BUNGLING BILLS!

by Mark Weiler

For the life of me, I simply cannot figure out the enthusiasm for an “eke-it-out” victory against a team that at home the Bills should have beaten decisively. Yet, the argument that a win is a win cannot be argued with. Or can it be?

As of yet, under the “Bledsoe era”, the offense has proven itself utterly incapable of being able to beat teams other than .500 or sub-.500 teams, largely due to the ineffectiveness of the Bledsoe-led offense. What should be of primary concern to the Bills and Bills fans is that out of the Bills last 15 outings, the offense has produced 17 or fewer points in regulation in 9 of those 15 games! The offense has been completely flat.

I remain somewhat less than excited over an overtime win vs. the Bengals regardless of what changes they may have made since last season. I find it anticlimactic. While I am happy for the win, I find myself realizing that the Bills are currently a bottom tier .500 team themselves largely incapable of beating playoff caliber opponents. There is not a shred of evidence since the start of last season to suggest anything contrary at this point.

In this particular game, the offense once again proved that it is the weakness of this team as a whole. Had the Bengals been anyone of nearly 30 other teams in the league, the Bills likely would have lost this game. In fact, I am of the opinion that had the Bengals taken the wind in OT vice the ball, that they would have won. Against the wind, Bledsoe completed only 2 of 9 passes for 15 yards while giving up 3 sacks in five drives prior to the last drive in regulation. In those five drives, 3 ended with Bledsoe incompletions while two others ended in Bledsoe sacks. The offense netted fewer than 30 yards in those five drives.

In fact, if Aaron Schobel had not intercepted a Fletcher-tipped pass setting up the Bills at the Bengal 35 yard-line thus setting up the Bills only touchdown of the day, the Bills likely would have lost in regulation. The 35 yards on that drive were courtesy of Henry, once again showing how the offense produces more points when they run and do not allow Bledsoe to throw too much. Henry was responsible for all 35 yards with only 9 of them on one play coming on a passing play, a screen pass caught near the line-of-scrimmage over-the-middle and run for a TD after the catch.

Through regulation, the Bills had only 204 net yards. Please keep in mind that this was the Bengal D playing on the road at RWS! Bledsoe was a paltry 17 of 33 for 129 net yards having sustained 4 sacks. He would have made Rob Johnson proud. Travis Henry ran a decent game in spite of once again getting only average blocking by the offensive line. Give Henry extra credit for playing with sore ribs which were visibly hurting him at times. Sam Gash helped pave the way on several occasions as Kevin Gilbride must have been hit by the revelation that that is why they initially signed Gash to begin with. Eureka!

The offensive line was painful to watch. Mike Williams is weak when his assignments run around the end. He struggles to be able to keep up around the corner and he often gets beat there. Pucillo is next to useless. Trey Teague is not far above Pucillo and incredibly overpaid for his contributions at Center. Jonas Jennings seems to be playing relatively well and Reuben Brown seems to be his usual average self. The line as a whole was only fair in this game however. The play of and chemistry on the offensive line in particular really begs questioning whether the coaches responsible for removing Sullivan from last season really know what they are doing.

The Bills were a woeful 20% (3-of-15) on 3rd downs. Time of possession was once again, a deficient 27 minutes to 33 minutes for the Bengals in regulation. The special teams contributed little and were flat when contrasted with their play to date prior to this game. Once again, coaching was an issue. There seems to be no real leadership from amongst the coaching ranks. Play selection was questionable on occasions which has become a Gilbride trademark for the Bills.

Looking for positives, the number of penalties was down. The defense played well, however consider the opponent; a “Dillon-less” Bengals led by Jon Kitna. So the effort should not particularly impress anyone. Anything else…? I guess not. Oops! Almost forgot. The average yards per carry rushing went up to a shocking 3.0 yards-per-carry. This would not be great news under normal NFL standards, but hey, given that it’s the Bills with Kevin Gilbride at the helm, we need to make sure to relish even the most nominal improvements and be content with a simple lack of regression.

REASONS FOR THE WIN:

While the defense did not play particularly well, they did allow only 16 points through regulation. Unfortunately, that is just about the average that Cincy has scored in their games, thus relegating that feat to unimpressive status. Nevertheless, it was defense, caliber of opponent, some luck, and the fact that the Bengals were “Dillon-less” which were responsible for the win. The Bills did not deserve to win this game, yet came out of the scrum with a “W.”

GRADES FOR THIS GAME:

QB: D + Bledsoe showed nothing. Poor reads, underthrows, no leadership, etc. Other than the tying FG drive going 6 of 8, he did litttle going 13 of 27, (less than 50%) the rest of the way. He did nothing practically on the lone TD drive set up by the D, not the O, at the Cincy 35. Four Henry runs and a screen pass behind the line run for a TD by Henry was why the Bills scored. The league has Drew pegged. Rush Drew up-the-middle and clog the rushing lanes at the same time thus killing two-birds with one stone all due to Drew's immobility and inability to think and react quickly.

Yet, ironically, I suppose this counts as yet another "comeback win" for Bledsoe, very typical of the "comeback wins" that he is known for; inferior competition and needing to "comeback" due to offensive ineffectiveness through much of the game.

RB: A Given the sketchy “hole-creating” by the offensive line, and given Henry’s playing through sore ribs, Travis had a very good day with incredible individual effort.

WR: C Too many dropped balls and not impressive otherwise. Little contribution other than from Moulds and too much predictability in that "hook-up" as well.

TE: N/A Once again, underused as Gilbride apparently cannot think in more than one or two dimensions during the course of a game.

OL: C - ‘Nuff said.

DL: C + Little pressure on Kitna, again! Only one sack which was a Milloy/Posey combo on a blitz having little to do with the effectiveness of the DL.

LB: C An average performance. Credit Fletcher for a game-changing tipped pass picked off by Schobel. The Bengals ate the Bills alive using their TEs over-the-middle.

DB: B Some good, some bad. Sloppy coverage at times. Nevertheless, the strength of this defensive unit. This grade is perhaps a bit high due to sketchy coverage.

STs: C No lapses, nothing special.

COACHING: D+ The team was ill-prepared for this game which should have been at least what it was last season. The offense could only score a touchdown on a defensive set-up at the Bengal 35 and on 4 Henry runs and one short screen pass with no passing contributions otherwise. Otherwise, only 9 points on 3 field goals. Team did not play with much intensity or heart and had to "comeback" at home against a team like the Bengals.

OUTLOOK:

If you are a Drew Bledsoe and Eric Moulds fan above being a Bills fan overall, I suppose you can look forward to more predictable play benefiting both players statistically each week. However, for those fans expecting a substantial improvement over last season’s .500 squad, there appears to be little to hang your hat on. Absolutely head-scratching perplexity over how on earth the offensive line can possibly be so bad is on even the most casual fans’ minds. Greg Williams had better update that resume is my guess.

Offensive woes present through the last two-thirds of last season continue on into this season. Meanwhile, with all the hype and acquisitions of Spikes, Posey, Adams, and Milloy, the defense is not playing anywhere near proportionally better either. Regardless of how much improved the Bengals are this season, the Bills ought to be capable of putting up more than 16 points vs. them through regulation! That 16 is more than only the 14 that a struggling Cleveland put up vs. the Bengals.

I was fully expecting the Bills to dominate the Bengals from top-to-bottom. The Bills brought a vastly improved, or at least so we have been fooled into thinking, team over last season’s when they beat the Bengals 27-9 on 27 offensive points. The Bengals, on the road, minus their marquee running back, and only marginally improved over last season, outplayed the Bills. I was expecting at least the same 27 offensive points; instead we get only 16 regulation points from the offense. The defense played similarly yet with vastly superior talent over that of last season. There was no opponent to “look past” to. It is perfectly incredulous.

At this point, it is clear that the Bills have terminal issues that will prevent them from making the playoffs and quite possibly even from attaining .500 again. Following the Jets game, there are no more weak opponents such as Jacksonville, the Bengals, or the Jets on the schedule other than the Jets again in December. If the Bills cannot put the banged up, free-agency challenged, struggling, and inferior Jets away by sometime in the third quarter next week, then there is little hope that they will even come close to being .500 over their last 10 games.

With teams such as Kansas City, the Giants, Titans, and Pats, all on the road, the Bills will be lucky to win one of those games. Home games that promise to be tough at this point are the Redskins, Colts, and Dolphins. Even a road game against resurgent Dallas and a home game vs. Houston may give this poorly coached team a run for their money. My expectations are no longer high for this team. It is sad that with this collection of talent, the Bills cannot perform any better. Truly sad.

It is too soon to talk about the offseason, however, there is precious little hope other than for hope’s sake alone, that suggests that the Bills will be much more than they were last season with things in their present state. Namely, a team capable of beating sub-.500 teams while losing to all of the playoff teams and above .500 teams on their schedule.

Given the upcoming schedule, I will leave it for the reader to prognosticate the likely won-lost outcomes of the upcoming games. As for me, based on what I have seen this season and what we know to be true from last, I am not holding my breath that the Bills are a playoff caliber team. At this point, I am not even holding my breath that they will be any better than the .500 team that they were last season and a 6-10 or 7-9 record at this point would not surprise me at all. Should they make the playoffs, I have little confidence that they could advance even one round in them. Bledsoe is not a good playoff QB and this team is not coached well enough, particularly on offense, to make any real run in the playoffs.

I am not writing the season off as of yet, but again, there is precious little evidence to suggest anything different at this point either judging through five games this season and contrasting it with last season. At present, this is without question not a team headed for the playoffs. Mark Weiler is a writer/analyst covering Bills football for BillsZone.com. For comments or questions, mweiler.billszone@cox.net