starrymessenger

Assuming you've got the arm strength, and JA does, the long ball is a touch pass. Touch (or the lack thereof) has been Josh's kryptonite as a passer. The encouraging thing is that he has improved his touch throws in the short passing game Eg to backs in the flats. Hope it's just a question of time.

Dont kid yourself. League will adjust, and when it does ...they will struggle. This is not an O you can run successfully indefinitely. Either it evolves (with Jackson) or it will eventually go the way of the dinosaur.

What they do they do well. But this is strictly a limited purpose offence. A half way decent TE goes down and they struggle.

Jets have a lot of problems, O-line being just one of them. They can't pressure the quarterback so they draft another DT, Q. Williams, ahead of Josh Allen (the pass rusher). Q winds up just replacing L. Williams, with his talent relegated to run stuffing. There are some good DTs in the next draft. They will likely wind up picking another one lol. Their secondary is in need of an overhaul almost as much as their O-line. I would have no confidence in Gase. Right now it's not looking good for Sam. I see his floor as being another Andy Dalton, with his ceiling as somewhat higher. But his HC is a bug eyed zombie. Oddly, I actually see Rosen in a better place. Unlike most rotten branches of the Belichick tree, Brian Flores strikes me as someone who might actually be quite good. We will see if they decide to go with Rosen or draft another QB. The AFCE has been a boring division for more than a decade now. I wouldn't mind seeing a more competitive landscape TBH. And I suspect it will be.

I get that the "business as usual" tone is what you expect to see from a professional athlete, but of course the game is huge not just for its post season implications but even more so because of its compelling interest for football fans and pundits everywhere as a fascinating match up. For reasons that we all know, the Ravens have the most electric and exciting offence in this year's NFL. It also is something of a scheme dependant novelty that in and of itself naturally attracts a lot of attention and challenges a lot of conventional thinking. Against that you have one of the very best defences in the game, arguably elite or close to, guided by a couple of the most capable defensive minds. The Raven's have an physical, ultra aggressive O. The Bills have an attacking, mostly single gap responsibility defensive alignment. Advantage Raven's? What adjustments to their front and pressure packages will McDermott and Frazier implement? Is the Raven's passing game good enuf to stand alone if they are held to short yardage on early downs and are forced to pass against the league's most efficient pass D? Would this be a recipe for turnovers? And of course you've got two of the most promising and exciting young QBs going head to head. What more could you ask for if you are in any sense a fan of the game itself and not just of a particular team? That's why this game will be played under the spotlight of intense national attention and is really not just another game. Im just hoping that it lives up to its billing (and that the Bills can pull off the upset of course). Its been a very long time since the Bills have gotten to perform on so prominent a stage.

You trade up if you need to to nab a legit franchise QB prospect. Always. Ravens did it too.

Pope gets all kinds of presents. Didn't Lyndon Johnson once give him a small statue of himself as President?

To me it's not rocket science. they are both phenomenal athletes. Allen has great wheels but nobody has Lamar's wheels, never in league history. Allen has a significantly stronger arm, but Lamar's arm is strong enuf. Both are improving a lot with regard to accuracy/ball placement (especially Josh, but he had further to go). They both show good football smarts. Allen probably has a better chance of developing into a more complete pro QB executing a more diversified offence. Lamar has notably not been asked to make the kind of downfield reads that are necessary to a fully developed passing game. Probably he will get there in time but they are bringing him along carefully. Being able to do that is crucial because otherwise eventually he wind up in concussion protocol. I very much doubt that Lamar will ever be able to make all the throws quite as well as Josh will if Allen develops simply because of the difference in arm strength. They are both great young players at the all important position but they are not the only promising novices. We have come a long way since the days when Jameis and Mariota were considered elite prospects.

That offence is not sustainable without Lamar. He's the motor that makes it go, not only because of what he can do physically (which may be unique in league history), but because of Roman's brilliant play design that, leveraging off fear of what Lamar can do, creatively opens running lanes for guys like Ingram. To Lamar's credit he needs to make the right reads at the LOS and post snap for that to happen and he's been able to do that with great proficiency. In the passing game they are not putting too much on his plate. He's effective throwing to his TEs especially when out of the pocket when the defence has to account for him. He also does throw outside the hash but almost only in the relatively shallow flats. If he's to progress to Wilson's level he will need to show that he can manage downfield reads, which so far he has not done. If he can do that while maintaining the good accuracy and ball placement he has shown look out. In fact IMO he will need to do that because otherwise he will wind up in routine concussion protocol. He's a pretty big guy and is good at avoiding major impacts but in this league it's really only a matter of time. Personally I'm sceptical about his chances of executing a fully developed passing game and suspect you might start seeing turnovers. So I say "show me". But if he can he's going to be flat out great.

Brown is a very good and polished professional receiver. He can help you in a lot of ways. I was of course aware of his rep as a burner but I'm now even more impressed with how smoothly he comes out of his breaks and with how complete his route tree is. He knows how to help out his QB and has had, and will continue to have, an important role in Allen's development as a passer. The same can be said about Beasley, who is a top slot receiver and who almost impossible to cover underneath and in the red zone. Really impressed with Beane's acumen in pursuing these guys. Worked out well for them too needless to say.

Because of their backs and O-line Ravens have a good NFL calibre ground game without Lamar. With him and Roman they take it to another level and best in class. Being himself a great runner he makes the other parts of it that much better. The Ravens O is not unidimensional but their passing game largely (and I would say disproportionately) leverages off the ground game. At the end of the day, great as it is, it is not really a balanced and properly diversified attack. All the pre-draft scuttlebutt about Lamar not being able to throw was nonsense. His arm strength is good but not great. Some question his accuracy but I don't. His ball placement looks pretty good to me. Having said that I see no evidence of him being able to make all the throws and while of course he may improve my sense of it is that there is probably not a lot of upside there otherwise we would have seen more of it by now. In fact we have seen none of it IMO. So while it was wrong for people to call him a running back (or a wide receiver) at this level he is and is likely to remain a running quarterback. Lamar is great at what he does but he, and the Raven's O, is not likely to ever get any better and it is vulnerable because of its necessary dependence on the ground game (because Lamar is limited as a passer). DCs will eventually catch up and I agree with what other posters here have said about setting the edge, bringing pressure up the middle, maintaining gap responsibility and covering the middle of the field (and control time of possession if you can). Over time if Allen continues to progress at the rate he has he will be a more complete pro quarterback and with a few more playmakers the Bills offence will ultimately be harder to defend. Much as I like Lamar I would not today trade Allen for the league's likely MVP. As others have said we probably match up reasonably well with Baltimore. Not confidently predicting a win because they are at the peak of their game but it should be very interesting. Really eager to see how McD and Frazier deal with it. They are pretty good after all.

I agree. Shenault is probably the greatest playmaker in college football - period. And as you point out he's incredibly versatile. While true that he has missed playing time with nagging injuries it's nothing that puts his career in doubt and it explains why you may be able to land him in the second round when he is top ten material. As a second round pick he would be a colossal steal. Some observers actually speculate third but that's not happening IMO. Beane sometimes has a tendency for drafting the most spectacular athlete with the highest ceiling. Shenault fills the bill. Unlike Metcalf there is plenty of tape to back him up.

To me this should be seen as a reaction to being disrespected all year, and especially going into the Cowboy's house on the national stage with everyone expecting Dallas to bounce back against a perceived "bottom feeder" after a tough loss in NE. I don't think many people expected the Bills to win. Just not getting blown out would be a kind of victory. Instead they pretty much dominated. What's my name? Whack! Sometimes, rightly or wrongly, little things make an impression on me. I remember close up coverage of Trent Edwards on the sidelines before a game with Cleveland that we narrowly lost (he was ineffectual). This was before he flamed out and while there was still hope that me might develop. What struck me was his eyes. They were dead. I remember thinking this guy has no confidence and will never make it. Before the start of the Dallas game they showed some close ups of Tre White stretching. As we know, Tre is a joker. I half expected him to at least acknowledge the camera that was pretty much in his face. He didn't seem to know it was there. His head was in another world. His expression was absolutely stone cold. All business. I figured "the team is showing up today, and it's going to be a good game" (though for sure I didn't know how good). As for Zeke, he gets what he deserves. I think Philips should have a job with Comedy Central after he's done with football.

Yeah his highlight reel reminds me of Singletary.

Given his worship of Brady you'd think he might see something in Allen. There was a play yesterday when Allen stood in the pocket with a ridiculous amount of time. He stood there forever motionless like a statue absolutely calm as he waited for something to develop then he uncorked a laser to I don't remember who exactly. It occurred to me that I had seen the same picture before not to so long ago. It was when Brady was still in his prime and had a good offensive line. Funny thing is that a poster on the Pats board had precisely the same reaction.

Allen is the best prospect in a very good class. The reason is because he has the most complete skillset for playing the position and scores highly in every relevant performance category. I say this taking into account his noticeable recent improvement. Not surprising since if on draft day people knew he would start to realize on his incredible upside potential he would have been the first overall pick. He'd be # 1 in my draft redo for sure.

Yeah, makem cry lol

I don't think McD would have done well with that ownership and under that general management. So the question is would Jauron have looked more like McD were he coaching the Bills today. I don't claim to know the answer but I wouldn't be surprised if it is "yes".

I think first half strength of schedule benefitted the Bills a lot, more especially Allen and the offence in general (including Daboll). The takeaway though is not, as most in the national media concluded, that the Bills are therefore pretenders. On the contrary it gave them the opportunity, well used, to improve against lesser competition so that they could be competitive against better teams now. Call me crazy but I rate them at or very near even money with the Pats at this time. They actually outplayed them earlier this year except that Allen had a horrendous game with lots of TOs. He has cleaned up his ball security and has otherwise improved his game a lot. He is a very different QB now than he was then. He's a better QB than today's Tom Brady IMO. Bills will seriously challenge for the division title next year. They could very well be favoured. Im more interested in seeing how they make out against Lamar and the Ravens because, at least in my mind, the question is whether the power run game continues to be their kryptonite. If McD and Frazier have figured out how to scheme for that the Bills will be a very dangerous team in the playoffs. On O things are coming together. Their talent at all positions except at QB is acceptable by NFL standards, but not more than that. Thing is they are hugely talented at the all important position and that by itself can raise the level considerably.

Romo is great but he was clearly disappointed (which is understandable, him being a Cowboy and all). Bills left him with nothing to be thankful for.

Not likely but possible. Whether it's for the division championship or not the Bills have a good chance of beating the Pats when they next meet. Not taking anything away from the Pats D but Allen had a horrendous game the last time and the Bills otherwise clearly outplayed them. NE won't be facing the same QB or O the next time and I think the Bills have a real shot at shutting Brady down. It's a pretty even matchup IMO even playing in Foxborough. Plus the Bills are the team on the rise. Tom not so much.

Yep. I don't recall the depth of the drop exactly but this is what he did on the TD pass to Brown last week and he never looked better IMO. I don't have a problem with happy feet either as long as it's done to ensure the best stability, weight transfer and general mechanics as the QB is going through his progressions before pulling the trigger. It promotes accuracy and that's why Peyton and Brady do/did it.

I'm Canadian but my brother is American and is visiting from Salt Lake City. My wife looks for any excuse to break out the silver ware so PVR is likely to be my only hope.

Ravens have a killer ground game no doubt about it. It's pretty obvious that to beat them you have to shut it down, or at least control it, or keep it off the field etc... Otherwise you are going to lose. Lamar is uber talented and fun to watch but what you do to him is what you do to any young player under centre - you force him to be a quarterback and beat you with his arm. Looks very much to me like there are things that Lamar can do, and do well, passing the football, and still things, lots of them, that he has yet to prove that he can do and really hasn't shown yet. If they aren't running wild Lamar's assignment as far as throwing the football goes gets much more difficult. As others have said maybe stack the box, blitz selectively, have Tre man cover Brown, ask Hyde and Poyer to patrol the centre of the field to minimize the TEs and maybe you've got a chance. As good as they are (loved seeing their O-line destroy the Rams' front) Roman still has to gameplan and pick his spots. Had they tried running inside the tackles yesterday they would likely have met with much less success. I wonder where/how exactly they will choose to run at the Bills. Also worth mentioning that the Rams were hot garbage last night. Out coached on both sides of the ball and not ready to play. That's on the coaches. I've never seen AD look so ineffectual. Just standing around all night not doing anything. Really looking forward to the Ravens-49rs matchup. It won't look anything like yesterday IMO.

Not good.