CincyBillsFan

We are definitely on the same page here. I just spent the day arguing with my circle of Bill's fans down here in Cincy saying exactly what you just posted. If I was Czar of the Bills I would work towards having a good but not great defense and switch priority to building at the minimum a very good offense. I would role the dice on Allen and turn over the keys to the offense to him. Sure Sign White & both D lineman but that's it. The rest of the money and energy is going into the offense. And we should fundamentally change the nature of our offense from a mistake free, low scoring unit designed to NOT lose a game to a high scoring risk taking venture. Much in the way Levy went from a conventional offense to the no huddle O after the 1989 playoff loss. I like (hope) that the loss to the Texans is this groups 1989 playoff loss to the Browns. But that will only happen if McD opens up his eyes and sees what needs to be done to change how the Bills play D.

I agree but for almost 3/4 of the game he was largely ineffective. Then he came alive and played brilliantly helped in no small part by his key play maker Hopkins who also came alive. The unique synergy between a stud play maker and a clutch QB was on full display with Watson & Hopkins late in that game and it's something desperately missing from the Bill's offense. I agree that the Watt sack screwed Allen up for two series though to his credit Allen was able to recover enough in the 2nd series to get the Bills a game tying FG. In OT though I thought Allen had settled back down and looked sharp. The only reason we didn't get the game winning FG on our OT possession was the missed block on Allen's sweep and the bad penalty called on Ford the next play. And had the D come through on the 3rd & 18 we would have gotten the ball back and I'm very confident that Allen moves us into FG range on that drive.

That's how I feel to. Allen did well in his first playoff game on the road. And for those saying the Texans had a weak defense that's NOT true when Watt is out there. He really sparked them. And it would be fair to point out that the Texans playing without Fuller are not a good offense by any stretch of the imagination. And while on the topic of our defense McD & Bean are going to have to take a long hard look at their strategy of putting the D first in building this team. IMO it's NOT good enough. I know what the stats say but stats lie. Our D has let teams drive the ball down our throats at critical points in a game all year long. On top of that they've done a piss poor job of forcing TO's that result in points. NO TD's and only ONE forced TO in an opponents red zone. Look at yesterday's games, defenses were asked and came through in protecting small leads on days that their offenses were not producing. For example TN's D made 14 points stand up & Seattle's D made 17 points stand up. If our D was truly elite and a top 3 defense 19 points should have been enough to win the game and we never should have lost a 16 - 0 lead late in the 3rd quarter. I'm thinking we would be better off letting the D slip back 20% while improving the Offense by 50%. That seems to be the sweet spot for teams advancing in the playoffs. Oh and one more point while I'm on a rant - if you're going to build your team around an elite defense at the expense of your offense then you better have AWESOME special teams. And we don't have awesome ST's by a long shot.

I think next year when Allen plays in his 2nd playoff game we'll see a significant improvement in his performance. There's usually a big jump from a QB's first to 2nd playoff game. I suspect that next week we'll see an example of this with Lamar Jackson who was booed at home last year in his playoff debut.

And that Cook fella is no slouch either!

Let's simplify things and look at production by the 8 QB's who played in the 4 first round playoff games: Passing Yards & TD's/TO's: 325 = Wilson; 1/0 264 = Allen; 1/1 247 = Watson; 2/0 242 = Cousins; 1/0 209 = Brady; 0/1 208 = Brees; 1/2 174 = MaGowan; 0/0 72 = Tannehill; 1/1 Rushing Yards - ALL players 182 = Henry 94 = Cook 92 = Allen! Team Offensive Production - total yards/ Points Buffalo = 425 yards; 19 Seattle = 382 yards; 17 Vikings = 362 yards; 26 Texans = 360 yards; 22 Saints = 324 yards; 20 Pats = 307 yards; 13 Eagles = 282 yards; 9 TN = 272 yards; 14 (pick 6 not included). Key take aways? Allen played equal to or better then all the other QB's from both a personal AND team offensive production POV. All the games were LOW SCORING & tightly contested with two going to OT. Buffalo had the most yards and the Vikings had the most points. Allen led all QB's in TOTAL YARDS produced and Watson led all QB's in TOTAL TD's produced. Brees led all QB's in TO's As others have pointed out playoff games are often dominated by the defenses. Bottom line is that for his FIRST PLAYOFF game Allen acquitted himself quite well. And note that this was Cousins FIRST playoff win in his NFL career.

Bingo! These folks attacking Allen for that throw are clueless. There are a lot of TE's & WR's who would have caught that ball Allen threw to DeMarco. The real problem wasn't the throw but the fact that a FULLBACK was on the receiving end 40 yards down the field. Daboll's schemes where he lines Gore & DeMarco up on the outside with Allen in an empty set backfield is demented.

This is so spot on. Since I started watching games this way last year I feel even better about Allen being our franchise guy. The nitpicking he endures at the hands of some of these demented "fans" is astonishing.

Watson was barely up to the challenge. He was ineffective through two and a half quarters yesterday but in the end he came through for the Texans like a star. But let's not forget how Watson did in his first playoff game last year. Allen did much better in his first game.

I think it worked out just fine with Allen. Had Arizona beat us in the bidding war to draft Allen we would have been forced to draft Josh Rosen. Think about that for a second! I agree and as I've said about other picks EVERY team is going to miss on guys in EVERY draft. It comes with the territory. But with that being said, bean & McD are going to have to be willing to spend a 1st or 2nd round pick on an offensive skill player - something they seem reluctant to do.

I don't know about that. Allen seems to like big receivers. Look at all the targets Duke gets when he plays. And if this is a swipe at Allen, Brown went over 1,000 yards with Allen throwing to him. So I suspect that Metcalf would have exploded, especially in the 2nd half of the season, had we taken him in the 2nd round last draft.

This is one of the things that Bean & McD have to take a long hard look at. They keep chasing "value" in the draft when it comes to offensive skill players and that can be hit or miss - Singleterry was a hit but the book is still out on Knox. But at WR, a position the Bill's desperately needed to upgrade, they whiffed by passing on Metcalf and I would argue they whiffed on Hunter Renfro who could have been taken in the 4th round. Instead we signed FA walk ons who contributed nothing. This off season the Bill's need to take a long hard look at their offensive philosophy including everything from their off season talent acquisition to their in game tactics. The way they chose to play offense this year did not work. Sure it's hind site but that's why you learn from your mistakes. Next season the Bills must go after & acquire big time play makers on offense. And they need to use BOTH the draft & free agency to do this. They must also rethink their in game tactics and this includes unleashing Allen & Singleterry and anyone else they bring in.

Try telling that to Lamar Jackson. We ignore what the Ravens have done at our peril. Like the rest of the Allen supporters on this board I agree that he needs to keep improving his passing game. But to not acknowledge the significant improvements he's made in just one year in that part of his game is to be deliberately blind. But for Allen to continue to grow & improve as a passer he MUST get more help at the play maker position. As I watched the rest of the wildcard playoff games I couldn't help but notice that only NE had fewer offensive threats then the Bills. Even the banged up Eagles had better play making/more productive TE's and a better one-two punch at RB.

It was a funny take and had moments of truth. But it made me think of something else - are the Bills, Deboll & McD screwing Josh Allen up? While the writer of this article was being a smart a## he was also noting something that we Bills fans are already aware of - Allen makes jaw dropping plays and plays QB with a creativity seldom seen in the NFL. Last year Lamar Jackson was booed at home as he had a terrible game in the playoff against San Diego. The "new" offense the ravens were trying to run seemed to implode in the playoffs. Who watching that game, including most of the 65,000 people in the stadium, weren't calling for Joe Flaco? But the Ravens in the off season doubled down on their crazy offense and put even more pieces around Jackson to make it happen. The result was there for all to see. Maybe what the Bills need to do is treat Allen like the Ravens treat Jackson - as an unconventional talent that could redefine how the QB position is played. Change the offense to FOCUS on and FEATURE the wild stuff that Allen does. Surround Allen with equally creative and wacky PLAY MAKERS. On this current offense ONLY Singleterry would fit the kind of skill player Allen should have around him. Guys like SF's Kittle or Carolina's McCaffrey would thrive in such an environment. Just some food for thought and I hope Daboll, Bean & McD do a little out of the box thinking this off season. Or we can stick with splitting Gore & DeMarco out wide in an empty backfield. You know a play design that deprives Allen of extra protection while simultaneously removing 40% of the threat the spread out "play makers" are supposed to represent?

I agree with you 100%. Of all the mistakes made and plays NOT made it really did come down to executing that sweep. For all the bashing Daboll is taking and I'm dealing it out like everyone else, it was a great play call that caught Houston flat footed. Allen would have gained 20 yards had just one of those guys got in the way of #41. They didn't even need to make a block.

That's not how I remember it. He looked right at Knox. The problem and I guess the situational awareness issue was that Knox was moving towards him and he lateralled the ball where Knox had just been.

I think you might be on to something here. And for the record over the many years I've watched college & pro football I've seen that play made a number of times. In fact it used to be standard procedure for the trailing guy like Knox to hang back in the expectation that the runner might lateral the ball. I think other old timers would agree that this is how it used to be done. My guess is Allen had two thoughts that triggered the lateral: 1) the first was to get the ball out of bounds 2) the 2nd was that Allen probably noticed that there was nothing between Knox and the end zone. Sure they would have probably run him down but who knows. And gaining 20 more yards and getting out of bounds isn't such a bad thing. Bottom line is that the play did no damage and might have been huge if Allen/Knox had pulled it off.

I don't know about that. Getting the Bills into position to kick the tying FG was a big moment and while it wasn't pretty Allen got it done. And OT was a big moment in which Allen was coolly moving us into position to kick the winning FG and then we had a QB sweep that should have gone for 20 yards except that the blockers inexplicably forgot to block the only defender on the edge. Then of course the bad penalty on Ford. And I haven't even got started on how the defense played in the 4th quarter & OT. Seems to me the moment was to big for the whole team including the coaches. Let's hope this is 1989 and not 1999. I happen to think we're closer to a 1989 scenario where a bad playoff loss to Cleveland launched us into the Bills most glorious period.

Overall Duke was much more productive then Foster. He made several tough 3rd down catches. The end zone throw by Allen was perfectly placed and the DB made a great play on the ball. But with that being said Duke should have caught that pass. A lot of NFL WR's make that catch. But to be fair NO ONE on the Bills makes that catch. Our receiving core simply doesn't make what would be called great catches. They make solid, tough catches but almost never make the spectacular ones. And in the NFL this is a problem because spectacular catches are being made by other receivers all over the place. Bottom line is the "pro Duke" posters were right that he should have been active the entire season. When in a game he produced and he provided the O with something they desperately needed in the WR group - a big body. But the fact is that McD values the offense less then the other two units or he would have sat Foster and played Duke. Ditto for Yeldon. This also explains the reluctance to give Singleterry the ball more. The risk of a fumble outweighs the gain of a big play. IMO this type of thinking has to end and should be a point of introspection on the part of McD in the off season.

But why is he more frustrated with Allen then he was with his defense? He has proactively constructed a Bills team that relies on it's defense to win games. IMO the D experienced more of a collapse in the 4th quarter/OT then Allen and the offense did. Like I've said this was a total team loss but Allen was more a positive then a negative in the game. And bringing up a lateral that while ill advised had NO NEGATIVE IMPACT on the game was curious. There are more good things to take away from Allen's first playoff game and OT experience then bad things. That's what MD should have focused on. In fact one of the lessons from this game isn't that Allen was a wild man it's that McD's entire concept may be flawed. Maybe this off season we should focus exclusively on improving the Offense even at the cost of the defense. McD might benefit from a bit more introspection here. Or maybe McD should lobby to trade Allen. I bet we would get a high 1st round draft pick for him. I'm being serious here. Allen would command a 1st round draft pick and maybe a decent veteran LB or CB to go long with the deal. Then McD can get a true game manager with a 3rd round pick (or maybe Gruden will send us Peterman back for his 5th round pick) while using the extra 1st round pick to select a CB or DE. Allen is a thoroughbred race horse and McD may think that he needs a plow horse type QB to pair with his elite Defense and conservative game plans. Okay I'm hitting the sack now but I am being half serious here.

Reading this actually concerns me. You can't just arbitrarily target "21 points" and build an offense that can reach that score. Football isn't that precise. The best you can do is create an offense that scores within a targeted RANGE. If you look at the play calling and collection of talent on the field the Bill's O is designed to score between 16 - 24 points per game. That's a reasonable target in a sport with the variability of football. This is especially true when you pair that offense up with a defense that generated NO defensive TD's and had by my count only ONE forced TO in the opponents red zone. For comparison, a potent offense would be expected to score between 25 - 35 points per game. Score less and you need a stronger then expected defensive effort to win. So we have a weak to moderate offense paired with a supposedly "elite" Defense and I would argue that in games where the Offense was at the lower end of their scoring potential the D almost never played elite. Within TARGET RANGE (16 - 24 points) scoring games - wins: Beat the Jets 17 - 16; Beat the Bengals 21 - 17; Beat Washington 24 - 9; Beat the Broncos 20 - 3; Beat the Steelers 17 - 10; Within TARGET RANGE scoring games - losses: Lost to Cleveland 16 - 19; Lost to Ravens 17 - 24; Lost to Pats 17 - 24; Lost to Texans 19 - 22 Lower then TARGET RANGE scoring games - wins: Beat TN 14 - 7 Lower then TARGET RANGE scoring games - losses: Lost to NE 10 - 16; Lost to Eagles 13 - 31 Higher then TARGET RANGE scoring games - wins: Beat the Giants 28 - 14; Beat Miami 31 - 21; Beat Miami 37 - 20; Beat Dallas 25 - 16 I didn't include the Jets game because most of the starters didn't play. But from this list only ONE TIME did our D play elite in a game that the O didn't reach it's TARGET RANGE and that was against TN. Given the talent on the Offense and including a wholesale change out of players from 2018 and the fact that we were starting 3 rookies on that unit a target range of 16 - 24 is reasonable. Insisting on a minimum target of 21 is not reasonable IMO. And if you truly have an elite D you have to win a couple of games when your offense reaches 16 or more points. We didn't.

That's a question with an agenda because that is NOT what Allen was doing. On the Bill's only possession in OT Allen had a couple of great throws to convert 3rd downs. I guess the questioner was referring to the 2 throws to the end zone at the end of regulation? They weren't up for grab throws as they were safe throws over Dukes head. We didn't have any TO's left and you don't want to throw an int. Or is the "up for grab throws" referring to the deep pass to DeMarco? There are a lot of NFL WR's & TE's that catch that ball. It looked like it was up for grabs becasue we had a FB running 40 yards downfield on a pass play. Bottom line is that McD needed to recognize an agenda driven question and answer it appropriately.

McD can steer the answer to the question in any direction he wants. Have you heard how he answers injury questions? And let's face it when it comes to the sports media and Allen McD's been around the block. He should know that some of these "reporters" are out to trash Allen and magnify every mistake while minimizing every success. He should suspect an agenda when he's asked this kind of question and answer it accordingly.

He was sloppy in his comments at the very least. And it's not like McD to be sloppy in his comments.

I am more convinced then ever after this game that Allen is the guy. Would anyone in their right mind argue that Watson & Jackson aren't the franchise QB's for their respective teams? Well take a look at how they played in their first playoff games which were played at home. Allen accounted for 372 of the Bills 425 yards today - enough said.