OK, it was just a pre-season game ... and the opening one at that.
But the Buffalo Bills, en route to Saturday night’s 20-19 victory over the Ravens in Baltimore, gave good indication why fans are so cranked up this summer.All it takes is a quick look back. Start with the Bills’ most compelling defensive statistic in 2002. Buffalo finished with a microscopic 19 takeaways — barely one a game — the NFL’s worst total. And though the Bills’ 31 giveaways ranked in the middle of the league, their inability to create turnovers left them 28th of 32 teams in takeaway/giveaway ratio.Buffalo was particularly bad about getting interceptions, going the fist six games without one, before Nate Clements picked off three in the Ray Lucas meltdown in Miami.
In nine games, over a span of 12, the Bills had no takeaways, including a string of four straight.
THAT’S WHY Saturday night’s defensive effort was so encouraging.
Buffalo forced three takeaways, including interceptions by Clements and linebacker DaShon Polk, who also recovered a fumble. In addition, the Bills logged three sacks.
If those figures are lost on you, consider that last season, only four times did Buffalo have as many three takeaways in a game and on a mere five occasions did the defense record three-or-more sacks.
The rest of the article
Reply With Quote
