Shaw66

'm glad to see him go. Certainly didn't contribute much. But beyond that, he just didn't feel like a McDermott type guy. A guy with that much phyusical talent either isn't too smart or isn't working hard enough - he just should be a better player than he is. Keep the merry-go-round going until you find some keepers.

I think this is too simplistic. It may be right, but I doubt it. I don't think, for example, that the Bills were some kind of trap game for the Jets. There's no way they're taking the Bills lightly because they have too many of their own struggles. I also think that we're seeing better offensive line play. The oline was part of the explanation for why the Bills were so bad early, but I think the oline actually is improving. If you're right, the Bills will win about two more games. And that's certainly possible. We'll see.

I don't know if they tanked, but you're right about Barkley. It was one game.

I don't see that. Bills aren't going to spend another first round pick on a QB. You can have only one potential franchise guy on the team at a time, or you've wasted your resources. Allen is that guy. Similarly, if there's a really good free agent QB, like better than Fitzpatrick, the Bills aren't going to be willing to write the check that would be necessary to get him. So you're left with signing a second journeyman. Bills probably don't even want to do that, because the guy will cost $10 million a year or more. Plus, that guy isn't going to be interested in the Bills if he's coming into a competition with a presumptive franchise guy and another journeyman. What you ARE likely to see, if anything, is a late-round or undrafted free agent rookie. You may not like it, but that's almost certainly what you'll see.

I think the fact that he's a rental is exactly why you play him a lot and push him to excel. You have the guy for six more weeks; it's like an extended tryout. Worst thing you can do is sit the guy or play him lightly, have him sign a one-year deal somewhere else and then blossom into the guy everyone thought they saw was a rookie. Much better to get everything out of him you can to give you as much information about him as you can, then decide what to do. If you don't play him, you sour the relationship and he's definitely gone. If you do play him, he appreciates it and you have a chance to re-sign him. Until you, as the coach, get to the conclusion that you just don't want him. Then you give the tryout to someone else.

Yeah, I agree with what he was saying too. You know what made me feel best about where we are right now? Not saying it's proof of anything, just sayin it made me feel good? Someone posted or some friend sent me a link to something from Cleveland that said the Browns are likely to have some problems finding a head coach because the Haslams consistently ignore the football people in the organization. The football people said draft Bridgewater, the Haslams said we're taking Manziel. Then the football people said McDermott was by far the best HC candidate, the Haslams said hire Hue Jackson. It just felt good to hear that knowledgeable football people (albeit the Browns people) thought McDermott was the clear choice. I've been losing confidence in McDermott as the season has progressed, and I needed something to tell me to calm down, trust the process, let the guy build the team the way he plans to build the team. There are plenty of small signs that he's doing that, but there seem to be too few wins to go with the signs. Yesterday was a complete change in how they appeared to be playing. It was a surprise to me and to many. I'd like to think it wasn't a surprise to McDermott. I'd love to see them go 4-2 down the stretch.

Thanks for writing this. It's nice to think that's what's going on, guys just making progress, understanding more, playing better. You point out several good examples. Milano, Lawson. Didn't name Taron Johnson, Edmunds. Jones. And, frankly, McDermott - HC is a different job for DC, and there's a learning curve there, just like for players. What has me so puzzled is that if this steady improvement, at different paces, but improvement, is going on, then one would expect some averaging effect going on, with the team gradually improving. Some guy makes a leap this week, another guy makes a leap last week - collectively there should be a generally improving team - a hiccup here or there, but generally improvement. That isn't what we've been seeing. Bills crush the Vikings and Jets, and in between there are some really ugly losses and some close wins and losses. And last season was the same. It's an unusual pattern. Maybe it just was the Jets yesterday, but the Bills looked like they could beat all but the top five teams. It isn't the picture of a steadily improving team. Frankly, what I was most please with yesterday was the pass route schemes. The Bills finally were running schemes that were giving the Bills favorable matchups somewhere. The receivers were getting open naturally - if you run the route correctly, you get open. And Barkley recognized where the open man was. Those schemes may have been workng in the beginning of the season but the QB didn't have time. Then, as the QB got time, the Bills may not have had the right QB pulling the trigger. Yesterday, it all seemed to work.

I meant see them play someone other than the Jets NOW. The Vikings is ancient history, and it's almost certainly aberratrional. Until yesterday, I don't think anyone would have said the Bills would have been competitive with the Vikings in a rematch. But that way yesterday. Today, I don't know what to think about this team. I tend to agree about Benjamin, but I think the Bills need to be patient with him. I thought early in the season he was afraid to get hit. He seems to have gotten over that. Now it's almost as though he has to relearn holding on to the ball when he does get hit. Last week's drop in the end zone was forgivable - he got creamed by multiple players. Sunday's drop was nearly inexcusable. Catch it, hold on to it. Still, in recent weeks he's had some success getting separation AND catching the ball, so I wonder whether we're watching him slowly turn into a better receiver. I'd keep playing him to see what he does week after week; make the decision about him after the season ends.

Yes, as a lot of people are saying, the Bills got better QB play than they've seen, but I don't think that's all of it. Take one example - receivers getting separation. The Bills have no - zero - receivers who can consistently get separation. Watch Amari Cooper last night, an exquisite combination of speed, strength and downright hard work changing direction - he gets separation. There are 10-15 guys in the league who do that, and the Bills don't have one of them. They get separation on scheme - catch the in tight man-to-man with single coverage on Foster, and he can get a step going deep. So can Ray-Ray McCloud, so why haven't we seen him get deep like Foster yesterday? What happened to Zay Jones? Open all over the field yesterday. Yes, Barkley did a nice job knowing where the open man was going to be and an equally nice job delivering the ball, but we just weren't seeing guys open like that in prior weeks. And what about the pass protection? It's been getting better, week by week, for a month now. Apparently Teller got more playing time yesterday, and people liked what they saw. But it wasn't one guy. Across the line yesterday, guys were holding their ground, staying with their man, keeping the defense off Barkley. I think this team responded again to adversity in much the same way they did last season, came out with a renewed commitment, and we saw it on the field. The important question is why is it necessary to renew commitment? Is it, as some suggest, just an emotional response to being led by a QB who actually knows what he's doing? It's nice to think so, but they responded last season with no change at QB. We have to see them play like this against someone other than the Jets.

Here's the thing about Benjamin: He simply isn't a great athlete. He's a big, tall guy with decent enough foot speed to have been a serious threat in college and, when everything goes right, to be a decent wideout in the NFL. He isn't athletic enough or tough enough to be a good #1 receiver, but when things are going right, he can be useful. The 2018 Bills need him to be a legit number 1 guy, and he's showing, week after week, that he can't be that guy.

“What Is It With This Team?” I had business in Florida last week and missed a chance to see the Bills and the Jets in the Meadowlands. Given how the season’s been going for the two teams, Fort Lauderdale seemed like the better option. Who’s not picking the beach over Matt Barkley? Sunday turned out to be a good day to be in New Jersey. I had to settle for lunch at Slackers in Fort Lauderdale, watching the Bills go up 24-0 before heading to the airport. (Slackers, by the way, is a great place to watch games – TVs everywhere, typical pub food. It’s a Packers bar, and there’s great memorabilia all over.) What is it with the Bills? How can they be so bad one week, and so good the next? Yes, Sunday it was the Jets, and the Jets look to be genuinely awful. Last Sunday, the Bills didn’t deserve to be on the field with the Bears, and the week before that they could do nothing against the Patriots. Maybe there’s just THAT much difference between the good and the bad teams. But that can’t be it, can’t be all of it. The Bills were flatter than flat at home against the Bears, and they were world beaters a week later on the road. It’s the same kind of emotional ups and downs this team displayed last season. Is it a characteristic of Sean McDermott teams? What else was different this week? Matt Barkley. Prior to Sunday, Barkley had started six games in the NFL, and he had a career passer rating of 63.7. Sunday he was 15-25 and two touchdowns for a passer rating over 117. He had the game of his career. When have we last seen a Buffalo QB so effective? So what changed for Matt Barkley? Was it Brian Daboll? McDermott? Or was it glue on Robert Foster’s hands when in earlier games Foster’s hands were slathered in 10W-30? Zay Jones continued emergence? Or was it just the Jets? How does everything change in a week? Holes for McCoy. Time for the quarterback to throw. Receivers open. Penalties under control. Special teams making plays. Had to be the Jets. Had to be the Jets are just that bad, or they’re tanking. Still, the Bills played well-executed NFL football on Sunday, something they seemed incapable of a month ago. They showed, as they have for the past few weeks, that they have an offensive line to build on, instead of one to dismantle totally. They showed the solid, disciplined defense we’ve seen most of the season. Let the quarterback controversy begin. Allen will be ready to go after the bye, but did Barkley just win the job? Does Barkley get to start until he returns to the form he showed in previous seasons? Is there a QB competition in the offing for training camp next season? I’d think the Bills would be, should be, all in on Allen. But can the Bills really turn their backs on the quarterbacking Barkley showed on Sunday? It’s an unusual season, to be sure. Wins over two pretty good, playoff-contending teams, a near win on the road against a third, a blowout win over a bad Jets team, and a few other glimpses of some good football, combined with several absolutely horrible showings and record-setting offensive futility. A different QB every week. Logic says the Bills should be all about losing this season, positioning themselves for the best possible rookie talent in the 2019 draft. But winning is so much more fun than losing. The Dolphins twice, the Jets again, the Jags and the Lions. The Patriots are the only winning team left on the Bills’ schedule. Bizarre as it sounds, the NFL’s laughingstock could end the season 8-8. Or 3-13. A week off, and then the roller coaster ride resumes. 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.

There's a bit of truth in what you say, if your qb is in his 19th year starting in your system, like Brady and Rodgers and Brees and Ryan. Those guys don't need the reps. Young guys and guys new to the systemost need the reps. Nothing you can do about injuries.

I really like Beane. Straight shooter. No nonsense. Still, whether he knows what he's doing is another question.

Fine with me. Except I'm getting old.

You and I don't get a vote.

I want to believe, but 2018 (not 2017) give me serious pause. I think there's more or less no chance that there will be a GM or HC change before the end of the 2019 season.

To get back to the original point, assuming Allen becomes what we hope, can this GM and HC shape a winning team around him?

Obviously, none of us knows. But I'm encouraged. As you say, the team looks better when he plays.

No guarantees, but I predict that when Allen comes back we're going to be wondering how come Benjamin and Jones and the other receivers all of a sudden got better.

That's what I see. And as I've said, I like that he's had a few weeks off to decompress and now will be able to come back and get a few more weeks of on-field experience. It wasn't by design but it's almost a perfect way to go through a qb's rookie season.

Frankly, I think the accuracy claims are overblown and maybe even imaginary. First, an accuracy problem is part of the conventional wisdom that followed Allen out of college. I don't think it was very well supported by the evidence then. Second, I don't see the accuracy problems when I watch him. I DO see him having some touch and delivery issues on short balls. He hasn't yet figured out how to dial down velocity without underthrowing some balls. I'll admit that I don't know for a fact that he can solve that problem, but it looks to me like he can. Third, I've seen him deliver a lot of remarkably accurate throws. He may have a problem with CONSISTENCY, in that he doesn't make accurate throws often enough. Fourth, I've seen him do so many positive things, including with his legs, that whatever accuracy problems I've seen do not seem to be fatal or even near-fatal in terms of his ability to be a good quarterback in the NFL. We all get hung up by what we see from the greats. We tend to think Allen can't make it because he doesn't have Brees-type accuracy. Well, Elway didn't have Brees-like accuracy, but he an Allen-like arm. Every QB is different, every QB combines different characteristics. If the entire basket of characteristics is, collectively, enough to succeed, great, the guy succeeds. If it isn't enough, he doesn't. My point really is that when I look at the basket of skills Allen has shown us so far, I don't see anything or things that are so bad that I don't think he can make it. I like what I see.

That play was incredible. Beyond that, I don't see the guy making bad decisions. Yes, he isn't seeing all of the opportunities downfield, and I hope and expect that will improve. But he isn't getting fooled by what he is seeing. I haven't seen him making decisions like Peterman's pick-six in Houston or like Anderson's pick-six against the Patriots. And he IS making some good decisions and he has the physical skill to deliver, as he did on the throw to Benjamin that you're talking about. He has the ability and uses it to get out of the pocket. He's shown that he's already pretty good at deciding WHEN to get out of the pocket. He keeps looking downfield, and he seems to have a pretty good idea of where he's going to find receivers as the patterns break down. That, too, he should get better at. And he has the arm to deliver the ball to where it needs to be. Consider, for example, the play against the Bears where Peterman scramble left, saw Benjamin open, had to stop scrambling, set his feet and then throw. In the meantime, Benjamin had to move, so he broke deep and was open in the end zone. Peterman floated the ball to him and Benjamin was hung out to dry. Could have caught it, but I don't blame him for dropping it. He was crushed. I thought immediately about what Allen would have done on that play. He would have completed the pass. Either he doesn't have to stop and get set, he just flips it out there like Aaron Rodgers would have. Benjamin would have caught the ball at the 20, first down, keep playing. OR, Benjamin would have broken for the end zone, Allen would have gotten set and delivered a bullet to Benjamin, who would have caught the ball and the ref's two arms would have signalled touchdown before any defender could get there to hit him. Allen has the tools, and he's been learning the things he needs to learn.

I think that if you put Josh Allen on the Chiefs he plays like Mahomes. That coach and that talent create an entirely different environment for the QB. Question is when will Allen see talent and a coach like that in Buffalo?

I agree about Houston. I'm high on Allen. I think he sees the field pretty well for a rookie. Maybe to put a finer point on it, I think he sees the risks pretty well for a rookie. I don't think he sees all the opportunities yet. But I think he sees the risks, and I don't think he throws a pick six to lose the game. And I agree with those who suggested that his injury may have been a blessing in disguise. He's seen the field, and now he's had a break to study, to consolidate what he knows and add to it by watching film and watching things go wrong with the other two QBs. He hasn't had the pressure of game prep. Now he will get to come back, but his new knowledge to work for a few weeks, then get the off season to consolidate and grow some more. Then a full set of OTAs and training camp as the starter. It's better than what Darnold and Mayfield are going through, just grinding through week after week with failures piling up and no time to step back, take a breath and get recharged. But as we've been discussing in these posts, he's the only hope. If he can't put it together for next season, along with some decent offensive coaching, we're going to be back to wash, rinse, repeat.

I think it's a little of both - they were making roster changes to continue to move out contracts of guys that didn't fit, and they've also been surprised. During the off-season McDermott said something like "we're going to get worse before we get better." He clearly said it in connection with expectations of some that the Bills would make the playoffs again this season. He didn't explain why, but he'd already lost Wood and I think he knew he was losing Richie. So I don't think McBeane are surprised that they're losing more than winning. I think they're surprised they aren't around .500 and surprised they're getting blown out. I would guess they expected Miller/DuCasse to take a bigger step forward the right tackle solution to be better. They probably also thought that between Groy and Bodine, they would be okay at center. I think the line's actually been stepping up in pass protection lately; it's the run game that is horrible. I think they expected the wideouts to progress as you suggested (and I think they have). And they expected they'd be better at QB. I think Benjamin's return to form and Jones's progress are masked by the fact that the QBs are doing nothing for them. And it's at QB that McBeane deserve the most criticism. Allen looked like he might save their bacon, but then he got injured. In retrospect, Beane taking the only QB left after the free agent QB musical chairs was a mistake. The mistake was compounded, badly, by assuming they could do with McCarron altogether. That happened because, for the second season in a row, McDermott badly misjudged Peterman's ability to get the job done. As I said in a post up above, the one thing that may save next season is Allen. Give him the last five games this season to build on what he's learned playing and watching. Bring in some appropriate help on the line and at receiver, keep McCoy and Ivory (deal with them the following year). A good QB can make a big difference. Give him decent protection and get the run game going, and this could all look different. Of course, the other question is whether Daboll has any idea how to build a modern offense. I simply have no answer there.