Logic

Shaw - The only thing I'll quibble with is your notion that the Bills don't have good deep threat WRs. John Brown absolutely IS a great deep threat receiver. Robert Foster was one last year, too. Now, maybe Foster's injured or in the coach's doghouse for some reason, but I find it hard to believe that he suddenly forgot how to be a deep threat. With Brown and Foster as WRs and Allen at QB, it's a little strange to see the Bills be SO conservative and SO dink-and-dunk on offense. What I think is happening, moreso than the Bills just CHOOSING to go that route, is that defenses are taking away the deep ball week after week, knowing that the best way to beat the Bills offense at this point in time is to FORCE Allen to dink and dunk his way down the field, figuring he'll make a mistake sooner or later. I think the reason the coaches drilled into Josh's head time and time again this offseason the importance of the short game and taking what the defense gives you is that they KNEW this is how defenses would defend Allen this year, and they wanted him to have a counter punch via the short game. My hope, then, is that Allen learns and evolves to be so effective in the short game that defenses HAVE TO start defending it more honestly, thus opening up the deep balls once again. To have a quarterback with Josh Allen's physical gifts and two receivers with the speed of Brown and Foster and to NOT have a lethal deep passing game is, in my mind, a waste. My hope is that, as time goes on, we see the return of the deep game. Toxic differential is a huge factor in the outcome of football games, and one of the ways to make sure to win toxic differential each week is to connect on some big plays in the passing game. Time will tell. In the meantime, as long as they keep winning, any way they are able to do it is just fine with me.

You planning on jumping through any flaming tables or nah?

I'm not ready to say that he's definitely the Franchise QB we're all hoping and waiting for, BUT... Through 16 games, Josh Allen has a 9-7 record as a starter. He is 8-1 when he throws 1 interception or less. He has SIX game-winning drives in 16 games. When you consider that 11 of those 16 career games came last season, when he had a historically bad offensive line, a rotating cast of WRs, and just about NO preparation time as the starter before week 2 of the season....his performance and, more importantly, his W-L record thus far, is pretty damned impressive. The thing I like the most? He's at his best in the 4th quarter. You can't teach that. He has the "Clutch Gene". Yes, it's important to point out that the REASON he's needed to come back and win games in the 4th quarter is that his 3rd quarter performance hasn't been great, but...still. You have to give credit where it's due. I never feel like the Bills are out of a game with Josh Allen behind center. Oh, and one more thing: The whole "he's inaccurate!" critique? He's already proven it false. He is NOT inaccurate. He needs to learn to read defenses better/faster, to make better decisions with the football, and to slide and avoid unnecessary risks. But inaccurate? Nope. Sorry. Not true. He has dispelled this myth already, in my opinion. All in all? I'm cautiously optimistic. There's A LOT to like there, but enough to keep you worried that he may never reach his full potential. Grade: Incomplete, but encouraging.

B+ sounds right. Anything less than that is unfair to Josh, in my opinion. He completed 71.9% of his passes, had a 98 QB rating, had his sixth game-winning drive in 16 career games, and led his team to a road win. He was also accurate throwing the football all day long and made smart decisions on all but the interception. The only thing keeping him from an "A" is the pick. That's it. Good game from Allen overall.

It's gonna be McKittrick. 100%

Quote was proven fake.

Newport is beautiful. Cheerful Bullpen is the home of the Bills in Portland. Not the biggest/grandest place you've ever seen, but there's a big and loyal crew that goes there, and they do the Shout song after TDs, wings and beef on weck, Labatt's (which is not too common to see in most bars on the west coast), Bills gear raffles, etc...Plenty of TVs and even some out back in an outdoor area if the weather is nice.

Welcome to Oregon! I moved out to Portland about six years ago after living in western New York my whole life. I absolutely love it. There are DEFINITELY Bills fans here, as evidenced by the Bills Backers bar in Portland every Sunday, which is usually pretty packed. The biggest football related adjustment for me was learning to watch games at 10am instead of 1pm. Turns out it's much better this way! You can watch the early game and still have your whole day ahead of you, or watch both the early AND late games and STILL be done by 4. Pretty awesome. The lack of snow here relative to western New York is also pretty damned rad. And don't forget the world class coffee, beer, and legal cannabis, if you're into those sorts of things. Whereabouts in Oregon are you living?

The conspiracy theories and complete misconceptions about how concussion protocol works are pretty wild today. ?

Agreed. The most logical inference to me is that his parents wouldn't have even made the trip from California to Tennessee if Josh was going to be sitting on the bench.

The offensive line has been pass blocking sufficiently well most of the time for the offense to have success. It is often made to look a lot worse than it is by Josh Allen, who either holds onto the ball too long or "sees ghosts" (as he did constantly against New England) and rolls out when he doesn't need to or runs himself right into a sack. They're not perfect, to be sure, but they're good enough. The Bills are 9th in the NFL in offensive yardage gained, even WITH Allen's shortcomings thus far.

Our long nightmare has finally ended. But in all seriousness...unless the Bills are comfortable with Ryan Bates as their third tackle, they best start working the phones.

Yep. I think they hold BOTH Singletary and Johnson out, given that they have hamstrings injuries (which are easy to re-aggravate) and a bye week coming up. The good news is that, so long as everyone stays healthy this Sunday (a big "if", I know), the Bills should return from the bye week in pretty good health.

Byron Marshall is the running back on the practice squad currently, not Marcus Murphy. I'd guess it would be him.

Thanks for the reply. My only two responses would be: 1.) It's weird to say in the first paragraph that you're adamant that people allow some time before evaluating rookies, only to see you turn around and conclude that Ford was a "miss" by the front office. He's only four games into his career. Doesn't he deserve the same time to prove himself that you're "adamant" that others give to rookies? 2.) THIS front office -- the Brandon Beane led front office -- was not here in 2017. They did not draft Zay Jones or Dion Dawkins or pass on a quarterback. I would also say that Dawkins is an average to slightly above average left tackle at this point in his career. To say that he's a "miss" or a bust is erroneous, in my opinion.

Agree to disagree. The Bills offensive line currently has the highest "win rate" in pass blocking of any offensive line in football. They have also paved the way for a consistently productive running game thus far. The Bills are 9th in the NFL in offensive yards gained this year. When you consider how historically bad the offensive line was last year, and you consider the fact that they changed out 4 of 5 starters in one offseason and have somehow still managed to produce pretty good offensive line play, you can only reasonably conclude that it was a well accomplished overhaul. As for Ford: I agree that it's disappointing that he doesn't seem to have a future at right tackle. If he winds up being a dominant guard for a decade, though -- which it looks like he has the talent to be -- then I'm fine with the pick. Any way you slice it, the Bills appear to have gotten four starting caliber players out of this draft (Oliver, Ford, Knox, and Singletary), two of whom (Oliver and Knox) have clear star potential. That's a good draft. No one hits on 100% of their draft picks (ask the great Bill Belichick), but Beane has been hitting on far more than he's been missing on.

You're right, he got penalized a lot. Part of the reason is that he's a mean *****. He also happens to be the best blocking tight end in football. One game in which he made boneheaded mistakes do not cancel out the three previous games, where he was out there mauling people, protecting the QB, and opening big holes in the running game. I promise you, a Ford/Smith combo on the right side is going to keep Allen or Barkley's jersey cleaner than Ford on an island. If it comes with a penalty or two, so be it...it's better than watching the quarterback get driven into the turf by an unobstructed linebacker.

I understand why they cleared a roster spot: They'll either need to call up Davis Webb or may choose to call up Duke Williams. I AM confused, however, by the fact that it was McDermott that got the boot, since Nsekhe is ailing and may not play. Tackle depth is frightening right now.

If he doesn't go on Sunday (which he probably won't), then Daboll needs to make sure to give Ford help on the right side. I'd station Lee Smith or Tommy Sweeney next to him just about all day long.

Don't stop there. Need him fresh for the big game. Rest him until Super Bowl Sunday.

As much of a bummer as it is to be coming off a loss and waiting for Allen to clear concussion protocol...It must be a MASSIVE bummer to be coming off THREE straight losses and hoping our quarterback doesn't literally die on the field this coming Sunday.

Speaking of the notion of DK Metcalf over Ed Oliver...has anyone heard from @Cornette's Commentary lately?

Nahhhh... Blue chip defensive lineman trumps bluechip wide receiver all day long. Yes, Ed Oliver needs to start turning his pressures into sacks, but I'm DAMN SURE not ready to say that I'd rather have DK Metcalf than Ed Oliver only 4 games into their careers. And it's not like Oliver's been slacking. He's top 10 in pressure rate among ALL defenders in the NFL this season.

Quenton Nelson.