THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - The Bills Move On

[CincyBillsFan]

28 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

Thanks Shaw as always…
 

I haven’t been impressed with the Bills Passing game these past 2 weeks…. Hope they have been playing a bit of cat and mouse against a couple of lesser teams and kept things vanila deliberately and have a few things up their sleeve now they are facing the big boys..

 

The wind, cold and snow were the primary reasons that the passing game looked choppy the last 2 games.  And when played in these conditions a passing game will almost always look out of sync and less then impressive.

 

 

[Aussie Joe]

4 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

The wind, cold and snow were the primary reasons that the passing game looked choppy the last 2 games.  And when played in these conditions a passing game will almost always look out of sync and less then impressive.

 

 

Yet it was breezy in Foxboro too…

[CincyBillsFan]

46 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

Yet it was breezy in Foxboro too…

Breezy in Foxboro is nothing like WINDY at Rich Stadium.  Last Sunday the Jets and Bills combined to score 3 points going into the wind.  With the wind at their back they scored 34 points.

 

 

[HappyDays]

11 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

The bigger question about all of Allen’s second- and third-quarter misfires is this:  Why were the Bills passing?  It was obvious if not immediately, then by late in the second quarter, that going against the wind was a losing proposition, and the only objective against the wind was to get ought of the quarter as soon as possible.  So, why go three and out by throwing incomplete passes?   Run the ball.  You may still go three and out, but at least the clock keeps running.  And if on some series you actually get a first down, run some more.  The Bills needlessly extended both quarters, giving the Jets extra possessions, simply by passing instead of running. 

 

It's a little distressing that the coaching staff of the Buffalo Bills doesn't know how to form a game plan around inclement weather. That failure cost us the Pats game at home. They need to start treating wind like an extra defender and plan the game around it.

 

I know the dome crowd is louder than ever right now, but the way our team is built we SHOULD have a massive home field advantage in inclement weather against just about any team in the league. We have a QB that can make throws in the wind that other QBs can barely make in sunshine. When all else fails he can run with the best of them. We have a kicker with a big leg. We have a defense that wants to make you one dimensional and the wind does it for them. Forget building a dome. Build and coach a team capable of using the wind to their advantage.

[Shaw66]

42 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

It's a little distressing that the coaching staff of the Buffalo Bills doesn't know how to form a game plan around inclement weather. That failure cost us the Pats game at home. They need to start treating wind like an extra defender and plan the game around it.

 

I know the dome crowd is louder than ever right now, but the way our team is built we SHOULD have a massive home field advantage in inclement weather against just about any team in the league. We have a QB that can make throws in the wind that other QBs can barely make in sunshine. When all else fails he can run with the best of them. We have a kicker with a big leg. We have a defense that wants to make you one dimensional and the wind does it for them. Forget building a dome. Build and coach a team capable of using the wind to their advantage.

Excellent.  I agree.  McD has the right temperament for that kind of team, and he has the right qb.

[HappyDays]

15 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Excellent.  I agree.  McD has the right temperament for that kind of team, and he has the right qb.

 

In fact I take back what I said. Don't treat the wind as an extra defender. Treat it as the 13th man.

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by HappyDays

[AuntieEm]

3 hours ago, LABILLBACKER said:

After last Sunday I'll be going every year. Why it took me this long is beyond stupid. Euphoria is the right word. 

   Well think of it as you spared yourself the heartaches if you had been at some of the drought heartbreakers.... and there have been plenty.  You may have even thought you attending was a jinx (and convinced yourself to not attend any important games).

 

  Now that we have a good team that's really fun to watch you'll be at games that will be deciding playoff seedings for however long this current winning era continues.  Maybe they won this game because you made the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by AuntieEm

[maryland-bills-fan]

8 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

It's a little distressing that the coaching staff of the Buffalo Bills doesn't know how to form a game plan around inclement weather. That failure cost us the Pats game at home. They need to start treating wind like an extra defender and plan the game around it.

 

I know the dome crowd is louder than ever right now, but the way our team is built we SHOULD have a massive home field advantage in inclement weather against just about any team in the league. We have a QB that can make throws in the wind that other QBs can barely make in sunshine. When all else fails he can run with the best of them. We have a kicker with a big leg. We have a defense that wants to make you one dimensional and the wind does it for them. Forget building a dome. Build and coach a team capable of using the wind to their advantage.

The Bills should swap home fields with one of the teams who have a strong running game.

[Stroke 17]

22 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

Well, I was planning on driving on Saturday and going to the game on Saturday night.   A friend just told me the high will be 10 degrees, maybe down to zero.   I'm guessing my wife will pass on that, and I have to wonder if I'm really ready for it myself.   And that's sitting in club seats with radiant heat.   

 

 

Shaw love your comments, I think we are one in the same, in our 60's long time fans loving the highs and tolerating the lows. The older we get the harder it is to put up with the weather. Also my wife is balking a bit at the forcast, I hate for her to miss thes good times but I get it.

 

While your drive is longer than mine I experience all the same stuff. I have been a season ticket holder 1974 but my addiction goes back to the 60's. So much has changed. One change is that after45 or so years of cooking and tailgating in the lot I no longer do all the packing and cooking for a tailgate but I still get there early for the festivities, I just am getting too old for the crazy stuff, Man I miss my old self but age will catch up eith all of us.

 

Finally my daughter and grandson are making the trip from Connecticut for the game, I was wondering what is the drive time in good weather? What will you do with your tickets if you decide against going? Do you have trouble selling them on Ticketmaster?

 

Go Bills!

 

 

[Shaw66]

43 minutes ago, Stroke 17 said:

Shaw love your comments, I think we are one in the same, in our 60's long time fans loving the highs and tolerating the lows. The older we get the harder it is to put up with the weather. Also my wife is balking a bit at the forcast, I hate for her to miss thes good times but I get it.

 

While your drive is longer than mine I experience all the same stuff. I have been a season ticket holder 1974 but my addiction goes back to the 60's. So much has changed. One change is that after45 or so years of cooking and tailgating in the lot I no longer do all the packing and cooking for a tailgate but I still get there early for the festivities, I just am getting too old for the crazy stuff, Man I miss my old self but age will catch up with all of us.

 

Finally my daughter and grandson are making the trip from Connecticut for the game, I was wondering what is the drive time in good weather? What will you do with your tickets if you decide against going? Do you have trouble selling them on Ticketmaster?

 

Go Bills!

 

 

It's decided.  I'm going to the game, and I think I just sold my extra ticket to someone here. 

 

I am not going to miss home playoff games.  I went to the first Bills post-season game ever, the Eastern Division playoff game in 1963.   I went to the AFC Championship game against the Chargers the next year, and I went to the 1966 AFC championship game against the Chiefs.   I didn't have season tickets in the 90s, so I missed the playoffs then, except for XXV.  I went to the Ravens game last year.   I'm going Saturday.  

 

I've had mixed success selling tickets on Ticketmaster.   I didn't want to sell a playoff ticket that way, because it might go to a Pats fan.  (I actually invited a Pats season ticket holder to go with me, an old friend, but he said no.)

 

From Hartford, it's usually six and a half hours to a hotel at the airport, seven hours if you go directly to the stadium.  Get past Albany and it turns into pretty easy driving.  The terrain flattens out, and there isn't a lot of traffic.   I don't mind it. Except the weather was horrible last week. 

 

Anyway, I'll be there.  

[Stroke 17]

3 hours ago, Shaw66 said:

It's decided.  I'm going to the game, and I think I just sold my extra ticket to someone here. 

 

I am not going to miss home playoff games.  I went to the first Bills post-season game ever, the Eastern Division playoff game in 1963.   I went to the AFC Championship game against the Chargers the next year, and I went to the 1966 AFC championship game against the Chiefs.   I didn't have season tickets in the 90s, so I missed the playoffs then, except for XXV.  I went to the Ravens game last year.   I'm going Saturday.  

 

I've had mixed success selling tickets on Ticketmaster.   I didn't want to sell a playoff ticket that way, because it might go to a Pats fan.  (I actually invited a Pats season ticket holder to go with me, an old friend, but he said no.)

 

From Hartford, it's usually six and a half hours to a hotel at the airport, seven hours if you go directly to the stadium.  Get past Albany and it turns into pretty easy driving.  The terrain flattens out, and there isn't a lot of traffic.   I don't mind it. Except the weather was horrible last week. 

 

Anyway, I'll be there.  

 

[Stroke 17]

Thanks for the reply. My daughter and grandson are coming from Berlin. 

I hardly sell on ticketmaster because of the same reason but I have bought there for away games.

Guess not as old as you, could only watch those 60's game on TV.   

 

My wife is still on the fence about going and I was looking around to see if I could find her a ticket in the Van Miller section or Toyota or whatever it is called now.  I don't know where to look, can't find anything in the heated sections on my account manager, seat geek or stubhub.

Either way she may have to take one for the team and dress warmer.

 

Glad you are coming up for the Rising. Go Bills!

[Irv]

I was able to go down on the field after the game as I was in a box and they had some deal where we could go on the field.   I can't see how Allen completed one pass.  The wind on the field was awful and the cold was ridiculous.  Couldn't wait to get to the car.  If there is no wind he'll do better but the cold is still a factor.  Give him a lot of credit.  

[Shaw66]

4 minutes ago, Irv said:

I was able to go down on the field after the game as I was in a box and they had some deal where we could go on the field.   I can't see how Allen completed one pass.  The wind on the field was awful and the cold was ridiculous.  Couldn't wait to get to the car.  If there is no wind he'll do better but the cold is still a factor.  Give him a lot of credit.  

Thanks for this.   I wasn't there for the Patriots game, so I didn't really have a sense of the wind.  And on Sunday, I didn't see the wind moving the ball much.   However, the effect on punts and kickoffs was clear.  

 

Also, it was clear how much the wind was a factor simply by watching Allen throw.  Everything has high velocity - the faster the ball gets to the target, the less it will move in the wind.  He was ripping it all night, and if the receiver was a step late making the cut, the ball went whizzing by before he ever saw it.  

[Irv]

9 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

Thanks for this.   I wasn't there for the Patriots game, so I didn't really have a sense of the wind.  And on Sunday, I didn't see the wind moving the ball much.   However, the effect on punts and kickoffs was clear.  

 

Also, it was clear how much the wind was a factor simply by watching Allen throw.  Everything has high velocity - the faster the ball gets to the target, the less it will move in the wind.  He was ripping it all night, and if the receiver was a step late making the cut, the ball went whizzing by before he ever saw it.  

I was looking at the ribbons on the goal posts when I was watching the game and they didn't look like they were whipping around too bad, so I concluded the wind was not bad on the field.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  When I got down on the field, I'm guessing 30MPH swirling, sustained on the field with gusts to 40MPH.  Bad.  I was at MNF NE game.  It had to be worse.  Forgive Haack for cussing him out during the Jets game.

 

  

 

Edited January 12, 2022 by Irv

[Shaw66]

45 minutes ago, Irv said:

I was looking at the ribbons on the goal posts when I was watching the game and they didn't look like they were whipping around too bad, so I concluded the wind was not bad on the field.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  When I got down on the field, I'm guessing 30MPH swirling, sustained on the field with gusts to 40MPH.  Bad.  I was at MNF NE game.  It had to be worse.  Forgive Haack for cussing him out during the Jets game.

 

  

 

Haack needed to be better, but to be fair, he was trying to figure out how to deal with the wind.   I think he was trying to to drive the ball low and on a line, but he was missing it.  

 

I haven't seen any explanations about his struggles, but we've all seen the plays where the punter mishits the ball because the wind moved the ball after the drop.  That is, from the time the ball is dropped to the time the foot strikes it, the wind blows it off course.   That could easily have happened to Haack.   It's still his job to get it right, but punters have just as much trouble punting as passers have throwing in that wind. 

[Shaw66]

9 hours ago, Stroke 17 said:

Shaw love your comments, I think we are one in the same, in our 60's long time fans loving the highs and tolerating the lows. The older we get the harder it is to put up with the weather. Also my wife is balking a bit at the forcast, I hate for her to miss thes good times but I get it.

 

While your drive is longer than mine I experience all the same stuff. I have been a season ticket holder 1974 but my addiction goes back to the 60's. So much has changed. One change is that after45 or so years of cooking and tailgating in the lot I no longer do all the packing and cooking for a tailgate but I still get there early for the festivities, I just am getting too old for the crazy stuff, Man I miss my old self but age will catch up eith all of us.

 

Finally my daughter and grandson are making the trip from Connecticut for the game, I was wondering what is the drive time in good weather? What will you do with your tickets if you decide against going? Do you have trouble selling them on Ticketmaster?

 

Go Bills!

 

 

Hey Stroke.  Did you see my PM?

[Stroke 17]

1 hour ago, Shaw66 said:

Hey Stroke.  Did you see my PM?

Got it sent reply.

 

[LABILLBACKER]

On 1/11/2022 at 8:05 PM, AuntieEm said:

   Well think of it as you spared yourself the heartaches if you had been at some of the drought heartbreakers.... and there have been plenty.  You may have even thought you attending was a jinx (and convinced yourself to not attend any important games).

 

  Now that we have a good team that's really fun to watch you'll be at games that will be deciding playoff seedings for however long this current winning era continues.  Maybe they won this game because you made the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not just about whether the team was good or not. I missed out on a fan experience like nothing I have ever seen in my life. Being there last Sunday and seeing the intense passion and joy in the faces of thousands of celebrating fans exiting the lower concourse was like some epiphany.  And it's no fault but my own that I choose this long to finally experience it.  I honestly can't imagine they're are better or more passionate fans in the world then Bills fans. God willing if I can live another 15-20 more years I'll definitely be in Western NY annually. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

We were traveling and tonight I finally had the chance to watch the entire game.

 

This seems like a reasonable thread to toss in my $0.02:

0) We won.  We won.  We Won!

1) The Bills D was more porous than I expected, overall.  They were chasing Wilson around the backfield like a headless chicken most of the game, but there were some throws to be made if Wilson had been able to make them (he also got a few circus catches from his receivers)

2) The Bills WR corps was worse than I was expecting.  From the announcers, who I’d listened to, I expected a horrible performance from Allen.  Instead, something seems “off” with our WR corps - like they’re distracted and not as sharp as they should be.  Particularly disappointed with Davis.  It’s not like he was being asked to do easy things, but in other games he’s managed to get his feet down, or haul in that ball tossed to him in the backfield, or turn on the afterburners and haul in that deep ball.  I think we definitely need help at WR this off-season

3) ST sucked, and when I say ST, I mostly mean Haack.  OMG all the stuff people were  saying about Haack, and the reality was worse.  Also if the question is “who is our KR/PR going forward?” When the going gets tough and Hyde gets going, it’s pretty clear McKenzie is not the answer.

4) We won.  Onward!