WideNine

Was thinking the same thing.

I know right how many blitzes run right past the QB? If you do that spy or get home.

Same here. Allen's turn in my opinion because of the number of records he holds, and Lamar already has one. But Lamar has had a great season no sour grapes. What a great plan to pickup Henry...opened everything up for them and made the option that much harder to defend A miss on Lamar and he picks up chunks, a miss tackle in Henry and he takes it to the house. Throw everyone into the box and someone is going to be wide open.

They seem to be leaving the middle open. Not working...receivers just sitting there wide open. 3 scores up and clowning P-burghs D-line

Pittsburgh's run game is not scaring anyone. They need to wake up and put together a long drive. They already screwed up royally giving the lead to the Ravens. They are going to pound and option it to death now

Yeah, that was weak for a push off call. Good acting for sure.

Same thought it was just 8 inches... why are you punting it away. Where's their tush push? Pretty conservative, but they have a good record against Baltimore so we will see.

Totally agree, but I see him landing in NE. Seems made to order, but would prefer him in another division too.

I have great optimism, and minimal sarcasm when faced with our post season chances. Regardless here I am. Go Bills!

When Mitch throws a pass it looks like your seeing a throw in slow motion. I literally hold my breath waiting for it to finally get to the receiver or get picked off. The difference in arm strength between him and the next generation of QBs in the NFL is significant.

No way. We actually are going to force a punt. Our punt return team has not gotten a lot of reps this year. Good practice just in case we force more of those when the games matter. Even with backups you want to see more of this. Solomon was so close on that sack...would like to see him develop into more of a finisher on those.

Was just thinking the same thing. Some folks think it is all due to OL play just stick any QB behind that. OL play is important, but Allen makes that play a very high percentage play with his vision for a crease and strength.

Dunno, I think there was a lot that went into restructuring his deal and considerations for his suspension. I am a bit of a fan of negotiating $$ towards incentives over commiting paying $$ without any of those baked in. How often have we seen players pour it on then fade after getting paid? Admit I am not a contracts or cap guru, we have those that are who could weigh in.

There seems to be a camp that thinks the losses are over-magnified. Even in our wins our defense often concedes too much yardage, allows too many conversions and chunk plays on down and long distances. We have a middle of the pack defense for the most part stat-wise. Less than middle on giving up 3rd down conversions, but we do have an opportunistic defense. We have benefited from excellent turnover percentage where we lead the league at +23, but that is where folks are often gobsmacked when we get into the playoffs and find we are facing teams that don't turn over the ball and the gift does not keep on giving. The teams that do turn the ball over frequently rarely make the post season (look at the ones with the negative turnover ratios), so we cannot count on INTs and fumbles falling into our laps and being the answer to stopping long drives and potential scores. Defense has historically been our post season Achilles heel followed closely by coaching gaffes and misses FGs. We are not very good against the run unless we commit more defenders to the box, Babich is really going to need to be a savant at knowing when to do that and when and where we can leave our DBs on an island, how we use single-high looks. We have at times been a great tackling team and other times you wonder where all that discipline went. We need that to be more consistent. Our best bet is for Babich and McD and the rest of the defensive staff to put in the overtime to have great opening drive schemes to get the early stops and our offense not having slow starts. When we get the early lead our opponents may figure out what we are doing on defense, but I think we are difficult to beat in a boat race. Of course our defensive staff and players can prove me wrong. I would gladly eat crow if they come out and stomp the teams we face down the stretch.

One of the biggest success stories has been his ability to coach-up JA17 leveraging alignment and motion to better recognize defensive coverages and pressures and call out protections and make adjustments. Even more impressive was getting Allen to take the easy profits and check downs when they are there. Allen's arm strength and mobility molded some big-play hunting habits that are not easy to break and easy to fall back into. I have heard former QBs refer to it as 'arm arrogance". Some of that I think is a bit of jealousy for the unreal things Allen can do that they never could, but some of it is legit critque for better decision-making needed. Daboll would scheme guys open underneath and so would Dorsey, but when you watched the tape Allen either did not see those or would turn those down for more low percentage deep options. The combination of letting go of some egos that demanded to be force fed, Brady helping Allen mature and understand where his answers were when facing different situations, Brady's commitment to the run game, and Allen's own desire to become a more complete QB all have meshed together well this season. Some credit goes to Kromer and the outstanding performance of our OL which has allowed Allen to operate upright, opened rush lanes, and created an environment where Allen can operate more within the structure of the play call. You can tell that Allen has also worked hard at ball placement (and velocity) on the screens as well as the short to intermediate routes to better allow our receivers to "go get it" in stride and provide RAC opportunities all while doing better at limiting INTs and avoiding negative plays. He embraces a growth mindset. Some folks think an offense can only score points with big plays, but if you can avoid penalties, move the chains with runs and passes, and get a few chunk plays when needed, it is surprising how it can add up on the score board.

Yup. Just not a league for statue QBs unless they have an outstanding OL and run game and can get rid of the ball in 1 second. Tyrod extended a bunch of plays that allowed Dante and Wilson enough time to shake coverage. He would have been harder to plan against IMO.

Definitely seems that way. Tough because you want that alpha receiver who can compete and win at the boundary yet so many of them are divas and head cases. Joe Marino said it best when describing Cooper as the anti-receiver... a baller at the boundary without all the drama.

I think the talent may be there, but man they need to tighten up and do a better job on third downs. Some of that certainly comes down to the pass rush being able to get home. We often seem to be painted into a schematic corner. Send 4 and drop the rest and QBs tend to have too long to find someone open. Send the blitz and roll the dice we get burnt in coverage. Even so there are plenty of times our front 4 do get heat on the QB and our soft zones behind the sticks and/or poor tackling give up the conversion. So if they can tighten up the coverage and tackling on 3rd downs we would see more consistency getting some stops to force more punts. We also play a hell of a lot better when Babich has schemed up ways to stuff the run early and we play with the lead. Good job by the defense today...enough came together for them and stationary QBs like Rogers they tend to have a lot of success playing. Rapp is such a sound tackler you notice it when he is out. I wish Buffalo Joe had Milano's experience and anticipation. You can tell Milano knows where he needs to be, but is a tick slow getting to his spot and not always in the best position to make the tackle. Trying to be patient hoping he plays his way back into pro-bowl form. Meanwhile Andreeson seems to close in a hurry and stick every tackle when he is where he is supposed to be...the kid may be a pleasant surprise and come into his own with more reps. With the exception of the d-line Beane has built quite a pipeline of young talent.

Yup. Relies a lot on his athleticism and needs to understand routes and leverage better so he can develop better anticipation mirroring receivers. The better DBs can peek back at the QB and just need a hand against the arm and/or the hip of a receiver to stay with them... and usually there is enough hand fighting that they get away with a little tug at the waist when receivers comes out of their break on routes to stay with them. But not looking back for the ball and stretching out the jersey to gain position when they zig and you zag will draw those DPIs. Tougher too when having to play the more bunch and tight alignments we have seen because there is a lot more to the route tree than a traditional receiver on the boundary with the sideline to help and easier for teams to design picks - we do the same. Hard for the kid to learn without the reps too but he keeps losing out to Benford and Douglas. I thought he played ok vs NE, but I know I am in the minority and every gaffe a DB makes gets magnified. I also liked what I saw briefly from that scrappy DB Hardy they stashed on the practice squad...thought he had a good chance to make the cut.

Oh my. Leodis...now that brings back some PTSD and thanks for that. Recall him single-handedly losing us the game against the Vikes where we knocked Favre into retirement and their backup came in looking like Manning in his prime because he targeted Leodis wherever he was on the field for score after DPI after score....after DPI... Went from proudly flaunting my Bills gear to Viking fans serenading me with the "Skol Vikings" song after each TD. His frantic efforts to make up lost ground on every route and helplessly wagging his hands in front of receivers faces with no idea where or when the ball was arriving was pretty much burned into my retinas that game.

This. We are not built to shut down any kind of a balanced offense with a good run game. Outside of turnovers our defensive stats are middle of the pack or worse. Our hope this season is to do some great scripting on both sides to start the game depending on how that initial possession plays out We have to get stops on those early possessions and give our offense the chance to get the early score and then we have a better shot maintaining a lead till we can get them out of running the ball. Or, if our offense is on the field first, Allen works within the structure and we roll down the field and take the early lead. He went a bit yolo vs NE holding the ball longer and fishing for big plays down field and that did not work very well, we also had more uncharacteristic drops to be fair. Running game has been solid.

This. He can be knocked into next week when jammed at the line so Reid wisely puts him in motion to prevent DBs from getting hands on him. When playing man there is a good chance of getting picked, when playing off in zone he will turn DBs and create a cushion for comeback routes. With either most teams will have at least a single high over him which opens things up for Brown. He can be used to stretch defenses and create soft spots in zone coverage which Mahones is good at exploiting. That is his tool set and ours is a bigger possession type receiver that I think has a lot of upside that we have yet to see based on his time playing the position, so the book is still out on what Coleman will become. We have to get past a big two-headed rushing machine in Baltimore before worrying about what KC is doing. That will be quite a steep challenge based on our first meeting.

Of all those Floyd was the most consistent performer and had a lot of splash plays rushing the passer. The team has felt that loss. Poona rode the pine a lot and not sure what got him into McD's dog house (being late, practice effort...who knows), but we have seen that happen with other players who just don't get the reps. He is doing well with the Chargers and I really thought he would make a solid rotation with Jones. Settle, I was not a fan of his play on the line as he was too easily washed out with blocks and struggled to shed blocks.

That is interesting. There were times we used wider splits when running the ball back in Daboll's days when we were in spread to create more room for our pretty vanilla inside zone runs. But just having Dion with the wider split is a bit different and he also does not line up as far back from the LOS as other LTs in the league. There was a time when OTs would line up fairly deep from the LOS so they could better contain that outside rush from gaining the edge. NE OL used to remind me of a phalanx of Canadian geese. The NFL cracked down on that in the off season as they are supposed to be lined up on the LOS, but they allow for some leeway now and probably more subjectivity than any of us like as to when they will flag an infraction. Supposedly OTs must have their helmet aligned with at least the belt line of the center to avoid being flagged. First Dion has to be very light on his feet to make this work. I know he likes to get his hands on defensive lineman and engage as soon as possible. Perhaps the wider split would make it harder for defensive lineman to create as much confusion with protections when running stunts and twists. Maybe just a personal preference... (Why Dion why??) 😁

Should include Shakir in that list. Not sure the aggregate tells the full story as all these receivers seem to be getting better the more game reps they have with Allen. The only one where I feel the timing is stubbornly a tick off is Allen to Kincaid. They connect, but still too many near misses and circus catches. Must be something deceptive with Kincaid's speed. Either way when folks pump Burrow's tires I always think yeah he is good, but who else has an elite WR that they have played with since college (Ja'Marr Chase). That is quite a luxury for building chemistry.