The Thousand-yard stare

[Kelly to Allen]

Allen is number 1 all time in NFL playoff history in 

 

Tds pg

Yards pg

Td to int ratio 

Total td to turnovers ratio 

102 career playoff passer rating 

 

He's the greatest statistical QB in NFL playoff history... 

 

It's unbelievable 

 

This has everything to do with the ppl around Allen. Full stop. I understand it's a team game, but if you're asking more from the greatest statistical QB in NFL playoff history, youre being an #######

Edited 3 hours ago by Kelly to Allen

[Andrew Son]

1 hour ago, Einstein said:

 

explain to the forum how Allen was supposed to know where that blitz was coming from? Despite multiple NFL players telling you that it was an impossible task, some fans continue to think that Allen should’ve been able to read the mind of the defense and then adjust the line. 

 

as has been explained multiple times, by the Bills and others, the entire game the Chiefs defense was showing that look, and then coming from the left side. If Allen had adjusted right, it would just have been a complete and utter GUESS on his part.

 

And if the Chiefs had done what they had done all game, then everyone would’ve been blaming Allen for suddenly shifting right when he had no reason to do so. 

 

and as Ryan Fitzpatrick said, it doesn’t matter if he shifted right left upside or down, the blitz the chief sent was “impossible” (his word) to block with five linemen.

 

There's a reason the conventional wisdom is that you can't blitz elite QB's because they will make you pay.

 

You can always bring one more defender than the protection can pick up.  That's not the point.  

 

Free rushers come all the time and elite QB's have quick answers.  That is simply not Josh's strong point, he loves to hold the ball.  People get so enamored with all these amazing backyard playground plays and hurdles.  I get excited when the back foot hits the ground and the ball comes out on time within the structure of the offense.  Everything doesn't have to look so ***** hard.

[ToGoGo]

2 hours ago, billsgpr88 said:

Whether or not Bills fans agree with its implications, we’re all familiar with the image: Josh Allen on the sidlines, eyes glazed, staring into the distance. I recall seeing it in the horrendous Jaguars game a few years back (in Jacksonville iirc, not the one in England), in his first playoff game against the Texans, and now in back to back playoff games against the Chiefs. It doesn’t happen often, but it always seems to foreshadow a Bills loss. 
 

I love watching Josh Allen play; having watched nearly every game during the drought, I could never say enough about how he has uplifted the organization and the community. I’d argue he means as much or more to Buffalo than any athlete does to their respective team in American sports. He’s the most important individual in the building, and it’s not even close. The issue is, he knows it. He knows about the superbowl losses and the drought, and how desperately Buffalo wants one, just one, Super Bowl victory. And I believe this is what weighs on his shoulders every time I see that absent-minded stare from the sideline. 

I’ll always root for Josh; he’s almost beyond criticism, knowing how much he does to win, what he’s already accomplished in his career, and especially for being a genuinely great person and leader. But, when I see that stare, I immediately get the sense that the game is over. We can point to specific plays, bad calls by the refs, poor coaching, or simply talent, but Josh is the unquestioned leader of the team, even more than McDermott, and I think when his teammates see that from Josh, they feel it, and their confidence is drained from it. And the worst part is that it keeps happening against the chiefs in the playoffs, and with each year the pressure is amplified. Although he played pretty well overall against the chiefs, he didn’t display that heroic, game-dominating mentality that was on display against the chiefs in the regular season game. As much as I hate to admit, I felt the Bills would lose last Sunday as early as the first quarter, though I didn’t initially realize why. Now looking back, I am convinced it is the thousand-yard stare that reveals how overwhelming the pressure is to be the savior of the Buffalo Bills.

It’s the stare of a man who gave everything he had, felt he did enough to win, and doesn’t understand why he didn’t win. 
 

He's going to do what he always does which is find a way to somehow get even better and give it all again next year. 

[Kelly to Allen]

1 hour ago, thenorthremembers said:

 

Stats dont always tell the entire story.   He had a fine game but it wasnt great.   The fumbled snap put them behind schedule for a first down.  He failed to recognize where the blitz was coming from on the last play of the game.   While the center makes the line call, the Quarterback needs to recognize where the blitz is coming from to put the lineman in the right position to make that call. 

 

Josh is an absolute dog and a likely future hall of famer but part of the loss is certainly on him.  

 

He scored 29 points and Kincaid dropped the ball. I don't understand you ppl. 

 

Go watch Eli Manning in the super bowls, go watch troy aikman in super bowl 28

Go watch Big Ben in the 10 AFC championship 

 

Everyone around the QB raised their level of play 

 

 

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Kelly to Allen

[ToGoGo]

1 minute ago, Andrew Son said:

There's a reason the conventional wisdom is that you can't blitz elite QB's because they will make you pay.

 

You can always bring one more defender than the protection can pick up.  That's not the point.  

 

Free rushers come all the time and elite QB's have quick answers.  That is simply not Josh's strong point, he loves to hold the ball.  People get so enamored with all these amazing backyard playground plays and hurdles.  I get excited when the back foot hits the ground and the ball comes out on time within the structure of the offense.  Everything doesn't have to look so ***** hard.

Torrence blew both blocks. That 4th and 5 was way worse than anything Mahomes deals with. 

1 minute ago, Kelly to Allen said:

 

He scored 29 points and Kincaid dropped the ball. I don't understand you ppl. 

 

Go watch Eli Manning in the super bowls, go watch troy aikman in super bowl 28

Go watch Big Ben in the 10 AFC championship 

 

Everyone around the QB raised their level of play 

The fans have no answers. So they just try to blame the leaders. 
 

The game was won when we were up 1 and driving in the 4th quarter to take an 8 point lead. I know this team and I know we would’ve scored that TD and started to put the game away. 
 

Then the refs and NFL screwed us.

[julian]

2 minutes ago, Ga boy said:

Von was supposed to be guy who would get us a Lombardi.

Yeah, Beane and company knew when they signed him that an elite level pass rusher was needed and I’m sure they’re more aware than ever it’s still the #1 need.

 

 Go do whatever it takes to get Crosby or Hendrickson, nobody wants to hear about salary cap restraints. Allen will turn 29 this year I don’t give a flying fawk if the salary cap is a complete mess 4 or 5 years down the road.

 

Go do what’s necessary to finally get the job done or at least go down swinging, it’s no longer time to worry about future cap implications.

 

IMHO. 

[NoSaint]

1 hour ago, thenorthremembers said:

 

Stats dont always tell the entire story.   He had a fine game but it wasnt great.   The fumbled snap put them behind schedule for a first down.  He failed to recognize where the blitz was coming from on the last play of the game.   While the center makes the line call, the Quarterback needs to recognize where the blitz is coming from to put the lineman in the right position to make that call. 

 

Josh is an absolute dog and a likely future hall of famer but part of the loss is certainly on him.  

he wasn’t literally perfect?!?

[Dillenger4]

1 minute ago, julian said:

Yeah, Beane and company knew when they signed him that an elite level pass rusher was needed and I’m sure they’re more aware than ever it’s still the #1 need.

 

 Go do whatever it takes to get Crosby or Hendrickson, nobody wants to hear about salary cap restraints. Allen will turn 29 this year I don’t give a flying fawk if the salary cap is a complete mess 4 or 5 years down the road.

 

Go do what’s necessary to finally get the job done or at least go down swinging, it’s no longer time to worry about future cap implications.

 

IMHO. 

Yeah Buddy! Build the D Line hard this off season. Crosby! a stud in the draft. We need a good CB too.

[NoSaint]

12 minutes ago, Kelly to Allen said:

Allen is number 1 all time in NFL playoff history in 

 

Tds pg

Yards pg

Td to int ratio 

Total td to turnovers ratio 

102 career playoff passer rating 

 

He's the greatest statistical QB in NFL playoff history... 

 

It's unbelievable 

 

This has everything to do with the ppl around Allen. Full stop. I understand it's a team game, but if you're asking more from the greatest statistical QB in NFL playoff history, youre being an #######

yea, we are watching what may be the best ever and people are nickel and diming single reads to say it was him. 
 

sure he mishandled a snap. The last two weeks his opposing qb lost fumbles (2 time mvp and possibly the goat). Even his mishaps right now are smaller than the best the league has

[Kelly to Allen]

8 minutes ago, Dillenger4 said:

Yeah Buddy! Build the D Line hard this off season. Crosby! a stud in the draft. We need a good CB too.

 

We need two good cbs. 

Taron is getting up there and we have nothing behind Benford. 

 

I wouldn't be shocked if we draft 3 CBS and a safety. Similar to kc in their 22 class. They drafted 5 defensive backs. 7 total defensive picks.

Edited 3 hours ago by Kelly to Allen

[ToGoGo]

3 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

yea, we are watching what may be the best ever and people are nickel and diming single reads to say it was him. 
 

sure he mishandled a snap. The last two weeks his opposing qb lost fumbles (2 time mvp and possibly the goat). Even his mishaps right now are smaller than the best the league has

Agree with everything you said, but we should ask ourselves very closely about who or what makes a GOAT before we use that word too loosely around the Chiefs. Especially after the stats you read off about Allen. 

[Einstein]

25 minutes ago, Andrew Son said:

Free rushers come all the time and elite QB's have quick answers.  That is simply not Josh's strong point, he loves to hold the ball. 

 

No.

 

There was no quick answer on that play. Which is part of the reason why i’m so upset with Brady about it.

 

The play is the same tired mesh-concept he has run on 4th down all year. And because it needs a pick in the middle, it takes 2-3 seconds for the play to set-up.

 

It is a play that REQUIRES time. Otherwise the pick doesn’t happen and no-one gets open.

 

The only outlet Allen had was Shakir. And if he threw it, Shakir likely gets blown up a yard or two before the line-to-gain.

 

Allen took the best possible option by throwing to Kincaid. It was the best choice based on the available options.

 

14 minutes ago, NoSaint said:

yea, we are watching what may be the best ever and people are nickel and diming single reads to say it was him. 
 

sure he mishandled a snap. The last two weeks his opposing qb lost fumbles (2 time mvp and possibly the goat). Even his mishaps right now are smaller than the best the league has

 

It’s disgusting, isn’t it? Makes me angry just reading the posts.

 

Allen will do 98.5% if things right, and then people will nitpick the 1.5% he didn’t do perfectly.

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Einstein

[Ga boy]

The OP with the idea of a 1000 yard stare is on to something, maybe.  Every performance is 40% execution and 60% mental. Maybe more than any other city, Bills players feel the pressure of letting an entire city down.  A small city that has seen many sports heartbreaks.  When the stakes are highest, performance anxiety is at its highest.  There are athletes in these situations who want the ball (eg- Jordan, Brady, TO, Mays, Woods, etc).  Maybe these athletes mental capabilities are not hampered by the hopes of an entire city that has experienced many heartbreaks.  While this year it seemed that the culture of the team and coaches was lighter with an emphasis on fun, they were not having fun in the KC game.  Or it may be that KC is living in their heads rent free.  Do they have a sports psychologist on staff?

[ToGoGo]

4 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

No.

 

There was no quick answer on that play. Which is part of the reason why i’m so upset with Brady about it.

 

The play is the same tired mesh-concept he has run on 4th down all year. And because it needs a pick in the middle, it takes 2-3 seconds for the play to set-up.

 

It is a play that REQUIRES time. Otherwise the pick doesn’t happen and no-one gets open.

 

The only outlet Allen had was Shakir. And if he threw it, Shakir likely gets blown up a yard or two before the line-to-gain.

 

Allen took the best possible option by throwing to Kincaid. It was the best choice based on the available options.

 

 

It’s disgusting, isn’t it? Makes me angry just reading the posts.

 

Allen will do 98.5% if things right, and then people will nitpick the 1.5% he didn’t do perfectly.

 

Especially when Mahomes did maybe 90-95% of things right. 

[90sBills]

28 minutes ago, ToGoGo said:

It’s the stare of a man who gave everything he had, felt he did enough to win, and doesn’t understand why he didn’t win. 
 

He's going to do what he always does which is find a way to somehow get even better and give it all again next year. 

I don’t think Allen ‘felt he did enough to win’. He’ll be thinking about that last series a lot in the offseason. 3min left with 3 TO and a chance to win the game to go to the Super Bowl. It’ll haunt him but he’ll be stronger for it next time. 

18 minutes ago, Kelly to Allen said:

 

We need two good cbs. 

Taron is getting up there and we have nothing behind Benford. 

 

I wouldn't be shocked if we draft 3 CBS and a safety. Similar to kc in their 22 class. They drafted 5 defensive backs. 7 total defensive picks.

Everything we do seems to be ‘similar do KC’. It’s like we’re chasing them by copying them. No wonder we can’t ever beat them when it counts. They’re always a few steps ahead. 

[Einstein]

6 minutes ago, ToGoGo said:

Especially when Mahomes did maybe 90-95% of things right. 

 

Yes. Allen played better than Mahomes, who had a fumble and threw an INT (that somehow became a Chiefs completion). But Mahomes had easier plays to make. How many times did the Chiefs run the play-action roll-out and the Bills defense played it terribly and Mahomes could scamper for as many yards as he wanted? One of them was a touchdown. 
 

If Allen played with that level of open-field, he would have destroyed the Chiefs.

[Bermuda Triangle]

1 hour ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

 

Agree, Another way to look at it would be, based on last Sundays game if there were 17 others just like it,, would you award him the MVP off that performance, in fact would he even have been a finalist, probably not.

 

He played well, but was more than just a poor first drive overall.  It certainly wasn't one of his top 10 performances of the year.

I don't think any offensive player is winning an MVP in a year in which they play 18 defenses which are the quality of KC and coached by Spagnuolo.

[Buffalo Boy]

2 hours ago, Einstein said:

What the crap is happening on this board?

 

Outside of the first drive, Allen was great! He was 68% passing, had ~270 yards, 2 TD’s and 0 turnovers.

 

His two TD passes were absolute dimes.

 

The only thousand yard stare he had was at the very end of the game when the Chiefs ran out the clock.

 

If you need someone to blame, look no further than Joe Brady. His tendencies were so obvious that the Chiefs knew what plays we were running before we ran them. 

Josh is THE reason we have Accomplished everything we have for the past five years.

He is the reason McD and Beane are still employed.

He is the reason so many on here delude themselves into Billieving.

But he is human and only one person.

It takes more than that to win at the highest level. 

[CincyBillsFan]

1 hour ago, Dablitzkrieg said:

It ok to both love and criticize Allen.  He made some bad throws and protection mistakes.  

And Mahomes had a bad fumble likely costing the Chiefs a TD so what's your point?  NO player is perfect for an entire game.  When any reasonable person looks at this last Bills/Chiefs game Allen's play is way down the list of things that needed to be better in order for the Bills to win.

 

 

[Big Blitz]

2 hours ago, billsgpr88 said:

Whether or not Bills fans agree with its implications, we’re all familiar with the image: Josh Allen on the sidlines, eyes glazed, staring into the distance. I recall seeing it in the horrendous Jaguars game a few years back (in Jacksonville iirc, not the one in England), in his first playoff game against the Texans, and now in back to back playoff games against the Chiefs. It doesn’t happen often, but it always seems to foreshadow a Bills loss. 
 

I love watching Josh Allen play; having watched nearly every game during the drought, I could never say enough about how he has uplifted the organization and the community. I’d argue he means as much or more to Buffalo than any athlete does to their respective team in American sports. He’s the most important individual in the building, and it’s not even close. The issue is, he knows it. He knows about the superbowl losses and the drought, and how desperately Buffalo wants one, just one, Super Bowl victory. And I believe this is what weighs on his shoulders every time I see that absent-minded stare from the sideline. 

I’ll always root for Josh; he’s almost beyond criticism, knowing how much he does to win, what he’s already accomplished in his career, and especially for being a genuinely great person and leader. But, when I see that stare, I immediately get the sense that the game is over. We can point to specific plays, bad calls by the refs, poor coaching, or simply talent, but Josh is the unquestioned leader of the team, even more than McDermott, and I think when his teammates see that from Josh, they feel it, and their confidence is drained from it. And the worst part is that it keeps happening against the chiefs in the playoffs, and with each year the pressure is amplified. Although he played pretty well overall against the chiefs, he didn’t display that heroic, game-dominating mentality that was on display against the chiefs in the regular season game. As much as I hate to admit, I felt the Bills would lose last Sunday as early as the first quarter, though I didn’t initially realize why. Now looking back, I am convinced it is the thousand-yard stare that reveals how overwhelming the pressure is to be the savior of the Buffalo Bills.

 

He gave them this in 13 seconds and it didn’t matter.  
 

 

 

 

Don't over think it.