Monday morning QB-week 1. Cards fold in Buffalo

Thanks Aris
Good summary.
I will continue to beat the drum on the 0-9 yard pass game. It worked in the 1st half and when the Cards panicked in the second half they went away from it.
In the Lions game Stafford worked the short game to perfection against a better defense and several OL men missing.
I liked the Cards had a chance, but if the offense would have trusted what was working in the short game another outcome was possible.
The lack of short crossers, counter routes off play action and even better use of jet sweep motion and more jet sweeps with Dortch.
McBride, Wilson and MJH can catch short routes and use their athleticism to get extra yards…short routes get the ball out fast and neutralize the rush as well.
The Cards did this in 2023 as well and McBride thrived.
Drew has his work cut out, but it is an easy adjustment.
Small ball moves the chains and protects the bad defense as seen in the first half.

Will like to comment further when I get home.

PFF grades were abysmal for the DL. Pretty decent for the OL, with the exception of Beachum. Hopefully our RT gets back soon.

I'm going to give my thoughts on our offense first.  

As discussed in my most recent post on the Questions re our Run Game thread, our running game was not good, even when we seemed to be dominating in the first half.  That thread discussed some ways we might improve.



Our passing game wasn’t good either - again, even on our successful drives in the first half - because it was almost entirely limited to dink and dunk. We got surprisingly good results with that on our first three drives when we had zero penalties and only one negative play (a three-yard loss on a run). But even then it was difficult to be successful with the small bites we were taking. On those three drives we faced 7 third downs (the easiest being a 3rd and four) and were only successful because we converted every single one of them.  And we didn’t exactly do that with flying colors: twice we had to scramble for it when we were unable to pass. Only once did we need ten or more yards to convert, and our “success” in that case required a personal foul at the end of a scramble that came up seven yards short.*  After that we saw the more typical results of an ineffective running game coupled with dink-and-dunk passing: nibbling isn’t enough to overcome penalties or negative plays, and we can't keep putting ourselves in 3rd and 5-ish situations and expect to convert every time.



To be successful, we need to do better on first and second downs. We can do that on first and ten and second and short-ish with a more effective running game coupled with play action passing to get the ball downfield. Some quick passes on first down can be effective, but pass plays called on second down generally need to be designed to get the ball past the sticks.



Long yardage situations are going to be a problem, because it doesn’t look like we can be effective with Murray throwing downfield from the pocket. Our pass protection isn’t good enough, and – as a result – it is too hard for Murray to see and find passing lanes. We saw the kind of thing we can expect yesterday: sacks, batted balls, scrambles and dump-offs, all resulting from an inability to get the ball downfield. On second and long-ish it would help if we could make effective use of screens and draws, but on third and long we are going to need blocking help from our RBs and TEs and should scheme to pin opposing DEs or OLBs so that we can move the pocket outside. We need to recognize that it will be far easier for us to complete long passes off play action in run-down situations.

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* [Yup, a footnote] As an aside, I thought the flag on the hit on Murray was legit.  The replays didn't show the hit itself, but they did show that something hit Murray in the body hard enough to spin him like a top.  I don't know what that could have been other than the defender's knee (the one we couldn't really see).  Has anyone seen a better angle on that?       

Do you think the Bills made adjustments in the second half to counter the Cards offense?

Did the windy playing conditions limit the long ball? (yes)

I hate the jet sweeps. Reminds me of the KK days. 

Overall the offense was pretty good. The defense.....

Beachum is now aged 35 and he is doubtless dropping from his peak performance days. Maybe the glue is thinning, despite the positives he brings to the roster.

arizonasports.com/story/3557442/jonah-williams-out-cardinals/

Hoping Jonas Williams is back for the next game.

I'm sure the Bills made some adjustments to counter the Cards offense, but our inability to run effectively or stretch the field vertically made that pretty easy. 

You make a very good point about the wind conditions; I hadn't really focused on that and don't know how big a factor it was. 

I both agree and disagree with you on jet sweeps.  Depending on exactly what the offense is doing jet sweeps can be excellent or horrible, and I've certainly seen some horrible examples.  The worst are one-offs run from the shotgun with little or nothing to confuse the defense.  The best are run from under center (which helps hide the ball and improves the timing) and are part of a play package that puts the defense in conflict by presenting multiple threats from the same backfield action.  As explained in the Questions re our Run Game thread, I think the latter (in which a few jet sweeps would open up an inside run game and help Murray break containment on play action) could really help us.              
     

Interesting breakdown by Orlovsky on this particular play.