transplantbillsfan

Too bad our coach was as blind as you. Peterman showed all the same flaws in preseason that make him incapable of being an NFL QB. He threw an average of more than a pick per game and a couple pick-sixes... but the scrub DBs couldn't hold onto the football. Plus, vanilla defense in preseason that doesn't disguise anything makes a pre-snap read--Peterman's "strength"--pretty damn easy.

The most idiotic part about the "ruining draft position" argument is that we (hopefully) already have our Franchise QB. In our situation, you try to win, period. Let your college scouts do their job and rake in a deserving All-pro CB at #27 or a freak talent super young LB at #16. We're fine. Let Allen and the other young players build a culture of winning.

It's actually a real shame this is what happened as it relates to our playoff chances considering the Jags play the Colts this week and we want the Jags to win

Milano, Tre White, Hughes and Haushka should all be pro-bowlers and maybe a couple should be All-pros.

The Patriots definitely look like they're slowing down and they have a tough schedule to close the season, but them going 1-4 to close the season seems almost impossible to me. The Wildcard is still our best shot.

If the Bills, Colts, and Titans end up in a 3-team tie for the wildcard, the tiebreaker is divisional first, which means it goes to Colts vs Titans. If the Titans win that tiebreak, we make the playoffs.

It's funny Shaw, because I kept reading what you were saying and thinking, "man, this sounds overzealous." But ultimately, you're dead right about Allen. He just has it. And I understand that at the end of the season his stats are probably going to look very, very blah. He'll have somewhere around a 50% completion percentage. He'll have somewhere around 200 yards passing per game, but less. He'll have barely double digits passing TDs, if that, along with a less than 2:1 TD to INT ratio. For that, the national media is almost certainly going to slam him much of the offseason. But dayum... brotha's a gamer. And I can't wait until we surround him with better weapons and a better OL. All things considered: 1st game back, rookie, supporting cast, officiating... Allen was excellent, and I'm super excited to watch the rest of the season.

We have to go with Allen, don't we I can't believe my massive 180 on him. He looks like he's going to be our answer at QB, finally.

Yeah, I doubt we will either, but the reality here is that we have the easiest schedule in the NFL on the back half here. I actually believe we'll end up 7-9, possibly 8-8. But aren't you used to this yet? Going into December. Realistically pretty much no hope of playoffs but mathematically still alive. "One more week!!!" It's the Holiday season of the 21st century Bills fan.

It's just such a pipedream to have the Patriots lose 3 of their 4 remaining games that aren't against us PLUS lose against us. If that happens, I bet Brady retires.

Here's our problem: The Colts and Ravens beat us. Obviously, our biggest problem, is winning out. More specifically, it's beating New England in New England. But even if all of that fell into place, I think our only hope is ending up in a 3 team tie somehow with some combination of the Titans and the Colts/Ravens and hope the chips fall where they will. If the Titans end up in a tie with the Colts, divisional tiebreakers are applied first and we just have to hope the Titans have a better divisional record than the Colts, giving us the edge because then the Colts would be eliminated and then the Titans would be eliminated because we beat them. I know a lot of people think the Ravens are the likely 6 seed, but I don't know why. Anyone look at their schedule? @Falcons, @Chiefs, Bucs, @Chargers, Browns. I think they're actually fairly likely to lose 3 of those.

That's fine. I understand. Royale just asked for my reasoning, so I gave it.

I agree that's probably what happens. But I think the question the OP asked was whether we should actively try to lose to improve draft position. I agree. Win at all costs, even if we aren't going to the playoffs. For once, with a young QB, we can say winning in even a meaningless season (in terms of playoffs) is actually meaningful. bullcrap. With these young players, it's important to win. Draft position is largely meaningless as long as Beane keeps drafting well and we make good use of all that CAP money we're getting freed up this offseason. I think the Colts are the bigger obstacle. Colts and Ravens both beat Buffalo and are 6-5. Both of those teams would need to go 2-3 or worse in their remaining 5 games. I don't know how you can possibly think that's a guarantee.

Don't want to get in the battle... but you will anyway I see An ambiguous statement. Could go either way. But in sports, when people say "he's done," it's often preceded by the phrase (implicitly or explicitly) "stick a fork in him," and is synonymous with "he's toast." Regardless, still ambiguous. The bolded sure sounds like someone saying "if he comes back for another year, he'll regret it." And the "he'll regret it" wouldn't be because of the work he has to put in. Kyle is obviously a guy who loves to work. Any Bills fan knows that. Seems to imply that he'll regret it because his play will drastically diminish. That's how I came to that conclusion.

You didn't write much. And the way you wrote "time for him to go enjoy his family" sure made it sound like you didn't want him around anymore. Kyle will say "I need to think about it for a little while" to end the year. Then McDermott will convince him to come back for one more year, and he will. Kyle is a grinder. He loves the grind. And he hasn't remotely slowed down. Like a fine wine, he's gettin better with age. He'll be back for a 1 year contract. I think Lorax will, too.

Penalties friggin pi$$ed the hell outta me. That was absolutely a safety. Felt like a roller coaster. Completely agree about Milano and getting a jersey... I think he's one of 3 potential All-pros we have on this team on defense along with White and Hughes. And are we really just going to disregard the Goonies quote here?

I read this thread and this is the 1st response. I think you're almost certainly wrong. McDermott has had our DL on a pretty serious rotation with Star, the Phillips twins, Kyle and Shaq on occasion. Yet, Kyle is constantly getting sacks, pressures and tackles for losses. And he's the friggin heart and soul of this team. How old are you? I get the sense you don't really know much about football or haven't watched this team much... or you're just looking for... Completely agree. I think McDermott will want both him and Lorax back for one more year. But he might not come back, so we'll see.

Yeah, this is friggin impressive. We're 1-5 in games he didn't. We would likely be holding a Wildcard spot if McDermott just named him the starter in Training Camp like he should have. I hope Kyle and Lorax come back for one more year to complete the turnaround.

He did. Thompson and Croom need to catch and our OL needs to learn how to stop getting so many damn holding penalties that negate nice passes by Allen.

Where we are, in responding to the OP, is miracle playoff run. But really it's more about growth of our young QB and young players, but in playing around with the Playoff Machine ESPN has had up a couple of weeks... ...you can see that the only game that really helped us today (other than us winning, obviously) was the Browns beating up on the Bengals. Otherwise, woulda been nice if the 'Phins coulda hung on and if the Raiders could've pulled an upset. Root for the Texans tomorrow and root for the Jags to upset every AFC opponent they play. I think the Colts get the 6 seed. But this is what us Bills fans do in December... play around with the possibilities. At least this year these wins aren't meaningless. It's about legitimate growth in our young players. Still excited about the rest of our season

3-2 in games Josh Allen starts and finishes. 1-5 in games he doesn't. Oh how different this season would've been if McDermott weren't blinded by his Peterman love and we just did what we shoulda done and given Allen the opportunity to get comfortable with his OL and WRs in Training Camp

Please stop. Why does everyone feel like it's necessary to be in a certain QB camp? Barkley was really really good against the Jets, but he's not the future and you wonder how much of his success had to do with the fact that the Jets prepared entirely for Allen, not Barkley. I think Barkley could be the long term backup that could fill in and win some games the way Reich was to Kelly, and I sincerely do hope we lock him up as a backup. But Allen was super impressive today. And I mean as a passer, not just as a runner. I don't even have to spend a lot of time thinking about it but there are immediately at least 3 positive passing plays he had that don't show up positively for him in the stat sheet: 1) 3rd and 5 he passes and converts a 1st down to be called back on a phantom hold IMMEDIATELY followed by 2) 3rd and 15 he passes and converts a 1st down to be called back on an illegal hands to the face 3) Deonte Thompson not able to hold onto a nicely thrown ball over the deep middle. Allen was poised and composed in the pocket. He hung in there for that gorgeous TD pass to Foster. When he felt pressure he moved or ran. He was generally (though not always) smart with his body in terms of not taking unnecessary hits. I don't think Barkley does that against Ramsey and Bouye. Allen was super impressive, especially for his 7th start against an excellent defense. Be happy. Now that Peterman's gone and Barkley's our backup we don't have to be absolutely terrified if our backup has to play.

A misunderstanding apparently, but in responding to the OP, who was talking about roster setup for the season, built over spring and summer, and then you responding with your comments, it made it sound like the plan for Allen to start began during that Spring/early Summer when Beane could have brought in certain WRs. Yeah, leading into the 3rd preseason with Allen game indicates obviously, at that point, he's going to likely start. Still stupid not starting him at that point rather than relying on a single half of football to make your decision. But if it were the plan to have him start for significantly longer--as I thought you meant--it would have been monumentally stupid and almost a firable offense.