The Frankish Reich

Another Monday, another Chris Simms Said Something About Josh Allen thread. At least this time he's right about Allen. But it is true that the Ravens held the Bills to 10 offensive points and 220 total offensive yards. So the positive spin is "don't blitz Allen or he'll kill you," but the negative spin is the Ravens found a way to contain him.

1. It won't be. I can't see them going into Lambeau and winning. 2. If it is, it's the perfect scenario for us to exorcise all demons. Beat Belichick twice, Brady in the Super Bowl.

Agreed. Just kind of a team offense fail.

I mean, he's a lot better than Peyton Manning was in his final season, but he just doesn't have the same kind of luck. Drew Brees, thanks for the ride.

I think he does leave because of a game like this.

No, but Taysom Hill does.

My brain has been trying to get behind Tampa since I think they'd be a better possible SB matchup for us. But ... I can't do it. I see that #12. Can't. Make. Myself. Do. It. Go Saints!

If Mahomes is playing, absolutely. I think I agree with punting it away here though. 4th and 9, 4 minutes on the clock, Chad Henne at QB ...

One of the fun things to watch this season. Even if the Bills weren't my team I'd be pulling for them. Young teams on the rise just have a contagious enthusiasm. Even guys who've been overlooked all season who we might expect to be pouting like Trent Murphy and Tyler Kroft are right there cheerleading for their teammates and are ready to contribute when finally called on. And I don't know if I'm being too optimistic here, but in these times it's refreshing to see a team that doesn't appear to have much of a racial divide. I'm not talking about politics; I'm talking about something more basic, just guys hanging out with each other, being friends off the field. A lot of pro sports teams simply aren't that way ...

Agreed. A true franchise QB, in his prime, not coming back from serious injury, getting traded? I'll believe it when I see it.

I'm not sure why Steve Young could learn the value of being a really good pocket passer but Lamar can't. Josh Allen is also ridiculously athletic (albeit in a different way), and he seems to have made that transition. Maybe the problem is early success. Harbaugh wanted to move on from Flacco in Lamar's rookie season. They developed an offense that is perfectly suited to Lamar's athletic ability, and that minimized the things he wasn't good at yet like going through his progressions in the pocket, developing more sophisticated passing schemes, etc. And it worked! And when it works and you're already a playoff team it's awfully hard to go back and say "but we need to start over to maximize the potential for his long term success." Kind of like a 100 mph fastball pitcher who gets promoted too early and has immediate success - it's tough to teach him those secondary pitches on the job, the ones he should've learned at AA and AAA. When you're a Josh Allen and you struggle mightily in your first year by relying on your athleticism, it's easier to say you have to rework the offense to give him the best chance to succeed. Steve Young had immediate success (of a sort) in the USFL-his team won their division and everything looked good as a kind of continuation of his BYU career. Then he had immediate colossal failure (2-12) in the NFL as reliance on his physical tools alone wasn't enough. It wasn't until his age 28 season in SF, subbing for Joe Montana (and with Rice/Taylor, etc.) that he seemed to "get it." All I'm saying is that this is not (as the OP suggested a while ago) the "end of the Lamar Jackson Era." More like the end of the Greg Roman era if you ask me.

This Axios series is just stunning. https://www.axios.com/trump-lawyers-biden-election-victory-debf79bc-750b-457b-a736-789b501d62a7.html It shows a President becoming more and more unhinged, more and more dependent on a bunch of aging clowns (Giuliani, Powell, etc.) when the lawyers and advisors who actually know what they're doing told him the truth. It's worth reading the whole thing - it isn't long (so far in 2 parts) - for a full understanding of how what started as a longshot strategy (the real experts told Trump he had maybe a 10% chance of prevailing with a fact-based recount/litigation approach) morphed into insane conspiratorial allegations. "Deeply sourced" as they say, and well-written by Jonathan Swan: These two groups — the professional staff and the Giuliani cabal — filled in around one long, rectangular table in a conference room walled in by frosted glass. The pattern repeated itself the day after that and the day after that. A bizarre routine set in. These meetings would begin with official staff raising plausible legal strategies. Then Giuliani and Powell, a lawyer with a history of floating “deep state” conspiracy theories, would take over, spewing wild allegations of a centralized plot by Democrats — and in Powell's view, international communists — to steal the election. Bewildered campaign aides would look around the table at one another, silently asking what the hell was going on. One would invariably shuffle out of the room, followed by another a few minutes later. Then another. Then another. The professional staff would reconvene in Stepien's office, about 20 yards down the hall. Eventually, Giuliani would realize that he and his crew were alone in the conference room. He'd walk down the hall and knock on the glass outside Stepien's office, where about eight aides had squeezed onto a pair of couches. "You guys, where did you go?" Giuliani would say. "This is serious!"

You mean China won't manufacture and release another one, timed perfectly to allow Joe to look good? (I count the statement above as a kind of progress.)

I think we said the same things about Josh Allen before this season. Not saying that Lamar can make the same jump (really, what other young QBs have in recent memory? They either seem to have it right from the start like Justin Herbert or Patrick Mahomes or they never get it, like EJ Manuel), but starting over with a new OC may be the first step.

Well I hope you're ready for next weekend when the conversation will be centered on why Mahomes is simply a product of Andy Reid's scheme.

Interesting point. Here's my contrarian take on tonight's game (not on Lamar's development in general): Roman blew it by abandoning what works for the Ravens. First 3 plays of the game: 1st & 10 at BAL 25 (15:00 - 1st) (Shotgun) G.Edwards up the middle to BLT 37 for 12 yards (J.Poyer). 1st & 10 at BAL 37 (14:17 - 1st) (Shotgun) G.Edwards left tackle to BLT 47 for 10 yards (T.White). 1st & 10 at BAL 47 (13:39 - 1st) (Shotgun) J.Dobbins up the middle to BUF 44 for 9 yards (L.Wallace; T.Edmunds). 3 runs between the tackles, basically 3 first downs. Next run goes outside, playing into the Bills' strength. And then come the unnecessary passes. With the wind tonight and given that the Bills' defensive weakness is stopping the power running game, it boggles the mind that they didn't stick with what was working, and with what had proven to work against the Bills defense this year. Roman seems to want to show that he (and Lamar) can win by running a modern 2020s offense, so he got away from their strength. In bad weather like this, there's every chance that if the Ravens just stick with the run and avoid mistakes (granted, nothing much you can do about a center who can't snap the ball straight) this game is tied in the 4th quarter.

Well, I'll take the win - as Josh said, there's no style points in the playoffs - but I don't think this game tells us a whole lot about offensive football theory in general. The Ravens lost because of one horrid snap and one really good defensive play by Taron Johnson. OK, you can pin part of that one on Lamar, but it was still really well done by Taron. These are two really good football teams, and very often a play or two will be the difference. Just like it was tonight.

It is no doubt better to start a new thread whenever Colin Cowherd mentions a Bills player in passing.

Agreed. There's some other disturbing stuff out there regarding text messages. Not sure if it's regarding the same girlfriend. As far as "not ending well" I should have explained: it's his time with the Broncos that is probably over (his contract is now a problem for a rebuilding team), and not in a happy parting of the ways.

I don't think this is going to end well. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30718487/police-colorado-investigating-denver-broncos-lb-von-miller

Let him vent his spleen on Lamar Jackson!

I’m not one of our resident new post guardians, but ... does everything Chris Simms says about Josh Allen require a new thread?

I think that Q Shaman guy was supposed to be The Mountain, Trump's champion.

Rudy explains: his "trial by combat" reference at the January 6 pre-storming of the Capitol rally was a Game of Thrones reference: "I was referencing the kind of trial that took place for Tyrion in that very famous documentary about fictitious medieval England," Giuliani told Samuels. "When Tyrion, who is a very small man, is accused of murder. He didn't commit murder, he can't defend himself, and he hires a champion to defend him." https://www.businessinsider.com/giuliani-claims-trial-by-combat-comment-game-of-thrones-reference-2021-1 I love the businessinsider writer's deadpan comment: It's unclear who Giuliani is referring to as the Tyrion in this story. In the great Your Guy Is More Senile Than My Guy war of the 2020 election, we now have a new leader in the Best Supporting Man category. That "famous documentary" about "fictitious medieval England." And the dumbest thing is this: how does he think this helps Trump's defense against the "inciting insurrection" charge? He is essentially admitting that he deputized his MAGA thugs to engage in trial by combat on his behalf against ... members of Congress? That sounds like exactly what Nancy Pelosi wants to prove.

True. He started the whole campaign at about 35% of the Republican vote, and my guess is that's exactly where he'll land when the dust settles. But as we've seen that's a hard 35% - there's no one out there voting in the primaries who's one the fence - "well, I like Trump, but I really kind of like this Rand Paul guy too." Nope, it's all in for Donald. And that gives him a uuuge advantage if he's ever going to (and be constitutionally allowed to) run again, regardless of age or anything else. Trumpies better watch out. I predict the party bosses will reemerge and do exactly what the Dems did to marginalize their Bernie faction. But remember, that almost didn't work. It took Jim Clyburn and black voters in South Carolina to stop the Bernie train. Will the Republicans try to move up the primaries in states where Trumpism isn't the most popular form of Republicanism? It won't be easy, because other than Utah or hugely Democratic states I don't know where those states exist today.