BarleyNY

Well, I have already heard two former NFL QBs say otherwise. Both Palmer and Simms talked about how poor of a decision it was. Seemed very obvious to me too.

That’s a terrible argument. Especially considering it was 3rd down. No need to get all 18 on that play. I think the crossing pattern would’ve had a chance if hit in stride though - and it was single coverage there. I know Allen is capable of playing much better than he demonstrated on that one play. It was a terrible decision, but it was one play. I don’t expect to see that kind of mistake become a regular thing for him. Simms chalked it up to impatience and he’s probably right.

Yes, Gamepass really sucks this year. That play was at about 4 min left in the first quarter I think. The play had receivers in both flats, one running an intermediate depth cross, one deep left and one deep right (where it was thrown. I think I saw the All-22 in the thread with Chris Simms talking about the play.

That is not what Palmer said about that throw. He said that the decision to make that particular throw was the problem. And it certainly was. Cover 2 with very good coverage by the CB and a S on that side in great position and with no other possible responsibility. Allen literally threw the ball to the receiver who was the most well covered out of 5. It was an awful decision with a predictable result. Note: Allen did get pressure from a spy right before the throw and I think that might have had a lot to do with it.

I would think that removing a player from a given role for repeated, costly mistakes would be looked at as holding that player accountable for his poor play. I am not sure that this situation is quite to that point, but I’d think it would at least be close. Saying that McKenzie is 6th in the NFL is misleading. Of the 19 kickoff returners who qualified with enough returns to be counted, he is sixth. Link But he would drop on that list if you included everyone. Also if you look at team KOR stats, 24.9 yards would rank pretty well, but it is still only 3 yards better than the average team’s KOR. That isn’t worth the turnovers.

The thing is - Star wasn’t playing the run very well this season. He didn’t play it well two years ago either. Or really since he’s been here. And he didn’t take up many double teams in the run game either. But he was good rushing the passer this season. And two seasons ago he did not get much pass pressure but he was double teamed when offenses pass protect a lot. Like a surprisingly high percentage of the time. Still, he’s our best option at 1 tech this season. I have not been a fan of his contract, though the restructure helped some. He’s not going to fix our run defense woes, but he is better than Phillips and he may actually be an asset rushing the passer. I can’t believe I just wrote that last part, but it’s true. Maybe losing some weight was the best thing he could’ve done for himself. Of course I have no idea how he is doing health wise with Covid. If it hits him hard, then he won’t be back to 100% this season. Here’s hoping he gets lucky with that.

He returns a lot so his total return yards is high, but his average of 24.9 yds is nothing special. And as @SMAKCruiser pointed out, his two major mistakes outweigh that anyway.

Yeah, it’s always easy to think that the trend is always up for your team. But in reality it only works that way about half the time. Parity in the NFL makes it so close that random events can have a big impact. The wrong injuries can have outsized impacts, for example. With teams so close, having a flaw get exploited is a big issue. The Bills are dealing with that on both sides of the ball now. They’ve got to adjust or they’re done. It’s certainly possible. I just hope they can pull it off and get back into the hunt.

How overdue is that? He’s been awful. As for Judge, you’re probably correct. The only other good option is to let him pick the new GM. They’d have to be way more sold on him than I am to let him do that. Better to move on from everyone.

Is it the play selection or is it the defenses and execution by the offense? Honestly I think it’s all of the above. Defenses are taking away the intermediate routes and keeping Allen from scrambling. Our pass pro isn’t holding up as well as it did last season and Allen isn’t doing a great job getting the ball out quickly and hitting the smaller windows he is seeing this year. And yes, Daboll needs to expand the current playbook. For example, I would love to see more RO and RPO plays run. The point in the article that talked about the defenses being run against us this year versus last year is pretty important. Quick slants and crossing patterns work a lot differently against man coverage than they do against Cover 2. If 4 rush and the 2 safeties are deep that leaves a shell of 5 players underneath (initially at least). The windows for quick slants and crossing patterns are much tighter. Use of a spy (which is something I said I would employ against Allen last year) is being used a lot too. That player can drop into the shallow passing lanes over the middle before stepping up to shadow or delay blitz. It has been effective against us. Early in his career Allen was a lot better at picking apart zone coverage than he was at passing against man. So I think this is a fixable situation. He’s going to have to be patient and be willing to work the ball down the field methodically though. And he’s probably going to have to run the ball like he did before this season. We don’t have the players on the line or at RB to run like the Colts do. Bring on the RO and RPOs.

I know this stat. It’s been 25 straight seasons where at least one of the four teams who made it to the NFC and AFC championship game did not make the playoffs the following season. That’s a hell of a stat. The extra playoff team in each conference might help end the streak though.

The simple answer is an inability (or unwillingness) to adjust to what you are seeing and/or to effectively execute. Teams have adjusted to our offensive and defensive schemes. We don’t seem to be able to effectively counter as of now. Some injuries have certainly exacerbated that situation. Dawkins is one that gets overlooked a lot. Kudos to him for gutting it out, but he isn’t 100% and he won’t be 100% this season.

We have a good defense, but it is not spectacular by any stretch. Their stats - and our record - have benefited from playing a stretch of abysmal QBs and a fairly easy schedule in general. Believe it or not other teams seemed to have spent some time looking for ways to slow down our one dimensional offense. We took no steps to give that offense another dimension and here we are. Thank goodness that Knox developed because without his early contributions we’d have been in worse trouble.

The biggest issues have to be addressed in the off-season. The Bills went all-in on the 2020 team philosophy that worked well overall last season, but that’s been derailed by injury and better schemes employed against us. They need some real semblance of a running game, but the horses are not there for it. Our OL is not a good run blocking unit and our backs are pretty pedestrian (though behind a good OL who knows?). That’s not getting fixed anytime soon. One off-season might not be enough at this point. At this point for 2021 they might have to just have to run Allen more. Some designed runs, RO plays and RPOs would be welcome. Allen will take some hits, but he’s taking hits dropping back 50 times a game anyway. And it just might get the run game moving. Allen has to settle in against the defenses he is seeing and use better touch. And the line has to be more consistent giving him time. I wish I had access to All-22 on my Game Pass sub. I might try it on my laptop to see if it is there. To me it just looks like teams adjusted to our offensive scheme and we don’t have the right talent to adjust. On defense the massive investment on that side of the ball - especially the DL - has yielded good results. The bang for the buck isn’t there and that needs cleaned up. We are really going to miss Hughes next season. Rousseau has been better than I thought though. He and Epenesa look like they will be two solid DEs moving forward. But a real difference maker isn’t there on the DL, despite the investment. One has to develop from what we have because we can’t pay one in FA. So that leaves scheme. I’ve been really disappointed in that against run heavy teams. Tauron Johnson is a very good player and he plays the run well for a Nickel, but if a team is ahead and running a ton, put a 3rd LB on the field. Also we don’t have the secondary depth to lose Tauron because he had to tackle a RB all day. Scheming up pressures is obviously necessary too. But it’s not happening like it should. The plan was obviously to load the DL, rotate them and get pressure with 4. But that’s not working. That’s on McD. This is his defensive scheme and the personnel are to his preference. For what has been invested, the defense should be competitive against quality teams, not just ones lining up the likes of Jacoby Brissett, Taylor Heinicke, Davis Mills, Tua Tagovailoa and Mike White. Mahomes is the only quality QB we’ve beaten this season. That’s the whole list. And we have lost to some not great ones. (Note: Obviously the defense gets a pass on the Jax game.) The good news is that we play against Trevor Siemian on Thursday - and his OL is not great. The bad news is that we play NE and TB after that.

Lotta blame to go around but the biggest issue is poor execution by players.

The Bills are a playoff team - especially with 7 teams going from each conference. But they aren’t a serious SB contender at this time. They always needed to grow (and get a little lucky) to be at that level. They still have a chance to do that.

Florid is PFT, not PFF. He’s also a total tool.

Kinda where I am on this. $6.1M for 2022. I let him play out his deal unless there is some other mitigating factor. Injury that would impact 2022. Or if he were to insist on one last big payday attached to an extension, for instance. I’m not interested in that. But $6.1M? Sure. Just stay off of social media, Beasley.

Fragile Sammy Watkins would shatter into a million pieces if he hit the padded goal post at full speed.

JFC. Soros owned about a quarter of one percent of Draftkings. And he sold all of that about a year ago. But please don’t let that stop you.

Honestly it’s probably already a lot worse than we all realize. But this should make it a lot worse.

They lost to the Kraft owned Patriots. He’s on that list too. Nice that they both made it there. And that Covid didn’t hit ‘ol Roger in the pocketbook too hard.

Fun fact: The six owner compensation committee that determined Goodell’s last compensation package - which was then passed unaltered by the owners - was comprised of: Arthur Blank, Chairman Clark Hunt Robert Kraft John Mara Bob McNair Art Rooney That contract paid him $128M over the last 2 years. I wonder how Roger feels about those owners and their teams?

Hope everything works out for you and yours.

Agreed. I have been beating that drum too. No team has invested more in the defense than the Bills since McD got here. #1 in spending on that side of the ball over the last 4 seasons and a slew of high draft picks spent there. Yes, the defense has been good, but (as you said) the return has not been in line with the outlay. In today’s NFL, with it so skewed toward offenses, you have to invest there. Its easy to be down and want to point fingers after the last loss. The truth is that we weren’t as good as people thought after our fast start and we aren’t as bad as fans are saying now after that debacle. The Bills are a very good team, but they have flaws. Teams have adjusted to a lot of what we are doing and now we’ve had some adversity. Maybe the team even got a little full of themselves. Let’s see how they react.