NFL GDT: 2021 AFC Divisional Round: (2) Buffalo Bills vs (5) Baltimore Ravens

[Troy McClure]

Who says that they have to do that? They are picking up his 5th year option. Next year is only year 4. Saw what happened to LA and Phi who extended Goff and Wentz after year 3.

matter of how they structure the contract given what Jackson will have secured with a 5th year option.

It’s tough, though. If you think he’s your guy, you have every reason to do the extension now. Otherwise you end up in the Dak situation where holding off because you want to see him prove it one more season only results in the team having to pay an additional $10-20 million per season.

 

[misterchainsaw]

Who says that they have to do that? They are picking up his 5th year option. Next year is only year 4. Saw what happened to LA and Phi who extended Goff and Wentz after year 3.

matter of how they structure the contract given what Jackson will have secured with a 5th year option.

Yeah, the Bills are going in early talking extension with Allen. The hope is you get in a year earlier and the late years end up looking like bargains.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

It would be like Cleveland Cavaliers winning the 2016 NBA championship for the city of Cleveland.

Buffalo has never won anything, and has experienced a lot of heartbreaking losses during the years.

That isn't entirely true. The Bills went to 3 straight AFL title games from 1964-1966 where they won the first 2, both against the San Diego Chargers and then losing the 3rd one against the Kansas City Chiefs, who then went on to play in Super Bowl I. Yes, an AFL championship is not as prestigious as a Super Bowl, especially one after the 1970 AFL/NFL merger but it is still a pro championship. And the AFL was a top league, it was not like the WHA vs the NHL in terms of difference.

I mean from the original 10 AFL franchises they have 17 Super Bowl victories out of 54 Super Bowl games. And let's be realistic, a former AFL team is going to represent the AFC in Super Bowl 55.


But yeah, the Bills have not won a Super Bowl and a Super Bowl win would do so much for this city/fans/franchise. Between the 64-66 Bills teams and 90-93 ones it is damn impressive that the Bills appeared in 3 and then 4 championship games in a row.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Beane taking Allen, when everyone, including me, were memeing them up to and including this year is huge. McDermott was also looked at as mediocre hire at best when it was made.

Bills are just a very good franchise at this point.

"Up to last year" is definitely wrong too. I don't understand how disrespected Allen was last year. All these articles about Allens 2020 season that have been printed/posted during the season always have to refer to his 2019 season/Allen himself as "bad" "laughable" "concerning" etc etc. Allen was not bad at all last year. He just had very few weapons and was still developing...and he still is not a fully finished product, which is scary (for other teams, good for the Bills). But last year, the playoffs not withstanding (even though he had 357 total yards of offense and a receiving TD in a heart breaking loss) Allen was extremely underrated and disrespected. He went 10-5* had 29 total touchdowns, 3599 total yards and just 9 picks. He had less picks last year then this one! And that was in just 15 games.

It may say 16 games played/started last season but in week 17 in a totally meaningless game for Allen and the Bills since our seed was totally locked up he played a whopping 7 of the 64 snaps which is only 11% of the Bills snaps. He left the game when it was still 0-0 and it stayed that score until 5 minutes into the 2nd quarter, was tied up late in the 3rd before the Jets took back the lead for good in the 4th. Allen played 2 series in week 17. First one he attempted 3 short passes on a 3 and out (completing a 5 yarder, then a negative 5 yarder and an incompletion to start 2/3 for 0 yards ) and then his second series he gave an end around to McKenzie for 11 yard run that was called back for holding, then a hand off to Frank Gore that got back 9 yards and then facing a 2nd and 11 threw 2 incompletions. Then he was pulled for the rest of the game and Barkley came in and had a drive himself before the Jets got the ball back while it was still scoreless, so again Allen should not be credited for losing a game he barely played in and was never losing in on the scoreboard. He played 2 short drives and played just over 1/10th of the Bills total plays. In a game where nearly every starter was rested I have no clue why McDermott even bothered putting Allen in.

But to go back to the entire 2019 season, how is a season where he wins 10 games out of 15, makes the playoffs and averaged 2 TDs a game? Over a full season he would have been at 31-32 total TDs. In fact, Allen came close to breaking Jim Kellys record of total TDs in a season back in 2019 (record was 34 which Allen SMASHED this year. Last season he was 5 away from tying it and played one less game then Kelly did).

So yeah, Josh Allen had an above average season for a QB last year, no where near deserving of the ridiculous bashing he gets for it. Last year at LEAST half of the NFL would have loved to have a starting QB who scores 2 TDs per game on average, win 10 games en route to the playoffs and only throw 9 picks.

Allen was always going to be a work in progress. I don't want to use the word project because that title is given to prospects who are not expected to be good when the Bills brass clearly bet their entire careers on him being an elite superstar QB when they paid a heavy price to move up 5 spots in round 1 to get their guy, the first ever top 10 overall draft pick QB drafted by the Bills. They obviously bet correctly. Allen is an MVP talent (and would win virtually any other year. More total TDs then Mahomes and more yards passing and total then Rodgers. Oh and didn't get an absolute cupcake schedule like Rodgers did. Bills SOS was 12th. Chiefs were 18th. Packers were 24th ), only 24 and has now proven to be the top player and also QB from the loaded 2018 draft which also has 2 other franchise QBs in it, including a MVP QB in Lamar and a superstar RB to go with 20 total players who have a Pro Bowl on their resume and they only have 3 years under their belt. 2018 was a great draft and has produced 3 franchise QBs...2 elite ones and 1 that is a top 10-12 QB who can become even better

 

[Terry Yake]

knew the game was over after tucker missed that second FG. the GOAT kicker doesn't miss two for sure FGs and the ravens still win

glad they lost to buffalo of all teams. hope they beat KC and go all the way

 

[Ace]

Lamar and Allen both came into the game having never thrown a pick in the redzone. That changed for one of them last night.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

So Jackson with another poor performance

Can anyone recall similar QB to start out his playoff career with such a string of poor performances?

 

[Hockeyholic]

So Jackson with another poor performance

Can anyone recall similar QB to start out his playoff career with such a string of poor performances?

Peyton Manning started his postseason career 0-3. Not impressive in any of them. Obviously that eventually changed.

That said, Jackson isn't (Nor will he be) as great as Manning.

So maybe not a fair comparison to Jackson.

 

[StreetHawk]

It’s tough, though. If you think he’s your guy, you have every reason to do the extension now. Otherwise you end up in the Dak situation where holding off because you want to see him prove it one more season only results in the team having to pay an additional $10-20 million per season.

My point is that with Goff/Wentz, it can blow up in your face if you have any questions about the QB.

Goff, is he in need of a great supporting cast? Wentz, he tore his ACL in year 2 on a MVP level performance. Came back the following year and was injured heading into the post season.

Jackson, he's done very well. You know what he's going to cost on a 5th year option, plus 2 franchise tags. So, that's the minimum you are working with as a base of any extension that covers guaranteed money for the next 3 seasons. Just a matter of whether you wish to lock yourself into that contract after 3 seasons or not.

 

[Troy McClure]

My point is that with Goff/Wentz, it can blow up in your face if you have any questions about the QB.

Goff, is he in need of a great supporting cast? Wentz, he tore his ACL in year 2 on a MVP level performance. Came back the following year and was injured heading into the post season.

Jackson, he's done very well. You know what he's going to cost on a 5th year option, plus 2 franchise tags. So, that's the minimum you are working with as a base of any extension that covers guaranteed money for the next 3 seasons. Just a matter of whether you wish to lock yourself into that contract after 3 seasons or not.

I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm saying those are the pros and cons of this. If you give the extension early, you save a lot of money, but you might regret it. If you wait, you might save yourself from a mistake, but you might also cost yourself a whole lot more money when it comes time to pay your guy. And with the way the salary cap keeps racing up, locking a QB into a deal early will give you a lot of flexibility on the final couple of years of his deal.