mjt328

Why can't you teach instincts? It's basically just reading a play, recognizing what is happening quickly and then reacting. There is absolutely no reason that with on-field experience, film study and proper coaching, that Tremaine Edmunds cannot improve in this area. It's like the people that say ACCURACY cannot be taught. Well, except that accuracy usually comes down to mechanics and footwork - and there are literally hundreds of experts employed by college and NFL teams to help QBs improve in these areas. And there are literally hundreds of NFL quarterbacks (including veterans) who say they have been able to improve their accuracy over the years.

The biggest reason young players improve in Years 1, 2, etc. is experience. Virtually every NFL player (even the ones who play GREAT as rookies) talks about how difficult it is to process the difference from college to the pros. It takes time for the game to slow-down. This is not a difficult concept. Out of all the things that confuse/baffle me about this message board... This may be the most puzzling. I just can't understand how football fans who watch this sport ALL THE TIME, are determined to judge young players as busts as ROOKIES. People were saying the same thing last year about Zay Jones. They are saying the same thing about Josh Allen this year. Seriously. Do people just sit on their couches at home, and after 13 games say "Well, I guess that Edmunds guy is never going to get it." Honestly, it's ridiculous.

They are still a good defense. But probably not as good as they appeared earlier in the season. With the offense finally putting up points, teams aren't playing as conservative against our defense. They are opening things up and attacking a little bit more. And we are getting exposed in several different areas. - Our linebackers (Milano and Edmunds) are often caught in the wrong gaps or getting swallowed up in the run game. I known many people think we need to move Edmunds to the outside, but don't forget that he's only 20-years-old and has a very large frame. Don't be surprised if the coaches get him to put some weight on in the offseason, to help with shedding blocks. And hopefully the instincts improve with time. - The pass rush is inconsistent. I find this to be the case with 95% of teams around the league. They get lots of pressure one week, but can't the next week. Since Leslie Frasier is not the type of guy who likes dialing up blitzes, that means we probably need some more help on the D-Line. Shaq Lawson, Trent Murphy, Harrison Phillips and Jordan Phillips are all good players and valuable to our rotation. But none are great at getting QB pressure. Kyle Williams was that guy for a long time, but he's not consistent anymore. If we get a Top 3-5 pick, don't be surprised if we go DT. - Behind Tre'Davious White, our play at cornerback has ranged from mediocre to awful. I like Taron Johnson in the slot, but we need another starting outside CB and some better depth. We've tried multiple guys here, but nobody has been impressive.

When people start getting excited about Josh Allen's performance Sunday, the assumption is that we are talking about his rushing totals. But for me, the encouraging part is his growth in the passing game. Forget all the scrambles. Look at his first touchdown throw to Zay Jones. Look at his second touchdown throw to Zay Jones. Look at what SHOULD HAVE been a touchdown throw to Kelvin Benjamin (but he predictably dropped it). Look at the 3rd Down sideline pass from out of his endzone. Look at that touch pass to Patrick DiMarco down the sidelines. Heck... Even look at the final play of the game. Yes, it was a little bit short. But consider how much skill it took to even get the throw off - and realize it was a fingertip from being one of the most amazing plays the NFL has seen all year. How many guys have the scrambling ability AND arm to make that play? Maybe Rodgers, Newton and Mahomes?

I always try to be realistic. When they drafted Josh Allen, I honestly was disappointed. After reviewing almost all of the games from his senior year, I just felt like he had too much to improve on. With all the "sure thing" quarterbacks that fail in this league, why draft such a huge project - especially when a more NFL-ready QB was staring them right in the face (Josh Rosen). Since training camp, I have closely followed Allen's progress. I read all the training camp reports I could find. I watched every preseason snap. I've read up on All-22 Reviews during the season, and gone back after the games to re-watch all of his plays. I'm very aware that Allen's rushing ability will only get him so far. He needs to become a good NFL passer to ultimately be successful. So every time he breaks out a 25-yard scramble, I'm excited for the team, but I take it with a grain of salt when considering his development. With that said... I think the potential we see in Allen's passing ability and his growth over the last 3-4 months has been very apparent. From pocket presence, to reading the defense, to release time, to accuracy, etc. He is improving. Now he's obviously still got a ways to go, and if the growth stops here - he will ultimately flame-out as a long-term starter in this league. No doubt. But at the same time, the improvement we are already seeing is more than we EVER got from EJ Manuel. He's already in a place that JP Losman took at least 2-3 seasons to reach. And I think his downside has already reached Tyrod Taylor/Ryan Fitzpatrick levels. Comparing Allen to the other rookie QBs around the league, you can see that all 5 guys are making similar mistakes. It's just too early to tell about any of them. The encouraging thing about Allen is that: a) He was considered "rawer" than the other guys about 6 months ago, and has already reached about the same level, and b) His potential/ceiling is much higher.

I don't follow the Packers really close, but I do watch 5-6 of their games each season. It's hard for me to believe Mike McCarthy is THE problem after almost 13 years of being successful at that job. Seems more like a case of the head coach being the scapegoat. In one sense, the Packers front office has it REALLY easy. They have possibly the NFL's best quarterback, meaning they are completely set at the most important position (and have been since about 1992). If they can build even a half-decent roster around him, they should always be in serious playoff contention. But at the same time, Aaron Rodgers counts for almost 12 percent of the team's salary cap - by himself. The Packers don't have the luxury to be big spenders in free agency, and are often forced to let young talent walk (Micah Hyde for instance) right in their prime. So even though the toughest position is already taken care of, they cannot afford lackluster drafts and really need to make sure every contract dollar counts. With that said, I don't think the Packers have drafted well over the last 3-4 years. And it's finally caught up to them. The roster around Rodgers is simply NOT good anymore. At 35 years old (and injured), he is struggling to carry it all by himself. Remember that Rodgers' game has always been about his athletic ability and arm strength, so age will factor quicker than with someone like Tom Brady or Drew Brees.

Remind me what our D-Line looked like at the end of 2017. We desperately needed help. The reason Murphy and Lotulelei are "rotational" is because we were able to ALSO add Harrison Phillips in the draft, Jordan Phillips in free agency - not to mention convincing Kyle Williams to stay another year, and getting a breakout season from Shaq Lawson. Both were good adds. Not Pro-Bowlers. But players that help make this team better. And if you don't see the improvement in our Defense this season, you simply don't understand football. Plain and simple. And for the millionth time. This rebuilding project was not about JUST 2018. It was about the long-term future of this team. If Beane had used his resources on the offensive instead, everyone would be complaining that he "ignored" the defense.

When Brandon Beane speaks, it shows how clueless many whiny-@$$ people on this board really are. He clearly sees the deficiencies in our offense. He clearly saw them last offseason. But wanting something and being able to realistically obtain them is not always the same thing. We didn't have the salary cap space or the interest from guys they wanted in Free Agency, so the money went towards the defensive holes instead. After landing Allen, the draft board just didn't make it worth reaching for offensive linemen or offensive weapons, compared to the defensive talent sitting there. Beane isn't trying to rebuild the 84 Bears. He wants a powerhouse offense that can put up 30+ points every week. But he's not going to shell-out terrible/overpriced contracts or reach in the draft, just to satisfy an impatient fanbase. He knows the way to properly build a team is by being patient and smart.

I have the same question. If the Bills kept him on the roster for 4 more games, Kelvin Benjamin becomes an unrestricted free agent. Assuming he signs a decent contract (not sure how likely that is), it factors into the compensatory pick formula.

Early in the season, I thought the issues were more related to the O-Line and poor play at QB. But as the year has gone on, I'm becoming more skeptical. There are times that he's got a lane, and the acceleration just doesn't seem to be there anymore. At 30 years old and 10 years in the NFL, we shouldn't really be surprised though.

We badly needed help on the D-Line this offseason, and Trent Murphy has been a solid rotational DE when healthy. Part of the reason that he's playing less is because the "younger and healthier" Shaq Lawson is developing into one of our better players. Not because he is playing bad. Overall his cap hit (https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/trent-murphy-14456/) the next two years is pretty easy to manage ($6.8 and 7.2 million). Especially considering the large amount of cap space we have available. And if the Bills decide to move on, the dead cap is only $3.5 and $1.7 million in 2019-2020 - not the large number that you stated in the original post. I'm also curious about your comment of Beane/McDermott "losing the locker room" this season, which is a total joke with absolutely no basis. This team was a finger-tip catch away from winning 3 games in a row.

People are overly critical of Josh Allen because: 1. Many people didn't like him as a prospect, hated the pick and were very vocal about it. If he succeeds, they will be wrong. Which is very tough for some people to admit. 2. Almost two decades of failure have much of the fanbase skeptical and pessimistic about anything involving this franchise. They are afraid to let themselves get excited that he might be good, out of fear of being disappointed.

I agree that if Allen doesn't become a good passer, then teams will be able to stop him with a similar defense as what you said above. Keep him in the pocket and force him to make plays with his arm. But I think Allen's critics (and there are many on this board) are just looking at his crazy rushing numbers, and are ignoring the improvements we are seeing in his passing. For anyone paying attention, the growth is pretty obvious to see. He's making better reads, and doing it quicker than what he was doing back in September/October. When he was drafted, I considered him WAY behind Mayfield, Darnold and Rosen in terms of throwing mechanics, accuracy and pocket presence. He was basically a raw lump of clay with tons of athletic potential. Seven months later, and I think he's already pretty much caught-up to those guys. Obviously Allen has a long-ways to go. But we are seeing progression, which isn't something that could ever be said about our last 1st Round QBs. The EJ Manuel we saw in Week 1-2 of his 2013 rookie season was probably the best he ever played in the NFL. It took JP Losman until the middle of his third season before he finally showed a glimpse of being adequate, but was all downhill from that point.

I watched almost every game from Josh Allen's senior year, and his poor mechanics constantly forced him into making inaccurate throws. That is the main reason I was concerned about the Bills drafting him, and greatly preferred taking the safer pick in Josh Rosen. However in the 7-8 games Allen has appeared in as a rookie, I've noticed a pretty significant improvement in this area. Not just from his senior year in college, but also a big improvement between the first month of the season and what we have seen over the last two games. He's still missing a few more throws than what I would like. But the bad throws are coming with less frequency and the good throws are happening more often. I agree that completion percentage is not the best way of determining a player's accuracy. You have to consider the distance of the pass, how much of a window the QB is throwing into, what kind of route the receiver is running, pressure coming from the defense, etc., etc. Many "horrible misses" are a actually product of miscommunication or bad timing (basically expecting the receiver to be in a different place) than a sign of poor accuracy. It's also important to consider the reason behind an inaccurate pass. Most players miss throws because of poor mechanics (footwork and body positioning). A guy like Ryan Fitzpatrick always struggled with accuracy downfield, because he always had to sacrifice his mechanics to make-up for his mediocre arm strength. He could rifle a nice 5-10 yard slant. But he could never get consistent on 25-30 yards throws. In contrast, EJ Manuel had the arm strength. But by the time he reached the NFL, his bad habits/horrible mechanics were already set in stone. We know Allen has the physical ability to complete every pass. So it's encouraging to see that he CAN be molded and improve his mechanics. Hopefully he just keeps getting better and better, and doesn't hit a wall.

How many QBs in the NFL could run around the pocket that much, escaping defenders left and right... then make a perfect strike from 40+ yards out? If Charles Clay doesn't trip over his own feet, he could have made that catch without diving.

Every QB misses throws. I'm literally sitting here watching Red Zone, and in the Chiefs-Raiders game Patrick Mahomes just overthrew Tyreek HIll on back-to-back passes. They flipped it over to Patriots-Vikings and Tom Brady immediately under-threw his receiver by about 5 yards (still caught). Drew Brees is probably the most accurate QB I've ever seen, and he was missing lots of throws high on Thursday night. Aaron Rodgers pretty much lost the Packers their game a week ago by overthrowing Adams in the endzone. Honestly, I haven't seen a regular pattern of bad accuracy from Josh Allen this year. He seems to have 1-2 throws each week where misses an easy throw (usually because he doesn't set his feet). But it's not a case where he just consistently struggles to get the ball on his receiver. Many of his misses are way downfield where accuracy is spotty for everyone, or cases of miscommunication (see the Zay Jones play) with his receivers. On the flip-side, you can see a handful of times each week that he can make perfect strikes 25-30 yards downfield and hit his guys in stride. Now... EJ Manuel struggled with bad accuracy. He almost NEVER hit receivers in stride. He always forced them to stop in mid-route or stretch-out to make catches. It wasn't a case where he sometimes failed in his mechanics. It was a situation where he just didn't know how to throw an accurate football to a moving target.

You can teach footwork and body mechanics, which greatly improve accuracy. Sure, it's not easy to teach a guy in his early-20s to change these things after coming into the NFL. But it's not completely unheard of. I was not a fan of Allen in college, and would have preferred drafting Josh Rosen. But then again, I'm the type that prefers the safer pick, rather than the boom/bust. I'm also not an NFL scout. It's starting to become pretty apparent what Beane/McDermott saw in Allen. And you can start to see what his physical talent can do to a defense. Not every QB is about standing in the pocket and dissecting coverage. Ben Roethlisberger has two Super Bowl rings and will be a Hall of Famer due to his ability to escape pressure and keep plays alive. Allen absolutely needs to improve as a passer, but he doesn't need to become Drew Brees or Tom Brady in the accuracy department. That will never be his game. With that said... the gradual improvements in Allen's passing are very apparent to anyone who as paying attention.

The running is always going to be part of his game. Which is fine. Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson are both stars who have won Super Bowls, and rely heavily on their legs/mobility. The key for Josh Allen will be knowing WHEN to take off, and WHEN to scramble around the pocket to evade pressure, but still keep the passing play alive. Quarterbacks who run prematurely (and fail to develop in-pocket skills) are the ones that eventually struggle. See Robert Griffin III, Vince Young, etc. My point was that Allen is absolutely showing progress in this area. He's got a ways to go. But we are seeing improvement.

The miss to Zay Jones was miscommunication. Not poor accuracy. After the play, he motioned to Jones that he expected him to stop, instead of continuing in his route. That is why the pass was behind him. Things like this can be expected with a rookie with 7 starts under his belt, throwing to a second year receiver. Not sure where else he had "awful" accuracy today.

This was a heartbreaking loss. Especially against a division rival. But we all need to keep in mind, this season was all about developing Josh Allen. And in my opinion, the last two weeks have been extremely encouraging from that perspective. Yes. He is still doing the majority of damage with his legs. The accuracy and communication with his receivers is still a work in progress. But the strides and improvements in his passing have been very apparent, especially since coming back from injury. Compare what we were seeing during the first month of the season, versus what we are seeing now. It's clear that Allen is starting to scan the field quicker, and finding open receivers down the field. That hesitation in the pocket has decreased by a split-second or two. The kind of throws that were coming only 1-2 times per game, are now coming 5-6 times per game. He's also learning how to navigate his way out of the pass rush and get back into throwing position, where earlier in the season he was always drifting backwards and scrambling prematurely. I think fans are also starting to understand why the Bills front office (along with many other teams) saw Allen as a Top-10 prospect. He's got the strength of Ben Roethlisberger when avoiding sacks, combined with the speed of the NFL's best scrambling quarterbacks, along with one of the strongest arms in the league. If he can even become above-average as a passer (and we put a decent offense around him), teams are going to have a really tough time defending him.

There was nothing blatantly missed by the refs today. Sometimes there are calls that can be considered the "gray area" - and unfortunately we had a bunch of those in the last couple drives of the game. - The Milano pass interference was ticky-tacky. But he DID use his body to impede the receiver's progress, before he turned to defend the ball. - The Phillips personal foul was ticky-tacky. But he DID forcefully throw the runner's foot to the ground, while mouthing off at the Dolphins sideline. - On the sack, he didn't grab Allen's facemask or horse-collar him. His neck and helmet got twisted, but it really wasn't due to an illegal grab by the defender.

All this "we should have hired an offensive coach" is nonsense. Funny how Frank Reich's offensive knowledge/prowess made no difference when their Quarterback was shaking off the rust. Once Andrew Luck started playing like a Top 5 quarterback again, suddenly the offense became a powerhouse. Offensive success ALWAYS begins with the QB. Everything stems off from that. Sean McDermott's offense has featured an extremely raw rookie (Allen), a 35-year-old who had no real intention of playing when he signed (Anderson), a journeyman who hadn't taken a snap in 2 seasons (Barkley) and probably the worst starting quarterback of the modern football era (Peterman). Not to mention the terrible offensive line, and bottom-tier receiving talent. There isn't an offensive genius in the NFL who could have "schemed" this group into success this year. The future of this franchise depends on Josh Allen's development. If he works out, it won't matter what side of the ball McDermott specializes in.

Very tough question. I actually think it was easier to separate them back in April. Prior to the draft, I liked them in the following order: 1. Sam Darnold 2. Josh Rosen 3. Baker Mayfield 4. Josh Allen Darnold and Rosen have done about what I expected as rookies. But Mayfield and Allen have done much better than I expected. All four guys have flashed. All four guys have struggled. It's way too early to tell.

Smart teams don't spend $17 million per year on a Running Back. Yes, we have lots of cap space. But you don't exchange one bad/overpriced contract for another.

The Bills are basically in the same position the Jaguars were 4 years ago. 2014 was their second season under Head Coach Gas Bradley. They just drafted a rookie QB (Blake Bortles) at #3 overall. Instead of being big spenders in Free Agency, the offseason was about trading away veterans for draft picks and clearing cap space. Sound familiar? Over the last 3-4 seasons, the Jaguars have done a pretty good job of building up their defense. But they have done a below-average job at building up the offense, and Bortles has been one of the most inconsistent QBs in the NFL (he's basically a younger version of Ryan Fitzpatrick). They had a decent run in 2017 (10-6 record and advancing to the AFC Championship). But it wasn't sustainable. Overall, their rebuild has failed, and you can pretty much count on them starting the process over again next year. Don't get me wrong. There was nothing wrong with Jacksonville's overall strategy. They just didn't do a good enough job of picking players. And their choice for franchise QB is a bust. So which team would I rather be right now? Only a fool would say Jacksonville. Buffalo has a 1-2 year head-start. The Bills are an unknown. Sure, their rebuild could go down the same road as the Jags. But it could go the same direction as the Rams. The Jaguars are going to be starting from scratch in 2019, and will be forced to dismantle most of the defense before they are in a place to compete again.