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Yet another article berating our young and inadequate D last year came out today.
"For the better part of 17 weeks last season, betting the "over" on Buffalo games was the closest thing to a sure bet as you can find in the topsy-turvy NFL. The Bills' combination of potent offense and porous defense routinely turned games into track meets. While Drew Bledsoe, Eric Moulds and Peerless Price were piling up points, the defense was giving it all back and then some. Only Cincinnati (456) and Kansas City (399) allowed more points in the AFC than Buffalo (397)."
Is this true?
Let's take a closer look-see!
Over the first 6 games, the Bills as a team put up an average of 32.3 PPG while surrendering an average of 34.0 PPG, so that seems to ring true for the first 6 games.
But what about after that? Is it also true as the media world loves to spin it, that the same trend continued over the last 10 games?
Let's take a closer look-see!
Over the last 10 games, the Bills as a team put up an average of 18.5 PPG while surrendering an average of only 19.3 PPG, which makes that statement over the last 10 games absolute nonsense!
In fact, it clearly shows marked improvement in a D w/ no front 7, little talent on paper at least, and one which was overmatched for most of the season.
Ah, but the cold weather and worse opponents must have had to do with all of that, right? Wrong! That's the way the media, both national and local, like to spin it, but the fact of the matter is that weather was only a factor in two games, the second Miami game and the Green Bay game.
As to strength of opponents, the average records of teams faced in the first 6 games was 7-9 while the average record of teams faced in the last 10 games was 8-8.
Over the first 6 games, the Bills faced only one of the league's top 10 defenses, yet, faced three of the league's top 10 offenses to include the league's top three yardage offenses!
Over the last 10 games, the Bills faced only one of the league's top 10 defenses, yet, played four games vs. the league's top 10 offenses and 6 games vs. teams amongst the league's top 12 scoring offenses!
So what gives? Why all this negativity about how poorly the Bills D played last season?
As I see it, the real reason why the Bills lost games is because the offense didn't show up for the last ten games w/ only one exception, namely that Miami game in the blizzard which was a feast of big plays.
Other than that, the Bills offense only put up more than 20 points twice, once against Detroit, and once against Cincinnati, the league's 31st and 32nd ranked defenses! Big deal!
By contrast, the following teams put up equal to or more points vs. Cincy than we did: San Diego, Atlanta, Tampa, Indy, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Carolina, and Jacksonville.
The following teams put up equal to or more points vs. Detroit than we did: Miami, Carolina, Green Bay, Minnesota, Green Bay, the Jets, Atlanta, and Minnesota!
But wait, there's more! Against one of the league's worst defenses in Kansas City, the Bills offense under Bledsoe could not even put up more than 16 points! Vs. San Diego, Cincinnati, and Detroit, the Bills' "high powered" offense could not even manage to put up what the rest of the league averaged against those teams!
Something isn't jibing here! We're told that the offense is what carried the team, yet, the actual scores indicate something different over the last two-thirds of the season. Or do the first few games now define the entire '02 season?
Now, did all those teams have a better offense than Buffalo? Many of those teams scored far more points against those two paltry defenses than we did. So why is the defense taking all the hits while Drew and the offense gets a total pass?
That my friends is the question of the 2002 season!
As I see it, if the defense plays this entire season the same as it did over the last 10 games, then according to last season's defensive rankings, the Bills will finish 7th in scoring defense league-wide!
So what on earth are all the people writing this jibberish thinking about? Because they certainly are not doing their homework. What instead is happening is an ongoing love affair with Drew Bledsoe and some big play highlight reels. Because if you measure the actual contributions to winning games over the last 10 games in the traditional sense of putting points on the boards, then the Drew Bledsoe/Kevin Gilbride led offense falls miserably short of contributing with an average performance over those last 10 games, and by-the-way 4 games more than the first 6 games of the season, that would have landed them at 27th in the league in scoring offense on the season.
Those my friends are the facts! It's time for everyone to take the "I love Drew Bledsoe" blinders off, give Jerry Gray some credit for the improvement over the season on defense, and to start criticizing those components of the team that actually failed instead of those "perceived" to have failed!
Here, here Jerry! You have at least one friend in "Bill's Land" that stands behind you and recognizes your contribution to winning games as the season went on! To the rest of the media who simply cannot seem to get their facts straight, it's time to start seeing things as they were, not as you would like to see them!
"For the better part of 17 weeks last season, betting the "over" on Buffalo games was the closest thing to a sure bet as you can find in the topsy-turvy NFL. The Bills' combination of potent offense and porous defense routinely turned games into track meets. While Drew Bledsoe, Eric Moulds and Peerless Price were piling up points, the defense was giving it all back and then some. Only Cincinnati (456) and Kansas City (399) allowed more points in the AFC than Buffalo (397)."
Is this true?
Let's take a closer look-see!
Over the first 6 games, the Bills as a team put up an average of 32.3 PPG while surrendering an average of 34.0 PPG, so that seems to ring true for the first 6 games.
But what about after that? Is it also true as the media world loves to spin it, that the same trend continued over the last 10 games?
Let's take a closer look-see!
Over the last 10 games, the Bills as a team put up an average of 18.5 PPG while surrendering an average of only 19.3 PPG, which makes that statement over the last 10 games absolute nonsense!
In fact, it clearly shows marked improvement in a D w/ no front 7, little talent on paper at least, and one which was overmatched for most of the season.
Ah, but the cold weather and worse opponents must have had to do with all of that, right? Wrong! That's the way the media, both national and local, like to spin it, but the fact of the matter is that weather was only a factor in two games, the second Miami game and the Green Bay game.
As to strength of opponents, the average records of teams faced in the first 6 games was 7-9 while the average record of teams faced in the last 10 games was 8-8.
Over the first 6 games, the Bills faced only one of the league's top 10 defenses, yet, faced three of the league's top 10 offenses to include the league's top three yardage offenses!
Over the last 10 games, the Bills faced only one of the league's top 10 defenses, yet, played four games vs. the league's top 10 offenses and 6 games vs. teams amongst the league's top 12 scoring offenses!
So what gives? Why all this negativity about how poorly the Bills D played last season?
As I see it, the real reason why the Bills lost games is because the offense didn't show up for the last ten games w/ only one exception, namely that Miami game in the blizzard which was a feast of big plays.
Other than that, the Bills offense only put up more than 20 points twice, once against Detroit, and once against Cincinnati, the league's 31st and 32nd ranked defenses! Big deal!
By contrast, the following teams put up equal to or more points vs. Cincy than we did: San Diego, Atlanta, Tampa, Indy, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Carolina, and Jacksonville.
The following teams put up equal to or more points vs. Detroit than we did: Miami, Carolina, Green Bay, Minnesota, Green Bay, the Jets, Atlanta, and Minnesota!
But wait, there's more! Against one of the league's worst defenses in Kansas City, the Bills offense under Bledsoe could not even put up more than 16 points! Vs. San Diego, Cincinnati, and Detroit, the Bills' "high powered" offense could not even manage to put up what the rest of the league averaged against those teams!
Something isn't jibing here! We're told that the offense is what carried the team, yet, the actual scores indicate something different over the last two-thirds of the season. Or do the first few games now define the entire '02 season?
Now, did all those teams have a better offense than Buffalo? Many of those teams scored far more points against those two paltry defenses than we did. So why is the defense taking all the hits while Drew and the offense gets a total pass?
That my friends is the question of the 2002 season!
As I see it, if the defense plays this entire season the same as it did over the last 10 games, then according to last season's defensive rankings, the Bills will finish 7th in scoring defense league-wide!
So what on earth are all the people writing this jibberish thinking about? Because they certainly are not doing their homework. What instead is happening is an ongoing love affair with Drew Bledsoe and some big play highlight reels. Because if you measure the actual contributions to winning games over the last 10 games in the traditional sense of putting points on the boards, then the Drew Bledsoe/Kevin Gilbride led offense falls miserably short of contributing with an average performance over those last 10 games, and by-the-way 4 games more than the first 6 games of the season, that would have landed them at 27th in the league in scoring offense on the season.
Those my friends are the facts! It's time for everyone to take the "I love Drew Bledsoe" blinders off, give Jerry Gray some credit for the improvement over the season on defense, and to start criticizing those components of the team that actually failed instead of those "perceived" to have failed!
Here, here Jerry! You have at least one friend in "Bill's Land" that stands behind you and recognizes your contribution to winning games as the season went on! To the rest of the media who simply cannot seem to get their facts straight, it's time to start seeing things as they were, not as you would like to see them!
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