PoundingDog

No doubt there is more up and downs to Allen's game this season. This is not to say Allen is not good, just relative - we are comparing him to the very top QBs of the NFL and the all-time greats. He's going to be 30 next year. The running, scrambling will go down more and in-pocket game to increase. It is another area for him to continue to improve (hard to believe for the reining MVP but his in-pocket game does have room to improve).

Depend on what he wants to keep getting involved this season, like Saleh was. Bills could be a stepping stone like how he got the Giants HC job in the first place, after all we do have Allen and the chance of Allen to play some good/MVP type football down the stretch is high, with or without Daboll. But you look good being on the staff, having a hand in it.

Has Daboll taken out full page ads in NYC thanking Giants fans yet?

If you look at it from a strategic viewpoint, they said wanting to bring balance to offense but looked to be swing over to overly depend on James Cook and the passing game is a compliment. That kind of offense needs a compliment of strong defense. That is what the Eagles are doing with great success. And we are at least a year+ away from an Eagles level of defense.

They are kind of in a uncertain state. When Cook does not have a run of 5 yards, they go to pass the next play. Even I can tell from the stands. Look at Miami yesterday, McDaniel stuck on the runs even the first one was not successful and came back with a different run with a different runner. Of course he knew run defense is Bills big weakness. When Josh goes to pass, it is either throw behind the LoS or going down field - more like crossing patterns to TE lately. I guess you can do the WCO stuff by throwing short on 2nd down or with play action. But it's not working. I thought we have short area quick separation guys, including Coleman. Either Brady is not calling it or Josh does not like the quick WCO type of passing game, timing patterns. Even the greatest QB has weakness. Last week the Bills openly said Mahomes does not like structured plays so they hemmed him in, even when he moves, with a hemming in structure by rushing guys. Look at the result. Allen is more of a visual guy, may not "trust" someone easily by throwing a ball to an area blindly in a timing pattern (like Tua is known for).

Well, well, well ... I, like most Bills fan, thought this game was a shoo-in win before 1pm today. I still had somewhat confidence at half time, even though failing to get even 3 points by the end of the half gave me some bad vibes because ... on paper, our offense SHOULD destroy the Dolphins D (who missed some key guys and traded away their best guy), even if it takes some time for Brady and Allen to figure them out, right? We are talking about the same offense destroyed the Chiefs just last week. This Bills team mirrors what happens in NFL this year. There is not so much distinction between the haves and have nots. Like the Eagles can lose to Giants. Reputation of the favorites like the Chiefs, the Ravens, the Texans, and the Bills meant very little. I'm kind of seeing what every coach says "it is hard to win in NFL." And it makes you appreciate what the Belichick's Patriots and Reid's Chiefs had accomplished consistently over long period of time to get to the top. It is hard, especially when you have a big target on your back for all teams, contender or not. Allen's statement "they wanted it a little more than us" stuck with me. It meant they didn't get out of the bed for this game as much as they did for last week's Chiefs game. Dion Dawkins said almost the same thing. And that is something hard for me to stomach. Have the Bills won anything thus far, for all the vets and McDermott etc.? Have they not taken those failures the past few years to heart. That is a big failure at OBD, as well as the veteran leadership. This team has several flaws. WR, DT, LB. Some of the strength like the O-Line is not as good as the last couple of years. Looking back, it might not be a bad idea that Beane didn't give up multiple high picks to get a Waddle or Williams because we may need those picks to address multiple positions - in theory, that's how you do it under the full cap situation we have for the next few years. Whether they do it properly (picking the right guys) is another story but you gotta have a chance first. I know people have used the Rams as an example for trading away high picks for a number of years and won once. But that's a rare case; I don't think anyone else has been successful with that strategy. Besides, the Rams have drafted well in later rounds. In the immediate future, I see the Bills continue this roller coaster, winning some big games, and losing some heart breakers. They will have Palmer, maybe Davis next few weeks, but none of them is a game changer for us. On offense, we have one way to win. That is, to get James Cook going. Play a clean game. On defense, it will be hard. Teams will be gunning to run the ball on us. So much focus is on the D line, but I think our LBs are a big problem. I'm glad Bishop and Hairston showed there is some hope for continued improvement in the secondary but there is nothing behind Bernard, Milano, and Williams. As it stands, they have to have the offense to take a lead on teams to force them to play catchup with passing. That will play into our defense's hand.

Is it just one player away? What about O-Line? I feel this year they certainly took a step back. What about the Linebacker Corp? Outside of Bernard's pic from last Miami game, have they made any difference in a game? The D-Line - Miami proved that just sticks to running the ball, you get somewhere. Andy Reid will certainly took note. And if someone can stop James Cook, Miami played the Bills second time so they know how the Bills run the ball, you just make the Bills offense difficult to gain yards.

That might be the game - let's see the D can get 3 and outs.

Gabe was a legit deep threat for the Bills last time around. Not sure he's still capable of doing that now. He was better than Hollins minus the special team ability. I forgot who - one of the ESPN analyst - said the Bills have the same issue last year where Keon was not ready, Cooper just so-so, and Hollins kind of stepped up later in the season in that deep ball role, at least gave us some semblance of that. This year we have none as Keon has not really making the steps they hoped so far.

There is a lot of nuance for Coleman game that he is simply not grasping right now - we don't know if he ever will. Separation is not just speed. Size can be worked for that as well, and it is not just throwing high - there is a time and place for the QB to throw you high ball that you have to master. You don't have that speed, fine; Allen can throw you a back shoulder ball when you are at the right leverage and just cut off your route but you have to think like a QB and know when to do that. If you look back at the films this season, Allen and Coleman tried a lot of those things but not at an acceptable success rate. Only in-breaking routes seem to work for them consistently for 5, 6 yards. And with Bills ball control offense, there is not much in-game experiment they can do.

Reading between Josh's pressers and coaches statements, I think we can conclude Josh is not trusting Coleman, Moore, maybe not 100% on Palmer etc. He's going to need to see clear signs those guys are getting open before throwing the ball. Even though guys like Coleman have traits that "he's open when he's not open." Davis has Josh's trust - in the past - even though Josh has been burned from time to time due to that trust. But the Bills offense then is more passing oriented so you can afford a miss here and there. Now the Bills offense is more of an "on schedule" type offense where most of the times you have one chance for a passing play to keep the chain moving. Trust becomes important where high percentage plays are the norm. Thus guys like Shakir, Kincaid flourish. From this perspective, we are all intrigued by the prospect that Davis can be a trusted target for Josh on the outside and the ripple effect of drawing a safety to free up the middle of the field for Shakir and Kincaid.

Yes and it sounds like a month away type of vibe ...

I like your optimism - the Bills did play their best game this season beating the Chiefs. But I'm not expecting it is the case for every game going forward. Likewise the opposing teams can play up or down in a season too. I don't know what kind of Tampa team in two weeks, but I do like Bills chances in general. Houston is a big wildcard and I think the most likely loss in my book: short week, top defense. Pittsburgh can play really well or really bad on defense; I don't think a comfortable win with Rogers playing at a level he hasn't been for a few years. One question I'd ask is how many ways the Bills can beat an opponent? If Josh does not play well, do we have a chance? I think what McDermott wants is to make it a yes answer. But that answer requires 1) Cook to play well and 2) the defense to play well. For the most part this season, we don't get 2). In the Chiefs game, we got 1) and 2) AND Josh playing well, that's why it is the most lopsided victory against the Chiefs (even though the score does not reflect that and like Eric Wood said, it felt like if we pressed, we could score more in that game). I just don't believe any team can count on all 3 to show up for 9 games in a row to make a prediction.

We have seen that movie before. He gets hot for a couple of games, then gets an injury. Then he is just a JAG afterwards.