Straight Hucklebuck

Allen has not been very good this season. He is erratic, but sometimes brilliant in his play. It's averaging out to 175-200 yards passing per game, 1 TD, a low completion percentage, with turnovers. Frankly, isn't that exactly what he was at Wyoming? Now it goes beyond Allen of course, our running backs are slow. The Bills WRs are not real NFL players. They're largely undrafted training camp cuts being forced into starting. All that talk of Zay Jones taking meaningful steps forwards have stopped. I agree with Jeremy White, the Bills have dumpster dived on offense and this is the result. I don't see how fans can really measure "progress" with Allen or this offense. Are the Bills really getting more competitive week in and week out? When they win it's tight and low scoring, when they lose the offense can't muster more than 14-17 points. I guess it doesn't look like the Chargers game or Ravens game, but that largely went away after McDermott took control of the defense. The Dolphins stink. Allen threw 40 times against New England. Let's see if he can put up 300 yards and 2 TDs. That's the beginning of the bar.

Great man, that was over 30 years ago now. And how do you explain the Browns? 0-16, to 7-7-1 and riding a 3-game win streak with a rookie QB and a HC/OC change right in the middle of the season to a guy who's never called plays? Years of atrocious drafting. The bar is so low we're tripping over it here. 6-10 would be get the pink slips ready next season.

I thought McDermott was drilling and making them practice everything? Where is the progress? I think two years to play around with the roster is being patient. Year 3 needs to be a jump forward in winning. Not 6-10, not 5-11 but losing close. They have 10 draft picks and a boat load of cap. You don't need 5 new WR's, you need two. They need a RB and starting Tight End. You don't need HOFers on the outside, but you need a varied skill set.

I'm not being an idiot, but is the "we need lineman and wide receivers" mantra going to be the built-in excuse for 2019 if they fail? Because it shouldn't be, that's what I'm saying. It's time for McDermott to get it done and stop saying he needs to review the tape.

Yeah. Not good enough. They go 6-10 and McDermott is 20-27 in 3 years. The bar should be 10 wins.

I don't care about all that. If you're waiting for the perfect team, the perfect Left Guard, slot receiver, and #2 cornerback then its not a real bar of expectations. The table has been set. Let's see some results.

Well what else were they supposed to do oldman? They benched Tyrod Taylor for Nate Peterman, so you couldn't throw him back out there as a starter and build around him. What's the road-block now? They should have everything - the Coach, the QB, the Culture, the Cap-Space, the Owner's backing - what's the barrier to real winning next season?

Should be first. Why is the expectation a 2nd place finish? Brady will be 42 next season. The Jets will have a new Coaching staff. The Dolphins are stuck in the Tannehill conundrum. What is stopping the Bills?

Right. He loves to tell you every single press conference how detailed he is, and how many notes he takes. So it should be an expectation that he can glean ideas on how to improve the 31st ranked offense.

Next year we should start seeing results. McDermott and Beane have purged the roster, have their QB, have the money and draft picks, we have Coaching continuity, we have a veteran backup. We need to be scoring over 20 ppg next season and should be pushing for 10 wins. Also, none of the teams in our division are trending up. The Jets will have a new Coaching staff, the Dolphins are stuck in the Tannehill conundrum, and Tom Brady turns 42 next season.

If you love believing in the process then you should be excited. McDermott's been setting his culture here for 2 years now. Beane has hand selected the next Cam Newton. They've eaten the cap and should be free to rock. McDermott can study the tape all offseason, review how the NFL is scoring 30+ ppg routinely. It should be all upside from here.

A one or two????? For a run of the mill OT? Come on.

Yes, I read your write-up, and you did have some criticisms in there. But ultimately you revert back to the Tone-Policeman. McDermott is now 14-17 as Head Coach, with zero wins against New England. Allen has poor stats across the board, except rushing. When I watch Allen, he is playing exactly like his Scouting Reports. Erratic, sometimes brilliant, but its jumbled. I think Beane and McDermott get the chance to execute their plan in 2019, but real winning needs to start. No more moral victories, staying close, watching plays learn. We need influx at Offensive Line, Tight End, a new running back (s) - someone who can run faster than 4.50, a couple new WRs, then depth across the entire defense. We could really use a dynamic DE (Murphy will never be the same after his knee), more playmakers like Milano at Linebacker, and another lengthy corner because we are playing street free agents now.

Well next year should be a jump forward on multiple accounts. 1. The character narrative should be set, done, over. McDermott's been here for 2 years and the roster has been purged. 2. They ate all the dead-cap. Let's see what Free Agents Beane and McDermott go after past washed up ex-Panthers. 3. Josh Allen is going to go into Year 2 as the starter. I don't believe that knowing your the starter in OTA's means anything, but if you think it does, then he's being handed the keys. Next year are we going to keep using the Wood/Incognito excuse? Or the Josh hasn't started 16 games excuse? Or the Offensive Line hasn't gelled yet excuse? When is the real winning going to start?

We go round and round on this every year, why can’t the Bills beat the Patriots, why don’t the Bills have any wins against good NFL teams? It’s coaching, no it starts at the top with the owners, it’s Quarterback, no it’s Free Agents. You know what it is? It’s poor drafting. Year after year of poor drafting. It leaves the Bills with no depth every season and we’ve seen it again this season. Zay Jones is a mediocre NFL receiver, but because we traded up for him in Round 2 we have to give him more time... Croom is an undrafted scrub converted Tight End, but he should make plays on the same level and George Kittle, he fumbles because he’s Jason Croom a fringe NFL player. The Bills are down to Robert Foster, another UDRFA to be their #1 WR. Another passed over scrub like Isaiah McKenzie and his 8” hands. Edmunds, he’ll be great, just needs time. What if he really just tops out as an average linebacker? Isn’t that just as plausible? Hey old guys, get out there and make plays. LeSean you haven’t been effective for all of 2018, but we’ll keep pretending that “getting the run game going” is important. 200 year old Chris Ivory is hurt. It’s 2018 and the Bills don’t have one (1!) RB who can catch a screen pass if they even thought to call one. Kyle and Lorenzo, we’ll just keep having you go out there and bandaid the fact that we have no depth and no viable NFL options beyond you. By the way we have one good cornerback and a bunch of practice squaders. And Josh Allen, Shaw I have no idea why you are so certain on Allen. Sure try and get some players this offseason, but this whole, he’s going to be great as if it’s a certainty is just hope. He’s exactly who he was projected to be out of Wyoming (erratic) and that’s not good enough at all. Its drafting. Stack 3 solid drafts together and you’ll see the team improve. Otherwise, it’s all just spinning your tires and regime after regime coming in here telling you about Buffalo weather and stopping the run.

What do you expect when you draft a 20-year old and stick him in the middle of the defense with no backup plan?

There was no such thing as a Patriots fan before 2001.

It's a game that tells us nothing about how good this version of the Bills will be. No way does Sunday tilt the needle to Allen "has it" and is trending towards being a winning NFL QB.

Thanks for the work in doing this. Looks like a pretty clear trend to me, guys who are competent starting QB's start showing it pretty early on. Newton, Watson, Luck, Wilson, Prescott, Dalton, Carr, the Browns look like they have hit on Mayfield. Only guys to get out of mid-pack look like Wentz, so it will be interesting to see Darnold. Goff got out of the cellar, and Mitchell Trubisky. But I think its pretty clear that you want to stay top half on that list or the bust rate starts to climb.

IMO Allen is playing just like his scouting reports said he would out of Wyoming. The positive takeaway is his athleticism has translated to big plays throughout the game, he has not looked over matched outside of the Green Bay game. The skill level is low around Allen and so in the games the Bills have won, the Coaching Staff has clamped down on the number of throws they have asked Allen to make. Improve the skill set around Allen, and see if he can make the improvements in accuracy and pre-snap reads. Then why do the best Quarterbacks in the league have the best stats?

I agree. You’re almost two years in now. Can any Bills fan realistically think that Sean McDermott could play the Patriots, Chiefs, Steelers in the Playoffs and score enough points with a Josh Allen led team? Milking a lead got the Jags beat last season.

The Bills have no offensive system. There are no staple plays they gain easy yardage on. How many pregames does Murphy, Kelso, Chris Brown and Simon waste saying worn out phrases like we have to “get Shady going”. The truth is McCoy is done, Ivory is 200 years old and Murphy is a career practice squader running behind a below average line. So this offense goes as Allen makes it go on broken plays. Running around looking for busted coverages and scrambling lanes. Greg Cossel said on Friday that Allen is not seeing the field, so he is falling back on hero ball, and that means you get the spectacular mixed with scatter shot accuracy. That’s why I said last week that Allen needs to hit the weight room and squeeze every last drop out of his athletic ability and play like a young Roethlisberger extending plays. He’s never going to pick you apart like Steve Young.

The Bills don't have an offense and Allen's style of play exacerbates the problem. Nothing comes easy to the Bills. There are no staple plays that work. So it's Allen running around with scatter shot accuracy. The line is poor. McCoy is done. How many wasted games do the Bills have this year "trying to get McCoy going" - they still talk about it every pregame with Chris Brown, Tasker, Simon and Murph. Its not 2011 anymore. So it's just trying to get by on broken plays and scrambles. They need a real offense.

Sammy Watkins should not be mentioned in the same sentence as Jackson, Hilton or Hill. Otherwise I agree with all of this. I was taught to not slow down. Number one is to keep running the entire time, because when the ball is on the way down, there is not enough time to make up the distance if you slowed down earlier in the route.

Well considering the Bills haven't won a Playoff game in 23 years now, wouldn't Allen winning one be an absolute shocker?