The Steelers talk about the Bills offense and their own pass offense issues

[PoundingDog]

Watched some Steelers extra points show with former Steelers D-Tackle Chris Hoke and a number of interviews. A few points worth noting from the Bills perspective.

1. Hoke said openly he thought Cook is good, but seeing Cook live in action wowed him. He explain in great detail on how to defend Cook, especially on the edge runs that got the Steelers repeatedly. TJ Watt also said he can't remember a team repeat the play so many times and got them almost every time; of course Watt didn't give an answer like a former player Hoke would. The main point is Cook is the reason why that worked. Hoke pretty much said when one guy (defender) is staying blocked, Cook finds it, cut back, strenched run, to the edge, you name it. And when there is nothing, he buried his head forward for a 2 yard gain.
2. The point above explained why Joe Brady is able to call the same play over and over again. Because we have a "near" superstar in Cook. I used the work near superstar because Cook is not someone who can make a hole on his own, something the great HoF guys are able to do from time to time. On the downside, it makes me concerned about our front office not able to identify Cook as a "must" have in the off-season compared to the other contract extensions we gave out before him.
3. Rogers actually gave a very insightful interview after the game, mentioned something like good preparation but poor practice this past week, as well as his film sessions with the guys, insinulating some guy may be tardy or not paying attention. He used example of Jonnu Smith play today where he singalled in-breaker and Jonnu ran an out-breaker for that missed play.  Hoke jumped on that point explaining why there are so few middle of the field passing plays - because Rodgers does not trust the receivers.
4. The point right above reminded me of Bills passing game issue and Allen's trusted guys, practically Kincaid and Shakir (maybe Knox as well). It directly led me to think about the Coleman benching. Now Allen may run more unstructured "scramble drill" plays, but the majority has to be structured plays where they will go thru film sessions like Rodgers did providing checks with his receivers. If you (like a young player Coleman) believe you can just live off scramble drill plays, like the TD Coleman caught today, you' lll never be a trusted receiver a QB can rely on. This is what Allen misses the most from the boundary receiver position on this Bills team.
5. Today it is an example how McDermott envisioned of being the preferred offense to him. You dominated in run, then everything plays off it. If you have a downfield threat, it would be perfect. However, a top receiver probably would not accept the limited role in this offense, like AJ Brown with the Eagles because they are not going to get Lamb's or Chase's money. There is reason Diggs left. The only option for a top receiver is from the draft. What McDermott should have but we don't have is a top level complementary defense that can buy opportunities for Allen and the offense - I'm NOT talking about offense like the Steelers. We'll see about that next week

 

[ngbills]

Makes sense. Pit did not look right. They should be embarrassed. 

[DrDawkinstein]

Cook IS a superstar. He makes holes that arent there and no one else would find. Our own OL have talked about it.

 

Respect it.

 

 

Edited 13 hours ago by DrDawkinstein

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

I feel like cook is as good as anybody I’ve seen making holes on his own lol only knock I can think of on him is he doesn’t step out of a ton of tackles 

Edited 13 hours ago by Generic_Bills_Fan

[QLBillsFan]

34 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Cook IS a superstar. He makes finds holes that arent there and no one else would find. Our own OL have talked about it.

 

Respect it.

Then Davis stayed for the most part between the tackles also his strength .. TJ with very key first downs. RB were outstanding but Cook makes nfl defenders look silly. That is rare. 

Edited 13 hours ago by QLBillsFan

[Ralonzo]

To a degree this lets Brady off the hook, or at least doesn't give a true read on him. If you just call your plays over and over and over and the reason they work is because one of your two superstars in the backfield just make it work, then who knows if you're up to the job of scheming successful matchups or not? The games where Allen or Cook don't do enough over-and-above what can be expected, the Bills O looks like they have no plan, which might be closer to the truth than not.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

Cook was great. But Ray Davis was running through some gaping holes out there. The oline was pushing those guys around. 

[RunTheBall]

Brady spams plays way too often. I give him credit for sticking to the running game finally. I want to see him play action to a deep or intermediate shot after 2 big runs in a row. He ALWAYS wastes a down spamming a 3rd or 4th run instead of predicting the defense will scheme to stop that so something deeper will be open.

[billsfan714]

It was just great to see the D have a big part of the win.   Got some turnovers, didnt get runover.  

[PoundingDog]

Well, you can look at last week's game when a defense actually played well after the Cook TD. Then what? Probably nothing other than letting Allen do his thing, which nearlt pulled off at the end. The plan from McDermott's staff probably banked on stopping one of worse offense and it didn't quite work. Strategy wise, not unreasonable though.

[TheBrownBear]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

Cook IS a superstar. He makes holes that arent there and no one else would find. Our own OL have talked about it.

 

Respect it.

 

 

He's a friggin stud. I'll be the first to admit that I never saw this coming when we drafted him.

[BigPappy]

12 hours ago, PoundingDog said:

Watched some Steelers extra points show with former Steelers D-Tackle Chris Hoke and a number of interviews. A few points worth noting from the Bills perspective.

1. Hoke said openly he thought Cook is good, but seeing Cook live in action wowed him. He explain in great detail on how to defend Cook, especially on the edge runs that got the Steelers repeatedly. TJ Watt also said he can't remember a team repeat the play so many times and got them almost every time; of course Watt didn't give an answer like a former player Hoke would. The main point is Cook is the reason why that worked. Hoke pretty much said when one guy (defender) is staying blocked, Cook finds it, cut back, strenched run, to the edge, you name it. And when there is nothing, he buried his head forward for a 2 yard gain.
2. The point above explained why Joe Brady is able to call the same play over and over again. Because we have a "near" superstar in Cook. I used the work near superstar because Cook is not someone who can make a hole on his own, something the great HoF guys are able to do from time to time. On the downside, it makes me concerned about our front office not able to identify Cook as a "must" have in the off-season compared to the other contract extensions we gave out before him.
3. Rogers actually gave a very insightful interview after the game, mentioned something like good preparation but poor practice this past week, as well as his film sessions with the guys, insinulating some guy may be tardy or not paying attention. He used example of Jonnu Smith play today where he singalled in-breaker and Jonnu ran an out-breaker for that missed play.  Hoke jumped on that point explaining why there are so few middle of the field passing plays - because Rodgers does not trust the receivers.
4. The point right above reminded me of Bills passing game issue and Allen's trusted guys, practically Kincaid and Shakir (maybe Knox as well). It directly led me to think about the Coleman benching. Now Allen may run more unstructured "scramble drill" plays, but the majority has to be structured plays where they will go thru film sessions like Rodgers did providing checks with his receivers. If you (like a young player Coleman) believe you can just live off scramble drill plays, like the TD Coleman caught today, you' lll never be a trusted receiver a QB can rely on. This is what Allen misses the most from the boundary receiver position on this Bills team.
5. Today it is an example how McDermott envisioned of being the preferred offense to him. You dominated in run, then everything plays off it. If you have a downfield threat, it would be perfect. However, a top receiver probably would not accept the limited role in this offense, like AJ Brown with the Eagles because they are not going to get Lamb's or Chase's money. There is reason Diggs left. The only option for a top receiver is from the draft. What McDermott should have but we don't have is a top level complementary defense that can buy opportunities for Allen and the offense - I'm NOT talking about offense like the Steelers. We'll see about that next week

 

Your analysis was pretty spot on in my opinion, and I was with you the whole way; right up until you mentioned Diggs. He didn't just "leave". The Bills didn't want him anymore. He had done what he always does. He had worn out his welcome, and had become a locker room cancer. I can't say I 100% agree with you about the only option for a WR1 being the draft either. The draft might be the most ideal option cost wise, but free agency can be a great place for grabbing receivers that have WR1 talent that are looking for a new place to land for an opportunity and are stuck behind other WR1 players.  

Edited 1 hour ago by BigPappy

[skibum]

It wasn't all Cook, either - Davis and Johnson also had success when called upon. The Steelers just couldn't get to the runner all day. Kudos to the Bills O line for executing, but the Stillers D should have had an answer at some point. Instead, they laid an egg. 

[JP51]

11 hours ago, TheBrownBear said:

He's a friggin stud. I'll be the first to admit that I never saw this coming when we drafted him.

Nor I... now we just need a Reed to go with our Thurman and Kelly... and a Bruce on the other side.

[WNYFAN1]

13 hours ago, ngbills said:

Makes sense. Pit did not look right. They should be embarrassed. 

For as well as we played, I think this game was way more about Pitt looking like trash.

[Sweats]

That was some old school football right there..........pound the rock over and over and keep at it until the D stops it. The Steelers didn't adjust and had no answers for our RB's, so they ate all day long.

 

I don't like Brady's play calling, even when things are going right and the team is playing well, however, yesterday he at least realized that pounding the rock was successful so just keep doing what works.