Nihilarian

I whole heartedly agree. Although, all those other components have helped develop Allen into a top five QB we see today. Beane building around his QB. Diggs, Beasley, Brown and even Davis. Coaches. Offensive line upgrades. A somewhat decent run game that the Bills simply don't utilize enough for them to get into any kind of rhythm as it takes a lot of carries to wear out opposing defenses. 2018 Buffalo leading receiver with 56 receptions WR Zay Jones is now a 4th string Raider. He caught like 54% of his targets. Kelvin Benjamin caught near 30% of his targets and is now washing car windows in some city. TE Charles Clay is somewhere helping Benjamin. Only guy still around from Allen's first season is Isaiah McKenzie. Robert Foster, Andre Holmes, Logan Thomas, Marcus Murphy, Ray Ray McCloud, Jason Croom...poof. I gotta admit it that I wasn't sold on Bills OC Brian Daboll at all. But, I now think Allen has grown into running his offense. Daboll has learned and grown as an NFL OC right along with Allen. Last years Ravens game the Bills had no answer for all the blitzing, 50% to start and they stepped it up to 65% when the saw Buffalo couldn't stop them. This past game against the #1 Steeler defense with a top pass rush the Bills made adjustments at the half that allowed Allen to do his thing...only one sack and a mostly clean pocket vs 6 sacks and harnessed all game against Baltimore. It's a team game...and man what a team! I highly doubt that. I would have dreaded Allen going anywhere other than Buffalo... Cleveland, NY, Arizona as I still think he would have developed into a good QB anyplace. Lord, If he had fallen to Baltimore like Jackson...

Why, they will ruin him just as they ruined Darnold. They ONLY way Lawrence gets a chance to become a franchise QB is if the fire the entire coaching staff and perhaps the GM. Then hire a great head coach / GM. Not easy to do when you look at Dallas, Detroit and other teams floundering for years.

Just think, the Bills are one miracle hail-mary play from being 11-2. They are also 6-1 at home. Sat @ 5-8 Denver Mon @ 6-7 New England Sun in Buffalo snow an cold 8-5 Miami ...all very winnable games. 8-5 Miami plays, NE, Raiders, Bills 11-2 Pittsburgh plays, Cincy, Indy, Cleveland 9-4 Tennessee plays Lions, Packers, Texans 9-4 Colts plays, Texans, Steelers, Jags 8-5 Ravens plays, Jags, Giants, Bengals 12-1 Chiefs plays, Saints, Falcons, Chargers

What a stark difference between the second half adjustments in this Steelers game vs last seasons Baltimore game in which there were none. Allen was continuously pummeled in that Ravens game and Baltimore actually stepped up their blitzing frim 50% to 65% because the Bills had no answer for it. That Ravens game the Bills attempted some deep throws that didn't connect around 4-5 times and that was all they had to deter the Ravens blitz. This game the Bills actually doubled Steelers DT Cameron Hayward and chipped OLB TJ Watt as this gave Allen the time needed to make throws...to world beater Diggs. Kudos to the Buffalo offensive brain trust as they made the proper offensive changes that helped beat the 11-1 Steelers and their #1 defense with their top pass rusher in Watt. I'm very impressed by the improvements in the Bills offensive line and defense as the season goes on. It shows that the coaches are learning and developing as well as the players. Great stuff! Yea, Dabs works. Allen's nickname I think.

I agree, kept Allen clean all night. One sack

w00t great win!

amen!

I used to point out every misdeed by Jauron...who never got his Tampa two defense right by never finding the players to run it. Not that he didn't try...hello Aaron Maybin...#11 overall. My complaining endlessly about the OCs and O lines. Turk Schonert, Alex Van pelt to Nate Hackett with his run play calls right up the middle. I pointed out endless Buddy Nix's / Chan Gailey gaffes / miss steps. Gaileys choices for DC's in George Edwards, Dave Wannstedt. Trading away Marshawn and drafting a "waterbug"...when the team was desperate for a LT. (isn't Jason Peters still playing 12 years later?) trading up for TJ Graham. The Whaley pick for QB in EJ. Other posters used to comment on my posting and my complaining about what the FO is always doing wrong. Mostly what I read here was that the current roster for whatever year was the best we've had in the longest time. From HC's like Jauron, Gailey, Marrone, Ryan. From GM's like Marv Levy, Russ Brandon, Buddy Nix, Doug Whaley. Great drafts, great rosters, great players. Yeah, sure. I think I received the most grief from other posters about my calling out Rex Ryan after his second game as Bills HC. This after Buffalo dominating the Colts and Andrew Luck with a relentless pass rush in his first game, week one 2015. The very next week the defensive game plan against NE was all wrong and Brady ripped him a new one for it. 38 of 59 for 466 yards, 3 TDs. Instead of allowing the best defensive line in the league do their thing and...you know...rush the passer. He asked them to hold their position and at times drop into pass coverage so the Bills LBers could make plays. Those awesome all pro Bills LBers in Nigel Bradham, Manny Lawson, Preston Brown and Jerry Hughes (who had just arrived in Buffalo because the Colts GM called Whaley as he didn't like Polian's last first round choice in Hughes and wanted him gone. Lucky us. Anyway, with every post that I made pointing out what Rex Ryan had done wrong... all I got back was how out of touch I was... and Ryan will get the team winning very soon. Sure, as with all the boneheaded choices for head coaches the last two decades or so. I'm not complaining anymore, at least not about the HC/FO. The offensive line, yes. Still not good enough for me and might never be as I want the #1 unit in the league or darn close to it. (I'll continue to complain, except about #76). Guys, remember! This regime made the playoffs with Tyrod Taylor at QB in 2017!! Then, this GM got a 3rd round pick for him in trading him away. My lord, that's some serious awesomeness right there! The Buffalo Bills have FINALLY found a decent HC / GM / QB and some Bills fans simply refuse to enjoy the winning. Week 14, currently 9-3 and in the hunt for a division title since 1995! I'm ecstatic and enjoying the ride...as with most Bills fans. A great time to be a Buffalo Bill fan!

In kinda feel bad for anyone that can't seem to let go of the past to look forward to what should be a very bright future for this franchise. I also seem to recall some Bills fans back in 2018 questioning if McD should remain the HC after losing a playoff game. Some people are just that way... and simply can't find happiness in stages of success. Nevermind that Tyrod Taylor was the QB in 2017 when the Bills made the playoffs. Nevermind that the 2nd year QB that some said was a certain bust and rated him a 3rd round pick that didn't win a playoff game. Good lord, after watching the Bills destroy that 49ers #5 defense on MNF, it was emotionally uplifting to see the Buffalo Bills play that way. Thinking that if they can continue to play that well they could go all the way. And if not, I can see that they are close to winning it all very soon. To Brandon Beane.

I get a kick out of some Bills fans nit picking at what this tandem have done so far with player personnel. These were two rookies at their jobs as both are first time HC / GM. Looking at what they have done to build this team and how they got there just shows that they are learning as they go. They inherited Tyrod Taylor and didn't immediately dump him as they wanted to see if they could make things work with him. They inherited a 7-9 team that Rex Ryan screwed up by taking the very best D line pass rush in the league and asking them to stay back and hold position while the crappy LBers attempted to make plays or drop had them drop into pass coverage. Ryan inherited the #4 defense in the league and dismantled it to around 20th. The first thing McD needed to do was fix that defense. The result was an improvement to 9-7 and a playoff berth...with Tyrod Taylor at QB... Bills fans will clearly never let go of the passing on Patrick Mahomes...when nobody on that FO staff was capable of visualizing his future talent. The GM and scouts for that draft where all Doug Whaley and his choice for QB was EJ. I wouldn't let that guy pick a hamburger. There was a real reason he and his entire scouting staff were FIRED right after that draft. Meanwhile, McD found the very best CB in the league in Tre White. He went after the talent he 'knew" was good. LET...IT...GO! The 2020 Buffalo have one of the very best QB's in the league and IMO is a better fit in Buffalo than Mahomes. The Bills have one of the very best, if not the best WR corps in the league with Beasley (who Beane stole from Dallas under Belichick's nose) John Brown, world beater Stefon Diggs who makes opposing DB's look silly as he jukes them outta their cleats play after play. And rookie 4th round pick Gabe Davis who is quietly having a very good season. I wouldn't trade McD / Beane for any other head coach / GM in the league. Best owners too. The best is yet to come...

Awesome to hear! Was concerned about losing him. As good, if not already better than Polian IMO.

Phil Simms on PFT said that Richard Sherman was a "QB peeker"! In that now that he is older he watches more film and the QB during games so he makes a move when he sees what the QB is gonna do. Stating he got an INT from Rams QB Jared Goff by doing that. Josh Allen faked him outta his cleats with that little shoulder fake pump and he just stood there as Gabe Davis caught that TD. Just awesome a 3rd year showing that much Moxy! Speaking of Fake outta his cleats... kinda like Stefon Diggs does nearly every play to opposing DB's. What a great Buffalo offense. I don't care how many catches Justin Jefferson makes as I doubt he will ever be as good as Diggs is with his routes and ability to juke the DBs attempting to cover him. It's almost comical on how badly he makes them look. What an awesome trade for Buffalo!

That was so key in the game as the 49ers have a rep for getting a lot of heat on the QB with just four rushers. It was great to watch as the Niners couldn't stop Buffalo in any aspect. They did some pretty good holding against the Bills D too. Good writeup as usual Virgil. #1, it shows that all this teams players are "all in" on the process. Love to see that! After this game I'm now more concerned about losing Daboll as OC. Then again, the Bills played great in prime time last season against the Cowboys and the next week were pounded on by the Ravens blitzing. We shall see. The 2020 Steelers have the NFL sack leader in TJ Watt and are #2 in the NFL in turnover ratio at +11 right behind KC. Though they do lead the NFL in INTs with 16. I'm hoping the Bills can have the same type of offensive game against a not playing so good Pittsburgh team right now. Did the Steelers lose to Washington while looking past them to next Sunday night against Buffalo? If so, those teams tend to lose both games.

Gotta hand it to Bills OC Brian Daboll as he setup a near perfect game plan against the 49ers and called a near perfect game. Josh played a near perfect game. The 49er defense has difficulty with deep passes outside the hash and Josh was 6 for 6 of passes more than 20 yards. Josh Allen ripped that #5 overall 49er defense a new one on Monday Night Football. Just awesome to behold his becoming a top NFL QB. Allen #5 in passing yards. Diggs #5 in receiving yards. Diggs also tied with Keenan Allen for most receptions with 90. This with four games to go. Steelers, Broncos, Patriots, Dolphins. As good as last years win over the Cowboys on Thanksgiving day was... this was more profound in my view. Great game!

Notice the two ex Buffalo Bills talking at the end. If that Buffalo offense / defense can play like "that" the rest of the season ...they could go all the way. Holy cow what a great game...on MNF!

Allen's arm tonight was unreal with that zip. Allen looked like John Elway, running throwing lazer's... that pass to Gabe Davis with the slight pump fake and the ball was there in the blink of an eye. Richard Sherman frozen just watching. Just awesome.

uncoverable... Brandon Beane beat Belichick in finding the next Wes Welker, Danny Amondola, Julian Edleman. Diggs too, what a trade for this franchise! Diggs leads the NFL in receptions with 90.

I complained about Beasley not getting the ball enough last week...well they sure fed him this week. 9 rec for 130 yards, 1 TD...uncoverable!

Man, what a great game. That was a top 10 49er defense that Josh Allen shredded. What a far cry from the Tyrod Taylor days.

In a word, NO! Brian Daboll has called plays in Buffalo like he has had a veteran QB behind center since day one, and he hasn't. He had a rookie with a bad O line, bad receiver corps that first season. Allen also had no real QB coach and no veteran QB early on to learn the NFL ropes with. Like Kirk Cousins told him, learning to play QB in the NFL is like drinking from a fire hose. Allen has had a pretty rough go as the starting QB for Buffalo and is learning as he goes. Daboll is also learning as he goes and while that Bills offense is in the top 10 this season i feel it is more because of Josh Allen more so than Daboll. Allen has had 8 fourth quarter comebacks and 11 game winning drives in his career. Daboll should have been setting up his offense with the run game, short passing game first to help Allen gain confidence. Instead the 2018 Buffalo Bills led the NFL in deep pass attempts. Once Daboll saw what Allen could do once the pocket broke down and he needed to scramble. Then Daboll put in designed QB run plays. Let's not forget that this same NFL offensive brain trust thought that Nathan Peterman should start the 2018 season. Peterman was sacked 3x, went 5 of 18 for 24 yards with 2 INTs before he was benched in the 3rd quarter against Baltimore. A QB rating of 0.0. If anything, I think Josh Allen is carrying Brian Daboll. Yes, sometimes Daboll has good game plans and sometimes he calls good games. Although there are still times where I think to myself this man doesn't know what he is doing. The Titans game this year!... and asking Allen to throw 46 times while asking the Bills RB's to rush 18 times. Daboll just forgets the run game and asks Allen to carry the game. The Chiefs game and other games this season bring to mind that Daboll still doesn't have an answer for when Allen is under constant pressure or duress. This needs to be corrected asap as the Bills face the Steelers in two weeks and they have the #1 defense in points allowed, #3 in yards allowed. TJ Watt in #1 in the NFL in sacks with 11.0. The Steelers also lead the NFL in turnovers with a +12, 16 INTs. Sometimes the run game works, Patriots, Chargers and sometimes it doesn't. Until this last game against the Chargers the Bills were 27th in the NFL in rushing. If the Bills can get that run game going for the rest of the year like they did against the Chargers then they have a solid shot at a playoff win. Daboll also needs to figure better protection schemes and plays that make the opposing defense pay for blitzing Allen. Brian Daboll is learning and growing as an NFL OC. And although he has that Patriots playbook, he is not as good as McDaniel's calling plays, nor Reid, nor Shanahan, Payton, McVay, Reich, LaFleur, and Kingsbury, Stefanski, Gruden, Kubiak.

#3 shows me that the Buffalo offensive line is not good enough for playoff primetime. While the Bills have some decent depth on that line which is very difficult to do at times. (Buffalo gave up Wyatt Teller to the Browns and he is doing very well in Cleveland as the #8 block win rate as an OG) It was #60 who whiffed on that Bosa block which caught Allen attempting a designed QB sweep run on third and two. The announcers stated that it was the receiver who missed the block, but #60 ran right by him. Bosa is a beast, is #3 in the NFL in pass rush win rate. Which leads me to think that perhaps the Bills were limiting the passing attempts because of that Chargers pass rush? Another thought was the Bills were determined to work that run game in knowing that winter is coming and the Bills need to get that #27 in rush yards working. Perhaps the Bills don't want to show their passing offense to the Steelers who they play after the 49ers next week? I do believe that opposing teams usually only get the last three games to review film on. Anyway, it makes me wonder why the Bills don't target Cole Beasley more often in some games. With an 80% catch percentage the Bills only targeted him 4x against the Chargers with 2 receptions. Diggs was targeted 9 times for 7 receptions. Strange game for Buffalo passing on such a good weather day.

"Mayock knew there he was something special, thank God the Browns and Jets didnt. Its been awesome to watch him mature and play with heart out there. Funny to read about his crazy audibles and reference to Farvre. Hes alot younger than me and, I dont remember Farvre in his prime that well. Dude stays in the filmroom!" If you think about all those teams, Cleveland 2x, NY Giants, NY Jets, Broncos, Colts who drafted before number seven. They all would have gone for Allen if they knew then, what they know now. Stating that there would have been even more teams after Allen. The thing is that Darnold, Rosen and Mayfield played at big name schools and were deemed more NFL starting ready. Allen was so raw out of college that he should have sat out his first season like Mahomes did and some teams didn't want to wait. Now go back and think about Josh Allen and his first season in Buffalo. Horrific offensive line, no real QB coach, no veteran QB to learn the ropes from at the start of the season. The current offensive brain trust thought that Nathan Peterman should start over Allen after they cut QB AJ McCarron. Amazing that he survived that first season in my view. Darnold had it better.

If ya watched that video and liked it. He is another. What gets me is why the other teams looking for a QB didn't go after Allen. Cleveland* NY Giants NY Jets Browns again Broncos Colts all passed on Allen. Trent Dilfer talks accuracy and compares Allen to the likes of John Elway and Brett Favre.

For the first time in many years I did extensive research on each QB in the 2018 draft knowing the Bills would draft one of them. The answer after looking into each in depth was clear as glass. Josh was head and shoulders above any of the rest and not just physically. The number one knock on Allen were his accuracy issues. If you look at what he was doing to improve in that area by working with Jordan Palmer pre draft. Allen knew his mechanics, footwork were a mess in college. Troy Aikman at the combine stated he had never seen a QB throw that far, 85-90 yards in the air. Work ethic : Allen grew up on his parents farm so he was no stranger to hard work. What would you rather do, play football or work in the fields? Brains? Tom Brady scored a 33 on the wonderlic. Josh Allen scored a 37. The top score is a 50 and system analyst, chemist, electrical engineers usually score in the low 30's. Anyway, when asked by then draft analyst for the NFL network Mike Mayock who asked about a certain play in college against a particular team Allen could recall the entire process. (Mayock is now the GM of the Raiders) Intangibles: Allen played at Wyoming in the wind, snow and cold. You know, like Buffalo weather. The kid played with mostly nobodies and basically carried his team to a bowl game each season. His final season at Wyoming every player that had touched the ball on offense was gone so he carried that team to a bowl game with a bunch of rookies. The kid had heart and a burning desire to win, easy to see. BTW, Brett Favre was his hero. Josh was very raw and only played two seasons at Wyoming and although he was there for three seasons he didn't start his first season. Allen broke his collarbone so he was a medical redshirt his first season Can anyone name the last time a Wyoming QB was drafted into the NFL? Like three and all very late round picks, like 6th, 7th, 16th. To get to the college level Allen was a scrawny kid at 6'3'' 180lbs that no big school wanted. He spent his first two college seasons at a junior college. After those two Allen grew to 6'5'' 210lbs with a big arm and had thought he would be flooded with offers of scholarships. Wrong, no school wanted him. Allen sent out almost 2000 emails with his resume only to have only two school make offers, Wyoming and Eastern Michigan and Michigan rescinded its offer once they found out Allen had spoken with Wyoming. Allen's head coach at Wyoming (Craig Bohl) would gloat that nobody can cover this kid because with that arm there is no safe place on the entire field. In practice Allen would change the run play to a deep throw for a TD and his coach would ask what the heck are ya doing? Allen would smile and respond that Favre only throws TDs.

There were a bunch of reasons the Dolphins couldn't get past Buffalo all those years. For some reason Don Shula forgot what won him his first SB and that was a great run game and defense. The Dolphins leaned on Dan Marino's arm far too often all those years. Kind of like Denver did with Elway the first three super bowls and they didn't win one until Terrell Davis came along. Another key factor was that the Bills defense knew all of Marino's tells, audibles, calls, plays he liked. So they knew what was coming most of the time. 1990 divisional playoff game Buffalo beat Miami 44-34 and a Dolphins player was overheard saying "I can't believe we scored 34 points and still lost". Thurman Thomas had 32 rush attempts for 117 yards and 2 TDs. (not a typo) The Dolphins had a top 10 defense that season. Although Buffalo had the #1 scoring offense and top ten defense too. The Bills didn't always have the greatest stats every season defensively. What they did have consistently was a top pass rush with Smith and Biscuit. Simply give the Dolphins Thurman Thomas and they win so many more games. IMHO