1. What Sean McDermott wants to see from Josh Allen in year three
Quarterback Josh Allen met with media last week via Zoom and explained he doesn't want to be known as "Captain Checkdown" this season as it relates to always needing to check the ball down once it's snapped. When head coach Sean McDermott met with media on Wednesday, McDermott was asked about Allen's comments and how he can balance his athleticism while being smart. McDermott said he understands Allen not feeling like he needs to check the ball down every snap, but there are times where you need to based on what the defense gives you.
"He's got to play the game and get more and more experience and see the value of taking what the defense gives you," McDermott said. "If they're going to give you the checkdown and they're going to take away everything deep and the check down there, you take it. If they're taking away the shallow stuff and we can get over the top, then we'll go there. I think you've got to be flexible and adaptable as I said before and Josh has to be as well. He's got to know and he will.
"He's got to know where his options are and how quickly he needs to go there because there's meat on the bone, there's yards to be gained with those check downs. Certainly you don't want to be, to his point 'captain checkdown', and I understand that. That's also where you can open up the defense a little bit with Diggs, Smoke (Brown), Cole (Beasley) and whatnot. I think having different options at Josh's fingertips will be good. Because sometimes that does open up the check down for you, if you're working the perimeter, just as well. I think the balance is important."
2. Who is the NFL's best CB in zone coverage?
Touchdown Wire created a list of the best cornerbacks in zone coverage. I think we can all guess Bills cornerback Tre'Davious White had to be top three on the list due to the fact that he didn't give up a touchdown in coverage last year, per PFF. Add in his six interceptions from 2019, tied for most in the league, he deserves to be looked at as one of the best. Touchdown Wire's Doug Farrar thought the most talented two players in zone coverage were White and New England's Stephon Gilmore, but White has something Gilmore doesn't. This earned White the No. 1 spot.
White is slightly less aggressive, and perhaps more of a technician. His backpedal is a thing of beauty, which allows him to play off coverage more effectively. Few if any cornerbacks play bail coverage better — White has a supernatural ability to track the backfield with his eyes while keeping up with the most difficult routes and most talented receivers. He showed this with his first interception against the Steelers, covering speed receiver James Washington downfield. If you want to draw up a zone cornerback and all that is required from the position, White is as close to the paradigm as you'll find in the league today.
The stats match the tape. White allowed 25 receptions on 43 targets for 325 yards, no touchdowns, five interceptions, and a Positive Play Rate of 48.8. Given his ability to dominate against the league's best receivers on a week-to-week basis, and his remarkable consistency, White made his claim as the league's best zone cornerback obvious, and inarguable.
3. Marv Levy lands on this list of top 10 coaches
Around the NFL writer Marc Sessler made a list of his 10 favorite NFL head coaches with the criteria being coaches he has watched. Former Bills coach Marv Levy was one of the coaches on Sessler's list.
Marv Levy
Kansas City Chiefs (1978–1982), Buffalo Bills (1986–1997).
One part play-caller and two parts poet. The four consecutive Super Bowl losses with the Bills took their toll, but Levy looms as one of the kindest NFL personalities I've been lucky enough to encounter. Armed with a master's degree in English history from Harvard, Levy used language to inspire and instruct his players. After Buffalo lost in crushing fashion to the Giants in Super Bowl XXV, Levy read aloud to his downtrodden charges the words of an anonymous European writer from the 14th century:
"Fight on, my men," Sir Andrew said
"A little I'm hurt but not yet slain.
"I'll just lie down and bleed a while,
"And then I'll rise and Fight again."
