Sometimes the other guy is just better

[oldmanfan]

What a night!  What a game!  In the aftermath today we’ll do the usual stuff about who played good, and equally who played bad.  We’ve already seen a lot of guys on our D get ripped to shreds.

 

But what if the real explanation is just that, sometimes, the other guy simply plays better than your guy?  As I watched the game last night, I was incredibly impressed by their O line.  To me they dominated the game the first 3 quarters.  They cleared the way for Henry to be what he is, a first ballot HOF RB that is an absolute load.  Last night and this morning I see our LBs and safeties getting ripped, but they had many times when their O line got to the second level on our LBs, and there is not a safety in this league that can consistently take on a RB like Henry one on one.  Flowers is an All Pro and made great plays as one would expect.

 

I wonder if the Ravens fans today are blaming their guys for playing bad, when they had to take on the current league MVP playing at his best.  Our O line did a great job at pass protection, and guys like Coleman and Palmer made great plays.  Cook on that long pass and tun showed exceptional talent.

 

So to me rather than trying to assign blame, I prefer to recognize great performances on both sides of the ball last night.  To me it wasn’t so much what guys played bad, but how great some guys played on both teams.

[Billsfan1972]

I'm back!!!!

 

The issue is and I'm really almost at the point of no longer getting into debates and arguing, is that unless the Ravens put up 40+/wk and their efficiency is so crazy good all year, that yes the defense is awful.  

 

We've had this debate for years about McD's defense that can be physically manhandled and relys on getting breaks (or making a big play) to win.

 

Yesterday was the perfect example with the Henry fumble, another 15 yard loss on a fumble and Oliver's Lamar sack.

 

And let's not talk about the putrid play calling on offense after the first drive and through three quarters.

Edited 1 hour ago by Billsfan1972

[ganesh]

When it comes to enjoying football I agree with OP's sentiments.   However, when it comes to Bills football, the only thing matters is that W when the clock sets to 00:00.   Go Bills !!!

[DCofNC]

It was a heck of a game.  The Ravens were pretty dominant on O, but the Bills held their own and stayed in range.  That was the best play of Oliver’s career to take that ball away from Henry and then JA happened.  I’d be bummed as a Ravens fan, but I’m still in shock as a Bills fan.  Awesome to be 1-0, have the number one scoring offense and 31st scoring defense 😂

[NI Bills Fan]

4 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

I'm back!!!!

 

The issue is and I'm really almost at the point of no longer getting into debates and arguing, is that unless the Ravens put up 40+/wk and their efficiency is so crazy good all year, that yes the defense is awful.  

 

We've had this debate for years about McD's defense that can be physically manhandled and relys on getting breaks to win.

 

Yesterday was the perfect example with the Henry fumble, another 15 yard loss on a fumble and Oliver's Lamar sack.

 

And let's not talk about the putrid play calling on offense after the first drive and through three quarters.

So we played poorly (at times) on both sides of the ball and still managed to win against a top 3 opponent?  I'll take that.

[harryS]

For once, thankfully the opposing coach was better at choking.  Harbaugh should've gone for it on 4th down instead of punting it away to Josh for a potential (inevitable, really) game-winning FG drive.  Once the Ravens punted, I knew we would win.

 

It was what, a 4th-and-3?  Some sort of rollout with Lamar so he has a run / pass option, and I think they convert 80% of the time.  Bad, bad coaching job by Harbaugh there.

[Since1981]

4 minutes ago, NI Bills Fan said:

So we played poorly (at times) on both sides of the ball and still managed to win against a top 3 opponent?  I'll take that.

Yes. Football Gods and Josh Allen are also on our side.

[GunnerBill]

12 minutes ago, Billsfan1972 said:

I'm back!!!!

 

The issue is and I'm really almost at the point of no longer getting into debates and arguing, is that unless the Ravens put up 40+/wk and their efficiency is so crazy good all year, that yes the defense is awful.  

 

We've had this debate for years about McD's defense that can be physically manhandled and relys on getting breaks to win.

 

Yesterday was the perfect example with the Henry fumble, another 15 yard loss on a fumble and Oliver's Lamar sack.

 

And let's not talk about the putrid play calling on offense after the first drive and through three quarters.

 

While I am not here to tell you the defense was good, or that the playcalling on O was perfect (although I defend that a bit more - receiver separation outside was the main problem.... again) and there is a lot that needs work especially on defense where some of the problems are pretty deep set.

 

However, the way these top teams play each other is not reflective of the rest of the season. I have said it with Bills - Chiefs for a few years and I think it is true of Bills - Ravens now too. They are going to play blow for blow style football games. They are going to come down to the end. I am not sure there is a ton of value in comparing what those teams do against each other to what they do against everyone else. They save their best punches for each other. 

[ganesh]

2 minutes ago, Since1981 said:

Yes. Football Gods and Josh Allen are also on our side.

The beginning of that magical season where dreams are going to become true.  Go Bills !!!

[GunnerBill]

28 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

 

I wonder if the Ravens fans today are blaming their guys for playing bad, when they had to take on the current league MVP playing at his best.  Our O line did a great job at pass protection, and guys like Coleman and Palmer made great plays.  Cook on that long pass and tun showed exceptional talent.

 

 

The Ravens fans are blaming coaching. Which is an eternal truism in the NFL. Fans overblame coaching and underblame talent. That is consistent across all fanbases.

[oldmanfan]

3 minutes ago, harryS said:

For once, thankfully the opposing coach was better at choking.  Harbaugh should've gone for it on 4th down instead of punting it away to Josh for a potential (inevitable, really) game-winning FG drive.  Once the Ravens punted, I knew we would win.

 

It was what, a 4th-and-3?  Some sort of rollout with Lamar so he has a run / pass option, and I think they convert 80% of the time.  Bad, bad coaching job by Harbaugh there.

I think this buttresses my main point.  If Harbaugh does that and they don’t make it, he hands the game to us.  Punting put it on our offense vs. their defense, and Josh, Palmer, and Coleman made great plays.

[Coach Tuesday]

Just now, GunnerBill said:

 

The Ravens fans are blaming coaching. Which is an eternal truism in the NFL. Fans overblame coaching and underblame talent. That is consistent across all fanbases.

The most amazing “what if” to me is what if Alexander doesn’t trip Keon and he scores with 35 seconds or so left on the clock?  Does Lamar lead his offense all the way down the field for a last-second touchdown attempt?  Does the Bills’ D pull out a clutch stop?  

[H2o]

Just now, Coach Tuesday said:

The most amazing “what if” to me is what if Alexander doesn’t trip Keon and he scores with 35 seconds or so left on the clock?  Does Lamar lead his offense all the way down the field for a last-second touchdown attempt?  Does the Bills’ D pull out a clutch stop?  

Yeah, because Keon was definitely going trot into the endzone. He wasn't even thinking about the time left. 

[DCofNC]

12 minutes ago, harryS said:

For once, thankfully the opposing coach was better at choking.  Harbaugh should've gone for it on 4th down instead of punting it away to Josh for a potential (inevitable, really) game-winning FG drive.  Once the Ravens punted, I knew we would win.

 

It was what, a 4th-and-3?  Some sort of rollout with Lamar so he has a run / pass option, and I think they convert 80% of the time.  Bad, bad coaching job by Harbaugh there.

If they had gone for it and didn’t get it, the Bills were in immediate FG position.  It was a tough call and I’m not sure which way they should have gone, but the way it had been going, I would have thought going for it was the better choice, they had pretty much owned the Bills all night on those roll outs, the Bills O was rolling, seems like they took the “safe” choice and it didn’t work.

[SoonerBillsFan]

42 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

What a night!  What a game!  In the aftermath today we’ll do the usual stuff about who played good, and equally who played bad.  We’ve already seen a lot of guys on our D get ripped to shreds.

 

But what if the real explanation is just that, sometimes, the other guy simply plays better than your guy?  As I watched the game last night, I was incredibly impressed by their O line.  To me they dominated the game the first 3 quarters.  They cleared the way for Henry to be what he is, a first ballot HOF RB that is an absolute load.  Last night and this morning I see our LBs and safeties getting ripped, but they had many times when their O line got to the second level on our LBs, and there is not a safety in this league that can consistently take on a RB like Henry one on one.  Flowers is an All Pro and made great plays as one would expect.

 

I wonder if the Ravens fans today are blaming their guys for playing bad, when they had to take on the current league MVP playing at his best.  Our O line did a great job at pass protection, and guys like Coleman and Palmer made great plays.  Cook on that long pass and tun showed exceptional talent.

 

So to me rather than trying to assign blame, I prefer to recognize great performances on both sides of the ball last night.  To me it wasn’t so much what guys played bad, but how great some guys played on both teams.

Our DL does what it always does under McDermott, they dont play their gaps.  When we played correctly we stopped Henry.  Henry is just another back until you let him hit the hole up to speed, then it's over.

[WNYFAN1]

Felt like really bad fourth quarter coaching by the Ravens, but of course it did because they blew a giant lead.

 

We got some luck and took advantage of it. Frankly, this isn't a team I want to see in the postseason.

 

 

[Clark Rotary]

21 minutes ago, harryS said:

For once, thankfully the opposing coach was better at choking.  Harbaugh should've gone for it on 4th down instead of punting it away to Josh for a potential (inevitable, really) game-winning FG drive.  Once the Ravens punted, I knew we would win.

 

It was what, a 4th-and-3?  Some sort of rollout with Lamar so he has a run / pass option, and I think they convert 80% of the time.  Bad, bad coaching job by Harbaugh there.

Yes! At the time I was thinking that they would fake it to Henry, let Lamar roll out and 80% success sounds about right. I was so glad to see them punt.    

[Buffalo Boy]

23 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

The Ravens fans are blaming coaching. Which is an eternal truism in the NFL. Fans overblame coaching and underblame talent. That is consistent across all fanbases.

But they have a point

[BRH]

There were some great individual performances on the Ravens’ side last night that ripped the scabs off some bad memories from throughout the years.  I would have to watch the tape but just off the top of my head:

 

- Lamar’s third-and-forever escape reminded me of what Randall Cunningham did to Bruce Smith all those years ago.  Simply inhuman.

 

- DHop’s catch reminded me of, well, DHop’s catch.  

 

- Henry’s stiff-arm reminded me of the Josh Norman play and the way he ran all over us put me in mind of Ricky Williams.

 

Credit where it’s due… those were amazing plays by amazing players, and as football fans we can appreciate them.  In fact, any ONE of them would have broken the backs of a lesser team.  

 

But not this team, and not this quarterback.

 

 

[GunnerBill]

15 minutes ago, Coach Tuesday said:

The most amazing “what if” to me is what if Alexander doesn’t trip Keon and he scores with 35 seconds or so left on the clock?  Does Lamar lead his offense all the way down the field for a last-second touchdown attempt?  Does the Bills’ D pull out a clutch stop?  

 

Who knows? 

 

I should say in all of the questionable coaching calls last night (and there worse some) I think the Bills got two big strategic calls right:

 

9:27 in the 4th punting and not trying to convert a 4th and 16 from our own 37. Which would have been a v low percentage play and if you don't get it game over. 

 

00:46 in the 4th. Palmer has had the 30 odd yarder to get you to the 34 and in field goal range. You are going to need one first down to make sure the Ravens burn their time outs and the final play of the game is a FG try for the win. The best chance you have to get that is throwing on 1st down. Joe Brady dialled up the perfect play, in breaking route for Keon behind the safety who has crept up into the box to play the run.... and as you said we might have got lucky that Keon was tackled.

 

The coaches will get some heat for some calls especially around the 2 point try calls and some of their strategy but in those two moments they got critical strategy calls right. And that shouldn't get lost in the shuffle either.