BigDingus

I don't know if it felt this way at the stadium, but watching on TV it sounded like there were just as many, if not more, Eagles fans there than Bills fans. Every time Allen did something bad, huge cheers. When we were facing a 3rd down, the stadium would get really loud as if trying to pump up the Eagle defense/throw off the Bills offense. And after the Eagles would score, the crowd would get louder instead of quiet. It was pretty surprising considering how well we've turned out for home games this year.

Calling anyone or anything "cancer" is a little excessive for my tastes, but I agree that he had a ton of serious problems that hurt this team. But ultimately Buffalo still has a team in large part to him, so that alone can make me never hate him.

I haven't seen many bad weather games, especially at home, give the Bills any kind of advantage in the last decade+. And since our QB's need all the help they can get, I'd rather us just play in a dome at this point. As great as Bills fans can be, in 2017 we were in the midst of a playoff race & there were still tons of empty seats seen on TV late in the year during cold/bad weather games, even against divisional opponents. I've only been able to make it to 2 Bills home games during the winter the last several years, but both times the attendance was pretty mild. We weren't eliminated from the playoffs yet, so being abysmal wasn't the reason, and with the cheapest tickets in the league it's not cost doing it either. I just think as time goes on, less & less people want to sit through awful weather for 3+ hours to watch a team play sloppy football.

I really disagree here. We've gone down that road so many times & it never once miraculously made our struggling QB's any better, especially not our young QB's. Josh already struggles to do a lot of things a good pro QB needs to be able to do, but asking him to start over & learn a new offense would probably add significant time to his development. Though today you could point to a number of questionable calls, most of the time I see posters complaining about play selection it's not actually the fault of the coordinator, it's the execution of the players on the field. Last week for example, he called the perfect play against the formation the Dolphins had lined up with, leading to Brown WIDE open with his man beaten & only the endzone in front of him. Allen sailed the ball 10 yards past him, and posters hopped on here to scream about perceived bad play calling... Then you have more routine examples the first 6 games where WR's were open at various points throughout all games, but Allen either never saw them, or was afraid to pull the trigger and took off running, held on too long & got sacked, or stared down his first target without going through his reads & tried to force it to them despite great coverage. Again, not the playcalling, just the execution. And like I used to try & explain during the Tyrod era, when your players (and especially the QB) show they can't execute, playcalling options become much more vanilla & limited. Your coordinator might have dozens of potential plays for any particular scenario, but they know the chances of THIS offense & THIS QB delivering results has proven unlikely, therefore you have to go with a simpler call. When you know your QB has accuracy issues, is extremely risk adverse (like Tyrod), can't consistently throw accurately beyond 15-20 yards (Allen), doesn't see the field, doesn't allow the play to develop, gets happy feet in the pocket & wants to run, makes poor decisions like chunking the ball into the mid of the field off their back foot instead of throwing it away, etc. your forced to really narrow your play calling options. And in the Bills case, they probably look at what plays Josh has had the most success with in the past, then limit the calls to similar plays....plays opposing defenses are more & more ready for after the tape on Josh grows. Wrinkles are thrown in, and variations are called, but our QB at this point has shown he can only handle so much. We could start it all over & hope to land one of those genius coordinators that can turn it around in 1 year out of nowhere, but those guys are few & far between.

Yeah, there were some very noticeably embarrassing moments for Edmunds today. Early on there was a play where the RB ran straight up the middle with Edmunds in perfect position to initiate contact and blow him up (like many great MLB's would do). Instead, he was met several yards past the line with the RB plowing right into him & driving him back several more yards. Edmunds got the tackle, but basically just by holding on for dear life and waiting for the RB to fall over. It was anything but impressive...and a moment that foreshadowed how this defense was going to get handled on the ground through the rest of the game ?

So many of you know I haven't really been a believer in what I've seen from Allen. In my opinion, he's exactly what scouts said he was prior to the draft, and he's played exactly as he did through his whole football career. However... after today's game there's been a lot of people piling on him and even more yelling "the sky is falling!" because of this loss, and I don't believe it's warranted. Let me be clear, the concerns people have are legitimate, but the ones lashing out are doing so emotionally, otherwise this performance wouldn't have thrown them off so much. Yes, Allen's fumble was costly, but despite his numbers, he made better decisions for much of the game than he often has all year. Yes, he threw under 50% accuracy, but those numbers are skewed from those last drives trying to play catch up. He still hasn't thrown for 300 yards, with today throwing for less than 200, but his 2 TD's were both very well done. They showed genuine awareness, a firm grasp of what the defense was giving him, and the passes were actual passes (unlike say the TD "pass" to McKenzie in the Giants game). And yes, I know Singletary did most of legwork after receiving the pass. It's important when a QB shows he knows how to run your offense, but what really separates the good QB's from the rest of the pack is the ones who know what the opposing defense is giving them. Even though Allen had trouble with that today, he's had trouble with that every game, only this time he showed a legitimate grasp of his surroundings & an improved awareness. His troubles today seemed more on the execution front than a failure on the mental front. In my opinion, that's an EXTREMELY promising development, more so than "look, I can pull a win out of my butt against a lousy team to escape with a victory!" Missing open passes & being unable to connect downfield really hurt, but when you're actually seeing those guys & know where the play is developing, that's monumental in the growth of a young QB. I've been harping on his bad deep ball accuracy since last year, but I like that more & more he's actually seeing those guys. Just as overall record doesn't tell the whole story, neither do his stats for this game. My opinion on this team hasn't really changed, it just further highlights our obvious weaknesses. But seeing Allen being more decisive, even if he was off target, makes me happy. Don't think I'm saying this was his best game, or that he played great, rather specific aspects of his game that consistently have me concerned about his long term viability looked better, and that matters even in a loss. Win or lose, don't lose sight of what matters most - Allen's development. I'd rather take a ton of losses now if it leads to long term success & a franchise QB later. If Allen ends the season looking like he's made legitimate mental strides & shows serious growth in his awareness & ability to read defenses, I wouldn't care if we missed the playoffs *THIS* year. Ultimately we haven't looked like a team that could pose a threat to real good teams in the playoffs this year anyway. Just making it in & getting immediately bounced isn't what will define this team. But if Allen's football IQ improves to a point where it can match his physical gifts, he really will be a scary good presence for years to come. . . . . To sum it up, I don't think there's any need to panic, I don't think we need to reach in a trade in hopes of maintaining a great regular season record, and I think Allen showed some positive growth even in this loss. Ideally, we'll not only bounce back next week, but Allen specifically will have his first great game of the year. If he can do that, it won't even matter if it's a weak opponent, I'll be genuinely impressed & seriously optimistic about his prospects And yes, I highlighted in green the positives in case people just want skim through the good things lol

"Need?" No. If the right player is there for the right price, sure, go for it. But don't pull a Kelvin Benjamin trade just because your record looks good on paper. This team isn't that good, at least not yet. No need to lose draft picks in hopes of short term success. This team MIGHT be capable of sneaking into the playoffs by default of their weak schedule, but this isn't a "win-now" team with how we've played all year. If you genuinely were impressed by their play until today's game, I'm sorry. But for those who pay attention to what's going on on the field rather than just the record, none of this surprises you, so there's no feeling of panic.

Yeah, run the ball a lot & keep them on the field. Then watch as the offense fails to put up points or turns the ball over, and continue to make the defense know it's going to be a looooong game. I'm beginning to think some of it is mental. When you KNOW you're going to be out on the field all game while the offense takes its sweet time to figure out how to do anything, it has to effect your psyche to some extent. It's not quite as bad, but almost like in 2017 with Tyrod leading the offense. You knew after the 1st half that all you had to look forward to was a ton of 3 & outs, a slow developing offense, and very few moments to recover on the sidelines & evaluate what the opposing team is doing

Bingo. It wasn't even debatable, unless you were a huge homer. People on here acted like if they willed it hard enough, they could wish the Bills into being a more complete team & serious contender. In reality, we've consistently shown that we struggle against the weakest of competition, our QB turns the ball over way too much, and when our defense isn't straight up overcompensating for the weak offense all game, we are lucky to eek out a win. That's not a recipe for long term success.

Most people who aren't being willfully ignorant already knew this. Others will always deflect until the record finally reflects the team's quality, then blame everyone but the QB. Just remember, regardless of who the QB was, those people were there defending JP Losman, Kelly Holcomb, Nathan Peterman, Brian Brohm, Jeff Tuel, Trent Edwards, EJ Manuel, Tyrod Taylor, etc. and instead blaming the skill position players, the O-line, the OC, the HC, the defense, or anyone else to try & convince themselves the QB wasn't a huge issue. Allen didn't play awful today, but his horrible turnovers, bad sacks, not seeing open receivers and inability to stretch the field deep have been huge factors all year, regardless of if we win or lose. It was always going to catch up with us.

Guess it's pretty clear by now just hoping hard enough that being a good team doesn't make you one. Getting controlled by Miami most of the game, then proceeding to get controlled by the Eagles in back to back home games should show you the real quality of this team. But it's cool, we can keep pretending how the games go on the field isn't indicative of how good this team actually is.

That'd be great. Otherwise this offense is just as likely to come away with 0 points off an interception as they are to actually score.

And this is what separates good teams from the rest. Being able to score off turnovers is huge, and putting up 0 is unacceptable, especially when you start in the opponent's territory.

His turnovers will kill this team if he doesn't improve in that area (which he hasn't), but that last drive he looked the part of a franchise QB. Still has to play well for a full 4 quarters ONCE in his career though, which has yet to happen unfortunately.

Now those are the kinds of drives that will make Allen a star.

I know we need to pass, but I hate watching Allen throw down here.

Only said every week, this offense needs to show it's good enough to do it's part when the defense can't carry the entire team on their backs. And due to the Allen turnover, we went into the half down 11-7 instead of up 7-3, so an Eagles TD to start the 2nd half really hurts. Time for the offense to finally have a good 3rd quarter and do their part.

If that's your assessment of the defense, I'd love to hear your opinion on how abysmal the offense is. If not for another Allen turnover, the defense would've held this team to 3 points in the first half. That's pretty stout.

Does everyone just want to be willfully ignorant or what? F Last season, right before Allen was coming back from his injury after the bye, Bills related articles were talking about "The Bills remaining schedule is the WEAKEST IN THE LEAGUE to finish out the season." Funny enough, you nicely started your "since last season" record at the Lions game for whatever reason...when in reality, Josh coming back from injury after a bye week to start all the remaining games should've been your start point...but that would've made us 8-4 instead of 7-2 which just sounds better (but hey, you factored in preseason of all things...as if that is somehow more indicative of real performance). I made a post about it, specifically reminding everyone to take the coming wins with a grain of salt, as no team had an easier slate of games to close out the season. . . . . Then wouldn't you know it, we started winning some games...shocker. Some of those games were still a struggle (winning 24-21 against the 3-7 Jaguars, losing to both the Dolphins & the 3-9 Jets in back to back games...when just 3 games prior we blew them out with Matt Barkley, and barely beating the 5-8 Lions by 1 point 14-13). But now we're going to heap 2 of those wins (arbitrarily starting with the Lions game instead of Josh's return as the starter) from the weakest final stretch in the league last year with the 5 wins from another extremely weak schedule together and use it as some kind of proof that we've arrived? Anyway, the crazy thing is 8-4 doesn't even sound bad, but it just shows an effort to cherry pick only what you want to see! But people here seem to get mad when you ask them to look at the whole picture. And even suggesting we count the preseason towards anything just further illustrates how willfully naive we're being. Being optimistic is one thing, but this is too much.

Lol if only he had thousands of receivers grouped together in all directions, he may be able to complete one of those on the field!

Good points, but at the same time, good organizations can build a strong foundation that keeps that window open for as long as you have that franchise QB. The Pats window hasn't been closed for 20 years, so you really never know. The Seahawks, Saints, Steelers, Chargers, Packers, Vikings, Chiefs, etc. have all been relevant or at least in the conversation for quite a while, even if they have their down years. Hopefully the Bills can become like that and have a strong enough core that we just have to rotate parts & assemble players on rookie contracts that can keep your prospects up. All of that is contingent on having a stable QB though. So it depends on how you view Josh. If he's going to be a guy that can't ever elevate the talent around him & needs to be propped up by skill position players, then no, I don't think you try to push for a big trade now. Yes, the defense is great now, but you have to be the ELITE of the elite to have one of those seasons where the defense dominates everyone on the way to a Super Bowl while the offense just does enough not to lose. The way the offense turns the ball over, this defense won't have the opportunity to do that. Not to mention the defense is relatively young and can still stay here for a while. There's no reason we can't resign guys who's contracts expire while still improving even further. I don't think our defense has hit its full potential yet, and can still get much better, which is a scary & awesome thought.

Now that the Chiefs got Hill back, I'm sure they'll be cool to part ways with Sammy for 5th or something If not, I hear Kelvin Benjamin is a great redzone threat, and he's available! Get it done OBD!

I know people like to point out the media as bad guys, and how they always doubt us, but our own fans doubt the team too, myself included. To be fair, we've seen posts with people complaining about the media & them not giving us respect for the past 20 years, and for the most part, the media has been right to doubt the Bills for the better part of those 2 decades. In fact, the media has been wrong when being high on the Bills more often than when they doubt them. I cant even remember the amount of times before the season they'd predict the Bills to be their sleeper pick of the season, only for us to be awful that year...or when we started off hot & would shoot up the Power Rankings, only to crash back down (I remember one year we were up to #3 in ESPN's Power Rankings, then only won a single game afterwards... But this team is even harder to judge than usual, and it's understandable for people to be hesitant. If we get that 6th win this early in the season beating the Eagles, I'll be more convinced. We've jumped out to 5 early wins several times before, so getting that 6th one this early would go a long way to show we're different this time.

Until they say good things about the Bills, then they're ok.

I guess I still don't get how drafts & things like trades work with the XFL since there's only one owner of all teams... Instead of individual teams functioning independently in their best interests, they're a unified organization kind of like the UFC, where management controls everything. Do they just decide to move players between teams to create parity, or do they stack one team to allow them to become dominant & grow a fanbase before propping up another team after the first one is established? Seems kind of like the WWE drafts between Smackdown & RAW where they just pretend the 2 networks of Fox & USA are fighting over picks, but everything is just part of the script. Is that how the XFL is running?