WideNine

Allen is just so us.... I am sure it was posted elsewhere, but his, "how many times do we have to score?" after the refs erased another TD from the scoreboard was classic 🤣🤣🤣🤣

More work to do...

It's fine. Knox has been inconsistent, but he made plenty of great plays today. Hope he can string a bunch of these games together, find his game and confidence, and improve on the blocking. I want him to succeed almost as much as I just want to see the Bills with an impact TE for Allen. I hope he is the guy.

WoooooHooo!!!! GO BILLS

Tre stinger... what I heard.

I lived there for many years so kind of followed them as an NFC team of interest. I felt they somewhat mirrored my Bills SB frustrations - having lost four of them (mercifully, not in a row). Hard to live in an area immersed in a team other than your home team and not learn a thing or two about them. Always wanted to see them play each other in a SB as one of them would finally break free from their bleak legacy. Met Gannon back when my kid played ball. Nice guy, came to his HS and signed stuff and actually took some time to listen and talk with our young players hoping to beat the odds and make it big someday. Told them to prioritize school as it was a narrow path to the pros and that is only if your luck holds and you stay healthy. That, and there is life after a player hangs up their cleats... have to prepare for that too.

This. Allen still has a penchant for trying for that home run when a move-the-chains option is available. As long as teams are bringing the house and playing a mix of man and zone, there will be gaps near the sticks and if a defender misses there are long-gainers for the taking. It's ok to remind teams that the kill shot is there, but job numero uno is to keep moving the sticks and score. Allen has gotten much better at his short game and utilizing his outlet receivers. Also, if he hits the shallow routes enough then defenders are susceptible to the double move and kill shot.

I did say that they have worked some of their drafted QBs behind center, and specifically called out Bridgewater taken 32nd overall. The point was that they have a history of investing in veterans at the position. For every Tarvaris, Culpepper, and Ponder, there has been a Kirk Cousins, a Sam Bradford, Brett Favre, Gus Ferotte, Randall Cunningham, Jeff George, Sean Salisbury, Moon, etc.. Gannon does not really fit here - but he did come from a NE trade - but they did not develop or recognize his skillset and were trying to convert him to a RB.

That reminds me of the model that the Vikings have gone with for years. They have historically gone after veterans to plug into their QB position and then tried to build around them. They have worked a few of their draftees behind center, but I think overall their history is more littered with journeymen and like the Bills they tapped the CFL a few times. Teddy Bridgewater was an aberration where it looked like they had a hit pay dirt with the 32nd overall pick after two years of solid play, but then the injury... Then they went back to paying (over-paying) for a veteran QB with Cousins. Overall, I think they have been able to stay fairly competitive with that model and have come close a few times, but the jury is still out on whether that model works better than investing and grooming your own franchise QB. Not sure it is the wrong move in hindsight as the Bills struggled for years trying to draft the right QB and we had some pretty solid defenses over that span. The argument could be made that just having a solid vet backed up by some of those better defenses would have helped us be more competitive. We did have the Bledsoe experiment, and then Flutie, and lastly Fitz. We have never had a physical talent quite like Allen, not sure where this kid's ceiling is, but I don't think he is quite there yet and that is the scary-good part of watching his growth. A lot of things have to come together the right way at the right time for a team to even make it to the big show, but teams have won it all with QBs who are game managers or backups who were tapped to play for injured starters. I am not in a hurry to see teams like Denver or the Jets figure out their QB situation... perfectly fine with them spinning their wheels for a decade or two. Glad we found ours.

Tim Graham has a good article that explains just how good that last drive against Pittsburgh was. "The Bills, however, drained every second to complete the NFL’s longest end-of-game drive this season by 51 seconds and one of the five longest against a playoff team in the 21st century. Buffalo’s offense maintained possession so long that Pittsburgh would have found a touchdown or field goal borderline merciful. “I loved it. I loved it,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said. “I don’t care if you’re a pass-first guy or a run-first guy. That’s just fun to watch right there...”" The Athletic requires a membership if you would like to read more - not sure I should replicate the entire article, but a good read. https://theathletic.com/2264834/2020/12/16/bills-steelers-fourth-quarter-drive/

There was more than a bit of homerism in that video and he did ignore Allen's rushing TDs, and the work Allen put in himself both during the season and offseason to correct flaws in his game and mechanics. I always thought Allen had a higher ceiling, and that has never changed as he simply has rare physical abilities. I also believe with better coaching and support Darnold could salvage his career with probably another team that could bring him along slowly, and support him. The league and its history are littered with QBs that found more success after failing with their 1st team. This is all conjecture, but hard to toss the 3rd overall pick after he fails under a coach that has not proven he can lead a team or a QB not named Manning to success.

If you watched the video that was the year that Darnold showed promise. So... I am kind of done with your business.

How am I making excused for Sam Darnold. Is it not possible that both he and Gase suck separately or suck when combined. I was only pointing out the fact that Gase has sucked the life out of two teams where he has been the HC. I just believe that it is hard to lay all that team dysfunction at the feet of a kid fresh out of college.

This team with a healthy Smoke is just that much more dangerous... hope we can gradually bring him up to full speed. Last thing we want is to rush him and lose him for the post season. The Bills can still win without him, but he is definitely a player that increases those odds.

I think Gase does alright with established QBs, and most coaches would, but he is no QB whisperer. Would you really want Gase to develop your shiny new rookie QB - honestly? Flacco was a 1st round pick in 2008 and has been in the league for 12 years so I would not be in a rush to attribute any better play from an established veteran at the QB position to anything Gase is doing better. That, and although Flacco may be putting up better numbers, the Jets are still pumping out the losses each week.

We are a better team with Milano, no question, but I agree with most of the responses here. Protecting Josh is first and foremost, and keeping guys around that can stay healthy is an important part of Beane's evaluation I am sure. Diggs and Allen seem like a combination you would want to keep intact for a while, but the Bills may have to get pretty creative with the numbers Diggs is piling up. And I too, would not relish having to make some of those decisions that Beane has to make, but there are times the Bills have had to let good players walk and they go on to have success elsewhere so no hard feelings.

I agree with him about coaching and FO personnel decisions. Gase is in Miami, Miami is a hot mess. They shake things up, Gase leaves, Brian Flores comes in and within two seasons their new coach and organization has the team playing competitive football. Gase comes to NJ and their Jets and within the same span of time has them playing the worst football in the league... so there is something to the argument about having the right supporting organization. Does anyone see Gase landing anywhere in the NFL after this last gig? He needs to slink under some rock in the NCAA and hope that the stink wears off in a few decades.

Chris seemed a bit reluctant to give Williams his due against Watt. Certainly Watt demanded attention, but I do think Williams did enough to keep him in check. If anything Heyward was the biggest headache earlier where for some reason we were not doubling him regularly. When the Bills put more bodies on Heyward, the pocket was not collapsing into Allen's lap and he had just enough space to operate that short passing game. That, and I think that Allen was adjusting to their blitz-heavy scheme and started to get a feel for where the holes were. Credit to Pittsburgh as I thought we could catch them with some screens, but they were well-coached and diagnosed those quickly and either blew those up, or on one Allen had to dirt it in the direction of our RB. We may have still been able to catch them with some draw plays, but not complaining just thinking out loud on the best ways to negate teams that rush that many defenders each snap. Having your TE just slip behind the line seemed to be pretty effective as well and Allen made that work a few times. Allen is getting better at searching and leveraging his outlet options on those hot reads of guys blitzing off the edges.

Maybe his dislike for Pittsburgh is like Steven Smith with his hate for all things Dallas Cowboys. If I cared more, I would dig a bit into that background but meh. He does really seem to be having a lot of fun dumping on Steeler fans.

Does not matter where folks rank our team though I know having those sports pundits change their tune is satisfying. KC is ahead of us till this team proves they can beat them period. They earned that spot, we did not. I feel the same way about the Titans. Not saying we can't beat them, I'm saying bring on the rematch and let's see how the chips fall this time around.

I am speculating that the only reason Kroft is not getting reps in these critical games is that they are not going to resign him. That, and I think they want to take a long, hard look at Knox to evaluate his development and decide if they need to invest in more competition for the position next season. I would have liked seeing more of Sweeney this year...that is still a big?, but I thought he was coming on.

Tis the season, and reading the OP I thought, those poor kids in Sombertown... Good to be a Buffalo Bills fan watching good football being played by a good team in meaningful games late in the season. Can empathize a bit, but we've been there done that. Our "bad weather" fan dues are paid up for a few decades worth of positive karma.

Ever since they poached Marvin Allen from us, a really good player personnel guy, to be their Assistant GM they have drafted and really pulled together a good roster. That thought kind of makes me feel a bit sick.

Baker is not a bad QB, I just thought he was over-hyped. In college he was blessed with being surrounded by an embarrassment of talent so I was on the fence as to how much he could do himself to carry a less talented roster. I thought then that he did a lot of Brees type plays where he was most effective throwing the shorter routes and he did do that with good anticipation and placement. It was his longer passes 20+ yards that tended to sail on him and end up picks. We know from our own experience that QBs can get better. I thought plenty of his off-schedule throws tonight looked pretty good, but both teams had receivers running free all over the field so hard to say with so little being contested. They have given him good weapons, and he seems to be on the same page as his OC...they could be tough down the stretch if they can plug some of those defensive holes.

IDK both teams were giving up yards by the dozens both passing and running. I know it is a copy-cat league, but it looked to me like the Browns OC has been peaking at Daboll's playbook. A number of their formations right down to the motions looked way too familiar.