CincyBillsFan

(2) On Sunday the issue was that our below average RB's combined with a worst in the NFL injury plagued O-line. When healthy (Dawkins/Feliciano/Morse/Williams/Brown) we have an average O-line. This is enough for Allen, Knox & the WR's to go off on teams. We can't forget that prior to the Jaguars game the Bills were at or near the top in every offensive category that mattered. (3) Before the Jaguars game Allen was hitting deep passes of every kind. Even against Pitt he hit a couple (including the Sanders drop of a 35yard pass). On Sunday there wasn't time to confidently sit in the pocket and hit a deep cross. (7) A friend in Buffalo said that callers were claiming the Bills don't want to get McKenzie banged up as he is our only real option for kick & punt returns. I don't know if there's any truth to this but it seems like the only logical explanation for the lack of McK gimmick plays. Ultimately, our offensive problems come from the fact that we do not have anything approaching a dynamic RB and our O-line is at best average when fully healthy. When banged up like on Sunday the O-line becomes a huge liability. Don't forget that the O-line was called for THREE PF's. Those are hard to recover from in a drive.

Then that makes it even more imperative that Allen NOT throw the ball to Moss on that play unless we think 4th and goal from the 4 yard line is easy to convert.

Bingo. And I would argue it's not subtle. Allen's play hides the problems with our O-line and RB's. He breaks off a couple of big runs each game that keep drives alive and then avoids getting sacked in a jail break and converts a 3rd & long. If our problem was only that we were QB centric its an easy fix. But anyone who actually follows the Bills and watches their games knows this is not the case. That's why we're all so worried. While McD and company can lesson the dependence on Allen they can't walk away from it because they have NO alternatives.

I believe that was a 2nd & goal and if Allen hits Moss at that moment he's tackled at the 4 yard line for a 3rd and goal. I have no problem with Allen looking to get the ball into the end zone on that play. The real issue is that on first & goal from the 4, Moss lost 3 yards on a run.

While I don't think Congress should get involved it's getting hard to blame the bizarre officiating seen in almost EVERY NFL game as simple incompetence. It really seems like they pick a team to call a run of penalties on at key moments. And since so many of the penalties are subjective (roughing the passer, taunting, pass interference) or happen on almost every play (illegal contact & holding) when they choose to throw the flag is key here. Last night I saw one of the worst taunting penalties called on Chicago that I've seen this year. While this new penalty is bad enough they called it on guy for starring at the Pittsburgh bench from HALF A FIELD away. Whats next brain implants to catch players thinking bad thoughts about someone.

NFL officiating is atrocious. Just awful. Elite incompetence on display.

Great point backed up by actual game data. These people keep flogging the dead horse that Allen won't take the check down throws when he clearly does. And the amount of YAC produced by our RB's and TE's not named Knox is anemic. And yesterday Beasley was clearly not healthy so we lost the YAC he normally produces. And to claim yesterday's loss was strictly on Allen can only be called trolling as it completely ignores an O-line performance that with the missed blocks and awful penalties may have been the worst performance by an O line in years.

No because Allen has completed a lot of those passes this year. Allen doesn't need great pass protection he just needs average pass protection to hit all those throws. He's shown this in almost every game this year except where it was a jailbreak at the snap. His mobility in the pocket has been developing nicely and is among the best in the NFL. That's why the play of his below average O-line and weak running game has not led to more sacks. In fact the Bills had one of the best Offenses in the NFL through 7 games. Allen was executing the pass offense very well in spite of the issues. But yesterday with BOTH Brown & Felliciano out and Williams back out at RT the Bills O-line fell below the NFL standard for minimum competency. The almost immediate pressure on Allen on almost EVERY freaking play was impossible for Allen or IMO any QB to overcome.

I agree with this with the exception of the QB being a problem - he isn't. This is on the O-line and RB's. And I'm not being a blind Allen homer here either. Like with Mahomes in KC, Allen pressing is not really a problem because you want QB's that do this in response to these situations. I want my QB to press and try to make plays in the face of inadequate O-line & RB play. If a team can't fix these problems they're not a Super Bowl contender and playing it safe to eek out close wins over bad teams is at most going to get you a first round elimination from the playoffs. If you're lucky enough to actually make the playoffs. If Joe B wants a Tyrod Taylor or Kyle Orton then that's fine. I'm sure those two and many other QB's would be perfect at game managing their inferior offenses to a 9 - 8 season. But I want fire in the belly of my QB.

No I'm not. The AFC is wide open.

Yep, misery loves company.

But they were 7.5 point favorites and are playing at home. So yea, losing by 19 late in the game after trailing by 18 at half is as bad a loss as the Bills was today. Ditto for Dallas losing at home to Denver and trialing 30 - 0 in the 2nd half.

NFL officials are corrupt and incompetent. That first roughing the passer call was entirely bogus. Ditto for the hold on Whitworth. A team that is rarely penalized is flagged double digit times tonight? The problem with NFL officiating is not the actual calls, though they're bad enough, but rather the fact that these crews seem to target one team for the majority of flags at critical moments. If the Bills become irrelevant again, I'm done with the NFL. They treat their fans with contempt with the officials they're putting on the field.

After back to back bad losses and then a squeaker win against the Eagles the Chargers are a lot like the Bills - wildly inconsistent. The Ravens have had a lot of close calls, that can evaporate in a moment leading to several losses. The AFC is wide open. IF the Bills can fix their issues they have as good chance as any team of taking charge in the conference.

My concern is with the offense and not the defense. BUT, did the Bills make a strategic error in addressing their perceived defensive short comings at the expense of the offense? Because it was the offense that got us to the Championship game last season. In the off season we focused on the D and it's playing great though I wouldn't say at a Super Bowl level - the let down against TN was a red flag for me. So while we can defenselessly dominate weak to average offenses we haven't shown we can dominate good to great offense. And by ignoring RB, the O-line and TE did we miss an opportunity to create an elite offense? We caught a break with Knox improving as much as he did so standing pat at TE worked out but it clearly hasn't worked out for the O-line and RB's.

That's true, today's loss falls squarely on the O. But that shouldn't blind us to the fact that there have been some issues with the Bills base 4 man pass rush. We never really made Lawrence uncomfortable forcing him into a bad throw for an INT. And the Jags had a couple of drives that went on to long and chewed up time robbing the offense of a possession or two. TN rolled our D up in part because we couldn't pressure Tannehill. I think these comments are arising from the off season choice to go all in on improving the D-line and then keeping 11 D-linemen on the roster. This was a conscious decision that limited what we could do at RB & O line. So the question becomes is the D line doing enough? We seem to blitz our safeties and LB's a lot to generate a pass rush.

I have hope that Groote can develop into an elite D lineman and if Oliver keeps getting better he can become an elite defensive tackle. But your observation is spot on - there is not currently an elite lineman on either side of the ball playing for the Bills. And while the D-line has a lot of solid talent you could argue that the best Bill's O-lineman is only average - and maybe not even that. This is why it's critical that Brown develop into a top flight tackle.

I don't agree with everything you posted but it is a fair take. Another poster noted that we're sitting three D-linemen who would likely make the D-line rotation on a lot of NFL teams every week while putting O-linemen on the field who wouldn't play for most teams. That is a waste of resources.

Can any of you see Moss or Singleterry hitting the corner with the power and speed the Titans back-up RB just showed us in that 12 yard gain?

Until next week. We've had what, ten different "best teams in the NFL" so far this year? I am shocked at this outcome. While the Bills lost to a terrible team today how can you explain the blowout home loses by the Bengal's, Cowboys and 49's? And now it looks like the LA Rams are going to get blown out in their building by the Titans. What a weird day.

They have a credible running game that doesn't involve the QB.

That play can't work for Allen and the Bills because no one respects their run game and defenses key on Allen in a way they wouldn't with Tannehill.

I'm not sold on the Ravens. They were lucky to beat the Vikings at home in OT today. I could see them losing a couple of games in a row. I agree that NE is a real danger in the division. My goodness how painful is it to watch, explosive, tackle breaking RB's who we've never heard of before?

Great way to explain what happened today and for over a half against Miami last week. I think it can be fixed with some daring moves by the Bills coaches and Brown/Felliciano getting healthy.

But who do we put in to run a "heavy" look? A third string practice squad TE and an experimental FB? And our RB's are not built to execute a heavy run package. They made the assumption that the O-line would at least be competent and that Allen and the WR's would carve people up. The problem is that at best this year the O-line has been below average and today it was way below the NFL minimum for a functional unit. It really was that bad.