Well, a week has passed; the Bills are one more loss richer, and a step farther from the postseason. However, you have to just love watching those games on Sunday don't you? They sure are worth their weight in entertainment value, leaving us on the edge of our seat until the final second clicks off that clock. I don't know about you guys but I have now thrown in the towel and stated in three consecutive weeks, "they've lost" with two minutes or less remaining, only to find myself on the edge of my seat watching Drew pull the team back into contention... and even though last Sunday the team fell short, do any off you seriously think they wouldn’t have won that game had they recovered the onside kick? Well anyway, back to the mater at hand, the Chicago Bears. This preview will follow the format of last weeks with an analysis of the matchups and a prediction for all you gamblers out there (so far I'm doing quite well with a 2-1 record against the spread and a 3-0 record against the over-under).
When the Bills have the Ball and are...
Running: The Bills O-line dominated a weak Jets front seven in week one giving Bills fans (including myself) unreasonable expectations for the ground game this season. While the O-line as a whole is vastly improved on last year's unit, they still have far to go to give Gilbride the rushing attack and balance he desires. Until they learn to get down lower in their stances when run blocking we will see a lot more defensive players in the backfield in Henry's face before the end of the season. Unfortunately for the line, things do not get any easier against the Bears. This is an extremely talented unit who gets to the ball quickly, and stuffs the run readily. In fact 3 of the top 4 tacklers on the Bears are their starting 3 LBer's (the one exception is their SS), proving how dominant the unit is on the whole. The Bears front seven contains such great strength even the loss of Ted Washington seems not to mater much. Even more important will be Henry's control of the ball as the Bears have an extremely physical front seven who specialize in causing turnovers. You can bet they are licking their chops at the idea of going up against good old “Butterfingers Henry” on Sunday. The key matchup this week (on the ground) will be Sullivan and Teague against K. Traylor, who should give them fits all game. If they can't control him don’t expect them to run against that D.
Passing: However inconsistent the Bills run blocking has been, the line's pass blocking has been the one saving grace for the season, as they have given Bledsoe some very good protection against some strong early blitzing in all three games. Against the Bears it will not be the DL the offence will have to concern themselves with, as the Bear's pass rush from their front four has proven to be inadequate this season (some of the reason for their Defensive struggles thus far). However the Bears do get an excellent pass rush from outside LB R.Colvin, who leads the Bears with 4 sacks thus far (Urlacher has the Bears other two), and has gotten good pressure on his blitzes. Bledsoe should (if the Bills continue their good blitz pickup) continue to put up big numbers against a Chicago secondary which has lost two starters for this Sundays game, and when the Bills go to a spread, they will be able to capitalize on the resulting mismatches as Chicago will be forced to put 4th and 5th string CB's out against our receivers. Watch for who Urlacher is assigned to (as he usually is assigned an opposing player to contain) this Sunday, as he will probably be tasked to stopping Centers out of the backfield, forcing Bledsoe to find a different dump off guy.
When the Bears have the football and are...
Running: The Bear's O-Line has been extremely suspect this year, and are have huge problems opening up holes for the A-Train. The Bills will have to hope that this continues this week as their D has been shaky at best thus far against the run. If the Bears did their homework they will find that the best way to run against the bills is to get us into our nickel D, which take us out of out 8 men in the box approach and leaves the run stopping to our DL, to disastrous results for the Bills. However Chicago seems married to their strong I formations, and that said it should be time for the D to stand up this week.
Passing: As shaky as the Bears Run blocking has been, that is nothing compared to the disaster that is their pass blocking. While I know the numbers say Miller has only hit the ground 3 times, the numbers sometimes can be misleading. Thus far Miller has been hard to sack because of two factors: One, the Chicago passing attack is a short dump passing attack predicated upon play action; and two, Miller has been very good at throwing the ball away. So far the Chicago O-line has given him precious little time to throw, and Miller has been creamed on numerous occasions on simple dump passes. The Bills should be able to get strong pressure on Miller all game on Sunday, so don't be discouraged Bills fans if the D only gets one or two sacks. What should worry us is a repeat of Vinny's game in week one, and the Bears will attack our DB's in the exact same fashion, with short dumps under our soft zone.
Conclusion:
Last week I predicted an entertaining game with the unfortunate conclusion of a Bills 4 point loss (it was a five point loss but who's counting anyway). The Bills D should look better this week against a Chicago O which is just a poor man's version of the Broncos; however they have yet to inspire any confidence in me, so I wouldn't bank that statement. The Bills O proved that it was the real deal in Denver, watch for them to lay good numbers on the board, and lets all cross our figures that the Bills can limit the Big plays of that fabulous Chicago LB corps. I'll take the Bills this week, 28-24.
When the Bills have the Ball and are...
Running: The Bills O-line dominated a weak Jets front seven in week one giving Bills fans (including myself) unreasonable expectations for the ground game this season. While the O-line as a whole is vastly improved on last year's unit, they still have far to go to give Gilbride the rushing attack and balance he desires. Until they learn to get down lower in their stances when run blocking we will see a lot more defensive players in the backfield in Henry's face before the end of the season. Unfortunately for the line, things do not get any easier against the Bears. This is an extremely talented unit who gets to the ball quickly, and stuffs the run readily. In fact 3 of the top 4 tacklers on the Bears are their starting 3 LBer's (the one exception is their SS), proving how dominant the unit is on the whole. The Bears front seven contains such great strength even the loss of Ted Washington seems not to mater much. Even more important will be Henry's control of the ball as the Bears have an extremely physical front seven who specialize in causing turnovers. You can bet they are licking their chops at the idea of going up against good old “Butterfingers Henry” on Sunday. The key matchup this week (on the ground) will be Sullivan and Teague against K. Traylor, who should give them fits all game. If they can't control him don’t expect them to run against that D.
Passing: However inconsistent the Bills run blocking has been, the line's pass blocking has been the one saving grace for the season, as they have given Bledsoe some very good protection against some strong early blitzing in all three games. Against the Bears it will not be the DL the offence will have to concern themselves with, as the Bear's pass rush from their front four has proven to be inadequate this season (some of the reason for their Defensive struggles thus far). However the Bears do get an excellent pass rush from outside LB R.Colvin, who leads the Bears with 4 sacks thus far (Urlacher has the Bears other two), and has gotten good pressure on his blitzes. Bledsoe should (if the Bills continue their good blitz pickup) continue to put up big numbers against a Chicago secondary which has lost two starters for this Sundays game, and when the Bills go to a spread, they will be able to capitalize on the resulting mismatches as Chicago will be forced to put 4th and 5th string CB's out against our receivers. Watch for who Urlacher is assigned to (as he usually is assigned an opposing player to contain) this Sunday, as he will probably be tasked to stopping Centers out of the backfield, forcing Bledsoe to find a different dump off guy.
When the Bears have the football and are...
Running: The Bear's O-Line has been extremely suspect this year, and are have huge problems opening up holes for the A-Train. The Bills will have to hope that this continues this week as their D has been shaky at best thus far against the run. If the Bears did their homework they will find that the best way to run against the bills is to get us into our nickel D, which take us out of out 8 men in the box approach and leaves the run stopping to our DL, to disastrous results for the Bills. However Chicago seems married to their strong I formations, and that said it should be time for the D to stand up this week.
Passing: As shaky as the Bears Run blocking has been, that is nothing compared to the disaster that is their pass blocking. While I know the numbers say Miller has only hit the ground 3 times, the numbers sometimes can be misleading. Thus far Miller has been hard to sack because of two factors: One, the Chicago passing attack is a short dump passing attack predicated upon play action; and two, Miller has been very good at throwing the ball away. So far the Chicago O-line has given him precious little time to throw, and Miller has been creamed on numerous occasions on simple dump passes. The Bills should be able to get strong pressure on Miller all game on Sunday, so don't be discouraged Bills fans if the D only gets one or two sacks. What should worry us is a repeat of Vinny's game in week one, and the Bears will attack our DB's in the exact same fashion, with short dumps under our soft zone.
Conclusion:
Last week I predicted an entertaining game with the unfortunate conclusion of a Bills 4 point loss (it was a five point loss but who's counting anyway). The Bills D should look better this week against a Chicago O which is just a poor man's version of the Broncos; however they have yet to inspire any confidence in me, so I wouldn't bank that statement. The Bills O proved that it was the real deal in Denver, watch for them to lay good numbers on the board, and lets all cross our figures that the Bills can limit the Big plays of that fabulous Chicago LB corps. I'll take the Bills this week, 28-24.
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