A Few Thoughts about the Bengals Game - Community Edition

[QLBillsFan]

KO returns and coverage have really been a big issue. With the exception of the Davis play. The Bills are not getting to the 25 and are giving up the 30.. probably an 8 yard swing each kick. It doesn’t seem like much but that’s another first down for the O and one less the D can give up. Requires just a 37 yard drive to get a very manageable FG. Part is coverage but Sunday Prater struggled to get it past the 10 maybe averaging the 8 while the Bills caught it about the 3. It’s actually a tough thing to do.. a very precise KO. 

[GunnerBill]

12 hours ago, Marv Levy said:

THIS! I was wondering out loud why the hell he would do this? If it accomplished anything, I really don't know what it was?! Seemed like a gigantic waste of a TO.

 

Did we get an explanation? I can only presume there was some sort of clock issue that the refs wouldn't acknowledge (happens sometimes where it doesn't reset) and so he had to take it to prevent a DOG, but I don't know.

7 hours ago, billsfan714 said:

You mean the Bills defense that let Cincy convert 10 of 12 3rd downs?  Thats a 83 percent conversion rate.   The same point of emphasis they were talking about on hard knocks in August that needed to improve.  Sorry, but my lying eyes tell me its the same old Bills defense and its not good enough to go to a bowl.

 

3rd down has been better since McDermott took over playcalling. It was rough Sunday, agreed. Not sure all of that was scheme though. The Bills have to tackle better. It has been the single strongest theme through our entire season - defensively our tackling has sucked.

[Rochesterfan]

13 hours ago, No_Matter_What said:

Virgil's OPs have become too negative for me, but we've already discussed that so no point in doing it again.

 

I'd just like to add one thought. I already said in post game thread that McDermott gets a lot of heat for being too conservative, but he was as aggressive as needed in this game (apart from kicking the first FG, which was a good decision imo). After that, we went for each 4th down.

 

He especially deserves credit for going for it on 4&goal with 3.09 min to go up 32-28 from 3 yard line. It required some Allen magic (with help from OL and Hawes), but it was bold and good decision anyway.

 

100% - the entire post!

 

 

The fact that after this long and the number of 4th downs and other aggressive calls the Bills make - how people consider him a conservative coach - I just do not get.

 

The fact that year over year he seems to be one of the top coaches in aggressive index and typically at the top of the analytics charts for going for it at the correct time and when to go for TD versus FG versus punt.  
 

People just go back and think he coaches like he did with Tyrod, but he hasn’t in 7-8 years. 

[BobbyC81]

Shout out to Joe Brady for calling a play action pass on the Bills first offensive play.

 

I guess the intern that frequents these fan boards made a convincing argument for it.

[RichStadiumGuy]

3 hours ago, BobbyC81 said:

Shout out to Joe Brady for calling a play action pass on the Bills first offensive play.

 

I guess the intern that frequents these fan boards made a convincing argument for it.

I doubt Brady would need anybody on the inside to suggest doing something other than trying to run through that brick wall in the middle of the field on every first down might be a pleasant switch... especially since every single defensive coordinator in the league takes that play for granted! The Bills are pretty much guaranteed to be facing second and at least eight on practically every series!

 

Another pet peeve here... how about snapping the freaking ball at different times on a regular basis instead of letting the defense know it ain't ever gonna get snapped with more than 3 seconds left on the clock! Try snapping it at around 10 seconds once in a while... besides scaring the hell out of the defense it may even be rewarded by a few offside penalties here and there if the opponent doesn't know exactly when we're gonna be snapping the ball.

[BRH]

21 hours ago, Virgil said:

9 - Gesicki - I'm sorry, but ***** him.  I can understand players getting hyped after a good play, but he seemed to be really relishing in his success out there.  Maybe it's from his Dolphins tenure, but I felt like he was taunting us all game.  His catch on the Bengals last drive was a killer on Cam and he had an overall good game. But again, ***** him.

 

The GIF of Gesicki's TD celebration needs to go up next to Zay Flowers' Queen wave on the permanent bulletin board.

 

Both reminded me of Haywood Jeffires twerking for the camera before the planets shifted in the Comeback, and Bryan Smolinski's smirk after scoring a late goal in that crazy 7-6 Ottawa-Buffalo playoff game (yes, Virginia, the Sabres used to play in those once upon a time).

 

Karma is an absolute b1tch and I love her for that.

[WideNine]

4 hours ago, BobbyC81 said:

Shout out to Joe Brady for calling a play action pass on the Bills first offensive play.

 

I guess the intern that frequents these fan boards made a convincing argument for it.

 

Yeah, that was a great tendency breaker. 1st down for the game in the snow, the Bills will definitely run the ball right?

 

Not-so-much. Instead we suck their defense and rookie LBs into defending the run and Cook and easily get our TE open behind them.

 

We need to continue to use play action and sneaking those TEs out after run blocking motion as a regular thing to keep teams from jumping the snap and run blitzing.

 

We have a lot of TE talent we need to continue to find ways to keep them involved in the passing game.

 

Teams will adjust, but so many times the Bengals simply did not account for our TEs once they started blocking or chipping. Once they released into a route no one went with them.

 

 

 

 

[BuffaloBill]

15 hours ago, WideNine said:

I think that was because Bishop couldn't go and they needed to adjust for a substitution.

It was not a serious injury just dehydration and cramping.



 

Nice summary as usual Virgil.

Marino spotted this in his All-22 and thought I would share.




...and yes, that is Allen getting kicked and apparently the ref is not in position to see that - go figure?


 

Crazy, he is staring right at it

[QLBillsFan]

1 hour ago, BRH said:

 

The GIF of Gesicki's TD celebration needs to go up next to Zay Flowers' Queen wave on the permanent bulletin board.

 

Both reminded me of Haywood Jeffires twerking for the camera before the planets shifted in the Comeback, and Bryan Smolinski's smirk after scoring a late goal in that crazy 7-6 Ottawa-Buffalo playoff game (yes, Virginia, the Sabres used to play in those once upon a time).

 

Karma is an absolute b1tch and I love her for that.

MG is the ultimate it’s all about me TE.. has anyone I mean anyone seen a player carry on for every single catch like this guy??? Bad part is if he played the rest of the NFL like he plays the Bills he would be first ballot HOF. He shreds the Bills. Thankfully we are done with him for another year!

[TPS]

A couple of things to add. First, regarding the WRs, a positive I'd like to point out is Gabe Davis and his ability to get open when Josh scrambles.  He made that key play on 4th down early in the game during the Bills first TD drive. That seems to be an element missing in general among the WRs (Diggs was excellent in this respect).

 

The second thing is I saw some positive plays by both DT rookies. These two are going to be much needed down the stretch.  I'm going to watch the re-play tonight and try to focus on their play. 

[Livinginthepast]

2 hours ago, BRH said:

 

The GIF of Gesicki's TD celebration needs to go up next to Zay Flowers' Queen wave on the permanent bulletin board.

 

Both reminded me of Haywood Jeffires twerking for the camera before the planets shifted in the Comeback, and Bryan Smolinski's smirk after scoring a late goal in that crazy 7-6 Ottawa-Buffalo playoff game (yes, Virginia, the Sabres used to play in those once upon a time).

 

Karma is an absolute b1tch and I love her for that.

Gesicki acted like a real obnoxious ahole in that game. The guy seems to believe that he is some superstar athlete when his freakish height is his only asset. Reminds me of the kid in 7th grade who is 6ft and hit puberty early and his grabbing every rebound in gym class basketball because everyone else is a shrimp but acting like he's Michael Jordan.

[Rich Stadium Original]

It's real easy to criticize the lack of a pass rush, because just rushing 4 wasn't getting it done...but lets net forget the Bills were without three of their expected top 4 rushers on the front,  including Oliver, Bosa and Hoecht.

Until they get a little more healthy,  timely blitzes may be required to provide any pressure...still curious what is going on with Rousseau.

[Virgil]

40 minutes ago, Rich Stadium Original said:

It's real easy to criticize the lack of a pass rush, because just rushing 4 wasn't getting it done...but lets net forget the Bills were without three of their expected top 4 rushers on the front,  including Oliver, Bosa and Hoecht.

Until they get a little more healthy,  timely blitzes may be required to provide any pressure...still curious what is going on with Rousseau.

Here’s my issue with that mentality.  Everyone wants to praise Jones and Walker for how well they are playing, to which I agree.  
 

So, if they are doing their jobs, how is our newly paid Groot not able to get any pressure whatsoever?   AJ is typically hit or miss and doesn’t really get paid.  But Groot has no excuse.  
 

 

[BRH]

19 hours ago, WideNine said:

Marino spotted this in his All-22 and thought I would share.




...and yes, that is Allen getting kicked and apparently the ref is not in position to see that - go figure?


 

 

I have seen this screenshot shared elsewhere but no one is providing any video.  Does anyone know specifically which play this was so I can go look at the A22?

 

Bengals fans are claiming, of course, that the defender "lost his balance in the snow and was falling backward."  I think that's BS but without video it's hard to say with 100% certainty.

 

If it's really a leg whip then the Bills ought to be alerting the league.

[TPS]

1 hour ago, Virgil said:

Here’s my issue with that mentality.  Everyone wants to praise Jones and Walker for how well they are playing, to which I agree.  
 

So, if they are doing their jobs, how is our newly paid Groot not able to get any pressure whatsoever?   AJ is typically hit or miss and doesn’t really get paid.  But Groot has no excuse.  
 

 

I think we can all agree that Groot is not a player who can take over a game, but he's not the bust that some think.  He's a solid player.  People like to compare him to Karlaftis, but the latter plays with a Jones that's a future HoFer that teams double and triple team.  Daquan Jones is a solid player as well, but he's no Chris Jones.

 

We caught a glimpse of what this D was supposed to look like against KC with Hoecht (also the Carolina game). Groot had his best game of the season because KC had to contend with Hoecht and Bosa.  Oliver was injured at that point, but, man, that would have been a Super Bowl caliber pass rush.

[quincy]

We really did need that Phillips/Epenesa 2nd interception of Burrow, it felt like a bonus at the time but hindsight shows how critical it was to the eventual win. 

[WideNine]

2 hours ago, BRH said:

 

I have seen this screenshot shared elsewhere but no one is providing any video.  Does anyone know specifically which play this was so I can go look at the A22?

 

Bengals fans are claiming, of course, that the defender "lost his balance in the snow and was falling backward."  I think that's BS but without video it's hard to say with 100% certainty.

 

If it's really a leg whip then the Bills ought to be alerting the league.

I did make a clip of that, but our attach size is too small to support it.

If you do have access to the All-22 I think it should be around the 25:50 mark and no way was that a falling backward thing. Also, on that same play Allen gets wrapped up by their DT who does that rodeo thing of wrapping the leg and swinging the QB and Allen's head bounces off the turf.

To mirror Joe's comments, "you don't like to see that happen with our star QB." 

Wondering if the NFL swung from over-protecting QBs the past few years to turning a blind eye to a lot of things they should call.