I was at the game and let me tell you what was happening downfield

[CincyBillsFan]

7 minutes ago, GroteStreet said:

I think we all need to stop our bitchin about the wide receivers, after all the team did score a lot of points last year.

And they've scored a lot of points this year to.  That happens when your MVP level QB gooses the numbers when he puts on the Super Man cape. Unfortunately in the football world beyond High School one guy, no matter how great, can not be expected to function at an elite level every single game.  

 

So I'll keep bitching about the WR group because while it wasn't very good last season it's gotten worse with the departures of Cooper & Hollins.  

Edited 5 hours ago by CincyBillsFan

[GroteStreet]

8 minutes ago, DapperCam said:

Our #1 WR for the majority of last season was Cooper and he’s retired. The WR that led the team in scoring was Hollins and he plays for the Pats now.

 

It’s not like it’s the same guys out there.

According to beane, our wr group is fine.

[Nihilarian]

2 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

And they've scored a lot of points this year to.  That happens when your MVP level QB gooses the numbers when he puts on the Super Man cape. Unfortunately in the football world beyond High School one guy, no matter how great, can not be expected to function at an elite level every single game.  

 

So I'll keep bitching about the WR group because while it wasn't very good last season it's gotten worse with the departures of Cooper & Hollins.  

I disagree, as we all saw what can happen with proper game plans against the Chiefs and Bucs. As others have pointed out, and even McD stated that the play calling was off...

 

McDermott added, “I believe in our offensive staff,” but it’s clear that the offensive scheme needs to get better. Right now, the whole Bills’ offense revolves around expecting Allen to make plays, even when he’s under relentless pressure. That’s not a winning formula.

[MJS]

40 minutes ago, Fleezoid said:

What I witnessed was Allen trying to win the game by himself with no WR support and certainly zero defensive support. In years past, when things were going poorly, Allen would just play football. Some of the other elements would step up and make big plays. We have none of that now and it’s making Allen play worse. The team and coaching staff is killing him.

 

In previous seasons, the Bills would finish strong at the end and we would see a sudden death in the playoffs. This year, it’s death by a thousand cuts. By the time the playoffs start, the Bills will have bled out.

The defense was great in the 2nd half. This loss is on the offense. Brady needs to go. The receivers aren't bad enough that they can't be schemed open. The Bills never have a good offensive game plan. They never try to exploit certain weaknesses. They run the same few plays over and over. If not for Cook's ability to make big plays, the offense would be just plain bad.

[CincyBillsFan]

1 minute ago, Nihilarian said:

I disagree, as we all saw what can happen with proper game plans against the Chiefs and Bucs. As others have pointed out, and even McD stated that the play calling was off...

 

McDermott added, “I believe in our offensive staff,” but it’s clear that the offensive scheme needs to get better. Right now, the whole Bills’ offense revolves around expecting Allen to make plays, even when he’s under relentless pressure. That’s not a winning formula.

But in both those cases Allen played at an MVP level.  This is not sustainable each and every week.

 

While I agree that offensive scheme is a problem it is only part of the problem.  McD is slyly trying to blame the problem on TACTICS (in game & pre game schemes) when the problem is STRATEGIC (offensive philosophy and roster construction).  This is why firing Brady would only lead to a short lived boost in offensive production as DC's would need a few games to get tape on the new Bills offense.  

 

And I suspect that McD believes in his offensive staff in large part because they have bought his STRATEGIC vision for the offense hook line and sinker.  They are fellow true believers in how an offense can best compliment a defense and in the end defense will always by McD's first love.

 

Think about how critical it was that Levy abandoned his conservative style of coaching in favor of the no huddle K Gun.  That was not a small thing that Levy did.  It had to go against a lot of what he believed in his bones as a football coach.  Yet when confronted with a uniquely talented QB, WR & RB he did it and the rest is history.

 

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, MJS said:

The defense was great in the 2nd half. This loss is on the offense. Brady needs to go. The receivers aren't bad enough that they can't be schemed open. The Bills never have a good offensive game plan. They never try to exploit certain weaknesses. They run the same few plays over and over. If not for Cook's ability to make big plays, the offense would be just plain bad.

How about the D be great for a full game?  And when you say great in the 2nd half yea they stopped the Texan's offense after giving up 20 points in the FIRST HALF but did not generate a single TO all game long.  

[LEBills]

16 minutes ago, GroteStreet said:

According to beane, our wr group is fine.

We added Josh Palmer! 😂

[Wayne Cubed]

2 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

How about the D be great for a full game?  And when you say great in the 2nd half yea they stopped the Texan's offense after giving up 20 points in the FIRST HALF but did not generate a single TO all game long.  

 

Also, they generated very little pressure on Mills. He was able to stand in the pocket and deliver, for most of the night, outside of a couple blitzes. I agree about the first half as well, like why the hell are you giving up 7 points on a 2 min drive to backup QB.

As far as the offense goes, I'm now convinced that Brady has awful passing concepts. He has one man beater concept he runs. Mesh. And he ran it back to back on the last 2 plays of the game. That combined with the talent level of the WRs, you get the Bills current passing scheme. It's a mess. 

[MJS]

2 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

How about the D be great for a full game?  And when you say great in the 2nd half yea they stopped the Texan's offense after giving up 20 points in the FIRST HALF but did not generate a single TO all game long.  

Some of that is on the offense turning the ball over and giving it to the Texans in the red zone. The Texans also started with great field position on almost every single drive because the offense could not get past their own 20 yard line.

 

Every time the defense struggles, the offense turtles up and can't do anything. The difference is, the defense turned it around, made adjustments, and played way better, giving the offense a chance to go win the game. The offense continued to spin its wheels all game long.

 

The Bills have an average defense that is riddled with injuries, making it a poor defense. But even that poor defense gives the offense chances to go and win the game, and the offense doesn't ever reward that.

[DapperCam]

5 minutes ago, MJS said:

Some of that is on the offense turning the ball over and giving it to the Texans in the red zone. The Texans also started with great field position on almost every single drive because the offense could not get past their own 20 yard line.

 

Every time the defense struggles, the offense turtles up and can't do anything. The difference is, the defense turned it around, made adjustments, and played way better, giving the offense a chance to go win the game. The offense continued to spin its wheels all game long.

 

The Bills have an average defense that is riddled with injuries, making it a poor defense. But even that poor defense gives the offense chances to go and win the game, and the offense doesn't ever reward that.

I look at it this way. The offense has won us at least 2 games almost single handed. The Baltimore game and the Bucs game. The defense hasn’t won us any game, and has actually put us in a hole for most of our losses.

[Buffalo03]

9 hours ago, ganesh said:

WE miss Diggs as a play maker.   This may not be popular, but that guy had the knack to get open and give Allen a chance.  The same was with Cole.  We are missing those guys so badly on this offense.  Shakir has also been a BIG disappointment.   We paid him money for being a WR and not a catch at scrimmage and try making 5-7 yards (and get lucky once in a while).   There were zero slant passes to him to move the chains. 

It's crazy when you call the days of Diggs, Beasley and John Brown as the good old days

[MJS]

1 hour ago, DapperCam said:

I look at it this way. The offense has won us at least 2 games almost single handed. The Baltimore game and the Bucs game. The defense hasn’t won us any game, and has actually put us in a hole for most of our losses.

I don't agree with that. The defense played great against Kansas City and great against Carolina.

 

Meanwhile, our offense put up 12, 13, and 14 points against the Texans, Dolphins, and Falcons. The offense went completely anemic against those teams. And both the Texans game and Falcons game were easily in reach for the Bills to win if the offense had been even average.

Edited 3 hours ago by MJS

[Nihilarian]

What bothers me is that game could have been easily won, even though the defense was really bad in the first half. 

 

“They had 12 hits on Josh, eight sacks. That’s not a healthy formula right there,” McDermott said. “It’s not a healthy way to play or a healthy way to keep our quarterback healthy through the remainder of the season.”

 

We ALL held our breath when he went down in that game. If I ever see Joe Brady in RL I will give him some of my mind. That could have been the season-ender or even career. 

[goldenboy81]

The defense did play better when Shaq took over. Shows how bernard holds them back

[Dafan]

3 hours ago, Einstein said:

 

That play was designed to go to Palmer. He was the read the whole way.

 

Knox was supposed to set a pick for Palmer but he was a step too slow getting there.

 

Not to mention it wouldn’t have counted due to Gabe’s OPI.

Even with the OPI, at least the Bills would still have the ball if Knox caught it.

[Einstein]

1 hour ago, Nihilarian said:

 

 

“They had 12 hits on Josh, eight sacks. That’s not a healthy formula right there,” McDermott said. “It’s not a healthy way to play or a healthy way to keep our quarterback healthy through the remainder of the season.”

 

 

Yeah this is essentially McD saying “this is not Allen’s fault”.

[dickleyjones]

3 hours ago, HappyDays said:

 

The flow of the game was impacted by the 1st half defensive performance. We got into FG range and didn't kick because we were playing catch up.

true, should have had 15 at least

[CincyBillsFan]

2 hours ago, MJS said:

Some of that is on the offense turning the ball over and giving it to the Texans in the red zone. The Texans also started with great field position on almost every single drive because the offense could not get past their own 20 yard line.

 

Every time the defense struggles, the offense turtles up and can't do anything. The difference is, the defense turned it around, made adjustments, and played way better, giving the offense a chance to go win the game. The offense continued to spin its wheels all game long.

 

The Bills have an average defense that is riddled with injuries, making it a poor defense. But even that poor defense gives the offense chances to go and win the game, and the offense doesn't ever reward that.

The Bills started 3 drives from inside their own 10 yard line.  This was a direct result of great Texan punting, Bills ST penalties and the famous McD bend but don't break D.  The O was not the reason for the poor field position.

 

The D turned it around AFTER giving up 20 points in the first half.  And this was despite the fact that the D was going against a very bad offense with a backup QB.  Meanwhile the Bills offense was going up against one of the best defenses in the NFL. 

 

The Bills have a BAD defense that was riddled with injuries.  The Bills also have an average offense that was hampered by injuries. The only time the Bills offense is great is when Allen is playing at his best.  And no human being can be at his best each and every game.

 

Your post is a great example of a Bills fan nibbling around the edge of the problem.  Sure in this specific game had the Bills O punched it in at the end they steal a win.  But the problem is not the failure of the offense to execute at the very end. The problem is how the roster is structured and the basic design of the offense.  It's as if the Bills brain trust has created an offensive concept that might be suitable for an average, limited QB and are trying to impose it on their uniquely talented once in a generation QB.  Its football madness.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Iiiiiiiiive Got a Feeeelin]

15 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

In fairness to our guys that's one of the top defenses in the nfl

Which we all knew, even us fans so where was the offensive scheme to deal with that and maybe a second half adjustment?

[muppy]

8 hours ago, Fan in Chicago said:

However, as badly as we were getting manhandled , we still could have won the game if McD didn't make the mistake of going for it on 4th down from their 30-something line.  That would have let us kick the winning fg as time expired. That is what @thronethinkeris referring to. In game, I was wishing we kicked the FG. 

McD needed to be more game aware. This was a bigger failure than the entire mess that was our offense 

BUMP

 

I think this is a very important point and I concur.

 

the Atlanta defense smacked us in the mouth but the Bills still could have won.  a game I want to scrub from my mind ASAP. its just depressing on many levels

[DuckyBoys]

Our defense was not good period . Texans in the first half could have had 40 pts if Davis Mills could hit the broad side of a barn .  They played conservative  in 2nd half knowing long as they didn't turn it over and gave the Bills a long field their defense would hold.  Tre White, Poyer, Milano, Taron Johnson are all worn out.  Bernard is just bad and the D line are jags  All 12 of them.  They couldnt contain all world Davis Mills.  

 

The OL should be embarrassed and Dawkins laughing with the Texans pass rushers after the game makes me sick.  McDermott is prepping us to throw the coordinators under the bus post season.  He's not going to fess up that maybe they need a different direction for roster construction.  Allen's going to need a few hundred hours of counseling  to get up the juice to do this all over again next year and expect a different turn out.  He needs to march his ass in to Beane/McDermotts office and demand some changes while his body is still near its peak. 

 

I'm going to just try and enjoy Sundays and hope for entertaining games and for the QB to avoid an injury  Were not going anywhere with this roster