WideNine

More geared to those who were saying it was definitely a late pass - it could have just been a poorly designed play, poorly executed play by the receivers, or a good read by the safety. Folks see what they want to see, but I do agree with you that I do not think that Allen had a lot of time to change that play or throw it anywhere else. Also, if thrown a quasi-second earlier perhaps it would of doinked off the back of Zay's helmet and imagine how folks would howl about Allen's timing if that happened

Only a guess and certainly could be wrong, but the play action was likely in place to freeze a linebacker in coverage. As to the safety deep, usually in those red zone situations you have a receiver coming across that can rub him or draw him away. For us arm-chair QBs there is a lot that could have gone wrong with that play's execution that has nothing to do with Allen; Perhaps Zay was supposed to hesitate somewhere along his route to give time for someone else to clear the safety, perhaps the safety just did a great job reading Allen's eyes, or perhaps it was just a poorly designed play that left Zay out to dry. Coming to any conclusion without really knowing how the play was designed and intended to be executed is just poor conjecture.

Seemed to me to be a seam pass that could only be placed where it was. Zay was going to take a hit and alligator-armed it. IMO, I don't really blame a receiver for taking the safer route during preseason and prepping for a hit vs laying out for a pass so the affair was a bit of a noth'n burger. Now if he does not have the stones during an actual game and drops a sure TD because he does not want to pay a price for the score, or just shows the drive-killing inconsistencies and fighting the ball that have plagued his game to date, that is another story we will all gleefully beat to death.

That is exactly the twists and stunts that tore our protections up last year, where the DE from the wide 9 comes across and blind sides the guard. It is in vogue, and in terms of being disruptive it is pretty effective, but IMO pretty dangerous. It does not exactly fall under crack back, peel back, or cut block, but having one player setup your o-lineman by initiating contact just for another player to blind side him at full speed is too close to that line I would draw for player safety and why o-linemen get hurt so often. The Jets pulled a nasty move like this last year with a very deliberate blind side helmet to helmet hit on Teller that pissed me off.

Good point and I stand corrected.. I misspoke when I said it did NO good, but my thoughts in regards to football helmet technology to date were circling around the fact that concussions can be triggered by both impact and torsion/inertial events. There is a lot that has been done and more that could be done to reduce the damage of impacts events and spread the energy, but torsion/inertia (the injuries to the brain involved in sudden changes in direction) are not fully addressed by impact reduction and simply may not be possible to fully mitigate in impact sports. One can imagine the problem as running down the football field holding a glass jar filled with water and an egg and trying not to break the egg when getting hit from odd angles or stopped cold from a sprint. Certainly covering the jar with impact spreading material would help absorb the impact, but torsion and inertia events can still cause the egg to slap against one side or another of the inside of the jar and likely damaging it. Much like the brains response to sudden stops or changes in direction as it is also suspended in cerebral fluid and surrounded by the hard skull. It will be interesting to see where they take impact reduction technology as in this demo. Any improvements in protection via energy absorption is a good thing, and we can always hope that medical science catches up in regards to treating concussions effectively so that they heal properly and do not recur so easily.

Still kind of cracks me up to see that Gazoo helmet. Applaud the attempt, but probably did little to actually prevent a concussion. Reducing the occurrence of concussions is the best we can probably hope for in contact sports (helmet to helmet hit fines go a long way) and hoping that medical science catches up on why one concussion so easily leads to another even when given time to recover from symptoms.

If Long's hand is healed then we have a good backup to Morse (a better option than Bodine), but I would not be surprised if Beane grabs a center in the draft next year. The frequency of Morse's concussions are the most concerning thing - not just for his career as a Bill, but for his own long term health after he hangs up his cleats. Playing on the line is like being in a car wreck over and over - there is little in the way of preventing helmet to helmet collisions, they happen on every play and once you become concussion-prone the odds are not good. Fingers crossed, but I would rather see a player retire than ruin his life after the game.

Probably. If Allen ends up with a 2 TD 300 yard passing game and chips in 30 yards on the ground himself, you just know those guys that are going to post it should have been 350 and 3 TDs if Allen had just led this or that guy better, or it was not a great offensive effort but a collapse of the opposing team's defense. It is a glass half-empty mantra that is very easy to slant one's take on a performance to maintain - just look at the doom and gloom coming out of the D&C news room, or their overt and obvious attempt at trying to stir up a non-existent QB controversy now that we have a capable backup in Barkley. It is the news business after all. It is still a bit deliberate and mechanical at this point, but I can see Allen going through his shallow to deeper progression reads. He is trying to break the habitual hero-ball things he has leaned on and had success with in the past and incorporate the better habits that the coaches are teaching him that are necessary for sustainable success at an NFL level. Call it hope if you will, but I am fine with watching this kid grow, and I am pretty certain we have not seen the ceiling yet on where he can take his game. Some will hate to hear this, but I think he has another 2 or 3 seasons before we will see it. Not saying he will suck during that time, realistically we should expect to see ups and downs where the old habits surface and he tries to leap over linebackers and chuck it 70 yards till he gains more experience under center and matures. Will that be enough to be that franchise QB that Bills faithful have been waiting for - no one here or at OBD knows...but seeing where players are able to take their game is part of enjoying the game.

That would work too and easier to get to reporters in the middle of the audience - room still should not sound like a can. Prob the only way you could go as I honestly could not imagine passing a mic between Bills beat reporters without some kind of scrum happening.

Love that kid's attitude, and once he gets into a defender's body it is over. The only thing I think he needed to work on was his footwork a bit and in pass pro improving on both recognizing and correctly picking up the right guy on stunts. I would be surprised if he does not stick and with the ways injuries happen across the line and gets some starts this season. We will see - I am rooting for him too.

Which end?

I am a bit hard on Bodine, and admittedly I am a bit biased towards some of the center prospects coming out of the draft next year. Bodine looks to have every opportunity to convince the coaches and Beane that he is good enough to make the Bills pass on them next year.

Having done some sound work in a past life - it is a lot trickier that some think to hang mics over a crowd of moving mumbling people in squeaky chairs, cancel out the noise, yet still pick up the voices well. The Bills organization certainly have the coin to do a better job, but you have to start from the ground up. Designing a press conference room with noise canceling acoustic material, fixed position seating and podium location, and then you can start to work on the audio system and equipment. I try not to be too hard on folks, but I have heard plenty of echo and background noise in their current setup. Also best if you have a protocol where all the press sits and only one at a time ask questions when pointed to and they stand when delivering their question - as that would put them closer to the multi-directional mics you hang from above the seating area and allow you to turn up the VOX noise dampening yet pick up speaker in the audience. OR Yeah, you could just use one wireless mic that you get an assistant to hand to one reporter at a time (and wrestle away from them when they are done) - that may actually be the easy button. Till the batteries die during a global video conference with a huge audience and you are the part-time sound guy who was called and pressed into servicing a system you know nothing about and cannot find any spare batteries or mics.... and you have completely pitted out your shirt and you fake getting a phone call so you can exit the auditorium and the oppressive stares of over a 1000 people hating on you.... Theoretically.... that could happen to someone.

Yep - versatility and more depth at a position that has gone from strong to thin in regards to some of the talent. I am sure they are liking the tackle - guard - center ability. You already have Ford who could move to RT in a pinch and Teller who can fill at either Guard spot, but if both Morse and Bodine go down the situation would likely create a lot of scrambling and shuffling of line combinations; Not that I am convinced Bodine has done enough to show that he is a long term solution at center, or will make anyone forget that Morse is on the sideline. I have been skeptical of some of the personnel moves Beane's staff has made, BUT I will tip my hat to a team that seems to tirelessly work to improve the roster. They are an active bunch, and seem to have a good bead on players around the league that may be on the bubble for depth reasons that are worth giving a shot as a Bill. This is a common sense depth move - it will be interesting to see where Bates gets his practice snaps.

I could not help but visualize that as a meme where the ball knocks Zay over from the other direction - too funny.

This was my contention last year when everyone was yapping about Allen's ball placement and KB drops. OBD finally jettisoned KB and he was picked up by KC where he picked up where he left off - dropping catchable passes from miracle Mahomes. Good receivers make good quarterbacks look even better, bad receivers drop catchable balls. OBD has to get better about cutting ties with their own hand-picked players instead of working so hard to turn a miss into something else. Especially if it becomes clear that there may be better options fighting for a roster spot. Zay does a good job in practice, but is inconsistent with drive-killing drops in live games.... we are going on year 3 and it seems like a theme. He is streaky, when we are looking for reliable.

I'm an unabashed Bills homer in my league where fans are all about the NFC Central. It is good natured ribbing and with the exception of the Bills' defense, I may as well just hand my money over. Maybe my luck changes this year:) Then there were the questionable moves like the year I traded this big TE in SD who was coming on for Jimmy "the donut" Smith, or when I took Cadillac as my 1st RB and he got a flat. Basically, I suck at FF.

Protocols for concussions have changed over the years and non-contact exercise is recommended I believe. Light sensitivity is a common symptom, but I don't think light is something to avoid. I would be shocked if the Bills training staff is not current on latest treatment protocols. These players are multi-million dollar investments.

I do too, but I am trying to "keep it real" even though I think we have two very winnable games to start out the season. I also really have to see the Special Teams in action - last year they cost us more than a few games. A small area with a big impact on our field position as we played with the field tilted towards our end zone for most of the season and Haus was shanking makable field goals after the cheap shot he took.

Oliver is a guy that is pretty intense on the field in or out of pads, and I noted that Allen said he had a bruised calf that had Oliver's name on it and half-jokingly said that Oliver probably earned a talk from the coaches. There is a clear rule about how your defense practices against your starting QB. Imagine if a rookie did that to Brady in a training camp - probably go back to his dorm and find his stuff all packed, a parting check, and a note saying good luck with your future endeavors. Allen is going against the #1 pass defense in the league, in passing drills, in the red zone. Honestly, if our defense did not start to close the gap on some of the things Daboll has been calling in camp I would have been a bit concerned. Allen's worst day also came when we were also testing our O-line depth - I would say at this point we know there is a bit of a drop at Center with Bodine and Feliciano was not earning a lot of kudos trying to lock down a guard spot - don't give up yet Teller there may still be an opportunity to crack the starting lineup. Allen is not perfect either and he will launch some throws that get away from him and he is going to have some up and down days. As fans we have to see where this goes and take the longer view of a QB who is an admitted gun-slinger who has always thought that dumping the ball off was akin to losing on a play. He is trying to remake himself, to dial down his arm and take the chip shot. He is also being coached to avoid doing too much which either leads to putting himself in harm's way or doing something stupid with the ball. That is going to be an inner struggle he is going to have to actively squash for a while because of the competitor he is. I wish there was a cut and dry answer regarding Allen. I think we all realize that there is more Brett Favre in him that Drew Brees, so a longer row to hoe in regards to becoming adept at short-yardage game management, but at least he is not Trent Edwards. Remember when we would be down in a game, there was 20 seconds left in the 4th quarter, and it was 4 and 12, and he would dump off a 5 yard pass that would get swallowed up (game over) - and we all knew he was going to check it down even if he had nothing to lose airing it out. I would rather have that QB with the stones to drive the ball down the field than that tentative QB who's throttle is stuck in "limp mode".

Not really. They were in red zone passing-only drills and it was shells only (shoulder pads, and helmets). The defensive line knew it was pass and neither line could go all out and get into blocks so they basically stood largely uncontested in a line across from Allen like it was some kind of free kick in soccer, followed his eyes and batted balls. No one on the line is less than 6'3" and Johnson is 6'7" so not like a real game where it could be run or pass, and you have an offensive linemen into your body driving you. In that situation I am surprised he got as many by them as he did. There are things to get nervous about - that ain't one of them:)

I seem to remember Mac with some drive saving clutch grabs and he was money on the jet sweeps. Gotta keep competition open, but I too like to see what guys bring when the bullets really start to fly and have not seen anything from Ray Ray yet - does not mean that he has not worked his way back into the discussion.

One of the early camp reports praised Singletary's blocking... I would have assumed he would block like most RBs out of college...somewhere between pathetic and non-existent. The kid is turning heads in a good way.

Yep - it is just like that. Not wishing any ill on Mitch and hoping he has a long and successful stint with the Bills, BUT it would not be a bad idea to start thinking about the team's plan B and I don't think that Bodine is the long term solution - Spencer long has potential at Center, but he had that nagging finger/hand injury that impacts his snapping ability in the past, so question marks there. I just think there is room around our depth at Center to start thinking about some fresh blood next season and hoping for Allen's sake it all holds together for this season because I think this season has the potential to be a very good growth year for Allen and this team. I have a lot more confidence in our O-Line coach getting the most out of our players so that is a positive.

The concussions were my primary concern with Morse, and I wondered with his injury history if there were any performance clauses structured into the deal (X number of games played, etc.). Concussions come easier and easier each time, till a love tap sends a player into protocol. I really like Mitch as a player, and he plays the game the way you want a player on your team to play the game and I am sure he is the kind of guy that will lay it on the line for his team, but it would be prudent for the Bills to be thinking about grooming their center of the future. If Mitch can stay healthy for a few years then you have a bit of runway to get the next guy ready to go, and Biadasz was considered a generational talent at center and would have gone Rd 1 or 2 this year, but decided to play out his last year for the Badgers. I wish the best for Morse, but if Allen is our QB of the future, then ensuring we have him behind a solid center and o-line needs to remain a priority.