Buffalo Post Game Thoughts (Merged)

[mgteich]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

First, we have an extraordinary amount of positive comments on this game because the Buffalo returner handed us the game. If he hadn't done so, there would be lots more negative comments.

OFFENSE
We looked didn't look very good in the first half. The offense started to get better when we started running plays with six offensive linemen. The offense just couldn't finish much. I liked our running attack.

DEFENSE
We need to find a run defense. Guyton was very good. Banta-Cain had a very solid game. The secondary was extraordinary, but that happens when a team has only two receivers, and you double both. We could have used another playmaker on defense.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Gost missed an easy one. I guess we know who are returners are: Maroney, Faulk, and Welker (no suprises there).

BOTTOM LINE
This type of effort won't win many games. It almost didn't win this one.

 

[Patspsycho]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

The DLine was disapointing, particularly Wilfork. He was getting washed pretty easily. He gave up his leverage very easily, and generally played too high. Even his normally outstanding bullrush was way off tonight. I was also pretty bummed about the lack of creativity in the 43 line play. There was no slanting, no looping, no stunting, no robber blitzes, generally vanilla. I don't think that the Patriots have a pass rusher capable enough of winning the matchups without at least a little schematic help.

Two observations on that:

1) I wonder if the Bills went to a no-huddle with the idea of gassing Wilfork?

2) They did execute at least two stunts on the last Buffalo drive, one of which resulted in a sack, I think. My guess is that BB may have thought that Jauron cautioned his rookie OL to watch out for tricks and so thought to feint with a vanilla approach, and saved his bag of tricks for the last possible minute. I believe that was a consummate chessmaster move. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[bbell31]

Matt Light and a few thoughts on tonight's performance

light is guna be a problem this year for us, you guys can obviously c that(slow feet!)..sooo washed up and kaczur played a lil better than normal but nuthin great...my man guyton wasnt great tonight either..hopefully jerod is only out a few days..secondary looked solid as i expected..brady a bit off and watson definitely redeemed himself at the very end...randy moss, love him but needs to finish blocks on running plays, but did enjoy his passion, and slight leadership..vollmer did well and played soon as i assumed he should..gotta love our safeties, all four of them, they are vicious, smart, hitting dudes...okay enuf of the criticism, heart attack type game but fantastic finish!!

 

[letekro]

Re: matt light and few thoughts on tonights performances

Vollmer engulfs his man. It will be very interesting to see if he can unseat Light. I'm sure Tom has a certain comfort level with Light (except against Schobel), but Vollmer looks like he can handle speed better.

 

[Deus Irae]

Re: matt light and few thoughts on tonights performances

Light was fine. Vollmer is too slow to set up after the snap and needs to work on that before he's anywhere near trustworthy, in my opinion. He'll get Brady killed once teams start exploiting him with blitzes to his side. His size works well against a direct rush, though.

 

[mgteich]

A Few Last Thoughts

1) The offense should be fine after looking aweful for a half.

2) We now know who are #3 and #4 receivers are: Watson and Faulk.

3) I think our OL and running game will be fine.

4) We've found our returners: Maroney, Faulk and Welker (was there any doubt).

5) Our front seven played our best players against a rookie line and weak gimicky offense, and absent a bonehead gift may have lost the game, but perhaps we need to learn to believe that if the defense gives up less than 20, it is all on the offense. That approach can get us to the playoffs but not a Super Bowl win.

6) The offense just didn't score enough when they had the chance and the handed over a pick six.

BOTTOM LINE
A win without a major injury (it seems that Mayo is OK) is a great thing.

 

[SVN]

Re: Game Thoughts

i felt that brady ,even in the preseason game against the skins and early on in this game didnt really step up in the pocket when surrounded by defenders like he usually doesand is his biggest strength and made throws off his backfoot but towards the end with the game on the line he probably mentally forgot about the knee and started steppingup into his throws .the weakened bills pass rush also helped but i hope this is the mental barrier he has broken through finally.

 

[signbabybrady]

Re: matt light and few thoughts on tonights performances

oline had its struggles not sure it was all on Light but light and the guys did a great job on two two minute drives at the end.

Vollmer got some action but really only when they used 6 olinemen and the following play because light usually goes elligible when we use 6 OL and apparently you can't be eligible and than inelligible without leaving for a play.

 

[JoeShmoe]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

My thoughts

Offense
-----------
We have to sort out our run blocking and get a decent run game. If we want to be the powerhouse we all think we can be we need that balance. Get a FB/HB in there to lead block. Maroney looked OK but by the time he had the ball 3 people were through the middle

The OL itself seems to have never recovered from the Giants mauling in the SB

TB looked rusty but thats to be expected. The 4th quarter though was vintage TB and he's only going to get better

Not sure how much we miss McDaniels - some of the play calling wasnt great

We need to find ways to get Galloway the ball or get hime deep - way too many underneath throws tonight and would love it if he could give us a deep threat on one side

Defense
----------
The secondary looked very good. Lot of positives there - esp BW

Wilfork had a bad game. Real bad. Ditto Jarvis Green. Didnt see Brace/Pryor? Mike Wright played well

Dont know quite what to make of the LB's. Hopefully Mayo is OK and will make a difference in a full game

Against a very young OL we had little pressure on Edwards

All said its a new unit and they will improve


Can see BB laying down the law this week before the Jest

 

[bbell31]

Re: matt light and few thoughts on tonights performances

light was barely decent not fine, vollmer is already more skilled, just a matter of time til he learns everything well enuf to start...light will b outa here next year or a backup for us...

 

[pats63]

Re: matt light and few thoughts on tonights performances

Todd Light,what a dis from Gruden....Matt will start for now....Sea Bass is waiting on the wings of Matt Light....GO PATS!!!

 

[primetime]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

I thought his name was Todd Light, at least according to Gruden :banned:

Todd Lyght probably would have played better than Matt Light at left tackle tonight and he was a 200 lb. corner

Though Light always gets abused by Schobel

 

[Deus Irae]

Re: matt light and few thoughts on tonights performances

light was barely decent not fine, vollmer is already more skilled, just a matter of time til he learns everything well enuf to start...light will b outa here next year or a backup for us...

Light was fine. He played against a player who's historically given him trouble, with a QB that was playing tentative football for more than half the game, and the Patriots still only yielded one sack as a team.

 

[bbell31]

Re: matt light and few thoughts on tonights performances

bc we have a good qb who gets the ball out quick and a great short passing game..light was not fine for the finally time, go back and watch every play..lol unbelievable deuche irae

 

[DocE]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

I usually feel like we have similar opinions mayoclinic, but I thought tonight's performance left a lot to worry about.

The 4th and inches to start the game where we were not even close was an ominous sign. Good teams pick that up 90 percent of the time.

Several 3rd down "stops" by the defense actually were drops by Buffalo receivers, we won't have that luxury often.

Failing to execute on offense on many 3rd and shorts and two 4th and shorts was unacceptable.

The 3rd and 15 the defense gave up when we were down by 4 in the 4th quarter had me losing my mind. To allow the Bills to pick up that type of yardage on such a safe play was horrendous.

On the Bills FG drive before that we had them in 3rd and 20 and gave up a ridiculously easy 15 yards or so that not only got them in to FG range, but in to easy field goal range.

The offensive line: This unit really struggled for most of the game. I think the largest problem is that they could not run block. If the Bills had to fear the run at all, maybe the guys wouldn't come off the edge so hard and make Light look so terrible.

The defensive line: The lack of tackles from this position is evident in the boxscore. We've got a bunch of guys who are more run stuffers than pass rushers, but they couldn't consistently corral Fred Jackson. I wasn't surprised that the line lacked a pass rush, but they need to be excellent against the run to make up for it.

I still think this defense lacks speed and the main culprit appears to be James Sanders. It's one of those things where I know my opinion is wrong because BB keeps sending him out there, but I really feel like a faster safety with more range next to Meriweather would do wonders for this defense..

Galloway has to give us more than he gave us tonight...lots of snaps and no production.

You could tell Welker's not 100%, he's got got to get more YAC when he's essentially being covered by a LB. On several situations, he just couldn't quite get that usual separation after making the catch...still a great effort by Wes.

Good things:

We gave up a defensive TD and still won, tough to do

We were brutalized by two horrible personal fouls and still won

Great to see Ben Watson have such a great last quarter, hopefully this experience leads to continued great things from him.

Great to see Tom Brady lead the comeback, I thought he struggled some early, but he was money late

Meriweather looked really good at times an his hit was key late

Moss did a great job, but I'd prefer to not see him take so many hits.

I thought Maroney looked good for what he had to work with, he hasn't played in almost as long as Tom, so him getting some game reps was good too.

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Re: matt light and few thoughts on tonights performances

I'd just like to see them TRY someone else out there vs. guys like Schobel and Taylor (you know, since he's back in our division again....****).

It can't hurt, you know?

I like Light overall but I think he's becoming a liability against speed rushers. Which hey, is understandable but not when your main job is keeping the Man With the Golden Arm upright.

 

[CheerforTom]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

Did anyone else feel like the playcalling was a little vanilla, particularly in the first half? I'm all for going for it on 4th down, but a simple run up the middle doesn't really seem like the high powered offense of the past.

 

[Deus Irae]

Re: matt light and few thoughts on tonights performances

bc we have a good qb who gets the ball out quick and a great short passing game..light was not fine for the finally time, go back and watch every play..lol unbelievable deuche irae

I watched the game. He was "fine for the finally time".

 

[Deus Irae]

Re: matt light and few thoughts on tonights performances

if thats fine to you then u are one low standard s.o.b., thank god your not our coach, you would prolly have light in there until 2020 with kaczur oppooo..haha i have quicker feet than light and thats a fact...dudes washed bro..but i understand and see why he is the current starter for now..we have to change that next year though

I look at the game with my eyes. I see what I see. I didn't think Light fared much worse than the rest of the line. It wasn't just Light letting the run defenders get 2 yards into the backfield when Maroney was met by six defenders back there.

 

[bbell31]

Re: matt light and few thoughts on tonights performances

yaaah, our entire line is overrated, mostly by the pats fans on this site..