CincyBillsFan

That also stole a possession from the Bills.

Knocking on wood and saying a prayer but Allen is the QB version of an Iron Man. He's currently riding the longest streak for a QB not missing a game (86 games regular season & playoffs) and I believe it's twice as long as #2. So I wouldn't worry about this to much. Sure, like every other QB in the league he gets banged up but unlike most other QB's his production while reduced still remains relatively high. Look at how Burrow's production fell when nursing a sore calf. And Mahomes has had to deal with foot & ankle injuries a few times as well.

So what the explanation? The defenses the Bills faced in their first 4 games were a lot better then the D's they faced the last 3 games. Maybe we've been overthinking all of this and the reason for the decline is really this simple: A significant deterioration in the O line's play; the London effect; and Allen's sore shoulder.

For what it's worth:

How damaging have Allen's TO's been this season? Unlike last year Allen is not turning the ball over in the Red Zone and squandering points. Nor is Allen turning the ball over in the Bills Red Zone giving away points. Most of his TO's have been around midfield or effectively "punts". Allen has better then a 2 to 1 TD to TO ratio which is good. And was Allen responsible for that fumble at the end of the NE game? That counted as a "TO"? Or what about the INT on what should have been a long completion to Diggs against the Jags? Bottom line is that by any standards Allen has been a remarkably productive QB this season as well as the previous 3 seasons. And this is in spite of his supposedly not being able to read defenses, see the field, abandoning the pocket to soon and being inaccurate. BTW, I agree that Allen could be even better in these things but he is already wildly productive so "fixing" the offense would more realistically involve other things, like adding play makers & fixing the O line, then squeezing every ounce of elite out of Allen.

Hell I'll be happy if they snap the ball with 15 seconds left on the play clock.

I consider total TD's and Total yards to be a great indication of production. This season he is number one on total TD's and I believe over the last 3 seasons he is also #1. No, Allen had a poor first half and an excellent 2nd half. That would tell me he had a solid but not great game overall. Allen led the Bills back from a 2 score deficit in the 4th quarter to take a 3 point lead with less then 2 minutes left only to see our D give up a long TD drive and basically win the game on a walk off TD.

I've been listening to Cowherd for years and understand his act. And you're right to a point. But the guy does make some very astute observations and he has a lot of NFL insiders (former players, coaches & GM's) who provide background for his takes. Cowherd has talked about the Bills offensive issues from the standpoint of having a defensive head coach before. particularly the Bills inability to get the O line right and to find more weapons to compliment Diggs.

Maybe all this psycho babble stuff is overthinking things. Consider the following: * Belicheat is still the greatest defensive mind in the NFL. Allen has torched him for several years now. Does anyone think that hasn't gotten under Bill's skin? Why wouldn't we assume that Bill and his coaches spent the off season figuring out how best to address the Allen challenge. Kubiak pointed out that Belecheat employed an innovative defensive game plan on Sunday. * Diggs made comments about frequent substitution leading to the Bills getting to the LOS late. The announcers also pointed out that the Bills were not snapping the ball until the last moment. How the hell is Allen supposed to change the play or set the right protections when he has very little time to do it? Is it possible that Belecheat noticed on film that the Bills substituted a lot and that they were cutting it pretty close with the play clock? That makes disguising your defense a lot easier when the QB has very little time to change things up. * By every objective measure Allen played well. He wasn't great but he had a solid game. Importantly Allen rallied the Bills in the 4th quarter to take a 3 point lead with less then 2 minutes left. If we're wondering Allen isn't great in every game I'll throw the Greg Cosell quote out again: "If you need your QB to be great every game you have a problem and it's not the QB."

Cowherd had similar observations as he lumped Allen & Herbert together as superstar QB's being held back by not having "that guy" they can work with. To me that was just code for the Bills & Chargers don't have offensive minded coaches that Allen can go to when he's struggling. Cowherd pointed out that almost every elite QB has had that sort of security blanket.

Diggs hinted at this as well. The comment was along the lines that there was to much substitution going on and it was causing them to get to the LOS late. The announcers also mentioned that the Bills were not snapping the ball until a second was left. So how the hell is Allen supposed to effectively audible and set protection if he only has a few seconds to do it and he's trying to avoid using a TO or getting a delay of game penalty? I wonder if Belicheat and his coaches noticed this on film and employed the looks they did knowing that Allen would not have time to change the play/set the right protections? We can trash NE all we want but Bill is still the greatest defensive mind in the NFL.

Interesting thought experiment. Here's my take: First off Reid, McVay & O'Connell would focus resources and effort on putting the best O line as possible in front of Allen. This would be their #1 priority. Second, only Diggs & Kincaid would be unquestioningly put in the starting lineup and schemed around. The rest of the Bills skill players would either be replaced or rearranged on the field. Third, I have no idea what Belicheat would do but I suspect if he got himself another elite QB he would not waste it.

KC has a much better O line. And that is more important then the skill players as long as you have a great QB and at least one elite play maker.

And this fact, and I believe it is absolutely true, is likely playing a bigger part in the offenses struggles then we realize. There is a strategic element, directed by the head coach, that goes into every game and this has to be a major point of emphasis between McD & Dorsey. The problem though is our offense is built around a phenomenal talent at QB who is best at improvisation and an elite WR who meshes well with the QB. The rest of the talent on offense is mediocre (though Kincaid & Cook may soon pop). I don't see that the Bills have the type of talent on O that can efficiently execute the offense that McD wants and the defensive problems require.

That's exactly what these posters seem to be saying in their critiques.

Does it? For sure Allen & Diggs are elite but who else is even very good? I think Cook & Kincaid have the potential to be elite but today they are not. And do we have a single O lineman rated in the top half of their position?

No unless you have an alternative set of Allen's stats then I've seen. BTW I re-watched all the Bills offensive drives from the 2nd half and Allen was outstanding even in the face of serious pressure. Watch the TD throws to Diggs & Cook for a sample.

To be honest only Allen & Diggs were considered elite going into this season. Cook & Kincaid represented POTENTIAL and nothing more. Cook had been average his rookie year and Kincaid had not caught a pass in the NFL yet. As for the O line Bean made some bargain basement signings & a late 2nd round draft pick. This is more then they did in previous years but hardly represented splash signings with high probability's of success. Like you, I was excited about the signings and HOPED that they would be considered steals at the end of the season. And early in the season that was shaping up to be true. But now there has been a clear regression in the guard play and it's concerning. So yes we had high expectations for the offense and figured it could carry the team. But those expectations were driven as much by wishful thinking (I am guilty of this) as an honest appraisal of the talent. Beyond Allen & Diggs there is no one on the offense that has shown they can carry that unit. Kincaid has shown tantalizing glimpses of what may be coming but right now there are not enough high end layers on the offense (O line plus skill players) to expect this unit to carry the load. BTW, the defense had multiple high end players that would enable that unit to carry the load but most of them got hurt. It happens all the time.

Against NE the defense definitely was the problem and was the reason the Bills lost the game.

It's absurd to say Allen doesn't see the open receivers. His stats would indicate otherwise or are you saying that all those completions over the last three and a half seasons have been to tightly covered players while he ignores the open ones? Since 2020 Allen has been a top 3 QB in production, including this season. If pointing this obvious stat out makes me a member of the Josh Allen cult please pass me the cool aid.

I just re-watched the second half Bills versus NE drives and he was doing exactly that in every drive accept one where he moved the Bills down fast for the TD. A week earlier against the Giants the Bills had TD drives of 17 & 13 plays and all Allen did was be patient.

It's the mindset of most defensive coaches. And this is why they ultimately fail even with elite QB's. The Bills and the Chargers are poster boys for this.

You need to bone up on your Bills history. Using Sal Maiorana's wonderful resource RELENTLESS: The Hard Hitting History of Buffalo Bills Football I focused my search down to the best years in Bills history from 1988 - 1993. This was a Bills O loaded with All Pros and future HOFers. Total games played = 112 (regular season + playoffs) Games where the Bills were shutout in the first half = 11 or about 10% of their games Games where the Bills were held to 6 points or less and no TD's (includes shutouts) = 29 or about 26% of their games. Games where the Bills were held to 7 points or less = 43 or about 40% of their games. Some memorable low scoring first half streaks: 1988: 7 & 0 1989: 3 & 0 0 & 6 1990: 0 & 20 & 3 & 7 1991: 7 & 7 & 6 1992: 10 & 6 & 10 & 3 3 & 3 1993: 10 & 6 & 10 0 & 0

That difference is entirely dependent on factors other then two QB's. It is a team game after all.

Bingo. In half the games you play either the O or D doesn't play well for long stretches of time. This is especially true for the O which is more prone to up and down play. There is a reason that offensive performance against NE was a record breaker - those types of games are rare. There seems to be a grossly unrealistic expectation of how these games play out in the real world.