CincyBillsFan

This is a great point. I remember a couple of examples of this: * One was in the Detroit game Cook stopped in the spot that a D Tackle was blocking Allen's vision. Allen expected him to keep moving into an open space and threw the ball to that spot. Only by pure luck was that pass NOT intercepted in what would have looked to people like a terrible Allen throw. * And remember the pass to Shakir that went for about 30 yards. It was a short pass where Shakir came back to the ball as Allen moved up in the pocket. The camera caught Allen making an expressive thumbs up sign to Shakir which led me to believe that they had talked in film/practice about this and Shakir actually ran the pattern correctly for the first time. There were others to but my guess is that it would be eye opening if we were a fly on the wall in the film room. I bet we would be stunned by how often Bills receivers ran the wrong pattern or didn't react properly as a play broke down in the 5 - 10 yard zone. Folks are quick to blame Allen for not taking the short passes but if guys are not getting where they're supposed to be a QB will back away from those throws real quickly. Yep. Allen clearly elevated Beasley & Brown's game extending their careers in the process. And don't forget how Allen elevated Sanders play last season. Just like he did with Foster in 2018.

There's two considerations here: 1) There is no doubt that KC has had better offensive talent over the last 3 seasons then Buffalo. Kelce + Hill were way better then Diggs + whoever. 2) In the last year the Chiefs O line was rated much higher than the Bills. And that alone is probably enough to explain any difference in production and outcomes between the two offenses. At WR and assuming Kelce cancels out Diggs the next three best players would be the Chiefs #1, #2 & #3 WR's. And IMO saying they were better then any grouping of Davis/McKenzie/Shakir/Beasley/Brown is not a stretch. The Chiefs #2 TE is equal to Knox In the RB group again the eye test says that the Chiefs have a clear advantage over the Bills. And part of this advantage was the willingness of Reid to put his faith in a 7th round rookie draft pick as his #1 guy. And the other KC RB seems to be a much more reliable pass catcher then either of the Bills starters.

IMO the most important thing Allen needed to do after this season was unwind and forget about football for a month or to. The only way he would be mentally ready to start the grind of preparing for next season in April would be to relax in Feb/March. I guess given that the objective evidence discounts the idea that Allen regressed this season or didn't take enough check down throws you guys are opting to use subjective evidence to go after the guy. Yea, what the hell is Allen thinking playing golf and trying to decompress after a brutal football season. Oh my just when I thought it couldn't get pettier. Allen is regressing because of his diet! For crying out loud are you actually blaming Popeye's & Chipotlie?

Interesting how the two teams did it very differently (one via FA the other via the draft) with one's QB on his rookie contract and the other earning big bucks. It's also interesting to note that the Bills have not been good at ether approach on the offensive side of the ball over the last two seasons. Allen & Diggs get an A+ Knox & Morse get a B The rest are at C or lower. And that is the problem.

More important to me is what the Bills do in Free Agency and the draft. The majority of their FA signings and draft picks have to be on the offensive side of the ball. A real effort to improve their O line and upgrade the WR group has to happen for me to stay excited about next season. Yep. Squandering a 16 - 0 lead late in the 3rd quarter against Houston and almost squandering a 24 - 10 lead against Indy early in the 4th quarter should be placed alongside the 13 seconds debacle & their no show in the snow against Cincy. And let's not forget the AFC Championship game in which the D let the Chiefs go up and down the field at will on the way to giving up 38 points.

If only it were as simple as this. IMO Allen did get it done if by "getting it done" means that even when surrounded by mostly below average talent on the offense Allen led the Bills after the BYE on an 8 game winning streak, a 3rd consecutive division title, a 13 - 3 record and a playoff win. I could care less whether Allen is considered better then or equal to or not as good as Mahomes. That's just mental ***** when the talent differential between KC and Buffalo on offense is so wide. I maintain that the objective evidence and the eye test indicate to me that the Bills would not have been as good as they were this year with either Mahomes or Burrow at QB.

All this talk of Allen needing to read the field better and take the check down opportunities and that Dorsey needs to scheme more short passes into the game plan are failing to see the forest for the trees. With the exception of Diggs and possibly Knox the rest of the Bills skill players are either below average (Motor, Davis, McKenzie) or still learning the game (Cook & Shakir). Add a well below average O-line to the mix and the Bills season long offensive production is nothing short of a miracle. And that miracle is due to Allen at QB and indicates to me that Dorsey is a better O coordinator then he's being credit for. So while it's fair to criticize Allen to do so without first calling out the elephant in the room - below average talent up and down the offenses line up - is deeply misleading. If what we've seen over the last 3 seasons is "peak" Allen then we have been blessed with a top 3 QB for the foreseeable future. But for that to translate into deep playoff runs and Super Bowl wins the Bills MUST upgrade the talent on the offensive side of the ball. Failure to do this will lead to further disappointing seasons. Throwing underneath the coverage to McKenzie and motor will not solve the problem here.

Allen leads the league in TO's because he fumbles the ball. Allen only had TWO more INT's then Mahomes & Burrow. TWO over 16 games! That's a rounding error. And Allen loses more fumbles then Mahome & Burrow because he runs the ball a lot more. Allen also has to deal with a bad O line where he's often under immediate pressure when he drops back to throw. Immediate pressure leads to fumbles as he navigates looking downfield to make a throw or is blown up from behind. And blaming Allen for the poor RAC (or YAC) based on ball placement is just plain wrong. This criticism was used back in 2019/20 as Allen was bursting onto the scene as a way to take shots at the guy. But anyone who has actually watched the Bills play knows that Allen has fine ball placement. The reality is that most of the Bills skill players are not very fast and are unable to make defenders miss. They also do a piss poor job of breaking tackles. My experience is that Allen will place a ball perfectly, the ball is caught and the Bills player immediately tackled for a 4 yard gain. Rinse and repeat over and over and over again. There is almost never any real separation and we all jump up and shout hallelujah on those rare instances when a guy actually outruns a defender or breaks their tackle.

When they've tried to throw conventional screen passes more often then not Allen has to throw the ball at the RB's feet as the defense is all over the pay. When they've tried to throw WR screens more often then not the WR catching the ball is nailed for no gain or even a loss as the Bills undersized WR group is unable to block for this kind of screen. Allen throws plenty of "short passes" in a game. The reality is that on very rare occasions do those catching these short passes make a guy miss, speed past the tackler or God forbid BREAK a tackle.

It always bugged me how the Bills got credit for the great job they did bringing Allen along when in fact the Bills screwed up Allen's rookie year. First they clearly didn't intend to play him that year and blew the offense up. The 2018 Buffalo O had to be one of the worst collections of offensive talent in Bills history. Second since they didn't plan on starting Allen he didn't get many 1st team reps through training camp and the preseason games. And instead of STARTING training camp with a veteran QB in the room to help Allen they had 2nd year Nathan Peterman on hand. But all their plans went up in smoke when Peterman started against the Ravens and had one of the worst QB performances in NFL history. So the next week Allen is thrown to the wolves. IMO Allen rose above the bad circumstances that the Bills organization dealt him in 2018. Now to be fair Bean/McD recognized that they had screwed up and over the 2nd half of the 2018 season and in 2019 they added better offensive players and a couple of vets in the QB room to help Allen out. You are spot on though when you say that the Bills should have built around Allen since day 1. Instead with the exception of Diggs the Bills have gone bargain basement shopping when it comes to committing draft & FA capitol to the offense surrounding Allen. And in today's NFL this is the wrong approach to take. Hopefully McD/Bean understand this and start correcting it immediately.

If Allen is struggling what do you call the play of 28 other QB's not named Allen? Allen has already proven that he's an elite QB and one of the top 5 in the NFL. All that remains is for the Bills to narrow the enormous gap between the offensive talent (line + skill players) surrounding Allen and the talent surrounding Mahomes, Burrow & Hurts. That Allen can be spoken of in the same breadth as these other QB's given the talent deficiencies around him suggests to me that with the right group of players on offense Allen would be at the top of any QB list.

Allen doesn't have a "processing flaw" he has a talent issue surrounding him. Allen has 4 playoff wins in 5 seasons Rivers had 3 in 17 seasons. Allen has been remarkably productive in the playoffs Rivers was average at best. To say they are on similar trajectories is flat out wrong.

I would call it the flavor of the day rather then the common consensus. Allen has already won 4 playoff games in 5 seasons while in his 17 seasons in the NFL Rivers won 3. PFF had Allen as the highest graded QB in the NFL this season. While the players voted Allen as the 2nd best QB just behind Mahomes in a recent poll. Oh and my friends who support other NFL teams universally believe that Allen is a one of a kind elite player being let down by a team that won't invest in offensive talent to the same extent as the Chiefs, Bengals & Eagles. BTW Burrow looked pretty bad to me in that loss to KC throwing only 1 TD and 2 INT's. And I still don't get the idea that if Mahomes was drafted by Buffalo in 2017 he would be as successful as he's been at KC. With a defensive minded coach in McD and the skill players the Bills put on the field? And Allen has outperformed Rivers by a wide margin in the playoffs.

It is not homerism to say that during his first 5 seasons Allen was a better QB then Brady during his first 5 seasons. Brady had a much superior team and coaching which is why he won Super Bowls. And yes Allen did give the Bills a discount. He could have played hardball with Bean & the Bills like Jackson currently is.

Allen gave the Bills a big discount just like Brady gave the Pats. It's likely that by the end of summer Allen won't even be in the top 10 highest paid QB's in the NFL. And Brady was no where as good in his first 5 seasons as Allen is today. Brady was NOT the reason for those early NE SB wins - their D and running game was. As a Bills fan this constant passive/aggressive sniping at Allen gets old.

I think the belief is more along the lines that while Rogers can still play and put up okay numbers he is no longer elite and isn't lifting a team into the playoffs based on his play. The Jets would be much better off keeping their draft picks and trying to sign Carr or Jimmy G.

I see little reason to believe that if Rogers goes to the Jets they make the playoffs next season. Are the Jet's WR's really that much better then Green Bay's? The Jet's O line isn't as good as GB's and for all the talk of the Jets having a great running game the Packers have a better pair of RB's.

By the end of the season I think GB had a better receiving group then the Jets. And while the Jets RB's are okay they're not as good as the two guys for GB. And I'm pretty sure the Jets O line wasn't as good as GB's. IMO going to the Jets would be a lose/lose with both Rogers and the Jets getting the short end of the stick.

They did add a couple of solid WR's to help fill the hole left by Hill's departure. The key was that the KC organization tried to fix the issue and I suspect they will be active in the FA market and on draft day to further lesson the blow of losing Hill.

This will be another data point either refuting or supporting Cowherd's assertion that the game has passed defensive minded coaches by. I believe Cowherd is right and at best the Texans will get back to 500 and flirt with a playoff birth over the next few years.

Yes and I suspect it won't even be all that close.

All you need are two teams to be interested and Jones could very well command 45 million per year. And with Brady off the market and uncertainty swirling around Tua & Purdy Jones will likely have more then two teams interested.

I wanted them to draft Allen because he was fun to watch on ESPN's late night college football broadcasts. I'm still waiting for my finders fee!

Please. With a leaky O line and a lack of play makers not named Diggs Allen directed the 2nd ranked scoring & yardage offense in the NFL. He also led the team to a 14 - 4 record, a playoff win and a division title. Oh and Allen put huge numbers of his own up - over 5,000 total yards and 42 TD's. Allen wasn't his own worst enemy he was the victim of the Bills defensive mindset that directed the lions share of resources to the defense.

Hard to imagine Allen not being worth what he's going to get paid. Especially since by the end of this summer Allen will likely not even be in the top 10 highest paid QB's. And the issue with Allen isn't whether he can lift young (or old) WR's up to be stars. He's already proved he can. Just take a look at the quality of WR he has had since his rookie year and how productive he has made them: John Brown & Cole Beasley had career years while guys like Foster & McKenzie have had huge games. The issue is Buffalo's O line and it's inability to consistently protect Allen.