Here's what we can know for certain about the Bills through the first quarter of the season...

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

This team is capable of playing with and beating EVERYONE on their schedule. Yes, even the Patriots. I challenge anyone here to debate this point.

 

Also, we know they have a VERY good chance of making the post-season in a down AFC. They're one of THREE teams in the AFC with a winning record. This is a doable thing. Time to quit being chicken littles and buck up.

 

[oldmanfan]

Agreed.  With the defense at the level they're playing they'll be in every game.  We have to hope Josh continues his development, get Singletary back on the filed, and they should be good to go.

[eball]

Yep. I think most of us are just extremely frustrated with Josh’s significant regression yesterday in the biggest test of his young career. It’s a shame he got knocked out because I really wanted to see him lead that 4th quarter drive. 

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

3 minutes ago, eball said:

Yep. I think most of us are just extremely frustrated with Josh’s significant regression yesterday in the biggest test of his young career. It’s a shame he got knocked out because I really wanted to see him lead that 4th quarter drive. 

 

I get the frustration, but this wasn't the first or the last time belichick will cause that kind of result.

 

That defense is really good.

 

[Philo]

4 minutes ago, eball said:

Yep. I think most of us are just extremely frustrated with Josh’s significant regression yesterday in the biggest test of his young career. It’s a shame he got knocked out because I really wanted to see him lead that 4th quarter drive. 

 

I am hoping this is a sort of "one step backward, two steps forward" situation and he learns a lot from this game. I believe in him to continue to get better. 

[JMF2006]

The Titans will be a tough game I hope this team doesn't have a mental let down after yesterday.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

1 minute ago, JMF2006 said:

The Titans will be a tough game I hope this team doesn't have a mental let down after yesterday.

 

I'm not certain it will be. This defense will likely cause mariota fits.

 

 

[zow2]

7 minutes ago, eball said:

Yep. I think most of us are just extremely frustrated with Josh’s significant regression yesterday in the biggest test of his young career. It’s a shame he got knocked out because I really wanted to see him lead that 4th quarter drive. 

 

I thought the regression started against Cincinnati.  I recall thinking through 3 quarters this guy is hanging onto the ball forever. Not seeing the open receiver and throwing several inaccurate passes. I’m not even gonna rail on him about scrambling  Backwards a few times. Bringing the Bills back for the W gave people amnesia about how mediocre-poor he played for 3 quarters.  I like Josh.  I hope he gets it together 

[mannc]

12 minutes ago, eball said:

Yep. I think most of us are just extremely frustrated with Josh’s significant regression yesterday in the biggest test of his young career. It’s a shame he got knocked out because I really wanted to see him lead that 4th quarter drive. 

I was really bothered by his inability to get rid of the ball timely.  That’s something that happened to Tyrod regularly against better defenses and, as it turned out, it was not something that got better with time and experience.

Edited September 30, 2019 by mannc

[Wayne Cubed]

1 minute ago, Joe in Winslow said:

 

I get the frustration, but this wasn't the first or the last time belichick will cause that kind of result.

 

That defense is really good.

 

 

I get that take, I really do but I don't think yesterday was about Belichick causing that kind of result. Josh was Josh's own undoing. Instead of taking what was given to him he tried to go for the jugular and this isn't the first time he has done that. Will he learn? There's a reason Daboll was chewing his ear out. You just can't do that. And he proved it to himself that if you take what NE** was giving you, you can score a la the start of the 2nd half.  Yea, the NE** defense is good and you might not play your best game and throw for a ton of yards/TDs but you can't be just giving them the game.

 

I'm not saying Josh can't become that guy but he has to learn. You just can't play that type of game against NE**. Do I want Josh to stop being aggressive? Course not. But when he gets frustrated with not being able to move the ball he's gotta stop the hero ball BS. 

[H2o]

1 hour ago, Joe in Winslow said:

This team is capable of playing with and beating EVERYONE on their schedule. Yes, even the Patriots. I challenge anyone here to debate this point.

 

Also, we know they have a VERY good chance of making the post-season in a down AFC. They're one of THREE teams in the AFC with a winning record. This is a doable thing. Time to quit being chicken littles and buck up.

 

How dare you?!?!?! Can you not see that Allen is in full blown regression and we need to be tanking for a QB?

[SoCal Deek]

What we’ve learned is that the defense is really solid and at least so far....Josh isn’t. He’s making tons of unforced mistakes. I’m hoping that a couple weeks off (including the bye) will give him time to refocus. I’m very confident in Barkley against Tennessee with a full week of practice.

[Josh_Allen]

1 hour ago, Joe in Winslow said:

This team is capable of playing with and beating EVERYONE on their schedule. Yes, even the Patriots. I challenge anyone here to debate this point.

 

Also, we know they have a VERY good chance of making the post-season in a down AFC. They're one of THREE teams in the AFC with a winning record. This is a doable thing. Time to quit being chicken littles and buck up.

 

 

I think it's way too early for playoff talk. We have to see how they respond from this loss, with a backup QB no less.

Edited September 30, 2019 by Josh_Allen

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

1 minute ago, Josh_Allen said:

 

I think it's way too early for playoff talk. We have to see how they respond from this loss, with a backup QB no less.

 

Do you pay attention to the rest of the league?

 

[Josh_Allen]

Just now, Joe in Winslow said:

 

Do you pay attention to the rest of the league?

 

 

Yes but things change.  Teams playing crappy now might not be in a few weeks. Cleveland is not "done" or in "trouble" like so many want to think.  The Ravens are certainly not done, and is always a team the Bills fail to play well against.  By the time they play the Steelers their young QB could be playing better, etc. 

 

 

[Buddy Hix]

I’m sure the team has the same attitude, or at least they ought to.

 

But I’m not embarrassed to admit I’m a chicken little, I’ve been paying attention to the last 20 years and my Stockholm Syndrome is real, lol.

 

People may disagree but this Titans game is huge. A win will have me thinking playoffs. A loss will have me expecting another Billsy season is incoming.

 

[CuddyDark]

1 hour ago, Joe in Winslow said:

This team is capable of playing with and beating EVERYONE on their schedule. Yes, even the Patriots. I challenge anyone here to debate this point.

 

Also, we know they have a VERY good chance of making the post-season in a down AFC. They're one of THREE teams in the AFC with a winning record. This is a doable thing. Time to quit being chicken littles and buck up.

 

They have the talent to compete with every team. IDK if they have the player that matters. Maybe he's still too young for a big game like yesterday. Yesterday was like a SB atmosphere and that's tough on a young QB. 

[Juice_32]

19 minutes ago, eball said:

Yep. I think most of us are just extremely frustrated with Josh’s significant regression yesterday in the biggest test of his young career. It’s a shame he got knocked out because I really wanted to see him lead that 4th quarter drive. 

 

I agree about Allen, but man, the narrative of the pats* being unbeatable and us having to play a perfect game to beat them, blah blah blah, has got to rub of on the team. I don't care what they say about it being another game on the schedule. Until you see it with your own eyes that they are just another 11 men who can be beaten, that is a lot to overcome mentally.

 

At the end of the day you have a 23 year old kid, with a bit of a hero ball mentality, playing against his QB idol. Add in that historically games against the pats* are over before half time; he just tried to do too much. The next time the Bills face the pats* I expect us to see a totally different Allen. This is exactly the kind of game he needed to hopefully understand that we can compete with them and he doesn't have to try to beat them with every throw.

[Royale with Cheese]

We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot on offense and we would be undefeated.....

This is a championship defense.

[mannc]

7 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

We need to stop shooting ourselves in the foot on offense and we would be undefeated.....

This is a championship defense.

It sure is.  And we’ll win a lot of games with it. The problem is, we still have a primitive, Stone Age offense.  I’m losing faith that that’s ever going to change.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

 

I want you boys to get out there and work hard. Study hard! Learn from your mistakes!!

 

No go out there and get er done!!!

 

[Wayne Cubed]

Just now, mannc said:

It sure is.  And we’ll win a lot of games with it. The problem is, we still have a primitive, Stone Age offense.  I’m losing faith that that’s ever going to change.

 

I actually think the offense is pretty good. As with most offenses the Bills will live and die by how well Allen plays. It's not as if there weren't plays to be made yesterday, Allen just missed them and made poor decisions. Were there some plays that were defended well? Sure and that'll happen against BB, just can't have the errors or you give yourself no chance of winning.

[SlimShady'sSpaceForce]

Unleash Singletary!!! 

 

[mannc]

10 minutes ago, Wayne Cubed said:

 

I actually think the offense is pretty good. As with most offenses the Bills will live and die by how well Allen plays. It's not as if there weren't plays to be made yesterday, Allen just missed them and made poor decisions. Were there some plays that were defended well? Sure and that'll happen against BB, just can't have the errors or you give yourself no chance of winning.

We’re averaging less than 20 ppg.  And throwing for 300 yards in a game seems like a pipe-dream, even though it’s routine for a lot of teams.  It just never seems to change.  

[Wayne Cubed]

Just now, mannc said:

We’re averaging less than 20 ppg.  And throwing for 300 yards in a game seems like a pipe-dream, even though it’s routine for a lot of teams.  It just never seems to change.  

 

Like I said, the plays are there to be made tho. The problem is the errors, either with the penalties or Josh. Josh was well on his way over 300 yards in both the Giants and Bengals games but errors and poor play stopped that. I've not thought the play calling has really limited them. I think you could nitpick about personnel, like Lee Smith seeing more of the field than Knox yesterday or giving Gore the majority of the snaps over Singletary.

[Trogdor]

48 minutes ago, Joe in Winslow said:

 

I'm not certain it will be. This defense will likely cause mariota fits.

 

 

 

30 minutes ago, Juice_32 said:

 

I agree about Allen, but man, the narrative of the pats* being unbeatable and us having to play a perfect game to beat them, blah blah blah, has got to rub of on the team. I don't care what they say about it being another game on the schedule. Until you see it with your own eyes that they are just another 11 men who can be beaten, that is a lot to overcome mentally.

 

At the end of the day you have a 23 year old kid, with a bit of a hero ball mentality, playing against his QB idol. Add in that historically games against the pats* are over before half time; he just tried to do too much. The next time the Bills face the pats* I expect us to see a totally different Allen. This is exactly the kind of game he needed to hopefully understand that we can compete with them and he doesn't have to try to beat them with every throw.

Bit of a Hero ball mentality? That's just his style. 

[SectionC3]

The one thing that concerns me is Allen’s ineffectiveness on the deep ball, which Belichick exploited yesterday.  

 

It occurred to me on the drive in this morning that a good amount of our deep shots last year came off of play action.  Think the deep, Kubiak-style, throwback crosses to to Foster.   I suspect Allen likes throwing that type of ball - it’s probably why we see the deep shots on the post this year, which have been begging to be intercepted the last couple of weeks.  

 

So, if Allen hits one or two of the 9/corner throws yesterday, it’s a different game.  New England played a muddle of 10 men within five yards of the LOS for a good part of the game.  It’s hard to run effectively and consistently against that front, so I don’t blame Daboll for not getting Gore another 10 carries.  Bottom line, we had to threaten the deep ball yesterday to win, and Allen couldn’t do that.   Hopefully this doesn’t become a trend.  

 

Three other points. 

 

1.  Zay Jones has to be on borrowed time.  If Allen can’t go this week, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Thompson to IR, Jones to waivers, and Williams and Webb elevated.  Barkley doesn’t have the arm strength to throw the outs and comebacks that Allen hits so well, so we’re going to have to hit a few slants (which will be bracketed all day long) and bucket throws next week.  Barkley should have some chemistry with Williams if Barkley is running scout team in practice, and it might be a nice time to get the big body into the mix if Barkley has to play next week. 

 

2.  Normally I think this kind of conversation to be useless speculation, but I’m coming around to the idea of adding a higher end WR to the roster.  Part of this is that I’m done with Zay Jones.  But part of it is that it probably wouldn’t hurt to have a bit more speed to help with the deep shots.  If Cincinnati loses tonight, then I would call about AJ Green.  We have a championship-caliber defense and we just need a little more from the offense to potentially make this year a very interesting one. 

 

3.  It’s time for NFL teams to hire a rules coach.  If FOX/CBS/etc. can have a retired referee in the booth, so can we.  I’m not blaming McDermott for the challenges yesterday - for what it’s worth, I agreed with the challenges, and I thought he should have won at least the second one.  What really aggravated me was interception where Jones touched the ball while out of bounds and before the interceptor established possession in bounds.  I was in the stadium yesterday, and I haven’t seen the game, but I wonder if McDermott could have educated the referee on the issue with a little help from “upstairs.”