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At the turn, here's how I see it...


D521646

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I like to think of myself as a reasonable Bills fan when it comes to expectations about this team, so here goes.

 

1.  The defense is good, but not great, certainly not against the run, but the good news is that it can be fixed, and our coaching staff has shown that they are at least capable of making adjustments.

 

2.  The offense is okay, but the play calling is just plain mind boggling at times.  Again, I'm not sure who is to blame, but my gut tells me Dabol is protecting Josh in a way that feels unnatural, but at the same time, it's hard to argue with it because we're still winning, albeit against bad teams.  Watching Lamar (By the way I was so wrong about him, and glad he's having success, I never would have picked him in the draft) and what good coaching does, and commitment to your signal caller, I hope the brain trust at OBD is paying attention.

 

3.  Coaching has been adequate, but very conservative, and again, I'm not sure if this is all by-design.  I suspect that it is, but watching Josh for the last 2 years, he's got that gun-slinger mentality, but not clutch enough to put the team on his back right now to make up for the inevitable mistakes gun-slingers tend to endure.  So, I think the coaching staff is being conservative on purpose, bringing Josh along very slowly, and to some of us fans, it seems almost too slow.

 

4.  Schedule - We have the imploding Browns up next and I almost feel as though the personalities on that team would have gone off by now, but, not quite yet, so I expect the Browns to give us a game on their home turf Sunday, plus the opening line gives the Browns a -2.5 slight edge??  Explain that one.. :)  I think we can be 8 - 2 heading into the Thanksgiving game at Dallas, and I like that.

 

5.  Playoffs - I think we make the playoffs this year, especially if we beat Dallas.  Winning the division?  Not likely, although we hold our own fate in our hands.  Can we win a playoff game?  I don't see why not, and this seems more likely than unlikely.

 

6.  The "Process" -  Well, it's working, isn't it?  Maybe not as fast as some of us would like, but McD asked us to trust him, I did, and we're 6 - 2 with a chance to go to 7 - 2 into the final stretch.  I'll take that.

 

7.  Paper Tiger? - Well, as a proud Bills fan my whole life, I don't like the media shitting on us either, but they have a point.  Conversely, this is the NFL, and you have to show up and win the games.  We have, and the signature win is meaningless.  Your goal is to get better each game, and I think that objectively, we are doing that.  We're finding out who we are, but we're not there yet.  Are we a run first team, like the Ravens?  Well, no, not even close I think, but we have some parts that can get us there, assuming this is the goal of the staff?  

 

8.  Josh Allen - Welp, he has not been able to throw the deep ball at all this year, and that was a strength of his last year.  His accuracy, IMO is better, especially if you look at true accuracy rankings adjusting for throw aways and dropped passes.  Decision making has been ok, IMO.  He's still young and raw, but he is improving and that makes me feel as though our pick at 7 was the right one.  Comparing him to Jackson isn't fair at this point.  I think with Jackson it's highly possible that he will get injured at some point.  It's just a matter of time before some NFL defender gets pissed off that he's gashing them some badly that they go for the knees or something along those lines.  Football is an emotional sport, and emotions cause people to act on their frustrations, and I hope this does not happen, but as a team you need to keep this very real possibility in mind when you're calling those designed run plays for your QB.  I like that our coaching staff has some plays for Josh, but it's not our identity like it seems the Raven have with Lamar.

 

9.  Our Fans - We have the best fans in the world, I truly believe that, but, one has to wonder about some of the roller coaster, up one minute down the next type of fans?  I don't get how some on this board are down on the team?  Every year (Barring the 90's) every game was a journey, I never felt like we should beat anyone, but this year feels different, we ARE beating the teams we should, and I expect the Bills to be ready to give any NFL a game on Sunday's.  We're not going to win them all, and sometimes the other team has a better plan, and they execute better.  This is football.  You learn from it, and move on.  I think a fair assessment of the Bills this year is that all of the above is true, and for the first time in what seems like an eternity, we have the right parts, and the right plan, and I'm happy to be thinking legitimately like we're almost there.

 

Go Bills!

 

Tim-

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7 minutes ago, D521646 said:

I like to think of myself as a reasonable Bills fan when it comes to expectations about this team, so here goes.

 

1.  The defense is good, but not great, certainly not against the run, but the good news is that it can be fixed, and our coaching staff has shown that they are at least capable of making adjustments.-LAMP

 

2.  The offense is okay, but the play calling is just plain mind boggling at times.  Again, I'm not sure who is to blame, but my gut tells me Dabol is protecting Josh in a way that feels unnatural, but at the same time, it's hard to argue with it because we're still winning, albeit against bad teams.  Watching Lamar (By the way I was so wrong about him, and glad he's having success, I never would have picked him in the draft) and what good coaching does, and commitment to your signal caller, I hope the brain trust at OBD is paying attention.-LAMP

 

3.  Coaching has been adequate, but very conservative, and again, I'm not sure if this is all by-design.  I suspect that it is, but watching Josh for the last 2 years, he's got that gun-slinger mentality, but not clutch enough to put the team on his back right now to make up for the inevitable mistakes gun-slingers tend to endure.  So, I think the coaching staff is being conservative on purpose, bringing Josh along very slowly, and to some of us fans, it seems almost too slow.-LAMP

 

4.  Schedule - We have the imploding Browns up next and I almost feel as though the personalities on that team would have gone off by now, but, not quite yet, so I expect the Browns to give us a game on their home turf Sunday, plus the opening line gives the Browns a -2.5 slight edge??  Explain that one.. :)  I think we can be 8 - 2 heading into the Thanksgiving game at Dallas, and I like that.-LAMP

 

5.  Playoffs - I think we make the playoffs this year, especially if we beat Dallas.  Winning the division?  Not likely, although we hold our own fate in our hands.  Can we win a playoff game?  I don't see why not, and this seems more likely than unlikely.-LAMP

 

6.  The "Process" -  Well, it's working, isn't it?  Maybe not as fast as some of us would like, but McD asked us to trust him, I did, and we're 6 - 2 with a chance to go to 7 - 2 into the final stretch.  I'll take that.-LAMP

 

7.  Paper Tiger? - Well, as a proud Bills fan my whole life, I don't like the media shitting on us either, but they have a point.  Conversely, this is the NFL, and you have to show up and win the games.  We have, and the signature win is meaningless.  Your goal is to get better each game, and I think that objectively, we are doing that.  We're finding out who we are, but we're not there yet.  Are we a run first team, like the Ravens?  Well, no, not even close I think, but we have some parts that can get us there, assuming this is the goal of the staff?  -LAMP

 

8.  Josh Allen - Welp, he has not been able to throw the deep ball at all this year, and that was a strength of his last year.  His accuracy, IMO is better, especially if you look at true accuracy rankings adjusting for throw aways and dropped passes.  Decision making has been ok, IMO.  He's still young and raw, but he is improving and that makes me feel as though our pick at 7 was the right one.  Comparing him to Jackson isn't fair at this point.  I think with Jackson it's highly possible that he will get injured at some point.  It's just a matter of time before some NFL defender gets pissed off that he's gashing them some badly that they go for the knees or something along those lines.  Football is an emotional sport, and emotions cause people to act on their frustrations, and I hope this does not happen, but as a team you need to keep this very real possibility in mind when you're calling those designed run plays for your QB.  I like that our coaching staff has some plays for Josh, but it's not our identity like it seems the Raven have with Lamar.-LAMP

 

9.  Our Fans - We have the best fans in the world, I truly believe that, but, one has to wonder about some of the roller coaster, up one minute down the next type of fans?  I don't get how some on this board are down on the team?  Every year (Barring the 90's) every game was a journey, I never felt like we should beat anyone, but this year feels different, we ARE beating the teams we should, and I expect the Bills to be ready to give any NFL a game on Sunday's.  We're not going to win them all, and sometimes the other team has a better plan, and they execute better.  This is football.  You learn from it, and move on.  I think a fair assessment of the Bills this year is that all of the above is true, and for the first time in what seems like an eternity, we have the right parts, and the right plan, and I'm happy to be thinking legitimately like we're almost there.-LAMP

 

Go Bills!

 

Tim-

 

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The deep ball was not his strength last year - he still missed a lot of those deep throws (the stats are out there to support it if you want to look), it just SEEMS like he was good at it last year because he connected on a few to Foster later in the year. If he hits on a few of these deep balls, his stats on deep balls will look the same as last year.

 

It IS a problem, but its not just a "this year" thing...

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2 minutes ago, Buffalo Junction said:

Look at me post

 

Oh, haha, well, what can I say.  I suppose all threads started by someone are a LAMP then..  Look at me talking about my team..  Oh the horror..  LOL

 

 

Tim-

2 minutes ago, PaattMaann said:

The deep ball was not his strength last year - he still missed a lot of those deep throws (the stats are out there to support it if you want to look), it just SEEMS like he was good at it last year because he connected on a few to Foster later in the year. If he hits on a few of these deep balls, his stats on deep balls will look the same as last year.

 

It IS a problem, but its not just a "this year" thing...

 

Yeah but at least he hit some last year.. This year, nothing and that worries me.. :)

 

Tim-

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I feel the same on pretty much everything. 
 

only 2 things really matter imo.  McDermott and Allen.  I believe McDermott has done more to solidify his spot as our HC.  He’s also had one more season and broke the drought in his only season without JA.  
 

To my eye, allen has regressed since the beginning of the season.  Other than the patriot game I liked his play the first 5 games as opposed to the last 3.  I thought, while he may have had more turnovers but he looked more confidant making throws earlier on.  Just letting it rip.  
 

call me crazy but I’d rather have a couple turnovers here and there if it means we see a more exciting offense.

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