If you thought the Bills’ offense would struggle, what are your thoughts now?

[Rockinon]

I was thinking the WRs could be effective before the season started and so far so good. The thing that is surprising me is how much passing plays are going to non-WRs. The RBs and TEs are making some serious noise here.

[BearNorth]

Josh is like all the best point guards.  Great passer & distributor, but also can score the goal [or get the first down] when he needs to.

 

[SCBills]

Elite OL, led by Coach Kromer is putting opposing defenses in a body bag. 
 

Josh Allen is an absolute monster who has seemed to elevate his game even further.

 

Brady is doing an incredible job deploying our weapons.   Cook, Kincaid and Shakir are the stars of the Offense, but everyone else has a unique skillset that can be used game to game to attack weaknesses.   
 

We literally have Ty Johnson dunking on Jalen Ramsey down the field and then catching a deep throw TD in the next game.   Perfectly exemplifies how this Offense can hit you with anyone, anywhere, at any time. 

My biggest question is what would this offense look like with a legit WR1?.. and will a game arise where that shows itself.  I honestly don’t that it will.  Especially if we can increasingly get more out of Coleman and Samuel as the season goes on. 

 

[NoSaint]

Obviously happy so far but jags are a mess, and we own the dolphins 

 

Plus we have a new scheme without film and it’s September 

 

I think at some point the WRs will slow us down a bit - it’s a big bet on a lot of guys to step up and they aren’t nicked up and playing the chiefs dbs in January currently 

 

McGovern wasn’t a crazy bet and I do trust Kromer a ton with the line 

 

I liked Brady 

 

A hot start is great but it’s a marathon and we aren’t to the real challenges yet 

Edited September 25 by NoSaint

[78thealltimegreat]

 I was very optimistic about the rushing attack and was a little concerned with the lack of speed on the outside. 
  Eventually defenses are going to sellout to stop our run game but if the line continues to play well Josh should be able to pick teams apart. 
The best observation I heard last night was on the postgame show where I think it was Zach the host who said the Bills have kinda thrown a wrench into the NFL passing game by essentially having all slot receivers. 
  We are turning into the Patriots in our way of being ahead of the curve on things. 

[Lfod]

I'm sold. Although i wasnt very worried, I had doubts. 

[eball]

2 hours ago, boyst said:

Remembering our 70 pts on Miami last year before the implosion.

BBFS

[hondo in seattle]

I said repeatedly that Brady has enough weapons to lead a potent offense if he's a good coordinator.   

 

And when Brady started preaching, "Everyone eats," I imagined what we're seeing now.     

 

But I wasn't convinced that Brady was talented enough to realize his vision.  

 

Yet here we are - the highest scoring team in the NFL.  I hope we keep that up.

 

 

 

 

[Cubanmist]

I seriously need to see how our Bills fair against better teams before I crown Brady or Babich.

[boyst]

7 minutes ago, eball said:

BBFS

Nah. I need to think more on this to be eloquent. The league has changed rapidly in the last 2 seasons. Something is amiss

[eball]

6 minutes ago, boyst said:

Nah. I need to think more on this to be eloquent. The league has changed rapidly in the last 2 seasons. Something is amiss

Curious to hear more. 

[djp14150]

4 hours ago, eball said:

We heard a whole lot of this during the offseason:

 

”How can they trade away Diggs and not bring in a true #1?”

”We have a bottom-three WR room in the NFL!”

”McGovern can’t switch to C; he hasn’t played there since college!”

”Brady can’t design an NFL offense that doesn’t rely upon Josh being Superman every game!”

”McDermott doesn’t understand modern NFL football.”

 

So after three weeks and 112 points, and two 2nd halves spent just running out the clock, is it still “too soon” to say that perhaps Beane and McDermott know what they are doing?

 

 

 

Bills had a difficult schedule to start on paper

 

Arizona

At miami **

jacksonville **

at baltimore **

at houston **

At jets

tennessee

at Seattle 

miami **

at colts

Chiefs **

bye

SF **

at Rams 

at detroit **

 Cheats

jets

At cheats 

 

they started with arizona who was going to be better. 2021 Kyler Murray had AZ in the playoffs but the last two seasons he had significant injuries shorten his seasons. The team would be better and more competitive.

 

the next 4 were playoff teams last season with 3 of them on the road.

 

followed up by the popular Cinderella team in the Jets.

 

later in the season they have chiefs, niners, tams, lions which on paper look to be very good teams this season,

 

 

Many “ experts”  had bills going 9-8 or 10-7 because they didn’t know what the bills WRs would be.  
 

brady finished last year after he took over winning games. I don’t understand why the issues was.

 

today in ESPN I heard some ####### report make the comment of not respecting the bills because of the arizona game….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Fan in Chicago]

23 minutes ago, boyst said:

Nah. I need to think more on this to be eloquent. The league has changed rapidly in the last 2 seasons. Something is amiss

Say more. What are you alluding to?

That there is some hidden reason why the "it's a passing league" has not happened this year so far ?

[djp14150]

2 hours ago, SCBills said:

 

My biggest question is what would this offense look like with a legit WR1?.. and will a game arise where that shows itself.  I honestly don’t that it will.  Especially if we can increasingly get more out of Coleman and Samuel as the season goes on. 

 

 

this was the issue with Diggs. He wanted the ball so Josh felt forced to feed it to him over other players.  
 

what Josh did was pass the ball around to different receivers. The issue will be where Allen gets confidence with the newer receivers. He has it with Shakir, Kincaid and cooks. 

[HappyDays]

My biggest concern all along was the WRs. Honestly the WRs are performing almost exactly as I expected them to, for better and worse. Shakir is good for ~4 targets per game and is extremely efficient with that sort of volume, and is a YAC monster. Hollins is good for 1 catch a game but is a great run blocker. Coleman is being brought along slowly as he should be. MVS is the same guy he was with the Chiefs. Samuel has actually been worse than what I expected, almost a non-factor so far.

 

Most impressive thing for me across the board from the WRs is that there have been zero drops that I can remember. I don't take this for granted. A passing offense that lacks a lot of explosive pass plays has a low margin for error, and the WRs to their credit are not committing errors.

 

All of that being said I was 100% totally wrong about the offense being capable of performing at a top 3 level with a relatively middling group of WRs. Three thoughts from me on why I was wrong:

 

1) Josh Allen is playing better than I've ever seen him. It's Tom Brady with an occasional flash of the Superman cape. Since making one mistake on his first drive of the season he has been as close to perfect as could be reasonably expected.

 

2) I way underrated the importance of the OL in my offseason analysis. Any group of pass catchers will get open eventually when the QB is kept clean long enough. It's not even just about how little pressure they're giving up, it's how clean the pocket is on almost every throw. I did not even consider that the pass protection could be as good as it has been, which was a mistake on my part.

 

3) I'm a broken record on Joe Brady at this point but I love the way he keeps it simple. Daboll was too cute, Dorsey was too scattershot. Brady just asks his players to do what they do best and gameplans based on his opponent. That formula sounds so easy but 90% of coaches somehow get it wrong. I hope he never develops an ego. He isn't concerned about the offense looking sexy, just doing the right thing on every down based on the personnel and the opponent.

 

All of these factors tie together in a way that is just so smooth. Allen playing this well and getting the ball out quick means Brady's job is easier and the OL doesn't have to hold up for too long. The OL protecting well means Allen's throwing mechanics are always clean and he hasn't looked flustered or out of control a single time this season. Brady using his personnel well and mixing up play calls keeps the offense on schedule and avoids game changing mistakes, and Allen is the beneficiary.

 

Tougher tests to come but who can reasonably have a complaint about this offense right now? Very clean execution from everybody across the board in a way that I didn't really think was possible.

 

Edited September 25 by HappyDays

[HappyDays]

6 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

If I can see them pass and pass successfully when everyone in the stadium know they have to and is playing to take it away then I will relax over the receiver room.

 

Yeah the one lingering concern is 4th quarter two minute drill and we're down by 6 points. Do we have the talent to win in that situation? I suppose the solution is don't end up in that situation to begin with, which is entirely possible if the offense continues performing as well as it has.

[folz]

3 hours ago, HappyDays said:

My biggest concern all along was the WRs. Honestly the WRs are performing almost exactly as I expected them to, for better and worse. Shakir is good for ~4 targets per game and is extremely efficient with that sort of volume, and is a YAC monster. Hollins is good for 1 catch a game but is a great run blocker. Coleman is being brought along slowly as he should be. MVS is the same guy he was with the Chiefs. Samuel has actually been worse than what I expected, almost a non-factor so far.

 

Most impressive thing for me across the board from the WRs is that there have been zero drops that I can remember. I don't take this for granted. A passing offense that lacks a lot of explosive pass plays has a low margin for error, and the WRs to their credit are not committing errors.

 

All of that being said I was 100% totally wrong about the offense being capable of performing at a top 3 level with a relatively middling group of WRs. Three thoughts from me on why I was wrong:

 

1) Josh Allen is playing better than I've ever seen him. It's Tom Brady with an occasional flash of the Superman cape. Since making one mistake on his first drive of the season he has been as close to perfect as could be reasonably expected.

 

2) I way underrated the importance of the OL in my offseason analysis. Any group of pass catchers will get open eventually when the QB is kept clean long enough. It's not even just about how little pressure they're giving up, it's how clean the pocket is on almost every throw. I did not even consider that the pass protection could be as good as it has been, which was a mistake on my part.

 

3) I'm a broken record on Joe Brady at this point but I love the way he keeps it simple. Daboll was too cute, Dorsey was too scattershot. Brady just asks his players to do what they do best and gameplans based on his opponent. That formula sounds so easy but 90% of coaches somehow get it wrong. I hope he never develops an ego. He isn't concerned about the offense looking sexy, just doing the right thing on every down based on the personnel and the opponent.

 

All of these factors tie together in a way that is just so smooth. Allen playing this well and getting the ball out quick means Brady's job is easier and the OL doesn't have to hold up for too long. The OL protecting well means Allen's throwing mechanics are always clean and he hasn't looked flustered or out of control a single time this season. Brady using his personnel well and mixing up play calls keeps the offense on schedule and avoids game changing mistakes, and Allen is the beneficiary.

 

Tougher tests to come but who can reasonably have a complaint about this offense right now? Very clean execution from everybody across the board in a way that I didn't really think was possible.

 

 

To the bolded: 

 

1. Just wanted to note that Samuel has been dealing with turf toe (happened about a month ago). So, they may be bringing him along slowly too. Hopefully we'll see what they envisioned for him in this offense at some point---though right now it doesn't seem like a desperate need to do so.

 

2. Cook had the big drop on Monday night. But yes, that was something I was pointing out during the off-season, that our receiving room this year have far better hands (catch %) than the guys that departed. The team obviously put an emphasis on that (and getting bigger/stronger in the receiver room). 

[boyst]

7 hours ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Say more. What are you alluding to?

That there is some hidden reason why the "it's a passing league" has not happened this year so far ?

 

7 hours ago, eball said:

Curious to hear more. 

I'm still processing and maybe need more games as a sample size because I have watched all of our games and few of others to a processing level versus enjoyment (especially watching Dallas, Cincinnati, and Miami lose).

 

The league will have to go back to the passing supreme league. But right now it's the crossroads flashing of the wildcat. Jumbo sets are across the league - on passing plays no less. We saw several of them with only two down field WR's and a RB in the flat while having 1 extra OL and a TE on the field.  Kansas City wasn't pushing real guys down the field past the 7 until this week when Rice started to get open a little deeper. This two high safety look is pulling WRs back underneath as an option. The league saw this with Cooper Kupp destroying everyone with the Rams run and Beasley doing it with everyone outside and around taking the ransom of wealth.

 

As I write this out still processing I am wondering why the bigger, explosive backs are not getting the play actions on these. Maybe all there really is anymore Derrick Henry, though Aaron Jones can do it and others should be able to as well. Perine in KC is out and when he comes back it will be an infusion of new opportunities. 

 

Part of me also wonders if it isn't something to do with today's QBs. They're not the boys of the 90s with the jacked muscles and the pocket poise. Theyre JJ McCarthy who came from a horrible college that cheats. They're Burrough in Cincinnati who is made of glass and not thiccc. Their arms may not be able to handle 10-12 big shots down field. Alas, maybe they don't have to with WRs being at the peak of athleticism and such wild YAC.

 

Regardless I am still thinking on it and the University of Michigan is a disgusting school who has produced losers who cheat on their pregnant girlfriends and neglect their families. 

Edited September 25 by boyst

[GunnerBill]

8 minutes ago, boyst said:

 

 

As I write this out still processing I am wondering why the bigger, explosive backs are getting the play actions on these. Maybe all there really is anymore Derrick Henry, though Aaron Jones can do it and others should be able to as well. Perine in KC is out and when he comes back it will be an infusion of new opportunities. 

 

I don't understand what this means.

[boyst]

Just now, GunnerBill said:

 

I don't understand what this means.

I meant not getting   don't know why we aren't seeing a plethora of play action with these two high safeties retreating all of the time.