Brown, Dawkins, others out for Sunday

[Success]

In a way, I'm kind of encouraged that they didn't put Brown on IR.   Maybe his injury isn't as serious as some have speculated?  

 

Losing guys like Brown & Oliver is huge and impactful, but if both are back by the playoffs, we just have to figure out a way to get there.  

 

And we do have depth, especially on the O-line.  All teams are dealing w/ injuries this time of year.  The Steelers are missing some key players also.

 

[Marcus Aurelius]

1 hour ago, Sierra Foothills said:

TJ Watt is uncontrollably drooling...

 

Hopefully he'll slip around in his own goo ... 

[muppy]

this health development is shocking. Both starting Ot's out at the same time?

 

a la  ******

[Psautcsk]

6 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

I wonder if they will press our receivers and send 5-6 90% of the time?  🤔

Don't give them ideas.

[RiotAct]

1 minute ago, muppy said:

this health development is shocking. Both starting Ot's out at the same time?

 

a la  ******

although, at the same time, not shocking at all

[muppy]

Just now, RiotAct said:

although, at the same time, not shocking at all

it's not a great look for our OL. I will hope for the best as always.

 

 

[Dr. Who]

2 minutes ago, muppy said:

it's not a great look for our OL. I will hope for the best as always.

 

 

It would be nice if the OC was capable of anticipating obvious difficulties, and then building a rational game plan to counter or at least mitigate them.

[muppy]

Just now, Dr. Who said:

It would be nice if the OC was capable of anticipating obvious difficulties, and then building a rational game plan to counter or at least mitigate them.

DR WHO SUP man 🙂

 

Indeed! good to read you!

[Simon]

14 minutes ago, SoonerBillsFan said:

I wonder if they will press our receivers and send 5-6 90% of the time?  🤔

 

They will probably be able to create enough problems in protection with 4, with Dugger or Queen working a spy role.

 

I think Jackson Hoss needs to have about 50 snaps this game.

[psuscott16]

Online is probably where they have the most depth. May not see a drop in performance tbh. 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 hour ago, atlbillsfan1975 said:

How many times over the past 3 or 4 seasons have we faced backup olinemen and watched it not matter. The playoff game to Bengals in particular comes to mind. Brown is a big loss, hope the week off helps Dawkins. 

I think people treat backup olinemen getting forced in midgame due to injury and backup olinemen getting a week to prep for a game as the same situation and they’re very different 

[SoonerBillsFan]

19 minutes ago, Simon said:

 

They will probably be able to create enough problems in protection with 4, with Dugger or Queen working a spy role.

 

I think Jackson Hoss needs to have about 50 snaps this game.

I agree 100%.  He needs to play a big role on Sunday.

[atlbillsfan1975]

2 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

I think people treat backup olinemen getting forced in midgame due to injury and backup olinemen getting a week to prep for a game as the same situation and they’re very different 

While I agree to an extent, there is a reason someone is a backup verse a starter. Let’s hope both Van Demark and I am assuming Grable are able to hold it down and keep Josh clean and open holes for Cook. 

[WideNine]

Van Demark has always been better on the left than the right where they used him last week, so hoping he settles in and plays hard. I know they like the idea of having swing tackles that can play either side, but to me he was always more natural with his kick step and hand usage from the left.

We will see...

Grabel was showing a lot of promise before the injury so hoping he is ready to go.
 

I expect that it will take a quarter or so for both to settle in, but Brady cannot go all turtle and just run the ball. Perhaps some early play-action on 1st down and some scripted plays off what their DBs are showing press/man vs playing off them/zone.

I have not seen much critique of Shakir - I guess there was some fallout from last week's fumble, but he is another veteran player that I feel just is not playing as well as last year or at full speed. Something just feels off, so wondering if he is 100% back from the high ankle he suffered in camp. Seems to have straight-line speed as we witnessed in that long TD he had a few games back, but a lot less shake and bake in tight quarters to elude tacklers or create separation on routes that we are accustomed to seeing.

Even the most stubborn among us must realize that teams are doing a better job with their spy-mirror players and closing on Allen when he escapes the pocket. His sacks are up and his positive plays out of structure are less frequent. He has less time to drift and direct scramble drills so I think we would all breathe a sigh of relief if Allen just threw some of those away if no one is open, or took a good angle towards the sideline, picked up a few positive yards, and got out of bounds without getting clobbered.

 

That hit from behind last week gave me a mild heart attack. I have no doubt that if teams did not have to respect what Allen brings to the field, our offense would look putrid without him. 

 

Edited 3 minutes ago by WideNine