CincyBillsFan

If he did what the women say he did should he get paid? The NFL has to protect their reputation and not allow Watson to play until he is cleared. As long as they pay him there's no damage to Watson. But if he plays and it turns out he did what the women claim he did the NFL is seriously damaged. This is a league that has invested enormously into attracting women to the game.

Does it? The NFL owes a player able to and/or willing to play a paycheck. It would be a lot harder IMO to argue that they owe them playing time while they work through personal conduct issues. This is like when a police officer is placed on paid leave. Right now letting Watson play would be very damaging to the NFL if it turns out that criminal charges are brought. On the other hand if Watson did nothing wrong it would be damaging to withhold his paycheck while he's being investigated. The way it was described on Sirius NFL seemed very reasonable to me.

I heard it explained on the Sirius NFL channel in the following way- "as long as Watson is getting paid the legal situation favors any decision by the NFL to keep him off the field based on personal conduct."

Agreed and the moment he leaves the Texans he will be put on it.

You know Allen has arrived as an elite NFL QB when folks can pick apart his Monday night performance. Kind of like last year in the NFC Championship game where some criticized Rogers for not trying to run it in from the 8 or the snipes Mahomes took last week in Washington for throwing two first half TD.s. Allen has entered fine company in the make believe issues department. Yep if Monday night was an "off game", Allen has made a lot of progress from 2019.

This triggered me to wonder if Allen is making our O-line look better in a way that the RB's can't. Allen has elite escapeability and this hides the lines deficiencies. Our RB's on the other hand are not elite and so no hole = no gain.

This is an underappreciated fact. I would argue that McD & Bean totally screwed up, on paper, Allen's rookie training camp, preseason and first half of the season. It wasn't until they brought veteran QB's into the room and cut useless WR's Holmes & Benjamin (how many TD passes did he drop - 3?) that they started to do right by Allen.

How was that PI? It happened out of bounds? NFL officiating sucks.

I was thinking the same thing. You could also throw in the Ravens back-up RB's who have played very well.

The rumor that Denver has a good defense doe not appear to be true. The effort on display there by the Bronco D was horrific.

IMO that drive stalled when the Bills got conservative once they were in the Red Zone. If the goal was to win the game in Regulation the Bills should have attacked the end zone on the first 3 downs and then kick the FG. Especially on first down instead of running Moss for a few yards. The truth is that with a few exceptions most of our runs the last two years on first down have been wasted plays either not gaining much or actually losing yards. I suspect that we got cute at the end trying to run down the clock AND score a winning TD. In hindsight scoring a TD and taking a 4 point lead with 45 seconds left is pretty good.

Why are people wondering whether the sneak was the called play? How many times over the last two years have we not run a sneak in that situation? The play against the Steelers where Allen threw the backward pass and a couple of times that Allen took it outside rather then over the tackle. IMO if that sneak is blocked correctly Allen makes it.

To light a fire under the Eagles butts.

What drives me crazy about this line of thinking is just how lazy and misleading it is. Sure that drive sucked but within the context of the entire game it wasn't even in my top 5 moments of what cost us the game.

This is especially true when playing a ball control running team like the Titans. I get that against Arizona or KC 31 points might not be enough but against teams like the Titans or Indy it should be more then enough.

The turning point for me was after we took a 6 - 0 lead and seemed to be gaining control of the game the D gave up a 76 yard run up the gut after the KO. In one stroke the Titans were revitalized, Frazier's defensive game plan crumbled and the play action pass became credible. That one run set up the Titans offense for the rest of the game. IMO it turned what should have been a workmanlike 2 score Bills win into a track meet that we barley lost.

Good points. I think both can be true. Because our offense is such a handful we get into the red zone a lot. But once there we don't take full advantage of the opportunity's because we have fundamental deficiencies on offense. But ultimately the offense had 31 points, over 400 yards and only one TO. You should win games when those kind of numbers are put up. We're complaining about the offense not being perfect in the RZ while ignoring the real reason we lost last night - poor defensive play. I think obsessing over the offense is a classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees. Had the defense got the Titans off the field a couple of more times that would have meant at least 2 more possessions and likely 3 - 7 more points. Then at the end at most we need is a FG to win the game. So would I. The most discouraging thing is that even when the D is not playing the run on 1st down our O-line and RB's can rarely exploit it for big gains. To often what should have been 6 or 7 yard gains turn out to be 2 yard gains. On almost every big run by a RB this season they have run through gaping holes, not made anyone miss or break a tackle. In fact Motors 14 yard run in the 1st quarter was the first time this season I saw a Bill's RB make something out of nothing.

Agree 100%. They need to recognize that until they upgrade the RB & Guard positions they won't be very successful in conventionally attacking the Red Zone. And I suspect they know this because of the number of gimmick plays they're using in the RZ. IMO having Allen throw on every down inside the 20 and outside the 2 yard line is the way to go. It's off the pass plays that Allen has his most dangerous runs and he should be encouraged to take off if he sees a hole.

Opposing defenses have recognized that our RB's minus Allen are below average as is the offensive line. Out strength has been Allen and our stable of play making wide receivers. And recently we've seen Knox contribute from the TE position. Our offense is hard to contain outside the Red Zone but once we get in close and lose the depth of the field our conventional running game and O line are not up to the task of punching the ball in. Defenses focus on Allen running and/or our WR's making quick moves in the end zone. They are doing everything in their power to take those away because they have NO fear of our conventional running game. Play action in the red zone doesn't work all that well when the D is ignoring it. And when we do hand the ball off our slow, unable to make people miss RB's rarely gain much yardage. And the Bills know this is true which is why they run gimmick plays like TE reverses and TE throws to the QB when in close to the goal line.

I don't get some of the takes here. I agree about the 2nd to last drive but the last drive Allen was masterful getting the Bills down into the red zone. He drove them from the 17 to the 14 (70 yards) in about 90 seconds. And for the record Beasley was not open on that play until Allen crossed the LOS. IMO the bad play call was the run to Moss after the Bill's got close. It went for next to nothing and was a wasted play. Was it? Maybe for that one drive. But that last drive was masterful. That was NOT sugar rush Allen or the "moment is to big for him" Allen on display. That was an offense moving with surgical precision down the field and into position to tie the game with a chip shot FG or win it outright with a TD. IMO the play calling got a bit strange AFTER Allen had moved the Bills to the 13 yard line.

This is spot on. And defenses are onto the designed Allen runs. My thought is that once they get in the red zone they should pass on almost every down with Allen being told to run if anything opens up.

And don't forget that the defenses inability to get the Titan's off the field probably cost the O another 2 possessions.

Penalty on Buffalo for illegal forward pass. Next.

Glass half full: we are exactly where we were last season at 4 - 2. The difference is that we could have and probably should have won both games we lost this year. last year, KC & TN manhandled us in games we were not going to win. There is no doubt that Allen has achieved elite QB status. In the NFL the only team that has a chance without an elite QB are the Titans because they have the best RB in the NFL. Maybe when all is said and done the best RB to have ever played. Last nights loss hurt but it was also the type of close hard nosed game the Bills are going to experience in the playoffs (only with a better result). If the Bills take care of business and beat the tams they're supposed to beat then we're looking at a 13 - 4 season. And in this years AFC that could be good enough for home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

I read an article this morning moaning about our lack of production in the Red Zone. Well why is anyone surprised? The strength of this offense is Allen and the WR's. Outside the red zone it's tough to defense this combo. But in the red zone when the field shrinks it's a lot easier. At this point you need to depend on your RB's and O line. And therein lies the problem.