Buffalo Bills Limbo!
How Low Can They Go?

by

After Sunday Night’s game versus the Chiefs I am next to speechless. For reasons as to why I believe the Bills are in the state that they are in please defer to my past articles beginning with the very recent “Between the Lines” piece. To me the outcome of this game was as predictable as the sun rising tomorrow.

Why you ask? Because under Donahoe’s headship, Williams’ coaching, Gilbride’s offensive coordinating, and Bledsoe’s QB play, this team is simply incapable of beating a team such as KC except under the most favorable mitigating circumstances. This fact has borne itself out since the beginning of last season. On that note, fully expect losses to the Titans, Colts, Dolphins, and Patriots and expect the other four games versus the Giants, Cowboys, Texans, and Jets to give the Bills a very serious run for their money. Fans expecting a winning season are deluding themselves that this team is even capable of beating most of the remaining teams on the schedule playing the way they have been playing over the past 18 games.

The ironic thing about the Bills is that while they were supposed to be in a position to challenge for the conference title, they find themselves in the initial stages of another rebuilding mode. Why? Both lines are short of starters let alone decent depth. The play of the offensive line by now should scream out that the Bills need some serious interior line talent that they simply do not have. That type of talent when drawn from rookies does not develop in one season. I do not even want to discuss the mediocre play of Pucillo again this week as it is getting to be old hat. Teague, ditto.

On the defensive line, the play of Denney is laughable and inexcusable. Adams is an overpaid tackle who may have sold some tickets but who won’t sell any next year. He also cannot seem to make a tackle. The Bills braintrust, Tom Donahoe, has nothing in the wings for the lines. Nada, zippo, zilch! Few draft picks were used to stock up on linemen other than this year’s fifth and last year’s seventh other than Williams. In free agency Tucker was acquired. Yippee!

But the biggest reason why the Bills will be in a rebuilding mode again is because of Drew Bledsoe. Why the Bills have no one other than Bledsoe and Van Pelt has been beyond me for a while. It will take a QB, a fast learning one, two full seasons to catch on to the point of being able to lead the team. Yet, there is nothing in the team’s sights apparently. And if I am still a season ticket holder and the team extends Drew beyond next season, then I will promise Mr. Donahoe that I won’t be until someone else starts at that position.

As a fan paying for a hefty number of season tickets, I am somewhat disenfranchised at the product on the field this season after what the Bills Front Office Propaganda machine had been telling us. There is no need to rehash items that I have written about week after week. Suffice it to say however that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Game grades for this week:

QB: F cubed! Absolutely horrendous! Predictable, but horrendous. This should be the first game in a series of similar games for Drew that will convince all but the most immovable Bledsoe fans that Drew really needs to be replaced post haste.

RB: A Nothing else needs be said. The only reason that the team did anything offensively was because of Henry’s rushing.

WR: B Passes were behind them, over them, on the ground, and everywhere but on target. I am sure that they could have done more, but the weakness of the passing game was not necessarily their fault.

TE: B- Again, not always used appropriately and at the proper times. Not their fault.

OL: C+ Good run blocking. Pass blocking was good at times, OK at times, and poor at times. Drew did little to help himself however and the line cannot be blamed for it all.

DL: D- Poor pressure on Green for the entire game. Sure, there were smatterings of pressure here and there, but for the most part Green had all day in his pocket. Denney is bad, Adams cannot tackle, and Schobel is a good pass rusher but little else.

LB: C As a group the LBs were outexecuted. Fletcher continues to be one-dimensional (run) as does Posey (pass).

DB: C Good coverage on occasion, poor otherwise. They usually played so closely as to get burned off of the line or too deep so that short gains were essentially handed to the Chiefs. The secondary seemed confused and very unsure for most of the game.

ST: B Solid.

Coaching:

Offensive: F- As a fan, if I could have one preemptory coaching adjustment for the bye week, it would be to fire Kevin Gilbride! The offensive production over the past 6 games in regulation has been 3 points, 24, 3, 16, 13, and 0 mostly against teams with below average defenses. This is less than 12 points-per-game! If Gilbride is not already scheduled to be fired the day the season ends, the Tom Donahoe is not doing his job!

Defensive: F I am still not convinced that Dick LeBeau’s influence is not responsible for the poor play of the D and its downward spiral since last season. Whoever’s in charge had no solutions for the Chiefs. Clearly the Bills were not going to hold the Chiefs to fewer than 20 points, but clearly a better effort could have been made.

Overall: F What can be said about such overall coaching!

So let’s see, this leaves us heading into a bye week at 4-4 but clearly a team that is headed for 6-10 or 7-9 with the tougher half of their schedule yet to come. What else needs to be said. The best thing that the Bills can do for the remainder of the season is to try some different player combinations to give them a headstart on next season. Fans still holding out hope that the Bills can make the playoffs are probably the same ones that will be standing in the local pumpkin patch awaiting the arrival of the Great Pumpkin on Friday evening.

For comments: mweiler.billszone@cox.net