Bills fan here..

[cdp]

You realize the only reason you are the #1 scoring D this year is cause we hung 56 on the Dolphins the last game of the season right? They did a much better job defending Mahomes than the Ravens did. Also didn't have the benefit of playing the NFC East 4 times, playing the NFC West instead. Just saying.

Ed Reed once said: you gotta get to the dance (playoffs) and take it from there. Each game in offs is different and what you've done in the regular season doesn't matter anymore. Coaches start to open/empty their playbooks.

 

[rossihunter2]

The thing our defense struggles with is hurry-up offenses. In every game I've seen this season the Bills run a couple of hurry-up series. That's were you can cause serious damage because our defense requires more communication than others.

also doesnt let us rotate - wink is probably the best DC ive ever seen with rotation throughout the front 7 to keep guys fresh and to create good matchups - hurry-up/no-huddle stuff really takes that away from him

 

[rossihunter2]

Correct, which is why I don't think we will ever deploy a look that simply has a one man QB spy
I really believe Baltimore can exploit us in the PA passing game this week as I would expect us to sell out to stop the run. It's our weakness on D and there is no way McDermott and Frazier are going to keep the same game plan we had against Indy. My guess is we will take our chances with Lamar trying to find the open holes in the zone

if you're just going to play zone and drop guys into coverage then lamar will pick that apart

there's a reason the titans started the game against us playing man and it worked until lamar found a crease and took off for a 48 yd td to turn the game around

and if you're gonna run a 2-deep zone all day, we'll run all over you

 

[Matt]

I don't take a look at divisional games when I want to truly evaluate an offense. No matter how bad the Browns were the games have always been close. Your division knows more about you than conference opponents simply because of the fact you play them twice every year. Martindale's scheme and blitzes aren't comparable to what BB or his disciple in Miami run on defense.

The thing our defense struggles with is hurry-up offenses. In every game I've seen this season the Bills run a couple of hurry-up series. That's were you can cause serious damage because our defense requires more communication than others.

Another aspect is Buffalo's familiarity with Roman. I expect your defense to look better against the run than in other games in which you struggled.

Bills have been so good on offense this year, they have probably seen just about everything because there really hasn't been anything that has stopped them the last half of the year against some really great DC's. Fangio, Saleh, Belichick, Flores, Eberflus etc.. There is only so much you can do without risking being out of position, especially with Allen's arm able to get the ball there a lot quicker than most QB's.

Bills tend to get to the line fast and like to allow Allen to survey the defense to make changes. You will hear him yelling "Alert! Alert!" quite a bit meaning he is either changing the play or running a 2nd play called in the huddle. He also has become really good at getting the Bills into the right play and at looking off and manipulating defenders with his eyes or with shoulder shakes that simulate him throwing the ball. I wouldn't be surprised if they try that against Peters as he takes the cheese a lot...he is one of the best at getting picks, but he also has a propensity for getting burnt on double moves or pump fakes because of it.

Also, the Bills run a lot of RPOs where Allen reads the defender and then either hands off, keeps it himself or makes a quick throw behind the defender who committed to the run.

 

[VolsBillsMagic]

if you're just going to play zone and drop guys into coverage then lamar will pick that apart

there's a reason the titans started the game against us playing man and it worked until lamar found a crease and took off for a 48 yd td to turn the game around

and if you're gonna run a 2-deep zone all day, we'll run all over you

Maybe so, but we often disguise our looks pre snap and can make it difficult for lines to know where we may be blitzing.
We run a 2 safety look but Poyer and Hyde will blitz and help in the run game a lot

 

[Matt]

if you're just going to play zone and drop guys into coverage then lamar will pick that apart

there's a reason the titans started the game against us playing man and it worked until lamar found a crease and took off for a 48 yd td to turn the game around

and if you're gonna run a 2-deep zone all day, we'll run all over you

I like our chances against the Ravens passing game. Bills are great at disguising coverages pre snap and even sometimes post snap due to our two safeties in Hyde and Poyer being so good at it. Jackson is a limited pocket passer if we can keep him there. His arm is average and he struggles to drive the ball on deep outs outside the numbers, which allows the Bills to basically shorten the width of the field they really need to defend. Whatever they did last year against him was extremely effective, and the only time he really hurt us was on that blown coverage on Hurst out of halftime. The issue will be if we can keep him in the pocket and get them into 3rd and medium to long enough times.

 

[rossihunter2]

Bills have been so good on offense this year, they have probably seen just about everything because there really hasn't been anything that has stopped them the last half of the year against some really great DC's. Fangio, Saleh, Belichick, Flores, Eberflus etc.. There is only so much you can do without risking being out of position, especially with Allen's arm able to get the ball there a lot quicker than most QB's.

Bills tend to get to the line fast and like to allow Allen to survey the defense to make changes. You will hear him yelling "Alert! Alert!" quite a bit meaning he is either changing the play or running a 2nd play called in the huddle. He also has become really good at getting the Bills into the right play and at looking off and manipulating defenders with his eyes or with shoulder shakes that simulate him throwing the ball. I wouldn't be surprised if they try that against Peters as he takes the cheese a lot...he is one of the best at getting picks, but he also has a propensity for getting burnt on double moves or pump fakes because of it.

not saying this wont happen like you've said it would
but should point out that the ravens offence last year was "unstoppable" having gone against saleh, bellichick, flores, wade phillips, your own leslie frazier (formerly of the ravens)

and the only defensive team that had slowed us down all year until the titans in the playoffs was keith butler and the steelers

all im saying is... playoff football is different

 

[rossihunter2]

I like our chances against the Ravens passing game. Jackson is a limited pocket passer if we can keep him there. His arm is average and he struggles to drive the ball on deep outs outside the numbers. Whatever they did last year against him was extremely effective, and the only time he really hurt us was on that blown coverage on Hurst out of halftime. The issue will be if we can keep him in the pocket and get them into 3rd and medium to long enough times.

that just tells me you havent really watched lamar very much - he's not a limited pocket passer at all - he's at his worst throwing outside the numbers for sure but just won against the titans exclusively throwing outside

there's this media narrative (from some not all) that he's a 1 read and scramble qb and that's just never been true - he doesn't have the cannon that allen has but not many have ever had that sort of arm strength - to call lamar limited as a pocket passer seems to misunderstand why lamar is so effective and not like michael vick or colin kaepernick or RGIII or those limited "mobile" QBs who've come before him

 

[Matt]

And the only reason the Bills are the record they are is because they have a piss poor division

We played the 6th toughest schedule in the NFL and are the only team in the playoffs with a strength of victory over .500

That statement isn't true. We also beat the Steelers, quite easily actually, once we got going on offense, something you weren't able to do even at full strength.

 

[UPennChem]

that just tells me you havent really watched lamar very much - he's not a limited pocket passer at all - he's at his worst throwing outside the numbers for sure but just won against the titans exclusively throwing outside

there's this media narrative (from some not all) that he's a 1 read and scramble qb and that's just never been true - he doesn't have the cannon that allen has but not many have ever had that sort of arm strength - to call lamar limited as a pocket passer seems to misunderstand why lamar is so effective and not like michael vick or colin kaepernick or RGIII or those limited "mobile" QBs who've come before him

Lol so true, but I can't blame them for thinking that way. The media narrative has been pushing that hard for years and up until this week, Lamar has not looked good in prime time games for the most part. And those are the games they've likely seen.

 

[rossihunter2]

We played the 6th toughest schedule in the NFL and are the only team in the playoffs with a strength of victory over .500

That statement isn't true. We also beat the Steelers, quite easily actually, once we got going on offense, something you weren't able to do even at full strength.

we only got to play them full strength once and only lost because lamar had a shocker and turned the ball over 4 times (twice inside the 10)
then nearly beat them with 20+ players out because of Covid...

congrats you beat them... so did washington and the bengals - the steelers at the end of the year were not a good team

 

[rossihunter2]

Lol so true, but I can't blame them for thinking that way. The media narrative has been pushing that hard for years and up until this week, Lamar has not looked good in prime time games for the most part. And those are the games they've likely seen.

that's also a false narrative - lamar has looked bad in 2 playoff games

he's been absolutely phenomenal in lots of his primetime and big games including 2 unbelievable MNF games

 

[UPennChem]

we only got to play them full strength once and only lost because lamar had a shocker and turned the ball over 4 times (twice inside the 10)
then nearly beat them with 20+ players out because of Covid...

congrats you beat them... so did washington and the bengals - the steelers at the end of the year were not a good team

Lol Rossi with the hammer again. Its actually just so funny.

 

[UPennChem]

that's also a false narrative - lamar has looked bad in 2 playoff games

he's been absolutely phenomenal in lots of his primetime and big games including 2 unbelievable MNF games

Off the top of my head it seems like a mixed bag. Really bad in 2 playoff games and not great vs the chiefs this year. However, he was spectacular vs LA and New England last year.

 

[Matt]

not saying this wont happen like you've said it would
but should point out that the ravens offence last year was "unstoppable" having gone against saleh, bellichick, flores, wade phillips, your own leslie frazier (formerly of the ravens)

and the only defensive team that had slowed us down all year until the titans in the playoffs was keith butler and the steelers

all im saying is... playoff football is different

Think you are forgetting the Bills game last year...the Titans actually said the blueprint they used in the playoffs to win was designed by the Bills. We held the Ravens to 257 yards of total offense, 18 first downs, 3/11 on 3rd down and under 4 YPC rushing and only 24 points when they were putting up 400+ yards and 35+ points on everyone during that stretch of games. You won the game but other than the 61 yard pass to Hurst on a busted coverage, we did a pretty fantastic job on D. Actually it was the lowest output of the year in terms of yardage for the Ravens.

 

[Matt]

Lol so true, but I can't blame them for thinking that way. The media narrative has been pushing that hard for years and up until this week, Lamar has not looked good in prime time games for the most part. And those are the games they've likely seen.

I mean I watched the Titan game a few days ago where he couldn't get the ball deep outside the numbers, threw up a ball that took a while to get there and ended up 8 yards inside and picked. I guess maybe we have been spoiled with Allen the last few years and there are probably a lot more QBs that struggle with those type of throws versus ones who make them look easy.

 

[rossihunter2]

Off the top of my head it seems like a mixed bag. Really bad in 2 playoff games and not great vs the chiefs this year. However, he was spectacular vs LA and New England last year.

i guess it depends how we count big games etc.

id say putting the team on his back against the Seahawks and 49ers in 2019 were pretty massive moments and huge games especially at the point in the season they happened respectively

this year we lost a lot of big games but the browns mnf and titans playoff win obviously count the largest during this winning streak lol

 

[rossihunter2]

I mean I watched the Titan game a few days ago where he couldn't get the ball deep outside the numbers, threw up a ball that took a while to get there and ended up 8 yards inside and picked. I guess maybe we have been spoiled with Allen the last few years and there are probably a lot more QBs that struggle with those type of throws versus ones who make them look easy.

yes he threw his worst pick of his career on the 2nd drive against the titans
he had a nearly flawless passing game outside of that

 

[UPennChem]

I mean I watched the Titan game a few days ago where he couldn't get the ball deep outside the numbers, threw up a ball that took a while to get there and ended up 8 yards inside and picked. I guess maybe we have been spoiled with Allen the last few years and there are probably a lot more QBs that struggle with those type of throws versus ones who make them look easy.

Lol your right that pass was awful. Lamar in the interview afterward said it was a dumbass interception. It was 1 mistake he made all game. Also he took advantage of what the titans were giving, which were the flats. You can and should criticize that one play, but the generalization is just wrong

 

[UPennChem]

i guess it depends how we count big games etc.

id say putting the team on his back against the Seahawks and 49ers in 2019 were pretty massive moments and huge games especially at the point in the season they happened respectively

this year we lost a lot of big games but the browns mnf and titans playoff win obviously count the largest during this winning streak lol

Oh I'm totally with you! It's just they likely didn't see or even understand how important that Seahawks game was for us. Lamar has been a victim of media narrative and a few bad games that stick in people's heads so that they can perpetuate that narrative. Glad he's got another chance this week to silence so more pundits