A Few Thoughts about the AFC East Run, in no particular order

[Pecos Bills]

3 hours ago, st pete gogolak said:

Not to nitpick but it's "here comes THE Robert E. Lee", the steamboat, not the general.  In any event, great song from a great band.  

That "THE" originates with Joan Baez's well-known cover version (along with other misheard bits), not Robbie Robertson's original lyrics.

 

http://theband.hiof.no/lyrics/night_they_drove_old_dixie_down.html

https://theband.hiof.no/articles/dixie_viney.html

 

...back on topic: cut everyone, move the team to Toronto, nuke the turf at Highmark.

[1st&ten]

I agree about Hamlin, when they brought back Dean Marlowe I thought he might get more playing time. He played fairly well when he was here before.

[ExWNYer]

5 minutes ago, Stranded in Boston said:

Love to talk old-time Bills stuff, thanks! I remember Jerry Butler's 4-TD explosion like yesterday ... But if I recall correctly, Bills traded for Rashad (previously known as Bobby Moore) from the St. Louis Cardinals. Seattle grabbed him from the Bills in the expansion draft -- and then he went on to a bunch of Pro Bowl seasons with the Vikes. (And poor Bobby Chandler was pretty much the whole Bills receiving game in the mid-70s after Rashad left!)

 

You're absolutely correct. He went to the Vikes after the Bills. I do remember being disappointed as a kid that the Bills did not keep him and remember my dad calling him 'Bobby Moore' before Rashad changed his name.

[AlfaBill]

4 hours ago, BearNorth said:

In the Dolphins game, our TD's were to Knox, Morris, Hines, and Cook, so that would suggest Josh and Dorsey know they need to diversify the offense.

 

Regarding your point on defending the run, I saw Milano whiff on a couple of tackles, and our CB's are slow to come up in run support [that could be scheme as they are told to stick to Cheetah and Waddle as job #1].  I also notice that instead of trying to stop a runner in his tracks, we tend to try to ride them towards the sideline.

 

As always enjoy your analysis and the poetry is uplifting.

 

 

Please don’t call him cheetah. It’s so bad

[HaldimandBills]

Not concerned with our run defense. Bills play Nickel and teams will do anything to get them out of Nickel. 

 

Dline is much superior to last season. 

 

Hamlin is learning and getting better. Better corner play would make his job easier. 

 

Whats hurting the Bills lately is the offense is not leaning into it enough. Bills defense is at its best when opposing offenses are petrified of what our offense can do and are forced to be one dimensional. That 3rd quarter our offense was putting on a clinic in stupidity. That gave Miami life to find a way back into the game. 

 

The good news is unlike last season the Bills will be better equipped to deal with what comes there way. Too many scrub qbs and layup wins last season which gave that defense a false sense of security. This year the defense has been pressed in every way and they have a much better understanding of how talented offenses will attack them. 

 

As always it will always come down to Josh Allen. 

 

 

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

5 hours ago, Virgil said:

 

3 - Rushing Attack - The final drive against the Dolphins was impressive not only because of the weather and time used, but because of how efficiently we ran the ball.  I call out that drive because it feels like the only one over three games were we had a respectable rushing attack.  For a team that passes so much that teams play cover two or drop 7 in coverage, how are we not better at running the ball?  I can't believe it's just on our running backs anymore because it feels statistically impossible for them to all suck.  But with 5 lineman, sometimes 7, versus 4 defensive lineman and 2 linebackers, shouldn't the basic numbers mismatch work in our favor?  It sure seems to for other teams against us.  

 

 I don't understand why you would think our RBs suck. Our 2 main RBs, Singletary & Cook, have a combined 4.6 ypc this year. That's as good or better ypc than half of the top 10 RBs.

 

 This year hasn't been we don't have any RBs to give the ball to or even the line can't run block, it's been the year of we just don't run the ball much. That doesn't mean the line or RBs couldn't be better, but they've been plenty good enough to add another 5-8 carries a game. I don't understand why they don't run another 5-8 times, it would really open up the play action passing game and RPOs imo.

 

 

[Virgil]

20 minutes ago, LOVEMESOMEBILLS said:

 

 I don't understand why you would think our RBs suck. Our 2 main RBs, Singletary & Cook, have a combined 4.6 ypc this year. That's as good or better ypc than half of the top 10 RBs.

 

 This year hasn't been we don't have any RBs to give the ball to or even the line can't run block, it's been the year of we just don't run the ball much. That doesn't mean the line or RBs couldn't be better, but they've been plenty good enough to add another 5-8 carries a game. I don't understand why they don't run another 5-8 times, it would really open up the play action passing game and RPOs imo.

 

 

That was the point.  I don’t think they suck, yet we suck at rushing. 

[Southern_Bills]

3 minutes ago, Virgil said:

That was the point.  I don’t think they suck, yet we suck at rushing. 

 

Not sure we suck at it, just a lack of commitment to it. Maybe I'm wrong, just seems the Bills "can" run the ball, but get away from it for no apparent reason for quarters at a time.

 

First world problems of having an elite QB? Maybe idk

[SoCal Deek]

I have not seen him mentioned it in any threads since Saturday night...but Tim Settles had an absolutely terrible game.  I've considered him to be pretty darn solid all season long, but woof....that was ugly. 

[Virgil]

59 minutes ago, SoCal Deek said:

I have not seen him mentioned it in any threads since Saturday night...but Tim Settles had an absolutely terrible game.  I've considered him to be pretty darn solid all season long, but woof....that was ugly. 

Can’t say I noticed him one way or the other in this game, which would likely indicate you are correct 

[LeGOATski]

There's only so much you can do to teach tackling. I'm putting it on the players at this point.  It's a fundamental part of the game they should already know and if the players aren't good at it, I don't see them drastically improving any time soon.

[BillsFan619]

3 hours ago, FrenchConnection said:

Reading this thread reminded me that sports fans fall into some traps because we all care so much about things over which we have no control:

1. When the other team makes a play, we all search for "who's guilty" on our favorite team rather than acknowledging that the other team can and will make plays.  I think that we do this because we want to feel like the "problems" are fixable with better defensive technique and/or personnel. For example, Hill makes a lot of safeties take bad angles due to his olympic sprinter speed. I think that on this particular play Micah Hyde himself would have taken a "bad angle" because once Hill is at full stride there is little that you can do. I'm not saying Hamlin made a good play, but once Hill gets that ball where he did he is taking it to the house 9 times out of 10. This goes across all sports. To baseball fans, every HR hit by the other team is a bad pitch. On SabresSpace, every goal scored by the other team is a missed defensive assignment.  Sometimes the other team makes a play. Imagine being a Fins fan breaking down JA17 40+ yard run. You would blame the DC, the entire DL, LB corp, and the DBs. They all missed tackles and took bad angles.
2. Fans of every NFL team hate the OC. And I mean every team. We do this because it seems to us like a job that we could do. Fans also like the plays that work and hate the ones that don't. Everyone here has conveniently forgotten how much we used to hate Daboll. Go read the post game thread after the Jax debacle for a refresher. Bengals fans HATE Zach Taylor (he calls the plays) with the force of a thousand suns (I know because I live in Cincinnati and hear it all the time). Chiefs fans, after the past two games, want Andy Reid to give up play calling duties (I actually waded into the cesspool that is Chiefs Planet to confirm this). In Dorsey's case, if you look at the All-22 you'll see short and medium options open on every pass play. Dorsey is "scheming" them open but Josh Allen is just refusing to take the layups. It comes with the territory. A QB that takes the easy options doesn't even think to attempt that TD pass to Cook at the end of the 2nd. Nor does he scramble out wide, jump in the air, and throw a TD pass across his body instead of throwing the ball away like JA17 did in the Pats game. 
3. I think that Bills fans need to find a way to watch other NFL games with the same critical eye as they watch Bills games. Most NFL games are close, with a few plays deciding the outcomes. And most blowouts are the result of a strange  circumstances. For example, everyone is pumping up the Bengals right now but they would have lost to the Bucs if the Bucs offense had not TURNED THE BALL OVER ON FOUR STRAIGHT POSSESSIONS. The first one was a good play by a DB but the next three were a complete implosion by the His Royal Tomness. And in their great win over the KC Chiefs, the Mighty Cincinnati Bengals slot receiver and Bills' fan favorite Tyler Boyd had a worse drop than any this season by Davis or Knox. You just don't remember it because the Bengals won the game and it didn't hurt you on an emotion level.

 

This is one of the best posts I’ve read in a while on this board.

 

Critical thought so you can improve is fine. That said, it’s been crazy to see some of the negativity with an 11-3 team who currently has the #1 seed.

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Go Bills!

Edited December 21, 2022 by BillsFan619

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

3 hours ago, Virgil said:

That was the point.  I don’t think they suck, yet we suck at rushing. 

 

 We're 8th in rushing and are the only team to rush for 100 yards every game this year. Some will probably say yeah but Allen's numbers are included and I would counter with 6 of the top 8 rushing teams have running QBs. I counted Atlanta because between their 2 QBs they have just under 500 yards rushing.

 

 It's not just Buffalo, most of the best rushing team's numbers benefit greatly from their QBs running alot. There's 3 teams ahead of the Bills that have QBs with more rushing yards than Allen and both Lamar & Fields lead their team in rushing just like him.

 

 

 

[Snappysnackcakes]

6 hours ago, FrenchConnection said:

Reading this thread reminded me that sports fans fall into some traps because we all care so much about things over which we have no control:

1. When the other team makes a play, we all search for "who's guilty" on our favorite team rather than acknowledging that the other team can and will make plays.  I think that we do this because we want to feel like the "problems" are fixable with better defensive technique and/or personnel. For example, Hill makes a lot of safeties take bad angles due to his olympic sprinter speed. I think that on this particular play Micah Hyde himself would have taken a "bad angle" because once Hill is at full stride there is little that you can do. I'm not saying Hamlin made a good play, but once Hill gets that ball where he did he is taking it to the house 9 times out of 10. This goes across all sports. To baseball fans, every HR hit by the other team is a bad pitch. On SabresSpace, every goal scored by the other team is a missed defensive assignment.  Sometimes the other team makes a play. Imagine being a Fins fan breaking down JA17 40+ yard run. You would blame the DC, the entire DL, LB corp, and the DBs. They all missed tackles and took bad angles.
2. Fans of every NFL team hate the OC. And I mean every team. We do this because it seems to us like a job that we could do. Fans also like the plays that work and hate the ones that don't. Everyone here has conveniently forgotten how much we used to hate Daboll. Go read the post game thread after the Jax debacle for a refresher. Bengals fans HATE Zach Taylor (he calls the plays) with the force of a thousand suns (I know because I live in Cincinnati and hear it all the time). Chiefs fans, after the past two games, want Andy Reid to give up play calling duties (I actually waded into the cesspool that is Chiefs Planet to confirm this). In Dorsey's case, if you look at the All-22 you'll see short and medium options open on every pass play. Dorsey is "scheming" them open but Josh Allen is just refusing to take the layups. It comes with the territory. A QB that takes the easy options doesn't even think to attempt that TD pass to Cook at the end of the 2nd. Nor does he scramble out wide, jump in the air, and throw a TD pass across his body instead of throwing the ball away like JA17 did in the Pats game. 
3. I think that Bills fans need to find a way to watch other NFL games with the same critical eye as they watch Bills games. Most NFL games are close, with a few plays deciding the outcomes. And most blowouts are the result of a strange  circumstances. For example, everyone is pumping up the Bengals right now but they would have lost to the Bucs if the Bucs offense had not TURNED THE BALL OVER ON FOUR STRAIGHT POSSESSIONS. The first one was a good play by a DB but the next three were a complete implosion by the His Royal Tomness. And in their great win over the KC Chiefs, the Mighty Cincinnati Bengals slot receiver and Bills' fan favorite Tyler Boyd had a worse drop than any this season by Davis or Knox. You just don't remember it because the Bengals won the game and it didn't hurt you on an emotion level.

 

You should be a life coach for football fans. This is 1000% correct and needs to be understood by anyone who watches football. 

[ticketssince61]

9 hours ago, Virgil said:

Expectations might just be the worst part about being a sports fan.  With a team that literally stopped punting, expectations couldn't be higher.  Every win was by double digit points and we've been favored to win every single game. 

 

What makes last year and this year so hard is that we realistically expect to win the super bowl so anything less is a total disappointment

 

When we broke the non playoff streak everyone went crazy - this year no one even noticed that we clinched

 

 

 

 

[Virgil]

13 hours ago, ticketssince61 said:

 

What makes last year and this year so hard is that we realistically expect to win the super bowl so anything less is a total disappointment

 

When we broke the non playoff streak everyone went crazy - this year no one even noticed that we clinched

 

 

 

 

💯 

[John from Riverside]

It’s all relative to other teams in the league. It’s not like the Kansas City Chiefs are blowing anybody out recently

[Tanoros]

20 hours ago, FrenchConnection said:

Reading this thread reminded me that sports fans fall into some traps because we all care so much about things over which we have no control:

1. When the other team makes a play, we all search for "who's guilty" on our favorite team rather than acknowledging that the other team can and will make plays.  I think that we do this because we want to feel like the "problems" are fixable with better defensive technique and/or personnel. For example, Hill makes a lot of safeties take bad angles due to his olympic sprinter speed. I think that on this particular play Micah Hyde himself would have taken a "bad angle" because once Hill is at full stride there is little that you can do. I'm not saying Hamlin made a good play, but once Hill gets that ball where he did he is taking it to the house 9 times out of 10. This goes across all sports. To baseball fans, every HR hit by the other team is a bad pitch. On SabresSpace, every goal scored by the other team is a missed defensive assignment.  Sometimes the other team makes a play. Imagine being a Fins fan breaking down JA17 40+ yard run. You would blame the DC, the entire DL, LB corp, and the DBs. They all missed tackles and took bad angles.
2. Fans of every NFL team hate the OC. And I mean every team. We do this because it seems to us like a job that we could do. Fans also like the plays that work and hate the ones that don't. Everyone here has conveniently forgotten how much we used to hate Daboll. Go read the post game thread after the Jax debacle for a refresher. Bengals fans HATE Zach Taylor (he calls the plays) with the force of a thousand suns (I know because I live in Cincinnati and hear it all the time). Chiefs fans, after the past two games, want Andy Reid to give up play calling duties (I actually waded into the cesspool that is Chiefs Planet to confirm this). In Dorsey's case, if you look at the All-22 you'll see short and medium options open on every pass play. Dorsey is "scheming" them open but Josh Allen is just refusing to take the layups. It comes with the territory. A QB that takes the easy options doesn't even think to attempt that TD pass to Cook at the end of the 2nd. Nor does he scramble out wide, jump in the air, and throw a TD pass across his body instead of throwing the ball away like JA17 did in the Pats game. 
3. I think that Bills fans need to find a way to watch other NFL games with the same critical eye as they watch Bills games. Most NFL games are close, with a few plays deciding the outcomes. And most blowouts are the result of a strange  circumstances. For example, everyone is pumping up the Bengals right now but they would have lost to the Bucs if the Bucs offense had not TURNED THE BALL OVER ON FOUR STRAIGHT POSSESSIONS. The first one was a good play by a DB but the next three were a complete implosion by the His Royal Tomness. And in their great win over the KC Chiefs, the Mighty Cincinnati Bengals slot receiver and Bills' fan favorite Tyler Boyd had a worse drop than any this season by Davis or Knox. You just don't remember it because the Bengals won the game and it didn't hurt you on an emotion level.

 

Great post and great perspective. It’s so true how we fans want to find fault or praise from our teams players for our teams success or failures (especially the failures). 
 

About your comment of Allen not always taking the easy stuff, but the easy stuff IS there. It’s so true, I feel like this is the one area Allen really needs to find the right balance. Like you said, his aggressiveness is why we see some of his most amazing plays, but that same aggressiveness is the reason some drives stall out. Keeping the chains moving and having short down and distances consistently is a good thing. This season, too many times we’ve found ourselves in 3rd and long (for many reasons). 
 

 
Kurt Warner breaks down the film from the Dolphins game here. It’s a very detailed analysis, and he (Kurt) points out some opportunities for Allen to take the easier stuff. But it’s also cool to see what Allen is seeing and how the plays are drawn up. The breakdown on the TD pass to Hines is especially cool. We ran the same play twice in a row. Once with Singletary and then with Hines. Either way, the subtle difference of Knox’s position and body movement were all the difference in the play being a TD or not (we got lucky on the Hines TD, the LB got sucked forward at the start of the play, losing his angle to the corner of the end zone). 

[Simon Says]

I think you would attract more readers if your essays weren't so long and involved. Instead of trying to cover 10 points in one post: try presenting ONE well planned,articulate point per post.

This might be your ego writing: ,fine if that's your thing.

But,many aren't going to waste THEIR time trying to respond to so many "observations" that clearly deserve to be countered or reinforced.

 

[maddenboy]

On 12/21/2022 at 8:24 AM, Virgil said:

5 - Receivers - .. . 

 

We will never truly know what happens in practice or what drops someone down the priority chart, but somehow McD believes that Smoke and Beasely are better than McK and Shakir?   I'm not saying that's wrong, but it really makes you wonder what's going on here.  While McK has his share of drops, we also barely use him for jet sweeps or other open field plays to take advantage of his speed.  Shakir, is out on the field quite a bit, but seems to only get 1-2 targets a game.  When you watch the Chiefs, everyone seems to get the ball, but we seem to live or die by Diggs or whoever else gets open while Josh is scrambling to keep plays alive.  Again, maybe Knox will start to open things up, but it's almost impressive how this offense still scores when only Diggs and Allen seem to be a threat.

Heard on a (cant remember which) podcast that, since JA17's elbow injury, practice reps are few and precious.  So probably Shakir isnt getting as many as he would in a normal season.  Hard to develop chemistry with the Qb without reps.  Same for Hines, but he sure is doing a lot with his few touches.

[BRH]

Re: tackling.... Steve Tasker made a good point on OBL the other day when he said tackling is just being taught differently these days.  Not just in Buffalo, but everywhere, and we're starting to see the consequences of it.  Not just in Buffalo, but everywhere.  Used to be you would hit above the shoulders or below the knees to knock the ballcarrier off balance, or you'd put your hat right on the ball to knock it out; for safety reasons you can't do any of that anymore, so guys are being taught to try to wrestle ballcarriers to the ground while hopefully holding them up long enough for someone else to get in there and strip the ball out.  That's harder to do and I don't think the Bills are the only team suffering from that.  We've broken our share of arm tackles ourselves.

[ganesh]

22 hours ago, Rubes said:

Couldn’t agree more about Hamlin. Seemed like he started out strong but has really regressed the past few weeks. Really becoming a big concern, and teams are figuring out how to take advantage of him.

 

Hyde better come back or we’re going to have to look at a S in the early rounds.

or Hamlin become better.  He is a young player and need the time on the field.