Sammy Watkins' Rib

Beat the Jets this weekend and then go 2-2 or better over the next four @ Philly, @ KC, vs. Dallas and @ LA Chargers. That is all I ask. That would put us at minimum in the hunt with some help needed going into the final two weeks vs. New England and @ Miami. Just let us play some meaningful football past Christmas.

Game was in Baltimore. Ravens or Chiefs should get the one seed. Chiefs probably still have the easier road to the 1 seed.

Amen. And perhaps more importantly, Allen has what about 10 more TD's than Mahomes on the season? So in what, one more game played than Mahomes, Allen has 10 more TD's and 3 more INT's than Mahomes now? The Bills were one of the best teams in the league before they lost three of their best defensive players in the span of about two quarters. They are giving up almost 10ppg more in their last six games (22ppg) (starting with the Jags game) compared to the first four games in which they gave up 13ppg on average. For some reference, the Cheifs have not won a single game this year in which their defense gave up more than 20 points, they are 0-2. If they had the Bills defense they would be 0-5 in such games, which also happens to be the Bills record this year in such games.

Does this include playoffs? No playoffs? Rushing TD's or just passing? No fumbles loss obviously I guess. Why 24 games vs. 22 games? Why not an equal split? Why the break at Green Bay? I know some theorized that Allen was concussed in that game. So if that is the problem are all his issues concussion related? If it isn't concussion related what else can we specifically point to that may have happened at that exact time and carried over not every week obviously has he has a lot of good games in the 22 game span as well, but more often than the previous 24? Only 40 TD's in 22 games (funny typing that because it's still a big number for most QB'S) certainly seems to skew the agenda in the other direction for a guy who is on pace for 44 TD's this year, in what would be his 4th consecutive 40+ TD season in 16 and 17 games played. I think you totally missed my point about Burrow and Mahomes if you think my point was that Burrow and Mahomes suck as well. Don't believe I ever said that, nor would it make any sense. The one QB in Mahomes, for sure better than Allen, sucks? The best QB in the league?? What I said is that Mahomes is having the worst year of his career thus far. That's not debatable if you look at his numbers. But the stars have aligned, and KC has a really, really good defense this year so they find themselves atop the AFC as usual still. Bills have a bit of a bad luck streak going right now. The D is down, due to age and injury IMO and Allen is in the midst of an in-season slump that we see from him every year.

So I voted yes. Simply because I truly think the only way he saves his job is if the Bills make the playoffs. And at 5-5 now and with the current schedule of teams left to play in KC, Philly, Dallas, LA Chargers and Miami that would be a heck of a run to go 5-2 or better down the stretch and make the playoffs. Talk about an enjoyable run.

I don't know Mikie. He seems to me to be playing pretty much exactly how he has played the last four seasons. He goes through significant hot streaks and cold streaks every season since 2020. In fact 2020, his best overall season to date, may have been the streakiest of all. Absolutely lit it up the first four games of 2020 then cooled off considerably with one great game against Seattle around the middle of the season and then immediately cooled off again and then lit it up again for the final 4 or 5 games that year. Balled out against the Colts in the Wild Card and then cooled off against the Ravens and Chiefs. He's in the midst of a cold streak right now. And it's costing us W's because of the injuries and age of the defense. We are going to need the hot streaks to last longer and the cold streaks to not be quite so freezing if the Bills D is not going to be elite in the regular season like it once was. Contrast that with Mahomes who is having one of the worst seasons of his career this year, but it just so coincides with him playing with the best defense of his career thus far. One of the travesties of the last three seasons, 2O-22 was that the defense couldn't play to their regular season success in the postseason. Instead of the defense upping their game in the postseason like the Bengals defense has done consistently, with the exception of probably the Ravens game (greatly helped somewhat by 20+mph winds that night) the Bills defense routinely played worse in the postseason.

Destroy a great QB? It was exactly two weeks ago Allen was: #1 in TD's #1 in Completion % #1 in QBR #1 ranked PFF QB Tied #1 in Interceptions In other words, just two weeks ago he was having a career year with the typical high turnovers we see out of him. I don't think Allen has been destroyed at all. Even with this current two game slide since those #1 rankings I imagine Allen ranks pretty high still. But that is not to say McDermott hasn't lost the locker room and have other issues.

That is a good point. While he may only have one flaw to other QB's 2 or 3 flaws, Allen's one flaw is one that is typically fatal for most QB's. It's a testament to Allen's other abilities that even with such a fatal flaw he more often than not rises to an elite level of play overall.

And that is understatement. Not sure anyone has put the ball in the end zone at a higher rate than him since 2020. He’s on pace for 44 TD’s on the year. Hurts is the only other player on pace for over 40 and his pass is 41. All other QB’s are on pace for 36 or less. The headline is that he leads the league in turnovers. But you hardly hear the headline of leading the league in TD’s.

By become do you mean since 2018 till now? What do you mean by “has become”? this is who he has been his entire career.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33405672/arizona-cardinals-extend-gm-steve-keim-coach-kliff-kingsbury-2027?platform=amp Well these extensions for coaches and GM’s don’t mean much. Cardinals extended Kingsbury and their GM last year and they were both out at the end of the year. it’s almost like if a team is giving an early extension to coach and GM. they’re trying to show faith and stability that is not actually there. Trying to force it into existence.

I think I was in the same boat, but beginning to learn, is much harder than you would think, even when you have a franchise quarterback. Might just be unlucky with the pairing of Reid and Mahomes as well. And somehow we’ve managed to have a defense that under performs every single postseason compared to their regular season performances , whereas say the Bengals defense over performa in the postseason compared to the regular season performances. it’s going to be about having the stars align at the right time. Not devastated by injury, Allen not going through a streak of turnovers, and the defense actually over performing when it matters the most.

I agree criticism is fine. Seems maybe some of us are going overboard with the criticism though. Or perhaps more accurately, not actually realizing what it is they are expecting Allen to achieve. As you say, no player is perfect but Allen would be the closest thing to perfect the league has ever seen if he cut back on turnovers. So, if no player is perfect, it’s my opinion that will simply have to, as bills fans, learn to live with Allen’s biggest flaw. Brett Favre very much had a similar flaw but the Packers were still able to win a title and make two Super Bowl appearances. That should probably be the bills and Allen’s realistic goal as well.

Even greater for a player who has been elite for four seasons is a high bar for a player whose primary flaw in each of his six seasons in the NFL is turnovers. If Allen cut the turnovers down by say 25%, in each of the last four seasons would we then not be talking about a player without a doubt greater than Mahomes? So the bar is basically be better than or as good as Mahomes. Heck of a standard. You are correct that many of us like to compare him to Mahomes. I think it is fair to compare the two but not necessarily fair to then think well he’s not Mahomes so there is a problem. Allen can go on streaks where he is the greatest they just don’t last an entire season and the floor of his bad games are quite low in comparison. I’m also skeptical Allen will cut the turnovers down with any consistency. I mean we are six seasons in here. He didn’t just wake up this week a turnover machine. And the bills and Allen both individually and as a team have had high-level success even with the turnovers. Success in my opinion that is good enough to win a Super Bowl in the right year.

pretty much this. In far less words, you basically summed up my post on this topic. Assuming Allan plays all 17 games this year, and last year he only needed 16, he’s a pretty safe bet to have his fourth straight 40+ touchdown season. That’s elite level quarterback play. This does look like one of those years though we’re Allen could put in 20+ turnovers and have somewhere around a 2:1 touchdown to interception ratio. Such a ratio is considered above average if not elite in the 90s. But by today’s standards you’re looking for 3:1 ratio, if not better. exactly. He’s only been doing it since he came into the league and yet somehow he’s been an elite quarterback since 2020. So do we really have a turnover issue?

I’m still questioning if he has a turnover issue or not. turnovers and Josh Allen are absolutely not a new thing. He doesn’t suddenly lead the league in turnovers since 2018 because he has 50 turnovers in the first eight games this year. He’s accumulated a high number of turnovers every single year yet he’s been an elite quarterback each of the last four seasons dating back to 2020. so it begs the question, is it turnovers that are really the issue right now? He’s shown a remarkable consistency of being able to maintain an elite level of play even while turning the ball over far more than league average. I believe it was just a short two weeks ago, that Allen fell into the following categories: 1st in TD’s 1st in completion % 1st in QBR #1 rated PFF QB Tied for 1st in Interceptions (tied with Mahomes, Hurts and like 5 other QB’s) Rather than look at the turnovers, I might actually consider the issue being Josh Allen is not leading enough scoring drives. Yes, he has the most total touchdowns of all quarterbacks but through just 10 games he has, even for him, an unusually high number of rushing touchdowns on the year so far. In a normal year, two or three of those rushing touchdowns could’ve gone to the running backs, and Allen should have two or three more passing touchdowns on the year if he were to maintain the same number of total touchdowns on the year. What you would end up with is as a Bills team that would have two or three more touchdowns on the year. Even just two or three more touchdowns in a few of our one score loss games, would mean the difference of two more W’s in the win column.

this guy should be on top of the list for sure.

i’m open to this idea. Is he really on the hot seat in Tennessee though? while we’re at it, what about Belicheck? I could totally see him wanting to come to Buffalo to stick it to the patriots twice a year. And I could see Terry wanting him to coach here. i’m not saying Belicheck is the coach I would want, but I could definitely see it happening.

I agree but I responded to a poster who specifically said Allen is a front runner and applied that he turtles up when the Bills are trailing and can’t bring the Bills back. The evidence suggests otherwise. He’s brought the Bills back just fine in a number of games.

Reality is against the Giants the offense was nearly perfect in the second half. two possessions and two TD’s that ate up over half the time of possession. They struggled in the first half but had a Gabe Davis fumble and two drives ended by incidental tripping where it looked like easy chain moving competitions were likely. Hard to blame Dorsey for those three things. how is that ranking since the Miami game? They are coming off a game where they didn’t allow a single TD to KC right?

Literally the opposite actually. He’s literally lead two game winning drives this year, leaving the field with less than two minutes left in the game and the lead only to have the defense blow it against the Pats and Broncos. Trailed the giants for the entire first half and went 2/2 in the second half with consecutive long 8+ minute TD drives. Trailed the Jags big most of the game and brought the Bills offense back to within a score late. Trailed by two scores against the Bengals and brought the Bills to within one score against the Bengals. He only appears to be a front runner to you because when he is great he is exceptional compared to his peers and the Bills win by 3+ TD’s. But that’s not the norm for most QB’s. Most QB’s have to rely on great defensive efforts to win by one or two scores. When Allen is on and is supported by a great defensive effort the Bills win by 28+

B***h move by McDermott. why now? The offense has four turnovers, three of which were flukey and none of the four on Dorsey. Bills probably score 30 and win easily if they have 1 turnover instead of 3.

Hard to imagine the state we are in now after we hammered Miami by 28. would any of us have believed we would be where we are now? The thing I’m holding onto for this season is just finding any way to get the seven seed and how enjoyable it would be to knock off the two seed who could be a KC or Baltimore. that would totally make the season worth it for me, regardless of how they performed in the divisional round.

One of the notes I have from the Cincy game is that the Bills‘s defense didn’t actually start putting the clamps down on the Bengals offense after their first two touchdown drives. What actually happened is the Bengals started committing dumb penalties and killing their own drives. after the two touchdown drives to open the game by the Bengals offense, their next two possessions were both ended on penalties. One possession, I believe, even had multiple offenses penalties that forced them to punt. so in the first half, the Bengals offense scored three touchdowns on five possessions, and in reality the only reason they didn’t score points on all five possessions was due to them shooting themselves in the foot.

Why can't we get turnovers when the game is tied or when we are trailing by one score or only up by 3? Is it THAT impossible? If so, then that is a defensive problem. Not an offensive problem. The Jets are the second lowest scoring team in the league and yet their defense has the same number of INT's as the Bills and one less total takeaway. Miami is the highest scoring team in the league and yet their defense is tied for the second fewest INT's in the league. I'm not saying your logic is totally incorrect here, it makes sense in theory, but it is far less impactful than you give it credit. If the logic was sound the Jets and Dolphins examples would be reversed. It simply comes down to the Jets having really good defensive personnel and the Dolphins having trash defensive personnel in comparison. The Bills, after the injuries, are somewhere in between the two and that is the most significant factor as to why the INT's have dried up. Not because the offense can't maintain two score leads.