patmoran2006
10-24-2010, 09:04 PM
It’s hardly unforeseen that the Buffalo Bills fell to 0-6 on the season with a road loss (37-34 in overtime) Sunday against the highly regarded Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore is considered one of the league’s elite teams while Buffalo… well, they’ve played like anything but one.
But had you told me Sunday morning the way this game would have played out, I’d have given you a polite smile before recommending an experienced shrink. Let’s be honest — nobody except possibly the players inside the Bills locker room (and even that’s debatable) expected to see them go toe to toe on the road like they did Sunday afternoon. After being run on, thrown on and laughed out of Lambeau Field and Gilettte Stadium already this season, Buffalo staying within 20 points of an incensed Ravens team coming off a loss at New England the week before would’ve been considered adequate accomplishment.
But the Bills showed the heart and plenty of execution that’s been lacking since the first snap against Miami in the season opener. Buffalo dominated at times and constantly fought back when they were against the ropes, a characteristic that’s hardly been an attribute of this year’s Bills model.
Unfortunately, four turnovers and a routinely terrible defensive performance eventually got the best of them en route to becoming the league’s only winless team. It’s also disheartening having to write columns with a feel-good vibe following an excruciating loss. But hey, at least the Bills showed plenty of reason for optimism.
http://cdn1.sbnation.com/images/blog/star-divide.v5e9d7f1.jpg
Here are ten of them…
Ryan Fitzpatrick looked like Fran Tarkenton: All types of team quarterbacking demons were put to bed Sunday in Baltimore. Fitzpatrick completed 29-of-43 passes for a career-high 374 yards and four touchdowns. The 300 yards passing in a game is the first by a Bills quarterback in 60 contests. It’s also the second consecutive game Fitzpatrick threw for at least three touchdowns, the first time that’s happened since Jim Kelly did it in 1990. If Fitzpatrick is just a bridge to a future “franchise” quarterback, there’s plenty of other teams in the league that wish they could be so lucky. Fitzpatrick since taking over in week three has now thrown for 969 yards and 11 touchdowns against four interceptions in four starts.
He’s shown incredible poise and a sense of toughness. On one third quarter play Fitzpatrick took off up the middle to run for a first down, and basically threw Ray Lewis off him to get it.
Can you imagine how much better the offense would be had Chan Gailey recognized Fitzpatrick was the best quarterback on the team in July instead of week three?
Buffalo Played With Heart: Most of the time you see the Bills blow an early lead and fall down by double digits in the second half, it leads to a blowout loss and as Donte Whitner described earlier this season, opponents having a good laugh at their expense. But Buffalo battled back in a tough environment late after being down 10 points to force overtime. During that time, Fitzpatrick converted a few critical plays and even the defense managed to generate a few key stops. It’s very easy to argue that had the referees not screwed up the Shawn Nelson forward progress fiasco in overtime (and make no mistake, the play should’ve been blown dead), there’s a good chance the Bills could’ve had one of their biggest victories of the past decade. Ultimately, the conclusion felt like yet another stomach punch to the team and its fans, but you have to give them plenty of credit for staring the bully in the face and fighting back for 60+ minutes.
The Bills Have a Legit No. 2 Receiver: I’d be lying if I said I knew all along Steve Johnson would be a solid starting wide receiver in this league, especially after an uneventful preseason that saw him look irrelevant. But after a slow start to the season, Johnson is coming on like gangbusters. Johnson abused the Ravens secondary Sunday to the tune of six catches for a career-best 158 yards and a touchdown. He now has five scores in his last four games, and 372 receiving yards for the season. He’s now on pace for 992 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns, far better production that Josh Reed ever gave the team during numerous attempts to make him a starter. Even when Marcus Easley is ready to play in 2011, he’s going to have a tough road to getting on the playing field.
Football Looks Fun For Lee Evans Again: Ravens cornerback Fabian Washington will have nightmares of Evans for several weeks to come. After having one of the most miserable opening months of football a $7-million plus year per receiver has ever had, the Bills have found ways to utilize Lee’s talents again. Evans had 105 receiving yards on six catches Sunday with three touchdowns. It’s the first time in 27 games Evans went over 100 yards receiving. After having just 10 harmless catches in the first four games, Evans has 11 in his last two and four scores.
Rookie Cordaro Howard Looked Good in Starting Debut: The paramount rule of an offensive linemen is that if you don’t hear his name often throughout the game, he is doing his job. This holds true for Cordaro Howard, who made his NFL starting debut Sunday in place of injured Cornell Green. Howard missed a couple of blocking assignments that are typical of a rookie, but overall he did an excellent job against one of the league’s premier defensive fronts. Moving forward for me, it’s a no-brainer that Howard should continue to start, whether Green is healthy or not. Green is a 33-year old vet who’s seen his best days, while Howard is a diamond-in-the-rough type rookie with a ton of room to grow. If he can play like he did today, offensive tackle isn’t nearly as big a problem for the team as people once thought. Who knows, maybe he turns into the next Jason Peters, who was also once undrafted.
The Offensive Line As a Whole Played Very Good: A reader asked me towards the end of the week what I thought the key to this game was. Half jokingly, I said Fitzpatrick’s ability to run for his life. But as it turns out, Fitzpatrick wasn’t under a lot of duress. He passed the ball 43 times and was only sacked once. The Bills also managed to run the ball for 132 yards. A lot of credit needs to go to the offensive line for that. Geoff Hangartner did a good job on Haloti Ngata and the line as a whole did an outstanding job of picking off Baltimore blitzes. By far and against their toughest defensive opponent to date, this is the best the offensive line has looked.
The Bills At Least Tried To Use C.J. Spiller More: With the exception of a 13-yard run in the second quarter, C.J. Spiller wasn’t much of a factor offensively. But what’s promising is Chan Gailey did try to use him more. After having just 19 rushing attempts in the first five games, Spiller got seven (for 33 yards) against the Ravens. Of course, his fumble near the end of the first half on a kickoff return was costly, but you’re going to have to learn to take the bad with the good when it comes to the explosive rookie. I have a feeling that had the Bills not been playing catch up through most of the second half, his carry totals would have been larger. Expect his role to gradually increase.
Gailey Went Back To Parrish After a Mistake: On the Bills first possession, Roscoe Parrish fumbled after making a catch and fighting for a first down that saw the ball go back 17 yards. The Bills were forced to punt and in past years that might’ve been the end of Parrish’s day. But on the first play of Buffalo’s next possession, the Bills called an end-around to Parrish for six yards. Parrish is a weapon and Gailey knows it, and he continues to utilize him. Parrish caught eight passes Sunday, including one of the most spectacular diving catches along the sideline you’ll ever see. It’s amazing what having a little confidence in someone can do.
These Weren’t The Detroit Lions Playing Defense: Baltimore is one of the best defenses in football. Ray Lewis predicted it would be a rough week for Buffalo. He was wrong. The Bills ran up 504 total yards on them and put up 37 points. Had the defense come remotely close to matching the offense, this would’ve been a blowout Buffalo victory.
Driver’s Seat For The First Overall Pick: If you’re going to base this entire Bills season on where the Bills will be selecting in next April’s draft, you received good news this afternoon when Carolina got into the win column. This puts Buffalo as the only winless team in the NFL and the holder of the top pick of the draft for the moment. What’s becoming less clear, however, is what that top pick should be used for. The Buffalo defense is in complete shambles and in dire need of talent.
But had you told me Sunday morning the way this game would have played out, I’d have given you a polite smile before recommending an experienced shrink. Let’s be honest — nobody except possibly the players inside the Bills locker room (and even that’s debatable) expected to see them go toe to toe on the road like they did Sunday afternoon. After being run on, thrown on and laughed out of Lambeau Field and Gilettte Stadium already this season, Buffalo staying within 20 points of an incensed Ravens team coming off a loss at New England the week before would’ve been considered adequate accomplishment.
But the Bills showed the heart and plenty of execution that’s been lacking since the first snap against Miami in the season opener. Buffalo dominated at times and constantly fought back when they were against the ropes, a characteristic that’s hardly been an attribute of this year’s Bills model.
Unfortunately, four turnovers and a routinely terrible defensive performance eventually got the best of them en route to becoming the league’s only winless team. It’s also disheartening having to write columns with a feel-good vibe following an excruciating loss. But hey, at least the Bills showed plenty of reason for optimism.
http://cdn1.sbnation.com/images/blog/star-divide.v5e9d7f1.jpg
Here are ten of them…
Ryan Fitzpatrick looked like Fran Tarkenton: All types of team quarterbacking demons were put to bed Sunday in Baltimore. Fitzpatrick completed 29-of-43 passes for a career-high 374 yards and four touchdowns. The 300 yards passing in a game is the first by a Bills quarterback in 60 contests. It’s also the second consecutive game Fitzpatrick threw for at least three touchdowns, the first time that’s happened since Jim Kelly did it in 1990. If Fitzpatrick is just a bridge to a future “franchise” quarterback, there’s plenty of other teams in the league that wish they could be so lucky. Fitzpatrick since taking over in week three has now thrown for 969 yards and 11 touchdowns against four interceptions in four starts.
He’s shown incredible poise and a sense of toughness. On one third quarter play Fitzpatrick took off up the middle to run for a first down, and basically threw Ray Lewis off him to get it.
Can you imagine how much better the offense would be had Chan Gailey recognized Fitzpatrick was the best quarterback on the team in July instead of week three?
Buffalo Played With Heart: Most of the time you see the Bills blow an early lead and fall down by double digits in the second half, it leads to a blowout loss and as Donte Whitner described earlier this season, opponents having a good laugh at their expense. But Buffalo battled back in a tough environment late after being down 10 points to force overtime. During that time, Fitzpatrick converted a few critical plays and even the defense managed to generate a few key stops. It’s very easy to argue that had the referees not screwed up the Shawn Nelson forward progress fiasco in overtime (and make no mistake, the play should’ve been blown dead), there’s a good chance the Bills could’ve had one of their biggest victories of the past decade. Ultimately, the conclusion felt like yet another stomach punch to the team and its fans, but you have to give them plenty of credit for staring the bully in the face and fighting back for 60+ minutes.
The Bills Have a Legit No. 2 Receiver: I’d be lying if I said I knew all along Steve Johnson would be a solid starting wide receiver in this league, especially after an uneventful preseason that saw him look irrelevant. But after a slow start to the season, Johnson is coming on like gangbusters. Johnson abused the Ravens secondary Sunday to the tune of six catches for a career-best 158 yards and a touchdown. He now has five scores in his last four games, and 372 receiving yards for the season. He’s now on pace for 992 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns, far better production that Josh Reed ever gave the team during numerous attempts to make him a starter. Even when Marcus Easley is ready to play in 2011, he’s going to have a tough road to getting on the playing field.
Football Looks Fun For Lee Evans Again: Ravens cornerback Fabian Washington will have nightmares of Evans for several weeks to come. After having one of the most miserable opening months of football a $7-million plus year per receiver has ever had, the Bills have found ways to utilize Lee’s talents again. Evans had 105 receiving yards on six catches Sunday with three touchdowns. It’s the first time in 27 games Evans went over 100 yards receiving. After having just 10 harmless catches in the first four games, Evans has 11 in his last two and four scores.
Rookie Cordaro Howard Looked Good in Starting Debut: The paramount rule of an offensive linemen is that if you don’t hear his name often throughout the game, he is doing his job. This holds true for Cordaro Howard, who made his NFL starting debut Sunday in place of injured Cornell Green. Howard missed a couple of blocking assignments that are typical of a rookie, but overall he did an excellent job against one of the league’s premier defensive fronts. Moving forward for me, it’s a no-brainer that Howard should continue to start, whether Green is healthy or not. Green is a 33-year old vet who’s seen his best days, while Howard is a diamond-in-the-rough type rookie with a ton of room to grow. If he can play like he did today, offensive tackle isn’t nearly as big a problem for the team as people once thought. Who knows, maybe he turns into the next Jason Peters, who was also once undrafted.
The Offensive Line As a Whole Played Very Good: A reader asked me towards the end of the week what I thought the key to this game was. Half jokingly, I said Fitzpatrick’s ability to run for his life. But as it turns out, Fitzpatrick wasn’t under a lot of duress. He passed the ball 43 times and was only sacked once. The Bills also managed to run the ball for 132 yards. A lot of credit needs to go to the offensive line for that. Geoff Hangartner did a good job on Haloti Ngata and the line as a whole did an outstanding job of picking off Baltimore blitzes. By far and against their toughest defensive opponent to date, this is the best the offensive line has looked.
The Bills At Least Tried To Use C.J. Spiller More: With the exception of a 13-yard run in the second quarter, C.J. Spiller wasn’t much of a factor offensively. But what’s promising is Chan Gailey did try to use him more. After having just 19 rushing attempts in the first five games, Spiller got seven (for 33 yards) against the Ravens. Of course, his fumble near the end of the first half on a kickoff return was costly, but you’re going to have to learn to take the bad with the good when it comes to the explosive rookie. I have a feeling that had the Bills not been playing catch up through most of the second half, his carry totals would have been larger. Expect his role to gradually increase.
Gailey Went Back To Parrish After a Mistake: On the Bills first possession, Roscoe Parrish fumbled after making a catch and fighting for a first down that saw the ball go back 17 yards. The Bills were forced to punt and in past years that might’ve been the end of Parrish’s day. But on the first play of Buffalo’s next possession, the Bills called an end-around to Parrish for six yards. Parrish is a weapon and Gailey knows it, and he continues to utilize him. Parrish caught eight passes Sunday, including one of the most spectacular diving catches along the sideline you’ll ever see. It’s amazing what having a little confidence in someone can do.
These Weren’t The Detroit Lions Playing Defense: Baltimore is one of the best defenses in football. Ray Lewis predicted it would be a rough week for Buffalo. He was wrong. The Bills ran up 504 total yards on them and put up 37 points. Had the defense come remotely close to matching the offense, this would’ve been a blowout Buffalo victory.
Driver’s Seat For The First Overall Pick: If you’re going to base this entire Bills season on where the Bills will be selecting in next April’s draft, you received good news this afternoon when Carolina got into the win column. This puts Buffalo as the only winless team in the NFL and the holder of the top pick of the draft for the moment. What’s becoming less clear, however, is what that top pick should be used for. The Buffalo defense is in complete shambles and in dire need of talent.