WideNine

They only rushed 3 and dropped everyone into zone knowing Allen forces those bad throws. Also, Allen does worse against zone this year in particular when defenders are facing him watching his eyes as he seems to really be telegraphing and forcing some throws. He may well get his buddy fired making those kinds of decisions with the ball from a clean pocket.

Good analysis and thanks. Still has got to be the weakest taunting penalty I have ever seen. Now when Allen t-bagged and spun the ball on top of the defender lying on the turf in the end zone after scoring a year or so ago, that one I understood.😁

Folks are still playing that tired mantra of coaches not "letting Allen run" or "coaching it out of him" and not really thinking about the injuries to Allen's throwing shoulder and how that may be changing how Allen is trying to approach games as a QB. The way Allen plays he is getting hurt. Whether he is in the pocket either failing to read the defense, or turning down quick throws on schedule that are open underneath looking for deeper shots, or just making up his mind where he is going to force the ball. That behavior leads to him holding the ball long enough for opposing rushers to get home and lay hits on him. If he takes off and tries to bowl over defenders, or when he scrambles extending plays outside of structure he can and does gets leveled and has injured his shoulder. Allen's throws, accuracy, and ability to practice with the offense has been hampered by injuries to his shoulder the past 2 years. Against the Giants he was scrambling, extending plays outside of structure (as he is very good at doing), but he got hit and landed on his shoulder reinjuring it. There is a brave recklessness to some of Allen's game that in some ways is admirable. When he got blasted last year and was mic'd up and told that guy that hit him, "I love that s**t". But this is the real world and the hits are starting to catch up to him. Allen injured his throwing shoulder and broke his collarbone in Wyoming too and he played much the same way he does now. You watch the clips below and you see the same kind of QB - Allen holding the ball, evading the rush, often rolling to his right, directing scramble drills and creating plays outside the structure of the play that is called - basically street ball. Successful QBs need to have that ability. Pure pocket throwing statues (unless they can dissect defenses and have one hell of a quick trigger with accuracy - Brady) do not last long, but Allen cannot live in that world of running around on every play the same way he did at Wyoming either. NFL defenses are too good, and they catch on, and now they make things harder with disguising deeper zone coverages, negating our scramble drills, and often spy him with speedy LBs and Strong Safeties that can close on him and get hits on him as soon as he bails on the pocket. Good QBs that can last in this league have to have both the ability to read defenses and get rid of the ball quickly (and accurately) to negate a good pass rush or blitz, and the ability to run and play outside of the structure when things break down or there is simply room to run. Allen does one of these things very well (playing outside the structure), but the other needs more work. He also needs to throw the ball away, slide, or run out of bounds if it means he avoids injury. The best ability is availability. There is a reason why veteran QBs and retired QBs are saying the same thing. They want to see a long career for Allen as we do, but I am not sure if that is going to happen if he keeps playing the same way and tearing up that shoulder. It is less about telling Allen not to run, and more telling Allen "if you ARE going to throw the ball, know where to go with it and get rid of it quickly so you are not getting slammed". There are other issues with the offensive game plans, preparation, and execution, but it is hard to put my finger on those things as coaches are either getting the most out of their players or they are not.

Whether Josh likes it or not, this is going to come home to Dorsey and his ability to get production out of Allen and this offense. At the end of the day, it is nice that Allen has a great rapport with Ken Dorsey, but if that is not translating into offensive production on game days then the team is going to have to think about changes at OC. Where I see the most difference with this offense compared to when Daboll was OC is execution and how many ways this offense seems less disciplined with execution. Sloppy mistakes that kill drives and uninspired efforts that land them short of the sticks. Even with Daboll, I thought defenses were homing in more on our tendencies, but Daboll was able to get more out of that slot position and jet motion with zone beaters and seemed to have Allen more dialed in particularly when we had a reliable veteran slot receiver in Beasley who knew how to read zones and find the soft spots in zones and at the sticks to keep the chains moving. This offense has been struggling since late last year and it has carried over for much of this year. Hard to defend whatever they are putting on display most games this season as being an example of the needle moving in the right direction.

I have figured that was one of the issues with how this team is currently built. High cap players that spend too much time on IR, and often too much runway needed to develop drafted and UFA players on rookie deals to be solid starters. I know the narrative was that it was a testament to the team's patience getting Epenesa to a place where he was more of an impact player on the defensive line, but the team also does not get better end of that deal with a learning curve consuming much of their rookie contract. We have plugged those roles where we lack impact players with older players that are solid when healthy, but more prone to injury and have had to burn a good amount of cap to do so. Some hard decisions are going to have to be made at some point on how to best retool. And that means letting players OBD has become attached to walk if they are not exceptional players that can serve as cornerstone pieces of the puzzle.

"Has it ever occured to you, Master Ninefingers, that a sword is different from other weapons? Axes and maces and so forth are lethal enough, but they hang on the belt like dumb brutes. But a sword...a sword has a voice. Sheathed it has little to say, to be sure, but you need only put your hand on the hilt and it begins to whisper in your enemy's ear. A gentle word. A word of caution. Do you hear it? Now, compare it to the sword half drawn. It speaks louder, does it not? It hisses a dire threat. It makes a deadly promise. Do you hear it? Now compare it to the sword full drawn. It shouts now, does it not? It screams defiance! It bellows a challenge! Do you hear it?" Joe Abercrombie, The Blade Itself (The First Law, #1) One of my current favorite authors and this quote came to mind as you were politely pointing the way to the exit door.

...and late in the 4th too. God forbid we get a comfy lead and NOT piss it away late in a game to create another nail-biter. And officiating...we have had some poor crews since London. The kind that get overly involved influencing the flow of the game with too many head-scratchers. Let them play... I hate a flag fest.

Until we actually beat a Joe Burrow led Bengals team, I will shelve the posturing. Burrow's perfomance the first few games and the last few games is night and day. Their offense features a mostly short passing game looking at avg depth of targets. Not sure if that has changed much from last season. An offense that stresses getting the ball out fast using receivers that have elite hands has been a matchup nightmare for Leslie Frazier zone schemes that employed a lot of cushion to allow the underneath throws. We will see if McD has a different approach because last year that Frazier defense just bled yards and conversions Not as concerned with the Bengals defense statistically, but they have forced some turnovers and Allen has given it away a few times... So there is that. They also find ways to limit points on the board and we have not been exactly lighting it up points-wise. We will see which Bills team comes to play.

I think they could and maybe should think about making some changes to the makeup of that QB room this off-season.

I think what is a bit confusing with the Saban diagram is it showing the defense vs a 2x1 set and the play with Shakir we were in a 3x1 set. Winfield the S drops down into the box and his take was that he was in that overhang defender role. If that were the case Winfield should be heading to the flat and getting the right leverage to cover Cook and then I think the CB at the boundary would be dropping into the deep 3rd. Instead Winfield turns inside at the snap and backpedals to take the mesh receiver on the crossing route leaving that flat and Cook uncovered. The boundary CB seems to have the flat and a bead on Cook all the way so I am not convinced he was supposed to drop deep into a cover 3 zone. So much to learn from diagnosing one play. OR... I realized I could have read what HoofHearted posted above for the 3x1 adjustment. 😋

So true. Looked in real time like Allen had a brain fart and was trying a stupid move to throw the ball away... But from the different angle you can see where his eyes went and that he was looking at the check down option.

I know right? In a digital world where 2 often means terabyte limit, we still have retro kilobyte limits. All I want for Christmas is to drop an image on TBD without it giving me the finger.

My stupid phone. It glitched once and did that. Loved the play on words though Doc. 👍👍👍👍

Hard to forget that home field shade benefit Miami has on warm days.

Familiarity factors in I think. Chiefs and Broncos in the same division vs playing a Miami team you do not know well. Same reason Miami looks like world beaters outside our division, but can struggle against the Bills, Jets, or even the Pats.

NE had a good plan and we got off to a really bad/slow start with the pick on the very first offensive posession. Dorsey needs to stop overthinking goal line scenarios and get away from gun down there when it is a few feet or inches to go. McD was leaning into Williams at LB and Darth Hoody took the rookie to school which opened things up for Mac in the middle. That is why he got benched that game. He is a rook and needs more time to bake, more reps sprinkled in to learn his assignments in this defense. You see them using Dodson a bit more on early or short yardage downs for his experience and what he does well - defending the run. They are using Poyer in the LB role on down and distance - passing downs with Rapp backing his S role. This is the bandaid solution they have for the experienced read and react loss of Milano

A shame. Selfishly I wanted you both to keep going and it was very interesting. There is so much variation to the terms used for similar techniques that I was enjoying how you both were breaking down the basics Who was responsible for that deep 3rd (if it was Cover 3 and not a blown Cover 2) with Shakir's clearing route and then the flat. Why I like to tune in here and don't mind getting taken down a peg 👍

Let them go dude this is great stuff and no harm done... I love this when folks dig into what defenses were trying to do and why it did or didn't work. Folks don't have to end up agreeing just be respectful and open to learning new things or a different take.

Yup. And why 11 and spread worked well against a Bowles defense that plays more man defense and it was a good plan with the Bills short on TEs. Did not hurt that most of our offense is very familiar with the alignment and plays. The mesh and rub concepts work better against man-heavy defenses like Bowles who likes to send the extra rusher than some of the zone-heavy defenses we have seen. I am going to be curious to see how McD changes up his defense of bunch formations near the goal line. Against NE, Henry wiped out our defenders that had inside-out matching rules. Should have been an OPI, but an easy rub either way to pull off to free up that wheel behind them to the boundary. The variations of 2-read or palms I have seen I don't think would work very well near the goal line as their rules generally require defenders to maintain some depth. I should just bite the bullet and sign up for the All-22 because I love that stuff.

I felt like they were going out of their way to put hits on Allen well after he released the ball...often taking a few steps to get there too. Nothing wrong with Allen playing one of those up to get some yards.

A bit of an oversimplification. The spread worked till it didn't and then the sky was falling, Josh is getting blown up, the OL can't hold blocks for 5 seconds, or they are making Allen run for his life, or they don't run the ball enough with our RBs to take some of the pressure off Josh. This year they wanted Kincaid in the lineup (for obvious reasons), but felt Knox was too important to keep off the field. That is likely the most plausible reason they went to more 12 personnel which most good offensive teams traditionally use more than the Bills any ways and there is a lot you can run out of that set. With Knox out they went to 11 personnel or empty on occasion. That is familiar ground for this offense and a good move on a short week and considering we are short on TE's. One could argue that we could stick with more 11 with Shakir for Knox, hard to ignore what he brings to a game. Maybe Knox subbing in for Davis if and when Knox is healthy for 12 personnel plays. The tempo and execution was good and Allen knew where to go with the ball to beat the blitzes and when to take off when their LBs and S's were manned up leaving open field for Allen to gallop through.

Folks keep rushing to judgement after each game and blowing with the wind. He's great and can do no wrong, or he is not salvageable. It is a journey folks. There are a lot of things Allen does well, and defenses are trying their best to take those things away. When one team has success against Allen, the next team copies that blueprint. Allen has had to reinvent himself to attack defenses in new ways and that is not always going to look pretty. The good thing is the more ways Allen learns to attack defenses, the more they will have to take chances leaving guys open or in cover-0 and Allen will get better at recognizing those opportunities and making them pay for them. Each game is a journey not the destination.

Teams have played off of Davis knowing it takes some runway for him to get up to speed and his target depth is usually deeper. The Bills used that cushion to their advantage, hitting Davis and letting him power his way to the sticks. It was a good adjustment by Dorsey and the offense...

As much as Beane and McD focus on edge rushers and DBs in the draft (and looking like Elam may be a wash) it amazes me that they have not prioritized that 1-T DT spot. 1st we had Star who was on the downward spiral of performance, then Settle and Jones in FA. Jones is fantastic when not injured and Settle is not the answer to anchor this line. For how important that position is to anchoring this line and making this defense hum, they need to prioritized a young prospect to groom.

Yep. Every freaking year our roster of impact starters seems to get decimated by injuries.