CincyBillsFan

The only reason they can do that is that they have a RB with 117 yards half way through the 2nd quarter. When you're running the ball down the opponents throat and your O-line is creating great pockets you can do pretty much what you want in the passing game.

Our O-line comes to mind.

I worry that our O-line is so bad that we seldom get the conditions where we can complete the long pass. That shot against NE caught them by surprise because they didn't expect the Bills to even try to hit a deep ball.

How many times on 3rd and 3 or 4 do we gain one yard and are forced to pass to convert a 3rd down? Our RB's don't pass the eye test. I would also say that my eyes tell me that Allen rarely has time to actually scan the field. On almost every passing play it's like a jail break is taking place along the line. They can claim that Allen has so many seconds to throw until they're blue in the face and I don't care what the watch says. In almost every one of those plays it's Allen buying time not the O-line giving him time.

With the Bills O-line they don't even try to throw that pattern - it took to long to develop. How many times in the last 10 games has Allen had a pocket like that in or near the red zone?

Ditto for the pass protection. That was a sweet pocket for Cousins with lots of time to throw.

Even the Bil's RBs could run through some of these holes!

Maybe someone left a door open?

And it's the kind of call that makes me thing Kurt Cousins isn't the Vikings problem.

Actually the story on Stafford is still being written in LA. And if Allen morphs into Stafford 2.0 it will be because the Bills have morphed into the Lions 2.0. You know like the decision by McD & Beane to ignore the O-line and RB in favor of having 11 Defensive Linemen. Now they get a pass for this year because they were taking a gamble which didn't pay off. S### happens. But if they keep making those types of decisions it will lead to us being the new Detroit Lions - a franchise with a great QB that can't win.

Is he now? By my reckoning Allen is being paid fair market value for a young elite QB. In fact in 5 years we'll all be marveling at what a bargain the Bills are getting with Allen. But hey, if you think his contract demands that he play flawlessly all the time then start a thread arguing that we trade Allen and his big contact because Allen isn't playing great every game. My guess is that if Bean lost his mind and put Allen up for sale about 25 teams would trample each other in the rush to be first in line to pay his big contract AND give us a whole bunch of 1st & 2nd round picks to boot. Of course this would be crazy and the Bills have ZERO intention of doing this but it seems this is what you guys are hinting at with your little jabs. BTW, I was listening to Cowherd today and he had Cosell on. This guy knows his stuff and when commenting on the Bills/Pats game he said something along the lines that Allen missed some throws but made a lot of great throws. He said that had Diggs caught that TD pass he and Cowherd would be having a very different conversation. He noted that the Bills had serious issues on the O-line and in the running game and the only way their offense works is if Allen plays great ALL THE TIME. He then pointed out that very few QB's in the history of the NFL can be expected to play great all the time.

You're not in the minority at all. The vast majority of Bills fans thought Allen played surprisingly well under the circumstances. There's just a vocal minority that seems to delight in taking every little perceived Allen failing and blowing it up way out of proportion.

If we had a bigger, more explosive back who hit the hole faster that's at least a 3 yard gain and it's 2nd & goal from the 3 which is a lot easier to deal with than from the 6. And if our bigger, stronger RB breaks a tackle it's a TD. And note all the Patriot eyeing Allen.

So Allen's play was a "huge reason" the Bills lost? Where would you rate it in comparison to: * Brieda's fumble? * Knox dropping two first down passes in Patriot territory? * Diggs dropping a TD pass? * A missed short FG? * The O-line's play? * A defense that allowed a 65 yard TD run on 3rd & 5? * RB's who didn't break tackles or hit the holes? * Coaching Allen wasn't perfect. I would give him a B+/A- considering the wind conditions. And sure if he had played at an A+ level and made that last throw we would have likely won the game. But IMO Allen wasn't in the top 10 reasons we lost that game.

I don't know about you but I,m 100% confident that if Allen SAW that no one was in front of him he would have run there. Again the expectations surrounding what Allen can and can't do under these circumstances are insane. He's not a Marvel Movie Super Hero.

I remember that play and Allen was nailed BY HIS OWN FREAKING GUY who somehow got blown back into him. To suggest he could get up and calmly determine in which direction he had "room" is simply wrong.

There is such a thing as "grounding". After Allen's blocker was driven into him, knocking him off his feet, he got back up off the ground faster then most QB's would have only to be almost immediately sacked by anther pass rusher. Are you seriously suggesting that upon getting up Allen should have just thrown the ball away? While between the tackles and into a wind storm that might have kept it from getting out of the back of the end zone? The expectations that some seem to have of Allen are surreal.

It's a lot less "weird & divisive" then starting a thread claiming Allen complains to much within a day of one of the Bills most frustrating losses. I'm not sure what you've been watching but most of the QB's complain. And who cares if they do? They're working the refs to try to get a call later.

Wow, another way to take a shot at Allen from the "wrong Josh" crowd. Good thing there aren't that many of them left on this board. But hey, given that Allen was by far the best Bills offensive player on the field Monday night they can't complain about his play without looking like fools. So instead we get this.

Because they came very close to losing the game. A couple of play action passes would have likely resulted in huge gains/TD's for the Pats and a comfortable win. They didn't throw the ball because on the one pass in the first half Jones did throw it was a wounded duck that required a highlight reel catch to gain 12 yards. The way the Pats were running the ball play action passes would have killed the Bills.

Really now. So after his 5th season you want to franchise Allen until he's an unrestricted free agent then have to pay him over $50,000,000 per year for ten years? Is that your plan?

Please, enough with the passive/aggressive trolling - it's boring. If the QB's were flipped last night how badly would the Bills have been beaten? 40 - 3? Imagine how effective play action passes would have been with Allen cutting through the wind over the top of our 11 in the box defense desperately trying to stop the run.

Correct. Most teams with average RB's can gain 3 yards on 1st and goal from the 6 making it a very doable 2nd and goal from the 3 yard line. And teams with good RB's see their guy bounce the play to the outside for a TD. On the last drive, a bad false start turned a 3rd & 9, which had QB run options to get us to 4th and short, into a 3rd & 14 obvious passing situation. I would also call out the pass breakup on the throw to Knox in the end zone on the 3rd & 14. Sure that wasn't a drop and the DB made a great play on the ball. But there are a lot of TE's in the NFL that would have muscled that ball away from a much smaller DB and scored a TD there. I see that play made multiple times every Sunday. And that was a great effort by Allen to escape the sack and put that ball on the money.

I would have agreed with you earlier in the season but the glaring issues at RB & O-line mean that we at best have a Top 10 roster.

Bingo. It was 4th down and Allen was almost immediately under heavy pressure. The DB made a smart play there. The throw folks wanted Allen to make to Beasley was low percentage because of the wind. The wind would have made it a much more difficult throw to accurately complete. If the DB doesn't fall off Beasley it's a TD to Davis.