A Few Thoughts About the Dolphins Game, in no particular order

[Nihilarian]

29 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

So I do think you were a little harsh in your post but if people can't handle some negativity after a loss they shouldn't come here after a loss... I've always found the discussion here to be the best way to decompress and get over a bad loss. Like many losses in the last couple years we just needed one core player to make one more play.

 

Where I feel you were especially harsh is with Allen's play, although admittedly I am and always have been a Bills QB homer. Allen made several exceptional plays in this game and most other core starters didn't even make one. In a game with around 70 called pass plays in the extreme heat with starters coming in and out of the lineup it is unrealistic to expect the QB to be perfect. The timing of his 4th down miss was obviously very unfortunate and it rises above a simple missed throw because of when it happened. But in context with the rest of his game he was the least of the offense's problems, and in fact he is the only reason we were able to move the ball at all. I believe Allen is one of the most clutch QBs in the game. If falling apart at the end of close games was a recurring them I'd be more concerned.

Agree with the whole post!

 

Take QB Josh Allen out of the equation and what kind of a team do you have? A bad team with a decent defense that would be worn out every game by being on the field so often. 

 

Clearly the Buffalo Bills can't run and don't even really much try besides the QB.  Allen being their leading rusher the last two games. This needs to change.

 

Any one of a half dozen things go the Bills way and they win that game. 

[flmike]

Virgil, I love your writeups, but this is not your best overall take. By halftime, half of our team is from the practice squad. Short week, down some really excellent players, and an obvious climate challenge (same as the fins will have in December). Some mistakes that could have turned things shows that we have good depth and almost took one from a confident team at home with some good players. I agree that Miami is kind of the like the Bills were some years ago. They will go 4-0 and then start the tumble. 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

On 9/25/2022 at 5:26 PM, UKBillFan said:

 

It's a mentality issue which needs to be worked on. And that's across the franchise, for which Josh is part of. He made an error he shouldn't have made in a key siutuation, plus could have easily been intercepted four times.  He's played better, he'll play better, but when the pressure is on, in one score games, the choke seems to follow across the board. That needs to be sorted.

I think as the streak goes on of winning every game by two scores it’s becoming clear that when we have an off game josh is good enough to keep us in it.  He missed one throw sure but we had no business being in that game.  Our offensive line was getting obliterated which would’ve led to way more three and outs/opportunities for Miami to drive on our defense if josh wasn’t playing out of his mind.  That should’ve been a lopsided loss and we lost by 2 points…and at the same time were holding it against josh for losing a one score game?  Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. 
 

hard to blame one guy for missing a throw with an injured hand and after everything he went through that game when bass missed a short fg and Milano dropped a pick six and gabe couldn’t hang onto that perfectly thrown pass in the end zone and so on 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[UKBillFan]

Just now, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

I think as the streak goes on of winning every game by two scores it’s becoming clear that when we have an off game josh is good enough to keep us in it.  He missed one throw sure but we had no business being in that game.  Our offensive line was getting obliterated which would’ve led to way more three and outs/opportunities for Miami to drive on our defense if josh wasn’t playing out of his mind.  That should’ve been a lopsided loss and we lost by 2 points…and at the same time were holding it against josh for losing a one score game?  Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. 

 

Holding it against a lot of the starters. I think that's the worse thing; if we lost because of a back up error it'd be more understandable. But...

- Josh's poor throw

- McKenzie not getting out of bounds

- Diggs drop

- Davis drop

- Bass field goal miss

- Milano's drop on a potential pick six

 

And if just Josh's throw had made it to McKenzie, or Bass had made the field goal, or if Milano had made the pixk six, and all other things remained equal we would have one. Just one. That's the most galling thing.

 

Of course it's not down to Josh we lost. But too many simple mistakes were made to win.

[L Ron Burgundy]

Here's a hot take we hand Tua his own head on a platter after we play in Buffalo.  Too hot for us in that biach of a stadium. 

[UKBillFan]

Just now, L Ron Burgundy said:

Here's a hot take we hand Tua his own head on a platter after we play in Buffalo.  Too hot for us in that biach of a stadium. 

 

He'll still be allowed to play, even headless.

[Pasaluki]

It was an emotional game but bad take. To be honest I think Allen got too tired and Gabe probably was not good enough to come back yet. 

 

Morse being out killed them

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

8 minutes ago, UKBillFan said:

 

Holding it against a lot of the starters. I think that's the worse thing; if we lost because of a back up error it'd be more understandable. But...

- Josh's poor throw

- McKenzie not getting out of bounds

- Diggs drop

- Davis drop

- Bass field goal miss

- Milano's drop on a potential pick six

 

And if just Josh's throw had made it to McKenzie, or Bass had made the field goal, or if Milano had made the pixk six, and all other things remained equal we would have one. Just one. That's the most galling thing.

 

Of course it's not down to Josh we lost. But too many simple mistakes were made to win.

It’s all pretty related though…no doubt we would be rotating in fresh players if we didn’t have so many injuries but we did not have that luxury.  You’ve gotta think the starters make a bigger difference down the stretch if they had that opportunity.  

[UKBillFan]

47 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

It’s all pretty related though…no doubt we would be rotating in fresh players if we didn’t have so many injuries but we did not have that luxury.  You’ve gotta think the starters make a bigger difference down the stretch if they had that opportunity.  

Think that’s why, I’m the cold light of day, I’d point the finger more at Bass and Milano than the offensive players, due to less time on the field.

[Billsatlastin2018]

I’m one to call a clown move/call/decision a clown move. Certainly through all the House of Horror years, but even during these great times!

 

Obviously, ‘13 seconds to despair’.🙄

 

And I believe you’ve captured some of this year’s SB Champion contender deficiencies- the non existent running game, the occasional ‘idiot kicker’ errors and some questionable HCing decision making.

 

Some of these were self evident yesterday. But it was a highly unusual day, a perfect storm of significant injuries +unrelenting heat, which depleted the physical and mental resources of many, many Bills players. So many, that the NFL needs to look into the unfair home advantages the Fish have when playing at 1:00p.m. in Septembers.

 

It’s dangerous!

 

On the subject of #17, we disagree strongly.
Made some boo boos? Yep. Missed some passes? Yep.

Didn’t succeed in winning the game. Obviously.

 

But, he freaking carried that team on his back through that blistering heat, Passing, Running… doing whatever he could have done to win and missing out by 1 second! 
 

Your take is kinda harsh under the circumstances.

[BobbyC81]

21 hours ago, mannc said:

I was not there yesterday, but I understand that the conditions in Miami weren’t out of the ordinary for South Florida in September. I can remember plenty of other early-season Bills games in Miami where heat was a serious factor.  Why not just play the first game of the series in Buffalo every year? Or start the game at 4:30 instead of 1:00?

And how did the Dolphins get away with configuring a stadium that puts their team in the shade and the visitors in the sun.  Talk about unethical.  It’s like Red Auerbach turning the hot water and heat off in the visitors locker room in the Boston Garden.

Edited September 27, 2022 by BobbyC81

[Billsfan1972]

9 hours ago, BobbyC81 said:

And how did the Dolphins get away with configuring a stadium that puts their team in the shade and the visitors in the sun.  Talk about unethical.  It’s like Red Auerbach turning the hot water and heat off in the visitors locker room in the Boston Garden.

Why the Bills don't hire 50 people to have on-field access to carry umbrellas for shade is a simple solution.

[Big Turk]

2 interesting stats...

 

Prior to the Bills loss, teams that outgained their opponents by 285+ yards were 269-11-1, which means they won almost 96% of the time.

 

The last team to overcome that many yards or more difference and win were the Miami Dolphins when they beat the Rams in 2020, 28-17 despite being outgained by 326 yards. Tua was the QB.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Big Turk

[Doc Brown]

I agree with everything but thought you were too harsh on Allen.  I don't know of many other QB's who could've done what he did on Sunday.  He was deadly efficient when he had his full compliment of weapons to start the game minus the second drive where he failed to get the ball out on time for the unblitzed blocker.  Then the offensive injuries and heat exhaustion took some players in and out (Bates, Brown, Knox, Diggs, McKenzie, Kumerow, Doyle).  Still though, he was the sole reason they were able to put together those long drives and keep Tua off the field with our depleted defense.  So many 3rd and 4th downs where he made chicken crap into chicken salad.  He did throw some errant passes that could've been picked off and rushed the throw to McKenzie short arming it on 4th and goal.  However, in totality I can't be as negative on him as you considering the circumstances and would give him a B plus grade.  We would've lost by three touchdowns with a lesser QB.  Lamar and Mahomes are pry the only other two that would've made it a ballgame.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Doc Brown

[UKBillFan]

I have to defend Virgil due to the time it was posted. Yes, harsh on Josh, but the play which would have stood out when posting straight after the game - and acting on raw emotion - is the grounded throw to McKenzie, which is one he would have made 99 times out of 100, rather than him taking us up and down the field and dominating the TOP to the benefit of the defense.

[nosejob]

My biggest beef is 3rd and 22. Our DBs I thought played well enough or as to be expected, but to send no pressure and allow a 45 yd. completion has me pointing my finger for this loss at the sideline. The worst defense in history would have better odds of stopping that play short of 22 yd. (also forcing a punt) with pressure on the QB vs. giving him all day to wait for someone to come open.

 

That right there is a new all time low in defensive coaching. Takes the cake.

 

 

[Big Turk]

3 minutes ago, nosejob said:

My biggest beef is 3rd and 22. Our DBs I thought played well enough or as to be expected, but to send no pressure and allow a 45 yd. completion has me pointing my finger for this loss at the sideline. The worst defense in history would have better odds of stopping that play short of 22 yd. (also forcing a punt) with pressure on the QB vs. giving him all day to wait for someone to come open.

 

That right there is a new all time low in defensive coaching. Takes the cake.

 

 

 

If they call the perfect coverage that should have resulted in an INT or at least a pass breakup on the play but it wasn't executed properly, what else can you do as a DC? No doubt that play would never have been completed against Hyde/Poyer...the ball hung up there forever it seemed like. At some point you just have to trust that your players will be in proper position, and maybe they had been for most of the game and in practices.

[nosejob]

What I can do is send pressure and not allow time for a Waddle to get open deep. If there is a completion, it's likely to be well short of 22 yds. and likely forcing a punt. You know you're playing younger players so keep the play in the short to intermediate area and wrap it up...not hang them out to cover the entire field. BTW speaking of Poyer and Hyde and excecution......

[Solomon Grundy]

I hate watching sport shows after Bills losses!! 

[Greybeard]

On 9/25/2022 at 5:22 PM, muppy said:

how rare it is to see #17 short pass a receiver.......lol right?

        There were a couple of passes during the game, even though they may have been completed, where I thought Allen may have had the ball slip out of his hand.  I do know it is very hard to throw accurately when your hands are sweating profusely.