Motorin'

It would have put the Bills in a 56 yard field goal range. But there's no way they allow Allen to complete that play without ruling him sacked is Singletary catches the ball and runs for 20 yards. How can you blame Singletary and not Dawkins? This is what our LT was doing on the play when the LB blitzed his gap:

This play has stuck in my head as one of another BS calls. To be fair, the worst part of the play is the atrocious play of Dawkins completely missing, like not even seeing the LB blitzing right past his left shoulder. How is Singletary the one to get called out for his blocking on this when Lee Smith and Dawkins let both of their men run right past them? Like, wtf is Dawkins doing? In any event, when the two edge rushers wrap Josh up, the ball is at the 39 yard line. He's clearing in the grasp and his forward progress is stop. The NFL rule book states "The Referee must blow the play dead as soon as the passer is clearly in the grasp and control of any tackler behind the line, and the passer's safety is in jeopardy.” But Josh gets pushed back 4 yards in the grasp of 3 players, is falling to the ground vertically before the ball comes out. There's no world in which the interpretation of the NFL rules allows there defenders to grasp a QB, drive him backwards 12 feet, and that still be a live ball. Josh in the grasp of 2 defenders at the 39 & 1/2: Josh in the grasp of 3 defenders at the 43:

Stopped the clock without a penalty, saving 20 seconds when there was only a minute left. I just watched that play where Songletary doesn't pick up the blitz and Josh gets an intentional grounding penalty. Mostly because I wanted to know how 3 Texans had Allen wrapped up and falling vertical, pushing him back 3 yards, but there was no "in the grasp" call. What I was shocked to see was Dawkins compeletly ignore Mericlous. He may have even brushed Dawks shoulder on the way by, and he didn't even look at him. Like he just let the edge rusher past and he kept he hands up pointing them at empty air with no one to block. He didn't even turn his head to acknowledge his presence. I'm stupified.

Aside from the water bottle weirdness, did everyone else know Tom Donahoe is their director of player personnel?

Yeah, but Buffalo Bill was a cowboy, so there's that. I realized this a long time ago, but it struck as very weird that our team is named after a guy who got famous for murdering the animal our city is named after.

Maybe Jamie Collins is a perfect fit? I'm big on the idea of signing guys that make us better while subtracting from NE. That's been a clear Belichick strategy for almost 2 decades now.

I think they went to Gore out of fear. They took the conservative approach, believing they can trust the vet more with ball security. I also think that's why they went conservative at points with the lead during the season, fear of Allen turning it over-- more so that a hardened conservative philosophy.

Imagine for a second signing Kyle Van Noy to replace Zo, how much that would simultaneously improve our defense while hurting New England's.

It is was a catachable ball, and he didn't need to hop to make the catch. But the cb is trailing and Brown has a clear TD if it's a touch pass leading him into the end zone. Josh threw a Lazer to the sideline instead.

Yes there is. An illegal forward pass results in a 5 yard penalty from the spot of the ball. Any offensive penalty that would result in the ball being spoted beyond the goal line results in a safety. So the correct move when a player doesn't down it and throws the ball at the ref is for the ref to throw a flag and make a safety sign. That would be the biggest dick move ever though, if you think about it.

as opposed to Jerry.

This guy seems to play with the intensity of Jerry Hughes, and has the respect of the officials. https://www.jaguars.com/video/mic-d-up-yannick-ngakoue

He has 4 years of experience not 3, registering 8, 12, 9.5 and 8 sacks in his first four years.

Nope, me either. but I did vote for "The Tackle."

I really liked the way he graphed the route concepts and then provided the video of the full play. I don't necessarily agree with all of the commentary, but the format is interesting and allowed me to see Josh's footwork, vision and read progressions from a view I haven't been privy to before. I guess my take aways are that I'm a little more concerned now that I have been before with the fluidity of Josh's mechanics in terms of being able to adjust and be ready to hit the right route as it comes open in a quick and decisive manner. His footwork never looked "slow" to me until watching the All 22 perspective and having the route concepts charted out at the moment of the snap like Madden play art. I still believe in Josh, and up to this point assumed that all of his improvements would be in the mental processing of the game. Things still need to slow down for him, and he needs to work on his mechanics and become more fluid. From the All 22 perspective it does look like he's putting himself in position to miss some open throws do to his drop back and foot work simply taking too long and being slightly awkward, resulting in him not being in the right "ready" position to make the throw when it needs to come out. Hoping to see better performance next season. Also open to the possibility that he may take a step backwards before it all comes together.

Since we're making up hypothetical guaranteed options, I'll trade Josh Allen for Clark Kent who will score ever time he has the ball and intercept every pass and fly it back into the enzone for a TD.

I think that's right, but he also has to communicate what to do and not do if the play he called isn't going to work.

Still, that's 70 drops vs. 105 drops over 1000 targets.

That, and the helmet to helmet 2 plays earlier. And the no holding on a half dozen plays I saw Jordan Phillips or Jerry Hughes get tackled. And also, how the hell is it possible intentional grounding when 3 defenders have moving Allen back 5 yards and have him vertical falling on his ass. That's an in the grasp sack if one ever existed.

I bet the Bills can save some money by letting Tre walk and coaxing Chris Watson out of retirement for veteran minimum. Cash to cap baby! Ralph is cheap....

I like Duke, and thought he should have been on the field way early in the year. I don't know if DK makes that catch or not, nobody does. But that's like saying a QB who played 2 games and threw 2 picks is turning the ball over at roughly the same rate as a QB who throws 7 picks in 16 games.

No dawg. Though it's a small sample size, Duke's averaging 10.5 drops per 100. 10.5 - 7 = 3.5 So I was wrong. That 50% more drops. 3.5 / 7 = .5

You realize that's a 30% higher drop rate for Duke, right?

It definitely went forward.

A Safety is the correct call. Not because it was recovered. You can not recover an illegal forward pass. It's a dead ball... It's a safety because the illegal forward pass happened in the end zone. SECTION 29 SAFETY It is a Safety if the spot of enforcement for a foul by the offense is behind its own goal line, or if the ball is dead in possession of a team on or behind its own goal line when the impetus (3-17) comes from the team defending that goal line. I didn't think it was either. I assumed a defense could recover a forward lateral like a fumble. But the NFL rule book says that an illegal forward pass is a dead ball if it hits the ground and results in a 5 yard penalty from the spot of the illegal forward pass.