Shaw66

I'm excited too. And I agree about Daboll. The play calling WAS conservative. And I think the pass patterns are unimaginative. No one seems to get open quickly, and it's those quick passes that makes life easier for the qb.

“Limited Excitement” The Bills stumbled to another loss in the first home game of their 2018 campaign. It wasn’t as ugly as the loss to the Ravens a week ago, but it wasn’t a lot better, either. The game wasn’t as close as the 31-20 score might suggest. It was an odd day at New Era Field, not the usual home opener. The excitement of the draft had ebbed by the start of training camp, and preseason games had left the fans scratching their heads. The blow out loss at Baltimore crushed their spirit. Sunday at New Era, there was very little of the typical opening day excitement. There was hope – there’s always hope – but no excitement. And it was hot, so the fans had wilted before the game began. Still, the fans made noise, in the beginning. The defense responded with a three and out on the Chargers’ opening drive, but after the Bills’ offense went three and out themselves, it began to look like Baltimore all over again. Rivers was All-World, and it looked like the Bills defense was an open book to him. He had no pressure, no trouble finding open receivers, and no trouble hitting them. It wasn’t long before the fans got quiet. It was somber where I sit. For the past six years, I’ve sat behind a family with four tickets. Opening day always was the father and his three fifty-something sons. Dad went to his first Bills game in 1960 and bought these season tickets in 1985. Families like those can be found all over the stadium. Sunday, only one of the sons and his son were there; Dad had died in June, 82 years old and 58 years a Bills fan. It was a sad day in our section, and the Bills did little to change the mood. The Bills woke up a bit in the second quarter, but their general futility and the heat drove many fans out of the stadium at half-time. The Bills actually looked competitive in the third quarter. They had some success on offense and, mercifully, on defense. The score, if not the game, approached respectability, but fans continued to leave. A skeleton crew was left to make noise in the fourth quarter as the Bills mustered a last-ditch effort to get back into the game. The fans wore the usual collection of vintage jerseys – Kelly, Smith, Reed, Fitzpatrick – with several 13s on display to honor Stevie’s return to New Era to wave the flag as the Bills took the field. A few Edmunds 49 jerseys, and more than a few Josh Allen 17s. The rookies didn’t disappoint – they looked like rookies. Allen is, without question, the best QB the Bills have. He showed that. His throws are things of beauty – powerful sometimes, nice touch on swing passes, accurate throws off balance or on the run. The guy is a great, great thrower. Turns out he’s also an excellent runner, and the Bills decided to put the League on notice. The Bills ran the read option several times, and Allen wasn’t afraid to keep it. He’s not going to earn a living toting the pigskin, but he’s going to keep defenses honest. And he can scramble. He can break tackles in the backfield, he can move around. He can stay upright with a tackler on him. And still, Allen plays like a rookie. He holds the ball too long. He seems to lose concentration on some of his passes. He throws an occasional fast ball when a little more air would help. Oddly, I think his two interceptions were positive plays. The first was a remarkable effort on Allen’s part to stay upright, looking downfield with a tackler hanging on him. He waited, waited and finally saw the window he thought he could hit. Turns out he couldn’t, but he’ll learn. Great play. The comparisons to Roethlisberger are easy to see. The second INT happened in that part of the game where the QB needs to take chances to get his team back in it. Allen saw the opportunity and took the chance. He will learn from that throw, too. He needs to take those chances to learn how to execute under game pressure. 18 for 33 and 245 yards with a TD and two okay INTs was a good outing for a rookie’s first start in the NFL. Five sacks is not good. A few sacks weren’t on him, but a couple should have been avoided. One was the corner blitz that he should have seen and didn’t. The offensive line, of course, did Allen few favors. And Daboll’s passing schemes are creating few open targets for Allen. Edmunds continued to mix solid plays with late reads and misreads, getting caught in the wash on some running plays, being left flat-footed on many passing plays. He’s on the field for virtually every play, and he should be learning, play after play. In the meantime, QBs like Rivers will pick on him regularly. Most troubling about the Bills is their general disarray. Marcus Murphy made key mistakes in the punting game, refusing to fair catch one ball, and lining up what looked like 60 yards from the line of scrimmage on another. He ran up 15 yards and still only could short-hop the catch. Critical penalties, again. McDermott taking over defensive play calling. That shouldn’t be necessary; he and Frazier should be on the same page by now. Vontae Davis? His disappearing act begs the question: Do Beane and McDermott actually know what they’re doing? They preach character and they couldn’t figure out Davis had nothing left in the tank? Most courageous play of the game? Taiwan Jones, hands down. His recovery of Murphy’s fumble or muff or whatever that was, and his absolute refusal to go down as he tried to get the ball out of the end zone was awesome. However, maybe I don’t know the rules, and maybe Jones didn’t either, because apparently there was no need to run the ball out, as the officials ruled that the play was a touchback. Runner up? McCoy getting back on the field to see if he could go. Bills desperately need McCoy on the field. The guy is special, and a gamer, and Allen needs the help. If McDermott’s the coach his clippings say he is, this team will continue to improve and begin winning some games. He has the quarterback to do it, but a lot of questions remain. 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.

I don't remember the game. Bills were on the opponent's 15 or 20, going to the left on TV. Kelly got sacked and didn't get up. I think he might have unconscious for a few seconds. TIimme out and a commercial. Next play Kelly threw a TD pass. Just a ridiculously tough man.

I used to drive College Park to Amherst, and it was more like 6 hours. But that was 40 years ago. I drive 6.5 one way to games. Drive there on Saturday, back after the game. I think i will try Bar Bill tomorrow.

You're driving round trip in one day?

I don't agree but you may be right.

Wheels, this makes no sense. Just because guy cant block doesn't mean he can't line up and learn the play call.

They've practiced doung it all summer. It isn't a big deal.

It's no huddle, not hurry up. You just call the plays at the line I stead of the huddle. The only rushing is that people have to get to the line promptly. They've practiced doung it all summer. It isn't a big deal.

Right. No huddle, not hurry up.

Peterman was not the clear winner. SI says it was close and by August the Bills had decided Allen would be the starter soon. The Bengals game gave them pause, so they went with Peterman. They didn't think Peterman was the savior. They just hoped he could buy them a little time. Turned out he bought them a little less time than they hoped.

Sean McVeigh figured this out with Goff. The radio to the QB cuts off with 15 seconds left on the play clock. So what McVeigh did was get the Rams up to the line of scrimmage with more than 20 seconds on the clock. That does two things First, it cuts of substitutions by the defense. Second, it gives the OC time to look at the basic defensive alignment and tell the qb what to look for, maybe to change the play. It helps a young qb who may not be seeing everything yet. Essentially, it allows a coach on the field. Look for it Sunday.

You'd think so, but that would be ignoring how important character is to McDermott. He's telling ALL of his guys that they have to be 100% into continuous improvement, all day, every day. If he'd kept Dareus, he would have been saying to his team, "well, the rest of you guys have to be 100% into this, but Marcell is so good that he doesn't have to." McDermott can't say that and build the team culture he wants.

Yes, he does LOOK like an OLB/hybrid DE, but he runs like a safety. Or, he looks like a Jimmy Graham-type TE. He's just special physically, and if he learns the game, he will be an All-Pro.

Yes, it's a passing league. Edmunds played every down on Sunday. Why? Because he's more like a big safety than like a Dick Butkus. A three down middle linebacker is a really valuable guy. I wasn't high on his game on Sunday, but you can see why Edmunds can be great. His decision making isn't there yet, but when he makes the right decision in pass coverage, he blankets his receiver. He can run with the running backs, he's as big as Gronk. Edmunds is built to be a middle linebacker in the modern NFL. That's a really valuable guy to have on the field.

I don't know. I don't even know how good the guys are who get drafted in the first round!. And I don't disagree with the notion that they probably should have gone O line instead of Harrison Philips. There was no question the o line would need help when Woods retired. I think what happened is that they were true to their board. I think they had Allen in the top 5, probably the #1 or #2 QB. So they moved up for him. Then, as Beane described it, they saw Edmunds sitting there, and they probably had him in their top 10, so moving up for him made sense. Then they got to the third round, and there was Phillips. I'm guessing they had him as a solid second round guy, and he looked like too much value to pass up. So although they wanted oline, Phillips was the highest value. From today's vantage point, a good guard at that spot would have had more impact on the team in 2018 than Philips. But they preach staying true to the board. I am baffled, however, that they didn't get some journeyman help in free agency. There must have been some guy out there with an attitude, a guy who can hold his ground. Still, I think they can be okay. Get Allen on the field, get him on the move to give him time and let him sling it. Once he starts connecting on passes, the o line play gets easier, both in pass blocking and the run game. I expect the Bills to be a lot better in a month than they were on Sunday. Of course, that's not saying a whole lot, because they couldn't have been much worse.

QB is BY FAR the most important position on the field. When you see an opportunity to get a franchise QB, you have to take it. MLB is a distant second, but it's still the second most important position on the field. At the end of the second round, you get a Preston Brown. In the middle of the first round you get a Smith, an Edmunds, a Keuchle. Those were smart team-building moves.

Did you watch the Rams game last night. Did you hear what they said about Watkins? I'm paraphrasing, but they said the Rams let Watkins go and picked up Brandin Cooks, a Belichick castoff, because Watkins can just go deep, and Cooks is a serious threat over the middle. I was as big a Watkins fan as anyone, when he was drafted and all the time he was in Buffalo, but I've come around to recognizing that he's just a slightly shinier version of Lee Evans. He has the tools, but he doesn't produce. He played on a great offense last season, he was healthy, and he did very little. Fans always seem to think they know better than the professionals who run the teams. Two successive GMs and coaches have said "I don't need him," and you still think he's some kind of star. Maybe he will be, but so far he's been nearly a bust.

Absolutely dead on. And one more thing. If the Bills had used their picks to draft top offensive linemen, they would have kept Taylor for one more season. Taylor and McCoy behind a good offensive line would have been at least as good as they were last season, and maybe better. That would mean having the 20th pick in the first round, and there's no way you can find a franchise QB. Bills would have had no capital to trade to move up. 2018 was the perfect time to make a move toward the top of the draft to get a QB. As you say, you must take the QB when the opportunity arises, because those opportunities don't come along too often.

Maybe. Haven't seen enough to know what Allen would have done. All I know is that there's a higher likelihood that Allen finds a way to deliver that ball than Peterman.

Another thing about that video: I said this all last season when Taylor was the QB, which is that the Bills should protect the passer not by forming a pocket that the QB steps up into. They should form a line and keep the pass rush in front of them. In particular, they should not let the DEs circle wide - if the DE is going to beat the tackle, let him beat you to the inside. Why? Because if the DE beats your tackle to the inside, he's coming straight up field at your QB, not around the outside. If you have a Taylor (or is you have a Russell Wilson), you keep the pass rush in front of the QB and you give him escape routes to each side and backward. Wilson does it all the time. Brees does, too. When you form a pocket, you force your QB to move up and then squirm around, trying to find a way out. And if your line isn't very good, that pocket gets small in a hurry, and your QB is trapped. On this play, the Bills formed the line, not a pocket. Peterman stepped up, when he would have been better off to step back. I know that stepping up is the classic way to do it, but that's the point at which you have to consider your personnel instead of just the theory. Seattle and New Orleans figured this out years ago and let Wilson do the unconventional thing. A standard pocket is trouble, especially for a small QB, and Seattle lets him run from trouble. Allen doesn't have a height problem, but he's already shown he has the mobility to get away from the rush. On this play, if he were trained to step back, he would have had the time to make the throw. When his line gets better, he can step up, but until that happens, put the guy into position to make plays.

I couldn't hear the audio, but it's clear looking at it that Peterman didn't have time to make the deep throw. He was in serious trouble. Your point is the important point: Nate's essentially a rookie. Allen's a rookie. Allen has the physical ability to have hit the slot receiver on the left for a decent short gain and also the physical ability to have gotten out of the mess and found the deep man; Nate doesn't have that ability and can't learn it. Whatever marginal edge Nate may have in the experience department is easily outweighed by the things that only Allen can do. When I watch the video of all of Allen's throws against the Ravens, I see a guy who looks the top 10 QBs in the league - pocket awareness, escapability, quick release, accurate throws. Darnold was excellent last night, and Allen looks the same. I agree, but that anticipation throw is really tough for a rookie to make (and I consider Peterman a rookie). Rodgers would launch it, but rookies generally don't have that confidence. However, it seems to me that what a smart rookie does, what I could imagine Allen doing, is as you say, recognize at the line that what the defense is giving him and be prepared to bail out of the pocket early to buy the time necessary to find Kerley. Allen has the ability, the arm strength, for example, to back pedal a few steps to buy that time and still get enough on the ball to reach Kerley downfield. If not backpedal, escape left or right just a few steps and then throw. Point is, the thinking at the line is "I've got my man in the seam, I need time to verify before I throw, and I might need to move to get the time." The problem, of course, is getting your rookie to do all that thinking. The important point is that when both Allen and Peterman have mastered the thinking, only one of them has the physical tools to make the throw. People may blast me for this, but Allen already can make throws like Rodgers does - all kinds of positions, all kinds of pace. He needs to learn to think like Rodgers, and the only he can learn that is on the field.

He's not dragging his feet. Tuesday or Wednesday is the time you'd expect the coach to announce such a change. Especially McD, who does nothing hastily. His discipline is to complete all of the film review of the prior game, get the opinions of all the coaches with a say in the matter, and to decide only after that. Then he announces the decision in the next regular press conference, unless he has a tactical reason to say nothing.

No. Posterman.

No, it's not clearly false. You just aren't listening. McBeane have been very clear, completely clear, so clear that anyone with a brain couldn't possibly miss it: As far as they are concerned, the most important quality in any player is character. Is the guy a good teammate? Is the guy an intense competitor? Does the guy have values? Is the guy about football 24-7-365. If the answers to those questions are "no," McBeane don't care how big the guy is, how fast he, how high he can jump. From that standpoint, McDermott probably does believe that his roster is better than it was when he got to Buffalo. The two most obvious examples are Waatkins and Dareus. They had demonstrated over and over, before McDermott came to Buffalo and after, that they weren't true team guys - they believed in their talent, not their teammates. You may not agree with that approach, but that is how McBeane approach roster building. Oh, I misunderstood. You're where I am; that is, you want a coach who wins, and if you have one who wins, you'd rather that he said something interesting in the press conferences. I agree with that completely. Last season I stopped paying much attention to McDermott's post-game press conferences. Once in a while in the off-season, on the other hand, he actually does say some interesting things. Beane is amazingly open in his pressers. He's worth listening to.