WideNine

Wasn't George's problem maturity....alcohol and drugs and such? He was physically gifted, but I think his failures were more on the dicipline side of things, not that it was impossible to groom the talent. Maybe reading too much into your comment, it happens.

Blame the Vikings for that stacked Dallas team. That Herschel Walker trade may have been one of the most one-sided deals in football history. 18 players and draft picks in total. It was robbery pure and simple and sent a Viking team that was thinking SB run to the basement while catapulting Dallas to a team stacked with quality draft picks that few could hang with. Our Bills just happened to be the best AFC team and ran into a buzz saw.

I think Daboll was wearing snowmobiling gloves.

He went over that in some detail with Simms too and talked about how having the left foot forward he felt he was out of rhythm when getting into his 3-step drop. He would get to his drop too quickly, set his feet before the route had developed, then have his hips too open and not aligned properly for the short throws to the right. Having his feet set and with his hips too open (think parallel to the sideline rather than having the front hip angled more to where he intended to throw) to the right lent itself to throwing the ball "all arm" from an awkward position and those passes being less accurate. At least that was how I interpreted what Josh was saying. Or we could just go with it felt more comfortable having the right foot forward, and the rhythm/timing worked better for his 3 steps drops allowing him to set his feet properly to be more accurate - especially short throws to the right. Either way, it is just good to see the way Josh and the other QBs work together to try to "peer review" their technique and work on improvements. I think this year we may have a true semblance of a running game so Josh is going to have to work on perfecting his play action. Roll the tape of Peyton Manning and see how to carry out play action. Manning worked hard at eliminating any "tells" between the steps and motion taken on a play action play and those where he handed it off. He followed through each and every time. Brady, Brees, and Rogers are not too shabby either. Legit play action that safeties will bite on, Josh's arm strength, and with Foster and Brown outside.... bombs away

I like Simms and I think he does a good job of getting guys to open up, but yeah just watching them both near the end with that crossbar hitting contest.... Chris had to start back a bit from the line, wind up, take a few short-steps into the throw, and release, like most guys would. Josh basically just stood there and tossed it 30 yards on a rope effortlessly. One can understand why the kid had a habit of throwing off-platform and proper mechanics be damned. The heat Allen can get on the ball with just his arm and core torque I don't think you can teach, or more guys could do it.

My thoughts too. If UDFAs can't contain the "stupid" while sitting on the bubble then what will they get into once signed. I think he's likely gone...one and done. I don't get it, but assume that getting involved in things like this get swept under the rug up thru college. There are always some guys that just don't understand the scrutiny and personal conduct policies that come with making an NFL roster.

Caught Simms on one of his pod casts talking about that interview, and he and his co-host jokingly said that 2 qb's throwing to each other inevitably turns into a competition to see who can laser it into the other guy's hands. If taken at face value, the pass catchers were there to keep the tosses from getting stupid hard and injuring hands - as good a reason as any other I guess.

You're joking right. I was upset when my father passed away. I did not threaten to decapitate anyone, nor did I show up to the funeral home armed with guns and silencers to threaten folks with either. He has a long history of violent instability, this is not a case of "temporary" insanity. The dude is seriously unwell, should be under observation, medicated, and definitely not in possession of firearms.

There are a few other than Manning, even Brees who is the short-yardage king had up and down performances his first 3 years (some of that was injury-related, but Josh took a cheap-shot to his shoulder too). I think it depends both on the type of QB (limited arm strength) and whether they played some spread offense in college and have a similar offense with good tools to operate within when they go pro. Mahomes hit the ground running, but definitely is adept at taking the shorter throws and had a good supporting cast; whereas Josh has never done anything but sling the ball past the sticks since HS. No guarantees, but it is waaay too early to close the book on what he can or cannot be taught to do in a professional offense with the right coaching. Not a popular thing these days, but patience is not always the same as spinning your wheels going no where.

The no-huddle giveth and it taketh away? There are times when I think going no-huddle can snap a team out if an offensive funk, get them into a rhythm, and keep a defense from making adjustments. Or, if you are playing catchup in the 2nd half of a game and want to squeeze in more offensive plays. On the flip side, if you don't execute you go 3 and out in 30 seconds or so and your defense is gassed and back on the field. Situational call by the coaches, but it has its uses and should be a part of any playbook I think.

Read that. We needed more from that position last year. If he can recover most of his pre-injury form it would really help this defense. Last year he played like a guy coming off an acl surgery, tentative and favoring his "good" leg for power, getting tangled up with blockers, with little burst or change of direction. This is the year to see if he has physically and mentally moved on from his injury and trust that his body can go full speed.

Interesting. Because there are multiple documented statistical reviews that showed significant progress by Josh Allen even within his first season. His performance pre-injury compared to his post-injury performance paint a clear picture of stats trending in the right direction. Most are aware of this yet continue to use an amalgam of his poor early stats mixed with his more favorable post injury stats to drive the overall performance stats down to better support a negative narrative. I find this approach to be disingenuous, but I will respect the doubters who are intent on seeing more proof. It has not been all rainbows and unicorns for us fans, and I get that optimism can be in short supply.

I guess It is a good thing that folks were not blinded by completion % stats when Peyton Manning entered the league. After his rookie season of 28 interceptions and his 56% completion rate they should have pulled the plug....nothing to build on with those flawless analytics. ...and now watch the analytics crowd TRY to find all the ways that it did not apply to a very successful QB. The bias effect of cherry-picking the stats that support previous assumptions.

An oversimplification. "Turn a "bad" player into a good one". How is bad determined? One partial year of NFL experience and stats. So his ceiling has been set. Might as well give up on most of our rookies if they are not good-to-great right out of the gate, why even bother with developing them? Bruce Arians when covering one of our games from the booth last year was clearly enamoured with the skills Josh put on display. He saw so many good things you can't teach and the problems he did see he felt could be easily corrected...mainly just taking the easier throws when given them and not trying to do too much on each play. He sounded like a coach stuck in a booth that wanted to run down to the field and work with Allen during half time. His biggest fear for Allen was that he would not be given the time and patience needed from the Bills organization or fans to develop his game. Hearing those comments from an established QB coach who has developed good QBs meant more to me than those who can't see beyond 1st year stats.

Imagine if life actually worked this way; What a dystopian world it would be. Instead of a young man or woman facing life embracing optimism and promise for their untapped future, or believing they could surpass their current limitations through practice, perseverance, and overcoming adversity, they were simply subjected to some kind of magic 8 ball where stats and analysis representing all your traits were tumbled about and reassembled via some kind of universal formula to accurately predict your future. Why would anyone even try to improve? I believe there are folks out there like Josh Allen that are DRIVEN to prove the doubters wrong. So let the haters hate. It will only light a fire under this kid who didn't let all those college rejection letters stop him either. I even wish Peterman good luck (elsewhere) and have to give the guy props for continuing to pursue his dream.

So this guy who is a poster child for Orwellian doublethink is believable why? Football outsiders should just stick to crunching numbers and let those with working grey matter make sense of them. They would have more credibility if this guy never shares his conclusions again.

My mistake...did not pick up on the sarcasm. It's all good. Winfield and Pat Williams turned in a lot of good games for Minnesota, kind of irritated me that my Bills seemed like some sort of NFL farm team for them.

Winfield was a corner drafted by the Bills out of Ohio State. Played some great ball for us and then went on to play great for the Vikes... Age caught up to him and he was released by Minnesota and spent maybe a season with the Seahawks not sure. Either way retired now and I don't think he was ever asked to play safety.

That hippy can ball.

Size is not everything for those athletes that have elite speed, power, and leverage (and perhaps PEDS). Granted he played mostly at end, but they would move him around and I remember being floored watching a 265 lb Aldon Smith when he came into the league. When he 1st came into the league and at times the 49ers would move him inside or have him twist inside on a stunt and he would still forklift and bullrush o-linemen where he was giving up 40-50 lbs. Of course Aldon was bat-$hit crazy and maybe there were PEDS involved because he just could not stop carrying guns, assaulting folks with knives, multiple DUI's, airport bomb threats, biting his fiancee then violating a restraining order and falsely imprisoning her.....yada yada. Just doing the usual things that normal folk do.

This is one of those situations where it was so obvious that Houston was not using a player the right way. Why take a player whose strength is speed, powerful lower body and burst, can flip his hips like a corner, all the while keeping his pads low then line him up nose to nose with the opposing teams center? That coaching staff seemed determined to effectively negate his speed advantage, and set things up so it was easier for opposing teams to bracket Oliver away from the play with a double-team from either Guard. Ol' Wade would have had a thing or two to say to those Houston defensive coaches and how inflexibly locked they were in their alignment scheme. "I don't understand the people that say, 'Hey, this is our scheme and that guy can't play in it,' a guy that can play, and is a good player, but, 'He can't play in our scheme.' To me, there's something wrong with your scheme," Phillips said. "You adapt the scheme to what the players can do, not what you can think of." - Wade Phillips

And switching him to LB because there are so many 285 lb linebackers out there. I think he will be fine in the schemes that the Bills use. There will be times that bigger o-linemen will get into his chest and he will lose some of those matchups, but pretty confident he will have more wins than losses.

Antoine Winfield. The best open-field tackler I have ever seen play the game.

Folks get all comfy with our #2 overall defense, but yeah NE did a good job of running the ball down our throats. Once the defense committed everyone they could into the box to try to stop bleeding yards, NE was able to sneak guys like Edelman and Gronk behind them with play action for long gainers as the game wore on. Was a tough game to watch our team from either side of the ball. Also one of those games where we were all pretty critical with how flat-footed Edmunds was against the run from his Mike position, anticipating and filling the right gaps. Edmunds is a freak athlete who can cover a lot of ground in a hurry defending against passes and dropping into zones, but coming up to fill against the run seemed to be a concerning gap in his game. His recognition and reaction to attack the right gaps in run defense seemed to improve as the season progressed. Hoping that trend continues.

I believe that "All 22" did a Star review, and he was taking on double teams with the games they featured. Just a guess, but perhaps some teams that ran well on us like NE figured they could handle Star with a single blocker which allowed them to do more pulling and ISO blocks to spring their RBs. Expectations are high with Star considering the money - I get it.