Do The Bills Have A Passing Game Problem?

[Pecker]

On 9/19/2025 at 9:45 AM, BillsShredder83 said:

Isnt Palmer supposed to be the 1 on 1 antidote?  Anybody seen film on him on those matchups?  Also, wondering if Elijah Moore is earnings himself some extra snaps!  Im not talking anything crazy, but seems like hes due for more time out there situationally

Is Palmer on the team? Lol

[GoBills808]

11 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

That would certainly work. The counter is, the Bills have invested heavily in terms of assets into their defense, just as the Yankees have with their bull pen. The Bills used their top 4 picks this year, and then extended Rousseau, Benford, and Bernard on big contracts, while paying Bosa, Tre, and the two suspended guys. That’s a lot of assets to throw at defense while you signed the Chargers number 3 and Elijah Moore well after the draft. The Bills didn’t exactly look to find “the guy” there. They looked to find a couple of bodies. 
 

My belief, is, and has been, if the Bills are going to win in this era it will be BECAUSE of Josh Allen. With that being said, my philosophy would be, load up FOR him instead of saying, “he will be good enough to overcome their shortcomings.” They have built an elite OL and now running game with the emergence of Cook as a star. If they had a number 1 WR (and honestly maybe even a number 2) they’d win multiple Super Bowls. To do that though, you have to make decisions like, “we will let Rousseau walk and allocate that cap space to a guy like Tee Higgins”. That’s meant to be an example so don’t get hung up on the names but you get the point. You have to say things like, “we have been really good at finding corners that can play later in the draft (Benford, Taron, Dane Jackson, etc).” That doesn’t mean that they are all great but instead of using prime picks there, take some shots at WR because the best ones never hit FA anymore. In order to get an elite WR now, you need to trade for them or draft them. Instead of 1st round CB and 7th round WR, try 1st round WR and 7th round CB. 
 

This conversation has been going round and round for months/years. Of course we are all thrilled that the Bills are winning. They absolutely score lots of points. It’s a difference of philosophy and a realistic concern because they have not yet proven that they can get it done when it matters most. For me, it alls centers around the conversation of, “what is the best way for this team to get over the hump? Should they load up on defense and let Josh’s otherworldly abilities cover up for their lack of talent on the outside? Or should they keep swinging to upgrade the WRs, figuring that they can make the offense the Monstars?” I’m firmly of the belief, and was even when the defense was better, that the incremental growth of the defense by upgrading from Solomon to Landon Jackson is way less impactful than upgrading from Palmer to Isaac TeSlaa. That’s the crux of the debate. I want them to keep taking a shot at finding that guy to create the Monstars vs. trying to upgrade from Solomon to Landon Jackson. 
 

There are a lot of words here but to reiterate it’s a philosophical debate. “Should we load up FOR Josh or should we load up on the other side of the ball because Josh is so good that he will make everyone better?” I believe the former. Many people here believe the latter. The irony is that both have been proven right AND wrong over the last few years. The Bills have scored lots of points. At the same time, the Bills haven’t had the dudes to get it done in the biggest moments. 

exactly this

 

my view is the 2021 version of the offense, specifically the playoff version of allen, is the best and highest use of his skillset. we had the best version of the chiefs beat, in arrowhead. imo we should have leaned into that version of the team 

 

i don't really buy the idea that limiting the pass offense is going to produce better results- since 2020 we average 12 wins per season like clockwork, regardless of whether allen's thowing 6 ints or 18. nor am i convinced that if we did decide to open things up it would invariably lead to a more turnover prone allen...i think he's proven he can adapt to any system at this point

[FireChans]

13 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

That would certainly work. The counter is, the Bills have invested heavily in terms of assets into their defense, just as the Yankees have with their bull pen. The Bills used their top 4 picks this year, and then extended Rousseau, Benford, and Bernard on big contracts, while paying Bosa, Tre, and the two suspended guys. That’s a lot of assets to throw at defense while you signed the Chargers number 3 and Elijah Moore well after the draft. The Bills didn’t exactly look to find “the guy” there. They looked to find a couple of bodies. 
 

My belief, is, and has been, if the Bills are going to win in this era it will be BECAUSE of Josh Allen. With that being said, my philosophy would be, load up FOR him instead of saying, “he will be good enough to overcome their shortcomings.” They have built an elite OL and now running game with the emergence of Cook as a star. If they had a number 1 WR (and honestly maybe even a number 2) they’d win multiple Super Bowls. To do that though, you have to make decisions like, “we will let Rousseau walk and allocate that cap space to a guy like Tee Higgins”. That’s meant to be an example so don’t get hung up on the names but you get the point. You have to say things like, “we have been really good at finding corners that can play later in the draft (Benford, Taron, Dane Jackson, etc).” That doesn’t mean that they are all great but instead of using prime picks there, take some shots at WR because the best ones never hit FA anymore. In order to get an elite WR now, you need to trade for them or draft them. Instead of 1st round CB and 7th round WR, try 1st round WR and 7th round CB. 
 

This conversation has been going round and round for months/years. Of course we are all thrilled that the Bills are winning. They absolutely score lots of points. It’s a difference of philosophy and a realistic concern because they have not yet proven that they can get it done when it matters most. For me, it alls centers around the conversation of, “what is the best way for this team to get over the hump? Should they load up on defense and let Josh’s otherworldly abilities cover up for their lack of talent on the outside? Or should they keep swinging to upgrade the WRs, figuring that they can make the offense the Monstars?” I’m firmly of the belief, and was even when the defense was better, that the incremental growth of the defense by upgrading from Solomon to Landon Jackson is way less impactful than upgrading from Palmer to Isaac TeSlaa. That’s the crux of the debate. I want them to keep taking a shot at finding that guy to create the Monstars vs. trying to upgrade from Solomon to Landon Jackson. 
 

There are a lot of words here but to reiterate it’s a philosophical debate. “Should we load up FOR Josh or should we load up on the other side of the ball because Josh is so good that he will make everyone better?” I believe the former. Many people here believe the latter. The irony is that both have been proven right AND wrong over the last few years. The Bills have scored lots of points. At the same time, the Bills haven’t had the dudes to get it done in the biggest moments. 

Preach

[gobills404]

Palmer was a good intermediate to deep threat for the Chargers last year and he’s been getting good separation so far this year. I’m hoping a lot the concerns about the downfield passing game will be quelled as he builds more and more chemistry with Josh throughout the season.

 

[BillsFan130]

25 minutes ago, gobills404 said:

Palmer was a good intermediate to deep threat for the Chargers last year and he’s been getting good separation so far this year. I’m hoping a lot the concerns about the downfield passing game will be quelled as he builds more and more chemistry with Josh throughout the season.

 

Today I just learned that Zay jones is still in the NFL

[balln]

3 hours ago, GoBills808 said:

exactly this

 

my view is the 2021 version of the offense, specifically the playoff version of allen, is the best and highest use of his skillset. we had the best version of the chiefs beat, in arrowhead. imo we should have leaned into that version of the team 

 

i don't really buy the idea that limiting the pass offense is going to produce better results- since 2020 we average 12 wins per season like clockwork, regardless of whether allen's thowing 6 ints or 18. nor am i convinced that if we did decide to open things up it would invariably lead to a more turnover prone allen...i think he's proven he can adapt to any system at this point

Simply put. It’s the coach. And maybe the gm. They’re not changing their ways.

i do agree with everything exactly

youre Saying though 

[Comebackkid]

50 minutes ago, gobills404 said:

Palmer was a good intermediate to deep threat for the Chargers last year and he’s been getting good separation so far this year. I’m hoping a lot the concerns about the downfield passing game will be quelled as he builds more and more chemistry with Josh throughout the season.

 

wasnt it keon that was just up there in the high right area?      you play close condensed routes it makes seperation harder.. 

[Pecker]

15 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

That would certainly work. The counter is, the Bills have invested heavily in terms of assets into their defense, just as the Yankees have with their bull pen. The Bills used their top 4 picks this year, and then extended Rousseau, Benford, and Bernard on big contracts, while paying Bosa, Tre, and the two suspended guys. That’s a lot of assets to throw at defense while you signed the Chargers number 3 and Elijah Moore well after the draft. The Bills didn’t exactly look to find “the guy” there. They looked to find a couple of bodies. 
 

My belief, is, and has been, if the Bills are going to win in this era it will be BECAUSE of Josh Allen. With that being said, my philosophy would be, load up FOR him instead of saying, “he will be good enough to overcome their shortcomings.” They have built an elite OL and now running game with the emergence of Cook as a star. If they had a number 1 WR (and honestly maybe even a number 2) they’d win multiple Super Bowls. To do that though, you have to make decisions like, “we will let Rousseau walk and allocate that cap space to a guy like Tee Higgins”. That’s meant to be an example so don’t get hung up on the names but you get the point. You have to say things like, “we have been really good at finding corners that can play later in the draft (Benford, Taron, Dane Jackson, etc).” That doesn’t mean that they are all great but instead of using prime picks there, take some shots at WR because the best ones never hit FA anymore. In order to get an elite WR now, you need to trade for them or draft them. Instead of 1st round CB and 7th round WR, try 1st round WR and 7th round CB. 
 

This conversation has been going round and round for months/years. Of course we are all thrilled that the Bills are winning. They absolutely score lots of points. It’s a difference of philosophy and a realistic concern because they have not yet proven that they can get it done when it matters most. For me, it alls centers around the conversation of, “what is the best way for this team to get over the hump? Should they load up on defense and let Josh’s otherworldly abilities cover up for their lack of talent on the outside? Or should they keep swinging to upgrade the WRs, figuring that they can make the offense the Monstars?” I’m firmly of the belief, and was even when the defense was better, that the incremental growth of the defense by upgrading from Solomon to Landon Jackson is way less impactful than upgrading from Palmer to Isaac TeSlaa. That’s the crux of the debate. I want them to keep taking a shot at finding that guy to create the Monstars vs. trying to upgrade from Solomon to Landon Jackson. 
 

There are a lot of words here but to reiterate it’s a philosophical debate. “Should we load up FOR Josh or should we load up on the other side of the ball because Josh is so good that he will make everyone better?” I believe the former. Many people here believe the latter. The irony is that both have been proven right AND wrong over the last few years. The Bills have scored lots of points. At the same time, the Bills haven’t had the dudes to get it done in the biggest moments. 

My thoughts exactly.  Because As much as we gripe about the D, the way the nfl is these days, you just can’t stop the best qbs.  No matter what, it’s in the rule book.  So I believe we should have a totally unstoppable offense without a weakness.  We are basically one good WR from that, and it could easily be/have been a high draft pick (Brian Thomas jr last season as an example, or something wilder, like the trade up the Falcons did years back for Julio Jones, go up and target a guy like Nabers ) 

[SoTier]

4 hours ago, Big Turk said:

 

The throw to Shakir for the TD was well behind the LOS, he ran an or it motion looping behind Allen. Probably caught the ball 5 yards or more behind the LOS 

 

I couldn't remember exactly where he caught it and the PBP just said "short left" or something like that, but I knew it was almost all YAC.   Being behind the LOS pass simply re-enforces the idea that the Bills continued playing small ball after the roughing the kicker penalty. 

[ganesh]

On 9/19/2025 at 5:02 PM, oldmanfan said:

We didn’t attack down the field likely because Brady and Josh saw more effective ways to attack.  I think people are too obsessed with “down the field”.  Does that mean long bomb type attacks?  Because the last time I looked at data in that those kinds of passes accounted for about 1-2% of pass plays.

 

Right now the run and short passing game are working well.  When teams try to take that away you’ll see what happens. Right now we have a very effective offense.

I think people are talking about 10-15 yard throws; not the 30-40 yard throws.  
 

The dolphins dared us to throw deep and the Bilks said thank you very much and kept going short to move the chains easily. 
 

when there were choices for deep passes, the Bills WRs were probably covered on the deep pattern and Josh took the short passes. 
 

Josh and Joe are focused on playing complimentary football and win games.  Joe is not going to put Josh in a position like the 4Q of the Racens game unless the game dictates it. 

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

1 hour ago, gobills404 said:

Palmer was a good intermediate to deep threat for the Chargers last year and he’s been getting good separation so far this year. I’m hoping a lot the concerns about the downfield passing game will be quelled as he builds more and more chemistry with Josh throughout the season.

 

I would love to know how they do these charts. They never make any sense to me. If I am understanding this right (and I may not be), GB’s Wicks basically has the best separation and YAC, and has 6 catches on the year? 

[ColoradoBills]

Let me get this straight.   Many Bills fans want Josh Allen and the coaches to open up the offense and chuck the ball farther down field.

Not only insuring wins but doing so by a much wider margin of points.

 

Seems reasonable.  But if that was to happen every week, I wonder what opposing DCs would do?

 

I'm guessing they would play a deep cover D stopping Josh from doing that exact thing.

 

If that was to happen, then I guess the Bills would work on a shorter passing game.

 

Which is exactly what they are doing.

 

Amazing.

 

 

 

 

[PoundingDog]

I don't think the Bills will play offense like Miami. Like the Chiefs, we can't afford Hill type receivers unless we hit one in the low 1st round onwards. I feel our passing offense can evolve into TE centric because the talent we have with there; Hawes is arguably the best rookie for us thus far. A creative OC should be able to leverage Cook, Kincaid, Knox and Hawes into an offense on its own.

 

That said, I do think we need some shots downfield from time to time and that maybe Josh's doing (for not willing to risk a lesser percentage play when there as a higher percentage check donw available). I also feel the O-Line is not as stout as last year for whatever reason and Josh is trusting them a bit less. Maybe they can send Moore downfield a few times.

Edited September 21 by PoundingDog

[BillsFan130]

7 minutes ago, ColoradoBills said:

Let me get this straight.   Many Bills fans want Josh Allen and the coaches to open up the offense and chuck the ball farther down field.

Not only insuring wins but doing so by a much wider margin of points.

 

Seems reasonable.  But if that was to happen every week, I wonder what opposing DCs would do?

 

I'm guessing they would play a deep cover D stopping Josh from doing that exact thing.

 

If that was to happen, then I guess the Bills would work on a shorter passing game.

 

Which is exactly what they are doing.

 

Amazing.

 

 

 

 

I don't want the bills to "chuck " the ball downfield as I understand teams play a lot of cover 2 and 4 against the bills.

 

But ya I do want more intermediate passing.

 

Just because a team plays cover 2, doesn't mean you aren't allowed to throw the ball past the line of scrimmage  lol.

 

Theres the honey hole between the safety and corner (see the Dalton Kincaid TD), middle of the field is also open because of the 2 split safety.

[ColoradoBills]

2 minutes ago, BillsFan130 said:

I don't want the bills to "chuck " the ball downfield as I understand teams play a lot of cover 2 and 4 against the bills.

 

But ya I do want more intermediate passing.

 

Just because a team plays cover 2, doesn't mean you aren't allowed to throw the ball past the line of scrimmage  lol.

 

Theres the honey hole between the safety and corner (see the Dalton Kincaid TD), middle of the field is also open because of the 2 split safety.

 

I think Josh will do that after he gets comfortable winning the way he is winning.  It's a completely different mindset that he is learning.

[BillsFan130]

1 minute ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

I think Josh will do that after he gets comfortable winning the way he is winning.  It's a completely different mindset that he is learning.

Maybe. But since late 2023, this is basically what the passing game has looked like.

[Big Turk]

47 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

I couldn't remember exactly where he caught it and the PBP just said "short left" or something like that, but I knew it was almost all YAC.   Being behind the LOS pass simply re-enforces the idea that the Bills continued playing small ball after the roughing the kicker penalty. 

 

It was a perfectly executed play call against the look they wanted. Basically ran his man across the formation, orbit motioned behind Allen and he threw the ball to him on the run full speed while the guy that had him was being walled off and Shakir had 2 blockers in front.

 

Essentially was a walk in TD.

Edited September 21 by Big Turk

[Matt_In_NH]

It is clear people don’t what to accept what the bills want to be.  They want to be low risk, methodical and capable of dominating in different ways.  And why that might be ok and actually a good thing even with Josh Allen.  They are ramping up 13 personnel…that means one wr on the field.  Real NFL is not Madden or fantasy

[In Summary]

Why does Coleman remind me of a slower Alvin Harper? That's how I view his role and ceiling for some reason. 

[BillsFan130]

16 minutes ago, Matt_In_NH said:

It is clear people don’t what to accept what the bills want to be.  They want to be low risk, methodical and capable of dominating in different ways.  And why that might be ok and actually a good thing even with Josh Allen.  They are ramping up 13 personnel…that means one wr on the field.  Real NFL is not Madden or fantasy

Yep and I personally disagree with the overall philosophy. Trying to be a power run team while minimizing risk wouldn't be the path I would take when a unicorn like Josh Allen is your QB

 

Is your "floor" going to be a lot better? Absolutely as you're not going to have multi turnover games that cost you.

 

But the ceiling is also going to be limited. We saw it in last years playoffs, especially against Baltimore