billsfan89

In 2018 the offense was a bottom 2 offense in the league, probably only AZ was worse, certainly not more than 2 offense worse. They literally had 1 decent O-line player (Dawkins) and a very raw young QB. In 2019 the McBeane really did a number to rebuild the offense into a respectable unit around Josh (Completely rebuilt the O-line, signed Beasley and Brown to make the WR corps respectable, and added some young skill position players in Knox and Singletary.) They then added an elite piece of talent in Diggs in 2020 and Moss in the backfield and the rest fell into place. Overall it is shocking to see the offense go from bottom 2-3 in 2018 to lower mid level 18-22 in 2019 to a top 5 offense in the league. All the while the defense has at least stayed a solid unit and the special teams taken a very positive progression. It shows you how good the Bills defense was in 2018 that the team somehow won 6 games with literally one of the bottom 2-3 offenses in the league. As much praise as the 2019 defense gets the 2018 defense was about just as good

The Bills offense needs to be prepared to not have many possessions and that they have to capitalize on each scoring opportunity. In order to put up a lot of points on a high caliber defense they need to get Brown and Beasley going. Diggs will get his but he can't be too heavily relied upon. If Brown get 6 catches 70+ and Beasley at least 6 catches 60 yards that's enough to open up the offense and not have Diggs have to have a monster game in order to have a great offensive day. If Beasley and Brown combine for 130 yards then Diggs can get 80 yards, Davis 40 yards and then you can cobble together 50 yards from Knox, Singletary and Mac and others. That gets you to 300 yards. But overall this team has to be prepared to punch the Ravens in the mouth. Hopefully they can do it. Tough matchup but it is the playoffs they are all tough matchups.

They need Brown to step up and make plays. But the Colts game was only his second week back from injury. I think he still has some rust to shake off. Hopefully against the Ravens he is locked and loaded because when he brings that speed element to the offense the offense is virtually unstoppable.

I could see this happening oddly enough.

Fear no one

Indy plays Cover 2 as a base defense (the defense Josh seems to have most trouble with) and they got some pressure on Josh. I think it is more so a matter of Indy playing the Bills tough and Josh executing just enough. It's the playoffs no games are going to be easy.

His first 3 years in my opinion were the growing pains of a unexperienced coach. Game management wasn't really ever bad with McD but it was average at best. He has become a lot stronger in that respect. He developed a bit of a cautious nature his first three years which really manifested its self in the 2019 playoffs (which made sense given that Josh was still growing and Tyrod was the QB in 2017) but he has since corrected that in 2020 and developed his team to have a killer instinct. I think he has developed himself into being a good head coach. I hope he has that killer instinct to win in the playoffs.

I liked the hire. I always prefer to go after an up and coming coordinator than a tired retread. In my years as a Bills fans I hated when they hired Jauron, Gailey and Rex all tired retreads (Although I liked Rex the most out of those three.) I know retreads like Billy B have done well but I tend to feel like retreads are bad hires more often than not. I liked when they hired Gregg, Mularky and Marrone and my opinion was similar for McD, I didn't know enough about him but it seems like he was a solid up and coming coordinator. I wasn't sure it would be a super successful hire but I thought it was the right type of hire philosophically.

They are going to have to constantly double Buckner similar to how they handled Hayward in the Steelers game during the second half. The Colts are going to have to run the football well and grind down the possessions to win. They can do that. Hopefully Josh can get the team hot early and the defense can pin their ears back and rush Rivers.

You are a fool.

If the Bills get upset by the Colts they will have a "can't win in the playoffs" stigma that may infect the team mentally. If they beat the Colts and lose in round 2 that's a disappointment but at least they will have won a playoff game and made progress in the season. To me the season will be a disappointment if they don't make it to the AFCCG at the very least.

I hope this team ends up like the Pats in the 2000's and 2010's where players play well here, get paid elsewhere, are OK but overpaid get cut 2-3 seasons later once their dead cap is small and then resign back with the Bills for cheap and play well. I could see in 2 years Philips coming back on a cheap deal.

He isn't in a bad place in AZ, he took a big payday and is on a team that has a chance to win.

Josh coming out of college and even in 2018 and 2019 had accuracy issues. But particularly coming out of college it seemed like (and this was a great point from Mel Kiper) there were a lot of factors that made Josh's accuracy look worse than it was. Mainly that his receivers had a lot of drops and that the offense was a downfield passing offense that had less easy dump offs and screens than the average NCAA offense. Now that's not to say that Josh didn't have issues with footwork and decision making coming out of college and there was a bit of concern about his ability to process. But given how high his wonderlic was and how hard working he was I think the Bills understood that his issues were fixable. And by his second pro-season he was a much more accurate QB particularly in the short range where he struggled at times in 2018 and in college. It was insane how people didn't have at least some understanding of how much better he was accuracy wise in 2019 if you are going to do a big article about it.

While I love the Josh Allen apology tour I really hate how people write off his 2019 season as him still being inaccurate and not looking like a franchise guy. In Josh's rookie year he showcased that he was the super raw prospect with tantalizing potential. He was maddeningly inaccurate on shorter throws but showcased special ability down the field. He also had a bad TD to INT ratio and made bad decision and didn't have the best supporting cast. However if you actually watched Josh in 2019 you saw a QB who improved a lot and actually showed you that he can be a franchise guy. The idea that his 2020 season was completely out of nowhere ignores a 6% increase in completion percentage and a 2 to 1 TD to INT ratio in 2019 all way up from 2018. In 2019 he flipped his accuracy issues, he became much more accurate on shorter throws but looked like his calibration was off on longer throws. His ability to process the game was also up and down but as the season went on he began to play smarter avoiding turnover worthy plays more and more. He still would make some bad growing pains decisions and was frustratingly inaccurate down field. In 2019 Josh hovered over 60% completion percentage for most of the season. In his first 12 out of 15 fully played games (tossing out the Jets game where he barely played) Josh had a 61.5% completion percentage. It wasn't until he played 3 out of the top 5 defenses in the league in Baltimore, Pitt and New England where he completed 47% of his passes in those games that his completion percentage dipped heavily to 58.8% which still was a 6% increase from 2018. He went from a sub .500 TD to INT ratio to 2 to 1 TD to INT. If you didn't think a breakout in 2020 was at least possible then he didn't really analyze or watch Josh in 2019 who made tremendous progress. It is just such lazy analysis.

It is unfortunate but in the end it is what it is. It wasn't like they expanded the playoffs just for this Covid season and in 2021 the Two seed will get a bye. This is the playoff format going forward in perpetuity or until they change the rules. I really loved the old 12 team format. But the NFL wanted more money.

I also wonder if the Fins will try to trade for 2022 picks. I can see them trading one of their first 5 selections to get a pick in round 1-3 in 2022. I could see them shopping pick 3 to try and trade down to the 8-13 range and picking up a 2022 1st and an extra premium and mid round pick in 2021. I feel like that would allow them to try and get another bite at a top QB via trade up in 2022 having at least 1 extra pick in the first 3 rounds to help. Then again it all comes down to what trades are available but from a tactical perspective would be to try and trade down for 2022 capital that could help them load up to make a big trade up if needed or build even more around Tua if he shows progress in 2021. The Dolphins are in a good position, they have a good coach, a 10 win talent base, 5 draft picks in the first three rounds including the third overall pick and a good amount of cap space. They will be a double digit win team for the next 2-4 years. But QB is always tricky and it can sink a good run.

But is there 3 QB's worth taking in this draft? Lawrence is a possible generational prospect and he will be off the board at 1, Fields is a possible top prospect but he will be likely gone by 2 and that leaves Wilson who I am not sold on and if Lawrence opts out that might be off the board anyway.

Colts have a tough team, they can run the ball, have a solid vet QB and have a decent defense. I can understand their fans feeling like they got a chance. But I think the Bills are and should be favored at home. Hopefully Josh balls out and gets his first playoff win comfortably.

As some of the more rational Fins fans pointed out the Bills were actually trying to grind the clock out but Flores kept calling time outs so eventually the Bills took a shot to get a first down and it happened to be that the guy was insanely wide open for a TD. The Dolphins catch 22 is that they might not have a QB. They have a good but not great amount of cap space next year along with 4 picks in the first two rounds. So there isn't any doubt they can add the final pieces they need on offense and defense. But how good is Tua? If he isn't the answer than they are capped out at a good but not great team.

I am not ready to put Josh over Mahomes just yet, but we could be looking at the new Brady vs. Manning QB rivalry in the AFC for the next 10 years. Crazy to think the Bills could have one of those dynamic type QB's. But we will see just how good Josh is in the playoffs.

I don't see it with Tua, but then again what are the Fins options? They have pick 3 but odds are the top 2 QB prospects are taken by pick 3. They can try to get another QB at pick 3 or 20 but will they be better than Tua? Odds are they will be a similarly flawed prospect. Does Miami maybe try to trade for a vet QB? Derek Carr and Matt Ryan might be available via trade but they would spend draft capital and cap space to get what might be a marginal upgrade at QB? Overall the Fins are probably thinking they kick the tires on Tua another year before drafting another QB. They have 4 really high draft selections to work with to add the pieces needed on offense and defense to really compete.

I would be upset if this team with how talented they are and how well they are coached/playing can't have control of a home playoff game in the 4th quarter. I am not disrespecting the Colts, they are a solid team. However if this Bills team wants to get deep into the playoffs they can't let a "good" team hang around.

Miami has the coach and they have a lot of talent. They even have so much draft capital thanks to the Texans. But can they find a QB? I am not sold on Tua and Fitz is at best a stop gap QB who tops out at 10ish wins on a good supporting cast. Without a good QB it is hard to sustain winning. Look at the Jets from 2009-2010. They stacked their Offensive supporting cast and Defense while drafting a QB up high but that QB didn't pan out and the other components of the team aged rather quickly and they fell apart and became a 6-8 win team until it all completely fell apart. Miami has the third pick in the draft but do they really have a good QB option there? Lawrence will be long gone to Jax and I don't see the Jets trading to a division rival and they might take a QB anyway and trade Darnold for some picks. I like Flores and I think the Fins will be a tough competitor the next 2-4 years. But the defense can age or get gutted fairly quickly and the supporting cast on offense can get expensive and be less effective if the QB play isn't there.

That's what is so odd to me. So many teams in the AFC won double digits (I believe 8 teams or half the conference) and the rest were below .500 with the exception of Vegas who went 8-8. Then on the NFC side of things you only had 5 teams above .500 and 2 teams at 8-8, the rest of the conference was 7 wins or less. There is usually 3-4 teams a year that fall into that bubble 9-7 spot and this year there just wasn't that team.