LSHMEAB

Where has he improved? His best game was against Miami as a rookie. The Giants game was really encouraging. Since then, nada. It would be IDEAL if Josh steps it up and becomes the answer because anything else leaves us behind the 8 ball. But this idea that it's Allen or nothing is crazy and I'm kind of tired of being labeled as an anti fan because I have questions. Last Bills PLAY I missed was against the Chargers when there was a power outage. Next to last was when they cut into a game against the Jets for some Clinton impeachment nonsense. At this point, Josh has proven very little and I feel no personal attachment. WHEN I see more, that will come. I want the BILLS to start WINNING. Don't really care about who makes that happen.

Serious question. Are you a Bills fan or a Josh Allen fan? Because what we've seen isn't good enough. I want to see the Bills win whether it's Allen or not.

No my good man. They go into the stat books as passing yards. It was the correct call. Sucks for us, but the refs called it correctly.

I did not watch the presser(can you blame me?) It's entirely possible my opinion is incorrect. It's an opinion and not a fact. He SEEMED genuinely conflicted in that moment and I BELIEVE(again, an opinion) that he took into account what impact a failed conversion there would have on Allen's rep/ego/media heat. It's understandable in the sense that Allen's development is so crucial to the franchise's short(yes short) term success. But the Bills are in the middle of a playoff run. I don't remember the sequence of events, but it WAS fourth down. I get it; the offense wasn't playing with urgency. But they still played themselves into a 4th down. We'll see what happens going forward and your take is probably more rational. I'm going purely by gut and McDermott's "demeanor," which is as far as it gets from the scientific method. There are a bunch of people culpable for that POORLY executed final drive so there's naturally going to be various takes. Either way, it was unacceptable and I'm really sick of watching the offense not score POINTS. Very disappointing performance yesterday all around, so many of us are "in our feelings" right now.

Two sacks and zero turnovers against a QB who likes to get sacked and turn it over. People still want to act like pass rush isn't a problem and it's baffling. The team lacks a playmaker in the front 7 because if you have one of those guys, the odds are you're not going two games without a TO against the Redskins and the Browns. This is a good defense and they are not the problem; but there's certainly some flaws in key areas.

That's how I see it playing out. Daboll will be fired and McD will get a third crack at it. I never understood the Daboll hire to begin with. He had NEVER produced results in the NFL. The excuse was that he didn't have a QB. Well, this isn't working here so I fully expect the first move to be moving on from Daboll and McD choosing a 3rd OC, which is pretty rare and not a good look for McDermott. The hope is that A)he hires the right guy and B)Allen improves. Both things need to happen. I really don't think you can go into next season with the same OC/QB. This offense is fundamentally flawed and the franchise needs to find out if Allen is the guy. So he'll get a shot with a new OC. That's what I expect anyways.

He's not very good anymore, but the run blocking/scheme remains a problem. This new cast of characters on the OL are big, but they actually grade out better as pass blockers. Bob Johnson hasn't really been a huge upgrade over Castillo in terms of run game coordinator. Very predictable and almost never is there misdirection that fools the defense.

And wouldn't that be a shame IF Allen is the problem. People blamed his conservatism in year one on the fact that he didn't trust the QB(Taylor). What if that's still the case? He IS a conservative coach by nature; I think that's pretty evident. But I also believe he knew full well going for it on 4th and 4 was the right decision. I "believe" he didn't want Allen to fail and face the heat. I think he made the decision to own the heat. That's an opinion, not a fact. I'll tell you this; now that McDermott is facing the heat, he's gonna let Allen sink or swim the next time a similar situation arises. He's not gonna continue to take the fall because he has his own ego(we all do). I actually LIKE McDermott, which seems to be the contrarian view these days. Yes, he's conservative, but he's the best HC the Bills have had in a while and he's proven he can get max wins from the roster provided. Maybe he's not a great HC. Maybe he's too conservative. We just don't know because he hasn't had enough time. But I will say that BEANE chose Allen. And what I see happening going forward IF Allen doesn't improve is McDermott taking the fall and Beane getting the chance to choose another HC. Again, completely unfair if the QB is the problem.

Sorry for the late response. There was pretty big "sharp" money on Tennessee. KC was "only" a 6 point favorite and the line wouldn't budge despite all the public money going on KC. I did bet the Titans on an otherwise poor gambling day. As far as the Rams and NO, people just lost. The big money and the public were on them. Everybody lost; except for the books. That's typical. I don't think the Viking winning was really much of a surprise, although conventional wisdom would give the edge to Dallas at home. That game was pretty much 50/50 in terms of bets. The lines themselves were Rams -4.5, Dallas -3, Saints -13.5, and KC -6. What that tells you is that while people are pretty shocked by certain results, they're not nearly the upset you'd think if you weren't around this stuff. Very little surprises me anymore after doing this petty job(just writing tickets, no big shot) for 10 plus years.

If I'm being honest, I'm extremely skeptical as to whether not Josh Allen is the answer. I did not like the pick initially. He played far better as a rookie than I envisioned. He showed marked improvement at the beginning of this season. Over the past several weeks, there just hasn't been the type of progress I'd expect to see from a 2nd year QB. He's completely stagnant. There are a plethora of other folks involved; the OC, the OL, the receivers. But if the OC isn't the answer, what does that say about the process? We're talking about McD's second offensive coordinator in 3 years. So we fire Daboll and bring in a THIRD? That doesn't seem like a well oiled machine. The bottom line is this; if Allen doesn't get better, the process won't work. I'm not saying he WON'T get better. I am saying I'm skeptical.

I actually see quite the opposite. I see FAR MORE posts blaming everyone BUT Allen. This was a team loss, but Allen is not playing well enough as an NFL QB. Period.

The Browns were favored to win by 2.5-3 and they won by 3. In the grand scheme of things, it was pretty typical.

That would definitely precipitate a collapse. I think they win. It's not like I'm enthused by any of it. What we're looking at is a typical mediocre, middling season. Are Beane/McDermott/Allen ANOTHER perennial 8-8/9-7 ensemble? That's the worst case scenario. That's what makes this "process" so frustrating as a fan. They can always fall back on the notion that this was a long term rebuild whatever that means; and it has SOME merit. But when is enough enough? We're quickly heading into NEXT YEAR is our year territory. Been here before.

Depends on how you viewed them going into the "collapse" I suppose. They were never nearly as good as the cockeyed optimists wanted to believe, so I would just view it as regressing to the mean based on competition.

Strong take. And this take did not come from an "anti-JA crusader." The kid really needs to step it up and quickly. Like this season quickly. Like now.

I think this game was the difference between 10-6 and 9-7. There isn't likely some epic collapse looming and these threads are every bit as silly as the SB threads following a win. Key loss. Absolutely. Prelude to the end of the world? Nah.

This. In those critical late game situations against competent QB's, an ELITE defense has playmakers in the front 7 disrupting timing and MAKING A play. This is two weeks in a row without a turnover. Good defense. Not good enough to carry this team considering the anemic offense. I feel like if the Bills wanted to make a run THIS season, they would have needed to add a Clark or a Clowney. In the grand scheme of things, the defense is not the problem and Allen/playcalling/entire offense need to improve or the ceiling is low. But for THIS season, that dynamic player in the front 7 could have changed things.

Allen wasn't awful; he's usually not. But he's really not progressing at an ideal rate. The play that immediately jumps out for me was the decision to airmail it on 3rd and 3 in the third QTR near midfield when he had ALL DAY to throw. Just really awful decision making there. I think it's perfectly fair to say there are some serious questions as to whether or not he'll get there. Getting into the territory where it's put up or this is "who he is."

They simply don't score enough points and the defense lacks that true difference maker. Solid football team that's not ready to seriously compete. Yes, the Bills could have won this game if Haushka makes both kicks, so he deserves blame; he "owns" this one? Not really. But if scapegoating the kicker gets ya though the day, so be it.

Solid info. Weird flex for a thread about overtime rules. You gotta lot of passion my man! Harness that.

I fall in the former category; great deal of experience with it. But this is a situation in which it's perfectly acceptable to hold two seemingly contradictory views. A)The guy has some serious problems that are beyond his control and deserves some leeway and B) The guy shouldn't be on an NFL roster. It's not an either/or proposition.

Coin toss is STILL far too influential in determining the winner of an overtime game. It's better than it was when a FG ended the game, but the team that wins the toss is still at a distinct advantage. Whether you like the college format or not, there's no denying it's far more equitable.

Wonder how much this ranking has to do with the opponents the Bills have played. As someone noted, there's rarely a playmaker flying off the edge or even shooting an interior gap. They collapse the pocket well enough, but that's not the type of pressure that really rattles the top QB's or leads to turnovers, etc. It's a problem.

Well, I did get the 33 on my SECOND try, so there's that.

I do empathize with his mental illness fight, but I also don't know that this guy deserves to be in the league. Then again, that's on Gruden. I will say that one of his greatest strengths is perhaps his downfall. He's actually REALLY bright and charming when he needs to be. That can actually be detrimental in terms of bottoming out and realizing you need to change everything. It seems like ancient history, but it wasn't long ago people were discussing this guy's post playing days career as an analyst. If you watched him on (Rome I believe), you'd think the guy was the most stable in the room.