Big Turk

It wasn't a career day...I think that came last year against the Vikings even tho they lost.

Uhh...because unless he gets up to speed he won't be of use to them later in the year when they need him? This isn't that hard. He isn't being rushed back, if anything they played it safe. This is part of the normal process every player on every team goes thru. Should be common sense by now from seeing these over 20+ years of these injuries, but it seems not to be, which is kinda mind boggling actually that people still don't know how this actually works.

How else do you think he is going to ramp up and get back to normal? Could have said the same with Tre last year. Or with any player the first 6-7 games back from an ACL outside AP. There is no other way. Nobody has a magic wand unless you do and you haven't notified anyone.

Coming off an ACL it makes no sense to expect him to be back to his normal self immediately. Have you ever played sports? It just doesn't work like that...players need to get into game action and ramp up and get back to game speed. Thinking he is going to just come back and be the same player he was last year before the injury is mind boggling since we se this all the time with players and virtually all the time they need at least half a year if not a year to get back to themselves...except if your name is Adrian Peterson.

He had a lot of short, easy throws that gained yards which were helped by the Bills bringing pressure a lot.

The problem specifically seems to be in the 1st halves, because the protection gets better in the 2nd halves.

Your username points to the problem. He is trying to play like Herbert and extend plays outside the pocket to throw downfield instead of taking off running when the opportunities are there. Herbert runs only as a last resort. Last year Allen ran 70 more times than Herbert did. This year they are equal. That's a major problem, IMO. Both for him and for the offense in general. It's causing defenders to not respect that part of his game anymore and simply drop back to cover which means he has a bunch of green grass to run but instead tries to throw into tighter windows. If he starts taking advantage of those green spaces again, it forces defenders to respect it and come up to stop him, thereby opening up those windows again. Literally that's all that he needs to do. The other problem is the team isn't playing with any continuity as a team and playing "complimentary football". When the D is making stops and getting the O the ball back in the first half, they can't do anything, and then when the O starts moving and scoring at will in the 2nd half, the D can't get any stops and allows long drives and the other team to eat time off the clock, lessening the opportunity for the Bills to score more points to pull away. In the last 9 "real possessions" in the 2nd halves of the last 3 games, the offense has 7 TDS, a missed FG and a turnover on downs after picking up 42 yards. That's pretty good...no punts, mostly TDs. The D needs to help them more by getting a 3 and out here or there instead of allowing 15 play 8.5 minute drives for points for the other team. They need to start playing as a unit where the O helps the D and the D helps the O.

Now they need to start working him up the seams more like the Lions do LaPorta. There is no reason in the world why he can't run those routes, the dude is exceptional in that regard.

Typically that's because it usually happens on bad teams. You can't make players become more talented. You can get players on the same page if you think things might be a little disjointed and take ownership of making things right tho. https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2022/11/19/23465240/detroit-lions-defensive-success-catalyst-players-only-meeting-reacts-survey

Roll the pocket and that blunts the effects of all those inside rushes...where has that been at all?

They have attempted to turn Allen into Herbert...a guy who extends plays outside the pocket but only will run if he absolutely has to. It's killing their offense. defenders don't bother trying to stop Allen from running anymore, they go back and take away his receivers, leaving him with plenty of room to run and instead he continues to throw passes into tight windows downfield when he could have those windows open back up if he would take advantage of the open spaces, especially early in games, to give defenders something to think about and put them in a bind. The numbers don't lie. Herbert ran only 54 times last year. Allen ran 124 times. This year they are basically equal(Allen 29, Herbert 28). It's unacceptable and it needs to change if they want their offense to go back to being explosive.

Allen is not running when he has chances outside the pocket anymore really and it's hurting not only him, but also the offense. Defenders don't bother trying to come up and take away Allen running because they know he will simply throw it downfield at some point. He is playing like Herbert who only takes off if everything else is covered and will wait until the last second to try and throw low percentage passes downfield instead of running when he has the opportunity. It's causing tighter windows on plays outside the pocket that have been open for 3 years because defenders simply don't respect Allen running right now and drop back into coverage. They literally are giving him the free yards and he won't take it...Dorsey and McD are so in his head right now about not running and playing from the pocket that he is discouraged from even trying to run when it's best option.

Williams is overrunning/not fitting up well enough in the run game yet...still learning. Dodson settled things down against the run but the D is far less dynamic in the pass game with him on the field than with Williams.

This goes back to them not respecting Allen when he escapes the pocket anymore as a runner. They basically know he isn't going to take off now so they don't worry about trying to run up to stop him from picking up big yards. They run back and cover the receivers instead, making those easy throws downfield that were so open last year much tighter windows that now often are incomplete. The way they fix it? Get Allen on a few runs outside the pocket early in games and force those defenders to respect him running in those situations, even if he wants to throw it...they are closing the windows themselves on their passing lanes by not using his legs.

That's fair, but I think it's pretty clear with all of the comments coming from all sides before the season and during training camp that has been a HUGE area of emphasis and they likely have not figured out a way to compensate properly for it. He is SCARED to run now...or at the very least discouraged from running. Those throws downfield while he is on the run outside of the pocket he used to make all the time? They aren't there because defenders don't respect him running anymore and don't think he is going to do it...they just turn and run with the receivers now and force much tighter window throws. A few runs on those early in the game would loosen all of that up. Yes...D is allowing too many long drives and too many 3rd down conversions. They do well getting teams to 3rd downs but not getting off the field which is hurting them more than if they would let teams get 1st downs quicker and then force FG's later in the drives. Basically when the D is playing OK in the 1st half, the O is sucking and when the O starts playing good in the 2nd half, the D starts sucking. They need to get in sync as a team and play complimentary football... When you hear McD say they aren't playing complimentary football, this is what he means...when the O is playing well, the D isn't getting them the ball back and when the D is playing well and getting the ball back for Allen and company on offense, they are going 3 and out too much. Need to start feeding off each other. Both sides have been disjointed the last few weeks.

Allen still doesn't have a game with 8 rushes this year...last year by this time he has 4 of those, including 3 with double digit rushes. Yesterday was the most he has ran this year with 7 rushes and 3 of those were sneaks, and another was on the last lateral play. Those aren't really runs. Out of Allen's 29 rushes this year, how many are sneaks? 8 or 9? Plus that lateral run? This means he has been running BY FAR at career low numbers this year. Him with under 3 true rushes/scrambles a game IS A PROBLEM for both him and the offense.

The failed experiment to turn Allen into a Herbert clone ends and we see Allen going back to playing the way he did last year and throughout his career in terms of running when he needs to.

Sam Laporta? Allen's history of a QB with major accuracy/completion percentage problems being fixed IS a first.

But again...on 2 of those long passes, Allen had huge areas of green to pick up first downs in front of him and wouldn't take them instead forcing the ball downfield.

They will turn Allen lose at some point and reign terror on defenses like in 2021

In the first half yes, 2nd half not so much.

I didn't say that...someone else said that. 1 issue on one play, a different issue on another play, and a 3rd issue on another play can look like it's a huge problem. But it's not that big, it comes down to one missed assignment derailing one play, another missed assignment by a single person another, etc. That's stuff that usually gets cleaned up pretty quickly. History is whatever...Josh Allen had history against him too.

Bills simply need to start faster in the 1st half and a lot of this goes away. The last 9 "real" possessions in the 2nd half of the last 3 games? 7 TDs, 1 missed FG, 1 turnover on downs after gaining 42 yards and going for it on 4th down in NE territory. That's high level production. If anything, the D not giving them more opportunities in the 2nd half and allowing far too many long drives is killing them. If the D gets a stop or 2 in any of those games, the Bills win going away. Simply need to get this going earlier and stop trying to force Allen to be a Herbert clone.

I don't think they have a lot of fundamental problems. I think there are some things going wrong that make it look like that. The first half is the issue. The second half in the last 2 games, the offense has scored 5 TDs, missed a FG and turned it over on downs after picking up 42 yards on 7 "real" possessions(not counting the one with 12 seconds yesterday at the end). That's pretty freaking good production, and begs the question why isn't this happening in the first half?

Offense looked like crap again in the first half. Allen throws a pick on the first play from scrimmage. Pats lead 10-0 after the Bills ran a single offensive play(they got a FG on their opening drive). Bills kicked into gear in the 2nd half but Pats looked like they were going to seal the game when they scored another TD to make it 22-10, Mac Jones tried a QB tush push but was stopped on the play from the 1/2 yard line after 2 penalties on the Bills on consecutive plays and the 2 point conversion failed. Allen then started coming alive and Diggs made a tremendous TD again pulling away from 2 defenders near the 10 yard line after making a sliding grab and popping back up before being touched. Poyer punched the ball out after a Bourne catch early in the Pats next drive and Bernard recovered inside the Pats 35 yard line. A few plays later, Allen got in from the 1/2 yard line on 2 tush pushes. Bills convert a 2 point conversion to take a 25-22 lead within 2 minutes(Like 1:48 left or something). Pats get the ball on their own 25 and on the first play Jones throws a swing pass to Stephenson that catches the D in a blitz and it goes for 38 yards down the sideline...flag on the play showed Patriot lineman 5 yards downfield before the pass was thrown, but inexplicably the refs huddled and picked up the flag allowing it to stand. Bills kept allowing bullcrap nickel and dime passes to garbage receivers before the Pats finally threw a 1 yard TD to Giesicki with 12 seconds left. Game, set, match. Allen made a phenomenal throw to around the Pats 30 yard line on the first play of the final drive on a rope and Diggs made a diving attempt, had it, but the ball popped loose as he went to the ground...would have set up a final play from the Pats 30 with 5 seconds left as the Bills had a TO in their pocket. Instead the final play Allen tries to run and then failed with the lateral backwards and the game ends.