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

[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.”