WideNine

This is where I was at before the season. The injuries are starting to pile up though so we will see, but definitely don't see an outright collapse.

We had a few around the neck take downs of Bengal interior d-linemen that in years past would have resulted in penalties. They were letting them slide for both teams. Guess Brady's call worked, or the overly officious jerks finally realized they have been killing the game. I expect several roughing the Brady calls next game. I am ok with that, because disrupting their timing is the best way to attack NE.

Nice call out on the Bills cleaning up much of the penalties. Missed that positive.

As the Giants did the week prior to slow the Bills, so did the Bengals as they went to a 5 and 6 man rush in the 2nd half. This forced Allen to often look for his hot read and they were bracketing Beasley pretty well. It is all part of forcing Allen to have to make quick decisions with the ball. There will be some good game film for Allen to study from this week to see what teams are doing to confuse him, and how he needs to counter that.

My jaw dropped on that play where Allen jab stepped like he was going to take off then while back-pedaling threw the ball 50-60 yards to Knox in the corner of the end zone and only an acrobatic recovery by the safety knocking it away at the last second saved the Bengals from a sure TD. I have never seen a QB that has to take some heat off his 50+ yard throws. If and when Allen works out the touch on his long ball watch out.

The Bengals made some good adjustments at the half that I don't think we countered well. I had to go back and watch again... In the first half they were often only rushing three and dropping everyone else back and both our running game and Allen's ability to extend plays allowed us to move the ball. We even had some success hitting plays on the edge. In the second half they brought 5 sometimes 6 guys and disrupted plays and forced Allen into some poor decisions. Protection was not the best today as there was times Cincinnati was able to create pressure just bringing 3. I think the Bills need to continue to work those screens and slants with how aggressive teams are going after Allen - especially when they are loading up and rushing 5. Zay had some clutch grabs, and some where he kept on his feet and had some YAC and moved the sticks. All I have ever wanted from him and will credit the good game he had. Yeldon's unforced fumble in the red zone helped breath life into the Bengals; we score there and I think we would have iced the game.

In each of the past two games we have had a couple of really long well-placed passes dropped as well, a few by Knox. Not getting down on Knox, but both those games with those receptions being made could have tipped the "magical" 300 mark - really not that much of a significant stat with the way this defense has been playing. We are 3-0 and that is a good accomplishment for this team. Allen and the offense was sloppy today and left some points on the field. They have things to work on and no one should be surprised that this offense and Allen is a work in progress. I like the fact that Allen came off the field after his interception and was fuming at himself. He needs those moments to temper the overconfidence he has in his physical abilities. Those moments are painful yet teaching moments and they make him more receptive to coaching from Daboll and from Dorsey. Daboll made a few questionable calls as well, when we were having success off tackle and it was 3rd and short he continued to try the misdirection plays to attack the edge and killed one drive with being a bit too cute. Credit the Bengals D, as the Bills thought they could catch them with those misdirection plays attacking the edge, but they were well-coached to stay disciplined and set the edges. Whatever Daboll thought he saw was not there today - maybe those stretch and zone plays off of misdirection with Singletary would have been different, but we did not have that running ability on the roster today. Even McKenzie with his speed on the reverse had to settle to cutting it up inside as the outside was taken away - the Bengals coaching staff have seen what Daboll has been doing and had a good game plan going in on D. We got dinged up quite a bit today so you know the hitting was pretty hard out there - hoping the dings are not too bad. Feliciano has been playing at a high level and it hurt to lose him, Nsekhi has been coming in and out of the past few games so I think he has some kind of nagging injury, and Horrible Harry looked like he hurt his knee. Glad we got the win - Josh has some things to work on, but credit him for manning up and digging the team out of the hole he helped create. Say what you want, but he certainly knows how to raise his play to mount a come back when needed.

I though Schwartz was an awesome DC. He always found ways to bring a free man on the rush. And yes, he would have kept the heat coming all game long. Frazier is very conservative.

The Bengals aren't as bad as their record and the Bills are not as good as theirs. Sounds cliche, but the Bills have to prepare each game like that other team can win too.

I want Knox to improve his receiving, but damn that kid has some YAC skills. Even Sweeney had a key grab. Like our rooks.

Shot ourselves in the foot quite a bit, but Bengals always play us tough....just one of those teams where I hated having them on the schedule after a bit of success.

Bengals rubbed their own guy on that play.

This is the back to reality game I expected. Josh has been getting away with some risky plays on the run that he has not really paid a price doing. I want us to win, but doing stupid things with the ball and paying the price had to happen for Allen to learn. He is almost too confident. Not a terrible trait, but needs to be tempered.

No worries...it's a fan board not a test. The mods try to keep it clean and threads on topic. Some folks get their undees in a bunch, but there is this cool "ignore" feature. It's like "haters be gone" spray.

I mean seriously, who post crap that has already been posted elsewhere.... I think I am something like 0 for 20 on original news

The No Fun League is starting to get fun again. Josh's "I am in NY" and "One NY team" correction of the media". This 6th round cat walks onto the stage rocking the handle bar mustache, reflective clothing, chest hair he could put into braids, to bass-slapping 70's Starsky and Hutch retro music and actually wins. AB, like a super nova, falls back into and implodes against the weight of his own ego and stupidity... This week has... been....Awesome. Taking a deep satisfying breath to enjoy the moment.

Clever and I do think they did kick the tires and then did a bunch of backtracking after.

Wasn't there folks here on the Wall pushing for the Bills to go after this clown? There is a small, but loud contingent of posters here that are always about signing the next big head case that has some skill. To each their own, but how many times do folks have to see this play out? Rarely worth the distraction or investment. Most of those me-first entitled athletes are rather immune to being a 1/11th part of a team and winning process.

It's all good. Just a lesson learned about scouting ahead to see where the chuckle heads sit when visiting another team's stadium, or go in with an army

Well that, and the home-town cops in Jersey are just going to single you out as part of the visiting crowd. Give them grief and you are just going to get another beating on top of the one you may have already gotten. Went to one Jets home game and got hit with a freaking cow bell on a rope. One and done for me.

The ghost of Bills past play down to the level of their opponent. I am cautiously optimistic that this team is comprised of better men who will bring the same intensity and responsibly execute their 1/11th role regardless of the opponent. They do that, they win and I start believing in them a bit more.

We know the score. If the Bills beat a team it has to be because they are not very good ergo the Bills are not a very good team; it is circular logic. And put NE in any other division the past 2 decades and every team in that division likely drops by 2 wins and none win their division. The Jets, Bills, and Miami are judged more harshly than other franchises for not being able to get out of the cellar, but all have had to contend with arguably the most successful franchise in the league. Is what it is, till Brady gets knocked out of the league, or Belichick has a stroke, or by some miracle we beat them.

You're only as good as your last game, and this is especially true of the Bills. The Bills do not have the luxury of falling back on seasons of good play to cancel out a bad game as a fluke, they will be judged harshly the first time they come out of the gate and lay a turd. So as much as I agree that the national media does not see the improvements that we die-hard fans see, I am not going to get wrapped around the axle because they are skeptical. The Bills have a lot of work to do as an organization to earn back the credibility that decades of franchise incompetence has eroded. This does not detract from the hard work I think the staff at OBD is putting in, just saying don't expect any kudos from the national media pundits quite yet. If the team keeps their focus and keeps working to improve, the success and recognition will follow - hard work by competent talented people will pay dividends. Trust the process.

Let us not forget that the Bills brought in Bobby Johnson, an offensive line coach that has actually shown that he can coach up offensive linemen. There are a lot of coaches out there that can keep the wheels from coming off a talented group already well-coached, but coaching from the ground up rookies and FAs to play well as a unit within a system - those guys are harder to find. OBD needs to keep this guy around the way NE has hoarded Scarnecchia over the years. We have all heard that you build from the inside out, you win in the trenches and you have a very good chance of winning the game. If that adage is true then organizations should make it a priority to keep the guys that can coach up the men that man the trenches.

OK, I was really trying hard to keep it classy, but ....damn funny