CincyBillsFan

Are you seriously suggesting that the Bills allow Allen to basically become a free agent before paying him? The whole idea of reworking these contracts for your rookie franchise QB is to show him that he's your guy and to allow the team to get the most advantageous CAP friendly deal they can get. To do otherwise would be insane on the Bills part. There is a zero chance that Bean doesn't rework Allen's contract this off season.

Bingo and this is why Allen had so many designed runs against the Colts. But we're not Baltimore and the fact that Allen more then doubled up the rushing yards of our RB's in 2 of the 3 playoff games is a big problem. And it wouldn't take much from one of our RB's to shake up the kind of defense the Chief were playing. If Singleterry catches that pass and runs down the sideline for 30 yards it forces the Chiefs to rethink what they're doing. A run up the middle that busts open for 25 yards is going to give a D coordinator heartburn. Did we have even one run of that kind the entire season? Our RB's are slow and not very elusive. They have almost no power and Singleterry doesn't have good hands. The one thing they do well is pick up the blitz on pass plays. But Sunday we had to use Yelden to get the production Singleterry wasn't giving us. The problem was that Yelden missed the blitz pickup a couple of times resulting in Allen running for his life. It was a case of pick your poison. The good news is that IMO this is a relatively easy off season fix.

It's natural to want to find an explanation for why we lost. But the sample size versus KC is to small to try to ID an underlining reason. IMO it comes down to: * The Chiefs are a better team. They are defending SB champs with the best record in football. You tend to lose to that type of team. * In the first game Allen was dealing with a shoulder injury and in the last game 3 of the 4 Bills WR's were dealing with injury's. When you're as one dimensional on offense as the Bills are - they depend almost exclusively on the QB to WR pass - you're in trouble when those players aren't 100%. * The way to counter what KC was doing on defense meant using players that just aren't very good. The Bill's RB's are at the bottom of the league as pass receivers. The Bills TE's don't exactly terrify defenses with their pass catching and YAC potential. The drop by Singleterry on the Bills 2nd possession was huge because not only would it have been a big gain but it would have forced the Chiefs to adjust what they were doing on D. And to those saying Allen wasn't taking the check downs look at the stats. Beasley, Knox & Yelden caught 17 passes between them all of the short variety. And all but one of Diggs receptions was a short pass. This year the Bills didn't have the offensive personnel to exploit the check down pass. Only Beasley seemed to be able to make a defender miss after one of these catches. How many times did Moss or Singleterry juke a guy out after catching a dump off pass?

This is a great point. In my family some of the younger Bills fans are taking this very hard. I think the historical perspective makes a big difference on how you see yesterday's game. I became a serious Bills fan as a college student in Buffalo in the early 1970's (grew up in a small town west of Rochester). The Bills were bad back then and the only thing to root for was OJ. Then Chuck Knox came along and built the Bills into a playoff caliber team. But this only lasted for 2 years and the Bills were eliminated both times in the Divisional Round. We could only dream of playing in a conference championship game. Then it was back in the toilet for 6 years where our dreams revolved around getting back to the playoffs. Levy, Kelly & Company show up in the late 80's and we had a 10 year golden age. Sure the Super Bowl losses hurt but given what we were about to face for the next 20 years it was the best of times. Twenty years of oblivion where the fan base goes nuts when the 2017 Bills back into the playoffs then score a FG in a first round loss. And now some of these fans are belly aching about losing in the conference championship game to the defending SB champs? Incredible. For what it's worth yesterday's game reminded me of the Bill's loss to Cincinnati in the 1988 AFC championship game. Even though Kelly stunk the joint up (3 INT's) and the Bills played poorly there was a sense of optimism that this was the start of something big. Well I have that same sense today.

Different situation and different teams. Mahomes benefited greatly from the KC defense being able to shut down NE through three quarters of that game. He was afforded the luxury of floundering for three quarters. Had Mahomes faced an elite offense and his defense not played well that day the Chiefs end up losing by a score similar to the Bills loss yesterday.

Actually it's very close. By the end of next season you won't be able to tell the difference between Mahomes & Allen. And that's not disrespecting Mahomes in any way. I believe he's the best QB in the NFL. This is about how much Allen has improved, the fantastic physical tools he brings to the position and the expected further improvements in Allen's game from now to next season. I truly believe that next season Allen & Mahomes will be the consensus picks as the best QB's in the NFL.

Love this. It's important to understand the past to enable a proper perspective on the present. And let's not forget that Mahomes was shut out in the first half against NE and after 3 quarters had only led the Chiefs to 7 points in his first championship game. Sure he had an awesome 4th quarter but clearly Mahomes was impacted by the moment when he played in his first championship game. And your point about Allen not having a normal modern QB experience growing up is spot on. He didn't attend the elite camps that a lot of these guys do during high school that sharpens their skills and his college career didn't exactly groom him for the NFL. Allen took more of an old school path where QB's benefited from sitting and learning their first couple of years in the NFL.

The CAP will restrict what Bean can do. So IMO they must pick what side of the ball they want to make elite and IMO that would be the offense. My focus on the offense would be: * A solid RB that can pick up the blitz and be a threat in the passing game is the Bills #1 need. This simple addition to the Bills current O could catapult this unit right up along side the Chiefs offense. * A reliable pass catching TE. I would leave the O-line alone. It's good enough and the return of Ford will add competition/depth to that unit. Again in a CAP free world Buffalo would add a free agent here but how will the Bills afford it? On Defense: * Try to get value in free agency and/or the draft for the D-line. Star will be back which should help. I just don't see how the Bills will have the CAP money to spend big here.

This is a great observation. There is as much of a difference between playoff games and championship/super bowl games as there is between regular season games and playoff games. The Bills had to get "bloodied" in a championship game to learn how to play in that kind of game. Now that they have the Bills must make sure that they get back there a couple of times over the next 5 years. And I'm confident they will.

How quickly people forget the past. Mahomes in his first AFC championship game was clearly overwhelmed for the first 3 quarters of that game. The Chiefs were shut out in the first half for crying out loud. After 3 quarters KC had only scored 7 points. The stat line between Allen & Mahomes wasn't all that different either. And note how Mahomes was sacked 4 times for minus 46 yards. That's over 11 yards per sack. Looks like Patrick ran backwards some to. As time goes on and the sting of this loss fades we'll appreciate that Allen played okay for his first AFC championship game. The Bills were beat by a better team. It's really that simple. Like in 1988, this Bills team had to experience a deep playoff run in order to make Super Bowl runs. It has and now on to next year.

This is untrue and a great example of revisionist history. Mahomes looked like a deer in the headlights in the fist half as the Patriots led 14 - 0 at the half. He settled down and did a little better in the 3rd quarter but going into the 4th quarter the Pats led the Chiefs 17 - 7. So surrounded by a ton of talent on offense Mahomes could only manage 7 points at home through 3 quarters. Now in the 4th quarter Mahomes exploded and led the Chiefs to 24 points. But it was clear to anyone who watched the game that the moment was clearly to big for Mahomes through 3 quarters.

I disagree. Allen took the underneath stuff a lot yesterday the 17 catches by Beasley, Dawson & Yeldon attest to that. Also the fact that starting at the end of the 2nd period, the Bills had three long drives that ended in 2 FG's and an INT in which the ball bounced out of Browns hands. In those drives Allen took the underneath stuff until the Bills ran out of real estate in the red zone. Then the inability to gain separation by the receivers kept us from scoring TD's on those drives. I'm amazed how when Allen has a couple of bad sacks folks seem to think it happened all game. The fact was that Allen was under pressure very quickly a lot of the time and was the Chiefs got up by 3 scores he had to hold the ball and try to connect on the deep passes.

I don't buy this at all. Late in the season when you started to see fans coming back into the stadiums the Bills were still winning their games in style and that includes two playoff wins against very good teams. The issue is that for 31 teams the season ends on a loss. And the further in the playoffs you go the more disappointing the loss. Yesterday's loss was entirely predictable: * we were playing the best team in football who went 14 - 2 and were defending Super Bowl Champs. * The Bills had a fatal flaw on offense that only 2 teams exploited - the Chiefs & Ravens. That flaw was NO running game and RB's/TE's that were not very dangerous in the passing game. We were one dimensional on O - Allen throwing to WR's. In hindsight it's amazing the Bills O played as well as they did this season. That's a testimony to the elite QB & WR play we enjoyed. * On defense the fatal flaw was that the defensive line didn't have a dominant pass rusher or top level run stopper. Missing these things forced the coaches to game plan on D to hide the defect. That left us vulnerable to an offense that game planned better like KC. These factors have far more to do with yesterdays loss then the presence or absence of fans.

This was the best Bills season since 1993. That's 27 years. Thank you Bills. And the added bonus is we now have a reason to look forward to next season.

I agree with this to a point. The problem I see with our RB's' particularly Singleterry is the lack of production in the passing game. Tow recent examples: 1) Against the Ravens the Bills had the perfect screen set up. Singleterry catches the ball and slips. That should have been a 20 yard gain. 2) Against KC Singleterry drops a potential 20 yard or more gain on a simple swing pass. That's a lot of yards lost on two simple plays. With our downfield WR threat and Allen's threat to run our RB's should be putting up big time receiving numbers but they don't. And that's a big problem but also a big opportunity for the Bills to cheaply add firepower to this offense.

Espinoza got better in the 2nd half of the season. There's every reason to think that he'll be a defensive mainstay next season. Bass was a huge pickup. After a shaky start he was one of the best long FG kickers in the NFL. Just in the playoffs he nailed two 51 yard FG's and a 54 yard FG. Moss developed into a solid #2 RB. Given that we didn't have a #1 pick this years draft class was fine.

Allen and the Bills have made steady progress each year: Bills: from 6 - 10 to 10 - 7 (wildcard playoffs) to 15 - 4 division winner, won 2 playoff games, lost in the championship game. Allen is a top 5 QB and McD and Bean are top 5 coach/GM. It's reasonable to assume that the over the next 10 years the Bills will be regular playoff participants making multiple Super Bowl runs.

The Tampa return guy has to take this KO out to try to get to the two minute warning.

Wow both QB's are playing poorly right now. They were both red hot in the 1st half and early in the 3rd quarter but they're struggling to even complete a pass now.

Judas Priest that was a bad pass by Brady not a drop by #13. Joe & Troy blaming he wrong guy on that INT.

That big completion to Godwin by Brady is why Allen takes shots down the field to his WR's even into double coverage. Sometimes you just have to let a guy make a play.

After this week I'm more convinced then ever that most of the popular national "experts" are a special combination of lazy & ignorant. My favorite dumb take was one guy claiming that the Bills offense is struggling and that they have to score more then 10 points to have any chance against the Chiefs. He was apparently basing his entire "analysis" on the Raven game! You know a game in which the Bills O played in a gale against one of the best defenses in the NFL. Had this moron gone back just one week he would have seen that the Bills O was playing at a very high level and had maintained that level in every game since the bye week.

It's always less stressful when paying with house money and that's exactly what we're playing with. This season has exceeded my most realistic optimistic expectations: 15 wins; division title; 2 playoff wins; elite play by Allen to confirm he's our franchise QB and the big trade for Diggs working better then anyone could have imagined. Throw in the fact that we have the right head coach & GM and the Bills are poised for a long run. Some have hinted that we have to win Sunday because this might be the last time we get so close to a Super Bowl. And yes that may be right. But IMO everything I see argues against a one & done Bills team. In fact all signs point to a 10 year run at the top. From ownership to head coach to GM the Bills are built for long term success. And we have our QB. And given Allen's path into and through the NFL it's reasonable to assume he will get even better over the coming years. So lets hope the Bills win and go to the SB. But in the end this is a learning experience for the Bills and there will be several more chances to reach the SB in the next few years. Count on it.

We are looking at the big picture. The offense against Indy looked exactly like it did all year. Pass happy, dependent on Allen making big plays, about 400 yards and 27 points. And this was done in a PLAYOFF game against a top 10 defense. And I would suggest you let go of your anti-Allen fanaticism. After the year Allen and the Bills offense have had he can throw 3 INT's and only 200 yards on Sunday and I'll still believe he had a great season and is the guy for the Bills. And that's not pro Allen "fanaticism" but seeing the ENTIRE season clearly and appreciating the elite level of QB play Allen has given the Bills.

I agree on the lack of a running game and how it might bite us in the butt in the end but I disagree with the rest of this post. First, Allen played one of his best games against Indy. Our offense looked fine against the Colts, one of the best defenses in the NFL. And in spite of playing in front of the home fans for the first time this season Allen had the best game of any QB that weekend. His play almost single-handedly won the game for the Bills. As for the Ravens game the wind pretty much destroyed DaBold's game plan right from the start. They put the game in Allen's hands in the first half because they didn't have a choice. When you combine the wind with a smart Baltimore defensive plan (much less blitzing) you had the perfect recipe for slowing the Bills down. Yet in the end Allen was efficient enough with the passing game to help get us the win. I'm convinced that in part Jackson forced that pass into the end zone because the Ravens were trailing 10 - 3 at the end of the 3rd quarter and Lamar felt under pressure to score a TD there and not settle for a FG. That opening 2nd half TD drive by the Bills was one of the most important drives of the Bills this year. And Allen shined directing it. Frankly when I see posts like this I see a whole lot of "wrong Josh" passive aggressive crap coming out.