Inigo Montoya

Every quarterbacks path to "franchise" status is different. Brady sat behind Bledsoe and learned and stepped in and was a "game manager" type of quarterback for years while he learned his craft. Drew Brees was actually released by the team that drafted him, the Chargers, in favor of Phillip Rivers and only flourished later in his career in New Orleans. Mahomes sat behind Alex Smith and stepped into an offense with one of the best O-lines and some of the best skill position players in the league and has taken full advantage of it. Jared Goff was widely regarded as a bust until Sean McVay showed up. Peyton Manning's first year was a disaster. It's so variable. A lot of it simply has to do with the situation QBs find themselves in. Who are the coaches on the team? Do they have an O-line? What kind of supporting cast is around him? Will he be given time to learn his trade or is he trapped in a dysfunctional franchise that can't get out of its own way?. Those are all things outside of a QBs control. I don't know what Josh Allen will turn out to be but I'm encouraged from watching the last half of last season and the Jets game last Sunday. It looks like he is learning and improving. I think the Bill's front office has worked hard to put an O-line in front of him and skill players around him to help Allen's game develop. I think our franchise is stable and finally shedding the dysfunction that we have seen for the last two decades. Time will tell about Allen, but I'm inclined to believe that the odds are in his favor of him becoming something special.

Dawkins definitely got exposed on that sack fumble play. I haven't watched the rest of his snaps to have an informed opinion about the rest of the game on Sunday.

I agree. I think the best line is; Dawkins, Spain, Morse, Feliciano, Nsehke. Ford's not there yet. I think he will be at some point, but if they were to lace them up tomorrow, he's just not one of the top five yet. I hope they let the on the field play determine the O-line starters and not something arbitrary like draft position. If Ford let's someone in off the edge and they blow up Allen, that's the season.

It will be interesting to watch Antonio Brown heading across the middle with Jordan Poyer out there playing center field. I'm sure nothing would give Poyer more satisfaction than laying out AB at the 50 yard line. You can bet the rest of the Bills secondary will be looking for AB's scalp too. It's bad enough that AB called the Bills and the City of Buffalo trash, but there is also that business with Poyer's wife and AB. I would never call for someone to try and injure AB, but that's because I'm a nice guy. My guess is that there may be a couple of people in the Bill's secondary that aren't quite as forgiving as I am. I think they will be looking for any opportunity to hammer AB. If it's a clean hit all the better but I suspect there are quite a few people on our defense, not just Poyer, who would consider it well worth the 15 yards to send a little message to AB. AB better keep his head on a swivel...

Shady did look good yesterday. I think McBeane's thinking is that Shady and Singletary have the same running style. They are both shifty, speedy, illusive, video game style running backs, and I think they see Gore as the ball security, grind the play clock down, pounder. Keeping Shady would have been redundant and expensive with Singletary there. Daboll may see a Thunder and Lightning type set up with Gore and Singletary. I agree with you that Gore couldn't get it going yesterday, but the Jet's D is strongest up the middle. In the second half Daboll seemed to realize that the Jet's couldn't contain on the edges and started dialing up Singletary's number and Motor feasted off the edges. I wish Daboll would have noticed that sooner. Mosley going out at the end certainly didn't hurt either...

Fair point.

I think Shady and Singletary have a very similar style of play. They are the flashy, speedy, illusive, pass catching running back. Gore is the pounder. The Bills have their own version of Thunder and Lightning with Gore and Singletary on the roster. Keeping Shady would have been redundant and expensive.

I thought Singletary’s game looked a lot like Melvin Gordon’s today. That’s saying a lot. Gordon can ball. No reason to go out and pay Gordon when we have Motor on a rookie deal.

I’m not sure which of them is the most important. I listed them in no particular order. Each of them answered a question about this team coming into Week 1. 1. Oliver; 5 QB hurries, 1 QB hit, 2 tackles, played most of the game on the Jet’s side of the line of scrimmage. He looks legit. 2. Bill’s run defense; 68 total rushing yards allowed. Looks like the run D is going to be significantly better this year. 3. Singletary; 4 rushes for 70 yards, averaging 17.5 yards per carry. 5 completions on 6 targets for 28 yards. Motor looks dangerous. 4. Allen leading two 4th quarter touchdown drives on the road. Didn’t get down on himself, rallied the offense for the win. 5. Hauschka 1/1 on field goals with a 43 yarder, and 2/2 on extra points. Our kicker didn't lose the game for us. Kicking game may not be a dumpster fire after all.

I have no idea what is going to happen on Sunday. I believe the Bills have a chance to be a playoff team this year. I think the Jets are going to be a tough out every week too. A lot of people on both sides are wearing their homer hats right now. This game is going to answer a lot of questions and there are going to be a whole bunch of disappointed people afterwards trying to figure out what went wrong.

So bummed the Duke didn't make the cut...

I think I liked it better the “old” way with posters starting threads more organically during and after the game. Appreciate the desire to experiment and improve though ??

It's definitely possible that has something to do with it. I think I remember reading that it was more of a cap situation at the time though. The Seahawks traded Clark about a week after they extended Russell Wilson to that monster $140 million contract.

Sigh... Yeah, I meant Frank Clark At work trying to get in the mix. Thanks fellas, I'll change it. ?

I just don't understand a move like this from Seattle. They had Frank Clark in house who was more productive than Clowney, in the same contract situation as Clowney, and they traded Clark away rather than watch him walk next year and get nothing for him because they didn't have the cap space to extend him. Clowney isn't going to be any cheaper than Clark would have been. I don't think Seattle is in play. I'd be more worried about the Eagles if they are making a serious run at Clowney.

A offense can't double Star, Oliver, and Clowney. I mean, not unless they want to give Hughes a free release into the backfield every snap...

Just one more thing to factor in when deciding which wide receivers make the cut next week... Joe Buscaglia‏Verified account @JoeBuscaglia FollowFollow @JoeBuscaglia More #Bills HC Sean McDermott said that WR Robert Foster has been working through a toe injury that he sustained in the spring workouts. Said he's liked what Foster has done in practice, has made some plays. 10:51 AM - 25 Aug 2019

Great post! Always nice to have a good topic to chew on during the painfully long pre-season besides speculation on who makes the 53. Thanks for all the effort.

From ESPN's David Newton tonight; "Cam Newton's surgically repaired shoulder has been the focus for much of the Carolina Panthers' preseason, but the focus turned to the franchise quarterback's left foot and ankle after a first-quarter sack in Thursday night's preseason game at New England. Team medical staff examined Newton's left foot on the sideline after the sack, his second in three series. The 2015 NFL MVP then walked to the locker room, the team later announcing he would not return." After reading this I remembered a tweet from one of the Panther's beat reporters during the Bills / Panthers game about the Panther's suspect O-Line. John Ellis‏ @OnePantherPlace FollowFollow @OnePantherPlace More Reason they held Cam out was to not get him killed against this front. It wasn’t about pitch count, or analytics. We all knew Cam was going to take a hits. And sure as *****, you saw how the OL looked. They knew they had matchup problems up front and didn’t want to exploit QB1. 5:21 PM - 16 Aug 2019 Looks like Ellis was right on the money. Cam sacked twice in three series tonight against the Pats and knocked out of the game. The Panthers are going nowhere this year if they can't keep Cam upright.

I think McCoy brings more to the team than just his on the field play. He brings veteran leadership, and more importantly, he is a veteran who has fully supported Allen from day one last year which I think helped elevate Allen in his team mate's eyes as well. I think the Allen - Shady relationship is important for Allen. After Beane has said repeatedly that they are not going to cut Shady, I think it would be tough for him to reverse course and cut him now. I think there would be some sideway glances in the locker room and it would undercut Beane's and McDermott's credibility with the team. I fully expect Shady to be on the starting 53 and think the Bills will roll with Shady, Gore, Singletary, and DiMarco. I think the rest of the RB room fails to make the cut. Of those cuts Perry will be the difficult one with his special team ability, but if it comes down to a last spot on the roster and it's either Perry or Darryl Johnson or Perry or McKenzie I think they let Perry walk.

1. Allen looked good on the short to mid range throws that have been his bugaboo. Nice to see some improvement there. He went 9-11 with his two incompletes a throw away and a drop. Don't know if he could have given a better performance tonight. 2. Cole Beasley is going to be my late round Fantasy Football league steal at wide receiver. He is going undrafted in most leagues. Expect to see a lot of the Josh and Cole Show this season and a completion rate for Allen north of 60% as a result. Having a real slot receiving threat adds an element to our offense that was completely missing last season. Daboll is going to have fun playing with his new toy. 3. This defense is for real. I don't want to hear about it's just preseason or Cam didn't play or Luck didn't play. This unit is going to ball all year and take a lot of pressure off the offense. Isn't that what they call "complimentary football"? The Bills D just shut down the Panthers tonight. 4. I don't know who the hell McBeane cuts. Do we keep an extra O-lineman or a WR or a LB or a DE. What a fantastic problem to have. This roster from top to bottom is a competitive NFL quality roster. We are going to cut more than a few good players to get to 53. Kudos to Beane, its the kind of problem that good franchises have. 5. Glad to see the Duke getting his hands on the ball. This one is an extension of #4 above. Without an injury, does he have a path onto the final 53? No one else is high pointing balls in the end zone. Which WR do you cut to make room for him? Can he do enough in the next two preseason games to really make a run at the roster? It's going to be fun to watch. McKenzie has really come on too. All around solid performance from the wide receiver room tonight. 6. Christian Wade. There is no reason I should get so excited about this guy, but I can't help it. When he gets the ball he runs like there is a velociraptor chasing him. The guy is a beast. What do you do with him? Don't know how this International Program works. I hope we can stash him on the practice squad. 7. Our kicking game looks like trash and it is something that will cost this team games unless we can get it figured out. Fast. How many games last year did the Chargers lose off the foot of their field goal kicker? We have a double whammy when you look at our punters. Right now it looks like our kicking game is the biggest weakness on our team and it may end up being a huge liability. 8. Our pass rush looked better tonight. Nice to see Murphy get in the box score. It will be fun that first game they put Hughes, Murphy, and Oliver on the field at the same time and turn them lose. 9. Mitch Morse still riding the pine. Not a good situation for the Bills O-Line to have our starting center out of the lineup. We need to get him back into the saddle asap. Feliciano can fill in but he doesn't bring what Morse does. At this point I doubt he sees a single preseason snap. I think the best we can hope for now is a Week 1 return. 10. Most importantly, we survived another pre season game without a significant injury. Prayers out to Cam Lewis for a speedy recovery. Hopefully we can stay lucky on the injury front. To win in this league you need a little bit of skill and a little bit of luck. Let's hope the luck continues to hold.

The Bears OC is irrelevant, Nagy runs the Bears offense, that’s why he was hired as head coach. The Bears fired John Fox as head coach and brought in Nagy to coach Trubisky because they thought he could get more out of Trubisky, and he did. It’s Nagy who turned around Trubisky. If Allen plays great this year is McDermott getting the credit? No, McDermott is a defensive coach, Daboll will get the credit. We can revisit this after the season and see who is on target here.

Dude, please? If Allen does a Trubisky this year you don’t think Daboll gets props for it? The prevailing wisdom is that Allen isn’t going to take a big step this year. They say Allen’s problem is accuracy and you can’t fix accuracy. People around the league who make a living doing football know it was a miracle the Bills won six games last year with the talent they had to work with on offense. A large part of that was Daboll changing things on the fly to get the most out of an offense so bereft of talent last year that only three of the eleven starters are back this year. Let me repeat that. Only three starters on offense are back from last year. Three. Daboll has a solid reputation in this league. If Allen leads the Bills into the playoffs this season, Daboll will be a hot name for a head coaching position. If the Bills make the playoffs we’ll just have to revisit this thread at the end of the season. Dude.

The bottom line is that if Allen takes a big step forward this season then Daboll will be a head coach next year. Daboll will become that most rarified of NFL coaching unicorns, "A Quarterback Whisperer" Any team heading into the draft looking to draft a QB or a team with a young QB who is not developing like they hoped will be calling Daboll's agent for an interview. Look at two of the last head coaching hires, Adam Gase, fresh off a pile of steaming dog crap in Miami, and Kliff Kingsbury who had a losing record as a college coach. Why did they get an NFL job? Because they are Quarterback Whisperers. Peyton Manning went to bat for Gase and the Jets brought him in to work with Darnold. Kingsbury helped develop Keenum, Manziel, Mayfield, and Mahomes. Thats why the Cardinals hired him. What was Jared Goff's career outlook before Sean McVay got to the Rams? Exactly. If Allen becomes a successful QB this year, Dabs is gone. Book it.

December 24, 2018 https://thepowersweep.com/blog/brian-daboll-packers-head-coach-candidate December 7, 2018 https://billswire.usatoday.com/2018/12/07/buffalo-bills-offensive-coordinator-brian-daboll-mentioned-for-head-coach-coaching-gigs-doug-marrone-green-bay-packers-jacksonville-jaguars/ These articles came out after last season with the Bills finishing with a record of 6-10. If we make the playoffs this year and Allen takes a step forward, I think Daboll will almost certainly be a serous candidate for head coaching positions, especially for teams that are looking to draft a quarterback in the first round.