| October 06, 2004 | « Previous Story | HOME | Next Story » | Posted at 10:42 PM |
Running Backs: Travis Henry had a solid game and ran the ball hard, getting 24 carries for 98 yards, and catching 1 pass for 10 yards. However, when the team needed him the most, Henry couldn’t follow through. With over 3 minutes to go, the Bills called a run play on 3rd down and 2 at the NE 16 yard-line. Henry had a huge hole and could have easily gotten the 2 yards or more, but tripped. This caused Buffalo to go to for it on 4th and 3, which was a called QB bootleg, Henry screwed up his assignment and Bledsoe was sacked and turned the ball over. Daimon Shelton made a few nice blocks and also picked up 2 yards on a 3rd and 1 play. However, the offensive line was called for holding. Someone should file a missing persons report. Willis McGahee has not been heard from since the second game, when he only got 2 carries. Grade: B
Wide Receivers: Eric Moulds had a solid game for most of it, but also dropped 1 pass that he should have had. He caught 10 balls for 126 yards, including a beautiful 41-yard touchdown pass from Drew Bledsoe. Lee Evans was finally involved in the offense and has pretty much taken the #2 job away from Josh Reed, after making some nice catches. Evans had 4 receptions for 93 yards, including an impressive 55-yard catch to start the day. Josh Reed dropped a 9-yard pass from Drew Bledsoe on 3rd and 2. He also had his other pass to him overthrown in the end zone. The only thing Josh Reed did was a nice reverse for 6 yards on 2nd and 7. Sam Aiken caught two balls for 12 yards in garbage time. Grade: B-
Tight Ends: Mark Campbell was knocked out of the game with an injury, but did return. He did not have any passes thrown his way, but made a couple blocks for Henry. Ryan Neufeld caught 1 pass for 6 yards and was also knocked out of the game with an injury. Grade: C
Offensive Line: There was a couple injuries on the line (Trey Teague and Jonas Jennings), which did hurt them, but they still managed to open some holes for Travis Henry and give some time for Bledsoe to throw, except for when they fell apart at the end of the game. They did allow 7 sacks, but 3 of them were in a garbage drive. Penalties did hurt a few drives too. Grade: D+
Defensive Line: Aaron Schobel continues to enjoy his new paycheck, without doing anything to warrant it. He has 0 sacks in the first 3 games and has not done much at all. Ryan Denney started and did nothing either. Chris Kelsay had 1 tackle and a forced fumble on Corey Dillon. Sam Adams and Pat Williams tried to get through, but seemed to get dominated by the Pats OL. Williams had 1 tackle, while Adams didn’t get any. They did a good job of stuffing the run. Corey Dillon was held for under 80 yards. Again the biggest problem of the day was the pass rush. Grade: C-
Linebackers: The team’s best unit seemed to struggle a bit. There were a few missed tackles, which hurt the team and a couple penalties too. London Fletcher ended the game with 9 tackles, but also had 2 unsportsmanlike conduct penalties; one of them was a terrible call. He also did a good job putting pressure on Tom Brady, but didn’t get close enough to get a sack. Takeo Spikes had 9 tackles and was roaming the field. Jeff Posey was the one who did the least, with only 3 tackles, however he also laid some hard hits. Grade: C+
Secondary: Nate Clements had a solid game. He only had 3 tackles, but had nice coverage on the Patriots’ receivers. He also forced Corey Dillon to fumble the ball at the goal-line, but it was ruled “down by contact.” Troy Vincent was knocked out of the game early, and Terrence McGee took over for him. He was constantly tested by Tom Brady and was burned on 3 long pass plays. He ended the game with 7 tackles. Coy Wire was also burned several times and eventually benched for Pierson Prioleau at the end of the game. Wire had 4 tackles and Prioleau had 2. Izell Reeese had 5 tackles. Grade: D
Special Teams: Brian Moorman proved why he is the team MVP. He had 5 punts for an average of 51.2 yards on 5 punts, with 2 of them within the 20- yard line, with his longest being 63 yards. He also turned a bad play by Jon Dorenbos (who snapped the ball too high), to a good one. Moorman took the ball and ran it for 49 yards for the 1st down. If he gotten one more block, he might have been gone for the touchdown. Rian Lindell had a 33-yard field goal and hit it and kicked 1 of 3 kickoffs within the 10-yard line. The return team had a solid game. On kickoffs, Terrence McGee ran one back for 98 yards and the touchdown. He averaged 44 yards on 4 returns and was always a threat to the Patriots. They kicked out of bounds once to avoid him and also did a squib kick. On punts, Nate Clements had 2 returns for 22 yards, with an average of 11 yards. The only negative on this unit was a couple penalties, including a terrible play by Rashad Baker, who jumped offsides on a field goal try. This ended up extending the drive and the Patriots got a touchdown, when the defense originally held them to a field goal. Grade: B+
Coaching: There were a couple questionable plays that were called by the coaches, but overall, it was not too terrible. The game plan worked in the 1st half, as the Bills were tied up until halftime, then they didn’t seem to make any adjustments, while the Patriots did. This killed them. The one that hurt was the QB bootleg on 4th down and 3 with Mr. Immobile himself doing the bootlegging. Why, oh why would you call that play? The other thing that makes this grade low is the fact that the Bills ended the game with 11 penalties for 94 yards, which is inexcusable. Where is the discipline? The players also keep finding ways to lose and need to find a way to win. Overall, the coaching has had some weak points, and the team needs some confidence and discipline. However, this is a rookie head coach and he is learning more each week. Let’s see what he can do next week against the Jets, who are not as good as the Patriots. Grade: D+
