CincyBillsFan

I have a couple of issues with Joe B's analysis here: * I disagree that Allen was off for 3 quarters. He was off in the 1st half but in the 3rd quarter he was actually doing well and the Bill's scoring was hurt by a couple of huge drops and the failure of the refs to throw a flag on the deep shot to Foster. If Knox & Beasley hold on to their passes the Bills likely have 7 - 10 more points on the board going into the 4th quarter. To claim that the game was lost because Allen was off through the first 3 quarters is FALSE. The game was lost IMO because our receivers didn't make plays on at least four passes in the 3rd quarter. * On the Bills last play you want your QB throwing an accurate pass to your #1 WR in the end zone when he has single coverage. EVERY SINGLE TIME. This is exactly what Allen did. The pass was released quickly and was on the money. A great defensive play by the Ravens CB (they get paid to play football to) and less then stellar pattern by Brown meant that the pass fell incomplete. The notion that Allen should have been checking down to his #2 or #3 read in that situation is ludicrous.

I think we need to differentiate between Knox as he is today and what can be expected over the next few years. I agree with others here that like Allen was a raw QB, Knox is a very raw pass catching TE. He has shown me enough this season to be confident that he will be a very productive TE going forward. At the same time the reality TODAY is that we get very little production from our TE's in the passing game. As others have pointed out Kroft seems to be the odd man out here. Smith will have value as a blocker. If Sweeney can develop in the off season as a pass catcher then we could go into next season with an excellent compliment of TE's (Knox, Smith & Sweeney). If we're that lucky we can put resources behind the O-line and at WR's/RB instead of TE. This would be an ideal outcome.

When it happened my first thought was "wow White is sure going all out to help the damn ref pick up that paper". Then we all realized what he was doing and we cracked up laughing. And we sure needed to laugh at that point because we were all pissed off.

I'll be optimistic here and say no one asked because he didn't show any signs of a problem when he came back in. And they didn't take him into the tent on the sideline. I mean if they had any concern they would have looked at it more closely rather then risk a season ending injury by putting him back in. As for McD having to be restrained I get it. The officials were terrible. And while coaches won't say it I sure as hell will - the missed calls may have cost us the game. And I saw a replay of that PI on Beasley that kept our last drive alive and if he doesn't knock Bease down that might have been a TD. But the calls/non-calls that had McD steaming probably were: * the lack of holding calls on the guy "blocking" Hughes * the thin skinned unsportsmanlike penalty thrown on Hughes for evidently telling the ref to go back to Baltimore. That gave the Ravens 15 yards and put the ball at our 4 yard line. * the failure to call 12 men in the huddle on that 3rd down play in which the Ravens scored their 1st TD. Back Baltimore up 5 yards there and the Ravens can't run the play they did and probably have to settle for a FG. * the failure to call PI on the deep throw to Foster. Even Fouts threw a fit on the broadcast. NFL officiating is bad and getting worse.

Oh man would he! On the positive side I watch a lot of college football and this draft is loaded with WR talent. The Bills should go Rd 2 and maybe Rd 4 or 5 and they could end up getting TWO good WR's.

I disagree. I think the first half was his 2nd worst half of this season. And the only reason it wasn't his worst was that he didn't throw an INT. The fumble wasn't all on him as most QB's fumble after getting hit in the back by an edge rusher that fast off the snap. Where I differ with you is the 2nd half where IMO he played well. The drops were a big deal and if our guys make those plays and we get the flag for PI we win this game and Allen ends up looking good in the process. And this was why we probably didn't run any of those gadget shovel passes or reverses to McKenzie. They might have ended in disaster given the Ravens penetration.

I agree that the Steeler's have a very good defense that is dangerously opportunistic. I was just saying that as good as the Steelers are on D they aren't as good as Baltimore's defense. Having seen the Ravens play the last couple of weeks I think they have the best defense in the NFL.

I agree with you about Duke. This game might be the game they want to activate him for. I do feel sorry for the Bills in that all three guys you mentioned that might sit in favor of activating Duke have their uses: * McKenzie is their gadget guy. Do they sit him and lose that option? * Foster is the guy with the speed to scare an opposing defense. He's also a solid ST player. The problem is he doesn't go after the ball. * Roberts is a danger on KO returns and he's very smooth on punt returns. If we sat him it would mean McKenzie is our punt returner and I'll have to stock up on Tums as a result. So my pick would be to sit McKenzie and play Duke. The only caveat is that maybe Duke doesn't play because he struggles with the play book? That's the type of detail only the coaches know.

Not to mention that Baltimore is the best Team in the NFL. After watching them the last few weeks they really do have the best offense and the best defense in the NFL. I mean look at what they did to NE & the LA Rams.

He had fantastic touch on the deep throws to Knox, Singelterry & Beasley - Bease dropped his pass, Suingleterry left his feet a half second to soon and Knox made a nice one handed catch on a ball that literally landed on his bicep. And don't forget the deep shot to Foster. That was on target and the only way the Ravens could prevent the completion was to commit PI. I would also argue that a bigger, more physical WR easily high points that ball and makes the catch.

This is so true I'm a little surprised that everyone doesn't see it. In fact Fouts made exactly this point when describing how the physical make-up of our receivers severely limits our passing options. The lack of a big receiver means that we lose a lot of blocking potential on the WR screens. It also means that our WR's get out muscled for the ball on almost EVERY throw into tight coverage. And worst of all it means we almost never catch 50/50 balls. There is also a cascade effect. Brown is a very good receiver but can be taken out of a game when the opponent has a shut down corner. If we had another receiving threat, teams would have to use their 2nd best corner to cover Smoke and their 3rd best cover guy to deal with Beasley. And with a back like Singleterry this team should be running screen passes left & right. But we don't and the reason has to be that our O-line isn't athletic enough to get out and block someone in space. I believe that over 13 games this offense has only executed ONE freaking screen pass that has gone for over 10 yards. The other limitation is that for whatever reason we don't trust our TE's to be hot reads on the blitz. Either they can't get open or the possibility they'll drop the ball worries Daboll. In some ways this offense has used smoke & mirrors to be successful. When we match up with a defense athletically we can move the ball decently. But when we face a good defense we struggle big time because it's easy for a defense to take away the couple of things our offense does well. And as much as I admire Gore, the drop off in the fear we can put into a defense when he replaces Singleterry is obvious.

Not to mention that the passing schemes utilized by the two QB's are completely different. Comparing one to the other yesterday is like comparing apples & oranges. By my count, Jackson threw only one pass more then 20 yards down field and that was the long throw to Andrews that was incomplete. The "61 yard" TD pass was caught about 15 yards past the LOS by a TE who was high school open. Every other Jackson pass was a 5 - 10 yard throw to a TE over the middle; a screen pass; a swing pass to the RB or a WR screen. There were a couple of 10 - 15 yard throws to the sideline but I believe they were all incomplete. Now don't get me wrong. I love how Baltimore utilizes Jackson and Lamar should be the MVP this year. The threat of his running makes those short passes to his sure handed TE's very dangerous. But he's not asked to throw the ball in the same way Allen is and Jackson has a much better O-line and much better weapons (pass catching TE's & RB's) for what he's asked to do. The Bills lost the game because the Baltimore defense outplayed the Bills offense by a wide margin. And IMO in the 2nd half only Singleterry and Allen played well. Yes, I said Allen, who while playing poorly in the first half had a good 2nd half. Especially if his receivers had held onto a a couple of his throws and the ref had thrown a flag on an obvious PI.

To me this is the kind of game where the Bills should be very conservative on offense. As others have pointed out the Steeler's are winning games with defensive & ST scoring. We have to limit the TO's, especially early in the game. If we want to attack them the 2nd half might be the better time if we're up like 10 - 6. There is NO way the Steeler's O should move the ball much against our D. If the Bills O can score 17 - 20 points we win this game and are in the playoffs. And for the record, I don't think the Steeler's defense is as good as the Raven D is.

Or maybe he just doesn't have the personnel yet on Offense that can handle a team loaded with defensive talent. IMO the Ravens since getting that CB a month ago are the best defense in football.

That was a good catch but not the type of jaw dropper I'm talking about. Just watched a replay of it and the ball literally falls into his bicep! But for all his drops yesterday's catch by Knox and one he made against NE are probably the only 2 catches that could be classified as special in any way. Note, the WR's haven't made one yet. One final report on the Knox one handed catch. if you watch the reply Knox is clearly being held by the DB before the ball arrives. And yet no flag was thrown. Meanwhile against Dallas they flagged White twice in the 1st quarter for the slightest bit of contact beyond the LOS. I truly despise NFL officiating.

This probably is the Bills most critical need on offense. Yesterday I believe TE's caught only one pass. And it's not a case of Allen not targeting them as they were targeted 4 times. Watch a Bills game, almost any Bills game, and the TE's don't get open. Compare a Bills game to almost any other NFL game and what stands out to me in the passing game are: * Very little TE production. * Dropped passes * The inability to effectively execute a screen pass. Outside of the one Singleterry took for 49 yards against the Redskins have we run another successful screen? * The complete lack of ESPN level awesome pass catches. When was the last time a Bills receiver caught a 50/50 ball or made a grab that had you yelling at the TV - "I can't believe he caught that". All of these things matter in executing an NFL passing game. I just don't see Allen as the problem here.

I disagree with this. Allen missed one and maybe two deep throws in the first quarter but after that was accurate on the throws he made down the field: * His deep throw to Beasley was dropped. * Singleterry misjudged Allen's well placed deep throw to him down the sideline. if he runs through the ball rather then jump it's likely a catch. * The deep throw to Foster in which the Ravens DB committed PI was accurate. If the DB doesn't interfere that's a 50 yard plus catch. That PI wasn't called there is a joke. Allen played poorly in the 1st half. But what seems to be riding a bit under the radar is that he played very well in the 2nd half even though his O-line was a sieve. Several dropped and misplayed passes and one egregious non-call on PI doomed the Bills. had those plays been made we win. And as I said earlier I know it's a case of coulda, woulda, shoulda but in honestly judging Allen you can't ignore those plays.

Spot on here. We are now almost through season 2 of Allen and I've yet to see a WR make what I would call a great NFL catch. Sure Beasley & Brown are very efficient route runners, get open and have made some big, game changing plays but neither has made the type of circus catch or run after catch that you see a couple of times in almost every NFL game. I just saw a couple in the NE/KC game.

I would also add that it seemed like DaBoll forgot that we could have gotten another 1st down before scoring the TD. There was plenty of time and we had 2 TO's left. On 3 of the 4 plays they went for the end zone rather then try to get us into a 4th & 3 type situation. One thing that I admired about Baltimore was how they reduce each series into 10 yard segments. Throw an incomplete pass on 1st down or get stuffed for no gain they go all out on 2nd down to pick up 5 or 6 yards to get to 3rd & 4.

I also thought it was a tale of two Allen's in each half. In the first half Allen was bad, on par with the NE game but minus the INT's but in the 2nd half he had a solid outing that would have been very good: * had Knox held onto that throw giving us a 1st down in the Red Zone. We had to settle for a FG on that drive. * had Beasley caught that deep pass that would have given us a 1st down inside the Raven's 40 yard line. * had Singleterry run through rather then leap early for that deep pass down the sideline that would have been a 40 - 50 yard gain and it may have even gone for a TD. * had the ref done his job and thrown the flag on that obvious PI on Allen's deep shot to Foster that would have given us a first down at the Baltimore 25 yard line. BTW, that pass was well thrown and on target 50 yards downfield. The PI was the only play the DB could make to prevent the catch. I know I'm playing the "coulda, woulda, shoulda" game here but I think it's justified. Everything I listed above should happen in an NFL game. And if they happened today you could add 10 - 17 points to our score.

Great observation! The deep balls to Beasley & Singleterry were on target and as Fouts noted if Singleterry runs through the catch it might have gone for 6. I would also say that Allen had a 3rd accurate deep ball and that was the one he thew to Foster in which the Ravens DB clearly interfered. If the DB doesn't interfere that's a catch. Here's my problem with that route by McKenzie. A more seasoned WR might have taken one more step to the inside (knowing Allen was breaking to the right) drawing the defender in before switching directions and heading to the sideline. This would have gotten him another yard of room to work and made it impossible for the DB to close the distance and get a hand in there. My guess is that this is what they'll talk about after watching film tomorrow.

Bingo. It's not Smokes fault he isn't a big dude but that pass goes for a TD if the receiver was any number of the big bodied guys making catches in the NFL. Yes the defender made a great play on the ball but we are the only team in the NFL that doesn't have a big guy that can basically box out DB's.

It helps him to have a RB that scares the hell out of defensive coordinators. On our offense the only skill position guy that makes a D-coordinator a little nervous is Singleterry. As for today's games, even with our loss things went well for the Bill's playoff hopes today.

Sometimes taking a sack is the ONLY option you have champ. You know there is such a thing as grounding in the NFL.

Here's my take on a disappointing loss: * What made this game so disappointing was that we had a real chance to take it to OT. And a win today would have really set us up for a Division title push in the last 3 games. But the fact we were so disappointed today is a sign that this team is getting better. Tonight I feel like I used to after a Bills loss to a good team in the 1990's. And that's a big step in the right direction even if it sucks big time in the moment. * The reality check is that we lost to the best team in the NFL by a TD in December! * Today showed us all what this team needs to get to the next level: - we need to further upgrade the O-line. It's a lot better then it was last year but it can't handle the blitz and they're not athletic enough to get out in space and effectively block for screen passes. - we need play makers on offense. At the very least we need a pass catching TE, a BIG & dominating #1 WR & another RB. If we're lucky, Knox might grow into that TE for us but we have acute needs for a 2nd RB and a 1st WR. Fouts correctly pointed out that our passing options are limited without a big bodied WR that can go up and win a ball. * The defense is very good but still not elite. You just can't let a team come out of the 2nd half locker room and score as easily as the Ravens did. That TD pass to the TE was high school open. * The dropped passes have to stop. The Bills lead the league in this category and we probably widened our lead today. On 2 critical 2nd half possessions dropped passes cost us dearly. The first was by Knox. When your QB is running for his life and makes a fantastic throw that hits you between the #'s in the red zone YOU HAVE TO HANG ON TO IT. We had to settle for a FG on a drive that might have netted a TD had Knox caught that ball. The other bad drop was by Beasley where again Allen avoids a sack and throws a perfect long ball down the sideline. You have to make that catch. We likely get a FG at least on that drive. * Finally I'm sick & tired of NFL officiating. These guys suck. Not calling a PI on that deep throw to Foster is utterly incompetent. What a huge non-call. The only encouraging thing about this play is that the pass was on target and the Baltimore DB had to interfere to prevent the catch. But my goodness NFL officiating is making it almost impossible to watch the games. I mean look at the KC/NE game as a perfect example.