The defense was good last Sunday but not that good

[mchurchfie]

I have to disagree to a certain point that it was all of the offense's fault that the defense was on the field so long. One of the problems was that they could not stop the Fins from converting to a fresh set of downs consistently enough. IMO they were somewhat to blame also. If you want to look at it in another light you could say that the defense didn't give the offense enough time on the field to get in a rhythm. The Fins had some very long drives at times, its kind of hard to score when you're standing on the sidelines 6-9 minutes at a time watching the other team move the ball. I think that we are maybe overrating our defense at this point a little too much. This being said, I still think that the offense totally stunk up the field when they were on it.:shakeno:

[L.A. Playa]

Football is a team game and like you said if the Bills defense stops that long drive early you never know what could happen
London Fletcher said he was dissapointed that the Bills did'nt hanve the chance to stop Miami on 4th and 1 because he knows the offense can go on a 99 yard drive. realisticly probably wouldnt have happenede but stranger things have happened i think that was still a pussy call by officials let the player decide it not someone in the booth

[LarryBoy]

I think the D played as well as could be expected. I agree there were some long drives, but to allow 10 points through 98% of the game, then finally tire out on the last drive is not over rating of Defence.

In that tone, I dont also think it wasnt ALL Ricky Williams fualt the O were off the field as long as they were eithor. The O had its chances to keep Ricky on the side line and kept doing really dumb things, giving the ball right back.

[Drewpac]

Go look at our defensive stats on NFL.com. We are the #8 defense in the league (ypg). But a more telling statistic is yards per play in which we rank third in the league. Make no mistake, we have a championship caliber defense this year. If our offense could maintain an "average" effectiveness we should win between 11-13 games this season. Unfortunately, I could see our offense losing 4-6 games for us this season.

[stuckincincy]

mchurchfie, I take your point. Overall it was ok Bills def, but quite a few Miami completions showed pretty good separation from the pass def, and when the fish needed 6 or 7 yds for a 1st down the got 7 or 8. Good work by the fish in that aspect of the game.

[NoRing4U]

Originally posted by Drewpac
Go look at our defensive stats on NFL.com. We are the #8 defense in the league (ypg). But a more telling statistic is yards per play in which we rank third in the league. Make no mistake, we have a championship caliber defense this year. If our offense could maintain an "average" effectiveness we should win between 11-13 games this season. Unfortunately, I could see our offense losing 4-6 games for us this season.

Stats dont mean a whole lot (especially after so few games). We Finfans can tell you all about stats and how useless they really are.

[L.A. Playa]

one stat means alot and unfortunately miami had that sunday that stat is a win
unless we had gotten the win dont matter how good or bad anyone played

[Typ0]

A team that is averaging over 30 pts per game has to be able to score 18 to win the ball game.

[Tatonka]

the fish missed 2 field goals.. makable ones.

[TigerJ]

If I remember correctly, Miami moved the ball more effectively as the game went on. I think mostly the defence just got worn down. If the offence had done it's part, I think the defensive stats would have been just outstanding.

[NoCtUrNaL]

Originally posted by mchurchfie
"The Fins had some very long drives at times, its kind of hard to score when you're standing on the sidelines 6-9 minutes at a time watching the other team move the ball. "



Maybe if Drew and Henry had thrown their interceptions closer to the Bills goal line they wouldn’t have had to wait so long to get back out there to throw the next one.

[L.A. Playa]

the real difference was 3rd down conversions
miami was 6/14 too high of a %
buffalo was 1/9 too low
the defence needs to keep that ata 33% or lower

[NoCtUrNaL]

BTW...the Bills had 12 drive starts (http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/drives/NFL_20030921_BUF@MIA)...same as the Dolphins, the difference was, Buffalo’s offense didn't hold on to the ball as long as Miami’s.

EDIT: Ha...I just noticed...Buffalo's O had 5 drives that ended in negative yards...yeah, and it's the D that was questionable.