Shaw66

This is an interesting point. I think it's correct. I think it may be better to characterize as an offense that takes what the defense gives, and because the offense now has enough weapons, it forces the defense to make more difficult choices about what to defend. When the defense makes the choice, there's a good weakness to attack. There's a 10-yard opening somewhere.

Right. I see more and more the results of what McDermott calls building the right way. Everyone on this team seems to know his job and execute. He doesn't necessarily make outstanding plays, he just makes the right play and executes it just about all the time. Everyone on the team learns this methodology. Then, year after year, the talent improves. A guy gets drafted at guard, for example, who gets the process and is a better talent than a guard the Bills have. It's constant competition, looking to produce guys who are better and better. The defense is ahead of the offense in this developmental process, but yesterday we saw the offense making strides. They were running complex formations and shifts, they were changing plays, and they did it with virtually no penalties (virtually no delays or false starts), and when the snap came, they all did their jobs. Receivers were getting open, because the plays they were in attacked weaknesses in the defense. Allen understood where he was going to find guys open, like on the TD pass - he knew where to go with the ball and how to get it there. Brown knew how to run the route. Constant execution like that puts a lot of pressure on the defense, so you generate things like the missed tackle on that play. So not only was a win of that kind, on the road against a division opponent, down to scores, a really good win and good indicator, the WAY they did also was impressive.

If you're saying he was open and a different throw by Josh would have gotten there, then it's still all on Josh - a learning experience. He has to learn if he can actually make that different throw. If he can't make it from there, he cannot throw it. If he CAN make that throw, then he has to make the throw. What he did was a bad decision or a bad throw. Either way, it was a bad play (that he has to make in order to learn what he can do and what he can't).

Late to this party, but when the ball hits the defender in the hands, and it was a defender who was in clear view as Allen was processing whether to throw, that is a bad throw. Accurate, I suppose, but a bad decision and a bad throw. But, as I keep saying, you have to throw some of those to learn not to throw them. If he never tries to fit it in there, he never learns which throws he can' make and which he can't.

Good point. And the important second point is that the mistakes all are things he will learn from and improve. He isn't just a winner, he's a student. By this time next season, the Bills will have a guy who is a top 10 QB for three quarters and top 3 winner in the fourth quarter. He's going to be big time good.

That's interesting. Thanks. In something a bit related, I was just looking the video of every touch Singletary had in the game. The runs are nice, but what's really impressive is the line play. Watch Morse in particular, but just notice how defenders are either out of position or cleared out or blocked by the offensive line. The line was in total control. Mosley's absence may have contributed to that. Still, the line was sharp. Here's a link: https://www.buffalobills.com/news/top-3-things-we-learned-from-bills-at-jets-kickoff-weekend

Thanks. One other thing - something I've been thinking about since yesterday and I just said in the thread about the Bills being better in the first half than many people think. I find I keep coming back to something Belichick said right after Atlanta collapsed in the Super Bowl. He said something like "we weren't worried at halftime, because we were competitive on the field, we just weren't competitive on the scoreboard." That's how I felt at halftime. When the Jets scored, I was worried a good deal, but I kept thinking the Bills were okay. I admit, it was a little weird, but I kept thinking the Bills are built for this. Then it was 16-3, Bills still hadn't gotten into the end zone, but I felt like it was starting. Then it just unfolded. The Bills didn't look like they were doing a lot different, except they figured out how to spring Singletary. The press makes a big deal about Moses going down, but although that may have helped the Bills, I don't think it made that much difference. The Bills just kept on executing, just like they had all game, maybe a little better. The Jets didn't have an answer. So, yes, absolutely, the Bills were not as bad in the first half as people say. They took control of the game on the field from the very beginning and never let go. It was impressive.

I will chime here in here response to the OP and not in response to all of the well-done sub-discussions that are going on here. It's interesting to hear so many people here debate finer points, like the game plan, Allen's particular throws. Good stuff. I think the OP's original premise is correct. I was at the game, and I was unhappy about the situation as it developed through the first half (that is, I didn't like that the Bills weren't winning), but I wasn't unhappy with how they were playing. They were playing fine, just making a few mistakes and getting a few bad bounces. I find I keep coming back to something Belichick said right after Atlanta collapsed in the Super Bowl. He said something like "we weren't worried at halftime, because we were competitive on the field, we just weren't competitive on the scoreboard." That's how I felt at halftime. When the Jets scored, I was worried a good deal, but I kept thinking the Bills were okay. I admit, it was a little weird, but I kept thinking the Bills are built for this. Then it was 16-3, Bills still hadn't gotten into the end zone, but I felt like it was starting. Then it just unfolded. The Bills didn't look like they were doing a lot different, except they figured out how to spring Singletary. The press makes a big deal about Moses going down, but although that may have helped the Bills, I don't think it made that much difference. The Bills just kept on executing, just like they had all game, maybe a little better. The Jets didn't have an answer. So, yes, absolutely, the Bills were not as bad in the first half as people say. They took control of the game on the field from the very beginning and never let go. It was impressive.

Maybe someone can catch me up. I meant to comment about this. I was at the game and haven't been reading any news. What happened to Taron Johnson. At some point in the game I noticed that Neal was in the game, but didn't find Johnson on the sideline. I wanted to include a comment in my write up because it seemed like Neal was in good position a lot, rarely out of the play.

That's about what I guessed watching the replay in the stadium, but it was hard to see. Remember Beasley commented last week about how he and Allen have been working to get Allen to deliver that ball with a little less pace. Beasley said something like the ball was getting on him to fast, and they were working to get Beasley used to the speed and get Allen to dial it back a bit. He didn't say all of that, but that was the gist of what he said. If that's what happened yesterday, then it's on both of them for not having gotten that play working smoothly yet. Thanks.

If the Bills don't turn it over, they would have had more yards and more points and more time of possession. The Jets would have had fewer yards, fewer points and less time of possession. It was all about the turnovers.

I made noise in the stadium when the Bills were on defense.

Let the Jets eliminate two plays they wish they didn't make and the Bills eliminate two, and the Bills win, easily. Give the Jets a field goal and extra point they missed, that adds three points, because they wouldn't have gone for two on the second touchdown. But give them four. Take away the pick six and the safety. Bills win 17-8. Take away two Bills turnovers and that probably gives them more points. As others have said, the measure of the Bills control of the game is that they turned it over four time to zero for the Jets (ignore the final play), and the Bills still won. That means the Bills dominated the play, and the stats support that conclusion. That's about right. It was too low, but not so low that it shouldn't have been caught. I'm sure Allen is saying it's on him and Beasley is saying it's on him.

Eliminate a couple of mistakes/bad bounces and that game is 30-10.

I've been excited about Allen since last summer. I saw the game live, without good replays. Blindside or not, the fumble looked like a ball a rookie loses and a good veteran doesn't. The fumbled snap looked like Allen backed out early. The first INT looked like a low throw. I understand from comments I've seen that Dawkins, Morse and Beasley share the blame, but it didn't look that way live.

I was glad the clock ran. The Bill's had played so bad and were only down 8. I thought it was more important to keep the Jets from scoring than for the Bill's to try for points. Let the clock run out and regroup for the second half.

Pats looked pretty good tonight. Wow.

As I said, I hear what you're saying. Wrong place on the field to be passing. But it also may be, as seemed to be the case, that they didn't think they could move the ball running, and they definitely thought they could move it passing. So McD may not agree with you that the situation called for a conservative approach.

Right. Except I think one team will challenge the Pats this season in the AFCE, and it was going to be the winner of Bills-Jets. It's a nice start. The objective is to get 11 wins, and the first one is in the book.

I don't think "calm Josh down" is the way they're coaching him. They're challenging him to play the position as the game plan calls for it. The game plan doesn't take into account the fact that he's in his second season. The game plan called for throwing the ball against the Jets, so they kept throwing. Now, I hear what you're saying, and it makes sense, but I really don't think the Bills' coaches are coaching Allen that way. They're expecting Allen to do everything right now, and they're willing to live with the consequences.

The Bills weren't going to let Bell beat them. They did a good job on him. And I've been on the Allen bandwagon since last year. I get that the national media don't talk about him, because they won't talk about the Bills until they start winning. He runs the team like a veteran, and he throws like the best throwers you've ever seen.

I think McD is taking pages out of Belichick's book, left and right. Belichick has games like that. If he thinks you can't stop the pass, he keeps passing. I think that's what we saw today. Next week will be different, because the Giants are different. That's what I thought. I'd forgotten how good Bell is. He is just really, really tough to bring down. The Bills' job was not to let Bell beat them, because there was very little chance anyone else was going to beat them. The Bills limited Bell, and that's how they won.

Virgil - I haven't finished reading, and I don't know if anyone responded. Ford was in for a series or two, then Ty came in. Ford came back, still in the first half. Second half I think it was all Ty. Ford was standing on the sideline.

“Winning the Fourth Quarter” It’s been a consistent message since Sean McDermott arrived in Buffalo. The Bills intend to be a team that wins the fourth quarter. Sunday afternoon, the team they intend to be was on display, as the Bills came all the way back to beat the New York Jets, 17-16. Trailing 16-0 in the third quarter, and 16-3 as the fourth quarter began, the Bills needed to win the fourth quarter by 14 points. On the sideline, they looked ready. It was business as usual, no heads hanging, no finger pointing, no panic. Just talk about what they had to do next. In the fourth quarter, the Jets ran 16 plays for 35 yards. The Bills ran 19 plays for 170 yards and two touchdowns. I’d call that winning the fourth quarter. It’s hard to say the Bills were the better team, because mistakes matter, but the Bills clearly outplayed the Jets. The Bills offense was better, and their defense was better. The Bills had a few ugly plays, including one to give up a touchdown and another resulting in a safety. Simply ugly. A couple of Allen fumbles, and a deflected pass for another interception. Five or six really bad plays made the game close. After a week, the Bills look a lot like what many fans expected. Solid defense that features a decent pass rush, gang tackling, and good play in the defensive backfield. An offense that features a lot of short passes and takes mid-range and deep shots as the opportunities arise. Less running by Allen, more effective running by the running backs. Allen looked like a rookie in the first half and like a franchise quarterback in the second. Maybe we will look back and say that the second half of the Jets game was when he came of age, but I doubt it. I think we will see more of the rookie in weeks to come. He still has a lot to learn. Can we put aside the concerns about Allen’s accuracy? 24 for 37, balls on the money all day long, including some pretty throws along the sideline, and including the back-shoulder TD to Brown to win the game. How about his poise? Ran the no huddle beautifully, getting the play called, directing traffic and throwing the ball all over the field. It was a great performance by Allen, mistakes notwithstanding. Allen needs to slide. Man, the Bills threw multiple looks at the Jets: Empty backfields, different wideout packages, three tight ends, DiMarco split wide. Daboll seems to have free rein to get creative. Some impressions from MetLife Stadium: 1. Ran into Harrison Philips’ mom tailgating before the game. She was easy to spot in the #99 jerseys she and her friends were wearing. Very nice lady. 2. After one of Singletary’s several nice fourth quarter runs, a Jets fan sitting near me said “We can’t stop that guy.” 3. Spotted Terry Pegula on the sideline during warmups before the game. He was chatting with Chris Johnson, one of the Jets owners, then with some of the Bills personnel on the sideline. He seems like such a nice guy. 4. The Jets show The Red Zone on the big screen during most of the game. It’s great! They also have cheerleaders, called the Flight Crew. A woman in front of me was wearing “Flight Crew Mom” tee shirt. 5. It’s really loud in MetLife, when fans bother to make noise, which is only occasionally. On the first few plays of the game, noisy On big third downs, noisy. The rest of the time, not so much. 6. Veteran leadership? After Brown’s touchdown, before the extra point, the defense began gathering on the sideline, preparing to make the last stop. Kurt Coleman stopped Ed Oliver, got face to face, looked him in the eye and talked to him. He raised his hands, pointed at his own head, and tapped his temples two or three times, clearly telling Oliver to calm down and use his head. Coleman knew it was a big moment for a rookie, he knew he wasn’t going to be on the field but he could contribute. Cool. 7. I miss Shady. And Singletary was giving me a lot of reason to miss him in the first half. Second half? Oh, yeah! Sweet moves. 8. Bills’ defense sat at the right end of the bench, right in front of me. Saw a. Lawson dancing on the sideline to music piped into the stadium, chatting briefly with a couple of young women in the stands in front of me. Only guy I saw not focused on the game. b. Lorenzo Alexander talking about something they needed to do. All business. c. Ed Oliver energized. He was amped. d. Hyde up and down the bench getting every one ready as the Bills were driving for the winning score. 9. You know how several players on kickoff coverage complete the run by trotting into the endzone on a touchback? No Maurice Alexander. He SPRINTS to the end zone. The guy wants to be out there. 10. Tremaine Edmunds is a big man, and yes, he’s a lot better against the run this season. (11. He isn’t a Bill, but LeVeon Bell deserves a nod. That guy is a football player. The Bills had their hands full but kept him under control, mostly.) It was too close, but there’s a “1” in the Win column, and on the first Sunday night of the season, that’s all that matters. It’s only one game, but we saw a lot to like against the Jets. And the Bills will get better. GO BILLS!!! The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full day’s hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

That's interesting. Gruden's looked like a train wreck since he got there. When he was a broadcaster I thought he was entertaining but that his coaching career was hyped all out of proportion with reality. He deserves credit for the Super Bowl win, but no one ever called Mike Ditka a great coach, and he won a Super Bowl, too. All in a great, bizarre tradition known as the Davis family Raiders.