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How would you FIX the Bills?


PatsFanNH

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30 minutes ago, LittleSammy said:

Watching Ed Oliver yesterday laughing and joking on the sideline with his team down 20+ points at the time made me sick. That told me his motivation was his big fat paycheck vs. a true desire to win. Our arch nemesis, Bill Belichick would have had his a%$ on the waiver wire first thing this morning if Oliver did that on his team. Hopefully behind the scenes McDermott is reading these guys the riot act. Unfortunately, the the roster is not too deep in some key areas and he can't use the threat of a benching as a true "motivator".

Sideline watching from afar for displays of emotion is not a good way to judge people ... just sayin'. Oliver played decently yesterday anyway. He wasn't the problem.

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build from the trenches out,  thats how id fix every team in the league.  u dominate the trenches,  doesnt matter much what else u have.  Dilfer won a Super Bowl cuz his teams lines were crazy good.   great Oline play can make a mediocre RB into a god.    great DLine play can make mediocre back end players seem amazing.      the premium positions are always the Lines,  and of course QB.    great QB cant do much if hes running for his life every snap tho.

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1 hour ago, PatsFanNH said:

Ok if you were the HC Right now what would YOU do to fix the issues you see with the team?
 

 Now As an outsider the one thing I’d change is running more and not being such a one deme soon also offense. Yes you have great WR and a great QB, but when your QB runs for almost as many yards as your RB and is not named Lamar Jackson IMO that’s wrong.  You need keep teams honest so things like PA work. 

The biggest issues have to be addressed in the off-season.  The Bills went all-in on the 2020 team philosophy that worked well overall last season, but that’s been derailed by injury and better schemes employed against us.


They need some real semblance of a running game, but the horses are not there for it.  Our OL is not a good run blocking unit and our backs are pretty pedestrian (though behind a good OL who knows?).  That’s not getting fixed anytime soon.  One off-season might not be enough at this point.

 

At this point for 2021 they might have to just have to run Allen more.  Some designed runs, RO plays and RPOs would be welcome.  Allen will take some hits, but he’s taking hits dropping back 50 times a game anyway.  And it just might get the run game moving.

 

Allen has to settle in against the defenses he is seeing and use better touch.  And the line has to be more consistent giving him time.  I wish I had access to All-22 on my Game Pass sub.  I might try it on my laptop to see if it is there.  To me it just looks like teams adjusted to our offensive scheme and we don’t have the right talent to adjust.

 

On defense the massive investment on that side of the ball - especially the DL - has yielded good results.  The bang for the buck isn’t there and that needs cleaned up.  We are really going to miss Hughes next season.  Rousseau has been better than I thought though.  He and Epenesa look like they will be two solid DEs moving forward.  But a real difference maker isn’t there on the DL, despite the investment.  One has to develop from what we have because we can’t pay one in FA.  So that leaves scheme.  I’ve been really disappointed in that against run heavy teams.  Tauron Johnson is a very good player and he plays the run well for a Nickel, but if a team is ahead and running a ton, put a 3rd LB on the field.  Also we don’t have the secondary depth to lose Tauron because he had to tackle a RB all day.

 

Scheming up pressures is obviously necessary too.  But it’s not happening like it should.  The plan was obviously to load the DL, rotate them and get pressure with 4.  But that’s not working.  That’s on McD.  This is his defensive scheme and the personnel are to his preference.  For what has been invested, the defense should be competitive against quality teams, not just ones lining up the likes of Jacoby Brissett, Taylor Heinicke, Davis Mills, Tua Tagovailoa and Mike White.  Mahomes is the only quality QB we’ve beaten this season.  That’s the whole list.  And we have lost to some not great ones.  (Note: Obviously the defense gets a pass on the Jax game.)

 

The good news is that we play against Trevor Siemian on Thursday - and his OL is not great.  The bad news is that we play NE and TB after that.  

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1 hour ago, dneveu said:

 

They came out running - then got off schedule, threw a pick.  Scored the next drive to make it 14-7.  Then it was 24-7 before they touched the ball again.  Mckenzies mishap changed what they were really able to do in the 2nd half.  That and their inability to figure out how to stop taylor.

You win in the trenches on both sides of the ball.  That is why the 90’s Bills never won the Super Bowl.  We had great talent but we’re overpowered in every Super Bowl.

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1 hour ago, Evian said:

Teams have no respect for the Bills running game.  Why should they?  The Bills constantly abandon it.   I think the Bills are just not hungry.  It is almost like they blew out a bunch of bad teams early and expect everyone to roll over for them.  Can you fix a mentally weak team?  I guess we will find out.

Our backs are 3s and best and the o line is epically bad- who would respect the run regardless if we abandon or not? 

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4 minutes ago, motorj said:

So basically a lot of people here are saying less of Allen throwing more of the RB's running. Sure this would work against certain teams but in the long run they'd get killed even with a stud RB in the lineup

I’m just saying run enough so teams have to respect it. Right now they don’t because even in close games your RB average about 9 carries total. 

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Well played OP, you’d like the answers to funnel to Hoodie as advance intel before the big Monday Night matchup I’m sure! :w00t:

11 minutes ago, Ray Finkel said:

You win in the trenches on both sides of the ball.  That is why the 90’s Bills never won the Super Bowl.  We had great talent but we’re overpowered in every Super Bowl.

Not XXV—Thurman ran roughshod, and Bruce got free a time or 2 as well…

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Pitt, Tenn, Jags & Indy - straight up man-handled us.  Beat us physically.  Time to go with more youth, the only time I noticed Hughes yesterday was when he was chasing someone from behind at least 3+ yards away, never a real threat to anyone.  We need more guys like Brown in the trenches

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6 minutes ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

Well played OP, you’d like the answers to funnel to Hoodie as advance intel before the big Monday Night matchup I’m sure! :w00t:

Not XXV—Thurman ran roughshod, and Bruce got free a time or 2 as well…

Yeah, I blame Marv’s inability/unwillingness to adapt in that game. Clearly the Bills should have ran the ball more with Thurman rather than try throwing at 7 DBs. Sounds familiar….

3 minutes ago, BuffaloFan68 said:

Pitt, Tenn, Jags & Indy - straight up man-handled us.  Beat us physically.  Time to go with more youth, the only time I noticed Hughes yesterday was when he was chasing someone from behind at least 3+ yards away, never a real threat to anyone.  We need more guys like Brown in the trenches

I’m not with the ageism game. Yesterday Frank Clark, Justin Houston contributed to their team wins. Hughes has played well this season too. Every team needs some seasoning 

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I said this (basically) right after the Playoff loss to KC...

 

On Offense...It's not about being a more balanced necessarily...It's about having a functional running game that opposing Defenses have to respect...That goes hand in hand with an O-Line that struggles in run blocking, and backs that lack that next level ability...Not much of this seems fixable right this second. Seems more personnel based (IMHO)...I'm saying that because McD has all but endorsed the strategy itself. So I think, they think, they are addressing this actual area in practice and game plan. Only to get poor results...

 

On Defense I was a BIG proponent of improving the DT position. I assumed Star was coming back, but to be honest I viewed every other DT outside of Oliver as a potential area of improvement...ESPECIALLY vs the Run...I know Joe Marino was on to this line of thinking. The Bills could have pretty easily Drafted a DT into this mix...One perfect example is a guy I liked for them, Tedarrell Slaton, who went #173 overall...To me a guy like that on day 3 just makes sense...Great size and decent athletic ability to work on...But they went 2 DE's, 2 OT's in their 1st 4...

 

Like I said yesterday...Based on what I see from a completely unscientific viewpoint...The Bills seem to need an off season in these next 3 days...It quite literally looks that bad...Obviously it's not...The Bills have the talent to get buy and tweak it all the way to a SB if things broke well from here on out...But then again there seems to be a disconnect with the coaching and strategy that was not there last year...It's just...Weird to be honest...B-)

 

 

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get a time machine to bring last season's Josh Allen into the present.

 

at a minimum, we win the Titans game and Jags game, probably the Steelers game,  and would be way more competitive against the Colts.  I mean, the Colts were the more physical team in the playoff matchup last season, too, but Josh kept matching them point for point and pulled out a win.  That Josh Allen is gone.

 

 

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Would have benched Josh 2 or 3 different times. including half time yesterday.  He seems to get flustered, starts throwing too hard, or into bad coverage.  Yesterday we had a wet ball, and tricky wind to deal with too.  He's a good QB but he's young, and needs to step back at times, and think about things.

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1 hour ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

Well played OP, you’d like the answers to funnel to Hoodie as advance intel before the big Monday Night matchup I’m sure! :w00t:

 

 

Lol just imagine BB needing our help.  Hmm lets see, what can I do to prepare for the Bills? Geez, if I only had a great running game and DL

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9 minutes ago, Marv's Neighbor said:

Would have benched Josh 2 or 3 different times. including half time yesterday.  He seems to get flustered, starts throwing too hard, or into bad coverage.  Yesterday we had a wet ball, and tricky wind to deal with too.  He's a good QB but he's young, and needs to step back at times, and think about things.

you cannot bench the starting qb mid-game.

 

But you can bench somebody else.  Then the leader in your qb will get the message that he is costing other people jobs.

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1 hour ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

Well played OP, you’d like the answers to funnel to Hoodie as advance intel before the big Monday Night matchup I’m sure! :w00t:

Not XXV—Thurman ran roughshod, and Bruce got free a time or 2 as well…

Out of 60 minutes the Bills only had the ball 19 minutes.  We couldn’t stop an old time back by the name of OJ Anderson.  Thurman should have had double the yards but we didn’t decide to run later in the game.  We were out coached by a defensive coordinator named Bill Belichick.  Bill played 2 defensive lineman and the rest defensive backs and linebackers.  We didn’t have to blow anyone of the ball to get running yards.  Bill wanted to take away the pass.

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There are limited options at this point.

 

I would do a few things.

 

1. Bench Gilliam or just cut him and sign a street FA TE. This team should never play with a FB and he brings nothing as a TE. Did you see a FB in front of Taylor yesterday?

 

2. Davis should be the outside receiver. Sanders and Beasley should rotate at the slot on 3 WR sets and the four of them should be in 4 WR sets.

 

3. Play Basham over Epenesa. Epenesa looks like a complete bust. Basham has size and in limited action seems to hold his own against the rush.

 

4. Stop blitzing. The defense plays best rushing four and dropping into zone. They can't get pressure blitzing anyways. 

 

5. Start lining up Rousseau all over the place. He played all positions along the DL at Miami. Let him rush from the inside from time to time. 

 

6. Bench Moss. Breida should be getting 50% of the snaps with Singletary 

 

7. Keep Josh under center and go with heavy sets frequently.  Josh has shown he can be effective throwing out of these sets. Use Davis as the single WR. He is the best blocking WR on the team and still a threat to catch the ball unlike Kumerow.

 

8. Keep calling designed runs for Josh. Not sure why this board doesn't want them. He is lethal running the ball. Use him. 

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if I'm Beane and McD I do the following:

 

1.  Call up Williams and have him and Brieda in the backfield, and sit Singletary and Moss.  Williams hit holes with purpose when he had his brief look last year and we need that right now.

 

2.  Put Douglas and Bates at some combo of LT and LG.  Release Ford - send a message to the team that poor performance is no longer going to be tolerated.  Scour the reserve rosters for O and D linemen that may not be the most mobile, but are strong physically, and get them in here.  We are getting destroyed up front by tougher teams.

 

3.  When playing a strong running team, put 8 guys in the box and stop the run.  Take a page from the Belichick playbook and take away the other team's strengths.  Our forte on D is the DBs; let them go man on man and do what you have to do to take away what every team is doing to us now.

 

4.  Coach aggressively.  Go for it more on fourth down.  Sit guys who committ stupid penalties.  

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OFFENSE 
 

Left Guard: Ike Boettger is a UFA in 2022. Ike is not starter quality, he’s a depth guy.  Don’t re-sign him. Find an upgrade. 

 

Right Guard Depth: Daryl Williams is a good RG, but RG depth is a revolving door. Cody Ford shouldn’t be on a NFL roster,and Jon Feliciano is injury prone.

 

Center: Mitch Morse is a below average run blocker and isn’t as good a pass blocker as he once was. I expect him to be a cap causality at the end of the season, he’s simply not worth the money. 
 

RT Depth: Spencer Brown is a keeper at RT, but there’s zero quality backups. Daryl Williams is a liability at RT and should only be utilized as a RG. 
 

RB: For the remainder of the season Matt Breida needs to be the starting RB, he’s the most explosive RB we have on this roster and the best receiving back. 
Singetary needs to be the backup RB, and Zach Moss needs to be INACTIVE on game days. 

 

In the off-season Brandon Beane needs to find a massive upgrade. This team needs a RB teams respect. Less of a burden on Allen too. 
 

Brian Daboll: Make the running game part of the offense which if executed properly makes it difficult for teams to play call, opens up the playaction pass especially downfield , and reduces the odds of Josh Allen turning the ball over and from getting hit or injured. With the way things are going Allen cannot sustain the hits he’s taking, eventually it will take a toll on his body and mind. Give Allen a chance to succeed and remain upright as much as possible.  
 

WR: 3 WR sets with Dawson Knox at TE, and start Gabriel Davis over Emmanuel Sanders. If I’m a Defensive Coordinator I salivate when I see Diggs, Beasley, and Sanders on the field together because there’s nobody with size. Davis provides size and is good at stretching the field, and has the height and length to catch difficult passes along the sidelines and on 50/50 jump balls which are areas Sanders struggles with due to size limitations. 

 

2 Deep Threats at WR: Add 1 WR with 6’2 plus height, weight, and 4.3ish speed to the WR core. Curently we have nobody that fits this description. Marquez Stevenson has great speed and will be a nice compliment to the WR core, but he hasn’t seen the field because on IR for the remainder of the season. 
 

QB: Allen needs to take what’s given to him and protects the football which is what makes Tom Brady great. Whenever Brady senses a weakness on a down by down basis he exploits it be it with the running game or passing game, and most often times does it by methodically working his way downfield which wears down defenses and keeps his defense fresh. In other words he does whatever it takes to win, he doesn’t force the issue. Allen needs to do the same. 

DT: We desperately need a Chris Jones/Cam Heyward type DT who causes havoc in both the running game and passing game. Sacks and turnovers will go up and the defense will go to another level.

 

Star Lotulelei is good for the rush defense but offers nothing as a pass rusher which makes him one dimensional and expendable. On top of that Star is not vaccinated and his lack of availability for a full season and for the past 2 games makes him untrustworthy to McD. We really needed him vs a physical running team like the Colts. I don’t expect him to be on this team next season. Huge hole to fill next season. 
 

Release Vernon Butler after this season. He’s a scrub whose vastly overpaid. We need an upgrade. 
 

Harrison Phillips is a UFA in 2022. Don’t re-sign him. We need an upgrade. 
 

DE: Jerry Hughes is a UFA in 2022. Hughes  is having a good season but at his age it’s time to move on and use the $6 million salary he’s getting this season to better use next season. 
 

CB: Replace Levi Wallace after this season. Levi is not a scrub but he’s the weak link in the secondary that teams exploit. We need an upgrade.  
 

ST: Replace Isaiah McKenzie. We need an upgrade. 
 

 

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4 hours ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Interesting, I just read that the 17 snaps Basham and Rousseau were on the field together at end were by far the best for the Bills vs. the run at 3.5/YPA. Getting Star back with Oliver will help and paired with the rookies. The others remain liabilities against the run.

Play the best players and cut down on the subs on the Dline.     Rbs same thing.  Singltary start Breida rotate and Moss short yardage.  More defined roles.  

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Ultimately, the Bills don't have the personnel on the 2021 team that they need to make the adjustments that they really need to make.  They need better O-linemen, and they need a better starting RB.  Every RB we have is a #2 or #3.

 

They need more creativity to overcome those 2 glaring flaws if they want to contend THIS season.  We use McKenzie like this sometimes, but the wideouts need to get involved in the running game more.  Throw in more reverses & misdirections.  It's gimmicky, but they even need more trick plays.

 

This is chess.  Teams have 'figured the Bills out' and play the same cover 2 that they do against TB and KC now.  The Bills have to adjust to that and figure out how to make teams pay for that.  They have the personnel to find that answer.

 

They have to put it together w/ duct tape & glue until the cavalry can arrive in the form of offseason acquisitions.

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1 hour ago, Trust The Process said:

OFFENSE 
 

Left Guard: Ike Boettger is a UFA in 2022. Ike is not starter quality, he’s a depth guy.  Don’t re-sign him. Find an upgrade. 

 

Right Guard Depth: Daryl Williams is a good RG, but RG depth is a revolving door. Cody Ford shouldn’t be on a NFL roster,and Jon Feliciano is injury prone.

 

Center: Mitch Morse is a below average run blocker and isn’t as good a pass blocker as he once was. I expect him to be a cap causality at the end of the season, he’s simply not worth the money. 
 

RT Depth: Spencer Brown is a keeper at RT, but there’s zero quality backups. Daryl Williams is a liability at RT and should only be utilized as a RG. 
 

RB: For the remainder of the season Matt Breida needs to be the starting RB, he’s the most explosive RB we have on this roster and the best receiving back. 
Singetary needs to be the backup RB, and Zach Moss needs to be INACTIVE on game days. 

 

In the off-season Brandon Beane needs to find a massive upgrade. This team needs a RB teams respect. Less of a burden on Allen too. 
 

Brian Daboll: Make the running game part of the offense which if executed properly makes it difficult for teams to play call, opens up the playaction pass especially downfield , and reduces the odds of Josh Allen turning the ball over and from getting hit or injured. With the way things are going Allen cannot sustain the hits he’s taking, eventually it will take a toll on his body and mind. Give Allen a chance to succeed and remain upright as much as possible.  
 

WR: 3 WR sets with Dawson Knox at TE, and start Gabriel Davis over Emmanuel Sanders. If I’m a Defensive Coordinator I salivate when I see Diggs, Beasley, and Sanders on the field together because there’s nobody with size. Davis provides size and is good at stretching the field, and has the height and length to catch difficult passes along the sidelines and on 50/50 jump balls which are areas Sanders struggles with due to size limitations. 

 

2 Deep Threats at WR: Add 1 WR with 6’2 plus height, weight, and 4.3ish speed to the WR core. Curently we have nobody that fits this description. Marquez Stevenson has great speed and will be a nice compliment to the WR core, but he hasn’t seen the field because on IR for the remainder of the season. 
 

QB: Allen needs to take what’s given to him and protects the football which is what makes Tom Brady great. Whenever Brady senses a weakness on a down by down basis he exploits it be it with the running game or passing game, and most often times does it by methodically working his way downfield which wears down defenses and keeps his defense fresh. In other words he does whatever it takes to win, he doesn’t force the issue. Allen needs to do the same. 

DT: We desperately need a Chris Jones/Cam Heyward type DT who causes havoc in both the running game and passing game. Sacks and turnovers will go up and the defense will go to another level.

 

Star Lotulelei is good for the rush defense but offers nothing as a pass rusher which makes him one dimensional and expendable. On top of that Star is not vaccinated and his lack of availability for a full season and for the past 2 games makes him untrustworthy to McD. We really needed him vs a physical running team like the Colts. I don’t expect him to be on this team next season. Huge hole to fill next season. 
 

Release Vernon Butler after this season. He’s a scrub whose vastly overpaid. We need an upgrade. 
 

Harrison Phillips is a UFA in 2022. Don’t re-sign him. We need an upgrade. 
 

DE: Jerry Hughes is a UFA in 2022. Hughes  is having a good season but at his age it’s time to move on and use the $6 million salary he’s getting this season to better use next season. 
 

CB: Replace Levi Wallace after this season. Levi is not a scrub but he’s the weak link in the secondary that teams exploit. We need an upgrade.  
 

ST: Replace Isaiah McKenzie. We need an upgrade. 
 

 

That is a lot of upgrades. 

They realistically can make maybe 3 or 4 significant changes. 

I would prioritize two guards, a second TE, and two DL. I too think Morse is overpaid but they need to fix the guards before they replace him. They should have drafted his replacement last year.

Wallace is better than most #2 CBs in the league. He will be hard to replace. 

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right now, breida gets more burn, we run the ball more, the passing game must be organized to find knox, beas, and diggs in better match ups and get them the ball.  we self scout and see what protection and what formations are working (i.e. not shotgun 4 wide do or die moron stuff) and simply show simple looks but run different plays out of them.

 

on D, yards per pass had a comment from reich (and actual competent football coach) saying after a point he decided he was going to run it every 1st and second down, he did 17 or 18 at that point.  our d and our coaches can't grasp that, that's the issue.  we seem to like try to defend the whole field all the time, and try to keep this silly wide open O to just magically find the open man.  we need to have more focused game plans, and have a plan b.

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They have to run the ball and mean it, not throw it on tape against the Jets and barely come back to it again.  The O is completely one dimensional and Allen can not do it all. 
 

From the D, stop this stupid rotation and play the game situationally.  If you really think all the guys are interchangeable, then they all must suck.  If you are willing to admit that, fine, but I’m not.  There are guys that are better than others and we constantly watch the 2nd string guys give up big plays in key moments because we act like this is peewee and everyone has to have their turn.

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7 hours ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Under center, use more bunch formations and motion early in the game to counter the slot run blitzes and attempt to run the ball more.

 

Use Brieda and bench Moss until proven otherwise.

 

Focus more on boots and short passes.

 

Feed Diggs, Knox and Beasley.

 

Get our line healthy with Brown back in, and don't get tricked into thinking we can just attempt chunk passing our way down the field. It may work against some teams, but not the good ones.

 

Unfortunately, we cannot solve our lack of physical presence in season. We can change the mentality some though and that is what the above does.

 

I agree with all of this. Two things to add on: 

1. Work on better timing passes with Allen. It is not always a protection issue. He has to be better at hitting the top of his drop and letting the ball go with his foot plants. I am not convinced this is all on the OC or OL (sometimes it is though)

2. Use Brieda inside and out, but we need the LB to not just respect the run, but the outside run. 

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