Alphadawg7

Fair, but I was already complaining about Dorsey all first half when Allen just had the one INT. Me and some buddies all were saying the same thing...it doesn't feel like Dorsey evolved much from last year in how he calls plays. If we win that game and Allen has just the one INT and Dorsey calls the same game, I still would have the same concerns that I mentioned above in my OP. I hope to see more next week, and Allen playing better will help evaluate it for sure. But Dorsey was one of the things I was watching the most coming into this game and what I saw from the offense in design, play calling, and use of personnel and I came away feeling like a repeat of last year.

Last night Allen had one of his worst games in a long time. So this is NOT to shift any responsibility of that from him to anyone else, Allen gets to own that performance, no excuses. There were times where he was looking good and then all of a sudden this terrible decision happens to undo it all and give the ball away, he just can't do that. However, I came away just as concerned with Dorsey and his play calling and use of personnel that I was last year. Just to name a few: We go out and sign Harris and Murray then still call draws up the middle by our QB and small sized RB? Where were all the 2 TE sets to put pressure on the weaker part of the Jets D? Why are all our WRs running 15 yard deep routes on 3rd and short with only a RB underneath? Where are the screens to guys like Cook, Harty, Diggs? Why are we running on 2nd and 15 when we have the number offense over the past 3 years on picking up down and long plays via pass? Where was the quick strike stuff we opened the game with Diggs on Sauce for the first play and completion? Why are we still trying to force a run game from unconventional formations that didn't work in the past? I am not going to blame Dorsey for Allens poor decisions, those were all on Allen. But, at the same time, I have not felt like Allen has played as free or instinctively under Dorsey as he did under Daboll. I think about Mahomes in KC, when you watch the show Quarterback you just get some insight on just how involved Mahomes and the other players are in helping shape the offense and that its completely catered around everything Mahomes does best. And more importantly, they give Mahomes a ton of options short and underneath with easy throws for RAC which is why he leads the NFL in most yards gained every year on throws near or behind the LOS and he leads by a mile. Since Dorsey got here, it feels more like trying to change Allen's instincts and thought process to be something different rather than leaning into what he does best like Daboll did. I have long been concerned about risking Allen and Diggs prime on an unproven first time OC. Last year I thought Dorsey was pretty bad in many facets of his job, especially in play calling inside the redzone and his use of personnel. Week 1, nothing that happened changed those concerns. Everything I was frustrated about last year in how this offense was run still all seemed present to me. Allen needs to be better with the football and stop trying to score on every play, there is no doubt about that. But I also think our OC isn't doing him any favors either. There is no way this team can take a step forward if Dorsey doesn't evolve positively from last year. Week 1 felt like not much had changed, hope that doesn't continue.

You are going to get a lot of crap by the usual group that is negative 365 days a year and this is like Christmas to them as they much rather be right about pessimism than see the Bills succeed. But, coming into this game, looking at the schedule, week 1 felt like a game we could lose and then potentially win the next 7 heading into a big test in week 8. And I still think we could do that, and honestly somewhat expect that and I think we will find out week 2 how plausible it is. Are we going to see a big rebound game from Josh, or will we win more like we won a lot of games last year...not clean, kind of a struggle.? If Josh has a big bounce back game, I think winning the next 7 is plausiuble. If we win, but its a close game where everything on the offense just feels more difficult than it should, kind of like the back half of last year, then I think we got bigger problems and all of a sudden every game gets tougher than it should, again much like last year. I am never one to over emphasize early season games, but right now week 2 feels awfully important. They need to find their swagger again, and fast. This team needs a refreshing dominant win, at least offensively before their confidence starts to fade, frustrations set in, and guys keep pressing too much like Allen was.

My first thought when I saw that play and then reassured again on replay was that Josh's hurdle there felt more like his instinct to get the ball out of the way of contact and wrap it up to protect it more than trying to get more yards. It just looked like he realized he was in a bad predicament without the ball properly secured with no way to avoid the contact and he went up to try and avoid a potential fumble on contact to get the ball above the defenders and secured more in his arms. If you watch the replay, this to me seems the most plausible reason. Now...that does highlight another issue which is how he can recklessly hold the ball when running that has led to way too many fumbles given how much contact he takes and initiates on runs. But, I think this needless hurdle was his instinctive way to secure the football by getting it above the contact and secured with two arms when he realized he was about to get hit by 3 guys while he had the ball just palmed in his hand. https://x.com/JakeLBeckman/status/1701409336419926340?s=20

Yeah, I immediately said to my friends here “WTF, he said all off season he was gonna stop that and here he is”. I love Allens heart and leaving it all on the line mentality…but stuff like that is so unnecessary and he needs to just avoid. When it happened, I said I think he did it to avoid fumbling as he wasn’t protecting the ball and it was like he went over the top to keep the ball from potentially getting knocked out of his hands. Which is in itself it’s own problem if why where he doesn’t properly protect the ball when running

I don’t disagree with that, but I’m not sure Allen is there either. He’s got a lot of talent around him, he’s going to have big games and get right too. Ive seen all the greats have 4+ turnover games and it didn’t change them forever. Bengals game was a team wide flop. Last night was Allen just pressing too much. I think he was trying too hard to change the narrative and when Allen presses he makes poor decisions. He needs to control his competitiveness where he tries to be Superman all the time and realize it’s better to take what’s there. I do have concerns about Dorsey though, Allen just doesn’t seem to playing as free and instinctively as he was before Dorsey

I think this is sort of hitting on the issues. Josh in 2021 played more free out there, instinctively. 2022, as the season wore on he seemed to have less fun and played in a way where he felt less comfortable. And tonight, he looked like he had happy feet out there, like he is thinking too much about things that are outside his natural insticnts at the position. I said this last year, I said this over the offseason, and I am gonna say it again. It's a BIG gamble to risk the prime years of Allen and Diggs on a unproven OC who has never done the job before. I am not excusing Allen's poor decisions today, but I have not felt like Josh is nearly as confident or comfortable in Dorseys system. And quite frankly, I can't stand how Dorsey calls games still. But Allen just doesn't seem to have as much fun or feel as comfortable as he used to with Dorsey at OC.

Lol Bills loss is no where near as bad as Giants and Bengals were who combined for 3 points. Giants looked like they were playing a scrimmage and Bengals and Burrow just crapped the bed after over paying him. Allen had a bad game, one of his worst in terms of decisions, but Bills still had a chance to win this game. The other teams were never in the game at all and got utterly manhandled by their divisional rivals.

Burrow just passed for 82 yards and led his team to 3 points with Chase, Higgins and Boyd as his 3 WR's and against a lesser secondary. Allens playoff stats dwarf Burrows too. So why is he not in the same category? Because he had a bad game himself or just because Burrows defense carried him to a Super Bowl?

Npt that it matters, but Bears lost to GB...Vikes lost to Baker and the Bucs

I watched this game...my takeaways were that I don't think either team is a real Super Bowl contender, and I am not even sure the Chargers make the playoffs. How Staley still has a job is puzzling to me, this team does not know how to win and has way too much talent to not be even a playoff team. Dolphins defense, for all the offseason hoopla, looked meh most the game. They got some big sacks on the last series, but outside of that, they didn't look much different to me than last year. Tua and Hill had big games, but he got help from the Chargers to do so. I will give Tua credit, he did make some really nice throws in that 2nd half, but regardless the Chargers should have won this game but they did what they always do and failed to capitalize on opportunities or close the game out. Im not concerned about either team that much.

You know something else I just realized too...We did not sign up for YoutubeTV, we just paid for Sunday Ticket because we get free Spectrum as my wife works for them doing the sports marketing for the Lakers and Dodgers. So YoutubeTV was a waste...for us. But the difference for us is that to watch the local affiliate game, I have to use another app (Spectrum) where as if you have YoutubeTV subscription then it will already have the local affiliates in it and will show that game too, which is probably why it showed you all 5 games because the app you are using is both your TV subscription and Sunday Ticket. That is something DirecTV never did, because Sunday Ticket was a separate app (if using apps) and also would not show blacked out games because it had no access to those channels from within the app. So that must be why my Sunday Ticket on Youtube just gave me the 3 Sunday Ticket games I am guessing, where you are probably a YoutubeTV Subscriber and could see all 5 since Sunday Ticket is built into YoutubeTV rather than a separate app.

Weird because I only had 3 available games on Sunday ticket because both Rams/Sea and LAC/Mia were on CBS and Fox. So they were not even listed in mine and had to watch them on CBS and Fox. I would think if Fox or CBS were airing games in your region, those games should also be blacked out on Sunday Ticket which has always been the case at least here. Or maybe they only do that in major markets or something, not sure what market you live, but maybe that is why. I’ve only ever lived in large markets so it’s always been this way since I first got Sunday Ticket.

You won’t get local games on Sunday Ticket, you’ve never been able to do that. It can only show the games allowed. Has nothing to do with YouTube. Check CBS or Fox, that’s where your game was you wanted because it was being broadcast on one of them in your area.

As I was saying... Overrated.

People realize Josh doesn’t run his own Instagram right nor makes these videos? Except that’s not remotely close to what he said. I suggest you watch the podcast.

yeah they are the worst

Why does everything have to always be so dramatic lol. How about not over reacting to a week 1 game instead, win or lose

Here is the thing, you are asking this question on each position before this team has even played one meaningful snap, let alone a whole season. We wont even get these answers after this first game, so it can't truly be answered until the season is over. So today, its just opinion and speculation. And for me, my personal opinion is that I think Gabe Davis is going to prove to be the best WR2 this season Allen has had thus far opposite Diggs. So to me, WR1/2 combo is already better than 2020 at the top 2 spots. Then Sherfield for me is a lot better than people realize and I think he is going to prove to be the best WR3 Allen has had yet. Then you have Harty who is a lot better than McKenzie in terms of actual WR talent as the best WR4 Allen has had, but of course he needs to stay healthy. Still have upside with Shakir too, but just those top 4 spots to me is better than 2020. Then if you add in Kincaid, to me its not even close anymore. But I think we are better at WR without factoring in Kincaid. And don't sleep on "better depth" either, not having the depth in the past has been a major achilles heel for us. So, I can accept that you need to see it on the field first, and heck, even I do, this is just what I think today based on what I expect at each position. So its just my opinion because you are asking these questions before this roster has had a chance to show where its better or worse.

QB: Little better just because Josh last year was hurt and Josh today is further in his growth than he was 2 and 3 years ago. RB: Better, I think this is the best RB group we have had. How much better is yet to be seen until they hit the field, but on paper its better and deeper overall than any of the past 3 seasons. WR: Better, this is the best set of weapons Allen has had in his career without factoring in Kincaid. Sherfiled and Harty and better than people realize IMHO and Gabe seems ready to have his best season yet too. OL: Inconclusive. 2020 was probably the best group thus far, but this group is unproven but has the potential to be the best unit so far, but need to see it on the field. DL: Better. This is the deepest and best DL we have had yet. Even if Von isn't as good as he was last year when he gets back, we are deep in the middle and the edges. Most of our depth could start on other teams too. LB: Worse. How much worse is yet to be seen, but I think Kirksey is going to help stabilize it some here soon and will take over the MIKE. CB: Better. This is the deepest secondary we have had, our top 4 corners could start on several other teams and Tre seems to be nearing his old self based on camp reports. S: Wash. I would say the age argument works and could say worse, but I think having more depth with a quality player like Rapp offsets that some. ST: Worse until proven otherwise. Hard to say here, we got a lot of new faces on ST, so can't really say, but they did lose some of their staples on the ST unit, so safe to assume they won't be as good until we see how the new faces settle in.

I think the Lions are coming out hot to make a statement against the champs and will win this game.

Love this piece and the insight! I feel like this team has a chip on its shoulder now rather than the media darlings they were entering last year, and I like that and think it’s a good thing.

Personally I thought heading into camp Elam was going to take that over just with the higher ceiling and he seemed to play well down the stretch and playoffs. But then Dane just really seemed to have a great camp and was leading the charge and felt like Benford we weren't hearing as much. But apparently Dane didn't seem to do anything to lose the gig (other than like you said maybe last years tape) in camp, seems Benford just elevated his play and over took the lead down the stretch of preseason. Seems to be a good problem to have, 3 guys who could start for us at CB2. I still think CB2 "starter" isn't going to dominate snaps like Tre does at CB1 where we will see Elam get on the field in man and press coverages or when they want more speed. But regardless, feels good to have great depth in the secondary overall

How is the QB play really that different this year? People keep saying this because Rodgers is here and Tua is healthy...yet we played Rodgers and Tua 3 times last year (Tua was healthy for both Bills games) and the combined to average 207 yards passing per game vs us while missing Hyde and Tre.