CincyBillsFan

Bingo! Funny how so many people seem to miss this little fact. It's also funny how in so many of these threads the pessimists on Allen pop up with their snide comments. IMO it's simple, Allen improved significantly after he came back from injury. Now with improved talent on the offense; a year under his belt where he was baptized in fire and a whole off season to focus on further improving his game you would have to be clinically depressed NOT to be optimistic that he'll be even better next season.

Making the playoffs next year is a realistic goal. Ditto for expecting to see a significant jump in the quality of Allen's QB performance. That Allen showed such a clear improvement post versus pre-injury gives us every reason to be optimistic about his continued growth. I think the Bill's FO has had an amazingly productive off season and has dramatically improved this team in the offensive areas it desperately needed improvement. They are now free to draft the best players available rather then trying to meet an immediate need. Throw in the fact that neither Miami or the Jets look greatly improved and NE is bound to slide as it continues to age and the Bills are perfectly placed to make a run at a divisional title.

As others have noted I would go with Jack Kemp. My reasons: * He QBed the Bills to 2 league championships. Their only league championships. * He's had the longest time to impact the franchise with his playing days being in the 1960's * As a nationally recognized congressman and a cabinet member of a presidential administration Kemp and his days as the Bills QB were routinely linked in the press thousands of times. It was an association between a former player and a team that added to the reputation of the Bills franchise in ways that winning & losing football games never could.

AB has done us a favor and let us know why he would have been a terrible addition to the Bills. The man has NO imagination. Sure there are better football destinations then Buffalo on the surface. But dig down a bit and AB would have seen that the Bills are a team with a young QB who just might be elite. Even better this QB is a gun slinger which is what EVERY top WR should want. Dig a little further and he would have found a team with a very good defense, solid owners & coaching, and a lot of cap room to sign more then just his expensive ass. If he'd have kept on digging he would have noticed that Buffalo is an alright place and that as he entered the later stages of his career he could have revisited the college experience with passionate fans making a Bills game more like an SEC clash then a pro game. But alas he appears to have the imagination of a rock. The thought of him coming to Buffalo and bitching & moaning when Allen missed him on a pass or when he saw a snow flurry in October would be truly depressing. Much better that we draft our own late round WR gem.

I would be fine with letting veteran QB's battle it out but back to back top 10 picks? They need to be learning the pro game not fighting for their NFL life right from the get go. IMO this would be to distracting. Take Allen, he was competing to land the starting job as a rookie, NOT to stay on the team. In a Rosen/Murry battle the loser's stock would drop, especially Rosen's, and they might struggle to land anywhere else at close to what they're making now. IMO it would be crazy to give up on Rosen at this point and the Cards should be looking to trade their #1 for a boatload of picks. But if they do want Murry then they have to trade Rosen NOW when his value is highest.

I guess so. As an aside I remember watching him play high school football at Saint X down here in Cincy and you could tell he was a special type of player.

I think any talk of Kuechly being "done" is very premature! As for McCaffrey I suspect that over the next 5 years he will put up numbers making him the best all around RB in the NFL. But hell yes if McBeane can get us these 2 guys I would be all for it!

And what would the Bills & Western NY have to give up to get these two - Niagara Falls?

Not really. Looking just at my guess for his passing stats: 25 - 30 TD's would have placed Allen somewhere between #9 - #13 among 2018 QB's and 3600 yards would have placed him at #18 among 2018 QB's. Solid, but hardly MVP passing stats. And I agree that scoring 10 - 15 TD's on the ground would be special but he scored 8 this year in about 11 full games so 10 seems very doable. Sure 15 would be a reach but given how effectively Allen ran the QB sneak he'll be called on to convert most of the TD's when the Bills are inside the 1 yard line. I just think that on passing plays the Bills 3rd check down will be Allen running with the ball. This will make the offense very dangerous, especially in the red zone. So while my guess at Allen's production in 2019 is optimistic it's also very doable.

That would be a damn fine season!

I'm also optimistic that this will be Allen's breakout year. I'm thinking 3600 yards passing and 800 yards rushing. Figure on 25 - 30 passing TD's & 10 - 15 rushing TD's. I suspect that Allen & Jackson are the start of an NFL trend where a QB's run game is a bigger part of the offense. And it won't all be read option plays - there will be a lot of diversity in HOW teams utilize their running QB. In the case of Jackson the Ravens will employ designed runs as the focus of their offense. The Bills will rely more on classic QB scrambles to generate chunk rushing yards by Allen. Either way a running QB will increasingly be a significant part of a teams offense. In the case of the Bills I look for Allen's rushing TD's to be as high as 15 as he is probably the best at the QB sneak for those short yardage TD's and his running ability will be deadly in the Bills red zone offense next year. As for injury's, who knows. That's the big bugaboo in all this. But I think Allen can rush for 50 yards a game, most of which will be critical yardage, AND stay healthy over the course of a season. Only time will tell if my optimism is warranted.

The Bills should absolutely invest in offensive skill position players. If they're going to get any type of accurate read on whether Allen is improving, staying the same or even regressing they must upgrade RB, TE & WR. This is also a good way to improve the Offense and the Bills chances of making the playoffs next year. At the same time the Bills should not break the bank on a high profile player like those two misfits from Pittsburgh. There is also an O-line to upgrade and the better the O-line the more production we'll get even from our existing skill players. Clearly the Bill's front offense must balance the O-line rebuild & skill player upgrade and I suspect they're fully aware of this. We have to trust in the process until we no longer do. I would submit that if they sign a bunch of defensive studs but in the end Allen is still running for his life; RB's are still getting nailed for 3 yard losses on 1st down and we can make a 10 minute highlight video of dropped passes we can kiss the "process" goodby.

It's nothing less then astonishing to see how much better Allen was at avoiding sacks after his injury then before. And we can all agree that this wasn't because the O-line was improved. In less then six full games before his injury Allen was sacked 21 times! After the injury and playing 6 FULL games Allen was only sacked 7 times. To me this amazing reduction in sacks was due to Allen getting better at seeing the field and feeling the pressure. Importantly, Allen started trusting his athletic ability again. Before the injury Allen often had a deer in the headlights look which was not so surprising given how little he played with the 1st team in the preseason. I think after the injury Allen came back realizing that he had elite NFL level athleticism and that he could do some of the same stuff with his legs in the NFL that he did at Wyoming. And guess what he was right as he demonstrated over & over again.

I think the Broncos can win 8 - 9 games with Flacco at QB. The Ravens are going to face the challenge of running that offense next year after the leagues DC's get a whole off season to dissect it. Unlike Allen's most productive runs which came off of scrambles, the Ravens rely a lot on designed QB runs. I think that production will drop as NFL D's catch up and I also think the risk of injury to Jackson goes up as well. And while I can't rule out that Jackson won't be able to make the transition to being a decent passing QB there's no guarantee here either. I think the Ravens defense will weaken and their offense will not be as productive. I look for them to win only 7 - 8 games next year.

Late to this thread but overall I like this signing: * Even playing as he did in 2018 Long is at least a slight upgrade over what we had at center this year. * Given that an injury limited his effectiveness in 2018 and with the injury now over (?) this may be a solid upgrade to center. * That Long also plays guard, means that the Bills front office could still go out and get an better center and move Long to guard which would also be at minimum a slight upgrade over what we have. * Depth on the O-line is ALWAYS a good thing.

So Kiper is now the Bill's biggest fan at espn.

Good for the Cards, it's way to soon to give up on Rosen. But with that being said I like our Josh a lot better - a whole lot better.

I think eball's previous post sums it up perfectly because it is easier to teach a gunslinger to check down then it is to teach a check down artist to sling it downfield. I would also add that Buffalo's offensive skill players hardly made check down throws easy or productive. Let's start at RB where an oft injured McCoy wasn't the impact receiving RB of years past. Or we could consider the limited quality of the Bill's TE's - a position group that is often the target of check down passes, as being a factor in Allen's reluctance to check down his throws. And with the exception of McKenzie on occasion getting open underneath would anyone claim that the Bill's receivers as a group were able to quickly get separation? I wouldn't. Or how about down & distance and it's impact on the willingness to take the short throws. We seemed to have a lot of false starts putting us in 1st & 15 then throw in an anemic running game that had way to many lost yardage plays or our numerous holding penalty's and Allen was facing way to many 2nd & 3rd and long. And with the Bills personnel you don't convert a whole lot of 3rd & 12's throwing the ball 5 yards to a back. So yes Allen must improve his short passing game and he must become comfortable with taking the check down pass on occasion. But if we really want to see a PRODUCTIVE short passing game it's not the QB that needs fixing IMO but the skill players around him. Take Cam Newton for example. Never one to check down his throws Carolina went and got him a new weapon named Christian McCaffrey and all of a sudden Cam is throwing underneath all the time. So why did Newton change? It wasn't because he wanted to "improve" his completion % as I doubt he gives a rats ass about that stat. But what Cam saw was that those little 5 yard dump offs to CMAC on 2nd 15 resulted in a lot of 1st downs or at worst 3rd and shorts. It was CMACS production after catching that check down pass that convinced newton it was a smart throw to make.

Hey it's nice when Polian give us the thumbs up. Would we rather have him say the franchise is headed for doom with bad coaching, an inept front office and a bust at QB? This is the off season and OPTIMISM is what you want. Now with that being said, I ascribe very little to what old Bill has to say here other then it represents another small coin of optimism I choose to bank.

Like others have noted for me the Bills 51 - 3 annihilation of the Raiders in the AFC championship is my favorite game. Sure the comeback was more memorable from an historical standpoint but I didn't enjoy that game. For all of the 1st half and half of the 3rd quarter all I did was yell at my TV trashing the Bills. I thought their effort was pitiful especially falling behind 35 - 3 in the playoffs AT HOME! Yea, I went nuts as they started their comeback and couldn't believe it when they hit the FG in OT - but that was not a fun game for me - exhausting would be a better description. And I was at Rich Stadium when the Bills ended the Miami streak 17 - 7. But I was in college then and don't have a clear memory of the game as I was in the early stages of my pre-game drinking career. So yea the 51 - 3 beat down of the Raiders is #1 to me. Right from the get go we kicked their butt. By half time I knew we were going to the Super Bowl. And that feeling, knowing we were headed to the big game, was so warm and comforting, helped get me through the disappointment 2 weeks later. Plus as another poster noted that Championship game was the one moment when everyone agreed the Bills were the best team in football.

Smith & others are why I only watch espn's live game telecasts - their stable of experts is anything but. But you're 100% correct. As a Bucs fan it was painful to watch Haskins "run" with the ball. He had no desire or skill at it. It must have given Meyer ulcers to see the "safe" rushing yardage Haskins would pass on in order to push the ball downfield through the air. Did you see any QB ever run the read option with less enthusiasm? I bet Peyton Manning after his injury could have done it better. As an aside my biggest worry if I drafted Haskins would be his mobility in the pocket and his ability to buy time. There's no doubt that when he is able to stand tall & still in the pocket he's a formidable passing QB, but under pressure? That will be Haskins big test at the next level.

Good questions and I don't know the answer to them but I'll make a guess. Maybe he was trying to first locate then steal the signs in the first half for use in the 2nd half. And it would be pretty simple for Belicheck to throw a hand signal out to somebody on his defense indicating a run or pass. There is that 15 second period after they turn off the helmet mics. This is when Bill could be signalling his D. Just getting a run versus a pass right would be huge for any pass rush & coverage. Imagine being able to ignore the play fake as a safety or if you're a D lineman teeing off on the snap knowing it's not going to be a run. Frankly I'm still amazed at how much pressure NE got on Goff for the ENTIRE game. Where did that come from? Did Bill figure out McVay's signals and was he able to just let his D know it's a pass or run. That would be huge.

I agree 100% to this. My guess is Bill had someone watch every LA game to find out how McVay singled in stuff after they turn the helmet mics off. They captured everything McVay does and compared it to what then happened on the field. They then assembled a cheat sheet IDing the key signals McVay used and gave Bill a full report. Hell it might be as simple as where McVay stands on the sideline or who McVay stands next to. What awes me is the attention to detail this kind of activity represents. But the question is would anyone call this cheating? IMO it's not. In fact it's really no different then a LB tipped off about which way a run is going because film study showed that the blocking FB tipped things off by leaning slightly. Or a DB who is tipped off by the way a receiver stands when the ball is coming out quick to him.

Bingo. Hogan is on the field to block first, catch the ball 2nd. In almost every long run by a Pats RB you can see Hogan downfield effectively blocking a safety or corner. I suspect that the NE Offensive staff could tell you how many yards over the course of a season Hogan's blocks ADD to a RB's run. And I would guess we would be both surprised and impressed by that number. This is what blows my mind about our hatred of Belicheck & NE - we need to stop hating them and start demanding that the Bills organization embrace & mimic their style. Hogan has a role to play. It's clearly defined by the NE staff and he's doing it. And Hogan will stay on the field & on the team until NE either finds someone who can do it better or they change their scheme so they don't need what Hogan does. But for now Hogan is doing what they want him to do to and it help's them win football games. Belicheck has a system and he sticks to it come hell or high water and the results are there for all to see.

There was a BIG argument in my family because I rooted FOR the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Beyond thinking that we Bills fans spend way to much time & energy hating on a team that we don't follow here's my reasoning for rooting for the pats on Sunday: * I admire excellence. And the Pats are a great football team with a great coach & great QB. Yea it hurts to say that at some level but it is what it is. * I don't root for CARPETBAGGERS. I won't root for a team that screwed over it's community and fans to chase LA gold. It wasn't so long ago that we were facing this same calamity as evil folks were trying to move the Bills to LA or God forbid TORONTO! So I don't "hate" the pats. The only team I truly hate and will NEVER root for are the Baltimore Ravens. And the reason - this is the ultimate low life trashy carpetbag franchise on Earth. What they did to Cleveland who have the 2nd best NFL fans on earth (Bills fans are the BEST) can NEVER be forgiven. * And unlike others in my family and on 2BD I was hoping the Pats made it to the SB and won the game. You want to know why? How much sweeter will it be next year when we sweep the DEFENDING SB Pats and knock them from the top of the Eastern Division. I don't want the 2019 Bills to be remembered as the team that stomped on the corpse of a NE franchise that had lost in the 1st round of the playoffs the previous year - I want to be known as the team that ENDED the Pats SB run.