CincyBillsFan

Wait, so on Friday, on the day Coleman was drafted when the Bills had the first choice that night and Bean had decided to pick Coleman Allen sent him a text? The 20-year-old said he received a text from Allen on Friday, before he was drafted that said (via the team's official website), "You're the guy that I want. I watched a lot of receivers and I want to play with you." Clearly the two-time Pro Bowler gives his stamp of approval on the pick. This looks like Allen trying to make Coleman comfortable about being picked by the Bills. Or maybe this is what you're referring to: Allen was involved in the team's selections, Bills general manager Brandon Beane revealed, saying his quarterback is "crazy about the draft process" and "loves it." "If I get a call from Josh in the offseason, it's usually him seeing somebody on a highlight, running into somebody, throwing with somebody -- just something to ask me what I think about this guy," Beane said. "He called me at the Senior Bowl [to ask] what do I think about a couple of guys there. So he loves it." Beane said he was curious about what Allen saw in certain prospects, asking him to watch film with coaches and talk about how he would utilize certain players in a game scenario. The GM said he wanted to hear what Allen saw in these players and it was Coleman who stuck out as one of the players the 27-year-old admired. Seriously? This is the level of involvement any top veteran QB is going to have with their teams draft. And this places into perspective Allen's role in all this: When Beane revealed that the team was likely going to take Coleman, Allen was "pretty pumped." So Allen didn't even know Coleman was going to be picked until Bean told him. Which is exactly how it should be.

Allen and Diggs had an issue between them. To extend that problem, whatever it was, to how Allen would view any other elite WR is not believable to me.

No I don't. Do you? You will have to excuse me for my ignorance as I'm not on first hand terms with Allen, Bean or McD to know this. Nor was I in the room when they were discussing these two players. Were you? Now I could believe that as the picks got close, Bean might have asked Allen what he thought abut a potentially elite pass catching TE like Kincaid or a physical 50/50 WR like Coleman. And at that point with a LIMITED set of choices Allen may have favored them over other options.

Damn jumping to conclusions are we? So Allen is a "huge weakness" because he's afraid of of a "giant personality and head case" at WR? Allen strikes me as the kind of person who was taught to make lemonade from lemons. That's why he's all in on "everyone eats". The idea that Allen would not be thrilled to have Chase & Higgens as his top 2 WR's is insane on it face.

What "reports" are you talking about?

Everyone keeps throwing Allen's name out there like he has any say in who they bring in on the O. Sure, AFTER they decide to go after a guy they might bounce the idea off Allen who MIGHT be able to veto the idea. But the claim that Allen is involved in who they bring in seems farfetched to me. After all if he was making personnel decisions wouldn't he be trying to get ELITE WR talent and not borderline JAG's on the Bills?

I guess this moron has never heard of Mahommes.

Yes, pending the results of this season.

I don't disagree with you but how disappointing is it that the one thing we thought was his strength - making those 50/50 catches - is not a strength? Your argument makes sense but it leaves me wishing the Bills had taken Worthy or McConkey whose strengths are what we thought they were.

Okay if this is true then we should not have drafted and Coleman and took McConkey instead. The logic behind taking Coleman, which made sense to me, was that he had the big frame and BB background to enable him to shine snagging 50/50 balls. Something the Bills did not have.

Bingo. That sideline pass by Allen was perfect and as you said most boundary savvy NFL receivers keep their feet inbound. Shakir is the best version of McKenzie that can exist. Not sure I put this on Brady. Over the last couple of games Allen has thrown some very catchable balls to Coleman along the sideline only to see incomplete passes as Coleman doesn't get his body set to make the catches expected from a big man. Typically a much smaller DB gets in close and knocks the ball away and Coleman looks at the refs and complains there wasn't a flag thrown. I watched a lot of college and pro football this past weekend and saw a lot of big WR's effectively box out the DB on the sideline throws and make those catches.

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.