WideNine

Last year Allen's confidence was soaring and Daboll was game planning. Dorsey is going to have to up his game finding ways to get receivers free and Allen will need more options to get rid of the ball on time. Wonder if we will see Smoke on the field and if so, does he fill that slot role that has been missing that veteran component? There have not been many games lately where the Bills have dominated and I suspect this will not be an easy one either. Tough group though that has had to claw for so many wins and endure close gut-wrenching defeats. We will see.

Miami came on a bit towards the end of last season and many predicted Miami to be right behind the Bills... if it was not for a game played in 120 degrees with no shade that is likely where they would be. The Jets have a defensive coach with a defensive system that he brought from the 49ers that was very good. With an embarrassment of high draft picks that team is coming together behind it's defense. Belichick has probably the weakest roster, but usually finds a way to get the most out if it. Thinking they would all sit idly by and watch the Bills own the division was a bit hopeful, but unrealistic.

Healthy rookies and backups playing just slightly out of position, late diagnosing plays and arriving late.... It happens more often when playing more backups and rookies than seasoned starters and why McD prefers a good ratio of veteran players. Some is just players trying to do more than their 1/11th and some is poor fundamentals. Still trying to wrap my mind around Frazier playing our smaller DTs in the middle near the goal line against clear Detroit run packages instead of Phillips and Jones. I like Oliver and Settle as penetrating DTs on passing situations and they both had strong games, but we have some wide bodies that I think would have worked better down there. We kept bleeding yards up the middle. Frazier's matchup decisions just baffle me some times.

Not sure I am seeing any surprises that have led to this offense being out of sync, but appreciated the breakdowns. Josh being too greedy, holding the ball, and too often playing out of the structure and timing of the play called. Receivers running the wrong routes, OL giving up a lot of pressures. I like Morse most of the time, but the book on him is that he can be knocked off his base and bull rushed when up against better DTs. It was not a very good day for our OL and forced Allen to play too often off schedule. Some play designs that are head-scratchers... where they need 2 yards and the Vikes are playing off our receivers and I see fly routes from all our receivers. Especially one where I noticed our TE 88 running 30 yards down the field where a 5-10 yard deep route easily nets what we need. Those long-developing routes make our suspect OL even more suspect and Allen more likely to have to do something off schedule. Some amazing throws and some poor throws from JA17, but this team needs more consistency from him this year and he needs to try better to trust and deliver throws on schedule when they are there and he has 1:1 matchups he likes. Also, he has reverted to old habits of passing on better open options that are underneath the defensive shells teams play which puts the offense in difficult 3rd and long situations. Dorsey has not done him many favors in regards to designing more plays for our RBs and TEs. It is never a bad idea when your OL is struggling and your QB is pressing to lean more on those plays to settle things down, slow down the rush running the ball, and throwing more quick passes to your TEs. I thought Allen played a good mental game against Detroit. Not a wow throw after throw game or a game where he was really precise, but a game where he mostly avoided the negative plays and turnovers. He threw some passes away when there was nothing there, and I really liked his little shovel pass to Cook when he was scrambling around trying to escape a messy pocket with defenders closing in. It did not net a lot of yards, but it was a growth moment for Allen to see and use an outlet option. Maybe on one of those Cook makes a guy miss and turns it into a big gainer. We need to see Josh continue to evolve that part of his game - there is no shame if he does not truck every LB in the league himself on scrambles. The best ability is availability and we need him to remember that those guys around him want to help him carry the load.

Interesting topic, but generated first by couching the injury concerns as whining. I have watched this team for a long time and cannot recall a season when so many key starters missed full games or portions of games or were playing banged up. There have been some that have been close, but not quite this bad. It's a legit concern, only compounded by having a new OL coach, new OC, new QB coach, and Allen struggling even prior to his injury (that we know of) leading a turnover-prone offense that has been less effective in the red zone. This team has not felt "whole" since the first few games and has struggled pulling together 4 quarters of solid football so even the normally easy plays there for the taking have felt like daunting challenges. The Miami game is likely a statistical outlier too in regards to how many players went down during the game, but were back the next week against the Ravens. That may be a blip on the games missed chart but carried far more meaningful implications within our division.

That is something I picked up on too, because there is almost always subjective determinations or rankings with sports analytics. The size of the bubble represents the impact of the players lost. Who makes that determination and how? So, plots like these need to be taken with skepticism. PFF does this quite a bit with their formulas. Not useless analytics, just the fact that you need to understand what they use for their metrics to come up with rankings and graphs and not just take them at face value.

All I know is that Detroit is a scrappy team, playing at home, coming off a game where they kicked the Giants in the nads pretty good and my Bills pulled off the win. Allen clearly toughed his way through the game and defense came up with enough stops and a key safety while losing Von and having a secondary that has been struggling locking things down and getting off the field on 3rd down. Is there a lot that needs fixing - yes, but that was a gutsy win and I will take it. Kind of odd getting 2 Thursday games in a row, would have liked to have gotten a full week and a few days to get some of the walking wounded back in the lineup, but many of us felt the slight of the Bills rarely getting prime time games... that is not an issue this season.

It is true that our offense is designed around the pass, but with teams leaving two safeties deep and dropping most of the rest to the sticks and usually leaving the 5th guy to spy Allen, it has been harder to generate anything too deep. That, and the offensive line has been pretty bad holding up in pass pro especially the right side with Bates and Brown both struggling. Oddly, Bates looked more comfortable filling in at Center today than he has playing right guard this season. His snaps were a bit high, but nothing Allen could not handle. Van Roten was not horrifying filling in at right guard, but we still struggle at the RT spot with speedy rushers lined up wide. Dawkins has not been as dominant as years past, and we have seen Morse getting overwhelmed by larger DTs with any skill. So it has not been comfortable back there for Allen and teams have gotten better taking away the off schedule stuff he prefers when he escapes and rolls to his right. When this team runs the ball effectively teams almost always transition to single high looks and the passing game opens up, but when they go empty it pretty much just says pass all the way. They do that a bit too much IMO especially considering Allen is injured and not playing his best. We also cannot underestimate the impact of this being Dorsey's first go at OC and it has been shakey in regards to player use and game planning, BUT his offense is not committing a lot of dumb penalties and that says something about thier prep and discipline. I still think we are a bit predictable with personnel and alignment when running the ball and we do not run it enough to effectively use play action. I also think that by now Dorsey should have found a way to work Cook and Hines into the slot a few times running routes so they can motion into the backfield or motion to sweep plays if we want to attack the edge against those 2-deep safety looks. This team also simply struggles coming up with more ways to work their TEs into the passing game; That is not new, it has been an annoyance for years. Watching other successful teams lean on their TE's and we just don't. Great teams usually have great TE's that they lean on to create the mismatches Nickel defenses all pretty much have covering those guys. All those years of Brady and his TEs, and now KC with Kelce, and the 49ers with Kittle, the Eagles with Goedert, Dallas with Schultz... it is a winning formula. I am just not seeing the creative use of personnel I was hoping to see with the personnel we have. Say what you want about Dabs, but more often that not he would find ways to get guys open - though he would always have a few games that were complete clunkers. His last game against Detroit comes to mind.

Yep. The rookie was supposed to keep running his short route and sit in front of the LB, but stopped short and Allen threw to where he wasn't. It one hopped to the LB. That was just a rookie doing rookie things.

I don't think Allen ever struggled taking ownership of bad play or if he and the offense let a great defensive performance go to waste. If anything he can be a bit too hard on himself and press too much on game day. I think he genuinely takes it hard when he feels he lets the team and fans down. Zach's "No" when asked if the offense let the defense down was ill advised. He should have acknowledged that the defense played a great game and taken accountability for improving his own performance leading the offense.

I dunno. I certainly felt like drinking a LOT after that play.

He's a straight-up dog. He epitomizes the kind of veteran player you look for to lead your locker room.

Probably has something to do with the drought of championships the city has experienced since the merger. Plus bitching about our team is the fuel that drives much of our creative dialogue here Want to see a 100 pages of comments - just see the increase when the Bills look like hot garbage in a game. Can be kind've quiet here when the Bills are playing great.

The one hot take out of that dump is that I do wish we would find ways to get Knox more involved in the offense. A great TE is the best thing for a QB's mental stability and the Chiefs almost always find ways to make Kelce the cornerstone of their offensive game plans. Dorsey should really stress trying to foster that kind of on-field relationship between Allen and Knox and game plan accordingly. I was glad to see he finally had Knox doing some things other than being an outlet option 4 yards deep along the sideline last game. Paid dividends too.

I think the other rational take is that if he cannot lace them up for whatever reason and play, the team should seriously consider putting him on IR to make room for other moves. The longer that decision drags out, the more logical IR looks. That does not have to be a knock on White, but the team's staff has to consider when and where they draw that line. My hope is that he fully recovers and gets his old swagger back.

Some of that may be because Frazier is asking our DTs to stay home a bit more to ensure we defend the run. If we sported a big lead I think we have the juice up front for a dynamic pass rush with more A-gap pressures with stunts and twists. We have not had that lead luxury for a while with our offensive struggles and red zone turnovers. That, and our secondary has been more suspect than lock-down so even if we do have successful drives we have not been smothering teams and forcing as many 3 and outs as we would if we had our full defensive backfield compliment of healthy vets. Teams have hung around and we have seen runs that go the distance late in games so they have to respect that aspect of teams that have not abandoned running the ball and play gap sound techniques.

He is going to need another season or two. Right now struggling as a first year starter. I think it was his number I saw taking a bad angle and getting juked out of his jock early in the game on a Chubb long gainer around the End. Either way the game has not slowed down enough for him. More film, more time playing different downs and distances. He is a tweener more in the SS mold than LB size wise. Folks said the same about Milano. They have almost identical size and Bernard had a faster 40 time by a hair. I think Baylor used him more as the extra rusher where he was good at weaving through traffic and tracking down the ball. Not a lot of film out there unless you are a bjg fan of Baylor and maybe someone else can weigh in on how he was used. Open field coverage, taking the right angles, change of direction, and tackling all need work if he is asked to hang back in a zone and cover or seal the edge alone against NFL caliber players. Not everyone comes out of college ready for an NFL lineup. Some take more time.

Our stunts often leave a pocket for QBs to step up into or escape. It looked like guys were getting hands on Brisset, but he is a bit too strong to arm tackle. Once he shrugged of the pressure from the edges he could usually step up and either scramble or hit his receivers. Cooper can still ball out, and Peoples-Jones looks like he comes to play too. But 3rd and long defense has struggled. Some of that is that we have been missing veteran talent in the secondary all year especially with Hamlin just being a step late. It is worrisome that Tre is not ready yet... you have to wonder.

That turtle sack that Allen took late in the 4th was a smart decision and perhaps the worm beginning to turn. 3rd down with the seconds ticking down in the 4th and Allen scrambling right... the past few weeks he forces a pass across his body into well covered zones and scramble drills for the pick, or tries to reverse the field and run it to get clobbered or fumble. Instead he stayed inbounds keeping the clock running, protected himself, and protected the ball avoiding doing something that put the team in a terrible position. That seemed pretty insignificant, but it is a start for Allen to remember again that he does not have to do it all and be aware of where the team is at and being OK taking a safe and smart play over some low percentage off schedule reach.

An ugly win is better than finding a zillion ways to hand the opposing team a win like we did last week with MN. I'll take it. This team is a different team when Dorsey remembers what balance is and gives our not too shabby running backs a chance to take some of the pass rush pressure off of Allen. Definitely things that need fix. Bates is still sucking on the right side playing Guard and as much as I love Dawkins he needs to eat lean cuisine for a few weeks. The dude's edge seems to be lost somewhere at the bottom of a Popeye's bucket.

Not sure if they were targeting him specifically, but sure seemed that way.

Gabe CLUTCH Davis.... Oh my, what a season he is not having.

Dane has filled in pretty well, but man he is struggling with receivers out of their breaks. He has above average recovery speed, but on timing routes he cannot make up the distance fast enough. We are missing game changers in our secondary this season.

Benford KNOCKED DOWN a pass instead of going for it. Almost like they talked about that.

Cooper is good.