elroy16

Former Panthers DC. Previous experience as a D-line coach. Looks like a quality hire.

This and the failure of three people to block Cunningham are the two plays that drive me most crazy. Neither were hard plays, both were just absolute brain farts in the worst possible times.

Not the call. I have faith Allen will learn a lot from this game and season.

Allen audibled or killed a play at the line, right? I'm guessing (based on nothing specific from the game) that whatever play call Daboll gave Allen had a built in kill that Allen used because he didn't like the coverage. I'm guessing Allen did this based off of what he's been told to look for and do. Instead of realizing the situation where he should have hiked it and threw it away quickly if it looked bad, he went back on what he's been taught and did that. IF this is what happened, I can't get too upset with him. Playoffs, near the half, there's a lot going on. He'll learn. If it was Daboll's play call, then he's a freaking moron.

For me it depends. Do they go out and run the ball two times and give Allen a quick throw, just so that they keep their week/pre-game routine and stay in rhythm? Or do they play 3 quarters and expose Allen to some hits and run QB draws on 3rd and 15. I generally trust McDermott, so we'll see.

I would really like to see (but don't expect) every pass from Allen be a quick throw. We know he's solid in the intermediate routes, but he still needs to get better at quick throws and picking up easy yardage. This is a practice game, I want to see 1 and 3 step drops and a throw. I don't care if it's out of bounds on 3rd and 2. Don't risk injury and try to speed up his clock a hair. I get wanting to get him reps, but for Christ's sake, don't expose the kid to hits in this meaningless game.

During the bucs game Winston missed pretty badly on three straight plays. The comments by the announcers were, he hasn't had time to gel with the receivers, the receivers aren't ready for the big stage, and how his thumb is bothering him. For everyone else there's a reason they aren't performing, for Allen it's because he's inaccurate. I shouldn't care, but it does annoy me.

Anyone watching? Rodgers just missed a TD on a throw similar to Allen's miss to Knox at the end of the game. Then he throws a little bit high and Adams dropped it. On the same play it looked like he could have had someone beyond the sticks. I wonder if packer fans are calling him a bust for missing a few throws and plays or is that just bills fans? Dumb thread I know, it just drives me nuts how people expect Allen to be perfect. Of course you want him to be perfect and he needs to get better to be in the same sentence as someone like Rodgers, but let's also give the kid a break once in a while.

I wish the OP hadn't said "throw the game," because that's obviously something McDermott would never do. I think it's fair to argue whether he held back and how much. Teams don't show their entire deck of cards every game. Pretty much every coach, every game holds a thing or two to their chest to save for the future, that is until the playoffs. Hell, I hope they've been putting the hard counts on 4th down to try and get people to jump only to take a TO or delay on film, just so later they can have Josh hard count a time or two and then actually run a play and catch the other team off guard. Everyone and their mother assumes they aren't going for it after he hard counts two separate times in this scenario, you have to think the defense is relaxing just a little bit at that point.

I hope they were holding back on defense. Cover1 and a few other people were talking about how NE has struggled a bit when the defense runs a diamond front and stunts and blitzes. I was inebriated and can't bring myself to re-watch the game, but I remember very little creativity up front on defense. I hope that was McDermott holding back, because I wanted them to be much more aggressive considering the lack of weapons on NE. I also hope they finally figured out that Josh is much better when the field is spread out in 11 personnel. I know it puts some pressure on the front 5 when the defense brings heat, but bringing it DiMarco or Smith isn't helping.

I just don't get the move him inside side of the argument at this point. If they had a better prospect at RT, then sure, but he's the best long term option they have right now. RT has been so bad for years and they finally have the potential makings of a quality RT and we want to give up on it already? He's a mauler in the run game already. He can be a tad slow on speed rushers to the outside, but Josh has shown the ability to step up and buy time. He's gotten better with more reps and just had his best game against a premier rusher. Let's give him the year and an offseason of training before we throw him inside.

TJ Watt and other steelers were throwing haymakers trying to punch out the ball. If Ed or Phillips tried that and "accidentally" hit his elbow or forearm, it would be awful.

He talked about it on One Bills Drive. https://www.buffalobills.com/video/jordan-phillips-we-ve-done-some-special-things-this-year-but-nobody-s-satisfied Great interview by the way.

It'll be interesting to see what they do with Murphy. He's certainly going to be a popular vet cut option from fans as he'd save around $7 million on the cap, but he's been playing better, so unless you have an obvious upgrade (Yannick?), I think you keep him for his final year of his contract. Harrison and Star play mostly the position though, right? Keep Star next year while Harrison gets to 100% and then cut him and save $10 million on the cap the next two years. His dead cap hit isn't bad either of the next two years, so he could be around for two more, but I don't expect him to be around for the length of his contract. I don't disagree that Star is harder to replace than I'm making it out to be. I'm certainly not in the "cut Star now, he sucks" group. I'm just thinking about in 2 years, I'd much rather have a potential slight downgrade with Harrison over Star (even that's debatable, Harrison was playing very well to start the year) and have that extra $5 million in cap space in 2021 and then $10 in 2022. At that point Star is going to be 31, I don't know if $10 million for a mostly run stuffing 31-32 year old makes a ton of sense. Jordan has had a big impact against the pass, he had Shaq lead the team in sacks. They're both going to get paid, hopefully here. If they keep Star around, that'd be a ton of money allocated to the D-line. That said, the D-line is one place I'm totally OK spending a lot on. I edited this a few times and am a little bit all over the place with the contract numbers. Whatever happens, I really hope they re-sign Jordan and Shaq. Assuming it was 100% Coughlin, that still looks poorly on Marrone, IMO. Does he not have any communication with Coughlin, the players, or the training staff? Does he not know the rules or have any idea of what's going on within the organization?

Its gotta be both, right? If one was doing it without the other knowing, the one who doesn't know has zero idea what's going on in the building. Looks really bad on both of them IMO.

Star has an out after next year that would only cost $5 in dead cap. Murphy only has one more year left and his dead cap would only be $1.75 million if cut next year. I'd much rather have J Phillips over Star, I'd be surprised if they don't use that out after next year. Keep him around next year while H Phillips gets to 100% and then you've got Jordan, Harry, and Ed as your top 3, that's a damn good looking group. You're right, it would be a lot of cash tied up. It depends how much Jordan (and Shaq) are looking for.

Re-sign Shaq and Phillips and then add Yannick, holy F the line would be nasty.

I think they might have to give Phillips a nice chunk of change and keep him around. He's playing at a high level and he's the first guy I think of when you said fearless. Shaq too, I think you have to sign these guys, even if it means moving on from Murphy and or Star in a year or two. He and Oliver wanted Pittsburgh to see it. They don't give a ***** and I love it. Like you said, fearless.

Best video I've seen so far.

I wouldn't worry too much about it, McDermott is going to keep the underdog mentality in them so they keep working. Did you see the locker room speech? "Everyone says we aren't big enough, or fast enough, but they don't know the size of our hearts," something to that effect. He's going to keep them focused, it doesn't matter how much love they get. They're 3rd in yards per game against... All defenses give up yards. Saying they let teams march up and down the 20's is not accurate. I get how you feel. There are times it feels like they're giving up a buncha yards but are able to clamp down before giving up TD's.

I'm completely with you in regards to McDermott being conservative. We saw him go for it on 4th and 6 early in the game. He's done that in multiple games and last week he went for two while the old football heads were baffled about it. He's aggressive at times and conservative at times. I thought running out the clock at the end of the half was the correct move. Moving the ball 50-60 yards was going to be very tough, don't run the risk of giving away points when your defense is playing that well. You just got lucky, don't push it in this type of game.

Fantastic.

McDermott is such a damn good coach. The way he prepares this team is miles ahead of what we've had in a long time. https://theathletic.com/1463729/2019/12/16/what-the-cameras-didnt-show-bills-came-prepared-to-own-the-steelers-hype-anthem/ I just wish there was some video footage of the Bills sideline. I'd love to see that.

"Broken collar bone, he's done, #&$%" is what I said to my wife. The defense is definitely good because all 11 do their jobs, but he's probably the best player. Losing him or Edmunds would be big blows. The defense is so much fun to watch. They finally sniffed out a screen!

Ed's doing a heck of a job as a pass rusher. Probably going to get doubled more and more. Donald, good Lord. Doubled almost more than anyone and still has the highest win rate. Ridiculous.