transplantbillsfan

Bill Belicheat Defense vs a 2nd year QB in his 26th career start at home on a national stage. Can you tell us how that typically goes for the young QB? Again, Allen missed some critical throws, but he also wasn't suckered into costly mistakes Patriot defenses. The only thing Buffalo's defense had to do was keep Brady & co out of the End zone with 9 minutes remaining and Buffalo wins. That's how McDermott has built this team... for us to win in those situations. This game may be an outlier for our Defense, but I bet the players on D would put this game on themselves as well. Allen, if we're all being objective, did better than anyone would have expected considering the circumstances. He has work to do obviously, but I think this game probably should be more a shot of confidence for him than one of dejection.

Yet the Bills defense let the Pats gain 417 yards, which is 63 more yards than they average per game.

https://theathletic.com/1480032/2019/12/22/7-observations-from-bills-patriots-josh-allens-moments-of-greatness-undone-by-inconsistency?source=shared-article The infuriating end to the final drive Regardless of the hot-and-cold quarterbacking Allen provided, the young quarterback was white-hot to begin their final offensive possession. He moved the ball with ease and racked up six first downs to get the Bills all the way down to New England’s 8-yard line. Despite all of their inefficiency throughout the game, Allen and the Bills had a good chance at forcing overtime. And then, the Bills got a bit too predictable for my liking. Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has done a good job for most of the season while trying to manage life with a high-variance second-year quarterback. However, Daboll’s personnel grouping decision starting with first-and-goal was a misfire. Heading into the game, wide receiver Andre Roberts had participated in 96 offensive snaps all season and had a grand total of three receptions to his name. Usually, when he’s in the game, it means the Bills are likely to run the ball to the edge to take advantage of his blocking prowess. There have been a few examples of the Bills trying something unique with Roberts on the field, but they tend to run it wide when he’s in the game. The Patriots saw this, played the odds and thwarted the Allen sweep left for a 1-yard loss, which also set the tone for the next three downs. Allen flat missed Knox on second down, but then the Bills were in a negative, 3rd-and-long situation. From there, the Patriots brought pressure to Allen; he couldn’t do anything with it, and New England escaped with a close win. The Bills could have put themselves in a much better position to keep the Patriots on their toes to start the goal-to-go situation by maintaining the personnel that helped get them there in the first place. The Bills had the Patriots guessing, and then they took the guesswork out of it with the game hanging in the balance.

Daboll doesn't know how to call plays for a young QB who needs to get into some kinda rhythm. There's your explanation Please make the argument. I don't see how you could reasonably make it, but I'd like to hear it if you think you can.

This has been my problem with McDermott's conservative approach. He thinks his defense is better than it is and he thinks he needs to protect his young QB more than he should. That's a bad recipe for a one 'n done playoff scenario.

Look at the long game. If you've been a Bills fan for at least a decade, that should be easy. Allen was an EXTREMELY raw QB coming out of college who showed some promise at points in his rookie year, but in his 2nd year (with one game that he might or might not play in) improved his completion % by 6%, YPA by 0.3, TD and INT %s massively, Passer Rating significantly, passing yards per game by about 33 yards, etc... all the while being the QB for a football team that went from being 6-10 to at least 10-6 with the opportunity to rest starters in the final week of the season. Allen improved drastically already. Expect him to continue to improve.

Are you guys friggin serious?!?!?! What a joke. Allen missed some throws tonight. They were throws that might have won the game. 2 TD passes to Knox. That's 100% true. But he also made throws I don't know if other QBs could make, like that Brown TD pass falling backwards with defenders in his face. This was a game in the spotlight, on the road essentially in primetime and against the GOAT coach, yet he was basically the reason this team was even in the game considering our defense allowed 414 yards, couldn't sack or intercept Brady (who had his highest completion percentage and 3rd highest Passer Rating game of the season) and allowed 50% 3rd down conversion rate. Allen had a 102.7 passer rating today. In the last 2 seasons the Patriots have now only allowed 2 QBs to have a 100+ Passer Rating when playing in Foxborough. The other was Patrick Mahomes. Let this be a loss for learning... for Allen to take the next 2 weeks to focus on the fundamentals of his footwork and for Morse and Neschke to get healthy... we have a playoff run coming up.

My bad!!!

Or maybe the OC is just used to working with a seasoned vet like Brady and doesn't actually understand the concept of getting a young QB in rhythm in order to build confidence. Daboll does some good things, but overall it's our OC who isn't consistently executing, not our young QB, who essentially carried the team today and had a 102.7 Passer Rating.

Who cares?

Defense was piss poor. Absolutely agree. But honestly, I just think the Patriots were able to exploit what our glaring weaknesses on D have been all year. Our defense is very good, but overrated. Our offense, oddly, carried the day. But Allen needs reps and I think I'd be worried about resting him. Rest Gore and John Brown and minimize Singletary's load by playing Yeldon and maybe and keep Neschke out another week, but I think you generally play everyone. The thing I dislike about Daboll's weekly gameplan is how much he protects Allen and then just expects him to make the big play at random moments without trying to get him into any kinda rhythm whatsoever as a passer. For that reason, I think Allen needs to play. He needs the reps.

Literally just updated this thread. Allen was shook for much of this game, yet he was also the main reason the Bills were still in it with a chance to win it or tie it in the last minute of the game. Completion percentage aside for this game (50%... bringing his season total down to 56.6%), Allen looked SIGNIFICANTLY better than he did against the Patriots or Ravens earlier this season. Allen was seeing ghosts, which altered his throwing platform and hurt his accuracy--extremely evident today--but he also made a number of incredible throws AND plays with his legs.

Why did Brown turn on that pass? Looked like he woulda had a good chance to catch it if he just kept going.

What A GREAT PASS!!!!!

I think you give coaches too much credit. Sometimes being right in the middle of all the trees for so long makes it impossible to see the forest.

Can we get Allen running more? I want scrambles when he sees man to man, not designed runs. Allen needs to calm down. I think he was seeing ghosts much of that 1st half... it really made his footwork noticeably pretty bad.

Sheesh... unbelievable we're tied considering how awful Allen was most of that half and how easily Brady and the Pats were moving the ball on us. Hope we make some good halftime adjustments and 4th quarter Allen shows up.

As I said yesterday, I don't think we see Duke Williams take another meaningful snap in a Bills uniform. For better or worse, Daboll clearly doesn't think he fits in this offense.

A little nugget from Fairburn's Athletic article regarding random things before the game that might be especially relevant to those pounding the table about Passer Rating: https://theathletic.com/1478641/2019/12/21/leftover-bills-thoughts-josh-allens-challenge-of-facing-bill-belichick-a-second-time-jordan-phillips-snub-and-other-notes?source=shared-article It’s also worth noting that on passes from 1 to 29 yards in the air, Allen has 15 touchdowns to seven interceptions and a 91.6 passer rating. Those have been a bigger focus for the coaching staff and make up a much more significant chunk of the offense (320 attempts to 24)

Great post Shaw, but I hope McDermott throws conservative out the window in the playoffs and keeps his foot on the gas once/if we get the lead. Maybe Duck Hodges at QB was the entire calculation, but the ending of that game irritated me. We got 2 INTs, but on the 1st one Poyer got the All-22 showed the WR came open in the End zone and Hodges anticipated and threw it earlier, it's a TD. I understand the logic of holding Allen's hand and bringing him along slowly, but I hope McDermott understands that at some point potentially very soon--like against high powered offenses and dangerous QBs like Brady/Watson/Mahomes/Jackson--he needs to let go of that hand and allow this offense to thrive or die in a one 'n done scenario.

At this point I don't think Duke will be active the rest of this season or in the playoffs. Basically, I don't think we see Duke play another meaningful game with Buffalo. Daboll clearly thinks he doesn't fit in his offense. Right or wrong, I'm sure that's what he thinks. I don't personally agree. I think a hungry big bodied WR with reliable hands who is a good run blocker is a young QB's best friend in ANY offense, but Daboll is our OC, not me. I think we've seen Duke take his last snap with the Bills barring injury or an EXTREMELY outside shot that Duke Williams is the proverbial rabbit Daboll is waiting to pull out of his hat for the right game, which would only really either be tomorrow or the 1st playoff game... but I just kinda doubt it.

Just for the sake of ratings...so stupid

They both still are

Through the first seven games, the Bills allowed Johnson to average 20 defensive snaps per game. Johnson, a seventh-round draft pick, provided some speed off the edge and had the Bills excited about his outlook. Also in those games, teams began to take advantage of Johnson as a run defender, and he didn’t do enough as a pass-rusher for the Bills to keep him on the field. In the last seven games, Johnson has only gotten a total of 21 defensive snaps. Then, in one of his two snaps against the Steelers, Johnson bull-rushed left tackle Alejandro Villanueva into the pocket, forcing Hodges to take a few steps forward. That helped set up a strip-sack for Lawson that the Steelers recovered, but it doesn’t diminish Johnson’s impact on the play. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Bills used him on a handful of pass-rushing downs moving forward to see if he can repeat the flash play.

Bills All-22 Review: Josh Allen does the little things and Cody Ford has his best game of the season https://theathletic.com/1465285/2019/12/17/bills-all-22-review-josh-allen-does-the-little-things-and-cody-ford-has-his-best-game-of-the-season?source=shared-article 1) Allen flips the script once again It shouldn’t be a surprise by now because of how often Josh Allen does this sort of thing. For the fifth or sixth time in his young career, Allen turned a notable weakness in his game into a non-factor the following week. Allen’s development is ongoing, showing that he isn’t stuck in his ways. He makes changes to be a better asset to his team and to help move the ball down the field more effectively. While the defense deserves a heap of praise for the Bills’ success this season, Allen does too for his nonstop tinkering. The previous week, the Ravens seemed to find a way to turn the clock back on Allen. They made him nervous, he panicked in the pocket more than he has in the last two months and, worse, he hung onto the ball far too long. So, Allen went back to the drawing board. His processing speed, against an aggressive Steelers defense, was better than it’s been all season. He saw things well ahead of the snap, he made quick decisions and he didn’t allow the Steelers’ pass rushers to control the game. Last week against Baltimore, the average time it took Allen to throw, scramble or get sacked was 2.93 in 50 dropbacks — one of his highest single-game averages of the season. In 30 dropbacks against Pittsburgh, Allen cut that down by almost half a second, averaging 2.48 seconds before the throw, scramble or sack. In the Ravens game alone, there were 20 separate plays where Allen held onto the ball for at least three seconds before making a decision or getting sacked. One glance at Allen’s traditional stat line against Pittsburgh might be underwhelming. Reviewing the film and watching Allen’s decisiveness and ball placement revealed a bit more. Allen was confident, he didn’t allow the Steelers to do what they wanted defensively and his execution of the game plan removed the ball-hawking Minkah Fitzpatrick from the game. On some of his more significant pass plays, Allen’s eyes moved Fitzpatrick away from his real target. We all remember the post-Renegade deep ball to John Brown –Fitzpatrick would have been there had Allen not given a long look right at the beginning of the play. Similarly on the Tyler Kroft touchdown, Allen froze safety Terrell Edmunds in place by looking left before going to his real read on the right and firing a dart for the go-ahead score. These, along with the pre-snap modifications and quickened processing time post-snap, are next-level quarterbacking improvements. You see a line of 13 for 25 for 139 yards on the box score, but when you remove drops (3), throwaways (2) and passes tipped at the line of scrimmage (3), Allen’s adjusted completion rate is 76.5 percent. If Allen can be consistent with this style of play, the Bills are onto something with their second-year player. ... 2) The Steelers were quite close to tying it up late ... 3) Cody Ford shows up ... 4) Oliver continues his dominance against a good OL ... 5) Two seldom-used depth players make a case for more snaps ... The Grades 1. CB Tre’Davious White Snaps on the field: 58/59 Grade versus Steelers: A- 2. DE Shaq Lawson Snaps on the field: 33/59 Grade versus Steelers: A- 3. QB Josh Allen Snaps on the field: 65/65 Grade versus Steelers: A- 4. MLB Tremaine Edmunds Snaps on the field: 59/59 Grade versus Steelers: A- 5. 3TDT Ed Oliver Snaps on the field: 35/59 Grade versus Steelers: A- 6. 3TDT Jordan Phillips Snaps on the field: 34/59 Grade versus Steelers: A- 7. SS Jordan Poyer Snaps on the field: 59/59 Grade versus Steelers: A-