Buffalo Post Game Thoughts (Merged)

[Ring 6]

Re: A Few Last Thoughts

I don't hate our defense. Other than the pure homers, I probably like our defense as much as anyone. I think the secondary's improvement is extraordinary. And welcome back Tully! Unfortunatley, Tully and Burgess must make up for the loss of Seymour. Tully was indeed THE playmaker. And a a welcome back to Thomas!

The front seven is short a couple of bodies, unless you think Alexander and Ninkovich are really ready for prime time. Do you disagree? Would the team be worse with the addition of a veteran defensive lineman and veteran ILB? Even Carter and Lenon might help, even though they might get as few reps as Lexander and Ninkovich. Do you disagree?

Unless there is significant improvement in the defense (which I certainly expect), the offense will need to score lots of points, especially in the playoffs. Do you disagree?

Buffalo is a really poor team and it doesn't bode well that three rookies playing tin their first game manhandled our defensive line for so long. Lots of improvement is needed. Do you disagree.

I think that perception and reality rarely meet.
We are bemoaning the fact that we have to 'replace' Seymour. No, we dont. Its not about replacement, its about the players that are here playing as a unit. We dont have Seymour. The job is not to find someone to do exactly what Seymour did and hope its close, the job is to use the 53 we have the best we can.....evidenced by TBC.
We are bemoaning that Nincovitch and Alexander actually get on the field like other NFL players, pretending that we had allstars sitting in the wings waiting for their chances. We have had Matt Chatham, Ted Johnson (at about 30% of his prime) TBC, Chad Brown, Monte Beisel as depth in the past. Somehow we forgot that 5 years ago when we were winning SBs the mantra was everyone on the roster is expected to step up and do their job when called up. And we have 2007-itis where it we don't win 52-0 we are doomed.
I will take the qualities that produce the type of win we got last night over the qualities it takes to win 52-0 every day of the week, because 'I want rings not awards.

I saw one solitary problem with the defense last night. They need to figure out how to defend screen passes. Take those away and it was a dominant effort. (Of course there are those fans that will take a single run of 8 yards or more and say our run D was gashed, but perception vs reality again).

I'm glad you have decided that the Bills, who played better last night than they did at any time last year, are a "really bad team". Thats what I mean by exaggerating. You have no way of knowing. I know they were 5-1 to start last season, and THEY BELIEVE those 3 rookies are an improvement.

Lastly, in what game was our DL manhandled? Their RBs ran 17 times for 65 yards, 3.8 ypc.
They passed 25 times and were sacked 4. That ratio would lead the NFL.
83 of 212 gross passing yards were on screens, and their 2 great WRs caught 5 passes all night combined (almost 20 less than our 2).
Take away the screen passes and allowed less than 200 yards of total offense.
How does any of that happen when a DL is being "manhandled".
I think the truth is that you walked into the game thinking our DL was facing Jr High players that weighed 150lbs and would pick them up and throw them at the QB to get pinball machine sacks, and when all they did was play solid 2 gap discipline and get a good pass rush, you think that means they were bad. (See that me exaggerating)

I dont get why we feel the need to pick out negatives in a win.
Identifying and discussing is one thing, but you seem to be just whining about them.

I say we need to work on defending the screen. Had we done that well (which we usually do, btw) we would have had a strong defensive game.
Also, there were 2 horrible roughing the passer calls that contributed heavily to allowing the 279 yards of total offense they mounted.

 

[Ring 6]

Re: A Few Last Thoughts

I agree. All things considered, the D did a creditable job, especially losing their signal-caller halfway through the first quarter.

And perhaps the guy who is best at defending the one thing they did well against us, the screen pass that resulted in30% of their offense.

 

[Ring 6]

Re: Everyone Relax

I strongly disagree with regard to the quality of our run defense last night.

Why would you strongly disagree that our run was 'solid' when it allowed 17 rushes for 65 yds for a 3.8ypc from RBs?
What were you expecting?

 

[TB146]

Re: My postgame thoughts

Was Slater back last night? If so, I didn't see him. Then again, I wasn't really looking. If he came back that quickly, then that's great news considering how badly his elbow bent in the wrong direction. Hopefully we'll be getting more of that same news with Mayo next week.

Slater was inactive.

 

[Kontradiction]

Re: My postgame thoughts

Slater was inactive.

Bah! Nevermind. I misread your post and thought it said, "it was great to get Slater back too".

 

[SVN]

Re: My postgame thoughts

our front 4 needs to generate a better push. this was a bills o line with 3 players never starting an nfl game and edwards has lot of time mostly.better olines and we will have more problems
oh ..another thing...3rd and long !! can we get off the field on these 3rd and15's ? they scare me more than 3rd and 1s.

 

[Kontradiction]

Re: My postgame thoughts

our front 4 needs to generate a better push. this was a bills o line with 3 players never starting an nfl game and edwards has lot of time mostly.better olines and we will have more problems
oh ..another thing...3rd and long !! can we get off the field on these 3rd and15's ? they scare me more than 3rd and 1s.

I think the screen protection is better with Mayo in as well. Keep in mind that we held both T.O. and Lee Evans under 100 yards with no TDs combined. It was the screen that killed us. With Mayo in, that no doubt would have been a different story. He's so important to this defense and we're going to need him back this week so I hope he's okay.

 

[PatsfanGlo]

Re: My postgame thoughts

Good post. I don't know if anyone else mentioned it already but Faulk has no business doing kick off return. He is way too valuable for crucial 3rd downs and when he was returning kicks, he looked pedestrian compared to Maroney. Was it just me or was Bills kicking towards Faulk throughout the game?

 

[Kontradiction]

Re: Everyone Relax

We have to stop the screen play a lot better than we did. If it wasn't for that, we would have completely shut down the Bills offense despite a sputtering pass rush in the first three quarters last night. However, anytime they needed 10 or more yards, they just went with the screen and it worked to perfection. This was probably due to both relative inexperience on the defense along with the fact that Mayo was injured.

 

[Patspsycho]

Re: My postgame thoughts

our front 4 needs to generate a better push. this was a bills o line with 3 players never starting an nfl game and edwards has lot of time mostly.better olines and we will have more problems
oh ..another thing...3rd and long !! can we get off the field on these 3rd and15's ? they scare me more than 3rd and 1s.

3rd and long is not our big problem by a long stretch.. Buffalo only converted 40% of their third down.

HOWEVER, they were 2 for 2 in the red zone. That is the one stat we should be worried about.

 

[Kontradiction]

Re: My postgame thoughts

Good post. I don't know if anyone else mentioned it already but Faulk has no business doing kick off return. He is way too valuable for crucial 3rd downs and when he was returning kicks, he looked pedestrian compared to Maroney. Was it just me or was Bills kicking towards Faulk throughout the game?

Agreed. I would like to see Edelman out there, assuming he's healthy, with Maroney.

 

[SVN]

Re: My postgame thoughts

I think the screen protection is better with Mayo in as well. Keep in mind that we held both T.O. and Lee Evans under 100 yards with no TDs combined. It was the screen that killed us. With Mayo in, that no doubt would have been a different story. He's so important to this defense and we're going to need him back this week so I hope he's okay.

probably. i also think the pats wanted to avoid the big play and were okay with buffalo running the ball or going underneath. problem was the Redzone D didnt step up and make them kick the FG more often.
against the jets i expected to change this gameplan to focus on the jets run game more and let the corners play their receivers on their own. Covering dustin keller has to be a big factor. TE's always burn the pats over the middle for some yrs now..

 

[Ian]

Re: Thoughts on the Game

Let's also realize that this is much improved Bills team and they simply played well. Look at several of those plays made by their receivers last night which were just great catches. So before everyone panicks and goes off the deep end, let's remember that they didn't exactly play the Lions last night. The days of J.P. Losman, etc, are clearly over in Buffalo.

 

[patchick]

Re: A Few Last Thoughts

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

Of course there was doubt; there still is doubt. The 2 other candidates, Slater and Edelman, were inactive with injuries!

 

[Kontradiction]

Re: My postgame thoughts

probably. i also think the pats wanted to avoid the big play and were okay with buffalo running the ball or going underneath. problem was the Redzone D didnt step up and make them kick the FG more often.
against the jets i expected to change this gameplan to focus on the jets run game more and let the corners play their receivers on their own. Covering dustin keller has to be a big factor. TE's always burn the pats over the middle for some yrs now..

Just remember that Buffalo shouldn't have even been in the Red Zone the last time around without that B.S. roughing the passer call on A.D.

Are there any Bills fans out there lurking that would like to give us their thoughts on the game? If you are, quit lurking and post. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to read it.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Re: Everyone Relax

We have to stop the screen play a lot better than we did. If it wasn't for that, we would have completely shut down the Bills defense despite a sputtering pass rush in the first three quarters last night. However, anytime they needed 10 or more yards, they just went with the screen and it worked to perfection. This was probably due to both relative inexperience on the defense along with the fact that Mayo was injured.

I concur with the screen play. Given it may have been better with Mayo in there but imo he coudn't of covered them all by himself. The coaching has got to be better next wek with that aspect of the game.

 

[Rob0729]

Re: Everyone Relax

Not concerned yet. I like what I saw out of the defense at times. The Pats are actually second in the league in sacks (higher than the Jets) and would have been tied for first if Thomas didn't get a roughing the passer penalty on his sack.

Just for context, the valted Ravens defense allowed the combination of Brody Croyle and Tyler Thigpen have a higher passer rating than Trent Edwards, got fewer sacks, allowed more passing plays over 40 yards and gave up more points than the Pats. They did have a much better run defense than the Pats did, but at this point I don't know if Larry Johnson is actually better than Fred Jackson. Johnson seems to have lost it. Overall the Ravens defense played better, but this shows that judging a defense on the first game can be misleading.

 

[SVN]

Re: My postgame thoughts

Just remember that Buffalo shouldn't have even been in the Red Zone the last time around without that B.S. roughing the passer call on A.D.

Are there any Bills fans out there lurking that would like to give us their thoughts on the game? If you are, quit lurking and post. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to read it.

calls aside...you still need to keep playing . isnt that the pats motto ? so yes the calls were bad but you have to play the RZ as good still and most of all cant have their running back run it in like that. if TO had made a jump ball catch , its another thing..for e.g . at least in my opinion.

 

[PittPatriot]

Re: Everyone Relax

now it's onto mike sanchez and the jets. the jets fans already smell blood in the water and think they will win the division and that's after they beat a really bad houston team.

How is that different than every other year? Has any team shown a more hyperbolic curve to start the year with an annual predictable, mirrored decline after Thanksgiving? Screw the Jets. This Patriots team is meant for much bigger achievements.

 

[OldEnglandPatriot]

Re: Everyone Relax

I look at it like this. While I feel for the Bills (in a way I wouldn't for certain other teams) they weren't as hugely unlucky as all the press will be painting them today.

Both teams scored 7 points off turnovers, although we still had to actually cover ground to get our TD. Ghost unusually missed a field goal, a score that would have changed the complexion of the game throughout, with it being so close a game. TB understandably took a little time to get into his stride. The Bills benefited *enormously* in field position from two roughing-the-passer calls, one of which was garbage and the other I will charitably call questionable.

Gameplan-wise, it seemed like BB took a typical approach of trying to take away what he saw as Buffalo's main threat - on this occasion, a potentially explosive WR pair of Evans and Owens - and that pretty much worked.