Michael Lombardi "Bills have a huge hole at QB".

[First Round Bust]

last season the Bills receivers had the highest drop passes rate in the league (over 10 percent) so not on Josh as those were deemed catchable balls and not accuracy issues

[WideNine]

13 hours ago, Greg S said:

Year 3 for Allen, Darnold, Mayfield. I would say its put up or shut up time for all three. I do think Josh showed solid improvement from year 1 to year 2. He definitely needs to take another step. I mentioned this before but he should have sat and held a clipboard his rookie year and watched Peterman/McCarron. But since the Bills ****ed up their QB situation so bad at the time Allen got thrown out there in a sink or swim situation. To make matters worse the Bills were a bad team with a horrible offense. Considering where he started from I think Josh has done a good job. Hopefully he takes the next step to being a solid QB this year and quiets his critics.

 

Too early to say for any of the 2018 QBs, even Lamar who has been a perfect fit for Roman's pistol read-option offense and has had early success. Normally it takes a few years for QBs to hit their stride. I think success like Mahomes at QB is an statistical outlier.

 

I think Darnold has flashed potential and yet I think he had a more epic meltdown against Belichick's defense than Allen, but folks seem to focus more on Allen's early game against NE.

 

Allen's accuracy noticeably dropped when teams blitzed and used extra rushers. When teams sat back in different  zone packages he ate that up as his ability to process defenses and know where to go with the ball grew with more time under center.

 

When forced into making quick decisions and throwing off-platform Allen tends to fall back into some bad habits and mechanics. Pressuring young QBs into mistakes is nothing new and has been the playbook for going up against Allen.

 

Allen completing plays, when blitzed into quick decisions, and making teams pay when they gamble with man coverage will be the next step in his growth.

 

I think it is disingenuous to label Allen as the weak link on a strong team when just two years ago the Bills had such a patchwork offensive line that veteran QBs were destroyed trying to operate behind it and the team had to turn to a raw Allen (who was also injured early) to have a chance at winning games.

 

Although he has hurt the team at times with erratic play it is safe to say he has also given them their best chance to win most games. He is still improving and Lombardi seems to be regurgitating a stale talking point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 27, 2020 by WideNine

[BobbyC81]

13 hours ago, Royale with Cheese said:

https://www.syracuse.com/buffalo-bills/2020/06/buffalo-bills-have-huge-hole-at-quarterback-says-former-nfl-gm.html

 

“It happened it college. Remember coming out, Josh Allen was viewed as a quarterback, not an athlete. Today he’s viewed more as an athlete than a quarterback. And the other issue is he doesn’t run with it enough to utilize his skillset. I think that’s the big question with the Bills. I love the Bills team from front to center. I’d easily support them to win the East but I have real questions. You go back and watch that Patriot game in New England. There were guys open in that game … (Allen) just misses them. And then the second half of the Houston game, he just misses them. We can all hope he gets better at it, and I hope he does. But I’ve yet to see a quarterback improve significantly his accuracy. It’s a hard thing to do.”

 

If not, there’s always “Jake Fromm State Farm”

Edited June 27, 2020 by ColeB

[Thurman#1]

9 hours ago, First Round Bust said:

last season the Bills receivers had the highest drop passes rate in the league (over 10 percent) so not on Josh as those were deemed catchable balls and not accuracy issues

 

 

By no means is it over 10%. Allen threw 461 passes and though there are several different sites counting drops, none of them list the drops as high as 10% of that.

 

If you go by Stats, the most common one used, it puts the drops at 26, which is far below 10%. And the NFL average is about 18. So that's about 8 more than average. Take eight off Allen's stats and he still ranks in the late 30s in terms of completion percentage.

 

This is not a particularly significant factor. It raises his completion percentage about one and a half percent.

 

Lombardi was right in his main idea. But "a huge hole" is a wild exaggeration. He shouldn't have used that phrase. And there have absolutely been guys who improved their accuracy, particularly early in their careers, guys like Rodgers, Favre and Brady being a few examples. And Allen's another example, having gotten better at accuracy between his first and second years by most measures and in most opinions.

Edited June 27, 2020 by Thurman#1

[machine gun kelly]

Lombardi is just regurgitating what has been said before, and he’s doing whatever he can to get in the headlines.  He saw Buffalo is considered a hot team right now so why not poke another hole in Allen.  Mortensen said it best recently the Allen bashing has become absurd.  He’s always been a tool.

 

Besides, look what a great job he did for the Browns, his only GM job (you know that powerhouse 2012-14) He was in administration otherwise for a bunch of teams and even lost his job at NFLN.  Not exactly someone I look to read stories from the Athletic.

[Thurman#1]

1 hour ago, machine gun kelly said:

Lombardi is just regurgitating what has been said before, and he’s doing whatever he can to get in the headlines.  He saw Buffalo is considered a hot team right now so why not poke another hole in Allen.  Mortensen said it best recently the Allen bashing has become absurd.  He’s always been a tool.

 

Besides, look what a great job he did for the Browns, his only GM job (you know that powerhouse 2012-14) He was in administration otherwise for a bunch of teams and even lost his job at NFLN.  Not exactly someone I look to read stories from the Athletic.

 

 

Lombardi was also an assistant to the coaching staff of the Patriots from 2014 to 2016, during which time the Pats won two Super Bowls, and Belichick knew what he was getting because Lombardi had worked under Belichick before, in Cleveland. Belichick said, "Mike's...one of the smartest people I've worked with. He was huge asset to me for the two years he was here...he studies football and he knows it very well." He also worked under Bill Walsh, and his book about his time under Walsh, Al Davis and Belichick is really really good IMO, and from the reviews as well.

 

IMO his TED talk is pretty good, too, though the untucked shirt look doesn't do him any favors. Spends a lot of time on why culture is huge, which I think our current leadership would back him up on all the way.

 

And while the Browns were going through a pretty bad time when Lombardi was there, they improved four games in their second year under him. He looked to have been doing a pretty solid job in an absolute tire fire of an administrative structure.

 

In any case, how smart Lombardi is does absolutely nothing to do with whether he's right in this instance. Attacking the messenger is the name of a logical fallacy. Who the messenger is has no logical relevance to whether or not he's right. Sometimes Einstein is wrong and sometimes Stalin was right. Wanna discredit an argument? Attack the argument. It's the only logical way to go about it.

Edited June 27, 2020 by Thurman#1

[machine gun kelly]

Thurmon, I read and have seen Lombardi many times and listened to him in interviews.  My opinion, which is mine is I don’t respect his points of view.  I maintain he’s trying get in front of the media.  Aside from the Patriots, he’s also been at half a dozen other teams.

[JetsFan20]

Some of you guys are really overly sensitive 

 

#1) There is no need to rip apart every article that may insinuate the Bills aren’t going to be good and Josh Allen is not a franchise QB. There are plenty of other takes out there (that are just as worthless) if you exclusively want to read positive things about your team. 
 

#2) Mike Lombardi is a failed NFL GM who has become an insufferable pompous click bait machine. If the Pats and Bill Belichick didn’t think of it than it’s stupid as far as Lombardi is concerned. 

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

On 6/26/2020 at 5:45 AM, Royale with Cheese said:

 

 

 

 

Don't screw with a man's coffee.

[Sammy Watkins' Rib]

6 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

Lombardi was right in his main idea. But "a huge hole" is a wild exaggeration. He shouldn't have used that phrase. And there have absolutely been guys who improved their accuracy, particularly early in their careers, guys like Rodgers, Favre and Brady being a few examples. And Allen's another example, having gotten better at accuracy between his first and second years by most measures and in most opinions.

 

Exactly. He already made a big leap from what 53% to 58%? For half the season or a bit more he was over 61% I think. And that included a terrible game against the Patriots in the first half of the season. I have to give Allen the benefit of the doubt that he'll continue to develop and improve that percentage. But, I don't see him ever being a very high completion percentage type QB. He won't be a 65-70% type QB. If he were too some how reach that level were probably talking about an all-time great QB developing when combined with his arm strength and athletic ability. I'd expect his completion percentage to rise to the 60-63% range. 

[Fan in Chicago]

16 hours ago, John from Riverside said:

 

I couldnt watch past the 1:30 mark cos it already ruined my Saturday. Very frustrating to watch receivers drop passes between the numbers and a soft defender around them. 

 

[hondo in seattle]

Lombardi knows much, much more about football than I ever will but I don't think his doubts about Josh's future are any more sound than my cautious optimism.  Some QBs seem to reach their peak in college or very early in the pros.  Others continue to grow and develop during their NFL career.

 

Brady made a huge leap from decent Michigan starter to NFL GOAT.

 

Brees made a huge leap from mediocre SD starter to NO superstar

 

Jim Plunkett made a huge leap from disappointing NE starter to Super Bowl MVP in Oakland. 

 

You can't tell when a QB is going to stop growing until he stops growing.  JA is still on a upward trajectory and no one knows where he'll land.  

Edited June 27, 2020 by hondo in seattle

[Fan in Chicago]

2 hours ago, JetsFan20 said:

Some of you guys are really overly sensitive 

 

#1) There is no need to rip apart every article that may insinuate the Bills aren’t going to be good and Josh Allen is not a franchise QB. There are plenty of other takes out there (that are just as worthless) if you exclusively want to read positive things about your team. 
 

#2) Mike Lombardi is a failed NFL GM who has become an insufferable pompous click bait machine. If the Pats and Bill Belichick didn’t think of it than it’s stupid as far as Lombardi is concerned. 

re: 1) , How do you feel about articles criticizing Darnold ?

[Thurman#1]

41 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Is it possible Belichick was just being nice?

 

Do you believe everything that guy says to the media? I don't. 

 

 

Um, yeah. I believe nearly everything Belichick says to the media. When he doesn't want to answer questions he just doesn't. When he doesn't want to compliment guys, he just doesn't.

 

Doesn't mean I like him. I hate him. But anyone who doesn't think Belichick doesn't have tremendous respect for Lombardi just doesn't get it. Lombardi worked for Belichick for years in Cleveland. If Belichick didn't have complete belief that he was very smart and very capable, he simply wouldn't have hired him again in New England. Belichick doesn't re-hire guys "just being nice."

Edited June 27, 2020 by Thurman#1

[Thurman#1]

4 minutes ago, ScottLaw said:

Really? He essentially talks up every opponent. No matter how ***** they are. 

 

 

I think he believes every word of those. He just avoids saying anything about the areas he feels negatively about on those teams. I think he believes that he owes respect to those teams, that he owes that respect not because of what it means to those teams, but because if he doesn't feel genuine respect for every team every week some of those teams will beat him. Do you ever hear him say stuff like, "Well, we think they're better than us and we're likely to lose." Nope. He is very good at finding the areas where even bad teams are good, pointing them out and not mentioning the things that suck. Remember how he used to say great things about Kyle Williams, Jason Peters, Takeo Spikes, Fred Jackson and a ton more Bills? He did that because he really thought Kyle Williams, Jason Peters, Takeo Spikes and Freddy, among others, were terrific players.

 

Now, did you hear him saying great things about guys like Demetress Bell? He wasn't touting those guys for the Pro Bowl. He'd find ways around that, saying, "The offensive line seems to be improving there, they're young and hungry." He'd play the game and play it well. 

 

I think he wanted, maybe needed, to believe deep inside that every team was good enough to beat the Pats any given day if New England didn't give their best. He wanted his team and himself respecting those other teams. That's a part of his culture, I think. 

 

 

 

And again, Belichick isn't re-hiring anybody out of a desire to be nice. Just isn't happening. He believes in Lombardi.

[thunderingsquid]

The bigger hole is at qb2

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

..Lombardi has been out of football since 2016 and is masquerading as an expert football writer just like ex-Bear exec Gabriel, a Buffalo native....PFFFT....

[Jamie Mueller]

Vince Lombardi and Joan Crawford's demented 'love child'...

[DJB]

On 6/26/2020 at 9:14 AM, Nester said:

The biggest question Mark on the team is QB.

 

if he plays at the same level as last year, we will stay mediocre. If he can take a step forward this team can do great things. All the pieces are in place. 
 

This team makes it or breaks it all based on Joshs growth. 

 

His name is Josh ok? 

[JaCrispy]

...and in other news- we landed on the moon...