IgotBILLStopay

Can we still sign Darryl Williams off the Chiefs PS and release someone like Winters?

Josh will deserve the largest extension based on merit. But there is a glass ceiling for how much one can pay a QB and still put together a competitive team. That will make Baker's and Lamar's contracts similar to Josh's since both have done enough to merit being labeled The Franchise QB. All 3 will sign deals between 4yr 160 mill and 10 yr 450 mill.

This is the key. Ultimately we are limited by our personnel against a balanced team like the Colts. We have to pick our poison. I think the coaches did what they could by limiting the damage to yards and not points. Our LBs and front 4 will always leak yards against zone runs - maybe having Lotuleilei and an improved Epenesa can help us next season. But Beane has some work to do with both 4 man pass rushes as well as zone run defense this offseason. Not many teams can do to us what the Colts did.The one team that can gash us with a scheme similar to the Colts is the LA Rams. But fortunately Goff is not likely to play as well as Rivers. Totally agree that it was all Josh. We have a transcendental QB who can cover significant weaknesses and win a game on his own. The coaches did well with in-game adjustments to keep the plan Josh centric and did not feature trick plays with McKenzie etc. I expect to see more AJ Klein and maybe even Dodson next week.

Rust and Starting Field Position contributed to the quiet day. Ravens secondary will be a good matchup for him. There is a reason Marlon Humphrey is the 2nd most targeted CB in the NFL.

It is a conscious choice. The Bills like to play a 4-2-5 with Taron Johnson - he is all of 5'11"" and 190 lbs. They appear to value quickness over TE coverage and shedding blocks ability at that spot. The basic idea is to limit big plays.

if they had called it incomplete on the field, that call woulda stood as well. No clear and convincing evidence to overturn what was called. Bottomline: bobbling the ball the ball doesn’t invalidate the catch so long as WR have control. one way a replay official judges control is by seeing if at least one hand is always on the ball. I think Gabe always had one hand on the ball.

We did not play our best game and still live. I think coaching won us this game. There are no doubt a few lessons for our players going forward. We were up against it yesterday folks. In years past, we would have lost that game folks. A. Colts were the worst matchup possible. 1. They have the best OL in football and we have a middling DL. 2. They have a potent run game with Taylor and Hines and we have a porous run defense with questionable lane integrity and tentative tackling. Advanced stats indicate Edmunds and Milano are among the league leaders in missed tackles. 3. Indy is not lacking in talent - All those picks from the Jets from the Darnold trade have made the team arguably as talented, if not more than the Bills. Combine that with a very decent QB in Rivers - I know people on this board felt Rivers would have issues playing in Buffalo weather but I think he did not get that memo. He was great. Not JA level great - but still more great than merely good. We were facing a team primed to make noise in January. B. Situationally, we were put at a disadvantage so we could not take play to our strengths 1. We do have an explosive offense - but it is only good if it can get on the field. The Colts’ ability to chew up the clock kept us off the field. 2. Even when JA and co. got on the field, they were backed up and could not really take advantage of our elite WRs against the Colts iffy secondary. Strangely enough, Colts offensive woes in converting long drives into points hurt our offensive field position. 3. Reich too actually called a perfect game for Indy. Have to say I was so impressed by Reich in all three facets of the game. He took away our strength and put his team in a position to win on the road. Barely any mistakes except the missed FG. Now to our coaching - On Offense: I loved the JA keepers - that is what makes JA unique and Daboll’s adjustments mid-game to feature them more helped a lot. I too was puzzled by McKenzie’s quiet outing till I realized the Colts have likely prepared for that and Daboll likely did not have anything new on the jet sweep front given the short week. Also we can’t try those fancy plays when we are backed up inside our own 10 on every drive. On Defense: Ever since the Rams / Cardinals game - it has been clear that we have two weaknesses: 1. We can’t handle those outside zone runs on talent alone. Our D Linemen and LBs are going to leak some yards. The coaches know this - they have constantly shown an ability to tighten it up with layered protection. Layering is harder on open fields - but in the red zone with the short field, the layered protection stops leaked yards from turning into TDs. I think given our personnel limitations (and our LBs did our coaches no favors yesterday) - the bend but not break defense is our best bet and the coaching scheme allowed that yesterday. The goal line stand and general red zone defense were highlights. 2. We have a great secondary - but do have one weakness - we are vulnerable to overhead balls since our DBs and safeties jump a lot less than opposing WRs. That why we gave up two Hail Marys. Even yesterday, Tre gave up an easy long reception on a perfectly thrown high ball. Clearly this has been a coaching emphasis since the Cards game. I forget who, but an offensive player said yesterday that the defense practices against Hail Marys and high balls every day. That is good coaching guys. We saw the effect of that on that last play when Hyde took a running start and got enough height to knock it down. 3. On Special Teams - there were no trick plays, no long returns (had been spoilt by that the past few weeks) but I think our bad staring field position had more to do with our defense bending (and not breaking) than bad ST play. Overall: 1. McD was masterful in his use of timeouts. Calling the TO just before the 8 yard Rivers pass was critical in stopping the Colts momentum. His other TO (which wasn’t a TO) actually won us the game by forcing the review but N.Y. replay messed up and we had to endure 28 more seconds of agony. 2. Very clean game - Early in the season we had a bunch of penalties - now we are barely penalized.

We faced the best OL in the NFL. So not surprised at the zero sacks. Also, I am inclined to be a bit kind to our D-Line since they did come thru on the goal line stand. That said, I don’t disagree that our D-Line is not elite. We do need Epenesa, Oliver, Hughes and Addison to step up their play especially on 3rd down and long.

26/35 (74.3%) 324 Yards 2TD 54 Yards Rushing 1 Rushing TD 1 Fumble QBR 85.1 Passer Rating 121.61 Quarterbacks with 70+ percent completion, 50+ yds rushing, 300+ yds passing in playoff games 1. Joshua Patrick Allen from Firebaugh CA (lonely at the top) And post game, this humble guy was just complimenting the Bills defense and criticizing his own play. MVP!!!

Like it. Colts empty on first possession. And Allen can go 98 yards on first possession.

Great news - I think Bills might go 5 wide on a few snaps today with empty backfield. me likely!

Let us go Bills. Going to be high scoring. Lane integrity and sure tackling on defense and let it rip in the air on offense.

i agree. The point is Allen can be a game manager when needed as well as bring a team back on his own - that last trait is what separates him from Tuhrod. I didn’t say game managing is a negative trait - rather only game managing traits is a negative

Is it just me or does Tua come off more as a game manager than a top flight QB? I think Alex Smith maybe his ceiling. If Miami can support him with an elite defense, they can go to the playoffs regularly - but, based, on the season we just witnessed, he cant yet put a team on his back and carry em. Herbert, on the other hand,.....

Clearly the decision to rest or play Allen has to be specific to each matchup In my league, I am in the championship round and have a decent 10 point lead from week 16 going into the second week of the two week final. My opponent’s real hope is that Allen doesn’t play and his QB can get 20+ and make up the difference. I have decided to play Herbert (facing the KC backups) instead of Allen to reduce that chance.The only concerns here are that the Chargers may not be motivated to win and Hunter Henry and Keenan Allen are out. Rivers is available on the waiver wire and maybe I can go with him. In contrast if the situation were reversed and I was trailing - I’d likely have played Allen hoping for a monster game from Allen.

4 million reasons and backdoor understanding of being hired by the Jets (which they backed off due to player pressure)

Nice catch. I did not see that till you pointed it out though I have noticed something similar on other occasions this season. Even though Diggs is not the primary or secondary option, he ends up being open. The guy just keeps working. See for example the 3rd and 22 pass to Beasley vs. the Rams. It is not by chance that he leads the league in receptions and yards.

Rodgers numbers in December YPG 240 Comp % 76 11 TDs 1 INT QBR 125.3 At this point hard to see it going to Mahomes over Allen or Rodgers

Hard to win consistently without a franchise QB. Since the Pats won’t be picking high enough, they have to hope a retread QB (Wentz, Haskins type) will work long term. But they might go “win now” for next year with Fitzy.

Thanks. I rarely look at poster’s usernames - but will not take the bait anymore.

As of now, I agree Rodgers shd be the favorite. But Allen and he have two games left - let us see. The original post was more about the presumed front runner Mahomes’ luck and not really about Allen deserving it more than Rodgers. That said Allen has not really had a bad game - and Rodgers did lay one egg (vs. TB). So I think two superlative performances from Allen vs. two middling ones from Rodgers can put Allen over the top.

Depends on your benchmark. Your post appeared to imply they were mutually exclusive. 10 times makes it quite common relative to that. Folks are different. Maybe you have something against Allen or, more likely, totally eschew individual honors - this is a message board and folks can choose to root for what they want. Your post has merit if winning MVP somehow means you don’t win the super bowl - then sure I don’t want the MVP - but as I show it has happened jointly quite a few times before.

see 2019 stats above. 6 INTs and 16 Dropped INTs is quite quite rare. FWIW, in 2019 ALLEN had 3 dropped INTs against 9 INTs.