dave mcbride

The Pats player actually got the first (it was clear on replay) but got a terrible spot from the ref. Belichick couldn't challenge because they were out of timeouts. That was what was famous about that one.

It was Gregg Williams who punted from the 32, not Marrone. Just an FYI. Atlanta basically punted from the 32 a couple of weeks ago too, although they took a five-yard penalty to move it back five yards. And of course, they kicked it into the end zone, netting 12 yards.

It is true that the roster he had over in 2019 was without question the worst in the league. He did a good job to get them to 5-11.

1,098 including receiving yards. 8 TDs too.

The OP is prickly but has certainly been one of the most knowledgeable posters on this board for a couple of decades. He's not going to make stuff up.

More than that, the Bills had 4 real possessions in the first and fourth quarters and drove down and scored on every one (except for the kneel downs at the end of the game). The only non-TD drive happened because the great TD throw to Diggs was overturned.

That's literally the point of my post.

Yeah, that pick raised my eyebrow. There was illegal contact on that play, but frankly there's illegal contact on just about every play and it's usually not called (which is why defenders do it). As a player, you have to play through it as if it didn't happen.

I have a hunch he's playing with a non-minor injury. He's not the same player that he was in the first couple/few weeks of the season.

I included three games (all in sequence) so it didn't seem like I was cherry picking the bad stuff. Even against the Pats he only averaged 6.7 ypa. That's way below his average last year. Yesterday, he had a 53 percent completion rate and averaged 5.3 ypa. That's objectively bad, but when you factor in the weather you see things differently. He made some bad throws yesterday, but overall had a positive performance when viewed in its totality.

The play I'm thinking of was on the Bills side of the field. It was a third down play. Do you remember what quarter?

Enh ... I forgot to include Chicago, Pittsburgh, KC, and Philly in all of this. Sure, they don't have weather quite as bad as Buffalo, but it's certainly not good in late December/January. Chicago is actually colder than Buffalo, as is Green Bay. Literally every team east of Minnesota and north of the Mason-Dixon line save for Indy and Detroit is undomed, and fat lot of good that's done for Detroit in attracting FA talent. And I don't see any of those non-dome teams getting dome stadiums in the next decade plus either. The NFL will always be a mix of both, and the league wants it that way. Weather games look good on TV, and fans sitting in front of those TVs (the vast majority of fans) love it. I realize it sucks sitting in a windy, 34 degree storm, but the league doesn't care. The flip side using your logic is that Buffalo could attract defensive players looking to bump up their stats. It works both ways. But again, I don't think teams with half a brain make any decisions where they end up overvaluing dome stats. And players want to win. It's all academic anyway; the Bills aren't getting a dome. Maybe the new stadium will be designed well enough to mitigate the worst effects, however, and we'll grow to accept it and stop wishing for a dome.

Yep. It was an inaccurate pass.

Was it that crossing pattern in the third quarter when the ball was out in front of him by a fair bit?

He had the same issue last year on deep throws. His longtime issue is that he puts very little arc on his deep throws (his arm strength is that strong and he doesn't really need to), which means they need to be pinpoint because otherwise receivers don't have time to adjust to the ball. In the type of weather he's been playing in though, throwing Russell Wilson rainbows that receivers can adjust to is simply a non-starter given how much the wind will either hold it up or push it forward if it's high up there. He threw an absolute dime to Diggs on a ball that went probably 35 yards in the air yesterday but Diggs was pushed out by Echols and never got the second foot down. It was still a perfect throw, however.

I honestly think that Wilson held the ball too long in many cases because he was afraid to throw it into the wind and risk a pick. Which just goes to show how much weather affects these games. The weather yesterday was truly terrible for offenses going into the wind. Hyde said afterward that it was insane. Of the 37 points scored yesterday, 34 were scored with the wind at the offense's back. The only time a team scored going into the wind was because Allen marched them down the field (mostly throwing the ball because he's Josh Allen) on an 81 yard drive at the end of the first half. In the first and fourth quarters, the Bills scored 24 points and Allen was 12-15 with two TDs. Take away the one TD throw by Wilson going with the wind in the second quarter, and the Jets had negative 40 passing yards.

One could argue that it's a team game and the league's best defense had at least something do with that 3-0 record.

The Falcons game was very cold, which led to a bunch of drops.

Oh, I get it, but that stuff doesn't show up in any statistical assessment even though you and I both know it matters. Opponents' collective team passer rating in these same three games: 50.6. It's what I've been saying all along - the Bills passer rating differential has been 20+ in virtually every scenario you can concoct in long stretches of games. It doesn't really vary much. I think you're kind of missing my point ...

They don't, though -- you just have to look at all of the stats in combination and with a different perspective.

More than that - if you factor his rushing plays into his performance as a QB (see above; I edited it), the numbers go way up.

Over the final three games, Allen's passing numbers were terrible, statistically speaking: 73.9 passer rating 5.7 ypa 53.4% completion rate Yet in those three games he also was not sacked a single time and ran for 214 yards on 27 non-kneel down carries -- good for 71.3 ypg and an 7.9 rushing ypa (plus 2 rushing TDs and no fumbles). The Bills won all of these games by at least 12 points. Indeed, if you treat his rushing plays simply as completed pass plays at 7.9 ypa, his rating goes up to 86.8 -- 62% completion rate and 6.1 ypa overall, with 7 TDs and 3 TOs (again no fumbles and no lost yardage). Statistically, he has been extremely hard to judge this season - a true outlier. In terms of advanced passing stats, he was literally league average: 100 using PFR's advanced passing stat system, in which is 100 is average. Yet he led the league in rushing ypa and was sacked at a rate of 3.9 percent, which is really low given what the sack rate would have been for practically any other QB in the league playing behind this line. The other notable stat: The Bills' team passer rating for the entire season was 91.3 and the opponent passer rating against our D was 65.3 -- a ridiculously high disparity of 26 points. In these last three games, opponents' team pass rating is 50.6.

The last line here is good:: https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/01/10/absentee-ownership-directly-contributes-to-weird-outcomes-like-the-firing-of-brian-flores/.

I think this is a very good take from Florio and it addresses the real issue: a bad, absentee owner: https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/01/10/absentee-ownership-directly-contributes-to-weird-outcomes-like-the-firing-of-brian-flores/

If we do that, then we probably won't be enjoying the advantage that comes with opponents who only put up only 5 total passing yards against us a week after putting up 224 total passing yards vs. the Super Bowl champ Bucs.