Game week thread - Buccaneers at Bills

[Scott7975]

[FLFan]

59 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

According to you.  I don't doubt that you can find examples of Allen not taking the layups but that this was the man problem in the 3 losses? Color me skeptical.  And when people claim it's not the WR's or Offensive structure but Allen, I don't by it because I don't see much evidence of it.

 

 

 

 

So are you saying Allen isn't earning his money?  Is this compared to the other top QB's? All I know is that Allen has been constantly elevating those around him since his rookie season but at some point even after elevating a guy they still are way below average.

 

 

We all know what Allen is capable of and from my perspective, I love him as the Bills QB and would not want any other.  That said, there are ample examples this year of Allen struggling to make his reads, make the throws that are there, and executing the offense.  The Miami game in particular.  I do not know what the issues are with him specifically, but he is not playing up to standard.  The Bills are going to struggle when that is the case.  I am sure the answers to that conundrum are varied and complex but he needs to be better.  Full stop.  Does he lack faith in the offensive design? The receivers? His line?  Has he lost confidence?  I do not know.  That’s why they pay the coaches and not the fans. The Bills offense starts and ends with Allen and he needs to be better.  I am quite sure he would be the first one to admit it. 

[Rockinon]

1 hour ago, Warriorspikes51 said:

as good of an idea as any

 

I’d love to see us run 4WR sets again

I keep thinking this may happen. Defenses have started to key in on stopping the run. This may become a thing again and Josh is really good at going through his progressions. I recall that Josh used to go through progressions looking at the deep WR first then work his way to the shorter routes. Don't think that's true in a Brady offense, but that could be something to watch for. There are so many ways to attack a defense we do have some speed. Wondering if a change really is coming. Something like this could wreck what defense practiced to stop all week. 

[FLFan]

30 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

 

That was predictable, even before the announcement that both Davis and Hardman would be active.  McD is trying his best to light a fire under the young man. Let’s see how he responds.  

[GottaRun]

49 minutes ago, Vark said:

Help. Got a chance to go to the game tomorrow. I wanted to see a game the last year the stadium is open. I live in NC now, moved from Hamburg mid 90’s, so it’s been a while I have made it up for a game. Any advice on parking? I drove down southwestern and there doesn’t seem like there are many private lots anymore. Just me, so not going to be going super early to tailgate. Thanks!

lots of parking on Big Tree in the $30 - $50 range

[Comebackkid]

43 minutes ago, WotAGuy said:

Definitely went to games like that with my old man. The Bills beat the Colts 6-0 in a snowstorm  in 74, and my father was only wearing a top coat. He was shivering like crazy. Couldn’t see the field at times. 

surprised they let him in without pants....different times i guess.. 

[VW82]

Wow totally deserved benching but still surprising. Hopefully, Gabe can give us something. Nice to have Palmer back too.

[Scott7975]

9 minutes ago, FLFan said:

We all know what Allen is capable of and from my perspective, I love him as the Bills QB and would not want any other.  That said, there are ample examples this year of Allen struggling to make his reads, make the throws that are there, and executing the offense.  The Miami game in particular.  I do not know what the issues are with him specifically, but he is not playing up to standard.  The Bills are going to struggle when that is the case.  I am sure the answers to that conundrum are varied and complex but he needs to be better.  Full stop.  Does he lack faith in the offensive design? The receivers? His line?  Has he lost confidence?  I do not know.  That’s why they pay the coaches and not the fans. The Bills offense starts and ends with Allen and he needs to be better.  I am quite sure he would be the first one to admit it. 

 

Listen what Cosell says about our passing game. This is mostly on Brady.

[RiotAct]

Just now, VW82 said:

Wow totally deserved benching but still surprising. Hopefully, Gabe can give us something. Nice to have Palmer back too.

crazy, we’re likely going to have 3 WRs active tomorrow that haven’t been on the field for the Bills in:

 

3-4 weeks (Palmer)

2 years (Davis)

Ever (Hardman)

 

Plus TJ Sanders making his return for the defense.

[BillsFan130]

44 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

 

Would absolutely love this.

 

One thing that's been missing with Josh this year is the scramble drill. I feel him and Coleman were never on the same page.

 

If there's one really good thing about Gabe, is him and Josh have good chemistry when Josh breaks the pocket 

[BuffaloBillyG]

1 minute ago, BillsFan130 said:

Would absolutely love this.

 

One thing that's been missing with Josh this year is the scramble drill. I feel him and Coleman were never on the same page.

 

If there's one really good thing about Gabe, is him and Josh have good chemistry when Josh breaks the pocket 

Agree, which is really odd to me as that seemed to be something Coleman did very well last year. Doesn't seem like a skill someone would just forget, but what do I know 

[VW82]

On a totally separate note, I expect the defense to perform well tomorrow.

 

Despite the huge losses (Oliver, Hoecht), we're pretty healthy, and our young guys (Bishop, Hairston) look fantastic. We're better set up to defend the pass, which is what Bucs want to do anyway, especially with Irving out. 

 

As bad as our LBers have been, there's a good case to be made that D will rebound big time 2nd half of the season (with McD calling plays). Lots to like currently on that side of the ball. 

[Scott7975]

1 minute ago, VW82 said:

On a totally separate note, I expect the defense to perform well tomorrow.

 

Despite the huge losses (Oliver, Hoecht), we're pretty healthy, and our young guys (Bishop, Hairston) look fantastic. We're better set up to defend the pass, which is what Bucs want to do anyway, especially with Irving out. 

 

As bad as our LBers have been, there's a good case to be made that D will rebound big time 2nd half of the season (with McD calling plays). Lots to like currently on that side of the ball. 

 

It should. The Bucs dont have a run game. Really, even their pass game they are mostly reliant on big downfield plays. Could spell doom for our 3rd and long defense though. We shall see.

[FLFan]

8 minutes ago, Scott7975 said:

 

Listen what Cosell says about our passing game. This is mostly on Brady.

I have, and while I respect his opinion, it’s a mistake to make this all about Brady, or all about the receivers, or all about Allen.  It’s complicated, but Allen has not been his best, and that has cost them.  That was my point.

[BillsFanForever19]

14 minutes ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

 

 

Wow. Well.... this is a surprise. Not to say it isn't warranted. Just surprising to see them go from giving him far and away the most amount of snaps of any WR to a healthy scratch. Big message sent. I wonder how he'll handle it?

 

Honestly, if we're at this point, I'd look to do a change of scenery move with him in the Off-season.

[EssexBill]

14 minutes ago, RiotAct said:

crazy, we’re likely going to have 3 WRs active tomorrow that haven’t been on the field for the Bills in:

 

3-4 weeks (Palmer)

2 years (Davis)

Ever (Hardman)

 

Plus TJ Sanders making his return for the defense.

Won’t matter that much, looking at the weather report I expect us to be running it most of the time anyway 

[WotAGuy]

Coleman is so slow, it took him half a season to make it to the bench. 
 

17 minutes ago, RiotAct said:

crazy, we’re likely going to have 3 WRs active tomorrow that haven’t been on the field for the Bills in:

 

3-4 weeks (Palmer)

2 years (Davis)

Ever (Hardman)

 

Sounds like exactly what this passing offense needed. 😝

[BillsFan130]

7 minutes ago, FLFan said:

I have, and while I respect his opinion, it’s a mistake to make this all about Brady, or all about the receivers, or all about Allen.  It’s complicated, but Allen has not been his best, and that has cost them.  That was my point.

Imo he's still playing well. He's just not playing at an mvp level as we were spoiled watching him last year.

 

Does he miss plays? For sure like any QB.

But I would guarantee if we watched the All 22 of all QBs, we can point to at least 3-5 plays a game where they missed the read /open reciever

[sven233]

On 11/14/2025 at 4:01 PM, sven233 said:

Obviously, we don't know how long they are projecting the Kincaid and Mathis injuries are going to be for.  But if they need a few weeks, IR isn't out of the question for either one which will open up some roster spots.  As of now, though, they are still on the active roster and we have 1 spot available.

 

You would have to think Sanders is the logical choice to fill that vacant spot.  With Mathis going down, and even with him healthy, we need more help at DT so Sanders makes a lot of sense to activate if he's ready to go.  If one or both of Kincaid and Mathis go to IR, I would expect Davis to be signed to the 53 providing he is truly healthy.  The other option is to release Codrington to open up a spot.  I think this is likely to happen as soon as Hardman is up to speed a bit on the special teams side of things and has enough on offense to run in a couple of packages.  Who knows.....that could happen this week.  But signing Davis to the 53 prevents them from having to waste 2 call ups on WRs.  This way, you could make Hardman and Fox your call ups if Benford is ready to roll.  But with our nickel guys still banged up, I wouldn't be surprised to see Jackson elevated even if he isn't activated.

 

Regardless, there should be a lot of roster gymnastics over the next 24 hours. 

 

Ok....looks like I was mostly right about the call ups/activations.  Happened slightly different that I thought with Hardman getting signed instead of Gabe, but with the release of Codrington, it makes sense that Hardman is basically signed as a returner to take his place.  Wouldn't be surprised to see him running a couple posts/flys/deep overs/end arounds (ducks....) tomorrow either.  Hopefully he can give our special teams a boost too.  

 

As for Davis, it's hard for me, and a lot of us I think, to get too excited.  He wasn't the greatest thing when he was here and now he's coming off an injury that has kept him off the football field for a year.  I will say this about Davis....he's an extremely hard worker and if he doesn't produce tomorrow, it won't be because of lack of effort.  It's funny, when Coleman was drafted, as you all know, I blasted the pick.  Just not a fan.  I said if he becomes a slightly better version of Gabe Davis I would be stunned.  But the fact is, Davis has shown way more consistency and work ethic that Keon has in his 2 seasons here and now we sit here hoping that Davis can just be an upgrade to what Coleman has been on the field this season.  Guess we'll see what happens, but Coleman has set the bar extremely low, so hopefully Davis can clear it by a decent margin!

 

Getting Palmer back I think can make a difference.  While him and Allen haven't done much together this season, they were starting to hit in that Falcons game before he went down.  Maybe they were starting to figure things out?  

 

And of course getting Sanders back is nice for the D-Line.  He wasn't setting the world on fire by any means before he went down, but there were flashes.  Hopefully, he has a better grasp on the playbook even though he was out and can come in and give us some much needed quality snaps on the line. 

 

One thing's for sure.....the team is going to look a little different tomorrow.  Whether it's enough to help us get out of this funk we're in, that remains to be seen.  But, hopefully, if the rumors of Coleman actually getting scratched are true, I'm guessing you won't see anyone dogging it out there.  The effort should be high and hopefully the spirit of the team is up with the new blood being injected into the team.  Them not calling up a CB is a great sign that Benford and at least one of TJ and Cam Lewis will be up as well.  Very cautiously optimistic, but they have t go out and show that they can do it.  Team has a long ways to go, even if we win tomorrow, to prove we're back in the mix. 

[Rockinon]

Sitting Coleman is certainly shaking things up. Wonder what else is in store. I have always felt that Josh is often slow getting started in the passing game. He struggles often at the beginning of a game and then all of a sudden, he's locked in. Almost like he just needs to warm up. With the run game clicking the way it has, maybe it's just difficult to get locked in, not passing enough to get there. I think, putting 4 WRs on the field and letting Josh pick his poison early is a good way to get Josh going. Maybe we do see some of that.