My opinion on what we need to fix

[X-Era]

On O:

I think its critical to add the deep ball. Whether we complete them or not, we need to be throwing deep more than once a quarter. It also shouldnt be limited to 1st downs, thats too predictable. We need the secondary respecting our air attack

We need to use our TE's more. Specifically in the red zone. The TE rollout after a fake block is one the most powerful plays in the red zone. We need play action, quick patterns, and tight timing to get yards when the field gets short. I must admit that running it up the middle over and over in the red zone has limited value.

Id like to do some more playcalling to use JP's legs. Between adding more deep game, using the TE's more, and JP running around more, we can make our attack one where the D can get hurt in tons of different ways. I think thats a good thing

JP needs to make a technique change on passing plays. On one or both of those fumbles, I noticed that JP had the ball in one hand poised to throw it. Id like to see him holding up to his chest area with BOTH hands until the very last moment before he throws it. What that does is make it even more unlikely for a blinside hit to knock the ball out.

Id like to see our playcalling have the necessary man power available to pick up any blitz. Its a matter of numbers.

On D:

Id like to see us cover up underneath if we are going to do alot of blitzing. It should prevent or at least help out with screens.

Id like to see our 2 CB's step up their games. Nate especially has been pretty lack luster so far

Overall:

Id like to see us do a better job managing the game. Dont force anything or even try to. Play a bit more conservative. On 4th and 2, run the ball. Dont try some trick play on a fake field goal, punt the ball short and pin them deep if you dont think you can kick the FG. Take what they give you and play smart ball. The good teams do this.

[shelby]

:goodpost:

:gobills:

[FlyingDutchman]

Good post. I dont understand why we seem to stop running Willis in the second half of games. Also to touch on your JP running around a little more, I think we should have more designed bootlegs with him kinda similar to Denver. This would give him the option to maybe run or find those dump offs like the the TE's.

[ParanoidAndroid]

One example of him making plays on his feet was against Miami. He made that long throw on the run from way behind the LOS for a first. I don't think you can be conservative and turn him loose like that at the same time. I say turn him loose.

On that fake field goal....Had Moorman not thrown it behind Peters, it was a first down, no doubt. They never saw that coming. I thought that was a really neat play, but poor execution.

[LifetimeBillsFan]

On O:

I think its critical to add the deep ball. Whether we complete them or not, we need to be throwing deep more than once a quarter. It also shouldnt be limited to 1st downs, thats too predictable. We need the secondary respecting our air attack

We need to use our TE's more. Specifically in the red zone. The TE rollout after a fake block is one the most powerful plays in the red zone. We need play action, quick patterns, and tight timing to get yards when the field gets short. I must admit that running it up the middle over and over in the red zone has limited value.

Id like to do some more playcalling to use JP's legs. Between adding more deep game, using the TE's more, and JP running around more, we can make our attack one where the D can get hurt in tons of different ways. I think thats a good thing

JP needs to make a technique change on passing plays. On one or both of those fumbles, I noticed that JP had the ball in one hand poised to throw it. Id like to see him holding up to his chest area with BOTH hands until the very last moment before he throws it. What that does is make it even more unlikely for a blinside hit to knock the ball out.

Id like to see our playcalling have the necessary man power available to pick up any blitz. Its a matter of numbers.

On D:

Id like to see us cover up underneath if we are going to do alot of blitzing. It should prevent or at least help out with screens.

Id like to see our 2 CB's step up their games. Nate especially has been pretty lack luster so far

Overall:

Id like to see us do a better job managing the game. Dont force anything or even try to. Play a bit more conservative. On 4th and 2, run the ball. Dont try some trick play on a fake field goal, punt the ball short and pin them deep if you dont think you can kick the FG. Take what they give you and play smart ball. The good teams do this.

Excellent post! And, overall, I agree.

The only thing I would add is that I'd like to see the defense do a much better job of tackling: Bills are getting to the ball carrier and getting a hand or arm on him, even hitting him, but too often are not stopping the ball carrier on initial contact (Fletcher-Baker has been the best at tackling by far!). As a result, either the ball carrier is slipping away completely or able to pick up an additional yard or two before going down. I love all the gang-tackling the Bills are doing, but when you have to gang-tackle the ball carrier to get him down all of the time, something is wrong with the individual tackling techniques.

Beyond that, I think that the reason that the Bills have not been using their TEs as much as most of us would like is the same reason that they have not used them that much in the recent past: they are being used to help the offensive line with the pass blocking because the offensive line isn't that good and needs help. Also, in blitz pick ups: the Bills have faced three 3-4 teams in a row that can send blitzers from every angle and I believe that the Bills' coaches know that teams are going to blitz JP a lot until he proves that he can consistently make them pay for doing that--and, as a result, they've had the TEs stay in a lot to help with picking up the blitz. It's a block first before releasing approach that means that the TEs don't have much time to go deep or even find an open area to settle into. Hopefully, the O-line will continue to improve and JP will force teams to back off enough with the blitz that the Bills can get their TEs more involved.

As for getting JP moving around more: I don't think that is something that the coaches want to do with him right now and are deliberately avoiding doing that. Why? JP's footwork in the past has been awful and that has had a major negative impact on his mechanics and accuracy. It's the reason that he has "air-mailed" the ball high or thrown the ball into the ground so much. If the Bills' coaches don't get that problem corrected, despite having a tremendous arm, JP will never be able to throw the ball accurately enough from the pocket to be a successful QB in the NFL. And, according to a number of comments JP has made, the Bills' coaches have been making him work very hard on his footwork going all the way back to the OTAs. That work has been reflected in JP's increased accuracy thus far this season. But, old habits are hard to break and it takes time and a lot of repetitions before a bad habit can be replaced by a new, good habit so completely that the old bad habit completely disappears. And, with JP's footwork, that hasn't happened yet, as evidenced by the way that he threw the ball on the Bills' last series against the Jets.

While the play-calling was questionable, the reason that JP threw the ball so poorly on that series was that he got so excited that he reverted to throwing the ball the way that he did last year, etc.--his footwork was all fouled up and that impacted his mechanics and caused him to throw the ball worse than he had all game to that point. That is an indication that JP has learned, but not fully internalized the footwork techniques that the Bills' coaches have taught him. Which means that he still needs to keep working on it.

The problem with having JP roll-out and throw more on the run is that, while he does that pretty well instinctively in select situations, it is harder for a QB to master the proper footwork in the pocket that JP still is in the process of learning when he is spending time and repetitions throwing on the run. There have been more than a few strong-armed, mobile QBs over the years who have never been able to get their footwork down right--and there have been more than a few coaches who have blamed this on the fact that either the QB or his coaches have tried to take advantage of his mobility while or before the QB mastered the proper footwork (you see some of that with M.Vick and there have been a ton of others in the last 40 years). As a result, at least according to a couple of comments that JP has made in interviews/press conferences (check BB.com), the Bills' coaches appear to have JP on somewhat of a "leash" and don't want him to run around a lot. Based on past history and the fact that JP needs to continue working on his footwork to maintain the accuracy that he needs to have to be an effective NFL QB, what the Bills' coaches are doing at this point makes sense.

If JP can master the proper footwork--to the point where it doesn't disappear when he gets excited or rattled or pressured--I can see the Bills coaching staff starting to introduce some more plays designed to use his mobility. But, given the approach that I see them taking with him (which is that they are treating him like a rookie who they have to teach everything from scratch and basically "spoon-feeding" him little bits of what they want and expect him to do at a time), I don't think that you will see them doing that any time soon. Certainly not this season. I think that their approach is going to be: to get JP to master and get comfortable with the footwork that they have taught him this season so that his accuracy and, consequently, his confidence in himself improve--then, if he can do that, slowly introduce a package of plays that will utilize his mobility in the off-season where they can see if that will adversely impact his footwork or not and can take a more directed approach to correcting any problems that arise than they can take during the regular season.

That doesn't mean that you won't see JP running a bootleg or two or running or scrambling some times this season, but I seriously doubt that you will see him running a package of designed plays that utilize his mobility, similar to what Denver has with Plummer, this year. Additionally, given the comparisons with Favre and the struggles with inconsistency that Plummer has had throughout his NFL career, I would think that the Bills coaches will try to pattern Losman's game more on Favre and the things that he has done successfully than on Plummer's game. But, that's just my opinion.....

[YardRat]

Nice post, as always, LtBF. Props to jp, Willis, and andycx also...good thread.

This is a young team on a learning curve, and mistakes are going to happen until they gel.

Has the play-calling been questionable? At times, but it will never be 100% and through the first three games this year it's been better than the previous two regimes. The offensive line isn't a finished product at this point - there is room for upgrade, talent-wise, at some of the individual positions and as a unit they are still learning and improving. Same with JP...he isn't 'there' yet, but he's playing better week-to-week. His mechanics have improved, as has his decision-making. The defense is probably the youngest starting eleven in the NFL, and they've hung in there for three tough games...they'll get better also.

Mistakes happen, and everybody makes them...the younger and less experienced you are , the more you're going to make. The key is to accept them, learn from them, and improve enough from the experience that you don't make them again. Consistency is a basic building block to success, and achieving a level of positive consistency can only be garnered through trial and error.

Others on this board pointed out earlier in the year that this was going to be a team that was frustrating for the fans...talented and successful at times, but just inexperienced and bumbling enough to make critical errors at crucial moments that cost us games and up to this point they've been right, IMO. The players have to work through the process in order to get better, and the fans are going to have to struggle right along with the players and coaching staff.