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Name your 3 most pleasant surprises and 3 biggest disappointments


GreggTX

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Surprises -  1.  Allen's degree of improvement. I fully expected progress, and was cautiously optimistic. He was saying all the right things in the off-season. Even in camp you could see improvements, but in no way did I expect him to perform at this level, so early, with a severely scaled back training camp and no preseason whatsoever.  This is a completely different Josh Allen.  

2.  Gabriel Davis.  Even after a stellar training camp, as impressed as I was, a big part of me kept thinking about so many WRs in the past who were training camp darlings who lit it up all the way through the preseason to earn a roster spot and then vanish.  Davis started to pay dividends from kickoff.  He does NOT play like a rookie by any stretch of the imagination.  This kid is a dream, and is only going to get better, faster, and stronger.  

3.  Brian Daboll.  He has called an INSANE offensive game plan for the past three weeks straight.  Man I hate to see him go, but if he continues to call games like this there's no way we don't lose him to a head coaching gig somewhere else, and he will have deserved it. 

 

Disappointments -  1. Edmunds -  I know he's banged up, and I'm hoping that's part of the reason for his performance, but even before he got hurt, he looked lost and out of sync more than one or two times.  The missed tackle against the Jets was a backbreaker and cost us a touchdown.  Yesterday he looked like a rookie.  

2. The refs getting a call blatantly wrong like that.   Everyone and their momma knows if two players come down with the ball simultaneously then the possession goes to the offensive player.  I'm sorry but this is too hard of a game and players put too much of their lives into this sport for a game to be decided by a referee.  ANY other team besides this one, a blown call like that happens and we lose the game.  Thank God we have a clutch QB who was able to overcome such a horrific call.

3.  The defense as a whole.  Even with the Jets game, we've yet to defensively dominate a team. It's sad but it's also more of a testament to just how much better our offense is now, because last year, three defensive performances like these and we are sitting at 0-3 no question.

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Surprises:

1. Daboll's playcalling, but to be fair he probably needed Josh to improve and an infusion of talent before it could happen.

2. Gabriel Davis. 4th rounder playing well beyond his raw rookie status.

3. The NFL. The fact they were able to save this season during the pandemic with barely a hiccup is remarkable.

 

Disappointment:

1. Overall Defense. The regression is shocking. 

2. The dreaded 3rd Quarter woes continue.

3. Inability to finish teams off. No killer instinct.

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Surprises

1A - Josh Allen - but this is too obvious and not sure if I would call it a "surprise" as we suspected he had the potential. 

1A - Darryl Williams - I had little expectation and very pleasantly surprised by his play. 

  2 - Gabe Davis - has progressed much faster than expected

  3 - Cody Ford - has provided a great deal of additional flexibility playing LG and RG -, has held his own vs. tough D Lines. Look forward to a healthy Feliciano.

 

Disappointments

  1 - Taron Johnson - He has regressed. Plays well on blitz and against the run but in coverage he seems slower and not in position. 

  2 - Defensive Line - I think individually they are playing well but not as a unit. Can't explain it. Will need this group to get it together vs. LV, TN and KC.

  3 - Edmunds - I fear/hope he's affected by an injury (shoulder?) but something is off.  

 

 

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Surprises
1) Josh  Allen... if I have a son I will name him Josh Allen right now! It is not only his play on the field, it is how he leads, it is how he is all about the team.

2) WR Group: My god what a difference, we have 3 legit WR running around. We can finally see what  a XXI century offence looks like! And Gabe can be very good also, he is in the right trak and have great mentors in front of him. 3 weeks so far and we have 3 different WR been feature in the passing game. 

3) Williams at RT and in general, the Oline protecting JA has been really well. 

 

Disappointments 

 

1) Halftime adjustments. Seems we are always a step back from the opposite HC. 

2) Moss, he is not even half of what I expected of him. Yeldon didn´t play that much but he was effective. I think we are going to see more of him even with a healthy Moss.  

3) D en general. We are giving way too many points. 

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8 hours ago, HappyDays said:

Pleasant surprises:

1) Josh Allen's progress. I was optimistic he would improve but he has gone from average starter to MVP level. His accuracy to all levels of the field this year has been unreal.

2) Gabe Davis already making game changing plays as a 4th round rookie WR. 2 weeks in a row he makes veteran plays in the endzone, last week an incredible catch and this week draws the PI.

3) Daboll is calling excellent games so far. I wavered on him last year, there were just too many questionable stretches of play calling. This year he is scheming guys open and keeping the offense so versatile it's impossible to defend everything. 3 TD passes to Tyler Kroft and Lee Smith says it all.

 

Disappointments:

1) Knox still can't hold onto the ball. I love his athletic profile and was optimistic he would improve but so far he is the same player as last year. He looks like he is 2 years away from reaching his full potential if he ever does.

2) Edmunds suddenly can't tackle in the open field and looks as lost in pass coverage as he does against the run. He has arguably regressed. Hopefully it's just the injury. McDermott's scheme relies on him defending the pass well.

3) Harrison Phillips has been poor so far. I thought last year he was playing very well against the run, this year he's getting blown off the ball. We needed him and Butler to make up for Star opting out and so far it isn't happening.

 

The only thing i think about Edmunds - The rams are a tough draw.  Sooo much eye candy.  Lots of play action.  Bootlegs, screens, Half-boots.  A strong zone rushing scheme too.  They seemed to constantly catch linemen up field and henderson would run by.  The linemen would then get good position to make 2nd level blocks.  

 

Not sure specifically what they needed to do differently, but I probably would've brought more players to the LOS at times.  Try and force them to throw it down field more.

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Surprises

 

1 - Josh Allen, not surprised he is playing well, surprised how he is carrying the team on his back.

2 - Daryl Williams- If he keeps it up he can add another pro bowl to his resume

3 - Beasley- The guy is catching everything right now. 

 

Disappointments

 

1 - Tremaine Edmunds-  I've never been a big fan of his.   I think he gets a big push from the Bills hype machine.   If he keeps it up he wont see a second contract.

2 - Defensive Tackle Play-  Spending 18 million dollars between Butler, Jefferson, and Oliver and not one of them is a difference maker.   Now you see why they paid Star what they did.

3 - Zack Moss- A running back who has been mostly inactive on game days for the Bills looks like he could easily outproduce Moss.

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Surprises:

- Josh Allen consistently completing 70% of his passes. I expected him to get up to around 60 to 65%

- Daboll calling great games and leading a great passing attack.

- Gabriel Davis contributing as a 4th round rookie.

 

Disappointments:

- 3rd quarter lapses in execution / coaching adjustments.

- Terribly called games by the refs.

- The Dolphins are actually pretty good.

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Surprises mine are not pleasant except for one ;) 

1) The running game or lack of

2) The run D

3) The O line keeping Josh mostly clean for 2 1/2 games

 

Disappointments

1) the running game or lack of

2)The run D

3)Some so called fans not happy at 3-0

 

Edited by JMF2006
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Biggest Surprise? 

Scoring this many points and feeling they are leaving points on the table by letting their foot off the gas

 

Biggest Fail?

Allowing other teams score on us. 

 

Either it's offensive holding they are not calling this year, or the lack of fans make that big of a difference to offenses. So many QBs can't be studs this year. It seems like a rating of 100 for QBs is now the standard in 2020. There are 13 QBs at 100 rating or higher and while that will go down, that says something changed. 

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Surprises

 

1) Josh Allen making a big jump in his game, I thought he would get better at some of his traits, but the overall improvement has me in awe

2) Daryl Williams, I'm not longer a nervous wreck expecting the RT to be a revolvind door

3) Davis, rookie WR has been amazing, Smoke Brown was not lying when he praised the rookie in joint practices and TC

 

 

Disappointments

 

1) Feliciano's injury

2) Run defense

3) Brian Winters, should be the disaster option at guard, not the first opition off the bench. 

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Surprises:

1. Darryl Williams @ RT. He is what we were missing last year on the OL.

2. Tyler Kroft. The young man is a solid TE when healthy.

3. Stefon Diggs. I knew he was a good WR, but he is truly a guy who elevates everyone else around him. So much for the "Diva" label. 

 

Disappointments:

1. Where is Jerry Hughes?

2. The defense as a whole, yardage and scoring wise.

3. Moss. For all of the hype in camp he looks pretty ineffective out there except in Pass Pro. 

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Surprises

 

1. Stefon Diggs... Wasn’t aware of how good he is.. didn’t know much about him until we traded for him.. thought he would be an okay #1 but now it’s clear to me that Diggs can make even the best CBs in the NFL look stupid..

 

2. Mario Addison.. Thought he was some high priced older aged DE who wouldn’t do much here... but Addison has proved that he knows how to bring it.. very good DE, him and Hughes cause havoc regularly..

 

3. Gabe Davis.. Heard good things about him all camp.. but now it looks like the rookie is coming along nicely.. should develop into a nice target for Allen.. quietly having a good year..

 

Disappointments

 

1. Ed Oliver... He was billed as the next Aaron Donald.... so far I don’t see it.. Gets handled regularly and to be frank he has been a major disappointment.. plenty of time still, I’m not saying he’ll be quiet all year but so far three games in I’m completely disappointed.

 

2. Quinton Jefferson... Landed a pretty decent contract when he came here... He’s terrible... Absolutely terrible... Our interior DL is extremely bad and porous.... Cannot stop a nosebleed..

 

3. Vernon Butler.... Vernon who? Another terrible free agent acquisition.. Our interior DL is one of the worst in the league... Oliver, Butler, Jefferson....who?

 

4. TreDavious White....Just signed a huge contract.... is he still driven? Does he play hard for a Super Bowl title or does he relax now that he’s been paid?

 

Ultimately, these are my feelings... I think Milano and Edmunds would look better had our interior DL been more stout... they’ve done our LBs and even Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer no favors.. Get rid of Butler and Jefferson, give that money to Milano and Edmunds... drafting some interior DL should be a huge priority.. as is a third LB to the mix and some OL help. 

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13 hours ago, GreggTX said:

3 most pleasant surprises

1. The scale of Josh Allen's improvement -- I'm not surprised that he has taken another step in his progress because he hasn't. He's taken 3 steps. Fix that fumbling problem and he's elite.

2. Darryl Williams -- I thought he'd never play at this level again after that awful knee injury. Thanks Panthers.

3. Team character -- Whatever McDermott is doing to build morale, it's off the charts. These guys never quit.

 

3 biggest disappointments

1. We're giving up too many points. That's pretty obvious, but I think that if this continues, we may see McDermott take over the playcalling for the D. As a defense first old schooler, this is hard to take.

2. Injuries -- We've finally started putting it all together. I hope we can stay healthy from here on out.

3. There is no number 3. I was going to mention Bass, but he seems to be settling in now.

 

 

My #3 disappointment is COVID.

 

I am one of the minority of guys that would like to have Star back.

 

I don't blame a soul for opting out...but without COVID we have Star and EJ and a packed stadium to enjoy yesterdays game.

 

 

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Not surprised:

 

Allen and Diggs.  This is what I expected and been saying it all offseason.  
 

Surprises:

1.  Gave Davis - And I was a guy who liked the pick and liked him coming out.  But his big time contributions already in this young season without having a normal camp, preseason, or even a lot of reps has been eye popping.  I feel like this kid is going to take over for Brown whenever his time is up here and be a stud along side Diggs for a long time.

 

2.  Darryl Williams - Not a big surprise to me, but he’s ability to gel with the OL this fast has been great and better than expected. 
 

3.  Kroft - I think he is showing he is the best TE on this team right now.  I like Knox potential still, but I think as long as Kroft is healthy, he should be the starter until Knox can prove he is better.  
 

Dissapoontments:

1.  Defense between the hash marks.  Our inability to stop runs up the middle or defend passes across the middle has been a huge problem.  Week 2 we were without Milano and Edmunds, so wasn't too worried.  Week 3 I got all my confidence back in the D until the 3rd and 4th quarter collapse where we were gashed all over the middle of the field in both the run and pass game.  This then opened up all the other passing lanes for Goff too. Now after both Miami and Rams used these areas to erase big leads and even take the lead late has me concerned that the rest of the league is going to game plan to beat this defense every week that way until they can prove they can adjust and tighten that up.  Looking ahead at the KC game for example and I can Clyde and Kelce dominating these areas easily if we don’t figure it out fast.  
 

Someone mentioned it already, but I do think if this doesn’t improve quickly, I could see McD again taking over play calling duties.  
 

2.  Secondary - We have one of the best defensive backfields in the NFL, but right now none of them are really playing to a high level.  We have the talent back there, so I’m optimistic they will get things right, but they have been wildly inconsistent.  Excited to see the impact of Norman coming into the fold though. 
 

3.  Daboll’s lack of use of our RB’s - Our backs are averaging a great YPC, but we haven’t been utilizing them as much.  And when we have a 25 point lead, I’d like to see more of our RBs as they also chew clock time up.  Daboll has been excellent in his passing schemes, and week 1 it made sense as the only part of the Jets team that was working was the run D.  But the last 2 weeks our backs have been getting great runs and YPC success and we still haven’t used them to the degree you would think.  Don’t get me wrong, impressed overall with Daboll, but think we need to find a way to use them more.

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