BigDingus

I think it's a lock Peterman is the starter. There's no way I see Allen starting the season.

Has it actually stopped though? I've never lived in Buffalo, but man I love the city. I've been waiting patiently for the news to come one day that Buffalo has actually grown year over year. That would be true sign the city is on the rebound & would make me thrilled! Even if the population only grew by 4 total people, that would be insanely good news

I don't see anything wrong with this thread. It's just his opinion, and it may turn out to be true. All that needs to happen now is Allen to become starter, get injured after a few poor showings, and Peterman to come in & lead us to a winning record. If that happens, it will surely split the board in half.

Bill Belichick doesn't hate the Bills. He probably sees us as an unofficial bye week if anything. However, he definitely hates the Jets. There's a pretty bitter history there, from Spygate & Eric Mangini to those Rex Ryan lead Jet's teams. Hell, he even got hired there & quit just 4 hours after his first press conference being anointed the successor to Parcells.

No surprise there. He was one of the most talented & pro-ready QB's already, and someone I think the Bills would've snatched up had the Jets not pulled off that trade to move ahead of us to #3. Let's just hope he has a typical rough rookie year, as the following season & beyond he could turn into a beast.

That's preferrable to needing 3+ seconds to analyze and read the field, especially when you're going to get 2 at best on most snaps.

*David But yes, let's avoid that.

If that's the case, then the Bills are screwed. We always go for the "run-first" approach, coupled with a stout defense. Every offensive coordinator & HC that has come here the past decade+ has stated that was going to be their philosophy.

This is where I'm at too. Yes, neglecting the WR corps & O-line this offseason was a terrible mistake, especially considering we all knew they had been prepping for a new QB since day 1. You'd think they'd want to surround him with talent & have his protection be the #1 priority, but oh well, maybe next year. Regardless, they do have a plan in place, and next season we have our draft picks & more cap space, so Beane & McDermott should keep their job regardless of our W/L record.

He also says "If you put Peterman out there he might get killed, Josh Allen might have to play after two plays. Until they get the line better it doesn't really matter who's playing quarterback." Exactly...and who wants to see our rookie QB "get killed" before it's absolutely necessary? Has he ever heard of David Carr? There are countless other QB's that were thrown to the wolves & became completely ruined for doing so. I'd rather not watch our 1st round pick rack up 5+ sacks a game while running for his life.

Exactly. If you look at it this way, what player could you draft that would turn out better than Mack? Mack was named All-Pro at TWO positions in one year....how many prospects are really going to end up better than that? The Bills have a good history of signing DL/LB Free Agents, and Mack could be reminiscent of the Takeo Spikes impact, only better.

And I agree with that, but just remember that throughout the season when/if we start laying turds all over the field on offense. People have a way of getting worked up after actually witnessing the awful performances on field, and eventually just want the OC gone. Hell, remember last season on the boards? McDermott was being given a pass since we acknowledged we were starting over, and that he was likely just waiting until he could draft his QB & build a team around him. But even though he was making this thin roster over achieve, people were calling for not only the OC to be fired but McDermott as well! Even though we had a winning record.... That TNF Jets game & the Saints game lead to a lot of people going back on their free pass year for him.

For those who don't have time to watch the video: 10. Terrell Owens 9. London Fletcher 8. Mario Williams 7. Bryce Paup 6. Doug Flutie 5. Steve Christie 4. James Lofton 3. Kent Hull 2. Takeo Spikes 1. Ted Washington Good list, and good arguments made for all of them. But man, watching through this just reminds you how good a team we had with Wade Phillips. Really wish we could've made that work for longer.

Just preemptively stating for the record that although this is obviously a rebuilding year, fans will eventually blame the OC for our offense's failures, even though he may not have a prayer of running a successful offense with the talent & roster at his disposal. It happens nearly every year or two. The offense sucks, mainly due to lack of talent, bad QB's, and horrible execution (drives killed by penalties, dropped passes, balls being thrown 1 yard past the LOS on 3rd & 8 when there are open receivers, communication breakdowns, etc.), yet we act like it's the OC's fault for not miraculously overcoming these issues. Whether it's Nathaniel Hackett, Greg Roman or Rick Dennison, it's always them that get the axe...mainly because the coach needs a scapegoat & the fans want blood. With our patchwork O-line, least experienced QB unit in the league, 1 WR of note, and not-getting-any-younger RB, it's very likely we're in for a long year. But for whatever reason, fans will convince themselves the opposite, and that everyone else is just a hater (FYI, I'm not). Other fans will pretend to be realists, stating they understand these issues and expect us to have a rebuilding-type year with a losing record to reflect it. But after witnessing the actual losses on the field, will quickly jump on in anger & say "I figured we'd lose, but that play calling was awful!" or "that performance was even worse than expected, the OC has to go!" without realizing that the playcalling is what it is due to the issues the coaches KNOW they have. It very well may be a lot of run, run, pass, punt due to the limits of our QB behind this line, but will fans care? Nope. Just throwing this thread out there so people will either A) think about what's happening during the game and WHY it's happening before calling for the OC's head or B) remember we're going to go through growing pains, and the answer isn't always scrap the system each year.

Sadly, people forget he was even our starter for the snow game. And he threw 0 interceptions & a TD before getting injured late in the game. Wouldn't surprise me. He used to freak me out too. It's not like he ever had the greatest TD/INT ratio. I'm pretty sure he even threw more INT's than TD's (or broke even) several times in his career. But yeah, he turned out pretty decent too. 5 or 6 picks spread over 4 games wouldn't be nearly that bad, especially if he had a serviceable amount of TD's to go along with them. Especially when compared to 5 in one half...

I don't think anyone is judging Allen's readiness based on yesterday's game alone though... The coaches aren't that stupid, and if they are, it doesn't bode well for Allen ever panning out. If they're dumb enough to judge a QB on one single preseason game, how can they be smart enough to draft the right QB in the first place? Allen's readiness is based on his entire body of work, from before he came into the league up through camp & preseason. Through 3 games, he's completed 24/44 passes for 210 yards (54.5% Completions), Avg. 4.7 yards, with 2 TD's & 0 INT's. Completion percentage is his norm, while other numbers are a bit lower than you'd hope but he's raw & underdeveloped. The O-line is awful, even if people wanted to pretend it wasn't the entire offseason, so yes, it will be difficult for anyone to truly excel behind them. However, people always say "no QB could play well behind that O-line!" every time we get a new QB & they fail to produce. While they won't play as well as they could, it's silly to say nobody could have done well. Though they improved, it's not like the Browns & Bengals have top of the league defenses... When QB's like JP Losman, Kelly Holcomb, Trent Edwards, EJ Manuel, Tyrod Taylor, etc. got smashed around, their diehard supporters always blamed the O-line or OC rather than admit those QB's had a role in the problem. It's not Allen's fault he's not ready, again, everyone knew he was a risk & a project at the position. Expecting him to make some astronomical leap in his first couple months on an NFL roster is ridiculous. The guy wasn't considered anywhere close to "pro ready" like Rosen or Darnold, and he's never played with or against top level talent on a consistent basis. The guy needs time! And that's ok! Why people are so hellbent on rushing out & destroying the shiny new toy is beyond me. This is a true rebuilding year. Let Peterman or McCarron take the beatings & hope they perform admirably. If Peterman can play like he has been consistently, he can be successful like Chad Pennington was throughout his career. They're both smart, hard workers, quick learners, can read defenses, have good timing, yet are held back by their size & arm strength. Chad was still the best QB the Jets have had in decades, so if Peterman can perform even remotely similar, we may all be pleasantly surprised while Allen grows into the QB we want him to be

I mean this has been pretty obvious since the day he was drafted. It was always well known he was raw & a project QB, and the coaches knew this. It seems only the fans let themselves get too carried away with the idea, not the coaches. He was considered the "riskiest" QB in the draft for a reason, so to expect him to come out & overcome every issue he's ever had & definitely cruise away with the QB competition was putting unnecessary pressure on the guy. Let him learn, gain experience mentally & physically in practice, and develop & mature alongside his teammates in this system. We already broke the drought. Time to kick rebuilding into full gear for once and build a team that can last for a decade or more. And people had the nerve to say the offensive line wasn't that big an issue... Coincidentally, I'm watching The Office right now

The board has been filled with those people. After losing Glenn, Incognito, and Woods, you'd think people would automatically realize that we were going to regress significantly... But no, countless excuses & willfully ignorant posts always counter any discussion of the O-line issue, as people have convinced themselves that Josh Allen is just so good, the O-line won't even matter. As amazing as it was to break the playoff drought last season, most of the board members get pissy if you even suggest that we're not going to repeat this year, or mentioning that Josh Allen hasn't suddenly overcome the huge issues he's had his entire playing career in a handful of preseason games against backups & one month of camp.... You can't WISH the Bills into success, no matter how much you want. And just because you want to see the shiny new 1st round QB so bad, that's no reason to rush him out there to get destroyed. The Bills do not have a very good track record of developing QB's, nor do the fans have a good track record of supporting these guys for long. We send them into the meat grinder, spit em out the other side, call it a day & move on to the next one. Let's not risk ruining a potentially good thing with Allen unless we absolutely NEED him to play.

Exactly. Some of us just want the best possible outcome, and not see coaches double down on stupidity instead of making the right call just to protect their egos. Peterman has shown he's capable of handling himself in this offense, and even more importantly, SURVIVING behind our pathetic O-line. People seem to forget some key aspects of Allen before the draft even happen: He was the most raw and undeveloped QB of the "Big 4" (Mayfield, Rosen, Allen, Darnold) while also having his draft stock skyrocket based solely on POTENTIAL and LONGTERM development (hence the term "project" QB). His pros were his size, arm and athleticism....RARELY are those signs of a day-1 NFL starter. And when it comes to past performances, Allen had proven the absolute least. Through HS & College he's been the same person. He didn't throw a ton of TD's, he wasn't very accurate, he didn't "will" his team to victory time after time, he didn't rise up in big games, he didn't do well against good competition, he regressed his senior year statistically, he wasn't known for his ability to read a defense.... The guy has the tools, but he doesn't have the development to go with them. He CAN be molded into a great player, but why are we pretending he is someone different than who we drafted? How is he suddenly supposed to play better than he has in his entire life by playing against much stronger, faster, and more experienced competition? Because he's playing WITH our #1's? That would make sense if he was on some loaded roster, but he's not... It's like he's playing with the NFL's version of Wyoming-level talent while playing against the NFL's version of SEC defenses. Our O-line is going to get him crushed.

Awful. Clearly completion percentage doesn't matter. Nor do TD passes (as those are also completions). And being able to keep drives alive behind our crappy O-line? Not important...What's important is arm strength, and arm strength alone! As long as he can make a ridiculously hard pass once or twice a game, we can all say "oooooh, aaaaahhh" & be satisfied in our losses. At least that's the mindset I've noticed the past several weeks on here.

A D-minded coach that went into his first draft hellbent on acquiring picks for a QB of the future, then spent the rest of the season making cap room, acquiring more picks, and setting up the franchise for that QB... Then went into his 2nd off season focused on doing what it takes to trade up, again to draft a QB... Then, upon trading away our LT for a high pick, realizing "oh, our 2 other BEST O-linemen just left....now we have more holes....what have I been preparring for again? Oh right, a rookie QB. What does a rookie QB need? Protection? Ehhhh.....f*** it. Let's spend more picks on defense!" NOBODY is saying "ALL" needs to get done in one offseason, but surely, you're not stupid enough to think ignoring the MASSIVE O-line problem while simultaneously going all-in on a rookie QB since day-1 was a smart idea..... If you honestly believe ignoring the O-line, while the best players on our O-line leave, while planning to invest in a 1st round QB is a smart idea, you are absolutely insane.

If fans are still so delusional to think that Allen is ready to start after what we've seen with our O-line this preseason, they deserve the massive letdowns to come this season. I can easily see dozens of threads each week of fans whining about firing the HC or OC, or retroactively getting pissy about us not replacing our losses on the O-line, even though all off season they begged for Allen to start & made excuses as to why we'll repeat going to the playoffs.

No money? Where did all that money we gave to Star come from then? Thank god they spent a boatload on him to protect our huge investment at QB right? No? Well at least he's going to be a dominant force on defense right? Hmmm.... about that.... Ok, at least we used our other 1st round pick on someone who will help Allen right?! What? We used it on a 19 year old LB??? Ok....this is starting to look like we had options, but decided O-line wasn't the priority

I've only been talking about this all offseason...but this board seems to think you can throw in 5 scrubs to start as long as you have a 1st round QB behind your line. I really don't get why fans do this every year. Nobody cares about the O-line until they see how it gets us destroyed. Suddenly everyone cares when they realize our QB is getting smacked around week after week, our RB is getting stuffed in the backfield 1 second after the ball is snapped, and we start racking up loss after loss. It's happened so many times in the past 20 years, it blows my mind. I feel like Bills fans should be intimately acquainted with the importance of a good O-line at this point...especially after we've seen so many QB's get eaten alive behind such garbage ones. You're right, you can't. But since it was clear since the 2017 draft the Bill were loading up to take a QB in the 1st round, perhaps they should've spent some time planning on how to protect him as the #2 priority....

So what did we do schematically different against the Bengals? How much better did Allen look behind our first string O-line? Everyone keeps saying "just wait until he plays with the #1's! Then we can see how great he really will play!" But for anyone who isn't being biased or delusional, they can see our 1st stringers aren't world-beaters, and that we put him at a huge disadvantage by doing that! The fact that Peterman was able to at least utilize timing & accuracy to stay alive so far is impressive. As long as he can do that, he should be the one taking the beating until Allen is more developed.