CincyBillsFan

Agree. And that play was beautifully set up by back to back 1st down passes that chewed up big yardage. That was the only drive where the Bills used most of their offense in the 1st half. That drive was also the only time in the half that Dabold called plays that built off each other. After a nights sleep it's even clearer to me that the Bills went into last nights game wanting to hone the offenses running game. My guess is that the final starting O-line and more importantly where each guy lines up was decided last night based on their run blocking. The first two preseason games were designed to evaluate their pass blocking. As an aside compare last nights game to the 3rd preseason game last year. the Bengal's absolutely blew up the Bills O-line. It was so bad the brain trust decided they didn't want to Risk Allen at Baltimore in week 1. The result of last years 3rd preseason game set the stage for the Bill's offensive disasters in their first two games that year. This year, I feel a whole lot more confident about the Bills O-line, their QB, their offensive coordinator and their receiving group then I did after last years 3rd preseason game. And that's progress.

I thought they ran the ball well. What they need to work on is to many holding penalties on the O line. On the plus side, they had two red zone rushing TD's and I don't think any run lost yards. Second & 7 sure beats 2nd & 13! Don't let the naysayers get you down on Allen. He was highly restricted as the Bills worked almost exclusively on their running game. Through their first 6 possessions the Bills DID NOT throw the ball on 1st down. And they only lined up in the shotgun a couple of times. They also didn't throw the ball more then 15 yards down the field. It was only near the end of the half with the Bills backed up against their own end zone that they took the shackles off Allen & the passing game and the result was a 95 yard TD drive to give Buffalo the halftime lead. In that drive Allen was in the shot gun a lot where he threw two dimes for nice gains to John Brown with BOTH passes coming on 1st down. Allen also had a nice 10 yard run for a 1st down in which he got out of bounds. McCoy had a great run out of a shot gun hand off and Singleterry was the beneficiary of a Ford pancake block that sprung him for a 9 yard TD.

It's really sad isn't it? I mean these clowns are PAID to do this job and yet a bunch of folks on 2BD will actually have a better take on what the Bills were trying to do on offense tonight then the so called "experts". And unlike the experts we were drinking while watching! But Thad Brown is a particularly goofy commentator. His bias is pretty evident. To focus on one bad play, that was cancelled out by a penalty, in a meaningless preseason game tells you all you need to know. Why not highlight Allen's two minute 95 yard TD drive? Or how about talk about both but keep the "INT" in perspective. Living here in Cincinnati they all talk about the Super Bowl game that Montana threw that last second TD to beat the Bengals. What NO ONE except Cincy fans talk about is that on the play before that Montana threw a terrible pass that should have been intercepted but the INT was dropped by the Bengal player.

Barkley attempted 13 passes in the 3rd quarter alone compared to Allen attempting only 6 passes in the entire first half. The coaches used each half to work on two very different offensive things.

I don't get focusing on one bad play in a meaningless preseason game. Sure it was a horrible decision and throw. But in his sideline interview Allen explicitly owned up to it. IMO it was good that Allen was reminded of what he shouldn't do under game conditions. And for the record he's going to do it at least once in the regular season. It's in his competitive DNA. But if you're going to call out that one bad pass how about Allen's fantastic 2 minute drive. That was a big time drive at the end of the half.

I think they treated it as a practice in which you keep rerunning a play until you get it right. The coaches didn't care whether Detroit knew we were running the ball. They wanted to see that the right pre-snap adjustments were made at the line and that the blocking was sound. I suspect the only reason they even threw the ball on 3rd & long was the desire to get a 1st down so they could run the ball a couple more times.

You're speaking with your head and not with your heart and I agree 100% with you. It took me 3 series to realize what the Bills were doing (partly due to beer and partly due to my high expectations & wishful thinking). But at the same time a lot of us were hoping for Allen to light it up especially with our new TE & WR's. Unfortunately we still care way to much what the outsiders say about the Bills. Lucky for us the coaches don't give a crap and they did what they needed to do tonight to get this team ready for the opening game. This is why I'm actually more confident after this game about the Bills season then I was before.

As an aside, pay attention to what certain writers/commentators say about this game. If they were paying attention they'll clearly explain what the Bill's offense was trying to do. But if they have an agenda they talk about Allen's bad throws and how the offense regressed. The summary's of this game will tell you who the experts really are.

It was tough to watch because we all wanted to see a wide open gun slinging Allen tossing the ball to Beasley, Brown, Sweeney & Jones. Instead we got an incredibly dogmatic game plan that didn't have us pass on 1st down until the last drive of the half. hell, we hardly were in the shotgun formation the first 28 minutes of the half. On a night in which the Bills were featured on national TV we all desperately wanted the nation to see how much better our offense, especially our passing offense, was. We wanted them to see the Josh Allen of the last 6 games last year and form this years TC and 1st 2 preseason games. We wanted them to see our two new WR's running free. But it wasn't to be. Instead it was BORING. Run, run and then pass. And no pass over 15 yards. So now the Allen haters and Bills doubters can get on the radio, their pod casts or TV and trash Allen & the Bills. Certain writers are just licking their chops to take shots at the Bills. But thank goodness the coaches didn't care about winning a meaningless game. And for damn sure they cared even less about what the "experts" might say. They wanted to work on the run game and damn it that's what they did. They needed to get the blocking assignments down and the timing between Allen and the RB's down. They wanted to work on both the linemen and Allen making audibles to set the blocking scheme pre-snap. And my sense is that they got done what they wanted to get done. But we saw a glimpse of what this offense can do when the hand cuffs were taken off. In the last 2 minutes Dabold let them go for it and did they ever. Throwing on fist down and executing some clever running plays the Bills drove 95 yards to score a TD and take the lead. Overall I'm happy with the outcome.

What I like about our going 3 - 0 is that it hasn't resulted from any coaching acts trying to win these meaningless games. The coaches have focused on working different aspects of the Bills game and stuck to it in spite of the score. I believe the Bills starters have won all three of their games and those starters haven't played all that much. Ultimately this might all be an illusion and we're not very good. But I think what we're seeing is real. This is a much better team then last year.

Now who's insane? NOBODY is saying Allen should be guaranteed to start for the next "3 or 4 years". But if Allen doesn't pan out Barkley won't be the answer another blue chip 1st round draft pick will be.

Kudos to Barkley for coming in and playing well. I think he can be a quality back-up QB here for a number of years. Hell he may even get a chance to start on another team before his career is over. But the reality is that over his career he's been less then a competent QB. He has thrown 10 TD's and 18 INT's; his career QB rating is 68 and he's completed just under 60% of his passes. And this includes that amazing game he had last year against the Jets. This is why IMO there is no QB controversy. Which is a good thing.

Am I the only one impressed with Allen's sideline interview? I'm not talking about the boiler plate stuff I'm talking about his calling out his one bad pass of the half. He owned it and called it what it was "hero ball" and that he can't be doing dumb stuff like that. Like I said earlier, that terrible throw in a meaningless preseason games was the best thing that happened to Allen tonight.

Great point. I remember getting excited to be able to watch the Bills 3rd preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals. You had Josh Allen starting and I'm thinking now is the time to see if he was worth that 7th pick. But what happened? Nothing less then the worst offensive line performance I've ever seen. They simply could not pass protect and Allen was either running for his life or having his center & guard pushed down his throat! It was a complete disaster and left the Bills brain trust wondering what the hell they were going to do for the opener. They ended up cobbling together an O-line and Peterman "won" the QB job. Or was it that the Bills coaches felt Peterman was expendable? Either way week one went down in the record books as the worst 1st half offensive performance in history. Flash forward to tonight. I trust we all see the difference and it's amazing.

Are you serious? Comparing the way the Bills managed the two half's is like comparing apples & oranges. In the first half it was about getting the run blocking and timing down. On the only possession the Bills ran their normal offense they went 95 yards for a TD. In the 2nd half it's about giving the receivers on the bubble a chance to shine. It's also about getting Barkley a lot of reps before he takes his place on the bench. There is NO QB controversy. Zero, Nada, nyet!

It seems like the Bills have a plan tonight: * Work on their run game with the starters in the 1st half. That two minute drill at the end was a bonus. * In the 2nd half you let Barkley work on the passing game. Hell, Barkley threw more then twice as many passes in the 3rd quarter as Allen threw in the entire first half. The reason you do this is that Barkley won't be seeing the field (hopefully) much after tonight and the Bills have some tough decisions to make at WR. And having a pro like Barkley throwing the ball means the WR's get a fair chance to show what they got and the Bills coaches get a true read of who they should keep. I like how McD and company are handling this preseason.

Exactly right Rhino. For all we know the Bills coaches are going to like what they see in film study when they examine the run blocking. Two red zone TD's is a nice thing to.

The conventional wisdom is that the 3rd preseason game is the dress rehearsal game and that it's the most important of the exhibition games. My sense is that this is changing. Sure it's a game where your starters see the most time BUT I have a feeling that teams have caught on that this is NOT the game to show your opponents what you're going to do. I bet that going into the 3rd game the idea is not to show anything about your opening game strategy. Tonight was about getting the run blocking assignments right for the O-line & TE's. It was about Allen getting his timing down on the hand offs and making run play audibles when necessary. The ONLY time you saw a semblance of the Bills real offense was when they were backed up against their end zone and had an opportunity to execute a two minute offense. You know what? if the injuries aren't serious tonight may actually have bee a decent outing for the team. Penalties on the O-line were probably the biggest concern.

I'm actually glad that he regressed for that one meaningless play in a meaningless game. First off Allen will be very hard on himself and in the film room Barkley, Dabold & the QB coach will have something to say to Allen. Talk about giving the guy a timely reminder of WHAT NOT TO DO under any circumstances.

Bingo! They don't want teams to see what routes all the receivers run when the Bills go downtown.

Come on man. The one drive they took the brakes off the offense and Allen takes them down the field for a TD. How can you judge Allen's performance when before that last drive he had only attempted FOUR passes and did not throw a single 1st down pass?

Apocalypse averted. The Bills are actually winning the game and end the half on a great 95 yard drive for a TD. It was clear they were working on the run game. Allen was rarely in the shotgun before that last drive. Even more critical was that before the last drive the Bills DID NOT attempt a 1st down pass. For Allen, tonight was about getting his timing down on his hand offs and making run audibles at the LOS. We should be encouraged that on the one series they took the handcuffs off and let Allen run a two minute offense they went right down the field for a score. On the other side it was clear Detroit was working on their passing game and Stafford had a nice half. This is what preseason games are for. I suspect that BOTH teams got some quality first team work on the things they wanted to tonight.

I think it's becasue the Bills ran more of their offense on that drive. They had two 1st down throws that went fro nice gains; Allen picked up a 1st on a nifty run and the bills had a couple of well blocked/schemed run plays. Dabol wanted to take advantage of a real 2 minute opportunity from deep in their territory.

Wow, 2 for 2 on 1st down passes.

It's about working on the QB/RB timing and it's about Allen calling run audibles. Has Allen even been in the shotgun yet?