Ingtar33
11-03-2002, 04:40 PM
Wow, now that was quite the stinker. Normally, I watch the game over, and write my critiques after careful review. Unfortunately, I can't quite seem to bring myself to watch this one again. The game of football is a surprisingly simple game, and while people like myself tend to get into trends and things like "gap assignments" to overcomplicate the reasons for one team winning and another loosing, in the end sometimes football can be boiled down to the simplistic. This was one of those games. Besides, I don't need to watch this mess again to sum this one up... this game was all about tackling. The Pats did it, the Bills didn't.
Normally, I break down the positives and negatives while reviewing a bills game. Unfortunately I don't think enough went right for the Bills to follow that format. This time I will break down the problems the Pats presented and what the Bills did or didn't do to counter them.
1) The running game: The Pats running game (or lack there of) was one of the prime reasons for the Pats struggles this year. Unfortunately for the Bills the Pats dedicated themselves to the run, running against a very soft defensive look the Bills were giving the Pats. The game plan for the Bills early on appeared to be to take away the Pats non-existent deep threat by playing what appeared to be a lot of cover two and three. The result was the Pats spread the field and ran against our nickel defense to great effect. This would continue for most of the game, giving Brady an effective play action threat, which Weis and company used to great effect throughout the game.
2) The screen pass: Before the game, I was talking to a good high school buddy of mine from buffalo, and I made the comment that one of the strangest trends thus far is no-one runs any screens against our D. I thought it odd because nearly every screen or flip that was run against us this year seemed to be very successful, as our front usually over pursued up field, and our DBs (with the exception of a few stops by Winfield) seemed to either over pursue or get blocked out of the play. Unfortunately for the Bills, it appears that Weis saw the same tendencies that I saw, and attacked the Bills with (by my initial count) 19 of 27 pass plays being some variation of a screen or short dump of pass. What’s worst is numerous missed tackles resulted in many 10 or 15 yard gains on a play that should have been stopped for a loss had the tackle been made. What could the bills have done different? Nothing... I'm sure Grey will get slaughtered for the D performance today, but the Pats rarely caught the Bills in a poor defense, the Pats only succeeded with most of those plays because no one could tackle today.
3) The Pats confusing defensive front: Today the Pats refused to line up, instead standing around in a cluster and then playing the planned D when the Ball was snapped. This gimmick was effective once the Bills fell behind, and had to pass most plays. The confusion the pats caused was due to the fact the Bills O-line was blocking with a man to man technique. As a result the O-Line played confused and the Pats (who from my notes were only playing with 2 down linemen for most of the game) were able to get good pressure with only 4 men rushing Drew. The Pats stopped getting good pressure with this front in the second half when the Bills started to play a zone blocking technique. Of course by then the game was already out of control as the Bills D didn't force one second half punt.
4) The lack of points by the Bills O: Today the Bills offense was shut down by one thing... the scoreboard. By the time the O had the ball for just its third possession the offense found itself in a 17-0 hole... that doesn't leave the unit with much room for failure. Once it became apparent that the D wasn't going to stop the Pats the Bills were forced to give up on the running game, giving the Pats D only one thing to play against. Interestingly enough the Pats only blitzed Drew 7 times today (and four of those were planned run blitzes), and unfortunately they got very good pressure with every one of them. In addition the Pats played most of the game in a prevent defense, willing to give the Bills yards on the ground and in underneath passes, yet unwilling to let them get deep.
5) Drops and Miscues: With the D unable to slow down the Pats, the miscues, penalties and drops by the Bills O were all magnified in their importance. Generally I don't criticize a team which puts up 350+ yards of offense, however today I will take issue with Price's now mandatory 40+ yard pass drop (he now has one in each of our last 4 games), and Moulds mandatory 2 or 3 drops, and the O-line's self destruction inside the red-zone, and Hollis's 3 missed FG, and G. Williams misplaced confidence in the D at the beginning of the third quarter.
Despite today's nightmare the Bills still find themselves in playoff contention. With the bye coming up they will have time to figure out how to fix their problems. Perhaps, once I take a closer look at the game, this wouldn't look as bad as it did... however, I doubt it. Unfortunately, I don't know how you fix over pursuit and poor tackling in just one extra week. Oh well, they better come up with something or the Chiefs will make the final score of this last game look like it was close in comparison.
Normally, I break down the positives and negatives while reviewing a bills game. Unfortunately I don't think enough went right for the Bills to follow that format. This time I will break down the problems the Pats presented and what the Bills did or didn't do to counter them.
1) The running game: The Pats running game (or lack there of) was one of the prime reasons for the Pats struggles this year. Unfortunately for the Bills the Pats dedicated themselves to the run, running against a very soft defensive look the Bills were giving the Pats. The game plan for the Bills early on appeared to be to take away the Pats non-existent deep threat by playing what appeared to be a lot of cover two and three. The result was the Pats spread the field and ran against our nickel defense to great effect. This would continue for most of the game, giving Brady an effective play action threat, which Weis and company used to great effect throughout the game.
2) The screen pass: Before the game, I was talking to a good high school buddy of mine from buffalo, and I made the comment that one of the strangest trends thus far is no-one runs any screens against our D. I thought it odd because nearly every screen or flip that was run against us this year seemed to be very successful, as our front usually over pursued up field, and our DBs (with the exception of a few stops by Winfield) seemed to either over pursue or get blocked out of the play. Unfortunately for the Bills, it appears that Weis saw the same tendencies that I saw, and attacked the Bills with (by my initial count) 19 of 27 pass plays being some variation of a screen or short dump of pass. What’s worst is numerous missed tackles resulted in many 10 or 15 yard gains on a play that should have been stopped for a loss had the tackle been made. What could the bills have done different? Nothing... I'm sure Grey will get slaughtered for the D performance today, but the Pats rarely caught the Bills in a poor defense, the Pats only succeeded with most of those plays because no one could tackle today.
3) The Pats confusing defensive front: Today the Pats refused to line up, instead standing around in a cluster and then playing the planned D when the Ball was snapped. This gimmick was effective once the Bills fell behind, and had to pass most plays. The confusion the pats caused was due to the fact the Bills O-line was blocking with a man to man technique. As a result the O-Line played confused and the Pats (who from my notes were only playing with 2 down linemen for most of the game) were able to get good pressure with only 4 men rushing Drew. The Pats stopped getting good pressure with this front in the second half when the Bills started to play a zone blocking technique. Of course by then the game was already out of control as the Bills D didn't force one second half punt.
4) The lack of points by the Bills O: Today the Bills offense was shut down by one thing... the scoreboard. By the time the O had the ball for just its third possession the offense found itself in a 17-0 hole... that doesn't leave the unit with much room for failure. Once it became apparent that the D wasn't going to stop the Pats the Bills were forced to give up on the running game, giving the Pats D only one thing to play against. Interestingly enough the Pats only blitzed Drew 7 times today (and four of those were planned run blitzes), and unfortunately they got very good pressure with every one of them. In addition the Pats played most of the game in a prevent defense, willing to give the Bills yards on the ground and in underneath passes, yet unwilling to let them get deep.
5) Drops and Miscues: With the D unable to slow down the Pats, the miscues, penalties and drops by the Bills O were all magnified in their importance. Generally I don't criticize a team which puts up 350+ yards of offense, however today I will take issue with Price's now mandatory 40+ yard pass drop (he now has one in each of our last 4 games), and Moulds mandatory 2 or 3 drops, and the O-line's self destruction inside the red-zone, and Hollis's 3 missed FG, and G. Williams misplaced confidence in the D at the beginning of the third quarter.
Despite today's nightmare the Bills still find themselves in playoff contention. With the bye coming up they will have time to figure out how to fix their problems. Perhaps, once I take a closer look at the game, this wouldn't look as bad as it did... however, I doubt it. Unfortunately, I don't know how you fix over pursuit and poor tackling in just one extra week. Oh well, they better come up with something or the Chiefs will make the final score of this last game look like it was close in comparison.