Inigo Montoya

No argument there, the question I wonder about is what the breakdown is between schedule vs off schedule for the Bills. I would guess the Bills have a higher percentage of off schedule plays than anyone. The incredible thing is that it is so successful. There is a famous line from a German general during WWII when asked why it was so hard to fight the American army. He said that all warfare is chaos and the American army practices chaos on a daily basis. That's how I see the Bills offense with Allen.

Thank you for your valuable contribution to the conversation. 🙂

I wonder what percentage of successful plays are a result of Dorsey's play design and call versus Josh going off-script and just making something happen? With the offensive line play this year Josh hasn't had many opportunities to sit in the pocket and go through his reads and deliver the ball. There seems to be very few quick hitters called by Dorsey for Josh. On just about every snap some defender seems to come clean forcing Josh out of the pocket and into a scramble drill. This season there are so many examples of Josh making something happen when the called play goes sideways. Those points from off schedule Josh ad libs are probably the difference in a half dozen victories this year. The Knox and Brown TDs this week were Josh doing Josh things. When you also factor in the yardage and drive saving first downs from Josh making something happen with his legs, I think Josh is more often than not the on-field de facto OC. Mahomes can definitely pull a rabbit out of his hat when he has to, but it seems like that the KC pass offense runs through Andy Reid 95% of the time. I would guess the Bills are closer to 50%. There isn't another QB in the league who pulls their OC's fat out of the fire more often than Josh does. Dorsey is getting an interview for the Panthers head coaching vacancy. If Dorsey gets that job he needs to buy Josh a Rolex.

I think you're on to something. And just to continue the charade of being injured, Josh had the medical trainers heavily wrap that ankle in tape before he went back out for the next series. That Josh Allen is a cheeky monkey!

Hutchinson did injure Allen on that mickey mouse stunt. Allen went to the sidelines limping and had his ankle taped up. The video is irrefutable, it shows Hutchinson stop his roll, look to see where Allen was standing, and then launch himself into anther roll into Allen's legs. Not much of a gray area when you look at the video. Should have been a penalty, should be a fine. Dirty play.

Your post goes to the very heart of being a Bills fan, or a fan of any team that struggles for a long time. Is the emotional currency invested in it ever going to pay off in any positive way? One of my favorite books is called "The Prophet". It was written by a Lebanese man named Khalil Gibran and published in 1923. Each chapter of the book consists of a group of people asking the Prophet about a different topic like marriage, children, work, and death and then the Prophet talks about each of them. There is a chapter about Joy and Sorrow that I have thought of a thousand times over the years that I've been a Bills' fan Here is a part of what the Prophet says about Joy and Sorrow; Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow. And he answered: Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. I have suffered a lot of sorrow being a Bills fan. I'm 53 and born into a diehard Bills family. We buried my father in his favorite Bills sweatshirt. Like many here I've lived through all the lows that come with following this team. I've paid my dues and then some. I have always hoped that because of all the pain I suffered rooting for this team over the years, that someday, maybe just one season, I would finally experience what it's like to see my team win it all. I know if that season ever happens and I get to see my Bills win a Super Bowl, my joy and happiness will be so much greater than the fans who didn't suffer through what I have. It will mean more to me than the fair weather fans who didn't pay their dues like I did. Maybe I will never see them win it all, but if I do, my joy will be all the greater because of the sorrow I have endured these many years to get there.

Fin Heaven is a five alarm fire right now. They want to fire the owner, fire the GM, fire the coach, fire half the players, fire the ball boy. One poster said the Phins can't even cheat right and they lost two draft picks because of it. The entire Phin's Nation is on tilt. They're wearing white after Labor Day and combining plaids and stripes. They're fighting a land war in Asia. They're taking wooden nickels. They're crying over spilt milk. They're cutting tags off mattresses. They're starving a cold and stuffing a fever. They're paying $20,000 for Taylor Swift tickets. They're eating gas station sushi. They're running with scissors. They're smoking with their oxygen on. One of them just killed John Wick's dog. It's Biblical. Don't take my word for it..... https://finheaven.com/threads/phins-pats-post-game.376527/ https://finheaven.com/threads/fire-mike-mcdaniels.376520/ https://finheaven.com/threads/players-that-absolutely-need-to-be-gone-next-season.376526/

This Cincy game is one of the most important of the regular season. I wonder if Dorsey has been working on these wheel route / screens in practice getting ready to uncork them in a game where the offense is going to have to score 30+ to win?

Nice find OP, thanks for sharing. The run game certainly came alive last week. I hope it was something the Bills were doing better and not something the Bears were doing badly.

No argument from me on that point. Like I said in the OP, I don't care how the Bills offense scores points as long as they keep winning. If it's possible to take some of the burden off of Josh where he doesn't have to rocket the ball all over the field and get him some easy completions that move the sticks instead, I think that would be a good thing.

Giants are ranked 19th. http://hosted.stats.com/fb/tmleaders.asp?type=Receiving&range=NFL&rank=231

I agree with you. I expected a lot more out of him following the KC game to end the season. I'm not sure what it going on. All reports say Gabe is an incredibly hard worker. Not sure if he is still injured, DBs have caught up with his game, or just a bit of a slump? I hope we get playoff Gabe back soon, we're going to need him to win a championship.

I agree with you that Allen covers up a lot of deficiencies on this offense like the shaky run game, poor YAC, and hit and miss O-Line play. The point is that if poor YAC is a scheme issue then we are depriving this offense of some easy yards by not adjusting the scheme to address it. I think Josh has more on his plate than any other QB in the league. Anything Dorsey can do to lighten that load is a good thing. The question comes back to, is it a scheme issue, the QB, or the pass catchers? If it's a combo of issues, which it likely is, is there something they can do to fix it? 🍻

McKinnon is ranked 5th in YAC. I'm not sure what's misleading about the stat. If anything it points to Allen being much more responsible for the Bills' passing game success than Mahomes is for the Chiefs. Mahomes has two of the top five YAC pass catchers in the league. Josh doesn't have that luxury. It's just one more ingredient to throw into the MVP discussion soup.

It's crazy to me that the Bills pass catchers continue to rank so low on yards after catch. It clearly isn't slowing the 12-3 offense down too much, I'm just not sure how to explain it. We have an elite QB and solid receivers. The Bills' offense struggled with YAC last season and I remember Josh said it was a point of emphasis for him this last off-season when he was working with Jordan Palmer, working on ball placement to allow his pass catchers to increase their YAC. To provide some context, the Chiefs are 1st in YAC, the Bills are 24th. Austin Ekeler is 1st in YAC, Kelce is 2nd, Jefferson is 3rd. Hill and Waddle are 7th and 8t. Diggs is 23rd, Singletary is 60th, Knox is 99th, and Gabe Davis is 133rd in YAC. Is it just the style of the offense we've been running, the types of routes being run, or how Josh is getting the ball in there? Do the Bills have more sideline / out cutting routes than is typical? Has anyone noticed some tendencies of the Bills' offense that can explain it? For whatever reason, improved YAC hasn't happened this year. The offense is still getting the job done and this isn't a post to be critical of the Bills offense. As long as Josh and Co. keep stacking wins I don't care how they do it. It's more of a technical question about how the Bills 7th ranked passing offense can also be 24th in YAC? It seems a bit of an anomaly.

One thing has come into play since I made the OP, Tua's new concussion will muddy the waters further for the Dolphins going forward. Even if they believe Tua is a solid enough QB to give a second contract to, now his durability is a major concern. He had durability concerns coming out of college and now he's been stacking concussions. Any second QB contract at market value will have greater than $100mm in guaranteed money on the line. The top ten active QB contracts in the NFL right now all have over $100 mm guaranteed. That may be a tough pill to swallow for the Dolphins.

I don't think Gabe is a bum. 🍻

The Bills' 2020 Draft Class; 2nd DE A.J. Epenesa 3rd RB Zack Moss 4th WR Gabriel Davis 5th QB Jake Fromm 6th K Tyler Bass 6th WR Isaiah Hodgins 7th CB Dane Jackson UDFA TE/FB Reggie Gilliam Buffalo is generally acknowledged as being the toughest kicking venue in the NFL. Despite that, Bass has been rock solid for the Bills since his arrival in Buffalo. If memory serves, the first couple games of his rookie season he was shaky, but then he seemed to find his groove and has been hammering it ever since. He should have been a Pro Bowl selection this year. Here are his stats for this year; Field Goal % 87.1 20-29 yards 4/4 30-39 yards 11/13 40-49 yards 10/11 50-59 yards 2-3 Extra points 43/45 We've seen the conditions the Bills have played in this season. These numbers are incredible. Having an elite kicker on the roster who you trust with the game on the line, kicking in December and January in Orchard Park, is an enormous advantage for the Bills. He is mentally tough and has a booming leg. The value of having a great kicker, especially in Buffalo, can't be overstated. I think Bass is clearly the best pick of the 2020 draft class for Beane and the Bills.

I think playing better defense is a factor, but I also think defenses are starting to treat Tua like Lamar, they are flooding the middle of the field and forcing him outside the hashmarks knowing he struggles with those throws.

Dolphins; Cap Space; Negative $6.7 mm (26th in the NFL) Draft Capital; No 1st or 4th rounder. One pick in each of the other rounds. Projected draft position 18-22 range. The Dolphins amassed a war chest of cap space and draft picks over the last couple of season but all of that is gone now. They should have two 1st rounders this year but lost a 1st rounder for tampering with Brady and then traded away their other 1st rounder for Bradley Chubb. The issue with the Dolphins starts and stops with Tua. He played well in the beginning of the season but it looks like defenses have caught up with his game and now he's struggling. Despite the best 1/2 WR tandem in the NFL, Tua is not getting the job done. The Phins have solid pieces on their roster but they're learning the hard way that without a legit QB it is hard to win a championship. With a big question mark at QB and no draft capital to draft or trade for one, they might be forced to go into the free agent market and overpay for a Garoppolo, Minshew, Brady, or Rodgers. My guess is they ultimately give Tua one more year to straighten things out and if he can't they'll have a 1st rounder in 2024 and can jump back into the QB draft sweepstakes. The Dolphins are not a bad team and they play the Bills hard, but I think they have a ceiling below the Bills with Tua under center. Jets; Cap Space; $15.9 mm (15th in the NFL) Draft Capital; They have all of their picks except a 5th rounder, and have five 6th rounders. Should be drafting in the 15-18 range. Like the Dolphins, the Jets had a mountain of draft capital and cap space over the last couple of seasons and Joe Douglas has spent it building a solid roster adding talent on both sides of the ball. Unfortunately for Joe Douglas, he also drafted Zach Wilson. This is reportedly not a great QB draft, and the Jets could roll the dice with another 1st round QB again or jump into the Garoppolo, Minshew, Rodgers, Brady sweepstakes. I think a game managing Garoppolo would be a good fit there. Their defense is legit and they have quality skill position players and will get Breece Hall back next season. They just need a QB. Let's hope they don't find one. Patriots; Cap Space; $54 mm (4th in the NFL) Draft Capital; They have all of their picks and an extra 3rd/4th rounder, and three 6th rounders. Should be drafting in the 15-18 range. Their roster is devoid of any significant talent. Belichick has eliminated any chance Mac had to develop this season with his bizarre 'no offensive coordinator" move. That team is more than a single draft and free agency away from relevance. I know players will follow the money to a point, but I don't think a lot of free agents want to go to New England anymore. I wouldn't be surprised to see Robert Kraft clean house this off season and turn the franchise keys over to some fresh blood. The status quo with Belichick going forward means more .500 season in Foxborough. I think as long as Bill is calling the shots there they are going to continue to struggle. From best coach in the league to anchor in three short years. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy or franchise. The Pats are at least two seasons away from giving the Bills any trouble. Bills; Cap Space; Negative $3.5 mm (25th in the NFL) Draft Capital; The Bills have their 1st-6th round selections, and an extra 6th. They traded their 7th for Dean Marlowe. They will have the last pick of the 1st round 🙂 We all know where the Bills are as a franchise, no need to summarize. In short, none of our AFCE competitors have a franchise QB, and not much of a chance to get one outside of the free agent market. An aging Brady and Rodgers in the division doesn't scare me like it used to. I don't think they have much left in the tank. Minshew has moxy but isn't a franchise QB. Garoppolo is a game manager who could work for the Jets or Dolphins but wouldn't move the dial much in New England. If Josh stays healthy I think we have at least 1-2 more seasons where the Bills are the class of the division. It's hard to win in this league without a franchise QB. It can be done, the 49ers come to mind, but it's definitely the exception and not the rule.

Record Hurts; 13-1 Allen; 11-3 Mahomes; 11-3 Passing Hurts; 3,472 yds 22 TDs 5 INTs 67.3 Comp % Allen; 3,875 yds 30 TDs 11 INTs 63.7 Comp % Mahomes; 4,496 yds 35 TDs 11 INTs 67.4 Comp % Rushing Hurts; 747 yds 13 TDs 0 Fum Lost Allen; 705 yds 6 TDs 2 Fum Lost Mahomes; 313 yds 3 TDs 0 Fum Lost Total Yards & TDs Hurts; 4,219 yds 35 TDs Allen; 4,580 yds 36 TDs Mahomes 4,809 yds 38 TDs QBR Hurts; 68.7 Allen; 71.7 Mahomes; 79.8 Passer Rating Hurts; 104.6 Allen; 97.3 Mahomes; 105.0 Those are the pertinent stats through Week 15. Hurts is injured and may miss this week's big game vs Dallas. The injury might affect his play for a couple weeks (like Allen with his elbow) which could impact his standing. Josh has a marquee MNF matchup against Burrow in Week 17 that could help or hurt him. Mahomes doesn't have a big game left in the regular season. The Associated Press determines who wins the NFL MVP. The AP selection group is comprised of 50 sports writers and broadcasters. The AP is changing the system for selecting the MVP this year to a ranked voting system; https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/voting-format-for-nfl-mvp-award-undergoing-major-change-starting-with-2022-season/#:~:text=Stats-,Voting format for NFL MVP award,change%2C starting with 2022 season&text=The NFL's MVP award isn,starting with the 2022 season. Strength of schedule, overall team record, individual stats, quality wins, supporting cast, the QB's personal narrative, and some behind the scene politics from NFL marketing always comes into play with the selections. Watching the national sports media, there seems to be a big push by many for Hurts to win MVP. There are a lot of media types who think Mahomes is still the best QB in football, and as the MVP has really become a de facto Top QB award, that should help him. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much of a constituency in the national media for our guy. Barring Allen setting things on fire for the rest of the season (and another bad weather game in Chicago doesn't help) Josh is likely coming in 3rd this year. When it's all said and done, I suspect Josh would rather win one Lombardi than ten MVPs.

The Jakobi Jabroni

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Wow! That sucks! The Eagles probably have the most complete roster in the NFL, let's see how much that can help carry them along for the rest of the season. Gotta think that takes the steam out of a Super Bowl run though. Don't wish that bad injury juju on any team.

I laughed and laughed when I watched that ridiculous ending to the Pats game just because it was so incredibly Billsy and I knew heads were exploding all over New England. There is no fanbase in the NFL more deserving of Billsy things than the Pats fanbase! How many rants did I uncork in my living room watching the Drought Era Bills ***** defeat from the jaws of victory for two decades? Now it's their turn and it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of jabronies. 🤣 [EDIT; Apparently the word snat*h can not be used in a sentence no matter the context on this message board! 😆]