Official Game Thread Week 3 - WFT at Buffalo

[Boone]

Our 2021 Week 3 matchup has Washington on the road against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills. The Bills are 1-1 but coming off a dominating 35-0 shellacking of the Miami Dolphins. Can the WFT defense wake up and our vaunted front four get pressure on Allen? Is Taylor Heinicke as good as we might be thinking he is? Can Washington eliminate the errors that cost them a Week 1 victory, and nearly sunk them in Week 2 as well? We may start to get some answers on Sunday.

Currently Washington is a huge 9.5 point underdogs on most Vegas lines.

Gametime is 1:00 pm on Sunday 26 September at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.


Talk about the game, before, during, and after in this thread.

 

[Canadian Hog]

After a letdown in their opening contest at home vs. Pittsburgh, I feel like Buffalo proved their status as one of the top teams in the league with their response this past Sunday in Miami. You expect good teams to bounce back after disappointing performances, but these guys went over and above by simply mashing the Dolphins.

We responded as well this past Thursday with a much needed win vs. New York, though in many ways we just squeaked by and got a few breaks along the way that prevented an 0-2 start. I think it ultimately eludes to the fact that the Bills are just that much further ahead than us in their development as a team.

At the end of the day, this is likely a game where the odds are stacked against us. I find it hard believing that the Bills will start 0-2 at home; however, stranger things have happened.

All in all, it will be a good measuring stick for us. If we can go into Orchard Park and make these guys work for every yard and give them a game that comes down to the latter half of the 4th quarter, I think it will pay dividends for us further along in the season. In fact, I fully expect us to compete, and anything else will be a major disappointment.

I know people are tired of hearing about morale victories, but for a team that I believe is at least another season away from truly competing in the conference, I think we still need to accept them from time to time.

 

[Boone]

I agree with all that. On the other hand, this is exactly the kind of contest, on the road, heavy underdogs, no one giving us a chance in hell, that we find a way to win. I'll go contrarian - it's not the defense that gives us a chance in this one (although this would be a great time for our D to actually show up and validate some of the preseason hype!). It's 3 guys on offense that give us a chance - Taylor Heinicke, Antonio Gibson, and Terry McLaurin.

We keep saying this team can't win a shootout. But I think what the Giants game showed us is, with Heinicke under center and being aggressive with playcalling, we can score points in bunches.

An upset in Buffalo would be huge, since after Atlanta, Washington faces a brutal month +, facing in succession:

@ Saints
vs. Chiefs
vs. Packers
@ Broncos
@ Bucs

 

[SirClintonPortis]

I agree with all that. On the other hand, this is exactly the kind of contest, on the road, heavy underdogs, no one giving us a chance in hell, that we find a way to win. I'll go contrarian - it's not the defense that gives us a chance in this one (although this would be a great time for our D to actually show up and validate some of the preseason hype!). It's 3 guys on offense that give us a chance - Taylor Heinicke, Antonio Gibson, and Terry McLaurin.

We keep saying this team can't win a shootout. But I think what the Giants game showed us is, with Heinicke under center and being aggressive with playcalling, we can score points in bunches.

An upset in Buffalo would be huge, since after Atlanta, Washington faces a brutal month +, facing in succession:

@ Saints
vs. Chiefs
vs. Packers
@ Broncos
@ Bucs

At least the Saints and Packers have weaknesses, but they will still be tough. Jameis is who he is. Aside from the Joe Barry-run Packers giving him a night a look of Hall of Famer, he crashed back to turnover Jameis against a more competent Carolina D.

I would expect our O to feast on the Packers' D as well because well, it's Joe fucking Barry. If we can't light him up, we don't deserve to win.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

We are deservedly underdogs but Josh Allen still misses a few plays. Just that our D has to stop playing JV football.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

After a letdown in their opening contest at home vs. Pittsburgh, I feel like Buffalo proved their status as one of the top teams in the league with their response this past Sunday in Miami. You expect good teams to bounce back after disappointing performances, but these guys went over and above by simply mashing the Dolphins.

We responded as well this past Thursday with a much needed win vs. New York, though in many ways we just squeaked by and got a few breaks along the way that prevented an 0-2 start. I think it ultimately eludes to the fact that the Bills are just that much further ahead than us in their development as a team.

At the end of the day, this is likely a game where the odds are stacked against us. I find it hard believing that the Bills will start 0-2 at home; however, stranger things have happened.

All in all, it will be a good measuring stick for us. If we can go into Orchard Park and make these guys work for every yard and give them a game that comes down to the latter half of the 4th quarter, I think it will pay dividends for us further along in the season. In fact, I fully expect us to compete, and anything else will be a major disappointment.

I know people are tired of hearing about morale victories, but for a team that I believe is at least another season away from truly competing in the conference, I think we still need to accept them from time to time.

The tuna eaters lost the mediocre Tua to injury and replaced him with the meathead Jacoby Brissett. Brissett is so awful even his highlights show a man who can't throw on timing and plays like a drunk Dwayne Haskins.

 

[MikefromOH]

I would like to see Reyes get some time. His blocking has been pretty good and we could use the help on the line.

Plus, if he ever stops double catching he could be a real target.

 

[Chris]

Remember Pittsburgh

 

[SkinsOrlando]

This game is going to be about time of possession. I know cliche but if we get cute and come out throwing the ball without establishing a ground game we're in for a long day. We need to keep Allen and Diggs from getting into a rhythm against FULLER because we know he's going to get targeted with Diggs on him and the only way to do that is grind it out. Maybe our alleged dominant D line shows up but I'd rather play keep away as long as possible pounding the rock until I see those guys upfront consistently get pressure.

 

[MisterPinstripe]

If our defense wasnt playing so poorly I would feel really good about this game, but as it is I have to expect a lose and us not being able to stop Allen. I really hope they bench Collins, the defense got better when he went down last year and he has allowed so many huge plays already this year. I cant understand why they would keep playing him because they can see his mistakes. Long run from Jones? His fault. Slayton wide open on that near TD? His fault.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

In the highlight section of the Buffalo-Miami highlights, there is a consistent repetition of fans stating that their O isn't looking good and their D is carrying them.

It all depends on what our D does Sunday. If they keep up what they have been doing, Allen will be cured of his struggles. If our D shows up in good form, Allen will falter. I doubt our D will be good if Landon Collins plays too much.

 

[Canadian Hog]

This game is going to be about time of possession. I know cliche but if we get cute and come out throwing the ball without establishing a ground game we're in for a long day. We need to keep Allen and Diggs from getting into a rhythm against FULLER because we know he's going to get targeted with Diggs on him and the only way to do that is grind it out. Maybe our alleged dominant D line shows up but I'd rather play keep away as long as possible pounding the rock until I see those guys upfront consistently get pressure. I agree with all of this. I think it is especially important that we set up Heinicke for success on Sunday. One thing we need to keep in mind is that the crowd in Orchard Park can get crazy. That's a really tough place to play when the Bills are humming, and the crowd should factor into this game if we let them. It is especially important that we solve the problem with our starts come Sunday. We can't get behind 14 points in Buffalo and stray from the game plan significantly. That predicament could potentially be a tough spot for Heinicke, especially considering that this will be his first career road start. I'm not sure you want to put him in that situation.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

But what is the game plan? We had less than a 1 score game the entire time last week and they refused to run. I’m not certain the game plan when up 7 or behind 14 is any different at this point.

 

[MikefromOH]

Who wants to bet on if we get an opening drive touchdown?

 

[DieselPwr44]

Scott Turner needs to run the ball in Buffalo.

Your starting Qb's first road start in a hostile environment. Do not put it all on his shoulders.

Also would help keep the defense fresh and you take their crowd out of it if you establish the run game.

No more 13 carries for Gibson when he's averaging five yards a pop.

 

[Canadian Hog]

Scott Turner needs to run the ball in Buffalo.

Your starting Qb's first road start in a hostile environment. Do not put it all on his shoulders.

Also would help keep the defense fresh and you take their crowd out of it if you establish the run game.

No more 13 carries for Gibson when he's averaging five yards a pop.

While I very much agree with this, I am not sure we are necessarily going to get that. If there is one thing that has been consistent throughout the games that Heinicke has appeared in, it is that Turner is not going to simply dial things back for Taylor. He appears to have full confidence in his ability to run the offence.

 

[MikefromOH]

Turner is one of the worst at adjusting play calling. He simply won't do it.

Hopefully Ron has taken a break this week from telling people how he feels about taunting and reamed him a good one.

 

[Boone]

We have run plenty in the first two games. It's actually been pretty balanced. The days of rushing more than passing are gone forever. We need to win the TOP game and now that we have a QB who can complete passes consistently, I don't really care how we do it. We were 75% in the red zone last week and held the giants to 33% there. We need to do that again. I also believe that Gibson is banged up. Guess who was a star RB at the University of Buffalo?

Jaret Patterson.

Might be a good time to give him some handoffs.

 

[SilentThreat]

The sad thing is Turner has shown flashes of brilliance followed by episodes of complete confusion. He's Kirk Cousins as an OC. 3 drives (you could say 2 since one of them only lasted 2 plays and the TD was 100% because of Heinicke) were effective. The 2 long TD drives looked GREAT. There was ball control, the defense didn't really know what was coming... then there's moments like the INT. I put a lot of that on Heinicke, but it was clearly a timing play call and it was about the 5th time we ran that play (or one alarmingly similar). It was not shocking that they knew the look and jumped the pass.

I was pretty vocal last week about him, and he may have softened that stance to a degree with the hope that he can build off those 2 really good drives, and lessen the however many bad ones. I think we need to run the ball, but I don't think we live and die with it. A couple big plays (ala McKissic catch and Seals-Jones TD) could be big for the momentum and control of the game... but we have to pick our spots correctly there. 1st and 22.... I don't need 22. I need about 10 - 12. If we fall behind, we can't score 13 points on 1 play. This may be the best defense we face this year, so I don't see us going into Buffalo and bullying them.

 

[SirClintonPortis]

Posh Allen
Stepped-on Diggs
Mole Beasley.