jrober38

I think this is harsh. I think a big problem is Allen not getting his linemen into the right protections. He's not properly evaluating what the defense is doing pre snap, and it's on the QB to evaluate where he thinks a blitz might be coming from so that the line can adjust the protection. Free rushers are usually a result of one of two things; either the QB didn't set the protection to pick it up, or a RB misses a blitz pick up. If the correct protection is called, NFL linemen aren't going to ignore their job and let guys rush free at the QB. They might get beat, and they might miss blocks, but free rushers who no one picks up in the pass protection are a result of the protection call, and that's on the QB. The QB needs to read the defense pre snap and decode what he's seeing on the field vs what he's seen on film. He needs to ID where pressure will come from, how many guys he thinks will be rushing, how many blockers he has into pick it up, and ultimately how long he'll have to throw the football before he's going to get blasted. Those answers determine where he needs to go with the football, and as things are going right now Allen just isn't seeing the field well enough or fast enough to make the correct protection calls.

They're going to have a top 5 pick, but they're not rebuilding. Okey dokey...

Tate is a good player but he's 31 years old. Fitzgerald is a hall of famer, but he's 35. The others guys are junk. I'd look at Tyrell Williams as a #2 deep threat, and I'd look at Geronimo Allison as a #3. The rest of the class is terrible.

Some years you get a couple decent guys, but this coming year it's 31 year old Golden Tate and then a huge drop off to guys who are nothing more than #3 guys around the NFL.

The 2019 Wide Receiver FA Class is absolutely horrendous.

Allen's weakest attribute is his ability to get the ball out quickly with short accurate passes. He doesn't read defenses well pre or post snap, and his short accuracy can be suspect at times.

Sorry but the Bills don't appear to be building off it. They appear to be in the 1st year of a 3 year rebuild.

Why? The truth is that fewer than 50% of 1st round QBs are successful, and when you take away the guys who go #1 overall, their success rate drops to around 30%. History clearly shows Allen has about a 1 in 3 chance of working out. That's the reality we face.

Both McDaniels and Kelly made the playoffs in their first season. Then their teams imploded mostly due to their personnel decisions and they got fired.

My thoughts: This team is heading in the wrong direction. We value character over talent, and have overhauled the roster too quickly. We jettisoned too much talent just for the sake of changing the culture, and it will take years to replace all the 1st and 2nd round picks from the previous regime who are no longer on the team. We lack athleticism in the pass game and truly need to overhaul what we have at WR. Trading a 3rd round pick for Benjamin was a terrible idea, and Zay Jones isn't good enough. His scouting report said he struggled to separate, and that's exactly what his problem has been so far. Beyond them we don't have any NFL calibre talent. The QB is a major concern in my eyes. People talk about him developing, but so far he's looked exactly as advertised in his scouting reports. He's big and strong, but aside from a couple plays in the Vikings game it hasn't amounted to much. At this point he's just an athlete trying to learn the QB position and early signs suggest he has minimal feel for the position. He doesn't naturally know to take what the defense gives him, and constantly looks for the big play when it's not there. His ability to read a defense pre and post snap are extremely limited and at some point all the hits are going to take a toll. He needed to sit on the bench all year. The defense has some pieces but also a lot of dead weight. Hard to evaluate them when the offense is constantly putting them in bad spots. Like Josh McDaniels and Chip Kelly before, I think Coach McDermott is trending in that direction. He got rid of too much talent, too quickly, and despite having numerous draft picks over the past few years they foolishly used them in trades negating their value. Edmunds and White look like legit building blocks, but beyond that there's little to get excited about. I don't think Allen is going to make it (most QBs don't), and we legitimately need 8 or 9 new starters on offense next year other than Allen and Dawkins. I'm extremely unimpressed with this regimes ability to evaluate talent. As we heard today they value character over strategy which is a major concern in 2018. Maybe 30 years ago that approach would work, but in the modern NFL all that matters is the Xs and Os and we don't appear to value them.

Agreed. I'm mostly frustrated by Allen. I don't think he's going to be successful and since the Bengals preseason game I think he's looked mostly horrible. He was good against the Vikings in a really weird game, but otherwise he's looks awful. So far among starting QBs, he's dead last in total QBR (33rd), 30th in YPA, and 32nd in QB Rating. He shouldn't be playing right now and is clearly not prepared to be a starting QB at this level, yet due to the decisions management made we have no other choice. I just don't see how this year is going to benefit him at all long term. All he's going to do is develop bad habits.

If the QB is the problem, find a new QB. The Bills dealt Daboll this hand. They could have kept McCarron and had at least one QB on the roster with meaningful NFL experience. Instead they went with the teacher's pet Nate Peterman, and Allen, who collectively had two NFL starts under their belt. It's 2018. If you can't throw the ball confidently you're completely screwed. QBs are regularly throwing for 400 yards a game with multiple TDs, and we're trying to protect a QB who has mostly looked like a deer in the headlights since the 3rd preseason game. With the rule changes, the frequency of roughing the passer calls and defensive holding calls, there's practically no strategic reason to run the ball anymore because the pros for passing clearly outweigh the cons. Yet here we are trying to hide our QB. Management screwed this roster up so badly it's unbelievable. How on earth do you draft a complete project at QB and field a supporting offense that's completely devoid of NFL calibre talent in the pass game? Everyone on the offensive side of the football has been set up to fail by this team's personnel decisions over the past 20 months. This offense has no hope of being successful given who they're featuring at QB and at WR.

We trailed the whole game and our QB played what might have been the worst game we've seen from a Bills QB over the past 20 years. Game flow is going to work against us all year. We have a terrible QB, no receivers, and a defense that gives up a ton of yards. The OC was dealt a terrible hand. He's got practice squad calibre players at his disposal with zero play makers in the pass game.

Allen probably isn't going to work out. People can make all the excuses they want, but he was a risky pick who plays a position where most 1st round picks at that position aren't successful.

Amari Cooper is terrible. No thanks.

I find it impossible to evaluate the play calling when you're not dealing with NFL calibre talent on offense. We have an unprepared, over matched rookie QB, the worst collection of wide receivers in the NFL, a bunch of backup calibre tight ends, and a bottom 5 offensive line. The cupboard on offense is completely bare. We need 8 or 9 new starters on offense next year. McVay is a great coach, but people seem to be ignoring that they're wide receivers are unbelievably good, they have arguably the best RB in the NFL, and a very good offensive line. The Rams are stacked with quality offensive personnel.

McDermott is completely out of touch. He's really beginning to look like Dick Jauron V 2.0 where we sacrifice talent for the sake of having guys who the coach likes.

It's hard to call a quality NFL offense when you don't have good enough players at QB, WR, TE and the OL has protection issues. The Bills have arguably the worst starting QB in the NFL right now, the worst group of receivers in the league, next to nothing at Tight End, and an inconsistent OL that struggles to pass protect. And people are blaming the Coordinator?

The roster management and ability to identify and sign quality talent has been terrible. If you look at the roster we had two years ago, vs the one we have now, it's mind boggling how much worse the roster has got on paper. We got rid of good players, and replaced them mostly with guys who are practice squad calibre players. We have a ton of cap space next year, but the notion that we'll be able to go out and get good players without drastically overpaying and eventually getting into our next salary cap hell is misguided. This team is going in the wrong direction and it's hard to imagine NFL free agents wanting to come to Buffalo next year.

The Bills don't get it. The Chiefs have the best offense in the league, and none of their players fit the type of guys McDermott wants. He values character over talent. We passed on Pat Mahomes (didn't want him) We traded Sammy Watkins (didn't want him) Tyreek Hill had major off field issues (unlikely we'd ever take a shot on a guy like him) The Bills have high character guys all over their offense who unfortunately don't have much talent or skill. Josh Allen is a long term project, our receivers are laughably bad and offer zero athleticism relative to other NFL players, and we have an OL that doesn't get much push. We're trying to do things one way, and the Cheifs (the best offense in the league) are operating in a way that I don't think McDermott would ever be willing to adopt. That's a major concern in my eyes.

Neither do guys who failed to complete 57% of their passes in college. As the NFL has moved more and more pass heavy, it seems as though Air Raid QBs can now have success at the pro level. Jared Goff and Pat Mahomes couldn't be playing any better.

Exactly. Mahomes spent his college career throwing the football 50 times a game. Allen learned next to nothing in college. If we wanted a big, strong, mobile QB with a rocket arm, we should have picked Mahomes. He was a much better prospect.

He has the ability (everyone does), but not many QBs actually figure out how to do it properly.

Mahomes and it's not close. Tre White is a fine corner back, but he's still just a corner back. Josh Allen is a lottery ticket who probably won't work out. This is a no brainer.

Allen shouldn't be on the field. He's an enormous project who can't read a defense, can't set his protection properly, and can't check out of bad plays and into good ones. There's ample game tape available now on how to shut Allen down and this could really snowball into something horrific over the next 5-6 games.