finn

Agree. Plus, when he says he works on something (e.g., reads, accuracy), you usually see a big difference in that area. He said he was focusing on improving his deep ball accuracy this offseason. And for the first time since John Brown, he has a true deep target. Watch out, league.

Something has shifted in the past two years in public sentiment about Allen. It's been a quiet shift, but pretty much everyone I talk to or hear talk in the media now acknowledges that Allen is the best quarterback, ranging from grudging admiration to superlatives. Burrow and Lamar both carry caveats, and Mahomes... well, it speaks volumes that when given less to work with--the same-caliber teammates Allen has had his whole career--he's no longer The Guy. In fact, he looks ordinary at times. What's scary (for some) and exciting (for us) is that Allen will only get better. My sense is that all these other guys have peaked.

Oh, I'm a homer, but not "just" a homer. Even a homer can be right about his guy. I've watched Marino, Kelly, Brady, Brees, Manning, Brady, Mahomes, Elway, and Farve. They were crazy good, both at the time and especially in memory. And that's where your own bias may lie. The Legend of X grows in one's mind. I went back one time over some Marino games and was surprised that he wasn't as good as I remembered him to be. If you've seen nothing but highlight reels of these guys, you're naturally going to think they're head and shoulders above our guy, whose lowlights and ordinary play we see alongside the amazing play. So it's very hard to rank these players, far harder than the smug rankings like the one you quote as if it's the final word. Those journalists really are the final word, aren't they?

Yes, at this point the operative word is "arguably." I would argue he is clearly the best player of his class and era, and only the hardware bias (which dismisses or at least dismisses the importance of team and coaching) stops this from being the consensus. But the consensus is starting to build. No one can do what he does, not the whole package, and certainly not with an otherwise unremarkable team and set of coaches. Only Brady gives me pause, since he too did a lot with very little. I'm not dissing Rogers, Stafford, Mahomes, or Lamar, either; all of them are extraordinary. But none of these players has the entire package.

As much as I love and respect him, Kelly wasn't even the best quarterback of his era, whereas Allen may end up being considered one of the best players in league history.

Agreed, although Allen saying he needs to improve has to be taken with a grain of salt. Yes, he can improve marginally, but he's already elite. His teammates and coaches are not. They're the ones that needs to improve to get the team over the hump. Also, pointing out Allen needs to improve his deep ball is fine (I agree); saying his deep ball "sucks" is going to get a reaction out of me. Call it sensitivity to stupidity hyperbole.

How about the deep ball to Gabe Davis at the end of the Jets game in 2022? Allen had just hurt his elbow, and on one of the very next plays he threw a dime 60 yards in the air to hit Davis right in the chest fully in stride--and Davis dropped it. If he had caught it, the pass might have gone down as one of the clutch, accurate, and beautiful passes in Bills history. Yet you don't remember it, and you're not alone. I realize you can find amazing passes thrown by pretty much any quarterback, but I think of this one whenever someone claims Allen "sucks" at the deep ball and can't hit a receiver in stride. In his entire career, Allen has had just one elite receiver, and that guy routinely disappeared in the playoffs. Until Allen has at least one again, we all need to temper our criticism of him. He IS the Bills. Everyone else, including Cook, is merely complementary. Allen carries the team by himself, and we criticize how he does it.

Allen is that much better than Mahomes. Picture Allen throwing to Kelse and Tyreek in their prime, backed up by a clutch (not choke) defense. Not dissing Mahomes, but I think any of the top-tier quarterbacks would likely have accomplished as much as Mahomes did with those rosters.

Every time I hear this kind of claim, I think, "Yeah, but 80% of the plays that have made him the most brilliant player of the modern age would have been called boneheaded if one of the variables had changed even a fraction." E.g., the "interception" to Cooks in Denver would have entered the pantheon of clutch Allen plays if the league had done the right thing. Even his turnover at the end of the first half might easily have ended in a touchdown, or prelude to a momentum-building field goal. Of course, the reverse is true, too: his brilliant plays could easily have gone awry and been called "boneheaded." Millions of fans watch in real time, ready to judge him an idiot or a genius depending on a gust of wind, a missed block or the foibles of a ref. If the play works, they instantly forget (or don't notice) how close he was to being strip-sacked or intercepted--that's even a plus. And if it fails, they dismiss or forget the extraordinary aspects of the play, like how he managed to elude the all-out blitz in the last KC playoff game and chuck it downfield to butterfingers Kincaid. No other quarterback in the history of the game could and would have made that pass. Yet it gets a play gets "meh" from every fan and pundit. All of this is true for every player, of course, but Allen, the unicorn, is one extreme end of the spectrum. I guess I'm calling for more awareness and appreciation of what we're seeing. His feats aren't just on YouTube: they're happening every Sunday--for a very short time, right now, in our lifetime. Sure, I'm disappointed, even crushed, when he "blows it." But he's NOT blowing it; he's doing his thing. The ups and downs are all of a piece, indivisible, yin and yang, one can't happen without the other. Fricking enjoy the ride!

Like many here, I'm warming up to this draft. An early Beane fan, I've grown increasingly frustrated with his bungled or meh top picks going back years. I wanted at least one game changer and would have been happy with Concepcion. But the tradedown-fest makes sense to me, not just because it gives us more bites at the apple but because of the picks themselves. Parker looks like another Rousseau in his strengths and weaknesses, which works for me. IGB gives us matchup versatility; he's a big and strong complement to the faster, quicker but lightweight Hairston. I haven't looked into Bowry yet, but I'm happy to have a real swing tackle if he makes the grade. Everyone is raving about Bell, and he does look like good fit; could be a poor man's Diggs w/o the diva act (I hope). We badly need a linebacker, with frail little Bernard already in his countdown to his first IR listing of 2026. Orr looks like a bigger Dorian and from reports also lacks instincts, but at least he offers size there; maybe Beane can finally drop AJ Klein from his speed dial. (Countdown to signing Shaq and/or Milano... on 1, 2, 3...). And Kilgore paired with Bishop in two years may finally give us a real secondary; goodbye, Rapp and (eventually) Hamlin. I'm not the only one who is tired of hear about McDermott's "complex" defense that only Rapp, Poyer and Hamlin can run properly. Finally, I have hopes for the punter. So, yeah, maybe Beane will begin redeem himself (in my eyes) with this draft. Go Bills!

I'm glad for him, but it's a bummer for us.

Anyone know why we lost Gilliam? He was a significant part of the puzzle. I can't imagine his contract would amount to more than a rounding error.

You nailed it. I've called it creativity or imagination, but it amounts to the same thing. Not erratic or reckless but spontaneous and bold. Aside from going for it on fourth down often (for which I give him full credit), he was plain Jane during games. The few times he did try something, like fake punt to Damar Hamlin (forgot which game), it was both awkward and predictable. To be fair, Brady has been pretty predictable, too. The man loves, just loves, throwing to Shakir behind the line of scrimmage; he even mentioned that Skylar Bell would be great for--you guessed it--throws behind the line of scrimmage. But, yeah, in the final analysis, McDermott does not have the "it" factor to be a successful head coach. I won't be surprised if he retires without another HC gig.

Poor guy, he just had to hit her! It's not his fault! She said mean things that made him all mad. What is a guy supposed to do? For your family's sake, I hope you don't live this creed.

Faint praise indeed.