CincyBillsFan

The key point is that "Steve also gave up a 40 spot in the SUPER BOWL". It has been a LONG TIME since McD coached a D that went to the Super Bowl.

No one is going to convince me that the NFL doesn't want NE back at the top battling every year with Buffalo. A lot of interesting referee decisions in today's Bengals/Pats game.

Yet in the end the McD defense has had only one great playoff game in 13 during the Allen era. And in every Bills playoff exit the McD D has played badly.

And in the NFL it often works for Allen like a week earlier with his deep TD pass to Savers. The Bills will never completely get this out of Allen, What they should do is construct an offensive roster and scheme that best utilizes this skill. Instead they have built an offense that encourages Allen to do this out of frustration when things aren't going well. IMO everyone is nibbling around the edges of the problem with jabs at what Allen could do better when the problem is simple: the Bills have never tried to build an offense around Allen that matches his style of play and provides him with the most complimentary talent possible under the CAP. They have a defensive minded HC who didn't get along with the one above average OC they had and has tried to build a team that seems counter intuitive to what one would do with a guy like Allen at QB,

This. As Allen sits on the sideline and watches a putrid Texan offense bully the Bills D going up and down the field the desperation starts to creep in. Allen understands that he has to make superman plays to win the game. What you are seeing with Allen taking more sacks this year has little to do with Allen regressing or his QB coach failing and a lot to do with the offensive scheme and lack of quality play makers on the field (Kincaid is a quality play maker who is often not on the field). * The O line has regressed in pass protection. This is obvious to me. * The broken play is the only way the Bills can generate big play offense this season so Allen will do anything, even the wrong thing, to keep the play alive. * The lack of WR separation is forcing Allen to hold on to the ball. * Teams have figured out and adjusted to Brady's offense.

Yea because we all know that giving the ball to your RB 4 STRAIGHT times on a drive worked real well in high school. And McD has done this so often I think he really believes it. Its explains why every season plays out like Ground Hog Day in the final results.

The problem with McD's comments is that he doesn't address the elephant in the room - the woeful first half performances of his defenses in multiple games. Against Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore & Tampa Bay the Bills D was largely non-existent for one half to three quarters of the game. I've seen this bizarre and frankly disgusting shtick from McD before where he throws the offense under the bus for not plying great while making excuses for and/or not recognizing the putrid play of his defense - a unit that gets the lions share of draft picks & FA signings and represents his personal area of expertise. To be even fairer the defense was awful in the 1st half against Houston and was awful for large parts of the games against the Ravens, Bucs, Dolphins & Falcons. Defense is a McD specialty it's his area of expertise. On top of that the lions share of FA signings and draft capital has been allocated to the D. It is not enough to make effective adjustments later in a game.

Scoring defense is not the only thing that matters. Lack of creating turnovers, giving up long time consuming drives robbing the offense of possessions, giving up non scoring drives that flip the field position and the point in a game that a defense allows scoring drives can matter just as much. By any rational assessment the Bills are a bottom 10 D. If we can't agree on this then we can't agree on anything.

I like this but I'm not entirely sure I agree with it. At the end of last season I would have agreed with this 100%. Now I'm not so sure. For this to be true that Allen will spend his career in Buffalo no one needs to be fired but a hard reorientation of the teams priority's from the D to the O must happen. And this includes a new offensive strategy not predicated on protecting the D and aggressive drafting and FA signings of offensive players.

No one player can lift a team above mediocrity if the roster talent is below average. Marino, who IMO was the greatest pure passing QB in NFL history, went 8-8, 6-10, 8-8 & another 8-8 in seasons where he started every game for the Dolphins. This might actually work as long as McD allows Daboll the freedom to run the O. For Daboll it would be a great stepping stone to another HC job and a new GM can go about reorienting the Bills FA & Draft priority's towards the offense. Of course all of this would be a moot point if the Bills went on a run and made the Super Bowl this season.

This is a fair discussion topic. I hope Allen stays and the Bills do not have to engage in a compete rebuild. A reloading even if it meant changes at HC & GM could work for all involved. At the same time it would be a real shame if Allen never got a chance to play in and win a Super Bowl. Marino at least got to play in a Super Bowl. The rest of this season will have a huge impact on whether Allen is still a Buffalo Bill when he turns 33. If the Bills can rebound and go on a run and make it to the divisional round or better yet the AFC Championship game then a re-load would likely work without changing the HC & GM. On the other hand if the Bills implode and a rebuild is needed and Pegula doesn't change the HC & GM then Allen would be wise to start making plans for his departure this off season.

I was referring to how Stafford left an organization that could not and/or would not build a roster that could win a Super Bowl to one in LA that could. I see this as a very possible future for Allen if the Bills can't get their act together over the next couple of seasons. I hope I'm wrong.

I agree. My gut is he will go the Matt Stafford route but here's to hoping it happens in Buffalo.

The ball placement was fine and I've seen this catch made both in college & pro football every week. Because it's so rare that the Bills WR's make these kinds of tough catches we forget that they happen all the time in other games.

Weather could be a big issue and that Bengal's D is historically bad making the Bills D look like the 1985 Bears. With the game being in Buffalo if it gets into a shoot out it will resemble the Tampa Bay game with the Bills coming out on top.