my thoughts from the game.

[trapezeus]

comments from game:

1. legit question - how many second halve's has marrone and co squandered? the worst to me is losing a 10 pt lead in the 4th quarter at home with the playoffs on the line. you have to be a second half coach that makes adjustments and doesn't coach scared. i feel like marrone does not have an identity. he does the safe thing, unless the coach across from him tries something ballsy. then he tries to do the same thing but less so. like last week, reid went for 4th and 1. then he tried to get them to jump on fourth and 1. This game joe philbin was very conservative and therefore marrone remained very conservative punting on 4th and 6 in a two score game.

2. refs - walt coleman has no business being a ref at this point. the point of the rules is become like law. it's too technical. the reason for intentional grounding is to stop guys from throwing it away under duress when you have him for a sack. it was a straight up timing route that went awry. he threw it before anyone was really on him or watkins making the break. the explanation from Mike Carey was so technical it was embarassing. "needs to be within 7 yard window, don't take miscommunitcation into account." fine, call it that way. but then CALL it that way. 4 more times orton had bad tosses after that where a receiver did one thing and the pass did another. where were the flags? Won't get into the woods holding which seemed fine to me one hand on the guys chest as he turned. won't bring up pass interference or the uncessary roughness garbage. I will say that i think the NHL at least has make up calls. the NFL does not. Very irritating.

3. Marrone had 2 things to prove he should get the third year. One, be good after the break and have a winning record for the 4 winnable games. He does not. Two, beat pettine. If he doesn't beat his coordinator, then it's over in my books. if he has a mea culpa moment and says, "i have another OC in mind", maybe. but in aggregate, the decisions he's made this year have been pretty bad.

4. IF the above makes him get fired, i think i'm more on board with a total house cleaning than transitioning to schwartz and hope they can squeak into the playoffs. even if the bills won these two games, they don't seem like a playoff team that can win in the playoffs. so what exactly are we building on? Like with the sabres, i am fine with them having a tough go at it when they are building correctly. For the bills, they need a real scouting staff and a removal of all the old guard thinking processes. I don't think whaley is the worst. he has some positives, but in their coaching search, they came up with a .500 coach on the no stone left unturned. the other coaches picked that year are doing better than us. so at some point you have to say the organizational structure isn't good enough to let anyone succeed.

5. Papa john's frito pizza? i didn't know that existed. is this for people who wanted to know what pizza would taste like if you ate the cardboard box it came in?

[elltrain22]

Good post, and good points.

1. The fact that we are so weak in the 2nd half of games is very concerning. It clearly shows that we can't adjust, and others can.

2. Very poorly officiated. The IG was so bad its insane. The phantom PI was just as bad. Whenever I see him, I just know we're doomed.

3. Marrone has proven that he can't coach O-line, and can't sustain a decent running game from last year. We are an average team b/c our offense can't pass protect and/or run block on a consistent basis. It also doesn't help matters that we are pass on 1st, run for 1 yard on 2nd, and setup 3rd and long every time. We are predictable and easy to defend.

4. I say keep Schwartz & Whaley, the rest can go.

5. That pizza sounds good to me, but I can see why you say that

[EDS]

I agree. Who really thinks frito pizza is a good idea? Sounds terrible. Fast food companies and chain restaurants try and confuse you into thinking their food may be good just by throwing more cheap ingredients into the mix.

[trapezeus]

as addendums,

6. how can only one running back know how to block on our team?
7. will any bills defense ever take the 5 yard crossing pattern seriously?

[Forward_Lateral]

as addendums,

6. how can only one running back know how to block on our team?
7. will any bills defense ever take the 5 yard crossing pattern seriously?

8. When will the Bills learn how to run crossing patterns?

[trapezeus]

8. When will the Bills learn how to run crossing patterns?

the even more obvious question. Thanks. It's unbelievable how often we get torched with that and how little we see of it. though hogan seemed to have some success.

The way PI is called, you'd think it's worth taking shots simply to play the odds. Once you make those 10-15 yard passes, then teams lay off the underneath stuff.

but for the nth number of years, we are too scared to throw down field.

[Pinkerton Security]

9) Why does it seem as if the Bills give up 3rd and 20+ more often than they stop it? Drives me friggin insaneeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
10) Im obviously biased but it seemed like the refs were way too quick to throw flags in the 2nd half. The Gilmore PI was not even close.

[BOBM253]

Last week I advocated pressuring the QB on 3rd and long. So this game we sent pressure on 3rd and twenty-something and they picked up the first down anyway on a short pass with a long run. I'm so sorry. I guess it doesn't matter what we do.

[trapezeus]

schwartz's super aggressive d on 3rd and long makes you see the advantage of playing a little prevent. maybe on 3rd and 13, you still bring it, but 3rd and 24? our four guys get to the qb, lay the zone down and make them throw it to the sticks.

This issue with third and long goes back to super bowl 25.

[bdutton]

Mike Carey is an apologist. I will never take him seriously because all he does is defend bad calls and good calls alike.

[jimmifli]

[rsmithgi]

the reason for intentional grounding is to stop guys from throwing it away under duress when you have him for a sack. it was a straight up timing route that went awry. he threw it before anyone was really on him or watkins making the break.

Why did it go awry? Because Orton threw it way too early to avoid the sack.

the explanation from Mike Carey was so technical it was embarassing. "needs to be within 7 yard window, don't take miscommunitcation into account." fine, call it that way. but then CALL it that way. 4 more times orton had bad tosses after that where a receiver did one thing and the pass did another. where were the flags?

This is the only legitimate argument against the call, they don't call it consistently. I wonder if the call was made because of the accumulation of the uncalled plays. Phil Simms made a telling comment after the play and before the penalty was called - "on the last three third downs, he just caught it and threw it away".

[trapezeus]

Why did it go awry? Because Orton threw it way too early to avoid the sack.



This is the only legitimate argument against the call, they don't call it consistently. I wonder if the call was made because of the accumulation of the uncalled plays. Phil Simms made a telling comment after the play and before the penalty was called - "on the last three third downs, he just caught it and threw it away".

disagree on the first part. he threw it almost immediately on his drop back. they showed the all-22 angle of it and it's out of his hand before a guy is within a step of him. which then brings up th issue, "where was the late hit"?

for something so on the line, it was embarassing they'd call that. even if it was in reverse, i would have laughed and said, "i'll take it, but that seems questionable".

[better days]

I agree. Who really thinks frito pizza is a good idea? Sounds terrible. Fast food companies and chain restaurants try and confuse you into thinking their food may be good just by throwing more cheap ingredients into the mix.

Well, I think frito pizza is a better idea than chocolate chip cookie pizza.