CincyBillsFan

I would rather have Allen and it's not close. The reasons: * Allen is the real deal. He will be an elite QB for ALL of those 4 years. Lawrence should be great but there are no guarantees. * There will be a development curve for Lawrence. At least one and probably two seasons. So the 4 year window quickly becomes a 2 year window. * It's not my money. And given the likley jump in the CAP over the next 4 years there will still be plenty of room to maneuver even with Allen making 40 million/year.

I don't see that given the NFL TV revenue projections going forward the Pegula's wouldn't be able to structure Allen's contract similarly to Mahomes. My guess is that the Mahomes contract will serve as a template for Allen's deal. As a franchise QB Allen is unique on the team and the Pegula's will adjust what they do in his situation as it will benefit them and the team to do so.

Yes they are but as I told my Bengals fan neighbor we Bills fans aren't worried because Allen is a lot bigger then Burrow so he can survive Hart's impressions of a world class matador.

Great post but I would add that it's not just narrow championship windows that require a franchise QB' You need one to create a dynasty. IMO Rogers with GB is a perfect example of this. The Packers would be going on a decade plus of mediocrity without Rogers. Sure they only have one SB win but they're in the conversation every year and that's because of Rogers. You could throw in Pittsburgh, NE and NO into that category to. Especially with NE as we've now run the experiment of who was most responsible for their run - Brady or Belichick. I think we now know the answer. Hell, this isn't anything new. Back in the day the great dynasty's all needed great QB's. Back then the players didn't have much mobility so you had to develop that guy. But if you didn't you sucked most years.

You bring up a good point. Could the timing of these women coming forward be more about their feeling that Watson isn't as popular in Houston since he started pushing for a trade? It would be pretty hard to come forward and accuse an elite QB in a football crazy town at the height of his popularity. It's a little safer when the shine has come off and the QB is tarnished.

I live in Cincy and as long as Burrows knee is okay, and so far we're hearing down here that he's on his way to a 100% recovery, there is no way they would swap Burrow for Watson. First, most Bengal fans see Burrow as having a higher upside. Second, that rookie contract is mighty attractive to a team that has a lot of holes to fill.

Memo to Bills fans - It's AWESOME that the rest of the AFC East is scrambling to get better to knock us off our perch as Beasts of the East. Quit worrying and just enjoy the ride. We've waited long enough to get in the front seat. Now check out the amazing view while riding shotgun.

I still think this discussion begins and ends with Allen. Had the Jets gambled and took him off the plate at #3 and we had drafted either Darnold or Rosen my guess is that we would have seen the following records: 2018 = 4 - 12 2019 = 7 - 9 2020 = 6 - 10. Without Allen we don't sign Diggs in 2020 and signing Beasley/Brown would have been wasted with Rosen or Darnold at QB. It's frightening how close we came to making it three lost decades.

Or it means that we have drafted very well over the last few years. Particularly with respect to our QB.

I never fully appreciated how great a throw the pass to Knox was until this video. The pressure in Allen's face was insane and to complete that kind of deep throw with touch reminded me of Mahomes. Thanks for posting this.

And games are not won in March either. Frankly the Bills are exactly where we dreamed they would be one day - using FA to fine tune a very good football team. This includes NOT making big splashes in FA that only served as opium for the masses of Bills fans hoping for a turnaround. I think that's what some fans miss. They're literally in withdrawal.

I found this quote from the Wyoming football message board and I think this guy nails it: https://www.wyonation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21349 Fri Mar 19, 2021 2:46 pm They're making it extremely difficult to NOT cheer for Buffalo. The Buffalo message board isn't crazy about this move because they don't understand it. They wanted Ertz with zero cap space instead. He's a replacement for their back up tight end and I think he's going to give Knox a challenge on passing downs. He's competition for Knox and a damn good reason for Knox to start holding onto the ball. He's not going to fumble like Knox. He's not going to drop the ball like Knox. He does get open. Seattle used him as an H back a lot, which means Daboll can do the same thing and get a lead blocker to make the run game more effective. He can fake the run block with him and run wheel routes to him. I have reasons to believe Hollister might take off. Wilson didn't have a lot of receiving options or a very good line. Josh does. The defense has to cover Diggs, Davis, Sanders, Beasley, Knox, the back out of the backfield and account for Josh running the ball. Hollister is going to be the 4th or 5th priority for the defense. He's going to thrive in those conditions. Josh already feels comfortable looking for Hollister when plays break down and Hollister knows what Josh likes to do when that happens. I think this chemistry is over-looked. I think Jacob has the ability to turn into a security blanket for Josh like Novacek was for Troy Aikman. Damn this is exciting. I might have to buy some Buffalo gear.

I actually think the Bill's running game missed DiMarco this season. Hollister looks to be a replacement for both Lee Smith & DiMarco at about half the cost. It's actually brilliant on the part of Bean and Hollister having played with Allen in college is a bonus.

My understanding is that the thinking goes like this: * Trubisky has a solid preseason. He will take most of the snaps. * A lot of NFL GM's will be paying close attention to what's going on in the Bills training camp with respect to Trubisky. So say he has a solid training camp. * Then the fall roles around and a good team's starting QB goes down. At that point what might Trubisky be worth in a trade? Especially if the Bills like what they saw from Fromm in TC & PS.

Blocking

Looking at these predictions and then thinking back to the message board battles about Allen in 2018 and you realize how much things can change in a short period of time. That we can seriously believe 5000 yards and 40 TD passes is doable is simply amazing and very cool.

In 2019, his best season, he had 41 catches for 349 yards and 3 TD's. Which would be a big upgrade over Smith.

I think this guy nails it. I jumped to the conclusion that he was a kroft replacement but this might be more about improving the running game. Especially the H-back stuff. And for the record Hollister is a much better receiver then Smith was. I've seen him make some great catches over the years.

My first response was thinking that the Bills had lost their collective minds. But on further review this was a solid signing. There is no QB controversy. This is all about upgrading the back-up position in the event Allen goes down. I you consider how the Bills offense relies on Allen's mobility then Trubisky is a clear upgrade over Barkley. Sometimes it's really that simple.

Cowherd just reported that the only teams Watson is interested in are Denver & SF. I would love to see him go to Denver so that the AFC West winner will have 6 losses every year!

The thing I find interesting about the RB position is how much it's lost it's allure. Call me old school but I have a sinking suspicion that the conventional "wisdom" here is off base. Sure spending $20 million per year on a RB is not the way to go but in 2019 I watched a RB single handily take his mediocre football team to the AFC conference championship winning two playoff games on the road to do it. I have seen McCaffrey produce over 2,000 yards in offense as the ONLY serious offensive threat on the Panthers in 2019. RB's can and do have impacts every bit as big as WR's do. Answer me this question: if a healthy McCaffrey or Delvin Cook or Alvin Kamara was on the Bills roster last season do you think we'd be Super Champs? I do. I can't even imagine the damage McCaffrey would do catching 5 yard passes from Allen and turning them into 10 - 15 yard gains as Diggs & Beasley run riot through the middle of the field. With a McCaffrey type RB there's no more spying Allen as he rips teams for 80 yards per game without taking many hits. I know the game has changed but it hasn't changed as much as folks are saying. In the playoffs two routine screen passes were botched by Singleterry that McCaffrey or Kamara would have either taken to the end zone or had huge gains on (the slip versus Baltimore and the drop versus KC). When you're a SB contender those types of plays matter. I get we don't have the money to spend lavishly on RB. But the notion that the draft is the only place to look and that our running game issues rest mostly with the O-line are misplaced IMO. If we can get a solid guy in FA we should. If they're to expensive then we should be willing to draft a RB in the 1st round.

Well to start with we're not paying their salaries so yea we'll take the 22 oz ribeye please!

That's how I approach EVERY off season! You should see how good my teams are after I'm done signing all that talent.

I agree that we can't stand pat at RB. I'm of the opinion that the problem with our running game has more to do with the RB's then the O linemen. So given the limited remaining budget and a desperate need for an edge rusher my logic says focus on upgrading RB while keeping our fingers crossed that Ford and the current Guards can combine to get the job done. It might also be more economical to get a better blocking TE or H Back to help the running game then upgrading the guard position. For me the prioritization is simple: Edge Rusher then Defensive Tackle then RB then TE then Guard. By the time we get to guard I doubt we can pick up someone better then what we already have. I'm all for drafting a Guard in rounds 2 - 6 if the right guy is there. But I don't trust putting a rookie in a Super Bowl contenders interior O line unless we have to because of injury.

December 1969 was a vivid memory for me. I had earlier memories but this one stands out. The Bills lost to the Chiefs for the 2nd time that season. The score was 22 - 19 and for the 2nd time Stenerud kicked 5 FG's to beat Buffalo. I remember my dad and uncle complaining that they shouldn't even allow FG's in football. They wanted to ban the damn things. I remember being surprised at how angry they got. A month later our whole house was packed and rooting hard for the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl. My dad & uncle loved it when Stenerud kicked those first 3 FG's to put the Chiefs up 9 - 0! Back then the AFL/NFL rivalry was a real thing. The NFL lost something great with the merger. You old school fans know what I'm talking about. There was a camaraderie among AFL fans that was unique in sports. We all rooted for the Jets in the 1969 and then the Chiefs in the 1970 Super Bowls.