VW82

I still have the game tape and there's nothing in that play which would suggest he got concussed. He saw Van Noy coming, turned and braced himself for the hit. His helmet did not bounce off the turf. I just watched this play like five times in a row to make sure. Ninkovic's knee grazes the side of his helmet when he flies by after the play is over but I'd be surprised if that's what did it. I'm not saying he wasn't or couldn't have been concussed on that play -- Morse had concussion-like symptoms from non-contact drills in training camp -- but there's no smoking gun there based on video evidence of the actual play. I suppose there's lots of evidence afterward depending how you want to view his performance.

The helmet to helmet part of it was flagged for unnecessary roughness. I'm not sure what else you expect the league to do unless you're advocating for completely removing hitting from the game. I have a feeling if it was Hide and Poyer hitting Lamar Jackson we'd be arguing the other side of it. Josh wasn't defenseless. His forward progress had not been stopped. He was not on the ground or still in the air after catching a pass. He was not being held up by a tackler. It was a bang, bang play. I think some of you guys are being a little unrealistic about how fast the game moves and how little time there is for players to adjust. Josh got hit twice in the span of less than a second -- the first one changed his momentum and the angle of impact of the second hit. It really was bad luck more than anything.

Absolutely not. For starters, our WR group is fine. We already have the exact type of receivers Josh needs to succeed (i.e. quick, shifty guys who know how to get open so he doesn't have to make as many anticipation throws or always throw with precision). Zay is a problem but Foster can step in if things don't improve. Also, we don't really know whether Josh is going to work out at this stage. We hope he will. Many believe he will, but we don't know for sure. You don't trade high draft picks to go get that one last guy until you're sure you have the right infrastructure in place. We might need to trade for a QB in the off season for all we know. Let's give this team more time to show their true colours before mortgaging our future to pay for a present that might not be realistic.

NE probably has the best secondary in the league but if we're being honest a lot of the mistakes made on Sunday were self-imposed. It wasn't just the INTs either. Allen was just missing guys both due to inaccuracy and because he was often throwing to the wrong guy when we had other receivers who were wide open. It was just an ugly day. Might be time to move on from this topic. Josh will bounce back eventually.

We're up to second in least amount of yards allowed per game. Apologize to Barnwell.

On the plus side, I bet Singletary is back for this one.

Yeah, no. I will admit that the Feliciano-Ford-Smith combo on the right is a problem in pass protection. We look much better with Nsekhe in there. @ Titans will be very telling. They have an excellent Dline and Barkley is the opposite of mobile. My sense of it is we have too many plays where it's taking too long to get the ball out. If it's really just the line's fault then Barkley will be in for a long day.

I'll bite. He's tantalizing and seemingly a good kid, and that gives me hope. We forget just how few games Allen's played with actual NFL coaching and talent around him. It takes time to unlearn all those bad habits and form new ones in their place. I agree with you -- Allen is holding the offense/team back. There have been way too many mistakes and he's been rather lucky that more of them didn't come back to bite us vs. Jets and Bengals. We easily could be 1-3. I was ready to move on after the game yesterday but it's probably still too soon. I think we need to give him this year (and risk blowing a chance at making the playoffs) to find out 100% that he can't do it. Right now I'm at 90%. But he's the QB of the Bills -- someone we gave up the farm for -- and should be given every opportunity to hang himself. Hopefully he gets a chance to sit out for a game or two and reassess like last year. Sometimes watching = learning. In short, hope comes from the combination of his undeniable talent + much steeper learning curve.

It would appear the NFL and others around the league didn't see it the same way as fans did in the game thread. Big surprise. Have to say I agree with Brady on this one. It's a rough and tumble league and guys are going to hit you if you're running/diving head first for first downs. The flag was appropriate (because intent doesn't matter when it's helmet to helmet). Not ejecting the defender was appropriate. Have to be smarter.

Excellent post. This mirrors my thoughts exactly. Pretending like it's just about one bad game is missing the point.

It’s not that simple though. Eventually his incredible luck when it comes to fumble recoveries, dropped/reversed INTs, etc., is going to flip. The fact is Josh isn’t protecting the football. He can continue improving in all the other areas we’ve all been discussing since last year but if he keeps giving the other teams so many chances at takeaways it isn’t going to work. Also, compare his TOV% to those other guys not just raw numbers with no context. It’s not close.

Week 1: D+ Week 2: A Week 3: C- Week 4: F-

Any observations on the first half fumble that we miraculously recovered? Edit: I'm going out on a limb that Zay won't be on the team next year.

I agree our ST coach should take considerable blame as well. Maybe Dimarco is so poorly coached he doesn't have the freedom to adjust the line. Every team in the league should just overload one side from now on because we obviously have no answer for it.

I am blaming Dimarco -- I mean sure, he made the right decision once the ball was snapped -- but he's the team captain; isn't he supposed to know when we aren't in alignment to block, especially when it happens right in front of him and it's blatantly obvious they had a free man?? I completely disagree that the snap is the main reason the kick was blocked. It was blocked because they had a free rush at Bojo.

Sure but it should have been clear pre-snap that one of the Pats rushers would be uncovered. We had multiple guys lined up inside. Am I to believe that when that happens there's no recourse? We're just screwed? I'd rather take the penalty trying to communicate the mismatch and adjusting formation than let a free rusher in and hoping he doesn't get there before we get the punt off.

He does some good things out there and it would be a mistake IMO to assume that we won't see him deliver another "A" performance before too long, but yes, he's erratic. The part that bugged me the most today was him losing composure. His best quality is his self-confidence. We watched him lose that today and come unglued. It's concerning.

Our ST are a disaster, particularly the punting unit. I never understand why guys don't adjust formation when they see multiple free rushers. That goes for offense and special teams. Dimarco just sat there doing nothing. He's the special teams caption. McD is on year three of not getting this right. It's clearly a big weakness.

He had four TOVs and at least two more almost / should-have-been TOVs (i.e. called back INT, dropped INT) vs. Jets, and we scored only 17 points vs. a bottom 10 defense. He was ineffective for half the game vs. Bengals a bottom 5 defense, and we only scored 21 in that one. He was very good vs. Giants, also a bottom 5 defense. He was brutal today. 3/4. I'm such a huge Bills homer that I post on a message board dedicated to the team. I wouldn't ever come here and accuse someone of not watching the games. No offense, but that's really dumb. Nothing wrong with being an Allen homer but do you seriously disagree that he's had a rough start to the year? I'm legitimately asking.

Coming into the season I wouldn’t have thought so either but Josh has been bad in three of the four games to start the year. This isn’t just about one game. IMO it’s probably too early to pull the plug but it’s no longer too early to start having the convo.

Agreed but at the same time we should probably give him props for a terrific defensive game plan. We made Brady look awful today.

Think it might be time to move on from the comp% trope and start talking about more pressing issues, like is Allen still the right guy to lead this team moving forward? RE his place in the hierarchy of QB stats I’m pretty sure his passer rating and QBR through four games is going to be at or near the bottom of the league, and that’s despite playing three of the weakest teams in the NFL.

I thought he was poor in the Jets and Cinci games as well. He’s one for four to start the year. You’re probably right that it’s too soon to make a change though we may get to see extended time with Barkley regardless. That was a hell of a hit Josh took.

Hate to say it but it might be time to move on from Allen. This team is really good and Barkley can at least get us to the playoffs. Josh has had two off seasons, two training camps, two preseasons, and 16 games. He’s been erratic at best but today was the first time I started to question his mental toughness. This game reminded me of the Peterman five picks game in that Josh got so far into his own head that he couldn’t execute the most basic tasks required by an NFL QB. You have to be able to move on to the next play. So much of what happened today he did to himself, and that’s the worst part of it.

At least we know we're good. Maybe we can sign a replacement level QB off the street tomorrow and improve the offense. Everyone else seems to be doing their jobs.