PBF81

If we lose to the Raiders in the home opener we deserve everything we get. Agree with eball. Or, "getting outta here is gonna suck." I'm eager to hear the parking sitrep.

All I know is that in the past three games vs. the Jets we haven't had a great game yet. We've scored a pathetic 20, 17, and 16 points in those games. Defensively we've allowed Wilson to go 2-0 the last two against us. White gave us a game too. Last season 6 teams scored more than our 20 point best against them, and at least three of them didn't have offenses anywhere near what we have. Cleveland (30), Baltimore (24) and NE (22). We should beat them at home easily come November. But we shouldn't look past them to the following Eagles game.

Great points!! Also, I just posted this to BillsUberAlles in another thread. It's the bolded part that I thought of while reading your post. It's not fair to Allen. IDK, they were pretty damning of Wilson. He didn't come from the heights that Allen's been at recently though. But point taken. And yeah, it was a massive overreaction, but perhaps that's what it's going to take to get Allen to realize the stuff about the high-percentage throws that make the Great QBs great. Allen will post 3 or 4 TDs this week with 0 or 1 INTs and they'll be saying the opposite. I don't listen to a lick of sports talk/media, only what I see here and then only some of it.

That's kind of an eyes of the beholder question, but imo absolutely. In fact that's exactly it as I view it. Having said that, where would we be with most other QBs besides Allen? Not there. Imagine how we'd be with Orton, Manuel, Fitzpatrick, Edwards, Losman, Holcomb or Bledsoe. No way we'd be making the playoffs. McD did worse offensively with Taylor than his predecessor did. Both Taylor and the offense by about 100 points, and dropping a dozen spots in the offensive rankings. But consider, what happens in the playoffs? If Allen doesn't go bananas we typically lose. He's personally and almost singlehandedly responsible for 3 of McD's playoff wins. The fourth wouldn't have happened without one of those. So "best record" is one thing. The ability to compete in the playoffs without your QB having to do just about everything is entirely another. That's gotta be an enormous mental burden for Allen, that quite frankly, shouldn't be there on him personally like that.

Yup, 27th last season in YAC. Relatedly, we ranked 2nd in Intended Air Yards per Pass Attempt. I said in another post that I was planning on making a montage video this season of all of the plays where Allen overlooks or otherwise ignores/can't-see, etc. the underneath guys that would have gotten good gains on much safer throws, but everyone's doing that all of a sudden and the awareness has been raised. Hopefully it'll change. Agree on the Jets. This week should be a reprieve. Raiders have a much more lax D but also a better O. It'll be a better test for our D and Allen and the O should be fine, back to "normal."

I'm assuming that's where you numbers came from. LOL That was an absolutely great game. It was a blowout early, the entire stadium was getting lazy on the 12th-man end. People are in the stands just chatting away, half ignoring the game. We were up by some ridiculous amount in the 2nd half. All of a sudden the Raiders start driving and the entire stadium livens up and starts making noise. They didn't score, we kept 'em from scoring. But it was a really cool game. The tailgating back then was the best ever. The games would end at 4-ish and we'd be in the lots 'til 7 or 8 with huge fires going. Good times!

Thanks. Indeed. Personally I don't care about the negative reactions. And look, no one agrees all the time, but it's important to keep the discussions as civil as possible. People can disagree without being disagreeable. That's something that appears to be an issue.

All I know is that this shouldn't be that difficult to ingrain. Allen's very bright, not a slow learner. McD's had five seasons now with Allen and this is Dorsey's 2nd. I agree with you, and have for a while. They're clearly not coaching properly/effectively. Here's the thing, I don't expect McD to hire someone that will get it done and take this offense and get it to do what it optimally can, for reasons that I stated in a longer answer to a question posed by another yesterday. Namely, that if he did that, hire an OC that would turn this offense into the juggernaut that it should be, that OC instantlyl becomes a threat to replace McD. That's why so many of us see ony one solution to this seemingly never-ending problem.

I think that to an extent that's true, however, consider, if it is true, then wouldn't taking the much more quickly developing not to mention higher-percentage patterns/plays be a solution to that. Standing in the pocket even longer makes less sense in those circumstances. And once he started doing that, wouldn't it then force the opposing D to start covering those players, which would take resources from deep coverages and/or the pass rush.

Watch Davis have a huge game this week. LOL

37-24 us The Raider D is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the Jets' D. So is their offense however. LOL Were you at that game?

Completely agree. But again, isn't that an ongoing, five seasons now, coaching issue? Either McD & Dorsey have control of the situation, or they do not. Those are the only two options. That reality seems apparent to me, but what do I know.

I don't know about that. Last season he did the same, often in situations where there wasn't any stress or shouldn't have been, but it worked out OK. But what made me give it thought is that at times our D was on the field longer and more often than it should have been. Sometimes taking 13 plays and 8 minutes to score is better than a 3-play big-play drive consuming 1:15, especially when you're winning. Either way, worked out or not, it was so concerning last season that I had resolved this season to put together a running montage video of every pass play where Allen took a crack going deep when much better and higher-percentage options short, that also would have logged good gains without any risks of INTs or even 1st-Downs, which is exactly why they call them high-percentage passes/plays. They have a much greater chance of resulting in a positive outcome. It appears that that's not going to be necessary. Seems that many are doing that. I did document all those plays from this past game in an earlier thread, at least those that were available in the initial highlights video that came out hours after the game. Everyone's finally catching on. But it's important to note those even when he plays well and the deep passes are working. Especially then he shouldn't be taking any unnecessary risks. Also, here's the thing, on those plays those guys underneath, sometimes OTM but more typically in the flats, are open for a reason. Opposing DCs have seemingly instructed their players that Allen's typically not going there, and typically he doesn't, so don't bother covering them tightly. If he did, presumably they'd start covering there and other receivers would be open or more open downfield. He'd be helping himself in that way. That would be what I'd tell him as a coach. Are Dorsey or McD approaching it that way? Or they merely allowing Josh to do whatever he wants to do. And again, if they did tell him that, then why aren't they harder on him for disobeying them and disregarding their coaching? These are all rhetorical questions, just sayin'.

One could argue that that has coaching, or lack of good coaching, fingerprints all over it though. This team goes as Allen goes and has, particularly in the playoffs where if he doesn't come out with his A-game we have a very small chance of winning. From where many see this, McD has very little control over Allen. Fortunately for him Allen is Allen. Allen will bounce back this week against a defense on the other end of the rankings spectrum. Then everyone will say he worked it out. Where's this "lot of evidence" that McD discipline's players, other than for "being rookies," and holds them accountable?

One could argue that when Josh plays well the McD apologists give McD the credit, right. Short answer, yes. We can't have it both ways. In this particular instance absolutely no one is saying that it's the coaches fault. Allen's putting it on himself. So isn't the implication that much of the rest is on him as well, particularly since the reasons for his shortcomings are pretty much what's going on now? To the extent that the coach(es) cannot control it is the extent to which it involves coaching, but that then begs other questions. You're clearly a McD apologist. It's expected that you have a bias that way, which is fine, but it needs to be acknowledged. Saying that "some people have already decided their answer and will bend every single piece of evidence to fit the narrative." may be correct, but it's nowhere more true than on the McD apologist side of the tracks. So when Allen does correct it, as I suspect he will, let's not give Dorsey or McD the credit for it. Right?

Wow, this sounds like it's really rattling you. I didn't realize that it was that imporant. Do you want me to delete my post honey? If it'll make you feel better I'm more than happy to do just that.

Instructions ... LOL Be. More. Specific. Then.

I guess that could have been it, but it more looked like a "where am I" look.

Bills win big! The Raider D is low-end, the antithesis from last week. The energy is always nuts at the home opener and will be again this year. The D won't fare as well, the Raiders will also score. But as long as Jacobs doesn't post a career day or close we should win going away. Worst case, a track meet favoring us.

... and everyone always talks about Jordan Palmer as if he's some kind of QB whisperer, but which QBs has he coached to greatness.

Thank you! Not to mention a 3-6-1 finish to last season after opponents caught on to the new Daboll led Giants. Honestly, Daboll, the best coach in football? Belichick needs to worry a little bit more about his own coaching reputation apart from Brady, which to date sucks mouse nips.

This board, fun?

Really? Already? Davis has the 2nd most receiving Yards and receiving 1st-Downs of anyone on the team.

OK, here ya go, buckle up! LOL Alright, but this is going to be about as popular here as a tranny drag queen at a southern baptist potluck dinner. It's going to get red-x'd by a bunch of posters, I already know who some of them are. LOL Simply put, it seems that Allen isn't being properly coached. Do I say that because I know something about how he's being coached? No. I'm purely going by circumstantial evidence, such as what I laid out above about the original hiring of Daboll followed by the promotion of Dorsey, and Allen's play, which we're all familiar with. Again, what in either Daboll's or Dorsey's dossier qualifies them to be instructing Allen to tweak his game to expert levels? The short answer, for anyone that's honest, is nothing. That means that anything that either did bring would be contingent upon what they've learned or done while he and they have been here. But what's the evidence for that? It would also seem that three seasons in, Allen simply got more comfortable and learned things by himself for the most part. If it truly was coaching, then there wouldn't be a 10+% increase in Compl. %, and then again 50% Passing Yardage increase, and a near doubling of Passing TDs, and 20+ point increase in rating in a single season. Coaching would be a more gradual increase. That was largely Allen's comfort zone improvement in his third season, which is noted for QBs taking their games to another level. It also seems illogical that Dorsey after being able to do little with Newton, all of a sudden turned Allen into what he is. But let's say for the sake of argument that Dorsey was in fact responsible for Allen's massive leap from 2019 to 2020. That would be incredibly impressive and we would then argue that it was masterful. It would put Dorsey in the genius category. But then how come Allen hasn't continued to improve and in fact perhaps is even backtracking/regression somewhat, or at absolute minimum the demonstrated seeming inability to do what far less talented QBs have done, namely take advantage of what the opposing defenses give them, which even the inexperienced Wilson did on MNF, and the high-percentage passes. The argument is that Allen's not listening to Dorsey and doing his own thing, but to that I would argue that's what got him to the level he is to begin with, not Dorsey, but then why all of a sudden would he stop listening to Dorsey if Dorsey was truly responsible for a 10+ point bump in Compl.%, nearly double the TDs, 1,500 more yards, and a 22 point bump in rating? Only a fool would stop listening to advice at that point, and we know that Allen isn't a great fool, so clearly he can't choose the wine in front of him. ... oh, ... I digress. I'm not a big fan of assigning success to people that have exceptional circumstances that pave the way for it, and amidst a dearth of any known reasons for it otherwise. But that’s kind of what we’re expected to believe here, in Buffalo for the time being. At the end of the day, IMO Allen isn't getting proper coaching for multiple reasons. One, McD's more of a players coach and soft when it comes to discipline and that type of thing. I also don't think Allen got it with Daboll either for similar reasons per above. As to Dorsey, he and Allen seem to be buddies more than they seem to be coach and player, which wouldn't be a healthy or proper relationship if that's true, and further establishes McD's status as a players coach, and the Dorsey/Allen relationship by implication. On a side note, Levy was a players coach as well, and that's why we couldn't win a Super Bowl, because we went up against much better tacticians, strategists, and disciplinarians. Who thinks that Jimmy Johnson or Parcells, or even Gibbs for that matter would have put up with Kelly et al. partying the night before the game, etc. Had we had any of those three as our coach, I’m confident we’d have two Lombardis now. All three were notably better coaches than Levy, who only excelled here in Buffalo with an all-star roster, a roster that Polian called “special” and "rare." Anyway, now we get into why coaches such as Daboll and Dorsey were/are in the role. It’s important to remember that McD was hired before anyone. There’s plenty of reason to strongly suspect that McD is a control-freak and wants ultimate control of all aspects of the team. Who knows, but the smart money says that there was some discussion of that between McD and Pegula upon his hire. Otherwise, why would Pegula have put the cart before the horse and hired a coach before he hired a GM, which is almost unheard of. I can’t think of another instance in the modern NFL that that’s happened, but even if it has, it’s incredibly rare at best. When we hired the coach, McD, first, I told everyone at that time to get ready and that the GM that he selects would come from Carolina also. Was that because I thought or that the best candidate was in fact at Carolina at the time? Hardly. Quite the opposite in fact, the odds of that were remote. It’s common sense that McD wasn’t about to hire someone that wouldn’t owe him and therefore be in a position to fire him if things didn’t go well after three seasons. So he hired Beane, who IMO would never fire McD unless directed to do so by Pegula. That set the tone for the rest. Same for his coordinator hires. Frasier had a failed stint as a Head Coach in Minnesota where his defenses got progressively worse and where his offense never crossed the average mark. In his last season there it was 32nd in Scoring and 31st in Yardage. He ran it into the ground there. After that he went to Tampa as a DC again where his defense was worse than both his predecessor after arriving, as well as his successor upon leaving. What are the odds that McD thought that there was any chance that Frazier would take his place? I’d say pretty close to zero. Here in Buffalo there’s still questioning as to whether the D during Frazier’s tenure was more McD’s being run by Frazier, or more Frazier’s. I’ve been wondering if McD didn’t take Frazier’s responsibilities from him because he was afraid that Pegula might fire him and promote Frazier. We’ll never know. In the final analysis, Allen’s progress is being held up inadequate coaching. How we define inadequate can be debated. The other thing that is entirely possible is that Dorsey, who’s never distinguished himself in any particular way coaching in the NFL, sees Allen as his ticket to perhaps a head coaching job, but more importantly, to a positive projection of himself as a coach to the extent that he’ll be recognized as being great in that way. As such, at times it seems, based upon Allen’s play, if Dorsey is really affecting it, that Dorsey is living vicariously through Allen in an attempt to re-live his collegiate greatness at QB, except on the coaching side, and he was in fact great as a QB at Miami. We know that he's never even approached being above-average until Allen otherwise. But that would be a mistake. And again, people say hooey, that’s a lump of baloney, well then fine, but then that must mean that Dorsey isn’t getting through to Allen either, because Allen’s trying to play QB as if he’s in college, as the man among boys that he was, and throwing the ball as if our players are that much superior to the opposing defensive players. As if he's playing for Alabama five seasons ago and prior, ... or Miami in its collegiate heyday. Just sayin'. So that’s how I see it. If Dorsey is getting through to Allen, then it’s poor instruction. If he isn’t getting through to Allen, then perhaps we need an OC that can. In fact, we may even need a new Head Coach as I believe is necessary if we want to get the most out of Allen. I've got my eye on Press Taylor in Jax, although IMO, and unfortunately, the odds of McD getting canned after this season, even with a wild-card spot and another divisional (or wild-card) round loss in the playoffs, is remote. Allen performed better in some respects under Daboll as OC, but that’s not to say that it was because of Daboll. McD doesn’t have any answers/solutions to the Allen question, otherwise he’d step in. But the catch-22 is that he’ll never hire someone that can really turn Allen into the QB that we’re all hoping he’ll be. Why not? Think about it. McD hires an OC that comes in and takes Allen to the next level. What happens next? Right, that person becomes the next head coach because offense is more important than defense in today’s NFL, and before the team would lose him to a head coaching position elsewhere, Pegula would step in and see to it to fire McD and promote that OC. That’s my take and has been for a while now.