

Yeah man I dunno tell that to the KC Chiefs who blew our behinds out last season. 
 

Speed and weapons all over. You win games by scoring more points. We lost today because our offense sucked and QB wasn’t good at all.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

I just looked at the team stats.  If I didn't know who won the game, I'd have guess the Bills crushed them.  79 to 55 plays, 371 to 252 yards to mention a couple.

 

The only stats not significantly favoring the Bills were 2 TO' s though 2 isn't excessively high for a game.  What Pitt did with the one though was a back breaker.

 

The other one was penalties, but even that wasn't a huge difference.

 

The one other stat that would have made me raise an eye brow was 51 pass attempts.  That usually doesn't happen when a team wins a game (or even loses)

[BigDingus]

3 hours ago, IronMaidenBills said:

Allen is 1 more weapon from being unstoppable. If this team had Davonta Smith or JaMarr Chase I’m willing to bet we win despite playing as bad as we did. 

 

He has more than enough weapons... a lot more than most QB's in this league. Even if he had another one, it wouldn't matter if he plays like he did today. Far too inaccurate, and even a lot of the caught passes were thrown to bad spots which didn't allow the receiver any room to move or run after the catch.

[billsherd]

As bad as the O was playing we could have still come out with a win, if not for the blocked punt.

[CEN-CAL17]

Top thing I disliked…..

 

Playing one of the top defensive lines…

 

not once was there a pass play called that used Josh Allen’s athletic ability to get him out of the pocket. Designed rollouts etc slow down the pass rush and at times takes 1-2 guys out of the rush equation. But no, they beat the shiz up out of the pocket and that’s all we did all day. Then folks blame the OL, well Daboll didn’t make it any easier.

 

Josh is athletic, move him around the field!!!!!! 

[dayman]

We looked very similar to how we looked down the stretch last year when we played better teams and defenses.

With that said, Pitt will probably be a playoff team and certainly has a good defense and we played like ass and still really 2 plays away (missing the early bomb and the BS call on White's int).

Regardless, the oline played like ass.

Allen played like ass.

Daboll called the game like an ass.

The punt team played like ass.

The dline played like ass when it mattered.

Big Ben played good for 2 drives at the end and made 3 excellent throws in the clutch.

0 - 1

Good reality check for these guys. We are one dimensional and have an average online ... Any game against a good defense could be a struggle especially if we get calls against us and/or miss the 1 or 2 bombs we get every game.

The defense is interesting though. They played ok. Star was out.

On to Miami.

[Straight Hucklebuck]

Good

 

1. Gabe Davis has a nose for the end zone and will continue to take snaps in the offense.

 

2. Sanders is fast.

 

3. Singletary was productive for what little work he got. How Nate Geary postgame is saying Singletary doesn’t do enough to deserve the lead role I have no idea. He looked good early, but 1 hour into the game he has 4 carries.

 

4. Defense shut down Najee Harris, and even Ben gimped to 190 yards passing. Outside of the throw to Schuster, and the run to Claypool, there were few big plays by the Steelers. To me, they kept the Bills in the game all day. 
 

 

Bad

 

1. Playcalling was strange. The start of the game, McKenzie is in the backfield and the Bills are handing it off to him, we had some sideways throws, Allen fumbling on designed runs, a sweep to Singletary on the short side of the field that went immediately out of bounds, of course both 4th downs, especially the second one out of a tight formation.

 

The Bills staff lacked patience in this game. In the first half it felt like we put too much emphasis on chucking deep, and none of those plays hit. Not sure why you don’t attempt a FG on 4th-8, but instead load up for a deep shot. 4th-1 you’re throwing backwards out of a tight formation? Why not go wide and look for a Diggs out route that is constantly open?

 

2. Our offensive line played weak, combined with an OC that runs nothing but empty sets, there are quite a few plays that are disjointed.  
 

3. So many almosts in this game. Don’t take advantage of McKenzie’s kick return, Josh overthrows Sanders, don’t try for a 53 yard FG, can’t get Ben to the ground, Edmunds almost had two turnovers, Tre White grabs a WR and negates his interception.

 

Game that was thrown away.

 

4. Allen is careless with the ball running. That’s why you have running backs Dabol. If he’s going to keep fumbling like this, then mix in a few more runs. He’s careless.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

exactly. I don’t mind the scrambles when he had to. But the designed runs just look like an injury waiting to happen. 

He had that one today on first down where his foot looked like it got stuck in the turf. 

[dayman]

2 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

What they can do is run the ball enough or at least keep a back in to play action fake and/or block to both take the starch out of the pass rush and provide help when they spring a leak.

 

Empty sets all day make it more challenging to pass block.........days like this........against a team that's put up 50+ sacks 4 straight years.......the OL needs some assistance from their coordinator.

This is the one saving grace. Our defense played well and yet Daboll went 5 wide all day and let the best pass rush in football tee off on our guys. Hopefully he can do better.

 

However, the bad part is at times that pressure was with 3 guys. In which case there is nothing Daboll can do.

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 hour ago, BigDingus said:

 

He has more than enough weapons... a lot more than most QB's in this league. Even if he had another one, it wouldn't matter if he plays like he did today. Far too inaccurate, and even a lot of the caught passes were thrown to bad spots which didn't allow the receiver any room to move or run after the catch.

This is a joke but I think he has too many weapons 🤣 seems like he diagnoses oh man I'm gonna have diggs or Davis or sanders etc open on this deep cross if I just buy myself another split second and passes up a lot of the underneath stuff that would move the chains in a couple games every year 

Edited September 13, 2021 by Generic_Bills_Fan