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

[PayDaBill$]

28 minutes ago, ngbills said:

Agree. Issue is the flip side is true. If it wasnt working he would still keep trying it. The gameplan was clearly going to be to pound the rock and I dont know if there was a plan B. 

You saw plan B vs Houston 

[Dan]

13 hours ago, RunTheBall said:

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.

Completely agree!  On several occasions… I was screaming for a play action pass.  Nope. Same run and it gets stopped. Then they have to pass.  
 

That may be his biggest issue. Situation awareness and dictating being proactive with his calls.  He could do a lot more to put the offense in better position and be less predictable.  
 

when it works.  It works!   But when you get a good D coordinator..it gets easy to defend. 

[nuklz2594]

aaron kromer should be the oc

[TheFunPolice]

Steelers are a complete mess, which is why I had zero doubt we would win. 

 

Even diehard Steelers fans have no hope, no matter the record, of them doing anything of note. 

 

Now we have guys skipping film study, freelancing, going 50% out there... They are horrific on offense. 

 

I've watched several Steelers games this season, and it feels like their offense is never on the field. When they are, it's 2 yard run, then the inevitable incomplete pass to nowhere with a close up of Rodgers yelling at someone or no one. 

 

Then, there will be a beautiful, vintage Rodgers throw right on the money that bounces off the stone hands of the WR. Those are few and far between, though, because the Steelers never sustain drives. 

 

They are awful. I am happy we won of course, but the Steelers are a hopeless team. The fans booed Renegade and chanted "Fire Tomlin" all 4th quarter. 

 

 

 

[BillsPride12]

1 hour ago, The Jokeman said:

Easily a top 5 at his position. I'll admit was upset over his hold in and was okay with moving on from him but thankfully Beane and his agent came to a middle ground to get a good deal for the player and the team and both getting success from it. 

If going by this year I think there's a case to have him as high as 3rd best back in the league behind Gibbs and Jonathan Taylor. He has been sensational and honestly the MVP of our team this year as crazy as that sounds 

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

On 11/30/2025 at 10:01 PM, 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

 

 

So the only problem with that is Allen likes the scramble plays.  Recall when Diggs first arrived, in an interview Allen stated: "I told Diggs 3 things, catch the ball when I throw it to you, and get open, (Don't recall the 3rd thing he told him" 

 

Many QB's want the WR to run precise routes, Allen doesn't seem to care about that nearly as much.  Maybe as Allen has gotten older he does care more, but don't think he's at the level of Brady, or Burrow in that regard.

[Since1981]

question: is there any merit to the idea that fresh legs on the offensive line had meaningfully impact to the game?

[Comebackkid]

17 minutes ago, Since1981 said:

question: is there any merit to the idea that fresh legs on the offensive line had meaningfully impact to the game?

idk but it looked like a fresh attitude mattered

[BigAl2526]

James Cook's super power is his ability to get skinny in tight quarters.  He does a lot of things well but that ability to get skinny allows him to make positive plays when it looks like there's nothing there.

 

[PoundingDog]

6 minutes ago, BigAl2526 said:

James Cook's super power is his ability to get skinny in tight quarters.  He does a lot of things well but that ability to get skinny allows him to make positive plays when it looks like there's nothing there.

 

Hoke, a DT on the Steelers for 11 years, talked extensively about the difficulty when playing 2 gap scheme against Cook - mainly his sudden change of direction in small space - like "I'm holding onto the O-Lineman seeing you in the left gap then next moment I don't see you at all." I remember Rex used to talk about Shady McCoy jumpcut you in a phone booth. Cook does that without a jump.

[JP51]

21 hours ago, MiltonWaddams said:

A Reed replacement is possible. Josh and Cook are good Thurman and Kelly replacements. But Bruce is never going to be replicated.

None of them can be replicated in their own way... Like Cook will never be the recieving threat 34 was... Thurman could never break away like cook does... I am saying we need a game wrecker on Defense... someone the other team fears, game plans around and makes everyone on D jobs easier. 

[PoundingDog]

58 minutes ago, JP51 said:

None of them can be replicated in their own way... Like Cook will never be the recieving threat 34 was... Thurman could never break away like cook does... I am saying we need a game wrecker on Defense... someone the other team fears, game plans around and makes everyone on D jobs easier. 

And get them all at their prime together. Allen is 29, ~ 6 prime years left. Cook is 26, max 3 prime years left. Shakir is no Andre Reed but he's best weapon we have and he's 25 and likely play thru Allen/Cook's prime years. Defensive side... not much to look for. If we really, really, and really stretch for it, say Deone Walker can become that player we are hoping for, the 21 year old need to show us a giant step next year. Lots of DT mature 3 years into their career and Walker is very young coming into the league. You want him to coming up before Cook gets too old.

[MJS]

Imagine how good the run game would be if they DIDN'T run the same play over and over again and actually had a plan to set up play action, misdirection, and running different things post snap to confuse the defense.

 

I do not like what I hear about the scheme and Brady's play calling.

[GunnerBill]

On 12/1/2025 at 3:43 AM, Ralonzo said:

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.

 

They have no plan that works when your starting wide receivers are a guy who just got cut by the worst team in the league and a guy who is being paid not to be in Jacksonville anymore. 

 

I'm not sure there is a plan that works for those players. And they are better than the guy your genius GM drafted two years ago as your future WR1. There is a reason the three leading receivers Sunday were James Cook, Ty Johnson and Dawson Knox. They are the guys Josh trusts to actually make a play for him. 

 

If Allen and Cook aren't doing it or are bottled up the offense fails because the rest of the "skill" guys are trash. 

[JP51]

1 hour ago, PoundingDog said:

And get them all at their prime together. Allen is 29, ~ 6 prime years left. Cook is 26, max 3 prime years left. Shakir is no Andre Reed but he's best weapon we have and he's 25 and likely play thru Allen/Cook's prime years. Defensive side... not much to look for. If we really, really, and really stretch for it, say Deone Walker can become that player we are hoping for, the 21 year old need to show us a giant step next year. Lots of DT mature 3 years into their career and Walker is very young coming into the league. You want him to coming up before Cook gets too old.

This^^^ also

[finn]

On 11/30/2025 at 10:50 PM, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

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

I guess the big question now is, Was this because the Bills run game was that good--or that the Steelers run defense is that bad? Watching the breakdowns, it sure looks like it was the Bills line, tight ends, and receivers each doing his job perfectly and just blowing open holes. Can they do that against New England? 

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

If Allen and Cook aren't doing it or are bottled up the offense fails because the rest of the "skill" guys are trash. 

At least Shavers, Hawes, and Knox can block effectively. Silver lining!