Do you think the offense was better yesterday?

[Franco_92]

Just now, Process said:

Useless is too strong of a word, I agree

Sorry for being pedantic. It's definitely true that the offense was better yesterday, and the discrepancy is worth talking about 

[NewEra]

I thought our offense was very good in the first half.  Having a 2 TD lead led McD to play more conservative and Dorsey obliged.  

my one dislike- I would’ve liked to see Cook receive a few of Gabes targets.  He’s really good and can be great if Dorsey can align the stars.  
 

But 👍🏻 to gabe. He played one of his best games and did a lot of what we all say he can’t do. Now just be consistent. 🤣 

Was happy to finally see get shakir involved.  He ran hard and strong and I love him in RAC situations. Short legs mcgee can move.  I’d like to see him play about the same snaps, maybe more going forward.  Sherfield played the slot when shakir came out.  I’d like to know the run/pass% when Sherfield was in.  

 

Did we chip with TEs or backs much?  I thought our OL played pretty good overall after having 3 poor outings in a row.

 

KINGcaid it is. He’s gonna be the man.  Stay healthy kid.  

 

 

[Allen2D̶i̶g̶g̶s̶TBD]

The offense was more varied and produced consistent positive yardage even if we struggled to get in the endzone.

 

Punting twice in Bucs territory on 4th and short is the reason why this game wasn't a blowout.

Edited October 27, 2023 by Allen2Diggs

[Bangarang]

1st half was better but still some frustrating moments. 
 

Dorsey is still a poor play caller as evidenced by the shotgun runs from the goal line and constant WR screens to Diggs that never go anywhere.

 

Feels like we see the same plays on a weekly basis.

[Bruffalo]

Allen is the best when he's up tempo and able to audible to what he's seeing.  Dorsey called a pretty good game, but we still see some dumb plays that just don't work for whatever reason, and they have basically never worked.  

 

He needs to be a little less stubborn and move to what the team is best at.

[DabillsDaBillsDaBills]

2 minutes ago, Process said:

McDermott is one of the most aggressive coaches in the NFL on 4th down historically. We punted 4 times from midfield. We would have went for it if our defense wasn't completely shutting down the TB offense. 

 

It took an unbelievably unlucky series of events just for the Bucs to have a shot at a hail Mary. 

 

At any point yesterday did you feel like we were going to lose that game? We were in control.

 

McD skews the stats on his 4th down decisions by taking delay of game penalties in situations that we should really be going for it. 

 

4th and 2 from the TB 44 is just about the perfect scenario to go for it. McD takes a delay of game penalty and now it's 4th and 7 from the 49. The 4th down models only look at the actual play (4th and 7) and determines he made the correct decision to punt. 

 

For OP's point, I agree this game was overall very similar to the Pats game for the offense if we average out what happened over the course of the game. Last week the offense started slow and finished strong, this week we started strong and finished slow (exacerbated by McD's cowardice on 4th downs). 

 

The offense played well enough to win both games even if they were not dominant. The DEF was much better this week 

[Big Turk]

1 minute ago, DabillsDaBillsDaBills said:

 

McD skews the stats on his 4th down decisions by taking delay of game penalties in situations that we should really be going for it. 

 

4th and 2 from the TB 44 is just about the perfect scenario to go for it. McD takes a delay of game penalty and now it's 4th and 7 from the 49. The 4th down models only look at the actual play (4th and 7) and determines he made the correct decision to punt. 

 

For OP's point, I agree this game was overall very similar to the Pats game for the offense if we average out what happened over the course of the game. Last week the offense started slow and finished strong, this week we started strong and finished slow (exacerbated by McD's cowardice on 4th downs). 

 

The offense played well enough to win both games even if they were not dominant. The DEF was much better this week 

 

Lots of coaches do the same thing in those situations. I see it almost every game I watch. It gives the punter extra room to operate.

[juno999]

That was Allen's best game since the Dolphins game.  He made quick decisions and got rid of the ball very quickly.  I think 11 personnel should be their main personnel grouping going forward.  Kincaid and even Shakir are making plays for them.

[Big Turk]

2 minutes ago, Einstein said:

I think I accidentally deleted my reply to you. Apologies.

 

That was my original thought (we pulled back on aggressiveness). But if you look at the tape, we didn't. We ran 10 and 11 personnel throughout, until the very last drive.

Aaron Quinn did a long Twitter thread dispelling the 'foot off the gas' theory.
 

 

 

I am talking about in situations where the other teams have leads.  They likely play softer against us to prevent a big play which then makes it somewhat easier for us...

 

Numbers are numbers, but overall the Bills would win far more games with the offense from yesterday versus the offense from the last 3 weeks.

[FireChans]

39 minutes ago, Einstein said:

I made the argument last week that the offense played 'fine'. Points are points whether they are scored in the first half or final minutes. The offense scored 25 and left the field with the lead and under two minutes to play. So I figured lets compare the two.

Week 7 vs Patriots
Points: 25

Offensive EPA/a: .16
First downs: 24

Punts: 1

 

Week 8 vs Bucs

Points: 24

Offensive EPA/a: .09

First downs: 25

Punts: 4

This weeks offense did have 88 more yards, and also involved more receiving options, though this effort resulted in 1 less point, a lower EPA/a and more punts than last week. 

We did have a large lead this week, which can contribute to taking the foot off the pedal. However, I didn't get the sense we were doing that until the very last drive. We were running 11 personnel with Josh in shotgun up until the second to last drive.

PS, our no-huddle work was magnificent:
 

 

 

ALL THIS PROVES IS THAT EPA SUCKS AS A CATCH ALL STAT.

22 minutes ago, Einstein said:

This was the first thing I thought of. But if you look at the tape, they were in attack mode until the very last drive. They were running 10 and 11-Personnel throughout. 

Aaron Quinn attacked the "foot off the gas" theory in a long Twitter thread today.
 

 

ALL THIS PROVES IS THAT AARON QUINN IS AN EPA NERD

[MasterStrategist]

36 minutes ago, Einstein said:

I made the argument last week that the offense played 'fine'. Points are points whether they are scored in the first half or final minutes. The offense scored 25 and left the field with the lead and under two minutes to play. So I figured lets compare the two.

Week 7 vs Patriots
Points: 25

Offensive EPA/a: .16
First downs: 24

Punts: 1

 

Week 8 vs Bucs

Points: 24

Offensive EPA/a: .09

First downs: 25

Punts: 4

This weeks offense did have 88 more yards, and also involved more receiving options, though this effort resulted in 1 less point, a lower EPA/a and more punts than last week. 

We did have a large lead this week, which can contribute to taking the foot off the pedal. However, I didn't get the sense we were doing that until the very last drive. We were running 11 personnel with Josh in shotgun up until the second to last drive.

PS, our no-huddle work was magnificent:
 

 

 

It should be obvious, definitely better.

 

We took our foot off the gas pedal, and went way too conservative with a 14 point lead.  TB basically ate up 8-9 min of the 4th qtr with their 1 drive (wo looking up the exact time).

 

If anything we can gripe about their "conservative" playcalls that led to punting on consecutive 4th and short in opponent territory.

 

The offense moved the ball at will for most of the game.  Definitely struggled against NE, Gmen, and Jax at even 3 and outs (did we even have any last night?), not to mention other execution.

 

Up tempo / getting to the line of scrimmage sooner, was a clear driver of success.

 

 

[Warriorspikes51]

Allen should have had 400 yards passing the way it looked.
 

The offense needs to be a mix of no huddle hurry up and regular. That should really stress defenses

[Drew21PA]

Last week we played from behind though - they went conservative in the late 3rd to 4th

[Warriorspikes51]

Who knew….suddenly we have multiple WR’s that are reasonably good?  
 

Kincaid, Davis, Shakir should all be getting targets regularly in the up tempo offense

 

Harty showed an absolutely insane amount of short area quickness on PR

 

would like to see him used on screens and sweeps a few times per game

[Einstein]

20 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

I am talking about in situations where the other teams have leads.  They likely play softer against us to prevent a big play which then makes it somewhat easier for us...

 

Numbers are numbers, but overall the Bills would win far more games with the offense from yesterday versus the offense from the last 3 weeks.

Gotcha. I think that is a valid hypothesis. 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

34 minutes ago, Allen2Diggs said:

The offense was more varied and produced consistent positive yardage even if we struggled to get in the endzone.

 

Punting twice in Bucs territory on 4th and short is the reason why this game wasn't a blowout.

agreed. They go for it either or both times, and we win by 3 or more scores. 

[TheBrownBear]

I thought we were much better, bordering on elite, until we got to 24 and seemed to get a little sloppy. 

 

Also, just me, or did it seem that Josh was trying to force feed Diggs over the last 1.5 quarters and that sort of hindered our momentum?

[Aimee75]

My god.

 

Yes, yes the offense was better yesterday. They literally did what people on this forum have been asking for, and that was to put up points EARLY and get things going early. Do I think they left some points off the board? Yes. Was there some boneheaded plays in there? Sure, like the shotgun 3rd down play in the redzone or the weird play that ended in a sack before the two minute warning, but for the most part they were excellent.

 

 

[Jauronimo]

How is this even a question?

[LABILLBACKER]

Josh and the offense was in a zone during the 1st half.  But after we got to 24, we definitely took our foot off the pedal.  Without those two 4th down bail outs, we should've won 31-10.