BADOLBILZ

How dare you grasp Ralphs' sacred crank in that avatar and then send negative vibes thru your keyboard with that same hand about this franchise! What kind of Bills fan art thou?!

There were Bills fans EVERYWHERE thinking the same thing at the end of that game.........that the Bills have been playing not to lose. And as we are painfully aware playing not to lose almost always ends in mediocrity. The team record gradually diminishing might bring back some of the focus on building up Josh Allen. This statement sounds like a reaction to the criticism and a re-focus on that critical development. They could have had both offensive success AND improvement from Allen with a better supporting cast this season........... but they ultimately need to get the improvement of Allen part right if nothing else and JA has seemingly hit a wall with the "play not to lose" vibe during this stretch against struggling opponents.

I just clicked on this thread to see what gif @HOUSEapplied re: flexing.

That was a thing of beauty from TT. That was year 2 and his deep ball game really fell off as the year went on. In his first year in Buffalo Tyrod showed a lot of touch on those deep passes but it evaporated as he turned into a check down and short pass specialist after his critics insisted he couldn't make those throws. Allen seems to have improved measurably on his short throws after an offseason where people questioned if he could make them. The similar loss of deep ball skill is eerie. It does make you wonder if he is really exceptional enough to play the sink/swim game with if he loses his touch on one throw while trying to perfect another. Tyrod wasn't. I am a big Allen fan and feel like he can be really good but I don't think he's going to be Tom Brady in young John Elway's body..........that's a lot to ask and possibly a set-up to fail. Kinda' reminds me of what they expect from Edmunds at MLB. They want him to mirror the RB position on the defensive side of the ball when he's built like pass rushing 3-4 OLB.

Ultimately it comes down to this: there is a reason teams stopped using the sink or swim approach with young QB's. They aren't outsmarting anyone or thinking outside the box doing it this way they are just taking a risk on an approach that's proven outdated. I agree that maybe they think Allen is smarter and tougher and more dedicated to his craft but how do they know? Maybe after a few years of what seems like poor coaching and a lack of organizational commitment to the offensive side of the ball he comes to the realization that he's not going to the HOF anymore but is young and rich and can cash nice paychecks as a backup in this league without much effort or injury and decides to focus on his golf game. People assume all talented young QB's that whither do so out of shellshock and an inability to improve but I think a loss of interest in being great kills more of them.

EVERY team wants the talented, high character, uncomplicated personality players........supply of them is nowhere near demand.........so if you are holding out for a starting lineup full of them you are going to time-out as a HC/GM combo before you can pull that off. The sooner they realize that the better. They played the role of scared money at the deadline........to the point where they didn't even put in a claim on a free Josh Gordon. Even Jauron realized he blew it that way...........but it was too late and he just ended up looking like a clueless screwball by signing TO and trying to build a no-huddle offense with Turk Schonert and Trent Edwards at the controls. Better to ease yourself into the risk pool before the urgency to win pushes you all the way in.

What we are seeing is this Bills team try to make their young QB prove he can carry a team rather than the now standard approach of propping the young QB up with offensive talent. You can make an argument that propping up a QB like the Rams did with Jared Goff created a false positive on a QB who maybe isn't really that special. I'd argue that it put the Rams in a SB that they could have won and that juice alone was worth the squeeze. But also I'd add that he might get better in the coming years as he learns to live without the personnel and coaching advantages he had in years 2 and 3 of his career. Maybe Allen learns and grows into a more well rounded QB by being forced into a complicated offense that doesn't suit his skills and asks a lot of him. Maybe 3 years from now he will be far ahead of a guy like Lamar Jackson who is having a simplified offense built around his skills. But to me it's not worth the risk of wrecking this talented young QB they invested so much in. Beane needs to GET IT DONE and get an arsenal of talent for the man.

Whenever we hear this kind of thing.........and every so often the Bills get off to a hot start...........I remember the 1996 Redskins that came in to Buffalo at a surprising 7-1. Bills kicked their ass and they staggered to a 9-7 finish. THAT was a team that wasn't anywhere near as good as their record. This year's Bills have had a great schedule advantage but it wouldn't have been a shocking turn of events for them to be a 10 win team in a transition year in the AFC that included 2 teams in their own division in major turmoil.

I get where you are coming from.........it makes sense to think that it's not the talent because they are getting some long drives........but I still think it's talent. IMO what we are seeing in the long drives is Daboll is calling a lot of well designed plays that are creating opportunities.................and when they are executing they are moving the ball. But the style is just proving very hard to pull off. It's a complicated offense/gameplan every week and subsequently too much room for errors to be made and between the mistakes and the constant search for the next gotcha' play on the sheet they can't get a rhythm going. Rhythm and tempo are very underrated aspects in good offense........especially for a young QB. And ultimately I think it comes down to Daboll and McD feeling like they gotta' play it this way because they lack natural matchup advantages to just line up and run a small group of plays over and over.

You can definitely coach up offense. Thru 16 weeks the 2016 Bills were 7th in the league in scoring and had the fewest turnovers with Tyrod at QB and a very banged up WR corps. Lynn dictated terms to opposing defenses. They knew what was coming but struggled to stop it. The 2019 Bills offense doesn't dictate *****. It's a series of plays that are either "gotcha's" or they get got. It's a dream come true for Cover 1 watching Daboll try to outsmart the opposing DC one play at a time. I think they could still elevate this offense but they need to start playing more aggressively. Faster paced, more of the same plays that they know work etc.. This hunt and peck approach to offense is just failing because there are too many mistakes.

I haven't seen enough of Preston this year to say if he's fallen off the cliff but if he can still diagnose, get off blocks and get thru the trash to tackle a ball carrier it's worth a look as a situational. He knows the D and lead in the NFL in tackles in it 2 years ago. I mean hell just play him in the first half on first and second down when teams are running for 100 yards now every week. Then in the second half when they inevitably get antsy and start throwing the ball you won't need him. Easier yet give Stanford some snaps at MLB. I'm like you I want to see what Edmunds can do outside while he still has time to learn how to rush the passer before it's contract decision time.

That ship sailed when they passed on Josh Gordon. I know most Bills fans didn't watch that epic Seattle/SF game last night but Gordon stepped in cold and got open and caught a couple slants that nobody on the Bills WR corps could have. The second one was 3 feet from his body at hip level in heavy traffic and he caught it in stride in his hands like someone soft tossed him a loaf of bread. And btw the dude can run 22mph on a go route too. Contrast that to the punt returner the Bills were trying to throw over the middle to in Cleveland who slowed down and tried to body catch a ball that was nowhere near his body. A ball he should have been able to catch in stride and run with. That was a good look for McBeane and Bills WR coach Chad Hall. Lofton offered to help them out with the "minor" technique issue tho that was nice.

The guy you are arguing with is in that stage where he thinks he knows something but is getting continuously proven wrong by the results time and again. He's like C.Biscuit circa Jauron days. Letting Gilmore leave was dumb. Not even tagging him was dumber. It was a fear of keeping players who had leverage on the organization. That reflected a weakness in McDermott. It's hard to win if you are afraid to deal with some star talent that you didn't develop and personally bring into the organization. What Beane and McDermott did in cleaning house was the "organizational" equivalent of forcing your scheme on talent who didn't match it. They decided they had to fix everything, even the stuff that wasn't broke like Lynn's offense and a bunch of good young talent just hitting their prime. That's why they are in year 3 and lack playmakers on both sides of the ball. People hate the Jauron comparisons but not tagging Gilmore was right out of the Jauron/Levy playbook. Not only did they not get an extra pick at least they THEN traded back out of position to select Mahomes or Watson to GET an extra pick and replace Gilmore. Thankfully I was right about Tre White that he was the best CB in that draft(because Lattimore still can't stay healthy) otherwise imagine if they had selected a dud with that pick.

The NFL has changed drastically since Jauron was a HC. The last time Jauron was in control of a team you could still kill shot QB's and WR's and taking that away from defenses changed everything. The very next season 7 QB's achieved top 25 all-time passing yardage seasons. Passing the ball is not even a sign of aggressiveness any longer. The definition of conservative has changed. Every HC goes for a lot of 4th downs. That's not an indicator of your philosophy any longer either. But make no mistake McBeane run the organization in not-to-lose mode just like Dick Jauron. McD coaches afraid to lose games and McDermott and Beane are afraid to take chances with personnel.

So how long have you been a Bills season ticket holder? That's what I thought. Most of the booing in that stadium on Sunday was coming from long time season ticket holders. Actual customers. Not free loaders collecting Bills-welfare like yourself and most of the others who are appalled and embarrassed by the booing. Like I said.........the Bills are a product. If you aren't spending the $ to make the product viable then you have no right to criticize those who do. What's even more funny are the fans who have moved out of western NY because they couldn't make it professionally or just wanted to chase a promotion for more money and now watch in seclusion in some condo in the suburban south and have the audacity to criticize fans who didn't disenfranchise themselves but instead stayed and are here to support their team and community. So next time you jokers are feeling saucy about what you hear at the stadium over your TV speakers remember where you stand.