All-22 Grades for Bills/Colts (The Athletic)

[HappyDays]

 

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1. How the Colts used the Bills’ aggressiveness against them

 

The first thing to understand about the Colts’ rushing attack is that they didn’t use just one or two types of play calls to dominate the Bills. The offensive line was in sync, physical and constantly won at the line, to the point that the Colts rarely had to consider throwing the ball. However, the Colts let the Bills do the work for them on a handful of snaps. They successfully used one of the Bills’ core defensive philosophies against them to put up some significant rushing gains. The Bills want their three-technique defensive tackle to get upfield and cause disharmony in the backfield. Knowing this, the Colts used trap plays that baited the Bills every time they ran one before the game was out of hand.

 

If you’re looking for some optimism, the good news is that the Bills learned from their mistakes by the time the fourth quarter rolled around. Even after getting duped twice, Oliver had one of the most impressive run-defending reps of the day, which was against a trap attempt.

 

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2. Harrison Phillips was a colossal letdown

 

Several defenders deserve blame for the meltdown against the Colts’ rushing attack. As the defensive tackles go, most of the postgame attention has centered on Butler. While Butler struggled on several reps, he also put together several positive run-defending reps that helped the team limit Taylor and Nyheim Hines. The Colts’ yards-per-carry average when Butler was on the field was the lowest of the Bills’ three primary defensive tackles. When the Bills were still in the game, Phillips, not Butler, was the defensive tackle the Colts repeatedly defeated, and it significantly contributed to the Bills’ run-defending results.

 

Phillips stepped into a massive role. With Star Lotulelei out, Phillips was the only true one-technique defensive tackle active for the game and the Bills badly needed him to hold the point of attack and occupy multiple blockers to keep their second-level defenders clean. Phillips had been playing the run better than at any point in his career this season, so there was relative optimism that he could have success. It did not go well. The Colts constantly pushed Phillips off his spot. They turned him at will to give Taylor and Hines ample rushing lanes, and because Phillips was ineffective, it led to blockers getting to the second level of the defense.

 

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3. Bills desperately missing Tremaine Edmunds

 

Bills defensive tackles deserve a lot of blame for not holding up in the middle of the defense, but linebacker A.J. Klein was simply dreadful all game. The Colts routinely forced Klein a step too far to the wrong side, and when he tried to battle back against the oncoming offensive lineman to help make a stop, Klein rarely was able to get off the block before it was too late. He was invisible on far too many rushing attempts, and then when he had some tackle attempts, he failed to get a definitive stop. On some plays, he missed the tackle altogether. Klein was the worst-graded player on the field Sunday, and that’s saying something because of how much the Bills struggled. It also showed how important starter Tremaine Edmunds has become for the Bills.

 

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4. It was an ugly day for Cody Ford and the interior OL

 

In his last start against the Jaguars, backup guard Cody Ford played a better game than he was given credit for and showed to be one of the Bills’ better blockers on film. Against the Colts, however, the film didn’t save the day for Ford. He was a significant liability as the Colts constantly took advantage of him as a pass blocker. Ford is a heavy-footed blocker who has not done well with athletic interior rushers in the past and will drop his head if he feels he needs to overcompensate. He also tends to miss the pass-off point for combination blocks with a teammate. The Colts made all of these warts extremely visible as they dominated the matchup and applied pressure to Josh Allen through Ford far too often.

 

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5. How the rushing offense came alive with Matt Breida

 

The Bills were at their best when Matt Breida was on the field. Not only was it about the added speed that Breida provides an offense, but where Breida is at his best also plays to the run-blocking strengths of the offensive line. The Bills beat the Colts for two huge plays using pin-and-pull blocking, a similar concept to what they used on multiple occasions last week. Morse is at his best as a run blocker when he’s getting out into space and highlighting his athleticism to crash down on a defender well before the ball carrier gets there.

 

Top 5 grades:

1) Diggs (B+)

2) Knox (B+)

3) Breida (B+)

4) Allen (B)

5) Davis (B)

 

Bottom 5 grades (worst to 5th worst):

1) Klein (D)

2) Ford (D+)

3) Johnson (D+)

4) Phillips (D+)

5) Moss (C-)

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

For me, hard to argue. I especially like how he didn't try and tell us the OL was fine in this game, and that the everything would fine if the QB just lifted everyone up. And, that the D got not only pushed around, but were outschemed early, tried to adjust, but it was too late. The Bills really did miss Edmunds and Lotulelei.

Just now, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

For me, hard to argue. I especially like how he didn't try and tell us the OL was fine in this game, and that the everything would fine if the QB just lifted everyone up. And, that the D got not only pushed around, but were outschemed early, tried to adjust, but it was too late. The Bills really did miss Edmunds and Lotulelei.

Oh, and why Brieda can be an asset.

[Dablitzkrieg]

Gross.  Phillips needs to go

[BuffaloRebound]

So our run game has been bad all year, but for some reason Breida has been glued to the bench until the last 2 games.  Kind of says it all about the offensive coaching staff.  

[Motorin']

7 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

So our run game has been bad all year, but for some reason Breida has been glued to the bench until the last 2 games.  Kind of says it all about the offensive coaching staff.  

 

At Motor's performance so far, he's on pace for 1,000 yards this season if he were to average 12 carries per game. He's averaging 8 carries per game. 

 

Seems less an inability to run than not wanting to run. 

 

Moss is bad. Motor should have been getting most of his carries. And Brieda should have been given an opportunity. He needs to get touches moving forward. Our run blocking looked pretty damn good Everytime he ran that ball last week.

 

[Solomon Grundy]

34 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 5 grades:

1) Diggs (B+)

2) Knox (B+)

3) Breida (B+)

4) Allen (B)

5) Davis (B)

 

Bottom 5 grades (worst to 5th worst):

1) Klein (D)

2) Ford (D+)

3) Johnson (D+)

4) Phillips (D+)

5) Moss (C-)

Joe and Freddie need to talk about these scores.... geez

[loveorhatembillsfan4life]

Didn’t the Ford report say there was nothing to justify the hate and he played well?

[Rigotz]

I would love to see the Bills draft a great 1-Tech to groom behind Star.

Star has been great (contrary to popular opinion these past few years), but his availability has been an issue and that won't get better as he turns 33 next season.

[First Round Bust]

4 minutes ago, Rigotz said:

I would love to see the Bills draft a great 1-Tech to groom behind Star.

Star has been great (contrary to popular opinion these past few years), but his availability has been an issue and that won't get better as he turns 33 next season.

sigh...agree...think we have to commit one more year to Star which for grooming and replacement purposes which has me thinking high draft pick this year...as for the rest...Phillips is backup material at best and is UFA, Butler pls go away, Zimmer is recoop from ACL two weeks ago, Oliver is good but under-sized as well...so there has to be  a changing of the guard, and other than Star we got no size...

Edited November 24, 2021 by First Round Bust
sp

[Beast]

49 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 5 grades:

1) Diggs (B+)

2) Knox (B+)

3) Breida (B+)

4) Allen (B)

5) Davis (B)

 

Bottom 5 grades (worst to 5th worst):

1) Klein (D)

2) Ford (D+)

3) Johnson (D+)

4) Phillips (D+)

5) Moss (C-)

 

If Addison didn't get a big, fat F, I'm not sure I trust their grading system.

Edited November 24, 2021 by Beast

[quinnearlysghost88]

So weird, John Fina loved Phillips effort and said he was one of the few guys who didn’t stop fighting. 

[HOUSE]

I am glad there is a pay wall

[The Frankish Reich]

35 minutes ago, Dablitzkrieg said:

Gross.  Phillips needs to go

I take this as more about Phillips being forced into Star's role - a role he just isn't suited for. A useful player being asked to do too much.

[NewEra]

I usually watch each game 2-3 times.  Not this game.  I left at the start of the 4th qtr and made a vow to myself that I wouldn’t waste any more of my life on this game.  

 

my first rewatch I usually focus on the OL, with my 3rd viewing focuses on the DL.  Since I haven’t rewatched the game, I have no clue how the OL performed.  It didn’t seem TOO bad this week (better than I had predicted).  After reading @Freddie's Dead Ford write up, I was left thinking Ford wasn’t too bad…….than how does Joe B give Ford a D+?  Fina didn’t speak nicely of him either.  So which is it?  Did he play ok?  Terrible?  Likely somewhere in between…..but how far in between?
 

 

[The Frankish Reich]

Interesting take on Tremaine vs. Klein. I usually think of Tremaine as a guy who moves effortlessly sideline to sideline and in pass coverage, not as a "run stopper." But Klein getting faked out and lacking the athleticism to recover and get back into the play is something I hadn't thought of. Yes, we really missed Star and Tremaine last week. (Probably Zimmer too, if only because he would've kept Butler off the field.)

[Son of a K-Gun]

14 minutes ago, Rigotz said:

I would love to see the Bills draft a great 1-Tech to groom behind Star.

Star has been great (contrary to popular opinion these past few years), but his availability has been an issue and that won't get better as he turns 33 next season.

Wow, it feels like Star is closer to 43 than 33.

[HappyDays]

1 minute ago, quinnearlysghost88 said:

So weird, John Fina loved Phillips effort and said he was one of the few guys who didn’t stop fighting. 

 

I didn't post the full snippet but Joe actually says the same thing, that Phillips kept fighting even when the game was out of reach. You can see why the staff loves his character. Unfortunately that isn't enough in the pros. He is too limited athletically to hold up in the trenches.

 

Most people on this board missed how important Star was to this run defense. The narrative that he was overpaid and invisible in 2019 was wrong. Last year our run defense was awful all year long. That wasn't a coincidence. 

[Freddie's Dead]

4 minutes ago, NewEra said:

I usually watch each game 2-3 times.  Not this game.  I left at the start of the 4th qtr and made a vow to myself that I wouldn’t waste any more of my life on this game.  

 

my first rewatch I usually focus on the OL, with my 3rd viewing focuses on the DL.  Since I haven’t rewatched the game, I have no clue how the OL performed.  It didn’t seem TOO bad this week (better than I had predicted).  After reading @Freddie's Dead Ford write up, I was left thinking Ford wasn’t too bad…….than how does Joe B give Ford a D+?  Fina didn’t speak nicely of him either.  So which is it?  Did he play ok?  Terrible?  Likely somewhere in between…..but how far in between?
 

 

 

I don't have the Athletic, so I can't read Joe B's review, but I don't get it.  Unless Joe knows the plays and somehow Ford blew his assignments, I can only go by what I saw, and I did not see Ford getting beat on run or pass blocks.  The guys he was blocking did not make the tackles or exert pressures. I only counted two pressures, how many did Joe B have?  What specifically did Joe B say Ford had problems with? 

36 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Joe and Freddie need to talk about these scores.... geez

 

I don't get it.  I had two pressures for Ford.  I didn't see what Joe B saw.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

8 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

I don't have the Athletic, so I can't read Joe B's review, but I don't get it.  Unless Joe knows the plays and somehow Ford blew his assignments, I can only go by what I saw, and I did not see Ford getting beat on run or pass blocks.  The guys he was blocking did not make the tackles or exert pressures. I only counted two pressures, how many did Joe B have?  What specifically did Joe B say Ford had problems with? 

I agree. I watched him fairly close and thought he played ok. 

Butler and Phillips were both awful so it didn't matter.

As for missing Edmunds, what this article describes Klein doing poorly is how Edmunds plays the run most of the time. 

[Freddie's Dead]

34 minutes ago, loveorhatembillsfan4life said:

Didn’t the Ford report say there was nothing to justify the hate and he played well?

 

It did.  I don't understand Joe B's grade.  Williams had a very bad day, giving up the strip sack to Kwity Paye, who was constantly in on Josh, yet somehow Ford is graded way below him.  Ford was lined up mostly against DeForest Buckner, feared DL, but Buckner was largely a non-factor in the game.  Kwity Paye was given a 77.8 by PFF, the second highest score for a Colts defender in that game, so why is Williams getting a passing grade?  I can't explain why Joe B. graded Ford so low, and Williams so high.  

[CincyBillsFan]

I think the run D also misses Zimmer.

 

Interesting that they gave Allen a B grade.  Its what I would have given him but it's also a grade that would have been met with derision in certain quarters on 2BD.

 

 

[HappyDays]

18 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

 

I don't have the Athletic, so I can't read Joe B's review, but I don't get it.  Unless Joe knows the plays and somehow Ford blew his assignments, I can only go by what I saw, and I did not see Ford getting beat on run or pass blocks.  The guys he was blocking did not make the tackles or exert pressures. I only counted two pressures, how many did Joe B have?  What specifically did Joe B say Ford had problems with? 

 

I don't get it.  I had two pressures for Ford.  I didn't see what Joe B saw.

 

He breaks down two specific plays with images where Ford is immediately beat by Buckner. Joe doesn't notate exact pressure stats so I can't say for sure what he saw differently from you.

[The Frankish Reich]

12 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

I can't explain why Joe B. graded Ford so low, and Williams so high.  

There's certainly some element of a "reputation score" for some of these guys. 

[finn]

59 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

 

At Motor's performance so far, he's on pace for 1,000 yards this season if he were to average 12 carries per game. He's averaging 8 carries per game. 

 

Seems less an inability to run than not wanting to run. 

 

Moss is bad. Motor should have been getting most of his carries. And Brieda should have been given an opportunity. He needs to get touches moving forward. Our run blocking looked pretty damn good Everytime he ran that ball last week.

 

The Bills are the FIRST in the NFL in zone blocking, and we have two very good runners for this scheme in Singletary and Brieda. Meanwhile, they're 28th in power blocking, and our power back, Moss, is having a poor season, maybe because he's met in the backfield on most carries. So the solution seems pretty obvious. And yet, for reasons best known to him, Daboll sends in Moss and power-blocking plays. 

[Motorin']

12 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

I think the run D also misses Zimmer.

 

Interesting that they gave Allen a B grade.  Its what I would have given him but it's also a grade that would have been met with derision in certain quarters on 2BD.

 

 

 

Definitely miss Zimmer. 

[finn]

1 minute ago, The Frankish Reich said:

There's certainly some element of a "reputation score" for some of these guys. 

He gave Knox a B+, despite four drops that I saw. What's up with that? 

[HappyDays]

3 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

There's certainly some element of a "reputation score" for some of these guys. 

 

Not for Joe Buscaglia. He actually defended Ford after the Jaguars game and said he was better than 3 of his fellow o-linemen. Not saying his word is gospel but he isn't biased.

[Virgil]

Well, I feel dumb.  I thought Ford looked good in his 1 on 1 passing matchups

[Gugny]

4 minutes ago, finn said:

He gave Knox a B+, despite four drops that I saw. What's up with that? 

 

I don't recall Knox dropping four passes last week.

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

51 minutes ago, quinnearlysghost88 said:

So weird, John Fina loved Phillips effort and said he was one of the few guys who didn’t stop fighting. 

Like my first boss told me 35 years ago, it's not enough just to work hard!

[finn]

42 minutes ago, Son of a K-Gun said:

Wow, it feels like Star is closer to 43 than 33.

The bummer here is that it looks like the Bills might need to draft a one-technique d-tackle with their first-round pick, leaving guard to the second round at best. They also will need at least one wide receiver. Let's hope Beane doesn't draft another Ford over another Metcalf this time. 

[buffaloboyinATL]

1 hour ago, HappyDays said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 5 grades:

1) Diggs (B+)

2) Knox (B+)

3) Breida (B+)

4) Allen (B)

5) Davis (B)

 

Bottom 5 grades (worst to 5th worst):

1) Klein (D)

2) Ford (D+)

3) Johnson (D+)

4) Phillips (D+)

5) Moss (C-)

@HappyDays, I wanted to thank you for the weekly write ups that you do on this. I have an Athletic subscription, but I don’t get to it daily. Your synopsis is a good preview and a reminder to go read the whole article. 

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

1 minute ago, finn said:

The bummer here is that it looks like the Bills might need to draft a one-technique d-tackle with their first-round pick, leaving guard to the second round at best. They also will need at least one wide receiver. Let's hope Beane doesn't draft another Ford over another Metcalf this time. 

They don't need to take a guard round 1, unless Quentin Nelson clone is available in the 20s.

25 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

I think the run D also misses Zimmer.

 

Interesting that they gave Allen a B grade.  Its what I would have given him but it's also a grade that would have been met with derision in certain quarters on 2BD.

 

 

Just saw Bills had 7 credited drops in the game. JA was 21/35 with the drops. 28/35 is not bad.😉

[TC in St. Louis]

They should move up and draft that monster DT from Georgia.  Davis.  

[Scott7975]

18 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

I don't recall Knox dropping four passes last week.

 

He dropped 2 at least.

Edited November 24, 2021 by Scott7975

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 hour ago, Dablitzkrieg said:

Gross.  Phillips needs to go

 

I think Phillips is going to join Ford as one of our draft misses.  Part of it, of course, is lack of playing experience.  He's a 4th year player, with the experience of a guy just starting his 3rd year.  But still, you expect more from him at this point.

 

That's how it goes - a GM who hits on half his draft picks, even in the first 3 rounds, is doing pretty well. 

 

22 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

I don't recall Knox dropping four passes last week.

 

He had 6 receptions on 10 targets.  I don't have the stomach to go back and find all 4 of the incompletions to see if I feel they were all balls he should have caught.  I know I felt at least 2 of them were "c'mon Dawson you gotta catch those"

19 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Just saw Bills had 7 credited drops in the game. JA was 21/35 with the drops. 28/35 is not bad.😉

 

Can you tell me where you are finding this info?  Not doubting you, just interested.

 

The thing about adjusted stats is, all QB have drops.

[Freddie's Dead]

39 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

He breaks down two specific plays with images where Ford is immediately beat by Buckner. Joe doesn't notate exact pressure stats so I can't say for sure what he saw differently from you.

 

The only plays I can think of were the bull rush and the rear naked choke.  I guess if you focus on those plays and exclude all else....

[D. L. Hot-Flamethrower]

7 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I think Phillips is going to join Ford as one of our draft misses.  Part of it, of course, is lack of playing experience.  He's a 4th year player, with the experience of a guy just starting his 3rd year.  But still, you expect more from him at this point.

 

That's how it goes - a GM who hits on half his draft picks, even in the first 3 rounds, is doing pretty well. 

 

 

He had 6 receptions on 10 targets.  I don't have the stomach to go back and find all 4 of the incompletions to see if I feel they were all balls he should have caught.  I know I felt at least 2 of them were "c'mon Dawson you gotta catch those"

 

Can you tell me where you are finding this info?  Not doubting you, just interested.

 

The thing about adjusted stats is, all QB have drops.

 

[Freddie's Dead]

36 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

There's certainly some element of a "reputation score" for some of these guys. 

 

I wanted to avoid using "confirmation bias" to explain Joe B's score, but I'm running out of alternatives.

[78thealltimegreat]

  If you rewatch the game Allen had a really good first half his int was the result of forcing a 3-18 throw to Gabe Davis and Gabe was interfered with anyway.
  His second half he barely had the ball  as the Colts just kept grinding 3rd down conversions.

 He had a B kinda day.