Joe Brady, Josh Allen, and the playcalling

[Thrivefourfive]

  On 1/20/2025 at 7:12 PM, colin said:

 

 

good find.

 

holy crap knox was just awful on that, the angle on the camera shows how awful his move was.  he had room on the right and if he breaks a tackle it is a big one.

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Gave the ball to Knox behind the line of scrimmage with seven yards to go for a first down. Does anyone know how this play fits into a bigger schemes thing?

[Lieutenant Aldo Raine]

  On 1/20/2025 at 8:56 PM, wnyguy said:

The most brutal play was having Josh in shotgun on 3rd and goal from the 2. You have a guy that is gonna go up the gut and score 6 just about every time. I was most upset with that play. 

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Could have cost us. 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

  On 1/20/2025 at 7:15 PM, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Yep. Most see it as a bad check by Allen but Knox definitely had room.

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There were a couple checks to screens it seemed like to me that were pretty good reads Baltimore just out executed us.  They were real good rallying to the football and tackling all night 

[DCofNC]

  On 1/20/2025 at 2:57 PM, Pete said:

How many passes were attempted down the field.  If it wasn't a bubble screen, Josh often checked down to a dump off to RB.  Take the training wheels off Brady

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I don’t think this is entirely on Brady, there were at least a handful of plays where Josh looked down field and came back to the check down.  The result was short gain, BUT not forcing the ball resulted in no turnovers and enough points to win.

[DCofNC]

  On 1/20/2025 at 3:13 PM, Einstein said:

And on another offensive note, I don't trust Coleman at all. I'm genuinely at the point where I think he is better served on the bench. The offense looked fine without him for the month he was injured.

 

I have hopes for him in the future but he simply cant separate right now and when the ball is thrown to him he still has trouble catching it at times. On the play he was "interfered" with (which probably should have been OPI), the ball went right through his hands. 

And if you can't separate against a 30 year old DB coming off a torn ACL and torn achilles, then yikes.

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I hate to admit it, but you are spot on.  He should be on the Bench and Cooper should be taking the snaps.  I like the kid, but he’s not getting it done right now.

[I'mBuff]

  On 1/20/2025 at 2:16 PM, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

I would say it was the weirdest game plan (at least second half plan) I have ever seen.  I agree that some of it was audibiling to other plays though. 

 

Josh also looked uncomfortable with the fronts the ravens were showing.

 

My one big complaint is that we never even tested the outside corners, outside of the one DPI.  Their corners struggle against bigger receivers. 

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I just went back and watched the first half and the difference in play calling seemed jaw dropping. There was zero attempt to push the ball downfield and I think it really hurt us to be honest. 

[Shaw66]

  On 1/20/2025 at 3:13 PM, mathja said:

There was so much space out toward the sideline. I guess he wanted to try to use his blockers and get caught up in that muck. Not great awareness by Knox on this play.

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I like Knox, but he is not a playmaker with the ball in hands.  

[LABILLBACKER]

  On 1/20/2025 at 2:28 PM, dave mcbride said:

The Ravens defense is really good. It bears repeating that they were the best defense in the league by far over the final seven weeks of the season. And they dominated the Steelers in the playoff game too when it mattered (ie, before a very long garbage time session).

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They're a #1 run defense but at #31 pass defense,  they're terrible.  As Romo said, "throw downfield on 1st down, run on 2nd". Those first 2 drives of the 3rd quarter completely flipped the game.  It felt like 2019 Houston all over again.  Thank God we survived.  Brady & Josh better figure out these blitz disguises.

  On 1/21/2025 at 3:40 AM, Shaw66 said:

I like Knox, but he is not a playmaker with the ball in hands.  

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He's good downfield but behind the LOS he's worthless. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

  On 1/20/2025 at 8:56 PM, wnyguy said:

The most brutal play was having Josh in shotgun on 3rd and goal from the 2. You have a guy that is gonna go up the gut and score 6 just about every time. I was most upset with that play. 

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The idea is to give Josh a running start to smash into LBs and DL. I also don’t love it. 

[Bruce Smith Va Tech 78]

I was very disappointed with how we came out in the 2nd half. Built the 21-10 halftime lead and then, instead staying aggressive with our play calling, seemed to try to burn some clock. 

Almost bit us in the ass, but in the end, if they had tied, JA for sure leads us to the time expiration victory.

There’s no need to have to save the game in the last minutes if we just stay aggressive. I can’t stand that about McDermott. You have Josh Allen at your disposal, pedal to the metal until the game is absolutely secure!

[GunnerBill]

  On 1/21/2025 at 8:37 AM, Steve Evans said:

I was very disappointed with how we came out in the 2nd half. Built the 21-10 halftime lead and then, instead staying aggressive with our play calling, seemed to try to burn some clock. 

 

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They did have deep shots called. They had two hard play actions in the third quarter that Josh came off and checked down to a back. Did they maybe come out still wanting to run a bit too much? Maybe. They had run it so well first half though I can see why they wanted to stick with it. But they did call plays to get the ball downfield. Josh came off deep shots and dumped off and he checked into screens.... I think you have to give Baltimore's defense credit and you have to ask questions of our receivers' ability to separate downfield. 

[DJB]

  On 1/21/2025 at 9:03 AM, GunnerBill said:

 

They did have deep shots called. They had two hard play actions in the third quarter that Josh came off and checked down to a back. Did they maybe come out still wanting to run a bit too much? Maybe. They had run it so well first half though I can see why they wanted to stick with it. But they did call plays to get the ball downfield. Josh came off deep shots and dumped off and he checked into screens.... I think you have to give Baltimore's defense credit and you have to ask questions of our receivers' ability to separate downfield. 

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The Bills WR group don’t separate down the field. The analytics from this year show that the Bills are near the bottom of the league in that category. 
 

It needs to be addressed this offseason 

[GunnerBill]

  On 1/21/2025 at 10:29 AM, DJB said:

The Bills WR group don’t separate down the field. The analytics from this year show that the Bills are near the bottom of the league in that category. 
 

It needs to be addressed this offseason 

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Agreed. It was a problem at the end if last year too and the Bills didn't address it sufficiently in the offseason. Cooper has helped a bit, but they seem to have got away from him. It's a credit to Josh and Joe that the offense has been as productive as it has given that limitation. 

[Pete]

  On 1/20/2025 at 2:57 PM, Pete said:

How many passes were attempted down the field.  If it wasn't a bubble screen, Josh often checked down to a dump off to RB.  Take the training wheels off Brady

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8 of 22 passes were behind the LOS.  18 of 22 passes were within 10 yards of scrimmage

[Not at the table Karlos]

  On 1/20/2025 at 3:04 PM, Carmel Corn said:

The morning after, I still didn’t like the game plan by Brady.  Too much predictability on 1st down.  Not enough downfield shots.  The Ravens receivers didn’t seem to have issues running downfield routes, so why didn’t Buffalo try more?!?!

 

Brady needed to be more unpredictable.  Maybe some hurry -up offense might have keep the Ravens back on their heels some, but we never tried that.

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That’s more on the receivers and Josh than Brady. There’s deep options on most of the plays. The receivers have issues separating, tracking or catching the ball. Josh is inconsistent with deep balls or goes elsewhere. Josh has final say on where the ball goes.

 

There was a couple times there was a receiver wide open deeper down the field but Josh decided to take a shorter throw. Samuel on an intermediate crossing route was ignored to dump it down to the back in second half comes to mind. 
 

The ravens receivers have been near the top of the league in separation all year. The bills one of the worst. 

Edited January 21 by Not at the table Karlos

[Not at the table Karlos]

  On 1/20/2025 at 3:13 PM, Einstein said:

And on another offensive note, I don't trust Coleman at all. I'm genuinely at the point where I think he is better served on the bench. The offense looked fine without him for the month he was injured.

 

I have hopes for him in the future but he simply cant separate right now and when the ball is thrown to him he still has trouble catching it at times. On the play he was "interfered" with (which probably should have been OPI), the ball went right through his hands. 

And if you can't separate against a 30 year old DB coming off a torn ACL and torn achilles, then yikes.

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He needs to be used on shorter routes and let him run after catch. I think he needs an easy pass or two early to get his head into the game. The amount of balls that have gone right through his arms for someone that’s supposed to be a contested catch specialist with good hands is alarming. 

[Wayne Cubed]

  On 1/21/2025 at 9:03 AM, GunnerBill said:

 

They did have deep shots called. They had two hard play actions in the third quarter that Josh came off and checked down to a back. Did they maybe come out still wanting to run a bit too much? Maybe. They had run it so well first half though I can see why they wanted to stick with it. But they did call plays to get the ball downfield. Josh came off deep shots and dumped off and he checked into screens.... I think you have to give Baltimore's defense credit and you have to ask questions of our receivers' ability to separate downfield. 

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My only issue is, the play action, watching the game back was money even if it didn't hit the deep shots. It opened the underneath stuff, at least. I think this could have been used more effectively in the 3rd quarter on 1st down. We saw stacked boxes and ran into them anyways. Ravens knew we wanted to bleed the clock and their 2nd half adjustment to that, was very good. I just thought Brady didn't adjust to what the Ravens did. Saying that, I thought the Ravens had a very good 2nd half defensively.

[Pete]

  On 1/21/2025 at 9:03 AM, GunnerBill said:

 

They did have deep shots called. They had two hard play actions in the third quarter that Josh came off and checked down to a back. Did they maybe come out still wanting to run a bit too much? Maybe. They had run it so well first half though I can see why they wanted to stick with it. But they did call plays to get the ball downfield. Josh came off deep shots and dumped off and he checked into screens.... I think you have to give Baltimore's defense credit and you have to ask questions of our receivers' ability to separate downfield. 

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18 0f 22 passes were within 10 yards.  8 passes of 22 were behind the line of scrimmage.

[The Cincinnati Kid]

  On 1/20/2025 at 2:12 PM, MikePJ76 said:

You could also credit the ravens for playing good defense.  
 

 

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Its the weird side of sports where the team you are not rooting for is also good at sports, practicing and game planning. Often overlooked, for some reason. Pessimism, maybe?

[GunnerBill]

  On 1/21/2025 at 11:25 AM, Wayne Cubed said:

 

My only issue is, the play action, watching the game back was money even if it didn't hit the deep shots. It opened the underneath stuff, at least. I think this could have been used more effectively in the 3rd quarter on 1st down. We saw stacked boxes and ran into them anyways. Ravens knew we wanted to bleed the clock and their 2nd half adjustment to that, was very good. I just thought Brady didn't adjust to what the Ravens did. Saying that, I thought the Ravens had a very good 2nd half defensively.

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I agree he was slow to adjust. But the Bills ran into some stacked boxes first half and churned yards out of it. I think the play calling on those two lost drives in the 3rd quarter could definitely have been better, but I don't think it was as bad as some think. And the one which I thought was a really dumb call - the tight end screen to Knox - watching back was a clear audible. 

  On 1/21/2025 at 11:29 AM, Pete said:

18 0f 22 passes were within 10 yards.  8 passes of 22 were behind the line of scrimmage.

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Yep. Some of that was design but not all of it.