Buffalo Bills: 2020-2021

[ubkev]

27 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Well speaking of this upcoming game, the Colts seem to have a better run defense than passing defense. With Brown back, I think that really helps the Bills but only if they can pass protect well. 

Add in Kenny Stills as well. If I'm remembering right, he can also tear the roof off of a defense.

Edited January 5, 2021 by ubkev

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

If the Bills would have run the ball more in the SB game with the Giants the Bills would now have a SB trophy in their trophy case. In that SB game the Giants invited the Bills and Jim Kelly to run the ball with their three and two line fronts. Kelly was determined to throw it into an 8 man coverage. In that game we were out coached and strategized by Belichick who was the DC. 

That squares with my understanding. I'd come to conclude (edit: based on what I read, heard), after time, that the outcome of that game was (is) a strike against the legacies of Kelly and Marchibroda. There was something I read or heard as well that Belichick had this notion that the K-Gun would simply be unable to resist throwing the ball, which turned out to be true.

26 minutes ago, ubkev said:

Add in Kenny Stills as well. If I'm remembering right, he can also tear the roof off of a defense.

That seems like the plan. I am guessing that Brown is still not quite right, and that his roof-tearing gear is compromised for now. Putting Stills out there from time to time and just sending him on go-routes could serve real purpose.

Edited January 5, 2021 by That Aud Smell

[JujuFish]

24 minutes ago, ubkev said:

Add in Kenny Stills as well. If I'm remembering right, he can also tear the roof off of a defense.

He has 144 yards in 10 games this year. I hope he can do well here, but I am not expecting much.

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, JujuFish said:

He has 144 yards in 10 games this year. I hope he can do well here, but I am not expecting much.

I think he is slot insurance for Beasley at this point. Gabe Davis has clearly been the over the top person opposite Diggs. Also MacKenzie with his speed and be an over the top guy when needed. 

[WildCard]

Browns going to miss their HC and pro-bowl LG from COVID tests today.

The NFL is ***** dumb for not having some sort of playoff bubble.

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Browns going to miss their HC and pro-bowl LG from COVID tests today.

The NFL is ***** dumb for not having some sort of playoff bubble.

More evidence Buffalo should have been allowed to pick their opponent. We are playing one of the best teams left instead of the Browns. 

[JujuFish]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

More evidence Buffalo should have been allowed to pick their opponent. We are playing one of the best teams left instead of the Browns. 

You know, the home teams, in order of their seeding, being able to pick their opponents sure would be interesting.  Might get some really unexpected matches.

[GASabresIUFAN]

30 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I think he is slot insurance for Beasley at this point. Gabe Davis has clearly been the over the top person opposite Diggs. Also MacKenzie with his speed and be an over the top guy when needed. 

Brown is the deep threat, and MacKenzie is the slot guy if Beasley can't go as he was against the Fish. Stills and another receiver were added to the practice squad.  Stills only plays if Brown can't go.

As to the Colts.  They are ok, but if we can't handle their mediocre offense, we don't deserve to take the next step.  Their D is good, on the same level as Miami.  Miami, even after our 56 pts, is the 6th rated D at 21.1 Pts per game.  Indy is 8th at 22.6.  

Edited January 5, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Brown is the deep threat, and MacKenzie is the slot guy if Beasley can't go as he was against the Fish.

I get the impression Isiah learned a lot from Beasley. His routes are far better than they ever were at Georgia. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I get the impression Isiah learned a lot from Beasley. His routes are far better than they ever were at Georgia. 

He said that himself.  https://www.buffalobills.com/video/isaiah-mckenzie-next-man-up.  He has been working with Roberts and Beasley to get better.  It showed.  He loves the Bills and wants to make a career here.  He realized with Davis and Diggs coming in his spot was again in jeopardy and decided to become an everything guy to keep his job and secure his position long-term.  So far so good.  McDermott said he is one of the guys who keeps the locker-room fun and upbeat.

[That Aud Smell]

McKenzie as a WR4 being a valuable, dangerous skill (gadget) player is just the sort of thing that championship teams tend to have.

[nfreeman]

 

27 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Brown is the deep threat, and MacKenzie is the slot guy if Beasley can't go as he was against the Fish. Stills and another receiver were added to the practice squad.  Stills only plays if Brown can't go.

As to the Colts.  They are ok, but if we can't handle their mediocre offense, we don't deserve to take the next step.  Their D is good, on the same level as Miami.  Miami, even after our 56 pts, is the 6th rated D at 21.1 Pts per game.  Indy is 8th at 22.6.  

Yes indeedly.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Indy D analysis from Sportsnaut.com

Quote

 

Indianapolis Colts defensive stats (Week 1-10): 198.7 pass yards/game, 62.2% completion rate, 78.9 quarterback rating, 11/11 TD/INT ratio, 21 sacks, 91.8 rush yards/game, 3.5 yards per carry.

Indianapolis Colts defensive stats (Week 11-16): 308 pass yards/game, 70.5% completion rate, 103.8 quarterback rating, 11/4 TD/INT ratio, 13 sacks, 94.8 rush yards/game, 4.1 yards per carry.

 

I like our chances.

[LGR4GM]

30 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

He said that himself.  https://www.buffalobills.com/video/isaiah-mckenzie-next-man-up.  He has been working with Roberts and Beasley to get better.  It showed.  He loves the Bills and wants to make a career here.  He realized with Davis and Diggs coming in his spot was again in jeopardy and decided to become an everything guy to keep his job and secure his position long-term.  So far so good.  McDermott said he is one of the guys who keeps the locker-room fun and upbeat.

Well right now he is gadget guy, slot guy, return guy, speed guy. 

Just now, GASabresIUFAN said:

Indy D analysis from Sportsnaut.com

I like our chances.

Why did their D suddenly get bad?

[GASabresIUFAN]

3 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Well right now he is gadget guy, slot guy, return guy, speed guy. 

Why did their D suddenly get bad?

OC’s figured out how to take advantage of their mediocre secondary.

They are very similar to the Fish on D.  

Taylor is their biggest threat.  Fraser may have to play a 4-3 early to stop Taylor early, but I just don’t see a team with a mediocre secondary stopping the Bills for any length of time.  If they can’t stop us, then they have to pass to stay in the game.  I’ll take an Allen vs Rivers dual.

Edited January 5, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[Taro T]

7 hours ago, JohnC said:

If the Bills would have run the ball more in the SB game with the Giants the Bills would now have a SB trophy in their trophy case. In that SB game the Giants invited the Bills and Jim Kelly to run the ball with their three and two line fronts. Kelly was determined to throw it into an 8 man coverage. In that game we were out coached and strategized by Belichick who was the DC. 

 

5 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

That squares with my understanding. I'd come to conclude (edit: based on what I read, heard), after time, that the outcome of that game was (is) a strike against the legacies of Kelly and Marchibroda. There was something I read or heard as well that Belichick had this notion that the K-Gun would simply be unable to resist throwing the ball, which turned out to be true.

That seems like the plan. I am guessing that Brown is still not quite right, and that his roof-tearing gear is compromised for now. Putting Stills out there from time to time and just sending him on go-routes could serve real purpose.

When in the K-Gun, except for 4th down and a few handful of other particular plays, Kelly called the play not the coaches.  Bellicheat bet the farm that he couldn't stop calling his own # & he didn't.  That 37 yard TD to start the 4th is what they should've been doing far more often until the Jints started playing against the run.  THEN let Reed & Lofton put the final daggers in.

[JohnC]

32 minutes ago, Taro T said:

 

When in the K-Gun, except for 4th down and a few handful of other particular plays, Kelly called the play not the coaches.  Bellicheat bet the farm that he couldn't stop calling his own # & he didn't.  That 37 yard TD to start the 4th is what they should've been doing far more often until the Jints started playing against the run.  THEN let Reed & Lofton put the final daggers in.

Levy was the HC. He should have acted like a HC instead of an impotent delegator who cluelessly stood on the sidelines as this debacle was occurring. You don't have to be a brilliant HC to know in advance that Belichick, who was considered to be one of the best defensive tacticians in the game, was going to design a defense to take away from the offense what they usually do. From a failed strategy standpoint in this game I blame the HC and also our headstrong HOF qb who got caught up trying to shine on the big stage. 

[Taro T]

5 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Levy was the HC. He should have acted like a HC instead of an impotent delegator who cluelessly stood on the sidelines as this debacle was occurring. You don't have to be a brilliant HC to know in advance that Belichick, who was considered to be one of the best defensive tacticians in the game, was going to design a defense to take away from the offense what they usually do. From a failed strategy standpoint in this game I blame the HC and also our headstrong HOF qb who got caught up trying to shine on the big stage. 

How do you propose running a quick paced No Huddle offense in an era prior to helmet headsets if the HC or OC is calling the plays?

Absolutely, Levy & Marchibroda should've been strongly encouraging Kelly to call more running plays that game, but if they're calling in the plays the Bills aren't running the K-Gun.

[JohnC]

2 minutes ago, Taro T said:

How do you propose running a quick paced No Huddle offense in an era prior to helmet headsets if the HC or OC is calling the plays?

Absolutely, Levy & Marchibroda should've been strongly encouraging Kelly to call more running plays that game, but if they're calling in the plays the Bills aren't running the K-Gun.

You don't need to call in plays from the sidelines. You call a timeout and tell the headstrong qb that when the defense has three or even two players on the line you run the ball and gobble up yardage until the defense adjusts. In the K-gun you are not mandated to throw the ball when there are 8 players in the backside. In the K-gun the qb reads the defense and then adjusts to a more suitable play. Continuous forcing the ball without adjusting was stupid. When belatedly the qb called running plays for Thurman and Davis the offense was rolling. But it was too late. This was freaking stupid!

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, JohnC said:

You don't need to call in plays from the sidelines. You call a timeout and tell the headstrong qb that when the defense has three or even two players on the line you run the ball and gobble up yardage until the defense adjusts. In the K-gun you are not mandated to throw the ball when there are 8 players in the backside. In the K-gun the qb reads the defense and then adjusts to a more suitable play. Continuous forcing the ball without adjusting was stupid. When belatedly the qb called running plays for Thurman and Davis the offense was rolling. But it was too late. This was freaking stupid!

Am not arguing that Kelly should've called running plays more frequently & earlier in the game.  Have actually lamented his NOT calling them (specifically after the safety, but throughout as well) several times in this thread alone).

Had simply pointed out earlier that Kelly called most all the plays and that there really wasn't much of a chance of taking the play calling away from Kelly without him losing the swagger that was a big part of getting to the Superbowl.

And, IMHO calling a timeout to speak to him about it would've been a huge win for Bellycheat's boys in the morale department - they wouldn't even have needed to fake an injury for once that game. 😉

Absolutely, Levy should've coached better - he was outcoached 4 times in the big game.  And the corrections they made in XXVI had Kelly totally overthinking things until his concussion (cutting Martin Mayhew ALMOST worked out in the end - if he gives Kelly a concussion on the 2nd series of the game the Bills win that one going away regardless of having Markbright's crew reffing & Rypien having sold his soul to play extraordinarily well 1 friggin' season & Dickerson being Dickerson & all the rest) finally started to bring them back.  But the XXV playcalling was on Jimbo by design.

[JohnC]

1 minute ago, Taro T said:

Am not arguing that Kelly should've called running plays more frequently & earlier in the game.  Have actually lamented his NOT calling them (specifically after the safety, but throughout as well) several times in this thread alone).

Had simply pointed out earlier that Kelly called most all the plays and that there really wasn't much of a chance of taking the play calling away from Kelly without him losing the swagger that was a big part of getting to the Superbowl.

And, IMHO calling a timeout to speak to him about it would've been a huge win for Bellycheat's boys in the morale department - they wouldn't even have needed to fake an injury for once that game. 😉

Absolutely, Levy should've coached better - he was outcoached 4 times in the big game.  And the corrections they made in XXVI had Kelly totally overthinking things until his concussion (cutting Martin Mayhew ALMOST worked out in the end - if he gives Kelly a concussion on the 2nd series of the game the Bills win that one going away regardless of having Markbright's crew reffing & Rypien having sold his soul to play extraordinarily well 1 friggin' season & Dickerson being Dickerson & all the rest) finally started to bring them back.  But the XXV playcalling was on Jimbo by design.

Whether a time out was needed to be called or after one of the early three and out series when Kelly was on the sidelines either the HC or the OC should have told Kelly that he needed to adjust to running plays when the defense was in a two or three man front. There was no need to take the play calling away from Kelly. Coaches and players talk during the game. In the K-Gun the qb reads the defense and then calls the play. If he was too stubborn to make the right adjustment then the coaches should have intervened. There were plays at the qb's disposal that not only would have worked against the unusual defensive alignment but actually did work at the end of the game. But the adjustment was made too late. 

 

You and I are actually agreeing on what should have been done. When the adjustment was done it was too late. The HC or the OC should have made the adjustment and made the headstrong QB adjust the offense according to what the defense dictated. After the first few series it was obvious that a change in strategy needed to be made. It wasn't. A game that should have been won wasn't. A SB that should have been won wasn't. That's a dam shame.   

[spndnchz]

 

Niiiiccee

[GASabresIUFAN]

HOF finalists

Jared Allen, defensive end – 2004-07 Kansas City Chiefs, 2008-13 Minnesota Vikings, 2014-15 Chicago Bears, 2015 Carolina Panthers

Ronde Barber, cornerback/safety – 1997-2012 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tony Boselli, tackle – 1995-2001 Jacksonville Jaguars, 2002 Houston Texans (injured reserve)

LeRoy Butler, safety – 1990-2001 Green Bay Packers

Alan Faneca, guard – 1998-2007 Pittsburgh Steelers, 2008-09 New York Jets, 2010 Arizona Cardinals

Torry Holt, wide receiver – 1999-2008 St. Louis Rams, 2009 Jacksonville Jaguars

Calvin Johnson, wide receiver – 2007-15 Detroit Lions

John Lynch, safety – 1993-2003 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2004-07 Denver Broncos

Peyton Manning, quarterback – 1998-2011 Indianapolis Colts, 2012-15 Denver Broncos

Clay Matthews Jr., linebacker – 1978-93 Cleveland Browns, 1994-96 Atlanta Falcons

Sam Mills, linebacker – 1986-94 New Orleans Saints, 1995-97 Carolina Panthers

Richard Seymour, defensive end/defensive tackle – 2001-08 New England Patriots, 2009-12 Oakland Raiders

Zach Thomas, linebacker – 1996-2007 Miami Dolphins, 2008 Dallas Cowboys

Reggie Wayne, wide receiver – 2001-14 Indianapolis Colts

Charles Woodson, cornerback/safety – 1998-2005, 2013-15 Oakland Raiders; 2006-12 Green Bay Packers

 

I think there are 5 guys who are going to be selected in Thomas, Calvin Johnson, Woodson, Manning and Boselli.  Others?  

Edited January 6, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[Taro T]

10 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

HOF finalists

Jared Allen, defensive end – 2004-07 Kansas City Chiefs, 2008-13 Minnesota Vikings, 2014-15 Chicago Bears, 2015 Carolina Panthers

Ronde Barber, cornerback/safety – 1997-2012 Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tony Boselli, tackle – 1995-2001 Jacksonville Jaguars, 2002 Houston Texans (injured reserve)

LeRoy Butler, safety – 1990-2001 Green Bay Packers

Alan Faneca, guard – 1998-2007 Pittsburgh Steelers, 2008-09 New York Jets, 2010 Arizona Cardinals

Torry Holt, wide receiver – 1999-2008 St. Louis Rams, 2009 Jacksonville Jaguars

Calvin Johnson, wide receiver – 2007-15 Detroit Lions

John Lynch, safety – 1993-2003 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2004-07 Denver Broncos

Peyton Manning, quarterback – 1998-2011 Indianapolis Colts, 2012-15 Denver Broncos

Clay Matthews Jr., linebacker – 1978-93 Cleveland Browns, 1994-96 Atlanta Falcons

Sam Mills, linebacker – 1986-94 New Orleans Saints, 1995-97 Carolina Panthers

Richard Seymour, defensive end/defensive tackle – 2001-08 New England Patriots, 2009-12 Oakland Raiders

Zach Thomas, linebacker – 1996-2007 Miami Dolphins, 2008 Dallas Cowboys

Reggie Wayne, wide receiver – 2001-14 Indianapolis Colts

Charles Woodson, cornerback/safety – 1998-2005, 2013-15 Oakland Raiders; 2006-12 Green Bay Packers

 

I think there are 5 guys who are going to be selected in Thomas, Calvin Johnson, Woodson, Manning and Boselli.  Others?  

Not saying they will get selected, but 6 that should be in are Manning, Mills, Faneca, Allen, Holt, & Matthews.  Wonder if they'd give the Colts 2 in 1 year and let Wayne go in with Manning?

Mills was the heart & soul of a very good Saints D.  Too bad for him the O always struggled back then.

[GASabresIUFAN]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/letter-bills-mafia-pt-ii-140120658.html

Dion Dawkin's letter to the Bills fans.  A must read.