BigDingus

Yep, this was very clear from just watching the game. The line was doing really well, Allen was hanging on for far too long, and it seemed he was rattled that 2nd half. He pulled it together in time, but 2.94 seconds is much higher than average (but still better than being the league worst last season averaging above 3.1 seconds).

Everyone saying Dallas fans are insufferable, but I've lived here for 15 years, and have found the fans not bad all. First off, most of them are very loosely "fans." They say their team is the Cowboys, but they can't name more than 2 or 3 people on the roster. If I ask most of these fans how they enjoyed the game Sunday, most of the time they say they missed it, only saw replays, etc. There's only a small handful of people that I know that care about the Cowboys like Bills fans care about the Bills. Second, the real Cowobys fans that know me almost always root for the Bills out of pity, rarely ever trying to rub it in, be a d-bag, or even pile on a little. I'm used to hearing "man, sorry about the Bills," more than "Haha the Bills suck!" In general, they don't pay attention to the Bills at all, but the ones that do only do so because of knowing me & are nice about it. The most crap I've ever gotten is minor ribbing for the 2 x Super Bowl losses, but that's the extent of it. But yes, I hate the Cowboys TEAM, just not most of the fans. Maybe displaced Cowboys fans who are a little more diehard are pricks, but the ones in DFW are pretty cool, especially in regards to the Bills.

This is one of the worst takes I've ever seen, but man do I hope you're right. I honestly feel it's the exact opposite. Patriots have earned their media praises, anyone who says otherwise is just bitter. The Bills on the other hand have struggled to look competent on offense for 4 straight quarters even once this season, and against poor competition. The Bengals are a more potent offense than the Patriots? I cannot fathom how anyone would think that, and statistically on par with them? I'm just confused...are we predicting yet another year where Brady is supposedly going to fall off a cliff? Outside of the that, the Pats will still be the Pats. They can be beaten, but we CANNOT play like we have the last 3 weeks if we want to be the ones to defeat them.

But they're not alternate facts (as if that's a real thing anyway). Explaining the numbers don't make them lies. Do you really consider our win in NE when the Pats had clinched a playoff spot & were playing for nothing, then had Brady & other starters benched to rest the 2nd half was a true indication of NE's abilities?

That's awesome and all, and ultimately what matters, but digging those holes in the first place is a problem. Anyone that thinks barely beating bad teams is a good sign is just happy to have their head in the sand. A win is ultimately what matters MOST, but it's not all that matters. How you play in those games is telling of what to expect in the future. 95% of fans acted the EXACT same way when we started 3-0, 5-1, 5-2, etc. in the past, only to disappear as we tanked the rest of the season. "A win is a win, who cares about the rest? Everyone whining is a hater!" Yep, sounds familiar. Nobody is saying the Bills suck or that they CAN'T beat good teams, rather they're saying temper your expectations while still being supportive.

It actually dates farther back than that. Any Bills QB since Kelly left. Went through & looked at each season 2 days ago to see if that was really true. Figured maybe Flutie or Fitz could've had him beat, but nope.

So will I. I just wish he wouldn't hang on to the ball so long the rest of the time. He thinks because he can get away from people a lot of the time that he has to extend EVERY play, which sometimes leads to slow decision making. Yes, it's a fine line trying to be able to extend plays and get rid of the ball without getting sacked or forcing a turnover, but it has to be done in order for us to be successful.

That's pretty telling. The 4th quarter actually looks better on paper than in reality though, as the offense remains pretty dead right up until the end. And it's not a great sign that coaches seem to be able to consistently adjust to us better than we adjust to them. Belichick is a master at making the appropriate adjustments needed to get the W, and he'll make life hell for Allen & the offense if they play like they have been the past 3 games.

They're really not that arrogant though (honestly, they deserve to be FAR more arrogant considering their unprecedented success). Look at this post: "I think the Bills have been pretty good and I've liked how they've conducted business in the McDermott regime, generally. Contrast that to the similar timeline of the Jets rebuild/clownshow. At the very least they should give us a good game." Followed by: "True. Until recently a clown show. Now a pretty well run professional organization headed in the right direction. A year or two away." Not exactly "scummy" if you ask me.

This is the one area I really want to give Allen props for. As many times as he makes me want to pull out my hair, he gets the exact opposite reaction from me in the 4th. Instead of resigned to failure the moment we go down by even a single point, I'm glued to the television with belief there's actually a chance we can pull one out. One of the things I used to get bashed for is complaining about Tyrod's inability to play from behind. The Bills used to have something like a 3-23 record if they went down by even ONE SINGLE POINT at any time in the 4th quarter under TT. The memory came up again yesterday when the Bengals went ahead by the 3. I though "if this was Tyrod playing, this cements a loss," but still stayed fixated on the TV knowing Allen's hero ball style can get us out of this jam despite his ineptitude for nearly 2 quarters before then. When Knox caught that pass & proceeded to bulldoze defenders, I jumped so high I nearly hit my head on the ceiling fan. It's easily my favorite part about Allen, and if he can continue to improve in other areas, he will have a long future here.

I haven't gotten any further in this thread, but it's already gold. Did not expect to be laughing this much already ?

Also, I'm shocked even ONE Pats fan said something like this: "Until the Ravens game in Week 9, this is probably the only other game that I think there is a chance we lose. The Bills have been pretty good so far and we are short-handed." That's a major improvement over most years. I don't see much in that thread to get upset about, mostly just them joking about Bills fans shenanigans (which everyone does).

We can only hope they don't pull a Green Bay or San Francisco & follow up one HoF QB with another one immediately afterwards. It just wouldn't be fair to follow up Brady with the next Steve Young or Aaron Rodgers, or even the next Andrew Luck.

I'm genuinely happy you're confident in that, but I don't share that sentiment yet. I'm sorry, I'm still not convinced, and his overall play on the field is what will change that. "What more could anyone ask for?" I guess a full 4 quarters of solid to good QB play would be start. Perfection? No. Not asking for that. Beyond that, showing we can win against GOOD teams will be another huge sign things are different. Last year before Allen was about to return after injury, I posted an article detailing how the Bills were about to go on a final 6 game stretch with the EASIEST schedule remaining in the league (factually, not opinion), and that we have to pay attention to how Allen & the team play in those games, not just be satisfied with a few meaningless wins against awful compeititon. Instead, people were so thrilled just to not see us get stomped anymore, and acted as if wins against the 3-7 Jaguars, 5-8 Lions, and 7-8 Dolphins meant it was proof we found our franchise guy! In that stretch, we also lost to the Dolphins, lost to the 4-8 Jets (who we had just blown out a few weeks early with Barkley), and loss to the Pats (our 1 remaining opponent with a winning record). Carrying over that mindset to this year, fans are further reinforcing their belief that Allen is the franchise's answer because we won against the 0-3 Jets while looking terrible offensively for 3 quarters (combined with the Jets kicker missing an XP and a FG), beat the 1-2 Giants after disappearing offensively for 2 quarters & letting them back in the game, and having to come from behind against the 0-3 Bengals at home, with under 2 mins left, and after AGAIN disappearing offensively for 2 quarters. I'm sorry, but none of this screams "There is no question about that at all" in regards to Allen being "the QB we have been waiting for." I've seen us start off fast with 3 to 5 wins before, and fans were just as convinced as you are now that THIS time the Bills were different. We weren't. When I see 4 quarters of good QB play, sound decision making for a full game, and being able to play well (not even win, simply play well) against good competition, I'll accept we may be a different team & gladly eat crow.

We should all care. The Bills started off 5-1 in 2008, then went 2-8 down the stretch. They also started off 3-0 in 2011, including a win over Tom Brady & the Patriots, going 5-2 to start the year. Then we proceeded to lose every single game except for a meaningless weak 16 blowout over the Broncos. And in 2017, we started off 5-2, then went 4-5 down the stretch, but by good fortune sneaked into the playoffs. Point being, we can (and have) started off strong in the W/L column before, only to falter later on. Even as we were riding high, nonbiased observers could see signs we weren't as good as our record implied. Right now, we've shown we're able to win against low tier competition in non-convincing fashion. That's it. Allen playing one strong game from start to finish would go a long way in proving we're different than those teams, and to do so against the Patriots would mean even more. Even if we lose, I'll consider it an accomplishment and a point of pride if Allen can play well start to finish, and we don't get blown out. A win would be better, but a loss that signaled actual growth means a lot too.

If I remember correctly, the drought would've been even longer if not for Tyrod getting a few extra yards to push us over the line in OT against the Dolphins a few years ago. Observed in a vacuum, I'd agree. However, 36 straight games in an era where passing equals winning, and being able to pass the ball well is easier than ever with the rules set in place, yet we're still not able to do so is troubling. We made the playoffs once. It was nice to get that monkey off our backs. But had it not been for a miracle play outside of our control, the drought would be nearing 2 decades, and being unable to pass the ball well is a HUGE part of that. Just because we made it over that hump once, doesn't mean we're any better off now than we were in those years. We NEED to be able to pass the ball well, and throwing for 300+ yards is something every successful team in this league has been able to do on a relatively consistent basis.

Technically the Bengals win was a comeback victory too (against another winless team). And we let the Giants back in the game by not doing anything on offense from halfway through the 2nd quarter until 5 mins left in the 4th quarter. Even with all the turnovers Allen has had, he could have had a lot more, but we've gotten some lucky breaks with DBs dropping the ball. The Pats will absolutely punish us where these other teams have not. Brady is 30-2 against the Bills when he has started & finished the game, and in those 2 wins, we've played as mistake free as possible against them, and both were played in Buffalo. We can do it again as long as we don't play like we have the last 3 weeks.

Really? If you think the Pats are in the same category as the 0-3 Jets, the 0-3 Bengals or the 1-2 Giants, all teams which we struggled against in a variety of areas, you're insane. I'm not saying we CAN'T win, only that if we play like we did through the first 3 games, we're going to lose without question.

Hmm, I think our TE played pretty damn good.

Yeah, putting up 325 yards, 1 TD & 1 INT is massively inferior to 254 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT's and 2 fumbles. And how many games have our opponents won? They're a combined 1-8, with the Giants being the only team to get a win this week after switching QB's. Also, the Rams defense is ranked higher than ours. Would you say we have a strong defense? Do you really think the 3-0 Rams are an easier mark than the 0-3 Bengals?

Bro... you're doing it wrong. That's why the offense disappears for long stretches in the 2nd half. You gotta sacrifice all 3 to Mars man. He's the god of war! I'll expect better results next week.

You might as well start breaking it down by half, because this disappearing act for an entire half followed by pulling it together at the very end isn't going to cut it. On the flip side, compared to 4 turnovers in week 1, I'd say Allen deserves a higher grade than that. Oh please, it took the Jets missing an XP AND a FG for us to eek out a win in week 1, and it's taken the defense to play at a ridiculously high level to even stay in all 3 games... "but whatever."

That gap closes a lot faster while running those 10 yards than it looks in a snapshot of a play. Could he have still done it? Possibly. But it's definitely not close to an easy run by any means.

Yeah, that Rams team & their awful defense should've been a breeze. Everyone knows Wade Philips runs a weak D. How come Mayfield couldn't dominate a great D like Allen did with the Bengals?

If it weren't for all the plays in between & after, I might agree. But what I saw was someone who was rattled. He couldn't complete a pass to save his life for a long stretch, and he completely stopped progressing through his reads. He would lock onto one WR from snap to release, worried to even look away from his primary target. If his #1 option wasn't there, he'd get happy feet & start running around, and it lead to an almost entirely dead half for the offense. I'm sure he didn't want another intentional grounding call, but sometimes you just have to take the sack when you're beat. Keeping a play alive is one thing, but when you're already going down, don't try to float a pass just to avoid hitting the dirt with ball in hand. Fortunately, I think that part can be coached out of him. Seriously, I think this is one area that he can greatly improve & actually expect him to.