First Round Bust

or i either loose another step can they move to safety

We did a lot off of Southwestern which was a 20 min walk for $30..closer you get the higher the prices (40-50 for freaking parking ?)and harder to get out post-game. Tailgating experience is on you

extracted from Dec 2 espn.com online (public info) - author - Ben Solak - raises some good points with stats and details such as Josh quick decisions and release times. Note the embedded videos from the Pitts game of Cooks uncovering in the intermediate middle in a big void between zones and Shavers with a step on a deep corner route on a play-action boot.did not translate so you may need to go back to espn.com to watch those to witness our receivers ACTUALLY SEPARATING. PS...Don't shoot the messenger..but do read for comprehension.. ESPN's "First Take" is known for, well, providing the first take on things -- the instant reactions. Second Take is not a place for instant reactions but rather where I'll let the dust settle before taking perhaps a bit of a contrarian view. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen did not throw the football downfield on Sunday. Literally. He had zero attempts 20-plus yards downfield. In 136 games across Allen's career, only six have come without a pass 20-plus yards downfield. Four of those six games have come this season. As the deep ball vanishes from Allen's game, his overall air yards per attempt drops in concert. Allen's 7.3 air yards per attempt is a new career low, and if that number holds, it'll be the eighth season in a row in which Allen's average depth of target has dropped from the previous season, encompassing every year of his career. (To be fair, rookie Josh Allen was hucking that thing. A decrease was inevitable.) Even in that backdrop, this game against the Steelers stands out. Allen averaged 1.6 air yards per attempt, almost half the distance of his previous single-game low (3.1). There have been only five games in the past 15 NFL seasons with an air yards per attempt below 2.0 yards. It's obviously not good to have the entire passing game live within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. Nobody is in Orchard Park, New York, celebrating a fully realized offensive game plan that reflected the Bills' identity and demonstrated their prowess as an AFC contender. However ... this was a very encouraging game for the Bills' offense! It was a sign of growth from offensive coordinator Joe Brady! It's the version of the offense that can actually win a Super Bowl! Let's start with the obvious: Both starting tackles, Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown, were out. Just last week against the Texans, we saw what would happen if Allen tried to hang in the pocket for any period of time, and that was with both starting tackles playing (albeit Brown was clearly hurt). Against the Steelers, whose defensive strength is the edge rush, it was important to get rid of the ball quickly. Just as it was the shallowest depth of target of Allen's career, it was his fifth quickest in time to throw at 2.46 seconds. play 0:53 Bills play lights out in Week 13 win over Steelers Alaina Getzenberg breaks down Bills performance in Bills 26-7 win over the Steelers. How Buffalo got rid of the ball quickly was interesting. Unlike the game against Houston, when Allen spent much of his time in the gun, Brady put Allen under center on 37% of his dropbacks -- a new high this season. The Bills faked a give on 37% of Allen's dropbacks, as well (second highest). In the first quarter, Allen had no under-center dropbacks. But by the second quarter, the under-center, play-action fake became the featured cog of the offense, and the passing game woke up. Why? Because the Bills were running the ball in dominant fashion. James Cook III ended the day with 32 carries for 144 yards. Ray Davis contributed another 62 yards on nine carries. Allen ran it eight more times for 38 yards. It is perplexing to say about a team employing the reigning MVP at quarterback, but the Bills' offense has been remarkably better this season when it commits to the ground game. Consider the Bills' frustrating losses this season. Against the Falcons, who sported one of the league's worst run defenses at the time, the Bills called passes on 63% of their snaps. That wasn't a function of the game script, either -- they had a pass rate over expectation of 3.6%, per Next Gen Stats. Against the Dolphins in Week 10, the Bills were 71% pass, 29% run -- a huge skew. Again, adjusting for game script, the Bills had a big pass rate over expectation of plus-5.5%. The Bills' previous single-game high for run rate over expectation was plus-4.6%. Against the Steelers, it was plus-20.4%. You'd think such an approach is keeping Allen, the team's Lamborghini, parked in the garage. I think it's the Bills finally recognizing that they have two Lamborghinis. Over the past two seasons, the Bills' running game has shown signs of Eagles- or Ravens-esque dominance thanks to a talented offensive line led by a great OL coach in Aaron Kromer, as well as a remarkably underrated back in Cook. Cook doesn't have the true third gear that the Lions' Jahmyr Gibbs does, and he accordingly hits fewer home runs. He doesn't have the frame that the Colts' Jonathan Taylor does, and he accordingly breaks fewer tackles. But while Cook's physical traits are more great than elite, his vision and feel are truly top tier. Cook has 231 carries and has been stuffed for no gain or a loss only 26 times. Only five backs in the NGS era have had 200-plus carries and a lower stuff rate than Cook; one of the five is his own 2023 season. When the Bills commit to a run-first approach on offense, they roll their opponents. Steelers edge rusher T.J. Watt spoke about this after the game, specifically Buffalo's use of a run concept called Duo. He said, "I've never seen a team run the same play as much as they ran it today and have as much success as they had. I'm out of words for it." This brings us back to Allen and the passing game. If the running game is bulldozing that effectively, shouldn't play-action passes result in deep shots? Single-high coverages, loaded boxes, biting linebackers, etc.? Ideally, yes. But deep passing is much more a wide receiver stat than a quarterbacking stat. Take deep accuracy: When the ball is in the air for an extended period of time, a receiver's ability to quickly track and adjust to the throw is the difference between a ball that looks accurate and one that looks inaccurate. Faster receivers are good for uncovering on a runway but bad at catching through contact from incoming safeties; bigger receivers are great at boxing out cornerbacks at the catch point but require chemistry and trust. Some throws in shallower regions of the field still require some of these traits, of course, but some are just point and shoot. This is not the case further downfield. Every throw is in the air long enough that its accuracy is dramatically affected by the receiver tracking it. Watch Allen's dropbacks on Sunday, and you'll see open receivers further downfield. Here's Brandin Cooks uncovering in the intermediate middle in a big void between zones. Here's Tyrell Shavers with a step on a deep corner route on a play-action boot. But Allen has attempted one pass to Cooks and 17 passes to Shavers (a couple of which have been deep). He's not going to start holding the football longer than he needs to (especially after being sacked eight times against the Texans) to push the ball downfield in a game that his defense and run game were controlling. That's mature quarterbacking -- something he was not displaying earlier this season, when frustrating first halves spiraled into pressing in the passing game (Atlanta, Miami, Houston). Remember when Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense lost the deep ball in 2023? We all blamed two-high shells for ruining the sport. But it wasn't a change in Mahomes' capacity or a schematic revolution. It was a reflection of the Chiefs' receiving room. Teams with bad receivers can't keep throwing deep against shell coverage because those are the throws on which receivers need to be spectacular and carry more of the burden for making them accurate. The same thing is happening in Buffalo. Of course, the Bills can't throw in the towel on the downfield passing game completely -- and they won't. But not every team is equipped to win games in which they cannot rip off chunk gains through the air, and Buffalo is fortunate to be one of those precious few that can. It is a win for general manager Brandon Beane, who built this offensive line and running backs room with few missteps. It is a win for Brady, who leans heavily on his college background to find a ton of production on swings and screens. It is a win for Kromer, as the Bills' offensive line is one of the best-coached units in football. It is a win for the Bills' tight ends and receivers, all of whom are high-effort blockers with buy-in on running downs. And it is a win for Allen, who stepped aside and let the running back room try on the superhero cape in this one. The Bills can win playoff games like this. Not 1.6 yards downfield, exactly, but 6 or 7. But they certainly don't have the wide receiver talent to win games 11 or 12 yards downfield. That's a 2026 offseason problem. For 2025, this is the path up the mountain for the Buffalo offense.

as a kid having attended the last game the old Rock Pile (War Memorial eyesore) I can tell you that the fan tare down was something to behold... ya know the urinal troughs are heated...dont have to make room inside the house, maybe near a fire pit while a true fan watches a game in the elements... shirtless...cant be all that expensive....can you think of a better of a bettter way to literally piss some money away on a surprise gift for that Bills fan for Xmas.

of Athol Springs ? congrats...btw...B Daboll is an alum as well.

the Brady haters (not I-me) may also get their wish if he leaves for the LSU HC postion which is a top 5 NCAA D1 job and pays megabucks...more than one non-Bills fan mentioned that to me on my recent flight to-fro the 716... So...then...what...last two (2) Bills OC have been the in-house QB coach...so is the next man up....Ronald Curry...who has no-zero OC experience !?!?!?! Playing Oakland Raiders (2002–2008) Detroit Lions (2009)* St. Louis Rams (2009)* * Offseason and/or practice squad member only Coaching San Francisco 49ers (2014–2015) Offensive assistant New Orleans Saints (2016–2017) Offensive assistant New Orleans Saints (2018–2020) Wide receivers coach New Orleans Saints (2021) Quarterbacks coach New Orleans Saints (2022–2023) Quarterbacks coach & passing game coordinator Buffalo Bills (2024–present) Quarterbacks coach

we can't ignore how the long ball looks in Bills practices either, if it not working succesfully during the week why use it on Sunday...but a surprise stretch play with a max protect call on say first down or second and short should be dialed-up at times...

agree...I cant see Pegula firing McD unless we slip from making the playoffs...for say 2 years in a row. in that case firing and hiring a new coach would mean roster overhaul...Josh may or may not be in for that..press the rebuild button in that case...

Tomlin's head coaching record as of the end of the 2024 season is a regular season record of 187-109-2 (4-3 in 2025) and a playoff record of 8-11. He has a career regular season win percentage of .631 and a playoff win percentage of .421, has won one Super Bowl..(41-45 in coach challenges/video reviews) .holds the record for most consecutive non-losing seasons to begin a coaching career with 18 and has never had a losing season..only Tom Landry (21) more non-loosing seasons Said to make 16M per. Similarities to McDemott: 91-47....659 winning percent..7-7 in playoffs... 1 loosing season out of 8...(11-27 in coach challenges/video reviews) William and Mary mates...defensive "wizards" who figure it out and win enough to keep the contracts coming but have post-season blemishes that irritate and frustrate... Further..McDermott... as the clock ticks off the years of his franchsoe QB...has never won a playoff road game and if NE wins the AFC East Bills will be on the road for the entire playoffs loosing one of the best home field advantages of weather and crowd... So the same narrative applies more or less

WGR AM show brought up an interesting point yesterday...historically thrwoing the long ball (touch, loft, accuracy) has not been one of Josh strenghts...a point I have made over the years as well..partly his fault, partly the WR issue...resulting the OC play-calling not having confidence in that play and talking himself out of it ??? flame on...

so the kid says...I know what UPL stands for..Usually Plays Lousy....

OJ 273 yards... breaking his own record https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhqzVtwwKVg https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1538380783508542 Thanksgiving Day 1976 - Bills lost to Detroit - 27-14 Kind of a summary of the Bills during the OJ era - gaudy personal stats and medioce-at-best teams that lost to the Phins for the entire freaking decade fueling the anger-frustation for those of us that lived thru years of that crap... Coach Saban quits the team (again)...Starting QB Ferguson hurt mid-season..and you can figure the rest...

X it and O until you want...debate the schemes, play calls, reads, routes, adjustments, etc...but NE made a few esp clutch plays than we did (maye played just as good or better than Josh which is usually reserved for KC-Ravens games only, plus gonalez had a key PBU on Kinkaid on 3rd down which dened a first down and late game clock control, add Diggs having his best game in 3-4 years plus the excerssive amt of penatlies and turnovers and a starting WR grounded for the first O series..adds up to a mere 3 point agonizing loss.. coulda, shouda, woulda...the McD mantra

play of the game - after review the knee was just above ground as pass is released - check it on youtube. As a Bills fan, I hate to say , but I predicted and won money based on Pats winning - Maye and Diggs played the best game of their lives and Bills were sloppy with turnovers...a Bills loss is usually agonizingly close and this was no exception...you can also say the defensive play of the game was where Gonzalez sprinted for PBU on 3rd down pass Kinkaid as Bills were driving and had to settle for FG and not the TD and clock control...onward

related news to the Ireland game - on friday nite Skylar Thompson Steelers 3rd qb now on IR was jumped and robbed and suffered minor injuries in Dublin...NFL security investigating - he was the fins unkown QB who almost beat the Bills in playoffs a few years ago...