CincyBillsFan

I think an argument can be made that out of the three QB's Allen has the weakest group of skill players.

And this is why the Bills reaction to this years disappointment will resemble how the 1990 Bills reacted to the heartbreaking loss in the playoff to the Browns back in 1989. As time goes by it will become clear to the Bills players and organization that this season was NOT lost in the last 13 seconds at KC. This season was lost in the opening game against Pittsburgh; this season was lost at the Titans 4ard line on 4th & inches; this season was lost when the Bills couldn't beat one of the worst teams in the NFL. This understanding will focus the Bills like a laser on the regular season. And with Allen & home field advantage we will be going to the Super Bowl.

Exactly right. KC's first drive should have showed McD and company that Mahomes was hot and the Chiefs O was going to move the ball up and down the field. The only reason we got the stop on KC's 2nd possession was because it started at their one yard line. Don't forget that we had a 2nd and 3 at Midfield and DaBoll chose to run Singleterry off tackle. And the same mistake was made on our first possession in the 3rd quarter. After holding KC to a FG we then run twice and throw a pass to #41 - who has yet to break a tackle and then punt on 4th and a foot. At the time I thought it was madness given how KC was playing.

The numbers without context sure can lie. You conveniently left out his rushing numbers? And the difference in QB ratings could easily be explained by the much worse weather and the general decline in QB ratings for the NFL this year as fans returned to the stands. And leaving out Allen's post season performance and focusing only on his regular season makes no sense when trying to decide whether he regressed or not. In fact it seems like you left those numbers out to bolster your argument that he did regress.

That was one of the three lost possessions that pissed me off. And given the flow of the game it was the biggest one. With that field position there is no way you can justify that level of conservatism on offense. THREE straight runs by Singleterry. This was a perfect example of a coaching staff not understanding what the hell kind of game they were in.

I agree. The talk that Allen took a step back this season is nonsense. You could point to the much worse weather conditions he played in this year as the main reason for the slight drop in his numbers. And in the three most important games of the season: 2nd NE game and the NE & KC playoff games, Allen was spectacular. Those high pressure, big time game performances demonstrated to me that Allen actually played better this season then last season - especially when it counted most.

But the Chiefs didn't jump to super team status until they had Mahomes and could unleash their offense to its fullest potential. Maybe we're just arguing at cross purposes. I am all for spending resources on the D especially if the right player is available. And I fully acknowledge that KC has a couple of studs on their D. I just believe that when resources are tight they should tilt towards the offensive side of the ball because in Allen they have the same elite QB play as the Chiefs do. And reading you and Z's take makes me wonder if what I'm seeing has more to do with an attitude then assembling players on one side of the ball or the other. But my eyes don't lie and the Bills & Chiefs appear to approach offense very differently in spite of having the two best QB's in the NFL. Maybe going forward it's as simple as turning Allen truly lose.

If that's the case then they have been a whole lot more successful on the offensive side of the ball then the defensive side no? And saying that KC tries to put the best offense and defensive on the field is what EVERY GM will say. And to the extent that the CAP allows and their ability to pick players enable them to do it, every team will try to do it. But I still say that KC is an offensive minded team first and foremost. And that starts with their head coach. IMO the Bills came into this playoff game with a plan to try to "control" Mahomes and the flow of the game. And this was the fundamental mistake that prevented them from winning in spite of Allen's brilliant play. Had they gone into the game with a plan to unleash Allen and outscore the Chefs they would've won IMO. The Bills wasted 3 valuable possessions adopting a non-offensive mindset. The Chiefs only had one of these offensively conservative possessions and that was when they were backed up at their own 1 yard line. So maybe it's more of an attitude then a listing of players on O & D. But it comes down to McD being a defensive coach and AR being an offensive coach. And I continue to believe that the Bills with Allen require that McD become more like Reid.

The Chiefs had a lot of the key elements of their offense in place by 2017 with both Kelce & Hill on the team. The fact that they have retained both those elite level offensive players while also signing Mahomes to a big contract shows where they put their emphasis. When I talked about how the Chiefs did it I needed to be clearer in what I meant. They don't so much ignore their D, since as you point out they grabbed Ingram, as much as it seems to me they are more interested in optimizing their offense. Sure they'll grab defensive talent when it's available but their emphasis sure looks like it's on the offense. They rebuilt their entire O - line in the off season and used a 1st round pick on a RB when that was a need. From what I can see, over their run the Chiefs have used their offense, not their defense to win games. The Bills clearly relied on their defense through the 2019 season and their takeaway from the 2020 season appeared to me to be "gee it's nice the offense got better but if we're going to beat the Chiefs we need to improve on defense." And last years off season seemed focused a lot more on the Bills defense then it's offense. So all I'm saying is that going forward the mind set of the Bills should be that the offense will win us a championship. And they need to act accordingly in the off season. Allen is the X factor that must shift the priority to the offense.

I think it will be handled with a great deal of professionalism by both men. My guess is that McD will be reliving those last 13 seconds and the decision to downshift Allen & the offense at times during the game for a lot longer then we will be. McD has evolved in his coaching and I suspect/hope that he's ready to take the next leap and fully embrace the KC way. Most teams can't embrace the KC way because they don't have a Mahomes level QB. We do and rather then wasting our time trying to build a defense that can stop it (no one has BTW) we must complete building an offense that can outscore the Chiefs, not stop them. That's the paradigm shift that must occur IMO.

I'm good with ANYTHING that adds funds to a Children's Hospital!

My sense is that the Bills need to learn to live with what they have on defense and throw everything at the offense. This is what the Chiefs have done and they're going to a 4th straight AFC Championship game. If the right defensive player is available in free agency and/or the draft, grab them. But the focus should be on the offense. This must become an Allen centric team in the way that the Chiefs are a Mahomes centric team. Even after last season there were lingering doubts whether Allen could duplicate his success and whether he could rise to the top in the crucible of the playoffs. He has demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt that he can do both so now is the time to go all in on Allen. This means adding a RB, preferably a bruiser, to the backfield; adding a 2nd TE that can block & catch; adding speed and/or size to the WR group and if available further improve the O-line. And I don't think we need to make a big splash in any of these positions. Just bring in solid guys who are an upgrade to what we have.

You can't look at the Bills versus the Chiefs as a static line over the last 2 seasons. Rather you need to see it as an evolving curve where the Bills are closing the gap. The Bills were a playoff team in 2019 and didn't play the Chiefs that year but is there any doubt they would have hammered us? Then in 2020 the Chiefs beat us rather easily in Buffalo and at KC. This year we beat the Chiefs soundly in KC then lost in OT at KC. That is the very definition of pulling even with the Chiefs at 1 - 1. There is no monkey to get off our backs. The goal now is to get strategic and make sure that in the future playoff games between the Chiefs and the Bills are played in Buffalo. But it should be relatively straightforward to sign Phillips and it's not an unreasonable expectation that Rousseau & Basham might see big jumps in their performance from their rookie to their 2nd seasons. Also we get Zimmer back from injury and he was playing very well before he got hurt.

I disagree. I'm a huge college football fan and I remember watching several of Allen's Wyoming games on late night ESPN. And I saw things that I had never seen before from a QB. I remember thinking wouldn't it be cool if the Bills drafted this kid. Over the last 10 years there have only been two college QB's I had seen multiple times who I was confident would be great in the NFL: Josh Allen & Joe Burrow. You could just see that each guy had the it factor.

You can see the origin of the irrational Allen hate on that thread. Man! And who is this poster: LEBills because he got it EXACTLY right. Bean needs to hire this guy and put him on the Bills staff. Posted April 26, 2018 YESSSSSS!!!! To all those that are disappointed. You will be very pleasantly surprised. He will burst into the scene like Cam Newton did when he came out of the gate and surprised everyone with how well he could throw. His accuracy is going to be improved with the work he has done on his footwork and mechanics. Besides that, he is a great kid and a great leader. He was Wyoming this year and had to shoulder more responsibility than any other QB this year. I know many many of you are disappointed, but I am so excited. I’m normally a guy that would write off a QB with Allen’s stats. But he is different. The stats don’t match the ability. Now I hope we can all embrace him as he leads us into the future! GO BILLS!!!

The Chiefs better cover Chase better then they did Davis.

Agree 100%. In 2020 the Bills lost to the Chiefs 26 - 17 in Buffalo and 38 - 24 in KC. In 2021 the Bills beat the Chiefs 38 - 20 in KC and lost in OT 42 - 36 in KC. We are virtually dead even with them. Win the games in the regular season we should win and hold the game in Rich stadium and we advance and they go home. I would also note that Allen has caught up to and blown by the Chiefs: In 2020 Allen's stats were: 42/75 for 409 yards; 4 TD/2 INT; 15 carries for 130 yards In 2021 Allen's stats were: 42/63 for 644 yards; 7 TD/0 INT; 22 carries for 127 yards & 1 TD

I tend to agree with this. But to be fair Daboll gets credit for some of Allen's and the Bills offensive development. What I would love to know is whether those lulls in offensive aggressiveness in the Chiefs game was the result of Daboll's play calling or McD telling him to reign it in? If it was DaBoll getting skittish then he needs to move on because he's holding Allen back. If it was McD getting skittish then all we can hope for is that in the off season McD & Bean sit down and recognize that going forward they have to take the governor off Allen. They need to go all in on the offense and Allen and that means acquiring more offensive talent AND getting the best O-coordinator they can find if DaBoll leaves.

Me to. From the very beginning the kid seemed different to all the previous QB's going back to Kelly. When I first saw Kelly play and he struggled his first couple of years in Buffalo, you could still see the combination of passion and talent. The same is true with Allen. We waited over 20 years to get the guy and we got him.

Call me dumb but who cares what Bean or McD say a couple days after a painful playoff exit. There will be nothing of substance said and they are as likley to spend like drunken sailors for the right players as they are to sit back and wait for the draft. Speaking of the draft don't we get a free middle round pick for losing our assistant GM? And if Daboll and/or Frazier leave won't we be getting more picks? My point is that we may end up with 10 - 12 picks in the upcoming draft. And this also impacts our FA signings.

It hurt Wright to say what he did. But he knew in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary that his continued trashing of Allen would simply make him look the fool to every NFL fan including Chiefs fans. So he had to swallow it and admit that Allen is now great. IMO Wright never thought otherwise - at least over the last 2 seasons - he did his little act to get eyeballs & clicks. But to continue trashing Allen now would only bring contempt down on Wright so the little snake does a fake mea culpa. But then his Allen hate was also fake so at least the cretin is being consistent.

I wish Daboll the best of luck. He has done his best for the Bills and he was instrumental in Allen's development. I don't think there is any more he can do to help Allen going forward and in fact may now be holding Allen back. I would love to see what a creative young OC could do with Allen. I would be all for a Kellon Moore up in the booth.

At the risk of being crude do people think Allen will now get a Collinsworth verbal ball washing at his next Sunday Night game?

Not if our knowing hurts the team going forward. Say what you will but this aspect of the Bean/McD culture is admirable and only works to the benefit of the team.

Yes he did. Just like he looked like a completely different QB in last seasons wildcard weekend win over the Indy Colts then he did in the previous years game at Houston. Allen's growth has been flat out amazing. I'm not sure we fully appreciate the work he's put in to get better. And the amazing thing is that he's not done. I think starting next year the baseline Allen game will be awesome and he may only have one or two (at most) clunkers during the regular season. And his clunkers won't even be really bad games.