CincyBillsFan

Oh please, did you watch the game? Allen was far from the problem. In fact he threw the ball well and had the Bills moving nicely on the 2nd drive. Half his pass completions, including the 35 yarder to Davis that got called back, were vintage wow Allen throws. The only goofy thing Allen did was when he started to run then realized that McD/Dorsey told him not to run.

Agreed. Lost in the penalty fest last night was that Diggs & Davis both looked sharp making a couple of nice catches. And the beauty of preseason is that while it didn't count that 35 yard Allen strike to Davis was the kind of play we were expecting to happen regularly last season.

One more thing about last nights game. In the preseason, coaches approach these games very differently. Buffalo is a legit SB contender that wants to get through the preseason healthy and fill out the bottom end of their roster. In contrast the Steeler's are a mid level team that will win 8 - 10 games. Tomlin wants them to be hungry street fighters and that starts in the preseason. Remember, the Ravens did not lose a preseason game from 2016 - 2022. And during that 7 year span they went to the playoffs 4 times winning only 1 playoff game.

My top two takeaways: 1) Kincaid and Torrence looked really good. Like naturals. 2) While the Tackles played poorly against a very good Steeler pass rush I didn't see the kind of immediate pressure up the middle that is so devastating to an offense. On the pass plays the guard play looked solid.

NO. Last night was nothing. Seriously, it was a big fat nothing burger. They played poorly for a quarter and a half in a preseason game. The effort and game plan they bring to the Jet's game will be exponentially different and superior to what you saw last night. They got a preseason game wake up call which are the best type to get. They'll work the kinks out of the O line and they'll work on the penalties. BTW the penalties were the most serious issue coming out of last nights game and IMO they're the easiest to fix.

In the regular season Allen likely runs for a 1st down on that play. It was clear he was instructed NOT to run and as he crossed the LOS he realized "Oh ####" and ran back behind the LOS. It was actually funny to watch. It also told you all you needed to know about the Bulls mindset for last nights game: * Don't get hurt * Don't give away anything about what we'll be doing week one. * work out the kinks and get ready for the season opener. Unfortunately, the Bills came up against a motivated Pittsburgh which fielded one of the top 3 D lines last night and they got after Allen who was trying to operate a vanilla offense for a couple of series. What I saw was that Allen looked sharp when he wasn't running for his life. He threw a fast and accurate ball for several of his completions. The 35 yard pass to Davis that was called back for holding was jaw dropping. In fact, on that 2nd Bills drive they were penalized 3 straight plays for 25 yards which also cancelled out 45 yards worth of pass completions. If the Bills score that drive is anyone really bitching much this morning? I suspect that in the end getting their a$$'s handed to them in the first half was a good thing. Over the course of a season most teams need a wake up call. So for the Bills to get their wake up call in the PRESEASON is ideal.

But it's crazy to criticize the guy for a PRESEASON blow out loss. Preseason games are funny. If one team shows up ready & motivated to play they'll roll an opponent that is going through the motions.

I suspect that this is exactly what will be employed against the Jets in week 1. In fact the last thing the Bills were going to show is how they'll run this type of offensive game plan in the preseason.

Allen avoids the list because he was just fine. Threw the ball well when he wasn't running for his life or having his arm hit as he threw a pass.

He's thrown the ball very well. For crying out loud preseason or not it's bad o line play and no running game - AGAIN.

Allen has looked sharp. WTH can he do with those penalty's and O line play?

Is anyone else sick and tired of 2nd & 2 becoming 3rd & 2 after a run?

Okay so to get this straight: * we have the 18th ranked wide receiver room AFTER we upgraded it in the off season? So can I assume that last season it was ranked even worse then 18? * I have to believe that by any measure the RB room last season was rated lower then 20. * we know that the O line was rated either 26 or 30 last season. So last season our RB's, Receivers and O line were all ranked in the bottom half of the league. Yet we went 14 - 4 with the 2nd or 3rd best offense (depending on the metric) in the league. I may not be an analytics guru but doesn't that demonstrate fairly convincingly that our QB is elite and our offensive coordinator did a lot better in the job then he's being given credit for?

So this explains why Diggs has been so nice to Allen.

I thought that Moss & Motor frequently turned 15 yard gains into 8 yard gains. This looked good on the stat sheet and padded YPC numbers but represented missed opportunities.

I'm an old time Bills fan. Grew up between Rochester & Buffalo and attended my 1st Bills game at the Rock Pile in 1969. Even though I couldn't afford it I attended a lot of Bills games in the late 1970's/early 1980's when I went to UB. My work took me to Cincinnati but I came back for a game or two every season and over the years hosted a lot of Bills fans every time Buffalo played in Cincy. I also made the 90 mile drive to Indy every season for the Bills/Colts game when they were in our division. I was to young to appreciate the mid 60's championship years so my 50+ years of Bills fandom has been marked by a lot more disappointment then joy. There was he the brief Chuck Knock playoff years in 1980 & 1981, the magical OJ 2000 yard year and nothing beyond that except for two wondrous periods: the Super Bowl years and NOW. In my 50+ years as a Bills fan there have only been 2 elite QB's on this team: Jim Kelly & Josh Allen. A special mention goes to Frank Reich for the comeback and to Fergy for giving it his all. But for decades we have suffered from mediocre to bad QBing. Ditto for coaching: 3 good ones in Knox, Levy and McD and the rest............ So I find it hard to listen to naysayers trash McD and especially Allen on 2BD. I get negative posters who are still shell shocked from the periods of BAD Buffalo Bills football but the nastiness of the attacks on Allen & McD from a small minority of 2BD posters goes beyond the glass being half full types of people. It comes across to me as trolling. There is a huge difference between those that criticize some actions by McD & Allen that if fixed make the Bills an even better team and those that claim Allen's terrible play lost us a game or that McD (and Bean for good measure) need to go. Sorry, but the current Bills QB and coach are the 2nd best at their respective positions that Buffalo has seen in over 55 years. And given time I suspect that the current QB & coach may eclipse the Super Bowl teams to move into number one.

No, people like me are not "excusing" Allen we are contesting your and others positions that his play in some of these games was the PRIMARY reason we lost. I have no problem admitting Allen makes mistakes. In fact Allen makes mistakes in EVERY game he plays in. But what matters is that when all is said and done did Allen's mistakes eclipse his great play and lose the Bills the game. The ONLY game in the last 3 seasons, including the playoffs (56 games), that Allen's poor play was the primary reason we lost was the one again Jacksonville. When you say "he's my guy" I say yea right. Your posts reek of passive aggressive dislike of Allen. If you want to read posters talk about how Allen single-handedly lost the Mn & Cincy games or that his bad play almost lost the Dolphins playoff game then head over to FinHeaven, they have lots of posters you would agree with.

No one is ignoring Allen's 2 INT's they contributed to the loss. But 2 INT's, against the D line & DB's that the Jets have is not a terrible thing. Get back to me when Allen throws 3 or 4 INT's against the Jets. If you expect Allen to play perfectly every game you're going to be disappointed. The fact remains that the D allowed the Jet's to get back in the game with a 7 minute 75 yard TD drive right after Allen's run had put the Bills up 14 - 3. Then later the D allowed the Jets to go on an epic 90 yard drive using up a big part of the 4th quarter to kick the game winning FG. Then at the end Davis dropped a perfectly thrown ball from Allen that would have at minimum sent the game to OT. You fixation on Allen's role here is disingenuous at best.

AMEN! The situation the Bills put Allen in his first season was as bad as any rookie QB has faced in the last decade or more. The Bills tore down their offense that season in the expectation that first McCarron and then Peterman would take the lumps while Allen sat on the bench channeling Mahomes and soaking it all up. Instead, Allen was inserted into the starting lineup in week 2 surrounded by as weak a collection of offensive players in the NFL that season. He even suffers an injury and mises 4 games. Yet he plays very well under the circumstances and leads the Bills to a 5 - 6 record that should have been 6 - 5 if a wide open TE had made a catch in the Dolphins end zone at the end of that game. From 2019 on the Bills organization deserves kudos for how they developed Allen. But in 2018 they did everything in their power to screw it up: he wasn't declared the starter and missed out on most of the 1st team reps throughout training camp and the preseason games and then was inserted as the starter in week 2. So yea the evidence is clear, Allen would have worked out no matter who drafted him in 2018.

I love Cowherd and listen to him a lot - he's entertaining. But damn, he got EVERYTHING wrong in this take. Good thing the guy has the memory of a CB with the nickname of TOAST!

Not sure why some are arguing this wasn't a flat out drop of a very catchable ball as it clearly was. And IMO this drop, more then any single play in that game, was responsible for keeping the Fish close. We likely use the rest of the half up and go in winning 24 - 6 if he catches that very catchable ball.

Thad Brown NEVER disappoints! Allen makes a bad throw among a host of great throws at practice and this hack hopes it isn't a sign of something worse?

No I was responding to the posters trashing of Allen's performance in the playoffs and there isn't a single playoff game in which you can credibly pin the loss on Allen. Sure there were games where he didn't play up to his elite potential but that was not the primary reason for the loss. Unless of course you believe that Allen must be elite in every game he plays in. Go back and look at the Super Bowl years and see how many times Kelly was average yet the Bills won the game. My and others point is that the Bills have not surrounded Allen with the talent they need to. Oh and for the record as I look at the 11 losses (both regular and post season) over the last two seasons (2021 & 2022) there is only one of those losses I would put primarily on Allen playing badly - the loss to Jacksonville. Show me where I'm wrong. That's one loss in two seasons and 37 games. You people are nuts to be criticizing Allen on this.

I did analyze Allen's performance in the playoffs and rank ordered them based on my opinion in a previous post you quoted: In 8 playoff games Allen has had 3 elite performances: Indy (2020), NE (2021) & KC (2021). Allen has had 3 solid performances: Balt (2020), KC (2020) & Mia (2022). Allen has had 2 average performances against Hous & Cincy. And for the record where have I ever said Allen's playoff performances were "fault free"? Or do you consider an average performance to be the same as saying it was fault free?

Imagine finding Bills homers at Two Bills Drive. It's almost as shocking as finding Jets homers at GangGreen. And it's a pretty big jump from my comment to "losses are all team losses and have nothing to do with Allen or McD". Heck where did I even mention McD. I thought I was commenting on the Bills playoff loses and I maintain that Allen didn't lose a single playoff game. He contributed by not playing as well as he could but was he the main factor in the loss? No.