Class Dismissed: Bills' Week 17 Grades

[Michael82]

Offense:
What a horrid end to the season! After getting fans excited about the future a few weeks ago, the Bills tanked their final two games and pretty much gave up. I know that everyone wants to throw QB Brian Brohm over the Peace Bridge for his performance on Sunday, but he had zero help from his offense and I honestly don't think Fitzpatrick would have made that much of a difference. Having said that, Brohm was horrible! He finished the game completing 10 out of 23 passes for 106 yards with 3 interceptions and 1 lost fumble. The offensive line did not do him any favors as he was pressured and hit hard all day long. The right side of the line did the worst as both Chad Rinehart and Erik Pears were owned by Jets LB Calvin Pace. The receivers also didn't help Brohm out. He only had 3 wide receivers, Steve Johnson, Naaman Roosevelt and Paul Hubbard. Johnson had 5 catches for 72 yards, but he also fumbled a ball when the Bills offense was moving down the field in the first possession, while Roosevelt had 3 catches for 30 yards. The running game was non-existant as Chan Gailey abandoned it again, but it didn't help that the Jets defense kept stuffing Fred Jackson. He finished the day with only 35 yards on 13 carries. CJ Spiller had a measley 3 carries for 5-yards. Overall, it was a terrible day for the offense. They were facing a lot of Jets backups and couldn't get anything going. It was embarrassing! Grade: F

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Check out my latest article on NFL Blog Blitz: Buffalo Bills vs New York Jets Gameday Report Card. Let me know what you think. Was I too rough? Or was I fair in my grades? :feedback:

[kscdogbillsfan1221]

no arguments from me here.

[Jan Reimers]

Good work, Mike. If a D- is ever considered a little generous, this could be the time.

[Michael82]

Good work, Mike. If a D- is ever considered a little generous, this could be the time.

Thanks man! :up:

Yeah, I originally thought about giving straight F's, but figured the defense deserved a little higher grade than the offense because at least they scored.

[trapezeus]

michael, you said that the bills got beat by backups. Didnt they get beaten by the back ups of backups in mostcases?

[Michael82]

michael, you said that the bills got beat by backups. Didnt they get beaten by the back ups of backups in mostcases?

I thought it was the Jets backups that beat them. The 3rd stringers didn't start playing until the game was over with.

[trapezeus]

well they started with LT and Shonn Greene on the bench as well as their starting 2 DBs

Then they moved to brunell and clemens who ran for a touchdown as well.

it was a smattering of really not good players that put up 38 points on us.

[Cleve]

F seems to be too good given the Grade Z I'd assign the run defense. Was the utter ineptitude of the Bills run defense due to poor coaching, poor talent, or a mixture of both?

This makes two weeks in a row the Bills gave up astonishing ground yardage. The Jets averaged 5.5 yards per carry - the Jets rarely had to even pass the ball - and the total passing yards were similar to the Patriots output. No team will elect to pass if the team can grind out a first down, on average, every two carries, which both the Patriots and Jets were able to do.

But even MORE galling about this game than the Patriots. Brady was ALWAYS a threat to pass on every snap. However, every time that Sanchez was on the field - every one KNEW the Jets would run - but still... one good ground gain after another when Sanchez took the handoff. And all the times that Smith took the direct snap, he only threw one pass - EVERY other time he ran the ball. IT was pretty much GUARANTEED that Smith would run - but even so the Bills could not adjust nor effectively defend against it. It was RIDICULOUS!

I'd have to go back and look at last years stats - but as BAD as the Bills were under Jauron - and they were bad - I don't remember such an utterly inept run defense as this year.

IF coaching is responsible, at least in part, for the last in the league run defense for the season, and the horribly bad game on Sunday against a Jets team that was clearly trying to rest its stars, why are we giving Chan Gailey a pass on this? The Bills were unable to do anything to improve the run-D during an entire SEASON. The run defense seemed to actually get worse as the season wore on.

[Ingtar33]

its amazing how many people give fitz a pass for his 5 turnover atrocity the previous week. that's 9 turnovers in just 2 weeks from the QB position.

seriously folks. we need something more from the QB position.

[Michael82]

its amazing how many people give fitz a pass for his 5 turnover atrocity the previous week. that's 9 turnovers in just 2 weeks from the QB position.

seriously folks. we need something more from the QB position.

Exactly! I don't know why everyone is destroying Brohm for his game this week, yet forgetting about how awful Fitzpatrick looked last week.

[Johnny Bugmenot]

Exactly! I don't know why everyone is destroying Brohm for his game this week, yet forgetting about how awful Fitzpatrick looked last week. Because last week was the Pats, and it always happens against the Pats no matter what they do. I tend to ignore outliers like that.

[Mr. Pink]

If you gave anything better than an F you were too generous.