CincyBillsFan

I think the Broncos can win 8 - 9 games with Flacco at QB. The Ravens are going to face the challenge of running that offense next year after the leagues DC's get a whole off season to dissect it. Unlike Allen's most productive runs which came off of scrambles, the Ravens rely a lot on designed QB runs. I think that production will drop as NFL D's catch up and I also think the risk of injury to Jackson goes up as well. And while I can't rule out that Jackson won't be able to make the transition to being a decent passing QB there's no guarantee here either. I think the Ravens defense will weaken and their offense will not be as productive. I look for them to win only 7 - 8 games next year.

Late to this thread but overall I like this signing: * Even playing as he did in 2018 Long is at least a slight upgrade over what we had at center this year. * Given that an injury limited his effectiveness in 2018 and with the injury now over (?) this may be a solid upgrade to center. * That Long also plays guard, means that the Bills front office could still go out and get an better center and move Long to guard which would also be at minimum a slight upgrade over what we have. * Depth on the O-line is ALWAYS a good thing.

So Kiper is now the Bill's biggest fan at espn.

Good for the Cards, it's way to soon to give up on Rosen. But with that being said I like our Josh a lot better - a whole lot better.

I think eball's previous post sums it up perfectly because it is easier to teach a gunslinger to check down then it is to teach a check down artist to sling it downfield. I would also add that Buffalo's offensive skill players hardly made check down throws easy or productive. Let's start at RB where an oft injured McCoy wasn't the impact receiving RB of years past. Or we could consider the limited quality of the Bill's TE's - a position group that is often the target of check down passes, as being a factor in Allen's reluctance to check down his throws. And with the exception of McKenzie on occasion getting open underneath would anyone claim that the Bill's receivers as a group were able to quickly get separation? I wouldn't. Or how about down & distance and it's impact on the willingness to take the short throws. We seemed to have a lot of false starts putting us in 1st & 15 then throw in an anemic running game that had way to many lost yardage plays or our numerous holding penalty's and Allen was facing way to many 2nd & 3rd and long. And with the Bills personnel you don't convert a whole lot of 3rd & 12's throwing the ball 5 yards to a back. So yes Allen must improve his short passing game and he must become comfortable with taking the check down pass on occasion. But if we really want to see a PRODUCTIVE short passing game it's not the QB that needs fixing IMO but the skill players around him. Take Cam Newton for example. Never one to check down his throws Carolina went and got him a new weapon named Christian McCaffrey and all of a sudden Cam is throwing underneath all the time. So why did Newton change? It wasn't because he wanted to "improve" his completion % as I doubt he gives a rats ass about that stat. But what Cam saw was that those little 5 yard dump offs to CMAC on 2nd 15 resulted in a lot of 1st downs or at worst 3rd and shorts. It was CMACS production after catching that check down pass that convinced newton it was a smart throw to make.

Hey it's nice when Polian give us the thumbs up. Would we rather have him say the franchise is headed for doom with bad coaching, an inept front office and a bust at QB? This is the off season and OPTIMISM is what you want. Now with that being said, I ascribe very little to what old Bill has to say here other then it represents another small coin of optimism I choose to bank.

Like others have noted for me the Bills 51 - 3 annihilation of the Raiders in the AFC championship is my favorite game. Sure the comeback was more memorable from an historical standpoint but I didn't enjoy that game. For all of the 1st half and half of the 3rd quarter all I did was yell at my TV trashing the Bills. I thought their effort was pitiful especially falling behind 35 - 3 in the playoffs AT HOME! Yea, I went nuts as they started their comeback and couldn't believe it when they hit the FG in OT - but that was not a fun game for me - exhausting would be a better description. And I was at Rich Stadium when the Bills ended the Miami streak 17 - 7. But I was in college then and don't have a clear memory of the game as I was in the early stages of my pre-game drinking career. So yea the 51 - 3 beat down of the Raiders is #1 to me. Right from the get go we kicked their butt. By half time I knew we were going to the Super Bowl. And that feeling, knowing we were headed to the big game, was so warm and comforting, helped get me through the disappointment 2 weeks later. Plus as another poster noted that Championship game was the one moment when everyone agreed the Bills were the best team in football.

Smith & others are why I only watch espn's live game telecasts - their stable of experts is anything but. But you're 100% correct. As a Bucs fan it was painful to watch Haskins "run" with the ball. He had no desire or skill at it. It must have given Meyer ulcers to see the "safe" rushing yardage Haskins would pass on in order to push the ball downfield through the air. Did you see any QB ever run the read option with less enthusiasm? I bet Peyton Manning after his injury could have done it better. As an aside my biggest worry if I drafted Haskins would be his mobility in the pocket and his ability to buy time. There's no doubt that when he is able to stand tall & still in the pocket he's a formidable passing QB, but under pressure? That will be Haskins big test at the next level.

Good questions and I don't know the answer to them but I'll make a guess. Maybe he was trying to first locate then steal the signs in the first half for use in the 2nd half. And it would be pretty simple for Belicheck to throw a hand signal out to somebody on his defense indicating a run or pass. There is that 15 second period after they turn off the helmet mics. This is when Bill could be signalling his D. Just getting a run versus a pass right would be huge for any pass rush & coverage. Imagine being able to ignore the play fake as a safety or if you're a D lineman teeing off on the snap knowing it's not going to be a run. Frankly I'm still amazed at how much pressure NE got on Goff for the ENTIRE game. Where did that come from? Did Bill figure out McVay's signals and was he able to just let his D know it's a pass or run. That would be huge.

I agree 100% to this. My guess is Bill had someone watch every LA game to find out how McVay singled in stuff after they turn the helmet mics off. They captured everything McVay does and compared it to what then happened on the field. They then assembled a cheat sheet IDing the key signals McVay used and gave Bill a full report. Hell it might be as simple as where McVay stands on the sideline or who McVay stands next to. What awes me is the attention to detail this kind of activity represents. But the question is would anyone call this cheating? IMO it's not. In fact it's really no different then a LB tipped off about which way a run is going because film study showed that the blocking FB tipped things off by leaning slightly. Or a DB who is tipped off by the way a receiver stands when the ball is coming out quick to him.

Bingo. Hogan is on the field to block first, catch the ball 2nd. In almost every long run by a Pats RB you can see Hogan downfield effectively blocking a safety or corner. I suspect that the NE Offensive staff could tell you how many yards over the course of a season Hogan's blocks ADD to a RB's run. And I would guess we would be both surprised and impressed by that number. This is what blows my mind about our hatred of Belicheck & NE - we need to stop hating them and start demanding that the Bills organization embrace & mimic their style. Hogan has a role to play. It's clearly defined by the NE staff and he's doing it. And Hogan will stay on the field & on the team until NE either finds someone who can do it better or they change their scheme so they don't need what Hogan does. But for now Hogan is doing what they want him to do to and it help's them win football games. Belicheck has a system and he sticks to it come hell or high water and the results are there for all to see.

There was a BIG argument in my family because I rooted FOR the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Beyond thinking that we Bills fans spend way to much time & energy hating on a team that we don't follow here's my reasoning for rooting for the pats on Sunday: * I admire excellence. And the Pats are a great football team with a great coach & great QB. Yea it hurts to say that at some level but it is what it is. * I don't root for CARPETBAGGERS. I won't root for a team that screwed over it's community and fans to chase LA gold. It wasn't so long ago that we were facing this same calamity as evil folks were trying to move the Bills to LA or God forbid TORONTO! So I don't "hate" the pats. The only team I truly hate and will NEVER root for are the Baltimore Ravens. And the reason - this is the ultimate low life trashy carpetbag franchise on Earth. What they did to Cleveland who have the 2nd best NFL fans on earth (Bills fans are the BEST) can NEVER be forgiven. * And unlike others in my family and on 2BD I was hoping the Pats made it to the SB and won the game. You want to know why? How much sweeter will it be next year when we sweep the DEFENDING SB Pats and knock them from the top of the Eastern Division. I don't want the 2019 Bills to be remembered as the team that stomped on the corpse of a NE franchise that had lost in the 1st round of the playoffs the previous year - I want to be known as the team that ENDED the Pats SB run.

In fact I just looked up the stats and Goff was sacked 4 times and was hit 12 more times on 38 passes - which is getting walloped once on every three throws. Compare that to Brady who was hit like once on 90 throws going into the SB. In fact you could argue that Brady didn't exactly set the world on fire likely due to the ability of the Rams to make things uncomfortable for him in the pocket. Tying this all back to Buffalo - It's interesting to point out that Allen was under the type of pressure Goff faced yesterday in EVERY SINGLY game he played. If the Bills can improve the O-line to at least let Allen get a little bit more comfortable in the pocket the sky's the limit as to what we might see next season.

I'm a little surprised that folks are saying Goff had a lot of time to throw yesterday. My observations, possibly influenced by a beer & food coma, was that Goff was harassed all game by the NE defense. In fact I kept thinking that this is what QB's look like when the pocket collapses in their face and they're running for their life. Funny how that all important metric called ACCURACY seems to flounder when D-line man are knocking a QB down.

To be fair I would add Goff's O-line to that list to - they didn't exactly do their jobs given that the LA QB was hit on 40% of his drop-backs! Ditto for the LA O coaches who didn't exactly adjust to what NE was doing to them.

At this point NEITHER Goff or Mcvay is overrated. They just played in a Superbowl which is something that more then 90% of the NFL's QB's & coaches weren't able to do this year. The fact that they lost the Super Bowl doesn't really tell us much about how good both these guys are. And as Buffalo Bill's fans we should understand this better then most people. IMO it wasn't Gurly's "injury" that messed with the Rams offense but the loss of their outstanding slot receiver Cupp. Since this guy went down it seemed like the Rams O lost their rhythm.

Doesn't matter. If I wasted time worrying about every move the Bills have made the last 10 years on draft day I would be crying in my beer over the fact that the Bills failed to draft a team of pro-bowl players! I sort of get the "wrong Josh" obsession as the Bills had a bimodal choice to make between Josh Allen & Josh Rosen last year. But in the year that Mahomes came out? Whose to say if the Bills stayed pat in that draft they would have picked him? I don't remember a lot of the "experts" predicting that Mahomes would be an MVP QB in year 2 of his career. If there were he would have been the #1 pick in the 2017 draft.

Wings Mac & Cheese Cincinnati style chili pizza Montgomery Inn Ribs Wings Beer Chips Dip Artichokes & other goodies from Jungle Jim's International Market

Two things that I remember most during my college years attending Bills games at the newly opened Rich Stadium in the 1970's: * Women invading the men's room to take over the stalls as their kidney's overcame any disgust they might have harbored and * diehard fans not wanting to miss the 2nd half KO peeing in cups and setting them on the floor.

Congratulations, Mahomes had an awesome year. Of course it has nothing to do with the Bills except that KC is in the same conference. I do look forward to a couple of Bills versus KC layoff games featuring the two best young QB's in the league.

I love both hires - so what if they're young. For crying out loud the LA Rams are being coached by a toddler and they're in the Super Bowl! But I especially liked the Dorsey hire. My guess is this guy is looking forward to developing Allen as the kid has everything Newton had but as others have noted is a lot more coachable and willing to learn. As others have pointed out this is Dorsey's job to ride right to OC. And I like when an assistant coach has that kind of professional motivation to succeed. He'll work just as hard as Allen, which is saying something, in the off season to get this right. Should be fun to see the energy these two young coaches bring to the offense.

It's obvious that great minds think alike!

Super 3: Jets 16 - 7 over Baltimore. Younger posters can't appreciate how intense the old NFL/AFL rivalry was. It was pure hatred and seeing Joe Willie knock the arrogant NFL on it's ass for the first time was priceless. Super Bowl 4: KC 23 - 7 over the Vikings. Like I said there was pure hatred between the NFL & AFL and by the time this game rolled around the arrogant NFL panty waists were saying the Jets win was a one off fluke. Well KC shoved that notion right down the throat of the NFL. After that the merger happened and football hasn't been as fun since. Super Bowl 25: Giants 20 - 19 over the Bills. Do people remember how exciting it was leading up to the SB that year? We were in the big game! I remember heading out to the Allen Street bars that Saturday night and the atmosphere in the city was ELECTRIC. Yes it was a devastating loss and people blame Norwood but IMO the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of the Bills coaches. Had they given Thurman the ball 25 times he would have been MVP and the Bills would have won that game by 17 points. Super Bowl 28: Dallas 30 - 13 over the Bills. For one glorious half it looked like we might not only get that monkey off our backs but then throw it to the ground and stomp it dead. But it wasn't to be. Instead of ending one of pro footballs most amazing runs with a SB win the Bills crawled back to Buffalo in ignominy. Today folks will point to Thurman's fumble as the pivotal moment when we lost that game but not me. I place the blame on Marv Levy's ultra conservative play-calling towards the end of the 1st half with the Bills in the Cowboys red zone leading 10 - 6. We should have been throwing passes into the end zone and trying to go up 17 - 6. What the hell did we have to lose? Instead Marv played it safe and IMO lost us the momentum in that game.

On the face of it aiming only at the numbers on the uniform is dumb given the many different types of passes thrown by NFL caliber QB's. Just off the top of my head it would be profoundly inaccurate (or stupid) for a QB to aim for the numbers of his 6 ft 6 inch WR being guarded by a 5 ft 10 in inch DB in the end zone. I would think throwing the ball up high where his receivers height advantage could be used most effectively is the most ACCURATE pass in that situation. Think about that spectacular pass Allen threw to Foster to convert a 3rd & 13 out of his end zone against Miami in their first meeting. The Throw was a laser beam deliberately put about a foot out of bounds so only Foster could catch it with his HANDS. Aiming a pass for the number on Fosters Jersey would probably have resulted in an INT instead of a first down. I would submit that half or more of an NFL's QB's throws are not intended for the numbers on the jersey.

I tend to side with those saying we should wait & see about Clay. His contract is not going to break the bank this year and even if someone (either Crooms or a FA) move ahead of him on the depth chart you still need at least 2 solid TE's. If Allen & Clay work together through training camp and the pre-season we may be surprised at how well they start to click. There were a couple of issues in play this year that limited Allen & Clay's effectiveness: * Clay was hurt and not playing at 100% * As a rookie Allen was less comfortable throwing check down passes which will cost a TE catches. This should improve next year as Allen & his TE's work with the offensive staff to figure how best to deploy the dump off receivers when Allen himself can gain 20 yards running the ball. My guess is they'll work to spread things out a bit when the pocket breaks down allowing Allen the option of running or passing by keeping his running lanes open. You saw this a bit at the end of the season where on some of Allen's big runs, Clay was about 20 yards along side him and Allen would fake a throw to him freezing the safety. Check out the Miami game for this. * Allen did not take a lot of snaps with the first team O during pre-season. IMO this really limited Allen's timing & anticipation with his receivers and timing definitely seemed to be an issue between Allen & Clay. This can be worked on and it would likely be fixed this off season. * I suspect that Clay and the other TE's were a lot more involved in pass protection then normal due to the Bill's O-line struggling at times. Quicker throws and a better pass blocking O-line should allow more early TE releases on pass plays which will lead to more 10 - 15 yard completions right over the middle. One thing I noticed about Clay that impressed me was that even in his last game the guy was excited when the Bills made a good play. He never looked like a guy just going through the motions. I remember how KB seemed not to care but Clay always seemed to care. It just feels to me like Clay is a team player and the Bills are probably better with him on the squad then not on it.