HappyDays

1st play was a quick screen to Shakir that was dropped. 3rd play has already been discussed in this thread and was definitely not a hero ball play. On the contrary Allen did not throw the dangerous pass that Gonzalez was trying to bait him into. Here's the 2nd down play: Everybody is running deep and is completely blanketed. Cook as the checkdown option is double covered. You can see him start his throwing motion to Cook but pulls it back, because the right most LB is in great position to drive on Cook and the ball and best case scenario is Cook gets crushed after 3 yard gain.

I've said before that my least favorite aspect of the McBeane regime is they are ruining Josh's legacy. You can see it in this thread, people saying he had a bad game or comparing the performance to the Houston game last year. When in fact he actually played really well outside of one terrible mistake. The run game wasn't there, his skill players had two costly fumbles, his pass catchers weren't separating, and the offense kept going backwards because of dumb penalties. This was not an A+ game from Allen but a bad game?Bills fans have lost sight of what normal QB play actually looks like for the rest of the NFL. It's sobering that an A- game leads to us losing to a middle class opponent at home.

Yeah and I'm not one to complain about 50/50 flags. Like plays where the WR and CB are hand fighting all the way down the field, I'm fine with the officials letting those play out. But this was textbook interference. He is slamming into Shakir's back before the ball gets there which was obvious even on the live broadcast.

Allen did bail a clean pocket, I don't dispute that. But we need to be realistic about how quick these decisions are made and how fast defensive positioning can change. Allen feels pressure from his left and has to decide in an instant if he trusts Dawkins to sustain that block. I don't blame him at all for bailing right and trying to create since there is no contain player on that side. And in fact the decision works out exactly as it should, with Allen buying time until his WR works open. The only problem is that Gonzalez is allowed to commit a penalty that erases the throw. Tip your cap to the officials and move on, I guess.

Dude I don't know what else to tell you. Watch Allen's eyes from the snap. He is reading #0. As soon as #0 declares he is gaining depth Allen moves on. QBs aren't playing Madden scanning the field at random, they're reading defenders that the play call is supposed to put into conflict.

You're doing that thing people do where you're looking at still screenshots but not accounting for the fact that the defense is constantly changing its positioning based on what Allen is doing. It only looks open in a certain still screenshot because Gonzalez was able to abandon that part of the field after Allen moves on. If he just stands there and throws that ball it is an INT or a pass breakup. Allen is reading Gonzalez the entire way and Gonzalez is reading him back.

Yeah you're just wrong about this. Allen threw that exact INT a bunch of times when Dorsey was the OC. You're vastly underestimating how quickly an NFL CB can get depth, especially Christian Gonzalez. He's the high/low conflict defender, the problem is the low option doesn't show up until a few seconds after the ball is snapped so he is able to declare himself high and Allen has to move on. Bad play design that Allen miraculously solves on his own, as usual, except the referee didn't throw the obvious flag.

Allen moves on from Samuel because #0 on the Pats is getting depth after the snap. That would have been an easy INT if Allen continued staring down Samuel and threw that ball. #0 also ends up taking away the short crossing route to Shakir so Allen bails right because that's where his options are going to be and there's no contain player on that side. I'm not a fan of the concept on the left side of the field. If you want to put #0 in conflict you have to make him declare sooner. Have Kincaid run a whip route for example and force #0 to commit to him which opens up Samuel's deep route. Because #0 isn't put into conflict until Shakir crosses the field he is able to put himself into position to take both routes away. This is where Brady's lack of experience gets us into trouble.

Yeah but the goal isn't to go 13-4, the goal is to win a championship. Some of the issues that lost us this game have been issues all year long including in the AFCCG loss to KC. So no I'm not going to just chalk it up as a bad loss. If anything we've been using the wins as a cover to ignore the fundamental problems with this team, and those fundamental problems are real obstacles that stand in the way of us reaching the ultimate goal. The Ravens game is a great example. For 55 minutes we couldn't even slow them down and we couldn't pass the ball downfield. Then several miracle plays in a row all went our way and it's like the first 55 minutes never happened. Pulling a bunch of close games out right at the end all the way to a Super Bowl is a nice idea, but the Chiefs are the only team of this generation that has made that a sustainable winning formula. The rest of us have to win games the old fashioned way of out playing the opponent from start to finish, and there's been too many long stretches of games this year where that just hasn't been the case.

I don't necessarily disagree but this shows you how low the expectations have gotten for our head coach's side of the ball. The Raiders and Steelers held the Pats to 13 and 14 respectively, and those are not exactly powerhouse defenses. We hold them to "just" 20 (I'll excuse them 3 points that came off Coleman's fumble) and that feels like such a herculean effort for this defense that it seems like a good performance. It really wasn't though. It was an okay performance. You're allowed to win games where your offense only puts up 20 especially when facing an opponent whose roster talent is pretty lopsided towards their defense. The Pats offensive talent is average at best. But we let the only legit WR they have do whatever he wanted and we only made one stop in the 2nd half. We let them drive for a game winning FG. So I'm not letting the defense off the hook. Also if we're accepting that we're going to spot any competent opponent 20 points no matter what investments we've made on defense, then why did we just spend two offseasons giving most of our resources to that side of the ball?

Even in real time the defender had clearly gotten there early. I don't like to blame officials for losses but this was egregious. Especially with how they were calling the game prior to this. If it's a penalty for the first 58 minutes it's a penalty in the final 2. I hate these officials that call every minor infraction but turtle up in crunch time. Until this moment I actually felt very confident we were going to win. Even when we were down by 10. We had that one TD drive aided by 30 yards worth of roughness calls and I thought okay we're the 2024 Chiefs this year, we'll play like crap for 55 minutes but the other team will make mistakes and we'll find a way to pull it out. The 2024 Chiefs get that DPI, we didn't. And that was the ball game.

I'm pretty sure the all-22 will show that some of those open WRs you saw were not actually open. A couple times I saw Allen spot a target and gear up to throw but a Pats defender wisely got into the throwing lane with their arms up which forced Allen to retract the ball. Vrabel had his defense ready for those plays. They were containing Allen whenever he scrambled right and staying disciplined on the back end. When Maye got out of the pocket Diggs was always working himself open, which of course we know he can do at a very high level. Allen doesn't have that guy. Allen doesn't turn down open targets like he did at times when he was younger. The primary issue is that his targets aren't getting open, which has been an issue in every game and this is the first time it really bit us.

I understand every team has flaws, there are maybe no powerhouses this year, certainly not in the AFC. What annoys me is that I think we could have been the powerhouse. I was not a fan of the team building strategy this offseason, at all. We spent almost all of our resources on McDermott's side of the ball and left the MVP with scraps. Surprise surprise, the defense looks the same as it did last year and a historically mistake-free offense is reverting to the mean. That was an easy outcome to predict and the people in charge didn't see it coming. I still think we are just one legit outside WR away from being an offense that can steamroll teams. That to me was the best chance we had of being a powerhouse team. Score 35+ every single game. The goal this year is to be the #1 seed. Don't look now but the Colts have an easy peasy schedule the rest of the year while we have some tough opponents after the bye. They and the Lions look like the best teams in the NFL right now and it's not with dominant defense, it's with offenses that are steamrolling their opponents and running up the score. That's how you win a Super Bowl in the modern era. I'm worried that we blew it in the offseason and I have no reason to think McDermott and Beane are going to learn from their mistake. They still have a chance to rectify it. If they trade for a CB at the deadline I'll know they haven't learned. They need to make a trade at the only position that will make a legit difference to the outcome of games. When Maye got out of the pocket tonight he had his guy working open. Diggs turned back the clock tonight. When Allen got out of the pocket he was holding holding holding the ball and nobody was separating. That is where the biggest room for improvement still exists on the roster and I really hope Beane can see it, his little WGR rant notwithstanding.

I mean we're trying to be the #1 seed and losing a game to an inferior team is a huge blow on that journey. The season isn't over but there are some real flaws that were exposed tonight, and they have been there all along but tonight we couldn't get away with them. The one saving grace is there are no flawless teams out there. It is just a shame that the conference is weaker than ever and we can't capitalize on it by having a truly dominant team.

I think he needs to give up on all but a few concepts. Hand the ball to Cook, screens or quick slants to Shakir, designed passes to the TEs, PA boots from Allen. Sure work in a couple throws a game to the rest but otherwise we need to just do what we can do well.

I've been banging the drum for Shaheed and I'd still take him if we have no better options but I no longer think he is enough. We need a legit WR that can separate outside. Coleman hasn't been consistent and Palmer who is supposed to be our outside separator has been invisible. Just not enough there right now.

Josh didn't have a bad night. He had one very bad mistake. The rest of the game he is holding the ball because no one can separate downfield. It is the old bugaboo that has lost us several games these past couple years since we traded Diggs. Beane had his little rant on WGR, well it remains an issue.

That was the difference tonight. Maye played excellent but when he got out of the pocket he had a guy that worked open for him, while Allen was holding the ball and no one could separate.

He had a defender in the path of the ball, he was gearing up to throw to him otherwise

They called DPI against us for that exact play earlier. BS

It's 4 down territory the whole way, the goal is to score a TD with 30 seconds or less on the clock

There you go 0!

This half Pats have been the team killing themselves with penalties

Alright defense, your turn to keep us in this game

Ray Davis is awful! How do you not get the 1st there