CincyBillsFan

The key point is that "Steve also gave up a 40 spot in the SUPER BOWL". It has been a LONG TIME since McD coached a D that went to the Super Bowl.

No one is going to convince me that the NFL doesn't want NE back at the top battling every year with Buffalo. A lot of interesting referee decisions in today's Bengals/Pats game.

Yet in the end the McD defense has had only one great playoff game in 13 during the Allen era. And in every Bills playoff exit the McD D has played badly.

And in the NFL it often works for Allen like a week earlier with his deep TD pass to Savers. The Bills will never completely get this out of Allen, What they should do is construct an offensive roster and scheme that best utilizes this skill. Instead they have built an offense that encourages Allen to do this out of frustration when things aren't going well. IMO everyone is nibbling around the edges of the problem with jabs at what Allen could do better when the problem is simple: the Bills have never tried to build an offense around Allen that matches his style of play and provides him with the most complimentary talent possible under the CAP. They have a defensive minded HC who didn't get along with the one above average OC they had and has tried to build a team that seems counter intuitive to what one would do with a guy like Allen at QB,

This. As Allen sits on the sideline and watches a putrid Texan offense bully the Bills D going up and down the field the desperation starts to creep in. Allen understands that he has to make superman plays to win the game. What you are seeing with Allen taking more sacks this year has little to do with Allen regressing or his QB coach failing and a lot to do with the offensive scheme and lack of quality play makers on the field (Kincaid is a quality play maker who is often not on the field). * The O line has regressed in pass protection. This is obvious to me. * The broken play is the only way the Bills can generate big play offense this season so Allen will do anything, even the wrong thing, to keep the play alive. * The lack of WR separation is forcing Allen to hold on to the ball. * Teams have figured out and adjusted to Brady's offense.

Yea because we all know that giving the ball to your RB 4 STRAIGHT times on a drive worked real well in high school. And McD has done this so often I think he really believes it. Its explains why every season plays out like Ground Hog Day in the final results.

The problem with McD's comments is that he doesn't address the elephant in the room - the woeful first half performances of his defenses in multiple games. Against Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore & Tampa Bay the Bills D was largely non-existent for one half to three quarters of the game. I've seen this bizarre and frankly disgusting shtick from McD before where he throws the offense under the bus for not plying great while making excuses for and/or not recognizing the putrid play of his defense - a unit that gets the lions share of draft picks & FA signings and represents his personal area of expertise. To be even fairer the defense was awful in the 1st half against Houston and was awful for large parts of the games against the Ravens, Bucs, Dolphins & Falcons. Defense is a McD specialty it's his area of expertise. On top of that the lions share of FA signings and draft capital has been allocated to the D. It is not enough to make effective adjustments later in a game.

Scoring defense is not the only thing that matters. Lack of creating turnovers, giving up long time consuming drives robbing the offense of possessions, giving up non scoring drives that flip the field position and the point in a game that a defense allows scoring drives can matter just as much. By any rational assessment the Bills are a bottom 10 D. If we can't agree on this then we can't agree on anything.

I like this but I'm not entirely sure I agree with it. At the end of last season I would have agreed with this 100%. Now I'm not so sure. For this to be true that Allen will spend his career in Buffalo no one needs to be fired but a hard reorientation of the teams priority's from the D to the O must happen. And this includes a new offensive strategy not predicated on protecting the D and aggressive drafting and FA signings of offensive players.

No one player can lift a team above mediocrity if the roster talent is below average. Marino, who IMO was the greatest pure passing QB in NFL history, went 8-8, 6-10, 8-8 & another 8-8 in seasons where he started every game for the Dolphins. This might actually work as long as McD allows Daboll the freedom to run the O. For Daboll it would be a great stepping stone to another HC job and a new GM can go about reorienting the Bills FA & Draft priority's towards the offense. Of course all of this would be a moot point if the Bills went on a run and made the Super Bowl this season.

This is a fair discussion topic. I hope Allen stays and the Bills do not have to engage in a compete rebuild. A reloading even if it meant changes at HC & GM could work for all involved. At the same time it would be a real shame if Allen never got a chance to play in and win a Super Bowl. Marino at least got to play in a Super Bowl. The rest of this season will have a huge impact on whether Allen is still a Buffalo Bill when he turns 33. If the Bills can rebound and go on a run and make it to the divisional round or better yet the AFC Championship game then a re-load would likely work without changing the HC & GM. On the other hand if the Bills implode and a rebuild is needed and Pegula doesn't change the HC & GM then Allen would be wise to start making plans for his departure this off season.

I was referring to how Stafford left an organization that could not and/or would not build a roster that could win a Super Bowl to one in LA that could. I see this as a very possible future for Allen if the Bills can't get their act together over the next couple of seasons. I hope I'm wrong.

I agree. My gut is he will go the Matt Stafford route but here's to hoping it happens in Buffalo.

The ball placement was fine and I've seen this catch made both in college & pro football every week. Because it's so rare that the Bills WR's make these kinds of tough catches we forget that they happen all the time in other games.

Weather could be a big issue and that Bengal's D is historically bad making the Bills D look like the 1985 Bears. With the game being in Buffalo if it gets into a shoot out it will resemble the Tampa Bay game with the Bills coming out on top.

I'm not ruling out that the Bills go on a roll as most of their upcoming games are either favorable match ups from a talent aspect - the Steelers & Bengal's may have the worst defenses the Bills have seen this season and Cleveland's offense is so inept that the 19 points the Bills scored yesterday would likely lead to a two score win over the Browns. They get the Eagles at home and the Jets will be running for the bus. That leaves NE which is on paper the Bills toughest remaining game. 5 - 1 is not out of the question and 4 -2 seems very doable.

Nah, you're not a "bad fan" but your one of those fans nibbling around the edges of the real problems. And Allen is not a part of any real problem on the Bills. Over the last 6 seasons including this one Allen has repeatedly demonstrated that he has the talent to win a Super Bowl. The failure of the Bills to get over the hump this season and in past seasons has almost nothing to do with Allen and almost everything to do with the strategic focus of the Bills paired with their inability to build a SB caliber roster. They have the QB and RB and RT and maybe going forward the safety but not much else. They clearly don't have the coaching or front office skills of the most recent SB winners: KC, LA Rams and the Eagles.

To little to late. The defense tightened up in the Atlanta game to but again it was to little to late. That TD drive the Bills D gave up at the end of the half which cost Buffalo the lead was a perfect example of how this D is constantly allowing teams to flip game momentum on its head.

Allen's extreme talent, when fully on display, enables the Bills offensive performance to occasionally significantly exceed its talent and tactical capabilities. Allen is just that good. And while we say the receivers "suck" this is not true. They are NFL WR's and thus better then 99% of the football players on the planet. But in a game of inches where 2 or 3 elite level catches can change the course of a game the Bills receivers are not good by NFL standards and at the bottom of any realistic assessment of a an NFL WR group. When Allen is on, he makes these average to below average WR's look good. But this is not sustainable because you almost never see the WR's making those difficult NFL type catches that make their QB look good when he's having an off game.

I'll tell what I think is going on: * The offensive strategy and tactics being employed do not make the best use of Allen's skill set. * This is the worst offensive group, top to bottom, then any since Allen's rookie season. For sure they are worse then the 2020 - 2023 teams. * The defense no longer pulls its weight during the regular season. It has never pulled it's weight during the playoffs but now it is bad during the season. This leads directly to Allen forcing things which increases the risks of TO's and sacks.

You're one of the few people advocating for hiring Daboll. I don't know if I'm there yet but the idea has merit. I suspect that Daboll would do better in his 2nd stint as HC and he would redirect the strategic focus to the offense while there are still prime Allen years left. And signing Pickens should be the #1 priority of this front office in the off season.

This as a first step. Or do what NE did - hire a defensive minded head coach who is confident enough to bring in an experienced, elite offensive coordinator. In this way you get the right culture and right strategy/tactics for your elite QB.

Good point. High school teams try to avoid doing this. I get if we're trying to milk the clock in protecting a lead but this is happening on almost every snap. It's like the Bills are trying to run out the clock from the get go, shorten the game and protect their defense.

The Bills started 3 drives from inside their own 10 yard line. This was a direct result of great Texan punting, Bills ST penalties and the famous McD bend but don't break D. The O was not the reason for the poor field position. The D turned it around AFTER giving up 20 points in the first half. And this was despite the fact that the D was going against a very bad offense with a backup QB. Meanwhile the Bills offense was going up against one of the best defenses in the NFL. The Bills have a BAD defense that was riddled with injuries. The Bills also have an average offense that was hampered by injuries. The only time the Bills offense is great is when Allen is playing at his best. And no human being can be at his best each and every game. Your post is a great example of a Bills fan nibbling around the edge of the problem. Sure in this specific game had the Bills O punched it in at the end they steal a win. But the problem is not the failure of the offense to execute at the very end. The problem is how the roster is structured and the basic design of the offense. It's as if the Bills brain trust has created an offensive concept that might be suitable for an average, limited QB and are trying to impose it on their uniquely talented once in a generation QB. Its football madness.

Well that's it for me. I'm heading to the shower.