Orton is conservative himself today

[ghz in pittsburgh]

I saw several times he changed plays at the line and it winded up being run plays.

Listening to all the post game interviews, especially Marrone's, I got the sense that they were really hammering on turnovers all week. WRs/RBs talking about securing the ball etc. And I thought Orton reined in himself a bit today -- avoided putting balls in traffic, especially when he had to hold the ball longer than he wanted (took sacks but secured ball going down).

I said last week if the Bills going into Meadowland can be turnover free, they will almost surely win the game. Well, they didn't commit any. And Geno got the Jets behind the 8 ball from the start, to the point where Orton could afford to be safe.

I don't buy into those "we won't win many games against better teams with this kind of offense performance" argument. This is NFL, not NCAAF. Style does not count. Another team, another story; different approach. Had the Bills not committing the turnovers they did in Detroit, against Vikings, they could be conservative and still would win without the last minute drives; Heck they WOULD even have a very realistic chance against the Pats.

17 passes from Orton is kind of low for me. I still believe having him put the ball up 30 times is about the right amount. 40+ times is way too much. I'm sure the Bills are going to do some self scouting in the bye to work on the O-Line to have a balance in running game and the passing game.

[imbondz]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

If we played like we did today against better teams we would have gotten our ass handed to us.

the play calling was a joke. Jets secondary sucked and we're running the ball on 1st and 2nd down with our backups on multiple drives. No way it should have been that close at halftime.


I'm not buying it was a result of Orton audibling

[Novacane]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

If we played like we did today against better teams we would have gotten our ass handed to us.

the play calling was a joke. Jets secondary sucked and we're running the ball on 1st and 2nd down with our backups on multiple drives. No way it should have been that close at halftime.


I'm not buying it was a result of Orton audibling

Me either. Hackett apologists

[RedEyE]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

The audibles could have come from Hackett from the booth to Orton.

Weird, they were not ultra conservative in the first qrtr. Seems like once they got ahead they put the game in the hands of the defense and played it safe on offense.

1st drive/TD: 6 out of 8 plays were pass plays
2nd drive: 2 out of 3 plays were pass plays
3rd drive: 1 out of 3 plays were pass
4th drive/TD: Play action pass to TE (1 yard drive after fumble)

2nd qrtr:
1st drive: 2 out of 5 plays were pass plays
2nd drive: 2 out of 3 plays were pass plays
3rd drive/FG: 1 out of 3 plays were pass plays
4th drive: 1 out of 3 plays were pass plays


I think what was frustrating is we wanted to see the Bills just annihilate the Jets and put them to bed quickly. I was already running the scenarios in my head when they replaced Geno for Vick and the Jets assembled a mini comeback in the 1st half.

Just put them to bed! Be done with it!

In hindsight, whether intentional or not, the conservative play calling prevented a Bills turnover and got the wet behind the ear running backs some play time. I did not like the pass calling though. Seems like the quick release plays should be more frequent. Orten doesn't have the time to just sling it down the field 15 - 20 yards at every drop back.

[Fletch]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

If we played like we did today against better teams we would have gotten our ass handed to us.

the play calling was a joke. Jets secondary sucked and we're running the ball on 1st and 2nd down with our backups on multiple drives. No way it should have been that close at halftime.

I'm not buying it was a result of Orton audibling

A very strange game to be sure. Tons of points but less offense than in most if not all of our other games. The Jets playing like it was some sort of comedy movie about a horrible team. Just very odd.

I don't know how the Jets can't make wholesale changes at this point.

[bdutton]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

The offense had way too many 3 and outs especially in the first half. A team that turns over the ball 4 times in the first half and is still in it? The Bills should have been up by 21 not 7 at the half. I think the offense picked up a lot in the 4th quarter but it seemed way too conservative.

[trapezeus]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

my issue with the offense has a couple prongs.

1. run/pass #'s aren't an issue. it's the times they run. it's always first down, it's always one of 3 runs. and there is never a play action play in there. for 8 weeks, they've shown this tendancy. why not, PA against a weak jets secondary. especially when you saw watkins, woods, and chambers beat there guys?

2. the OL is an OC issue. I refuse to believe this many NFL OL can struggle this much. Watching the number of times guys get up from their stance and just miss a guy or aren't blocking anyone, suggests that the OL coach and OC have not put these guys in a situation to succeed.

3. points 1 and 2 created a situation where the D is on the field for 32 minutes. This is why there are more injuries on the Defensive side (not including the RB injuries we have). They are constantly being left on the field when they have done well enough to get some rest.

so to me, it's not that its that we rushed almost 2x more than passed, it's that the formula was so predictable. and while pass protection didn't look great, it's not because of the talent alone. we need some shorter routes to get the ball out faster, we need to have positive 1st down plays, and 7 penalties still is too many.

I'm happy the bills won, but this formula they used to ride the defense exclusively is going to lead to injuries. and we will need to eventually see some more long drives where we show we have the ability to churn the clock and wear a team down so a great d can go t off on the opposition as opposed to try and win the game by themselves.

[Fletch]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

The offense had way too many 3 and outs especially in the first half. A team that turns over the ball 4 times in the first half and is still in it? The Bills should have been up by 21 not 7 at the half. I think the offense picked up a lot in the 4th quarter but it seemed way too conservative.

It was a game built almost exclusively around big plays. Our conventional statistics were not good.

2 of 12 in 3rd down conversions. Jets were 9 of 19 which is very good.

12 total 1st downs for us. I think that's the lowest total on the season by a good number. Jets had 22.

5.3 yards-per-carry against us and 175 rushing.

It was all about the TOs and a few long passes.

It was one of the strangest games I've ever seen. Waiting for us to put the game away early with the Jets more of less handing us the game as if it were their goal, and we couldn't do it leaving them in it until the 4th quarter.

Our biggest win point wise but hardly impressive.

The only two offensive players that did anything were Orton/Watkins.

Smith isn't showing any kind of consistent progress in NY, if that doesn't improve between now and the end of the season they'll have to look for someone else. Not much sense in them starting Vick since he's not taking this team anywhere in the future.

As to us, Brown and Dixon sucked. If that doesn't change Orton's going to be facing some tough challenges.

As it was he was sacked 4 times and only threw 17 passes.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

Trap, they had a reasonable 1st down run, when things were still mattered; even Orton said so. I think they had 4 - 5 yards on those carries. 2nd down was terrible, often lose yardage. I think the criticism should be right here where play action might need to be called more.

Overall the offensive plan seems to be short and long: run stright to their gut or pass long. Maybe it's a combination of Jets D strength of their front 7 and that Dixon and Brown are better suited to run between tackles, the Bills generally avoided the crowded area of middle or flank passes. When the run didn't work to move the chain consistently, the game looked ugly. But the early lead and defensive dominance made it work. The Jets basically knew what's coming: the Bills are trying to hit hard and running beween tackle and once in a while some long passes to wide outs; but they could not really do anthing big (like turnover) to turn around the game.

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

The only two offensive players that did anything were Orton/Watkins.

Really? I thought the 1st drive was huge in that game. Woods was instrumental in that drive. I thought him being hurt made quite a difference.

[swiper]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

Dear Notacon:

Howard WGR @hsimon62

#Bills QB Kyle Orton leads NFL in 4th quarter passer rating. 68% completion. 9.21 yards per attaempt. 5 TD 0 INT 132.5 rating

Just admit you're wrong.

[stuckincincy]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

A very strange game to be sure. Tons of points but less offense than in most if not all of our other games. The Jets playing like it was some sort of comedy movie about a horrible team. Just very odd.

I don't know how the Jets can't make wholesale changes at this point.

The turnovers resulted in an unusual statistic. The average BUF drive was from their 49, Jets' ave. was at their own 19. I don't recall seeing such a high average as BUF had. Decent point total, but with such starting drive points, it could have been more.

NYJ certainly has the inside track on the #1 pick. I don't think Ryan has to worry, though - he seems to be another Coach-For-Life...same as CIN's Marvin Lewis.

I assume that KC gets the necessary win home against NYJ next week and go to 5 and 3.

RB Jamaal Charles left the game late against STL - don't know the severity, and if he heals up before they play at BUF. I don't recall when a club faced so many teams missing their starting running back(s). So far, BUF is being sprinkled with pixie dust.

[The King]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

Didn't Marrone already address this? They kept running because it kept the Jets from getting into all their exotic blitzing. We were keeping them honest. And the game was in hand… why gamble and put your QB on his back?

[Cleve]

Re: Orton is conservative himself today

The OL line sucked at protection, I thought. Cordy Glenn seemed to get over-run and beaten one on one frequently. Huge guy but didn't seem particularly effective yesterday.