starrymessenger

It looks like we are entering into something of a golden age of exceedingly talented young QBs. In the last four years what looks to me to be an unusually large number of them have entered the league. Its not just the number but also the raw skill level (raw because all rooks, especially QBs are raw). My impression is that for the many years that the Bills and other QB needy teams were scouring the college ranks fewer bona fides franchise prospects were coming into the league. In recent years a plethora of talented players have shown up with “franchise” stamped on their foreheads. Each of them gives every indication of being the real deal. It makes no sense to limit discussion to just Allen and PM. I agree with those who say that Allen is the most physically gifted player at the position. That has always been my opinion. Before the draft in checking out what tape there was, the dominance of his physical skills was absolutely startling (esp his arm strength- I didn’t think I had ever seen anything quite like it). He was clearly the most dominant player on the field. Ok so it’s WYO. But the thing is he continued to flash as the most physically dominant player once he became a starter as the rawest of rookies. The Anthony Barr hurdle is a good but not unique illustration. Its true to say, I believe, that Allen has continued to progress year over year so far while PM appears to have plateaud. Mind you it’s also possible that PM does not have as many things to improve on to get better. Somebody like Zero who sees him all the time might be able to say what, if anything , he still has to work on. As has been pointed out, Allen sometimes lacks touch on certain of his throws. I’m not overly concerned. When people said Allen was not accurate there was something about that I found incongruous with reality because going all the way to his college tape there was plenty of examples of him making precise throws with excellent ball placement as well as anticipation. Its just that he wasn’t doing it consistently. I think that last year we saw plenty of evidence of him making accurate passes, sometimes really incredibly accurate throws. To me this is relevant to the touch issue and probably also to the timing with receivers relative to the long ball. The reason is that unless I’ve been dreaming I’ve seen him make difficult throws requiring great touch, its just that he needs to do it with greater consistency. So just as his general accuracy has improved with better mechanics, I expect his finesse throws to improve as well (and his long ball accuracy). Mind you, it’s always been a mystery to me why some guys struggle hitting a back who is standing 5-10 yards away from them. Lossman had that problem. I’m told that those tosses are actually more difficult to make than they appear and really require the right footwork. As a running QB, Allen is probably second only to Lamar. As a passer I don’t think overall any of the younger QBs are better and most are not in the same area code. Lamar in particular isn’t half bad at all but he is limited in arm strength and not nearly in Allen’s class. Burrow is not a threat to run with ball. Mahomes is a smart runner who can definitely help himself out with his legs, but unlike Lamar and Allen he doesn’t offer the same possibility for breaking a game wide open rushing the ball. Burrow is not a weapon in the run game. Herbert is mobile but again designed runs are not a part of his game and not a feature of the offence the Chargers are operating. He’s not in any event as fast as Allen nor are his reactions in space as quick. Mayfield is strictly a passer. To my surprise the only other young QB who may be capable of offering an OC the same menu of options as Allen is Murray, but he’s small and therefore possibly more injury prone. In any event, he cannot because of his stature run with the same power and authority as Allen. And there is something else that I think separates Allen from the rest of the field and it is this: the best way to shut down any QB , is to get in his face. Thats what the Bucs did to PM in last years championship of course. However Allen has great escapability, can punish you as a runner and can throw with zip and accuracy while on the run to absolutely any spot on the field, including the opposite side. Once forced outside the pocket that’s what he’s always looking to do. So a play that starts to look like a disaster for the Bills winds up being a backbreaker for the opposition. Nobody in the game is better able to do that than Allen. There are other things to consider of course eg the ability to make pre and post snap reads, to audiblize accordingly when necessary, to go through progressions etc… Apparently Herbert and Burrow both do this very well but I can remember many instances of Allen doing it very well too. I don’t think I would give them the advantage but I can’t be sure about that because I don’t see those guys very much. I like Allen,s intangibles and leadership a bit more than Mahomes. Again there are probably others in the group with those skills but I find it hard to imagine that they would be ahead of Allen in that department. All in all I’m pretty satisfied with what we’ve got.

Agree. I don't actually think coach had much of a choice. What message does it communicate when you take the ball out of Josh Allen's hands in a situation like that. Would signal a total lack of confidence in your centerpiece player.

OP is right. Bills O has not yet settled in. Perhaps to be expected early on. When it all comes together later this year its gonna be awesome.

Their D is historically bad right now. They had no chance.

Going forward its all about the monster QBs. Allen vs Herbert. PM gets an honourable mention. Justin Herbert fell into their lap. Then he fell out again lol.

Nick Wright has found a way to draw attention to himself. The way he set it up the more Allen accomplishes the more he gets to bellyache. After the Bills win the championship there will be the ultimate Nick event. He knows that many people, especially Bills fans, will dump all over him but his humiliation is part of his speil. Its just the WWF, certainly not analysis. And as good as his boy PM is , I suspect the top billing going forward, and for some time in the future, is more likely to be Allen vs Herbert. Monster QBs. Bigger is better.

Fair comment. He probably knows tom better lol BTW the Mills kid showed me some good things today.

he is such a great kid/player I wish he had gone elsewhere

he pretty much confused and shut down tom

Herbert fooled them.

Herbert looks off really well.

Except they do it a lot and successfully.

or extra point

The more I see of Bills' management, the more I am impressed by them.

I've felt that overall Tremaine has underperformed relative to where he was taken in the draft and relative to his athleticism. If he can build on last week's performance the Bills will be a huge beneficiary because it can turn them into a powerhouse on both sides of the ball and a clear cut above the competition. He's a very important piece.

We've seen at different times and for lengthy intervals over the last few years the Chiefs playing their best, which, needless to say, is at a very high level. Bills performance has been spotier overall, even while generally continuing to progress. This is mainly because of Allen and where he's at in his development at any point in time. He is only now starting to come into the fullness of his talent. What the Bills are able to do will always be pretty closely correlated with his performance but as he continues to settle down I think we can look forward to seeing an offence that rivals or exceeds the best that we have seen in recent years from the Chiefs. It hasn't happened yet but I think before the end of this year we will see things fall into place.

With Gilmore, the Bills could go from competing for the championship to being favoured.

Schefter looked familiar, but he seemed so small I hardly recognized him. Anyway, he's obviously an idiot. Not bringing Allen or Murray or Burrow into the convo without explanation was pretty stupid.

ok we don't have to go there and I respect your fanhood. But I can't help it I've just got to say that Josh's accuracy was very spotty, inconsistent, but for reasons that suggested it was correctible. Beyond his ability as a runner and appearance as a rare physical specimen, there was plenty of college tape of Josh making all the throws accurately. He just needed to do it more often. Thats why Beane wanted him so bad. Given the degree of difficulty of many of his throws, Allen is now one of the most accurate QBs in the league.

Only his stat line was bad Allen's his first two years. If you actually watched him play you knew, or should have known, that Allen was a very special developing talent. Lots of posters on this board knew enuf football to see that, and they said as much (and not because they were homers). Not you I guess. Anybody can read a stat line. Seeing the value or lack thereof in a developing player is the hard part. As for saying that Herbert is going to be better than Allen, you are of course entitled to your opinion but I don't share it (though I like Herbert a lot). I wouldn't be too impressed with any silly thing Schefter said. To me Allen looks to have an even stronger arm, is more dangerous as a runner or as a passer outside the pocket, and offers the playcaller more options for gameplanning (which makes the O overall more difficult to contain). I could be dead wrong but those are my first impressions.

To me there are many similarities between Allen and Herbert, each a monster QB, but probably as their careers progress we will begin to better see the differences. Although Herbert is said to go through his progressions with great speed, as a quick and dirty preliminary comment I get the impression that Allen has shown more ability to anticipate the likely development of live action as its happening. Its winds up being a timing and ball placement issue, both important components of accuracy, which is ironic given that accuracy was supposed to be Allen's achilles heal. Herbert of course is very accurate but I think he relies more on his and his receivers height/length to throw over smaller DBs from the pocket. I've never seen Herbert make a TD throw like Allen did to Diggs to the left corner of the end zone last year or the exact same throw he made to Sanders in the right corner of the end zone this year (at least I haven't seen it yet). This ability is most evident when Allen has to improvise off a broken play but its also a factor when throwing from the pocket or RPOs. So I think that Allen has shown more arm talent than Herbert so far but its early days and there isn't much to go on. I wouldn't be surprised if both of them surpass PM in time.

His athleticism far exceeds Ertz's. Potentially I think he can be better than Goedert (who is good). He's made some great catches. If the drops are a thing of the past he will give the offence a significant boost from a position that has been lacking. Haven't really checked out his blocking this year.

Nows a good time to play and beat them. They will be a lot better on D later when they get healthy. Not saying we wont beat them later, just that Spags will have more to work with.

Yeah but I think all but one Hill connection (the last one) were underneath (for YAC agreed) and not over the top for huge yardage through the air (I was back and forth with Bills game). You are not likely to shut Hill down completely but maybe you can better bend and not break. Taking away the big quick gamebreaking plays is one key. I haven't checked the stat-line but I think the Eagles seemed to contain Kelce better than most teams do. And PM seems to have developed a bit of a penchant for making bad decisions. When the game was still up for grabs he threw a terrible pick when targeting Kelce. Eagles had 3 TDs called back. The game was surprisingly competitive. Hurts was a handful for that D. Allen and the Bills O will be a lot tougher. Hopefully Daboll has learned his lesson and comes with a good gameplan, playcalls and the right adjustments if needed. Do that and they will put up lots of production and points. Chiefs have been better than us but the gap is definitely narrowing. If the D has a good day, I'm pretty confident we win. We scored 40 points last week while not playing nearly to our potential on O.

From what I've been able to see both Fields and Jones are talented youngsters who have a good chance to be successful if brought along properly. Tua? IDK.