Impressions from game

[BillsShredder83]

Just went back and rewatched the first quarter and first drive of the 2nd, OCyrus looked awesome.  Looked great in the run game, up into the 2nd level where nobody has a chance against the guy lol did exactly what asked of pass blocking.  The only neg i can give is his guy batted down a Kyle throw, and some of that blame can be shared with the QB

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, Don Otreply said:

There is a difference between all the way dead, and mostly dead…, 

 

There is only dead.  An irreversible state.

[Don Otreply]

19 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

There is only dead.  An irreversible state.

This word, I do not think it means what you think it means…

[Doc]

16 hours ago, That's No Moon said:

Van Denmark blew one block so badly at RT he is fortunate the DE let up or Barkley would be in the hospital. Ole! and right on by, didn't even slow the guy down.

 

I thought I should revisit this since I messed up.  You are correct that he blew a block badly in the 4th while playing RT.  At LT he looked good. 

[Mr. WEO]

18 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

This word, I do not think it means what you think it means…

lol ok

[Don Otreply]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

lol ok

Princess Bride reference…

[Dr. Who]

4 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

Princess Bride reference…

One of those rare cases where the movie is better than the book.

[AuntieEm]

8 hours ago, NoName said:

Barkley was Josh's primary backup longer than anyone.  I don't know what he did, in an actual game, that made people lose confidence in him.  I always thought he was a middle of the pack (or maybe a little lower) backup 

 

  Don't know that people lose confidence in Barkley.  More just knowing that much of the success has been Josh doing alot ìf the work.  If the offensive improvements payoff then I'd expect Kyle Allen will look much better after he learns the offense better and syncs with the wrs.  Even so it is not likely he will be as effective as Josh.  

  

 

  With a franchise qb u load up on elite weapons that can make a  backup qb look good, ala Kassel when Brady got hurt.  Or the 90s Bills when Kelly was out I never worried we'd have bad qb play.  Reich was not Kelly but he was a capable qb.

[Chandler#81]

6 hours ago, White Linen said:

Now I know I can't believe some of you guys.  Kyle Allen didn't look terrible at all.  Morris dropped a first down catch that would have put us in the red zone and would have capped off a good day for him.  On the previous play Morris completely whiffed on a block that let the d end come in free for the sack.

 

In the second half Shavers let's a perfect pass doink off his shoulder and then should have caught the pick 6 pass.

 

When Tasker said "I say the trash" it was because Dane got caught up in traffic. 

 

Among several other things I saw differently,  those are just a few.

 

Disagree all you want Gunner, you're incorrect or can't evaluate properly. 

 

 

 

 

TRASH! That’s the word I was thinking reading your post. Thank you!

[Rocky Landing]

11 hours ago, NoName said:

Barkley was Josh's primary backup longer than anyone.  I don't know what he did, in an actual game, that made people lose confidence in him.  I always thought he was a middle of the pack (or maybe a little lower) backup 

I think it may have all started in week 16 of the 2020 season, which I think was the last game Barkley played in. If I remember this correctly, it was vs. the Patriots* in the fourth quarter. We were ahead significantly, and Barkley took over. He got flushed from the pocket, and tried to extend the play rather than throw it away. He tossed it high to Beasley towards the sideline, and really kind of hung him out. Beasley, being Beasley, went up for it, and got creamed. It took him out for week 17, and messed him up for the playoffs. Many on this forum lost their minds, and really blamed Barkley for his lack of judgement in making the throw at all, and for the impact it had in the playoffs. I'm probably getting some of the details wrong, but I do remember it being a point of contention on this forum.

[Doc Brown]

8 minutes ago, Rocky Landing said:

I think it may have all started in week 16 of the 2020 season, which I think was the last game Barkley played in. If I remember this correctly, it was vs. the Patriots* in the fourth quarter. We were ahead significantly, and Barkley took over. He got flushed from the pocket, and tried to extend the play rather than throw it away. He tossed it high to Beasley towards the sideline, and really kind of hung him out. Beasley, being Beasley, went up for it, and got creamed. It took him out for week 17, and messed him up for the playoffs. Many on this forum lost their minds, and really blamed Barkley for his lack of judgement in making the throw at all, and for the impact it had in the playoffs. I'm probably getting some of the details wrong, but I do remember it being a point of contention on this forum.

Yup.  We were up 38-9 with 10 minutes left and Daboll thought it would be cute for Barkley to throw a pass to Beasley instead of running the clock out on a 1st down play.  I think it was to get Beasley his first 1,000 yard season.  Throw was behind him and Beasley injured his leg.  Played hobbled in the playoffs.  Thanks Daboll.  If Barkley is our backup and Josh goes down for a few games we're screwed with this schedule.  You can get away with having a noodle arm against 3rd stringers.  I'd say this regime wouldn't let that happen but it's also the same regime who though Nathan Peterman could start to give Allen time to develop based off of a strong preseason.

[Ralonzo]

6 hours ago, BillsShredder83 said:

Just went back and rewatched the first quarter and first drive of the 2nd, OCyrus looked awesome.  Looked great in the run game, up into the 2nd level where nobody has a chance against the guy lol did exactly what asked of pass blocking.  The only neg i can give is his guy batted down a Kyle throw, and some of that blame can be shared with the QB

 

Just did the same for the first half and I concur. The only reason that pass gets batted I think is by that point their DL was finally realizing the futility of trying to beat 64 and stopped trying, lol. The first snap of the game, Torrence and Brown used a couple of Colts as blocking sleds. That sort of thing gives one some hope.

 

Other big sweaties that flashed to me were Eli Ankou who was a total menace in the 2nd Q and may have been the best Bills DL in the game. Also, the combo of VanDemark and Edwards who really worked well as a unit. Shell also beat the piss out of pretty much everyone he faced. The 74-76-71-64-68 unit was fairly dominant against the level of competition. There might not be much dropoff from 2022 if those were the starters, and they're not (maybe 64).

 

I only did the first half notes, don't know that I'll get to the 2nd soon so rather than a thread where people will see it, I'll just dump the quick-hit analysis of the trenches here where nobody will haha.

 

 

1st D Series
1st & 10) Settle playing the 1 away from Nelson makes the stop. Oliver earns a draw vs Nelson but ends up on his back.
2nd & 8) Quick hitch, < 2 seconds for delivery
3rd & 3) Inside run goes over Oliver who is moved out of the way, milano is dragged for the 1st.
1st & 10) Screen to McKenzie, < 1 second to deliver
2nd & 6) INTERCEPTION Rousseau with an instant win and Neal nickel blitz were closing on Richardson who threw off the back foot and sailed it.

 

1st O Series - 73-66-60-64-79
1st & 10) Handoff Cook, Brown and Torrence moved the Colts D Line 5 yards downfield right away. Wow.
2nd & 5) Handoff Cook, Dawkins pancakes his guy, Torrence seals the other tackle off. Close to 1st but offsetting fouls.
2nd & 5) Handoff Cook TOUCHDOWN Dawkins and McGovern double team a DL and Kincaid in the Y does just enough to seal the edge before getting thrown unceremoniously to the turf by 52.

 

2nd D Series
1st & 10) Rousseau another instant win but Richardson escapes.
2nd & 5) Another quick rhythm throw for a 1st.
1st & 10) Rousseau goes upfield and Settle gets handled by RG, run goes between them.
2nd & 4) McD brings the house on a cover-1, incomplete.
3rd & 4) Coverage sack for Milano but Rousseau was in the neutral zone.
1st & 10) Bills stack the box and looked like a stuff for loss but Lawson drifts inside and loses contain, runner cuts back behinds him for a nice gain.
2nd & 4) Run is aimed at Ankou, Bills swarm to limit the gain
3rd & 2) Basham flashes from LDE around the edge to stop the play at the LOS.
4th & 1) Colts run at Ankou again and get NOTHING. Turnover on downs.

 

2nd O Series - 73-66-60-64-79
1st & 10) Draw to Cook, Knox at the Y gets defeated by the DE and the play is snuffed. Looks like bad play design as Dawkins and McGovern go right to the 2nd level.
2nd & 10) Quick handoff to Cook, Morse and McGovern parted the sea for him.
3rd & 3) Quick rhythm pass to the double covered receiver hits the Colt in the chest. Good pocket, either a poor decision or a single-read.

 

3rd D Series
1st & 10) Ed Oliver gets instant penetration 1 second before the snap.
1st & 5) Inc short right. Oliver with a real nice hand fight against Nelson and was close to arriving at the QB.
2nd & 5) Run right over Nelson, who turned Settle right out of the hole.
1st & 10) Colts block down left and blew most of the Bills off the line for the run behind.
2nd & 6) Screen over the entire Bills line, the Colts are adjusting to McD dialing up the blitzes.
1st & 10) 20 yard pass, Bills never got upfield at all except AJE who was way wide.
1st & 10) Play action holds the Bills line, AJE definitely was fooled for a moment. Elam handsy penalty, lister to the vets in camp kid.
1st & 10) End zone shot inc, Floyd juuuust got taken wide.
2nd & 10) Quick shot to Lil Dummy, Floyd way upfield again but this was another quick rhythm shot.
1st & 10) Run at Poona Ford who gets pushed right out of the way.
2nd & 4) Ankou pushes the line back, Ford does not, run goes between them.
1st & 10) Richardson naked boot left, Basham did not react and gave the corner. But... HOLDING
1st & 20) Run off right tackle, this time Ford gets his hands in on the pads to get a draw and the runner barrels into him.
2nd & 16) Bills don't get good pressure but Richardson still throws off back foot and sails it. Offsetting fouls tho.
3rd & 16) Bills do get good pressure but it's a screen so the Colts intended for that.
4th & 16) Figgie doinks, HAH-ha.
Jeez that's a lot of plays for no points.

 

3rd O Series 74-76-71-64-68
1st & 10) Handoff Murray, Shell and VanDemark run their guys down the field and Edwards turns his, nice gain.
2nd & 4) Checkdown pass to Murray, GREAT slide step from VanDemark to handle a speed rusher lined up wide. Torrence singles his guy - he is just a rock. 
1st & 10) Keystone Kops. Rhythm play doesn't happen in rhythm. VanDemark gets beat but pushed his guy wide enough that if the play happened like it should have, it should have been enough.
2nd & 12) Batted pass. Terrific pocket, but Torrence's guy knew he could not get around him so threw his arms up.
3rd & 12) Pass to Shakir. Edwards and VanDemark do a great job handling a stunt to allow that. Bates/Torrence/Shell are a wall.
1st & 10) Run Murray. Reminiscent of the Colts all-down-block-left, nice gain.
2nd & 5) High snap Bates blows the timing on that run. Nice pull VanDemark all the way to the right and bops a LB.
3rd & 3) Torrence turns the lineman out of the hole but LB's fill on Murray.
4th & 1) Allen scramble for 1st. Colts are just bailing on trying Torrence now, he's looking for someone to hit.
1st & 10) Bad pass Allen but nice work again between VanDemark and Edwards to double a guy ready to break free.
2nd & 10) Rhythm pass to Shakir, good anchor from Edwards on one guy, Torrence & Shell envelop another.
3rd & 3) Rhythm pass to Shakir, but dropped. Colts showed blitz but dropped out.

 

4th D Series
1st & 10) Colts 2nd string is in. Settle collapses the RG for the sack, with Basham closing
2nd & 14) Settle again moves the QB and Basham finishes this time.
3rd & 21) Draw snuffed by Ford.
Bill DL won that series severely.

 

4th O Series 77-76-71-64-68
1st & 10) Screen to Murray. Thought Torrence got beat for a sec - oh it's a screen haha.
2nd & 4) Big drag route to Isabella, line handled everyone 1-on-1 leaving Quess with a corner blitzer which even he can handle.
1st & 10) Down-blocking right and Murray rumbling behind.
2nd & 6) Play action fails on a 12 set, 48 & 85 let a free rusher right by off the snap for the sack as they ran routes.
3rd & 15) Morris drop. Oof couple plays. Quess actually did ok against their edge.

 

5th D series
1st & 10) Ankou defeats a double-team instantly and forced a bounce outside.
2nd & 10) Neutral zone foul by Broughton.
2nd & 5) Ankou annihilates the play inside for no gain.
3rd & 5) Lol, Ankou stunts and ALMOST gets home, but the trash picks off Neal for the conversion.
1st & 10) Shane Ray from right edge comes down the line to make the stop.
2nd & 8) Bills send a whole lot of guys who don't get there. 94 got handled easily.
1st & 10) Quick throw, quick tackle, not much to see there.
2nd & 4) Ray and Jonathan get handled at the edge.
1st & 10) Jailhouse blitz, Dorian doesn't quick get there, Jonathan drops in coverage.
1st & 10) 93 and 94 aren't really holding up for that middle run.
2nd & 5) If that play idn't thrown that quick, Dick Dale or Ankou would have splattered the QB. Both looking like Pat Williams there.
1st & Goal) Quick throw, flag. Colts handle the middle blitz pretty good there.
1st & Goal) 51 and 61 still clogging the middle, Dorian shoots the gap for the TFL.
2nd & Goal) TD. Jonathan got smushed and they scored right over him.

 

Colts sure ran a whole lot of plays on O that half.
 

[Doc]

2 minutes ago, Ralonzo said:

Just did the same for the first half and I concur. The only reason that pass gets batted I think is by that point their DL was finally realizing the futility of trying to beat 64 and stopped trying, lol. The first snap of the game, Torrence and Brown used a couple of Colts as blocking sleds. That sort of thing gives one some hope.

 

Other big sweaties that flashed to me were Eli Ankou who was a total menace in the 2nd Q and may have been the best Bills DL in the game. Also, the combo of VanDemark and Edwards who really worked well as a unit. Shell also beat the piss out of pretty much everyone he faced. The 74-76-71-64-68 unit was fairly dominant against the level of competition. There might not be much dropoff from 2022 if those were the starters, and they're not (maybe 64).

 

I only did the first half notes, don't know that I'll get to the 2nd soon so rather than a thread where people will see it, I'll just dump the quick-hit analysis of the trenches here where nobody will haha.

 

[snip]

 

Dropoff?  Jettisoning the terrible Saffold, Brown finally being healthy and Torrence supplanting and being better than last year's RG Bates should make for a decent stepup.

[Beck Water]

8 hours ago, White Linen said:

 

I was more than pleased.  None of the sacks were on him.  He three the ball in fantastic placement several times and showed good mobility on the run for a 1st.  Even the play he got pressure and spun around and Ill advised threw the ball to Murray ended up saving 4 yards. He had a batted down ball you don't like to see. Shavers looled lacked ball skills on both of those Allen passes. But I really like a lot of what he did.  I watched with 3 other fans and we were all expecting much worse from Allen based on the comments here.  We all vehemently disagreed. Just OOP.

 

All in all he wasn't the trash many posted.

 

Observe the masterful way Kyle Allen stared down Sherfield (16) and threw to him even though he was covered, before anyone else had a chance to complete their route and even Cook, his checkdown, did not have a chance to leak out and get open.  Admire the precision of his targeting,which throws where the DB has a better chance on the ball, instead of where Sherfield would have to come back for it and have a chance for a DH or DPI penalty if not a completion.

 

 

[Beck Water]

14 hours ago, oldmanfan said:

Dodson starts without question.  But you will see a lot of looks where he is out and Rapp comes in as a 6th DB with Milano as the one LB.

 

This is actually my best guess at what McDermott has in mind.

[NickelCity]

1 hour ago, Ralonzo said:

I only did the first half notes, don't know that I'll get to the 2nd soon so rather than a thread where people will see it, I'll just dump the quick-hit analysis of the trenches here....

 

 

Many thanks. Great post. 

[NickelCity]

1 hour ago, Doc said:

 

Dropoff?  Jettisoning the terrible Saffold, Brown finally being healthy and Torrence supplanting and being better than last year's RG Bates should make for a decent stepup.

 

I think he was saying that our current #2 line isn't much of a drop off from last year's starting line.

[AuntieEm]

9 hours ago, BillsShredder83 said:

Just went back and rewatched the first quarter and first drive of the 2nd, OCyrus looked awesome.  Looked great in the run game, up into the 2nd level where nobody has a chance against the guy lol did exactly what asked of pass blocking.  The only neg i can give is his guy batted down a Kyle throw, and some of that blame can be shared with the QB

   

  If that's the only negative that's fine.  Bills can overcome the odd tipped pass even for a int much better than having Josh get hit and banged up.

[Ralonzo]

6 hours ago, NickelCity said:

 

I think he was saying that our current #2 line isn't much of a drop off from last year's starting line.

I think Doc is arguing that this years backups are better than last year's starters and we can have that discussion. I refrained from going that far because the 74-76-71-64-68 combo did not run against 1s vs the Colts. We may get to see that yet; I'd sure like to see what happens.

[Ralonzo]

7 hours ago, Beck Water said:

 

Observe the masterful way Kyle Allen stared down Sherfield (16) and threw to him even though he was covered, before anyone else had a chance to complete their route and even Cook, his checkdown, did not have a chance to leak out and get open.  Admire the precision of his targeting,which throws where the DB has a better chance on the ball, instead of where Sherfield would have to come back for it and have a chance for a DH or DPI penalty if not a completion.

 

 

That play annoyed me for how well the OL had set the pocket, only to have the ball come out way too fast to the wrong guy.