A top-tier FO would have drafted a better QB than Sanchez and we would probably be sitting here now discussing why we haven't won a Superbowl in the last 10 years or so.
Remember the the Jets drafted Sanchez against the advice of the scouting department because Rex wanted him.
You got to love Rex, now didn't he say he would have drafted Allen rather than Darnold? I guess nothing has changed in his brain.
Darnold was the best thing any Jets GM has done in ages Now get him his Marvin Harrison before it’s too late I think Douglas will get it done next year, hopefully in Round 1
Good post. But how can someone who argues so vehemently that receivers are elemental to pass protection not see how vital offensive linemen are to WR separation? You insist that an elite WR helps with protection because he creates instant separation for a QB to exploit. Of course that's true. But surely an elite offensive lineman gives a sub-elite WR more time to create that same separation. So in both scenarios, the result is arguably the same separation. The only difference is that in the latter scenario, with a superior OL, the QB has more time to hold the ball, scan the field, read the D, check his options, just get a feel for the game. If you have a young QB, surely that's preferable, right? That's why you prioritize the OL first.
My personal opnion/speculation is that if Sam Darnold had been drafted by the Baltimore Ravens, been operating behind that OL instead of the absolute crap he's been working with here, and been operating under that head coach instead of the absolute crap he started with here, that there would be a lot more people agreeing with Dan Orlovsky. One of the fun things about sports though is that there is no way to prove it. Just my guess.
Sam has all the tools necessary to become a top 7 NFL QB And just as importantly, he has the work ethic I’ve heard (from a friend of a friend of Darnold’s) that he’s been watching 10-15 hours of film per week during the pandemic With the right coaching, an above average OC, an above average OL and a few good receivers, there’s no reason why Sam can’t be a 3800-4400 yards, 25-30 TD, 8-12 INT type of QB in today’s NFL He’s probably still another 2-3 years away from that type of production, but he will get there with the right pieces surrounding him
You can make a 20 minute highlight reel of Allen airmailing passes or throwing checkdowns into the dirt. The dude can't throw the ball, he'll stay in the league because he's a ridiculous athlete.
Allen doesn't trust his arm at all. That's why he overthrows everything. It's why his first impulse under pressure is to turn and run. I have no idea if that's fixable or not but Allen has been doing that since high school. If you think he dominates games at times now with the athleticism imagine what it was like when he was 6'2" 180 in high school playing in a small town. He wasn't an accurate passer back then either, instead choosing to use his movement skills to extend drives. You get a kind of muscle memory that starts when you first play football and then reinforces itself as you grow and get older. Allen's progression has been more and more of the same since he first started playing and that same is inaccurate football emphasizing his speed, size and arm strength over the things that generally make a good QB good over a long period of time. The thing that's crazy to think about is that the freakiest athletic QB in the NFL now is Allen, not Lamar Jackson, but Jackson is growing his game and diversifying his talents and Josh Allen is stuck in 'more better gooder' mode despite that mode not being very good.
Allen will stay in the league and be well regarded as long as he's leading the Bills to winning seasons and playoff appearances. That's why I said I'd take him at this point. Jackson's on a different level than Allen or Darnold at this point and deservedly so.
Winning isn’t a QB stat, it’s a team stat. They’re winning in spite of Allen, not because of him. They won 10 games with an elite defense against a cupcake schedule. Allen cant throw the ball. He has no touch and he’s inaccurate. His completion % is below 60% (58.8 and yes, I know completion % doesn’t equal accuracy), barely threw for 3000 yards last year and averages less than 200 passing yards per game in his career. The Bills don’t ask him to do anything, all they ask of him is to not lose them the game.
Winning is the ONLY QB and team stat that matters at the end of the day. Everything else is irrelevant in comparison. Like I said as long as Allen keeps winning he'll be well regarded. Stats will help Sam's cache but at the end of the day he'll be ultimately judged on wins and losses as every QB is.
Josh Allen is what kept the Bills from winning their first playoff game in 25 years. I don’t know why any of the success of being attributed to him considering he was one of the worst passers in the league and the Bills offense ranked 24th. They have a stellar defense, literally top three in the league and lost in the wildcard round. Give them a competent quarterback and that doesn’t happen. For as long as he is under center I feel good about being able to beat them anytime we play them.
Clearly he's competent enough to lead them to the playoffs. You feel good about it? Every time the Jets lose to them I will remind you that you said that.
By this bad logic, Mark Sanchez was a stud. I said I feel good about being able to beat them, I didn't say we would beat them every time. He's a bad QB throwing, there's no disputing that. He's literally the least efficient passer in the league. He gets a lot done with his legs but I think everyone knows that doesn't last. Our QB had mono, we lost our star LB, we had no starting TE, the worst OL in the league, an RB that hadn't play in over a year, a new coach/offense and our kicker missed every kick... and the Bills won by a single point. That's exactly what I mean by saying I feel good about being able to beat them for as long as he's under center. Just like every other team in the league probably did when we had Sanchez. But then again, by your logic, Sanchez was all-pro.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda. You would win in a contest of almost and projecting. However this isn't about either one of those things. It's about what they have done on the field. You lost credibility once you compared Sanchez to Allen. If you actually watched the games last year you would see that Allen does much more than what his stats say. He's just a good football player with a really good feel for the game. He steps up and makes big plays in crunch time. He extends plays almost Roethlisberger-esque because of his similar big, strong stature He's a gamer and a winner so far in his young career. I think Darnold has a ton of potential and that's why I won't knock him while I give Allen props because it's actually possible to do both. However as I've already told you in earlier posts in this same thread, it's time for him to prove it on the field. At this point in their young careers Allen has proven more. Hopefully Darnold changes that over the next few years.
Josh Allen is basically a larger and much less religious version of Tim Tebow Tebow went on an amazing winning streak himself and had even more intangibles than Josh Being able to throw the ball very far is a really cool thing, but that’s all it really is
