jrober38

Nope. Yesterday showed he's still a project who has a lot to learn.

He's been terrible.

That's obviously not going to happen at this point.

Titans, Texans and Colts don't scare anyone, but the other 5 teams are all pretty darn good. The Ravens, Chargers and Vikings should cause our offense major problems.

I dunno about 0-8, but 0-4 on our way to 2-6 seems pretty likely.

So what's the solution? Play him and listening to people make excuses for how bad his supporting cast is all season? That'll grow tiring pretty quickly.

This is the NFL. The defenders are bigger, stronger and faster than anything he faced in college. There's more pressure up front and the throwing windows are much smaller than the ones he saw at Wyoming. The game tape is going to be awful and it's going to be the same supporting cast all season. All today showed was that he's not ready for the Ravens in 2 weeks. Put this guy on the bench for as long as possible. He's talented, but it doesn't amount for enough yet.

Allen showed today he doesn't get the ball out quickly. I don't understand why everyone is trying so hard to forget that he was a major project coming out of Wyoming.

That's just not true. It doesn't matter which QB the Bills start - they'll be considered the worst starter in the league. Allen showed today he's not ready to start against he Ravens in 14 days.

Agreed. There was absolutely nothing about Allen's performance today that said he's going to be ready to start against the Ravens in week 1. The beginning of our schedule is brutal, and if Allen plays like he did today we'll likely be 0-5 and discussing benching him. That would likely be a disaster for his development.

Right. Peterman starting is an indictment of the other guys. McCarron was a low price free agent and Allen is a project who hasn't shown he can contribute yet. Peterman appears to be the best option (but that's not saying much).

Allen is more talented that pretty much every QB in the NFL. He's bigger, stronger, more mobile and has a bigger arm that essentially every QB in the league. Reality is there's a lot more that goes into playing QB successfully in the NFL than just talent. You need to read a defense, throw on time, know to take what a defense gives you and find ways to keep the chains moving by avoiding mistakes. Allen still has a ton to learn before he's ready to contribute at this level. Talent alone isn't enough in the NFL when talking about QBs.

Peterman has outplayed Allen and it hasn't been close. If we're trying to win games this year, Peterman is the obvious choice to start week 1.

Outstanding post. People got fired up over watching him throw the ball 65 yards in the air without really trying and got carried away. Allen is a project QB who is going to take 2-3 years to develop. He needs to learn how to play QB, and how to manage an offense. Part of that management is knowing how to deal with pressure, and how to avoid sacks that kill drives. As you said, he didn't show he was capable of that at Wyoming, so why would he be capable of it now against better competition 8 months later? Allen needs time. He's a project with enormous upside. We saw glimpses of the arm and what he can do, but he needs to learn to be more consistent and how to manage a game better and all that will take time.

Would have been a lot better if he'd just chucked it at his WR's feet and avoided a sack. Good QBs feel pressure and get rid of the ball by throwing it where no one can catch it while avoiding a grounding call. Allen needs to learn that sacks kill drives in the NFL. You can't pat the ball when pressured.

The guy playing QB can influence how the protection looks. If you pat the ball in the face of pressure after you finish your drop, you're going to get sacked. If you throw the ball at the end of your drop, you're not going to get sacked.

Allen made a bad situation worse by holding the ball way too long.

It doesn't help when the QB pats the ball as his protection is breaking down. Peterman played behind this line in week 1 of the preseason and he looked fine. It helps if the ball comes out on time.

Lotulelei graded as one of the worst DTs in the NFL last year by PFF. He's looked awful so far.

As is the case with 90% of the NFL's backups. If he can get the ball out on time, avoid mistakes and sacks, and keep the chains moving by being smart with the football, he'll have a long career in this league as a quality backup QB.

I don't get the purpose of lowering the bar for a player. If this were Tyrod of Ryan Fitzpatrick, fans would be calling for his head on a spit. Allen played really poorly today. I don't understand the purpose of making excuses for the guy.

The OL is bad, but some of the sacks were self inflicted. Allen just holds the ball too long. He got away with it in college against lesser competition, and it's usually a hard habit for athletic QBs to correct. He can't run away from NFL calibre defensive linemen like he did against Mountain West opponents, and he needs to do a better job consistently stepping up into the pocket to buy time or getting the ball out to a hot read faster once he learns to anticipate pressure.

He's been excellent. He's accurate, he gets the ball out quickly and he puts his receivers in a position to pick up yards after the catch. Name Peterman the week 1 starter, and give Allen the whole 4th game to get some experience under his belt.

This simply isn't true. He patted the ball on at least 3 of his sacks when he could have thrown it at a receiver's feet incomplete. Allen did nothing to anticipate pressure. He didn't look for his hot reads and stayed locked onto his 1st read despite the Bengals bringing some pressure. By sticking to his reads, the ball didn't come out on time and he wound up taking sacks when he could have thrown it incomplete. Those sacks kill drives and he's got to do a much better job getting rid of the ball when he has time to, even if it means throwing an incomplete pass. He's got to feel that pressure coming when it's right in his face.

Peterman has been great all preseason. He's in control of the offense, knows to take what the defense gives him to keep the down and distance manageable, he's accurate, and the ball comes out on time. His arm is obviously lacking when he throws outside the hash marks, but if we can game plan to attack the middle of the field off play action he can have success. Allen showed today he's not ready. The Bengals dialed up some pressure and he couldn't handle it. He didn't anticipate pressure, he patted the ball and took sacks when he could have harmlessly dumped it incomplete and put the offense in unmanageable 3rd and long situations. He needs to learn a lot about how to take what the defense gives him and avoid sacks at all costs because they're such drive killers.