CincyBillsFan

I like this but I'm not entirely sure I agree with it. At the end of last season I would have agreed with this 100%. Now I'm not so sure. For this to be true that Allen will spend his career in Buffalo no one needs to be fired but a hard reorientation of the teams priority's from the D to the O must happen. And this includes a new offensive strategy not predicated on protecting the D and aggressive drafting and FA signings of offensive players.

No one player can lift a team above mediocrity if the roster talent is below average. Marino, who IMO was the greatest pure passing QB in NFL history, went 8-8, 6-10, 8-8 & another 8-8 in seasons where he started every game for the Dolphins. This might actually work as long as McD allows Daboll the freedom to run the O. For Daboll it would be a great stepping stone to another HC job and a new GM can go about reorienting the Bills FA & Draft priority's towards the offense. Of course all of this would be a moot point if the Bills went on a run and made the Super Bowl this season.

This is a fair discussion topic. I hope Allen stays and the Bills do not have to engage in a compete rebuild. A reloading even if it meant changes at HC & GM could work for all involved. At the same time it would be a real shame if Allen never got a chance to play in and win a Super Bowl. Marino at least got to play in a Super Bowl. The rest of this season will have a huge impact on whether Allen is still a Buffalo Bill when he turns 33. If the Bills can rebound and go on a run and make it to the divisional round or better yet the AFC Championship game then a re-load would likely work without changing the HC & GM. On the other hand if the Bills implode and a rebuild is needed and Pegula doesn't change the HC & GM then Allen would be wise to start making plans for his departure this off season.

I was referring to how Stafford left an organization that could not and/or would not build a roster that could win a Super Bowl to one in LA that could. I see this as a very possible future for Allen if the Bills can't get their act together over the next couple of seasons. I hope I'm wrong.

I agree. My gut is he will go the Matt Stafford route but here's to hoping it happens in Buffalo.

The ball placement was fine and I've seen this catch made both in college & pro football every week. Because it's so rare that the Bills WR's make these kinds of tough catches we forget that they happen all the time in other games.

Weather could be a big issue and that Bengal's D is historically bad making the Bills D look like the 1985 Bears. With the game being in Buffalo if it gets into a shoot out it will resemble the Tampa Bay game with the Bills coming out on top.

I'm not ruling out that the Bills go on a roll as most of their upcoming games are either favorable match ups from a talent aspect - the Steelers & Bengal's may have the worst defenses the Bills have seen this season and Cleveland's offense is so inept that the 19 points the Bills scored yesterday would likely lead to a two score win over the Browns. They get the Eagles at home and the Jets will be running for the bus. That leaves NE which is on paper the Bills toughest remaining game. 5 - 1 is not out of the question and 4 -2 seems very doable.

Nah, you're not a "bad fan" but your one of those fans nibbling around the edges of the real problems. And Allen is not a part of any real problem on the Bills. Over the last 6 seasons including this one Allen has repeatedly demonstrated that he has the talent to win a Super Bowl. The failure of the Bills to get over the hump this season and in past seasons has almost nothing to do with Allen and almost everything to do with the strategic focus of the Bills paired with their inability to build a SB caliber roster. They have the QB and RB and RT and maybe going forward the safety but not much else. They clearly don't have the coaching or front office skills of the most recent SB winners: KC, LA Rams and the Eagles.

To little to late. The defense tightened up in the Atlanta game to but again it was to little to late. That TD drive the Bills D gave up at the end of the half which cost Buffalo the lead was a perfect example of how this D is constantly allowing teams to flip game momentum on its head.

Allen's extreme talent, when fully on display, enables the Bills offensive performance to occasionally significantly exceed its talent and tactical capabilities. Allen is just that good. And while we say the receivers "suck" this is not true. They are NFL WR's and thus better then 99% of the football players on the planet. But in a game of inches where 2 or 3 elite level catches can change the course of a game the Bills receivers are not good by NFL standards and at the bottom of any realistic assessment of a an NFL WR group. When Allen is on, he makes these average to below average WR's look good. But this is not sustainable because you almost never see the WR's making those difficult NFL type catches that make their QB look good when he's having an off game.

I'll tell what I think is going on: * The offensive strategy and tactics being employed do not make the best use of Allen's skill set. * This is the worst offensive group, top to bottom, then any since Allen's rookie season. For sure they are worse then the 2020 - 2023 teams. * The defense no longer pulls its weight during the regular season. It has never pulled it's weight during the playoffs but now it is bad during the season. This leads directly to Allen forcing things which increases the risks of TO's and sacks.

You're one of the few people advocating for hiring Daboll. I don't know if I'm there yet but the idea has merit. I suspect that Daboll would do better in his 2nd stint as HC and he would redirect the strategic focus to the offense while there are still prime Allen years left. And signing Pickens should be the #1 priority of this front office in the off season.

This as a first step. Or do what NE did - hire a defensive minded head coach who is confident enough to bring in an experienced, elite offensive coordinator. In this way you get the right culture and right strategy/tactics for your elite QB.

Good point. High school teams try to avoid doing this. I get if we're trying to milk the clock in protecting a lead but this is happening on almost every snap. It's like the Bills are trying to run out the clock from the get go, shorten the game and protect their defense.

The Bills started 3 drives from inside their own 10 yard line. This was a direct result of great Texan punting, Bills ST penalties and the famous McD bend but don't break D. The O was not the reason for the poor field position. The D turned it around AFTER giving up 20 points in the first half. And this was despite the fact that the D was going against a very bad offense with a backup QB. Meanwhile the Bills offense was going up against one of the best defenses in the NFL. The Bills have a BAD defense that was riddled with injuries. The Bills also have an average offense that was hampered by injuries. The only time the Bills offense is great is when Allen is playing at his best. And no human being can be at his best each and every game. Your post is a great example of a Bills fan nibbling around the edge of the problem. Sure in this specific game had the Bills O punched it in at the end they steal a win. But the problem is not the failure of the offense to execute at the very end. The problem is how the roster is structured and the basic design of the offense. It's as if the Bills brain trust has created an offensive concept that might be suitable for an average, limited QB and are trying to impose it on their uniquely talented once in a generation QB. Its football madness.

Well that's it for me. I'm heading to the shower.

But in both those cases Allen played at an MVP level. This is not sustainable each and every week. While I agree that offensive scheme is a problem it is only part of the problem. McD is slyly trying to blame the problem on TACTICS (in game & pre game schemes) when the problem is STRATEGIC (offensive philosophy and roster construction). This is why firing Brady would only lead to a short lived boost in offensive production as DC's would need a few games to get tape on the new Bills offense. And I suspect that McD believes in his offensive staff in large part because they have bought his STRATEGIC vision for the offense hook line and sinker. They are fellow true believers in how an offense can best compliment a defense and in the end defense will always by McD's first love. Think about how critical it was that Levy abandoned his conservative style of coaching in favor of the no huddle K Gun. That was not a small thing that Levy did. It had to go against a lot of what he believed in his bones as a football coach. Yet when confronted with a uniquely talented QB, WR & RB he did it and the rest is history. How about the D be great for a full game? And when you say great in the 2nd half yea they stopped the Texan's offense after giving up 20 points in the FIRST HALF but did not generate a single TO all game long.

Agreed. In every playoff game but one during the Allen era the D has played poorly in spite of often being in the top 10 during the regular season. And upon closer examination those top level McD defenses feasted on bad offenses with young and/or back QB's during the regular season but still often struggles against top level offenses. Now the D has eroded to the point where it can't dominate offenses with young (see Atlanta) or back up QB's (see last night) like it used to during the regular season. McD is aware of the increasing defensive short comings over the last couple of seasons and has altered the offense to protect the defense. This is a logical thing for a defense minded head coach to do. And it's a bat feces crazy thing to do when you have a generational talent at QB. And therein lies the problem.

And they've scored a lot of points this year to. That happens when your MVP level QB gooses the numbers when he puts on the Super Man cape. Unfortunately in the football world beyond High School one guy, no matter how great, can not be expected to function at an elite level every single game. So I'll keep bitching about the WR group because while it wasn't very good last season it's gotten worse with the departures of Cooper & Hollins.

It's an offense that is among the best in the league when Allen is playing at an elite level. The problem is NO QB in the history of the NFL can play at an elite level every week. The Bills have chosen to not structure their roster to take full advantage of their uniquely gifted QB. They have instead changed their offensive philosophy to compliment their defense while directing the lions share of resources to that defense. Unfortunately they have failed at both efforts: Their D is bad and they have not provided their MVP level QB with the weapons needed to fully exploit his skill set. This is not rocket science and should be obvious to every Bills fans that's been paying attention to the last 6 years. The alternative is to do what way to many Bills fans do: nibble around at the edges of the problem by blaming injury's or Allen for not taking the easy completions. Come on folks we know what the real problem is. And this was made numbingly obvious on that game changing end of the half TD drive by the Texans. We generated no pass rush while playing McD's famous soft prevent defense which made a back up QB look like Mahommes.

I was thinking the same thing. We watched the Browns/Ravens game last week and it was almost a carbon copy of the situation facing the Bills going into their game with Houston - road trip against an elite D with a game breaker on D but facing a terrible offense. The Ravens QB and offense struggles mightily yet wins the game 16 - 9.

12 points would have been enough to win NE that Super Bowl against the Rams. The offense did not play well in part because they were facing one of the best D's in the NFL on their home field and in part because the talent on the O outside of Allen & Cook is average at best.

This is wrong on so many levels but if you want to talk about "key situations" and "high leverage moments" how about letting the Texans go on a 75 yard TD drive to end the half right after Davis had put the Bills ahead with his electrifying KO return? A competent D would not have given up any points in that critical situation and even would have leveraged the moment to get the ball back to Allen (Bills had 3 TO's) before the half ended for a possible FG drive.

This post got me thinking. It's not Allen's problem if he isn't wired to be an a-hole and yell at his team mates. The fact that Brady & Rogers did it is irrelevant as they are different people with very different personalities. Just check out Mahommes who IMO is more like Allen then Brady/Rogers temperament wise. There isn't a lot of footage showing him yelling at his teammates and after the game he takes almost all the blame and doesn't throw teammates under the bus. Matt Stafford also won a recent SB with the Allen temperament. So while I agree that for some guys this works there are also plenty of examples where SB winning QB's don't have to become someone they're not in order to hold teammates accountable. In those situations like KC & LA: * the coaches play the bad cop holding players accountable. * the GM's bring in guys who are self motivated and don't need the QB yelling at them to do their job. Remember the bickering Bills? t hit it's dysfunctional peak when Kelly started throwing teammates under the bus (remember Howard Ballard) and Thomas publicly called him out on it. This supremely talented team went 9 - 7 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. But Kelly got the message and stopped yelling at his team mates and Thomas STHU and the rest was history. So rather then demand that Allen change his basic personality how about the Bills change the coach & GM and make accountability their responsibility.