A Few Thoughts About the Broncos Game, in no particular order

[SoCal Deek]

Nice write up! I’ll second your point about Josh’s best play. I noticed it too. He is completely in command now. It was clear at the start of the season and is even more so now.

 

One other point that bears attention, if not for that Hail Mary finish the Bills would be riding an EIGHT GAME win streak! They’re clearly the hottest team in the NFL.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

Not sure I'm ready to give Daboll credit for the Statue of Liberty play.  We'll likely never know the truth for certain, but I suspect that was something Allen did in practice one day just fooling around.  At that point maybe he suggested it to Daboll to somehow work it into a play.  At that point, will give Daboll credit for agreeing to make it into a play and to use it.

[st pete gogolak]

Very good post, as usual.  I echo your comments regarding reaction after Allen pick in draft.  I was really upset it was Allen instead of Rosen for two reasons.  I was firmly in the camp that (1) most important attribute of top tier NFL QB is accuracy and (2) you can't teach accuracy. (Plus, I'm a UCLA grad so there was a little alumni bias.)  I came around pretty quickly, however, thanks to a bunch of posters who posted Allen's college highlights which showed his potential and showed that his college stats were somewhat misleading.  The Senior Bowl highlights were impressive.  Unlike the national pundits who blindly followed the "he's just not accurate" narrative, anyone who actually watched his games in his rookie season and second season could see the potential.  I won't lie and say that I expected this kind of season but I did expect a continued upswing from last season.  He's arrived as an upper echelon QB and hopefully will be for the next 10 - 15 years.  How great a feeling is that?  

[NoHuddleKelly12]

Your best yet OP, in a year littered with great write ups from you. Much appreciated!

[CNYfan]

 

Thank you Virgil.  

 

I think the your feelings generally reflected the zeitgeist of Bills Mafia at the time of the Josh Allen selection.   My thoughts went to the young man and his family when I stepped up on this board to oppose the backlash.   To some extent it reminded me of the negative reaction Donavan McNabb received when he was the 2nd pick by the Eagles.  He was drownd in boos for Philly fan and dejectedly took off his draft hat on the stage while the boos rained down.  (I can't remember who they wanted, a running back I think).

In any event we are a very lucky fanbase to have this fine young man as the QB of our favorite rooting interest franchise.  

 

Come see the great spirit, not for beggars but for kings.

You who have found it please help me along. I'm a man, I'm a man, - I'm not made out of stone.

 

I think the Bills still have a few too many mistakes and would love to see them tighten up the penalties.  The Milano roughing lead to one score, and the fumble, of course, to another.   Josh's playmaking does gloss over many of the mistakes on offense but if the Bills are going to finish the work they will need to reduce the errors.

 

I think #13Davis has to put in a lot of work into his blocking technique and his desire to be physical with NFL defenders.   

 

The defense has improved so much the last 4/5 games that it is night and day.  This defense looks good and I am glad that #99 Phillips has been invited back into polite society.  He seems to be playing well as he continues to heal.  

 

Oh well, as everyone else I am very joyful puppy this cold December morn.  

[Real McClappy]

12 hours ago, matter2003 said:

This game was never in doubt from the opening kickoff in my mind. The offense simply looks unstoppable at times and rolled up over 500 yards on a decent Denver defense and literally could have probably had 60 points if not for the 3 TDs that got taken off the board with penalties and being stopped on 4th down at the 3 yard line.

 

The defense is back to looking like they did last year. Lock had under 100 yards passing until mid 4th quarter and they held the Denver running game in check until garbage time when they traded 5 and 6 yard runs for time off the clock.  2nd game in a row with a defensive TD after having none before the previous week since 2017.

 

This team is just so freaking good, I am not sure if we should be scared of anybody and that includes KC. The D was nowhere near what it is now the last time we played them and the offense continues to improve putting up another huge day even without Brown.

 

First, outstanding post @Virgil I agree with you on everything. What a great and refreshing post you have made and I love reading your write ups weekly. 

 

@matter2003 I knew this game was over after the 96-97 yard TD drive in the 1st. It almost seemed to easy against a normally solid Denver D. There secondary flat out could not hold up to 2 of the best WRs in football today. 19 catches for 259 yards between Diggs in Beas is flat out Tecmo Bowl stats.  To bad Smoke wasn't healthy all year, it would have been amazing trying to get 3 WRs 1000+ yds on the year. 

[Kwai San]

13 hours ago, Simon said:

No doubt. Those guys were fun to watch play ball but there were some genuine asshats in that locker room.

I don't see any of that with this crew.

 

I've been on a few ball teams and I typically don't get caught up in the starry-eyed hand-holding at a distance, but there is absolutely something very unique and genuine going on in that locker room. I hope those boys are appreciating it because it's a rare and wonderful experience.

 

That there were some Azzhats in that lineup......they were awesome in execution but they were the bickering bills for a reason.  This team is phenomenal!

 

As always thanks @Virgil
another exceptional write up.  I still remember to this day being interviewed by a local news channel saying Josh would be the man when he was picked, more than a few people there at the bar said the pick sucked...no idea he would be THIS man and I am super happy for him and this team!!!!

 

Go Bills!!!!

[Jerome007]

It was Josh's best game IMO. He just reads what the other team presents so well. I noticed the blitz pickup. Two Offside got with the voice intonations. 12 different receivers caught a TD pass from him, best in the league. And on and on. All while having that canon arm and awesome running legs.

 

For Daboll, people piled on him for no reason in the first years. He didn't have all the goodies he has now, probably wasn't as good as now, but was already much better than other OCs we've had in quite some time, even on year one.

 

McD has created a great culture. The love the players have for one another is so awesome to see. Crazy good. 

 

 

Defense has suddenly peaked, just at the right time. Why? I have no clue but what a great timing to do so. Roberts fumbled but overall he and Bass have made the specia,l teams also a strong unit. No big returns given either.

 

 

Of course the Bills can lose, and winning the SB won't be easy. But they CAN do it. They can beat any team on a given Sunday. And they are consistent too. Very few off games.

[3rdand12]

18 hours ago, Virgil said:

I had notes to write about it and Allen’s comment about “how many times do we need to score?” was perfect.  I just didn’t want to kill the mood.  
 

Even Mahomes had a tweet about it, which also shows he’s paying attention to the Bills....

 This was  a great read.

You surely have done Bill from NYC proud with this one
  Love the write up and.... Go Bills !

[Shaw66]

Virg -

 

In your closing, you talk about whether anyone thought New England-Miami would be two meaningless games.  I certainly didn't.  Last year, the Bills had one meaningless game, but that was because the wildcard was assured, not the Division.  It really is the measure of how good the Bills are.  

 

Of course, they aren't completely meaningless.  There's still a lot to play for.  The Steelers have the Colts and the Browns, so they could easily lose one or two.  Chiefs aren't likely to lose two to the Falcons and the Chargers.  

 

 

[Don Otreply]

Damn Virgil, you hit the nail

on the head! Your right, nobody  saw this coming at this level, it has been a great season, and we will likely have more to celebrate imo, well thought out and well written 👍

 

Go Bills!!!

[Tenhigh]

13 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

My favorite part of this daunting schedule is how many butthead regulars who’ve spewed asinine venom most of the season are nowhere to be found now. It’s bad enough for a beleaguered Fanbase such as us that we have to accept be shredded by talking heads, but inside our Buffalo fandom circle it’s disgusting. The Pride they feign in ‘I told you so’ says so much more about their own inequity than the diarrhea flowing from the upper orifice. 

 

There. Got that off my chest. I feel better now.😉👍 

Post of the month....

[machine gun kelly]

13 hours ago, Beerball said:

Not to worry Virg, we like you, we really like you.

Thank you Stuart Smalley. 🤪

[BillsFan130]

You’ve had some great posts but this is probably the best one yet.

 

Awesome write up sir👍

[Solomon Grundy]

12 hours ago, st pete gogolak said:

Very good post, as usual.  I echo your comments regarding reaction after Allen pick in draft.  I was really upset it was Allen instead of Rosen for two reasons.  I was firmly in the camp that (1) most important attribute of top tier NFL QB is accuracy and (2) you can't teach accuracy. (Plus, I'm a UCLA grad so there was a little alumni bias.)  I came around pretty quickly, however, thanks to a bunch of posters who posted Allen's college highlights which showed his potential and showed that his college stats were somewhat misleading.  The Senior Bowl highlights were impressive.  Unlike the national pundits who blindly followed the "he's just not accurate" narrative, anyone who actually watched his games in his rookie season and second season could see the potential.  I won't lie and say that I expected this kind of season but I did expect a continued upswing from last season.  He's arrived as an upper echelon QB and hopefully will be for the next 10 - 15 years.  How great a feeling is that?  

Rosen had some terrible body language throughout his college career that had me sour on him. He'd throw an INT and acted as though he didn't care. Full disclosure, I was a Lamar Jackson guy

[CSBill]

21 hours ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

Not sure I'm ready to give Daboll credit for the Statue of Liberty play.  We'll likely never know the truth for certain, but I suspect that was something Allen did in practice one day just fooling around.  At that point maybe he suggested it to Daboll to somehow work it into a play.  At that point, will give Daboll credit for agreeing to make it into a play and to use it.

 

Check the 2007 Boise St vs. Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl game. An all-time great game, which ended with a proposal on the field. Boise St. pulled off like 5 trick plays that game, including the exact same play to win the game. That night, they wrote the book on football creativity and it seems like every trick play since them is some version of what they did in that Fiesta Bowl game.

 

https://www.si.com/college/2019/08/12/best-bowl-games-college-football-history

 

[hemma]

I'm glad you noticed and commented on Gilliam's blocks. Big man with nimble feet.

He's a good part of the reason why Josh went untouched.

[BigBuff423]

There have been times over the last few years that I've debated with folks over things like culture and the psychology of momentum, but this summarizes the significance of culture. McDermott and Beane have built a culture that can be sustained, absorb difficult times (COVID, Josh's grandmother's death, etc.), support the team's players in their humanity while expecting performance, and make it all seem like a "professional family". 

 

McD has not gotten nearly the credit he deserves, including from some people on this very board, as recently as just a few weeks ago when a select few were saying McD wasn't up for the job. Much like Virgil, I was in a hotel room in Saratoga Springs when I watched 2018 Draft Night and Josh Allen's name was called and immediately felt disappointment. Only to rebound a minute later and remind myself of the GM and what he'd done in a short time and actually felt trust. Something I hadn't felt in 20 years with the Bills' GM. I remember Josh's response on air during the interview that he was going to make Buffalo look like the smartest team in the Draft for drafting him. 

 

Josh and Daboll have been brilliant working together and scheming and executing together, Frazier and McD have gotten the Defense to be humming at a Championship caliber as they've gotten healthier while Beane assembled key pieces in FA and the Draft, Special Teams re-tooling has made them a strong unit (just look at Bass' development and Roberts - his gaffe notwithstanding this weekend) and on the whole, this team has really bonded like brothers. That's also McD and his Coordinators and all the other coaches and Beane and his team. Just remarkable what's been accomplished in 3 seasons, four years, as a team. 

 

Not to mention all of the individual effort by players, namely Josh Allen, but Tre, Edmunds, Milano, Diggs, etc. Great, great thing to watch unfold and now - it's time to be ready for Pats week, and take them to the shed. 

[DCOrange]

I noticed the Gilliam blocks immediately when that play happened too, though I think in watching it back again, it looks more like the first block was just the defender trying to interfere with Gilliam and accidentally tripped over his own feet lol. The second block on that play was an actual block though.

[CodeMonkey]

Great job as always with the post @Virgil.  Agree with the coach McD comments.  But no mention of the 4th down mistake?  Love him as a coach overall, and the team continues to play great for him, but man some of the in game stuff is frustrating.

 

Up by 22 middle of the 3rd.  4th down close to the endzone.  He decides to go for it and "end the game" when a field goal would have ended the game as well.  Up by 25 would have meant even if Denver scored 3 unanswered TDs *and* managed to convert all of the 2 point conversions, the Bills are still up by 1 point. But he decides to do the macho thing that at least the drunk fans wanted him to do and go for it.  Then compounds the mistake by challenging it.  At 22 points and a potential momentum changer, it was still within reach by Denver.  Fortunately the team bailed out their coach as he bails them out like what was mentioned in the OP regarding Josh and retaliation.  

 

Coach McD needs an assistant with a headset on telling him in game situations.  I'd even prefer burning a timeout and having coach think about it to what happened.  He lost a timeout anyway on the challenge.

 

No harm this time, in the playoffs, who knows.

Edited December 21, 2020 by CodeMonkey

[dakrider]

16 hours ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Rosen had some terrible body language throughout his college career that had me sour on him. He'd throw an INT and acted as though he didn't care. Full disclosure, I was a Lamar Jackson guy

Just to note, I watched several college games with Rosen as well and never did think he was great.  Allen though has surprised me this year in the giant leap he has taken.  I think everyone expected him to be better than last year obviously but give a good QB some experience, some great receivers and a good offensive line and he can be a great QB.  
Go back to Allen's first year and compare him to many other first year QB's, Allen was raw, made mistakes, poor mechanics etc.  But his overall desire and motivation (and athletic skill) helped him to overcome some of that which is where many younger QB's fail, they can't propel their team because they can barely propel their self. 

Right now as it stands, Bills look to be the 2nd best team in the AFC and probably 3rd best in the NFL but Bills defense improving could change that.