Coach Tuesday

I would say that overall Allen is light years ahead this year in terms of going through his progressions, finding the outlets and taking what the defense gives him. His issue in the past was that if the first read wasn’t there he’d scramble. Lot less of that this year. To my mind his biggest problem is still the “hero ball” - it’s psychological - something or a series of things happens that causes his heart to start pounding and his clock to speed up. Maybe a penalty on him for spinning the ball on an opponent, maybe a relentless pass rush, maybe a drop or a turnover, whatever it is - all of a sudden in his mind he’s back at Wyoming and it’s him and 10 scrubs rushing into battle and he feels like he has to win the game himself on every single play. And for whatever reason, even when it’s one of THOSE games - he still manages to find Serenity Now with 2 minutes left in the fourth quarter. It’s psychological but it’s not an addiction to deep shots, is my point.

Apparently they went hard for DJ Reader and thought they had him in the bag - probably never even crossed their minds that they’d lose him to Cincy (!) - so I’m not sure what we’re seeing isn’t Plan B...

Now THIS is what I call personal growth!

On that last still, I agree he’s lost trust in Knox. Even the TD catch was an adventure for 88 - he’s just a knucklehead. The outlet throw to Moss would’ve put the ball on his right shoulder about a yard from the sideline, likely resulting in a 2 yard gain. Have no issue with Allen’s decision to tuck and run there and he picked up 8.

I guess my takeaway is still where I was at Sunday night - the offensive line lost so many individual matchups, with nearly every play a jailbreak, that Allen’s mental clock sped up and went haywire. I don’t think Sunday’s game was a good evaluation exercise for 17. Dawkins didn’t deserve his game check. Winters shouldn’t be in the league (remind me again why they cut Spain?). Mongo was inconsistent and Williams, Knox and the backs missed their fair share of blocks as well. The protection was horrible.

It was a running play and he bailed, it got totally blown up. The throw to Davis was a prayer.

Second still - deep shot was called. Allen’s eyes are downfield. Dawkins and the RB are responsible for the RDE (guessing it was Bosa again) and the two of them couldn’t sustain a halfway decent block - he’s now up the gut coming right at Allen’s face. Gilliam is not “college open” - you’re woefully misusing the term - there’s a dude right on him and he’s not in Allen’s line of sight, anyhow, because he’s not the read on that play.

I mean, I’ll just comment on the first play - there is no physical way for him to turn and plant his feet to throw to Davis in time. Bosa is that fast and has a yard to cover. Josh is running right with his right shoulder forward and his feet in a running stance. He still has to stop, pivot, bring his right shoulder back behind his body and then throw. Bosa is 3-5 feet away and closing at full speed. At least from that still, Allen was DOA.

Your act is soooooo tired.

Really insightful article by Michael Lombardi in today’s Athletic (subscription required - but honestly if you’re not paying for this content right now you should have your internet shut off). Basically comes down to a completely different approach to winning games (vs. championships). Lombardi is a Brady confidant - you wonder if TB12 fed him some of this - but it strikes me as a correct assessment of the problem. “The best example of this vast difference occurred last Monday night against the Rams. The Bucs had the ball at their 41-yard line, with slightly over two minutes left in the first half, with the game tied at 14. The Bucs faced a third-and-5, on which Brady completed a short pass to Antonio Brown for the first down and the two-minute warning. The Bucs had the ball at midfield, seemingly in control of the half. Coming out of the two-minute warning, Brady philosophically knows he has two objectives. The first would be to score either a touchdown or a field goal. And the second is to not allow the Rams to get the ball back with much time, as they would get the ball to start the second half. Brady has been schooled over the last 19 years on the importance of winning the middle eight (the last four minutes of the first half and first four of the second half).”

I think there is a rational view of the world that would like to see the Bills start stringing together four solid quarters of football so that they have a shot at going far in the playoffs. Turning the ball over three times, committing multiple personal fouls and giving up a Hail Mary all in the second half of a conference game does not set the right tone for playoff football. Glad they won. Felt awfully close for a blowout.

Re: the officiating, wasn't happy with it but it was a chippy game from the jump yesterday, Chargers' defenders were throwing elbows to helmets at the end of each tackle, etc., and I suspect the officials told both sides to take it down a notch. The Bills didn't get that memo and were penalized. Need to do a better job of reading the room.

Every week we get a "hear me out" thread (but 50% of the time it's "here me out" because the OP is illiterate/drunk/both). Chances are if you have to say "hear me out" you're already behind the 8 Ball with your take... The Cardinals game was supposed to be the "sloppy win" game until they found a way to lose it. This team needs to start figuring out how to keep its foot on the gas pedal for four full quarters. Interesting article in the Athletic today about what went wrong in Detroit. Synopsis: Patricia and Quinn bought too much into the Patriots' philosophy of waiting for the other team to make a mistake ("More NFL games are lost than won") and as a result, they'd play passively and let opponents back into games. Over and over again. McD needs to make sure he doesn't fall into the same trap. It's trending that way. Play to win. Don't wait for the other team to hand you the win - go take it for yourselves.

Inexplicably into the endzone several times. He’s a bonehead.

Maybe, but wait until you see clips of his technique against Bosa.

Dawkins was horrendous today. Edmunds, Klein, Roberts, Taron J, Beazers

Allen was under too much pressure and wasn’t comfortable all day. He’s been given a ton of time to throw all year but the Chargers today (mostly Bosa but also Tillery) weren’t having it. Just imagine if Ingram had played. There is no excuse for letting a great passrusher dominate an entire game like that. On one of his sacks they forgot to even block him. The offense was a sloppy mess all day and it’s definitely McD’s worst effort coming off a bye (he’s usually got his team ready after the rest week). Just not a great NFL product on the field today - pretty much across the league. Lots of sloppy plays, weird officiating, the announcers sound tired, it’s been a long year and people are tired from having to socialize a bit after months of isolation (my theory).

Not gonna be too funny on draft night...

Worst game ever.

This is the Dumb Coach Super Bowl.

Garbage game

This is like every Bills game.

Josh isn’t the type to draw unsportsmanlike penalties - he’s clearly fed up with all of the cheap shots today.

Mongo false started and then missed his block on the screen pass. Wtf. Terrible guard play today.

HORRIBLE series.