Sammy Watkins' Rib

OP: Bring back Jauron Ball! We don't need to play conservative. We just can't make the bad play which Allen did in both instances. Now if we are talking fourth quarter with two or three minutes left and a FG likely wins the game, cough, Atlanta Flacons, cough then yeah maybe pull out the old draw or even the full back dive. Both these plays were in the first half and neither was to take or extend a lead to a two score game. None of this takes into account how differently New England might call their game on both sides of the ball if we keep it closer in the first half.

First and a third for both players? I think that is what Miller would go for by himself. Green's value is probably fairly low though because the guy can't stay healthy.

I always thought when we finally ended the drought it would be because we had an epic 13-3 season or better. But of course we ended it in an almost complete opposite fashion by falling butt backwards into a wild card. Maybe I was just two years off on that prediction?

I can see it. Only question is where will the game be played?

Because it worked out so terribly for us? Top five defense two years running. We got our stud QB. And so far Mahomes looks destined to be another Peyton. Great offense that is consistently beat by more complete teams like the Pats and Bills and even the present day Colts.

To me it never mattered how bad Tyrod sucked. We were starting the rebuild without a franchise QB. We had no GM! And McDermott is a defensive coach. Nobody on the staff was going to be green lighted to make that decision. Didn't make sense at the time which is why i really couldn't care less passing on Mahomes or Watson.

I've never understood this. Who actually thought we were in the market for a QB that year when everyone knew Whaley was on his way out after the draft? At no point did I think we would be taking a QB in the first couple of rounds that year. And on top of that, Mahomes was seen as a big risk big reward player. Kind of exactly like Allen and 90% of the board hated the Allen pick at the time because of it. I'm happy with Allen. And maybe with our great defense and the Chiefs below average defense, Allen can be our Brady to Mahome's, Peyton, over the next decade. Which happened in the third round and therefore nobody really cares about.

Thing is, take a look at the schedule. How many more times will we actually face a top 15 offense? 3-4? Philly, Dallas, Baltimore, and New England again. Plus, we were the only team to face the Jets with Darnold. Imagine what we would have done to Luke Falk. I don't think the Bengals are that bad on offense. Titans not good, bu very Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. The D has also played 3 out of the first 5 on the road. Had perhaps their best game against their best competition.

Well I wonder if the number of batted balls could have something to do with the lack of sacks? Are they being coached to not necessarily pin their ears back and go straight for the QB, potentially getting beat in the run game or misdirection plays, and instead stay more disciplined at the line of scrimmage and get their hands up knowing they can still be disruptive that way? Well those guys certainly know football so I would be worried.

I think we will start to find out after the bye week. Playing at home against Miami and Washington, got to be able to keep those teams to a combined 20 points or less at MOST. Caveat being our offense not given them points or easy field position. Would be nice to keep Philly under 20-24 too. Patriots defense is the best in the league until proven otherwise. They have played mostly cream puffs this season but got to give it to them for shutting out Mahomes in the first half last year and then holding the Rams to 3 points. Thing is, cut back on the turnovers and our offense is not just better than New Englands, but clearly better. But turnovers are huge so we will see if we can cut back on them or not.

Easiest way to think about this would be what would be more concerning? 25th in points and 12th in yards or 12th in points and 25th in yards? What is sustainable long term? We should all be happy to be in the latter group.

I've definitively noticed this as well. Seem like there have been a ton and I am always waiting for #23 or #21 to swoop into the camera angle and grab one. There is a lot of chance involved with those types of turnovers so I guess they will start to come eventually.

And the one loss was the Texans game that he did not finish last year. That one was trending towards an L though before he left the game.

Fitz had some of that mentality but was missing the tools/gun. Allen has the gun and is even more aggressive than Fitzpatrick.

It was a broken play though. All bets are pretty much off on what the players are predictably going to do at that point. Part of the reason why those throws are risky. But I don't fault Allen simply because I know it is in his nature to always try to make a play. I expect that out of him and know that it is that mentality that makes him great. He'll probably average at least one boneheaded play per game this year and I'll be fine with that. He's got six on the season now I think? 3 in the patriots game, 2 in the Bengals game and 1 in today's game.

Without questions he is our answer to the QB position. He's about as nontraditional a QB as you can have as a franchise QB, largely because he will make so many mistakes while trying to make something happen. But as long as he makes more positive plays than negative plays, which has been the trend since he came back from injury last season, he's our guy. And today was not a 4th QC but it was his sixth career game winning drive. I'd say 4 4th QC and 6 GW drives in his first 16 starts is not too shabby. And a 9-7 record.

Not sure if it is updated through week five or not but by Yards Per Play rankings the Bills are in the meaty part of the curve at 16 with 5.7 YPP. Not showing off, not falling behind. And that is a few spots ahead of New England at 5.4.

I think it is pretty much exactly this. It is not ALL on Allen. Yeldon had a costly fumble. Theirs been a penalty or two that put us out of FG range. But Allen has turned the ball over and also taken some bad sacks that took potential points off the board. But I'll take consistent movement of the football, Yards Per Play over Turnovers. Turnovers can be corrected, or they just tend to fall back to the mean because having a ton or hardly any early in the season can be a bit flukey. We know with Allen we may have more than most teams but I wouldn't expect another Jets first half debacle game. And we only play the Patriots one more time late in the season rather than every other week so I also wouldn't expect another 3 INT game from Allen anytime soon.

I agree. And I wouldn't categorize Allen's "doh" plays as Billsy since they are a direct byproduct of Allen's gunslinger mentality. The last gunslinger of a QB we had was Kelly and those teams were not "Billsy" as I recall.

Yeah. I mean a win would be huge. It would put us a full game ahead every other team outside of KC and New England. It would also have me thinking a 12+ season is not out of the question. A loss does mean same old bills is a possibility but I would fully expect us to still be competing for a WC down the stretch at a minimum.

I agree. Just curious as to how and when we become fans. My becoming a Bills fans was total luck or unluck as I like to mock it sometimes as I have spent all of my life in California with no relations to Buffalo. Dad just casually got into betting on the Bills during the start of the glory years and I've been hooked ever since. And of course Dad now hardly follows the Bills at all but does consider them his team. Just not a die hard fan like my brother and I were sucked into.

I agree with the OP on the point that it is best for Daboll to not so openly ridicule Allen like that in the public. I don't agree on Allen regressing. Allen will always make some boneheaded throws like we saw last week. Daboll should know this if we as fans know this. Problem with last week is we ran into the buzz saw that is the New England Patriots defense. Luckily for us, I don't think Allen is phased by much including a coach chewing him out like that.

No problem with the Titans? I fully expect this to be slug fest type game with either team winning by a FG margin or less. And no, a loss does not mean we are not ready for a playoff push. Have you seen the standings and the Jekyl and Hyde nature of all the other teams that did not play in the AFC Championship game last year?

I mean it is one injury. They could be just overly cautious with him right now. Seems like Shady had a hamstring injury every year he was on our team. I don't think you start to worry until he re--injures it again and is out more than a week again. I do agree though about likely drafting another RB due to Gore's age. Not early but somewhere in the 3rd-6th round range.

That's fine. Gore is still running like he is 26 instead of 36. Singletary is going to absolutely destroy Miami after the bye week.