Buffalo Bills @ Kansas City Chiefs - A Few Thoughts About the Chiefs Game, in no particular order

[Arm of Harm]

Things that have gone better than I'd expected thus far this season:

 

Defensive line. Guys like Rousseau, Oliver, Epenesa, Star, Addison, and others are playing better than I'd thought they would.

Spencer Brown. I'd had vague thoughts about him becoming a starter at some point in his career. Never thought it would happen this quickly.

Dawson Knox: During the off-season I'd thought of starting TE as an area of need. Whoops.

Tremaine Edmunds: Last season he'd have an excellent game, such as the postseason game against the Ravens. Then he'd follow it up with a bad game, such as the postseason game against the Chiefs. This season he seems to be replacing bad games with excellent games.

Matt Milano: I'd thought he'd already peaked last season. I was wrong.

Sanders: I'd thought he didn't have much left in the tank, that he'd be a shell of his former self. Instead he's making plays.

 

Things which have gone worse than I'd expected thus far this season:

 

Stephon Diggs: he's had a relatively quiet season thus far.

Josh Allen: At the start of the season 2020 Josh seemed to have vanished completely. We've been getting him back little by little, with him having a very good game against Kansas City. But, 2020 Josh has not 100% materialized yet, and there were some off-target throws he had in that game which 2020 Josh might have hit.

Cole Beasley: He's been a little quieter than I would have expected.

 

[Alaska Darin]

I don't think Diggs nor Beasley have been quiet.  Defenses are daring the BILLS to beat them using other options, which is why it's been imperative for Knox and Sanders to become significant contributors.  The game has always been about adapting and who does it better. 

 

 

[Seasons1992]

43 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

I don't think Diggs nor Beasley have been quiet.  Defenses are daring the BILLS to beat them using other options, which is why it's been imperative for Knox and Sanders to become significant contributors.  The game has always been about adapting and who does it better. 

 

 

 

Completely agreed.

Win with the best options for THAT game. So far, some games have been Moss and Sanders, when you'd "think" it's Singletary and Beas/Diggs. 

 

The much improved defense will continue to help win games deep into the season, meaning the offense won't have to do all of the heavy lifting.

[Crap Throwing Clavin]

2 hours ago, Alaska Darin said:

I don't think Diggs nor Beasley have been quiet.  Defenses are daring the BILLS to beat them using other options, which is why it's been imperative for Knox and Sanders to become significant contributors.  The game has always been about adapting and who does it better. 

 

 

 

Beas has 26 receptions in 5 games.  That projects to more than 75 on the season.

 

Damn mute.

[Foxx]

How's that saying go?

 

Offense wins games, defense wins championships.

 

I'd say we have a shoe on each foot.

[Fansince88]

With the rough week I had beginning Monday morning this truly was a pleasure to read. Thanks @Virgil. 

[Arm of Harm]

Last season Beasley averaged 64 yards per game. Thus far this year it's been 43.

 

Last season Diggs averaged 96 yards per game. Thus far this year it's been 75.

 

Both guys are averaging about 3/4 as many yards per game this year as they had last year. Then you take into account the quality of defenses we've been facing. The Steelers had a good defense for the week 1 game (10th best). But after that, it's been Dolphins (30th), Football Team (31st), Texans (27th), and Chiefs (32nd). So, a roughly 25% decline in receiving yards per game, with 4 out of our 5 opponents having a bottom-5 defense. Yeah, both Diggs and Beasley have been quieter than I'd expected.  

 

Am I criticizing either of their play? No. Some weeks will have more opportunities than others. 

[Fansince88]

9 hours ago, Arm of Harm said:

Last season Beasley averaged 64 yards per game. Thus far this year it's been 43.

 

Last season Diggs averaged 96 yards per game. Thus far this year it's been 75.

 

Both guys are averaging about 3/4 as many yards per game this year as they had last year. Then you take into account the quality of defenses we've been facing. The Steelers had a good defense for the week 1 game (10th best). But after that, it's been Dolphins (30th), Football Team (31st), Texans (27th), and Chiefs (32nd). So, a roughly 25% decline in receiving yards per game, with 4 out of our 5 opponents having a bottom-5 defense. Yeah, both Diggs and Beasley have been quieter than I'd expected.  

 

Am I criticizing either of their play? No. Some weeks will have more opportunities than others. 

What increase have we seen from 1)Knox 2)Sanders 2)the running game. We are not just winning but we are winning better.

[Alaska Darin]

10 hours ago, Arm of Harm said:

Last season Beasley averaged 64 yards per game. Thus far this year it's been 43.

 

Last season Diggs averaged 96 yards per game. Thus far this year it's been 75.

 

Both guys are averaging about 3/4 as many yards per game this year as they had last year. Then you take into account the quality of defenses we've been facing. The Steelers had a good defense for the week 1 game (10th best). But after that, it's been Dolphins (30th), Football Team (31st), Texans (27th), and Chiefs (32nd). So, a roughly 25% decline in receiving yards per game, with 4 out of our 5 opponents having a bottom-5 defense. Yeah, both Diggs and Beasley have been quieter than I'd expected.  

 

Am I criticizing either of their play? No. Some weeks will have more opportunities than others. 

I'm not sure it's reasonable to expect guys to match career-best seasons,  especially in such a small number of games.  I'd have some concern if the offense wasn't one of 4 teams in the league that's scored on more than 50% of its drives.  Points are the only thing that really matters. 

 

I fully expect both to have big games as the season goes on but if they don't match last season,  it probably isn't an indicator of anything beyond Beane/McDermott/Daboll bringing better balance to the offense.

[Arm of Harm]

12 hours ago, Alaska Darin said:

I'm not sure it's reasonable to expect guys to match career-best seasons,  especially in such a small number of games.  I'd have some concern if the offense wasn't one of 4 teams in the league that's scored on more than 50% of its drives.  Points are the only thing that really matters. 

 

I fully expect both to have big games as the season goes on but if they don't match last season,  it probably isn't an indicator of anything beyond Beane/McDermott/Daboll bringing better balance to the offense.

 

Last season the two strongest units on the team were QB and WR, in that order. Josh Allen had the second-best 2020 season of any NFL QB, behind only Aaron Rodgers. The receivers--especially Diggs but also Beasley--were great at making plays. We got great play from both QB and WRs, and that helped carry a team which was mediocre in a lot of other ways. Last year's mediocrity included the offensive line, TE, the running game, the defensive line, and sometimes Edmunds. The defensive secondary was normally rock solid.

 

This season a lot has changed. I'm very, very happy that Spencer Brown is already a starter, and that Cody Ford has been sent to the bench. Last season arguably the biggest problem with the running game was lack of run blocking, and making that personnel adjustment is a big step toward getting the run blocking problem fixed. Then you have the defensive line, which appears to have gotten a huge upgrade from last season. (Rousseau, Basham, Obada, the return of Star, the improvement of Epenesa.) Edmunds has been very good lately. Knox is playing much much better this year than he had last year. Sanders has been a good addition at WR. The running game is going a lot better this year, both because of the aforementioned change on the OL and because Singletary has improved. Overall, this is a far more complete, better Bills team than the team we had last year. I'm excited.

 

But there is a nagging doubt in my mind. Let's say that we were pushed into a corner in an important game, and we needed Allen + Diggs + Beasley to carry us the way they had last year. Would they be able to do it, or would they fall a little short of the standard they'd set last year? I don't have the answer to that, and hopefully we don't get pushed into that corner to begin with. In the meantime, I like the Bills' chances of beating the Titans! 🙂