Logic

Great post. Especially the bolded.

Fair enough. THAT I can agree with.

Meh. You can cobble together the worst plays of any QB in the league and get a similar video. Now let's see an actual highlight video. Selective editing can paint any picture you want it to.

On the contrary: watching, say, 7 different plays from one game where receivers are open and Allen isn't hitting them DOES begin to tell a story. The story is "our quarterback needs to improve". I could just as easily state that IGNORING visual evidence of poor play and fixating only on play-calling doesn't tell the whole story, only the narrative you want to push. Again: I don't think all the blame is on Allen. I don't think all the blame is on Daboll. BOTH OF THEM aren't performing well. But it certainly is hard to tell how much of Allen's poor performance is due to Daboll calling bad plays, and how much it just APPEARS that Daboll is calling a bad game because the QB can't execute his gameplan. It's really hard to separate these things. It's a complex relationship. And yet, we have plenty of Bills fans who are certain that it's just Daboll that's to blame. It's ridiculous.

I agree that Josh deserves credit for the steps he has already taken as a quarterback. What I DON'T like seeing, though, is people putting on blinders and pretending like he's immune from criticism. He has progressed, yes, but he has a long way to go. He currently has the 30th ranked QB rating and 31st ranked completion percentage in the NFL, for instance. He has thrown just 10 TDs throw 9 games, despite playing some of the worst teams in the NFL. Furthermore, as far as "creating rhythm"...how is an offense supposed to have any rhythm when the quarterback fails to hit open receivers so often? How are we supposed to know what identity the offense WANTS to exhibit when the field general of that offense plays so inconsistently and, at times, poorly? I'm not saying it's JUST on Allen. The Bills offense is a combo platter of suck right now. Daboll deserves some blame. I absolutely agree with that. But to say that he deserves the lion's share of the blame or to try to completely absolve Allen of responsibility for how poor the offense is? That's rubbish. Did you not pay attention at all to the breakdowns and GIFs from the Browns game? Cover 1 already DID show that there were options on some -- not all, it's true, but more than a few -- of the plays in which Allen either took a sack or threw an incompletion. Yes, Daboll can do more to help Allen, but Allen needs to start to learn to help himself. He needs to take more steps toward being a big boy quarterback. It's not all on the OC. Daboll is an easy scapegoat right now, because it's easier to want to fire the OC than it is to admit that the 1st round, prize young QB isn't getting the job done. It's not an either/or proposition. BOTH need to improve. But this "it's all on Daboll!" stuff has gotta stop. It's ridiculous.

If you think Cover 1 has any sort of vendetta against Allen or was pro-Tyrod and looks for ways to bash Allen, you're nuts. Allen wasn't "bad" on Sunday, you're right. But he also wasn't GOOD ENOUGH to beat the Browns. The Browns packed the box against the Bills, blitzed over 40% of the time, and dared the Bills to beat them through the air, and the Bills couldn't. Josh Allen completed 53.7% of his passes and threw zero touchdowns. That's not good enough against an average to below average Browns defense. People who exclusively blame Brian Daboll are ignoring the many plays he calls where wide receivers ARE open and Allen can't or won't throw to them. It happens a lot. It happened a lot on Sunday. I'm not an Allen hater. I like him and want him to succeed. Just look at my avatar. However, to put all of the blame on Daboll and completely absolve Allen is a chickenshit copout, in my opinion.

I agree only to an extent. The fact is that the All-22 footage from yesterday reveals that there were numerous instances where receivers were open and Josh didn't find them. Just with the exact personnel that they already have in-house right now, they would have gotten the job done on Sunday if Allen had played better. The loss isn't all on him, obviously, but his play was a huge factor. I like Allen, for the record. Just look at my avatar. I want him to succeed and I'm nowhere near wanting to bench him or call him a bust or anything like that. Better weapons will help him, sure, but they won't fix everything. It's time for his play to take another step forward, or else defenses will keep beating the Bills the same exact way they did on Sunday. Nailed it.

I have held all along that the Bills would finish 10-6 or 11-5, but after the recent stretch of offensive and run-stopping ineptitude a 9-7 or 8-8 record looks more likely. The Bills feasting on easy opponents early on unfortunately set expectations at unreasonable levels for what is still a very young squad in the midst of a rebuild. The funny thing is that BEFORE the season started, we all would have happily accepted 9-7 with progress from the quarterback. Once the season started the way it did, though, the goalposts were moved. Now people will likely consider 9-7 or 8-8 a failed season. Forget the record for a second and just ask yourself this: Do the Buffalo Bills LOOK like one of the 12 best teams in the league? I picked the number 12 because that's how many teams make the playoffs each year. The Bills, to me, do NOT look like one of the league's 12 best teams. When you watch them play and then go and watch the Patriots or 49ers or Seahawks or Saints or Packers, it's absolutely crystal clear that the Bills are just not on that level. What it will take to GET to that level is open for debate, but the Bills aren't there yet.

Every response so far in this thread is pretty much on the money. Passing game needed to beat the Browns' cover 1 looks and couldn't. The Bills need two things: a stud #1 receiver and for their quarterback to play better.

I don't disagree that the Bills could use an upgrade on the offensive line this offseason -- specifically at RIGHT tackle. However, with regard to your second sentence: Just about EVERYONE in the NFL gets beat my Myles Garrett. He's tied for the league lead in sacks. No whiz kid rookie is going to come in and stymie that guy, either. He's arguably the best (or at least in the top three) edge rusher in the entire NFL.

On Sunday, during and after the game, I was absolutely furious that Singletary didn't get more carries. HOWEVER...reading through Daboll's presser comments and watching All-22 footage that seems to back them up, what he says rings true: The Browns basically packed the box all game long and dared the Bills to beat them through the air. You can make the argument that the Bills should have just run the ball anyway and tried to impose their will on the Browns, but I'm not sure how much success they would have had against all the 8 and 9 man boxes the Browns were presenting. What the Bills did instead was to try to force the Browns to back off by beating them through the air. The only problem was that the Bills couldn't/didn't beat them through the air, so the boxes kept getting stacked and the pressure kept coming. You'd like to think in these types of situations that the QB you selected in the 1st round would have the ability to make the opposing defense pay for over-committing to the run by punishing them through the air -- he could not. He did not. Less of my irritation and concern is directed toward Brian Daboll now, and more of it is directed at Josh Allen. He NEEDS to be able to make defenses pay when they do this, and he couldn't. He needs to step up. He needs to get better. If he doesn't, teams will just keep on doing this.

Haven't actually listened to them or read any transcripts. To be honest, aside from this article, I have completely abstained from any Bills related coverage or pressers until this morning. I needed a couple days to decompress after that excruciating loss. From what little I have gathered this morning, Daboll seems to have said that the Browns basically completely stacked the box and dared the Bills to beat them with the pass, and Buffalo couldn't get it done. The All-22 footage I'm watching seems to back up that claim. Essentially, the Browns loaded the box, dared the Bills to run into 9-man fronts, and blitzed the hell out of Allen. This being the case, it's actually a game where a Duke Williams might have come in handy to win some 50-50 jump ball blitz beaters against single coverage. I guess I'm a little bit less angry that they didn't force-feed Singletary the ball now that I have had a chance to digest the defensive looks the Browns were showing. More of the blame, then, shifts to Allen and the passing offense for not calling the Browns' bluff and torching them through the air. The "book" on how to beat the Bills passing offense has been out since the New England game. Load the line of scrimmage with defenders and show varied and muddled defensive looks and force Allen to make the right pre and post snap decisions. It's up to the Bills -- specifically Josh Allen -- to figure out how to overcome that. Daboll can give him some easier answers, sure, and the receivers can do a better job of getting open. In the end, though, it's on Allen. It's big boy time. He needs to take his game to the next level.

Just one bump for the evening crew and then I'll let this thing die its death.

Great point. As I sat back and thought over yesterday's game, it occurs to me that every single phase of the Bills failed them at one point or another. It really and truly was a team loss. The defense gave up that easy first touchdown drive, didn't keep the Browns out of the end zone at the end, and didn't collect any turnovers despite going against a turnover prone QB. The offense...well...we all know. The special teams accounted for two missed field goals. The coaches made multiple head scratching decisions. All three phases of the team AND coaching contributed to the loss. Extremely frustrating and disheartening. Thanks for the comments.