NE@BUF . re-watch . thread

[long distance]

Lets start with some snap count account and questions that were posed in other threads and possibly this thread can tackle:

Note: Some of the regulars are a bit busy at the moment so hopefully others can jump in more. It was an interesting game for a re-watch I believe since there were some key guys missing and some coming back . and also some interesting game planning on both sides
____

Snap count by Lazar: Patriots at Bills Snap Count Report: New England has a balanced backfield

And advanced stats FWIW: Patriots at Bills Advanced Stats Report: Eric Lee and Malcom Brown star against Buffalo

Notes:
1. While WRs had a quiet day their snap count was within the norm. Dorsett is clearly outsnapping Amendola in last 4 games so he is technically replacing Hogan as #2 WR and Dola remains more of a rotational/situational and above all clutch snap player.
2. As “projected“ . D.Allen's snap count was steadily rising and remains above 50%. It will be interesting to see him vs Dolphins in a #1 TE role (depending on game plan)
3. Two guys with the biggest snap-count bounce in the absence of T.Flowers, Reilly and KVN were of course Wise and Lee with Wise taking more of a T.Flowers role and Lee Wise's. I was surprised though A.Butler was not used more in this situation. Instead M.Flowers saw further substantial increase and (as expected by some) also Jordan Richards.
4. Another late riser is JJ staying above 80% despite Rowe coming back at 20%. He is certainly one of the stories of the season, significant re. 2018 roster choices.

 

[long distance]

Here some re-watch questions and topics from other post-BUF threads.
Hopefully more people can pick up a topic and shed some light..

• Maybe in the film study this week we could make a comparison between Andrews and Karras.
• They were unable to get Cooks involved (waiting for the rewatch thread to see what Buffalo was doing coverage wise there)
• A) In the first half Lee was absolutely awful against the run to the point that the Bills were running at him specifically. B) Eric Lee had a fabulous day, but the best part of him is that he is a legit edge sealer.
• Wise has been a little quiet.
• I don't know what kind of game Cam Fleming had
• DL generating pressure w/o Flowers etc
• Alan Branch + great Brown return
• I hate to be the guy to bring it up, cos I don't like piling in on a guy, but Jordan Richards is a serious weak link. For all his supposed football intelligence he's so slow to react. There was a run play, I think in the third quarter, where he was so focused on his personal battle with the tight end that he didn't even notice the running back until he had literally run right by him.
• OL - Bad day for Joe Thuney who allowed 2 sacks supposedly. Curious to see in the rewatch thread if it was really him or just a combination of things that let to those two sacks.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

Here some re-watch questions and topics from other post-BUF threads.
Hopefully more people can pick up a topic and shed some light..

• Maybe in the film study this week we could make a comparison between Andrews and Karras.
• They were unable to get Cooks involved (waiting for the rewatch thread to see what Buffalo was doing coverage wise there)
• A) In the first half Lee was absolutely awful against the run to the point that the Bills were running at him specifically. B) Eric Lee had a fabulous day, but the best part of him is that he is a legit edge sealer.
• Wise has been a little quiet.
• I don't know what kind of game Cam Fleming had
• DL generating pressure w/o Flowers etc
• Alan Branch + great Brown return
• I hate to be the guy to bring it up, cos I don't like piling in on a guy, but Jordan Richards is a serious weak link. For all his supposed football intelligence he's so slow to react. There was a run play, I think in the third quarter, where he was so focused on his personal battle with the tight end that he didn't even notice the running back until he had literally run right by him.
• OL - Bad day for Joe Thuney who allowed 2 sacks supposedly. Curious to see in the rewatch thread if it was really him or just a combination of things that let to those two sacks.

Really interesting how many divergent opinions popped up in the post game threads. Great job compiling some relevant questions and statements! I don't have time to address any of them right now, unfortunately, but I'm checking back to this thread often.

Guy needs to do a better job against the run. Good breakdown from a Buffalo perspective here:

Inside the Playbook | Inverted Veer – Power Read Concept

Some of our highlights:



Fairly weak call on the Gronk OPI:

 

[long distance]

quite uncanny . every new OL “next man up“ starts with a clean sheet..

 

[luuked]

Fairly weak call on the Gronk OPI:

That wasnt only weak this was borderline fraud. There was nothing at all going on and just another instance in which a ref just called what he thought happened instead of calling what he actually saw. We are talking about an almost 20 yard swing and a potential drive killer right at the start of the quarter.

I think this was the most infuriating ref call we had this season.

 

[long distance]

A quick statistical answer to “Wise had a quiet day“:
2 hurries, 2 pressures, 1 run stop

not a bad “quiet day“
not to mention the new (interior) assignments w T.Flowers out
___

And some statistical illustration of Brown's monster day in his return:
1 sack, 1 QB hit, 3 hurries, 5 pressures, 4 run stops

It was really great that this year they could wait with him to fully heal. That's the treasure of “next man up“ and investment in bottom of the roster..

Hope they can wait w KVN as well..

 

[long distance]

 

[long distance]

Sweet taste of fundamentals:
Pats D allowed just 15 completions (on 34 attempts) - for 85! yds - 3.4! avg
These are unreal numbers for pass happy NFL let alone “bend don't break“ “yards allowing“ MP D. Add 8 PBUs if you want it sweeter.

And to the point of improving tackling above:
Pats allowed just 43 YAC on those 15 completions: so under 3 YAC avg!

 

[DaBruinz]

That GIF shows how Buffalo wasn't called almost all day for the Illegal Hands to the face by their O-line. The RT had Lee's facemask firmly in his grip..

 

[patfanken]

That wasnt only weak this was borderline fraud. There was nothing at all going on and just another instance in which a ref just called what he thought happened instead of calling what he actually saw. We are talking about an almost 20 yard swing and a potential drive killer right at the start of the quarter.

I think this was the most infuriating ref call we had this season.

Interesting, but I caught about 5 minutes of Felger when I was in the car doing errands and Bedard was on. He said that on the coaches tape there was an angle that showed Gronk extending his left hand on the play. He said that while it was a very weak call, he now understood at least while the flag was thrown.

I didn't hear any follow ups since I was out of the car right after that statement

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Devlin deserves a lot of credit. Great block sealing the edge on one run play in here.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Top 5 G

 

[patfanken]

Really interesting how many divergent opinions popped up in the post game threads. Great job compiling some relevant questions and statements! I don't have time to address any of them right now, unfortunately, but I'm checking back to this thread often.

Guy needs to do a better job against the run. Good breakdown from a Buffalo perspective here:

Inside the Playbook | Inverted Veer – Power Read Concept

Some of our highlights:



Fairly weak call on the Gronk OPI:

I was wondering where Harris got his sack. Thanks for finding the clip. Clearly he was in a defense where he was "spying" Taylor, and it was a good thing too. Nice rush by Wise. I'm starting to understand more of what he is about on the pass rush.

He's never going to be a guy to makes a man miss. It seems his first object is to engage, not avoid the OLman to get him moving back to the QB, THEN he will try to shake the defender as he nears the passer, as we see in this clip.

He's a rookie so there is a big upside that we hope can fulfill, but right now it seems he isn't explosive or quick enough to be any kind of consistent pass rush threat. What he DOES seem like is a grinder who can provide some pressure with his strength and arm length to get NEAR the QB, enough so he at least "feels" him. Any actual sacks Wise is going to get are either going to be so called "coverage sacks" or when they stem to get him free.

Hopefully he'll get more explosive as he goes along. But it seems to me like he's going to wind up being another solid grinder who you can depend on to do his job, but not to make many individual big plays. A Lawrence Guy type player, which, BTW isn't a negative comparison.

On the other hand Lee IS explosive and has twice shown he can be effective coming off a stem with the DT. He closes very well. I can see him becoming an effective situational rusher down the road. I will be interested in seeing how he did against the run.

Finally, Cam Flemming's clean slate needs to be talked about more. My God, the guy is the 3rd string RT and winds up stoning the Buffalo rush completely (at least statistically) THAT shouldn't happen unless your brother in law works at PFF.

 

[FibSeq13478]

On the other hand Lee IS explosive and has twice shown he can be effective coming off a stem with the DT. He closes very well. I can see him becoming an effective situational rusher down the road. I will be interested in seeing how he did against the run.

Not sure how he did overall in the run game but I do recall him yielding the edge by being blocked by a wide receiver for a huge run by McCoy.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

I was wondering where Harris got his sack. Thanks for finding the clip. Clearly he was in a defense where he was "spying" Taylor, and it was a good thing too. Nice rush by Wise. I'm starting to understand more of what he is about on the pass rush.

He's never going to be a guy to makes a man miss. It seems his first object is to engage, not avoid the OLman to get him moving back to the QB, THEN he will try to shake the defender as he nears the passer, as we see in this clip.

He's a rookie so there is a big upside that we hope can fulfill, but right now it seems he isn't explosive or quick enough to be any kind of consistent pass rush threat. What he DOES seem like is a grinder who can provide some pressure with his strength and arm length to get NEAR the QB, enough so he at least "feels" him. Any actual sacks Wise is going to get are either going to be so called "coverage sacks" or when they stem to get him free.

Hopefully he'll get more explosive as he goes along. But it seems to me like he's going to wind up being another solid grinder who you can depend on to do his job, but not to make many individual big plays. A Lawrence Guy type player, which, BTW isn't a negative comparison.

On the other hand Lee IS explosive and has twice shown he can be effective coming off a stem with the DT. He closes very well. I can see him becoming an effective situational rusher down the road. I will be interested in seeing how he did against the run.

Finally, Cam Flemming's clean slate needs to be talked about more. My God, the guy is the 3rd string RT and winds up stoning the Buffalo rush completely (at least statistically) THAT shouldn't happen unless your brother in law works at PFF.

Wise always has been a work-man like player that wins with effort and motor. Explosiveness really was never his game. He'll improve with coaching and technique.

Hopefully Rivers gets fully healthy or add through the draft/fa bc we need someone who can win with skill.

 

[Tony2046]

That wasnt only weak this was borderline fraud. There was nothing at all going on and just another instance in which a ref just called what he thought happened instead of calling what he actually saw. We are talking about an almost 20 yard swing and a potential drive killer right at the start of the quarter.

I think this was the most infuriating ref call we had this season.

It was a bad call. One thing I saw in the all -22 is that Gronk's arm did extend at the top of his route. Maybe that's what the refs key off on.

 

[Tony2046]

Interesting, but I caught about 5 minutes of Felger when I was in the car doing errands and Bedard was on. He said that on the coaches tape there was an angle that showed Gronk extending his left hand on the play. He said that while it was a very weak call, he now understood at least while the flag was thrown.

I didn't hear any follow ups since I was out of the car right after that statement

He was right.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

 

[PP2]

1. While WRs had a quiet day their snap count was within the norm. Dorsett is clearly outsnapping Amendola in last 4 games so he is technically replacing Hogan as #2 WR and Dola remains more of a rotational/situational and above all clutch snap player.

I did notice this- and as you say, we are preserving Amendola for the stretch, as a situational player and using Dorsett, not quite as a #2, but as an all-purpose swiss knife. We put him in motion quite a bit for this game, and while that doesn't show up on the stat sheet, it still was a big boost in identifying coverage on almost every snap, as well as saving Amendola from further wear and tear.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Nice double by 77/87 on 55. Hughes tries an arm over. Solder gets underneath his pads while Gronk, almost same foot/shoulder, Pin Hughes in.

Williams hits Thuney w/ a Club/A.O. and gets low and mauls him into the back of Shaq after possibly getting tripped up.