CincyBillsFan

It's called throwing a WR open. If our NFL TE can only muster high school level speed then he shouldn't be out there. To me the photos make it even more clear that he should have caught the ball. Or another way to look at it is if you drop a pass like that you better make a spectacular catch to make up for it.

I took his post to mean that Bills receivers have to make the catches that SEEM to be impossible. You know the ones that we see being made EVERY week all over the NFL and which are spotlighted on Sports Center. Like I've posted before the ONLY truly great catch I've seen of an Allen pass was DeMarco's catch on that poor wheel route throw Allen made. I just haven't seen a Bills WR or TE make an exceptional NFL caliber catch. Sure there have been a bunch of solid NFL level catches and a couple of very good ones, like the sideline catch by Foster against Miami. But truly spectacular catches? None so far. Just last week the Lions receiver made two such catches and they were game changers. Had we matched the Lions by making two equally spectacular catches we score at least one more TD. And Allen gave his receivers the opportunity to make game changing catches and they failed to take advantage. Oh and for the record that diving drop would have been a borderline spectacular 55 yard catch. That type of catch is routinely made in the NFL and college football and if you watch High School football you will see kids make that catch once in a while.

I'm more frustrated with Clay because I see him adding no value to the passing game. I'm a bit more agnostic about Jones. I could see him suddenly not dropping passes and he is getting open. But most of all what I want to see our receivers starting to catch more of those 50/50 balls which they never seem able to do.

It's a bit wobbly but as you say hit him right in the hands, waist high and he didn't have to break stride.

So do you think he put Clay in a tough position with that throw against the Jets? Or that he put Jones in a tough position with that second down throw over the middle that was dropped? In the NFL a great throw can be a QB getting he ball near the receiver and relying on the receiver to make a play. Every week I see guys making tough catches look routine. My guess is if espn were to pick out the 100 best catches of the year not a single Buffalo Bill catch would make the cut. NOT ONE.

That hit Clay tight in the hands. It was as close to a "perfect" pass as you're going to get with that throw or am I missing something? It hit him in his hands, waist high and slightly in front of him. If he catches that ball he doesn't break stride. Maybe I'm just seeing this through my Josh Allen colored glasses but those of you who thought the ball could be better placed I would be curious to know how?

I have a bad feeling about this game folks. The Pats remind me of the Bills in the last years of their run when they weren't going to the Super Bowl but still making the playoffs with Kelly & company. You could see the end was nearing and they were getting old but late in the season when someone came into Rich Stadium to dance on their grave, they would rise up and crush their opponent. And for a fleeting moment you would think "yea, the magics back"! But then reality would intrude over the next couple of weeks with a playoff loss in which the team looked their age. This NE team just seems desperate and I suspect that Brady & company still have a great game or two left in them and both the Bills & Jets will see this over the next 2 weeks. But after the Patriots are beat in their first playoff game you will be seeing the end of an era. NEXT YEAR is when you'll see an improving Bills team lay the wood to the Patriots. I hope I'm wrong but I've got this sense of dread about this game.

The best part of the All 22 reviews on Allen is the unanimous feeling that he's improving every game. This is the most important stat IMO for a rookie QB. I particularly like that after reviewing the film these folks are concluding that his biggest improvements are in things he did poorly before. The willingness & ability to learn is huge for the ultimate success of a rookie QB.

Jackson is an interesting QB and I hope the Ravens keep running him like it's college ball. I know the conventional wisdom is that he'll get banged up and not last a full season but maybe the times they are a changing in the NFL. I'm a big time college football fan and it's pretty impressive to see how much the NFL copies from the college game. On offense almost all the innovation is happening at the college level not at the pros. And one aspect of the college game is that most of the top offenses feature a true dual threat QB. Now Jackson may be a better runner then passer but is he a good enough passer that if he stays healthy can win in the NFL over the long haul? It will be interesting to see but I'm open to the possibility that we're on the cusp of a seismic change in how the NFL views the QB position and how a QB manages their offense. In my lifetime as an NFL fan I've seen the league go from the I formation with the QB under center to a hybrid that featured the I formation on 1st & 2nd down then a 3 receiver set with the QB in the shotgun on 3rd & long to most teams running a shotgun spread. Maybe we're about to see another big change.

What swung me to Thurman was that if Norwood had made that FG Thomas most likely would have been Super Bowl MVP in that game. And I don't think Thomas was a GOAT in the 2nd & 3rd Super Bowl. The whole team played poorly in both games. As for his fumble in the last SB, he also had a great 1st half in that game and frankly the GOAT IMO was Levy for not being more aggressive at the end of the half when the Bills had a chance to go up 17 - 6.

Couching my recommendation with the fact that I have been the worst FF player since the end of the Bills Super Bowl run (I drafted the whole Bill's team & started them every week) I would start Wilson over Allen. I just think Allen is going to struggle big time against the Pats. NE desperately needs this game; it's at NE and when was the last time they lost 3 in a row in December? I suspect Belichick will take a personal hand in designing the defense to contain Allen and the end result will be a couple of INT's and maybe one TD. I hope I'm wrong.

This was a tough question and an even tougher list to pick from. I ended up taking Thurman. My #2 would have been a tie between Kelly & Reed.

If it wasn't for McCaffrey Newtons stats would be horrific. After tonight's game CMAC has 94 catches! Also folks McDermitt better NOT try to sign Carolina WR Funches who is a free agent I believe. This guy was cloned from the same vat that produced KB.

There has to be something wrong with his shoulder. I don't think this guy can throw the ball more then 20 yards.

Me to. That alone was worth watching this game. Pretty cool play and a real risk when you're going for 2. It's also like a safety in that Carolina still gets the ball back after the score.

Is it me or are the refs doing a poor job marking the ball this year? That looked like a 1st down hopefully the replay will correct the spot.

I'm hearing you coach! I also have that optimism and while it may be fools gold I'd rather be feeling good about this team in 2019 then walking around with a football cloud over my head. In addition to the fundamentals you laid out I do see the beginning of the end for the Evil Patriots empire. Next season will be a transition year in the AFC East and during transition years anything is possible.

To be fair to Newton the scuttlebutt is that he's playing with a shoulder injury. That being said, it wasn't a good look to be posing for the camera signalling a 1st down as the clock ran down on the half!

You might be right but I took his point as being along the lines of Allen has more drops because he throws the ball to hard.

Ouch. I never saw that quote before. Man it seems a bit hyperbolic.

I don't know but maybe it has something to do with Anderson & Peterman going to the check down all the time? I mean you aren't going to drop to many 5 yard passes on 3rd & 10 that the defense doesn't contest because they want you to catch that ball. This is the limitation of the analytics guys - they jump to conclusions when presented with the numbers often not considering the most likely factors explaining those numbers.

No one is saying you can't criticize Allen. But 90% of what passes for criticism on TBD about Allen is either nitpicking or agenda driven. No one is complaining about posters calling Allen to task over some of his dumber throws. But this is a Buffalo Bills Message Board and people should be biased towards the positive regarding Allen - not the negative.

Ok at the risk of being accused of beating a dead horse here Kemora just caught a pass that was 2 inches off the grass!

That's not what's happening here. If you actually read the posts almost all of Allen's supporters make it clear that he has a lot to work on and needs to improve his passing game. The thing we react to is the mindless Allen hate that keeps resurfacing under the guise of "analytics". This just seems irrational to me.

Anyone else watching this game? Watson for NO just made a diving catch for Brees. It looked to be almost the same catch that our WR did not make for Allen yesterday. And earlier in the game a TE for Carolina caught a ball about 6 inches off the grass and turned it into a 10 yard gain. It looked to be better catch then Clay didn't make at the end of the Miami game. Sorry, folks but when watching NFL games I see other teams ROUTINELY catching passes that our receivers drop.