Let me start out this week’s rant by saying that Josh Allen did not have a great game. His first pass was intercepted. He missed Diggs on a deep pass which would easily have been a touchdown. He had other bad throws. As a whole, though, he was good enough to have been able to beat a team with the league’s worst offense. Shoulda, coulda, woulda doesn’t work in today’s world and we need to figure out what is wrong with this team. For three weeks now the Bills have come out flat. We lose to the Jag’s and blame it on travel (McDermott’s choice to arrive Friday for Sunday AM game). Last week it was “Dabol knew our offense”. Two straight weeks the reigning worst defensive team at the time (Giants) and worst offensive team at the time (Patriots) make our respective offense and defense look foolish. The past two rants have focused on Dorsey. I’m starting to wonder whether it not just Dorsey but also McDermott and Beane.
I’ve spoken exhaustively about wanting the Bills to use the hurry up offense more. Again, Sunday the Bills went hurry up with about seven minutes left in the game, down two scores. Five plays and 75 yards later the Bills score a TD. 75 yards in 2 minutes and four seconds. The Bills have scored a TD or FG EVERY SINGLE TIME they’ve gone hurry up this entire year-Look it up. It is a fact. Why does it take our coaching staff to wait until we are down two scores to go into the hurry up offense? Game in and game out this happens. In London v Jacksonville we are down 11-0. Bills get the ball back with almost 6 minutes left in the half. we score a TD by going hurry up (86 yards in 4:30). Down 18-7 with almost 8 minutes left we go hurry up and score a TD. (75 yards in 3:41). Down 25-13 we get the ball back with 2:56 left in the game and we go no huddle and score a TD (75 yards in 45 seconds). Similar results v Giants last week. I know that I’m repeating myself. It just seems so fricking simple that any idiot should be able to see: When Josh goes hurry up the Bills score. when Josh goes hurry up he scrambles and runs more. When Josh goes hurry up defenses have to spy on him because they know he may take off and run. This leaves one less defender watching receivers which creates more space for Josh to throw. Am I the only one who has noticed how little Josh runs this year? It sure seems to me that n weeks 2-4 when we blew out teams the defenses were worried about Josh running and he torched them with his passing. Defendive coordinators aren’t stupid (except for maybe Leslie “13 seconds/12 seconds” Frazier of course). They watch tape. They see that Josh isn’t running this year. They listen to beane/Dorsey and McDermott talk about Josh being smarter, sliding, avoiding injuries. They now scheme their defenses differently. Do we hear anyone in KC talk about Mahomes running less? How about in Baltimore about Lamar Jackson running too much? Our coaches have taken a huge part of our offense out of the game by limiting Josh’s throws. Yesterday on a fourth and two he throws a pass to Knox who as the ball dislodged/dropped. Josh had plenty of room to run on that play to get the first down. I really think that the staff have put him into a mindset which limits his abilities to make plays with his legs and which, correspondingly, allows defenses to no longer spy on him. Facts are facts guys. He scores points EVERY time he goes no-huddle. That’s not a coincidence.
Which gets me to cause and effect. Is it Dorsey or is it McDermott or is it Beane? I’ve heard very well substantiated rumors over the years about how Dabol and Mcdermott would battle ove the offense play calling. I remember games when Josh would throw the first 15-20 plays in the game. We had the best offense in football. We heard McDermott claim they wanted to get more balanced with the run, chew up clock, etc… We saw the Bills use high picks on running backs three years in a row in an attempt to be more balanced. This year they pick up two older big running backs for short yardage situations and in an attempt to control the ball and the clock. How is that working?
I think McDermott is a dinosaur coach who still believes in run and stop the run. I think that he has told Josh to stop running the ball. I believe he has instructed Dorsey to run the ball more. I think McDermott is scared that if they go no huddle and get stopped his defense will become tired. If he’s so worried about that then at least go no huddle to start the game or half since the defense is already rested.
I really think McDermott is a good coach but not a great coach. He gets his team ready to play during the week but hasn’t been able to win the big one. His team was outmatched at the end of last year in many games (losing to Jets back up QB, almost losing to Miami 3rd string QB and terrible showing at home to Cinci). This window is closing.
As for Dorsey, I just don’t understand what he is trying to do offensively. Again Sunday we have a second and one and Cook loses 5 yards on a sweep. We have no gadget plays in our offense. No jet sweep, end around, half-back pass. The offense is just so predictably (except in no huddle-notice a theme here???)
Why isn’t Gabe Davis used> Two weeks ago v Jacksonville he has 6 catches for 100 yards and a TD. Last week he was targeted four times in the first half and had three receptions for 21 yards. He wasn’t thrown a single pass in the second half. Sunday was similar: five targets and one catch for six yards. Same thing with Sherfield/Harty/Shakir: 6 targets between the three of them Sunday. Six targets and six catches for 50 yards. Why did we spend $$$ on these guys if we aren’t going to use them. If it’s play design then Dorsey has to do something. If it’s Josh then someone needs to tell him that there are other receivers on the team besides Diggs.
Which brings me to Beane. we’ve lost our best Defensive lineman, Linebacker and corner back. We are up against the cap because Beane decided to spend way too much cash on guys who aren’t being used (Harty, Sherfield, Knox) as well as cash on guys that continue to underperform (Dawkins, Oliver, Hyde) and has whiffed on a number of picks (Elam, Ford, Basham to name a few) . This defense is horrible right now and won’t get any better without additions. This week is the trade deadline. Do something. Trade some picks. Get rid of some salaries (Know IR). We need a cornerback and a linebacker badly.
Last but not least: One piece of sun in and otherwise gloomy Sunday: Dalton Kincaid. Eight targets and eight catches. They actually threw the ball downfield to him. Nice to see. Now let’s see how he does in a no huddle hurry up offense Thursday night v Tampa (OK- I can dream)