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Nice assessment. Allen definitely makes his fair share of, "Whoa, holy crap!" plays but he also has a few, "Whoa, what the crap!" moments as well. In between there, he has an OL that is very inconsistent. A running game that can't get out of its own way and receivers who take turns dropping well-placed throws. And yeah, Allen misses sometimes but if you bought into all the pre-draft hype about him, you would've believed that this kid throws every third pass into the upper deck. At Wyoming, a lot of his big time throws came with his scrambling and improvising to make a play. He's done that here as well but what he's done a lot more of is make crisp, solid, on-time, accurate throws from the pocket. As we saw on Sunday, when he has a hot start, his confidence goes sky high and then he starts trying to do too much. He's gotta get better at that. Sometimes the play just isn't there no matter what you try so you gotta be smart, protect the ball and move on to the next play. Zay Jones looked like he was turning a corner but these last couple weeks he's been inconsistent. Other guys have drops as well, Jones just came to mind first. Josh can help these guys out by learning when to really zip it with a lot of velocity and when to just kinda feather it to his guy. Not every throw has to be a fastball. There's been a couple times here his fastball causes the drop because it'll spin right through a receivers hands, bounce off his chest and hit the ground. I'm certain he will be hosting receivers, tight ends and backs in the off-season to work on their own time and get their chemistry and timing down a bit more. Overall, I gotta remain cautiously optimistic because we've had high hopes before, only to see them dashed. But... I have to say, in just the eight games he's played in this year, he has made some throws and some plays that you rarely see... and he looks as though he can do that on a regular basis. That 75-yard TD to Foster was a thing of beauty. I have no idea how he got that throw off. I saw the pocket collapsing, couldn't even see Allen at that point, I though, "D'oh, sack, stupid Jags." And then suddenly the ball comes flying out of there, hits Foster in stride and he walks into the end zone. I sincerely think the dude just has that stuff. Sometimes you watch games and you spot a player and you get that feeling of, "Man, that dude has it, he's gonna be good." Again, don't wanna get ahead of myself but Josh has made enough plays for me to really believe in that. I hope his arrow is pointing up and as he grows he just gets better and better. He may still make a bonehead play now and again but if his bonehead plays are minimal when put up against his good plays then I think we can all live with that. And they all make bonehead plays. Russell Wilson had a whopper last night. He had 3rd and goal (I think) from inside the five, they called a pass, he drops back and gets flushed out quickly, he's scrambling back trying to avoid the pressure, which finally catches up with him, he tries to throw it away but he throws this weird sidearm pass towards the sideline but it floated right to a Vikings player and he picked it. The only reason I point this out is because I really feel like there are posters on this board that will throw the kid under the bus no matter what. They demand some kind of unattainable level of perfection that just doesn't happen in football. Again, as long as the good heavily outweighs the bad, I'm all in.

They can't do it all on their own. Considering some of the lopsided losses they've had this season, it's a big time credit to the players and coaches that they now sit at first in overall yards allowed and first for passing yards allowed. They have created turnover opportunities this season but the ball just hasn't bounced their way like it did in 2017. That first Jets game they forced what, three fumbles and somehow the Jets recovered all of them. I understand they have confidence that their front four will get pressure, but there have been a couple of games now (this last one included) where they didn't generate much pressure and recorded zero sacks and zero hits on Darnold. That's a little bit unacceptable. If you're not getting home with four, switch it up, create some pressure, send five or six, give the kid a real exotic look he'll have a hard time deciphering. They don't have to do these things all the time but it would be nice if they sprinkled some of this stuff into their game plans on the regular. Very talented young group, though, so, sky's the limit I feel. The only two major contributors they could lose after this season are Kyle and Lorenzo but i wouldn't be surprised if Lorenzo came back. He's really excelled in the role they have him in and he gets to play both off the ball and on it and I believe at this point he is the sack leader on the team. His career as a special teams/backup guy means he doesn't have the miles on him like Kyle does. Kyle has had a nice year and I wonder if he feels like they're about to turn a corner. I don't think he'll make an immediate decision after the season is over. I think he might wait and see what McBeane do to improve the team and then decide.

Booger McFarland would not stop bringing up, "Eighty-fo' million guaranteed, he ain't worf it!" It was like, good gravy man, we get it, the Vikings paid a ton for a dude they believe s their franchise QB. Sounds like the OL issues are a big problem but there have been plenty of instances where I've seen Cousins with time and he just sits back there and then scrambles a bit before throwing it away or getting hit and fumbling. With guys like Diggs, Thielen, Treadwell, Rudolph, Cook, they should be putting up points but it's just not happening.

So much for those young, innovative offensive minds, haha. I think Frank Reich probably had more to do with Wentz' monster season in 2017 given how he's completely revitalized Andrew Luck's career right now. Looking at the Vikings scores this season, it seems that when the offense is clicking and putting up points, the defense isn't clicking and they're giving up more points than their offense is scoring. And then if their defense is mostly getting the job done, the offense is non-existent. Kirk Cousins is a bit overrated, IMO. He holds the ball too long, takes a lot of sacks and fumbles way too much. Over the past few seasons he's averaged 10 or 11 fumbles per season. And he can be really inconsistent. He'll catch the hot hand and complete something like 10 of his last 12 passes and then he'll follow that up by completing 1 of his last 9 or something.

This is 20 lbs of horsecrap stuffed in a 5 lb bag. Why would you force your QB to stop using one of his best skills? He knows he needs to throw from the pocket, he's shown he can do it and I think he'll keep getting better. But when those monster lanes open up in front of him and he can rip for 20, 30, 40 yards and safely slide down, he's not gonna get reamed out for that. I don't see any coaches telling him, "Josh no run!" "But I just picked up 42 yards." "JOSH NO RUN, RALPHIEWILSONSWAR SAID SO!" It's dumb. The big comparison on Allen is Cam Newton, who, in his rookie season ran for 706 yards and 14 TDs. 14. At this point in his career he has over 4700 rushing yards and 58 rushing touchdowns. His season rushing average is about 600 yards a year. He's got three Pro Bowls under his belt, an All-Pro selection, a league MVP and a Super Bowl appearance. He's refined his game a little bit, as any QB's first instinct is to find a guy downfield and throw. But sometimes those lanes are there and no one's around so there are yards to be taken, and since he has the wheels for it, he's gonna take it. This whole archaic way of viewing the QB position as being successful if it's played ONLY from the pocket is garbage in this modern NFL. Yes, of course they have to win from the pocket but that doesn't mean they have to completely stop picking up yards with their legs, especially if they have the athleticism for it. That's like telling one of your receivers, "Hey, I know you're excellent at running a lot of sharp in-cutting routes but we want you running outside stuff now, ok?"

Usually you see different units improve as the season goes on, somehow they've gotten worse. It's a group of inexperienced guys and all that but so are most special teams groups. I thought Crossman would be safe after this season because they're working with so much inexperience but after today I dunno. Might be time to switch it up. McDermott knows the value of continuity but I think he's also aware of, and has been learning that sometimes you just gotta cut bait and start fresh. Guess it still wouldn't surprise me if Crossman stayed but at this point, put me on the side of the room that says a change is needed.

OP's name is fitting.

A real, full-on rebuild had to happen at some point. So far, I think the Pegulas found the right guys to lead the rebuild. They aren't afraid to make tough decisions and they definitely have very clear expectations for their players and if those expectations aren't met, that player doesn't hang around for too long. I was a big fan of Watkins. I mean, his college tape is electric, the guy has some serious skills but I think he's the kind of player that expected to be able to do in the NFL what he did at Clemson. He found out pretty quick that the NFL is a whole other level. I also think all the injuries he has dealt with have affected him. I don't think he plays as fast as he used to. He had the ribs in his rookie year, then a hip surgery, I think he had something up with his ankle and then the lingering condition with his foot, which is still affecting him. All of that makes me believe that Beane and his crew may have had word from the medical staff that his foot could always be a potential issue at any point in time. Hard to commit guaranteed money to a player with a condition like that. I'd also venture to guess that's why he only got a 3-year deal and not a more standard "big time" contract which is usually five years. Dareus just needed a fresh start. I think the franchise really went out of their way to help him stay on track but at the end of the day, the guy just has too much baggage. I think people will start to see just why McBeane are so big on culture. Look at the Jags for instance. On paper they're an incredibly talented team but, there are a bunch of different personalities on that roster. That, and a ton of ego. Those guys never shut up. Wouldn't be surprised if they were still chirping even after the beatdown they took last night. So you have the ego guys, then there are the lack of effort guys (Dareus) and yeah, they have a couple of true professionals like Campbell and I think Bouye would fall into that category as well. Trying to get all those guys playing together as a unit and playing for each other is that much tougher when you have personality clashes and things like that. That's why McBeane sticks to a certain formula for the types of players they want here. They have to fit not only what they do on the field but how they are in the locker room and in the meeting rooms and all that. And yeah, you can make the point that the 90s Bills had a bunch of guys with huge egos but they found a way to play together despite the egos. Some teams can't get there.I really feel that the Bills won't be one of those teams. I think they'll have harmony from top to bottom and hopefully they can combine that with their talent and be long-term contenders and not "make the playoffs once every 17 years" contenders.

He also took a really bad angle and got trapped inside on McCoy's 75-yard TD run back in 2016. All the Jags do is talk. Even when they're down, most of those guys can't quit flappin' their lips. Their egos have gotten in the way of playing together as a unit and it's showing. Regarding the overall topic, his comments are the reason why I don't mind all the coachspeak McDermott does. He knows the value of keeping everything in house. People can bag on him all they want when he doesn't reveal anything in interviews or pressers but that's the way it should be. You don't give the media and your audience anything that could potentially become a distraction. And the things that his players say are a product of his leadership and his and Beane's vision of culture. They got these guys playing together and playing for each other and that's what you want. Even in bad losses you hear post-game comments from the players that are all pretty similar, basically, "We just have to get back to work and keep grinding and keep fighting." Boring as it may be, it's a lot better than throwing your teammates under the bus and creating unnecessary tension in the locker room.

Yeah, I don't think they'll shift players around on the OL, I think Dawkins and Teller are set on the left side. Center is a question mark, Bodine can cut it but not by much and Groy isn't who they thought he could be. Don't know if they still see John Miller in the mix and again, I don't think Jordan Mills has been too bad this season, but I think his contract is up after this season. I'm sure he'd consider staying here if the Bills offered him an extension. So, maybe C and RG is something they need to create competition for. Looking at Carolina's draft history while Beane was there and they drafted a tackle in the mid-late first a couple of times but they mostly took OL players in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th rounds. It's just gonna depend on how the board falls to them. Defense is definitely where the value is this year and Beane has already alluded to the fact that a defensive player could be their first overall pick. I don't know if he's kind of trying to foreshadow things for us so half the fan base doesn't lose their marbles when they pick a DT or a CB first lol. I mean, if you look at any big board right now, if it's 32 or 50 players at least 65% of it is defense. Beyond that, the DL prospects are stacked this year and in years past in Carolina, they would spend their first round pick on DL despite already having a very good d-line. There's no problem with adding to a strength though. Kyle may retire after this season and yeah, I think Harrison Phillips can play well but I'm not sure if they see him as the full-time replacement for Kyle just yet so they may be intrigued with taking one of these top DT prospects. I like Metcalf too but if the Bills end up in the top ten picks, they'd have to trade down the board a little ways before considering Metcalf with their first round pick since the value just wouldn't be there in the first ten or even the first 20-25 picks, that's how many good defensive players are available. There aren't any first round running backs and at the end of the day I think we see maybe two or three receivers go in the first. Gonna be an interesting off-season, that's all I can say.

If you read any scouting reports during draft you'd be led to believe that every other pass the dude throws ends up half a mile outside the stadium. So many people forget that he played with one and two star recruits at Wyoming, some of which had a real knack for dropping the ball. Give the kid some playmakers and watch him go.

Tough for me to put a label on this at this stage of his career. I think he's had two solid games in a row and he's flashed some big time ability. I'm with some other folks who have said they're cautiously optimistic. He makes enough plays to at least make you start thinking what the future could be if he continues to improve. But you never wanna get ahead of yourself because we've been fooled before. I truly hope he reaches his ceiling and wins the MVP some year, that'd be the most amazing way to shut up all of his doubters. Other than that, I gotta say that when I watch the dude play I definitely get the feeling that he has that "it" factor. That innate quality that you can't really teach, you know? That whole "ya either got it or you don't" type of thing. Of course he still has a long way to go but for me, I think he's made more good plays than bad (especially over the last two weeks) and I just get this sense about him that he's gonna be special. I really like the way he approaches the game. He doesn't get wrapped up in the outside talk, he doesn't look intimidated out there, he's not afraid of any throw so there's no limit on the types of route concepts Daboll can install, he has a swagger and a presence that this team hasn't had in ages. It's refreshing. McBeane drafted this kid because they see a lot of Cam Newton in him and they know how to win with a QB in that mold. If he puts it all together and if this front office can surround him with a solid offense, sky's the limit.

I'm pretty sure Lorenzo and Kyle have jobs here for as long as they want. If either guy wants to keep playing, all they gotta do is say the word and I'm sure McBeane would draw up a new contract.

I tend to think that OL might be something they look to fix in free agency rather than the draft. I understand they wanna build thru the draft as much as possible but OL is a position with a steep learning curve from college to the pros. All these guys play in offenses where they rarely line up with their hand in the dirt. Even the highest rated OL prospects are gonna need some substantial time to acclimate to the game at the NFL level. If they go thru free agency then they get a guy who already has NFL experience and would only need to adapt to the blocking schemes that the Bills use. But of course I'm not opposed to them going OL at some point in the draft. This kid has the ideal McBeane qualities, senior (actually a grad student), has plenty of experience, seems to be high character. Yeah, I'm sure he'll be on their board somewhere.

C.Biscuit made a comment about Smith and then Foster, your response to him has nothing to do with his comment, so what the hell was the purpose of it? Furthermore, why did your comment need to be in extra large font?

This take is bad, and you should feel bad.

Could very well be the OL coaching. I'm not a big fan of Castillo. I understand McDermott has a working history with him as they were both on staff under Reid down in Philly for a number of years but I don't think the guy has done a very good job. I mentioned in a thread yesterday about Crossman and the special teams woes this season but said I wouldn't be surprised if Crossman stays on given two things: one, he's working with an inexperienced group, and two, McDermott likes consistency (I also think he knows when to cut bait and make a change but again, wouldn't surprise me if Crossman stays on). By the same token, wouldn't surprise me if Castillo remains for the same reasons. Young group he's working with, they've also tinkered with the lineup countless times, dealt with injuries, etc. etc. Either way, they need to go out and find a center this season. Start there and then see about right guard. I think the left side is gonna be find with Dawkins and Teller. Right guard is a ? and I actually think Jordan Mills hasn't been too bad at right tackle this year. We shall see what happens.

I'm still surprised that Groy couldn't step up and take over the C spot. He played well enough in place of Wood that the Bills matched an offer sheet that off-season to keep him from signing with the Rams. And then he gets his shot to win the starting job this past summer and was just abysmal. Don't know if it's the change in blocking schemes or what but he just isn't cutting it. Makes sense why they really tried to sneak Adam Redmond onto the practice squad.

Yowza. Christmas came early. KB just seems to be in his own head too much at this point. He's fighting himself before he even gets on the field. I hope for his sake he can turn it around somewhere else but clearly the guy is just not playing up to his potential. Holmes is JAG but I figured they really valued him on special teams. Maybe they reviewed the tape from Sunday and found that the debacle on special teams was partially on Holmes, but who knows. So who's that leave at receiver now? Zay, Foster, McKenzie, McCloud... oh, Thompson now as well, I'd imagine he gets a lot more snaps now with KB gone and that's good because Thompson somehow has always found a way to make a play when needed... and looking at the roster, that's it for the WR group, only five right now. Wouldn't surprise me if they weren't done with transactions just yet, maybe they bring in another receiver. But, teams also roll with five wideouts sometimes so I could see them standing pat for the last month of this season. Glad they decided to cut ties now. Can't have your young guys adopting poor work habits of other players who checked out weeks ago.

I'm down. I think at his ceiling this kid can be a Brett Favre type of player, aside from the running skills he has, he reminds me of Favre in terms of his willingness to sling it to any spot on the field. And like Favre, every now and then you might see him make a play that leaves you saying, "What the hell was that?!" but if the good outweighs the bad by a sizeable margin, I'm all for it. I also find it interesting that Jimbo's wife Jill has tweeted out several times now how much Allen reminds her of how Jim played the game. First, both guys have the size. Jim was built like a linebacker (and that's where Penn State, his top school choice wanted him to play, as well as a number of other schools that recruited him) and although he didn't run much, when he did, he wasn't afraid to drop his shoulder from time to time. Allen was smart to avoid unnecessary contact during Sunday's game but you know if the game is on the line, he's gonna do what he needs to do to pick up a first down or whatever. Both guys have rocket arms. Josh probably has the stronger arm but Jim was no slouch. Both of them can make every throw. The one spot where Josh will need a few years to get on Jim's level is command of the offense. I mean, Jim was like an extra offensive coordinator out there. When they rolled with the K-Gun, every playcall was made by Jim. Right now, you can see Allen is running the plays as called and has maybe called an audible a handful of times this season. Hopefully with more experience he'll get better at recognizing different defensive looks and will know which plays to switch into to beat those looks. Jim was off the charts with this so, like I said, I think it'll be a while before Josh has that kind of command. Both guys are hyper-competitive and have the respect of their teammates. Even as a young guy, Josh carries a kind of swagger I haven't seen at the QB position in Buffalo since Jim. Jim was confident but anyone that's read his book knows that the guy was a nervous wreck before almost every game. Allen is kind of the opposite in that respect. The game isn't too big for him no matter if it's pre-season or a regular season game with playoff implications. And based on what we've heard from his teammates, the kid just doesn't seem to get nervous or phased by too much. Lastly, you always knew the Bills had a chance as long as the defense could get the ball for Jim for one last drive. Allen's college coaches and teammates have all said that they always felt like their team had a shot at the win as long as Allen was in there. To have that kind of quality back in Buffalo is huge. I mean, I've got a lot of respect for Tyrod Taylor, I like him as a player and he's all class as a person. But... what was the guys record here when the team was down by 7 or more points? Something like 2 wins and a whole bunch of losses. Nothing against him but if the Bills were down late, I really didn't have much confidence that Tyrod was gonna find a way to win. This past Sunday, with 2:30 on the clock, Allen and the offense get the ball back on their own 10 yard line and my first thought was, "Watch this kid go ham and pull out the win." And he almost did, if it wasn't for that meddling Charles Clay! For the record, Allen's 4th quarter stats were something like 9 of 13 for 120 yards and a touchdown. To start that final drive, he hit four or five straight completions before the OL started caving in. But even with that adversity, and a wild final play, he still put his team in place to pull out the win. To have that ability to evade pressure the way he did, keep his eyes up and scanning for an open guy, running to his left he uncorks a 40 yard throw to his right and if Twinkle Toes Clay hadn't tripped over his own two feet, he probably would've caught it and it would've been a major early highlight for Josh's career. I gotta imagine the kid is playing with a high level of confidence right now and I can't wait for these next four games and am especially psyched to see what McBeane does to improve things for 2019.

It's been a flukey year for special teams. The punter issues are uncommon, given the fact that they've kept Cory Carter on IR and didn't outright release him tells me they were prepared to give him the starting job over Schmidt, but he got injured. Then they sign Bojo...Booo... that kid that wears #9, he gets hurt, Schmidt comes back, can't get any hangtime on his punts and now this Matt Darr fella is in there. I think he did a pretty solid job on Sunday, though. The one thing to remember in all of this is how young this team is... so, as they move forward with the young guys, they realize they're probably gonna have to eat some bad penalties here and there just because of inexperience. Most special teams units in the league consist of backups or first/second year players trying to carve out a spot on the team. However, inexperience or not, the fumbled punt from Sunday is something that really shouldn't ever happen. The returner knows its his job to alert his teammates if he's choosing not to catch the punt. And players hear that key word and know they need to get away from the ball. I don't know if McKenzie didn't shout the key word or if he did and guys didn't hear it or just had no awareness of where the ball was but that type of stuff is so avoidable and it's the type of play that'll give a coach an instant ulcer. I'm as surprised as anyone that Danny Crossman is with his THIRD different coaching staff here. He was hired by Marrone and held over with Rex and now McDermott. I assume all three of those guys view Crossman as a quality coach. And with the inexperienced players on special teams as well as the injuries to the punters, I can honestly see Crossman returning again next season in a "stay the course" type of thing. McDermott understands when certain positions need an outright upgrade but he also understands consistency with coaches. Not real sure which way he'll lean with Crossman but my gut tells me that he stays with the caveat that McDermott needs to see marked improvement in 2019, and hopefully no more mistakes in 2018.

People need to start realizing that the players they bring in here aren't being brought in solely for their on-field work. McBeane are looking for the same kinds of players in free agency as they are in the draft: hard working, team-first guys, and Murphy embodies that. They'll take a chance on a player with top-end athletic talent and an average (or below average) work ethic (i.e. Corey Coleman) in the hopes that perhaps that player will see how hard other guys are working and adopt that ethic for themselves. Of course, it doesn't always work out (again, Corey Coleman) but I like that they aren't completely talking themselves out of taking a shot on players with tons of athleticism but maybe not the greatest work ethic. Because if you have a strong locker room full of hard working guys, that should rub off on guys who come in here who don't work as hard. But yeah, it's not all about numbers and whatnot. I think Murphy is a decent player and you can never have enough solid pass rushers. The guy is insanely motivated and driven to reach the success he had in 2016 and hopefully he'll get there. If not, well, they still have a player that has a handful of sacks and a couple of forced fumbles this season so it's not like they're paying him for zero production. Staying healthy is obviously the key for him.

Just progress in general. I'd like to see the OL solidify itself a little more, but that's probably not going to happen considering they lost Bodine and replaced Miller with Sirles. You know who's actually had a decent season on that OL? Jordan Mills. Rarely hear his name during games this season, don't think he's been penalized much, if at all, and he's really held it down on that side. Would not be opposed to extending the guy. I understand a lot of people don't think he's good enough but he's done well this year and he's a veteran presence which is still needed despite the full-on youth movement they have going on. Of course I'd like to see Allen continue to trend upwards. Since returning from the injury he looks much more relaxed back there. I'd like to see him hit some passes he's missed on this season. I think overall he's gonna be alright but obviously we gotta temper our expectations at this point. Would love to see some more big plays from the defense. What's exciting about this group is that a handful of guys are still on rookie deals, with another handful of prime-age players (like Hyde and Poyer) are on 4-year deals with the only two big time defenders (Kyle and Lorenzo) having their contracts up at the end of this season. I stated in a previous thread, I wouldn't be surprised to see both of those guys sign on for another year just to see where 2019 takes them.

Anytime one of these knuckleheads spews a crap take like this, just remember, this is what they're paid to do. And if he got you talking about it, then it's job well done for him. Honestly, I really feel that half the junk the talking heads spit out, they don't even really believe it. It's all said to get a reaction, get people talking.

Yeah, the throw to Foster was one of those, "D'AWWW maaaannnn!" kinda plays. On the misfire to Zay, I think James Lofton did a decent job of explaining why the pass ended up behind Zay. Lofton said that Allen may have been expecting Zay to stop and sit right in that spot since the 'Phins were in a zone look, but, again as Lofton said, Zay probably saw nothing but space in front of him and may have thought he had a defender trailing him so he kept trucking right through the zone. It happens. And you can't ask for much better on the throw to Clay, not in that situation anyway. JA evades pressure from both sides, ends up way back by the 50 yard line but comes back up another 5-10 yards and launches one 50 yards downfield to his right as he's running to his left. Clay just dropped it. I remember a game against Houston in, I believe in 2015 where Taylor hit Clay wide open down the seam for a TD and in the post-game, Clay said the wide open catches are harder for him for some reason. I think the mind plays into it, like, "Holy crap, I'm wide open, here comes the ball, don't drop it, don't drop it, don't drop it!" *plop* "SON OF A!" I don't know if he slipped, tripped or what but him coming back to the ball looked awkward as hell. The throw got there and hit him in an area where he could've made the catch and that's all that matters. Coulda been the hero of the day but them's the breaks sometimes. Either way, with each game I keep seeing more progress from JA. He's been able to shake off the slow starts and get rolling. He also looks a lot more patient and willing to hang in the pocket for as long as he can. And his game speed is outrageous, it doesn't look like he's going that fast but then you see him beat linebackers to the sticks routinely, it's crazy. Not just your standard LBs, either, guys like Kiko and Anthony Barr up in Minnesota are known as athletes for that position, sideline to sideline types and he's clowned both of them.