starrymessenger

A little off topic but I’m so glad we lost the Bell sweepstakes. Long layoff=no explosion. The rook is so much better. Having said that our guys need to step up today (and #88). We have a lot invested in those positions, 3 third rounders and we had to move up for Knox.

Yep, and and how many of those points/possessions/field position were directly or indirectly attributable to turnovers that helped the O. And we also had our deep threat, who made a couple of big plays and which we don't now. IMO we are going against a better secondary and defence even without JH and BD. Without the D coming up huge the Seattle game would have been a lot closer. What I'm saying is that this would be an opportune time for DS, Moss and # 88 to actually help out instead of putting everything on Allen's shoulders all the time. Can you imagine how good this offence would be if he actually had a TE and a backfield to support him, like Mayfield has.

Steelers aren't scoring 39 points but neither are the Bills unless the running game and that TE finally show up and contribute. Seahawks sacked Allen 7 or 8 times and Pitt can bring the heat big time. They get lots of turnovers too. DS, Moss and Knox better start earning their pay.

If Allen and the Bills are on their game they can beat anyone, KC included. The next 10 years could well boil down to Allen vs Mahomes.

BB is good for the Bills but the Bills are also good for Beane. He's got a good rep in the business and he's only 44 years old. If he didn't think the future was bright he would not commit. His decision confirms where this team is headed. It will soon be a perennial powerhouse IMO. His greatest achievement so far was his assessment of a small school outlier QB and his belief in what he could become.

To me this is the main takeaway. Even though he's an outstanding athlete with a terrific arm Mahomes greatness has more to do with what he's got above the shoulders than what he's got below eg field vision and processing speed. Allen's arm is at least as strong and he's a better runner/ athlete IMO. Against SF Allen's field vision, progressions and processing speed were at Mahomes' level. If in time this becomes a permanent feature of Allen's game, the future is in the hands of these two players.

With respect IMO Watson does not have the atomic arm needed to make some of those throws.

PM is right now probably the best football player on the planet. He's had the benefit of great coaching and sits behind the wheel of the League's most powerful sports car. He's a very good athlete (not great and IMO not on Allen's level), he's got a tremendous arm (so does Allen), but the thing that makes him (the most) special is his ability to see the field and process with incredible speed. The game is just much slower for him than it is for normal human beings, even great athletes, and that in large measure accounts IMO for his outstanding accuracy. Thing is, he's so good that I really don't see much room for improvement. Allen on the other hand is still developing. All indications are that he will get better. I'll be interested in seeing how these two guys compare down the road. As has been said, although Allen deserves all the credit, the Bills have done a great job bringing him along, and they likely will continue to do so.

Yeah I had the same thought. Could be he's transitioning from top shelf DC to a true HC. Hope so anyway.

Hes been very good on STs. A poster (I don't remember who) recently said they did not see him as a contributor at DE. That puzzled me because I thought I saw significant improvement since he started getting more time as part of the rotation. Gaining strength and getting the technicals down is not a one or two year proposition. These guys sometimes take years to develop especially when they are as raw as he was coming in. I think he may well turn into something good. Man he seems to have long arms. Josh Allen put the team on his back when it started to look like things were about to go the wrong way. His answer was four or five BIG boy throws that few QBs can make. That turned things right around. Picked the whole team up. Dude is a prodigy.

time for a 75 yard fg

Great block Diggs

All starting QBs fail to spot open receivers, even the best ones. Most of them make desperation bonehead plays too - witness Ben R's enzone pick versus the Ravens the other day. Allen has come a very long ways in managing these tendencies. In fact when he gets outstanding pass pro (which also has happened, though not last Sunday) he's already downright deadly as far as the passing game is concerned. Given his history he's getting the kind of coaching and experience that his peer group benefited from long before joining the pro ranks. IMO assuming the Bills continue to surround him with a good supporting cast, which I expect they will, his ceiling should be defined and stabilized by the end of 2021 but probably not before. In other words I think he takes another big step forward next year. I think he probably winds up consensus top 5 year in year out.

Bosa is allowed to tackle Allen.

Totally agree. But although he seems to be a quick study he's still a rook and is facing a learning curve. He's not nearly the route runner Brown is and he's not as fast (though he's fast enough to play outside). The Ds are playing us underneath making our short game more difficult. They will get burned occasionally by Diggs (and Davis) but not having Brown is overall much to their advantage.

The O really really misses a healthy J. Brown.

Havent seen Stafford for a while. Dont remember him being so bad. Plays like a mid/late round rook or journeyman backup. Sad.

To me its not (yet) a good comparison. Mahomes is already playing at a HOF level. I dont think he can get much better. As far as I’m concerned Allen is still developing. I think hes probably a year to a year and a half away.I dont think we know how good he might eventually be. Mahomes getting drafted where he did had absolutely all of the advantages and privileges he could possibly hope for. Allen not so much. As a very raw rookie and halfway through his sophomore year he pretty much had to do it all himself. I dont know how much better Mahomes would have been.

Why did Dan Fouts and Dan Marino never win a championship? Like them or not, they were big dogs. Great as he was how come John Elway couldnt win before TD showed up? Get my drift? Imagine how great our offence could be with an Alvin Kamara (third round pick) or Aaron Jones (fifth round pick, and there are many other examples). Blocking may be an issue but our backs bring zero explosion to our run game. I could be wrong (I hope) but I never liked these picks. The run game is not only a priority now. It should be in next years draft.

Good analysis. Like Dungy I wondered if we should have jammed Hop at the line. I actually also wondered whether it made sense to bring pressure, though thats not usually whats called for in that situation. Kudos to Hop. Great players make great plays. Nuff said.

As RBs go, neither motor nor moss are worth third round picks (maybe late fourth-fifth). Alvin Kamara was a third round pick. JMO.

This offence just isn't the same without a healthy John Brown. Even before the ankle it was so obvious that he was completely without his top gear. On the screen a healthy Brown probably scores. His fitness to play is a priority. Hope he can heal up.

Somebody was supposed to pick Beas up. Don't think it was on PP.

Where did I say that the Bills coaches failed to have a good gameplan on offence? The gameplan and doubtless the week's preparation (esp on D actually) was obviously excellent. And I very much doubt that Pete is unaware of the weakness in his secondary and of the opportunities that it presents to opposing offences. He actually had a plan for that. His plan was to pressure Allen and to some extent it actually worked. Hawks got the most sacks in a game for them in the last seven years. I mean would'nt you rather have Jamal Adams rush the passer than drop into coverage? I'll wait. But that wasn't enuf to make his gameplan successful and there is a reason for that too. The reason for that is despite the pressure Josh Allen was too good and had one of his best days ever. It's possible that Pete underestimated Allen but I could almost understand that because 1) the Bills offence in recent games had not been performing at that level and 2) this year Josh Allen's effectiveness tends to grow in leaps and bounds and when he takes a step back he is quite capable of following up with three steps forward. You can't always foresee that. On Sunday he was nothing short of elite. Pretty much in Mahomesland. In his post game comments Pete mentioned his team's turnovers as an obvious deciding factor. Frankly I'm more interested in understanding how Sean and Frazier were able to pretty much stifle the Hawks offence, partly because I didn't expect that. As a Bills fan I know perfectly well what I can expect from Allen, his receivers and that O-line when they are firing on all cylinders. The rest of the league is learning but there is probably a lag in familiarity. That likely won't continue for long. You say you hope that Sean/Daboll continue to do the right thing. So do I. Just bear in mind that doing the right thing does not always mean doing the same thing and one of the most encouraging things I see is that the Bills are developing an offence capable of implementing the gameplan that best addresses the strengths of the opposing D. If the trend continues they will be, week in and week out, one of the league's most dominant offences. Pete Carroll ain't so dumb. He's a great coach who over the years has built one of the game's most successful franchises. Both he and Sean McD are good at what they do. Sometimes your plans work out according to your expectations and sometimes not. Stuff happens.

I don't think that preparing to defend against a Bills ball control/ time management offence involving the running game was stupid. If you had your druthers you'd probably want to keep the ball away from Russ and the league's best performing offence. As he himself admitted, his real problem was his inability to make the necessary in game adjustments. Like any good OC Daboll just kept doing what worked until the opposition showed they could stop you. I'd be more interested in knowing his views on why our D was able to dominate Russ & Co. I'm not surprised that Allen and his skill players were able to shred a bad back end.