Nihilarian

even on one leg he has got to be better then three of the five

From what I understand is that when you have a rookie QB starting. The center is the one who should be calling the line protections. Simply because the QB has little idea of what he is looking at pre snap. That is of course if you have an experienced center. Another issue is what I see in line protections as they have been somewhat of a clusterfluck of missed assignments, whiffed blocks and blocking the wrong man. Both the TEs and RB's missing blocks, not seeing them, not looking for them or not caring. That's all on coaching! Not having a veteran QB on the roster to show the kid the ropes his first year is simply the wrong thing to do. Marrone/Whaley did it with EJ, Lewis and Tuel and how did that work out for those three? This rookie QB needs all the help he can get to develop properly and from what I've seen his O line stinks, the protections stinks, the Bills don't have a power run game anymore and are 29th in the NFL in run blocking. His receiving corps is nothing special so he is holding the ball far too long waiting for someone to break open. Then again he doesn't always see the open guy, which should come in time... if given time. Allen was lucky last week as the Chargers best pass rusher was out with an injury and as it was the line couldn't block Ingram. I shudder to think of how many sacks the two of them would have had on Allen. The line coach needs to remove his cranium from his posterior.

Allen's release time is probably one of the fastest in the NFL at .38 of a second. The problem is he needs to get the timing down with his receivers which should come with time. Plus he needs his receivers to find ways to get separation and get open and this is why he is holding the ball too long.

And what would help this young QB play better? How about a solid rushing attack that makes the defense work to stop the run so it opens up the passing game. Allen isn't at the level of a top ten QB so he will need a bunch of help from his OC, the run game and the defense. So far the defense had let this team down big time by not stopping any drives and putting the team in a hole to start off. Fix the damn defense! The run game as of right now the Buffalo Bills are 26th in rushing attempts, 25th in yards. The best player on the Bills offense is Shady McCoy and his OC needs to get him 25 touches or more each game. So far he has had only 21 touches in two games. Shady needs the ball and in space so he can gain yardage. Stop getting drive killing penalties by the O line, TE's. Stop whiffing on blocks! Stop blocking the wrong guy! The Bills are 29th in the NFL in run blocking, with a 50.9 score

Allen doesn't yet know what he is looking at when he steps behind the center and sees the defense. It's going to take time to learn how to "read" defenses and they will attempt to confuse the hell out of him with different looks each Sunday. Much like Rex Ryan used to do against Brady as nobody knew which defender was going to blitz. Eventually NFL offenses learned how to read Ryan's blitz's and defeat them. I don't know that any QB can learn how to read 32 different defenses after a few games. Kind of why Andy Reid sat Patrick Mahomes for an entire year so he could sit, learn and develop. The really good new is Josh Allen was "off the charts" on the NFL whiteboard in learning and understanding how NFL plays work. He is an extremely bright kid who usually doesn't make the same mistake twice. All we Bills fans can do is hope he survives the season enough to develop properly. Then we have to hope that Beane will give him a better supporting cast around in and forgo using all the early draft picks for the defense in 2019.

It is my belief that Allen could be another Aaron Rodgers/Big ben only with a stronger arm and in fact probably the most powerful arm the NFL has ever seen. He has a lot of the same physical traits in that he is very mobile, huge at 6'5' 240lbs difficult to tackle at times. Allen's release velocity is 72 MPH which is sorta insane. Four tenths of a second release time is in the elite category in the NFL and Allen has a release of point three eight seconds (.38 seconds.) The thing is Allen was supposed to sit this year to learn and develop. His coaches/GM are letting him down by starting him too soon. No veteran QB on the roster to help him learn the ropes either. Allen doesn't know how to read NFL defenses or know how to set pre-snap protections. His offensive line is so lame that they can't help with that like 90's Bills center Kent Hull would bark out protections for Jim Kelly. By starting Allen so soon this regime is taking a huge chance at ruining his development. Watch the entire video

The QB isn't the only one that should be calling protections especially if he has only played one half of an NFL game and is learning as he goes. The center is also supposed to call protections and duties for the line. On one play I can recall Dion Dawkins blocking the DT and leaving the edge rusher in Ingram free and untouched to sack Allen. Now the announcer stated that Allen should have seen this and thrown to the RB who was the outlet. The play happened so quickly that Allen would have needed to throw as soon as the ball touched his hands. All things considered I put this one on the offensive line as Dawkins simply blocked the wrong player. I watched other plays in which the RB and TE whiffed on blocks. Croon has done this several times at times in different games. As someone else put it when you have defenders in the backfield to tackle the RB/QB as soon as he touches the ball the problem is with the line.

It's not just the coaches as it's more about the supporting cast around him this year. Of all the QB prospects for this year the one QB I wanted the Bills to draft was Josh Allen, Metz wanted him also. I'm happy the Bills drafted the kid. I never said Allen should sit because the alternative in Peterman is he is useless. A better question is why Peterman is still even on the roster. Why hasn't Beane brought in a veteran QB to help show Allen the ropes. My problem is I'm mad as hell at Beane that he didn't do a better job of surrounding Allen with better talent. There is still the waiver wire, trade deadline and things a GM could do to bolster the current team so Allen survives this season. I don't want to be reading at the end of the year that he sucked because he sucked from the start!

What he said!

How is it nonsense if Manning, Aikman didn't start on bad teams and were just playing poorly to begin with? Aikman went 0-11 because he threw 9 TDs, 18 INTs @ a 52.9 completion percentage. Nobody is twisting the stats as they are the reality! As is the fact that Aikman was only sacked 19 times all season. That means he had time to throw all season and was simply bad at doing so or no one to throw to. No idea where you are getting stats from but the reality is that 89 year the Cowboys had 513 passing attempts vs 355 rushing attempts. It also didn't help that David Shula was his OC. During their SB years the OC was Norv Turner, Zampese with Switzer as HC. It's my contention that if Steve Young had stayed on that bad 2-14 1985 Tampa Bay team that he would have never amounted to anything. Much less win super bowls or be a pro bowler/all pro. His completion percentage at TB was 52.2% with 3 TDs, 8 INTs his first year in 5 games. His second season at TB he went 2-12 with a 53.7% completion percentage 8 TDs, 13 INTs. As it was it took a few years of sitting and learning behind Joe Montana with Bill Walsh as his HC before he started playing well. I'd say Steve Young is a perfect example of a good to great QB starting on a bad team and playing poorly, developing poorly. Another QB is Jim Plunkett who played for the NE Patriots on bad teams for 5 years, went to SF for two years and never won more than 7 games in 7 seasons. Went to a great Oakland Raiders team and sat for a season then went on to win two super bowls on a great Raiders team. Again it's my contention that had Plunkett stayed with that bad NE Patriots team he would have never amounted to anything, much less win two super bowls!

Bottom line is this team needs to fix the defense so the offense isn't starting off in a hole every game. Then they need to get the run game working to help take pressure off this rookie QB, control the clock and keep the downs, distance in manageable situations. The team needs to fix the offensive line because the Chargers best pass rusher didn't even play in this past game and yet couldn't even block Ingram successfully. Shady McCoy is the best play on offense and the coaches need to find ways to get him the ball in space. We all have seen some signs that Josh Allen could be "the one" who becomes that elusive franchise QB for the Buffalo Bills. And if he is the one he will still need a far better supporting cast then is currently around him.

I've already made the case that both Aikman and Manning were on teams with far better than average offensive lines as each were only sacked 19 times, 22 times in their rookie seasons. Steve Young was sacked 22 in four games in 85 and was battered around with 47 sacks in 14 games in 86. Young never did play a full season for Tampa Bay and had veteran QB Steve DeBerg to lean on for those back to back 2-14 seasons. Young then went to SF where he was coached by arguably the brightest offensive mind the league has ever known in Bill Walsh. Plus, like with Aaron Rodgers sitting behind Brett Favre for years while learning. Young sat behind Joe Montana for 5 seasons before starting in SF. While I agree that the best thing that can happen for a rookie QB to properly develop is to go out and actually play. However like others have outlined this particular situation for Josh Allen is he is in probably the most difficult, untenable state of affairs for a rookie QB to properly develop. If you look at how Joe Flacco developed you would see that he went to a solid playoff type team that went 11-5 and made the playoffs his rookie season. They ran the ball to help that rookie QB develop!!! Flacco had 433 passing attempts while the Ravens had 592 attempts rushing. In Flacco's second season the Ravens beat the New England Patriots IN New England by pounding the rock 52 times for 234 yards, 4 TDs. Meanwhile Flacco threw 4 of 10 for 34 yards, 1 INT. To win that playoff game against NE 33-14.

Well said and so true. And hopefully he survives that long... It really is a sad state that Allen is currently in as I can't think of another NFL QB becoming successful after starting for such a bad team. The only bright spot on offense this year is McCoy and the team can't seem to get the run game working. If Allen fails at the end of the season most Bills fans will probably say he was never good to begin with...

Wouldn't you agree that a rookie QB drafted in the first round has a much better chance at succeeding by going to a good team then say a QB going to a bad team? As it looks right now Josh Allen is going to get the snot beaten out of him this year because he is being thrown to the wolves. Even his HC stated he wanted Allen to sit this year. Lamar Jackson was drafted in the first round and he is playing sporadically on a good team and perhaps might start at some point down the road. Logic dictates to me that one looks to have a better chance to make it in the NFL as he won't be a tackling dummy this year. Has nothing to do with just my opinion.

Look back at that team. Kelly had LT Ken Jones, LG Jim Richter, C Kent Hull, RG Will Wolford, RT Joe Devlin. Pretty gosh darn good line in my view. Pete Metz, Andre Reed to throw to and Rob Riddick Ronnie Harmon at RB. 4-12 huh, Hank Bullough was the HC for 9 games that year.

Did I really need to mention more than the one the article mentions? You don't watch football enough to know how many QBs the Cleveland Browns have drafted in the first round in their history to see that *nearly all of them have ended up on the scrap heap? Really? The entire league is littered with failed QBs that went to bad teams...oldmanfan...

This is baloney. QB's that go to bad teams usually end up on the scrap heap and the some that do succeed like Peyton Manning, Troy Aikman didn't go to teams as bad as the current Buffalo Bills. Manning was only sacked 22 times his first year at Indy and Aikman was only sacked 19 times at Dallas. Meanwhile Allen has already been sacked 8 times in a game and a half. While David Carr was sacked 79 times and referred to as a tackling dummy...the Bills QBs are on a pace to beat that number with 88 as Josh with 8, Peterman with 3 in a little over a half. The article mentions Manning but doesn't say he was only sacked 22 times because he also had some decent talent on his offensive line to protect him. He also had Marshall Faulk, Marvin Harrison on that team. It was Manning learning the ropes with a 56.7 completion percentage and with 26 TDs, 28 Ints. As for Aikman his offensive line was arguably the very best the NFL has ever seen with LT Mark Tuinei 15 years with Dallas, LG Nate Newton 13 years with Dallas, Center Tom Raftery 14 years with Dallas, RG Crawford Kerr 6 years with Dallas, RT Kevin Cogan 7 years with Dallas, 14 in the NFL. Aikman learning the NFL ropes 9 TDs, 18 INTs with a 52.9 completion percentage. **What's interesting to me is the same year the team drafted Aikman #1 overall they also drafted OG Steve Wisniewski with the 29th pick (second round) and center Mark Stepnoski with the #57th pick (3rd round). So, it looks like the Cowboys FO went out of their way to make sure that pick at QB was well protected. Like I said, you throw a rookie QB on a bad team that can't protect him and he usually ends up on the scrap heap. If Allen even survives this season it will be a miracle.

Man that's a lot of passing, 727 attempts passing in one season is crazy. The most Rivers ever attempted was 661. Brady 637. Brees 673.

I completely disagree. Josh Allen made his first start after getting ALL the first team reps for the first time for the Chargers game. And when QBs spit reps so much it doesn't give anyone enough time to sync with the receivers on the team. Then you have a bad O line, lousy receiving corps and NO run game to take pressure off the QB so he is mostly in 3rd and long all game. No to mention that the one part of the team that was supposed to be good keeps allowing the team to get into a big hole points wise from the start. This defense was supposed to be decent and it is among the very worst in the league. All of that makes it incredibly difficult for any QB to succeed and especially so for a rookie QB. "IF" Allen survives this season somewhat intact I think he will be much better then both Rivers, Stafford. He can't do it alone though and no QB can. Lastly, Matt Stafford has had the very unfortunate luck to never have a big time RB or top defense to help him win games during the same season or top coaching for that matter. The man has thrown for over four thousand yards for eight years now and they still can't seem to build a fully competent team around him. When they did finally get a top defense they were 28th in rushing so they were a one trick pony team on offense. Need balance all around. Rivers has had bad luck too as his 2006 team under shotty goes 14-2 with a top 2 offense and a top 10 defense and they run into the buzz saw of the Patriots in the playoffs at Qualcomm stadium in SD.

Hey, I'll be the first to admit that I loved what Beane and McD had done prior to this season. The 2017 offseason, that years draft. The 2018 offseason, this years draft all looked great...until they hit the field this year! That defense that everyone thought would be so improved this year up from #26th and despite those bad numbers the reason the 2017 defense didn't look so horrid on the field each week was because of the turnovers with a #7 overall at +9. This year Buffalo is 29th in total defense and -3 in turnovers and a big reason for the turnover disparity is that Tyrod Taylor only threw 4 INT's all last season and Peterman and Allen have throw 4 after only two games. Then you have sacks the sack total for last year was 47 total sacks which seems like quite a bit until you look at this year so far. The 2018 Buffalo Bills have allowed 11 sacks in two games, extrapolate that number out and you get 88 sacks in 16 games. At that rate will Josh Allen even survive the season? I can tell you right now that moving away from that run-first offense and going to a pass first offense was a huge mistake as it's hurting both sides of the ball for Buffalo. Running the ball is what made this team competitive the last few years and they need to find a way back to that so this rookie QB can develop. Anything less then last years record should be unacceptable and at this rate I doubt this years team wins a single game...maybe the Lions in week 15.

David Shaw of Stanford comes to mind. Vikings OC John DeFilippo It's early in the season to bethinking about firing anybody...except maybe Bills O line coach/run game coordinator Juan Castillo. The Buffalo Bills were the #1 rushing team just two short years ago and they were #4 last year. This year they are 25th!

CBS sports changed this up from the first week in which they had the Bills getting the #1 overall pick. This week it's the #1 NY Giants- #2 Houston Texans- #3 Oakland Raiders- #4 Arizona Cardinals- #5 Detroit Lions- #6 Buffalo Bills- #7 Oakland Raiders via Bears. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2019-nfl-mock-draft-raiders-find-khalil-macks-replacement-browns-add-wr-after-josh-gordon-trade/ I don't know if I buy that the Bears and Texans are all that bad, Raiders too. However, the Bills, Giants, Cards and Lions all really suck at this point.

While I thought Whaley was a bad GM and made many mistakes. This new regime is following right in his footsteps the way they brought in a bunch of bums in free agency and basically ignored the offensive line in the draft. While I'm not going to criticize the drafting of Edmunds with a #1 pick or Phillips with a #3 pick because the team needed them. I have to look at the offensive line and ask wouldn't those two draft picks be better made on an actual NFL center, an OG or two, or a RT. I mean protecting the most important position on the team (QB) should have been a number one priority. Plus, it would help the run game and the defense by keeping them off the field. What's surprising is that the defense is so much worse this year!! Right now the 2018 Buffalo Bills are 31st on offense and 31st on defense!

Yes! I also saw Dion Dawkins block the DT which allowed the edge rusher in Ingram come free, untouched. Meanwhile Ducasse was blocking air because Dawkins took his man. And yes, Allen should get better as gets more playing experience and like others have mentioned that Peterman got a lot of those first string reps in preseason, for that Raverns game. I just hope Allen survives long enough to properly develop.

I agree, and Let's also not forget how bad that Bills defense was playing. The Chargers offense took their foot off the gas in the second half IMO. That offensive line with no run game, blocking the wrong players, TE's and RB missing on chip blocks. This team is so lucky that Joey Bosa didn't play because as it was they couldn't block Ingram. I highly doubt Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady or any NFL QB wins that game for Buffalo. Allen did take 5 sacks and it could have been worse. Bills QBs 11 sacks in two games...extrapolate that out to 16 weeks.