CincyBillsFan

In the modern NFL and considering how defenses play Allen, asking him not to look for the TE is a non-starter. I know you were being sarcastic here but the TE plays such an important role in offenses today that when Knox has the dropsies the Bills effectively do not have an NFL caliber TE on the field as Sweeney has also underwhelmed. It's extremely hard to score TD's in the red zone when you effectively don't have NFL caliber RB's or TE's.

There is no excuse for Bills fans not to understand this. It was an extreme wind game. If you get first downs and run clock going into the wind it's almost as good as scoring.

Allen played fantastic - he led the Bills on two long drives into the wind to the red zone. There is only so much Allen can do and when others on offense are not making plays we shouldn't be surprised when as the field shrinks and we're near the end zone we can't punch it in.

I agree with this. And if Bill starts mixing things up it might have led to disaster given how poorly Jones only two passes looked. And the Matt Breida fumble would get a high school kid benched. It was on FIRST DOWN at the Pats 29 yard line. My point is that we're not doing what KC is doing with their struggling offense. The Chiefs D has stepped up and they're winning low scoring games because the D is covering for their offense. In two big games against power team's our D has let the opponent run all over us. We lost a lot of field position and a couple of possessions tonight after the first quarter because our defense struggled to stop the run.

Yes that was a big problem. But we don't have the weapons you think we do. With Knox dropping the ball tonight we didn't have a TE. The Bills RB's are awful - enough said. Diggs is elite but Davis & Beasley are average. The O line is below average. Now that opponents have learned how to defense Allen in the red zone, particularly his running, we are not built to score from in close. We are poor at just about everything involved in red zone scoring beyond Allen & Diggs.

I disagree. On that 2nd to last drive with a first and goal at the 6, running Allen three straight times might have been a good idea. Or at least employ run/pass options. It looked like they went to straight drop back passes.

We're to slow. Seriously the RB's are slow and not very shifty. And once Breida had that awful fumble putting him in the game and giving him the ball is like playing with dynamite. Diggs was the ONLY other offensive player who elevated his game tonight like Allen did. It's actually remarkable how average and below average the rest of the Bills offense is.

This completely misreads what happened tonight. The damage the Pats did to the Bills on the ground WON THE FREAKING GAME for them. Again people ignore that in a wind game like this the Pats were able to steal possessions and field position by holding onto the ball for a couple of long drives.

The announcers are useless. I love Diggs but he flat out dropped a fantastic, highlight reel TD throw under those conditions. Griese is especially bad here. Mac Jones completed one pass tonight and his WR made a world class catch for a 12 yard gain. In contrast the Bills had 4 dropped balls all at critical times. Two were in the end zone and two would have converted 3rd down and kept alive drives in NE territory. That was the game.

Great point. I thought I read somewhere that the Bills were near the bottom with YAC. Remember on the Pats 70 yard TD run where their 220 pound WR was able to block Espinoza to open up the play. We have no one among our WR's that could that. I have a friend who told me before the season started that the Sanders signing was pure hubris on Beans part and that we didn't have the luxury to bring in a nice but old route runner. I laughed him off but he was 100% correct.

I agree 100%. If some fans can't see the obvious then I say screw them. I'm beginning to worry that Allen is on the path to become the next Mathew Stafford but with a couple of playoff wins. He will put up great numbers and everyone will admit he's an elite QB but the surrounding talent will be weak.

Maybe we need to consider that with the exception of Diggs EVERYONE else on the Offense around Allen is average (Beasley/Davis) to below average (everyone else). We don't have big physical WR's that can contest balls in the end zone or block for the running game or quick WR screen throws. We have a TE that is hot & cold in a way that the better TE's in the NFL are not. Our RB's are a joke. How many times do we have to watch games where BIGGER and FASTER and SHIFTIER RB's then our 3 are on display? And again Allen led the Bills in rushing and had the longest run.

I call BS here. Clutch always takes more then one player. That Allen had the Bills in the Red Zone twice late was clutch. The problem was that NO ONE on the offense came up big at those points. We saw signs last year that the Bills depended to much on Allen. This year it's been worse. Frankly, we resemble Seattle in that regard. And unlike KC which righted the ship because of a superior organization, we are facing tough times going forward. I'm beginning to wonder if Allen isn't going to become with new Mathew Stafford. Great numbers and obviously supremely talented but nothing around him.

Absolutely. And anyone who complains about Allen's play tonight, oh look in super slow motion Allen should have seen this open WR when running for his life, is a fool. I'm actually in awe of how well he threw the ball tonight. Three huge drops and the failure to make a great catch in the end zone by Knox (I won't call that a drop but a great play there and we win the game) cost us the game.

I was talking to friends while watching the game and the one thing they commented on was how Allen almost never has time to throw. The stats that claim he has so many seconds are complete analytics BS. They simply reflect Allen's ability to extend plays.

They should have done that in the 1st quarter when they had the wind at their back. Again the Bills brain trust completely screwed up the tactical & strategic part of the game. Lost in tonight's game was just how well Allen threw the ball. If you add in the 3 bad drops, he would have had over 200 yards and at least 2 TD throws. An amazing performance given the conditions.

I have officially joined the Bean/McD skeptic crowd. Sure they have lifted Buffalo from being a total disaster into a competitive team but their miscues going into this season have been noticeable. Tonight we lost because our team is not built to win in Buffalo or to compete with the Pats. And whose fault is that? Bill's management. During the off season we signed a clever vet WR who ran good routes while ignoring the O-line, TE and RB. We threw all our resources and draft capital at fixing the D-line and look what we got, a line that could not stop the run when we knew they were going to run. IMO Allen, who is even better then we think, has hid a host of problems on the offense and in the coordinator's room. I'm still hoping this team can claw it's way into the playoffs for continuity's sake.

From a timing standpoint and assuming this is a gust front it will be much better in a couple of hours after it passes - right?

No QB is really stellar in bad weather games. The key is to be less bad then the QB on the other team.

I think this is spot on. One of the advantages of effective run first offenses is the deep strike play action pass. This kills defenses that successfully stop the run by overloading the box. In fact back in the day most of the great QB's got their yards and TD's off play action and ball handling (hiding that it wasn't a run) was as prized back then as mobility is today.

I remember that. It was like dude get over it Allen had a bad game it happens. The Allen hate by some of these guys is really amazing. I just don't get it. Allen is personable, talented and not a Richard on the field so what's their beef? It's odd because by his actions and attitude I just don't see what's so polarizing about Allen.

The NFL media desperately wants NE to be relevant again. It's what they've gotten used to over the last 20 years. The Pats are hot and their rookie QB is exceeding expectations. Just listen to a random 30 minutes on Sirius NFL channel to hear the Patriot love. Only the Cowboys match it. And lets face it there is a growing belief that the greatest sports ***** of all time is now within reach: A Tom Brady led Tampa Bay taking on Bill Belchick and the NE Patriots. These people would sell their first born to see that happen. So it's on the Bills to derail the hype train.

Not upset, just annoyed. As an aside, it was Fox with that graphic and if you haven't noticed they seem to have a larger number of Bills & Allen critics then the other NFL broadcast channels. On Thanksgiving day two of the five Fox pregame guys picked NO to beat the Bills.

He was knocked on his butt.

I disagree. On that play the pass rusher was looking at #45 and modified his rush to avoid the block. By definition that is not a blind side block.