mjt328

Yet another reason Quarterbacks absolutely MUST be able to succeed from the pocket. It's not rare to see a rookie/young QB have success running the ball, just like Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen did last year. But eventually defenses start gearing-up to stop the run, and that's when it's up to the QB to start having success through the air. Cam Newton has been a rare case, because he's continued to get 100+ carries every single season. And the Panthers have always used his rushing ability as a key piece to their offensive attack. They never had a problem running him into the teeth of the defense, just like a Running Back. It worked much longer than most would have expected. But now in Cam's 9th season, it's clearly caught-up to him. And without being a dual threat, Cam is just an average passer. Like you said, I really hope Buffalo's coaching staff is paying attention. I definitely don't want the Bills to completely take away Allen's running ability. But I would prefer they use a Russell Wilson approach, where he still does his best to avoid hits (sliding, getting out of bounds, etc.) It's also key to keep a strong offensive line in front of him -- which is the mistake the Colts realized too late with Andrew Luck, and what the Texans are unfortunately doing wrong with Deshaun Watson.

This is why I loved Brandon Beane's strategy in the offseason. He didn't just address the O-Line position. He went out and signed every promising lineman he could get his hands on. So far, we've had to put LaAdrian Waddle on IR. We've had some preseason injury concerns for Mitch Morse, Ty Nsekhe and Quinton Spain. And our 2nd Rounder Cody Ford doesn't appear ready to take over as a full-time starter yet. Regardless, we still got a very solid performance in Week 1 from the unit. We've got some strong depth, and some options to slide people around in case of injury/performance.

If he pulls the crap he did with Pittsburgh (late to meetings, not showing up to practice, feuding publicly with his coach/QB, etc.), he will be cut by mid-season. If he pulls the crap he did with Oakland (helmet thing, Social media nonsense, etc.), then he will be gone by the end of September. There is absolutely no way that Bill Belichick will put up with him being a distraction, or putting himself above the team. And based on Brown's behavior over the last 12 months, it would seem inevitable that this will end badly. The guy seems mentally ill, and just can't seem to help himself. Which is probably why Brown won't speak another word or post another comment on Twitter, until the Patriots are 19-0 and hosting the Lombardi.

Go back to Week 2 of 2018, when Josh Allen made the first start of his career. Look at his pocket presence. Look at his ability to read a defense. Look at his mechanics. Then watch his game yesterday, and judge him in those same three areas. Anybody that doesn't notice a HUGE improvement is lying, or not paying attention. Acknowledging this does NOT mean you are blind to the places he can still improve. It's very clear that his decision-making is sometimes very poor. There were at least two horrible throws yesterday, which Allen shouldn't have attempted. (He also made one of these throws in Preseason). Honestly, I don't know what the Allen critics are seeing that I am not. I also watched Mitchell Trubisky (who is in his third year) on Thursday, and people are still excusing him as a "developing" quarterback. I watched every snap from Sam Darnold yesterday, and he was awful. Even Baker Mayfield threw 3 picks yesterday. But for some reason, it's the Bills QB who sucks.

By your logic, I guess the win doesn't count. Just the fact we had 4 turnovers.

This mentality is what drives me crazy. You can't have it both ways. We didn't get a MORAL WIN yesterday. We got a real win. Meaning 1-0 in the standings. I'm not going to discount the details. Mistakes and turnovers are something that needs to be cleaned up. But as I pointed out, the game wasn't just about dumb errors. Our offense blocked well, passed well, and when it really counted... ran well too. If you are going to say that 9 times out of 10, we lose a game with 4 turnovers and 0 points into the 4th quarter.... then fine. But 9 times out of 10, we aren't going to turn the ball over 4 times. And we aren't going to march up and down the field all day without scoring ANY points.

Of course. But what are the odds that we turn the ball over 4 times in one half again?

In my opinion, none of Josh Allen's turnovers were his fault. BUT... he probably had 3 incompletions that could have been picked off. So far, the narrative around Allen is completely off. I'm not seeing a QB that struggles with accuracy. I'm not seeing a QB that struggles with pocket presence, or one that takes off running too quickly. I'm not seeing a QB that struggles to read defenses. Allen's biggest problem is decision-making. He's got what I call "Jay Cutler Disease. There are times he's trying to do too much. Usually when the play breaks down, and he's forced to make a throw outside the pocket. This is fairly common among young QBs, so I'm not really worried yet. He just needs to learn when to let a play die, and live to fight another day.

I've also noticed a lot of criticism towards Brian Daboll's playcalling. I thought it was great. The Jets defensive strength is run defense. Their weakness is pass defense. And before the game, their players were throwing jabs at Josh Allen, saying they just needed to "make him play quarterback." The pass-heavy approach was the right one. And if not for the dumb mistakes that killed our drives and kept points off the board, everybody would be praising Daboll this morning. He can't control everything.

In review of yesterday's game, I keep reading how terrible and ineffective the Bills offense was until the 4th Quarter. I completely disagree. Were they mistake prone and sloppy at times? Absolutely. But when you really break it down, the offense was consistently putting together strong drives for a good chunk of the day. On the day, the Bills had the ball a total of 12 times. - One possession was the kneel down at the half. - One possession was running out the clock at the end of the game. - Then you have the Cole Beasley bounce (pretty much a fluke), which was returned for a touchdown. This drive was one play. - Then you have the safety (bad call by the refs), which also lasted one play. That leaves 8 true possessions for the Bills offense. 1. Drive #1 (7 plays, 37 yards): They easily marched down the field to the Jets 26 yard line. Then Dion Dawkins missed a block, resulting in the sack/strip. 2. Drive #3 (9 plays, 35 yards): Another drive into scoring position, until the Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty on Jon Feliciano. 3. Drive #4 (3 plays, 7 yards): This was a really bad series, which also included the INT that was overturned by penalty. 4. Drive #5 (9 plays, 58 yards): Yet another very strong drive, ended by the botched snap on the QB sneak. 5. Drive #6 (5 plays, 30 yards): The offense was starting to move again. Then we have the tipped pass, which was also intercepted. 6. Drive #9 (9 plays, 50 yards): Ended in our first 3 points of the day. 7. Drive #10 (8 plays, 85 yards): Touchdown 8. Drive #11 (8 plays, 80 yards): Touchdown Bottom line... On a snap-by-snap basis, I felt like the Bills controlled the game on both sides. Defense was outstanding all day. The offense had some really bad bounces and bad luck. They had some really bad mistakes at the wrong time. The narrative is that something "woke the offense up" during the 4th quarter. In reality, I think we just figured out how to finish our drives.

Not sure going by the "average" numbers from these 15 quarterbacks is a going to be an accurate measurement. Quite simply.... some QBs get better with experience and development. These guys become stars, franchise quarterbacks and solid starters. Some QBs hit a wall and fail to progress. In some cases they get worse as defenses catch-on to their tendencies. These guys turn into busts. For example, Jared Goff's completion percentage jumped by nearly 8 points from his rookie season to Year 2. He went from a 5-7 TD-INT line to 28-7, and increased his yards per game by almost 100. Meanwhile, Robert Griffin III was a Pro Bowler as a rookie, and went steadily downhill afterwards. His completion percentage dropped by 5 points. His TD-INT ration went from 20-5 to 16-12. His yards per game went up, but his yards per attempt dropped from 8.1 to 7.0. In my opinion, you aren't getting a realistic picture by averaging out the results from Goff and Griffin. One guy got better. One guy got worse. How much does Allen's processing/understanding improve? How about his mechanics and accuracy? How will he respond to defenses focusing on stopping his scrambles? Hard to quantify that by looking at a dozen or so completely different players, and averaging out their stats.

Mitch Trubisky improved a lot in his second year. But he looked really bad last night. (To be fair, Aaron Rodgers didn't look that great either). It will be interesting to see if Green Bay's new additions have drastically improved the Defense, if the offenses were just shaking off some rust, or if Trubisky has hit a wall in his development.

Totally agree about the Quarterback. I was referring more to the idea (which has become very popular among many on this board) that you MUST HAVE star players at RB and WR to succeed. But I guess we'll see. The Bills are building a roster with solid role players and strong depth, and making sure they don't have glaring weaknesses. Similar to what you see out of New England. The Jets and Raiders went out and obtained high-dollar Pro Bowlers, but still have big holes elsewhere. Let's see which approach has more success.

There are conflicting reports about how hard the Bills/Beane actually went after Antonio Brown. Some say we just did our due-diligence and checked on the price tag. Others say a deal was almost done, and Brown himself nixed it. Either way... I am so happy we avoided this headache. NFL history has shown it over... and over... and over. Success is about the "sum of the parts" more than individual star-power. Coaches will deal with off-field problems, legal troubles, and even a lack of talent. But nobody wants to deal with a selfish "me first" guy who causes distractions in the locker room.

The argument isn't whether good players like Bell/Brown can help make a team better. They obviously can. The argument was whether having them on the team makes them more respectable. I would argue it does not. The Jets and Raiders are still not a desirable destination for anyone, unless their only goal is to get paid. Nobody thought higher of the Buffalo Bills because we had LeSean McCoy. Nobody. Experts in the media have been predicting us to win 5-6 (or even less) games every season for the last decade plus, with him or without him. All the mess about Brown not wanting to come to Buffalo... that was with McCoy slated as our starting running back. In terms of Cleveland, don't forget that Buffalo is approximately one season behind them in the rebuild process. The Browns began tearing down the roster for draft picks before the 2017 draft. The Bills began tearing down the roster for draft picks after the 2017 draft. The Browns took a big step forward in 2018. If things go as planned, the Bills will take a big step forward in 2019. Odell Beckham was also traded to Cleveland. So it's not accurate to say he WANTED to play for the Browns. In fact, he was pretty upset about it. Besides, the majority of our roster is EXTREMELY young and hasn't gotten a chance to develop yet. Tre White and Matt Milano were (in my opinion) both having Pro-Bowl caliber seasons in 2018, and both were in their second years. Let's see what happens to them with another season under their belts. Not to mention Josh Allen, Tremaine Edmunds, Ed Oliver, Levi Wallace and a ton of other young guys who have shown promise.

Having LeSean McCoy on our roster didn't make us more respectable. Before his release, all I heard were "old" jokes about our backfield and how Shady's best days were behind him. Boasting a top player does not make your franchise more respected around the league. Do you think higher of the Jets because they threw a lot of money at Le'Veon Bell? Are the Raiders less of a joke because they traded for Antonio Brown? Even when McCoy was at his prime, everyone was still laughing and mocking us. The only thing that brings Buffalo respect is WINNING. That's why I don't care about ESPN's power rankings or how many primetime games we get. That's why I don't care when we get shunned by veterans who don't want to come here, or when our good players get ignored during Pro-Bowl voting. The Bills haven't done squat to earn respect in nearly 20 years. If they can start busting teams in the mouth and winning games, you will be shocked how quickly the narrative turns around on this franchise.

It's amazing. 15-20 years of watching the New England Patriots stomp their @$$e$, and most NFL executives STILL don't get it. You don't need big play makers. You don't need Fantasy Football superstars. You don't need a team full of Pro-Bowlers. In fact, many of those guys become locker room distractions and drains to the salary cap. What you need is a top QB. What you need is strong depth, and solid guys across the board who do their job. What you need is a smart game plan, and the ability to be flexible depending on opponent. Many of the league's strongest backfields use a committee-approach. The most efficient passing games are often those who spread the ball around.

One thing people tend to forget, is that cap space carries over from the previous year. Just because we have tons of space, doesn't mean we need to go crazy. As stated, we can probably start looking at early extensions for Matt Milano and maybe Dion Dawkins (if he has a really good year). We get a 5th Year Option on Tre White, so it may be a year too soon to extend him. If the Bills position themselves as contenders, don't be surprised if they target a big-time player through trade.

That's actually a poor indictment of Doug Whaley. Brandon Beane walked in the door and immediately started over. He was GM for only a few months when he began tearing down the roster. Doug Whaley tried to transition from his predecessor (Buddy Nix) and always believed the team was close to becoming a contender.

No. But he is proving to be a very good General Manager. There were many different reasons that our previous GMs failed. Some were good drafters, but couldn't manage the cap. Some were great in Free Agency, but constantly picked busts on draft day. Some lacked forward thinking when building the roster. Some just couldn't get on the same page as their head coach. But Beane seems to be the complete package. In order to be successful at trading, a person needs to: a) Know the strengths and weaknesses of not just his own roster, but the other teams in the NFL. b) Develop strong relationships around the league, and be willing to work the phones. c) Be clever enough to sell another front office on a deal. Let's be honest. Not every GM has these qualities.

People who cover the Bills seemed to give Wyatt Taller a 50-50 shot of making the team, especially after the addition of Ryan Bates. The fact that we traded him for future picks makes it pretty clear. He wasn't going to make it. What's astounding is, Teller played pretty well this offseason and is still very young. It says a lot about the talent Brandon Beane has added at O-Line. Prior to Free Agency, he was possibly our second best linemen. Five months later, he's on the outside looking in. It also says something about Beane's ability to get something out of nothing.

Backup QB is an unused luxury... until it isn't. Without Nick Foles, the Eagles don't win the Super Bowl - and are instead complaining how an injury to Carson Wentz destroyed their season. There are MANY instances where a good backup can win 1-2 games during an untimely injury, keeping a team in a playoff race. How many times did Frank Reich come through for us during the Super Bowl years?

Every coach is different. Some want to use Game 3 to shake the rust off, and have no problem giving starters significant time. Some just want to get through the Preseason without injuries, and keep their key players on the bench. Watching our strategy (on offense in particular), it was clear that Sean McDermott uses each game to practice a different aspect of the scheme. For instance, Game 1 saw the offense working almost exclusively on downfield routes. In Game 2, we switched to mostly short/high efficiency passes. Then Game 3 was almost entirely running the ball, until the 2 minute drill.

So Miami gives up a (probably high) 2nd Round Pick.... to rent Jadeveon Clowney for exactly one-year... during a season most are expecting them to win less than 5 games. And then after the season concludes, he will become a Free Agent and sign with Seattle or Philadelphia. I'm 100% down with this.

Not sure the Bills even need a practice squad QB. Based on what we've seen against preseason 3rd stringers, Tyree Jackson is nowhere close to being capable of running an offense. He won't be active on gamedays. And in the event we needed a #3 quarterback to actually play, our front office would certainly scan the waiver wire for vets before putting Jackson on the field. We don't really need to develop another "future" guy. Both of our current Quarterbacks are young, and should be around for the next several years. Jackson is obviously not displacing Josh Allen anytime soon. At worst, Allen will get another 3-4 seasons to prove himself. Matt Barkley is also only 28, and has developed into a dependable NFL backup.