CincyBillsFan

Mayfield has made it work for 1 or 2 games. Allen has also made it work for the 4 games the Bills scored 30 or more points.

And this mirrors Kincaid, the Bills most productive pass catcher last week, only being on the field 55% of the snaps against NE. They, Brady & McD, are overthinking things and the O is paying the price. "Everyone Eats" should be an aspirational goal NOT a fundamental religious belief.

I can't answer this question until after this season ends but I have this uneasy feeling that we are less talented then last year. Part of it is that players who I thought were on upward trajectories, like Knox, Rousseau, Bernard, Benford, Bishop, Coleman, Shakir, Williams, & Davis have leveled off or might be regressing. Only Kincaid seems to be clearly playing better. The other issue is that some players are regressing or hurt a lot: this would include Milano, Rapp, Epanesa, and BOTH Ty & Taron Johnson. Overall the O line, Allen & Cook are playing about as well as last season and the FG/XP kicking might be a bit more consistent but the punting has been worse. And the draft with 2 exceptions, Walker & Hawes, has not helped the team. Ditto for the FA signings whose contributions to date have been mediocre at best. Elam & Douglas were better at pass coverage then White has been so far. So yea, the 2025 Bills seem to have regressed from an overall talent perspective. And unless Allen can replicate last seasons extraordinary performance the rest of the way this Bills team may be in real trouble. Like you I'm hanging my hat on the fact that the Bills have been here before over the last few seasons and rebounded nicely. Correct and if it did work in the NFL I could make a great argument for why a lot of those lost years sucky Bills teams were Super Bowl caliber starting with that Bledso team that beat the Pats 31 - 0 in a season opener.

All of this is true and we have come roaring back from similar slumps in previous years to win the division and at least get to the divisional round of the playoffs. But for me this feels different. I am doubting whether we have the talent up and down the roster to repeat what previous Bills teams have done.

The die was cast in the 1st half. Sure the D played a lot better in the 2nd half but by then the Bills were down by 2 TD's.

That's damning from Marino.

I have no problem saying Allen made some bad decisions yesterday and they're related IMO to his realization that the defense can not be relied upon to stop anything so the Offense must not only score TD's but also take time off the clock to protect the D. Allen is pushing to hard to compensate for what may be the worst D in football. This is a common & basic human reaction.

I agree and in fact over the last 4 seasons the Bills have been 7 - 6; 6 - 3; 6 - 6 & 3 - 2. So 4 - 2 doesn't seem so bad on paper. But if they pull out of this funk and go on a division winning, #2 seed run only to lose in the divisional round again the Bills would appear to be living the movie Groundhog Day.

I would say that Cook & Brown were excellent picks, Shakir & Torrence were good picks and Kincaid may emerge as a good pick. So on the offensive side of the ball you have the potential of one elite RB; one elite RT, a very good slot WR & Guard and a very good TE. That seems like slim pickings for 7 years of drafting. And it looks even worse on the defensive side of the ball.

He had several big off script plays last season and we miss his blocking on the WR screens.

What does "holding Allen accountable" even mean? Allen is the main reason the Bills are a yearly playoff team and SB contender. Like all human beings Allen has a range of performances from "bad' - like against Houston last year - to "Excellent" like more then half his games in any given year. When Allen is average, like he's been the last two games, the Bills lose because their D is bad and their offense sputters. Allen can't ALWAYS be in Superman mode. And blaming Allen for not having Cook on the field and handing the ball to Moore on a critical 3rd down with the game in the balance is crazy IMO. That is Brady and by extension McD. It seems like Allen's personality is to make any situation he's in work rather then complain or throw a fit about it. This is laudable and is one of the reasons he's a class act. But the down side is that while trying to make lemonade out of lemons Allen appears hesitant to wield his power and insert himself into decisions made beyond the scope of playing QB.

Hollins made a lot of big plays at critical moments in games last season. In addition he was a very good ST player.

Well have to agree to disagree because IMO the loss was entirely on the D. That the score wasn't 28 or even 31 - 7 at half was pure luck. The D gave up 335 yards in the first half. As it was the Bills trailed 21 - 7 at half. Your point that the Bills O has been retooled to "force the ball down everyone's throat" is the reason they aren't built to rally from being down 2 scores. Unless Allen plays beyond elite, like in the 2nd half against the Ravens, the Bills O can't stretch the field at all. They also have no effective boundary production either. These are huge limitations and it's easy to see why better defenses have been able to adjust and frustrate this Brady offense. As was Mack Hollins last season.

It's called tape and D coordinators noticed after the Bills first couple of games that outside of Allen & Cook there are no elite skill players on this team. The Bills do not have an effective boundary WR as seen when their best WR Shakir, couldn't get two feet down in bounds on that great Allen throw early in the game. Shakir is a solid slot receiver but not a deep or boundary threat. Think about that - you have an accurate QB with a howitzer who has developed touch yet the deep sideline pass is absent because the Bills have no one in their WR room that can make those catches. Take shots at Allen all you want, you have a track record of doing that, but the problem is the coach and the structure of the roster. Last year was a mirage as Allen's otherworldly play hid the defects. This year Allen hasn't been continuously elite and the Bills O is now struggling to get to 30 points.

I wanted McConkey but understood the logic of the Coleman pick. But in hindsight McConkey has proven to be a big play clutch WR who would be a huge upgrade to the Bills WR room and the trade that gave KC Worthy made their WR room much better while Coleman is dangerously close to bust territory. That was a big time screw up by Bean & Company.

I think the offense and Allen would be much more effective if they had faith that the D could hold up for a game. From the play calling to Allen forcing throws you can see the Bills O sort of panic trying to match TD's with teams that are obliterating our defense. The Bills were lucky to not be down 28 or even 31 - 7 at half. They gave up 335 yards for crying out loud! It would be one thing if the Bills truly had a potent O but they don't. Allen's play and a strong O line and Cook carrying the rock make us think we can get into a scoring track meet with an opponent but with that WR group and Kincaid injured they aren't built for it. An even better question is how does their stud RB get from the 19 to the 50 untouched?

Great review as always. I would add: Your point 2: Spot on about Allen. He's clearly overcompensating trying to save the day which only lessons his effectiveness. Your point 3: the 52% spent on offense is a bit misleading as Allen's big time QB salary distorts that figure. The fact remains that over the last 6 seasons in which Allen has been an elite QB the Bills have made only one big time move on offense, where big time is defined as signing a big name FA or jumping into the top half of the draft - when they signed Diggs.

I'm still not convinced about the Pats as they could have lost to NO this past Sunday. While it's easy to dismiss the Dolphins in hind site at the time they looked formidable with multiple game leads on the bills late in the season. But the talent erosion on the Bills is real. With the exception of QB, O line and perhaps at TE & RB the Bills are worse then previous years at every other position groups. D line, LB and secondary are all much worse. Ditto for the WR group and on special teams.

First the caveats: McD did turn a moribund franchise around and elevated the Bills into a perennial division winner and playoff participant. For that he deserves our thanks. BUT, the clock is ticking on our alien QB who has at most 6 - 7 more seasons of elite level play in him. The best chance for the Bills to win one or maybe even two Super Bowls while Allen is still elite is to throw the dice and gamble on a new coach & GM. Sure, it could go in the crapper real quickly but the status quo will not see the Bills in the SB for the foreseeable future. The new coach/GM would have 2 years to restructure the team.

And coaching, on both sides of the ball, must be called into question. By my recollection this was the 3rd straight game Brady has tried to run that little inside reverse at key moments in the game. The first was against NO and the Bills were stuffed for no gain on 4th down. Then the lost fumble against NE and tonight on 3rd & 1 the Bills lose 2 yards and have to punt when they were in position to tie the game. How can a highly compensated NFL coach do that for 3 straight games? Especially considering you have a highly mobile top 3 QB and a very good top 5 RB?

The other problem is that while the Bills are near the top in PRESSURES they seem very bad at closing the deal with actual sacks.

If he did then a fan revolt is in the offing.

Actually Coleman doesn't hold a candle to Davis at his best. Go back and look at Bills highlights from a lot of games and you'll see Davis making key big play catch after key big play catch. And it wasn't just the 13 seconds KC game. Remember the Indy playoff game and those amazing Davis sideline toe tapping catches? Davis was not a #1 WR and the Bills were right not to pay him the big bucks but right now Davis would be the 3rd best WR (maybe 2nd best) after Shakir & Palmer. They need to do everything possible to get Davis on the field.

I agree at 4 - 2 the Bills are still very much alive. Over the past few years the Bills have had similar bad stretches. But this feels different. Last season the Bills went from 3 - 0 to 3 - 2 losing to the Ravens & Texans in back to back weeks. While the Bills looked bad in those games they lost to 2 division winners on the road. I don't think Atlanta or NE are as strong as last seasons Houston/Baltimore teams.

They got lucky in 2019 signing Brown & Beasley and getting great play from them for a couple of years. Every year since then the Bills sign a couple of WR's on the cheap hoping to get similar results. And they have failed. And in spite f throwing a lot of FA money & draft capital at the D the Bills do not have an impact, game changing player on this unit.