Buffalo Bills 2021 Thread

[JeremyCuse]

Bills are really good. But 4-2...feels like the anointing may be a bit premature.

Only a few national media members have anointed them, trust me the fanbase knows better.

 

[NineOneSeven]

I missed second half bc of a flight. What a sick ending. Hard to believe a sneak in that spot isn’t successful. Brutal loss, against a meh team.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Man on that replay they didn’t even have a stacked box.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

I missed second half bc of a flight. What a sick ending. Hard to believe a sneak in that spot isn’t successful. Brutal loss, against a meh team.

Hard to believe the sneak lost yardage … and it wasn’t fumbled . I don’t think I’ve ever seen a non fumbled snap on a sneak where it was so obvious they didn’t make it… EVER

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Hard to believe the sneak lost yardage … and it wasn’t fumbled . I don’t think I’ve ever seen a non fumbled snap on a sneak where it was so obvious they didn’t make it… EVER

when you think about it, from the penetration by the Titans line the oline getting blown up and josh slipping a bit it really was one of the worst non fumbled sneaks ever. The execution was beyond horrendous.

I liked the call to go for it, the call was fine the bills just executed it so poorly. If you can’t get a 1/2 yard that’s on the 11 guys out there.

the kick off return hold call was actually fine, does anyone not see the Titans scoring again with 2.30 on the clock and w 3 time outs?

offense wasn’t great but the defense went into full meltdown zone for 3 quarters. Penalties and no stops, getting torched

 

[Eric15]

Last night obviously sucked, but barring some injury to Allen, I don't see how the Bills don't get home field in the AFC. This is literally as easy as a schedule gets in the NFL -- their next four opponents have a combined five wins on the entire season.

Buffalo will probably be a field goal underdog at Tampa, but should be comfortable favorites in every other game.

Anything less than 13-4 would be a disappointment in my opinion.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Last night obviously sucked, but barring some injury to Allen, I don't see how the Bills don't get home field in the AFC. This is literally as easy as a schedule gets in the NFL -- their next four opponents have a combined five wins on the entire season.

Buffalo will probably be a field goal underdog at Tampa, but should be comfortable favorites in every other game.

Anything less than 13-4 would be a disappointment in my opinion.

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The Ravens will have to drop a few. 13-4 could be tie breaker with them, IMO but still way too early to look that far ahead. Win the AFC east first, this team is a definite playoff team but they have a ton of work to do to be able to get to the Super Bowl. The breakdown on D last night was horrific

 

[Eric15]

The Ravens will have to drop a few.

Ravens schedule is brutal. Literally every team left except for Miami is .500 or higher right now.

 

[BuffOrange]

Incredible that all their tough games (including 2 they've already played) are home. @ Cleveland might be the only underdog spot. But ya it's obv. a lot tougher. I agree we're still the favorite but there's no margin for error now for slip-up in a random game like Indy/NE or something.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Incredible that all their tough games (including 2 they've already played) are home. @ Cleveland might be the only underdog spot. But ya it's obv. a lot tougher. I agree we're still the favorite but there's no margin for error now for slip-up in a random game like Indy/NE or something.

Yeah their schedule is tough but they are pretty damn good and like you said tough games at home. That's the issue. Bills have to be 8-2 going into the New Orleans game which on paper should not be an issue. I hated the match up last night, once Tannehill got the play action going it was an entirely different game. Henry is just such a ridiculous talent as well but he makes Tannehill look a lot better than he actually is quite often. Bills pass rush non existent once again.

Bills have some warts that blow outs have masked over the past 4 weeks

 

[bpo57]

Yeah their schedule is tough but they are pretty damn good and like you said tough games at home. That's the issue. Bills have to be 8-2 going into the New Orleans game which on paper should not be an issue. I hated the match up last night, once Tannehill got the play action going it was an entirely different game. Henry is just such a ridiculous talent as well but he makes Tannehill look a lot better than he actually is quite often. Bills pass rush non existent once again.

Bills have some warts that blow outs have masked over the past 4 weeks

Baltimore had no business winning against Detroit and Indy. Those things tend to even out over the course of a season.

 

[chugg21]

Crap ending but feel like the Bills were the better team on the road against a more desperate team. Titans got a lot of breaks and needed a couple huge ones at the end to hold on and we could have still just kicked a FG to tie if we wanted to.

 

[Newhouser]

Crap ending but feel like the Bills were the better team on the road against a more desperate team. Titans got a lot of breaks and needed a couple huge ones at the end to hold on and we could have still just kicked a FG to tie if we wanted to.

I agree and Titans are a bad matchup for the Bills. Nickel as your base with Milano at LB does not bode well against Henry and the Titans. Ravens and Cleveland are about the only other teams that can take advantage consistently and they don't have Titans WR's.

Buff is going to the Super Bowl unless Allen goes down.

 

[pattycuse]

After a night's sleep and some coffee, a few thoughts on the game last night:

1) Really bitter loss- the good news is it feels like Buffalo was the far better outfit but kept shooting themselves in the foot and/or had some tendencies exposed. Buffalo seems to have three faults that can be exploited: (i) a tendency to rely on the front four to generate pressure and an inability to get late stops against running teams, (ii) on offense, getting away from what is working, and (iii) red zone inefficiency. Tennessee, for whatever reason, was able to take advantage of those- and it still took them getting nearly every break to win. Like I said, bitter loss, but I'm really optimistic about the rest of the season.

2) I was comfortable with the decision to go for it last night and am even more so today. You have a 240 pound QB. I don't love that particular sneak call (why not go over the top?) but I understand it. If we had tossed a fade pattern I would have gone ballistic. Kudos to McDermott for pushing his chips to the middle of the table and going for it. But unfortunately a consistent problem last night manifested on that play- the OL got smoked. Bye week comes at the right time, they really need to take a hard look in the mirror after getting manhandled like that.

3) This isn't a "complain about the refs" comment but more of an honest question. Why in the world was the 3rd down spot not reviewed? I thought I heard that the ruling on the field was a first down but then a call was made to change it. From who? I mean, most of the time that's ruled a first down without question. Can't help but feel like the process got screwed up somehow. Again not a gripe (my gripe is how Tre White and Poyer got held on the first long Henry TD), but more of a question.

Bye week feels like it's coming at the right time. LOT of football left to be played and a really favorable schedule (h/t Eric15 ) is ahead of us. Time to get healthy and self scout. But this is still a great team that has a chance to be really special. Let's hope they respond off the bye week as they did last year.

 

[Orangello]

The NFL is rigged. That 3rd down spot was criminal. How the booth does not initiate a review on that one with the game on the line defies reason. Between the ACC and NFL refs I'm really getting close to turning off the TV.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

The NFL is rigged. That 3rd down spot was criminal. How the booth does not initiate a review on that one with the game on the line defies reason. Between the ACC and NFL refs I'm really getting close to turning off the TV.

It does get a but much to take at times, don't disagree

 

[Orangeman]

I think Allen was short on 3rd down, so don't have a problem with that. The bigger issue is we're talking about Poyer & White getting held on the 76 yard TD run, but we SHOULD be talking about our highly-paid (Milano) and soon-to-be-highly paid (Edmunds) LBs were nowhere to be found on the play.

Yes, I know there was an ever-so-slight cut-back on the run, but they weren't even close. I believe it was a 1st down play, our LBs should be focused on the top RB in the league on that play.

 

[samspann1]

Kickoff return is nullified by a holding penalty, but Henry’s long TD return is all good

 

[longislandcuse]

Lots to unpack in that game.

Tennessee is so bi-polar. Can play great like last night, but lose games to teams they have no business losing to.

Felt Buffalo was the better team all night and just expected us to win.. until we didn’t.

That 4th down sneak was a summary of the whole game.. Right decision, after a great play, in a great drive, ended by horrible execution where Allen slips and one DT blows up the two guys who are absolute albatrosses on our OL right now: Dion Dawkins and Jon Feliciano.

Dawkins, I have hope will improve as the season goes on. He had a rough covid battle and hasn’t been the same since. Feliciano needs to find his way to the bench. He’s a good utility interior backup but that dude is not a starting caliber guard. No idea what the answer is, but the left side of the line is a tire fire against strong DL’s.

Defense was built to stop KC. Probably will be strong against LAC and we know they seem to have the personnel/discipline to contain Lamar/BAL, but they are susceptible to teams like TEN & CLE. Strong, physical run games with QBs competent enough to kill you with PA if our LB’s meltdown and Frazier doesn’t dial up any pressure and/or bring a Safety down to fill voids in the middle of the field.

Allen & the WR’s were fantastic. Diggs & Sanders did their thing and Beasley showed why he’s still a vital piece to this Offense in games where can’t protect Allen and he needs quick hitter safety valves.

Hope Knox heals up quick. Sounds like he may only miss a game or two with the bye coming up.

All in all, Tennessee played great. We played pretty poorly by our standards with some horribly timed penalties, a defense that had no answers and an OL that showed we have one big weakness on offense… one that Allen helps mask, but one that needs to get figured out if we want to win it all.

*I get why we drafted Basham, but it’s really annoying to have both Basham/Epenesa inactive for a game in which we have no pass rush and IOL was neglected in the off-season.

No idea what Hughes/Obada/Butler are bringing to this team. I’d be listening to any offers that come in for them with the response being what corner or guard are you willing to player for player trade to get them?

 

[syrBossHogg]

The NFL is rigged. That 3rd down spot was criminal. How the booth does not initiate a review on that one with the game on the line defies reason. Between the ACC and NFL refs I'm really getting close to turning off the TV.

Thought Allen got the 1st but they did show a replay where he was short. Great effort though

 

[syrBossHogg]

Crap ending but feel like the Bills were the better team on the road against a more desperate team. Titans got a lot of breaks and needed a couple huge ones at the end to hold on and we could have still just kicked a FG to tie if we wanted to.

Pretty much how I feel, played a B/B- game and still could've won at the end. Just gotta fix the red zone offense and get more pressure with the D-line

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Lots to unpack in that game.

Tennessee is so bi-polar. Can play great like last night, but lose games to teams they have no business losing to.

Felt Buffalo was the better team all night and just expected us to win.. until we didn’t.

That 4th down sneak was a summary of the whole game.. Right decision, after a great play, in a great drive, ended by horrible execution where Allen slips and one DT blows up the two guys who are absolute albatrosses on our OL right now: Dion Dawkins and Jon Feliciano.

Dawkins, I have hope will improve as the season goes on. He had a rough covid battle and hasn’t been the same since. Feliciano needs to find his way to the bench. He’s a good utility interior backup but that dude is not a starting caliber guard. No idea what the answer is, but the left side of the line is a tire fire against strong DL’s.

Defense was built to stop KC. Probably will be strong against LAC and we know they seem to have the personnel/discipline to contain Lamar/BAL, but they are susceptible to teams like TEN & CLE. Strong, physical run games with QBs competent enough to kill you with PA if our LB’s meltdown and Frazier doesn’t dial up any pressure and/or bring a Safety down to fill voids in the middle of the field.

Allen & the WR’s were fantastic. Diggs & Sanders did their thing and Beasley showed why he’s still a vital piece to this Offense in games where can’t protect Allen and he needs quick hitter safety valves.

Hope Knox heals up quick. Sounds like he may only miss a game or two with the bye coming up.

All in all, Tennessee played great. We played pretty poorly by our standards with some horribly timed penalties, a defense that had no answers and an OL that showed we have one big weakness on offense… one that Allen helps mask, but one that needs to get figured out if we want to win it all.

*I get why we drafted Basham, but it’s really annoying to have both Basham/Epenesa inactive for a game in which we have no pass rush and IOL was neglected in the off-season.

No idea what Hughes/Obada/Butler are bringing to this team. I’d be listening to any offers that come in for them with the response being what corner or guard are you willing to player for player trade to get them?

Good post agree with everything here. Glad to see Knox won't be season ending, he's been great this year. 8-2 going into thanksgiving.

 

[longislandcuse]

Pretty much how I feel, played a B/B- game and still could've won at the end. Just gotta fix the red zone offense and get more pressure with the D-line

The red zone offense is fixable.

The OL can improve with Brown gaining experience and Dawkins (hopefully) getting himself back in shape over the course of the season.

I don’t know that we can just say “DL needs to get more pressure”. They are what they are, and the McBeane approach so far brings very mixed results with that unit. We have a deep rotation of average-above average linemen, but no real game-wrecker. Some games they wreak havoc, others they seem nonexistent. Tons of investment into this group and the ROI hasn’t really been there tbh.

Best hope for the DL is Oliver is a late bloomer (doubtful) or Rousseau becomes a game changer. No clue why our last two second round picks are inactive. Frustrating…

 

[syrBossHogg]

The red zone offense is fixable.

The OL can improve with Brown gaining experience and Dawkins (hopefully) getting himself back in shape over the course of the season.

I don’t know that we can just say “DL needs to get more pressure”. They are what they are, and the McBeane approach so far brings very mixed results with that unit. We have a deep rotation of average-above average linemen, but no real game-wrecker. Some games they wreak havoc, others they seem nonexistent. Tons of investment into this group and the ROI hasn’t really been there tbh.

Best hope for the DL is Oliver is a late bloomer (doubtful) or Rousseau becomes a game changer. No clue why our last two second round picks are inactive. Frustrating…

I think yesterday was a down day for the DL, they played better against the Chiefs and in the weeks prior. Not to mention Jerry got held a couple times and they missed a questionable hold on the King Henry TD run.

What I'm concerned about was how close the LBs and S were playing to the LOS in the 2nd half. The Titans shifted to using PA and lit us up. Frazier has gotta adjust better and take away the middle of the field, especially since Julio was out

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Confident that McDermott will make the adjustments to get the D right moving forward but as Longisland posted this defense is probably not the best versus a power rushing/ play action team like Titans/ Browns.