Zone Exclusive: OpIv week four rant

[northernbillfan]

Here is this week's rant from OpIv:

Well, we knew the video game numbers and perfect season wouldn't last forever. They had to end sometime, and Cincy knocked the Bills back down to earth. This was an all-around loss, with both the offense and the defense struggling and the coaches having no answers, all against a very mediocre Cincinnati team.

The Bills looked flat from the start. This was a classic "trap" game and they fell into it big time. Too much energy and emotion went into the win over NE and they were unprepared on Sunday.

-I was very disappointed in how Fitz handled the pressure. He rushed passes when he didn't have to and it destroyed his accuracy. On the sack where he got his jersey ripped, he locked on to his receiver and it was way too easy for the defense to cover.

-Fred Jackson was about the only player worth a damn.

-Spiller came through with a key first down but still isn't contributing consistently enough.

-It was nice to see Brad Smith involved in the regular offense and not just a part of gimmick plays.

-The lack of offense was disconcerting, but I'm more worried about the D. Despite all the effort put into the unit in the off-season, they still need some serious help. They live and die by the turnover- if they don't get the big play, then they get pushed all over the field. They got picked apart by Andy friggin' Dalton.

Full article (http://www.billszone.com/mtlog/archives/2011/10/03/opiv_back_to_earth.php)

[Historian]

Nice.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

-Spiller came through with a key first down but still isn't contributing consistently enough.

Give the man a few more chances. He was in on what, 4 plays?

[OpIv37]

-Spiller came through with a key first down but still isn't contributing consistently enough.

Give the man a few more chances. He was in on what, 4 plays?

It's his 20th NFL game and it's always been like this. There is a reason why the coaches only trust him enough to give him 4 plays....

[trapezeus]

does height matter to make mckelvin awful? he is just letting everyone zip past him.

still not worried about spiller. he isn't failing when he's out there. he's just underwhelming.

i think everything else is potentially right. maybe a blueprint is given, but i don't think the bills are so one dimensional anymore and will have some answers. for a game they absolutely pissed away, they were still in it.

[trapezeus]

It's his 20th NFL game and it's always been like this. There is a reason why the coaches only trust him enough to give him 4 plays....

because fred jackson is infinitely better right now.

bills also didn't pick the wrong guy with spiller. if you look at the 2010 draft, there arent' a lot of guys we passed on.

[psubills62]

I'd criticize you, Op, for not saying anything good, but the team really didn't give us anything to work with. Overall, pretty accurate.

However, couple things:
1) This was Troup's first game - he was injured and inactive the other games, so of course he's been invisible up until now. And I don't know how much he played, but I do remember him making one good tackle on a run play (for little or no gain).

2) Disagree that Jackson was the only player worth anything...Dareus did well, as did Florence. And honestly, I'm still scratching my head wondering why people are consistently saying "Jackson should have had more touches," and "we didn't run the ball enough this game." Jackson, to me, was very ineffective, especially in the second half. He looked slow and Cincy was swarming to the ball consistently. Our OL didn't do him any favors, but even on screen plays he wasn't doing much. It was one of Jackson's worst games, IMO, and I actually would rather have seen even more underneath passes instead of runs. I'd rather get 4-5 yards with a dink and dunk passing attack than 1-2 yards on a run.

3) I'm not too worried about teams having a "blueprint." Cincy's D was better than I thought they were, and Gailey and co. should adjust. We had a lot of dropped balls and inaccurate throws it seemed, yet still almost won. I don't think our run offense will get that bottled up every week. JMO.

[bf1]

George Wilson has to be more aggressive. He was kind of lurking during the last 2 big Cinci plays instead of trying to make a stop. It was pretty clear on the replays.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

It's his 20th NFL game and it's always been like this. There is a reason why the coaches only trust him enough to give him 4 plays....

I actually thought against a fast defense like the Bengels, Spiller would do a little better than the wily Jackson. In terms of why Spiller only got 4 plays a game, someone answered it - Jackson overall is much better than Spiller.

About McKelvin, someone told me that when he played at Troy, most of the time he was the best athlete on the field so he pretty much did whatever he wanted, never relied too much on technique. This is his 3rd year but injury took out one year. You can see he has physical ability to cover with the best of them, just does not have the ball skills, hand skills to break passes at the right time. In NFL, people will explore your weakness to death.

[The Jokeman]

because fred jackson is infinitely better right now.

bills also didn't pick the wrong guy with spiller. if you look at the 2010 draft, there arent' a lot of guys we passed on.
Dez Bryant was passed on. Even though Stevie has proven to be a starter in this league and David Nelson has proven to be good a guy like Bryant looks better than Spiller.


I agree that if chosing between Spiller, Bryant, Clausen or Davis that would take one of the top 2. Spiller would make the most immediate impact but think Bryant might be the best short term/long term value pick. http://www.billszone.com/fanzone/showthread.php?t=190776&highlight=Bryant

[madness]

McKelvin's problem is that he has zero awareness when his back is toward the QB.

[Don't Panic]

Fitz definitely took a step back yesterday, but I think his confidence is no at a point where he'll recover much quicker than he would have in the past.

As for Cincy being mediocre, I think their defense is the best we've faced this year. They are top 10. We should have done better limiting Dalton, but aside from that I think we played fairly well defensively. This was the O's game to win and they couldn't get it done.

Time to circle the wagons and get it going again vs. the Eagles.