Week 3 GDT: Rams (2-0) @ Bills (2-0)

[Trentwannabe]

I don’t have the time this week to make it all pretty. At least not yet.

The Bills are about to be tested big time. The Rams are clearly the best team they’ll have faced so far this season, looking a lot on offense like their Super Bowl team from two years ago.

Buffalo is coming off an impressive win in Miami where Josh Allen and the offense had a day. We’ll know more later today but it sounds like Edmunds should be back at MLB for Buffalo this weekend. Unsure about Milano.

It will be the battle of the Seans this week as Sean McVay is arguably the best offensive mind in football going up against one of the best defensive coaches in Sean McDermott.

If there were fans in the stadium I would be more confident but right now I suspect the Rams offense will be too much and as well as the Bills O has played, this week it’ll fall just short.

Rams 27
Bills 24.

[Maxmw22]

This is the first litmus test for the Bills. I think we all expected to be 2-0 after the first two weeks, but this will be a true test of where we are competitively in the AFC. How do we respond if Ramsey shadows Diggs? Can our OLine defend against a premiere pass rusher? We should know the answers after this game.

[WizeGuy]

Allen has had all day to throw the past two weeks. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening this week. We've seen that Allen has improved with his progressions and accuracy, which is great to see, but I worry how he'll perform under pressure because he does still hold on to the ball for a long time. Of course, he has an amazing ability to avoid pressure. Big Ben is another QB who gets caught holding onto the ball too long, but like Allen, he's very hard to take down- so he can make it work. We'll get an idea this week if Allen can make it work. 

The Rams offense is clicking on all cylinders, and I fear that McVay may be able to take advantage of our zone defense. I'm not feeling very comfortable about this game. We have to make Goff look below average to have a chance because I fear the Rams defense will keep Allen and co. in check for most of the game. 

It's very early in the season, so it's hard to honestly judge where teams are at, but it's safe to assume the Rams will be, at the very least, a pretty good team this year. They play in the toughest division in football over the past few years, and haven't had less than 9 wins since 2016-2017. 

I'm having a tough time choosing the Bills in this one...

[Billsfaninptown]

3 hours ago, WizeGuy said:

Allen has had all day to throw the past two weeks. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening this week. We've seen that Allen has improved with his progressions and accuracy, which is great to see, but I worry how he'll perform under pressure because he does still hold on to the ball for a long time. Of course, he has an amazing ability to avoid pressure. Big Ben is another QB who gets caught holding onto the ball too long, but like Allen, he's very hard to take down- so he can make it work. We'll get an idea this week if Allen can make it work. 

The Rams offense is clicking on all cylinders, and I fear that McVay may be able to take advantage of our zone defense. I'm not feeling very comfortable about this game. We have to make Goff look below average to have a chance because I fear the Rams defense will keep Allen and co. in check for most of the game. 

It's very early in the season, so it's hard to honestly judge where teams are at, but it's safe to assume the Rams will be, at the very least, a pretty good team this year. They play in the toughest division in football over the past few years, and haven't had less than 9 wins since 2016-2017. 

I'm having a tough time choosing the Bills in this one...

I wonder if Daboll mixes up his gameplan this week? I feel like there will be a lot more screen passes and quick throws this week to help negate the Rams pass rush. I am also worried about this matchup for our defense. I think Woods, Kupp, and Higbee could feast in the middle of the field and down the seams. Our front 4 is going to have to get consistent pressure on Goff and make him uncomfortable. He can be had when he's under pressure. His numbers with a clean pocket and without are night and day. In the end I am going with the Rams to win 27-20.

[Kmart128]

3 hours ago, WizeGuy said:

Allen has had all day to throw the past two weeks. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening this week. We've seen that Allen has improved with his progressions and accuracy, which is great to see, but I worry how he'll perform under pressure because he does still hold on to the ball for a long time. Of course, he has an amazing ability to avoid pressure. Big Ben is another QB who gets caught holding onto the ball too long, but like Allen, he's very hard to take down- so he can make it work. We'll get an idea this week if Allen can make it work. 

The Rams offense is clicking on all cylinders, and I fear that McVay may be able to take advantage of our zone defense. I'm not feeling very comfortable about this game. We have to make Goff look below average to have a chance because I fear the Rams defense will keep Allen and co. in check for most of the game. 

It's very early in the season, so it's hard to honestly judge where teams are at, but it's safe to assume the Rams will be, at the very least, a pretty good team this year. They play in the toughest division in football over the past few years, and haven't had less than 9 wins since 2016-2017. 

I'm having a tough time choosing the Bills in this one...

 

One thing i have noticed the past few weeks is Josh Allen is doing a great job of avoiding the pass rushers when they do come. He is moving better now then he ever has before. There were times in the past where he would leave to pocket to early and get in trouble. But in the first two weeks his pocket awareness seems much improved. There has been a ton of instances were a rusher is coming free and he just steps out of harms way and delivers a dime on the run.

Big news is Milano and Edmunds both practiced today! Good news. It was good to get Dodson some experience against Jets and Miami but now we need atleast one of Milano and Edmunds back.

[FrantikRam]

Don't like how humble you all are being. One of the reasons the Rams are coming out blazing is because of how many people wrote us off this year.

Rams run defense still isn't up to par, pass defense has been excellent - I think the Bills have a shot to go for 200 this week if they stick to it.

How has your defense been this year? I figured it would be top 5. Has it looked that good?

[Maxmw22]

3 hours ago, FrantikRam said:

Don't like how humble you all are being. One of the reasons the Rams are coming out blazing is because of how many people wrote us off this year.

Rams run defense still isn't up to par, pass defense has been excellent - I think the Bills have a shot to go for 200 this week if they stick to it.

How has your defense been this year? I figured it would be top 5. Has it looked that good?

I think while we played well against the Jets, we had some turnovers that were unwarranted. While we know we were down our 2 starting LB's in Miami, the game was in doubt and shouldn't have been that close.

I think we are being cautious because yes we are 2-0, but there were some sloppy mistakes that hopefully are a result of an abbreviated off-season.

 

Our defense is hard to judge, week 1 they looked decent, but week 2 we were down Edmunds and Milano, which was a big hit. I personally expected our defense to look better. Hopefully we get one of Milano or Edmunds back at a minimum.

 

I feel like our passing game is running on all cylinders, but our running game and pass defense specifically has room for improvement.

[Billsfaninptown]

3 hours ago, FrantikRam said:

Don't like how humble you all are being. One of the reasons the Rams are coming out blazing is because of how many people wrote us off this year.

Rams run defense still isn't up to par, pass defense has been excellent - I think the Bills have a shot to go for 200 this week if they stick to it.

How has your defense been this year? I figured it would be top 5. Has it looked that good?

Hard to get a read yet on our defense with the injuries at LB. This defense relies heavily on Edmonds and Milano. Not having them and starting Klein out of position and an undrafted free agent with very little experience in Dodson has been rocky to say the least. I think at full strength this defense can be top 5 again. Our main concerns going into the season were CB2 and LB depth. Both of those concerns have been really tested with the injuries at LB and the injury to Josh Norman. The D line is super deep and we have one of the best safety tandems in Poyer and Hyde. Tre White is one of the best CB in the league. The defense has all of the pieces to be elite again if we can get some of our guys back.

[soflbillsfan]

The good thing is the bills have a team that is averaging 371 on defense, 243 in passing and 128 on rushing against the cowboys and philly. I watched the philly game and wentz looks like poop and has held them back offensively in that game with bad decision making and awful accuracy throws. The dallas game was the closer match through out while philly just came out flat from the beginning and they were playing catch up. Sanders was getting 4-5 yards a crack carrying the ball so the run defense for rams has been a liability it seems. However their defense is only giving up 18 points a game which is something the bills can not settle for as they do have a strong offense. They have come away with 3 take aways last game against wentz which played a big part of them being able to control the game.  Players they need to look out for are Donald and Ramsey on defense. If the interior line can double team donald and manage to hold off the remaining line giving Allen time to throw this will be key to their offense. The run game needs to get going early as Allen loves to use the play action pass and this may give him the time he needs to throw the ball. 

ON the defense Milano and Edmunds need to play and be close to 100% if not 100% without these guys the run defense and play action to Higbee will eat them up all day long. Changing up to a more zone defense hurt them last week and do not be surprised on whoever lines up on wallace will be picked on early on and a lot with guys like Woods and Kupp they can definitely make him look bad this week. Bills need to shut the run down early in order to stop Goff's play action ability as both him and Allen tend to run the most in the league as of the first 2 weeks. 

Key pieces of having a fighting chance are LBs playing, run game going early, and get goff rattled. Something that I and I am sure many bills fans would love is for Diggs to work Ramsey early on to get him rattled as this guy is someone who I want to see crumble based on his past comments and he needs to be brought down a peg in the league. 

Ending results I still see Rams pulling out the win by a fg 

[FrantikRam]

This game is a funny one.

Both teams had a winning record last year so I wish it was a late or primetime game.

On one hand, the Bills facing a "good team" (quotes because we started 3-0 last year with a beat down of the Saints in week 2 and didn't make the playoffs), which they struggled with last year. Sort of a prove it game for them.

On the other hand, the Rams are underdogs for the third straight game and have been doubted all offseason.

Being that it's the second road game heading east for us, and that the teams are similarly talented, I'm not feeling great about it.

[Trentwannabe]

9 minutes ago, FrantikRam said:

This game is a funny one.

Both teams had a winning record last year so I wish it was a late or primetime game.

On one hand, the Bills facing a "good team" (quotes because we started 3-0 last year with a beat down of the Saints in week 2 and didn't make the playoffs), which they struggled with last year. Sort of a prove it game for them.

On the other hand, the Rams are underdogs for the third straight game and have been doubted all offseason.

Being that it's the second road game heading east for us, and that the teams are similarly talented, I'm not feeling great about it.

I have found it ironic that in national media there is a lot of “well they beat the Dolphins and Jets” when talking about Buffalo. But nothing is mentioned about who the Rams have beaten or how their opponents record is 1-3 and easily could be 0-4.

I think this should be a great game and a true test for both teams. I’m banking on Allen and Singletary being able to run and keep the the pass rush honest with some play action. As well as LA having to come East two weeks in a row. 

 

[Trentwannabe]

3 hours ago, Billsfaninptown said:

Hard to get a read yet on our defense with the injuries at LB. This defense relies heavily on Edmonds and Milano. Not having them and starting Klein out of position and an undrafted free agent with very little experience in Dodson has been rocky to say the least. I think at full strength this defense can be top 5 again. Our main concerns going into the season were CB2 and LB depth. Both of those concerns have been really tested with the injuries at LB and the injury to Josh Norman. The D line is super deep and we have one of the best safety tandems in Poyer and Hyde. Tre White is one of the best CB in the league. The defense has all of the pieces to be elite again if we can get some of our guys back.

If we have Milano we have a real shot. Otherwise Higbee and Kupp will eat all day. 

[Trentwannabe]

 

[Billsfaninptown]

1 hour ago, Trentwannabe said:

If we have Milano we have a real shot. Otherwise Higbee and Kupp will eat all day. 

Can Poyer or Hyde be used more on the tight end and help cover the middle of the field? Almost use them as a sub package LB and sub Marlowe or Johnson in at safety for a few plays?

[Billsfaninptown]

The Bills have protected Jonotthan Harrison, Justin Zimmer, Dane Jackson, and Jordan Devey. They didn't protect any LB this week. I wonder if this means there's good news on Milano and Edmonds?