Bledsoe - my observation

[Hoov]

A lot of that had to do with trying to provide help for both tackle spots. If your having to help the tackles that is 1 to 2 less guys involved in getting out in the routs.

yes i know, but it didnt work so well. because if you only send out 2 guys its easy to get a coverage sack. i think they need to send players out and the tackles just have to step it up.

 

[Big Country]

Wilma, we totally agree on this. I think Bledsoe needs to be throwing 60% of the time in this offense. At least.

That's gonna be scary with hardly any experience at the bookend positions. Tucker and Pettiti need to take advantage of all the practice reps they can get. As far as the OL play, we haven't really gotten the running game into high gear... 'll be real happy with a 5-3 record before we get the bye week... Get ready for the Filly rematch.

 

[Doomsday101]

yes i know, but it didnt work so well. because if you only send out 2 guys its easy to get a coverage sack. i think they need to send players out and the tackles just have to step it up.

I agree and Parcells talked about the need for these guys to be able to hold their own.

 

[ABQCOWBOY]

I don't agree that all the sacks, last week, were on the OLine. IMO, Drew held the ball two long in at least two instances. He did not check down to hot receivers last week. By far the worst game he has played, IMO.

For those who say opening up the offense is the key, I don't agree with that either. Execution is the key. We are not getting it done. It's not the play calling. It's not the run pass ratio. It's getting your guy blocked, running the route, making the catch, scoring points in the Red Zone. We're not getting those things done. This is not going to magically change if we start throwing the ball more IMO. When you get down to Brass Tacs, the players have to execute there assignments. All else is secondary, IMO.

 

[Hoov]

yeah Dooms, the problem with last weeks passing game is that you buy Bledsoe an extra 2 seconds by giving the tackles help, but it takes your wr longer to get separation because the extra coverage. so in essence your not gaining anything.

 

[Doomsday101]

I don't agree that all the sacks, last week, were on the OLine. IMO, Drew held the ball two long in at least two instances. He did not check down to hot receivers last week. By far the worst game he has played, IMO.

For those who say opening up the offense is the key, I don't agree with that either. Execution is the key. We are not getting it done. It's not the play calling. It's not the run pass ratio. It's getting your guy blocked, running the route, making the catch, scoring points in the Red Zone. We're not getting those things done. This is not going to magically change if we start throwing the ball more IMO. When you get down to Brass Tacs, the players have to execute there assignments. All else is secondary, IMO.

I agree with you completely

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I don't agree that all the sacks, last week, were on the OLine. IMO, Drew held the ball two long in at least two instances. He did not check down to hot receivers last week. By far the worst game he has played, IMO.

For those who say opening up the offense is the key, I don't agree with that either. Execution is the key. We are not getting it done. It's not the play calling. It's not the run pass ratio. It's getting your guy blocked, running the route, making the catch, scoring points in the Red Zone. We're not getting those things done. This is not going to magically change if we start throwing the ball more IMO. When you get down to Brass Tacs, the players have to execute there assignments. All else is secondary, IMO.

The voice of reason.

We open up this offense and bad things will happen.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I don't agree that all the sacks, last week, were on the OLine. IMO, Drew held the ball two long in at least two instances. He did not check down to hot receivers last week. By far the worst game he has played, IMO.

Maybe burmashave will read this and have some sort of snappy come-back that rings of homerism.

 

[Nors]

I agree with you completely

We were doing a lot of 3 steps. Limited receivers and thats my point. The Oline was getting pushed into him. And a few times Petitti let his man in UNBLOCKED.

Drew had a bad game but so did Oline.

 

[MarionBarberThe4th]

Is it me or is Key always open on the slants?
And Witten always open on everything

 

[Doomsday101]

We were doing a lot of 3 steps. Limited receivers and thats my point. The Oline was getting pushed into him. And a few times Petitti let his man in UNBLOCKED.

Drew had a bad game but so did Oline.

I don't disagree. Petitti by all accounts had a rough day out there and yes his play lead to heavy pressure and sacks on Bledsoe. This is why I have said the offense in general had a bad day in Seattle. I’m not going to single out 1 guy on offense based off what I saw in that game.

 

[Doomsday101]

Is it me or is Key always open on the slants?
And Witten always open on everything

No they are not always open.

 

[Waffle]

Bledsoe really struggles on 3 step quick hit plays. Either its there or its not. And often the pocket collapses on him.

I like him best at 5 and 7 drop plays. Especially off play action. The field opens up and thats when he hits a lot of medium range passes. And the threat is there that will keep secondary out of box setting up run later.

Open the damn playbook up. I'd rather go down shooting than drowning on my own vomit slowly.

It's true. You would think a 3 step drop helps a QB make quick throws, but Bledsoe looks over the field more than most. To me, that's why he gets sacked. Those 5 and 7 step drops put more distance between him and the defense while allowing our routes to develop and for him to read what's going on, IMO.

 

[Cowchips]

We'll see. Bledsoe in the last 2 games has 2 TDs and 3 INTs. Not a trend I would like to see continue.

How many times were we inside the 20 running the f'kn ball when we should have been throwing it and how many of the INTs were on Bledsoe vs. tipped balls, etc?

 

[MichaelWinicki]

How many times were we inside the 20 running the f'kn ball when we should have been throwing it and how many of the INTs were on Bledsoe vs. tipped balls, etc?

Last time I looked tipped ints counted against every qb there cowpie.

 

[L-O-Jete]

It's true. You would think a 3 step drop helps a QB make quick throws, but Bledsoe looks over the field more than most. To me, that's why he gets sacked. Those 5 and 7 step drops put more distance between him and the defense while allowing our routes to develop and for him to read what's going on, IMO.

Those plays take more time to develop and give the D more time to get to the QB, a 3 step drop should not give the D enough time to get to the QB...

 

[Nors]

12 TD's versus 6 ints

http://www.nfl.com/stats/leaders/NFL/PRAT/2005/regular


He's 5th in the NFL in passing. Give your gloom act a rest.

 

[Doomsday101]

12 TD's versus 6 ints

http://www.nfl.com/stats/leaders/NFL/PRAT/2005/regular


He's 5th in the NFL in passing. Give your gloom act a rest.

And the 12 TD places him 3rd in the NFL in TD passes.

 

[adbutcher]

Wilma, we totally agree on this. I think Bledsoe needs to be throwing 60% of the time in this offense. At least.

 

[Trip]

Some good points have been brought up.

Nors brought up a good point on Drew and his "comfort" level within a 3-step drop system. He's isn't and to make matters worse his accuracy and touch on short passes is not effective.

Drew is a better passer on medium to long patterns-- no question.

But here is problem...

Teams have repeatedly either taken away the longer routes OR blitzed relentlessly since the mid-point of the 2002 season. In conjunction that's when Drew's "dream season" of 2002 went into the tank... and remained so until the 1/4 mark of the 2004 season when the Buffalo offense finally started emphasizing short patterns to avoid sacks and decrease the number of 3 & outs the offense had been suffering through.

I think much to his chagrin Drew did buy into the concept... at least until the last game of the season against Pittsburgh, which would decide the Bills playoff future.

After Drew's failure to beat a Pittsburgh team that was playing mostly 2nd & 3rd stringers on defense many within the Bills organization were greatly miffed that Drew did not follow the game plan that emphasized the short passing game and instead fell back into his bad habits of looking long first-- forcing balls-- and taking needless sacks.

And here's the situation at hand...

1. Do we continue to emphasize the short passing game even though it doesn't play to the strengths of the QB?
2. Do we "open up the offense" with more passing period?
3. Do we emphasize a more "vertical" passing game?

Buffalo almost made the playoffs last year by doing #1. Drew isn't the best in this type of offense but it seems to carry the least amount of risk.

Drew is an offensive line 'killer'. The pass protection always looks worse with Drew than it will virtually any other QB due to his desire to look for the longer routes first. Consider this... how can the protection offered by this year's offensive line (up to the loss of Adams) be worse than last year given we had Gurode at RG and Tucker at RT for most of the year? The fact is it couldn't. Bledsoe has probably added a good 8 sacks to our total by just "being Drew". It's what you are going to get with him.

I honestly don't see how we can open up the passing game more... I honestly don't. If this offense goes to a 60/40 pass/run ratio I guarantee bad things will happen.

Consequently going to a more vertical offense will lead to the same problems. Yes, we will get more big plays but the negative plays will kill us.

But here's the difference...

Dallas offensive line isn't Buffalo's offensive line.

Yeah, our tackles are a little suspect, but bad things happen to Drew when he gets pressured up the middle. He isn't getting that very often with Dallas. Our guards have been, and will continue to be, strong in pass protection, while the Bills have had a turnstile at left guard since Reuben Brown left and Teague is pretty weak in pass protection as well and the Henry/McGahee/Williams combo at RB last year wasn't exactly helpful at picking up missed blitzers.

I'm not sure if you saw, or remember the Bills against Oakland last year? Drew looked like he was incapable of being a professional QB in that game, and there were others (but especially that one). He hasn't looked like that in any game in Dallas at all.

He threw a costly interception last week... but that had nothing to do with pressure or pass protection and was not at all the type of meltdowns he experienced at Buffalo. It was just a bad pass, and he doesn't do that very often, and I certainly don't think it's a reason to limit the offense at this point.

My two cents.