Hayward89

I think I found a big part of the problem in Buffalo: “Is there a time you need to run it no matter what?” Daboll asked. “Sure, absolutely. But at that point, based on the things we were getting and adjustments we made, that’s the decision we made.” It's a "take what they give you" mentality. The offense won't impose their will on anyone. Maybe it's because they don't have an identity. They can't go with "this is who we are, I dare you to stop us" because they don't know who they are?

It's possible. This has been a very strange year league-wide. I mean, look at the Titans. Has anyone really figured them out yet? Are the good, or do they suck? It's kind of week to week. Heading into this Sunday, am I excited? No. I'm intrigued. The Dolphins have shown signs of life. The Bills seem to be running into more solid competition and have not proven up to the challenge. I'm interested to see how the Bills match up this week. This will be the tell, for me anyway--the litmus test for this team. I'm nervous in a bad way. That's not the same as excited, right?

Saw this in the feed next to the lineup of threads from Sal C's twitter: "Running the ball was tough sledding in there." Daboll said the Browns were playing the Bills to run the ball and that's why they couldn't get Singletary more runs. Said they wanted to try and throw or get the ball on the perimeter to get players out of the box. I thought, if a team struggled against the run you ran the ball at them and made them try and stop you. Of course they're going to try and stop the run. But if that's their weak spot, don't you hammer it, assert your dominance, and make them beat you?? I'm not an NFL coach, so am I missing it, or is Daboll? Weren't the Browns doing that to the Bills... or maybe the Bills just weren't "playing to stop the run?"

Same

I'm definitely not done on Allen, but man, like you said, he just isn't getting it done on the field. I don't think it's 100% his fault, but he's definitely a part. If they do decide to move on from Allen, and if the Bills finish with 7-9 wins and wind up back in the middle of the pack (as it looks like they may), then it's back to Limbo -- a train of has beens and never was. If Allen can't turn a corner, it's going to be another long winter in Buffalo.

I'm one likely labeled a "homer" by the doomist crowd, but this week revealed what many of us suspected was looming under the surface of an exciting record: "Same Old Bills." This team was able to pull it out against some bad teams early, but have finally shown some consistency against teams with any real talent. Consistently sub-par. The defense shows up almost every game, but the offense just cannot get it done. They scrape by teams they should blow out and come up woefully short against teams they could beat. This week was a great example, the Browns struggle against the run, so the Bills run 20 times, and pass 41 and muster a measly 16 points putting the game in the hands of their kicker t 54 yards out because they just couldn't get him any closer. Ridiculous. In another post, I shared that this isn't a curse, it's a stigma. Ever since "Wide Right," this team has only ever done enough to get hopes up, and then imploded. The Bills have faced quality opponents in the Patriots and Eagles, and face a talented but dysfunctional team in the Browns and lost all three. They've narrowly escaped losses to some of the worst teams in the league this year in the Dolphins, Bengals, and Jets. This is not just about Allen; the entire offense has simply been unimpressive this year. Not one game has left us going "There it is! That's what we were waiting for!" We're always waiting for "that game" where they "put it all together" and dominate an opponent. They've faced the the absolute worst teams in the league this year and haven't sniffed of dominance. Have they provided some exciting moments? Absolutely! Has it been entertaining. Yes. Will they beat a quality opponent this year? It certainly doesn't look like it, and after the last 17/18 years of irrelevance, they ONLY have everything to prove, and right now, all they're proving is that it's the same old Bills. C'mon, SackMan, are you really as confident in this team now as you were in, say, week four or even week six? I am certainly not. Things are finally starting to shake out in the league this season and it looks like the Bills are back in the middle of the pack again. At some point, they have to live up to potential. And if they couldn't get that done against the Dolphins, Jets, Bengals, Browns or even the Patriots this year, I'm guessing it's not happening against the Ravens, Steelers, Colts, Vikings, Broncos, or Cowboys.

And it may have been less than that had the offense run the ball, eaten up the clock, and put more points on the board. The entire offensive side of the ball is underachieving.

Sure, but Allen completed 54% of his passes (not great) for an average of 12 yards per completion (not bad). No TDs (problematic) and no INTs (which is great). The real problem this week, and every week prior? This offense simply cannot exploit an opponent's weakness. The Browns struggle stopping the run, so they run 20 times and pass 41. That's not on Allen. But it is infuriating.

I don't know that it's a curse. It's not like the Bills traded away Babe Ruth and it came back to haunt them. It's more like a stigma. I go back to "Wide Right" and just see a trend either started or revealed that this team does enough to get your hopes up, and then finds a way to dash those hopes to pieces... in the mud... in front of everyone... even that cute girl you were hoping to impress but now walks off with the Patriots thinking you're just a loser. Now all we have is the ever-elusive hope that we'll catch a break and see this team finally finish what it started in 1990... but it just never comes to fruition. It's like being stuck in the frigg'n Twilight Zone. It's only a curse in the figurative sense meaning, "it's a bad spot to be in." As far as undoing it? You have to turn a losing culture around--a culture that's been sinking roots deep for 18 years. That's no easy task. And now here we are with another glimmer of hope... just waiting to walk off and get in someone else's cooler car and drive off into the dream we've longed for since hope first showed up in 1988/89. Not a curse. A Shakespearean tragedy.

And that's my point. I'm trying to see where that improvement lies. Numbers can be used to say whatever we want. Allen's improvement is not likely just one metric. Allen can literally throw the ball out of the stadium, but that doesn't mean that's what he needs to do all the time (ergo the 300 yard game). Sounds like Daboll is maybe putting him, and the offense, in a position to have success. As you pointed out, Allen's red zone proficiency is pretty stellar. Do what we need to do to get the offense in the red zone.

Yeah, I'm not one of those. I was mainly looking at his completion % for this year, and it hasn't really changed much. He's done a great job limiting the INTs the last couple weeks. His completion % is up a point or two. I don't get to watch the games, just the highlights, so I'm just wondering if the improvement looks like the result of more conservative playcalling, smarter play, improved accuracy, maybe a combination. Numbers can only tell so much. My line of questions is more about how the numbers correspond to what you guys are seeing on the field during games (I'm trying to interpret the numbers with second-hand context, lol).

Yikes, sensitive. I'm not Lit. That's not my point. You started this thread to talk about how Allen has improved. He has by the metric of INTs to TDs. I'm only asking about the metric of yards per game in relation to a completion % that hasn't really changed. In other words, since his comp% is the same, does anything show that he has improved and is making smarter throws? I don't care if he hits 300 ypg. I'm just wondering if he's shown improvement. The thread is about improvement, right?

His completion % is about the same, though. His INTs have dropped, TDs might be up, but could that just be more conservative play calling? 61% completion rate doesn't sound like improvement in the areas of accuracy. How about passing yards per game? Up or down? (I could look this up, but...)

If the Bills find any (positive) consistency this week, they win. Hands down. The Bills may not be a complete team yet, but Cleveland is a very talented

This was the Miami game (I don't know how to get just a still of the part I want, so here's the a link to the whole highlight video). The Fins first TD and at 1:31 in the video, 98 becomes a turnstile.