CincyBillsFan

Sure you're one of Allen's biggest apologists & defenders! IMO Allen was not to blame for any of the playoff losses - they were team losses. Did Allen play his best games against Hou (2019), KC (2020) or the Bengals (2022)? No but he was hardly the cause for those losses. 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.

Gee that's very fair of you not to blame Allen for the loss to KC in 2021!

Brady was a unicorn in that his play got better after he turned 40. From what I can see Rogers falls in the camp with most QB's who see substantial & rapid declines in performance in their late 30's/early 40's. Think about Kelly, Marino, Montana, Manning, Brees, and a host of others. The odds are that Rogers slide began last season and will become very noticeable this year.

Allen is gaffe prone? In 2022? I can think of only one game where you could say Allen was "gaffe prone" and that was against the Vikings. Unless you're calling any mistake evidence of being gaffe prone? As I recall, Mahomes threw 3 INT's against Denver last season and Burrow had that epic 5 TO game (including 4 INT's) against the Steelers in week 1. I can't recall a single game where Allen threw 3 INT's or had 5 TO's. Can you? The idea that Allen is "gaffe prone" or a "TO machine" is fake news. Allen has a few more TO's then the other two elite QB's (Mahomes & Burrow) but the difference isn't that great and in Allen's case is spread out. A more honest and accurate description is that Allen is forced to press more often then Burrow & Mahomes because he has less talent around him on offense then those two QB's have. This is a better explanation of the TO difference then one claiming Allen is "gaffe prone".

Have you put the Bills & Bengals Offenses side by side by an chance? Name me one unit other then QB where the Bills are as good as Cincinnati? I'll help you out: WR: Bengals much better then Bills TE: Bengals a little better then Bills RB: Bengals much better then Bills Oline: Bengals much better then Bills Also as GoBills808 points out. in TOTAL production: Allen: 5045 yards & 42 TD's Burrow: 4732 yards & 40 TD.s WINNING a Super Bowl is a distinguishing factor; reaching a Super Bowl may or may not be one depending on the circumstances.

You can make an argument that Mahomes is on another level above Allen based on his extraordinary playoff production. But Joe Burrow? Sorry he is at best even with Allen. Reaching a Super Bowl is not a distinguishing factor for elite QB play. Reaching multiple Super Bowls and winning multiple Super Bowls is. If a one off Super Bowl appearance makes you elite then Trent Dilfer was elite. The Bills finished 14 - 4 and lost ONLY one game due to Allen's "crushing mistakes".

Jackson is 1 - 3 in the layoffs. His team also lost the 2 playoff games he was not available. Passing: Jackson has 900 yards, 55.9% completion, 3 TD passes & 5 INT's including a pick 6. His QB rating is 68.3. That big game you reference was the 2019 playoff game where Jackson in a blow out loss and against prevent defenses was 31 - 59 for 365 yards, 1 TD & 2 INT's and a lost fumble. Rushing: Jackson has 367 yards, 1 TD with 5 fumbles of which 2 were lost. That's 1267 total yards, 4 total TD's & 7 total turnovers. Sorry, but throw in back to back seasons in which he missed the final quarter of the season to injury and the Ravens appear to have over spent for Jackson.

In 2019. His stats and health since that time can not be ignored nor can his lack of success in the playoffs where he is 1 - 3 and has yet to play an above average playoff game. The Giants are getting Jones for about 100 million dollars less then the Ravens are getting Jackson.

I justify my optimism on a few things: * Brown is very young and inexperienced coming from a small school and he didn't play football during the covid year. More then most draft picks he has the opportunity to improve. * he is a physical freak who is still growing and maturing. * he has shown flashes of being very good as well as being very bad. It's reasonable to assume that with more experience and maturing his highs will outnumber his lows. * Off season surgery last year set Brown back big time. He will have a true off season this year.

And don't forget that gold plated NFL pension.

It's hardly wishful thinking to assume that McGovern or Edwards or the rookie will NOT be train wrecks. Saffold was singularly awful and Defenses exploited this the 2nd half of the season. At minimum, Bean has shored up this problem and the Bills should at least be competent at guard. This alone may make all the difference given the Bills were 14 - 4 with Saffold.

Fair point. To be more precise: Bean has identified the problem correctly; he has moved aggressively within the constraints of the CAP to correct the problem at Guard. On paper it looks like the Bills will be much better with Saffold gone and one of the three new options replacing him at guard. In addition I agree with Bean expecting that this will be the year that Brown makes a significant jump at RT.

The more I think about it the more it seems to me that the single biggest factor in our offenses uneven performance in the 2nd half of last season was the play of Saffold & Brown on the O line. Opposing teams figured out how to target pressure at these two weak points and this messed up the offenses timing. This was particularly a problem at guard where immediate pressure on the QB can be generated. And NO QB in the NFL consistently deals well with inside pressure. This problem was also magnified as the field shrank in the Red Zone and we lost the room to make big plays. IMO Bean has actually done a great job at dealing with the issue at guard with an excellent draft pick and the signing of two guys who could step in and do a solid job. This shoudl eliminate the most glaring O line deficiency and immediately elevate the Offenses constancy and efficiency. As for RT it's not unreasonable to expect that Brown shows a big jump in performance this season. His off season back surgery last year kneecapped the anticipated year 2 spike in performance. I suspect we'll see it this season.

I listened on the radio yesterday and Dawkins was fantastic. Came across as genuine and knowledgeable. This guy will definitely have a media job after he hangs up his cleats.

Hey this is good news! With Mahomes engaged in all this non-football related off season stuff, I just saw a new Subway commercial with Justin Herbert in it, he is going to really suck this season. Or at least that's what some Bills QB gurus insist has happened to Allen on some other threads.

And those gaudy numbers in close games (no garbage yards against a prevent D) were accomplished with only ONE elite play maker on offense.

The first 3 and out was brilliantly dissected on a link in another post. On 3rd & 4 Allen was immediately forced to his left by a missed Saffold block. He was clobbered at exactly the moment he released the ball and missed an open Diggs for a likely TD. The guy reviewing the play thought Diggs ran a great rout and Allen made a great throw under the circumstances and that they missed tying the Bengals by a few inches. The play of the O line and lack of protection was easily the single biggest factor in the O struggling in that game. Go back and actually watch a playoff game. It's not unusual, particularly on a bad weather day, for an O to struggle to get its feet set early on. In that type of game AT HOME your top rated D is expected to hold the fort. Instead our D allowed the Bengals to score 14 points and use up almost an entire quarter. How different is this game if the D does its job and holds Cincy to a FG and an early 3 - 0 lead?

The defense did not make a stop when it had to the entire game: * Allowed back to back 75+ yard drives to stake the Bengals to an early 14 - 0 lead, silence the home crowd and grab all the momentum right out of the gate. * After the Bills cut the lead to 14 - 7 the Bengals went on a long time consuming FG drive that took up most of the remaining 2nd quarter and gave Cincinnati a two score lead at half. * After the Bills opened the 3rd quarter with a long FG drive to again cut the Bengal's lead to one score the Bills D gave up a long time consuming drive that used up most of the remaining 3rd quarter and gave Cincy a 14 point lead. Meanwhile the Bills O line allowed Allen to be pressured on half his passing attempts. HALF! A lesser QB would have been sacked 6 or 7 times.

IMO even if Allen played lights out and was at his best the Bills still lose. The D never stopped the Bengals when it mattered. Sure the score would have been closer but with Allen running for his life and the Bengals able to name the score against our Defense it would still have been a loss.

The Shakir drop was huge. Not only was it a missed chance to gain 55 yards late in the 1st half on a perfectly thrown ball but it happened at a moment where the Bills were leading 17 - 6 and still dominating. Had he caught that pass, which a high school player would be expected to catch, the Bills likely use up most of the half and score a TD or at worst a FG. By dropping that pass the Bills ended up punting, there was a great return and the Dolphins kicked a FG to pull within one score.

Allen was one of the players least responsible for the playoff loss to the Bengals. Defense and O line own that one. That Allen wasn't 100% isn't in dispute. The point is that even when banged up he is still very good. And his stats and 8 - 2 record after the elbow injury demonstrate that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Was he 100% after the Jets game? No. But to claim he hurt the team in any way by toughing it out and playing is to ignore the reality of what he did after the Jets game: * A 7 - 1 regular season record & division title against a tough schedule with all sorts of mayhem intruding on the Bills season. The only loss was in OT against the Vikings. And while Allen had a couple of bad TO's in that game he had 414 total yards. * A 1 - 1 playoff record. So Allen's Allen's post injury record was 8 - 2. * Look at his stats over that period. Maybe not top 3 in the NFL but definitely top 10. And don't discard the impact of bad weather on Allen's stats over that period.

Bingo. It's lazy the way some posters throw this stat out. Allen, who is on his way to being the most effective duel threat QB in NFL history (if he already isn't) will always have more total TO's. It's the nature of how he plays the position. The key point you have identified is how badly have Allen's TO's hurt the team? Last year ONLY ONE LOSS, the Vikings could be plausibility put on Allen's TO's. Even worse then the ignorant posters are the ones distorting the TO stats to dump on Allen. You know the ones who throw out TOTAL fumbles and not fumbles lost or who whine about how Allen's TO's kept the Miami playoff game close as if his nearly 400 yards of total offense and 3 TD's didn't mean anything in a WIN. I expect this kind of stuff when I check out a Dolphins or Patriots message board but seeing it here on a Bills message board? And then to be labeled a "homer" for objecting and pointing out how dishonest these people are.

The 71 consecutive starts is only the regular season, if you add in the playoffs Allen has 79 consecutive starts. For the life of me a stat like this should contain playoff games.

Last season the Bengals O line was better then the Bills and this was true even with the injuries. I watched a lot of Bengal games living in Cincy and IMO this is not debatable. Also what is also not debatable is that the Bengals have far more elite/very good offensive play makers then the Bills. And finally the Bengal's Defensive Coordinator was much better then the Bills Defensive Coordinator. The two SB teams last year had the best O lines - go figure. Last season Buffalo had a worse O line then Cinci, Miami & SF. The Jet's O line sucked and they finished 7 - 10 so why are they in the conversation? PFF projections are fine but they're just PROJECTIONS. I put more wait on their evaluation of units in hind site which is much more accurate. For the record, if the Bills O line finishes rated 24 then they will again likely lose in the Divisional playoff round. If they're ranked 17 then there is a good chance the Bills are in the SB. That's how little an improvement will be needed with Allen at QB.