A Few Thoughts about the Pats Game - Post yours as well

[PatsFanNH]

6 minutes ago, SCBills said:

Bills didn’t deserve to win that game, but Hochuli and Buffalo is an issue at this point.  Enough data to support that. 
 

And if you’re going to call soft contact all game, you can’t swallow the whistle when the DB hits Shakir before the ball arrives on a critical 3rd down. 

He called it. On both sides all game 11 on Buffalo and 8 on NE that were accepted for 90 and 93 yards.. As for the end of the game a lot of refs will “let them play”… That’s hardly unusual why so many fans point to 1 play at the end of the game so much.. 

[RoscoeParrish]

McBeane should be blown up if we go out again in the playoffs in similar fashion to years past. 

Our weaknesses from the past few seasons remain. 
 

We have the same problems that prevented us from getting over the hump in the past and almost certainly will again.

 

What is different this time?

[SCBills]

Just now, RoscoeParrish said:

McBeane should be blown up if we go out again in the playoffs in similar fashion to years past. 

Our weaknesses from the past few seasons remain. 
 

We have the same problems that prevented us from getting over the hump in the past and almost certainly will again.

 

What is different this time?

People will say “well, who do you want” and it’s fair to acknowledge the risk in blowing it up … but if we can’t make it to the Super Bowl this year, what are we doing?  
 

As you point out, it’s systemic.  It’s the same issues every year.   That points to philosophy, coaching and team building .. not just bad luck. 

[Murdox]

2 hours ago, Cray51 said:

Maye absolutely outplayed Allen last night.  A part of that was Diggs' ability to haul in sideline grabs, but Allen was not good.  He looked to rush out of the pocket early and often, especially in the second half.

 

Bills defense sacked Maye four times last night, whereas New England sacked Allen once.  Allen also threw a TERRIBLE interception in the redzone that you simply cannot do in a close game.

 

Maye was a 6 out of 10 last night, Allen was a 3.5 out of 10.  Neither spectacular, but one committed too many errors himself

 

I still can't agree with a blanket assessment that Maye outplayed Allen.  The number of times Maye had a clean pocket versus Allen is far greater than you may realize, and I rewatched the game early this morning.  The Pats got what I would call consistent pressure on Allen last night. The fact that Allen only got sacked once is a product of his abilities on the field.  I'd go as far as to say it looked like Allen was playing against a varsity defense while Maye was playing against the JV defense.  I am disheartened by our D, and it's rather vanilla schemes that seem far too easy to exploit, but maybe our talent on that side of the field is just average.

 

Did Allen get a bit jumpy?  Yes, but he started ranging around after feeling quite a bit of pressure due to the defensive scheming by Vrabel's staff.  Notably, the Pats DL outplayed the Bills OL and shut down the run completely - often running complex blitzing schemes.  They put the game on Allen's shoulders, which is likely going to be a theme going forward if opponents can pull it off.  I'll put my opinion in simple terms - if Maye had faced the Pats defense last night he would have looked below average. 

 

A lot of credit to Vrabel's staff - he outclassed McDermott and crew in this one.

Edited 2 hours ago by Murdox

[The Frankish Reich]

12 hours ago, Virgil said:

If there's one benefit about adjusting the format of these "thoughts" in this new format, is that I don't feel the need to wait a day and let the emotions calm down.  Time to let it fly...

 

Nice work! But it kind of reminds me of the bad old days where Bill from NYC would have to go digging for positives like "I don't care what anyone says, Da'Norris Searcy is a good player."

[DrDawkinstein]

18 minutes ago, Murdox said:

A lot of credit to Vrabel's staff - he outclassed McDermott and crew in this one.

 

This is all it really comes down to. Unfortunately as expected.

[WideNine]

1 hour ago, PatsFanNH said:

He called it. On both sides all game 11 on Buffalo and 8 on NE that were accepted for 90 and 93 yards.. As for the end of the game a lot of refs will “let them play”… That’s hardly unusual why so many fans point to 1 play at the end of the game so much.. 

 

It is more when his crew called those penalties and the flag fest in the first half was decidedly tilted Buffalo's way helping establish a game script which puts a team on the receiving end in a hole.

 

It is not just NE, it is whenever I see his crew on the docket for us I cringe.

 

Credit to NE's defense for their plan to stress the right side of pass pro and Josh's tendencies to drift right extending plays. They had that well covered, used some wide nine alignments on that side, an overload and corner blitz from that side, and a spy to close on Allen and force some mistakes.

 

Maye did make some clutch throws, but I would not say that our db's were doing much in the way of contesting throws. The Bills used multiple defenders trying to cover Diggs, but he ran circles around them.

 

Regardless NE has a QB who is showing he can be clutch in high leverage situations and someone they can build around.

 

 

[Paup 1995MVP]

11 hours ago, BobbyC81 said:

Would Jordan Poyer’s age and loss of athleticism really outweigh his leadership and organization on defense?  I’m not sure he’d be doing any worse than our current safeties.

 

Our D-Linemen rarely make tackles on runs.  They can’t be just tying up blockers when you’re only playing 2 LBs.

Good point about Poyer.  He understands the defensive scheme extremely well.  And plays with an edge to his game.  He and Hyde were always great leaders on the defense.

[noacls17]

Taron Johnson looks to have lost a step. Thoughts?

[Cray51]

1 hour ago, PatsFanNH said:

He called it. On both sides all game 11 on Buffalo and 8 on NE that were accepted for 90 and 93 yards.. As for the end of the game a lot of refs will “let them play”… That’s hardly unusual why so many fans point to 1 play at the end of the game so much.. 

Yea I'm not blaming the refs from last night.  The Bills lost that game.  You can't turn the ball over 3 times and expect to win in this league.

 

I think the refs missed a pretty crucial hold on the center when Maye scrambled up the middle for a first down I think in the 4th quarter.  I was really upset after Mcgovern had two calls that were very similar in the first half.  Other than that, the refs were fine.

 

Bills  lost that game - they should've won.  Onto the next one!

[Success]

1 hour ago, SCBills said:

People will say “well, who do you want” and it’s fair to acknowledge the risk in blowing it up … but if we can’t make it to the Super Bowl this year, what are we doing?  
 

As you point out, it’s systemic.  It’s the same issues every year.   That points to philosophy, coaching and team building .. not just bad luck. 

 

Yep. It's like the old adage that insanity is doing the same thing & expecting different results.

 

We were outcoached last night. It's kind of a theme in bigger games that we lose, and certainly a theme in the playoffs.  If we bow out early in this playoff year, I think we'd have to make a change and the timing would be right. Allen will be turning 30 and you can't wait much longer to make that kind of change.

 

Obviously, I'm hoping we at least make it to the SB and it doesn't come to that. But if we have another bad exit, they have to consider it.

 

[GoBills808]

😂😂my thought after reading threads this morning is there are LOT of people who will drone on about how margins are thin, luck is involved, and any number of reasons why we haven't had more success in the postseason...then turn around w a fine tooth comb looking for micro flaws as to why Allen didn't play well enough for us to win lol

[zow2]

The refereeing was so bizarre because it was so one sided for the first 2.5 quarters beyond anything reasonable.  The procedure penalties have to be called, and even a few of those were iffy.  but the judgement stuff can't be called only one way. 

 

This was like an NHL game where one club gets 7 consecutive power plays through the first two periods, then they start evening them up in the third period.  But you lost out on so many opportunities early that it's hard to make up late.

[North Buffalo]

The reffing was terrible and one sided til

midway thru the third but not the reason Bills lost... sloppy play... inability to adjust consistently on D... and offense took forever to get in sink... sometimes you have a stinker... still playing that poorly and almost pulled it out...  Bills need a new D coordinator...

[TheyCallMeAndy]

- Pats win helped them more than it hurt us. 
 

- This should be the final season for White, Milano, and Johnson.

 

- Kincaid starting to break out

 

- Coleman/Palmer "just guys" until proven otherwise.

 

- Pats may force Bills to evolve faster than they typically do. I think a LB overhaul is coming this summer. Roles, packages, and body types. 
 

- Speed rusher is desperately needed, we only have compression style DEs. 
 

- Walker's development is amazing.

 

- He didn't play, but Dorian Williams pass defense numbers are actually very good this season. 
 

- Sloppy games are disappointing, but it's unrealistic to expect a team to be 100% on their game month after month. They haven't lost at home since last year. 
 

 

[Livinginthepast]

2 hours ago, Bruffalo said:

Just another fun wrinkle to think about:

 

-Allen is 1-6 when Hochuli's crew is officiating. 

-In the same timeframe, the Patriots are 6-0.

 

So Allen has a 16% winrate with that crew, but a 70% winrate overall. The Patriots have been dogwater since 2020, but have a 100% winrate when he's the ref.

 

Not the only reason we lost, but definitely a contributing factor. 

Hochuli is all about Hochuli (just like Dad) but him and his crew are the most ticky tack of the various crews. They dont seem to have the wisdom to get out of the way and let them play. A good NFL official (rare breed) has the ability to not throw a flag when the foul doesnt impact the play. But not Hercules Hochuli, every infringement must be punished!

[tigerthelion]

15 minutes ago, noacls17 said:

Taron Johnson looks to have lost a step. Thoughts?

I think he has lost a step. I think he is still a good player, but naturally with age and wear and tear, can't stay on top forever.   I am a bit more concerned about Benford, to be honest.  

[thenorthremembers]

13 hours ago, JaCrispy said:

I don’t know how the Bills fix this defense- even in the offseason…

 

2 DE’s will be be free agents, so we will likely have to acquire a starter in FA or the draft…. 
 

DT Jones is a FA so we will need a staring 1T…

 

Milano is a FA so we will need a starting OLB…

 

On top of all that, we still need a #1 WR…

 

It literally feels like Groundhog Day, as this team keeps spinning its tires, and never improving…

 

No wonder Josh said it is no longer superbowl or bust, for him- but rather he said he’s just going out and trying to have fun playing…

 

 

 

 

 

In the short term you fix the defense by scoring more than 20 points.  In the long term you get all of your players on that side of the ball healthy, and score more than 20 points.

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, PatsFanNH said:

He called it. On both sides all game 11 on Buffalo and 8 on NE that were accepted for 90 and 93 yards.. As for the end of the game a lot of refs will “let them play”… That’s hardly unusual why so many fans point to 1 play at the end of the game so much.. 

 

Yea I largely agree with you although that particular ref does have a history of some imagined penalties on the Bills. 

[ticketssince61]

A few other random observations

 

1. On the diggs catch at end of first half where he had his feet just on the line and fell out of bounds. It looked to me like the ground helped him maintain possession. We couldn't challenge because was within last 2 minutes. Anyone else think that it shouldn't have been a catch?

 

2. I think the league needs to be stricter with calling intentional grounding. There were 2 or 3x last night where Maye was falling to the ground and flicked the ball away just before hitting the ground. The ball was never more than a few feet off the ground and landed many yards before a receiver who was not even looking for the ball. If not a real attempt at a completion it should be a penalty. Thoughts?

 

3. The Khalil drop on the last drive had one other major impact that I did not see mentioned. Aside from the obvious implications of losing potential yardage, it stopped the clock. Had he stayed in bounds, time would have run which would have left NE with less time to March down the field. 

 

Maybe we should have run cook on 1st down to ensure positive yardage and take time off the clock.  Mcd is so concerned at end of 1st half to use timeouts in case we get the ball back. He should have considered the opposite scenario when we are on offense