CincyBillsFan

When you consider the game plan the Bills used against KC, which clearly had McD's fingerprints all over it as it was designed to protect his injury ravaged D, it's Brady's job to lose.

Unfortunately they are not the only ones to live with their decision.

I was thinking of the Bills. Or maybe I was just dreaming of the Bills here. I know Pegula will not pull the trigger and I get his hesitation but anyone who watched the masterful way Johnson called the game in the 4th quarter against TB can only wonder at what he could do here with Allen. The best job would be Buffalo but alas........................

It is sort of down here. The Bengal's are very tight lipped about almost everything so ho knows. The speculation is that they're inclined to use the franchise tag on Higgens but given how expensive it would be they would really like to do a deal. The problem with franchising Higgens is it might interfere in doing a deal with Chase this off season.

So the Detroit Lions Offensive Coordinator is still available and the coaching slots are filling up fast, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

One top offensive player dose not make an offense above average if the O line and the other skill players lag behind. Or are you suggesting that Allen had a good O line through most of those seasons? IMO Allen doesn't own any of the Divisional losses.

Allen is elite and to suggest otherwise indicates an extreme ignorance of football. Also when playing one of the best defenses in the NFL and needing to score a TD to win the game you take it any time you can with under 2 minutes to play. The idea that it's easy to both score the TD and use up the last bit of clock is wrong. Don't forget that the Bills had already executed 15 plays and used up over 6 minutes on that drive. The fact is that the run play on 1st down forced Allen to go for the TD on 2nd down when it it didn't gain anything. The idea that a throw to Diggs picks up the first down is not supported by the video evidence. We likely would have been left with a 3rd and 4 or 5 which while easier to pick up in no way is a gimme.

And yet people regularly come on 2BD and claim that Allen TO's cost us regular season games and any chance of being the #1 seed. It's maddening. In only one of the 6 loses could Allen's careless play be blamed for the loss.

If Bass makes that FG we lose but given that KC did falter a couple of times in the red zone I would have liked our chances with a 4 point lead and less then 2 minutes left. The real problem is that Allen, while trailing by 3 late in a playoff game, had to not only worry about scoring the winning TD against one of the best D's in football but also was expected to manage the clock and run it down to almost nothing. All because the Bills D, which has received the lions share of resources over the last 5 years, couldn't be expected to make the stop. This is the root of the problem, not any perceived failings of Allen here.

I am positive because he puts up MVP numbers every year and wins big games in December & January. That he can't get over the last hurdle says more about McD and the defensive oriented structure of the Bills then any failings of Allen. Consider Allen's total (regular season & playoffs) yardage/TD stats the last 4 seasons: 2020: 5927; 51 2021: 5941; 51 2022: 5707; 46 2023: 5365; 51 Four straight seasons with over 5000 yards and three o four seasons with over 50 TD's. And he's put these numbers up with at best average offensive talent round him. Extraordinary.

But the Bills can afford Higgens if they make the right choices.

Yep he needs to have the confidence to throw the ball into tight windows! And of course NO off season golf. I mean if Allen didn't play golf he would exceed 6,000 total yards rather then the measly 5000 yards he hit this year.

What? I hope Allen gets away from football completely for 2 months, decompresses and plays so much golf folks will think he's on the PGA tour. The notion that he doesn't work out in the off season and plays to much golf is rubbish. It is not supported by anything we see on the field from Allen. It's actually slanderous IMO. The out of shape, golf obsessed Allen played in all 19 games this season and amassed the following stats: Passing: 4695 yards; 33 TD's & 18 INT's Rushing: 670 yards; 18 TD's & 3 lost fumbles Total: 5365 yards; 51 TD's & 21 TO;s Team stats:12 - 7 record. Division title and playoff berth. People who push this ridiculous narrative should be ashamed of themselves for exhibiting such a complete lack of football knowledge.

I don't understand your question. I'm not saying Allen on KC would have beat TB that year I'm saying that the way Allen plays the game he would have been in a better position to deal with the pass rush and having a beat up O line then Mahomes can.

Keep in mind though that the AFC East is in disarray. IMO the Bills go into next season in better shape versus the rest of the division then we did this season. And as much as I criticize McD he is a solid coach who like Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati will get the Bills to the playoffs next season and win the division. Then we will exit the playoffs in round 2.

Maybe not this year but over the last 5 years there have been a lot of times the Bills O line was that bad and maybe even worse. Allen's play hides a lot of O line defects.

He was? Mahomes stats for the Super Bowl against TB: 26 of 49 passes for 270 yards, 0 TD's & 2 INT's with a rating of 52. Also 5 carries for 33 yards, 0 TD's. Sure, the Chiefs O line was a wreck and Mahomes was running for his life but he still had a lot of weapons available. When Allen puts up numbers like this you people claim he sucked and if we point out a porous O line played a role you accuse us of making excuses for Allen. Mahomes is the best QB in the NFL. Allen is #2 IMO. But I also believe that Mahomes would not have won or even gotten to a Super Bowl on the Bills teams of the last 6 years.

No one is disputing that Mahomes wouldn't win what is up for discussion is whether or not Mahomes would be going to AFCC games every year and winning a couple of Super Bowls in Buffalo. After all Allen wins a lot of games and has led the Bills to 5 straight playoff appearances and 4 straight division titles. I have no doubt that Mahomes would have equaled that production under McD had he been here. As an aside I shudder at the thought of the offense Reid would fashion with Allen.

Maybe 3 super bowl rings as he would have been better able to handle Tampa Bays pass rush in that game. McD is what's holding them back. After that it's the decision to focus on defense at the expense of the offense. And Mahomes wasn't throwing 50 TD's in Buffalo in 2018.

The numbers support your argument but I think they're impacted by the cheat code called Josh Allen. He has proven over the last 4 seasons that he can be wildly productive with average to below average offensive talent around him. This is what puts the Bills in the top 10 statistical categories every year and gives us a false sense of comfort. But what the Bills are missing is the possibility of how good the offense could be if you surrounded Allen with above average talent. Focusing on the offense sets up the possibility that we might see just how HIGH the ceiling of a Josh Allen offense can be.

I disagree 100% with this take. Let's start with this from the article: "The Bills proceeded to draft, trade for and sign players to surround Allen in the hopes of having a year-in-and-year-out dynamic offense. It has mostly worked." How can anyone who covers the Bills and claims to know football say this? A more accurate statement would be that after tearing the Bills completely down in 2018 they signed serviceable guys to allow a functioning offense. The only thing that has worked in the Bills plan here is that Allen has been a far better & dynamic QB in his career then anyone thought he would be in 2018. The ONLY high end Offensive players the Bills have signed in free agency from 2019 - 2023 were Morse & Diggs. And the ONLY 1st round picks spent on Offensive players between 2019 - 2023 was the one to get Diggs and drafting Kincaid. O'Halloran calls out the failures of the defense over the last 3 seasons and then makes a weird argument that the Bills haven't emphasized defense over that period of time when they have used multiple 1st & 2nd round draft picks to address the D as well as making the biggest FA acquisition over the last 3 years with Von Miller. The only thing I like is O'Halloran's call for high volume on D selections. Yea, lets spend a lot of 4th - 7th round picks, sign lot of rookie FA's and sign a lot of low cost FA JAGS. But the #1 priority going into the off season must be to get, either through the draft or FA, a top flight WR.

Before or after we had those late game leads?

I disagree. Dunne is explaining to fans what they already have seen. Look I don't trust any Journalist on almost any topic. But whatever ax Dunne has to grind with McD his observations line up with what I've seen over the last few years and the comments that McD has made both in season and in the off season. All Dunne is doing for me is to provide additional info and a broader perspective. Just like how Knox was wide open for a 20 yard gain in 2021 and Allen ignored him to throw a 75 TD pass to Davis. #1 NFL WR's have to make that catch at least 19 times out of 20 throws. As to whether or not Diggs lost the ball or never saw it until it was on his hands we'll never know because he left before answering any questions.

And here I thought the bigger problem was that Allen had left the Bills D with three leads inside of 2 minutes left in the game that they couldn't protect.

But aren't people like you always telling us that Allen's TO' prevent wins? So which is it?