WideNine

Not that we do not have our share of knee-jerk reactionaries here on the Wall looking for change for change sake, but kind of feels nice as a fan - like we get to sit back and roast marshmallows in the toasty warmth of all these other franchises going up in flames. Seen our own share of organizational dysfunction, nice to NOT be part of the NFL circus side show year after year. I may have said something very similar last year too

Just small. Sure there are some really irritating fans out there, you put up with them when you have the misfortune of being seated next to them, but as a pro athlete your best bet is to just ignore it. He is a competitor, but the distractions he creates are a bit much for a team trying to focus and be more disciplined.

Let us never forget the ultimate dooshbagery. Bill Belichick resigning the Jets HC position the same day I think he was supposed to do a presser announcing his acceptance of the position and he wrote his resignation letter on a napkin - not sure if it was a used napkin or a nice clean one:) He then took the Patriots job instead and we know the rest.

Pretty sure that Jerry decided that Thanksgiving day when the Bills spanked them on National TV. Like when we beat the Jets last year and you just knew it was over for Bowles. The Bills have been coach-killers, but teams may have to get used to the fact that the Bills are no longer the pushovers of the league that teams are expected to beat. A lot of good teams are going to lose to us over the next few years if we keep trending the way we are.

With Yeldon I was also considering how he took some of those swing and dump passes and was pretty creative making guys miss. We need more out of that second running back position either way. Get're done Beane. Speaking of Beane, I could swear I saw him jawing it up with the Jets all-pro safety Jamal Adams during pre-game warm-ups. Was thinking, "that our GM - always on the lookout for talent".

I give our smurf core a hard time, but McKenzie is a baller. Daboll will keep him on the active roster for no other reason than teams have to respect the jet sweep and defend sideline to sideline and worry about containing the edges over rushing Allen with abandon. He also filled in at DB yesterday I think when Taron Johnson got dinged and had to come out for a few reps yesterday so a multi-talented kid willing to do whatever the coaches ask.

Spot on with the Special Teams dual role for Foster. I think that is probably the only thing holding Duke back from the active roster. I keep forgetting about that and the fact that McD places an emphasis on ST play. Watching Foster not even turn to look for the ball on that seam route yesterday kind of make the gears click as to why perhaps he struggles staying on the starting roster. He just may be a really bad route runner. There may be a loyalty thing with Gore, but I have to say that Yeldon seemed to offer more options and make more positive yards. An offseason need for this team is that bigger back that can bang out yards and make the first guy miss or break a few arm tackles. May be that rugby kid on the practice squad - who knows, but we need that change of pace running back to be more effective than Gore has been as the miles seem to be catching up to him.

Not sure if Wallace will be too much of a drop. He has been shaky in coverage and a liability coming up to stop the run. That being said, I think that he has been trying to improve his game and I would like to see him succeed. I think he just needs to bulk up a bit (without losing speed) and get stronger in his upper body over the offseason so he can win more of the one on one battles and also become a better tackler when he comes up in run support. Kevin and Taron Johnson should be able step up and fill with a week of prep as they have been splitting reps with him any ways. I was surprised to see Nsekhe out there too; was probably a bit early for him to come back.

Trying to make a team out of all those egos.... Two coaches down... next.

McD has an angel on his shoulder, or consider it a challenge flag caddie. This staff does do some self-scouting and McD had to know that his challenge flag success rate was pretty low the past few years so perhaps they made some changes. The announcers during the game mentioned that McD was adamant about having just one person who really understood the rules and how they are interpreted in a position to tell him if he should or shouldn't challenge a call on the field. That individual clearly told McD NOT to throw the flag as you could tell he REALLY wanted to throw it, but reluctantly put it back in his pocket after a brief discussion over his headset. Pretty cut and dry. The guy he has placed his trust in to help him make the right decision around challenging calls on the field told him not to throw it so he didn't.

Wow talk about your spoiled fan base. News flash, the Pats are in decline and if their fans cannot take what they are seeing now during a 12-win season, that bandwagon is going to get pretty light over the next few years. I liked how the Dolphins defense on 3rd and long would just drop coverage back to the first down marker and wait for the underneath pass to be completed, then come up and stuff it rather than try to hang with the receivers in man or shallow zone coverage where the Pats can leverage picks or setup a blocker near the LOS to turn those dumps into long gainers. Also those screens the Pats use... I understand that defenses just want to plant Brady into the turf, but common sense dictates that one guy can track down Brady if there is a sudden jailbreak and he is retreating, the rest should have their head on a swivel looking to defend against the screen they are likely setting up. Kind of bugs me that NE still has our number while other teams have figured them out - our run defense is still an inconsistent concern. NE found if they got a hat on Edmunds using a lead blocker they would be able to run the ball. I keep feeling like our coaching staff is still one step behind Belichick in our game planning and game day adjustments. Allen has definitely improved on protecting the ball, but that caution has caused the pendulum to swing too far the other direction where he has left some easy plays on the field. Looking at his first game against NE and then his second you can still say with some objectivity that he improved. He still starts out a bit shaky, but he was not a turnover machine and came very close to tying things up towards the end. Have to remember that folks were saying that the Bills were going to only get 6-8 wins this season and we not only beat those expectations, but are in the playoffs. Still feel like we are a few missing pieces away from being able to pull out a win against solid teams - need better players on the o-line, bigger receiver with a wide catch radius, and a bruising RB that can spell Singletary and make those tougher yards after first contact, but we are close and I don't think there are too many teams that want to play us in the playoffs.

He is a play maker. He practices against one of the best corners in the league and has some polish in his routes that were not there early. You play your play makers - I would also like to see more creative plays that leverage our pretty good TE group that gets Sweeney more involved. Yeldon should be getting more touches than Gore. Folks have to understand that our guys were not going up against the Jets backups, we have some play makers that have been sitting behind guys that are not getting it done. Daboll's personnel choices and penchant for using primarily smaller players has become somewhat predictable and stale. It doth boggle the mind because with Sweeney and Yeldon out there as well as Williams, one would think that there are a lot of creative plays he could draw up.

I like what we saw from Sweeney and from Yeldon. Yeldon still scares me a bit with the way he carries the ball, but the positives outweigh the negatives and he is a play maker that can make the first few guys miss and then can pick up yards; Not to mention soft hands to take a dump off pass and make something out of it. Sweeney showed nice soft hands and toughness after the catch. Williams showed what most of us know he can bring to the field. Toughness and size to pull in contested passes and the ability to stiff-arm and break tackles for extra yards. As for Barkley, he shows why he is our backup. Good enough to move the chains, some great well-timed throws before receivers are out of their breaks that you want to see more from Allen, but then there was the lack of pocket awareness, the fumbles, and air mailing interceptions that were just enough to keep this team from cashing in on most their drives. He is good enough to fill in a pinch, but the loud calls earlier in the year from some here clamoring for him to start over Allen have pretty much been snuffed out by the reality of what Barkley can do when there is film out there on him and teams prep for him. I like him, but he has a place on the team - behind Allen. Foster seems to struggle with some of his route concepts and never seemed to be on the same page as Barkley. I don't think that is all Barkley and would explain why he has had a hard time breaking into the starting roster even with his speed. We had a pretty vanilla defense out there and our depth guys gave a hot Jets team with their starters everything they could handle. I like our depth, but still a bit concerned with our tackling in the secondary; too many short passes where the first guy misses. Not terrible, but could be better. It is one of the main reasons we struggle with NE and all their little dumps and screens - that first guy misses when those plays that should be stopped for a 1 or 2 yard gain end up a miss then 8 YAC and a 1st down. Wrap up, or grab a foot and hang on till help gets there. We need less guys launching themselves for some kind of bone crunching hit, and more guys using the sideline and wrapping up. I thought that Liuget had a good game and played well against that inside runs and Siran Neal had a decent game although he was a bit over matched in coverage against the Jets larger receivers. There were more than a few poor passes by Darnold that should have been picks, but overall a decent effort by the secondary. Even with all the focus on the offensive line this offseason I still feel like we lack quality depth there. Quite a drop from Dawkins on the left side and I cannot believe that Nsekhe was back out there after how bad that ankle roll looked a few weeks ago. Ford got dinged as well, but I don't think it was that serious. The Bills training and recovery facilities must be top notch, but Nsekhe is snake bit and got his leg rolled up on again. Feel bad for him as they were probably just putting him out there to get back into game shape and ease him back. Overall a decent game and I understand the cautious approach, but am torn. You hate to see your team back into the playoffs, losing games while resting your starters. Tough call, but with a Greg Williams coached defense I probably would lean towards caution; the Jets players have been notorious cheap-shot players the past few seasons and I doubt they have gotten cleaner under Williams. Shout out to Fitzmagic and the Dolphin's win over the Pats - nice. There were a few defensive wrinkles we can take from that game if we end up playing NE again.

Also, there are some personnel groupings that Daboll likes to roll out that telegraph the run plays for Gore. Roberts out wide, he is a good blocker on the edge, it is a stretch or sweep play with Gore that is easily diagnosed and blown up. Or our jumbo package that clearly flags a dive play. We do not have the elite offensive line that can line up clearly to run the ball and impose our will against opposing teams. Our running plays will always work better if there are a few read or passing options out of the same formation. Our drives stall because our personnel packages tell the defense what we are likely to run, and we lack creative options that can be run out of those personnel packages. Daboll needs to up his game

I found it interesting to hear Allen mirror what I have thought for a while about his early game jitters. I just think that he is such a competitive player that he still comes into games too amped up, ready to hurdle defenders, and it takes him some time to get settled. That is why you tend to see those passes come out of his hands too soon with too much zip and so many off-platform throws early in games. Needs to play some pickup basketball or something early in the morning to get some of that extra juice out of his system. That, and a few long scrambles earlier in games to take the edge off. Then like a switch that gets turned on, his timing and feel for the game seem to sync up later before the half and in the second halves of games. I thought the Pats game was a game where we would have to run well, we didn't. Allen would have to take care not to turn over the ball, he did not turn it over. And our defense would have to shut down the run and cover Edelman, they did not do either very well. I also felt our offensive line gave up too much pressure against 4-man rush packages, we did not win the trenches on either side of the ball. Yet the game was still there for the taking at the end...so close, and that bothers me the most. We are a play or two away, or a play maker or two away from taking over these kind of games.

Part of looking for hand-catchers is they naturally have more of a catching radius too. Speed and route discipline to stretch the defense, hands that give a QB confidence throwing 50/50 balls, and enough size to create mismatches. I like it.

Field position...need Borq to flip the field when needed on punts. Keep NE under 20 pts. Stress ground game and read-option....focus on ball security. Baltimore showed the best way to confuse and beat this defense is by using QB option run plays. Ball security has to be better than it was against the Steelers. Quick passing plays off of the read option play action. Keep Allen from holding the ball too long. When we take a few shots off of cover 0 looks, they have to connect. No Special Teams gaffes and we need the Hausch-Money version this game as field goals will matter.

The kid took care of business. One rep at a time, he just has to win one rep at a time and his game will take care of itself. Liked the focus and the determination we saw from this young man. Another big test to keep his QB clean in Gillette.

The uptick in sacks go hand-in-glove with this unit's more recent commitment and ability to stop the run. We have been able to force teams to be more one-dimensional passing teams, which has allowed Leslie to unleash the dogs on the pass rush. We also boast some decent down field coverage in our secondary that allows our pass rush to get to the QB too. Although Wallace is still a bit of a weak link back there. They continue to do that, and if the offense can score points, the sacks will keep coming.

I think coaches should be able to burn their challenge flags on any call other than unsportsmanlike calls. Rather than feel insecure leveraging cameras the refs should just treat it as a chance/time out to use a tool at their disposal that can help them get it right. That goes for that phantom facemask on Edmunds that replays made look so silly.

He has to do a better job securing the ball - it is not just the how hard the Steelers try to punch it out (that is some of it), but it is a lack of ball security discipline and he needs to get better with it. It is not college out there, you cannot run around with the ball in one hand. In the NFL a lot of the good backs will start with two hands around the ball - especially behind the LOS or when trying to cut back till they can break out into the open. It is not something that is too hard to learn, but the good ones sense when they are in traffic and do the right things to protect the ball and know when they are free to secure it with just one arm and turn on the jets. You make sure you wrap it up with both hands again when getting tackled. The toughest thing is getting it punched out from behind, hard to defend that other than if you are going to slow up to juke some defenders downfield you may want to assume there are guys closing in behind you. Allen does this too, where he carries the ball too loosely and often will not wrap it up when going to the ground and that is why the ball will fly out of his hand so often when getting tackled. The other fundamental is shifting the ball away from defenders, if running down the sideline, good running backs will shift the ball to the sideline side away from defenders. Just some basic things, but we know the Patriots will see those loose holds on the ball and will be looking to exploit that same thing to get turnovers to help Brady by gifting him a short field where he will not have to strain his noodle arm.

Clearly the NFL needs a "Repeat Offender" kind of clause to just move on from the spectacle of a player who just works the system with no real commitment to change.

It was likely in response to all the Scrappy walk-on stuff regarding McD not having any natural talent combined with the comical graphic Collinsworth did showing Allen's size compared to his receivers and Singletary. Collinsworth called them the smurph corps or something....

Better off running some spread or 3x1 read-option with Allen and Singletary. Singletary was in time out because he kept putting the ball on the turf. Gore would be an interesting read-option back for Allen in the red zone, but Daboll should have he and Allen practice that first. On one Allen ran into and checked Gore into next week, and on other tries the subtle fake of moving in sync with the handoff where either Allen keeps it or gives it to Frank, was pretty fugly. Need to clean that up with Singletary too as I think it is a play this offense could leverage if they can execute it better.

Seeing two extremes in this thread, but that is not too unusual. Folks usually have an agenda, and none of us are completely unbiased. I would give Josh a B- simply because he did not hurt this team when up against a really good defense, or put our defense in too bad a position and he made plays when he needed to make them. Yes, the pass to Beasley was too high and too hot, and he has to clean up that and his poor footwork that has creeped back into his game. I think that is part of growth. You don't wake up one day and your bad habits are gone, you sometimes have to go back to the basics and reset. I know it is in there, because he had some fantastic form in Dallas, so it is just a matter of building on that foundation, and his QB coach going over the film with him to remind him over and over till it becomes second nature. I like Allen a lot, but being more disciplined with his mechanics means that Allen will be able to hit those easy safe options when other teams are bringing the heat and will ensure our QB does not get carted off the field because he held onto the ball too long. I want him to have a long career as our Bills QB and a successful one.