1. Josh Allen making adjustments in deep passing game
Much has been made of Josh Allen's difficulties this season in connecting on the deep ball with his receiving corps by outside observers. Head coach Sean McDermott was asked about whether or not his young quarterback is too concerned with turnovers and if that's compromising his deep ball passing ability.
"I think he's trying to make adjustments. I really believe that," McDermott said. "The early part of the year we turned the ball over some, so he's trying to make adjustments to his game. You learn through experience. You learn through scars and every scar has a story. So you want to build off of those stories. Never wanting to make an overcorrection, so we're working on finding that sweet spot. We'll continue to work hard at it."
McDermott maintained that he and the offensive staff remain confident in what Allen is capable of as the team's starting quarterback.
"It's something he's done before. We just haven't executed it this year. So when you look back at last year, we hit those. Where we've seen Josh improve is in the short to intermediate game. We continue to grow and Josh is committed to that. He works hard at his job and so do we in trying to continue to execute at a higher level, in this case on those deep balls.
"We've got to continue to bring Josh along and also understand that he's just in his second year. So it's a blend of how we grow and evolve and develop at the right pace."
2. Value in paring things down?
With consistent execution an issue for Buffalo's offense, especially when it comes to converting on third downs and in scoring points, the consideration of paring things down to promote more effective and consistent execution was raised.
Coach McDermott, who has been around a great number of different offensive systems that have plateaued at times, gave his take on the merit of paring things down in an offense to foster better execution.
"There are things that we can do as coaches, whether it's paring it down, whether it's simplifying or working on different fundamentals and techniques, there are ways in being around the league 20-something years, that you can do some of that," said McDermott. "We just have to find a higher level of execution in all three phases really."
3. Levi Wallace working to sharpen things up
Over the last few games, CB Levi Wallace has found himself the main target of opponents in the passing game. Cleveland's offense was the latest to challenge Wallace with Jarvis Landry a main focal point of the Browns passing game last week.
Head coach Sean McDermott was asked about some of the plays Wallace has given up the last few games and admitted that his second-year cornerback is focused on raising his level of play in an effort to bounce back.
"He's learning on the job and he's obviously done some really good things," said McDermott of Wallace. "He's obviously working through some things these past couple of weeks. I'm expecting to continue to work through those things in a professional manner as he has."
When asked if there is consideration to insert Kevin Johnson into the lineup at right cornerback, McDermott responded in a general fashion.
"We talk about a lot of things from week to week," said McDermott. "So we look at every position and try to put our best players out there."
