PP's Rich Hill claims Bills used Brady's protection calls against him

So why didn't all this Bills knowledge and maneuvering work to stop Brady from finding Amendola, and why didn't it work with blitzes?

Why was this only successful when they rushed 3 and (maybe) 4?

Galeb said:

Unless the Pats didn't change their protection calls between games, deciphering calls before the start of a game isn't homework, it's espionage.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Teams are always looking for 'tells' to help them figure out what the other team is doing. It's possible they found something like that on film.

Or, since they know Brady always points out the 'mike' linebacker to help set the protection - maybe they know the center always slides to the 'mike' side on protections, so they aligned themselves to take advantage of that. Who knows?

Anyhow, it's not necessarily anything nefarious, it's stuff I'm hoping we'd be doing when studying other offenses.

Galeb said:

By decipher, he likely means the specific words used to call the protections that game. I'm fairly certain these are changed between every game.

Click to expand...

Yes- that is my understanding as well. They are dozens and dozens of protection schemes to chose from.

Sounds legit to me, I'm even hoping it's the case because then it will likely end up being an anomaly like that 21-0 loss to Miami in 2006.

Sicilian said:

I thought the Rex Ryan call was pretty early in the game?

Click to expand...

I didn't hear it till the second half.

Deus Irae said:

Why was this only successful when they rushed 3 and (maybe) 4?

Click to expand...

Good question. The OL definitely struggled against those schemes where they'd line up 6 or 7 across and only send a few of them, dropping the others into coverage. I don't know why that was harder to handle than when all 6 or 7 actually rushed. Again, it seems like the Bills knew where the OL would be sliding on certain protection calls. I'm assuming they lined up in ways that took advantage of that.

Deus Irae said:

So why didn't all this Bills knowledge and maneuvering work to stop Brady from finding Amendola, and why didn't it work with blitzes?

Why was this only successful when they rushed 3 and (maybe) 4?

Click to expand...

The success of the plays makes it look less effective of course, but I think this is more a possible explanation for how the Bills managed so many free rushers. I can't remember that many guys getting through untouched in one game in a long time. It may be as simple as lack of continuity and rust on that interior line though, rather than any Cold War level code breaking.

PrairiePat said:

Good question. The OL definitely struggled against those schemes where they'd line up 6 or 7 across and only send a few of them, dropping the others into coverage. I don't know why that was harder to handle than when all 6 or 7 actually rushed. Again, it seems like the Bills knew where the OL would be sliding on certain protection calls. I'm assuming they lined up in ways that took advantage of that.

Click to expand...

Brady was pissed at his OL all game, and he openly stated that the problem was execution, which was essentially throwing that OL under the bus. I doubt that translates to "I'm angry with the Bills for knowing our protection scheme".

PrairiePat said:

Good question. The OL definitely struggled against those schemes where they'd line up 6 or 7 across and only send a few of them, dropping the others into coverage. I don't know why that was harder to handle than when all 6 or 7 actually rushed. Again, it seems like the Bills knew where the OL would be sliding on certain protection calls. I'm assuming they lined up in ways that took advantage of that.

Click to expand...

Did the Bill's blitzes happen later, once the Pats started changing up the protection verbiage?

Galeb said:

I didn't hear it till the second half.

Click to expand...

I heard it right away and also heard Gruden say that it would be a run to the right.

Sicilian said:

It may be as simple as lack of continuity and rust on that interior line though, rather than any Cold War level code breaking.

Click to expand...

I don't think so. The line was fine all year until guys started dropping off. Now they get two tackles back and suddenly lack continuity becomes a problem?

Sicilian said:

I thought the Rex Ryan call was pretty early in the game?

Click to expand...

I thought it was the 1st drive, if not the very 1st play.

1960Pats said:

I heard it right away and also heard Gruden say that it would be a run to the right.

Click to expand...

Whenever it was, I remember it being really ineffective. Maybe that was the troll all along. Name an audible "Rex Ryan", a loud and boisterous call that results in an uninspired and unproductive run

So you think the OL all had bad games on the same night? Free rushers came from just about every gap. I specifically remember the safety coming straight up the middle on that Amendola completion - they lined up 2 over the center, the center took 1, but the left guard shifted away from the center to block another gap. Not sure if the call was wrong there, the LG was wrong, or the center took the wrong guy. But it happened so consistently it seemd more like good scheme than poor execution play after play.

Danger Zone said:

Wonder if that's where the Rex Ryan tag came from, from having to rename their plays on the fly.

Click to expand...

Should have named it "GOODELL SCUMBAG SCUMBAG HEY SCUMBAG."

PrairiePat said:

So you think the OL all had bad games on the same night? Free rushers came from just about every gap. I specifically remember the safety coming straight up the middle on that Amendola completion - they lined up 2 over the center, the center took 1, but the left guard shifted away from the center to block another gap. Not sure if the call was wrong there, the LG was wrong, or the center took the wrong guy. But it happened so consistently it seemd more like good scheme than poor execution play after play.

Click to expand...

You don't pull your center because the other team has your scheme. You pull your center because he's not getting the job done. I know people would like it to be an issue with some mysterious code cracked but, if it was, none of the signs point to that being the problem.

Deus Irae said:

You don't pull your center because the other team has your scheme. You pull your center because he's not getting the job done. I know people would like it to be an issue with some mysterious code cracked but, if it was, none of the signs point to that being the problem.

Click to expand...

Good point, but I don't remember things getting noticeably better when Stork came in.

PrairiePat said:

Sounds like the Bills did their homework on the Pats' line calls. That explains why the protection seemed so awful. Time to step up the level of disguise on those calls I guess.

Click to expand...

ESPN's Chris Mortensen is reporting that a real estate mogul with a bad hairpiece tells him that nowhere in Article 46 of the NFL CBA does it mention homework. Commissioner Roger Goodell will crack down on this practice by taking a 1st-round and 4th-round draft choice, plus $1 million from the Buffalo Bills. Goodell will suspend Bills QB Tyrod Taylor for being generally aware that homework is being done by somebody in Buffalo. Mortensen is reporting that his source plans on building a big wall that puts Rex Ryan and those cheating Buffalo Bills on the outside.

PrairiePat said:

So you think the OL all had bad games on the same night? Free rushers came from just about every gap. I specifically remember the safety coming straight up the middle on that Amendola completion - they lined up 2 over the center, the center took 1, but the left guard shifted away from the center to block another gap. Not sure if the call was wrong there, the LG was wrong, or the center took the wrong guy. But it happened so consistently it seemd more like good scheme than poor execution play after play.

Click to expand...

Even after the Pats adjusted the calls, Pats O Linemen were losing 1 on 1 battles. There was poor execution all over the Pats OL.

PrairiePat said:

Good point, but I don't remember things getting noticeably better when Stork came in.

Click to expand...

Why would you have expected that, if the problems were all over the place? Stork coming in limited Dareus' effectiveness, but Cannon (for example) was still struggling mightily.*




*Note: I'm not saying that it's not possible that Buffalo made some moves of the nature being discussed. I'm saying that all indications are that any such happening was not the main problem with the OL.