CincyBillsFan

I watched the entire Cincy/Tampa game and the Bucs were blowing the Bengal's off the field for almost the entire FIRST HALF. They led 17 - 3 at half and had outplayed the Bengals in every way. Then in the 3rd quarter things got really weird. On their first possession TB tried a fake punt on 4th and 1 from their own 30 yard line. It might have worked but the guy who was supposed to get the direct snap missed the call and wasn't aware that a fake was on. So the Bengals got the ball at the Bucs 25 yard line and kicked a FG. After that debacle TB tuned the ball over on FOUR straight possessions! Four straight! And I can't believe you think the Bengal's played well against NE and in their last 2 games against Baltimore. I talk to a lot of Bengal fans and none of them thought the Bengals played well in those games. In fact they were a lot like Bills fans - glad they won but uneasy on how they won.

For all the complaining from Bills fans about the D line they did put a lot of pressure on the Miami QB. The Dolphins also threw a lot of quick short passes in response to their banged up line. And with Waddle & Hill able to take a 5 yard pass to the house from anywhere on the field this type of game plan was dangerous. And while he was banged up the Dolphins stud left tackle did play. Much like the Bengals/Raven game the Bills/Dolphins game was weird. Miami had only one decent TD drive and one decent FG drive. The rest of their points came via special team plays and turnovers. Miami only had about 220 yards of total offense.

You know you have the right amount of cheese on a 5 way when you have to worry about it spilling all over the table when you stick your fork into it.

I agree. I live in Cincinnati and know the Bengals probably better then most Bills fans. They're my second favorite team. And they can absolutely go into Buffalo and win the game this Sunday. The Bills & Bengals are 2 of the 3 top teams in the AFC with the other being the Chiefs. But with all that being said the loss of 3 starting O-linemen for the Bengal's is a huge blow. It will force Burrow into making quick throws that the Bills D should be all over. It will also make running the ball much more difficult for the Bengals. And while Allen may again turn the ball over to much it would be unusual if he did it two games in a row. The chances that Allen comes out on fire in front of the home crowd is very good IMO.

Yes Joe Burrow is a superstar QB. But the Bills did beat another superstar QB in Patrick Mahomes. The Bills may not have "played good" in your opinion over the last month but they won all those games. To be fair you have to apply the same standard to the Bengals. Are you saying that the Bengals played well in their last 4 games? I think both teams were hit by injuries that impacted their performances over that stretch. Whether the Bengals are pissed or not about where they're playing will have nothing to do with the outcome of this game. But the loud crowd on 3rd and 10 will impact the Bengal's offense. The idea that anyone knows that "Cincy would've won on MNF" is ludicrous on its face. And Bengal's fans would be the first to tell you this as they trailed Tampa Bay 17 - 0 late in the 2nd quarter and came back to win the game. And if first quarter scores are predictive of final game outcomes then the Bills would have gone 16 - 0 as they led in the first quarter and first half of every one of their losses.

Yea but I can get to several different Skyline's in 10 minutes and be seated immediately. The Blue Ash & Camp Washington chili joints are a pain for me to get to. But I agree that they both have the best chili.

Great insight and I think you're spot on. When I moved to Cincinnati 35 years ago I had no choice but to fall in love with college football. And I'm glad I did as the college game is a lot of fun to watch (live and on TV) and helped me survive the lost years of the Bills from 2000 - 2018. BTW, High School football is huge down here. I attended a game between two HS powers at Paul Brown Stadium that had over 50,000 people there. And you're right about how these analysts become bandwagon fans of elite college players coming into the NFL. Lawrence led a great comeback against the Chargers in the 2nd half but the "experts" all seem to have forgotten that he threw FOUR INTERCEPTIONS in one half and all but one of the picks were terrible decisions and throws. And notice how going into the Chiefs/Jags game you don't hear a constant refrain of "if Lawrence is as careless with the INT's against KC as he was against LA there's no way the Jags can win". Interesting no? And for a lot of these "experts" Allen is the living proof of how little they know about football and quarterbacking. As long s Allen is successful it makes them look stupid. So every time Allen has a rough game they pounce on him in a way that they don't pounce on almost every other QB.

I think the main reason was that if Baltimore had won that last regular season game they would have swept the Bengals. So in that scenario the Bengals, having lost BOTH games to their divisional rival Baltimore, would "win" the division on the basis of playing one less game. If you're a Ravens fan you've got to think that the Bills still had at least a 50/50 chance to beat the Bengals with the score 7 - 3 2/3 of the way through the 1st quarter. Skyline is way better.

This video is why I jump to defend Allen. It's a perfect example of the cheery picking and outright lying by omission that these "analysts" use to paint Allen as out of control and reckless. Take that compilation of bad Allen plays that the one guy uses to show that Allen has been this way since day one. One of the game clips is from the 2020 season playoff game against the Colts. The replay showing Allen taking a sack and fumbling late in the game. But we recovered the ball. So let's see the REST OF THE STORY. In only his 2nd playoff game Allen was spectacular as the Bills won their first playoff game in 25 years. Allen's stats that day: 26 - 35 for 324 yards & 2 TD's; 11 rushes for 54 yards & 1 TD. Allen did not turn the ball over in that game. Showing a clip of Allen's one bad play to try to support your position while ignoring how well he played over the entire game is proof of that analyst's bias. This is why I don't believe much of anything these fools say.

Allen's stats refute this 100%. In fact by almost any statistical measure Allen had a better year in 2022 under Dorsey then he did in 2021 with DaBall. And our offense performed just as well if not better. And this was seen in our having a better record in 2022 then we did in 2021. Allen through 17 games in 2021: 5170 total yards; 42 total TD's; 18 total TO's Allen through 17 games (I'm including Miami playoff game to make it an apples to apples comparison) in 2022: 5417 total yards; 45 total TD's; 22 total TO's I think you're making the mistake of comparing Allen's two remarkable playoff game performances in 2021 to the entire 2022 season.

Did you watch the Bengals game against the Ravens? Do you think the Bengal's beat the Bills if they play like they did in the Baltimore game?

But as others have noted Allen has upped his TD throws from outside the red zone. But has this year been "worse"? Allen's stat compare favorably with last season. The Bills offensive stats are about the same. More importantly the Bills had a better regular season record then last year, have made the divisional round of the playoffs and unlike last year are playing this game at home. So by every relevant measure the increased red zone INT's have not made things worse.

Is he a Bills fan or a troll?

Allen has had more then 40 total TD's in each of his last 3seasons. Allen has also had more then 5,000 total yards in each of his last 2 seasons. And that doesn't count his playoff games. And speaking of playoffs Allen has a total of 19 TD's (17 pass; 1 run & 1 reception) in 7 playoff games. Allen also has thrown for more then 300 yards in 4 of his 7 playoff games. Only a football illiterate would argue that over the past 3 seasons Allen hasn't been a serious contender for MVP and right up there with the other leading candidates including Mahomes.

Most of us are fine with criticizing Allen as long as its objective & fair. And yes if Allen throws 2 INT's and loses a fumble that leads to a TD against the Bengals the Bills may lose the game. But sorry if I don't buy into the idea that DaBold had Allen "under control" and Dorsey just let's Allen do what he wants and even feeds Allen's "recklessness". Because when I look at the numbers none of this is true. So in order to compare the last 2 seasons using 17 games I took the liberty of adding the Miami playoff game as the Bills 17th game: 2021 Allen/DaBold Passing yards = 4407 Passing TD's = 36 INT's = 15 Rushing yards = 763 Rushing TD's = 6 Lost fumbles = 3 Total Yards = 5170 Total TD's = 42 Total TO's = 18 Record 11 - 6 2022 Allen/Dorsey Passing yards = 4635 Passing TD's = 38 INT's = 16 Rushing yards = 783 Rushing TD's = 7 Lost fumbles = 6 Total Yards = 5417 Total TD's = 45 Total TO's = 22 Record 14 - 3 Allen/Dorsey had a better record, more TD's, more yards and more TO's. The TO differential of 4 is spread out over 17 games! That's about 1 more TO every 4 games. Sorry but I don't see any evidence that Allen has regressed or that Dorsey has produced a different outcome with Allen then DaBold did.

Well one of the fumbles they're counting is the one that slipped out of Allen's hand and went out of bounds 8 yards PAST the LOS. BTW, a sack is the same from a lost of yards perspective as a fumble recovered by Allen or an O-lineman. So if you don't want fumbles while Allen is trying to avoid the rush and make a play downfield then Allen needs to just take the sack. A lot of QB's do just that. But if this was how he played then we would have missed out on some pretty big plays this year and you could probably add 15 - 20 sacks to our total. Allen is always at elevated risk of a fumble from a D lineman hitting his arm as he negotiates the "pocket" looking downfield to make a throw. We're just going to have to live with this.

I agree and disagree with you here. But it definitely confirms my suspicions. Dorsey is talking about taking a strategic rather then a tactical approach,with McD's blessing or even insistence. I believe the Bills have done this a couple of times this year with respect to injuries when they felt they were playing an inferior opponent. Arrogance like this puts you on a knifes edge: you can cut bad by it. As you point out we are in one and done territory. If the Bills had lost to Miami it would have been another example of a miscue in the playoffs by McD. It is interesting that one of the only Allen designed run plays was in the 3rd quarter on a 3rd 8 in the Dolphins red zone as we were trailing 24 - 20. But since we won the game McD/Dorsey's gamble worked. Allen didn't take a lot of shots and my guess is that starting this week the called Allen run is back on the table. They must have figured that asking Allen to do it two games in a row before the AFC title game ran the risk of a banged up Allen in that game. Bottom line is that the strategic call here leaves us in a much better position going forward. We just had to dodge the bullet of not thinking tactically on Sunday.

Yea watching the replay reinforces the thought that this could have been a big play. At worst the DB makes an awesome INT of a contested ball and the Dolphins take over at their own 3 yard line. There are a lot of WR's that would have caught that ball and scored or been tackled inside the 5 yard line. And I'm not banging on Brown here as he was in street clothes just 6 weeks ago.

Bingo. I just don't get the folks longing for those good old Kyle Orton & Rob Johnson days.

Wright must have forgotten the THREE INTERCEPTIONS that Mahomes threw in a game against Denver in KC. The Chiefs were lucky to get off the field with a win that day. BTW, a smarter football guy then Wright would be a little more nuanced about the reasons behind Allen's relatively high TO numbers. Having a problematic O-line and not exactly a lot of weapons other then Diggs forces Allen to press at times - both in throwing the ball downfield and in scrambling behind the line to avoid the rush. Both of these things will lead to more INT's and fumbles (as the ball is hacked from his hand). Interestingly if you listen to Cowherd he has often talked about the Bills struggles on the O line and their lack of big time weapons beyond Diggs. Cowherd also has a pet theory about the issues associated with defensive minded head coaches in the current NFL environment favoring offenses- how their QB's and offenses lag behind the offensive minded head coaches teams. I think Cowherd may be on to something here. At the same time McD has created a winning and strong culture in Buffalo so the Bills need to stick with him through thick & thin. I just hope that if Cowherd is right and he may not be, that the Bills can be the exception to the rule here.

I heard him and Cowherd basically agreed with him. First on Wright: If Allen's basement is 3 TO's, 2 of which were not completely on him, 352 yards passing, 3 TD's, three times converting 3rd downs with his legs, generating 34 points and winning the game then that seems like a pretty high "low" to me. And I haven't even mentioned in this supposed "basement" game that Allen came within two dropped passes of having over 400 yards passing and 4 TDs! Wright is a carnival barker trying to drum up business. And I noticed that Cowherd agreed with Wright THIS TIME. I listen to Cowherds show a lot and love it. But over the last 3 years he has continuously gone from "Allen is awesome" to "Allen has issues". It's a roller coaster ride which is Cowherds style. He does it all the time with other teams, players and coaches. No they aren't. They keep the stat but always distinguish between the two.

I only care about lost fumbles. IMO it's very misleading to list INT's, lost fumbles and total fumbles in a single measure. Why not include passes that were almost intercepted? You might be able to up around 40.

Are you just a troll?

I thought it was 30? And I only care about LOST fumbles. So if you add up Allen's INT's and LOST fumbles that totals 22. Ten less then your 32. I'll give you the benefit of doubt that you're not intentionally being misleading with your stats.

And for what it's worth a look at the stats is illuminating: First Downs Bengals 18 Ravens 23 Bills 25 Dolphins 16 Yards Bengals 234 Ravens 364 Bills 423 Dolphins 231 So in some ways while the Bengals struggled to move the ball and the Ravens moved it fairly well the Bills went up and down the field and the Dolphins had only one long drive.