Preseason Week 1 Giants at Bills - Game thread

[ColoradoBills]

On 8/9/2025 at 12:31 PM, BuffaloBillyG said:

Trubisky:

 

9/13 138 1 TD

 

Not horrible. 

 

On 8/9/2025 at 2:25 PM, zow2 said:

Trubisky 9-13, 138 yds, 1 TD

White  8-13, 112 yds, 2 TD

Buechele 9-11,  91 yds, 0 TD

 

Add a couple of drops by Davidson (which made me sad) and a nearly caught Wilkerson ball, the QBs did alright.

Nothing spectacular but they are battling for the backup and the backup's backup.

 

The Football Database has them at a Combined 27-38 (71%) for 341 yards 3-TDs 0-INTs and a 125 rating.

Reading the gameday thread you would have thought different.

https://www.footballdb.com/teams/nfl/buffalo-bills/stats

 

[Dunkirk Donski]

16 hours ago, Albany,n.y. said:

We once had Carl Mauck for that but never promoted him to HC.  

 

Now there's a name that brings back memories

[SoonerBillsFan]

21 hours ago, HappyDays said:

This is every pass rush snap from Walker/Sanders:

 

Considering it is pretty much all quick passes which makes it difficult to have an impact, I thought they showed well.

I see a lot of shoulder shaking but not violent enough with his hands

 

[Logic]

I've read through but a small fraction of this thread and others on the board, but...

The definitive statements, certain conclusions and overreactions based on ONE preseason game -- the FIRST preseason game, mind you -- are amusing, though not unexpected.

[H2o]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45920966/2025-nfl-future-power-rankings-projections-32-teams-roster-coaching-quarterback#BUF

Quote

Reason for concern: The pass defense needs work. Particularly, the Bills need to get off the field on third-and-long and keep teams from picking up crucial first downs when they put the ball in the air. Bobby Babich's defense ranked 29th in first downs allowed (356) and third-down conversions (43.8%). 

 

In a vanilla setting like Saturday, the defense was still absolutely horrid on 3rd down. I do take into account that it wasn't the full group of starters out there, but there were enough and we got gouged. Especially on screen passes, which was maddening. You hope all of this gets cleaned up by Week 1 and our regular group plays their assignments better. 

[BarleyNY]

On 8/10/2025 at 1:25 PM, HappyDays said:

This is every pass rush snap from Walker/Sanders:

 

Considering it is pretty much all quick passes which makes it difficult to have an impact, I thought they showed well.

 

Man, #63 Jake Kubas got abused repeatedly. Just checked on him. He is their 3rd string RG. Their 2nd stringer, Evan Neal, did not play. 

Edited yesterday at 11:22 AM by BarleyNY

[Gregg]

One of the things I would have liked for McDermott to do would have been to go for the TD before half. The Bills were trailing 16-7 and Trubisky hit that long pass and it looked the WR might take it in for a TD but got tackled at the 5. Why kick the FG there. It's preseason so it's not like winning this game is important. That was the perfect time to practice a play near the goal line. The Bills may find themselves in a situation where they need to convert a 2-point conversion or need a TD to win the game in the regular season. I would have gone for a TD instead of kicking the FG in that situation.

Edited Monday at 08:24 PM by Gregg

[NickelCity]

4 minutes ago, Gregg said:

One of the things I would have liked for McDermott to do would have been to go for the TD before half. The Bills were trailing 16-7 and Trubisky hit that long pass and it looked the WR might take it in for a TD but got tackled at the 5. Why kick the FG there. It's preseason so it's not like winning this game is important. That was the perfect time to practice a play near the goal line. The Bills may find themselves in a situation where they need to convert a 2-point conversation or need a TD to win the game in the regular season. I would have gone for a TD instead of kicking the FG in that situation.

 

Giving reps to the kicking unit and the new kicker. 

[billsfan89]

5 hours ago, H2o said:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/45920966/2025-nfl-future-power-rankings-projections-32-teams-roster-coaching-quarterback#BUF

 

In a vanilla setting like Saturday, the defense was still absolutely horrid on 3rd down. I do take into account that it wasn't the full group of starters out there, but there were enough and we got gouged. Especially on screen passes, which was maddening. You hope all of this gets cleaned up by Week 1 and our regular group plays their assignments better. 

 

I think pre-season is always something I don't put too much stock into either way because you don't know how veteran players and possible starters are coached to approach the game. For example the Bills could have been asking a lot of veteran defenders to do things they were weaker at in order to work on it in live reps but with low stakes. While the Giants are trying to establish 3 new QB's and they might have been leaning into the strengths of their supporting cast to build the timing of each QB.

 

I'm not saying that is what happened. I am more so just saying that this is a possibility as to how teams approach pre-season that may not always be reflective of talent levels. 

[Scott7975]

On 8/10/2025 at 2:12 PM, Sierra Foothills said:

 

Daboll never became unhinged but yesterday wasn't a test because he was given no opportunity for that to happen.

 

He was cordial and smiling pre-game with McDermott and the game played out with the Giants in the lead and playing relatively well for the duration. Plus it was the first preseason game so there was no fuel for the fire as far as Daboll overheating.

 

 

I seen him do an angry yell at his QB after a missed pass into coverage but other than that yeah, he was mostly chill.

[Old Coot]

On 8/9/2025 at 7:00 PM, SoCal Deek said:

Having been at the game today, the refs are clearly working the rust off. Absolutely horrible and repeatedly confused from start to finish. Geeez

I thought this was the reason they have these preseason gmes -- so the refs can be ready for the regular season.

[Richard Noggin]

11 hours ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

I see a lot of shoulder shaking but not violent enough with his hands

 

 

And yet he was still effective. No doubt he has much to learn. But you can't teach what he already has. 

[SoonerBillsFan]

1 minute ago, Richard Noggin said:

 

And yet he was still effective. No doubt he has much to learn. But you can't teach what he already has. 

Oh I like the guy, I just wanted to see more use of his hands.

[Richard Noggin]

Just now, SoonerBillsFan said:

Oh I like the guy, I just wanted to see more use of his hands.

 

Post-snap he pops upright too much, too fast; definitely relies on head fakes and shimmies like he's playing basketball...and still, he was keeping to his run keys (not knowing pre-snap obvs) on some doubles and keeping his eyes on the play as it developed. His height alone is a deterrent, he batted a pass, right? and he did record what looked like multiple hurries. 

[SoonerBillsFan]

1 minute ago, Richard Noggin said:

 

Post-snap he pops upright too much, too fast; definitely relies on head fakes and shimmies like he's playing basketball...and still, he was keeping to his run keys (not knowing pre-snap obvs) on some doubles and keeping his eyes on the play as it developed. His height alone is a deterrent, he batted a pass, right? and he did record what looked like multiple hurries. 

I want to see a step punch. The legs drive and hands attack at the same time.  My grandson who will be a sophomore in HS this year, they drill that in many ways over and over.

[Thrivefourfive]

Just as long as the Bills go winless. 

[pi2000]

I don't understand the Bass "injury". 

 

"Pelvic soreness" for a 4 plus weeks?

 

I've never heard of that injury, let a alone for a kicker.    

 

Someone help me understand what "pelvic soreness" actually is and what needs to heal before he can kick a ball again.

[K-9]

21 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

I don't understand the Bass "injury". 

 

"Pelvic soreness" for a 4 plus weeks?

 

I've never heard of that injury, let a alone for a kicker.    

 

Someone help me understand what "pelvic soreness" actually is and what needs to heal before he can kick a ball again.

While not as common as hip flexors, pelvic soreness is actually not that unusual for place kickers due to the repetitive motion involved, especially the soccer style motion. 

[stevewin]

48 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

I don't understand the Bass "injury". 

 

"Pelvic soreness" for a 4 plus weeks?

 

I've never heard of that injury, let a alone for a kicker.    

 

Someone help me understand what "pelvic soreness" actually is and what needs to heal before he can kick a ball again.

You got me curious and I looked it up  - assume this is what he is dealing with.  As mentioned above seems common with soccer style kicking motions - kinda weird don't hear about it more often

 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4610909/

 

Quote

Osteitis pubis (OP) is a debilitating overuse syndrome characterizing by pelvic pain and local tenderness over the ***** symphysis commonly encountered in athletes often involved in kicking, twisting and cutting activities in sports such as soccer and rugby and to a lesser degree distance running. It is a common source of groin pain in elite athletes attributable to pubis sympysis instability as the result of microtrauma caused by repetitive muscle strains on ***** bones. Diagnosis is based mainly on detailed sports history and a meticulous clinical examination, although occasionally is difficult to distinguish this nosological entity from other pathologies affecting the involved area which may occur concomitantly in the same patient. Radiologic examinations such as plain radiographs, magnetic resonance imaging and 3 phase bone isotope scanning may be helpful to differentiate from other clinical entities with similar clinical presentation. Most cases respond well to conservative treatment which includes several physical modalities and especially a progressive rehabilitation programmed individualized to each one of patients diagnosed with OP. Local injection therapies have been also been proposed as a non-operative therapeutic option for the efficient management of these patients. In refractory cases, surgical therapeutic strategies are warranted. These include several open or minimally invasive surgical interventions such as arthroscopic or open symphysis curettage, wedge or total resection of ***** sympysis, polypropylene mesh placement and ***** fusion. In this review a critical analysis of OP in elite athletes is performed with special focus on current concepts of diagnosis and management of this source of athletic groin pain.

 

[Thrivefourfive]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

I don't understand the Bass "injury". 

 

"Pelvic soreness" for a 4 plus weeks?

 

I've never heard of that injury, let a alone for a kicker.    

 

Someone help me understand what "pelvic soreness" actually is and what needs to heal before he can kick a ball again.

He’s Big Game Bass now. That 61 yarder vs Miami. Boy did he, and we, need that one!