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I can't say I am at all surprised we lost. Like Mr Aggie astutely pointed out in the weekly game thread, winning in Buffalo in December is extremely difficult. They've been great for years there and they posted some pretty eye opening W/L stuff about them in December since Josh Allen became the QB. I never thought we'd really "run the table" and I was always hoping we could go 4-2 or 5-1 in this December stretch.
That said, I didn't expect what we saw yesterday either. Buffalo's record is not overly impressive, but they were pretty much an iron-clad top 3 or 4 in Vegas before the season started to win the Super Bowl. Still, other than a FG victory over the Chiefs, they had not really had a "good" win since week 4 when they blew out Miami. Until we showed up. We've played 3 "good" teams on the road, and we got absolutely curb stomped in 2 of them. We even got bitch slapped by the lowly Cardinals on the road (albeit, with a horde of backups playing on OL and just a couple days after losing Trayvon Diggs for the season).
1) Will start with the MVP QB. He certainly didnt look like it yesterday and other than the 2nd half of the Niners game, that was the worst he has played all year. He was fortunate to not end up with 3 or 4 ints. He was high on a number of throws (incl the one that did get picked). He doesn't deserve much of the blame for the loss, but it was a disappointing effort considering Buffalo was missing one of their best DE's and their best playmaking safety. He had Brandin Cooks for what would have been a 71 yd TD on the opening series. Got great protection and actually cranked a nice throw out there, but overthrew him by a bit. Not sure how much it would have changed the games end result but it was obviously indicative of how the rest of the day would go.
2) I'd be curious to hear from McCarthy and Prescott about why they seemingly ignored the middle of the field so much in the passing game yesterday. On several of those replays they showed you saw almost nobody on Buffalo's defense there in that intermediate area of the middle, and we hardly ever looked at it.
3) It's a shame the game got out of hand so quick, because we were having a lot of success running on them too. I think Pollard would have had a really good chance at a 100+ yd game had he gotten enough carries. But between the score and the defense's inability to stop Buffalo from long drives (several with the aid of refs) we just never got the chance.
4) On to the defense, which was a complete sieve vs the run. Quinn never seemingly adjusted and the run defense was even worse in the 2nd half. I don't doubt that the team being stricken with a bad flu virus (supposedly the stomach/explosive diarrhea kind) had some impact, but fucking eh. The lack of effort and the extreme number of missed tackles was just putrid, and the numerous plays of Bills players just dragging our guys for yards and yards was embarrassing. Quinn has got to make some adjustments otherwise Miami and Detroit (two of the top 4 rushing teams in the league) are going to tear us a fucking new one. Parsons cannot stay at DE every fucking play anymore, especially since we don't have any real LB's behind him. I thought Damone Clark was slowly improving the past few games, but he was fucking dreadful yesterday. Bell is great for passing downs, but he is a major liability vs the run. I think I saw a stat that said 22 of Buffalo's 49 rushing plays went for 5 yds or more, and despite running 49 times, we had only two tackles for loss the entire game. The Bills ran over and over and over with success to the outside and it really seems like a major scheme flaw to me. We already have a real small front anyway, and Quinn exasperates the problem by keeping only 6 guys in the box on almost every play. They (LB's and safeties) can't get to the outside from where they line up to cut those plays off. Credit the Bills for just doing it over and over.
5) We had 12 sacks in the games vs the Panthers and Giants. Since then we have had a total of 6 sacks in the last 4 games. The pass rush has really dried up. We also arnt making any plays on the football in the air either. The last time we had more than one interception in a game was week 4 vs New England (we had 2). Since then, we have only 6 interceptions in 10 games. Maybe we are just missing too many guys now (we lost Damarvion Overshown in preseason and he was probably the best LB we had). We lost Trayvon Diggs after 2 games. We lost LVE (to a dirty play that wasnt even flagged) in week 5. Yesterday we also didn't have Hankins or Hooker. Not making a single move at the trade deadline is really showing now, especially when it comes to the LB position.
6) This team got physically beat down yesterday on both sides of the ball. I do think the Bills defenders played like thugs for a lot of the game, and there were many hits on Prescott, Lamb and Ferguson that probably should have drawn flags. A bunch of guys took huge hits and limped in and out of the game on both sides of the ball.
7) Speaking of the penalties, yesterdays game appeared to be rigged for a certain result before the game ever kicked off. The Bills came into yesterday one of the most penalized teams in the league (we led the league w 97, they had 88) but somehow played their most disciplined game of the season against us and had only one accepted penalty (their previous fewest was 4, and in 9 of their 13 games they had 5+). Two weeks ago v Philly they had 11 flags. Numerous hits that werent flagged should have been. The one penalty they did get should have resulted in their player being thrown out of the game (he wasnt). They called a horrendous roughing the passer call on DLaw that cost us 4 pts. Sam Williams hit the punter, yeah that sux. But that same kind of contact has almost ALWAYS been called running into the kicker in recent yrs, not the personal foul call. The punter (like Allen on his bogus call) put on an acting job and got away with it. That cost us 7 pts. Jayron Kearse was flagged for a 15 yd penalty when the Bills repeatedly hit Lamb worse than that (and were not flagged once). Refs missed the obvious fumble and ruled the runner down, when he clearly was not. That cost us 7pts. Tyler Smith was called for a pretty lame holding call, but the flag didnt come out until Pollard was on the ground and a Bills defender ran to the ref and motioned he was being held. The ref happily complied with the request and it wiped out a 1st down deep in Bills territory. That almost assuredly cost us points. Lastly, it's now been an unfathomable 33 fucking quarters since we saw an opponent called for holding on Micah Parsons. The Bills REPEATEDLY held Parsons and others yesterday and were not flagged once. Oh, and Buffalo ranks near the top of the league in OL holding penalties too. But yesterday, NADA.
8) Despite the loss, our chances of winning the division didnt change much. If we somehow won our last 3, Philly would only need to lose to NYG once and we'd still win the division. If Philly loses twice (one would need to be NYG) we could also lose again (it would have to be Miami) and we'd win the division. If we win out and win the division, we'll end up the 2nd seed and be guaranteed two home playoff games (assuming we win the WC game).
9) Right now the weather for Miami looks ok, cloudy and mid 70's, but they are saying it may be windy with rain potentially moving in late in afternoon/evening. Miami didnt have Tyreek Hill yesterday but everyone assumed he will play vs us. They lost Connor Williams for the season last week and starting RT Austin Jackson suffered an oblique injury yesterday and did not return to the game.
Hopefully they put this behind them and show up to play next week. They have little margin for error now and another lay an egg loss would be pretty significant. They have to figure some shit out on defense and that means Quinn may have to quit being so stubborn with how he wants to call the D and the base alignments. Miami and Detroit are both outstanding running teams with a horde of big play guys (runners and receivers). If we play D like yesterday again we'll get fucking blistered these next two weeks too.
That said, I didn't expect what we saw yesterday either. Buffalo's record is not overly impressive, but they were pretty much an iron-clad top 3 or 4 in Vegas before the season started to win the Super Bowl. Still, other than a FG victory over the Chiefs, they had not really had a "good" win since week 4 when they blew out Miami. Until we showed up. We've played 3 "good" teams on the road, and we got absolutely curb stomped in 2 of them. We even got bitch slapped by the lowly Cardinals on the road (albeit, with a horde of backups playing on OL and just a couple days after losing Trayvon Diggs for the season).
1) Will start with the MVP QB. He certainly didnt look like it yesterday and other than the 2nd half of the Niners game, that was the worst he has played all year. He was fortunate to not end up with 3 or 4 ints. He was high on a number of throws (incl the one that did get picked). He doesn't deserve much of the blame for the loss, but it was a disappointing effort considering Buffalo was missing one of their best DE's and their best playmaking safety. He had Brandin Cooks for what would have been a 71 yd TD on the opening series. Got great protection and actually cranked a nice throw out there, but overthrew him by a bit. Not sure how much it would have changed the games end result but it was obviously indicative of how the rest of the day would go.
2) I'd be curious to hear from McCarthy and Prescott about why they seemingly ignored the middle of the field so much in the passing game yesterday. On several of those replays they showed you saw almost nobody on Buffalo's defense there in that intermediate area of the middle, and we hardly ever looked at it.
3) It's a shame the game got out of hand so quick, because we were having a lot of success running on them too. I think Pollard would have had a really good chance at a 100+ yd game had he gotten enough carries. But between the score and the defense's inability to stop Buffalo from long drives (several with the aid of refs) we just never got the chance.
4) On to the defense, which was a complete sieve vs the run. Quinn never seemingly adjusted and the run defense was even worse in the 2nd half. I don't doubt that the team being stricken with a bad flu virus (supposedly the stomach/explosive diarrhea kind) had some impact, but fucking eh. The lack of effort and the extreme number of missed tackles was just putrid, and the numerous plays of Bills players just dragging our guys for yards and yards was embarrassing. Quinn has got to make some adjustments otherwise Miami and Detroit (two of the top 4 rushing teams in the league) are going to tear us a fucking new one. Parsons cannot stay at DE every fucking play anymore, especially since we don't have any real LB's behind him. I thought Damone Clark was slowly improving the past few games, but he was fucking dreadful yesterday. Bell is great for passing downs, but he is a major liability vs the run. I think I saw a stat that said 22 of Buffalo's 49 rushing plays went for 5 yds or more, and despite running 49 times, we had only two tackles for loss the entire game. The Bills ran over and over and over with success to the outside and it really seems like a major scheme flaw to me. We already have a real small front anyway, and Quinn exasperates the problem by keeping only 6 guys in the box on almost every play. They (LB's and safeties) can't get to the outside from where they line up to cut those plays off. Credit the Bills for just doing it over and over.
5) We had 12 sacks in the games vs the Panthers and Giants. Since then we have had a total of 6 sacks in the last 4 games. The pass rush has really dried up. We also arnt making any plays on the football in the air either. The last time we had more than one interception in a game was week 4 vs New England (we had 2). Since then, we have only 6 interceptions in 10 games. Maybe we are just missing too many guys now (we lost Damarvion Overshown in preseason and he was probably the best LB we had). We lost Trayvon Diggs after 2 games. We lost LVE (to a dirty play that wasnt even flagged) in week 5. Yesterday we also didn't have Hankins or Hooker. Not making a single move at the trade deadline is really showing now, especially when it comes to the LB position.
6) This team got physically beat down yesterday on both sides of the ball. I do think the Bills defenders played like thugs for a lot of the game, and there were many hits on Prescott, Lamb and Ferguson that probably should have drawn flags. A bunch of guys took huge hits and limped in and out of the game on both sides of the ball.
7) Speaking of the penalties, yesterdays game appeared to be rigged for a certain result before the game ever kicked off. The Bills came into yesterday one of the most penalized teams in the league (we led the league w 97, they had 88) but somehow played their most disciplined game of the season against us and had only one accepted penalty (their previous fewest was 4, and in 9 of their 13 games they had 5+). Two weeks ago v Philly they had 11 flags. Numerous hits that werent flagged should have been. The one penalty they did get should have resulted in their player being thrown out of the game (he wasnt). They called a horrendous roughing the passer call on DLaw that cost us 4 pts. Sam Williams hit the punter, yeah that sux. But that same kind of contact has almost ALWAYS been called running into the kicker in recent yrs, not the personal foul call. The punter (like Allen on his bogus call) put on an acting job and got away with it. That cost us 7 pts. Jayron Kearse was flagged for a 15 yd penalty when the Bills repeatedly hit Lamb worse than that (and were not flagged once). Refs missed the obvious fumble and ruled the runner down, when he clearly was not. That cost us 7pts. Tyler Smith was called for a pretty lame holding call, but the flag didnt come out until Pollard was on the ground and a Bills defender ran to the ref and motioned he was being held. The ref happily complied with the request and it wiped out a 1st down deep in Bills territory. That almost assuredly cost us points. Lastly, it's now been an unfathomable 33 fucking quarters since we saw an opponent called for holding on Micah Parsons. The Bills REPEATEDLY held Parsons and others yesterday and were not flagged once. Oh, and Buffalo ranks near the top of the league in OL holding penalties too. But yesterday, NADA.
8) Despite the loss, our chances of winning the division didnt change much. If we somehow won our last 3, Philly would only need to lose to NYG once and we'd still win the division. If Philly loses twice (one would need to be NYG) we could also lose again (it would have to be Miami) and we'd win the division. If we win out and win the division, we'll end up the 2nd seed and be guaranteed two home playoff games (assuming we win the WC game).
9) Right now the weather for Miami looks ok, cloudy and mid 70's, but they are saying it may be windy with rain potentially moving in late in afternoon/evening. Miami didnt have Tyreek Hill yesterday but everyone assumed he will play vs us. They lost Connor Williams for the season last week and starting RT Austin Jackson suffered an oblique injury yesterday and did not return to the game.
Hopefully they put this behind them and show up to play next week. They have little margin for error now and another lay an egg loss would be pretty significant. They have to figure some shit out on defense and that means Quinn may have to quit being so stubborn with how he wants to call the D and the base alignments. Miami and Detroit are both outstanding running teams with a horde of big play guys (runners and receivers). If we play D like yesterday again we'll get fucking blistered these next two weeks too.
