A Few Thoughts About the Jets Game, in no particular order

[Fixxxer]

I would run comeback routes with Foster everytime I need a first down. DBs will always respect his speed and with Allen's arm strenght, it's a play that it can't be defended, plus you can set a long pass later in the game.

 

Crossman shoud be gone, it's not like he has too many star players that can't or refuse to play ST.

 

Regarding OL, I don't know if it is technique or lack of talent, but sometimes it's emabarrasing to watch them ole the opposition. Dawkins had a very subpar game today. We need to address this unit in the offseason.

 

I know he's a rookie and he's progressing but Allen needs to take care of the football, you can't throw the ball across your body on 1st and 20,. throw the ball away kid.

 

[Mrbojanglezs]

18 minutes ago, stony said:

 

I always wondered why Ben Stiller wasn't credited for this role in Happy Gilmore

[Maine-iac]

The one thing this team has specialized in for 20 years is finding a way to lose.  Sometimes we play pretty well, sometimes we don't but either way if the game is close more often than not we get penalized, give up that big pass play, miss a field goal, take a sack, get tackled and move out of field goal range, jump off sides on a field goal try giving them a first down ect. ect. ect.  Teams that make the playoffs year after year and win Superbowls do just the opposite.  They put the game away when it's close and they don't make the critical mistakes.  We made plenty of mistakes today and let them hang around but all of that would have meant nothing if they only made a couple more plays in the 4th qtr.  No matter the QB or how well the defense is playing this team needs to find a way to stop shooting itself in the foot.

[Steptide]

I agree with all the points minus the daboll one. While I don't think he should be fired, I do think the play calling gradually got weaker throughout the game. How many end arounds can you run in a game? Allen had some really great throws today, but you have to mix it up a bit. Can we PLEASE run some slants? 

[Maine-iac]

51 minutes ago, Virgil said:

 Daboll - For the most part, I'm liking Daboll more and more each week; and I was big on the "fire Daboll" train.  He called some good plays to create some form of respect for our rushing attack.  He got guys open past the sticks and gave Allen some targets.  Overall, execution was the real killer in today's game as well as lack of offensive line support.  The biggest difference between this Jets game and the previous was the lack of deep threat.  It's hard when watching on TV to know what's available downfield, but the lack of downfield attack coupled with lack of rushing attack made it a lot easier for the Jets defense to focus on the middle of the field.   Also, not sure if the trick play with Zay and Allen on 3rd and 3 was the right time for that call.

I'm with you on this.  Daboll has been fairly creative and they are scoring points.  Definitely need help on the line and better talent at TE and WR but I feel fairly good about the direction of the offense.  The defense disappearing when it's needed most is now the troubling thought of the day.

[richardb1952]

I would love to see what Allen could do with the same amount of time that Darnold had.  I would like to see some Bills WRs make plays like the Jets WRs did.  Darnold did make some nice throws.  I can see where the Darnold/ Allen duel will be interesting for years to come.  

Our OL is really bad, but then again, they haven't really played together as a unit much.  Same with the STs.  There have been lots of changes this year in personnel.  Some of these players better get it together or they might not have much of a future in this league.  

 

Actually, I don't really care that Bills lost.  To me, Allen led them down on a game winning drive that Sts and the defense gave back up.  Still that was a great catch by the Jets WR covered by White on that final drive.   

  

Edited December 9, 2018 by richardb1952

[TC in St. Louis]

Josh Allen is going to be a star.  No blocking.  Receivers dropping passes left and right.  Draft/sign some help up front.  Receivers.  Running back.  

[Nihilarian]

20 minutes ago, richardb1952 said:

I would love to see what Allen could do with the same amount of time that Darnold had.  I would like to see some Bills WRs make plays like the Jets WRs did.  Darnold did make some nice throws.  I can see where the Darnold/ Allen duel will be interesting for years to come.  

Our OL is really bad, but then again, they haven't really played together as a unit much.  Same with the STs.  There have been lots of changes this year in personnel.  Some of these players better get it together or they might not have much of a future in this league.  

 

Actually, I don't really care that Bills lost.  To me, Allen led them down on a game winning drive that Sts and the defense gave back up.  Still that was a great catch by the Jets WR covered by White on that final drive.   

  

Not only did the Bills defense not sack Darnold, they failed to even get a hit on him all game. Allen was sacked 3 times and hit 10 times. It was very clear to me that the Jets were holding on offense and it wasn't being called probably due to the Jerry Hughes issue with a ref being disciplined.

 

In any event the Bills lack of pass rush on defense, poor special teams and lack of a run game were all serious reasons why they lost this game.  Josh Allen can only do so much. 

[jrober38]

Allen missed 4-5 throws today that an NFL QB has to make. 

 

The "drop" by Clay on the 2nd drive was a terrible throw. The guy is wide open with nothing but green grass in front of him and Allen threw a bullet at his ankles. Should he have caught it, sure, but why is Allen not just laying the ball in front of him letting him run under it for a huge gain?

 

There was another pass to Thompson. He ran an in cut, then cut to the sideline. Allen threw it out of his reach and it should have been an easy catch and run for a 1st down. I think we settled for the 55 yard field goal that Haushka missed. 

 

Past that there were a handful of short dump offs that he literally just throws at his receivers ankles. There were also a couple examples where Allen bailed on the play too early when he had open receivers. There was one in particular where it was play action and Allen rolled right. Jones ran a corner route, was wide open and instead of pulling the trigger Allen ran for a couple yards. 

 

Allen's running ability is amazing, and his protection is often terrible, but he's still missing routine throws that have to be completed at this level. He has a few of these throws every week where he misses easy throws and it's really getting to be unacceptable. His insistence on rolling right and throwing back into the middle of the field is also getting old. The first interception was a throw an NFL QB should never attempt. 

 

This game should have been a blow out for the Bills. Allen needs to clean up the terrible turnovers and really needs to start completing easy touch passes when his receivers are running wide open with room to run. If he can do that and figure out how to complete the dumpoffs he'll be pretty good. 

[Bill from NYC]

Good post as usual Virgil. I think that years ago this game would have upset me, but today it did not. He are a couple of very quick takes.....

 

1) I think Allen showed some good qualities today. He is more instinctive than I thought, and his arm is just tremendous. He will get better with experience IF they get him some help up all around.

 

2) Tre White gave up some plays today but one involved an absolutely perfect pass. He is a very good player and I think no less of him.

 

3) Foster had another sensational game for a UDFA!!! It is important to remember that he is getting more action with us than he did on Alabama. He too is learning but he has fresh legs and he can fly, His ceiling might just be even higher than I thought.

 

4) I didn't want to lose this or any other game but it really doesn't matter so much (or so I think).  What matters is developing young players. Also, games like this should give Bills brass a clearer picture of who to get rid of. Speaking of which, So long Shady!

 

5) The worst thing about this game (imo) was that we played Jauron Ball. What was there to gain by doing so? Please, tell me!!!

 

6) What was worse, McDermott clapping or Bowles smiling? They both are a lot to cope with, no?

 

7)  Thanks for your posts. I know how hard it is to do week after week. This board is better off because of what you are doing.

 

8) GO BILLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

[CodeMonkey]

1 hour ago, Virgil said:

A game I expected to win.  A game that gave me the typical Bills confidence in the first quarter.  Then a game that lulled me to sleep and ended with us having a worse record than the Browns.  With that negative, I'm going to focus on the opportunities from the game first before closing it out on some positives for the remaining few weeks

 

That says it all.

[mjd1001]

For Allen, accuracy is an issue more than it is for other QB's, but does it have to be the reason he doesn't turn out to be good?  Hopefully not.

 

It is possible for a QB to be more accurate as his NFL career goes on (forget college, lets talk NFL).  That can be by either throwing more accurate, or by making better reads and throwing to more open receivers.

 

Every QB is different. Ben Rothlisberger has pretty much had the same completion percentage from the beginning of his career to now. Matt Ryan and Andrew Luck started their first few years with quite a bit lower completion percentage than they have now.  I don't think Allen needs to be near 70% to be good.  With his running ability and tendency to throw downfield, he might be a very good-to-great QB if he can get to and sustain 62% (even with 'bad' throws).  The question is, can he get to that point without them turning him into another "captain checkdown"?

 

We all know the problem with cherry-picking stats to make an argument...or comparing one player to another from the past and projecting stats...it normally doesn't work. But with that said...look at Josh Allen's current stats and success to what Eli Manning did in his first year. A LOT is very similar. May not mean anything..but it is interesting.

Edited December 10, 2018 by mjd1001

[HappyDays]

14 minutes ago, jrober38 said:

This game should have been a blow out for the Bills.

 

I don't think so in a game where our RBs averaged 3.4 YPC, pass blocking was poor, there were 5+ drops from the receivers, and we missed 2 FGs along with a bunch of other special teams mistakes. We scored 23 points only because of Allen. The defense and special teams and running game didn't contribute anything to that. We don't have receivers making circus catches. It's just Allen throwing good passes down field and running effectively. Yes he could have hit every pass with perfect accuracy and we would have won the game. But we shouldn't be expecting him to do that every week, certainly not this early in his career. Eventually if we ever plan on being a top offense we need playmakers and capable blockers. Right now it's just Allen doing it all on his own.

[oldmanfan]

1 hour ago, SoTier said:

 

Having the resources doesn't mean that the Bills will actually use them.  More than anything, the Bills need a commitment to building a winning team by the owner, and I haven't seen anything recently that Pegula has that.  When he first bought the team, it seemed that he did have that commitment but after the Rex Ryan debacle, Pegula seems to have bought into Russ Brandon's "money ball" which has been continued by Beane. 

Crap.  Pure unadulterated crap.

 

 

[John from Riverside]

1 hour ago, mjd1001 said:

I have nothing to back this up but a feeling...but my impression of Allen is he needs time to have someone sit him down and go over stuff for him to get better.  He showed flashes early in the year then got hurt.  After a few weeks off he has been better (not a lot, but overall better).  I get the feeling he is going to be the exact same QB for the rest of the year as he has been the last few weeks.  In the offseason,  I expect him to take the next step.

 

He just doesn't seem to have the feel of someone who learns week by week...I get the feeling he learns in 'big chunks' of off time...then he goes full speed but at the same level until his next 'break'.

Well you are right about one thing

josh does need time because when he has it his throws are very good

[oldmanfan]

I note again the crap about accuracy based on completion percentage.  He was 18/36 or 50%.  He had at least four throwaways and had at least 2-3 where he hit guys right in the numbers and they dropped the ball.  So let's take 6 away.  Now it's 18/30 or the magic 60%.

 

He missed a couple throws.  I don't recall seeing him miss by yards as was stated in the OP.  Coulplr short dump offs he has to throw better.  The pick across the field was a typical dumb rookie mistake.  

[CaptnCoke11]

2 hours ago, PearlHowardman said:

 

Get used to it!  This will be Josh Allen his entire NFL career.

 

So the most raw QB prospect coming out has no room to improve there?  Got ya 

[JohnC]

This offseason needs to be mostly dedicated to the offense. The line needs upgrades and so does the receiving unit. But another major area of focus is to make it a priority to get a tough running inside the tackles type back. A young version of the now fading Ivory who is now a weathered and battered player. McCoy doesn't fit our running game which accentuates quick hitting inside running. His dancing around style of play simply isn't a match for our needs. I want him to go to a team where his fading talents can still be utilized. Another item on my wish list is a good receiving TE that can also enhance our receiving unit.

 

As many others have stated this season isn't about W/Ls. It's about Josh Allen's development. He still has to work on his touch. His pass to Zay was on the money but it was a laser throw that decreased the chances of it being caught. It still was a Zay drop (who I thought had a poor game) but the young qb still has to work on his touch. Overall, I see Josh getting incrementally better each game. I'm more than pleased with his progress. And it is obvious that he still has so much more to give.  

[DRA3196]

It really concerns me how Allen can possibly be evaluated when  the team can't run the ball, can't block and aside from Foster no one wants to catch the ball. Clearly Allen was trying to do to much to put the Jets away in the first half. Our special teams put the defense in horrible positions all day. Maybe letting go of the veteran backups that had previously played ST wasn't the best idea. I have an idea of what this team would look like with any other QB. I don't see Josh as a problem at all

 

[Seventeen]

56 minutes ago, TC in St. Louis said:

Josh Allen is going to be a star.  No blocking.  Receivers dropping passes left and right.  Draft/sign some help up front.  Receivers.  Running back.  

 

This ...give him an OL and some offensive weapons and the we'll see. 

 

My only gripe with Allen so far is knowing when to reduce velocity on his passes. His arm strength is almost a curse when it comes to touch passes.