A Few Thoughts about the Steelers Game - Community Edition

[Ga boy]

5 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

We played a very very bad team yesterday. Be thankful for the W but don't pat yourselves on the back too hard.

Steelers are better than most of teams on Pats schedule, including tonight’s opponent.

[DeepPass]

6 hours ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Great write up as always, even sans the music lyrics.

 

I have to totally disagree about #5 and Brady.  Why would it frustrate you to see that same play working so successfully.  It is more an indictment against the mighty Mike Tomlin and his DC (no wonder they were chanting Fire Mike Tomlin, to steeler fans that had to be PAINFUL to watch)..  If you have a play the opponent cant stop, you do exactly what the Bills did, keep pounding it.  It was demoralizing to the Steelers and a hug bonus for our O Line (esp with both tackles out) to run the ball.

 

#9 and Josh.  I have been thinking the same thing all year.  He has seemingly been really hyper engaged or floundering and seemingly disengaged.  And I hope this thread doesn't dissolve into armchair marriage counselors second guessing his wife.

Why not 2nd guess his wife / marital status??  Who's the #1 person in your life??

[SoCal Deek]

5 hours ago, US Egg said:

That's cold blooded.

Wait! Virgil is a reptile? Who knew? 

[Big Blitz]

 

[CircleTheWagons99]

5 hours ago, 2003Contenders said:

Why Is Gabe just standing around watching? LOL

Enjoying the show. 

[Coach Tuesday]

Watching some clips of Hawes destroying Watt over and over again.  Shavers doing his part as well.  The blocking schemes last night were a work of art.  Hawes in particular might have been the best in-line blocker in the draft entire last year - offensive linemen included.  Cannot believe he is a rookie.  He is a cornerstone player for an offense.  Unreal.

[DeepPass]

3 hours ago, RunTheBall said:

The amount of whiners on here is breathtaking. WE PUT UP 250 RUSH YARDS IN 3 RIVERS! I mean come on people, you don’t get to see that kind of domination very often so ENJOY IT. Will this offensive philosophy beat other teams, NOPE. Did it crush the Steelers? YES. 

 

Hey here’s a thought - maybe, just maybe, Brady schemed against a teams weaknesses for once? Maybe missing 2 starting offensive lineman, your starting TE, a starting WR and a WR 4 in Samuel had something to do with the game plan.

 

I think this was a turning point for these guys. I saw NASTY, I saw ANGRY, I saw EFFORT. I saw 3 RBs contributing for the first time this season.  I don’t care that it took a cheap shot to get Josh fired up. We should be running QB power in the first series of every game from here on out. It’s been that way since Josh has been our QB.

 

Get our tackles back, get Glass Kincaid out there, Cooks is going to be a factor going forward. Cooks, Plamer, Shakir is not a horrific combo. Our identity is running the ball though, it sets the tone and opens things up. Brady has to stick with it even when it’s not going great early. Let’s see what he comes up with against Cinci whose defense has been playing better. I still expect a run heavy approach but I want to see him integrate more play action and intermediate throws against a defense that has been ass most of the year.

 

"Get our tackles back"  Yesterday probably showed our tackles for the future - near future.  Dawkins & Brown are running on borrowed time.

[BobbyC81]

7 hours ago, TheWei44 said:

Everyone is of course free to say or write whatever they want, but your post is the fan's reaction equivalent of snagging defeat from the jaws of victory after a solid win.  Not perfect by any stretch, and it doesn't mean we're SB bound or even playoff bound necessarily, but your 1-10 take is way too "glass half empty"/pessimistic/negative/woe is me than warranted in my opinion.

Says a newbie 

[Roundybout]

1 hour ago, Big Blitz said:

 

Shoulda flipped the play at the line. I think we only got 3-4 yards out of this 

[UConn James]

4 hours ago, LVGrown said:

Not sure if this has been discussed yet but I'm lost when it comes to what the "eye in the sky" can and cannot overturn. Early in the game there was a big penalty called against the Steelers that would've resulted in a Bills first down on a 3rd down failure but someone called in and it was canceled mid announcement. However this wasn't done when JA17 was clearly hit late on the slide. Doesn't seem consistent.

It was a Ty Johnson run with a facemask call against Pitt. The sky ref did a quick review and called down just at a comedically-timed moment. They can advise on the negative of a call made on the field but they can't call something that that wasn't called on the field.

 

4 hours ago, LVGrown said:

Edited 9 hours ago by UConn James

[davefan66]

I am ecstatic we won.  But cautiously optimistic what it means.

 

In the last 8 games, the Bills are 4-4, Steelers 3-5.  This was no Clash of the Titans.

 

#5 - I do agree that Brady becomes fixated on a successful play. Yes, try it against the Bengals..if it works great.  If not - get off it quickly.

 

Motivation. This team came out looking unmotivated again. If it takes a late hit, or a fight to get going? Not how it works. NFL teams need to be ready to go out of the gate. Motivation should come from within. This team lacks motivation this year and unless they figure it out, not sure how far they go.

[SunDSolar]

Teams are starting to jump the Shakir WR screen..

 

Be nice to show that look and maybe do something different to take advantage of how aggressive the DBs have been the last few weeks

[Desert Bills Fan]

17 minutes ago, SunDSolar said:

Teams are starting to jump the Shakir WR screen..

 

Be nice to show that look and maybe do something different to take advantage of how aggressive the DBs have been the last few weeks

Yes! Pump Fake the screen, and then hit his “blocking” WR who releases…

[BearNorth]

10 hours ago, Coach Tuesday said:

Watching some clips of Hawes destroying Watt over and over again.  Shavers doing his part as well.  The blocking schemes last night were a work of art.  Hawes in particular might have been the best in-line blocker in the draft entire last year - offensive linemen included.  Cannot believe he is a rookie.  He is a cornerstone player for an offense.  Unreal.

Old enough to remember when the Bills had a tight end named Paul Costa.  Notre Dame guy.  Played 4 years as a tight end then moved to Offensive Tackle during OJ's first couple of years before retiring due to injury.

[Beck Water]

18 hours ago, Virgil said:

9 - Josh - I would literally give anything right now for Josh to have an open and honest conversation about what's going on in his mind right now.  Josh wasn't bad in this game.  You could see him get fired up after some good runs, make some good throws, and the fiery competitor shine through at times, but Josh still isn't quite Josh.  I have no idea why, but I really do believe he's as frustrated with the coordinators and effort around him as we are.  It's very unlike Josh to show his frustration towards teammates, but you saw it on some of the false starts and broken plays.  I know Josh wants to be a good captain, but I think that also means knowing when to call people out.  Granted, not the way that Rodgers did in his postgame, but somewhere in-between.

 

Did anyone else see that interview clip with Stevie Johnson?  I can't find it now (if anyone knows where it is, lmk please)

 

The gist of it is he said what he sees from the outside looking in, is that Josh needs to learn to be "an #######".  "It's not a bad thing".  He clearly meant it in the sense of calling people out and telling them off.
 

11 hours ago, DeepPass said:

"Get our tackles back"  Yesterday probably showed our tackles for the future - near future.  Dawkins & Brown are running on borrowed time.

 

Huh?

Edited 1 hour ago by Beck Water

[BearNorth]

Noticed from the snap counts vs. Steelers, we used our "big" WR's Shavers (45 snaps) & Davis (43 snaps) more than we used Shakir (36 snaps), Coleman (33 snaps) or Cooks (17 snaps).  Knox had 53 snaps and Hawes had 52.

[Beck Water]

18 hours ago, Virgil said:

1 - Late Hit on Allen - There's so many things about this moment that stand out to me.  First off, how that wasn't called by the refs is beyond insane to me.  There is no question that Queen started his tackle well after Allen began his slide and usually the refs err on the side of caution.  Not sure what happened here, but it was as bad as missed flag as I've seen.  Beyond that, so many Bills after the game said that was the turning point for them and played with attitude afterwards.  WHY?  Why does it take that hit in the final two minutes of the first half to get you motivated?  My biggest issue this season has been how this team has not even shown up for their losses, and even some of their wins.  To me, this is either coaching or the players have lost faith in the McD message.  Either way, being outside the 1 seed and the AFC East leader apparently isn't enough motivation alone.  

 

I think it's very simple.

 

Someone, believe it was Emmanuel Ocho, said that teams have to believe they can win.  And in order to believe you can win, teams have to have enough "freakazoids" on the team, guys who can just change the course of the game.  He said sometimes a team goes out there and they can "just feel it" that they don't have enough exceptional players to win vs the other team's exceptional players

 

Now remember, we're talking perception here.  We're talking belief.

 

Through much of the season with all the injuries, the Bills haven't had enough guys who can do their job, let alone exceptional guys, especially on D.  They have guys out of place, not doing their job.  Best player on IR; looked like Hoecht would be a needed injection of umph, takes the field and promptly goes on IR.  A rotating body and fender shop.  Who are the defensive Freakazoids?  Against the Steelers, Benford stepped up and said "Me!" but that's not enough.  

[corta765]

I think your a little overtly critical on this one and generally I am in agreement with your writing.

 

I 100% agree on the turnovers as it killed two promising drivers and the penalty on 4th and 1 forced a FG. These things have to be cleaned up, they have been so unhinged on offense with penalties and turnovers since NE with only KC/CAR being clean games since. They just don't have the room for error against better opponents for those mistakes.

With that said the offense I give a lot of credit to given the scope of the injuries and the team in general to rise up. They finally hit another gear in the 2nd half which I haven't seen since KC and before that honestly the 4th quarter of the Ravens game. One thing I liked when Von was here was the killer instinct he had to burn it down when it matters and go for blood. I do agree at times they just seem to be going through the motions and in losses by the time they get it figured out it is too late. 

 

Regarding Brady they did what was needed with your starting OTs out and a defense letting you run rough shot on them. Palmer is looking like a bust with how often he is out, Shakir should've had a TD on that one slant, and Gabe yikes on that INT. I honestly am excited for the CIN game because like TB your going to have to pass it to some degree if your going to win so it will be a good time for Brady to show he has it or else.

 

Overall 8-4 and the playoffs are far more certain at this point then they were before the game. The division unfortunately they have harmed themselves too much to probably get outside of some help by NY or MIA when they play NE. The one good thing this year is there is no team in the AFC to fear as all of them have ways you can beat them. The issue is after Josh & Cook I am not sure how much teams fear us either.