Next Up: @ Bills (Divisional Round)

[Matt]

I have because I had Josh and Stefon in fantasy. They have no run game. Josh is still prone to making stupid decisions like last season. Gabriel Davis is a hell of a deep threat. Cole is pretty much unstoppable in the slot so he needs to be the primary focus after doubling Stefon. Defense is atrocious. We need to control TOP and run it down their throat

Ehh...not that much. Allen has greatly improved his decision making and not trying to force stuff because he gets impatient when teams try and take away deep throws. Allen is very bit worthy of MVP this year as Lamar was last year.

Our D most definitely is not atrocious---at least not since the beginning of the year. Earlier in the year it definitely was not good. The 2nd half of the year it has greatly improved and hasn't gotten back to last year's level, but has gotten pretty close. Over the back half of the season, their D was ranked 7th in the NFL versus mid 20s for the 1st half of the year. They are really good at getting takeaways, 3rd in the NFL and they scored defensive TDs in 3 of their last 4 games. Run D is our weakness unless we sell out to stop it, and then we do pretty well most of the time. That makes me nervous because TE's have really hurt us this year and Andrews is a good one.

One thing that is very interesting. Both teams are exceptional at first half scoring/defensive scoring.

Bills are #2 in the NFL at both scoring and preventing scoring in the first half, allowing only 9.2 points while scoring 16.6.
Ravens are #1 in scoring defense in the first half at 8.5 and 3rd in scoring offense at 16.2.

Against Indy, Bills held them to 10 points, and in 13 of their games this year they held teams to 10 or less. The only team with more than 13 points in the first half against us all year was Tennessee with 21.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Never my intent to be cocky, I have just watched over and over again that teams playing a similar style of D to the Ravens get burnt badly by Allen, which gives me a lot of confidence that if they play that type of defense the result will be the same. Even the Colts when they tried it for one play and blitzed Allen he made them pay with a 35 yard laser to Diggs for a TD. I understand that most Ravens fans think their corners would prevent that, and you should also be confident if that is what you have seen most of the year.

I think either way it is going to be a great matchup. Both QB's believe they are the baddest MOFO on the field when they play and they both are usually right. This game it might be a toss-up tho. Different styles but both highly effective. The one thing I would say is that if you think what you saw from Allen last year is an indication of what you will get this year, you will be in for a huge surprise. Allen is pretty much able to do what Mahomes can do for KC at QB now and that isn't an understatement. In some ways he has better numbers this year and they are really close in terms of stats, QBR, QB Rating, etc. Allen is actually more accurate, completing almost 70% of his passes which is astounding considering the degree of difficulty many of his passes are...he isn't like Brees or Bridgewater where they complete high numbers because they are throwing 5 or 6 yard passes all day long...Allen is throwing a lot of 15-25 yard passes and making plays on the move. It's been a leap that I am not sure even the most diehard Bills fan could have predicted. But Allen is obsessed with working on flaws and his whole offseason was to work on fixing mechanics that were causing inconsistencies in his throws and in improving his understanding of defenses, recognition, etc. The Allen that steps on the field Saturday is every bit as worthy of being league MVP as Lamar was last year.

I’m fairly aware on josh Allen’s ability, he’s dangerous, but plain and simple the bills are a fairly one dimensional team, secondary is alright with arguably the leagues best corner and one of the best safeties in poyer, but beyond that the defense could really be expected to struggle, edmunds can fly and tackle and that guy with your safeties is an issue for our offense overall, but I’m not sure I like the bills LBs/DL/Safeties to stop our particular run game better than the titans, vrabel knows how to coach that defense to stop us, he uses athletic edge defenders to contain, the likes of Rashaan evans and brown to scrape and then all pro safety Kevin byard has been an absolute thorn in Lamar’s balls, he went to work on all of these guys, their DL is big and powerful and they are taught to cut our OL and hold and wrap them to prevent the mobile blocks, it was the most effective defensive strategy against Lamars offense and it didn’t work, and frankly the ravens offense didn’t even find their groove til the second half.

all I’m saying is, no matter how good josh allen might be, you better hope the ravens don’t find their groove early on offense, when the ravens get a lead against one dimensional offenses, that defense is different, what you’ve seen from the ravens defensive collapses came when we had Derek Wolfe and Justin Ellis as our only DTs and with practice squad corners filling in.

what you know of the ravens prior to the playoffs is not the ravens you’re gonna see Saturday lol

 

[JAAM]

Ehh...not that much. Allen has greatly improved his decision making and not trying to force stuff because he gets impatient when teams try and take away deep throws. Allen is very bit worthy of MVP this year as Lamar was last year.

Our D most definitely is not atrocious---at least not since the beginning of the year. Earlier in the year it definitely was not good. The 2nd half of the year it has greatly improved and hasn't gotten back to last year's level, but has gotten pretty close. Over the back half of the season, their D was ranked 7th in the NFL versus mid 20s for the 1st half of the year. They are really good at getting takeaways, 3rd in the NFL and they scored defensive TDs in 3 of their last 4 games. Run D is our weakness unless we sell out to stop it, and then we do pretty well most of the time. That makes me nervous because TE's have really hurt us this year and Andrews is a good one.

One thing that is very interesting. Both teams are exceptional at first half scoring/defensive scoring.

Bills are #2 in the NFL at both scoring and preventing scoring in the first half, allowing only 9.2 points while scoring 16.6.
Ravens are #1 in scoring defense in the first half at 8.5 and 3rd in scoring offense at 16.2.

Against Indy, Bills held them to 10 points, and in 13 of their games this year they held teams to 10 or less. The only team with more than 13 points in the first half against us all year was Tennessee with 21.

Seems you don’t know your own team too well. I’ve seen Josh throw it into double coverage trying to force feed Stefon on quite a few occasions and get it picked. And he’s not going to be MVP so your point is moot.

Your defense is absolutely atrocious, at least against the run, and you lost a lot of credibility when you said Micah can keep up with Lamar on a spy in a previous post.

You walk in our board, on your two legs... all fat and cocky and call Lamar a wannabe Vick or however you phrased it... you done messed up.

 

[rossihunter2]

Seems you don’t know your own team too well. I’ve seen Josh throw it into double coverage trying to force feed Stefon on quite a few occasions and get it picked. And he’s not going to be MVP so your point is moot.

Your defense is absolutely atrocious, at least against the run, and you lost a lot of credibility when you said Micah can keep up with Lamar on a spy in a previous post.

You walk in our board, on your two legs... all fat and cocky and call Lamar a wannabe Vick or however you phrased it... you done messed up.

tbf the vick comparison was a different bills fan lol

 

[Sonyab1974]

Not you lol,

and tbh I don’t think this guy Matt is particularly cocky either, no more than we are lol, he’s just telling us why he likes his teams chances and we’re responding with more of the same

 

[JAAM]

tbf the vick comparison was a different bills fan lol

Dammit. Well I hope he sees that lmao

 

[UPennChem]

I’m fairly aware on josh Allen’s ability, he’s dangerous, but plain and simple the bills are a fairly one dimensional team, secondary is alright with arguably the leagues best corner and one of the best safeties in poyer, but beyond that the defense could really be expected to struggle, edmunds can fly and tackle and that guy with your safeties is an issue for our offense overall, but I’m not sure I like the bills LBs/DL/Safeties to stop our particular run game better than the titans, vrabel knows how to coach that defense to stop us, he uses athletic edge defenders to contain, the likes of Rashaan evans and brown to scrape and then all pro safety Kevin byard has been an absolute thorn in Lamar’s balls, he went to work on all of these guys, their DL is big and powerful and they are taught to cut our OL and hold and wrap them to prevent the mobile blocks, it was the most effective defensive strategy against Lamars offense and it didn’t work, and frankly the ravens offense didn’t even find their groove til the second half.

all I’m saying is, no matter how good josh allen might be, you better hope the ravens don’t find their groove early on offense, when the ravens get a lead against one dimensional offenses, that defense is different, what you’ve seen from the ravens defensive collapses came when we had Derek Wolfe and Justin Ellis as our only DTs and with practice squad corners filling in.

what you know of the ravens prior to the playoffs is not the ravens you’re gonna see Saturday lol

These are 2 dangerously underrated points that the bills fans just likely dont have full context for. Number 1, this is really the first time since the beginning of the year we have access to Marlon, Marcus, Jimmy, Anthony, Deshon, and Chuck all at the same time. We also have Calais and Brandon back with Justin really coming along. Obviously our biggest struggles have been at both linebacker groups with the olb being really streaky. We sacked Allen 6 times last game. If we even get him 3 times, I think that's going to be indicative that we're constantly in his face a la Yannick and Matt. Couple that will our full secondary and I think we can hold them to 20 points.

Your second point is so well taken by ravens fans hahaha. Obviously we weren't as dominant as last year, but I think people are really forgetting that if Lamar Jackson gets into a groove early and he's playing loose and having fun, you actually can't stop him. Your best bet is to play sound ball early on and hope he makes a mistake and gets in his own head and starts forcing things.

 

[UPennChem]

Tons of respect from the bills website.

https://www.buffalobills.com/news/b...allenges-in-facing-ravens-divisional-playoffs

My prediction is 24-20 Ravens in a grind it out win against a really good team.

 

[Corvus Purpura]

that defense is different, what you’ve seen from the ravens defensive collapses came when we had Derek Wolfe and Justin Ellis as our only DTs and with practice squad corners filling in.

what you know of the ravens prior to the playoffs is not the ravens you’re gonna see Saturday lol

While I'm not interested in a pre-game pissing match about who's going to do what on Saturday, I think it's worth emphasizing to Bills fans, who are coming here for reasons that escape me, that "practice squad corners" is not some exaggeration. Things were utterly desperate in the secondary. I'm astounded that Humphrey, Peters, Smith and Averett are all back - in addition to Williams and Campbell up front.

 

[Corvus Purpura]

absolutely. Where do you ship them from. G&M?

I'm not a huge fan of G&M. Been getting them from Jimmy's.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

While I'm not interested in a pre-game pissing match about who's going to do what on Saturday, I think it's worth emphasizing to Bills fans who, are coming here for reasons that escape me, that "practice squad corners" is not some exaggeration. Things were utterly desperate in the secondary. I'm astounded that Humphrey, Peters, Smith and Averett are all back - in addition to Williams and Campbell up front.

Lol like literally, we had a game where we activated 4 corners and 2 of them went down lmfao, people really aren’t grasping it

 

[JoeyFlex5]

I’m telling you guys, if you do not stop the run on Saturday, you’re gonna wake up very sad on Sunday. You can talk about your offense til your blue in the face, I’m glad for you guys and I’m happy for josh allen and diggs, but this is a team sport, you guys will find out the hard way if your run defense doesn’t magically transform overnight

 

[RavensMania]

Seems you don’t know your own team too well. I’ve seen Josh throw it into double coverage trying to force feed Stefon on quite a few occasions and get it picked. And he’s not going to be MVP so your point is moot.

Your defense is absolutely atrocious, at least against the run, and you lost a lot of credibility when you said Micah can keep up with Lamar on a spy in a previous post.

You walk in our board, on your two legs... all fat and cocky and call Lamar a wannabe Vick or however you phrased it... you done messed up.

I don't think he's being cocky at all. He's just expressing his opinion. You have the wrong bills fan on the Vick comparison.

 

[RavensMania]

I'm not a huge fan of G&M. Been getting them from Jimmy's.

Jimmy's is good to but I'm more a fan of G&M.

 

[RavensMania]

This Bills team is a very good team, but I do believe we match up well with their strengths. This is going to be a very good game. No fan should think this is going to be an easy game, but it is winnable.

 

[JAAM]

I don't think he's being cocky at all. He's just expressing his opinion. You have the wrong bills fan on the Vick comparison.

Yea, rossi told me lol. I had him mistaken

 

[Matt]

Seems you don’t know your own team too well. I’ve seen Josh throw it into double coverage trying to force feed Stefon on quite a few occasions and get it picked. And he’s not going to be MVP so your point is moot.

Your defense is absolutely atrocious, at least against the run, and you lost a lot of credibility when you said Micah can keep up with Lamar on a spy in a previous post.

You walk in our board, on your two legs... all fat and cocky and call Lamar a wannabe Vick or however you phrased it... you done messed up.

So does every other QB in the NFL. Mahomes does too...he led the NFL in dropped INTs. I find it comical how Allen's mistakes are constantly pointed out and amplified while others are minimized. Wilson looked awful against the Rams and threw a terrible pick 6 trying to force feed Metcalf after he threw a sideline tantrum because he hadn't gotten the ball yet and completed 43% of his passes but nobody said anything about that. I mean in his entire career, Allen never has thrown a RedZone INT, and has 39 TDs and another 20+ rushing TDs. Not sure many other QBs can say that.

Allen has consistently improved in his decision making and willingness to be patient and not force things. Is he perfect? No. Nobody is...Rodgers is probably the closest thing to that, but even he makes bad decisions at times.

Never said Micah could keep up with Lamar, or that he is a wannabe Vick. You must have me confused with someone else. I've said Lamar is great at what he is does but he is limited as a passer. I doubt any GM in the league would tell you otherwise.

I've said the Bills will probably play a lot of "Big Nickel" with either Marlowe or Neal in there to help with both coverage and against the run. Kind of a hybrid look they use to take Klein off the field as he would be a liability to the Ravens speed.

 

[purplepittabread88]

My cardnials friend and I rewatched cards bills this year. Read options on first down can absolutely kill them.

 

[JAAM]

So does every other QB in the NFL. Mahomes does too...he led the NFL in dropped INTs. I find it comical how Allen's mistakes are constantly pointed out and amplified while others are minimized. Wilson looked awful against the Rams and threw a terrible pick 6 trying to force feed Metcalf after he threw a sideline tantrum because he hadn't gotten the ball yet and completed 43% of his passes but nobody said anything about that. I mean in his entire career, Allen never has thrown a RedZone INT, and has 39 TDs and another 20+ rushing TDs. Not sure many other QBs can say that.

Allen has consistently improved in his decision making and willingness to be patient and not force things. Is he perfect? No. Nobody is...Rodgers is probably the closest thing to that, but even he makes bad decisions at times.

Never said Micah could keep up with Lamar, or that he is a wannabe Vick. You must have me confused with someone else. I've said Lamar is great at what he is does but he is limited as a passer. I doubt any GM in the league would tell you otherwise.

I've said the Bills will probably play a lot of "Big Nickel" with either Marlowe or Neal in there to help with both coverage and against the run. Kind of a hybrid look they use to take Klein off the field as he would be a liability to the Ravens speed.

Allen’s mistakes are amplified, huh? Ever heard of a guy named Lamar Jackson?

 

[rossihunter2]