Dallas Game Strategy

[ghz in pittsburgh]

It's funny this Dallas team is kind of like the Bills team of 2020, quick strike aerial assault, opportunistic defense generating turnovers. When facing some bad teams, you turn them over and down quickly. When facing a good team, it can be a grind but you rely on the defense to keep you in the game.

I don't see any reason the Cowboys will change their game plan. They will ride on the highs of Dak, much like the Bills were riding on the sharp ascending Allen in 2020.

The Bills? I can see McDermott and the coaches are burning their mid-night oil. The D will always be in bend-but-don't break-mode. Keep the ball in front of them. Testing Dak's patience. Using the red zone to try to limit the damage to field goals.

The offense may be wise to play some ball control. You probably don't want to do shots down field a lot, which is into Dallas defensive strength, as well as the forecasted weather environment. And dare I say, it might be the the strength of the Brady led offense if Allen can fully buy into it. Speaking of Allen, if he's schemed to take those safer 8 yard throw instead of the more risky 20 year yard hole shots where the ball may travel 40+ yards in the air, there is less a chance of a turnover. You know how turnover will be against a team like Dallas. And remember, the hottest weapon the Bills have now is James Cook who'd play perfectly into this strategy, run or pass. 12 Personnel with Cook, Knox and Kincaid. There is a lot of high percentage passing targets and maybe some O-line man blasting Parson wherever he's lined directly across to spring loose Cook or Allen.

[YardRat]

Dline needs to to feast while the back end stays patient and takes advantage of the scraps. Murray and Johnson could have a bigger impact tomorrow.

[imbondz]

How do we stop Lamb tho. He’s on fire

[sukie]

How do we stop Lamb tho. He’s on fire
Gotta make things uncomfortable for Dak. They could employ the D scheme they used vs Miami with Disguising man and zone coverages. I’m expecting things from Von with his second game without a brace. Weather might be moist which cuts down deep plays. Bills Run game seems better suited for bad weather much more so than in the recent past .

wonder if we see 4-net get elevated

[Cntrygal]

I want the Bills to crush their souls.

Strategy to accomplish that: Don't do stupid **** and don't let up.

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

I want the Bills to crush their souls.

Strategy to accomplish that: Don't do stupid **** and don't let up.

the bold part is exactly what McDermott is incapable of doing

[Ed]

How do we stop Lamb tho. He’s on fire
Rain and wind. Dak is not a super strong armed qb and their success on offense relies a lot on the vertical passing game to Lamb. McD does a good job of disguing coverages. This should be a tough situation for Dak and Lamb.

[POTLAND PSILBYLO]

Break his Dankles

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Looked like it went ALMOST like the strategy I laid out.

But it went much BETTER. I over-estimated Dak Prescott. He is not now, nor the 2020 Josh Allen. Dak, before the last drive, did not even fit any intermediate passes to his receivers (where the 2020 Allen would complete a few even in his worst days, making people say Wow!), while having 3 or 4 intercept worthy passes. Once the Bills took away his long range target, and the D-line stopped their run which is not so great to begin with, Dallas offense is dead with a big period.

On the offense, Allen took one shot down field and that was it. Their run game was working. And for the most part, they were not messing with it like trying to build play-action on it etc., just keep running down their throat. That might be a first In Allen's era that I can remember. In the past they would be too cute and try to go back to what they consider their strength - big passing play by building on top of success runs. Dallas had a lot of those hybrid defensive players on the field. So we challenged them with brute force strength and did not get off it. Long drives for each scores and pretty much took their will to defend, evident on the last Cook TD run.

So my prediction of short passing game didn't materialize but they didn't need to. 1st down runs of 5+ yards pretty much make it unnecessary.

Kudos to Allen who didn't at any time getting impatient to look for a killer shot.

[ParanoidAndroid]

Morris, Knox, Kincaid and Gabe were fantastic blocking the edges all night. They owned their safeties and LBs.

[Cntrygal]

I want the Bills to crush their souls.

Strategy to accomplish that: Don't do stupid **** and don't let up.

Looks like I laid out the best strategy. :flex:

[ghz in pittsburgh]

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/sports/buffalo-bills/thad-brown-this-cook-these-bills-could-be-unstoppable/

I especially like the following paragraph from the article:
---------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Brady continued to do Joe Brady things. One of his top strengths so far is a willingness to believe his eyes. When he sees a weakness, he exploits it. Sean McDermott pointed out after the game that a play caller might see all those runs hit and think he’s got to mix in a play-action throw because the defense would be susceptible. Brady wouldn’t fall into that trap. It wasn’t broke, so he didn’t fix it. It’s an underrated skill among NFL coaches where the job requires an arrogance that makes the simple and obvious seem beneath them.
------------------------------------------------------------

[justasportsfan]

How do we stop Lamb tho. He’s on fire

Do you think its a coincidence that our db's played better with Rapp in there instead of Hyde?

IMO, we need to extend Rapp even if its means getting rid of Hyde.

[Woodman]

My strategy was to pound the piss out of Dallas how'd we do? :D

They are built to beat the passing game .... not saying their bad against the run but I find a good punch in the face all day does take it's toll.

[Bill Cody]

Those drive extending penalties completely changed the game. When we went up 14-0 we just went full smash mouth and they had no answers. And they seemed to panic on offense, moved away from their run game. Dallas is a front running team which is why they're so good at home where they seem to always start fast. This was a throw back game. Probably the best performance from a running back on the Bills I've seen in like forever.

[Mad Max]

I want the Bills to crush their souls.

Strategy to accomplish that: Don't do stupid **** and don't let up.
So let it be written. So let it be done.

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

the bold part is exactly what McDermott is incapable of doing
bad take on my part there

[Mad Max]

Do you think its a coincidence that our db's played better with Rapp in there instead of Hyde?

IMO, we need to extend Rapp even if its means getting rid of Hyde.

Hyde’s a free agent after this season. We shouldn’t even consider bringing him back and he should consider retiring.

[Kenny]

It's a funny game... those stupid penalties early in the game that Dallas took caused a huge snowfall effect to the point they couldnt recover.

Once we got the quick lead, we just kept at it with the run game and never looked back. Might have been a very different game if it was a shootout between 2 passing offenses.

Regardless, I hope they get super pissed off after yesterday and take out their frustrations in the next game!!!

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

It's a funny game... those stupid penalties early in the game that Dallas took caused a huge snowfall effect to the point they couldnt recover.

Once we got the quick lead, we just kept at it with the run game and never looked back. Might have been a very different game if it was a shootout between 2 passing offenses.

Regardless, I hope they get super pissed off after yesterday and take out their frustrations in the next game!!!

ahhh. the front runner bowl should be fun

[ghz in pittsburgh]

@Kenny that was a very good point. It also speaks about that Dallas team - when adversity strikes, they don't respond well. Josh Allen and the Bills offense in 2020 had some of that too.

In a way, I want to see Brady were putting into a situation where there is a shootout and how him calls that kind of a game. Yesterday's running game was great but I do believe somewhere you can get a big play with Josh and the receiving weapons we have. But when to do that and yet not to derail what is working is the key and 49ers Shanahan is master of that; heck he has Purdy, not Allen at his disposal.

[Woodman]

Hyde’s a free agent after this season. We shouldn’t even consider bringing him back and he should consider retiring.
I bet he's already made the decision.