CincyBillsFan

Allen's composure was impressive today. This was a big test today and he not only passed it he aced it.

Looking at Jackson's stat sheet the first thing I thought of was "those are the kind of numbers you see in high school". 15 completions AND 5 TD passes! Now I say this not to be disrespectful but to show just how unusual the Ravens offense really is. As others have mentioned when was the last time a QB threw FIVE TD passes on 15 completions totaling about 150 yards? Baltimore is running the most exotic offense in the NFL by going OLD SCHOOL. They are using NFL talent to run a high school offense and may win a Super Bowl doing it. It's the coolest story in the NFL and an example of the type of out of the box thinking the NFL sorely needs. Jackson deserves a lot of credit here but the most important person in this story is coach Harbough. There isn't another NFL team that would have done what he did. If Jackson was drafted by any other team he would either been a back-up or struggling starter. And not because he can't play - he clearly can play, but because the NFL is set in its ways and views innovation as the cooties.

Because on their remaining schedule the ONLY defenses that stand a chance of slowing down the Ravens on paper are Buffalo and San Fran. And given that the game is in Buffalo, which has a strong home field advantage and the potential for lousy weather, KNOWLEDGEABLE football announcers would have pointed that out. But let's be honest here most of the announcers are morons who add very little to the viewing experience.

It will be an interesting match-up in that we have a pair of athletic safeties who can tackle. Also Edmunds & Milano seem to have the physical tools to matcgh up well with this offense. Though after this game I could see Lorenzo hanging it up saying "screw this, I'm to old for this sh!!. And I don't think a better secondary is needed to stop Jackson's passing game. I can't recall a game where he's had to fit the ball into tight coverage. His forte is fooling the DB's into thinking he might run then hitting wide open receivers. Even when Jackson is in the shotgun spread EVERY pass is a play action pass. Because of the threat that he's just going to tuck the ball and hit a hole safeties have to look at him. And that leads to open receivers. My guess is that the way to defense the Ravens is to have a couple of big & fast safeties who can lay a wallop on a ball carrier and a D that lines up in a 3 - 4 with fast athletic LB's that can tackle in space.

My guess is no if the game is in Baltimore. The 49's struggled a bit with Kyler Murray and I think their D is built like every other NFL D - to stop the LA Rams! It will take Darth Belichick to stop it.

I largely agree with you. Jackson is a unique talent executing a unique to the NFL offense. It can't be emphasized enough how exotic an NFL offense the Ravens are running. It's truly unlike anything anyone else is running. The ability of Jackson to run the football like a 3rd down back and the offenses willingness to throw away the rules of down & distance when running the football has flummoxed the league. In fact it looks to me that as the season has gone on the ravens have become even less conventional then they were in the first few games. Jackson almost never slides and they're as likely to run the ball on 3rd & 8 as throw it. It will be fascinating to see how long Lamar can hold up and how long it takes the league to catch up.

Anything can happen. But I would bet against it. The injury risk is real and over time his body will degrade. Sure Gore has lasted forever as a RB but he's an extreme exception to the rule. I also think that like in college football the pros will adjust to this type of attack. Don't forget that pro defenses are built to stop the NFL's mono-culture of spread offenses. What Baltimore is doing is brilliant but it won't last very long because two things will happen: * More teams will adopt this offense leading to * Defenses creating schemes and getting personnel able to best handle it.

He has a long way to go to match Wilson's passing game from the pocket. I actually think Jackson is a unique to the NFL talent. Decent passing game with a body type that resembled a 3rd down RB. He moves, accelerates and cuts like a RB. Wilson & Vick couldn't do that in the tight spaces Lamar does between the tackles. He and Baltimore really are effectively executing a college offensive scheme. The NFL doesn't handle innovation very well.

Colin Cowherd had an interesting observation today about Lamar & Baltimore. He said they were the 2015 Carolina Panthers all over again. A freaky, gifted QB that did things that no one really had done before in the NFL combined with a great coaching staff and strong defense. And it translated into a 15 - 1 season and Super Bowl berth. The NFL then caught up with Cam and while the Panthers remained a playoff contender they never approached the heights of 2015 again. The NFL is now desperately trying to catch up with what the Ravens are doing. But all these defenses are built to stop spread offenses that throw the ball. A team with a great O line, bruising RB, shifty & fast QB and a stable of TE's and a COMMITMENT to run the football on any down & distance situation is simply unlike what every other NFL team does. My guess is that the Ravens run will end on a cold, windy day in Foxburro in the AFC title game. Then next year you'll notice that Cleveland & Pittsburgh will field defenses better able to handle this type of offense. Division opponents are always the first to successfully adjust. And of course the NFL being a copy cat league means that other teams will try to run the Ravens offense. This hastens the process of defenses catching up to the Ravens offense because they have to find personnel that can play against this type of offense. In the end the NFL will catch up. The question is how long will it take. But it wouldn't shock me if by net year the league has caught up. Just look at the LA wonder offense - the league has caught up and passed it by.

A- because of the bad INT. If not for that this was an A+ QB performance. A great QB performance is not necessarily about 350 yard games where you complete 75% of your passes. It was a cold & windy day which will reduce the stat line for any QB. Look at how the Broncos QB struggled to deal with a gusting win. But to me what made this a great QB outing by Allen was: * He can handle the wind. His balls cut threw it and whether we were going into the wind of against the wind we moved the ball and he completed passes. * He threw 2 beautiful TD passes in a game where we held the opponent to 3 points. That means you win the game. * He led 2 masterful long FG drives where we started inside our own 10 yard line. And on a 3rd drive starting inside our 10 we got out to the 50 yard line and flipped the field. This is how you win late season wind games in Orchard Park. * As another poster pointed out Allen is ELITE at getting out of trouble and avoiding the sack. His big runs that led to a couple of 3rd & long conversions are another skill that is needed in cold, windy late season games at New Era Field. Allen was more then a "game manager" today. He was an integral part of the offense that dominated TOP and field position and rolled up over 400 yards. The 20 points were more then enough to win the game comfortably. This is what we are. And Allen will get his 300 yard game and it will probably be in a losing cause.

Wow what an old school Buffalo Bill's whipping of an opponent. This game kept reminding me of those 1990's days at Rich Stadium when a team came in and the Bills just took care of business. Nothing flashy - just bad a$$. The defense was great. A brutal 4 man pass rush and a very good run defense just smothered the Bronco's offense. Milano and Lawson had awesome games as did White and BOTH safeties. And keep in mind the Denver offense had almost 400 yards against the Vikings last week. It seemed like in the 2nd half the Bills were toying with the Bronco's O. The offense was also great. This is exactly what McD wants from his offense and his QB. Keep in mind that the Bills first 3 possessions started INSIDE their own 10 yard line. But rather then go 3 & out the Bills got out of the hole all 3 times including 2 long drives that ended in FG's. In a game like this a 6 - 0 lead is big. Then in the 2nd half, the O took the ball and drove for a TD that effectively put the game out of reach with the way the Bill's D was playing. And early in the 4th quarter Allen & Brown stuck a dagger in the heart of the Bronco's with a beautiful deep ball TD. The O rolled up 424 yards; had only 1 TO and over 35 minutes of TOP. Combine this with a shutdown D and you win the game every time.

Interesting that after completing a couple of deep passes on back to back drives the Texans have only 3 points to show for it. In both cases they couldn't generate a 1st down after hitting the big pass.

No. That's why I used the word CONTEXT for each game in my post.

And that's the problem with these folks. They really do seem to be rooting against Allen's success. Here's my take on what the next SIX games will tell us about Allen: * If Allen plays well and the Bills go 3 - 3 it will be a good sign that he's continuing to get better and is on his way towards developing into a solid NFL QB. It won't be proof that he's made it but it will leave us encouraged that he will get there. * If Allen plays poorly and the Bills go 1 - 5 it will be cause for some concern. But until we actually see the CONTEXT in which each of the games play out how much "concern" remains to be seen. These last 6 games won't break him any more then they'll make him as our franchise QB. At MINIMUM Allen needs 3 full seasons before he is fully evaluated. IMO he should get 4 seasons given where he started from as a "project QB" with a complete lack of offensive talent in his first season and then a complete overhaul of offensive personnel in his 2nd season.

Will it be? Most people expected the Jets to be a playoff team this year; ditto for Cleveland. Look how Pitt went from a possible Super Bowl team to a team likely to finish under 500. Until we actually start playing games next season we have no idea whether it will be a weak or hard schedule.

This is a huge difference between the two teams and demonstrates we are not the 2018 Bears. I don't want to rag on a D that is playing very well but their utter inability to generate turnovers, particularly on the opponents side of the field does our offense no favors. Through 10 games the Bill's D has created only ONE TO in an opponents red zone. In fact the defense has only forced a total of TWO TO's on the opponents side of the field. Even in the Miami game where the D was putting all sorts of pressure on Fitz they didn't create a TO. Yea the Dolphins did lose a fumble but it had nothing to do with Buffalo's D forcing the fumble. IF we start forcing TO's on the opponents side of the field and given our offenses strength in the red zone we might see a real burst in points and then we might more closely resemble the 2018 Bears.

By any measure Allen has made broad & substantial improvements from last year. Given that there were a lot of "experts" saying he should not see the field as a starter until the middle of his 2nd season or even not until his 3rd year demonstrates that his performance has exceeded almost all the pre-draft expectations. And he has accomplished this with an offensive line-up that is far from elite. Making matters even tougher, the Bill's offense has seen an almost complete turnover in personnel from last season to this season.

I was wrong calling for a #1 WR because Brown does fit that bill. But what we desperately need is physical diversity at WR. When Brown, Beasley & McKenzie are out there we must have the SMALLEST WR group in the NFL. This robs the O of additional ways to chew up yards & generate TD's. We desperately need a fast, big bodied guy that can get us some 50/50 balls on the deep passes and shield the DB from the ball on those quick throws into tight coverage. Now the obvious answer is Duke Williams so why isn't he even active on recent Sunday's? My only conclusion is that there's a problem we're not aware of. Either physical or he's just not getting the plays down.

Yea let's look at Kyler Murray: The 2018 Heisman Trophy winner and #1 pick in the 2019 NFL draft blessed with a head coach who is utilizing almost the exact same offense Murray ran in college has started strong. I wish you could see my shocked face. As for yesterday's game the Arizona offense is surprising NFL defenses much like the Baltimore offense is. It's not shocking that yesterday the Cards "air-raid" O got off to a fast start and jumped in front of the 49's 16 - 0. After that it was all SF as they blew out Arizona 36 - 16! The proof of the pudding with both Arizona AND Baltimore's offenses is how they hold up over the long term when NFL defensive coordinators have caught up and teams in their own divisions have altered their D personnel to better match up.

Of all the stats I would talk about with Mahomes the # of 300 yard games would be the last one I would throw out. # of TD's; lack of INT's; ability to get the ball to play makers; escapability in the pocket; W/L record; would all come first. That the Bills haven't had a QB throw for 300 yards in a few years is simply a statistical quirk. Interesting but of little relevance.

I will never understand the fixation on 300 yards. It's one of the least important game stats for a QB in any single game.

I shall never complain about the Bills kicking game again.

But in some ways Allen has been very consistent - consistently good. Two stats that come to mind: * Allen has had 6 straight games scoring at least 2 TD's. This places him among some rarefied QB company. * Allen has gone 5 games without throwing an INT. This is another mark of consistency. Sure he needs to improve in some other areas of his game but it's not all on him. He needs more help on O. But bottom line is that he's become more consistent in some pretty critical QB metrics.

A+ Who cares if a couple of passes were off. In almost EVERY game EVERY QB has off throws. 37 points; 4 TD's; over 300 total yards and the win. Game changing drives and NO INT's or LOST fumbles. This is the definition of an A+ As an aside did any of you read Sal Meanyiola 's article on today's game? That guy is a flat out A-Hole! I mean he has his own criteria about what constitutes good QB play for Allen. The bias is stunning. And wasn't it interesting to see the other Josh on the Dolphins sideline. I kept thinking "thank God we got the right Josh"! As an aside Allen is starting to generate some interesting QB stats like the number of games in a row scoring at least 2 TD's and the number of passes he's thrown since his last INT. He's making progress. Of that there can be no doubt.

Some observations on an excellent Bill's win: * The defense softened a bit in the 2nd half but in the first half they were ferocious and set the tempo for the game. * The offense fed off the defense and scored 23 fist half points. * Allen was fantastic. If ever a game showed the complete meaninglessness of a 300 yard passing game today was it. Fitz had over 300 yards passing and Miami only scored 13 points on offense. Also take a look at the Carolina Panthers/Atlanta Falcons game - Kyle Allen had over 300 yards passing and threw 4 interceptions and his team only scored 3 points. It's time to drop the 300 yard passing game fetish. * As others have noted that last Bills TD drive was a thing of beauty. After Miami had crawled back into the game the Bills put the dagger in their heart by going 80 yards and putting the game away with Allen's 3rd TD pass. AA is still trying to figure out why the Bills weren't trying to bleed every second off the clock. It's called rhythm. * A shout out to the Bills fans that took over the Miami stadium. It was a hoot seeing Bills players waving their arms to get crowd noise when the Dolphins had the ball. * Allen's 40 yard TD pass to Brown was a thing of beauty. First the throw was otherworldly as he put it on a rope to Brown. But even more impressive was that the throw was an audible by Allen as he correctly read the defense and looked off the safety. Allen is improving. * Edmunds & Milano probably had their best day on defense as a tandem. They were both on fire. * It is noteworthy when a team has their best record in 20 years after 10 games.