Nihilarian

The 3rd string talent he was surrounded with in his first NFL preseason game was about what he played with at Wyoming in his last season there. Everyone who had touched the ball the previous year was gone and what he had to deal with were rookies. He took that team of rookies to an 8-3 record while winning their bowl game. The Bills coaches must have thought he played well enough as they rewarded Allen with some reps with the first string in Friday's practice. There is no question that the kid needs more playing experience as it showed Thurs night. What was also shown is that he has an arm as good as it gets and the Jeff George reference comparing the arms is the only thing comparable between those two...Allen's arm is stronger. My take is it won't take much time before most every Bills fan will love this kid.

I watched Darnold for awhile and didn't see anything special. But, it's only one preseason game. Let's see how he looks when the game is on the line and he needs to go 80 yards for the win. For this year the Jests should let Bridgewater start and see how he does while letting Darnold sit and learn. JMO That regime might not last another losing season.

Ask this question again in a few weeks. We Bills fans love our pick now as well as the other teams love theirs as well. Thinks should become clearer as the season moves on. Funny thing though as I recall that most of this board acted gut punched when they saw Allen get drafted over Rosen.

I'd be willing to think that the two HC's, GM's had a gentleman's agreement to not blitz much while keeping things simple. Even Cleveland, Cincy and Chicago won't show their full defenses in the preseason. I think I'll wait until I see how the line plays with the real bullets flying at Baltimore, the Chargers, at Minnesota. We should know how well that line will do this season following how they protect and run block against those three teams. I suspect the line is not as good as it currently looks. 25 of 39 for 338 passing with only 21 rushing attempts, 430 yards of offense total seems off the charts against a usually stout Carolina defense. This!

With the scrubs at WR, and O line.

? Yep, Allen sucks alright...

Shades of Sammy there as he stopped running...

So true, kinda what he had to work with while at Wyoming. ? The first stretch of eight games this season is brutal, so I hope they sit him for the first half and let AJ, and Nate takes the pounding.

Overthrow? It went right through his hands. The rest of the team screws up for neg 20 yards and in one play it should have been a TD to make up for everything if not for a WR who missed a catch. Steve Tasker stated it correctly as that error was all on the receiver.

Like a flick of the wrist and that was on the WR.

can you say frozen rope!

Kinda early for this isn't it? Allen was out there with the 3rd string scrubs learning the NFL ropes. The safe play would have been a FG. The kid needs experience so the coaches will let him go for it.

Love this kid, smart and knows the fan base.

Allen in my view is better than AJ, Peterman, and yet I still want to see him sit and develop. I'm hoping that Allen doesn't see the field before week 8 or more, and if he does it means the other two are either injured or terribad. The long Allen sits the better his chances are to properly develop into a quality starter IMHO.

If the Bills are 3-5 at midpoint after playing the @ Ravens, Chargers, @ Vikings @ Packers, Titans, @ Houston, @ Colts, Patriots I'll be rejoicing! This means that the Bills beat one of the really good teams that most are saying will be making the playoffs this year. It also means that the offensive line won't be so offensive in defending a pocket QB! The remainder of the season consists of the Bears, Jets, Jags, Dolphins, Jets, Lions, Patriots, Dolphins. The bolded teams are the ones I think they have a shot at beating so 8-8 realistically. OTOH, should the Bills make some moves to replace Mills at RT and do a better upgrade at center I could see them winning a few more games. Perhaps even obtain a decent WR to go along with KB. Those teams I underlined. The offensive linemen currently on the roster will face some brutal defenses Chargers, Vikings, Packers (new DC Mike Pettine), Houston, Jags. Even the Lions and Patriots might be fielding top 10 defenses this year.

Many Bills fans are forgetting about that linebacker the Bills also took in the first round. Even if somehow Josh Allen fails to impress because of the lack of talent around him that LBer pick should stand out from day one. Regardless of the QB position should Edmunds turn into another Luke Kuechly this draft will be considered by many a success. A kid only 19 years old that is 6'5'' 253 lbs and he can run a 4.5 40, can play inside or out. Beane killed this year's draft.

Here, here. I think Mills received a decent grade from PFF for his run blocking as he really did stink up the field at times with his pass blocking. 32 teams, 64 starting tackles, and Mills tied for 43rd among tackles. SB thinks the Bills should move on from him. https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2018/2/20/17031574/which-upcoming-buffalo-bills-free-agents-dont-deserve-a-contract-extension-2018 EDIT: Some interesting items on how some of the Bills linemen look going into the season. "The Bills added a solid center in free agency and a solid reserve guard in the draft, but they have definitely downgraded on the interior of the offensive line. Their hope is that Miller returns to form in the new blocking scheme and they can go back to their success he had earlier in his career." https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2018/7/18/17580698/buffalo-bills-interior-offensive-line-training-camp-preview-eric-wood-richie-incognito-groy-bodine

Calais Campbell had a grade of 90.7 (PFF) and led all edge defenders with seven QB pressures. Campbell also dominated in the run game with a run defense grade of 89.7. The Jags defense pressured Tyrod Taylor all game on 38.3% of dropbacks which was the highest percentage in the playoffs. The 2018 Buffalo Bills will be without Tyrod Taylor as they traded away that elusive mobile QB and replaced him with a pair of pocket QB's in AJ McCarron, Nathan Peterman. I shudder to think of how that line will look this year with all pros Glenn, Woods and Incognito gone from the team and a roster of nobodies on the line attempting to protect those pocket QBs. I also want to mention that, The 2013 Buffalo Bills were #1 in rushing attempts, #2 in rushing yards. In 2014 they took several steps back into the 20s in rushing. In 2015 they were #2 in rushing attempts, #1 in rushing yards, #1 in rushing TDs, #1 in yards per rushing attempt. In 2016 they were #2 in rushing attempts, #1 in rushing yards, #1 in rushing TDs, #1 in yards per rushing attempt. In 2017 they were #4 in rushing attempts, #6 in rushing yards, #15 in rushing TDs, #14 in yards per rushing attempt. For the first part of the 2017 season, the run game wasn't anywhere near as good as the previous two seasons and in the last half of the season, it got much better. I suspect the line was getting used to Dawkins at LT and the line getting used to the new O line coach/run game coordinator in Juan Castillio. Those rushing TDs and yards per attempt never did come close to what they were in 2015, 2016. You have made your points and I have made mine. Preseason games start on August 9th for Buffalo so we shall soon see if the current players on the roster are good enough. 15 days.

Thanks. The line is my biggest concern so far as I don't see McCarron, Peterman lasting past that week 6 Texan's game and they might not even make it that far. Hopefully, by then Beane will work a trade to bring in much-needed help. The very last thing I want to see is that rookie QB being thrown to the wolves like a lamb to the slaughter.

I'm happy for you that you were content with the play of the line against the Jags defense in that playoff game. They passed the test for you because the Jags defense didn't annihilate them? Perhaps their defensive game plan was to keep that running QB contained so he didn't make big plays with his legs. Rather than go for sacks and get burned by a big run. Perhaps they wanted to also contain McCoy so he didn't kill them with his legs. The Buffalo Bills lost that game 10-3 which is a sad thing that they couldn't score more than 3 points. In my view, a better O line would have greatly helped score more points. They passed nothing for me as I would have liked to see McCoy score a few times on the ground and Taylor throw a few TDs. The 49ers scored 44 pts on them in week 16 and Pittsburg rolled up 545 yards of offense on them with Big Ben throwing 5 TD passes. The Jags did field a solid defense but they went 10-6, were swept by Tennessee, also lost to the Jets, the Rams, the Cards, and 49ers. I want to see a Bills line that can dominate the competition like they did in the 60's AFL championship years, 90's super bowl years. The current roster isn't even close at this point.

Undermine some part of the unit? Joey Bosa had a field day against that line and stated at times they didn't even block him. The Jags game was the supposed litmus test in your view? The O line passed the test against Jacksonville? News flash! Buffalo lost that game and only scored 3 points all game. The Jags defense sacked a very mobile running QB 2x, intercepted Bills QB's 2x and knocked Taylor out of the game. The Buffalo defense was the hero of that game holding the Jags to 10 pts. Did they look as bad as they did against the Chargers, no! However, the Bills do get to play them again in Buffalo in week two of this year... with no Tyrod. Let's see how they do, shall we? I'm not optimistic at all about this season and I hope it will open some eyes towards building a better line. I look at this year's offensive lines players and liken what I see to the 2010 season's starting line. I wouldn't be surprised to see this year's team start 0-8 because that line won't be able to protect the pocket QB's in Peterman, McCarron. I also doubt the run game will work very well regardless of how often they attempt to run the ball. Naturally, the QB's and RB's will get the blame. @Ravens, Chargers, @Vikings, @Packers, Titans, @Texans, @Colts, Patriots. Tough first eight games and I'm hoping I'm wrong.

Whaley's failure wasn't the fact that he didn't target a QB as he did scout and draft EJ. It was the fact that he kept attempting to build a mostly skill player offense around a bad QB. Let's also not forget that he drafts a rookie QB in EJ and has no senior QB on the roster to help groom him. That year they had rookie EJ, near rookie Thad Lewis, and rookie Jeff Tuel as the QB's on the roster. Plus no QB coach and the only guy teaching these young QB's was an OC who had no previous NFL OC experience. Simply put, moronic! Not to mention that this was the year of OG Colin Brown who started six games before being outright cut. Doug Legursky was another bad player who was the worst player on the Steelers line who was brought in to be the backup center and ended up the starting LG because Colin Brown was even worse. Sam Young, really? That season the Bills O-line ranked 29th with a rookie QB starting!! Whaley was a bad GM from his signing guys like OG Chris Williams for four years 13.5 mill with 5.5 million in guaranteed money...and the guy lasted 3 games! "I am particularly excited about the direction our offensive line is moving in because we wanted to address this position," general manager Doug Whaley said in a statement released by the team. "We feel like we filled the need with a very good player." http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/10594140/chris-williams-signs-buffalo-bills The guy was the worst player on a bad rams line the year before and Whaley thought he was a quality starter! The Bills signed WR Mike Williams...Whaley let Chris Hogan leave for the Patriots. The list of Doug Whaley's screw-ups is almost endless...

I've been around long enough to know that you need quality starters in any position on the field. I've seen more than enough bad lines in the history of this franchise and of the 15 O-line players on the current roster, only Dion Dawkins is the single Bills player who strikes me as a player who can hold his own area. It's not OC Daboll who I'm worried about either as he is not the line coach or run game coordinator. My take is Daboll will start with a very run-heavy offense as that is what he did in Cleveland, Miami and KC along with his time at Alabama. It's more Juan Castillo who is the O line coach and run game coordinator that worries me. I was kinda surprised he survived the offseason. The Bills brain trust might think that Incognito wasn't worth what they were paying him and that his play had dropped off a bit. That may be true but it also might have something to do with a rookie LT and a center with a neck problem. I'm not the only one who thinks the Bills line took a huge downturn after losing all pros Woods, Glenn, and Incognito. 29. Buffalo Bills PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP: Left Tackle: Dion Dawkins, 74.5 overall grade Left Guard: Vladimir Ducasse, 75.5 Center: Russell Bodine, 46.8 Right Guard: John Miller, 39.1 Right Tackle: Jordan Mills, 65.7 2017 season-end rank: 7th (-22) The Bills have about as much to replace talent-wise as any offensive line in the NFL. That’s what happens when you lose your top-three starters (LT Cordy Glenn, LG Richie Incognito, C Eric Wood) along your offensive line (although Glenn only played 275 snaps this past year). Outside of rookie Dion Dawkins – who performed admirably with a 74.5 overall grade as a rookie – there’s not much room for ‘upside’ among their potential starters https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-nfl-offensive-line-rankings-all-32-teams-units-entering-2018. If you still feel confident that the line will be okay go back and watch that week 11 Chargers game last year. The Bills play a myriad of really good defensive teams this year.

Two firsts and a fourth for a WR who has never even been a top 10 receiver was a moronic move from watching too many highlight films. Then Watkins made all those yards in screens at Clemson. His best NFL season catches wise (65) he was the 24th WR and his best season yards wise he was the 22nd best WR. An argument can be made that the Buffalo Bills FO were utterly foolish for giving up that much for a WR especially when they didn't have a legit franchise QB to throw to him. Stating that, yeah Tom Brady would have a field day with all those receivers, EJ, Orton, Taylor not so much. BTW, it took Rex Ryan to bring in Tyrod Taylor or who knows what scrub Whaley would have brought in to throw to them. Then the offensive line before Incognito was not so good with both Woods, Glenns play falling off and again Rex Ryan was the reason for the resurging line as he vouched for Richie. The line would have been even better had he been able to obtain OG/OT La'el Collins. The Bills just purged themselves of Nix's, Whaley's mistakes and it will really show up next year in cap space. The Buffalo Bills already made the playoffs without all those names and without Dareus who is trouble again. So far I love what Beane and McD have done and KB might not get great separation or have world-class speed. What he does bring is that big, tall red zone target that the Bills have been wanting forever. I can recall the Bills FO stating that right after they drafted Watkins that they still needed that big, tall red zone target. Why they didn't draft Mike Evans is beyond me. Khalil Mack, Mike Evans,... Anthony Barr, Taylor Lewan, Odell Beckham, Aaron Donald, Ryan Shazier, Zack Martin, CJ Mosley, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Brandon Cooks, Jason Verrett, Teddy Bridgewater, DeMarcus Lawrence, Derek Carr, Devante Adams, Allen Robinson, Jarvis Landry would have all been a better use of a first round pick and even the 2015 first round pick too would have been nice to have. The clear facts are that Doug Whaley and his scouts had little clue as to how to properly evaluate talent or need. There is a real reason he was fired and hasn't been hired as a GM by another team.

A couple of things here. Allen also showed improvement at the combine and minicamp with his accuracy ...in shorts, I know. The thing is, this is a very bright young man who should pick things up very quickly and also has never had anyone work with him on his mechanics in college. This kid only spent two years as a full-time starter at Wyoming so there is still room for learning, developing. Everyone also needs to realize that although Allen might be the next Favre, Elway in the making. He won't get very far behind a crappy offensive line with no run game especially if being asked to play from behind all the time. The Bills just lost three pro bowlers on their line from last season and this new crop is very questionable. Plus the receiver corps isn't all that great. No man is an Island! Jim Kelly didn't do it all by himself for those super bowl runs as he had HoF RB Thurman Thomas who was around 70% of the offense back then. Plus he had two WR HoFers in James Lofton and Andre Reed. Not to mention how solid that left side of the offensive line was back then with LT Wolford, LG Ritcher, C Kent Hull with all three pro bowlers and one first team all pro. I'm hoping Allen sits this year and they throw Peterman, AJ to the wolves until they get that line up to par. The QB is only one piece of a large puzzle.