CincyBillsFan

Disagree, a lot of QB's are in that 300 - 400 million range now and some are vocal and some aren't. But what I can say about all of them is that Allen has by far the weakest group of offensive skill players surrounding him. No offense but when you invest 350 million dollars into your QB you best prioritize surrounding him with the best possible talent & coaching. To do anything other then that is football malpractice.

I like the Davis signing and he's a fine #3/4 WR. But IMO there are a lot of WR #1 or 2's that drag that left foot in bounds putting the team at the Houston 3 yard line. Over the course of this season I can't think of one remarkable catch being made by any Bills receiver. Shakir has a couple of great YAC efforts but the amazing toe tap a the sideline or a guy laying out for a pass? Not so much. Actually the best catch by a Bills WR this season was last week when Samuel let a perfectly thrown ball bounce off his chest and he caught the rebound dragging his feet just inside the field of play.

Because the Bills committed offensive pass interference. It was flagged and had Allen hit him it would not have counted and we would have faced a 4th & 16. KC has an extra SB win and an extra SB appearance because of the great play of their defense in the playoffs over the years. That is what real complimentary football looks like.

There was a 1st half play when the Bills were backed up against their own end zone and Allen connected with a 22 yard pass to Davis on 2nd & 10 at the 5. On that play, Allen threw the ball BEFORE Davis had stopped and turned back to make the catch. It was a nice throw and routine play by the WR who drove the single coverage guy back with an aggressive push downfield before coming back to the ball. It was clear to me that Allen would not have trusted Coleman to make the read that Davis did, to push hard downfield and then stop and come back to the ball. This is why Coleman is not on the field.

I didn't see a whole lot of pressures either. As I think you pointed out earlier, there isn't one difference maker on this defense. In fact the only guy who might be getting their is Bishop. And after Allen & Cook there isn't a difference maker among the skill players on offense. And while I think Kincaid could be a difference maker he's missed to many games and when he's healthy the McD/Brady offense doesn't even have him on the field for half the snaps.

I would agree with you IF the Bills brain trust structured their offense & coaching to best utilize their generational MVP QB. But they haven't. Instead they have built an offensive roster & strategy that diminishes the role of their MVP QB. It's insane and football malpractice. I can't think of any other Super Bowl contending team that would choose to go in this direction with Allen at QB.

Yup, true complimentary football has the O winning some shoot outs when the D struggles and the D dominating a game when the O struggles. Twice this season Allen and the O have exploded to win shootout games against good teams. Not once has the D won a game by dominating an opponent from start to finish.

He threw Davis open near the end but he couldn't get his other foot down in bounds at the 2 yard line.

And it might actually work if Trubiskey was the starter AND McD/Bean had done a better job with the defensive player drafts and FA signings. Instead we have a Bills management that is squandering a uniquely gifted QB, the kind that teams tank their season to draft, while also fielding a very bad defensive unit. That they're 7 - 4 with a still decent chance of making the playoffs is almost entirely due to Allen's play.

Wrong. Our top ranked offense is only top ranked because of the play of Allen. Take him out of the equation and replace him with a good but not great QB and the Bills are middle of the pack at best on O. The problem is Allen can't do it alone and with the exception of Cook no one else has risen up consistently either because they have under performed or can't stay healthy and on the field. As for the D I disagree that this unit is anywhere close to being middle of the road. It is clearly a bottom 5 D. And this is in spite of the Bills providing the D with the lions share of FA & Draft capital. I think tonight has gone a long way towards illuminating what the Bills problems are. And while it might be cathartic to fire Brady he is not the main problem. McD & Bean are. They have structured the roster & coaches in a way that isn't working and is squandering the talents of a uniquely gifted QB. It's football malpractice.

Disagree. Unless Allen plays like superman and the rest of the offense plays at least competently, which neither did tonight, the Bills aren't scoring more then 20 points on the road against the #1 Defense in the NFL. The current offensive roster is simply not close to being good enough to win the game without a dominating defensive performance. In the 1st half the Bills D gave up 201 yards and 20 points. Like in the Atlanta game the D's terrible first half play pretty much lost the game. The Bills offense is top rated primarily because of Allen's play with a healthy assists from Cook. Without Allen the offense is in the bottom half of the league rankings right alongside their bad D. So I won't blame an offense that hasn't been properly constructed to accept that responsibility. I suspect there are numerous front offices throughout the NFL who are professionally aghast at the way the Bills have decided to build a roster with Allen as QB. Cowherd has alluded to two different GM's he talks to regularly who can't believe how the Bills are employing Allen.

And that is so frustrating to me as a fan. They have built an offensive roster that requires super human efforts from it's QB to put up the points needed to beat good teams. But because they have so completely failed on the defensive side of the ball the direction they have forced the O to take can not work over an entire season. If the Bills had the Texans D they would be winning Super Bowls. The bad defensive play demands a Bills offense with a completely different mindset and roster structure. We are witnessing a compressive failure to build the right team around a uniquely talented QB. Sure, Allen's play will likely get the Bills into the playoffs but that will be it. One or at best two and done.

And that leads to another coaching issue: who decided that Brown stay in the game after he got banged up? It was clear he could not do the job yet the Bills wasted two series with him out there. Other then QB every other player on the field needs to be subbed out when they get banged up and their performance drops below an acceptable level. Sure, Brown would never take himself out but the coaches have to step in.

I agree but if the D can not rise to the occasion and you must have exceptional offensive performances every week regardless of the game site or opponent then the Bills need to build a roster like Cincinnati where they go all in on offense at the expense of the D. And before people say that the Bengals will miss the playoffs 3 straight years that was mostly because of Burrow's injuries and injury related slow starts. With Allen being healthy I'm quite confident that with the Bengal's WR's not only do the Bills make the playoffs the last 3 seasons they win a SB or two.

To be fair he was tasked by McD & Brady with constructing a line that could run bock effectively and he has done that. And this is another example of how the Bills roster has been deliberately constructed to take the ball out of Allen's hands in the mistaken belief that when called upon, Allen even with inferior & mismatched offensive players around him can throw a switch and play superman. Only a defensive minded coach and GM would think that this was the best way to build a roster around a consensus top 3 QB talent. The fact is that McD & Bean do not fundamentally understand what Allen brings to the table and how best to use his talents to win championships. It's almost as if they're doing the exact opposite of what would work best. It's gross mismanagement of a roster and I can't imagine any offensive minded coach screwing this up in the way McD/Bean have. .

Allen could see that in the first half the D could not stop the Texans and tried to force the issue by extending plays and taking risks throwing the ball. You could see it in his sideline mannerism and eyes. Brady then goes back and forth between completely taking the ball out of Allen's hands, like the 4 straight runs by cook that led to a turnover on downs when the Bills had a good drive going to then switching to all out passing. There was no downfield passing attack tonight because there wasn't enough time to let the play develop and the WR's do not get open quickly. My goodness the Texans seemed to have 10 guys within 7 yards of the LOS on almost every play. But when you play the #1 Defense in the NFL at their house you are going to struggle moving the ball and scoring points. So how about the D under the Bills defensive minded HC and with a lot of draft & FA capital invested help the Bills win a game 16 - 13?

Even on run plays where the O line is good you can almost give more credit to #85 & #41 for the big run plays. Last season was as much about Allen's elite escapability as the O line being great at pass blocking ad this season hey have clearly regressed. As I loom at the Bills roster construction from 30,000 feet I see a team that: * Made no effort to upgrade the WR room with above average play makers. * Focused on building a TE room that was better at run blocking then pass catching. They did this to the extent that their best pass catching TE when healthy is barely on the field for 50% of the snaps. * Focused on creating a very good run blocking O line at the expense of it's pass blocking ability. All of this has been done in service to McD's belief that this will result in the complimentary football needed to win a SB. So McD & Bean have structured a roster that is counter intuitive when you have a QB like Allen. Making matters worse after almost every season the majority of the FA & Draft assets are thrown at the D and yet the D has continually declined and has been the primary reason for losing playoff games.

Sure Allen is open to criticism but again the O line was terrible with immediate pressure on half the pass plays. There would have been 10 - 12 sacks except for the fact that Allen got away.

I don't care how well the D played in the 2nd half letting Houston score a TD at the end of the half was beyond terrible. How about a 3 and out and Allen getting the ball back with TO's and a minute left in the half to get a FG before getting the ball to start he 3rd quarter? Over the years I have seen this happen particularly in the playoffs but now it seems in the regular season: the D gives up big TD drives at points in a game where the Bills have created some momentum by the Offense or special teams. It's the antithesis of complimentary football.

I disagree. Houston had a bad offense and Mills is a back up QB. The Bills D was gashed in the first half badly. Giving up a 75 yard TD drive at the end of the half after the Davis KO TD return was an abomination. I am sick and tired of McD defenses playing like hot crap in the first half only to play "better" after their poor play has basically lost the game. See Atlanta. The Bill's offense has won two close shoot out games this season. We have yet to win one defensive game where we hold a team to 10 - 13 points. Tonight the D should have held the Texans to no more then 13 points and that includes FG's after the 2 TO's. And the D not forcing a single TO when Mills was hitting our guys in the back of the helmet with terribly under thrown passes is an indictment of their play. Lets not forget that the D controls field position to some extent and the Bills started 3 drives from inside the 10 yard line.

McD & Bean are guilty of organizational malpractice in the construction of this roster. Some comments: * The O line has been built to run block. When they have to pass the ball under duress this is a bad O line. * Brown should have been taken out of the game two full possessions before he was. He clearly was hurt and could not block his guy who caused mayhem on those two critical drives. We scored 3 points on 2 drives that got close to the red zone. * What was Brady thinking running Cook FOUR straight times including on 4th down when we had a first down at the Texans 30 yard line? My goodness that was HS level play calling. And Allen's comment on the side line yelling "what the hell was that" was spot on. * People will say the Bills D played great in the 2nd half ignoring how poorly they played in the first half. The Texans O was bad and we should have won the game scoring only 19 points. * You can't have a false start on 4th & 1 at that point in the game. * Again which receiver made a great catch? We will still likely make the playoffs but who knows. I will say it again if the Bills don't make the AFC championship game then big changes at HG & GM must be made.

The offense was going to struggle on the road against the best D in the NFL. The problem is 100% the D.

A bad offense has scored 20 points and run up 201 yards against the Bills D in one half. Allen is clearly getting antsy on the sidelines which means some more forced passes and potential INT's. To give up a 75 yard drive, all through the air, at the end of the half was beyond inexcusable. In the end Bean & McD have focused on the D and they have nothing to show for it.

It's very impressive as that is a list of some of the hottest QB's this season.