D. L. Hot-Flamethrower

Good post! I'm wondering, after doing some research, if our best way to operate isn't more spread out and less heavy. But, to run the ball with motion and play more up-tempo, play action passing. We have slowed our pace down, the games are 25 minutes shorter with many fewer plays on both sides. Last week (vs. Wash) we were back to McKenzie running a lot of motion and playing 68% of snaps, after being a healthy scratch week before. Singletary gets the ball and is great, Josh is efficient and over 111 Passer Rating, we win, not perfect but solid and room for growth. Where we seem to really struggle is when we go multiple TEs and go heavy and try to pound with Gore (we get more penalties too). We can't do it and it hurts the passing game. Hell Lee Smith usually commits a penalty or two. And, then its ask the raw QB to a bail us out. Spread it out and play with more tempo and balance the Run Vs Pass is what I think would work.

Good topic. The thought went through my head last night as well. I voted yes, but like you, it goes against what I typically would do. I just feel like we are trying to develop a QB, but have not given him the minimum level of playmakers. I kind of feel like, if we were able to get back to where we were when we pursued him, it might work. Ha he pursued any help? We don't know. I think on the field it would help immensely.

Thank you. I agree 8/13 kicking has cost us. To answer your question; you are largely correct. In the Philly/Cle games we ran 20 times each game and garnered 91 yards, 4.6/carry. In the other games we averaged 29 atts/134 yds 4.7/carry. In the Phi/Cle games we passed 38 times each game and in the rest 32 times. So indeed the we skewed heavily pass and gained about the same/carry. And, passing wise the efficiency as measured by passer rating is 76.6 vs PHI/CLE, and 84.5 against the rest. Not a balanced approach In those 2 games, even though the running game appears to be working. It also appears Josh is better when he has the support of the running game.

Good Topic! Warning this is not just a yes they're regressing. Although that could be the answer. I started out by asking the OPs question and trying to answer objectively. I don't have access to anything more than traditional stats. But, that should suffice for purposes of comparing the early part of the season, to the later part. Breaking up into buckets beginning with week 1 and ending with Game 4 NE, this is fair, end of Sept., to the eye appears to be a watershed game for the team, this will be referred to as P1 going forward. And, of course the second bucket-P2, will be game 5 through yesterday-5 games. Everything will of course be per game. Let's see if there are any trends? 1. PPG and YPG; P1 19.0 ppg/387ypg, P2 19.6 ppg/297ypg, surprisingly perhaps the Schedule is pretty even in each period. P1 .324%, P2.348, the difference is balanced off by one extra home game in P2, so we can put the SOS to bed for the purposes of this discussion. Production down. 2. Where is drop in yardage coming from? P1 Passing 240ypg/ Rushing 147ypg P2 Passing 191 ypg/ Rushing 106ypg, that's a 20% decline in passing yards, and 28% in rushing yards. So both are well down. 3. Is this being driven by the number of attempts either way? This is a very interesting to me. P1 Pass Att/Rush Att 37pg/31pg drop of 16%; P2 29pg/26pg drop of 11%. Overall the Bills are running 14% fewer plays! Does that mean our defense is on the field more? The answer is perhaps surprisingly NO, P1 63, P2 60 a drop of 5% give or take. Coincidentally or not, Bills games have dropped from 131 plays to 115 plays. Games time have also shorted to an average of 2:53 from 3:13 in P1. Does it seem to anyone else like we've slowed the pace of our games down? huddle more? running the clock down under 5 secs? It does to me. We need to answer my original efficiency question another way. 4. Yards Per Rush P1 5.1 P2 4.2, is this because Josh is running less and worse? Surprisingly no. His attempts/yard/average P1 8/33/4.3 P2 7/29/4.5 pretty similar. I'll save you the suspense and tell you the initials of the biggest drop off, you probably could guess FG. 5. How about the passing game? It has actually been much more efficient. Completion % is steady at 60%, But with P1 being 3 TDs/6INT and P2 being 7TDS/ 1 INT ; much of the efficiency gain is here, Yards per attempt is relativitely close 6.5 to 6.3. As are Yards Per Comp. So, Josh was asked after NE to stop playing "hero" ball, cut down on the mistakes and let the rest of the team do its job. He has done that, the team has performed worse. My summary: It appears like the coaching staff, after NE, has decided to slow the game pace down, and has asked Josh not to make throwing errors. Play to the strength of our defense, which is a story for another day. I know some will scream they are trying to protect Josh, and perhaps to a certain extent they are. But, doing this also protects McD's defense. As to the drop in the running game, The first 4 games was a lot of McKenzie motion, the one game since NE where there was a lot of that was...Washington. Devin Singletary's big running game. I have no answer to the Singletary usage conundrum. IMHO laying the regression at the feet of JA is both simple and incorrect. Others have a lot to answer for. Have they actually helped our raw QB succeed by putting adequate resources around him, and creating a QB friendly environment? The answer to that may depend on your biases, I say no and he's doing what he's asked.

It's a big problem and should be one of the first addressed this week.

Now that this established , you will of course give him a chance to make changes, and be patient.

That's a clown post bro!

You might want to check the accuracy of your medium passes because I'm sure that's not correct.

We missed kicks we needed, and 8-13 on FGA doesn't get it done in this league. Sorry for those who can't accept it, but missing the 37?yarder can't happen, it really hurt.

Not today and not the people on here making it.

People even ones who know football are pathetic today because they lost

LOL! The emotion on here. Throw out the baby with the bath water. Even some of the experts on here with pathetic takes. Not alot of decision makers here.

As I said they have huge holes in non-sexy places. That means they're not supremely talented.

Agreed, he's a better run blocker than I thought he'd be. He has potential to be a pretty good all-around TE, if he can hold onto the ball. Johnson has been a weakness, doesn't pressure and shoved around vs Run.

You'd think they were the 70s Steelers, 80s 49ers and 90s Cowboys all wrapped in one! They have alot of holes.

Uh No-supremely! Really?They have huge holes in non-sexy, non fantasy football areas. Need to look deeper at the roster.

They were not loaded across the board, that is your opinion, but likely wrong! Lets look at the 2014 team which had the better record Yeah Watkins and Woods are better at WR, but Chandler at TE and the DL was great, I'll give you that But, your assertion they were loaded across the board is ???????? I mean you can have Orton and his 87.8 QBR, Yes I know Josh is only 82.9 Boobie Dixon and FredEx who at 33 was down to 3 1/2 a carry at RB Searcy and Williams at Safety, McKelvin and Graham at one corner vs Hyde, Poyer, Johnson Spikes and Preston vs Edmunds and Milano Even the Oline Urbik and Pears at Guards vs Spain and Feliciano Seantrel Henderson at tackle C'mon man This is quite a line to swallow even from you. I seem to remember you bitching about the team in 2014 at every turn too. Bad take

Well said!

No way I trade Allen for Mayfield, and I don't believe many, except the most strident Mayfield supporters would.

So what do you think big guy, you didn't say? Mayfield Bills record, Allen Browns record. You implied it would be something different. Explain instead of asking questions.

I think both sides are arrogantly ignorant or over confident (especially some analytics guys). There is room for both and it should be viewed that way it is more productive overall. I sometimes feel each of the sides have the insatiable need to promote their thing. But, when I hear an analytics guy speak in absolutes, he is way too overconfident. Likewise, when I hear an All-22 guy speak condescendingly to others (PFF is the worst), they are just into self-promotion. Most people realize the best stuff is somewhere in between. I mean if the numbers and film don't match up, why not ask....WHY??

Yes has improved alot. He has tremendous upside still and will likely continue to move towards that because of his makeup, barring serious injury of course. I want to know who the bums are that said no? I could probably guess. I mean there is still the 300 yard crew around, you know the ones who evaluate QB play based on total yards. There is actually a guy on Bills Wire who thought Sam Darnold had a better game than Josh on Sunday. LMFAO. One guy had a111.6 rating another 85.4, guess who? Nick Wojton-"It’s hard to say Allen had a bad game. He did what was asked. But his game still wasn’t good. A push seems right. Allen finished the game 14-for-20 passing for 160 yards and a touchdown. He also had eight carries for 12 yards and a rushing score. For comparison sake, the Jets lost to the Dolphins but quarterback Sam Darnold was still 27-for-39 passing for 260 yards with a touchdown and interception. OK, he didn’t win, but that stat line is much better."

Yes and win the turnover battle.

So the fans play a role in solving the shortcomings...got it

Was Dawkins that bad?, I mean I haven't noticed him stinking up the joint!