11/16/25 GAMEDAY Bills vs Buccaneers Post Game Thread

[vincec]

Just now, Best Williams Available said:

Special teams was great. No penalties and kickoff return was exceptional. 1 bad punt return really helped out the Bucs. The second half would have been a blow out had that not happened. 

Good returns. The fumble really hurt though.

[Best Williams Available]

2 hours ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Poyer with 15 tackles, despite his limitations in coverage he was one of the few guys on D who did anything.

LBs are waste of space. In no world should a safety get that many tackles in the run game. It’s the major issue in D honestly. 

Just now, vincec said:

Good returns. The fumble really hurt though.

I forgot the blocked FG penalty oops.

[finn]

2 hours ago, Steptide said:

Fix the run d and this defense would probably be ok. But man, that run defense is sketch

Watching the Denver and Browns defenses now. Is it just talent that makes both so vastly superior to the Bills defense? Or it scheme and coaching? Asking for real, since I just don't know, although I suspect that it's McDermott's philosophy. 

[billsfan89]

10 minutes ago, vincec said:

I think you are overestimating the talent.

 

Bosa is good vs pass, bad vs run.

Benford, Rousseau and Epenesa are average.

Hairston, Bishop and Walker may be good but are inconsistent right now.

 

OTOH, you have Poyer, Bernard, Milano, Jones, and Johnson all staring and all below average.

The talent level on the defense is better than you give it credit for it’s a defense that on paper should be better than average but is performing decidedly below average.

 

I don’t think the defense is elite talent wise but they have a better than average talent level and are underperforming that 

[Jalan81]

2 hours ago, Big Turk said:

Amazing what happens when you add Davis and Palmer in the pass offense...

 

Can't wait to see them with Kincaid in the mix.

 

Guys were open all over the field. Allen missed several throws but started really turning it on as the game went on.

I think they’ve neutered down Allen  for so long. It’s hard for him to ramp it up.

[DuckyBoys]

Tired of hearing about our injuries on defense as an excuse  The injuries are a result of the philosophy/scheme McDermott runs  Cant expect smaller defenders to hold up the punishment of endless long drives tackling ball carriers primarily with undersized dime backs and small linebackers You need big interior tackles  Miracle there werent more guys out again this week

[SoonerBillsFan]

2 minutes ago, finn said:

Watching the Denver and Browns defenses now. Is it just talent that makes both so vastly superior to the Bills defense? Or it scheme and coaching? Asking for real, since I just don't know, although I suspect that it's McDermott's philosophy. 

Yes to all

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

I’ve got to say, it certainly was an entertaining game … kept the Doc Sullivan’s crowd engaged fo sho … plenty of good and plenty of bad, but enough to eek out a dub. Might have been different had Evans and Godwin been active. On to Houston. 

[sven233]

Whether it was the plan going into the game or not, today we saw what the offense looks like with a pass-first mentality.  And you saw, once they settled in in the 2nd half, because of the explosive plays they were getting out of the passing game, that it opened up the running game that was struggling to get going.  Up until today, it was all about throwing 13 personnel out there, establishing the run and hoping to do enough in the passing game to win with Allen throwing the ball less than 25 times. 

 

But today, whether it was because Tampa was focusing on stuffing the run or whatever, for the first time this season, Brady said fine.....we'll beat you deep down the field.  Now, not having Coleman sucking valuable targets away from other WRs probably helped, but I think what we saw, especially in the 2nd half, is what we should want our offense to look like.  Pass first, mix in the run, hit explosive plays down the field if teams are cheating up to stop the run.  Also, using Cook in the passing game is a good way to get them out of stacking the box against the run.  I'm sorry, but basically putting a governor on Josh Allen, for my money the best in the world at what he does, is just not smart.  Let him do what he did today and play free.  Sure, he may make the maddening play once in a while, but you will get the best out of him allowing him to be the Ferrari he is.

 

Now, will this carry over to Thursday?  I have my doubts.  Look....the Texans aren't a great team, but they have a GREAT defense and it's going to be a true test to see where we're at.  Safe to say we're not hanging 40 on them.  I think the mid 20s might be a great output against that defense.  So, hopefully, they build off of today, but it's a completely level of test on Thursday night.

[Turbo44]

Did max play today? I didn’t see him all game which is a great sign if he played. 

[vincec]

3 minutes ago, billsfan89 said:

The talent level on the defense is better than you give it credit for it’s a defense that on paper should be better than average but is performing decidedly below average.

 

I don’t think the defense is elite talent wise but they have a better than average talent level and are underperforming that 

When you say “better than average”, that would mean that there are more teams in the NFL with worse talent on defense than better. I don’t think that’s remotely true.

[transplantbillsfan]

 

[vincec]

2 minutes ago, Turbo44 said:

Did max play today? I didn’t see him all game which is a great sign if he played. 

Part time. Swapped with White.

[billsfan89]

5 minutes ago, vincec said:

Good returns. The fumble really hurt though.

I wonder what the Bills average field position on was possessions off a kickoff seemed like it would be well past the 40.

[Turbo44]

Just now, vincec said:

Part time. Swapped with White.

Nice - it seemed TB was targeting Johnson (who has become a big problem) while leaving the boundary corners alone

[vincec]

Just now, Turbo44 said:

Nice - it seemed TB was targeting Johnson (who has become a big problem) while leaving the boundary corners alone

Helps that both Evans and Godwin are out.

[SoonerBillsFan]

6 minutes ago, sven233 said:

Whether it was the plan going into the game or not, today we saw what the offense looks like with a pass-first mentality.  And you saw, once they settled in in the 2nd half, because of the explosive plays they were getting out of the passing game, that it opened up the running game that was struggling to get going.  Up until today, it was all about throwing 13 personnel out there, establishing the run and hoping to do enough in the passing game to win with Allen throwing the ball less than 25 times. 

 

But today, whether it was because Tampa was focusing on stuffing the run or whatever, for the first time this season, Brady said fine.....we'll beat you deep down the field.  Now, not having Coleman sucking valuable targets away from other WRs probably helped, but I think what we saw, especially in the 2nd half, is what we should want our offense to look like.  Pass first, mix in the run, hit explosive plays down the field if teams are cheating up to stop the run.  Also, using Cook in the passing game is a good way to get them out of stacking the box against the run.  I'm sorry, but basically putting a governor on Josh Allen, for my money the best in the world at what he does, is just not smart.  Let him do what he did today and play free.  Sure, he may make the maddening play once in a while, but you will get the best out of him allowing him to be the Ferrari he is.

 

Now, will this carry over to Thursday?  I have my doubts.  Look....the Texans aren't a great team, but they have a GREAT defense and it's going to be a true test to see where we're at.  Safe to say we're not hanging 40 on them.  I think the mid 20s might be a great output against that defense.  So, hopefully, they build off of today, but it's a completely level of test on Thursday night.

The K-Gun used the pass to set up the run, we need to adopt that philosophy 

[Turbo44]

Just now, vincec said:

Helps that both Evans and Godwin are out.

Yep and in knowing that we still couldn’t scheme a plan to limit their run game 

[GoBills808]

28 minutes ago, vincec said:

I think you are overestimating the talent.

 

Bosa is good vs pass, bad vs run.

Benford, Rousseau and Epenesa are average.

Hairston, Bishop and Walker may be good but are inconsistent right now.

 

OTOH, you have Poyer, Bernard, Milano, Jones, and Johnson all staring and all below average.

Benford average?

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

9 minutes ago, vincec said:

Helps that both Evans and Godwin are out.

We might be having a different conversation had they been active 

Edited 13 hours ago by AlCowlingsTaxiService