transplantbillsfan

Who's the guy you prefer at 22 then? I don't watch any college ball, but Shenault is the most appealing guy to me right now... and I think Daboll would salivate over a swiss army knife like Viska, don't you?

Your wife is pregnant and you predict it's a boy. Should she buy blue paint for the nursery and should everyone coming to the baby shower shop for a baby boy because you told everyone you thought it would be a boy?

And it's also something that continues if you're only at the beginning or in the middle of it. There's never any way to know anything, but if you understand Allen's history and the truly raw prospect he was--lacking in specialization and the constant QB camp reps at places like the Manning academy while staying at a small HS to keep workingon the Family Farm and everything that followed-- then your hope would be actual optimism combined with hope rather than the typical cynical connotations you combine with that word every time you dish it out. I can say it. Just because I made a prediction doesn't mean I thought it should be the expectation. C'mon man. You're intelligent enough to understand nuance. Right? There are folks here who seem genuinely upset he's not an All-Pro already. That's very different from my stance... both pre and post season. I have genuine hope and optimism about Allen going into next season... the arrow is pointing up. Hope you can shed some of the cynicism for actual optimism... but that might just be hoping too much on my part...

How far he's come and the fact that he's relatively young to the game in terms of expert reps and practice as compared to most 1st round prospects and his significant improvement from year 1 to year 2 is, first of all, an indication that he hasn't peaked. Clearly that's at the very least a sign of optimism for everyone. If people expected him to go from what he was his rookie year to Drew Brees in his 2nd, that'd be a ridiculously unrealistic expectation and that's on them.

Wow... good job distorting what I said

Are you having an argument with the voices in your head?

I don't think it's just Mahomes. Watching Lamar Jackson when he passes he seems to really drop back a lot. I don't know if this is for the sake of helping with field vision or what, but Allen certainly has the arm strength where dropping back farther wouldn't really hinder him.

We don't need a Lee Evans type of WR. We need an Eric Moulds type of WR.

Both are correct, but the problem with guys like Poster B is that they say things like "Josh Allen has a 56.3% completion percentage!" That's literally an argument I've seen regarding Allen in recent weeks. I shouldn't have to explain why statements like this are problematic. The main question is whether Josh Allen is getting better or worse? Answer is pretty obvious. Anyone with an understanding of where he was as a High School QB prospect just 6 years ago would pretty objectively be impressed if not astounded at how far he's progressed in that pretty brief period of time, especially without the rigorous single-sport focus and major QB camps most of these NFL QBs would have already gone through in High School.

There's plenty in this article, but it's got a paywall so I'm trying to just get some of the highlights... https://theathletic.com/1582804/2020/02/04/what-the-advanced-stats-tell-us-about-josh-allens-growth-in-2019-and-beyond/ At one point, ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. stated, “Stats are for losers,” when defending his stance on Allen. ... With Allen’s second season in the rearview, we dove deep into the advanced stats to find where Allen made the most progress, where he still needs to improve and what the Bills can do to help him along this offseason. All stats are courtesy of SportRadar unless otherwise noted. ... Situational football Young quarterbacks often face a learning curve when it comes to performing in the red zone. The field shrinks and passing windows get tighter. But Allen excelled in this area. He completed only 48 percent of his passes, below the league average, but connected on 12 touchdowns and did not throw an interception. ... Allen also fared better on third down in 2019. After completing 46 percent of his third down attempts as a rookie for one touchdown and four interceptions, Allen improved to a 56-percent completion rate on third down with eight touchdowns and two interceptions. He was 22nd in the league with 47 passing first downs, but his 17 rushing first downs on third down trailed only Lamar Jackson among quarterbacks. ... He was eighth in the league in passer rating on third-and-7 or more with five touchdowns and one interception. ... Accuracy You can attribute that to Allen’s development and the improved talent around him, as John Brown, Cole Beasley, Devin Singletary and Dawson Knox all lifted the offense. The improvement could have been even more obvious if not for drops. Bills receivers dropped 6.7 percent of Allen’s passes, the highest drop rate in the NFL this season. Despite the Bills’ additions at wide receiver, Allen still dealt with 31 drops. ... A year ago, Allen posted a completion percentage 6.8 percent below expectation, third worst in football. He improved that number to 3.7 percent, which was fifth worst among qualifying quarterbacks. ... Allen’s intended air yards per pass dropped from 11 to 9.4, still fifth highest in football. ... Even a small boost to his deep passing numbers would do wonders to open up the offense. As Brent Vigen, his college offensive coordinator put it in a conversation earlier this year, “I know having had to defend his completion percentage here, we had that conversation a lot, and I’m certain it’s not going to be some barrier to lead his team to winning seasons and have a great extended career. “I do think the nature of his game, it’s challenging to be in the elite maybe in completion percentage, but you balance that with playmaking, there’s a line there somewhere. I know that’s probably going to be where his game tilts to the playmaking. As long as you go through the course of a game and that volume of throws that you should never miss doesn’t pile up, I think that’s the biggest thing.” ... He was more aggressive in 2019, throwing into a tight window (one yard or less of separation) 15 percent of the time, up from 13 percent a year ago. He’s not shying away from these tougher throws. Top competition Going into 2020, how Allen fares against top competition will be a key aspect of measuring his development. The Bills played five games against teams that qualified for the postseason in 2019. The Bills were 1-4 in those games, with the lone win coming against the Titans prior to their quarterback change. In those five games, Allen completed 51 percent of his passes for 5.6 yards per attempt, seven touchdowns and four interceptions. ... If the Bills are going to take the next step in 2020, Allen will need to play better against top competition. Like everything with Allen, it comes down to consistency. Moving forward The Bills have nearly $90 million in salary cap space and nine picks in the upcoming draft, so what can they do to help Allen in 2020? ... If the passing offense and the team are going to take the next step, the Bills will need to continue to improve the pass protection and find a receiver capable of winning in contested situations. ... Just as important is Allen’s individual improvement and how the coaches game plan according to it. Allen had the eighth-highest time to throw this season at an average of 2.86 seconds from snap to throw. ... Allen was also much better when running play action, completing nearly two third of his passes with an 8:2 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He had a 124.1 passer rating when running play action from under center, completing 42-of-61 attempts for six touchdowns and one interception. Of those 61 attempts, 30 went for first downs. ... This team’s 2020 ceiling and floor are dependent on which direction Allen goes.

I get it. But it's Iowa. What is it... like 1% of the delegates they give out? I know your argument is that historically the Iowa caucuses are largely predictive , especially if combined with New Hampshire. But the race was never really starting for Biden until South Carolina. And while historical trends may lean one way, you've claimed multiple times 2016 flipped the world on its head, so saying that while throwing out historical trends is a convenient contradiction, no?

Not sure thing but that he's the most likely candidate. And my opinion on that hasn't changed.

It didn't evolve in the sense that you think it did. You just always seemed to misunderstand my thoughts about the candidates and it seems you still do a bit. From the beginning I said I wanted the field, not Biden.

Wait... Are you pretending it's Biden I'm backing??? Remind yourself of our bet please...

It wouldn't really be a bad thing to have Knox, Olsen AND Sweeney. As to your earlier statement, Knox could be the next great TE if he can consistently catch the football. But ya know what... let's try and see if an offseason helps him get more comfortable doing that. Dawson Knox only caught 39 passes in college. He was a raw physical specimen when we drafted him, much like our QB. I really can't wait to see the Josh to Knox connection develop next year.

Ford is the one I worry about the most. I honestly think Knox and Motor take big steps this offseason. Both came from relatively small college stages and Knox got very little in game practice catching the football.

Wasn't Biden always going to lose Iowa and New Hampshire? Try not to be such a victim of the moment. And I hope Pete becomes the nominee... he's been my favorite since nearly the beginning.

I think he's going to be a beast, honestly.

Yes, I very much did. And that handling of the end of the 1st half... oy vey!

No. Not one. But I don't think they were wrong. The best players didn't exactly rise to the occasion today. San Francisco lost this game more than Kansas City won. Doesn't matter all that much. Reid finally gets his ring and Mahomes has won league MVP, Super Bowl MVP and has a Super Bowl ring all in his first couple years. I just think the latter 2 were less earned today than just given to him. Still can't believe how Shanahan handled the end of the 1st half.

Sooo... My wife and mother in law said they thought the Super Bowl was boring. They thought it looked like 2 mediocre football teams lacking in talent. Thought that was interesting, even if I don’t necessarily agree... though this was one of the worst games I’ve seen Mahomes play. I really think he benefited from the 49ers Billsy end to the 1st half. He almost had to get SB MVP by default since he played maybe slightly above average and everyone else was blah. Watkins might’ve deserved it actually. Happy for Andy Reid.

Awesome... sounds like you had a great night.

For the record, I loathe the designed QB runs. They scare me. But I think Allen will and should continue to scramble on passing plays when he sees fit. Of course we want him to do it mostly with his arm. But his legs are pretty clearly always going to be part of his game and are part of what makes him special. Russell Wilson ran for 342 yards and 3 TDs this year. I'm guessing that's the mould they're looking for Allen to follow.

People who think Allen will phase out running are delusional. Yes, Allen obviously needs to work on his passing game. That's separate from what he does and can do as a runner, which is to learn to slide and get out of bounds and get faster. And I think the myth that the running QB takes more vicious hits has been squashed already. Some of the worst hits he took were sitting in the pocket behind the LOS waiting to throw. I'm not overly concerned if he gets faster. I don't want him to lose weight, that's for sure. But rewatching some plays where he's pacing DBs makes me wonder how fast he really is. Is he the 2nd fastest QB in the NFL?