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Vikes - Bills postgame review
First of all let me get this out of the way
Bledsoe: 35 of 49 (71%) with 463yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTS with only 3 sacks and a 121.4 QBR!
Price: 13rec for 185yards at 14.2y/catch and 2TDs
Reed: 8rec for 110yards at 13.8y/catch and 1TD
Moulds: 8rec for 86yards at 10.8y/catch
The positives...
1) Bledsoe dropped back 52 times and was sacked only 3 for a total of 17.3 drop backs per sack. Not only was Bledsoe given good time to throw (most of the time) but there was not one holding penalty and only one false start against the Bills O-line. This is fairly impressive as the strength of the Vikes D is their D-line.
2) The play calling by Gilbride. While I know there has been a lot of questioning the Bills running only a handful of time the simple fact was that whenever the bills lined up in a conventional Offence, the Vikes brought 8 men into the box and run blitzed extensively. In response Gilbride abandoned the run and attacked the weak Min secondary, giving the game to Bledsoe & the wideouts, and taking the Vikes away from their Defensive successes.
3) Mike Hollis & Rogers, and the special teams made up for some of their past mistakes with a fairly decent game (of course they did mess up that punt return, but I doubt we were all expecting a miracle after last week). What was refreshing was seeing the special teams making some plays to help us win.
4) The D-Line. While the Vikes had good success on the ground, it was clear that this was mainly due to the Bills being caught in some fairly obvious pass defenses (dimes, nickels, and some strange 3-3 and 5-2 formations). In essence the Vikes did to us what the Rams should have done to the Pats (last super bowl). When you dare a team to run, like we did, you should expect those types of rushing yards. The D-line got a lot of pressure on Culpepper (5 sacks), and Schobel cleaned house against a really suspect Vikes O-line. Give them all the props in the world for the forced fumbles, that's just the playmaking we needed to see.
5) Wire, Watson, Clements, Prioleau and Winfield... for a good job keeping Culpepper & Moss in check for most of the game (Culpepper only completed something like 55% of his passes).
The Negatives...
1) Poor Tackling. This is more than a problem with the special teams (which gave up another big return due to poor tackling) as I saw many occurrences of this with our standard front 7, missing tackle after tackle, giving the Vikes more yards than their shoddy O-line blocking deserved.
2) Low snaps. Teague, was consistently snapping the snaps low, resulting in a stalled overtime drive when he dropped one on Bledsoe's toe.
3) Questionable decisions. Now I wouldn't bring up the 2pt conversion because I think (it's been a while) to 'go for it' is what is called for in that situation on the "card" that the coaches carry around. But I will bring up our first trip inside the Vikings 20, when the Bills, on a 4th and 1 at the 2 took a field goal instead of going for it. And I'll bring up our decision to pass on 1 and 5 at the Vikes 19 in OT. And I'll question our total abandonment of the run in the 2nd half.
4) Travis Henry with a fumble at the Vikes 1 yard line.
Bottom Line:
With Bledsoe on pace for an NFL record 5872 yards passing (and 32TDs, 16INTs) and not to mention an astronomical 69% completion percentage (to date), I think the question we all must ask ourselves is how many more games can we expect like the last 2? It seems very unrealistic to expect Bledsoe to avg nearly 350yards a game for the rest of the season, but when you watch that Offence move the ball, and see the time Bledsoe gets (or takes) in the pocket, you get the impression that the 'sky's the limit' for these guys. If the Bills defense continues its trend of giving up consistent yardage (5.7y/play week1: 5y/play week2) we might just see how long Drew and the O can keep putting up these numbers.
Bledsoe: 35 of 49 (71%) with 463yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTS with only 3 sacks and a 121.4 QBR!
Price: 13rec for 185yards at 14.2y/catch and 2TDs
Reed: 8rec for 110yards at 13.8y/catch and 1TD
Moulds: 8rec for 86yards at 10.8y/catch
The positives...
1) Bledsoe dropped back 52 times and was sacked only 3 for a total of 17.3 drop backs per sack. Not only was Bledsoe given good time to throw (most of the time) but there was not one holding penalty and only one false start against the Bills O-line. This is fairly impressive as the strength of the Vikes D is their D-line.
2) The play calling by Gilbride. While I know there has been a lot of questioning the Bills running only a handful of time the simple fact was that whenever the bills lined up in a conventional Offence, the Vikes brought 8 men into the box and run blitzed extensively. In response Gilbride abandoned the run and attacked the weak Min secondary, giving the game to Bledsoe & the wideouts, and taking the Vikes away from their Defensive successes.
3) Mike Hollis & Rogers, and the special teams made up for some of their past mistakes with a fairly decent game (of course they did mess up that punt return, but I doubt we were all expecting a miracle after last week). What was refreshing was seeing the special teams making some plays to help us win.
4) The D-Line. While the Vikes had good success on the ground, it was clear that this was mainly due to the Bills being caught in some fairly obvious pass defenses (dimes, nickels, and some strange 3-3 and 5-2 formations). In essence the Vikes did to us what the Rams should have done to the Pats (last super bowl). When you dare a team to run, like we did, you should expect those types of rushing yards. The D-line got a lot of pressure on Culpepper (5 sacks), and Schobel cleaned house against a really suspect Vikes O-line. Give them all the props in the world for the forced fumbles, that's just the playmaking we needed to see.
5) Wire, Watson, Clements, Prioleau and Winfield... for a good job keeping Culpepper & Moss in check for most of the game (Culpepper only completed something like 55% of his passes).
The Negatives...
1) Poor Tackling. This is more than a problem with the special teams (which gave up another big return due to poor tackling) as I saw many occurrences of this with our standard front 7, missing tackle after tackle, giving the Vikes more yards than their shoddy O-line blocking deserved.
2) Low snaps. Teague, was consistently snapping the snaps low, resulting in a stalled overtime drive when he dropped one on Bledsoe's toe.
3) Questionable decisions. Now I wouldn't bring up the 2pt conversion because I think (it's been a while) to 'go for it' is what is called for in that situation on the "card" that the coaches carry around. But I will bring up our first trip inside the Vikings 20, when the Bills, on a 4th and 1 at the 2 took a field goal instead of going for it. And I'll bring up our decision to pass on 1 and 5 at the Vikes 19 in OT. And I'll question our total abandonment of the run in the 2nd half.
4) Travis Henry with a fumble at the Vikes 1 yard line.
Bottom Line:
With Bledsoe on pace for an NFL record 5872 yards passing (and 32TDs, 16INTs) and not to mention an astronomical 69% completion percentage (to date), I think the question we all must ask ourselves is how many more games can we expect like the last 2? It seems very unrealistic to expect Bledsoe to avg nearly 350yards a game for the rest of the season, but when you watch that Offence move the ball, and see the time Bledsoe gets (or takes) in the pocket, you get the impression that the 'sky's the limit' for these guys. If the Bills defense continues its trend of giving up consistent yardage (5.7y/play week1: 5y/play week2) we might just see how long Drew and the O can keep putting up these numbers.
Nice breakdown. 
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