VW82

I agree. I can't think of too many QBs who came into the league with accuracy issues and went on to become franchise guys. Most successful ones of that ilk get it done with their legs.

People seem to be having issues identifying the things Allen is doing well vs. struggling with so let's try and clarify. 1. Getting through his progressions. This was a big problem in his lone preseason start, which Allen even admitted. Things are going too fast for him to keep up. It's why he held the ball too long and why he gave up so many sacks in that game. You could tell he / coaching staff had made an adjustment for second half vs. Ravens by having him use an internal clock so he'd have a better idea when it was time to throw away or scramble regardless of where he was in his progressions or even how the protection was holding up. This is a fail safe for young QBs and not ideal for a number of reasons, namely that you altogether pass on potential opportunities outside of three seconds. 2. Pocket presence. This is closely related to the first point. The problem is Allen doesn't yet have the ability to sense where the rush is coming from while still looking down field, so he's either getting sacked waiting for someone to get open, or he's not seeing guys get open because he's looking at the oncoming rush. You'll notice on several occasions he got bumped by one of our o line (who got pushed back into the pocket because they suck!) and immediately tucked the ball and scrambled. Compare this to someone like Brady or even Ryan who sense one side of the pocket is collapsing and step up or to the side before getting nudged, all while still looking down field and completing a pass. 3. Accuracy. Allen was terribly inaccurate in the preseason, routinely throwing behind, in front of, over the top of, and every which direction but at our receivers. This seemed to have improved some vs. Ravens. We can talk all we want about playing vs. second stringers who weren't playing hard given the score, but he still made some impressive throws. 4. Touch. Everyone killed Benjamin for that dropped TD but that was at least partially on Allen. He has a tendency to throw everything 100 mph, and in that instance there was no need to gas it like that. The window wasn't that tight. We've seen him do this a bunch already over the course of preseason. 5. Making pre and post snap reads. Allen is clearly struggling to diagnose where the rush is coming from (let alone the coverages) and so our o line is frequently gettng overloaded, but it was frustrating to also see that missed opportunity with Shady on the RPO at the goal line. I have no idea what Allen was seeing (other than runway for Shady to the end zone) on that keep and resulting incompletion. My point is the kid is clearly still working on mastering basic fundamentals of playing QB. Let's all keep this in mind while he's being thrown to the wolves on Sunday.

I'm clearly a little emotional about this subject lol so there's some hyperbole in that statement, but all things considered - everything we heard coming into the draft, in the mini camps, in training camp, what we saw in preseason, what we saw on Sunday, his inconsistent pocket presence, his habit of pulling the ball down and scrambling rather than keeping his head up and looking down field, his accuracy issues, the fact he got beat out by Nathan Peterman, etc., etc. - I'm sorry but he's clearly still very raw at this stage. Maybe he develops into a franchise guy. I won't claim to be smart enough to say either way, but I can't remember ever seeing a QB who looked this raw getting thrown into the fire this early and it having worked out. Hope I'm wrong.

Anyone else pick up on McD refusing to say whether he'd stick with Allen going forward? So I guess his plan is to just re-evaluate after every game and play musical chairs with his QBs. I'm sorry but this reeks of incompetence. This is such a bummer.

How about the fact that Allen himself said that he wasn't ready after the 3rd preseason game. Or that anyone with two eyes can see that Allen isn't ready. He's big, has a strong arm, and he moves well. He also has no idea what's going on out there. It's like he's learning a new position. This is insanity. I'm going to be so mad if we ruin him.

Excellent post. This absolutely is organization incompetence at the highest level and with the biggest stakes given the player, the position, and the investment Bills made. It makes my blood boil that McD doesn't even have the integrity (or cajones) to actually answer questions let alone admit he F'd this up. Where's the accountability? How can you expect accountability from players when you dodge it with everyone else. Despite the initial round of Carolina retreads last year, I was pleasantly surprised by our new coach (and by extension our new GM). It looked like they had a plan to build a TEAM, not just a collection of talent. Although I didn't agree with the ridiculous use of draft capital or the actual picks, that plan still kind of made sense coming into camp. But this situation - having no playable QBs besides Allen, and then starting him WAY before he's ready - is almost fireable in my eyes. If it works out, it'll be through sheer dumb luck.

Obviously not. McBeane screwed up this situation badly. The best move IMO would have been to sign or trade for a QB who could at least get us through this murderer's row of games. Then you start Allen when the pressure is off. They're taking a giant risk putting him in such a bad position, and I think it speaks very poorly of the men in charge. Sincerely hope Allen is mentally tough enough to get through this without losing his confidence, or getting seriously hurt.

Agree on everything you said except for Allen being ready. I would have signed or traded for someone. As it is, we're starting Allen. This could get really ugly, really fast. Hope the kid proves me wrong.

If McD starts Allen on Sunday then he'll have lost me. You guys think vets in the meeting room will be advocating for Allen. You forget just how raw he looked in camp and in preseason. The team knows he isn't helping them win at this point either. McD has two choices for week 2. Build Peterman back up to give him one more chance, or sign or trade for a competent QB. We'll still wind up losing but you might keep the locker room for another few weeks before the wheels comes off. Allen can play half way through the season when we're officially out of it and the stakes are low.

Wow this turned into a KB hate thread fast. I think JA is going to continue to struggle with dropped passes until he learns to put some touch on his throws. That dropped TD by Benjamin was an absolute rocket. He should have caught it but it wasn't the easiest throw to catch. Allen had several like that in the preseason too. Also, is JA going to take any heat for taking away Shady's sure fire TD in the 4th? Can't believe he called his own number there on the RPO when McCoy had an open lane right into the end zone. Kid needs time to work out the kinks. Let's allow him to come along slowly and develop at his own speed.

Said this in the zone defense thread but after that first drive, the D produced five three and outs in our next six defensive possessions. Unfortunately two of those three and outs resulted in FGs because we gave them the ball on our doorstep. The O did nothing to help the situation and left our D gassed by mid 2nd quarter. It's why we gave up that third TD to end the half IMO. For whatever reason we couldn't get a red zone stop to save our lives even though we were great at it last year. Bet McD gets that fixed. Our offense is a much bigger concern IMO.

Actually yes. Their first drive wasn't great for us. 80 yrds in 6+ mins. They came in with a good game plan and it wore us down but we recovered fairly well. The problem is we never got a rest after that. Take a look. Buff: 3 plays, -4 yrds, punt Balt: 3 plays, 1 yrd, punt Buff: 3 plays, 3 yrds, punt Balt: 10 plays, 66 yrds, TD Buff: 3 plays, -3 yrds, punt Balt: 4 plays, -3 yrds, FG Buff: 4 plays, -4 yrds, punt Balt: 4 plays, 5 yrds, Fumble Buff: 4 plays, 1 yrd, Missed FG Balt: 3 plays, -2 yrs, punt Buff: 3 plays, 2 yrds, INT Balt: 4 plays, 8 yrds, FG Buff: 3 plays, 2 yrds, punt So at this point we're down 20-0 and our D is absolutely gassed. They've had little to no break despite the fact they'd forced FIVE three and outs (two of which resulted in FGs because we gave them the ball on our doorstep) and four in a row out of the first seven possessions. We know what happened next. They marched 85 yrds and scored. Game over. I'm sorry but you can't pin all that on the D.

Yes 47 points. You know how many total yards we surrendered? 369. Last year our average yards allowed was 355. So not good but not exactly an abomination either. The real problem was Peterman's two INTs near our end zone, and our punt fumble which gave them the ball inside the 20. We couldn't move the ball all game and badly lost the field position battle. Add in all our penalties and inability to get a stop in the red zone and it ended up being the disaster it was. But putting 47 all on the D is more than a little disingenuous.

No, they did not average five yards per carry. They averaged 3.4 and if you take away Lamar Jackson's scrambles they only rushed for 78 yards on 27 carries, so 2.88 ypc. Most teams don't have Jackson (who looks like Michael Vick running around out there) bumping their rush numbers for the better part of a half. Again, the rush D wasn't that bad (except at the goal line). The pass D on the other hand...

I get that Shady will be too old by the time Allen is ready to win (assuming he's ever ready to win) but that really wasn't my point. We have a crap oline and receivers who can't separate. If you trade our one offensive threat defenses are going to just tee off on Allen. The kid is really raw. If you're going to jump the gun and play him before he's ready you need to keep some help on the offense to take a little pressure off him. Otherwise he's likely to flame out, lose his confidence, get hurt, or some combination of all three. Edit: the best outcome would be to trade Shady for a vet QB who could start the rest of the year while Allen watches and learns. Maybe you sneak a few starts in for him toward the end of the year when we're out of it and the pressure is off.

I thought Kyle and Harrison Phillips were ok. Edmunds made some plays as did Milano and Alexander. Everyone else was a complete non-factor. Zero rush from the ends. Shaq Lawson is right off for me. Can't believe we wasted a FRP on him. Flacco had all day to pick us apart. Run D was ok all things considered. edit: for those of you killing Star (and I hated that contract immediately) we should be grading him on the run D. That's his main job. We gave up 117 on the ground today (and three TDs - ouch!!) but it took them 34 rushes to do it. It wasn't terrible. As bad as it looked at times I don't think our D was anywhere near as bad as the 47 we allowed. There were signs of competence on that side, but when you let a team go 6-6 in the red zone the score board isn't going to look pretty. We were so good defending down there last year I have to think McD gets that figured out.

Are you kidding me? 75% of this board wants Allen to start immediately (which is dumb IMO) and now we're going to trade away the only offensive play maker on the roster? Sure hope not.

Mentally deranged?? Ha. I asked for a comp of a QB was considered really raw, lost his camp battle, but still started early in the year in his rookie season and became a franchise guy. You listed Dehaun Watson, an athletic QB who ran all over the league before he got hurt...in other words nothing like how Allen plays. Congrats for finding one recent example that's still a poor example. FYI - the reason you can't find more of them is because most NFL teams aren't stupid enough to throw their raw QB out there when he showed in camp that he wasn't ready. They protect him as long as they can in order to better prepare him for the almost impossible job that is playing NFL QB. But yeah, I'm mentally deranged because I think patience is the best option.

I'd say I'm pessimistic he'll work out, yes. That said, I am a Bills fan first - been one since wide right and I'll be one til the day I die - and I'd much rather be wrong about Allen and have him become a legit franchise guy. I'm mostly surprised by the reaction on here to the opinion that we should be patient with our raw QB, instead of throwing him in the deep end right away and without help to see if he sinks or swims. That just seems crazy to me. His development should be more important than fans impatience.

On our cap sheet.

Carolina fans have been saying this for 2+ years.

Asinine or not, it's what posters on here are asking of Allen. I'll give you Deshaun Watson, but it would seem QBs with elite athleticism would have a much better chance at early success due to their ability to take off and run. Allen can do some of that but it's not exactly the same thing.

If anything the fact it was 40-0 and ravens had their second stringers in and had clearly taken their foot off the peddle would suggest we should have seen Allen do better. But he's not ready to play, so I'm not holding that against him. Mahomes is a second year player who played in the Big 12 in a pro offense, and had a year to learn under Alex Smith and Andy Reid. Jimmy G is fifth year player who learned under Bill Belichik and Tom F'ing Brady, and then Kyle Shanahan. I'm sorry but there's no way Allen would have done as well as them. The expectations on this kid are completely unreasonable. I feel bad for him, especially if fans get their wish and he starts next week. It'll be ugly.

I do believe Cam won the starting job out of camp, no? Besides, every franchise in the league would have taken Cam number one. I'm not so concerned about Bills fans ability to judge college talent (if that part is even true).

Wentz was the number two overall pick, universally considered the most ready to play (between him and Goff), and went to a team stacked with SB level talent. Completely different situations.