Ray Stonada

Too many turnovers and a number of missed easy throws, like against the Jets to win the game. No question Allen’s play dipped a bit over the season. I think he got flustered and started hearing footsteps. He was running for his life most of the year because someone’s (usually Spencer Brown’s) man was coming unblocked. He got addicted to deep shots even when the play was designed for a guy who came open for a first down. I also don’t get why they stopped feeding Diggs who was on record pace when the offense was at it’s best.

First half of the year Diggs was on a record pace. Second half he had far fewer targets and our offense declined. Josh’s passer rating was over 120 when throwing to Stef. Don’t understand why we didn’t feed him. Saw him open plenty of times where he didn’t get the ball.

Another miss on an undersized but intelligent defender. Other times, the team asks a player to get smaller—AJ and Boogie—that hasn’t worked so well either.

A few more players with Diggs’ mentality would help… that it’s not acceptable or good enough to lose.

If you improved the offensive line, even with no new skill players the offense dominates. We had the number two offense with this line playing, but it wasn’t close to good enough against better teams. Also, Shakir and Quinton Morris were underused. Next year we will hopefully work more out of heavy sets where Knox and Morris or Gilliam are all on the field. Run the ball on teams to set up believable play action. I would move Bates to LG, get a new right side of the line in free agency and the draft, and look for Morse’s successor.

Bengals to make the B

Build the O line. Draft a WR with height and hands. Hire a Run Game Coordinator / Special Assistant such as Greg Roman. Make it clear that the Bills would have to run the ball 20 times per game, not counting RPOs, and 5 screens a game, until we get really good at it. Not care if we start 5-5 during the growing pains period while our offense practices easy plays and not just being saved by Josh Allen’s genius.

Get a Lombardi, just one, at any cost. Then worry about more.

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Pulp Fiction

“Anarumo overwhelmed Allen from the jump and got him to play the rest of the game uncomfortably. Allen started seeing ghosts in coverage and stopped playing with the same confidence he usually does.” These lines from Football Outsiders rang true to me, and Kubiak says the same. Hope Josh will focus this off-season on identifying the hot route at the snap, under all types of pressure, so he can defuse these blitzes instead of getting blown up. More Peyton Manning, less John Elway. Only then do you drop the long bombs, after a drive or three of dinking it down the field to a touchdown. That’s what we did last year in the playoffs, and this year is a sure sign of coaching-based regression.

THEY'RE KILLING ME TOO, WHITEY! Seriously, I went through some dark moments today thinking about how this season ended up. If we can get a damn offensive line, I have faith, though. I keep telling myself, the next five years Josh is age 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31. Thanks for the post. I feel your pain,

I agree with this. Hopefully 3 of them on the O line, 3 on the D line, and one at safety.

No issues with the Pegulas asking that question, Ethan. They should ask that about McD and Beane after every season. But fire a head coach who had a 14-4 record? That's reckless. Did the Bills play well after Damar Hamlin went down? No. That was 21 days ago. It's weird to me, because most of this board said they would understand if we couldn't recover. Well, we couldn't. Remember: half the board was convinced Brian Daboll was killing us and if they would only fire him we would be unstoppable. Turns out he wasn't the problem.

It drains them as human beings, not their "energy." In tennis, the only time Rafael Nadal ever lost at the French Open in his first 10 tries, where he was unstoppable? The year his parents split up and divorced. You might not like to admit it, but the toughest people are vulnerable to things that happen off the field too.

It wasn't fatigue. It was being emotionally drained. But I know, I know, there's no excuse, they're highly paid professionals, etc, etc. Guess what? They're human, and imperfect, no matter how many times your salary they make.

I agree with you under normal circumstances, with the normal adversity of an NFL season--injuries, tough opponents, etc. But this season for Buffalo: deaths, a traumatic cardiac arrests, two massive blizzards, season-ending injuries to two crucial leaders, 10 road games... it was way beyond. If you can't see why many of them might be drained, I can't help you. I'm proud of this team for what they were able to do. They never had their mojo back since Damar, ran into a very good team, and lost badly.

I disagree with you completely on both of these points. We beat Kansas City THIS YEAR, in a game both teams wanted badly. And there is no chance the Bengals beat us 10 out of 10. ZERO chance.

Sure, fire them all without question, General. Good luck with that team-building strategy, Mr. Maturity.

I just don't understand the anger on this board. No one wanted to lose this game. And the Bills did not play well. But just three weeks ago, there was a consensus that no matter how the season ended, we'd be proud of the Bills and fine if they end up losing after the INSANE amount of adversity, capped by Damar Hamlin's cardiac arrest. They finally ran out of gas and now the mob wants to burn down One Bills Drive? Josh didn't play well in that game either but no one is saying we should get rid of him. And rightly so. 14-4 under these circumstances does not warrant firing a head coach. Count me out of the chicken little panic because of one loss.

Yup. If you rewatch the “perfect” playoff game against the Pats you see Josh hitting Singletary on checkdowns over and over for 6-10 yards before we open up and go deep. It was unstoppable.

Our team already throws it downfield more than anyone in the NFL. They’re hardly “old school.” We could use a return to fundamentals more than a new offensive scheme. Better blocking, rushing and screen game. We’re already great at making low percentage plays on offense. Make it easier and try the hard stuff less often.

It’s funny how everyone agrees Frazier should be fired and Dorsey gets another year, when Buffalo’s defense held the Bengals to their average while the offense scored 10 points. Makes zero sense. The players lost the game, I don’t think it was in the scheme to leave Chase uncovered or Josh to miss a wide open Diggs for a TD on the first drive, or Gabe to drop the long ball. Sometimes it’s not your day.