transplantbillsfan

@jrober38... please tell us what you disagree with in this assessment of the Steelers game: 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.

All good. I was going to send you a congrats. I will also be donating to a charity once I get word of which one. All good. At a time when we've clinched a playoff spot with 2 games remaining, this is minor.

Sheesh... sorry this thread has turned into an @jrober38 trollfest. Is there an award TBD gives out at the end of the year for most epic series of troll posts? I know where my vote will definitely go

This is interesting wording... you say "the only reason we're not considered Super Bowl contenders." So, are you then acknowledging that we actually are Super Bowl contenders... or was that just a Freudian slip?

Stop trolling. The other poster just included a ton of Ravens WRs and TEs who are constantly on the field and consistently targeted and you counter for the Bills with one guy Allen desperately wants to throw to but who can't catch the football and 2 other guys who are rarely on the field. What are you even doing? Do you honestly think you're making any valid points?

The Bills have a great defense. So do the Ravens. The Bills might be better in terms of yards and points allowed, but you're missing a critical point, especially for a young QB on the other side... The Ravens have scored 5 defensive TDs. The Bills have scored ZERO defensive TDs.

You're a guy who really likes to use the word "Elite" with QBs. It's always struck me some of the QBs you used to call "Elite" over at BBMB, from Josh Freeman when he was with the Bucs to RG3 to other guys who have fizzled out of the league. It's okay because we all get these things wrong--I know I have... just ask everyone else--but when you are so arrogantly and blatantly ignoring absolutely any context in the play of the QB leading the team you supposedly love, it's just head-scratching.

I legitimately don't think you've watched Lamar Jackson very much. He's on the Ravens if you have NFL Gamepass and need to go back and see what their offense looks like. Guess I was right... you don't watch Lamar Jackson play very much at all

Your reasoning seriously just utterly lack context? Do you think, honestly, that Jackson would be doing what he's doing outside of Roman's offense? Without Mark Ingram? Without his OL which consists of 2 pro bowlers? Without a Head Coach who has absolutely invested in him? Lamar Jackson is fantastic this year, but put him on Buffalo and I would say it's absolute stupidity to believe he would come even close to replicating what he's doing in Baltimore with this OC and these weapons. The reason no one can have a reasonable conversation with you regarding this subject is because you clearly believe any QB play is an apples to apples comparison from one team and one offense to another. It's baffling and head scratching that you're still here even arguing this. Isn't there a Patriots message board where you can go cheer for your team or something?

What an absolute joke. With the Bills OC, OL, WRs, TEs and RBs you think all those QBs would be able to mimic what Allen did this year? SOOOOOOOOOO many QBs we could pick apart as to why they would almost certainly not be able to operate under the circumstances of the Buffalo offense (Cousins , Prescott , Ryan , Tannehill , Brissett , Mayfield , Rivers , Jones , Winston ) that it's just so friggin ridiculous to go through. Are you seriously this lost? Seriously? Put those dome guys like Cousins and Prescott and Brissett (pfft!!!!) on Buffalo and see how they do. Put those statues like Ryan and Rivers on Buffalo and see how they do behind this OL. Give any of those guys Buffalo's WR corps and TEs and see how they do. My dear lord. Some of those guys you listed could very well be better, but you're just delusional at this point. Or trolling...

Again, you're wrong.

I disagree. I watched every single pass of Allen after the season was over along with every single pass made in the rookie seasons of Darnold, Mayfield, Rosen, Wentz, and Watson. Josh was no less accurate on the whole than any of those other rookies after tracking all those passes. This, right here, is Allen's BIGGEST problem. And it was his rookie year, as well. It's not accuracy. It's making the right reads and processing time. That was his biggest weakness his rookie year. He drastically improved in that over the offseason, but he still has plenty of room to grow. Josh was wildly inaccurate on a single throw and Collinsworth literally pointed to it in the broadcast in something like a "see, this is what I'm talking about" moment. It was a little ridiculous. He gushed over the defense, especially Edmunds, which I thought was weird because up until the last few games, Edmunds has been a little underwhelming. I mean, it was hilarious because they actually replayed a play where Edmunds made a tackle and were raving about him on a play where he allowed a guy to get a 1st down. Maybe they do their HW for our next SNF game, but I was really disappointed in the broadcast. Again, you're wrong. Allen is tied for the league lead with Russell Wilson in 4th Quarter Comebacks this year (4) and Game Winning Drives (5)

Does Allen deserve credit for the 5 games the Bills won where he led a game winning drive in the 4th quarter?

The league has changed. Offensive lines have gotten worse overall... probably because of collective bargaining and limited practices. Who are the best QBs in the NFL drafted within the last 15 years? How many of those guys are statuesque (or close to it) like the QBs you just mentioned? Allen is honestly the prototype of the NEW QB, and if he keeps improving, Bills fans very well might build a statue of him in Buffalo the way Jordan Palmer said we would.

Our defense has been exceptional, but you neglect the context of our team needing to score. And that's been the sole requirement of the offense Our defense hasn't scored one TD. Our Special Teams has scored one TD in garbage time against Miami. I know some might dismiss TDs other than offensive TDs, but the Bills have been dead last in the NFL in defensive TDs over the last 2 years. They've had ZERO. Think the 2015 Panthers don't lose another game or 2 without their 5 defensive TDs? Or the 2018 Bears without their 6 defensive TDs? Or the Pats without their 7 defensive and ST TDs? Allen has gotten this team TDs when he's needed to... whether through the air or with his legs. He's scored 82% of this team's TDs, which is the highest percentage in the NFL. Allen isn't there, yet. But he's not a bottom tier NFL QB. Anyone who actually watches this team objectively would understand that. Don't say dumb things like that.

Allen has a passer rating of 114 in the 4th Quarter and 118.2 in the 4th quarter when the game is within 7. Do you care about Wins?

You're wrong

See, if this is the "even" you're talking about, you've missed the last 18 months. Since the draft process, there has been a national narrative on Allen that he is wildly inaccurate and that he's too raw to really win with right now. His completion % and the team's record confirmed that for most of the nation (and some on this message board) just last year. This year, the team is winning. We have one of the 2 or 3 best defenses in the NFL. So that's what everyone points to. But an objective observer would have to at least acknowledge that Allen has drastically improved over last year and has been successfully operating an extremely conservative offensive gameplan that relies heavily on the defense, but has also (pretty frequently, actually) needed Allen to go out and make critical plays at critical times in the game in order to get the W. Josh Allen is currently tied with Russell Wilson at #1 for both 4th Quarter Comebacks AND Game Winning Drives. He's also converted 3rd and Long at the 2nd highest rate in the NFL... remember that the TD to Kroft the other day was on a 3rd and 9. Allen is doing great things pretty consistently at times the team needs him to rise to the occasion. It does get a little frustrating when you're listening to our first national broadcast on SNF in over a decade and they don't talk about your QB when he does that in the same manner you hear them on a weekly basis talking about other QBs when they make these plays. Hell, with other QBs like Mahomes, I guarantee Collinsworth would have spent a few minutes just going back to that little 8 yard pass Allen made to Beasely where Allen made just an unreal throw across his body that took crazy arm strength. But it was Allen, so what they focus on instead is ONE really bad pass Allen makes out of 25

What you're neglecting is the impact 5 passes has on completion % alone. If this team were just average in the league, Allen's completion % is just under 61%. That might not be good enough long term--though with Allen, it might be--but it's nearly a 10% improvement over a rookie year where people complained he was just awful in terms of accuracy. In my dream world, Knox puts in a ton of work this offseason the way Tony Gonzales did after his rookie year when he had issues with drops and becomes the reliable and consistent target Allen needs. Hell, if Knox can learn to catch the damn football, the Allen to Knox connection could be one of the most potent combinations in the NFL for the next decade +. But he needs to learn to consistently catch the ball. The rest of our WRs just need to grow a couple inches

And the Dolphins just overtook the Bills for #1 in drop %. Looks like they had a TON of drops the other day. Phins at 5% Bills at 4.9% For some context, though. Posters seem to believe completion % is completion % and ALL QBs have drops. Bills are currently 2nd worst in drop % and 2nd in total drops. If the Bills were just middle of the pack in the NFL in drops (15 rather than 22), Allen's completion percentage goes up to 60.9%. If we jumped to #5 (12), it jumps to 61.5%. And if our WRs were best in the league but still dropped some and we sat at #1 (4), Allen would have a completion % of 63.3%.

The Athletic has a great article on this moment right now. This Styx song is the Steelers rally song for nearly 2 decades. McDermott blasted it in practice at least 30 times all week so everyone would just be used to it. They were. The play after this song: Josh Allen throws a 40 yard strike to John Brown. This Bills team is a road team.

This kid is just awesome!!!

Do we have the highest drop % or not? Do you not get frustrated when our WRs are unable to catch passes they should?

Wow way to totally ignore the context here. You clearly assume his W/L record would be much worse because you're clearly making an apples to apples transfer of him out of this team and onto another and assuming production would be the same. Our defense has been fantastic... absolutely Elite. Frankly, it should be considering we have a former DC as a Head Coach and we've clearly built this team around defense. That also lends itself to a certain type of offensive philosophy, which is very conservative. It means get the lead--even if it's just 1 score--and let the defense hold onto it. I really don't think McDermott would change that philosophy all that much for any QB he might have with a Defense this good. But Allen has been the QB executing 1/2 of that philosophy. He's scored 82% of this team's TDs. That's the highest % in the league. So that whole "get the lead" half of this equation has been executed very well by Allen all year, even though it's often later in the game than we'd like. He does what's asked of him, often at critical times like on 3rd down or in the 4th quarter. We don't have to pretend he's good. He is. Now I hope Daboll and McDermott loosen the reins a bit and allow him to be great

Top 5 in total passes dropped in terms of drop %... and this isn't yet totally accurate as I explain below: 1) Bills at 4.5% 2) 49ers at 4.2% 3) Bears at 4.1% 4) Dolphins at 3.7% 5) Pats at 3.6% Those numbers are actually based on last week's total # of drops combined with this weeks total completions, but we don't have the total drops factored into those stats yet... at least I don't believe they do because the numbers haven't changed for any of those teams. The Bills drop % going into the Steelers game was actually 4.7%.