Alphadawg7

I definitely disagree with this take. I literally was sitting with Levi's college friends during the whole game in the stands, and for that we literally watched Levi on just about every play. Levi played great coverage all day and made some good plays. There were only 2 negative plays, and they are not nearly as negative as they seem if you actually watch the play fully. 1. The TD: Levi had great coverage and deflected the ball. Unfortunately, the WR made a sensational play and was able to catch the ball off the deflection still while also dragging his foot. I don't know how Levi plays any better coverage than that, it was as simple as the bounce did not go his way. 2. The PI: This was definitely the correct flag, but for one reason and one reason only...he wasn't looking back at the ball. I mean he even deflected the ball away. But according to the rule, he has to be facing the ball as well to avoid PI. HOWEVER...the actual reason for that is because the ball was grossly under thrown. His coverage on the play was excellent and he had both his hands up and away from the receiver and actually deflected the pass. But because the ball was so grossly under thrown, the result now is that Levi is in between the WR and the Ball, and the rule is that he must also make a play on the ball. Keep in mind though, the guy he was covering is substantially bigger than him, and it was not even apparent until the very end of the pass that the ball coming was grossly under thrown. Claypool did not jump back towards the ball until the last second as it was coming up short. Hard to fault Levi on that when he is running step for step with a bigger and faster player. His coverage on both those plays was actually very good. The TD he deflected and got unlucky that Diontae just made a sensational play grabbing the tipped the pass. The Claypool PI was excellent coverage on a guy much bigger and faster that resulted in a penalty because Big Ben has no arm left and it came up short where Chase didn't jump until the pass was already on them. I watched Levi make several other good plays throughout the day and overall play very tight coverage most the game.

But thats just it...Daboll should have adjusted in that situation, and we just didn't do that. He was out coached and had no answer for the lack of Blitz

(Use of CAPS below is just to emphasize key words, not yelling in response to you, more yelling it at Daboll lol) I agree with some of this and disagree with other parts. The parts I agree with were already covered in my OP, so will focus on the disagree.. The Trick Plays: I love trick plays as much as the next guy, and I agree with you that its great we have them in our game plan. BUT...and its a big BUT...there is a time and place for them, and Daboll has a tendency to try them at bad moments. The flea flicker was fine, thats a fine moment to try that. The 4th and 1 was a STUPID call. You have one play to get the 1 yard, or its a TURNOVER. That is NOT the time to try a trick play when you have a QB who has like a 99% success rate of picking up the 1 yard on sneaks over his 3 year career. It was a KEY movement in the game too where Pitt has some momentum, our D been on the field a lot, and our offense needed to keep the chains moving. That was one of the all time stupidest calls I have ever seen for those reasons. If it was 3rd and 1, and you already knew you were going to go for it on 4th down regardless (so you have 2 shots at it), then I can live with an aggressive trick play. But on 4th and 1 and in a situation you need this conversion, you go to your HIGHEST percentage play, not a gamble on a trick play with a much lower probability of succeeding. And Daboll's overall calling of the game was poor, he failed to adjust to the lack of blitz by Pittsburgh and was just out coached in this regard.

Week 1 in the books... Devin on pace for over 1224 yards after 11 carries and 72 yards rushing, and Moss was a healthy scratch. While I don't expect Devin to continue to average 6.6 ypc, I do expect his 11 carries to rise next week given he was one the bright spots of the offense Sunday. Daboll gave him praise too in his presser that he had a strong game and a strong camp. So, I am still feeling confident about this prediction with the first week in the books.

That is a good point, I actually didn't see that kind of detail on that play. Our seats were closer to the other side of the field, so it looked more to me it was a mistake in the protection up front, didn't notice the 3 steps. Yeah, lots of good footage!

First, wow did I ever love my first trip to Buffalo, and BIG THANKS to everyone who chimed in on helping me find our way around! Quick hits on our trip: First food was at Bar-Bill where we did the gauntlet...wings the way Josh Allen orders them, Pizza, and Beef on Weck...all delicious. We also did Elmos for wings, Duffs, and Anchor Bar (although Anchor Bar was at the airport on the way out). Bar-Bill and Elmos were our favorite wings. Niagara was incredible and exceeded expectations, especially Cave of the Winds and Made of the Mist where we never really expected to be so close to the falls themselves to feel their raw power and beauty. We also ate at Toutant and had a great meal there and did breakfast at Sophias which was also excellent. Thanks @Augiefor showing us around Hammers Lot, we had a great time and loved our seats for the game where we sat with all Levi Wallace's friends from college and we all had a blast. Result wasn't what we all wanted, but our first experience none the less was incredible. Now on to the game...The GOOD: Defense...without question this was the best part of this game. Our defense held its own despite having too be on the field more than we all expected with the offense sputtering too much. I was encouraged by the performance of the DL, and surprised to see Rousseau starting opposite Hughes instead of AJE already. But the rotation was exciting to see lots of fresh legs in there. Our secondary for the most part looked good too, I still feel Tre got screwed on the penalty with the INT as well. Levi gave up the TD, but I felt it was great coverage as he deflected the ball, but the WR just made a great play himself. The PI with Levi was unfortunate, but I think it was more of circumstance of how poorly thrown the ball was as it was way short and it just happens sometimes. Ideally you want Levi to get his head around there, but he had great coverage on the play until the ball just died and came in way short. Overall, I think Levi had a pretty strong outing otherwise. McKenzie as a KR...I think he did quite well as our new returner, even returned back to the game after aggravating his shoulder again. Singletary...before the season, I predicted he would eclipse 1000 yards this year, and after week 1 he is on pace for 1224...of course I don't think he is going to continue to run at an average of 6.6 ypc, but IMHO he looked good when given opportunities. And most importantly, he nice runs on plays better designed to run on. He picked up first downs when he needed as well. This was a good first showing for him, I hope this at least gets Daboll to consider upping his touches more, because we were a better offense on the drives he was being used properly Sunday. The BAD: Josh Allen...I don't want to harp on him too much, his OL and Daboll did him no favors (see below), and I absolutely love and believe in Allen without question. However, it was clear as day that Josh was pressing way too much in this game to make something happen, particularly the big play. Josh excelled last season because he learned to take what the defense was giving him, and far too many times Sunday he had wide open easy throws and chose to air out into poor coverage down the field instead trying to force a big play. He also was off on some throws he consistently makes. It wasn't all bad for him, but in regards to the new standard he set for himself by his play last year, this would qualify as a bad day. On a positive side, he still made some incredible throws, including the TD to Davis and a couple of other lasers. I think the lack of playing time, the new contract, the new expectations, first home game with full stadium in since 2020, etc just all led to him just pressing too much. I am SUPREMELY confident he will have a big bounce back game next week. Receivers...I didn't think our receivers had the best game either. There were some drops and also a few plays where it seemed Allen and Sanders were not on the same page, but that's to be expected when they havent had a lot of time together, especially in an offense where the receivers are allowed to improvise a lot. The UGLY: BRIAN DABOLL! I intentionally put that in all caps because he was that bad! STOP WITH THE RPO! Josh Allen is NOT a RB or a running QB! He is a QB who can make you pay with his legs in the right moments, he is not Murray or Lamar! How the hell does Daboll not know this already? Josh excels at running when he is either extending plays and escaping, rolling out of the pocket and taking off if the lanes are open, or a QB sneak...THATS IT! Why on earth are you having him take off on the snap like a RB up the middle while the Box is still full of defenders? Thats going to lead to fumbles or injury! Geezus, this is NOT complicated! WTF are you thinking on 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1?????? Josh over 3 years has converted every QB sneak but I think 1, including ones where the snap was fumbled or sneaks when it was down and 2! Instead you FAKE a sneak???? Then throw the ball 3 yards backwards making the runner need 4 yards while the line is crowded??? STOP GETTING CUTE TO LOOK LIKE A GENIUS! Just play OUR game! What is with the lack of adjustments? He was just flat out bad Sunday and totally out coached. He had no response to the lack of blitzing and just tried to ram his square plan into a round hole. The OL...pretty obvious here, they couldn't protect Josh or keep themselves from committing horrible penalties. We even had another holding call that is not on the stat sheet simply because Beasley dropped the 3rd down pass making it 4th down and they declined the penalty. THE BETTER NEWS: I feel like this team is still well coached overall, they will learn from this game, and fully expect a big bounce back game for the offense next week against the Fins.

I didnt read this thread past the OP...but I already want to nominate it as one of the worst threads of the year. Why would anyone not like a SB win? This might be the more ridiculous question I have ever seen asked on here ever. Im dumfounded its gone on 5 pages.

The over exaggeration of Moss around here is over the top, and no offense, but this is way off base. Our OL was not expected to play as poor as they did. They were atrocious, not only did they fail to protect Josh, but they killed us with holding penalties, which they even had another one the stat sheet didnt show because Cole Beasley dropped the third down throw and it made it 4th and long by declining the penalty instead of like 3rd and 20+ yards. Moss being inactive had nothing to do with why we lost, literally nothing. We lost because our OL was a train wreck in general, Daboll was terrible in his scheme and play call, Josh pushed too hard to carry the team when the offense sputtered and looked for the big play rather than take what was there, and we had a blocked punt. Moss being active changes none of that. He is not suddenly blocking TJ Watt. And for the love of all things holy, what in the hell will it take for Daboll to understand that Josh is NOT Lamar, he is not a RUNNING QB...he is a Pocket Passer who can make you pay big time with his legs while extending plays and scrambling for big yards. This stupidity of making Josh a straight RB so many times in a game BEFORE the box is cleared out is so unbelievably stupid that I can not even fathom why Daboll is obsessed with it. All it does is get us 4 or 5 yards at best and risk Josh fumbling or getting hurt on big contact. There are only 3 times Josh should be running...QB sneaks, designed runs on ROLLOUTS where the threat of passing is there, or when no one is open and he has open daylight to go. He is not a damn RB, stop running him up the middle off the snap with these countless RPO's while the defense is still on in the box. That is NOT his game Daboll.

But we dominated the game in every stat category, D played great. ST unit gave up 7 of those points, otherwise it’s a different game. The D was quite good actually, Daboll and his offensive game plan and play calls was atrocious

My fiancé and I bought ponchos at the team store at Highmark last night, they had a bunch then.

Thanks and great post, spot on!

It’s amazing just how wrong and off base the majority of this thread is. There are so many absolutely ridiculous takes in here that I don’t even know where to begin. Funny how the players and team clearly highly value Star and his contributions to the team, but the fan base can be so off on what his value to the team is. So I won’t even bother because it would take too long and I’m headed to Niagara Falls today with my Fiancé and then to Waxlight A Vin for dinner later. So gonna save my energy for that 😎

I would do that in a heart beat

I think the offense he took is the "MVB" comment...not sure what the B actually stands for, but certainly comes across as referencing his skin color, and honestly thats how it came across to me too. So if B stands for something else, so be it, but that should be clarified. If it does reference his skin color, then that certainly comes across as offensive then.

I mean they should literally be on the phone right now with the Texans

Not strange at all. Watson value is enormous outside the scandal. The offers they are getting while Watson's future availability is up in the air are no where close to what they would be if it all amounted to nothing. If I am the Texans, I would rather pay him to sit and see if his legal troubles clear up. At that time, maybe they can either A) Salvage the relationship or B) Trade him for the bounty he is worth to focus on a full rebuild. Obviously the latter seems more likely than them repairing the relationship, but you never know. Everyone had Rodgers out of GB this year with most saying he had no chance to return, and now he is there one more year at least.

My answers: Edmunds: Yes. Not sure its really fair to say "breakout" year for a perennial pro bowler who leads his team in tackles every year, but I think this is the year the half of the fan base finally buys in that hasn't previously. Edmunds has areas he needs to improve on, but having a much better DL and him being healthy I think allows him to elevate his game to top 5 maybe top 3 at his position this year. Oliver: Yes. I don't think Oliver suddenly turns out a big statistical year, but I do think this year he shows his value and becomes a more consistent disruptor up the middle now that he has some beef in Star taking up space next to him. Davis: No. This is NOT a knock on Davis, I think the kid is poised for a great career. The only reason I voted no, is simply because I am not expecting his year end stats to be much different than last year, and I actually expect less TD production too. That is not because of his ability, that is because of a stacked arsenal of weapons, and he doesn't have the benefit as of now to have the #2 WR out for an extended amount of time. Diggs, Sanders, and Cole are all going to get plenty of looks, and there just isn't enough balls to go around. So while I expect him to be a great weapon for us, I am seeing a path to a statistical breakout compared to last year unless our receiving weapons miss some games. I dont really follow that logic...so you are saying a "breakout" only constitutes becoming an elite player? I would disagree...one of the best at your position, makes you Elite...and that is too narrow of a definition of a breakout. James Robinson broke out last year, he is not one of the very best at his position, in fact his team took a RB in the first round of this draft still. But he VERY much broke out last year.

Well there are only two choices...he will hit 1000, or he wont...so yeah, guess that makes it a 50-50 call haha. All kidding aside, I don't think its that bold of a call either, however, it appears to be to most as the vast majority seem to disagree he will eclipse 1000 yards. And its a fair take for them given how much we throw and having other RB's in the mix. But to me, Devin is the best RB on the roster and will out touch Moss by a lot more than people think, making 1000 not only obtainable, but likely in my mind.

Remember when people flipped out on the Diggs trade and thought Diggs was going to be a cancer...year later hes a captain and reigning top producing WR in the NFL. #ItoldYouSo

Not really a surprise, he anchors the ST unit, so pretty much a no brainer

Is Tyrod Taylor a good starting QB. No, he is not. But he is a capable one and a solid backup. I far more hated the Fitzpatrick years than I did the Tyrod years. People forget, Tyrods 3 years here were the highest scoring 3 years in Buffalo history outside of the first 3 SB years with Kelly. Unfortunately, those same 3 years were the ones that loser Rex Ryan destroyed our defense and made it one of the worst in the NFL. The amount of extreme hate he gets is mind blowing to me, especially after he helped us snap the playoff drought, and I think he also made 2 pro bowls. And while everyone of his haters likes to credit Andy Dalton with our playoff birth, I like to remind them we would have had 10 wins that year if we didnt try the failed Nathan Pickerman fiasco in LA against the Chargers. I was at that game, the Chargers were terrible and coming off a bunch of bad losses. In fact, Tyrod easily moved the ball on them once we got him into the game in the second half. Had TT played and started the whole game, we dont lose that game at all. So, IMO, TT was still a big part of us breaking the playoff skid and that I will always be grateful for. ESPECIALLY since that was one less thing on Josh Allens shoulders when he stepped onto the field to deal with. My expectations are low for TT as a starter for Houston, the team literally has one of the worst rosters in the NFL, so he is not in any way setup to succeed there. He is no where good enough to carry a bad roster. Who knows, might look ok week 1 against another bad team...but either way, its not going to be a good season for the Texans or Tyrod. Regardless I wish him the best and good luck...and hes gonna need it on that crap show of a team.

Looks like I am not the only one on the Singletary train this year for a bounce back year and more of a lead role than some think... https://billswire.usatoday.com/2021/09/07/espn-devin-singletary-buffalo-bills-zack-moss/

Making reservations for a nice dinner either Friday or Saturday night in Buffalo next week for our trip. Got some recommendations from my other thread and thought it would be fun to put them to a poll (since we already have best wings thread/poll as well someone started). So whose your fave? I added an "other" option in case you got some place you like better than the ones most often named.

You are thinking about it all wrong. Allen is a fantastic fantasy football QB no doubt, but its a terrible pick because he will be there later. Would you take a RB slated to go in the 2nd or 3rd round in the real NFL draft number 1 overall? Nope, and you shouldn't make the same mistake in fantasy football either. And the difference between the top 5 quarterbacks is fantasy is not that big. In a 10 team league, only 10 QB's start each week. Where as you need multiple RB's and WR's and the premium RB's especially go mostly in the first 2 rounds. If you take Allen first, you are going to have a weak stable of RB's and WR's overall...and that alone will kill your team. And if Allen doesn't make it to you with your second round pick, someone like Murray will be there who will put up comparable fantasy production anyway. But the RB's you get if you skip them in the first round will most likely not put up comparable fantasy production to the guy who passed up at number 1 overall. Fantasy is just a game of math. You need to create as many point advantages at each position and reduce point disadvantages at others as much as possible. Allen may end up being the top QB in fantasy, but his margin over next few may not be that big to justify the disadvantage in weekly points you are taking over the rest of your roster. And those weeks Allen doesn't have big weeks you are much more likely to lose because the lack of balance you sacrifice in your roster taking a QB first. Its simple really...if you want to be a fan playing fantasy, take Allen. If you want to increase your odds of winning fantasy football, taking any QB number 1 overall (or more importantly, over drafting your favorite players in general) is not a sound strategy, and will more often than not make your season more challenging. Nothing wrong with either approach, some people just want to play with their favorite players, and thats great if thats your reason. But I don't like losing, let alone losing money, so my approach is try and field the best team to win the league. PS: As good as Allen is, don't bank on another 8 rushing TD's. I think its plausible now that he is both too valuable and our run game should be improved to risk Allen running as much as they have in the past. So for me, I think his passing production increases and his rushing production and rushing TD's reduces.

1 Prime Space for Alphadawg (first time coming, stoked)...if not I will take a general! Thanks! My new Fiance and I just cant wait!