Mudflap1
09-12-2005, 12:35 PM
I said in the offseason when I was judging Tom Donahoe, etc. that if the Bills came out and delivered, I would be the first to raise a glass to TD. Well, I am!
That being said, there is a long road ahead, one game doesn't make a season, but for the first time in a long, long time, I have reason to be excited about the direction this team is taking. Here are my observations:
--When the Bills played the Jets in Bledsoe's first game 3 years ago, the offense looked great, but the special teams and defense didn't. There was reason for concern. As the year went on, that proved to be true, along with Bledsoe becoming less effective.
--The year after that, the Bills started off with two great wins. However, they were not running the ball effectively, and while the passing game was working, there was an element of "when are the D's going to catch on and just start blitzing Bledsoe?" And that happened, along with injuries.
--Last year, I didn't know what to expect. New coaching staff, same Bledsoe concerns, etc. Obvioiusly the Bledsoe concerns lived up to their billing, and while the team ended the season strongly, the last game left a bitter taste in everbody's mouth.
After watching the game yesterday, I can't say there is one area that I'm tremendously concerned about. Every aspect of the game was pretty solid. Some thoughts on where the Bills can improve though:
--Obviously Losman is not going to come out and light it up every game this season. He's going to struggle at times, to the point where we might all get frustrated with him and want to make a switch. The most impressive thing about him is that he showed tremendous POISE yesterday. If he keeps up that work ethic and attitude, he's gonna work out well.
--The offensive line looked very steady, particularly with pass blocking. The run blocking started off slow. However, by midway through the 2nd quarter, they got it together and really looked good.
--I thought the Bills had a good gameplan on offense, but once the run game really started coming together late in the 2nd quarter I would have stayed with it even more than they did into the 2nd half. It seemed at times in the 2nd half they would have J.P. rear back and fire, and that's okay, but I would've focused a bit more on Willis and just jamming it down their throat. Isn't that what you want anyway? To build a lead, soften up the defense, then just jam the ball right at 'em? They seem to have that going for them, but wouldn't stay with it consistently.
--Everytime it looked like the Texans might be about to get something together, the D came up big with the two things you want to see; sacks and turnovers. Really amazing how they just seemed to will a big play out of themselves at times. That was a change over last year, where they gave up big plays at the end of games sometimes.
--The Bills needs to work on their red zone offense. It wasn't bad, but they need to punch it in more when they get down there.
--Lindell looked suprisingly sharp.
--The defense set the table many times for the Bills' offense to have a short field. The offense needs to take advantage of that a little bit more by converting some of those into touchdowns.
--Evans and Moulds looked good.
--Ron Edwards looked good. Chris Kelsay and Aaron Schobel looked fantastic.
--This may be an all-encompassing point combining some of the thoughts from above. The Bills need to learn how to step on the throats of their opponents and put them out of commission. This is perhaps the number one thing they need to work on, and it's kind of an intangible. They need to be bloodthirsty. To be honest, they showed some of that yesterday. In years past, when the Bills would be up with a nice lead, then the opponent would score, the game would seem to slip away. The offense wouldn't respond, the game would become a dogfight, and many times the opponent would steal a win. Yesterday, the Bills had a 12 point lead. When Houston scored, I got that nervous feeling in my stomach. You know that feeling. It's the "oh man, we've played SO well and dominated, but here we go again, the game is going to slip right away from us." Only it didn't happen. The offense marched down the field, had to convert a fourth down conversion (which was great by the way, ran right up the middle -- exactly what we need to do and hadn't seen in years past), and punched it in. The Texans never recovered. While this was great, the Bills still should've piled it on a little bit more. I know they could've too. If they just stuck to the run in the second half, short play-action passes, etc., they could've put up another 7-10 points or so, and this would've "stepped on their throats." Again, they did great yesterday, but they need to be able to pummel an opponent into submission when they get the chance, because there will be games where if they don't, the opponent will make a play and the game will be too close again.
Anyway, those are some of my thoughts. I was real happy with yesterday, and hope they can keep it up going in the same direction. This team played like a potential playoff team yesterday. Good to see it after all of these years.
Jon
That being said, there is a long road ahead, one game doesn't make a season, but for the first time in a long, long time, I have reason to be excited about the direction this team is taking. Here are my observations:
--When the Bills played the Jets in Bledsoe's first game 3 years ago, the offense looked great, but the special teams and defense didn't. There was reason for concern. As the year went on, that proved to be true, along with Bledsoe becoming less effective.
--The year after that, the Bills started off with two great wins. However, they were not running the ball effectively, and while the passing game was working, there was an element of "when are the D's going to catch on and just start blitzing Bledsoe?" And that happened, along with injuries.
--Last year, I didn't know what to expect. New coaching staff, same Bledsoe concerns, etc. Obvioiusly the Bledsoe concerns lived up to their billing, and while the team ended the season strongly, the last game left a bitter taste in everbody's mouth.
After watching the game yesterday, I can't say there is one area that I'm tremendously concerned about. Every aspect of the game was pretty solid. Some thoughts on where the Bills can improve though:
--Obviously Losman is not going to come out and light it up every game this season. He's going to struggle at times, to the point where we might all get frustrated with him and want to make a switch. The most impressive thing about him is that he showed tremendous POISE yesterday. If he keeps up that work ethic and attitude, he's gonna work out well.
--The offensive line looked very steady, particularly with pass blocking. The run blocking started off slow. However, by midway through the 2nd quarter, they got it together and really looked good.
--I thought the Bills had a good gameplan on offense, but once the run game really started coming together late in the 2nd quarter I would have stayed with it even more than they did into the 2nd half. It seemed at times in the 2nd half they would have J.P. rear back and fire, and that's okay, but I would've focused a bit more on Willis and just jamming it down their throat. Isn't that what you want anyway? To build a lead, soften up the defense, then just jam the ball right at 'em? They seem to have that going for them, but wouldn't stay with it consistently.
--Everytime it looked like the Texans might be about to get something together, the D came up big with the two things you want to see; sacks and turnovers. Really amazing how they just seemed to will a big play out of themselves at times. That was a change over last year, where they gave up big plays at the end of games sometimes.
--The Bills needs to work on their red zone offense. It wasn't bad, but they need to punch it in more when they get down there.
--Lindell looked suprisingly sharp.
--The defense set the table many times for the Bills' offense to have a short field. The offense needs to take advantage of that a little bit more by converting some of those into touchdowns.
--Evans and Moulds looked good.
--Ron Edwards looked good. Chris Kelsay and Aaron Schobel looked fantastic.
--This may be an all-encompassing point combining some of the thoughts from above. The Bills need to learn how to step on the throats of their opponents and put them out of commission. This is perhaps the number one thing they need to work on, and it's kind of an intangible. They need to be bloodthirsty. To be honest, they showed some of that yesterday. In years past, when the Bills would be up with a nice lead, then the opponent would score, the game would seem to slip away. The offense wouldn't respond, the game would become a dogfight, and many times the opponent would steal a win. Yesterday, the Bills had a 12 point lead. When Houston scored, I got that nervous feeling in my stomach. You know that feeling. It's the "oh man, we've played SO well and dominated, but here we go again, the game is going to slip right away from us." Only it didn't happen. The offense marched down the field, had to convert a fourth down conversion (which was great by the way, ran right up the middle -- exactly what we need to do and hadn't seen in years past), and punched it in. The Texans never recovered. While this was great, the Bills still should've piled it on a little bit more. I know they could've too. If they just stuck to the run in the second half, short play-action passes, etc., they could've put up another 7-10 points or so, and this would've "stepped on their throats." Again, they did great yesterday, but they need to be able to pummel an opponent into submission when they get the chance, because there will be games where if they don't, the opponent will make a play and the game will be too close again.
Anyway, those are some of my thoughts. I was real happy with yesterday, and hope they can keep it up going in the same direction. This team played like a potential playoff team yesterday. Good to see it after all of these years.
Jon