Again, It is difficult to complain when your team is 5 - 1 after six weeks of the season and going into a bye week. Going into the season I would have been extremely happy to end up with our present record after six games given the daunting task of beating teams like the Rams, Lions, Texans and the like. That said, almost all of the issues that I raised in my rants the first four weeks of the season have continued through the past two wins. Predictability, inconsistency, poor defense, Terrible clock management and the like have been the focus of my prior writings. The last two weeks Not only have we not seen an improvement but we have seen a regression.
I didn't do a rant last week. It seemed like beating the Rams was a huge win and I did not want to look like I was someone who always criticized the bills no matter how they did. After this weeks Performance against the Raiders, however, I that a new rant was due. Let's look at the issues as I see them:
1. Defense: This is stating the obvious. We're not getting a pass rush except from Greg Rousseau. We're not getting good linebacker, safety or cornerback play. We are giving up almost 30 points a game, game in and game out. The Raiders, who we barely beat yesterday, scored 30 points against us. Their was anemic last week against the Patriots. As a whole, their offense has been fair at best. In spite of that they scored 30 points against us. Time and time again teams have been converting second down and third down long yardage situations. Against the Patriots three weeks ago As well as against the Rams last week, it could be argued that we are facing very good quarterbacks with a great group of wide receivers. Yesterday, there was neither. Kirk Cousins Is a guy who was pretty much out of football last year. His wide receivers yesterday we're nothing special. While we shut down Brock Bowers in the first half, His backup Michel Mayer Torched us for 95 yards on 7 receptions. Bowers after being held catch less the first half responded with 70 yards on four catches in the second half. Many of them were in 3rd down situations. On one drive The Raiders converted 3rd and 13, 3rd and 6th and 3rd in 10. Three great opportunities to get off the field. Instead, our bend but don't break defense, which seems to break an awful lot, gave up a touchdown. Time and time again this year we've seen defensive secondary go into this zone read situation where they don't read anything, nor do they react to the ball while it's in the air. It seems like they are more worried about making sure that they tackle the guy after he catches it then breaking up the pass
2. Our pass rush was abysmal yesterday. Not one sack of a fairly immobile 38 year old quarterback period time and time again he was given three, 4 and even 5 seconds to throw the ball. Ed Oliver being hurt didn't help the situation, But truth be told he has been injured more than he has played the last two seasons. Not sure what his issue is but he can't stay healthy. The replacements that we picked up in the past two off seasons Have not contributed whatsoever. Bradley Chubb is old. Michael Hoecht, Who we picked up last year and looked great in his first game and a half with the Bills, has one half sack this whole season. We have eleven sacks the entire season and 6 of them belong Greg Rousseau. The rest of the defensive pass rush leaves much to be desired. This is why our secondary gets beaten so much. I don't care how good cornerback or safety you are, when a quarterback has four or five seconds to throw the ball, It is impossible to cover NFL receivers.
3. Coaching and game clock management. I was apoplectic last week when Joe Brady decided to kick a field goal from 47 yards with two minutes left on the clock in overtime against the Rams. This was one of the worst coaching decisions I've ever seen. Had Bass missed the kick, The Rams would have had a minute and 55 seconds to go down the field to get the game winning points. All Brady had to do was to have Josh push push, or even kneel down on two consecutive plays which would have run 80 seconds off the clock in case Bass missed the kick. Instead, For no apparent reason, He had a guy who had previously missed a 37 yard extra point chick from 47 yards with two minutes left on the clock. The Rams were out of timeouts. Running those two extra plays would have made it much more difficult for the Rams to win the game had Bass missed. Inexcusable clock management. Similar situation at the end of the first half in last week's Rams game. We're in a hurry up offense and on second 9 We complete an 8 yard pass to Dalton Kincaid. Instead of rushing up to the line of scrimmage and doing a quick tush push to get the first down, the Bills allowed 25 seconds to run off the clock before they decided to take a time out. Inexcusable clock management. In yesterday's game the Bills, on two separate occasions on their opening drive, Call time out. They were not prepared for the defense that the Raiders were putting out there and could not get the play call in in a timely manner. Losing two timeouts that early in a half was brutal.
Another issue with the coaching is the predictability of the offense. Time and time again yesterday the Bills ran the ball up the middle on first down.12 times the Bills first down runs gained 3 yards or less. At one point in the second half the Bills had a first down in 10 yards to go. I screamed at the television to use play action. In fact that was the call. Josh faked the hand off to Cook and through a little swing pass to him for 17 yards. When teams like the Raiders stack the box against our run game, we need to do something different. Play action is the key. Similarly, Three times yesterday and twice last week, the Bills were faced with 3rd down and three yards or less in prime scoring territory. Twice in the past two weeks we have had 3rd down and three yards to go Inside are opponents 10 yard line while leading by three points. In both of those situations, the bill should have been in four down territory. A touchdown in each of those situations not only makes it a two score game but puts huge pressure upon the opponent to score quickly leaving them open for mistakes. In all five of those situations the Bills went empty backfield. Why? If you are in four down territory, which you should be, a hand to cook, or Davis or Johnson Could have easily gained the first down. Even if you didn't gain the first down you still had 4th down and with Josh Allen's success on the quarterback sneak tush push, it is just inconceivable that you would not have a running back in the backfield with Josh making the defense believe that there may be a run. Going empty backfield eliminates that threat other than Josh running himself. In those situations I would be putting Josh under center and either having him hand off to cook or use play action to keep the defense honest. Predictability is one of the biggest problems with Joe Brady's offense. How many times last year did we see that stupid wide receiver screen pass. Yesterday on 2 separate Separations he threw screen passes to his tight end. Early on in the game he a shovel pass to Shakir. It was not only blown up by the defensive end Crosby but was also called off due to a false start. Brady likes to be cute. Thank God he's got Josh Allen because his cuteness on a team without a quarterback like Allen would have gotten him fired a long time ago.
4. Another huge issue that the Bills need to figure out is the inordinate amount of penalties that are called against them each game. In the last two games we have had six false start calls against us. 6 times our offensive line moved prior to snap. How many times have we seen big gains call back because of holding penalties. we are one of the most penalized teams in football. In six games we have had the other team except 51 penalties against us for 439 yards. 21 times our opponents have gotten a first down due to our penalty. We are averaging over 70 yards a game in penalties. Opponents have made eight out of 9 4th down conversions against and 45% of their third down conversions. One of the things that this bill's defense relied upon during the McDermott years were turnovers. We are not getting turnovers. We had one turnover this past week and none the week before. Good defenses do not rely upon turnovers. Turnovers result from good defenses.
5. GM Beane: Our GM has been a huge disappointment the past few years. His refusal to do what was necessary to get Josh Allen a number one receiver after Stefan Diggs left Handicapped this offense. His wide receiver acquisitions, josh Palmer, Sherfield, Cooks, Samuel, Hollins, Cooper, Harty and Murray have all flopped. Yesterday Palmer dropped a huge pass. The Next Play resulted in an interception. Last game he dropped another pass which would have gone for a long gain. He has no business playing in this offense. I'd much rather see shavers come off of the practice squad and take his place. Great hands, tough and does on special teams. Similarly, Beane’s Defensive backfield acquisitions have also been terrible from drafting Kair Elam in the first round only to cut him two years later and then doubling down with Hairston last year, I question his ability to discern talent. Over three years ago Damar Hamlin got hurt and almost died on the field. We brought him back the next year, in my humble opinion, because you couldn't cut the guy after what he went through. To have him still on the roster in a backup situation the last two years is malpractice. Three years we picked up rap T. Rapp who was serviceable for two years. Last year he was brutal. His replacement Gardner-Johnson is an embarrassment to the organization. He should have been cut long ago for his abysmal play. Yesterday's spitting situation merely sealed the deal. If he's not cut today then I have real problems with what this organization is trying to show. A perfect example of Beane’s Inability to find replacement players on defense comes in the fact that four of last year's starters on defense were not signed by the Bills at the end of the season and have continued to be unsigned this year by any other team. How those 4 could start on a team that was a couple games away from winning a Super Bowl but now be out of football says a lot. Milano ,White, Rapp, etc… were bad last year. In spite of that we played the whole year with them. Their replacements this year have done nothing. Bernard and Williams Make the vast majority of their tackles five to 10 yards down the field. We saw how the raiders abused them yesterday with the two tight ends that they were responsible for going for almost 170 yards. Benford is a decent cornerback. Maybe IGB will turn into one. We haven't replaced Taron Johnson With anyone near talent.
On an end note, this is a perfect time for the break. A week off gives these guys time to heal. Our offense is night and day different With DJ Moore out of the line.. Similarly, our is much better when Ed Oliver is on the field and is healthy. Going into the bye week at 5 and one gives these guys an opportunity to get healthy and help us out the second half of the season. We need to figure out who is going to be the safety with Cole Bishop. We need to figure out who is going to be the other cornerback. We need improvement At linebacker. We cannot continue to give up 30 points a game and expect to win. Our new defensive coordinator has to **** or get off the pot. Six games in I've seen no improvement whatsoever in the defense. This is one of the problems when you have a rookie head coach as well as a rookie defensive coordinator. Not only does the rookie head coach call the plays, but he also is in charge of running the team. Veteran coaches like Andy Reid, Sean Payton and Sean McVay Have been able to handle the dual responsibility. The Young Head Coach like Kyle Shanahan, Mike McDanial and Kevin Stefanski Have had little success. Putting a young coach like Brady into this situation where he is in charge of not only making game time decisions for the entire team but also calling his own plays may have resulted in some of the questionable decisions that have been made this year. As I have said previously, I think he is in way over his head. Hopefully I am wrong. Looking forward to the bye week and the second half of the season go Bills