Inigo Montoya

Nice write up as usual Shaw. Until last year's Josh Allen shows up, I just don't think we are legit Super Bowl contenders. We can keep piling up wins with defense and a sputtering offense, but when the time comes to play playoff football we are not going to beat the Chiefs, Rams, Bucs, and maybe even the Browns without an elite QB. It is still early in the season and there is time for Josh to come around. The problem is that Mahomes, Brady, Lamar, Stafford, and even Mayfield are looking to be in midseason form already. What's different with Josh? I just don't know. Let's hope it gets figured out quickly. Washington is going to be a big test for this offense next week.

Hey B.B. I could have condensed my OP down to one sentence; "Until last year's Josh Allen shows up, I don't think the Bills are legit Super Bowl contenders." That's the crux of it. It doesn't matter how much we beat the Dolphins by in Week 2. We aren't going to compete with the Chiefs, Browns, Rams, and Bucs if we don't have elite Josh Allen on our team. We could win 10-12 games and make the playoffs playing this style of ball if our defense continues to dominate, but I don't think we can win a Super Bowl, and that is where this franchise is right now. Every season is Super Bowl or bust. A couple of posters here have argued that with a regular off season this year defenses are ahead of offenses and that imbalance will lessen as we get further into the season. That's a fair argument to make, but Mayfield, Brady, Mahomes, and Stafford are all playing great to start the season. Look at Lamar's performance last night too. I still believe that Josh will figure things out. I'm a huge Josh Allen guy. I don't believe that last year was a flash in the pan for Josh. One thing is certain, if we can combine last year's Josh Allen with this year's defense, the Bills will be a juggernaut. Until last year's Josh Allen does shows up, I'm going to remain "unsettled" for lack of a better word. 🍻

If you ever needed an example of how stats can be deceiving, here are Epenesa's stats for the Miami game; 1 Tackle and 2 QB hits. If you were to look at that stat line you would think Epenesa had a pretty pedestrian game. Those stats don't tell the story though. Epenesa was killing the Phins all day. He knocked out Tua on a clean hit. He was routinely getting into the back field today and disrupting the Dolphins passing game. On one of Rousseau's sacks Epenesa drove Brissett right into Rousseau's arms. A.J. is getting off the snap so much faster than he did last season and getting around the corner on speed rushes and into the pocket. If A.J. continues to play like this he could end up with 10 sacks this year. Epenesa, Oliver, Zimmer, and Rousseau could end up being really scary.

Delicate nasty nancies leaking into their panties! LOL! 😃 I'm glad they won and it was fantastic to see the defense swarm the Phins and crush them today. I'm just waiting for the Josh Allen from last season to show up. Until that happens, I'm not going to feel good about this team being a legit Super Bowl contender. 🍻

Fair point J.B.

This team will go as far as Josh Allen can take it. When he came in for those couple of series in the last preseason game it looked like he would start the season without any rust to knock off. I'm as big of a Bills' homer as any here, but it's hard to ignore that Josh just isn't playing very well right now. Admittedly, he set the bar pretty high last season and if he were to have a little bit of regression this year I wouldn't be too upset. After all, he had an MVP level season last year. At this point though he has regressed more than a little bit. I'm not sure what the issue is. The entire offense is just out of sync right now. From Daboll to the O-Line to Josh and his WRs, it's just not clicking yet. Things won't get any easier next week. That Washington defense is tough and they can get after the QB. If Josh and the offense can find their rhythm and keep the defense playing at this level, the Bills are going to be very formidable. Let's hope things start to click for the offense soon. It's really strange to watch the Bills win 35-0 and feel unsettled about it.

It's been a long time since we've seen a TD run like that from a Bills RB.

If Singletary stays healthy and plays well, Brieda will be the #2. If Singletary goes down I think they bring in Moss as the #1 and Brieda will remain the speed / change of pace back.

Singletary has looked so good in the preseason it isn't that much of a shock. Moss and Singletary have the same skill set. Brieda brings the speed.

Hell, the stands might empty too. 😳

Here's a link to a Steeler's fan message board thread about the Bills game. Pretty level headed discussion. Consensus is that it will be a long day for the Steelers in Orchard Park. http://www.planetsteelers.com/forums/showthread.php/51461-A-Look-Ahead-to-BUF The way I see this game is that if Pittsburgh wins we're going to have to see a historic, jaw dropping NFL debut from Najee Harris. If he can put up 200 all purpose yards and 3 TDs on our defense, they have a shot. Otherwise, I think the Steelers defense is just going to be outgunned without Tuit, and with TJ Watt in questionable football shape. Combine that with a statue-like Big Ben behind what will likely be one of the worst O-Lines in football this year, and I think there is some money to be made taking the Bills minus 6.5

The Bills finished at or near the top in almost every meaningful offensive category last year with minimal contributions from the TE position. It's clear that Daboll doesn't need a premier TE to make this offense click. I'm surprised by the Hollister cut too, but we still have the best WR corps in the NFL and a QB who can throw the ball to any spot on the field, on pace, on time. I'll trust Beane and Co. on this one.

RB Kerrith Whyte WR Rico Gafford WR Tanner Gentry WR Lance Lenoir WR Brandon Powell WR Duke Williams TE Jacob Hollister TE Bug Howard OG Jamil Douglas OG Steven Gonzalez OG Forrest Lamp OL Jack Anderson OL Caleb Benenoch OL Tyler Gauthier OL Marquell Harrell OL Syrus Tuitele DL Eli Ankou DT Joey Ivie LB Tyrell Adams LB Mike Bell CB Tim Harris S Tariq Thompson Latest list from NFL.com https://www.nfl.com/news/player-cuts-tracker-nfl-teams-53-man-rosters-for-2021-season

This is Bill doing his best Cortez impersonation and burning his ships after he arrived in the New World. There will be no QB controversy now. The whole team will be forced to rally behind Jones. Bill knew they weren't going anywhere with Cam under center. They might win more games with Cam this season, but not enough to make a real run. He pushed all his chips in on the rookie. It was a smart move.

Gabe Davis has been going to work everyday sitting in WR rooms learning from Stephon Diggs, John Brown, Cole Beasley, and Emmanuel Sanders. Brian Daboll is his OC. He has Josh Allen slinging him the rock. There isn't a young WR in the NFL in a better situation than he is.

There are going to be three or four players off this roster that Beane trades or cuts who end up starting on other teams this season. The Bear's commentators mentioned it during the preseason telecast, teams are going to be circling the Bills cut downs to grab players this year. Kudos to Beane for putting together such a great roster.

Fitz should get a bust in the HOF when he retires. There are many ways to quantify football greatness, not all of them have to do with numbers.

Watching Bills training camp on NFL Network right now, 10:16 EST.

She's part of the family now. Welcome to Bills' Mafia Cynthia! 👩‍💻

I agree that this is the year for someone to step up and make some noise on the D-line. We have Oliver, Obada, Epenesa, Basham, and Rousseau. If just one of those five can round into a dominant pass rusher then this Bills' roster is complete.

https://theathletic.com/2747220/2021/08/04/ranking-every-nfl-defense-from-1-to-32-going-into-the-2021-season/ This article came out 4 days ago in The Athletic. The Athletic is a subscription service that I think is the best in the business and the only content I pay for except for the Buffalo News online service. They believe the Bills' defense is going to make a jump this year and return more to form with previous seasons; 7. Buffalo Bills Last season: 12th There’s reason to believe the Bills can take a step forward from where they were last year. Sean McDermott and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier have a knack for maximizing the talent available to them. Last year, linebacker Matt Milano played just 31 percent of the snaps because of injury, and defensive tackle Star Lotulelei opted out. Both players are back in 2021. Buffalo has spent four first- or second-round picks on defensive linemen in the past three years. Between Ed Oliver, A.J. Epenesa, Gregory Rousseau and Carlos Basham, they’ve given themselves options up front. And Buffalo finished second in pass rush win rate last season. From a scheme perspective, the Bills are going to be zone-heavy and play a lot of Cover-3 (a three-deep zone with four underneath defenders) and Cover-4 (a four-deep zone with three underneath defenders). They need to figure out the corner spot opposite Tre’Davious White but have strong safeties in Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer. Among the 12 Bills defensive players who logged at least 400 snaps last year, 11 are back. Overall, this a well-coached group that has upside if some young players emerge. The Bills' offense averaged 29.9 points per game last year, 3rd best in the league. The defense allowed 23.3 points per game on average which was 16th best in the NFL. Even if the Bills' offense take a small step backwards this season from their sensational 2020 campaign, if the defense can regain some of their swag I think it will end up being a net positive for the team overall. One of the things I'm most interested to see is how our defense matches up against the Patriots this year. Belichick looks like he is trying to recreate his 2011 offense that featured Gronk and Aaron Hernandez by bringing in Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry. They can both catch and they're solid blockers so it will be hard to read whether they are setting up to run or pass. The Pats also have a great O-line and enter the season with a consensus top 5 unit. We should continue to see them field a run heavy offense this season. They'll likely spend most of their offensive snaps in 12 personnel, 1 RB, 2 TE, and 2 WR. This should help mask the Pats' weakness at WR. If the Bills bring in more heavies to stop the run they can audible at the line and switch to a passing play targeting either or both of their releasing TEs, and vice versa if the Bills bring in more DBs. One of the Bills' big weaknesses on defense the last few years has been stopping the run. The Bills have followed the NFL trend of fielding lighter and faster LBs that can drop into coverage and get into passing lanes at the expense of fielding more traditional run stopping thumpers. Staying in 12 personnel on most snaps should help Newton and Mac Jones too. They can make an easy pre-snap read on what defense the Bills have out there and only throw against the heavier run stopping defensive fronts increasing the likelihood of an easy completion. It should be an interesting chess match between Belichick and McDermott / Frazier this season. As The Athletic article notes above, hopefully the return of Star will clog up the middle of the line and provide a boost to our run defense and a healthy Milano (fingers crossed) will be a difference maker against the run and in the coverage of Henry and Smith. It's usually nice to catch the Pats early in the season because they typically get off to a slow start. This year we won't face them until Week 12, but that should give McDermott and Frazier plenty of film to study on the Pats' new offense. It's anyone's guess who will be their QB by that time. The Pats have a late bye week this season, Week 13 right after we play them, so that shouldn't factor into a QB change prior to the Bills playing them. If our defense can regain some of their form and our offense can stand pat, or only take a small step backwards in efficiency, the Bills' are going to be even more scary in 2021 than they were last season.

I've spent a lot of time over the last 24 hours skulking around the message boards of the Jets, Browns, Ravens, and Pats reading what they thought about the extension. There were a few who thought it was a good signing, but the overwhelming majority believed it was a terrible decision by the Bills. The opinion repeated over and over on those boards was that Allen only played one good season and he really isn't as good as he played last year. There are two reasons why I believe Josh Allen isn't a "one hit wonder". I think they are probably the same reasons why the Pegulas and McBeane felt comfortable hitching the future of this franchise to Josh Allen yesterday. The first reason is that last year's "break out" season for Josh Allen, while surprising to many in the League, was not as surprising to those of us who have watched every snap of Josh Allen's career. Josh has always suffered from what I consider lazy journalism in the national sports media. No one really watched his games, they just looked at the box scores and focused on Josh's early Hero Ball moments and that became the Josh Allen narrative. It's the same narrative that these other fan bases have heard repeatedly and now believe. The critics and pundits looked at Josh's rookie year stats and the Bills missing the playoffs and saw a horrible season for Josh, just like they predicted. Those of us who actually watched the games know the only reason the BIlls managed to win any games that year was because Josh put that terrible offense on his back and willed them to win. He was the entire offense that year. During Josh's second season those same pundits saw the BIlls lose the Houston Wild Card game and looked at Josh's season stats and walked away thinking Josh was still a bust. He had a completion percentage below 60% and you couldn't be a franchise QB if you weren't accurate or played Hero Ball all the time. Those of us who actually watched the games saw Josh improve in every single facet of his game that season. Not only did his numbers improve, but we discovered that Josh was clutch. Third and longs weren't automatic punts anymore. Down a score in the 4th Quarter? No worries... just give the ball back to Josh and he is going to find a way to score. He had the most game winning drives in the League that year. We saw that Josh had that "it factor" that all the greats possess. Fast forward to last season when Josh blew up and had his breakout season. Those of us who watched Josh closely thought a season like that was definitely possible where most everyone else still thought that Josh Allen was a bust. That's why even today people say that it was Stefon Diggs that made Josh last year, or that the entire season was just a fluke. I disagree. The 2020 season was a huge leap forward for Josh Allen, no argument from me, but it didn't come out of nowhere. It was the culmination of the previous two seasons where Josh kept getting better and better. The reason it caught NFL pundits by surprise is because they just weren't paying attention to Josh before. Last season wasn't a "one hit wonder" for Josh, it was just the next step in the development of a naturally gifted QB who was determined to be the best. The second reason why I don't think last year was a "one hit wonder" season for Josh is that he has the character traits a person needs to be very successful. He has a great work ethic, he is mature, and he is mentally tough. That's a powerful combination in someone who is determined to be the best. Josh grew up a farm kid, and like most farm kids, he learned at an early age how to work hard. He has continued to work every off season to improve his game. Is there anyone on TBD who thinks that if Josh Allen wins the Super Bowl this year that he won't be right back to work next off season trying to improve his game even more? He has the work ethic to become great. I don't think he is the type of person who will ever rest on his laurels or feel like he has finally "arrived". Josh's maturity makes him incredibly even keeled. He doesn't allow the game to get him too high or too low. He is the same person in every post game press conference. They can win by 20 and the first thing he talks about is that he could have played better. They can lose by 20 and he takes all the blame on his shoulders, even is he wasn't the reason the team lost. Have you ever seen a Baker Mayfield press conference after a loss? He sits there and sulks like a 12 year old who just got grounded. If you're going to be an NFL franchise QB, you'd better have the maturity to roll with the punches and manage the ups and downs that are going to come your way. I think Josh has that. The last important trait Josh has is mental toughness. We all know Josh's JUCO story by now and I'm not going to rehash it. It's obvious that Josh has always been behind the 8 ball leading up to his NFL career. Even when he was finally considered a top NFL QB prospect coming out of Wyoming, he endured a level of scorn and ridicule that I just don't remember any other QB prospect receiving. It only got worse after the Draft. The criticism from pundits and the media was nasty, unrelenting, and personal. It was so bad that I actually felt bad for Josh's parents. In the face of that mountain of negative pressure Josh never blinked. He didn't crumble under the ridicule, he shut out the noise and kept grinding. The NFL and the media weren't too big for him. He has shown that he can manage the mental rigors of being a franchise QB. He's not going to crumble like Wentz did. That's why I think last year wasn't just a "one hit wonder". Josh is going to continue to improve like he has each season he has played. He isn't going to suddenly become lazy and soft and complacent. If Josh can stay healthy and Beane continues to put a reasonable roster around him, I'd be shocked if Josh Allen and the Bills don't win a Super Bowl in the next three years. I don't think this contract is a mistake, I think it is a harbinger of great things to come.

This extension kicks in after the next two seasons are finished, meaning Allen is still playing under his year four rookie contract terms this year, and the terms of the 5th year option next year. The total compensation for Allen over the next 8 years is $288 million, or an average of $36 million a year. If I had predicted at the end of last season that the Bills were going to lock up Josh Allen for the next 8 years at an average of $36 million a year, I would have been ridiculed. Nice work Beane!

The governor could use some good news. Meeting with Terry and Kim to work on a stadium might bolster his support in WNY. There’s not a politician in this country above handing out other people’s money to buy some friends when their back is up against the wall. That’s how the game is played. If daycare is infrastructure, surely a football stadium is too.... 🤔

Alex Van Pelt was a fantastic hire for the Browns, no argument there. I think he does deserve a lot of credit for the improved play of Baker last year. The fact remains that Van Pelt is someone the team brought in to help Baker. Baker didn't spend a month of his off season working with his own QB coach doing everything he could to get better like Allen did again this off season. There's an article in the Buffalo News today that said Allen spent the last 28 days before the start of training camp in California working with Jordan Palmer on his game. I'd be curious to know what Baker Mayfield was doing during that time. Josh Allen has an internal drive to constantly get better. Baker Mayfield showed up as a rookie and thought he had already arrived, as evidenced by the quote I cited in the OP. It's just a different mindset that the two QBs have, and I think that mindset helps Allen and hurts Mayfield. 🍻