I broke down the entire Raiders/Chargers game

[Coach Sal]

I posted a column on Bills Insider.

In it, I looked at every offensive play run by the Chargers and how the Oakland defense played it. I concentrated on pre-snap positioning, blitzes, stunts, and coverages.

I wanted to know: how'd they do it? What exactly did the Raiders do that was so successful against San Diego most of the afternoon? And most importantly, can the Bills have the same success the whole game that Oakland did through three quarters?

Here's the column. Hope you enjoy it and it gives us Bills fans some hope for Sunday:

http://www.billsinsider.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=11078

[Mr. Miyagi]

Dang Coach Sal. Very impressive.

But how do you have time to do that AND keep a day job??? :eek:

[Coach Sal]

Dang Coach Sal. Very impressive.

But how do you have time to do that AND keep a day job??? :eek:

Lots of caffeine.

[Meathead]

being a http://www.cvreefers.org/images/smilies/pimp.gif doesnt take much time

[BigBoltIke]

Well, I read your analysis, and that's EXACTLY what the Raiders did. You have it to a "T", and you're also very correct in your assessment of the Bills capabilities of duplicating the Raiders strategy.

However, you also failed to take into account that the Chargers were missing their starting left guard (who's replacement was on Sapp all day) and that Michael Turner was out of this game, as well as Keenan McCardell.

With KMac out, the Chargers lost alot of their consistancy in the passing game. There were six dropped balls in that game. Six in 30 attempts is rediculous for the Chargers.

With Turner out, not only did we lose some of our ability to pound the rock with his 240 lbs frame, but we also lost the ability to split LT wide and still be able to run the football.

On defense we were missing our FS McCree, who has really been a leader in the secondary and has been making sure that our players are in their correct positions, avoiding miscues.

We were also short Shawne Merriman and Luis Castillo. That's a third of our present sack total. These guys are major impact players, and are a huge part of the Chargers present success on defense.

The San Diego front seven is going to be stronger than it was last week.
The San Diego secondary is going to be stronger.
The San Diego O-line is going to be stronger.
The San Diego Running game is going to be stronger.
The San Diego Passing attack is going to be stronger.

I'm putting dollars on this...

[Kerr]

Thanks coach.

[Dr. Lecter]

Great work Coach!

You make some good points BigBolt, but I would counter that the Bills offense and special teams are both better than the Raiders. So while you might gain with getting those players back (depending on how healthy they really are), the Bills should be able to score more.

[BigBoltIke]

Great work Coach!

You make some good points BigBolt, but I would counter that the Bills offense and special teams are both better than the Raiders. So while you might gain with getting those players back (depending on how healthy they really are), the Bills should be able to score more.

I agree that your offense and ST are better, in fact I would say that over the last few years your ST have been the best in the NFL, bar none.

You've got to admit that the Fade have been playing excellent defense, though, and that they caught us somewhat offguard.

I see this game as coming down to weight, rather than big plays, and by weight I mean the strength of each teams O-line and Front Seven. The Chargers just have a significant advantage in both areas, and while Losman has improved, the game is going to come down to McGahee and your line against our elite front seven and your front seven against our line and Tomlinson, Neal, and Turner.

I see your team going around 3-2 or 4-1 to close out the season, but I don't see you beating the Bolts.

[Devin]

I agree that your offense and ST are better, in fact I would say that over the last few years your ST have been the best in the NFL, bar none.

You've got to admit that the Fade have been playing excellent defense, though, and that they caught us somewhat offguard.

I see this game as coming down to weight, rather than big plays, and by weight I mean the strength of each teams O-line and Front Seven. The Chargers just have a significant advantage in both areas, and while Losman has improved, the game is going to come down to McGahee and your line against our elite front seven and your front seven against our line and Tomlinson, Neal, and Turner.

I see your team going around 3-2 or 4-1 to close out the season, but I don't see you beating the Bolts.

Fair assessment. I tend to agree, the chargers lines are far better then ours. I simply dont see us stopping LT.

[Dr. Lecter]

I agree that your offense and ST are better, in fact I would say that over the last few years your ST have been the best in the NFL, bar none.

You've got to admit that the Fade have been playing excellent defense, though, and that they caught us somewhat offguard.

I see this game as coming down to weight, rather than big plays, and by weight I mean the strength of each teams O-line and Front Seven. The Chargers just have a significant advantage in both areas, and while Losman has improved, the game is going to come down to McGahee and your line against our elite front seven and your front seven against our line and Tomlinson, Neal, and Turner.

I see your team going around 3-2 or 4-1 to close out the season, but I don't see you beating the Bolts.

I don't disagree. I just think the Chargers must play better than last week, or they will lose.

For the Bills to win, they will likely need a ST or Defensive TD.

[TigerJ]

You will never find that kind of technical breakdown in the general media, print or broadcast because they have to dumb things down for the general public. That's why fans on these message boards are the most literate sports fans around. Great job.

[RedEyE]

C'mon guys. The Bills have given up an average of 135 yards a game this year on the ground. Where as the Chargers are 2nd to only Atlanta in rushing almost 150 yards a game.

I don't thave any doubts we can play the passing game, but even if the LT running the ball for the Chargers was Lawarence Taylor, I'd still be concerned. The Dline has to beef up their play 10 fold and the offense has to play ball control for a full 4 quarters.

I'm just as happy as the rest of you that Buffalo is showing signs of life, but this football team is nowhere near the point of competing with the likes of San Diego. I'm hoping for the best, and like the old cliche goes "Any given Sunday", but play for play this is a bad match up no matter how you spruce it up.

[PECKERWOOD]

Anything can happen, but I will tell you one that WONT happen! We wont be able to duplicate the Raiders Cover 1 defense. We do not have the personnel for that. Our DL is too small and is most likely going to get smacked around. LT should have a big day against da Bills. Our only hope of winning this game is by our offense putting up a bunch of points and great special teams play. I really don't think our defense has a chance against SD.

[Coach Sal]

Well, I read your analysis, and that's EXACTLY what the Raiders did. You have it to a "T", and you're also very correct in your assessment of the Bills capabilities of duplicating the Raiders strategy.

However, you also failed to take into account that the Chargers were missing their starting left guard (who's replacement was on Sapp all day) and that Michael Turner was out of this game, as well as Keenan McCardell.

With KMac out, the Chargers lost alot of their consistancy in the passing game. There were six dropped balls in that game. Six in 30 attempts is rediculous for the Chargers.

With Turner out, not only did we lose some of our ability to pound the rock with his 240 lbs frame, but we also lost the ability to split LT wide and still be able to run the football.

On defense we were missing our FS McCree, who has really been a leader in the secondary and has been making sure that our players are in their correct positions, avoiding miscues.

We were also short Shawne Merriman and Luis Castillo. That's a third of our present sack total. These guys are major impact players, and are a huge part of the Chargers present success on defense.

The San Diego front seven is going to be stronger than it was last week.
The San Diego secondary is going to be stronger.
The San Diego O-line is going to be stronger.
The San Diego Running game is going to be stronger.
The San Diego Passing attack is going to be stronger.

I'm putting dollars on this...

Thank you very much.

It's good to have that kind of validation from someone who pays attention to Chargers games.

At least everyone knows I actually put the time in, paid attention, and had a clue what I was writing about.

Obviously, I didn't take personnel into account. Only by name - not in specific one-on-one matchups. I was really only concerned with scheme. And even after doing all this I'll still tell you: schemes don't win games. Players win games.

But you at least have to put them in a position to have a chance to win the game. Hopefully, (for us, not you) the Bills coaches can do that.

[BigBoltIke]

Thank you very much.

It's good to have that kind of validation from someone who pays attention to Chargers games.

At least everyone knows I actually put the time in, paid attention, and had a clue what I was writing about.

Obviously, I didn't take personnel into account. Only by name - not in specific one-on-one matchups. I was really only concerned with scheme. And even after doing all this I'll still tell you: schemes don't win games. Players win games.

But you at least have to put them in a position to have a chance to win the game. Hopefully, (for us, not you) the Bills coaches can do that.

I definitely agree with you that it's vital to put your players in the correct position. Besides Oakland, Cleveland and Baltimore brought very effective schemes against us. In all of these games, the defense came out with very basic, almost high school looking defenses and simply maintained their assignments. Eventually the Chargers went away from ineffective misdirection plays and began focusing on playing power football, which allowed them to overwhelm the other team.

I see Buffalo having two problems:

1.) Stopping the Chargers power running game in the middle without overcommitting so much that it allows our TEs to get single-covered in the middle against your very good (I was hoping the Chargers would take Simpson) but inexperienced safeties.

2. Keeping their offense on the field long enough to keep the defense from getting worn out. The pound-it strategy that worked so well for you guys against Indy simply won't work against SD, and that might result in short series for your offense, which in turn is going to wear on your defense, especially if we're liberally mixing in runs by our bigger back, Turner.

[justasportsfan]

Why don't we put Parrish, Evans , Reed, Andre Davis on our Dl. It'll confuse the hell out of everyone.

[BigBoltIke]

Why don't we put Parrish, Evans , Reed, Andre Davis on our Dl. It'll confuse the hell out of everyone.

It would be confusing, and probably great for the pass rush.

[Elminster]

Why don't we put Parrish, Evans , Reed, Andre Davis on our Dl. It'll confuse the hell out of everyone.
I can't possibly see how Davis could be a worse defensive end than he is wide receiver!:jig:

[Jimbuktu]

as well as Keenan McCardell.




OH NO! Not Keenan McCardell!


What is he, 47?

[BigBoltIke]

OH NO! Not Keenan McCardell!


What is he, 47?

He's old, somewhere in his mid thirties, and while he won't break a big play, he is a consistent, reliable target that is always open on short and intermediate patterns.

The value of a receiver like that cannot be overstated when you have a very good but very young QB. It also means that we're going to have three very reliable targets on the field when we need to pass the ball.

You shouldn't overlook the value of a good possession receiver, as not every play needs to be a 40+ yd pass to be an important completion.

[Coach Sal]

Anything can happen, but I will tell you one that WONT happen! We wont be able to duplicate the Raiders Cover 1 defense. We do not have the personnel for that.

The last two games, our secondary has played A LOT of man-to-man. That's why Nate Clements has been so noticeable lately. He's been on an island and been forced to make plays. Luckily he has. Terrence McGee has also done a good job, and Kiwaukee Thomas has been steady on the 3rd WR when called upon.

All of this has enabled Whitner and Simpson to take more chances in run support.

The problem, though, is that we haven't faced any TE's the last two weeks that really scare anyone.

This week we have to face Antonio Gates. It would be a tremendous task to ask Donte or Ko to hold him in check by himself the whole game.

[YardRat]

Great job, Coach...excellent article.

I don't see our defense having the same success over the first three quarters that Oakland had, though, against LT...we're too small and a little weak up the middle (we really don't have a Sapp-type at DT) and TKO still isn't up to full speed for the outside pursuit.

Hopefully the majority of LT's yards come between the 30's, and we can tighten up in our end of the field and force FG's.

I also agree with Lecter...if we're going to win, we need big plays, most likely scores, from our defense and special teams. Our offense is still too inconsistent and I don't see them breaking out against SD's defense, especially with the starters they have returning.

[!Papacrunk!]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the number one thing that will really help the Bills against the Chargers--the cold.

[Coach Sal]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the number one thing that will really help the Bills against the Chargers--the cold.

There are plenty of people mentioning that if you look at other threads.

[RBI90]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the number one thing that will really help the Bills against the Chargers--the cold.

How much of a factor is this really??? If anything it affects both teams equally. If there is an advantage to the home team, I don't see it being great enough to overcome LT versus the Bills run defense.

[PECKERWOOD]

The last two games, our secondary has played A LOT of man-to-man. That's why Nate Clements has been so noticeable lately. He's been on an island and been forced to make plays. Luckily he has. Terrence McGee has also done a good job, and Kiwaukee Thomas has been steady on the 3rd WR when called upon.

All of this has enabled Whitner and Simpson to take molre chances in run support.

The problem, though, is that we haven't faced any TE's the last two weeks that really scare anyone.

This week we have to face Antonio Gates. It would be a tremendous task to ask Donte or Ko to hold him in check by himself the whole.

We haven't been playing the Cover 1 scheme THAT often. Notice the times that we did it in the redzone, McGee got picked on both times. (1) Reggie Wayne. (2) Matt Jones. Plus with the Cover 1 you need big interior linemen that can force the RB to the outside. I don't see us doing that.

[BigBoltIke]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the number one thing that will really help the Bills against the Chargers--the cold.

I'm surprised that no one is mentioning that only one Charger player (Kassim Osgood) went to school in SoCal.

Most of our players either played their college ball in the North or played for another team in the North.

Probably the only player at a disadvantage would be Antonio Cromartie, who takes the outside in our nickel package, because he went to school at FSU, and his "coldest" game was two weeks ago @Denver.