Game week thread - Bills at Patriots*

[PaattMaann]

3 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Arguable. And mostly thanks to Josh being super man, so we're always in position to win games.

 

We got a couple of great individual plays for turn overs, thank goodness. We only forced one stop/punt the 2nd half, and allowed the Bengals to move right down the field otherwise.

 

I guess we disagree on what "in position to win" means.

 

forced punt on last possession of 2nd quarter and first possession in the third quarter. Against a great offense like the Bengals, the best your going to do is get 3/4 stops and/or turnovers. We got that and stopped a 2 point conversion. Those stops and turnover matter man. Defense has showed up for the last month. 

 

 

[Gregg]

2 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Arguable. And mostly thanks to Josh being super man, so we're always in position to win games.

 

We got a couple of great individual plays for turn overs, thank goodness. We only forced one stop/punt the 2nd half, and allowed the Bengals to move right down the field otherwise.

 

I guess we disagree on what "in position to win" means.

 

This defense really is a concern. When the Bills finally got a two-score lead with just 3 minutes to go I thought I could relax. The Bengals only had one timeout at the time and the 2-minute warning. I am thinking up by 11 we got the win. But then the Bengals go right down the field in like 50 seconds and it's back to nervous time again. It a took a great play by Allen on the 3rd and 15 to finally win it. You can never relax with this Bills defense. I don't trust them in a big spot at all.

[DrDawkinstein]

5 minutes ago, PaattMaann said:

 

forced punt on last possession of 2nd quarter and first possession in the third quarter. Against a great offense like the Bengals, the best your going to do is get 3/4 stops and/or turnovers. We got that and stopped a 2 point conversion. Those stops and turnover matter man. Defense has showed up for the last month. 

 

 

 

Right, that's what I said. But that was it. When push came to shove, we let them march right down the field, unless individual players can take it upon themselves to make ridiculous plays.

 

The last month?!? They showed up against an ailing Steelers team. Other than that, they gave up over 30 points to the Bucs, and let Davis frickin Mills own them all day against the Texans, and then needed more Josh magic against the Bengals.

 

Defense is a concern. There is no denying it.

[theAteam]

32 minutes ago, Success said:

 

The Pats could definitely lose to Miami.  If a player didn't step out of bounds by an inch in the 1st match-up, they would have in that one - and Miami is playing really well right now.

 

 

Pats have had a lot of very lucky breaks during their win streak. Dolphins game, 3 TOs by us, missed XP by Atlanta, atrocious pick 6 by Flacco in Cinci. I could see them sputtering a bit if we come up with a blueprint to beat them for their future opponents and their luck doesn't continue to hold up.

 

I could also see them beating us by double digits but for the last number of years we've tended to turn things up late in the season so I'm hoping that trend continues.

Edited 2 hours ago by theAteam

[Royale with Cheese]

1 minute ago, theAteam said:

 

Pats have had a lot of very lucky breaks during their win streak. Dolphins game, 3 TOs by us, missed XP by Atlanta, atrocious pick 6 by Flacco in Cinci. I could see them sputtering a bit if we come up with a blueprint to beat them for their future opponents and their luck doesn't continue to hold up.

 

Yes they have!

[PaattMaann]

5 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Right, that's what I said. But that was it. When push came to shove, we let them march right down the field, unless individual players can take it upon themselves to make ridiculous plays.

 

The last month?!? They showed up against an ailing Steelers team. Other than that, they gave up over 30 points to the Bucs, and let Davis frickin Mills own them all day against the Texans, and then needed more Josh magic against the Bengals.

 

Defense is a concern. There is no denying it.

 

I find it funny that you think individuals making plays doesn't count for the defense, when those players play....defense lol 

 

You should watch more football around the league. 

 

I am not saying this defense is good. Just saying its been good enough to keep us in games. We should have beaten the Texans with a competent offensive performance, but Brady had his head in his butt (as did Josh). This defense has no pass rush and its a problem. 

Edited 2 hours ago by PaattMaann

[Mat68]

I feel like the Patriots are the most over rated team in the NFL.  Healthy secondary clamps down their Wrs.  Spy rush will frustrate Maye as it did Mahomes.  Cook has big day and Buffalo knocks New England down a few pegs.   First step of winning the division and finishing where they always do 2nd in the conference. 

[bills742]

 

Edited 2 hours ago by bills742

[Southern McButterpants]

i so want a victory on Sunday against the hated Pat*s. That said, i am 1000% OK with the Pat*s winning the division and playing the 1st place schedule next year.  Lotsa luck with that 😜

[Billsfanatic8989]

Hopefully everyone is healthy 

[DrDawkinstein]

15 minutes ago, PaattMaann said:

 

I find it funny that you think individuals making plays doesn't count for the defense, when those players play....defense lol 

 

You should watch more football around the league. 

 

I am not saying this defense is good. Just saying its been good enough to keep us in games. We should have beaten the Texans with a competent offensive performance, but Brady had his head in his butt (as did Josh). This defense has no pass rush and its a problem. 

 

My point is, no coach drew up or designed the play that lead to JP's batted ball and AJ's int.

 

I'll give credit to the CB blitz call that put Benford in the position to make that play. That was one.

 

But it has been few and far between that our D scheme or D playcall "tricks" or forces the offense into a mistake. It relies on individual players going above and beyond and saving the unit.

 

The last one that comes to mind was years ago at the end of the Chiefs regular season game, when Frazier called a play for Von to stunt inside and Milano to delay rush, and it tricked Mahomes into flushing right and throwing the ball right to Milano.

 

Ed Oliver punching the ball out on Derrick Henry was an Ed Oliver play, not a scheme play. Etc.

 

 

2 minutes ago, bills742 said:

 

 

I hope all is well with the Knox family. 

[KCNC]

11 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

My point is, no coach drew up or designed the play that lead to JP's batted ball and AJ's int.

 

I'll give credit to the CB blitz call that put Benford in the position to make that play. That was one.

 

But it has been few and far between that our D scheme or D playcall "tricks" or forces the offense into a mistake. It relies on individual players going above and beyond and saving the unit.

 

The last one that comes to mind was years ago at the end of the Chiefs regular season game, when Frazier called a play for Von to stunt inside and Milano to delay rush, and it tricked Mahomes into flushing right and throwing the ball right to Milano.

 

Ed Oliver punching the ball out on Derrick Henry was an Ed Oliver play, not a scheme play. Etc.

 

 

 

I hope all is well with the Knox family. 

I think his wife is having that baby today or soon

[dorquemada]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

The excuse list for this McDefense is longer than the actual Defensive play sheet.

 

To be fair, the Defensive play sheet consists of:

 

Defensive Secondary: must play a minimum of 15 yards off the line, and keep that distance between yourselves and any route runners

 

Defensive line:  lol no idea run around in circles I guess?

[Success]

I was happy to see us blitzing more last week (or at least it seemed like it).  It had somewhat mixed results, but that was largely due to how good Burrow is, and how good his receivers are.

 

Maye has a slower release.  I'd love to see us blitz as much if not more this Sunday.  It will be more effective.

 

[appoo]

57 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Right, that's what I said. But that was it. When push came to shove, we let them march right down the field, unless individual players can take it upon themselves to make ridiculous plays.

 

The last month?!? They showed up against an ailing Steelers team. Other than that, they gave up over 30 points to the Bucs, and let Davis frickin Mills own them all day against the Texans, and then needed more Josh magic against the Bengals.

 

Defense is a concern. There is no denying it.

That’s what it’s gonna be unless the Bills can manufacture a blue chip pass rusher in the next week. 
 

Beane and McDermott came up with a plan to come after offenses with waves of pressure from different spot using really good but not elite pass rushers (since getting a true blue chip is cost prohibitive or requires a top 10 pick). in Ed Oliver, Joey Bosa, and Michael Hoecht. Now Groot is worth his weight in gold as a run defender but just an above average pass rusher. We added some of interesting pieces in the rookie class for depth as well.  The problem? Oliver and Hoecht are gone for the season. Bosa was having a pretty good year and now injured. Heck the bills even lost Landon Jackson for the season. They have rookie TJ Sanders - a DT - playing freakin EDGE.

Around week 7, when I saw what Hoecht could be, I thought the ceiling for the defense was a top 5 defense.  
 

Just a real shame how injuries truly knifed this defense 

Edited 1 hour ago by appoo

[boyst]

1 hour ago, SCBills said:

I think we’ll win, and maybe even comfortably, but to this point - it’s a bit hilarious that we just excuse the Defense allowing themselves to be dominated in first halves because “we need to get a look at what the opponent is doing”

 

No other playoff teams have this issue and it puts insane stress on the offense right out the gate. 
 

 

My only guess at trying to excuse this is that there's inexperience with Babich in his resume to account for what to expect on these scripted plays in the beginning and relying on a good scouting report. If the case is simply that he does not have good information to bases defensive scheme on there could be reason if you would come out on prepared. 

 

Of course with McDermott being the head coach and specializing in defense I don't give much weight to that because I can't imagine McDermott just letting him go solo on this 

 

Sure when it comes down to our loss in the playoffs and the defense once again letting us down make tournament will put soul blame on him. 

 

But the reality is that there's a very small excuse window for why we come out so poor

[appoo]

2 minutes ago, Success said:

I was happy to see us blitzing more last week (or at least it seemed like it).  It had somewhat mixed results, but that was largely due to how good Burrow is, and how good his receivers are.

 

Maye has a slower release.  I'd love to see us blitz as much if not more this Sunday.  It will be more effective.

 

Blitzing Burrow and those WRs is basically begging to be blown out. You gotta be real picky when doing that 

This is the NFL. You’re gonna have a good defense unless you have a good pass rush.

The Bills simply do not have the horses to have a good pass rush. There’s no way to get around that 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

1 hour ago, Gregg said:

 

This defense really is a concern. When the Bills finally got a two-score lead with just 3 minutes to go I thought I could relax. The Bengals only had one timeout at the time and the 2-minute warning. I am thinking up by 11 we got the win. But then the Bengals go right down the field in like 50 seconds and it's back to nervous time again. It a took a great play by Allen on the 3rd and 15 to finally win it. You can never relax with this Bills defense. I don't trust them in a big spot at all.

I do think some of that final bengals drive was bishop cramping but he could certainly cramp up down the stretch again lol 

[Allen2Moulds]

Man!   I really hope Bosa and Brown can go this week.  

 

Let me start by saying that I'm not a doctor, but I read this somewhere a long time ago about muscle strains.  

 

Generally speaking, a minor hammy pull takes about 7-10 days to recover, and the more severe variety takes about 4 weeks.  That's why we see most guys miss 1 game or 3-4 games, depending on the schedule.  For Kincaid it was the more severe one, and he missed 3 games, gave him about 4 weeks to recover.

 

That being said, hopefully Joey's is in the 7–10-day variety, although McDermott previously categorized him as week to week, which made me think he would be out 3-4 games. 

I'm hoping that him already being a limited participant, means it indeed was the minor of the 2.  Fingers crossed.

[Mat68]

Great to see.  If Bosa can go great.  I would not rush him.  Rather have him healthy and be a wildcard team than win the division and he doesn't play in the playoffs.