Bills vs. Patriots breakdown/analysis

[Kasmir]

Is it just me or does Cunningham seem to get himself involved in a lot of important plays, even if doesn't count on the stat sheet?

When I reviewed Florida's games last year, one thing that stood out was how consistently Cunningham was getting pressure. In the games I saw, he was probably getting more pressures than the rest of the team combined (Carlos Dunlap is 3rd string at the Bengals, BTW).

He almost always relied on his excellent first step and size and speed to run around the OT. I'm glad to see him developing some inside moves with the Patriots (he got good pressure on Sanchez that way). On the play in question, he at first seems startled and hesitates when the OT leaves him to the back, then accelerates and demolishes the back and arrives at Fitzpatrick just as he is releasing the ball.

However he screwed up run contains horribly twice on Sunday, and was benched for TBC for a while after the second incident. The good news is that they were both technique errors so are hopefully correctable. To my eyes, he is visibly more talented than TBC, Ninkovich, or Crable: bigger, faster, stronger. There's still hope for him to develop into something special.

 

[Patspsycho]

Is it just me or does Cunningham seem to get himself involved in a lot of important plays, even if doesn't count on the stat sheet?

That he is. He is making a difference and I expect to see him be the starting ROLB from this point on.

 

[KevinFaulk-33]

That he is. He is making a difference and I expect to see him be the starting ROLB from this point on.

That's a good news!

What about Brace? How is he doing?

 

[Mark.]

Great breakdown. Will be closely watching Cunningham this week.

On the Spiller KR for TD, I present you no less than 2 illegal blocks in the back. Slater hit the turf hard. 'nuff said.

Never like to blame officiating, but thought Buffalo got away with a few things this game.

 

[Leave No Doubt]

So the biggest thing that needs to happen here is for us to have patience and to let them evolve.

:yeahthat: The season's not a sprint it's a marathon. As long as different aspects of their game improve each week things should really come together by November which is exactly what we want.

Meanwhile I don't care if we win by 1 or by 20, just get the W's. We should've creamed the Bengals and we did, the Pats came out smoking which is exactly how they needed to open the season.

The Jets game, while a bummer for sure, was still ony game 2 of the season and was really an absolute must-win for the green (0-2, UGLY). Let's see if they can keep up the pace, you have to be a pretty special team to keep rolling like that all season long and jmo but, special they aren't

The Bills' game- not such a great 1st half but we dominated the second half; the opposite of the week before thank goodness. I'll take that kind of game every week! As long as we're not too far behind I don't necessarily care if we're behind going into the half, as long as we come out in the 2nd half like we did against the Bills I'll be happy. Whatever happens during a game, just don't fall too far behind then close it out.

Was it in 2001 that BB showed the team film of a horserace (Secretariat?)? He made the team view the film and asked them to pick which horse was going to win. The winning horse was the one who started out last or somewhere in the back but came on strong when he had to and closed for the win.

Great thread and analysis Psycho, thanks!

 

[Box_O_Rocks]

The Jets game, while a bummer for sure, was still ony game 2 of the season and was really an absolute must-win for the green (0-2, UGLY). Let's see if they can keep up the pace, you have to be a pretty special team to keep rolling like that all season long and jmo but, special they aren't

Yes, it was the game NY had circled on their calendar, for many reasons, but it was also a meltdown of the offense along classic fault lines and quite irritating as it was veteran leadership who seemed most to blame. I tend to temper my expectations of younger players, but I have expectations for the veterans which are firmly held.

 

[Leave No Doubt]

Yes, it was the game NY had circled on their calendar, for many reasons, but it was also a meltdown of the offense along classic fault lines and quite irritating as it was veteran leadership who seemed most to blame. I tend to temper my expectations of younger players, but I have expectations for the veterans which are firmly held.

Yupyup! I didn't want to get into specifics about that game in this thread but definitely not a good showing by us Game 2 and we've moved on (thank goodness).

 

[skinnydog]

3rd quarter, we came out with empty sets against the Bills but they voided that by playing cover 0 press on the 3rd and 4 that gave them the ball back. On the next offensive series, we came back with the Ace package, using Taylor as the RB, but he was ineffective so we took him out and plugged BJGE in, and never looked back. Just hammering in there and grinding away the clock. A good argument could be made that BJGE was the catalyst that got this offense clicking in the 2nd half because we were really in control by then, just producing clock-eating drives after that point, grinding downfield.

Looking at the interception by Chung, at first it seems like a badly thrown ball by Fitzgerald, but as you look closely, you see his first read is his TE on a seam but he has been double-teamed, and the important thing is that while he is reading his TE, he can see in his peripheral vision that Cunningham is absolutely crushing his flank, so he knows he has no time and just lets fly at his next read. A vet QB would have just thrown it out of bounds, but thanks to the pressure by Cunningham, Fitzgerald panicked.

I thought I heard, maybe from Brady, that when a QB can't step into a throw the ball can sail on you. Looks like Cunningham's pressure in fitzgeralg's face prevented him from really stepping into the throw, the ball sailed and Chug intercepted.

 

[Patspsycho]

That's a good news!

What about Brace? How is he doing?

He's doing pretty good. Consistently driving his man into the backfield. He is starting to command double-teams which is a sign of respect and is exactly what you want a front 3 2-gapper to do.

 

[Patspsycho]

I thought I heard, maybe from Brady, that when a QB can't step into a throw the ball can sail on you. Looks like Cunningham's pressure in fitzgeralg's face prevented him from really stepping into the throw, the ball sailed and Chug intercepted.

He threw into heavy coverage which generally indicates panic.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

He's doing pretty good. Consistently driving his man into the backfield. He is starting to command double-teams which is a sign of respect and is exactly what you want a front 3 2-gapper to do.

Bengals OL was surprised at how well Brace did - at this point I think Brace might start for the rest of the season. He is starting to get double teams and looks to me to be our 2nd best DL. Next year if we have a 1st round rookie + Warrren returns, plus Love, Pryor and Deaderick, it is a nice group for a few years.

Assuming Cunningham and Spikes keep improving, with Mayo and Guyton, this is a nice up and coming group as well. Hope Crable can carve out a niche like pass rushing, and the rest are just JAGs to me (like TBC). One more playmaker here would be nice as well.

I know the D is horrible right now, but there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic.

 

[PowerRunRevival]

Bengals OL was surprised at how well Brace did - at this point I think Brace might start for the rest of the season. He is starting to get double teams and looks to me to be our 2nd best DL. Next year if we have a 1st round rookie + Warrren returns, plus Love, Pryor and Deaderick, it is a nice group for a few years.

Assuming Cunningham and Spikes keep improving, with Mayo and Guyton, this is a nice up and coming group as well. Hope Crable can carve out a niche like pass rushing, and the rest are just JAGs to me (like TBC). One more playmaker here would be nice as well.

I know the D is horrible right now, but there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic.

We get Quinn or Prince with the Raider's pick in the draft that will help our defense a lot.

 

[Patspsycho]

Looking back at the few reps Taylor has gotten, it is clear the injury is on his right foot. He can't really plant and cut off it.

It would not surprise me if it turns out to be turf toe.

 

[JackBauer]

Looking back at the few reps Taylor has gotten, it is clear the injury is on his right foot. He can't really plant and cut off it.

It would not surprise me if it turns out to be turf toe.

God, the guy is next to useless at this point in his career.

 

[pencilneckgeek]

He threw into heavy coverage which generally indicates panic.

Or overconfidence, coupled with a pressure-induced inability to step into the throw which makes it sail to the deep side of the coverage. Fitzgerald wasn't exactly shy about throwing it in there. Moot point, I suppose, but I've been crediting Cunningham with that pick since I recovered from Chung stepping out of the end zone with the ball, so I prefer my interpretation.

 

[Patspsycho]

This is the last entry I'll make because most people are already moving onto the Miami game, but I just want to point out how much BJGE is shooting up the chart.

Not only did he exhibit proper technique in recovering the onside kick that set up the Pats on the 50 yard line, but he demonstrated shrewd football thinking.

2:58 left, 4th Q. 1st and 10, he gets the ball on a bounce out and beats the edge for a big gain but then inexplicably cuts back at the 35 yard line where he gets tackled from behind, even though there was nobody anywhere nearby in front of him, and he could have gained another 8-10 yards. Why?

This is just shrewd. By downing the ball at the 35 yard line, he gives his team two downs before they run out of space to grind out the clock. That is demonstrating great football smarts. Rather than just gaining more yards in which case he would have limited his team to one down only, or if he had run out of bounds, he did the best thing here which was to protect the clock. I am really liking this kid.

 

[emoney_33]

This is the last entry I'll make because most people are already moving onto the Miami game, but I just want to point out how much BJGE is shooting up the chart.

Not only did he exhibit proper technique in recovering the onside kick that set up the Pats on the 50 yard line, but he demonstrated shrewd football thinking.

2:58 left, 4th Q. 1st and 10, he gets the ball on a bounce out and beats the edge for a big gain but then inexplicably cuts back at the 35 yard line where he gets tackled from behind, even though there was nobody anywhere nearby in front of him, and he could have gained another 8-10 yards. Why?

This is just shrewd. By downing the ball at the 35 yard line, he gives his team two downs before they run out of space to grind out the clock. That is demonstrating great football smarts. Rather than just gaining more yards in which case he would have limited his team to one down only, or if he had run out of bounds, he did the best thing here which was to protect the clock. I am really liking this kid.

I'm pleasantly surprised with Law Firm but I gotta call malarkey on this one. Staying away from the sidelines is absolutely smart football there, but there's just no way that gaining less yards there was done intentionally to -help- the team IMHO. If he could have gained another 10 yards and stayed in bounds that would have been "better" for the team, not worse. Obviously he got the first down and stayed in bounds and we were up by 8, so the extra yards are definitely nowhere near extremely important. But let's not overextend our praise for the kid by guessing that he made a calculated decision to get tackled after 22 yards rather than 30.

 

[Patspsycho]

I'm pleasantly surprised with Law Firm but I gotta call malarkey on this one. Staying away from the sidelines is absolutely smart football there, but there's just no way that gaining less yards there was done intentionally to -help- the team IMHO. If he could have gained another 10 yards and stayed in bounds that would have been "better" for the team, not worse. Obviously he got the first down and stayed in bounds and we were up by 8, so the extra yards are definitely nowhere near extremely important. But let's not overextend our praise for the kid by guessing that he made a calculated decision to get tackled after 22 yards rather than 30.

Well, why not? There was too much time on the clock. It wouldn't have paid to get an immediate TD and risk another Spiller coast to coast TD, and then get another onside kick that we may or may not recover.

After all, last year we saw Jones-Drew stop short of the goal line to buy more clock time, so in that regard I don't think it's too much to presume that other RB's would think in terms of conserving clock and downs.

 

[emoney_33]

Well, why not? There was too much time on the clock. It wouldn't have paid to get an immediate TD and risk another Spiller coast to coast TD, and then get another onside kick that we may or may not recover.

After all, last year we saw Jones-Drew stop short of the goal line to buy more clock time, so in that regard I don't think it's too much to presume that other RB's would think in terms of conserving clock and downs.

It just doesn't make sense to me.

1st and 10 at the 35 does not give better odds to win than 1st and 10 at the 29. Not to mention it was a 22 yard run, why not stop at the 40 etc... If he indeed went down at the 35 on purpose in some sort of odd "for the team" way, it was the wrong decision. I think he wanted to avoid the sideline at all costs personally, which is the right idea, but I do not believe that the 35 yard line and limiting yards crossed his mind at all.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

It just doesn't make sense to me.

1st and 10 at the 35 does not give better odds to win than 1st and 10 at the 29. Not to mention it was a 22 yard run, why not stop at the 40 etc... If he indeed went down at the 35 on purpose in some sort of odd "for the team" way, it was the wrong decision. I think he wanted to avoid the sideline at all costs personally, which is the right idea, but I do not believe that the 35 yard line and limiting yards crossed his mind at all.

I love Patspsycho and his analysis but I agree with emoney on this one. I am sure that BJGE avoided the "out of bounds" play - and I too thought that was really smart - but I do not think BJGE was calculating yards and time as he ran. Falling short of the goal-line is one thing - calculating yards and time as you run past the 35 yard line is another - In my humble opinion.