Sammy Watkins' Rib

Your gut feeling is right. Allen converted for first downs on 40.7% of his 3rd and long situations last year. Good for second best in the league last year. Rodgers and Mahomes had 33% and 25% conversion rates respectively and much lower passer ratings, 89 and 86 respectively to Allen's 106 on 3rd and 10+.

This is nice. But remember, Allen is also the best 3rd and long QB in the league. The offense should be fine either way with #17. https://www.twobillsdrive.com/community/topic/230202-allen-once-again-leading-the-league-in-3rd-and-10/

"All I wanted was a Pepsi. Just one Pepsi! And she wouldn't give it to me!"

I like Gesicki to have a big year. Sucks because he's a Dolphin. I would think he would be ranked higher than Hockenson.

While Webb's overall numbers were not bad and he didn't make the crucial mistake, I thought at least a few times the game was going too fast for him. He made errant throw-a-way's. I like that he is big and athletic like Allen. Turbitzky is probably only here for a year so it would be worth it to keep Webb and develop him as next years #2 hopefully. But you could really see the difference between Allen, a $258 million dollar QB, and Webb last night in how each would have handled the same pressure. Allen is able to move out of it and still find an open receiver. Got to like Stevenson catching all three of his targets and showing his speed on the deep ball to beat the corner.

I've never liked the "tell the story of the NFL" argument for choosing HOFers. For example, why on earth would a player as fascinating as Ryan Fitzpatrick, the ultimate journeyman QB, be left out of the story of the NFL? That would be a major omission. So is Fitz a HOFer? As a unique player and the story he brought to the league? The answer would be, Yes. He's first ballot in that regard. On ability and talent compared to his peers? He wouldn't even make a wall of fame for a team let alone the be nominated for the HOF. I would love to see Fitz make it to the HOF. And if he were, that would truly be going the route of "can you tell the story of the NFL without them or not".

1. Trey Lance 2. Trevor Lawrence 3. Mac Jones 4. Justin Fields 5. Zach Wilson

Actually, CAK is right unless I dreamt listening to Colin last year while driving for work. IIRC he said it during one of his shows where he counts down his top 10 teams. It was around when Miami was coming off back to back big wins over the Rams and Cardinals. It was weird because I believe he still had the Bills ranked a couple spots ahead of Miami but he said he actually like Miami to win the division and overtake Buffalo essentially. But of course, shortly after Miami lost to Denver and Tua was benched and I don't really recall Colin being high on the Dolphins after that game. And he has been very anti Tua since.

Is there a way to look at it in terms of percentage of cap space?

Do you lean towards Edelman getting in as well? Eli and Edelman are very similar IMO. Edelman's regular season peaks might have actually been higher than Eli's. Both have phenomenal postseason accolades. I actually lean towards no on Eli and am undecided on Edelman.

I think it does play a role. Some players are just incredibly unique even if they are were never elite at their position. That is one reason why I think Fitz actually does deserve consideration. Especially if he has a good season with Washington and leads them to the post-season. Never elite, besides 4 game stretches in September and early October.

The interesting one will be Frank Gore. Was Gore ever elite? Maybe one year? But he has like 17,000 scrimmage yards. HOF worthy IMO. But never a guy who was really elite.

Giving Lamar credit for 2.5 good years is being generous too. Nothing special at all about Lamar's rookie year. In fact, Allen was by far the better running QB of the two in their rookie seasons.

Haha. I am a fool!

Weather played a major factor. Kickers on both teams missed two FG's each on kicks inside 40-45 yards. Gimmies essentially. And one of those kickers is considered the GOAT of kicking. When stuff like that happens in the kicking game on short kicks you know the weather is also having an impact on the passing game. At the goal line, Allen had a TD go through the hands of Gabe Davis. Lamar through a pick six directly into the bread basket of Taron Johnson.

The lamest reason why I hear Lamar deserves more money than Allen is that Lamar has an MVP and Allen does not. I mean if the Packers spark a fire under Rodgers ass one season earlier in 2019 instead of 2020 we are probably talking about Lamar as runner up in 2019 and Allen being MVP in 2020. That said, Lamar has been everything you could have hoped for and then some if you are the Ravens IMO. So if I am in Lamar's camp I say get all you can get. Helps too that it would be much harder for the Ravens to move on from Lamar seeing how they have built and entire offense around his skill set.

True. But it is a passing league these days and seemingly more so every year. So damn near every down is a passing down. Strange coincidence that our first two draft picks are experienced in rushing from both the outside and inside. I know I would hate to see Hughes as a cap casualty. I do get the feeling the young guys are going to have him on the bench a lot more this year though. But regardless of the money I rather keep Hughes and let him finish out his contract this year and give it a go for a Super Bowl.

While Diggs is a tremendous talent I would not rush off to offer an extension before necessary. Truly elite QB's make all of the players around them better. That is always how it has been. And Allen is that kind of QB. As great as Diggs is, a still raw 2nd year Josh Allen got career years out of both John Brown and Cole Beasley. So while Diggs and Allen had career years together, I have no doubt Allen can continue to play at a high level without a player of Diggs caliber if needed. BUT, and here is the good thing, when you have an elite level QB like Allen, wide receivers are going to want to play for a guy like that. So whether it is Diggs or someone else there will never be a lack of quality WR's for Beane to choose from.

OP, you are thinking about this all wrong. The biggest gift Allen could give to Palmer is continuing to show up every off-season to Palmer's QB training camps for free. Palmer being able to tell the young up and coming college QB's that Allen is going to be at the camp has to be the best advertisement Palmer could buy.

I had similar feelings as well. It was also part of the reason I was very down on Josh when we drafted him and early in his rookie season. Full me once, shame on you. Full me twice shame on me. McDermott and Beane were essentially fooled twice into thinking Peterman could legitimately start an NFL game or even hold down a roster spot. The fact that they were wrong so badly not once but twice had me scratching my head on how they could possibly be right on Allen when all the analytics said different.

The thing that I have noticed is that the better we have become the more pressure I feel. For example, the season opener has always been fun win or lose. But now it feels like it would be devastating to lose the opener for the simple reason that the bar has been raised and simply making the playoffs is no longer the goal. The goal is to be a #1 or #2 seed and make a deep playoff run every year.

Good point. Really makes the Pegula's look like scum going out the gate with 100% taxpayer funding. Seriously, they couldn't start at 75%? Do these dopes actually expect to to get 75% and that's why they started at 100%?

I agree with this. Taxpayers should not be on the hook for a new stadium. To a point anyway. Maybe 10% or something small as I would think there are direct positive economic benefits to the entire Buffalo area. But why not open up funding options for us fans? I'll throw in a couple hundred bucks for an overpriced piece of memorabilia from the Ralph or the players. Like many Bills fans I don't even live in Buffalo. Never have. But I would gladly chip in for a new stadium. Ultimately though the league and the owners should commit the majority of the funding. That would actually be something congress should address. Write a law that prevents a sports league/team from paying less than 75% or 80% of the cost of a new stadium or something. And Josh Allen would dominate in that Hawaii 84 degree weather.

IMO the sample size is simply too small to make a definitive argument either way yet. He seemed to be fine in the one game last year in Buffalo that actually had fans and decent weather, the Colts game. Does he play better on the road vs. home? Perhaps. And in the long run will that hurt the Bills? I don't see why it would with half the games on the road and half at home on average. As long as he isn't wetting the bed at home and playing like a bottom half of the league QB Bills will be fine. Buffalo has some cruel weather and I think that has played at least as big a role as the psychological aspect of the game in Allen having better numbers on the road vs. at home. I tend to think Allen plays best in warmer climates whether that is a dome or just a warmer open air environment. But again, sample size might be too small yet to have a definitive answer. It's something Allen has talked about but I think nearly all QB's would admit to some level of added pressure at home vs the road if they were being honest in their answers. So I don't necessarily think this is unique to just Allen.

Now that it is a 17 games season is it still just a 53 man roster? I would think teams can keep a couple more players on the team now. I did they only expand the practice squad roster? Thank you ALF. Just the information i was wanting.