Success

I've watched a lot of the Pats without Brady. They make all of the same mistakes bad teams make (and that we made for 20 years). Fumbles to lose games, broken coverages, blocked punts, bad playcalling. BB was able to cover for a lot of things w/ Brady - especially on the GM side, where players took pay cuts to play w/ the GOAT, and Brady took pay cuts to clear cap space. Our long national nightmare is over.

Josh Allen is good.

Allen to the hot take crowd: Sssssshhhhhhh.....

I mean, that's stuff we all saw the 1st 2 weeks. I think the main debate on this thread is sample size.

I used to hate the Jets & Dolphins so much more than I do today. I kind of commiserate w/ their fans when I meet them at pubs and other places now - we've all gone through the same rough stretch. That should change in the years ahead. It will be good to get back to having real rivalries and rivalry games in the division.

"Game manager" isn't a bad thing to have. But it's also not an elite QB. With a game manager, you can win a SB - but you need a lot of other things to go right, and the team around the QB has to be a great one. An elite QB can take an above average team there.

I still don't want either of the 2 former situations - but those would be insane longshots as well. Even the idea that he could be a top 50 of all time is far-fetched. I do think there is something to the way they develop a QB though. It's smarter than most teams. It was on full display Sunday - Wilson felt more like he was being thrown into the fire, and the results showed. The Pats are so much more careful w/ Jones. They really have patience, and if nothing else, it will be better for his confidence. They seem to have that luxury more than most teams, though. They're more well-constructed and better coached overall. We'll see how things get once they have to play better teams, and get down by a few scores in some games and really have to pass the ball.

You're absolutely right. It's taking me some time to change my perspective on these things after the past 20 or so, but I'm getting there. With Allen & the team we have, it's a bit irrational to still view the Patriots the same way.

This is a good point. I think the chances that Mac becomes an elite QB are slim; he'll probably end up in the Jimmy G mode (who is a good QB, but would likely be better if he was on the Pats still). But by the time he gets to a point of being more than a game manager, BB might be retired or close to it. Without BB, it's a whole different equation.

Not sure if this is appropriate for this forum, but I was curious what other Bills fans were thinking up to this point. It's hard for me to put in perspective because I have such a psychosis when it comes to the Pats. I was worried about Jimmy G, and even Stidham. But the Mac hype is officially through the roof. When I'm on general NFL boards or twitter, it seems to be accepted that he is "the best of all the rookie QB's so far," and Pats fans think they got the steal of the draft. Being obsessive about these things, I watched all of the passes from their 1st 2 games. There is no doubt he is accurate, and seems poised in the pocket. The main thing I saw was more related to coaching - they really set the plays up for him to succeed. He takes almost no risks at all. Most passes are short outs or check downs (not disparaging those things, because they can be effective). I saw nothing that made me think he could do what around 20 or so current QB's could do w/ that same coaching and in that system. Which, of course, reminds me of Brady's early years. Brady transcended that and became a guy who could take over games and lead big comebacks. I can't help but ask, was that because he was developed properly, and can New England do the same thing w/ Mac? Or is Brady just Brady, and expecting the same progression for Mac is unlikely at best? Naturally, I'm hoping we don't have a Montana/Young thing going there, and it's still extremely early. I'm just curious if anyone else has any thoughts on it so far.....

Go LA. The Bucs could really roll to the #1 seed in the NFC. If the Bills do make the SB, that's the last team I'd want them to face. The specter of Tom Brady. It still looms.

I've seen the "fanbase doubting guy who already proved himself" story play out quite a few times. There will be a lot of "I'm happy to have been wrong" posts later this season.

Re: the bolded - it's totally fine to say he isn't playing well right now. Comments on this thread and others - and this thread title - go WAY beyond that.

Our lack of running game hurt us that game. The wind was crazy. Sure, Buffalo QB's should be able to "handle" the wind, but elements are still elements, and it was not a good day for passing the ball. Losing Moss hurt us more than people think. The combo of him & Singletary are what we need to have a competent (not great) running game and more balance.

Anyone who has watched football for any length of time knows that every single amazing QB has had not only terrible games, but terrible stretches. I get that Allen doesn't have the body of work to counterbalance a bad 2-game stretch just yet, but there seems to be an assumption that if you're going to call someone your "franchise guy," he's going to put up 350 & 3 TD's every week consistently or something. Even Brady had terrible games. He threw 4 picks against us once. He wasn't great in either of the Giants Super Bowls (or both Rams SB's, for that matter). Rogers, Montana, Wilson...you can go through the whole list and find 2 games in a row that were much worse than what we have seen from Allen this season.

Did you watch the game last week against the Giants? That was an eye opener for me. At minimum, it showed that the playoff game wasn't a one-time fluke. He was legit good last week - very precision in his passing, and pretty clutch late in the game. Obviously, he needs to string together more games like that to show that he can do it consistently, but w/ a small sample size he doesn't seem like a QB to take lightly.

Easy fix: just have the offense get 1st downs & scores, and we don't have to worry about it.

Pats fans are extra salty about this one. They really have zero sense of humor in that fanbase. But BB deserves his rep. He has always cut corners and tried to look for ways around the rules. As most here know, he supposedly had his linemen kick the ball "accidently" at the LOS sporadically in the Bills/Giants SB, to slow down our offense. Just play the game and win on the field. BB is still the best coach ever. He didn't have to do stuff like that.

It's all out there. The 2020 season & all of the success and statistical excellence, juxtaposed against the 1st 2 games this year...

I'd actually say that if Allen plays great this week, we have to just accept that he's the awesomest.

Is "earning it" a game-to-game thing?

So, aren't you taking more of a 2-game sample, while others are basing their predictions on an entire season of play (2020)? Scientifically speaking, there is a much great probability that Allen is who he was last year, than who we've seen by mid-September this year.

I'm feeling the start of a roll, like we had last year. The schedule is lining up very favorably for the Bills to put some distance between themselves and both Miami & NE, the 2 potential threats to the division title. The defense is really a revelation this season so far. We expected improvement, since the D was more of an offseason focus, but man do we have some playmakers now. Rosseau is off to an amazing start, and Epenesa is now the guy we all hoped we'd see w/ some development. Both are very disruptive, and along w/ Tre, Edmunds, Milano, Oliver et al., give our defense a real edge and tenacity. If Allen and the O can even get to 80% of where they were last year (likely), this team can compete w/ anyone.

Anyone remember how the board felt after we lost to KC and TN last season? It's just so early. After so many years of the internet & so many sports shows on TV and radio, it has become very easy to recognize and identify hot takes. Concern about Allen in general is something I would file under that category, because it's been 2 games, and we won the last one by 35 points. If it's late October and we're still seeing the same thing, sure.

I enjoy the Baker Mayfield commercials.