| December 06, 2002 | « Previous Story | HOME | Next Story » | Posted at 11:24 PM |
Now, onto game notes;
In the first game, Belichick baked the cake and had it all ready except for the icing. I guess he was saving that for game two vs. the Bills. He certainly had the top peeled off the icing can and had his spreading knife in hand for the opening kickoff. And spread he did to ice this cake, but good!
There really was nothing positive to report for this game. Even the Bills could not overcome a woeful offensive 2nd-half New England offensive performance yielding only 44 offensive total yards. Seventeen of New England’s 27 points came off of Bills turnovers. Not only did the Bills’ offense not answer the call offensively, but they made mistake after mistake after mistake to give the game away. When they finally did put up more than 10 points they did so when the game was hopelessly out of hand.
Game Grades:
Bledsoe: F;
this was his worst game all season and it appears that overall he is getting significantly worse as the season goes on. On top of that, in 5 of 6 games vs. AFC East opponents, Drew has been horrific to only average tossing 5 touchdowns to 9 interceptions and 1 lost fumble and going 1-4 in those games, 2-4 overall.
Henry: B+ when used; hardly got the nod.
WRs: B; Price had a key illegal motion penalty to kill a key first down and drive in the first quarter. He also had a key fumble that was critical. It also appeared at times that he was ready to jabber his way into yet another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. (AP Photo)
Offensive line: B+; the line played well providing Drew plenty of time often enough such that plays should have been made. Nonetheless, there were some lapses. The interceptions were on Drew however.
Defensive line: C; how else can a line be graded that plays as if they were not on the field for one half, and then splendidly for the second?
LBs: C+; Robinson once again showed that he’s lucky to have a starting job in the NFL and that he cannot tackle. Otherwise slightly better than average, again, with a miserable first half performance and better in the second.
DBs: C; similar to the other aspects of the D.
STs: C; Nothing stellar, nothing horrific. No news is good news here apparently.
Coaching: F-; Williams did not have the team prepared to come out onto the field in the first half. Gilbride once again did not utilize the rushing game effectively. The defense, well, I'm not one of Gray's backers, but he really does not have the tools to do much else unlike Gilbride. As to special teams coaching, I would suggest that when we are afraid of a runback, instead of kicking the ball short, simply kick the daggoned thing out of bounds and let the other team have it at their 40.
While in the first quarter, there was debate over whether that was a facemask on Clements, he still acquiesced to a nice stiff-arm that ran him 8 yards downfield and into the endzone.
I knew this game was over at 3:22 of the first quarter. Greg Williams did not have his team and players ready to start this game. Sure, they came around later, but in the “day late and dollar short” fashion that they have often played under this season. Obviously playing 4 entire quarters is out of the question. I would not even suggest something so silly and outlandish!
Nevertheless, those sitting around me at the sports bar where I watched the game, non-Bills fans and those clearly not attune to the Bills' whilings, tried to encourage me. But after Drew’s second interception in the endzone at 10:26 of the second quarter, that removed any and all doubt that this game was in the books. The only thing that made it appear closer was the Pats’ inability to generate any offense at all in the 2nd half. No problem however as Price helped them out by fumbling to set them up at our own 28 yard-line in what would amount to the only meaningful offensive yardage that the Pats would amass throughout the entire second half.
Questions that really need to be answered, and this is starting to sound like a “broken record” here, but what on earth is Gilbride doing throwing the ball on 2nd down at the N.E. 1 yard-line? Why Kevin, why? You are asked these questions week in and week out. Yet you leave the fans no choice but to ask that you resign if this keeps up. That is of course if Williams does not fire you prior to that. You are getting paid quite a bit of money not to spot and be able to identify the obvious. I could say other less gracious things, but let’s just suffice to say that you are not exactly making inroads and strides towards being the genious-of-the-year! What makes matters worse is that you instead of rushing Henry, you moreover put the ball into the hands of a QB who struggled in that game up until that point, as well as one that struggled mightily in the first game as well. Those are rookie decisions indicative of a shortage of NFL experience!
Again, there were really no positives in this game. Many will cite the empty notion that somehow Drew’s 328 passing yards are somehow something to ease the pain. My simple reply is to reiterate my beliefs that there are far more important measures of a QB than how many yards he has passed for. If this game does not make that perfectly evident, then nothing will. But make no mistake, the Patriots did not play well enough offensively for them to have won this game. They could not possibly have done it without some really boneheaded passes thrown by Drew.
Nevertheless, it is readily apparent now that Gilbride is going to make Drew the star and focal point of this offense no matter how well Travis Henry runs the ball. Surely he ran well in the first half albeit only for a paltry 8 carries. Well enough especially considering how poorly the passing game was going. Perhaps Greg Williams missed what almost every other team that has beaten the Pats has figured out; namely that the way to beat them is to run on them. I guess that is too much to have to think over for this coaching staff.
In any case, if the Bills do not plan on using Henry, who has blossomed into a premier running back, then they should do him a service and justice and trade him to a team that promises to utilize him. Perhaps we can recoup our first round selection this season so that we can select another wide receiver and bolster our passing game further. With Gilbride, you can never have enough wide receivers no doubt.
But these lame excuses that our best chances of winning are when Bledsoe puts the ball in the air are getting old, and quickly! Drew is not getting better as the season goes on. In fact, he is getting worse. The Bills best chances of winning are to run Henry until the cows come home. Just as last week, when this happens, Drew’s passing game opens up and he plays better as well. But I guess we will never know how good we can be and how many games we can truly win as long as Kevin Gilbride, the quarterback coach, is here as our offensive coordinator. I must assume that Gilbride prefers the excitement of a good passing game with all of its risks to winning games in what may be a more boring fashion. To that I have no answer. Today 6-7, tomorrow 7-9.
