Mango

To an extent. I am going through the GB all-22 now and Josh forced the ball twice to Davis on the first two pass plays. I will admit Davis should have caught the second one. But Knox was the far better option there. The second play Josh abandoned the pocket way too early and slings a terrible ball to Davis down the sideline deep when he could have let Singletary or Diggs try and make a play one on one right in front of him. Both were bad plays by the QB. (EDIT: All-22 used to be better. I used to have way more control of each play, rewind, slow motion, etc. I think I used to be able to select a play, possession, quarter etc. Now it is a continuous video. Hard dislike on the NFL plus)

The last two weeks? QB has been the biggest disappointment. I would like Shakir to get more snaps. But what was the stat yesterday? 4 passes in the second half to receivers not named Diggs? That isn't a Diggs, Davis, Knox, McKenzie, Singletary, Cook, Hines, Shakir, Kumerow, problem. Josh is super star, but he isn't immune to bad stretches. This is one. It is what it is.

Gabe Davis is so far down my list of issues for the last two weeks. McKenzie should be replaced by Shakir. I agree. Our super star QB hasn't played like a super star QB for 2 weeks now. That is problem number 1. Full stop. Everything else on the offensive side of the ball is in the peripheral.

Everybody talks about how there has "never been a player like Josh Allen". But then you look at this stretch.... The dude is just a bigger Brett Favre. We will likely have to ride this roller coaster his entire career. It will be super frustrating at times and we will love it at times.

I agree, he certainly has a tendency to let things get away from him, which I think is why taking an offseason off is actually a bigger risk for him. Also agreed we need more production from "not Diggs" but ultimately we were spreading the ball around in the first few weeks, and now we aren't. I don't think Davis, Knox, McKenzie (OK maybe a little McK),etc. I think as Josh starts to sort of grip tighter and push for the big play he is locking on to Diggs far too often when there are other plays to be made. I am not any sort of football savant, but I do think that Davis garnering CB1 attention the last two weeks is telling as to what other teams think of him and the offense. I like Diggs and his ability to run routes, get open, etc. But he isn't dangerous with the ball in his hands and he isn't a big physical "open when he is covered" kind of receiver. Curious if teams are letting Diggs feast and forcing Josh into being totally one dimensional in the pass game.

I mean…. QB has been a huge problem the last 6 quarters. It starts there. We’ve seen Davis and Co make plays for this year. I’ll wait to sharpen my pit fork when the QB starts plying better again. Next up us injuries to the secondary and defensive philosophy. The DL is playing like they have a 24 point lead.

He hasn’t lost any meaningful snaps in the slot. He’s also on pace to have his second best year of his career. Maybe he’s having a down year? But it’s not because he isn’t running routes at any lower rate. It’s likely a combination of Knox injury, family, and Josh. Not to mention Daboll nor Dorsey runs a TE centric offense. It’s also worth noting that I don’t think Knox has ever been the TE that fans have been yearning for in Buffalo. He’s certainly physically gifted thought As the season has gone on Allen seems to have a bit more tunnel vision and spreads the ball out less. Not to mention the last two weeks have been really bad QB play. I am willing to bet it’s the QB right now.

Keep reading through the thread. This is actually a data point and there is no significant difference in his route running or percentage of snaps lined up in the slot.

https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/dawson-knox/#

Anybody notice that DB’s seemed to almost never turn around anymore?

Davis has drawn the CB1 the last two weeks in a row. I don’t know if it means anything. I am certainly no film savant. But I do think it is a point worth noting since we’ve struggled in both.

I don’t know if Willis has any staying power in the league but I like watching him play.

Maybe we should give out Game Testicles instead of Game Balls after weeks like this?

Same sort of thing as you. But thanks to BK’s snarky response I looked it up. When I asked earlier in the thread I actually didn’t think that info was available. Luckily fantasy football has exploded and that’s something those guys track. Who knew?

Knox lines up in the slot 18% of the time, compared to 21% last year.

Im not trying to run the guy out of town. It is a tough year to judge any guy by their performance at work. I also don’t think you can judge the OC for a physically and emotionally bruised TE that has never actually been the guy fans are expecting him to be.

He is on pace to have the second best year of his career. As Knox starts to get his feet back under him he’ll likely firmly cement himself as his second best year and push for his best year ever. The issue is his contract. His historical production didn’t warrant the value. We’ve never run an offense that relied on TE.

Not to over correct. But he’s running routes at about the same rate as last season. 2021: 75.4% of snaps he runs routes. 2022: 69.8% of snaps he runs routes. But 70.7% the last 3 weeks.

Thanks for adding so much to the conversation and being a reasonable human to a reasonable question. But sure, here you go. Knox is running routes on 5.6% less plays than he did in 2021. In the last 3 weeks his decline is less than 5% decrease in routes run. https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/dawson-knox/#bio https://www.fantasypros.com/nfl/reports/snap-count-analysis/?team=BUF&snaps=10 Go find a more accurate hill to die on and stop being such a curmudgeon. Maybe you should have tried looking it up… He isn’t running less routes though. Everybody keeps parroting that it’s because he’s blocking so much more….but he’s not. He’s just being targeted less.

Is this even true? People keep saying this but I would actually love some data around routes run vs. snap count. Trying not to be hard on Knox because his life is hard. But I don’t even know if this is true.

We ran 3 LB sets last year with Klein at one point after a similar skid. But then ultimately went back to their base and we all started whining again. Everything is built for the teams to play catch up against us. Which means we have to score wart and often. 2 bad days from Josh means two bad days from the defense.

He didn’t make any change. if there’s a change, it’s likely regression due to lack of muscle memory and range of motion. Josh said that for the first time he didn’t do anything but rest and recover. Ian Eagle joked today that when asked Josh said “Golf”. It’s come up in every single prime time game. So when we have threads that go “Josh looks like 2020 Josh for multiple games” the simplest answer is usually the right one.

I keep coming back to the fact that Allen said he didn’t do anything but rest and recover this offseason. With the benefit of hindsight, Allen hasn’t just had two bad games. He’s certainly looked bad. The guy recently reinvented and retooled his natural throwing motion. Not hugely surprising the whole system looks wonky midway through the season. I know in my sport it would take years to make the smallest adjustments permanent and applicable under both physical and mental pressure. I couldn’t imagine not doing anything to reinforce that between world championship seasons.

This actually feels like an early criticism of Allen. It is almost deja vu. We’ve had this conversation before. As much as the Bills say they want a receiving back, they don’t actually want one. We spent two years benching Yeldon, to draft Cook, to then trade for Hines.

I think we’re missing something as fans. Two weeks in a row the offense struggles and two weeks in a row Davis draws CB1 coverage all game. I will have to go back and watch, but I’d like to get a count of routes run by Knox. It seems lazy to say “well he is primarily blocking”. Right now just feels like the Allen is force feeding Diggs. To your point, we need to commit to the run a bit more. I thought trading Moss would help that since it would give Singletary more touches to get into a rhythm. Fast forward…it didn’t.