[Incomplete Title]

[BuffaloRebound]

17 minutes ago, zow2 said:

I'm not gonna say the Bills mailed that one in.  but I feel like they have a recipe for now.  Run the ball with our very good Oline, while keeping Allen out of harms way.  Josh took no chances last night on scrambles or throwing the ball downfield.  The D is going to play that soft zone and make teams go 10-12 mistake-free plays to get down the field.

Agreed.  3rd week of a 17 game season with only 4 days rest.  Just get the win.  I think we’d all like to see glimpses of what things are gonna look like in January though.  We saw what the passing game can look like in 4th quarter against Ravens.  The defense showed better against the Jets.  Walker was the big bright spot last night.  We really need Hairston to contribute by end of season as Tre isn’t a starting CB anymore.  And we need Rousseau to find his game if we’re gonna beat good teams in January.  Looks like we have 4 playable LB’s when Milano comes back.  Safety continues to look like we aren’t gonna get many/any winning plays from.  

[Buffalo4Life01]

I feel sorry for all the fans in here who are having a miserable Friday because the defense didn't play better last night.  LOL.  It was a Thursday night game on a short week of practice.  These games are ALWAYS sloppy and never a true reflection of either team.  Both teams know each other very well also.  A win is a win and the team is 3-0 and hasn't even scratched the surface of their potential...yet somehow still scoring 30pts a game.  That has me super excited.  That and the fact that we will soon have reinforcements for the defense including the guys who are injured right now.

Let's go Buffalo!!!!  TGIF!!

[dorquemada]

I'm a little concerned by the lack of pressure on Tua.  Dude's a statue and we barely got near him all game.  I guess as we get guys back it'll get better, good that we're going into the easier part of the schedule.  Those long drives where the D can't get off the field are exhausting to watch

[Billsbuff]

The only time this game was even questionably in doubt was the Dolphins final drive and our defense made a great play to seal the game.  I don't know what some of you guys want.  A 10 point win against a divisional foe (on a short week) to move to 3-0 is pretty good for me.  Not all games are going to be like the Jets game last week.  The goal is to win.  It doesn't matter how it looks - win.

 

If I'm going to pick anything to start with to improve upon was our kick coverage unit - which has been REALLY GOOD for two weeks.  But last night they gave the Dolphins great field position multiple times.  Also, I thought the Dolphins were well coached on offense last night.  Caught us in Man a lot in 3rd and 4th down situations.  BUT what I don't know is what our tendencies going into the game were and if we used this game as a tendency breaker or what the full scheme of the week was.

 

Its a win.  Find the mistakes.  Fix them.  Move on.  Focus on the Saints.

Edited September 19 by Billsbuff

[Bruffalo]

2 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

It’s nothing new …we have seen for years that it works against impatient bottom feeders with shaky QBs…. The problem for me is that they continue with the strategy against the elites in January…

I can understand that, but nothing about vanilla games in September are going to give us much insight on how they'll do in January. Coming into this game, Joe Marino was talking about the variety of blitz packages and 4-3 base defense they're running this season and how it's a departure from past years.   

 

It's hard to evaluate without Hoecht too. 

 

[CincyBillsFan]

43 minutes ago, twoandfourteen said:

This is NOT a championship-calibre defense. 

 

The same issues and concerns are still gaping holes on a defense that “Big Baller” Beane and his "defensive mastermind” head coach have spent many offseasons addressing. 

 

This team has a “Trent Edwards is our QB” philosophy and I don’t know how much longer fans are going to put up with it. Beating the 0-2 Dolphins who were on the verge of mailing in the rest of the season should not be the standard of excellence around here. It needs to be “Super Bowl appearance or GTFO”. 

You are correct, at the MOMENT this is not a championship caliber D.  And going further the continued trend of allowing teams to convert 3rd & long and keep the O on the bench is a critical flaw in the Bills overall strategic thinking.  But all that matters is the Bills D is better in the last quarter of the season and in the playoffs.  By that criteria I don't know if what I'm seeing matters or not.

 

Calling what the Bills are doing on offense a "Trent Edwards is our QB philosophy" is flat out wrong IMO.  We are seeing what I suspect is the next hot "new" thing that will dominate offensive football the next 5 years.  The Chiefs are doing it, ditto for the Eagles and the Rams.  

 

Bills fans will always put up with winning.  My emotions IN THE GAME are meaningless after the game ends.  Last year I was elated DURING the game at LA when the offense was spectacular going up and down the field.  But when the clock hit zero and we lost it sucked.

 

I thought the Bills were going to hammer a Miami team that was already heading for the busses last night.  But watching the Dolphins from the start I could see this was their Super Bowl.  This was their season on the line.  I'm glad we got the win because style points are meaningless in the NFL unless the transient opinions of blowhard talking heads matters to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[uninja]

ya'll need to freaking relax. It's not going to be pretty most weeks, especially against a divisional opponent.

 

This had all the air of those old Pats-Bills games where to have even a shred of a chance of beating the hoodie and TB12 the Bills had to play an absolutely PERFECT game and pull out all the stops and 9/10 it wasn't enough and the smallest mistake was the difference between winning and losing. The fins were desperate and gave us EVERYTHING they had and we still won by 10 while missing a FG and playing a little sloppy.

[CincyBillsFan]

19 minutes ago, Jalan81 said:

The Fins secondary was beat up before this game and lost two players during the game and it still seemed as if we couldn’t throw more than 5 yards up field. It felt like we had more passes behind the LOS than past it. 

To be clear it wasn't that we "couldn't throw more then 5 yards up field" it was that we choose not do so.  Big difference.  In fact the only "deep" pass was a perfectly thrown 20 yarder to Coleman that was flagged for interference after the DB pinned his arm down.  

 

 

[iccrewman112]

56 minutes ago, Bills!Win! said:

It’s almost like we were down 2 starters 

3 if you count Hairston

[Jalan81]

My complaints are not about last night but for what we have done with Brady at the helm overall his past two seasons in control. The question I can’t answer is , is it the talent at wide receiver position that holds this offense back when it’s needed to show up in the playoffs? If so then Beane has failed Josh miserably. If it’s not the talent then Brady is just unimaginative and too conservative at times. His revamping of the running game has worked wonders, if he could do the same with the passing game we could be legendary. I asked in another response is there a few plays we can count on to get 3-5 yards consistently when needed against a good defense? I don’t see it. Look what Miami did on third and long. The throw back and quick out. They understood our tendencies and where our defense was weak and attacked it perfectly. I don’t see that from Brady. This is no longer about the regular season. We know we can get enough wins there, this is totally about what we can do and what we do during the playoffs. And as of right now, I don’t see anything different than the past few years.

[GunnerBill]

20 minutes ago, Bruffalo said:

They played the way they did intentionally. They should have executed better on third down, and the D-Line needs to get home, but the soft zone is a coaching choice.  They didn't believe the Dolphins could win with 10-15 play drives, and they proved it.  They showed nothing on offense because they didn't need to. 

 

The game was about 4 plays on offense from being a blowout, without the missed field goal everyone is talking about this game differently. 

 

And it wasn't all soft zone. There was some sticky man coverage sprinkled in and people talk like the D was horrible, but it forced four 3 and outs. It was very feast or famine. It felt like the Bills were willing to come out each drive and get in the Dolphins' faces but the moment they managed a first down they bailed out and became passive.

 

I'm not sold at all on Babich. He had some nice calls last night but some of his 3rd down calls were just nonsensical too. 

[Big Turk]

53 minutes ago, PastaJoe said:

And Miami isn’t Baltimore who they started against and gave up 40.

 

And Baltimore gave up 41. What's your point?

[KingBoots8]

Defense hasn’t looked great, but keep in mind this week was a short week, hosting a division rival who is desperate to win. Additionally, we didn’t have the following starters

 

- Maxwell Hairston

- Ed Oliver

- Matt Milano

In their place you have other rookies and 2nd stringers stepping up. Not to mention we have a few other players who are hurt or suspended that can’t contribute yet. It’s not an excuse, every team has injuries, but I hope some adjustments get made during this long weekend and we get right soon.

 

One thing this Defense has done well is make plays when down to the wire. I’d rather not bank on that every game, but they’ve showed they can make a stop when absolutely necessary. So far, that has been good enough, but we have to get more disciplined.

 

 

[Big Turk]

Just now, GunnerBill said:

 

And it wasn't all soft zone. There was some sticky man coverage sprinkled in and people talk like the D was horrible, but it forced four 3 and outs. It was very feast or famine. It felt like the Bills were willing to come out each drive and get in the Dolphins' faces but the moment they managed a first down they bailed out and became passive.

 

I'm not sold at all on Babich. He had some nice calls last night but some of his 3rd down calls were just nonsensical too. 

 

It was just a lot of easy missed plays...like Tre having a free run at Tua on 3rd and 12 for what should have been an easy sack and coming in too out of control so Tua easily spun away and completed it to Hill after rolling out.

 

Still think it's more of the newer players needing time to gel together which is causing a lot of this...hoping by midseason they are at least average

Just now, KingBoots8 said:

Defense hasn’t looked great, but keep in mind this week was a short week, hosting a division rival who is desperate to win. Additionally, we didn’t have the following starters

 

- Maxwell Hairston

- Ed Oliver

- Matt Milano

In their place you have other rookies and 2nd stringers stepping up. Not to mention we have a few other players who are hurt or suspended that can’t contribute yet. It’s not an excuse, every team has injuries, but I hope some adjustments get made during this long weekend and we get right soon.

 

One thing this Defense has done well is make plays when down to the wire. I’d rather not bank on that every game, but they’ve showed they can make a stop when absolutely necessary. So far, that has been good enough, but we have to get more disciplined.

 

 

 

Also have 2 major FA signings in Hoecht and Ogunjobi who are out a few more weeks...Hoecht is especially important because he was being planned to use all over the D as a chess piece almost because of his versatility.

[Jalan81]

5 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

To be clear it wasn't that we "couldn't throw more then 5 yards up field" it was that we choose not do so.  Big difference.  In fact the only "deep" pass was a perfectly thrown 20 yarder to Coleman that was flagged for interference after the DB pinned his arm down.  

 

 

That was early in the game. After the first drive in the second half it felt like most passes were at the LOS. We’re the db’s sitting back? Probably as they pretty much played with 3rd string except for Fitzpatrick. The Oline was not holding up at all though. Those to things are what drove what we got. They imposed their will on us unfortunately.

[Buffalo4Life01]

7 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

To be clear it wasn't that we "couldn't throw more then 5 yards up field" it was that we choose not do so.  Big difference.  In fact the only "deep" pass was a perfectly thrown 20 yarder to Coleman that was flagged for interference after the DB pinned his arm down.  

 

 

agree 100%.  Miami was playing a lot of 2 high looks with a spy in the middle, daring Allen to take the short stuff and hoping he would eventually get frustrated and press (hoping for an interception).  Allen was patient ALL night and didn't force anything.  That's the sign of a super mature QB.

And I guess the only other 'deep pass' was the TD attempt to the back of the end zone for Kincaid.  Perfect pass by Josh but the CB timed it perfectly to break it up.

[WotAGuy]

As soon as I saw “calibre” in the OP, I knew it was gonna suck. 

[nedboy7]

We better see a 40-0 score next week to satisfy this fanbase.  Although then the opponent will have been terrible and it won’t mean much until the playoffs.  Something like that.  Just accept that we ***** suck till we win it all. 

[HamptonBillsfan]

I’m not sure Rousseau is being coached up well. I know there’s some in the fanbase that think he got paid and is not firing on all cylinders. He gets no pressure from the edge and with a just a few tackles his pursuit seems limited so he’s not blocking throws either.If we’re expecting pressure from the edge it’s Bosa or an extra rusher. This seems like a problem until Hoecht comes back. The good news is they looked good for the second week against the run. Walker,Jones and Bernard were solid. Walker is a good player. White, showed some good coverage as a depth corner and Benford  and Johnson are solid but we’re lacking quality at safety with Bishop  always out of position . Face it, against quality passing attacks, we have to win shootouts. That’s a bad formula for beating teams like Green Bay, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Philly. 

[oldmanfan]

1 hour ago, twoandfourteen said:

This is NOT a championship-calibre defense. 

 

The same issues and concerns are still gaping holes on a defense that “Big Baller” Beane and his "defensive mastermind” head coach have spent many offseasons addressing. 

 

This team has a “Trent Edwards is our QB” philosophy and I don’t know how much longer fans are going to put up with it. Beating the 0-2 Dolphins who were on the verge of mailing in the rest of the season should not be the standard of excellence around here. It needs to be “Super Bowl appearance or GTFO”. 

You don’t know how much longer fans will put up with an undefeated team averaging 34 points a game?  Just stop.